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|Subject: Indonesia's President Wants
Stronger Post-Tsunami Military [+Analyses]
also: Analysis: Analysis - Asia's Tsunami Builds Global Military Ties; Shadow of Iraq looms over well-received U.S. military operation to aid tsunami victims
Agence France-Presse Wednesday, January 26, 2005
Indonesia's president wants stronger post-tsunami military
Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said he wants his country to have a stronger and better equipped military to be able to deal with events such as the tsunami disaster.
Indonesia's armed forces, frequently criticised for human rights abuses despite losing much of the power they once wielded under former dictator Suharto, struggled to cope in the tsunami aftermath, relying on foreign help.
"We are being challenged to build stronger armed forces," Yudhoyono was quoted as saying by the state Antara news agency.
"If we had a stronger military, we could have done a lot more," he added.
Foreign military warships and aircraft proved crucial in efforts to bring aid to survivors of the December 26 disaster stranded on remote coastlines, although fiercely independent Indonesia has encouraged them to leave swiftly.
Yudhoyono also said that a military offensive to crush a long-running separatist rebellion in Aceh prior to the disaster could also have been more successful had soldiers been better equipped.
"If our troops had had adequate weaponry, communication equipment and mobility means surely we would have been able to pursue GAM better," he said, referring to the rebel Free Aceh Movement by their Indonesian acronym.
His statement on the rebels comes at a delicate time as government ministers head to Finland for talks with the separatists aimed at securing a truce to allow humanitarian work in Aceh to continue unhindered.
Yudhoyono said Indonesia must improve capability to produce military equipment to reduce dependency on foreign products.
The United States imposed a military embargo on Indonesia in the wake of alleged human rights violations by its troops in 1999 during an independence vote that saw East Timor gain independence from Jakarta.
Although the embargo has been partially lifted to allow the delivery of spare parts for transport planes involved in tsunami relief operations, the US Congress has continued to resist the full normalisation of military ties.
London expressed concerns over the use of British-made Scorpion light tanks by Indonesian forces when they launched an all-out offensive against Aceh's rebels in 2003. The military later withdrew the tanks.
Yudhoyono said such restrictions would not happen if Indonesia could supply its own military needs.
Analysis - Asia's Tsunami Builds Global Military Ties
By Mark Bendeich, Reuters
KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 20 (Reuters) - Asia's tsunami has turned into a military confidence-building exercise on a global scale, as armed forces work alongside each other and forge personal relationships that could one day avert a crisis.
But there are doubts the post-tsunami bonhomie between military chiefs will prompt political leaders to carry military ties to a higher level, with their strategic interests unchanged.
The biggest international natural disaster in living memory has drawn together U.S., Asian and European forces in the name of humanitarian aid, deepening relationships among commanders.
"These relationships have been tested ... and the result of that test has been very successful cooperation and that's precisely what we expect for the future," Admiral Thomas Fargo, chief of the U.S. Pacific Command, said on Thursday.
"We will only build and get better in this respect."
A senior Southeast Asian air force officer agreed.
"The relationships have always been close," he told Reuters after an informal meeting of regional defence chiefs in Malaysia. "We know each other by name and call each other by phone."
Around 40,000 military personnel from more than a dozen nations poured into disaster areas around the Indian Ocean to ferry aid to the survivors of the Dec. 26 tsunami, which killed more than 225,000 people in a dozen countries.
The United States and Indian defence forces have together deployed more than 32,000 troops, sailors and aircrew in what is for each its biggest international peacetime relief effort.
Japan is deploying around 1,000 troops, its largest military mission for disaster assistance since World War Two. China's army airlifted tonnes of relief supplies -- the country's record humanitarian aid pledges reflecting its growing diplomatic clout.
Fargo said deeper relationships had been forged between military forces at both senior and junior officer levels. Such ties could help avoid future misunderstandings at sea, in the air or on land and avert a hostile incident.
"Certainly these personal relationships count," he said. "For example, when this disaster happened, all of the senior military leaders were on the phone to each other within a matter of hours.
"And that's exactly the way that I would expect we would handle any significant security concern."
Military ties in the Indian and Pacific Oceans are maintained every year via war games, some actually aimed at ensuring smooth cooperation at times of natural disaster, a U.S. officer said.
In 1991, U.S. and Asian forces worked beside each other in a relief effort in Bangladesh after a cyclone killed some 138,000 people. Troops from rivals India and Pakistan also joined in.
And the first signs in the aftermath of last month's tsunami were that catastrophe could build new military relationships.
On a visit to the devastated Indonesian region of Aceh after the tsunami, U.S. Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz suggested it was time to raise contact with Indonesian forces, out of favour due to their human rights record, and ease limits on military sales to Jakarta.
But the chances of the U.S. Congress approving arms sales to Indonesia appear mixed. Opinion is divided between Republicans and Democrats, who have asked to first see progress on human rights.
Mark Valencia, a maritime security expert based in Hawaii, said he doubted the relief effort would also make U.S. forces any more welcome in the Strait of Malacca, a focus of global security concerns and one of the world's busiest sea lanes.
"I don't think they can use this ... to prise their way into the Malacca Strait," he said, citing reports that Indonesia demanded U.S. aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln, used as a base for Aceh relief flights, to leave its waters while its flight crews carried out training flights.
The Strait of Malacca, which runs past Aceh, is policed by Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore. U.S. offers to help secure it against attacks on shipping have met a mostly wary response.
Relations between Southeast Asian nations have shown close personal and trading ties do not necessarily progress to military cooperation.
Australia's military has deployed about 1,000 personnel for tsunami relief in Indonesia and has regular contact with several of the region's forces, but its government recently declined to sign the Southeast Asian non-aggression pact.
Regional governments discuss security issues but meetings of Southeast Asian commanders are strictly informal. At a meeting in Kuala Lumpur this week in the wake of the tsunami, they shied away from serious multi-lateral issues. Some spent about as much time playing golf as they did in meetings.
(Additional reporting by Dayan Candappa in Colombo and Vicky Allen in Washington)
Tuesday January 25, 8:21 AM AP :
EDITOR'S NOTE: This is one of a series of special reports by AP correspondents marking one month since the tsunami wrought death and devastation across Asia and Africa on Dec 26.
By DENIS D. GRAY Associated Press Writer
ABOARD THE USS ABRAHAM LINCOLN (AP) _ American warships plowed through seas to reach survivors. Jet fighter pilots, who not long ago bombed Iraq, shouldered bags of rice for the hungry as helicopters swooped down from the skies to rush medicines into ravaged Muslim villages.
The U.S. military operation to aid Asia's tsunami victims, which is beginning to draw down, has proved effective in both relieving suffering and repairing America's bruised image abroad. But the effort probably won't be enough to erase fears, especially in the Muslim world, that the United States remains a nation bent on imposing its will through military muscle, analysts say. The largest American military deployment in Asia since the Vietnam War may also reshape Washington's future relations with Indonesia, the world's most populous Muslim nation.
"As public relations it could hardly be better at a time when the U.S. profile globally is at an all-time post-World War II low," said Jeffrey Winters, a professor of political economy at Northwestern University in Illinois. "The fact that the U.S. response was quick, massive and appeared to ask for nothing as a quid pro quo, casts the United States in a very positive light." But the American expert on Indonesia said countries in the tsunami-hit region also regard the U.S. military as "a kind of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde."
"The fact that the United States has shown itself willing to attack a country that has not attacked it is very worrisome to countries around the world," Winter said. "And having a forward (military) presence allows that kind of foreign policy tool to be used readily."
Chandra Muzzafar, a political commentator in Malaysia, Indonesia's mostly Muslim neighbor, says reactions in the region are mixed, and that Islamic radicals are unlikely to change their anti-American attitude because of the tsunami relief operation.
A Thai Muslim academic, Vitaya Visetrat, said Washington wants to expand its influence in the region under the guise of the humanitarian mission. Fauzan al-Anshori, a spokesman for militant Muslim group Majelis Mujahidin Indonesia, said the military operation in Aceh could be a precursor to American businesses taking over rehabilitation projects as had occurred in Afghanistan and Iraq.
"I think Iraq has had a very big impact, not just on Muslims but people everywhere, and they see the American military presence as, to put it a little crudely, a `necessary evil,'" Muzzafar said. This presence includes more than 13,000 servicemen and an air and sea armada of 16 Navy vessels, 41 helicopters and 34 fixed wing aircraft. An estimated US$6 million (€4.6 million) is being spent daily on the operation.
U.S. troops have gone ashore in Indonesia, Sri Lanka and Thailand to deliver 7.8 million kilograms (17.2 million pounds) of relief supplies, clear beaches of debris and help shattered communities rebuild.
Survivors have welcomed the Americans warmly. Indonesian villagers offered helicopter crews broad smiles, waves and thumbs-up signs as they rushed food and water into their shattered communities. In Sri Lanka, victims in the southern town of Galle greeted unarmed Marines with quiet gratitude.
Villagers have mobbed U.S. helicopters as aid supplies were unloaded _ a sign of the still urgent need for help. At least once, an Indonesian soldier fired a shot into the air to control the crowd, narrowly missing the aircraft's rotor.
"We're still angry about what the Americans are doing in Iraq and Palestine," said Jasriet, a volunteer aid worker in the tsunami-hit city of Banda Aceh, who like many Indonesians uses just one name. "But we can also see that they're here to help. I'll forget politics and think of helping the people."
