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Alex and Marc Marquez made history in Montmelo by becoming the first brothers to win Motocycle Grand Prix races on the same day. The Marquez brothers may have made history but they are just two siblings currently plying their trade at the highest levels of the sport with the likes of Aleix and Pol Espargaro, Alex and Sam Lowes as well as the Hayden and Laverty brothers proving that the paddock is littered with fast families.
Is there an inherit advantage from having a racing brother? Talk to any of the riders fortunate to have family to call upon and they are all adamant that the gain is significant. For some the gains come from being able to talk about what's happening on the bike, for others it's about the competition of racing each other from an early age with another key advantage arguably that someone else can forge the family name and fast track the younger brother's early career.
Having someone that has had to navigate the pitfalls of a career is always an advantage. Whether you're a top level motorcyclist or in any other career a mentor plays a pivotal role in your early development. Speaking to numerous brothers within WSBK and MotoGP and it is clear that having an older brother racing gives siblings the chance to avoid making the same mistakes and focus instead on some of the key elements that make up a successful rider.
Motorsport is the same as any sport where the body needs to be trained for competition. In some cases having an older sibling gives an advantage by allowing riders to tailor their training to what the future holds and use their brother as a guiding light. In other cases, such as Nicky Hayden's, the key can be just riding bikes as children and making sure that you don't get beaten by a younger brother!
The 2006 World Champion clearly recognises the value of the competition from his early career of racing on the dirt track at his family's Kentucky farm:
"Growing up and riding together on dirt bikes in the back yard is great competition," said Hayden. "I liked it because I had one brother who's a little bit older that I was chasing on a bigger bike and I had another brother following me that I wanted to make sure didn't pass!"
Hayden and his brothers all raced when he was younger with his father, Earl Hayden, travelling the US with his racing offspring to compete in dirt track races and then short circuit racing. Of the Hayden clan Nicky, Roger Lee and Tommy have all raced in AMA Superbikes with Roger Lee joining Nicky on the MotoGP grid twice at Laguna Seca. With such experience on hand Nicky admitted that it's also important to be able to call on them when times get hard:
"There's time where you have an injury and between the three of us one of us has probably experienced it. It's nice to get advice from a brother because you can understand each other and it's a great advantage. You see it in other sports where there's a lot of brothers."
While the Marquez brothers stole the limelight in Montmelo the circuit is the home of the Espargaro brothers with Aleix and Pol having grown up just minutes from the track in Granollers. The Espargaro's are separated by two years but their careers have been very different with Pol having enjoyed factory machinery in 125's and then a championship winning Moto2 career before moving to MotoGP as a Yamaha rider. Aleix had to graft for his chance on the more competitive Forward Yamaha this year following years riding uncompetitive machinery in 125's and 250's.
The elder Espargaro brother however has shown his speed this year and he admitted, like Hayden, that when times are tough the main benefits of having a brother who experienced the same problems can be the biggest advantage of racing siblings:
"It's nice to see Pol on the track and riding, it's different to other riders," commented Aleix. "When everything is good, like this year, we can sometimes not see each other for a couple of days but if we have a problem then we will meet and talk about it. It's really good to relax and work out the problem."
For Pol the biggest advantages were that, until this year, he would have Aleix in his pit garage during practice and qualifying quickly able to point out areas to improve and focus on for the next lap. Racing together in MotoGP now makes that impossible that but riding similar bikes allows them to compare their data, along with the other Yamaha riders, and for both to learn from the other:
"In the middle of qualifying, for example, he was with me and he would tell me what I am doing wrong and that I am losing time in T2 or T3," said Pol. "Right now we have the data but not as much time to speak about it so I have to learn by myself where I am losing time. After practice I see what I am doing wrong but not immediately during practice. So in that respect it was good to be with my brother but now I have to beat him! Tomorrow will be a difficult target because he will be so fast at the start."
For younger brothers like Pol another key advantage is that they receive "hand me downs" from their older brothers as they progress through the ranks. Initially it is likely to be a new motocross bike and equipment and that progression is key to allowing the younger brother to speed up their development.
"I was always so happy to be racing with my brother because I could always take my brothers bike! My father would buy my brother a bike and I would take his old bike. It made my life easier because my brother would say that the bike needs to be ridden in a certain way and it was easier [for me]."
Like the Hayden brothers the Laverty's feature a trio of racing brothers with Michael racing in MotoGP, Eugene in WSBK and John having won the Privateers Cup in BSB. The brothers all cut their teeth in school boy motocross and the gap from oldest and youngest, Michael to Eugene, is five years with Michael making the initial move to racing in the UK and paving for the way for his brothers.
This is something that each feels helped the others in their development with Eugene having raced in Grand Prix for two years before moving into the World Supersport and Superbike paddock and he admits that having Michael and John race before him allowed him to showcase his talent much easier than they could:
"The biggest advantage of them racing was that they opened doors for me," commented Laverty. "It happens in racing where people realise that if that guy is fast that maybe these other guys are fast too, you just have to look at BSB and the influx that came here to WSBK where one guy came and was fast so then you looked at who used to battle with him. That happens in racing and it was helpful for me coming through because John and Michael had to work harder and ride pieces of shit and not really knowing the way. Once people realised that they could ride they thought that maybe they could give their little brother a chance so I got some doors opened for me a lot easier than they did."
John, who now acts as an assistant and observer for Eugene, echoed those thoughts when talking in terms of how his career progressed:
"We did school boy motocross together and I always thought that was a good thing to do because it gets you used to doing three races a day," said John. "Three starts becomes your normal train of thought and it becomes simple once you've got used to the basics. That was a big thing for us and then we progressed from motocross into circuit racing. Michael was the first to start in 98 and then myself and then Eugene. I suppose that having brothers to pave the way makes it easier for you, maybe that's where Eugene being younger has benefited a lot. He's seen us do things right and do things wrong and learned from that."
For John's current role as a trackside spotter the advantages are similar to what the Espargaro's gain at Grand Prix level, complete trust that there is no ulterior motive in what is being said. When asked about the role that John plays on a race weekend Eugene was clear that the biggest advantage that he provides is that he gives an added depth to debriefs and uses his feedback in addition to the telemetry:
"It's a big advantage because data can be very misleading in bike racing," said Eugene. "In car racing it's pretty much a sure thing because the driver is in a fixed position whereas often I have to speak with the engineers and they say that they can't see the problem that I'm explaining but that's because I've reacted and moved by position to compensate for the problem. That usually happens because the rider will move around and compensate so having someone out on trackside that sees it in real time is a benefit."
For the eldest Laverty the challenges of his career clearly helped open doors for his younger brothers and it's something that Michael clearly takes pride in. The PBM MotoGP rider had a winding road to MotoGP with British championship racing mixed with a year in the AMA championship before finally getting his break with PBM last year.
"We're a close family, my brothers are my best friends, and we have each other's best interests at heart," commented Michael. "We grew up together looking out for each other and I'm glad that we stayed true to that. Eugene's been very successful but there's no-one happier than me to see that success. It's been good growing up together and it's nice to see his success. I think that we're all similar talent wise, there's some differences between us, so it's nice to see the success that Eugene has had with factory teams and you can think that if I had that shot I could do the same because I know our similarities.
"It's been good for sure and it's helped us for sure. I think that Eugene would say the same and that he got opportunities younger than us probably because of the ground work that I did. He's younger than us but that meant that he was able to learn from our mistakes and what took me five years he could do in one year. He was always at the track even before he went circuit racing and could learn from me so that meant that he could shortcut some of the work. I was probably a benefit to him in that way and it meant that he could jump into it a lot faster."
Eugene Laverty's teammate in World Superbike is Alex Lowes with the reigning British Superbike champion the twin brother of World Supersport champion, Sam. The Lowes brothers are famous for the intense rivalry between each other and their ability to spur each other on and this competitive nature is something that both admit helped make them successful. For Alex the key was that both were always competing with each other, whether it training or racing. This forced both brothers to dig deep in long sessions in the gym or when racing each other.
"I think that the single biggest thing is that anything that I've done in my life I've always had someone to be against," said Alex. "If you go training on your own and you run five kilometres you're always going to be faster if someone is close to you. We're always at a pretty similar level in everything so we push each other a lot without really knowing it. It's helped a lot with racing as well because you've got someone that you trust and relate to so well that when they've got those experiences that you can learn from them so that definitely helps."
Last year was an interesting season for the Lowes brothers with both competing for their respective championship honours and the ability to lean on other and learn from the other's experience was something that current Moto2 racer Sam felt provided a key advantage for them both:
"Racing is a funny thing," commented Sam. "Until you've been put in certain positions, like both of us fighting for the championship last year, it brought us closer together because we could talk about how we'd think, 'Tomorrow I can't make a mistake, I can't crash.' I had it at Magny Cours and I called him and having the same emotions, whether it's twins or friends, it brings people closer together. We're very close anyway and he's my best mate as well as my brother."