The Pacific Command says the immediate relief phase is nearing an end, and it would begin withdrawing troops. Adm. Thomas Fargo, who commands U.S. forces in the Asia-Pacific region, said his troops would continue to "respond to specific requests of host nations."
The need for helicopters to reach isolated areas along Sumatra's devastated western coastline is still regarded as urgent and might keep the U.S. forces Indonesia for some time. There, Navy and Marine units are treading lightly on sensitive terrain.
"Your conduct and commitment on shore is nearly as important as the relief effort itself as far as relations with the rest of the world," Capt. Kendall L. Card, the commanding officer of the USS Abraham Lincoln, told his crew.
U.S. Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz told helicopter pilots aboard the Lincoln they were both "angels of mercy" and instruments of foreign policy at a time when Muslim extremism stalked the world.
The message was clear: helping Muslims, especially the deeply orthodox ones in Aceh, might improve America's position in the Islamic world. And the subtext read: a successful operation could repair complex, acrimonious relations with Indonesia.
"People can see we're not bad," Petty Officer 3rd Class Darcy Plumley said this week while taking a break from loading supplies at Banda Aceh's airport. "All you see is the bad news from Iraq," said Plumley, 23, from Sallisaw, Oklahoma.
U.S. President George W. Bush's administration has campaigned hard against congressional opposition to lifting a ban on weapons sales to Indonesia's military. Here, U.S. officers talk of excellent working relations with their Indonesian counterparts that could lead to better things. Wolfowitz _ a former ambassador to Jakarta _ argues that normalizing relations is justified by the need to help Indonesia fight terrorist groups operating in the country.
The military is eager to re-establish ties for its own ability to function. But memories of the late 1950s, when the U.S. supplied rebels in Sumatra, haven't faded and there are concerns that U.S. presence could buttress insurgents of the Free Aceh Movement.
"It's not just nationalist sensitivity but fear of embarrassment and exposure of a range of things which would put the Indonesian military in an extremely negative light _ mass graves, rapes, torture, attacks on unarmed civilians, corruption, smuggling," Winters said.
The arms ban was imposed in 1991 after Indonesian troops gunned down more than 250 unarmed protesters in East Timor.
Close attention will be paid to how much and for how long Washington contributes to post-tsunami reconstruction.
"The challenge I see for U.S. policy is maintaining presence in the rebuilding," says Arun Swamy, a South Asia expert at the East-West Center in Hawaii. "Is this administration going to let its gaze waver enough from the Middle East to engage in a long term rebuilding effort?"
Associated Press writer Edward Harris in Banda Aceh contributed to this report.
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A discount policy was introduced with effect from the conclusion of the AGM held on 14 January 2010. This policy is to ensure that the Ordinary shares trade at close to net asset value through a combination of share buy-backs and the issue of new Ordinary shares at a premium to net asset value where demand exceeds supply.
The Directors will continue to seek the renewal of the Company's authority to buy back Ordinary shares annually and at other times should this prove necessary. Purchases of Ordinary shares will only be made through the market for cash at prices below the prevailing net asset value of the Ordinary share. The Directors will be authorised to cancel any Ordinary shares purchased under such authority or to hold them in Treasury.
The Directors will continue to seek the renewal of the Company's authority to issue shares but will only do so when they believe it is advantageous to the Company's shareholders and for the purposes of operating the Company's discount policy. In no circumstances would such issue of new shares result in a dilution of the net asset value per share.

subset: commoncrawl


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OnePlus is all set to launch their next flagship model – the OnePlus 5. Various rumours have been circulating around. For now, there is no information about the phone's specifications or anything. But there were few images that have been out from some sources that give some interesting info about the device.
OnePlus 5 to come with Dual camera
An image revealed by India Today suggests that the OnePlus 5 may feature a dual camera setup. It was stated in many rumours but now this image confirms it. It will come with the dual camera.The cameras are arranged one below another and the flash is below the cameras. The back which is showed in the image also shows the brushed aluminium back panel. Also, there is no fingerprint sensor on the back (at least according to the image). This means it must most probably be on the front below the screen or on the sides with any buttons.
Other than that, the antenna lines are all the same in OnePlus 5. The brushed aluminium back is similar to the OnePlus 3T Midnight Black edition. And the curved edges on the back with the brushed aluminium finish adds more premium feel to the device. It is also expected to come in black, grey and gold colours. The phone will also run Android Nougat based OxygenOS.
OnePlus 5 Specifications
Based on previous rumours, we can say that the OnePlus 5 will feature a 5.5-inch 2K resolution display, a Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 chipset and a 3,000 mAh battery. It will have at least 6 GB of RAM (Some rumours state that it will come with a gigantic 8 GB RAM) and will come with two variants with 64 GB and 128 GB internal storages. Of course, none of these specifications and information is officially confirmed. So we cannot say that this is final or real. We can at least assume it will close to these when the device is launched.
OnePlus 5 Price
Since we don't even know about the real specifications of the device, the price is still unclear. We have to wait till the official announcement of the device to know anything about it. OnePlus 5 will be priced aggressively just like its predecessors. We can say that it will bring the specifications of a phone like Galaxy S8 at the price similar to the Xiaomi Mi 6. India will be an important market to OnePlus as it was all these times and they are keen on bringing out the best phone at a competitive price.
Latest Update: OnePlus 5 confirmed, releasing this summer
"Some people think we have the best product while some think we have the best product at a given price. This caveat is something I don't want. We just want to create the best products. Period. No caveats," Pei had told India Today tech. "We don't want consumers to see the price of the phone". – Carl Pei, co-founder of OnePlus said in an interview.
So although these specifications and things are not final, the image provided may get some tweaks from OnePlus, we will get the final information in the official announcement which will happen in the next two months. So stay tuned until then and find all about the upcoming OnePlus 5 soon after the announcement.


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Razer Blade Stealth Ultrabook Review: 12.5 inch 4K UHD IGZO Laptop
Razer's Blade Stealth 4K laptop is one truly superb 4K performer for an Ultrabook of its compact size and by the standards of just about any 4K laptop we've reviewed to-date. In this machine, Razer really packed in the power and delivers the goods almost as well as can be expected for any 4K display and gaming device that's this small.
The Blade Stealth's internal Core i7-6500U processor is one of the fastest currently available on the market and is definitely the best that Intel has to offer for the laptop market. This means some serious kick for handling of the 4K needs that the Stealth has. Furthermore, while its sold separately as an accessory, Razer's external Core GPU unit also contributes a serious kick in terms of video crunching power that makes the Blade Stealth into one of the best 4K-capable Ultrabooks we've looked at so far.
However, we are talking about 4K resolution in a laptop here and while the Blade can handle these kinds of graphics for tamer visual needs like video and graphics editing at this massive resolution, 4K gaming at anything approaching high or ultra detail levels and reasonable frame rates is out of the question, even with the Core CPU unit and the i7 CPU that comes packed into this Ultrabook. This deficiency for handling 4K gaming is something we've noticed in every 4K laptop we've yet looked at and the Blade Stealth is unfortunately no exception. Likewise for high-end games at HD resolution. These are more in line with the Blade's capabilities but playing them at high or ultra-detail levels while still achieving fast frame rates is not an easy task.
In simple terms, the Razer Blade Stealth can handle the basics of 4K video, animations and other more static graphics in this large ultra HD resolution but it still doesn't quite cut the mustard for real 4K gaming, but then no current 4K laptop does and in any case, Razer didn't build the Blade Stealth 4K model Ultrabook with gaming in mind or as an advertised potential use in this laptop. Unlike some other brands we've seen, the company seems to be conscious that 4K gaming isn't really quite yet a laptop level activity.
Right off the bat, the compact and elegantly simple design of the Razer Blade Stealth is quite wonderful to deal with. This Ultrabook is small and some users might find its 12.5 inch display to be a bit on the small side but for those of you want a more economically sized 4K laptop, few other models beat the Blade at that game. Furthermore, the aluminum chassis offers a body that's both light weight and relatively tough. This is an Ultrabook that you can pick up and casually toss into your backpack without worrying that it's going to fall apart at the drop of a hat. In addition to these qualities, the Blade Stealth simply looks good. We like its color and we definitely like its mostly conservative but with a touch of flash style.
Moving beyond external superficial design, the Stealth also offers some superb specs for its relatively low price. In comparison to some of the 4K laptops we've previously seen selling for close to or even above $2000 but with inferior processing and graphics power and storage, the Stealth is nicely decked out with its SSD storage, robust GPU and excellent Intel CPU. Additionally, its connectivity is pretty good and we definitely appreciate the inclusion of a Thunderbolt 3 port, allowing for second generation USB 3.1, DisplayPort and charging all in the same single slot.
Additionally, the Blade Stealth comes with the first individually lit RGB keyboard keys we've yet seen in a notebook and its 4K display is downright vibrant, with very good contrast, great color and of course, touch functionality. Overall, the Razer Blade Stealth offers solid performance almost across the board.
3.8 - 17 Review
On the other hand, the Blade Stealth is certainly not perfect, with the keyboard keys being a bit too shallow for our liking and the bezel along the edge of the display taking up a more space than we like. I mean, Razer wanted to make a compact laptop, so why not shrink it just a tiny bit further with a reduced bezel or better yet, design the device to come with a slightly larger display space instead, again while sacrificing a pointlessly wide bezel.