The similarities between each riders feelings on the advantages of having a "racing family" are clear. The ability to have a soundboard for any issues that you're having on track, the possibility of one brother opening doors and the competition from an early age with each other have clearly played a role in allowing each rider to reach the highest level. In other sports such as football, tennis or golf we have seen numerous siblings perform at the highest levels and at the moment in motorcycle racing we are seeing the same occur.


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The White Stripes by Leibovitz
Download the complete W.S. concert at the London Forum - 2001
they are decent live..they pretty much machine gun it out..meaning before you even know it they will be 12+ songs in to their set. have fun!
I love the stripes and have seen them five times. Along with the amazing vibe and energy for me, is a profound let down at the length of the show. Sixty minutes of music ?? Most bar bands will crank it out longer than that. It is a poor choice on there part to short change an audiance. B.b king plays longer sets and the guy is a hundred years old.
I just got back from the show tonight and I can't say as I completely disagree with you. The pair went on stage at about 8:45 pm and the show was over at 10:00 - which included a five to six minute break.
All I can assume is that they have made a conscious decision to play with the intensity that allows them to sound the way they sound and provide the show the kind of insane splash they want - but doing this - they know they sacrifice the length.
Even at an hour to an hour and twenty minutes - I don't know how they play they way they do. It's insane!
I guess this is just one of those things that fans will have to endure. It's not such a hardship though, to partake of such an event and still get home on a reasonable hour on a work night!

subset: commoncrawl


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Ubisoft's new game "Tom Clancy's The Division", has just launched and it's a game where players have to fight against a lethal virus that is threatening to end the world. So how do you promote it? Build a simulator that shows how the world will end… of course!
It's called "Collapse Simulator" and when you log on, you'll become patient zero, as it visualises how the world might collapse around your exact location, if there ever was such a world-ending virus. Check it out here. Created by the guys at BETC.


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Visiting Students (Comprehensive)
Hofstra University provides exceptional education within a diverse environment. Each year, we welcome a number of students from other colleges and universities to take part in the Hofstra experience. All visiting students are accepted through the Office of Admissions and must meet the following criteria:
- Be enrolled at an accredited college or university
- Obtain and submit written documentation from your home institution confirming academic good standing, eligibility to continue classes at their home institution, that there are no pending disciplinary proceedings against you
- You must not have been convicted of any felony or misdemeanor charges and or have any pending criminal charges against you.
Note: Visiting undergraduate students shall not be permitted to enroll in graduate courses at Hofstra.
Please contact the Office of Admissions for more information:
Email: Admissions[at]hofstra.edu
Phone: 516-463-6700
Fax: 516-463-5100


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- About Us
- Books & Much More
- Digital Library
- What's Hot
- Programs & Services
- My Library Sign-in
Looking for something great to read? Why not try a few titles from the lists below.
This is a collection of both fiction and nonfiction titles that have been carefully selected for their literary genius and notoriety. Perhaps some of these have been on your bucket list to read.
From Canadian to Children's to International awards, there's something for every taste and every age.
Find out which books are flying off the shelves.
Are you interested in starting a book club? Here are some tips to consider to help you get started.


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The case is hexagonal in shape with beveled glass to the rear 3 sides to allow the movement to be seen and the pendulum gently swinging within. The dial is also porcelain decorated with a putto with a Champlevé enamel surround.
The French movement is of high quality and is in excellent clean and running condition having been fully overhauled by our clockmaker. Pendulum is original, ormolu with silver steel rod and inset with porcelain. It runs for 8 days and strikes the hours and halves on a gong. Click the video clip below to hear the gong and watch the clock running!
Condition of the case is excellent, the original gilding is beautifully clean and bright with only minor marks and discolouration. The porcelain is also excellent with no damage just some very slight wear to the over-glaze gilt decoration mainly to the dial. Champlevé enamel is in good condition with some slight losses in places. The front glass has some light scratches and the right hand glass panel has small chip to the edge which is not noticable.
Complete with original pendulum and a suitable key. Full setting up instructions supplied if required.
About us - All of our clocks are original antiques, we source most of our clocks in France, Belgium, the Netherlands and the UK. We prefer to buy our clocks in original 'dirty' condition. We then clean the cases using a technique we have developed over many years. We employ two qualified clockmakers who overhaul the movements. Movements are thoroughly tested until we are satisfied that they will run trouble free.
Click the movie player below to see the this actual clock
run -


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Our bilingual school offers education from kindergarten to pre-college and our English-language college leads to an international university entrance qualification. We can therefore provide an attractive and strength-based education to all children and adolescents with a cosmopolitan background, preparing them for the challenges of the future.
Kindergarten is intended for children aged at least four and is normally attended for two years. Depending on existing language skills, we deepen knowledge of German and/or English and prepare the child for all fields of learning at primary school. All lessons are given by native speaker teachers, half in German and half in English.
More information about our bilingual Kindergarten in Basel


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David Ruth
Jade Boyd
Halas wins American Chemical Society Award in Colloid Chemistry
Rice University nanophotonics pioneer honored for colloid research
HOUSTON — (Sept. 17, 2018) — The American Chemical Society (ACS) has awarded Rice University nanoscientist Naomi Halas the 2019 ACS Award in Colloid Chemistry.
The award, which has been given annually since 1952, includes a $5,000 prize and certificate to recognize and encourage outstanding scientific contributions to colloid research.
Halas is the Stanley C. Moore Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering and professor of chemistry, bioengineering, physics and astronomy, and materials science and nanoengineering. She also is director of Rice's Smalley-Curl Institute.
Halas will receive the award at the society's 257th ACS National Meeting in Orlando in April. The prize is sponsored by the Colgate-Palmolive Company.
A pioneer in the study of light-activated nanoparticles and their possible uses, Halas is the first person in the university's history to be elected to both the National Academy of Sciences and the National Academy of Engineering for research done at Rice. Her discoveries have wide-ranging applications in areas as diverse as cancer treatment, optoelectronics, photocatalysis, chemical sensing, solar-powered distillation and steam production, and off-grid water treatment.
Halas has authored more than 300 refereed publications, and her work has been cited more than 78,000 times. She also is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and a fellow of the National Academy of Inventors, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the Materials Research Society, the Optical Society, the American Physical Society, the International Society for Optical Engineering and the Institute for Electrical and Electronics Engineers.
A high-resolution image is available for download at:
CAPTION: Naomi Halas is the Stanley C. Moore Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering and professor of chemistry, bioengineering, physics and astronomy, and materials science and nanoengineering at Rice University. (Photo by Jeff Fitlow/Rice University)
Related stories from Rice:
Rice U. lab probes molecular limit of plasmonics — Sept. 5, 2018
Reimagining MRI contrast: Iron outperforms gadolinium — Aug. 22, 2018
Halas wins American Physical Society's Lilienfeld Prize — Oct. 23, 2017
Freshwater from salt water using only solar energy — June 19, 2017
Naomi Halas wins Weizmann Women and Science Award — May 15, 2017
Rice lab expands palette for color-changing glass — March 8, 2017
Rice's 'antenna-reactor' catalysts offer best of both worlds — July 18, 2016
Rice finding could lead to cheap, efficient metal-based solar cells — July 22, 2015
Located on a 300-acre forested campus in Houston, Rice University is consistently ranked among the nation's top 20 universities by U.S. News & World Report. Rice has highly respected schools of Architecture, Business, Continuing Studies, Engineering, Humanities, Music, Natural Sciences and Social Sciences and is home to the Baker Institute for Public Policy. With 3,970 undergraduates and 2,934 graduate students, Rice's undergraduate student-to-faculty ratio is just under 6-to-1. Its residential college system builds close-knit communities and lifelong friendships, just one reason why Rice is ranked No. 1 for lots of race/class interaction and No. 2 for quality of life by the Princeton Review. Rice is also rated as a best value among private universities by Kiplinger's Personal Finance. To read "What they're saying about Rice," go to http://tinyurl.com/RiceUniversityoverview.


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Rugby Munchkins class costs and information
Our Rugby Munchkin classes coincide with the local school term times.
The courses that we currently have on offer are situated at Avery Hill, Greenwich University in Eltham (Saturdays), Old Colfeian's RFC in Lee (Sundays), Old Dunstonian's Rugby Club in Beckenham (Sundays), and Eltham Hill Girls School in Eltham (Sundays)
We try to run all classes outside, but when the weather is bad we do have access to the sports hall so classes will carry on as normal. Please note that our Avery Hill location is an indoor only venue.