Additionally, we don't particularly like the short battery life of this particular Ultrabook. For an "ultraportable" compact notebook, it dies in a little over 5 hours after fairly normal (not too heavy) use and while we don't expect 8 to 10 hour battery charge times for a 4K laptop, it would have been nice for such a compact device to at least manage 6.5 to 7 hours. In addition to this, the heat this little laptop's CPU is capable of generating can be quite ferocious –hot enough to literally cause pain if you have it sitting on exposed skin and this heat generation is what you can particularly expect if you use the Blade Stealth for some more intensive 4K graphics rendering through high performance games.
• Type: compact Ultrabook
• Screen size: 12.5 inches
• Aspect ratio: 16:9
• Resolution: 3840 x 2160
• Included OS: Windows 10 64-bit
• Battery life: variable, depending on processor and GPU usage, nominally 5 hours
• Processor: Intel Dual Core i7-6700HQ 2.6 GHz Processor
• RAM: 8GB Dual-Channel System Memory (LPDDR3-1866MHz)
• Weight: 2.75 lbs. / 1.25 kg
• Storage 128GB / 256GB / 512GB PCIe SSD options
• GPU: Intel® HD Graphics 520 (external Razer Core GPU expansion box coming mid-year)
• Connectivity: Wireless-AC (802.11a/b/g/n/ac + Bluetooth® 4.1), Ethernet, 1 x Microphone-in/Headphone-out jack
1 x USB 3.1 TYPE C port (Thunderbolt 3)
2 x USB 3.0 port(s)
1 x HDMI 1.4
• Card Reader: 2 -in-1 card reader ( SD/ SDXC/ MMC)
• Built-in 2.0MP webcam
The 12.5 inch 4K ultra HD display of the Razer Blade Stealth is one of the real winners in this little Ultrabook's design and specs. It's definitely a cut above the average for the laptops we've reviewed so far on 4K.com and despite its small size, it impresses in pretty much all metrics of quality. First of all, the cramming of 3840 x 2160 pixels of resolution into such a small screen produces a massive pixel density of 352 PPI which makes it impossible to detect pixilation with the naked eye in a way you won't see in even the very best 4K TVs on the market. Furthermore, Windows 10 graphic elements ,which can support 4K resolution, work to make the display quality even smoother in its overall performance.
Furthermore, the display panel is made up of the much less common IGZO (Indium, Gallium Zinc Oxide) technology and this results in excellent viewing angles, superb color gamut coverage of 100% for the Adobe and sRGB color space spectrums and as a result, colors in the Blade Stealth look deeply vibrant, varied, accurate and rich. They're simply striking in fact, especially on such a small PC display.
While you can never really expect too much from the built-in audio of almost any laptop (at least not in comparison to the power provided by external speakers), the Razer Blade Stealth surprises in this minor area of its performance with the quality it outputs. The small stereo speakers are located on either side of the keyboard and offer what we'd definitely call above-average sound performance.
The audio quality is on the tinny side but there is an audible bass and the volume they can output is definitely loud enough to fill a room, even if some distortion appears at maximum volume. Overall though, if set to a volume of maybe 85%, the speaker's quality is great by laptop standards and sets a decent balance between decibel level and clarity. A mid-range portable external speaker setup might offer only modestly more robust audio quality than these speakers. And again, to see this kind of audio performance in such a small laptop is a testament to the overall quality of the Razer Blade Stealth.
The jet black all-aluminum body of the Blade Stealth looks great in our opinion. While it does come with a few "edgy" gamer-oriented design tweaks like a glowing green logo on the lid and keyboard buttons that light up in all sorts of brilliant ways, all of these decorative light show features can be deactivated in the laptop's software settings and in any case, they're not nearly as blatantly visible as we've seen them in some "gaming" laptops. In other words, while the Blade Stealth definitely has a gamer's feel to its external design, it also offers enough more conservative appearance to be usable as a work laptop without being too eye-catching.
Overall, the Stealth's design is in any case quite nice. It's slim, extremely light at just over 2 lbs and very smooth in its mutedness. The laptop's profile is quite thin and the matte black aluminum finish is both tough and very modern looking with a robust feel to the touch. On the other hand, the very thin keyboard buttons simply don't move or spring enough for our liking and the feel of them when using this Ultrabook for prolonged typing is decidedly weak, almost as if you're not really pressing them properly even if text appears on the screen. This may seem like a minor detail but it is annoying. Furthermore, Razer put way too much real estate in this tiny laptop into the bezel around the display. It's too thick and while it makes the laptop look bigger than it is, we consider this pointless. Why not just deliver a larger display space of maybe 13.5 inches in the same relatively compact external form factor.
Finally, the keyboard also comes with a Chroma backlight feature that is definitely unique. These backlights for the individual keys offer one multicolored LED per key and their main benefits are partly of a rather cool looking multi-colored aesthetic appeal and partly functional in that the lighting array can be configured to allow specific keys to light up with a specific color for easier accessibility and quick-access. Thus, if you're making heavy use of, say, the shift key, you can have it light with one specific color while all other keys stay turned off. Furthermore, the entire keyboard backlight can be reprogrammed to display almost any color you like or light up in an animated way that can create rather cool rainbow or ripple effects, such as a radiating circular wave of light that moves away across other keys around any one key you press down. Overall, all of this keyboard backlighting is hardly more than a cool decorative bonus with minimal practical functionality but we liked it anyhow, especially when using the Razer in a darker room.
3.8 - 17 Review
In keeping with its tendency towards lots of power in a small body, the Blade Stealth also delivers the goods nicely on internal hardware and connectivity specs. This Ultrabook comes in three SSD options, 128GB, 256GB and 512GB. While none of these except the 512GB are particularly great for major data, media and video storage in the Blade, the SSD technology delivers some lighting fast performance, start times and data retrieval for the Windows 10 operating system or any other software installed directly on the laptop's solid state hard drive. And if you need extra storage space for large volumes of media, it's easy to simply hook up an external hard drive to the Blade Stealth.
And speaking of connectivity, the Blade Stealth does a very decent job of it. While the selection of ports isn't as big as some we've seen, all the essentials are covered well enough and with some decent bonus technology. Thus, you get your hands on dual USB 3.0 ports, a headset jack, a single HDMI 1.4 port and both Bluetooth and WiFi of the 802.11ac caliber. Furthermore, and we particularly liked this, the Blade offers a single quick charging USB-C/Thunderbolt 3 port, which can give massive speeds of up to 40Gbps, beating out even HDMI 2.0 connectivity in its data transfer power.
Hardware-wise, the Razer Blade Stealth is no slouch by any means and handles its 4K resolution well for all normal, moderate visual uses like photo viewing, video, moderate graphics manipulation and light to moderate gaming in Full HD resolutions, even at high levels of detail. On the other hand, 4K gaming at any decent frame rate is pretty much out of the scope of the Blade Stealth and this is pretty much par for the course in the entire world of 4K laptops as we know it so far. On the other hand, Razer is releasing an external Core GPU box sometime in the next couple months and with this new optional addition, the Razer Blade Stealth might easily become the first integrated 4K laptop unit that does actually support even full 4K gameplay to at least some reasonable degree.
For now however, most Full HD games will garner between 15 and 40fps at high or Ultra levels of detail and things like 3D or 4K gaming are unlikely to manage better than 10fps with even slower performance that in some cases goes down to as low as just 2 or 5 fps according to our benchmark results.
On other metrics of hardware performance like video encoding and graphics editing performance, the Blade performs reasonably well though not at what we'd call lightning speed. Furthermore, the SSD card's storage test performance in the Blade is quite impressive. The PCI SSD storage that Razer installed in this Ultrabook runs powerfully fast with excellent reading speeds, a superb random write speed and great sequential write performance. When the Blade Stealth's PCI Express SSD cards are compared to more conventional SATA SSD storage systems like those found in most other 4K and HD laptops, performance really kicks off superbly, with an average sequential write speed of over 1200 megabytes, which far outshines the 500 to 900 megabyte sequential write speeds of similar devices like an ASUS Zenbook , Dell XPS 13 or Microsoft's Surface Pro 4.
Overall, the Razer Blade's dual-core 2.5GHz (3.1GHz Turbo) Core i7-6500U CPU, 8GB 1866MHz LPDDR3 RAM and PCI Express SSD cards deliver some excellent performance in such a small laptop. Later, when it becomes available, the Core external GPU unit will also likely further enhance the hardware and video performance of the Blade Stealth to nearly desktop 4K PC levels of power, for those who want to spend the extra money on the upcoming GPU unit. Pair this laptop with the new GTX 1080 with the Razer Core (Razer has not mentioned if the GTX 1080 is available for the Core yet) and you should be able to play any games on high or ultra high settings.
The Razer Blade Stealth comes packaged up with Windows 10 Pro in its 64-bit version and generally doesn't come with much in the way of what we'd call bloatware software additions. In fact, the laptop is a smooth nearly ready-to-go performer right out of the box and the Windows 10 OS is also nicely suited for 4K resolution in such a small screen, allowing its graphics to scale so that they don't become ridiculously tiny on the Blade's display with its pixel density of 352 PPI.
We'd also like to note that under an energy efficient brightness and activity configuration with a display brightness of just below 200 nits, the Blade Stealth's battery unit can manage just under 380 minutes of constant web use with the WiFi also activated.
The Razer Blade Stealth 12.5 inch 4K UHD Ultrabook is currently selling for a price we consider to be quite decent for the specs it offers: $1399.00 for the 256GB version. 512GB version is selling for $1,599.99.