The age groups and times are as follows:
- 2-3 years old: 9.30am – 10.15am (Avery Hill Only: 9.00am – 9.45am)
- 3-4 years old: 10.30am – 11.15am (Avery Hill Only: 10.00am – 10.45am)
- 4-7 years old: 11.30am – 12.30pm (Avery Hill Only: 11.00am – 12.00pm)
Class schedules and costs:
Classes are purchased in term blocks only and we regret that we are unable to offer a weekly pay as you play system.


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RAGA News
All statements in this report are an opinion of the author. Act at your own risk. Russia & America Goodwill Association (RAGA) is not responsible for the content of the article. Any views or opinions presented in this report are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of RAGA. Any liability in respect to this communication remain with the author.
RAGA News
Soviet Jewelry Channel - Episode 2: In this video Dmitry Tamoikin, founder of SovietJewelry.com, talks about the falling value of the Russian Ruble, Ukrainian Hryvnia as well as other currencies - AND - how purchasing Soviet Gold & Silver Jewelry can protect your savings against this unfortunate inflation.
Direct video link: http://youtu.be/-o_hjZAmEhc
All statements in this report are an opinion of the author. Act at your own risk. Russia & America Goodwill Association (RAGA) is not responsible for the content of the article. Any views or opinions presented in this report are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of RAGA. Any liability in respect to this communication remain with the author.
RAGA News
Dr. Gilbert Doctorow - Speech to the US-Russia Forum, Hotel Arbat, Moscow, 8 September 2014
When businesses understand how their interests can be best defended by civil society acting through a Committee on East West Accord to roll back the sanctions, I expect they will give a sympathetic hearing to our request for funding. Read on….
In recent weeks the question of whether we have a New Cold War has ceased to generate much controversy: it is accepted as a fait accompli, a fact of life. At the same time, nearly all our journalists remind their audience that the present confrontation between Russia and the West is the worst crisis since the end of the original Cold War in 1989.
I beg to differ with that characterization: I would say it is among the worst crises since the beginning of the original Cold War. We have approached the risk level of the Cuban Missile Crisis, even if the political leadership in Washington and Brussels publicly abjure any direct military actions and Russia publicly speaks only of diplomatic recourse to ease the crisis. What remains is the very real threat of miscalculation, misinterpretation by either side of the actions and intentions of the other side and third party-client state provocations that engage the principals in a fight they say they don't want. This takes place against a background of vituperative information war. And in the United States, the confrontation has brought out a new McCarthyism which denounces calls to reason as toadyism to the Kremlin, which enforces silence of naysayers in the media and on university campuses, which in the end defeats the pluralism which has been the foundation of democracy.
Without endeavoring to apportion blame for the ongoing information war, one alarming fact emerges from the American and European sides: the apparent loss of all sense of fear of nuclear holocaust, a totally unfounded complacency. Our senior statesmen and politicians behave as if the Star Wars mythology of the 1980s has become reality and an entirely unproven 'iron dome' were in place.
The false sense of security is fed by denigration of Russia as a whole, which arose in sync with the campaign of vilifying the Russian President. The country is just a gas station, to quote Senator McCain. It is nothing more than a regional bully, not a world power, to quote Barack Obama. It makes nothing that anyone would want to buy, again from the American President. Its economy is failing, its population is falling.
In this belittlement of Russia we have a cardinal difference from the days of the original Cold War, when Russia/the USSR was morally condemned but always respected or feared as posing an existential threat to the United States and Europe. Indeed, its military prowess was then systematically exaggerated for domestic political and budgeting purposes in Washington.
The doctrine of Mutually Assured Destruction kept the peace through the original Cold War. In effect what we have today on the US-European side is a belief in survivability of nuclear attack, and a First Strike mentality has taken hold. This matches only too well the latest Russian military doctrine on the acceptability of using tactical nuclear weapons if it is outmatched by opposing conventional weapons. These are the preconditions for a doomsday scenario that the best minds of East and West labored to prevent during the original Cold War.
And unlike those days, the broad public seems to be oblivious to the lurking dangers. We have no SANE. Until recently, we have had but pale vestiges of the grass roots movements that back then mobilized against the threat of nuclear war. We are in the new 21st century, safe from the primitive behavioral and thinking patterns of our forebears. Or are we?
In this audience, it is likely we hold similar positions on who is responsible for the current confrontation over Ukraine. We likely have similar positions over who started the information war. In my own polemical writings, I have identified the thinkers and implementers of the War Party in Washington. But outside this hall, and particularly in the US and Europe, the blame game is rancorous and in the end unproductive.
Therefore my proposal is that we put this search for Truth aside, change course and concentrate on what can unite people as we seek to restore correct priorities in international relations with peaceful resolution of disputes at the top, with due attention to the security concerns of all sides such as underpinned the move for a new security architecture in Europe which was the main project of the Medvedev presidency but which gained no traction at the time.
It is in this spirit that I come to you today with the proposal to re-create a platform for a common sense approach to relations with Russia that was founded in Washington in 1974 and closed its doors in 1992 when the Cold War had ceased to exist and a golden age of friendly and constructive international relationships with Russia seemed to have arrived.
What I would like to do in my remaining time at the microphone is to explain why we have chosen precisely the Committee on East West Accord for resurrection, what are lessons of that organizations' successes and ultimate failure, what are the different challenges and opportunities we face today which must define the structure and modus operandi of the new Committee.
I do not deny that there was a nostalgia factor operative when both Professor Stephen Cohen and I initially discussed recreation of the Committee. It was not over loss of our youth. Indeed, we both were active members during the 1970s and he became quite visible there during the 1980s. It was over the absence today of the civil discourse about Russia prevailing back then.
The Committee is precisely a marker. It gives us orientation as we seek a new, more effective way forward.
The American Committee on East-West relations was set up in 1974 after the passage of the Jackson-Vanik amendment in Congress marked a turning point against the policy of détente which had been rolled out by President Richard Nixon. The challenge to détente came from the founders of what would later be known as the Neoconservatives.
It is essential to remember that at that time, in the 1970s, a substantial part of American elites was in favor of normalizing relations with Russia/USSR. The policy had the backing of the Oval Office. The President actively encouraged American business to go to Moscow and enter the Russian market.
When this policy met a major defeat in Congress, leaders of big business, big banking came forward to sponsor a Committee to lobby Capitol Hill on their behalf and to educate the broad public on the benefits of trade with the USSR in terms of jobs and national interest. They joined some leading academics and retired statesmen and diplomats, the most notable of whom was George Kennan, the author of the Containment Policy that guided American conduct towards the USSR from the start of the Cold War.
The Board of the American Committee was upper crust and its mission was to engage with fellow members of the Establishment to negotiate a better policy on Russia. In the person of George Kennan, there was an explicit indifference to The People, whose interference in the conduct of foreign policy was considered highly undesirable. Thus, the American Committee had shallow roots in American political life and operated only in rarified levels at the top.
When the Reagan administration came to power and university professors flocked to the Committee to find an outlet for their opposition to Star Wars, the governing Board overruled the proposals of Steve Cohen and rejected the idea of making common cause with the grass roots movements opposing nuclear war, opposing the American build-up of rockets in Western Europe. In any case, its business sponsors like Donald Kendall, Chairman of Pepsico, were Reagan Republicans and opposed any partisanship that criticized the President.
For those of you who would like to see the details behind the broad picture I have just painted, I suggest you read a 2013 study of the American Committee by a master's degree candidate of Ohio University which is downloadable for free from the internet.( Benjamin Wallace, Ohio University, MA thesis, May 2013)
Today the American political landscape has changed dramatically from the 1970s and 1980s. The elites are 99.9% behind a bipartisan policy that is entirely Russophobe and which taps into a strong current of American political beliefs, Wilsonian Idealism or Liberalism.
The cheerleaders of the anti-Russian movement feeding the press daily are the American administration itself, its press officers in the White House, the State Department. The only challenge to this prevailing wisdom is coming from the fringes on the Right and on the Left, with greater determination and appeal on the Right – among the populists of the Tea Party. The same can also be said of the political landscape of the EU.
As a practical matter this means that it will be much more difficult to find sponsorship money to establish a platform for détente today. Business is wary of appearing disloyal and unpatriotic. However, acting through its associations, business is not muzzled. I think of the full page advertisement against sanctions on Russia in the New York Times this past spring paid for by the American Chamber of Commerce and of the recent public statements of the Association of European Businesses condemning the sanctions policy. Therefore, when businesses understand how their interests can be best defended by civil society itself in the person of a Committee on East West Accord, I expect they will give a sympathetic hearing to our request for funding.
Another lesson of our times is that our Committee will have to reach out to existing grass roots movements to form a popular coalition that brings pressure to bear on our political classes from below, without the hope for armchair discussions over a whiskey behind closed doors. The recent demonstrations against EU policy on Russia in Germany give hope that young people in particular are ready to hear a different narrative from what they get in the mass media and are sympathetic to the call for peace, not war.