3.8 - 17 Review
• Fantastic overall performance
• Superb hardware specs
• Excellent display IGZO display
• 4K graphics look great!
• Light and compact
• Great design
• Heats up badly when pushed to Full HD gaming limits
• Overly thick display bezel
• Weak battery power
• Keyboard keys too thin
• No real 4K gaming capacity
More than anything else, we love the Blade Stealth Ultrabook. This is honestly one of the best performing little 4K laptops we've seen so far and if it lacks gaming capacity at 4K resolution, we can't hold that against it much since Razer in any case doesn't advertise the Stealth as a 4K gaming laptop and pretty much no current 4K notebook is capable of fast frame rates with 4K graphics and any decent detail level. For its decent price, the Razer Blade Stealth 4K Ultrabook performs remarkably well with very few flaws.
3.8 - 17 Review


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On Tuesday, Representative LaVar Christensen (Republican – Draper) introduced HB 322 – Religious Liberty Recognition and Protection Act – which is meant to both protect individual religious liberties, but apparently not the rights of the LGBT community – something that flies counter to the wishes of legislative leadership.
This is the third bill to be introduced this session covering these two topics, the others being SB 100 – Antidiscrimination Amendments sponsored by Senator Steve Urquhart (Republican – St. George) as well as HB 66 – Marriage Modifications and HJR 5 – Proposal to Amend Utah Constitution – Protection of Religious Rights, both of which are sponsored by Representative Jacob Andregg (Republican – Lehi).
How Christensen's bill differs from two others is the areas they cover. Andregg's legislation protects clergy and elected officials from opting out of marrying couples whose lifestyle are counter to their religious beliefs. Christensen's bill does not cover this issue directly, instead it protects anyone from being forced to provide services or to comply with policies that go against their "sincerely held religious beliefs."
Christensen's bill provides very strict and limited exceptions to this law for public health and safety, as well as compelling state interest and where no other options are available.
It should be noted that these types of protections have already been well established by the Supreme Court.
Finally, Christensen's language is very thorough and seems to this reader to provide an out for individuals to, in fact, discriminate based on housing and employment, that "a recognized exemption to otherwise generally applicable laws and a valid defense to claims of discrimination by others."
At what point does a protection supersede the exception and vice versa? There is no clear line and will most likely became the subject of litigation in Utah's courts. If a Catholic homeowner refuses to rent to a lesbian woman, is the homeowner exempt? What if it's the only house in her price range? The language is not clear.
This runs counter to Urquhart's bill that specifically includes language regarding sexual orientation and gender identity as being specifically protected from discrimination in housing and employment. SB 100 would clarify that discrimination will not be allowed under the law, and there is little room for interpretation on this fact. If a gay man loses his job specifically because of his sexual orientation, it would be illegal under Urquhart's bill.
HB 322, on the other hand, places the rights of religious liberty above all else – especially if Utah law isn't updated to recognize sexual orientation or gender identity, and will create troublesome ambiguity for the courts.
Indeed, the first language change in his bill states: "All individuals are entitled to fair access to employment opportunities in the state. Such opportunities are vital to the health and well being of all people. The laws of the state shall be fairly applied in balanced recognition and protection of all affected interests." The bill later includes language protecting housing, however the vague nature of the bill's language provides wiggle room and interpretation that may result in lawsuits on both sides. What qualifies as "fairly applied?" How can you measure "balanced recognition and protection?" Will these claims of "affected interest" be redressed in the courts? Once again, the language is not clear.
Vague and somewhat redundant, Christensen's bill provides a gold mine for litigators.
What this bill does have going for it is that it fits the half of the requirements Republican leadership are looking for in light of recent statements by the LDS Church. However, it falls well short of the second requirement most Republican leaders have been calling for – a nondiscrimination aspect that protects those in the LGBT community.
Currently, however, the bill is sloppy and will be divisive for members, probably resulting in horse trading and needless amendments. The fate of the legislation is unknown, as lawmakers have signaled that they want guarantees for the LGBT community as well. By running this legislation without antidiscrimination aspects mixed in, there is a real possibility that no protections for the LGBT community will make it through the legislative process, creating heartburn for many on the hill.
Expect a wide range of possibilities for HB 322 – nothing is certain with this one. As it stands right now, however, it will most likely cause more problems than solutions for the state.
To contact Representative Christensen, click here or call 801-808-5105.
You can track this, and all of our other flagged bills, by clicking here. Need an explanation of scores? Click Here.
|Impact on Average Utahn
|Need for Legislation
|Lemon Score
|Overall Grade


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My September 3, 2015 Enchanté column
Art has shaped John Boxtel's life just as he has shaped a life for and from his sculptures. Creation is his destiny.
The 85-year-old sculptor lives in a secluded home he built near the river outside of Napanee. His sculptures rest in the forest, on his lawn, by the water and in his home. Everywhere I look, I see movement where none exists. A fairy flutters outside the back door.
There's a passion to his work that matches the excitement an observer can see in Boxtel's eyes as he walks around his property. Away from the outside world, it's easy to believe that you've entered an enchanted land when visiting Boxtel's home base.
During his career, in addition to woodworking and sculpting, he's been a teacher, he's built and repaired boats, and he's designed a hotel.
He's just returned from Lunenberg. He wanted to see where the Bluenose was built. Boxtel is a free spirit who meanders where the wind takes him.
His connection to his art is a constant. There's a stability within him.
A pair of wooden shoes sit on a step at the entrance to Boxtel's home, a reminder of his Dutch roots. Inside the front door hangs a pair of Dutch vintage skates—Boxtel's own—hand-forged blades (theyr'e still sharp) under a wooden footplate, with tie-on straps.
Boxtel grew up in Holland and came to Canada in 1954.
"I was 24 going on 14," he says. "I think I came because I wanted freedom. I said it was to get away from my mother. I needed space."
Yet, when he approaches a sculpture of his mother in his yard, he rests a hand fondly on the shoulder of the life-size work of art.
"That's me with my mother," says Boxtel, as he looks at the sculpture of a pregnant woman holding a young girl on her lap. He points to the girl. "That's my sister. She died as a young child. I am still inside my mother there. My mother wanted to replace my sister with me when I was born, and that just doesn't work. It was difficult."
He admits that there were other reasons for leaving his native Holland.
"The caste system was still very strong in Holland," he says. "There was no way to move or grow, even laterally."
Boxtel studied building technology in Holland but wasn't happy.
"I never had a sense of direction," he says. "I left on impulse and followed a path all over the globe. I found a new freedom in Canada."
After arriving in Ontario more than 60 years ago, Boxtel met woodcarver Claude Taft, connected with the Kleinburg Gallery.
Boxtel eventually landed at the Ontario College of Art where he completed his degree over six years. Along the way he got married and had three children.
"I was so lucky," he says. "At that time, all the great artists were still teaching at the college. Thomas Bowie taught me sculpture, Gould taught painting, [Richard] Nevitt taught life drawing. I got well educated from the ground up, then went on my own and did my thing. But I never really believed I was an artist. Only in the last five years have I accepted that I'm an artist. All of a sudden, it explains all these things, my restlessness."
Divorced in 1967, Boxtel lived in Fenlon Falls, where he started an industrial program in the local high school. He taught architecture, drafting and design. In an odd twist, he also taught ballroom dancing.
"They were putting on a play, Annie Get Your Gun. I was friends with one of the English teachers, so they got me to create the set. It turned out no one knew how to dance for the show, so I also became the ballroom dance teacher."
Teachers from Burlington visited Fenlon Falls and convinced Boxtel to move and teach at their larger school.
But by 1975 he was restless again.
"I took a year and bummed around Europe on a bicycle."
Back in Canada, he continued his career in sculpting, woodworking and design. He even designed a hotel in Mexico and built all the furniture.
"My girlfriend at the time was a real estate agent," he says. "She wanted to manage the hotel. I was supposed to be part and parcel under her management."
He stops and smiles at me.
"I'm not very manageable, so I left."
After retiring from his teaching duties, Boxtel left his home in Stoney Creek and bought a house on Wallace Island in the St. Lawrence River and lived there for about five years.
"For my dock light, I built a sculpture of Diogenes."
Somehow that seems fitting, but the Goddess Libertas would have been equally apt.
From there, Boxtel moved to Portsmouth Village before finally settling at his current location outside Napanee.
The original model of one of his prized sculptures is in a field on the way to his home.
"It's ten kids flying kites," he says. "I didn't sell it. After it was cast in brass, I donated it to my home town in Holland. I am celebrated, and I am absolutely happy. It made my life come full circle."
He takes me to a room in his home where there is a giant wood carving on the wall. He touches and runs his hand across it.
"This was the first piece I ever carved," he says. "I was in Holland recently and discovered it."
He bought back the carving, created when he was 23, and brought it home to Canada.
Although Boxtel started carving when he was a kid, he didn't seriously get into sculpting until 1960.
He's been sculpting since. You can see his beautiful bust of Molly Brant in a courtyard behind Rideaucrest Home in Kingston, facing the river, just as Molly Brant's home would have in the 18th century.
"I spent a lot of time in Deseronto and heard quite a bit about Molly Brant," he says. "Molly Brant became my hero. I decided to do a sculpture of her head and donate it to the Native community for Kingston. But this guy from the 'Hysterical Society' wanted to put it on a cairn. I didn't allow it. I designed a column and said I was donating the head but it had to be on the column."