Another change in the political realities of today is the existence of the EU. Back in the 1970s and 80s, there was great truth in Henry Kissinger's remark that he did not know where to turn to find an interlocutor for Europe in foreign policy discussions. Today the locus of foreign policy power in Europe is in Brussels.
This has been understood perfectly by our friends on the other side of the political barricade. I think of the very effective campaign in the halls of the European Parliament led by Bill Browder in 2013 on behalf of a European 'Magnitsky Act.' The result has been the docile acquiescence of the European heads of state and Parliamentarians in the imposition of senseless and ultimately dangerous economic sanctions on Russia. We must take a page from the playbook of our opponents and give equal time to lobbying and educational work in Europe.
Finally, the Russia of today presents a starkly different political landscape from the USSR of the 1970s and 80s, with a newly emerged and vibrant civil society that constitutes our natural counterpart-interlocutor in any effort to build bridges and establish reasonable and just state-to-state relations.
© Gilbert Doctorow, 2014
G. Doctorow is an occasional guest lecturer at St. Petersburg State University and Research Fellow of the American University in Moscow. His latest book, Stepping Out of Line: Collected (Nonconformist) Essays on Russian-American Relations, 2008-12, is available in paperback and e-book from Amazon.com and affiliated websites worldwide.
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RAGA News
There are several strong facts about Russia-Ukraine relations, which could have easily bring both conflicting sides to peace after a day at war, if there was any rationality in this conflict.
The position of the Ukrainian government is clear: become a NATO member, achieve Western funding, and yet separate itself from a position of a Russian dependent; the less extreme goal, however no less demanded, - is to become an EU member. Simultaneously, East of the country is more favorable to Putin and his politics, otherwise how would you explain thousands of refugees in the border areas of Russia and Belarus?
The position of Russia is also understandable: any rational country strives to defend its territory, and once a foreign threat increases to the possible enhance of NATO presence around its borders, - its politics of defense might evolve into somewhat offensive. Plus, Putin and Lavrov made it clear: if Ukraine receives EU membership, it cannot expect previous economic benefits from Russia. Altruism is obviously a good thing, but each state is interested in its own economy first, and a permit to trade with Ukraine under the old conditions could cost Russia loss of its own market, since cheaper European products would be transferred to the country through the Ukraine that would serve as a trading bridge.
An attempt to explain the reason why Mr Poroshenko procrastinated with the conflict resolution might take longer than one article, but what's more important is that on the 5th of September both conflicting sides signed a ceasefire resolution in Minsk, and a proper peace settlement has begun. In its turn, Western media called this document – 'Putin's victory' (even though there is no official proof of a physical presence of Russian soldiers on the foreign territory); the Ukrainian president was also accused for being too soft to 'terrorists'. It seems like people do not learn from the mistakes of the previous World Wars: there are no winners at war: the longer it lasts - the more casualties in brings.
My personal forecast for the conflict termination sort of reflects the recent changes on the negotiating table: Russia and Ukraine will return good relationship to each other, however, this time it might take a bit longer than usual, since first and foremost now it is important to reconcile East and West of Ukraine and destruct almost a six-months wall of hatred.
By Hanna Kuchar
Russiapedia 'Russian history: Kievan Rus:
TFF ' Ukraine, Crimea, Georgia: The West and Russia' by Johan Galtung:
Reuters News 11th January 2009:
NATO military bases around the globe:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UMvPlkyBOBQ .
Military Times, 2014:
BBC News 3rd April 2014:
Disclaimer: All statements in this report are an opinion. Act at your own risk.
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Assistant Professor
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Ph.D. Educational Psychology-Applied Developmental Science
University of Virginia 2013
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Human Development
Measurement of teacher effectiveness and psychological processes
The influence of classroom processes on children's development
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text:
Asia Online
English version by
Michael LaFargue, 1992
The Tao of the Tao Te Ching (Suny Series in Chinese Philosophy & Culture), State University of New York Press, 1992
More English versions
The Tao that can be told is not the invariant Tao, the names that can be named are not the invariant Names.
Nameless, it is the source of the thousands of things (named, it is 'Mother' of the thousands of things).
Yes: Always: being desireless, one sees the hidden essentials. Always: having desires, one sees only what is sought.
These two lines are about The Merging - it is when things develop and emerge from this that the different names appear.
The Merging is something mysterious - mysterious, and more mysterious, the abode of all the hidden essences.
When everyone in the world recognizes the elegant as elegant ... then ugliness has just appeared.
When all recognize goodness as good ... then the not-good has just appeared.
Yes: 'Being' and 'nothing' give birth one to the other 'the difficult' and 'the easy' give full shape to one another 'what excels' and 'what falls short' form one another
'the noble' and 'the lowly' give content to one another the music and the voice harmonize with one another the back and the front follow one another. Always.
And so the Wise Person: Settles into his job of Not Doing carries on his teaching done without talking.
The thousands of things arise and are active - and he rejects none of them.
He is a doer but does not rely on this he achieves successes but does not dwell in them. He just does not dwell in them, and so they cannot be taken away.
Not promoting the wise and worthy brings it about that the people are not contentious.
Not prizing goods hard to come by brings it about that the people do not become thieves
Not paying attention to the desirable brings it about that the people's minds do not become disordered.
And so, the government of the Wise Person: Empty their minds, fill their bellies weaken their ambitions, strengthen their bones.
Always bring it about that the people are without knowledge and without desires. Bring it about that the clever ones do not presume to set about doing.
Do Not Doing and nothing will be left un-governed.
Tao being Empty, it seems one who uses it will lack solidity.
An abyss, it seems something like the ancestor of the thousands of things.
It dampens the passion it unties the tangles it makes the flashing things harmonious it makes the dust merge together.
Deep, it is perhaps like an enduring something.
I don't know of anything whose offspring it might be - it appears to precede God.
"Heaven and Earth are not Good they treat the thousands of things like straw dogs
The Wise Person is not Good he treats the hundred clans like straw dogs."
The space between heaven and earth isn't it like a bellows? Empty, but not shriveled up, set it in motion and always more comes out.
Much talking, quickly exhausted. It can't compare to watching over what is inside.
"The Valley Spirit is undying." This is mysterious Femininity.
The Abode of mysterious Femininity: This is the Root of Heaven and Earth.
It seems to endure on and on. One who uses It never wears out.
Heaven is lasting, Earth endures.
What enables Heaven and Earth to last and endure? Because they do not live for themselves - so it is that they can live so long.
And so, the Wise Person: Puts himself last, and so finds himself in front.
puts himself in the out group, and so maintains his place.
The personal does not exist for him - isn't this how he can perfect what for him is most personal?
The highest Excellence is like water. Water, Excellent at being of benefit to the thousands of things, does not contend - it settles in places everyone else avoids. Yes, it is just about Tao.
Excellence in a house: the ground "Excellence in a mind: depth Excellence in companions: Goodness Excellence in speaking: sincerity
Excellence in setting things right: good management Excellence on the job: ability Excellence in making a move: good timing."
Simply do not contend then there will be no fault.
In filling, if you keep on and on - better to have stopped.
In sharpening, if you keep trying - the edge won't last long.
When gold and jade fill the halls, no one can guard it all.
Rich, famous - and conceited: leading to a downfall self-caused.
Achieve successes, win the fame, remove yourself: Heaven's Way.
When 'carrying your soul,' embracing the One Thing, can you be undivided?
When 'concentrating ch'i', bringing about Softness, can you be like an infant?
When 'cleansing and purifying the mysterious mirror,' can you be without blemish?
When 'loving the people and caring for the kingdom,' can you be without knowledge?
When 'the Doors of Heaven open and shut,' can you remain Feminine?
When 'Clarity and bareness penetrate everywhere,' can you remain not doing?
Produce and nourish. Produce but don't possess work but don't rely on this preside but don't rule. This is mysterious Te.
Thirty spokes unite in one hollow hub in this 'nothing' lies the wheel's usefulness.
Knead clay to make a jar - in its 'nothing' lies the jar's usefulness.
Cut out doors and windows in making a house - in their 'nothing' lies the house's usefulness.
Yes: 'Being' makes for profit 'Nothing' makes for use fulness.
The five colours make people's eyes go blind the five tones make people's ears go deaf the five flavours make people's mouths turn sour.
Galloping and racing, bunting and chasing, make people's minds go mad. Goods hard to come by corrupt people's ways.
And so the Wise Person: Goes by the belly, not by the eye. Yes: He leaves 'that' aside, and attends to 'this'.
"Favour and disgrace: this means being upset high rank does great damage to your self."
What does it mean, "favour and disgrace: this means being upset"? Favour is degrading: Gaining it you will be upset losing it you will be upset This is what it means, "favour and disgrace: this means being upset."
What does it mean, "high rank does great damage to your self"? What is the source of the great damage done me? It is because I have a self If I had no self what damage could be done me? This is what it means, "high rank does great damage to your self."
Yes: A valuing of one's self that regards the self the same as the world - this means one can be entrusted with the world. A loving of one's self that regards the self the same as the world - this means one can be given the world.
"Look for It, you won't see It: It is called 'fleeting' Listen for It, you won't hear It: It is called 'thin'. Grasp at It, you can't get It: It is called 'subtle'."
These three lines are about something that evades scrutiny. Yes, in it everything blends and becomes one.
Its top is not bright Its underside is not dim. Always unnameable, It turns back to nothingness.
This is the shape of something shapeless the form of a nothing this is elusive and evasive. Encountering It, you won't see the front following It, you won't see Its back.
Keep to the Tao of the ancients and so manage things happening today. The ability to know the ancient sources, this is the main thread of Tao.
The Excellent shih of ancient times penetrated into the most obscure, the marvelous, the mysterious. They had a depth beyond understanding.
They were simply beyond understanding. The Appearance of their forceful presence: Cautious, like one crossing a stream in winter timid, like one who fears the surrounding neighbours reserved, like guests
yielding, like ice about to melt unspecified, like the Uncarved Block all vacant space, like the Valley everything mixed together, like muddy water.
Who is able, as muddy water, by Stilling to slowly become clear? Who is able, at rest, by long drawn-out movement to slowly come to life?
Whoever holds onto this Tao does not yearn for solidity. He simply lacks solidity, and so what he is capable of: Remaining concealed, accomplishing nothing new.
Push Emptiness to the limit, watch over Stillness very firmly.
The thousands of things all around are active - I give my attention to Turning Back. Things growing wild as weeds all turn back to the Root.
To turn back to The Root is called Stillness. This is 'reporting in' 'reporting in' is becoming Steady. Experiencing Steadiness is Clarity. Not to experience Steadiness is to be heedless in one's actions - bad luck.
Experiencing Steadiness, then one is all-embracing all-embracing, then an impartial Prince Prince, then King King, then Heaven Heaven, then Tao
Tao then one lasts very long. As to destroying the self, there will be nothing to fear.
The greatest ruler: those under him only know he exists the next best kind: they love and praise him the next: they are in awe of him the next: they despise him.
When sincerity does not suffice it was not sincerity.
("Reticent - he is sparing with words.") He achieves successes he accomplishes his tasks and the hundred clans all say: We are just being natural.
When Great Tao vanished we got 'Goodness and Morality.'
When 'Wisdom and Know-how' arose we got the Great Shams.
When the six family relationships fell into disharmony we got 'Respect and Caring.'
When the states and the great families became all benighted and disordered we got 'Loyal Subjects'.
Discard "Wisdom," throw away "Knowledge" - the people will benefit a hundredfold.
Discard "Goodness," throw away "Morality" - the people will turn back to respect and caring.
Discard "Skill," throw away "Profit" - robbers and thieves will disappear.
Taking these three lines as your text - this is not sufficient. Give them something to fasten on to:
Pay attention to the Raw, embrace the Uncarved discount your personal interests, make your desires few, doing of the will of every man would put an end to vain ambitions and desires.
Break with Learning, and there will be no trouble. 'Yeah' and 'yes sir' - is there a big difference between them? 'Excellent' and 'despicable' - what's the real difference between them?
"What others hold in respect, we can't fail to respect." Craziness. Aren't we over this yet?
"All the others are beaming and beaming like people enjoying a great ceremonial feast, like people climbing an overlook tower in the spring. I am alone still - no indications at all yet like an infant who hasn't yet even smiled. So sad. Like someone with no place to go home to.
All the others have a superabundance I alone seem to have missed out. Oh my simpleton's mind! So confused.
Ordinary men are so bright I alone am so dull. Ordinary men are so sharp I alone am so stupid. Churned up like the ocean, blown about, like someone with no place to rest.
All the others all have their function I alone am thick-headed, like someone from the back country." I am alone, different from others - treasuring the nourishing Mother.
The impression made by magnificent Te comes only from Tao.
Tao is a something but elusive, but evasive. Evasive, elusive, inside it lies the mind's true form. Elusive, evasive, inside it lies something substantial. Shadowy, dim. Inside it lies vital energy. This energy is very strong inside it lies true genuineness.
From ancient times until today Its name has not been forgotten allowing us to see the beginnings of everything.
How do I recognize the form of the beginnings of everything? By this low in the cycle of Change, which is Love and Beauty. How do I know this? By my comprehension of the Dao.
"Bent - then mature." Compromised - then upright Empty - then solid old and spent - then young and sprightly. A little - then a gain a lot - then confusing.
And so the Wise Person: Embraces The One Thing, and becomes the Shepherd of the World.
He does not show off, so he shines he does not promote himself, so he becomes famous he does not boast of himself, so he gets the credit he does not glorify himself, so he becomes leader.
He just does not contend and so no one can contend with him.
What the ancients said: "bent - then mature," is this an empty saying? This is true maturity, turn back to it.
Speaking little is what is natural. Yes: A whirlwind does not blow a whole morning a downpour does not fall a whole day.
And who causes these things? - Heaven and Earth. If even Heaven and Earth cannot make things last very long, how much less can man.
Yes: One devoted to Tao: Is a Tao man, merges with Tao is a Te man, merges with Te is a man left out, merges with What Is Left Out.
One who merges with Tao, Tao welcomes him one who merges with Te, Te welcomes him one who merges with What Is Left Out, What Is Left Out welcomes him.
When sincerity does not suffice, it was not sincerity.
"A person on tiptoe is not firmly planted a person in a rush will not go far."
One who shows off will not shine one who promotes himself won't become famous
one who boasts of himself will get no credit one who glorifies himself will not become leader.
In Tao this is called 'Stuffing oneself','overdoing it.' Things seem to detest this, so the ambitious man does not dwell here.
There was a chaotic something, yet lacking nothing born before Heaven and Earth. Alone. Still. Standing alone, unchanging. Revolving, endlessly. It can be thought of as Mother of the World.
I do not know its name, one can call it 'Tao.' The name of its powerful presence: One can call it 'The Great One.'
Great means going forth going forth means going far away going far away means turning back.
Yes: Tao is great Heaven is great Earth is great (the king is also great in the universe there are four great ones and the king takes his place as one of them).
Earth gives the rule for people Heaven gives the rule for Earth Tao gives the rule for Heaven the rule for Tao: things as they are.
Heaviness is the root of lightness Stillness is the master of agitation.
And so the Wise Person: Travels all day, not departing from the heavy baggage wagon although there are grand sights, he sits calmly aloof.
Why is this? A 10,000-chariot lord, mindful of his self takes the world lightly.
Light, then lose the Root agitated, then lose the mastery.
Excellent traveling: no tracks or traces Excellent speaking: no blemish or blame. Excellent counting does not use counting slips.
Excellent locking: no bolt or bar, but the door cannot be opened. Excellent tying: no cord or rope, but the knots cannot be undone.
And so the Wise Person: Always Excels at rescuing people and so does not turn anyone away. Always Excels at resolving things and so does not turn away from anything. This is called 'being clothed in Clarity.'
The Excellent person is the teacher of the person who is not Excellent. The person who is not Excellent is material for the Excellent person.
Not to treasure one's teacher not to love one's material, though 'smart,' is a great mistake. This is an important secret.
Be familiar with Masculinity but watch over Femininity - and become the Valley of the World. Being the Valley of the World, invariant Te will not leave you. Turn back to being an infant.
Be familiar with what is pure and white but watch over what is dark and black - and become the Pattern for the World. Being the Pattern for the World, your invariant Te Will be constant. Turn back to being limitless.
Be familiar with what is praiseworthy but watch over what is disgraceful - and become the Valley of the World. Being the Valley of the World, your invariant Te will be sufficient. Turn back to being an Uncarved Block.
When the Uncarved Block is cut up then it becomes a government tool. When the Wise Person instead uses it then it becomes head of the government Yes: A great carver does no cutting, a great ruler makes no rules.
When someone wants to take over the world and do some work on it, I can see he won't be able.
The world is a spirit-thing, it can't be 'worked' on. One who works ruins one who grasps loses.
Yes, things: Sometimes they will go ahead, sometimes follow after sometimes they will be snorting wildly sometimes breathing easily sometimes they will be strong, sometimes weak sometimes they will break, sometimes destroy.
And so the Wise Person: Avoids excess, avoids extravagance, avoids being grandiose.
One who assists the people's rulers with Tao does not use weapons to force changes in the world. "Such action usually backfires."