Boxtel says the organizers insisted on a cairn and he finally relented. He shakes his head and waves his arms as he explains this. In other words, this time it wasn't worth his effort to fight the bureaucracy.
Now that Kingston's newest school will be named in Molly Brant's honor, Boxtel is proposing to create a full-sized sculpture of the First Nations woman. But after the trouble he had last time, this one won't be a donation.
In Kingston, Boxtel became friends with Flora MacDonald. She sat for him as he created a sculpture of her. He hopes this sculpture finds a home in Kingston.
He takes me into his workshop and shows me large barrels full of clay.
"I've kept that clay damp for more than 50 years," he says.
He dips his hand into the clay and looks at it. He holds it for a moment, then puts it back and gently covers it with a wet cloth. He closes the lid and rests his hand on top for an extra moment.
"Every piece I've ever created is in there. That's the clay that's formed everything I've done."
At 85, John Boxtel continues to find new things to do.
"If there's no hope, there no life anymore. I always assume there is a future. Life goes on. You live until you die. You can't stop living or you die. A lot of people retire and then die."
He still sculpts, but admits he pulled away from the scene for several years.
"I got sick of the politics," he says.
He builds tree houses and does a lot of woodwork in his studio. He teaches drawing at the local outreach centre. He's also completed a book—Studio—about his work. He's looking forward to the book's release next month.
This wonderful artist, who lives in his own idyllic setting, says life is not about the material.
"I don't give a shit about money," he says. "I always tell people I'm independently poor."
Perhaps, but there's a richness to his spirit and art that is priceless.
Mark Bergin on Twitter @markaidanbergin.


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Page One
North Shattuck Plaza Planned for Gourmet Ghetto
A tree-lined plaza. Grassy area for feasting on a slice of Cheese Board pizza. Small kiosks housing newsstands, cafes and flower shops.
These are a few of the possibilities in the works for a reconfigured streetscape at the northern tip of the gourmet ghetto, a stretch currently dominated by a complicated conflux of roadways.
The project is still in its infancy, but some general ideas include broadening the eastern sidewalk along Shattuck Avenue from Vine Street to Rose Street and building a pedestrian plaza, closing a stretch of Shattuck Avenue where the Ecology Center holds a weekly farmers' market, redirecting traffic onto Shattuck Place and redistributing parking. Trees, grass, benches, exhibit space and other pedestrian-friendly amenities at the plaza would feature prominently, project organizers say.
If this sounds familiar, that's because it is. The same scheme won approval from the City Council in 2001, but proponents never found a funding mechanism and the project was subsequently tabled. Now, more than five years later, community members are brainstorming with some top city officials to develop North Shattuck Plaza on their own.
At the helm of the mobilization team is Planning Commissioner David Stoloff, chair of North Shattuck Plaza, Inc., a nonprofit organization formed in February to develop and manage the project.
The nonprofit's board of directors includes Councilmember Laurie Capitelli of District 5, who is also a partner at Red Oak Realty, retired Councilmember Mim Hawley (also of District 5), former Board of Education Director Lloyd Lee, the executive director of the North Shattuck business association and others.
Stoloff's overarching motivation is to develop an awkward streetscape into usable, pedestrian-friendly public space.
"I would love to have such a plaza to grace the community where I spend a lot of time," he said.
The surrounding area is made up of retail shops, restaurants, cafes and side streets with single-family homes, rooming houses and apartments. Stoloff, a Bates appointee to the Planning Commission, owns property in the adjacent neighborhood.
North Shattuck Plaza Inc. will finance the plaza in collaboration with the business association, which tucked away $250,000 for the project. In 2000, reconfiguring the area was estimated at half a million dollars, Stoloff said, though he guesses costs have gone up. Project planners are looking into securing grants and private donations, hoping, as Stoloff says that "the project will sell itself." The city of Berkeley is also providing staff time, per a unanimous decision by the Berkeley City Council in September.
Berkeley-based landscape architecture firm Meyer and Silberberg is in the process of drafting a detailed plan and cost estimate of the project under the direction of a design committee comprised of residents, business owners and board members.
A preliminary scheme should be available in June, Stoloff said. Depending on how much the plan deviates from what council originally approved—a negative declaration on an initial environmental study--project developers may need to conduct more studies and go through additional approval steps.
The project's four main goals are to provide community space, a place for the farmers' market to expand, maintain the same number of parking spaces and uphold the flow of traffic, said Heather Hensley, executive director of the North Shattuck Association, the district's business group.
The latter has been cause for concern among some residents and business owners who fear the new configuration will exacerbate congestion.
When the plaza idea was first floated, the fire department reportedly squawked over losing a thoroughfare to the hills and access to Shattuck Commons, the triangular commercial island where Shattuck Avenue splits off. But on Wednesday, Deputy Fire Chief David Orth said an alternative route would not cause an "appreciable delay." Plaza planners have also proposed incorporating an emergency road into the project.
Fred Shokouh, who owns Bel Forno at the fore of Shattuck Commons, worries that the closure will impact business. Patrons may have more difficultly parking and accessing the café, which has one entrance on Shattuck, he said.
"A business like ours, people come because it is convenient to park," he said.
It could also cause backups at Long's across the street at Rose and Shattuck, he said. A traffic study conducted along with the initial study in 2000 found that traffic on Shattuck Avenue between Rose and Shattuck Place is mild enough to "allow consideration of reducing or eliminating service to through-travel, without undue impacts on surrounding streets and intersections." The study did not include a quantitative analysis.
Peter Levitt, co-owner of Saul's, which is located on Shattuck north of Vine, supports the project because in the long term, it would boost business, he said.
"Generally, when you create an urban landscape that is people-friendly, the merchant community overall would benefit," he said.
Others are waiting until concrete details are released before coming down on one side or another.
Todd Paradis of Safeway, which stands adjacent to the proposed reconfiguration, can't form an opinion just yet, since he doesn't know how the grocery store will be affected, he said.
"They have a lot more work to do on showing us the configuration of the street," he said. "[Until] they get down to the nitty gritty, I don't think we're anywhere."


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Le Saint-Martin - 15 étages (2010)After 57 years, it's bye-bye Ben's Sandwich shop is toast. Montreal landmark closed in December and now faces the wrecker's ball MARY LAMEY, The Gazette Published: Saturday, May 12, 2007 Ben's Restaurant, a Montreal landmark closed in December after a lengthy labour dispute, has been sold and will face the wrecker's ball. SIDEV Realty Corp. has purchased the three-storey building at the corner of Metcalfe St. and de Maisonneuve Blvd., from the Kravitz family. The deal is expected to close on June 18. The purchase price has not been disclosed. SIDEV plans to demolish the building and is examining various options for redeveloping the 6,000-square-foot site. One option would be to build a 12- to-15-storey boutique hotel with retail space on the lower floors, or condominiums, said SIDEV president Sam Benatar, who began discussions with the Kravitz family several months ago. Ben's Deli in 2006: The municipal tax roll pegs its value at $2.62 million.View Larger Image View Larger Image Ben's Deli in 2006: The municipal tax roll pegs its value at $2.62 million. "It's a very small site, but what an incredible location," Benatar said. His firm is also open to working with the Hines-SITQ partnership, which is planning a 28-storey office tower on the lot immediately east of Ben's. SIDEV has been in touch with the SITQ and expects to meet with the real estate development arm of the Caisse de depot et placement du Quebec to see whether they can work together. His firm is not planning to sell the land, Benatar said firmly. "We did not buy in order to sell, but we are open to discussing all possibilities." A spokesman for the SITQ said he was unaware of the transaction and doubted the developer would alter its project to incorporate the Ben's property. "We are moving ahead with the project we presented publicly last October," said Jacques-Andre Charland, the SITQ's director of public affairs. The Texas-based Hines Group purchased the parking lot immediately east of Ben's in 2004. It partnered with the SITQ, a major landlord, to build the $150-million project that was to virtually wrap around the restaurant, one of the last three-storey structures along the canyon of office towers on De Maisonneuve Blvd. W. Hines has said publicly that it had hoped to strike a deal to acquire the neighbouring land, too. The Kravitz family has vehemently denied that it was ever approached about selling. The family could not be reached for comment yesterday. Ben Kravitz opened a deli offering smoked meat on St. Lawrence Blvd. in 1908. The Metcalfe St. eatery, with its wrap-around illuminated sign, opened in 1950. The current municipal tax roll pegs the property's value at $2.62 million, including $1.96 million for the land and $660,700 for the building. "There's no question of leaving the building in place. It isn't worth anything," Benatar said. SIDEV owns and manages large office and commercial properties around Montreal, including the Gordon Brown building at 400 de Maisonneuve Blvd. W. in the fur district, the jewellery business hub at 620 Cathcart St. and a Chabanel district property at 9250 Park Ave. It is also moving ahead with a plan to demolish the Spectrum and build a $120-million retail and office project at the southeast corner of Bleury and Ste. Catherine Sts.


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One carcass is glued up. One block under the lower shelf moved under the clamp slightly. I should have shot a few nails to hold it in place like Sommerfeld recommends, (and had done before), so one back corner of the bottom shelf is just slighty lower, but OIWN (Only I Will Notice(!)). The lower shelf tongue goes into the face frame slot, but the sides are just supported by blocks underneath on both sides. Yet again, I chose to ignore instructions and it bit me in the a$$.