Where troops camp, thorns and brambles grow.
Excellence consists in: Being resolute, that is all not venturing to take control by force
being resolute, but not boastful being resolute, but not overbearing being resolute, but not arrogant being resolute, when you have no choice being resolute, but not forcing.
Things are vigorous, then grow old and weak: A case of 'not-Tao.' Not-Tao, soon gone.
'Fine weapons' are ill-omened instruments. Things seem to detest them so the ambitious man does not dwell here.
"The gentleman at home favours the left when at war he favours the right."
Weapons are ill-omened instruments not instruments for the gentleman he uses them when he has no choice. What is calm and quiet is highest.
When victorious, he does not think this a fine thing because to think it fine is to delight in slaughtering people. One who delights in slaughtering people cannot achieve his purposes in the world.
"In fortunate times, prefer the left in mourning, prefer the right." The lower officer takes his stand on the left the higher officer takes his stand on the right. This says: He takes his stand as at a mourning ceremony.
At the slaughter of such masses of men, he weeps for them, mourning and lamenting. When victorious in the battle - he takes his stand as at a mourning ceremony.
When you begin making decisions and cutting it up, rules and names appear. And once names appear; you should know to stop. Knowing to stop, you can be without fear.
Tao will always be nameless, an Uncarved Block although it is a thing of no account, no one in the world can make it his subject.
If the princes and kings could watch over It, the thousands of things would on their own be as deferential as guests.
Heaven and Earth would join together to send sweet dew. The people on their own would share equally without anyone giving orders.
A comparison: Tao's presence in the world is like the relation of small river valleys to the Yang-tze and the ocean.
One who understands others is clever one who understands himself has Clarity.
One who wins out over others has power one who wins out over himself is strong.
One who is content is wealthy one strong in his practice is self-possessed.
One who does not leave his place is lasting one who dies and does not perish is truly long lived.
Great Tao drifts - it can go right or go left.
The thousands of things depend on it for life, it rejects nothing. It achieves successes, but does not hold tight to the fame. It clothes and feeds the thousands of things but does not act the ruler.
Always: Desiring nothing, it can be called 'of no account.'
The thousands of things turn back to it but it does not act the ruler - it can be called 'Great'
Because in the end it does not insist on its own greatness, yes, it is able to achieve its full greatness.
Grasp the Great Image and the world will come it will come and not be harmed - a great peace and evenness.
or music and cakes, passing strangers stop
Tao flowing from the lips - flat. No taste to it. Look for it: you will not be satisfied looking listen for it: you will not be satisfied listening put it into practice: you will not be satisfied stopping.
When you want to shrink something you must always enlarge it. When you want to weaken something you must always strengthen it. When you want to neglect something you must always involve yourself with it. When you want to deprive something you must always give to it.
This is called 'Subtle Clarity.' Softness and Weakness overcome what is hard and strong.
"The fish must not leave the depths the state's 'sharp weapons' must not be shown to others."
Tao invariably Does Nothing, and nothing remains not done
If the princes and kings can watch over it the thousands of things will change by themselves.
Not being disgraced, they will be still. The world will order itself.
The finest Te is not Te-like, so it is Te the poorest Te never leaves off being Te-like, so it is not Te.
The finest Te: no working at it, no goal in mind the poorest Te: people work at it, with a goal in mind.
The finest Goodness: People work at it, but with no goal in mind the finest Morality': People work at it, with a goal in mind the finest Etiquette: People work at it, and, when none pay attention, they roll up their sleeves and go on the attack.
Yes: Losing Tao, next comes Te losing Te, next comes Goodness losing Goodness, next comes Morality losing Morality, next comes Etiquette.
And now Etiquette is loyalty and sincerity spread thin and the first sign of disorders. Foreknowledge is the flower of Tao and the beginning of folly.
And so the great man: Resides with the substance does not stay with what is thin. Resides with the fruit does not stay with the flower. Yes: He leaves 'that' aside and attends to 'this.'
Those that of old got The One Thing: The sky got The One Thing, and by this became clear. The earth got The One Thing, and by this became steady. The spirits got The One Thing, and by this obtained their powers.
The rivers got The One Thing, and by this became full. The thousands of things got The One Thing, and by this came to life. The princes and kings got The One Thing, and by this became the Standard for the World. This is how things came about.
The sky, without what makes it clear, is likely to crack. The earth, without what makes it steady, is likely to quake. The spirits, without what gives them powers, are likely to vanish.
The rivers, without what makes them full are likely to dry up. The thousands of things, without what gives them life, are likely to perish. The princes and kings, without what makes them eminent and noble, are likely to fall.
Yes, the eminent takes the common and ignored as a root the noble takes the lowly as a foundation.
And so, the princes and kings call themselves 'the orphan ... ,' 'the poor ... ,' 'the destitute ... is this not using the common and ignored as a root Is it not so?
Yes, enumerate the carriage parts - still not a carriage.
He doesn't wish to glitter and glitter like jade he falls like a stone, falling into oblivion.
Turning Back is Tao movement being Weak is Tao practice.
"The thousands of things in the world are born of Being" Being is born of Nothing.
"When the best shih hears Tao, he puts out great effort to practice it. When the average shih hears Tao, he will keep it sometimes, and sometimes forget about it.
When the poorest shih hears Tao, he just has a big laugh." If he does not laugh, it must not quite be Tao.
Yes, the 'Well-Founded Sayings' has it: The bright Tao seems dark the Tao going forward seems to be going backward the smooth Tao seems rough. The loftiest Te seems like a valley great purity seems sullied abundant Te seems insufficient
Well-founded Te seems flimsy what is pure and natural seems faded the best square has no corners A great bronze takes long to finish great music has a delicate sound the Great Image has no shape.
Tao is something concealed, nameless. It is just Tao, good at sustaining a person and completing him.
Tao produced The One The One produced Two Two produced Three Three produced the thousands of things.
The thousands of things: Turn their backs on the quiet and dark and embrace the aggressive and bright. An Empty ch'i brings Harmony.
What people look down upon: to be orphaned, poor, destitute. But the kings and princes make these names into titles.
Yes, things: Sometimes you reduce them, and they are enlarged sometimes you enlarge them, and they are reduced.
What another has taught, I also teach: "A violent man will not reach his natural end." I will make of this the father of my teaching.
The Softest thing in the world rides right over the Hardest things in the world. What-has-No-Being enters what-leaves-no-opening. This makes me realize the advantage of Not Doing.
Teaching done by not talking the advantage gained by Not Doing - few things in the world can match this.
Your fame or your self, which is closer to you? Your self or your possessions, which counts for more? Gaining or losing, which brings the pain?
Indeed: Very fond, much expended much hoarding, heavy loss.
Be content and there will be no disgrace. Know to stop and there will be no danger. And you can last very long.
The greatest perfection will seem lacking in something but its usefulness never ends. The greatest solidity will seem Empty but its usefulness is inexhaustible. The greatest uprightness will seem compromised
the greatest ability will seem clumsy the greatest eloquence will seem tongue-tied.
"Agitation overcomes cold Stillness overcomes heat. "Purity and Stillness are the Norm of the World.
When the world has Tao, they have no use for saddle horses, using them to haul manure. When the world has no Tao, they raise war horses on sacred ground.
Nothing is more crime producing than desirable things nothing is a worse misfortune than not being content nothing makes for more guilt than desire for gain.
Yes: Be content with enough, and there will always be enough.
Understanding the world without going out the door. Understanding Heaven's Way without looking out the window. Traveling very widely, understanding very little.
And so the Wise Person: Knows without any going names without any looking accomplishes without any doing.
"Doing Learning, one profits everyday." Doing Tao, one suffers a loss everyday -
loses, and loses some more and so arrives at not doing anything. Doing nothing, nothing will remain not done. Taking over the world: only by not working.
A person who sets to working, doesn't have what it takes to take over the world.
The Wise Person is always a man without a mind - he takes the mind of the hundred clans as his mind.
Those who are good, I am good to them those who are not good, I am also good to them - Te is good.
Those who are honest, I am honest with them those who are not honest, I am also honest with them - Te is honest.
The Wise Person lives in the world all drawn in for the world's sake he keeps his mind muddled. The hundred clans all strain their eyes and ears toward him. The Wise Person treats them all as his children.
"Setting out to live is entering into death."
"Thirteen are the life givers thirteen are the death bringers." The thirteen body parts are also death spots in people's life and activity? Why? Because they live life so lavishly.
So we hear: One who Excels at fostering life "travels on land without meeting rhinoceros or tiger enters combat without armour or weapon."
The rhinoceros finds no place to jab its horn the tiger finds no place to lay its claws a weapon finds no place where its point can enter. Why? Because he has no death spot.
Tao produces them Te rears them events shape them talents complete their development. And so: Among the thousands of things there are none that do not honour Tao and treasure Te
This honouring Tao and treasuring Te - no one commands it, it always happens naturally. Tao produces them, Te rears them makes them grow, nurses them, settles them, heals them, sustains them, protects them.
Produces but does not possess works but does not rely on this presides but doesn't rule. This is mysterious Te.
The world has a Source, the Mother of the World.
Once you get the Mother then you understand the children. Once you understand the children turn back and watch over the Mother. As to destroying the self, there will be nothing to fear.
Close your eyes shut your doors, till the end of your life you will not get tired.
Open your eyes carry on your business, till the end of your life you will not be safe.
Keeping your eyes on the Small Thing is called Clarity watching over Weakness is called strength.
Engage with the flashing things turn back to Clarity do not deliver yourself to disaster. This is cultivating Steadiness.
If I had the least bit of understanding I would walk on the great Way. Only display will be dangerous.
The great Way is very smooth but people love bypaths.
The court is very well kept the fields are very weedy the granaries very empty.
"Their clothes are fine and colourful on their belts are sharp swords, they are filled with food and drink" a superabundance of expensive goods. This is robbers boasting, certainly not the Way.
Excellently founded: it will not be uprooted Excellently embraced and cared for: it will not slip away so sons and grandsons will never cease to offer the sacrifices.
Cultivate It in your person, its Te will be pure cultivate It in the clan, its Te will be abundant cultivate It in the village, its Te will be lasting cultivate It in the state, its Te will be ample cultivate It in the empire, its Te will be all-embracing.
Yes: Judge a person taking that person as the measure judge a clan taking that clan as the measure judge a village taking that village as the measure judge a state taking that state as the measure judge the world taking the world as the measure.
How do I know the nature of the world? By this.
One who has an abundance of Te is like a newborn child: Poisonous bugs will not bite it fierce beasts will not snatch it birds of prey will not attack it. Its bones are Soft, its sinews Weak, but its grip is firm.
It has not known the union of man and woman, but its organs get aroused: Vital energy at its height.
It will scream all day without getting hoarse: Harmony at its height. To experience Harmony is called being Steady to experience Steadiness is called Clarity.
'Increasing life': ominous 'the mind controlling the ch'i': forcing.
Things are vigorous, then grow old: A case of 'not-Tao'. Not-Tao, soon gone.
Those who understand are not talkers talkers don't understand.
Close your eyes shut your doors. Dampen the passion untie the tangles make the flashing things harmonious make the dust merge together. This is called the mysterious Merging.
Yes: You cannot get close you cannot stay away you cannot help It you cannot harm It you cannot treasure It you cannot look down on It. Yes: It is the Treasure of the World.
"Rule the kingdom by the norm wage war by the unexpected." Take over the world by Not Working. How do I know it is so? By this.
In the world: The more rules and restrictions there are the poorer the people will be. The people: The more 'sharp weapons' they have, the more disordered the state and the clans will be.
Men: The more clever and skillful they are, the more weird things will start to happen. The more you publicize rules and laws, the more robbers and thieves you will have.
Yes, the Wise Person says: I Do Nothing, and the people transform themselves. I love Stillness, and the people bring themselves to correctness.
I do No Work, and the people enrich themselves. I have no desires, and the people by themselves become Simple.
When the ruler is dull and incompetent, the people are pure and simple. When the ruler is sharp and alert, the people are a bad lot.
"Bad luck: good luck depends on it good luck: bad luck hides in it."
Who knows where this ends? There is no norm. What accords with the norm turns around and becomes weird what is excellent turns around and becomes ominous. "People's blindness - it has been going on so long now."
And so the Wise Person: Is square and honest but does not cut is pointed and exact but does not hurt is straight and direct but not tactless shines but does not dazzle.
"When it comes to governing the people and serving Heaven there's no one like a farmer."
Just being a farmer - this means getting dressed early. Getting dressed early means increasing one's store of Te increasing one's store of Te, then nothing is impossible nothing impossible, then no telling the limit no telling the limit, then one can possess the state.
One who possesses the Mother of the state can last a long time.
This means having deep roots and strong foundations, the Way of 'lasting life, good eyesight into old age'.
Governing a large state is like cooking a small fish.
Rule the world by Tao then ghosts will not take to haunting.
It is not that the ghosts will not haunt their haunting will cause no hurt to humankind. (It's not only that their haunting will not hurt humankind, the Wise Person also does not cause hurt to them.
These two do not hurt each other.) Yes, Te unifies and restores.
The great state is a low and easy woman for the world the one the Whole world unites with. Femininity always overcomes Masculinity, by Stillness, in Stillness it takes the low place.
Yes: A great state, by putting itself lower than the smaller state, will win out over the smaller state. A small state, by putting itself lower than the great state, will win out over the great state.
Yes: One puts itself lower so it will win out, if the other gets lower, then it will win.
(A great state has no further desire than to embrace and protect other states. A small state has no further desire than to enter and serve other states.
So both get what they want) The greatest should be the lowest.
Tao is the honoured center for the thousands of things. The treasure of the good what protects the not good.
Elegant words can buy and sell fine conduct gets people promoted. People who are not good, why are they rejected?
Yes: When they are enthroning the Son of Heaven or installing the Three Ministers - although they are presenting in tribute jade medallions out in front of four-horse teams, this cannot compare to sitting and setting forth this Tao.
What was the reason that the ancients treasured this Tao? is it not said: "By it the seeker obtains by it the guilty escapes." Yes: It is the Treasure of the World.
Be a Non Doer work at Not Working acquire a taste for that which has no taste.
Treat small things as though they were great treat few things as though they were many. "Reward what is injurious, with kind Te."
Plan difficult things focussing on the easy parts do great things focussing on the small details.
Difficult tasks in the world always begin from what is easy great tasks in the world always begin from what is small.
And so the Wise Person: Does not 'do great things' and so is able to fulfill his greatness.
Yes: Light agreement is never very trustworthy considering everything easy makes everything difficult.
And so the Wise Person: Treats things as difficult, and in the end has no difficulty.
When sitting still, they are easy to hold down no omens yet, it is easy to plan when fragile, they are easy to break when small, they are easy to scatter.
Work on it when it isn't yet put it in order when it is not yet disordered.
A tree you can barely get your arms around, grows from a tiny shoot a nine-story tower begins as a heap of earth a thousand-mile journey begins under your feet.
Working ruins, grasping loses. And so the Wise Person: Does not work, so does not ruin does not grasp, so does not lose.
Men often ruin their affairs on the eve of success, because they are not as prudent at the end as in the beginning. The wise man wills what others do not will, and values not things rare. He learns what others learn not, and gathers up what they despise.
And so the Wise Person: Desires to be desireless does not prize goods hard to come by learns to be un-leaned turns back to the place all others have gone on from. So as to help along the naturalness of the thousands of things with out presuming to be a Worker.
Those Excellent at doing Tao in ancient times - it was not to enlighten the people, but to keep them stupid.
The difficulty in governing the people - because of their knowledge. Yes: By "Knowledge!" govern the state - a crime against the state. By "Ignorance!" govern the state - a boon to the state.
Always: To understand these two lines, is also to understand the Ideal Pattern. Always: To understand the Ideal Pattern, is to have mysterious Te.
Mysterious Te is deep, far-reaching, in opposition to things - only afterward comes the Great Harmony.
The Yang-tze and the ocean: How are they able to be Kings of the hundred streams? Because they excel at being low - this is how they are able to be Kings of the hundred streams.
And so: Wishing to be high above the people, you must by your speech put yourself at the bottom Wishing to be out in front of the people, you must put your self in the last place.
And so, the Wise Person: Stands above, but the people are not weighed down stands out in front, but the people are not harmed and so the world delights in praising him, and does not tire.
Because of his not contending no one in the world can contend with him.
Everyone in the world says of me: 'great - but doesn't seem normal.' It's just 'greatness' - that's why it does not seem normal. If I were normal, I'd have been of little worth for a long time now.
I have three treasures, I protect and keep hold of them. The first is called 'gentleness' the second is called 'frugality' the third is called 'not presuming to act like leader of the world.'
Gentle, so able to be bold frugal, so able to be lavish not presuming to act like leader of the world, so able to become head of a government.
Now: To be bold without being gentle to be lavish without being frugal to act like leader without putting oneself last: This is death.
Yes, gentleness: "Attack with it and you will win defend with it and you will stand firm." When Heaven wants to rescue someone, it surrounds him with a wall of gentleness.
The best soldier is not warlike the best fighter shows no anger
the one best at defeating the enemy does not engage him the one best at managing people puts himself below them.
This is the Te of not contending this is the power to manage people. This is being the Counterpart of Heaven equalling the very best of the ancients.