I decided to put a center divider in the second cabinet, so I could put shelves in one or both sides, or hang tools in one or both sides. The center divider reduces the hanging space slightly, but makes the one cabinet more flexible.
Although I wanted the cabinets to be the same as what I made before, I think I'm going to use 1/4 maple ply for the door panels, rather than all maple. $50 for the rails and stiles + $175 for solid center panel, or $35 for 1/4 maple ply center panel. ($140 savings for ply). Carcass was ~$120 3/4 ply, + $100 faceframe.
Total $445, or $305 with ply. Ouch.
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I'll finish glue up on the second carcass, then decide. This is all a learning experience after all , so I may go for broke. Ha Ha.
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The Lambourn Valley Railway
History of a Branch Line: 1898 to 1973
It must be regarded as quite miraculous that the Lambourn Valley Railway actually existed at all as an independent company. Especially when you consider that this area was predominantly GWR country. But for seven years, exist it most certainly did.
However, in 1905, the Lambourn Valley Railway Company was swallowed up by the mighty Great Western Railway and, although it never lost any of its rural charm, the line from Newbury to Lambourn and back again became, in essence, just another GWR branch line.
For all that, however, the LVR, both as an independent line and in its subsequent GWR incarnation, possessed a unique charm and became - as so many branch lines did - an essential part of the communities through which it passed before its official closure in 1960.
This site tells the story of that branch line and of some of the people who gave their lives to it, and helped to make it what it was. And if you have any information about the LVR that you'd like to share, please get in touch.
NB: A major redesign and content update is currently underway. Keep checking this site and soon you'll be greeted by a brand new site.


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The circus doesn't come to San Francisco, but its performers do, sexy and talented dreamers who bring a creative energy that has transformed the city's nightlife and counterculture. Spinning aerialists and dancing clowns now proliferate at clubs and parties, and their number has more than doubled in recent years.
They come from towns across the country often via Burning Man, where they discover their inner performers, dying to burst out, and other kindred spirits to a city with a rich circus tradition, which they tweak and twist into something new, a hybrid of the arts and punk sideshow weirdness. It's the ever-evolving world of Indie Circus.
One of the biggest banners these performers now dance and play under is Bohemian Carnival, which draws together some of the city's best indie circus acts, including Vau de Vire Society, the clown band Gooferman, and Fou Fou Ha, acts that fluidly mix with one another and the audience.
Last Saturday, as families across the country shopped and shared Thanksgiving leftovers, this extended family of performers rehearsed for that night's Bohemian Carnival. Fou Fou Ha was in the Garage, a SoMa performance space, working on a new number celebrating beer with founder/choreographer Maya Culbertson, a.k.a. MamaFou, pushing for eight-count precision.
"Do it again," she tells her eight high-energy charges, who look alternatively sexy and zany even without the colorful and slightly grotesque clown costumes they don for shows. I watch from the wings as they drill through the number again and again, struck by how the improvised comedy at the song's end changes every time, someone's new shtick catching my eye and making me smile.
"That's what we love the most, the improv element to it," Culbertson tells me. "We see how far you can take it and not break character."
As Fou Fou Ha wrapped up and headed home to get ready for the show, Gooferman and Vau de Vire were just starting to rehearse and set up over at the party venue, DNA Lounge. Reggie Ballard was up a tall ladder setting the rigging, the dancers stretched, Vau de Vire co-founder Mike Gaines attended to a multitude of details, and Gooferman frontmen Vegas and Boenobo the Klown played the fools.
"I feel like I'm on acid," Vegas said evenly, his long Mohawk standing tall.
"Are you?" Boenobo said, perhaps a little jealous.
"No, I wish," Vegas replied. "But that's why it's weird."
"Huh," Boenobo deadpanned. "Weird."
Fucking clowns. I decide to chat up a dancer, Rachel Strickland, the newest member of Vau de Vire, who stretched and unabashedly changed into her rehearsal clothes as she told me about why she moved here from North Carolina in July 2007.
"I waited a long time for this. I always knew I wanted to come to San Francisco and work on the stage, doing something in the line of Moulin Rouge, with the costumes and that kind of decadence and debauchery," Strickland said, oozing passion for her craft and the life she's chosen, one she said has met her expectations. "I danced as much as I could my whole life and I have an overactive imagination, so it's hard to shock me."
Not that Vau de Vire hasn't tried. Shocking people out of their workaday selves is what the performers try to do, whether through vaudeville acts, dance routines, feats of skill, or just sheer sensual outlandishness. Vau de Vire choreographer Shannon Gaines (Mike's wife of 19 years) also teaches at the local indie circus school Acrosports and, with beatboxer and performance artist Tim Barsky, directs its City Circus youth program, which combines hip hop and other urban art forms with circus.
Gaines has been a gymnast and dancer all her life, skills that she's honed into circus performances she does through five different agencies, often doing corporate events "that involve wearing a few more clothes" and other more conventional performances.
"The other seems like work to me. But this," she said, a wry smile coming to her lips, "is like dessert. This is what excites me."
She's not the only one. With their growing popularity, San Francisco's indie circus freaks are juggling an increasingly busy schedule and developing even bigger plans for the new year, including a national tour and an extravaganza called Metropolus that would reinforce San Francisco's reputation as the best Big Top in the country.
As Boenobo told me, "It's a moment in time when there's something big developing in San Francisco."
The circus arts are ancient, but San Francisco's unique role in morphing and perpetuating them trace back to the 1970s when Make-a-Circus arrived here from Europe where circus traditions are strong and the local, organic Pickle Family Circus was born.
Wendy Parkman, now a board member at San Francisco Circus Center, the circus school she helped develop in conjunction with the Pickles and legendary performer Judy Finelli, worked for both circuses and described how they derived from San Francisco's vibrant arts scene and its history of grassroots activism.
"It was just a wonderful, spontaneous bubble, a renaissance of circus activity," Parkman told the Guardian. "It was an outgrowth of the fabulous '60s and the involvement of people with community and politics and art."
Parkman and many others trace the local lineage of a renaissance that came to be known as New Circus back to the San Francisco Mime Troupe, which in 1959 started doing political theater that incorporated comedy (or more specifically, Commedia dell'Arte), music, farce, melodrama, and other aspects of clowning.
"It really started with the San Francisco Mime Troupe, and it flourishes here because of the rich arts culture that we've always had here," Jeff Raz, a longtime performer with both original SF troupes who started the San Francisco Clown Conservatory and recently had the title role in Cirque du Soleil's Corteo, told the Guardian.
"San Francisco felt like a place where things could happen that were socially and politically relevant," Parkman said. "Circus has always been a people's art form. It's a great way of getting a lot of people involved because it takes a lot of people to put on a show."
Perhaps even more relevant to the current indie circus resurgence, both Make-a-Circus and the Pickle Family Circus reached out to working class neighborhoods in San Francisco, where they would do parades and other events to entertain the people and generate interest in the circus.
"It was happy, healthy, and accessible to people of all ages, classes, and backgrounds," said Parkman said, who noted that things began to change in the 1980s as funding for the arts dried up and Pickle hit hard times.
"The Pickle Family Circus was a grassroots circus that was part of a real renaissance. Unfortunately, it didn't go very far," Dominique Jando, a noted circus historian who has written five books on the circus and whose wife teaches trapeze at the Circus Center, told the Guardian.
Still, the Pickle legacy lives on in the Circus Center and Acrosports, making San Francisco and Montreal (birthplace of Cirque du Soleil, whose influence has also propelled the indie circus movement) the two major hubs of circus in North America. Unlike Europe, Russia, and China, where circus training is deeply rooted and often a family affair passed from generation to generation, Jando said, Americans don't have a strong circus tradition.
"We are really the poor children of the circus world. There is not the same tradition of circus here that there is in Europe," said Jando, a native to France who now lives in San Francisco. "Learning circus is like ballet, and it's not really in the American psyche to work and train for seven years for a job that offers modest pay."
Homegrown spectacles like Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus commercialized the circus and transformed it into the three-ring form that sacrificed intimacy and the emphasis on artistry and narrative flow. Traditionally in Europe, the clowns and music structured a circus performance, with the punctuation and interludes provided by the acrobats and other performers of the circus arts.
"It's the superhuman and the supremely human, who are the clowns," is how Raz defines circus. "Clowns are becoming more central to the circus, the supremely human part, and that has a lot to do with our times."
Raz, Jando, and Parkman all pointed to the sterile excesses of the televised, digitized, Twittering, 24/7 world we live in as feeding the resurgence of circus. "It points to a demand by the audience to see something more down to earth and real," Jando said. "There is a need to go back to basics."
"It's a response to the overly technological world we're living in. People want to go back to what the human body can do and be in the same place as the performers," Parkman said. "One of the concepts of the Pickles was that it was drawing on the European model. I'd say what's going on now in San Francisco is an offshoot of what the Pickles did."
Raz said the rise of Indie Circus and its influence on the local arts scene is consistent with his own experiences as an actor and clown. He used to keep two resumes, but performers today are often expected to be steeped in both disciplines, letting one inform the other and opening up new forms of creative expression.
"That melding that you're looking at, from the club scene to Burning Man, is seeping into a lot of the world," Raz said. "Circus is very much a living art form."
Somehow," Jando said, "it has become a sort of counterculture on the West Coast."
Boenobo and Vegas haven't done any real training to become clowns. They're performers who use the clown shtick to build a fun and fantastical world off their solid musical base.
"There has to be whimsy. People take themselves so seriously," Boenobo said, noting that it was in response to the serious-minded Winter Music Conference in 2001 where he had the idea of having the members of his new band, Gooferman, dress as clowns. It was a lark, but it was fun and it stuck, and they've been clowns ever since.
"The clown thing floats my boat. It is a persona I really dig. And the band kicks ass. We're all just super tight. The Bohemian Carnival is just a bunch of friends, like a family ejected out of different wombs," he said.
The band does kick ass. Setting aside the clown thing, their tunes are original and fun, evoking Oingo Boingo at its early best, particularly since the summer, when Boenobo and Vegas brought in a strong new rhythm section. But it's the collaboration with Vau de Vire and the other groups that round out Bohemian Carnival and really bring it to life.
"People say it just blew my mind, and that is the immortality of it," Boenobo said. "It's super-fucking gratifying, really. It's just stupid."
They performed last month at the Hillbilly Hoedown inside a giant maze made of hay bales in Half Moon Bay, with the clowns and circus performers creating a fantastical new world for the partygoers. As Gooferman played, Shannon broke the rules and danced atop a hay bale wall behind the band, conveying pure danger and backwoods sex appeal.
"The Gooferman character is called Bruiser or Shenanigans," Shannon said of her performer alter egos. "She does the things that you'd get kicked out of a party for, but I can get away with it."
She considers herself more of a "fluffer" than a dancer, and while Gooferman plays, she gets the band and crowd charged up by pushing the limits of silliness and composure herself and seeing if they'll follow. "So they're thinking, wow, if she can do that, I can do all kinds of things."
Their world not only includes practitioners of circus arts (contortionists, aerialists, trapeze artists, clowns, and the like), but also the fashion scene (including outlandish local designers such as Anastasia), painters, sculptors, dancers, actors, fire artists, and DJs like Smoove who bring a certain zany flair to the dance parties.
"It's hybridized. So it's not just circus arts with some musical backing," Boenobo said. Instead, it creates a fun and whimsical scene that makes attendees feel like they're part of something unusual, fun, and liberating. "Immersion is very important."
That's why the Bohemian Carnival and its many offshoots try to break down the wall between the performers and the audience, who often show up in circus or Burning Man styles, further blurring the borders.
"When you break down that big third wall, there's no pretense," Mike Gaines said. "It's really about the party and the community."
Clowns circulate in the crowd, interacting with the audience while aerialists suddenly start performing on ropes or rings suspended over the dance floor. It draws the audience in, opens them up, makes them feel like they're part of something.
"All of the sudden, people get to realize the dream of running away with the circus, but they get to leave it at the end of the night," Boenobo said with a wink, "which they generally like."
"The line of where circus starts and ends has been blurred," said kSea Flux (a.k.a. Kasey Porter), an indie circus performer who earlier this year started Big Top Magazine (www.bigtopmagazine.com) to chronicle the growing culture. "I love the old-school circus, but as with everything, it needs to be able to evolve to continue to grow."
When he joined the indie circus movement five years ago, performing with the Dresden Dolls, Flux said it transformed his life. He quit his corporate job and started developing his art and trying to make a living in the circus arts, including promoting the culture through the magazine.
"I found the circus and was completely filled with a new life," Flux said, noting that it was through his long involvement with Burning Man that he was exposed to the circus scene. "I think Burning Man gives a platform for it. People get stuck in their jobs and there's this great week when you can let go and be what you want to be."
That's also how the talented aerialist and hooper who calls herself Shredder got into this world, which she's now explored in both the traditional circus and the indie variety, preferring the latter.
"I didn't even know it was possible, but I just love it," said Shredder, who worked as a firefighter, EMT, and environmental educator before getting into performing through Burning Man, where Boenobo set up the Red Nose District in 2006 for all the many offshoots of the indie circus world that attend the event.
Shredder developed hula hoop and aerial routines, training hard to improve her skills and eventually was hired by the Cole Brothers Circus in 2006 to do aerial acrobatics and hooping. Founded in 1882, Cole is a full-blown circus in the Ringling Bros. tradition, with a ringleader, animals, and trained acrobats. Shredder toured 92 cities in 10 months until she felt the creativity and joy being snuffed out by the rote repetition of the performances.
"We did the exact same show everyday. It was like Groundhog Day but worse; same show, different parking lot," said Shredder, who later that Saturday night did a performance with more than a dozen hula hoops at once. "Then I heard about Vau de Vire through some fellow performers and I just heard they were doing really well and I wanted to be with a group like that … I was just so happy that they were willing to help me design my vision as an artist."
The Bohemian Carnival name and concept was actually an import from Fort Collins, Colo., where Mike and Shannon Gaines created the Vau de Vire Society as part of the performance and party space they operated there in a 100-year-old church that they purchased.
Mike's background was in film; Shannon was a dancer; and the world they created for themselves was decidedly counterculture. So was their space, the Rose Window Experimental Theater and Art House, which they operated from 1997 to 2001 and lived in with 20 of their bohemian friends.
"It allowed us to really get to know ourselves. We had all day to just rig up any kind of performance we could imagine," she said. "If you had a crazy idea, you could just come on over at 3 a.m. and do it."
Their signature events were themed parties that would open with performances of about 30 minutes, usually combining music, dance, and performance art, followed by a dance party that was essentially an all-night rave. Initially the performances just drew off of the creativity of their friends, including those Shannon danced with. The themes were often risqué and sometimes included nudity.
The performances evolved over time, bringing in talent such as Angelo Moore of the band Fishbone, who is still a regular part of their crew. They were all attracted to the freaky side of performance art, which drew them toward sideshow, vaudeville, and circus themes and expanding what was technically possible. "We ended up getting a rigger in and just flying around the theater," Mike said.
In 2000, they did their first Bohemian Carnival event. "That's when we started dabbling in the circus," Mike said.
While the events gained regional acclaim in newspapers and were supported by notables figures, including the town's mayor, there was a backlash among local conservatives, including some who objected to how a traditional church was being used for raves by these bohemian freaks.
In 2001 they decided to search for a new home. "We looked around for the place that would be most accepting of what we were doing," Mike said.
San Francisco was known to be accepting of their kind, and there were groups here that were edging toward similar kinds of parties, including Infinite Kaos and Xeno (and its predecessor, Awd), as well as the band Idiot Flesh, not to mention the more serious circus being done at the Circus Center and Teatro Zinzanni.
"San Francisco, in this country, is a real hotbed for circus. So we were like, 'Now we can bring in legitimate circus performers," Mike said. Shannon got a job teaching at Acrosports, allowing her to be immersed full-time in her art and to help grow her community.
Serendipitously, in August 2001, indie rocker Boenobo of the band Chub a funky ska outfit whose members would wear different costumes to each of their performances formed Gooferman, which wasn't originally the clown band it is today: "The idea was you had to be in a costume and you had to be stoned." They morphed into a full-blown clown band, and began collaborating with circus performers.
"But it never coalesced until recently," Boenobo says.
That process probably began around Halloween 2004 at the Vegoose Festival in Las Vegas, when Vau de Vire Society was asked to fill eight hours' worth of programming and turned to their San Francisco brethren for help, Mike said. They drove or flew about 100 people to the event.
It was also the year Boenobo staged the GoofBall in San Francisco, drawing together a variety of entertainment that helped change the nature of the traditional dance party. Perhaps not coincidentally, it was also the year that reviled President George W. Bush won a second term and when longtime Burning Man artists staged their ill-fated revolt against the event (see "State of the art," 12/10/04).
"When people get too serious, they need this shit even more," Boenobo said of the increasingly irreverent, naughty, and participatory parties he was throwing.
Meanwhile Fou Fou Ha was developing its act. Culbertson and Raymond Meyer were waiting tables at Rose Pistola in 2000 and decided to put their big personalities to work for them, bringing in other performers such as Slim Avocado and setting up routines to perform at CellSpace and other venues.
"We're sort of like the children of Cirque du Soleil in a way, but we wanted to give it an edge," Culbertson said. "It's sort of like the second wave vaudeville … now with more of a rock edge."
Fou Fou Ha's shows play off the dark and surreal kind of performance that is more European than American, a style Culbertson was exposed to while studying choreography during her Fulbright scholarship in Holland in the late 1990s. When she returned to the United States in 2000, "I wanted to form a [dance] company." But she wanted it to be fun. "People really like the idea of serious dance combined with comedy, where you can fall out of your pirouette," she said.
"We're kind of like guerilla circus," Slim, a trained ballerina, said. "It's a whole new movement. It's like '30s cabaret, but edgier."
Boenobo started the Red Nose District on the playa at Burning Man in 2006, drawing together his Bohemian Carnival friends, a local group of stilt- walkers known as Enhightned Beings of Leisure, installation artist Michael Christian's crew from the East Bay, the Cirque Berserk folks from Los Angeles, and others from the growing circus world.
"It's a safe environment to be and do what you want," Gaines said of Burning Man, noting how those breakthroughs on the playa then come back home to the city. And that ethos carries into Vau de Vire, which is truly a collective of like-minded friends, one that eschews hiring outside performers for their shows. "They're all just part of it," he said.
What they're all part of Vau de Vire, Gooferman, Fou Fou Ha, and the rest of the Indie Circus folk has begun to make a strong imprint on San Francisco nightlife and counterculture. From a performer's perspective, Boenobo said, it feels good. "Our local family is super comfortable with one another," he said, something he's never felt before after 25 years as a indie rocker. "It's rare to not have a lot of ego to deal with, and it's super rare with this kind of high-quality performance."
But they want more. As Flux said, "We want to take over the world."
Slowly, the circus collective members are moving toward becoming full-time freaks. Already, Mike Gaines said most of the 12 to 15 regular Vau de Vire performers practice their art full-time, subsidizing their performances by being instructors in dance or the circus arts.
That's not to say the parties, with their large number of performers, are lucrative. "With circus, you get a million more people on your guest list, so circus is complicated from a promoter's perspective," Joegh Bullock of Anon Salon, which incorporates circus acts into its parties, including the upcoming Sea of Dream party New Year's Eve. "But we love it and wouldn't do a show without it."
To pay the bills, "we also do a lot of corporate gigs," Gaines says, not proudly. Fou Fou Ha does as well, including performing at the Westfield San Francisco Centre this holiday season. They're all dying to take their show on the road, but that, too, takes money. "Sponsorship is the key if we're going to tour with 60 people," said Mike, who's been working hard on a deal and said he feels close.
Boenobo's latest plan is Metropolus, a circus-style extravaganza he's planning (along with Bullogh and Gaines) for next Halloween, hoping to ferry guests (using buses or perhaps even art cars from Burning Man) among several venues in town (such as Mighty, 1015, Temple, and DNA Lounge) and a huge circus tent he wants to erect in Golden Gate Park.
In addition to circus-style entertainment drawn from across the country, he wants to precede the Saturday night finale with three days and nights of workshops and smaller-scale performances. His goal is for Metropolus to because a signature event for San Francisco and the indie circus scene, the equivalent of the South by Southwest Festival in Austin, Texas; the Winter Music Festival in Miami; or the Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah.
The time seems right, with the current financial meltdown creating opportunities even as it makes funding their world domination plans difficult. "Each time you have a crisis like we're having now, it's a ripe time for circus," Jando said, noting that circus boomed during the Great Depression and after each of the two World Wars.
And after going through years of pure absurdity in Washington, DC, and on Wall Street, Raz said the clowns of the world from Stephen Colbert's conservative television character (who Raz says employs clown techniques in his comedy) to a singer named Boenobo now have a special resonance with people. As he said, "One of the things clowns do is they live the folly large."
I've been following Indie Circus for years, intending to add it to the profiles of various Burning Man subcultures (see www.steventjones.com/burningman.html) that I've written for the Guardian, but my reporting on this story began in May. And at the suggestion of Gooferman frontman Boenobo the Klown, I decided to start from the inside and let him turn me into a clown.
As makeup artist Sharon Rose transformed me into a happy clown backstage at DNA Lounge, I asked Boenobo what I should do (besides interview people). We just needed to clown around, keep the drunks from crowding the performers, help clear the stage between acts whatever needed doing. "We're the scrubs," he told me, clown-to-clown.
As we spoke, the acrobats stretched, a corpse bride goofed off as she prepared for her aria, members of the Extra Action Marching Band started to slink in, clowns applied their makeup, and female performers occasionally came back from the stage and whipped off their tops.
When Gooferman went on, I still didn't know what I was supposed to be doing, so I stood next to the stage, watched, and awkwardly tried to be a little goofy in my dancing. A tall, beautiful blond woman stood next to me, catching my eye. She was apparently alone, so after a couple songs, during a lull, I asked her, "So, do you like clowns?"
"I am a clown," she said with a grin.
"Really?" I said. "You don't look like a clown."
"But I am," she said. "I even do clown porn."
She turned out to be 27-year-old porn star Hollie Stevens, who told me she "grew up as a clown" in the Midwest before moving to California and getting into porn seven years ago. She even starred in the film Clown Porn and still sometimes dons the red nose and face paint for her public appearances, usually just for her own amusement. Stevens once appeared on the Jerry Springer Show as a clown, even getting into the requisite fight on stage with a friend.
"Clowns, you either love them or you hate them," she said, and she loves them.
I asked why she was there and she said that she'd come to see Boenobo. They had talked but never met, and shared a sort of mutual admiration. It was a clown thing. Clowns … they get all the hot chicks.
While we talked, an acrobat worked the pole on the stage, followed by an aerialist performing above the dance floor, one scene woven seamlessly into the other. The clowns of Gooferman puttered around the stage, removing equipment to get ready for the next act, flirting with the girls, trying to scam more drink tickets, or simply entertaining others and themselves.
The life of a clown is rarely dull.
Acrosports Winter Cabaret
639 Frederick, SF
8 p.m., $5$15
Auditions for Acrosports' City Circus
Call (415) 665-2276, ext. 103 for appointment
Frolic: CircusDragBurlesque Festival
Featuring Fou Fou Ha, Anna Conda, and more
1310 Mission, SF
8 p.m., $100
Open House and Holiday Carnival
San Francisco Circus Center
755 Frederick, SF
10 a.m.4 p.m., free
Pratfalls and Rising Stars
7 p.m., $12 adults, $8 children
San Francisco Circus Center
Tickets and info at www.circuscenter.org
Storytime Festival, featuring Vau de Vire Society
47 p.m., "Tales of Enchantment," (G-rated show) 811 p.m., "Storytime for the Inner Child," (R-rated show)
Palace of Fine Arts
3301 Lyon, SF


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REPUBLIC Investigators are calling the death of the Ferry County prosecuting attorney a suicide.
The body of Emma Paulsen, 38, of Republic, was found shortly after 10 last night in Paulsen's home, the Ferry County Sheriff's Office said.
Okanogan County Coroner's and Stevens County Sherriff's offices investigated the death and determined it was a suicide.
"She was alone when it occurred," Okanogan County Coroner Dave Rodriguez said Friday afternoon. "Her husband and two children were in Spokane."
"The Okanogan Coroner's Office and the Stevens County Sheriff's Office were called to conduct an investigation into the death," a sheriff's office spokesman said. "Our thoughts and prayers are with the family of Ms. Paulsen during this trying time."
Paulsen was elected as Ferry County's prosecuting attorney Nov. 4, 2014, in a landslide over opponent James A. von Sauer. Prior to moving to Republic and running for office, Paulsen worked in the Okanogan County Prosecuting Attorney's Office.
Paulsen leaves behind her estranged husband, Chris Thew, and two children.


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This book is required reading at the National Organization for Offensive Gay Stereotypes (along with my previously reviewed Get Happy), but I didn't just read it to get the free caftan. I have been obsessed with old Hollywood biographies for a while now, and had heard from several trusted sources that this was one of the best. Now that I've read it, I couldn't agree more. The best biographies offer both juicy details and extensively researched facts, and this book is bursting at the seams with both. Even if you're not typically interested in biographies and claim not to care about these two megastars, you will find yourself caring within a few dozen pages. It's that well done.
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If you are usually a fan of Sinclair Lewis, I need to be up front. This is not one of his best. If you are new to the author, you may want to start with Elmer Gantry, Babbitt, or Main Street. However, if you want to give one of his earlier, more minor works a try, this one isn't awful. I know that isn't exactly a glowing recommendation, but compared to a lot of trash the world has to offer (I'm looking at you, Stephenie Meyer), this really is worth a go. And here's why.
In 2008, comedian Mike Birbiglia wrote and starred in a one man off-Broadway show based on his life, called Sleepwalk with Me. He developed the show into a book, which in turn became a movie in 2012. I am reviewing both book and movie here, as both provide an entertaining glimpse into the life of a stand-up comic. It can be difficult in autobiographical works to steer through a life without veering into the two precarious territories on each side of the road: silliness and overwrought melodrama. Both book and movie tend to pull this off with ease, delicately balancing Mike's dry humor and stand-up act with his real world challenges.
I don't expect much from trashy biographies. I don't buy them for artistic merit; I want dirt. I'm also not easily shocked. I have a filthy mouth (in appropriate circumstances, granted), I love John Waters movies, and in my college days I even tolerated a Borders coworker playing entire Frank Zappa albums overnight while we stocked shelves. I am certainly no prude. When I pick up a book like this, I want the sordid, salacious, shocking details.
If you want to buy it on Amazon…
I try really hard to remain diplomatic when it comes to my skepticism of both religion and new age mysticism. This is mostly because those who believe are allowed to announce and discuss their belief systems ad nauseam (even when they may themselves be unaware they are even doing it); however, the second an atheist calls bullshit, we are accused of being "militant" and "just as dogmatic as anyone else."
I will save my thoughts on organized religion for another day, however. This book in particular actually focuses on the world of psychic phenomena. Whether you are a dyed-in-the wool skeptic like me, someone who rides the fence, or a believer in psychic phenomena with an ounce of curiosity about actual scientific explanations, this book will not disappoint.
Check it out. It's less gay than you think.
I left Oklahoma Baptist University in 1995 because I was fed up with pretending to be heterosexual. I've since been a fairly vocal, out, proud, liberal gay. I've gone to a couple of pride parades (though not technically my scene) and even lived for a year in San Francisco. It wasn't until I finally read a biography of Judy Garland, however, that I was contacted by the highest echelon of gay society (those responsible for the daily memos on the dreaded gay agenda) and given my stripes.
This book appealed to me on two levels. On the more adult level, I have always been interested in linguistics and etymology. I am endlessly fascinated by the science of how languages interact, how they evolve, the history of words, etc. On the slightly more juvenile level, I was entertained by the notion of learning as much as possible about four letter words.