Military men have a saying: "I do not presume to act as master, I act as guest I do not presume to advance an inch, I retreat a foot."
This is like "going forward without going forward rolling up the sleeves but baring no arm attacking without showing hostility drawing with no sword."
Nothing brings greater disaster than the motto: "The enemy is nothing." Thinking, "the enemy is nothing": close to losing my Treasure.
Yes, when they cross weapons and attack each other the one in mourning will win.
My words are very easy to understand, very easy to practice. No one in the world can understand, No one can practice them.
The words have an ancestor the practice has a master. They just do not understand and so they do not understand me. (So few understand me - a rare treasure indeed.)
And so the Wise Person: Dressed in shabby clothes, jade under his shirt.
"Aware but not aware of it: a high thing." Not aware but aware of it: sick of this. Simply sick of the sickness - and so no longer sick.
The Wise Person's lack of this sickness: He became sick of being sick, and so he's no longer sick.
When the people are not in awe of your majesty then great majesty has been achieved.
Do not restrict where they can live do not tire them out by taxing what they live on. Simply do not tire them and they will not tire of you.
And so, the Wise Person: Knows himself does not make a show of himself. Loves himself does not exalt himself. Yes, he leaves 'that' aside, and attends to 'this.'
"One who shows bravery by being daring will get killed one who shows bravery by not being daring will survive.'
But in both these cases: "Sometimes it helps, sometimes it harms." "What Heaven picks to hate - who knows the reason?" And so the Wise Person: Treats things as difficult.
Heaven's Way: Not contending, but excels at overcoming not speaking, but excels in getting answers not summoning, but people come of themselves lax, but excels at organization.
Heaven's net is very wide - loosely woven, but it lets nothing slip by.
"The people are always lacking in the fear of death." Then why frighten them with death?
Supposing the people always had the fear of death, and we could catch law breakers and kill them - who would dare?
There is always The Executioner - he does the killing. Doing the killing in The Executioner's place, this is like "doing the cutting in the master carpenter's place." One who cuts in the master carpenter's place - seldom it is he does not cut his hand.
'The people are starving.' It is because those high up eat too much tax grain, this is why they are starving.
'The people are hard to govern.' It is because there is Working among those high up, this is why they are hard to govern.
'The people take death lightly.' It is because they pursue a lavish life, this is why they take death lightly. Simply: Those who do not Work at 'living' - these are better men than those who 'love life.'
People begin life Soft and Weak when they are dead they are hard and firm.
Among the thousands of things: Grass and trees begin life Soft and tender when they are dead they are withered and brittle.
Yes, strength and hardness accompany death Softness and Weakness accompany life.
And so: With a battle axe too hardened, you cannot win when a tree becomes hard, then comes the axe.
The strong and the great stand lowest the Soft and Weak stand highest.
Heaven's Way is like the stringing of a bow: It pulls down what is high it lifts up what is low it takes away from what has an abundance to give to what has not enough.
Heaven's Way: Take away from what has an abundance help along what has not enough. People's way is not like this: Take away from what has not enough to offer it to what has an abundance.
Who can have an abundance to offer the world? Only the one who has Tao.
And so the Wise Person: Works but does not rely on this achieves successes but does not dwell in them has no desire to show off his worth.
Nothing in the world is Softer or Weaker than water. But when it attacks what is hard and strong none of them can win out, because they have no way of affecting it.
Softness overcomes what is hard Weakness overcomes what is unyielding. Everyone in the world understands it no one can practice it.
And so the Wise Person says: Taking on a state's dirt makes one lord of its earth altars taking on a state's misfortunes makes one King of the world. Right words seem the opposite.
"When great hostilities are smoothed over there is always some hostility left." How could this be considered good?
And so the Wise Person: "Keeps hold of the left-hand contract tally, and doesn't make demands on others."
One who has Te is concerned with fulfilling his contract one who does not have Te concerns himself with collecting his due.
Heaven's Way: Not to have personal favourites, but to be invariably good to all.
Oh for a small country with few people! Supposing there were men with the talents of dozens and hundreds, but no one employed them. Supposing the people took death seriously, and did not travel far distances.
Although there exist boats and carriages, they have no occasion to ride in them. Although there exist armour and weapons, they have no occasion to show them off.
Supposing people returned to knotting cords, and using this as writing. They find their food savoury they find their clothes elegant they are content with their homes they are fond of their folkways.
Neighbouring states are in sight of one another so they hear the sounds of each others' dogs and roosters - but people reach old age and die with no comings and goings between them.
Sincere words are not elegant elegant words are not sincere.
Excellence is not winning arguments winning arguments is not being Excellent.
Understanding is not wide learning wide learning is not understanding.
The Wise Person does not store up for himself. By working for others he increases what he himself possesses. By giving to others he gets increase for himself more and more.
"Heaven's Way: to benefit and not to harm." The Way of the Wise Person: to work and not contend.


text:
Giridhari Venkatadri
PhD Student
Office Location
805 Columbus Avenue
660, Interdisciplinary Science & Engineering Complex (ISEC)
Boston, MA 02120
- MTech, Indian Institute of Technology Madras
- BTech, Indian Institute of Technology Madras
About Me
- Hometown: Chennai
- Field of Study: Computer Science
- PhD Advisor: Alan Mislove
Gridhari Venkatadri is a PhD student at Northeastern's Khoury College of Computer Sciences focusing on security and privacy in social computing systems, advised by Professor Alan Mislove. Venkatadri comes from Chennai, India, and earned both his MTech and BTech from the Indian Institute of Technology Madras. Currently, he is most interested in the security and privacy implications of online advertising platforms.
Through his research, Venkatadri hopes to design a targeted advertising platform that is robust to attacks on user privacy. He enjoys the creativity involved, as well as the scale of impact that his research has had, potentially benefiting billions of users via various privacy leaks that his research group has discovered and disclosed. Going forward, Venkatadri would like to pursue academic and/or industrial research in the space of online privacy.
What are the specifics of your graduate education (thus far)?
I have primarily focused on security and privacy in social computing systems. I have worked both on assessing the trustworthiness of online identities (which are often easy to create, unverified, and have little history attached to them), and on the privacy implications of online advertising platforms.
What are your research interests in a bit more detail? Is your current academic/research path what you always had in mind for yourself, or has it evolved somewhat? If so, how/why?
I am currently most interested in the security and privacy implications of online advertising platforms. Online advertising platforms have evolved to allow the targeting of ads to niche sets of users. This can lead to the potential for privacy leaks, can open the door for discriminatory advertising etc. I am interested in characterizing the problems that exist, and in designing solutions to them.
I gravitated towards this problem space as the result of a gradual process of seeking out problem areas that are both technically challenging and also have a strong, direct influence on people's lives.
What's one problem you'd like to solve with your research/work?
I'd like to help design a targeted advertising platform that is robust to attacks on user privacy.
What aspect of what you do is most interesting/fascinating to you? What aspects of your research (findings, angles, problems you're solving) might surprise others?
This problem space is very new; I like the demands on creativity that it places. I also like the scale of impact that our research has had (potentially benefiting billions of users via various privacy leaks that we discovered and disclosed).
What are your research/career goals, going forward?
I would like to pursue research in the space of online privacy either in academia or in industry.


text:
Well, it feels like a long time since I sat down to do a Face Mask Friday! I was really excited a few months ago when this mask arrived in a box full of treats from Marks and Spencers, however I'd heard through the grapevine that it had quite a short shelf life. I had in mind that I was trying to use up some masks and get some empty (I've tried, and thus far failed), and I patiently waited until I could wait no more to crack open the REN Glycolactic Skin Renewal Peel Mask.
The reason I was keen to crack this open was it's two ingredients are ones which have traditionally agreed with my skin when I've used them, an acid complex of Glycolic and Lactic acid (amongst others) was something I was very curious to try.
Over the past three or so weeks I've used it three times a week and bar my overnight mask from Origins, it's been the only mask that I've been reaching for. The packaging like all of REN's products is simple, sleek and fuss free – they're not the cheapest on the market and that can quite often come with unnecessary bulk on packaging, making the plastic heavier so it feels luxe to hold – whilst at times I can appreciate that, REN seem to have found the perfect balance of keeping themselves slick and modern. The styling reminds me very much of a Kiehl's and has that modern apothecary like feel.
The plastic is lightweight and frosted, featuring a simple label, clear lid and pump. The pump contains a protective cap for the lid, clearly to protect it from reacting too much with the air due to it's shelf life of 9 months. That protector is a little bit flimsy – it's prone to flicking off. Inside the bottle the product is housed in a pressurised plastic bag that aids in squeezing out the product without leaving any residue left to the sides.
Interestingly REN describe this as a favourite for dry, mature and sun damaged skin – which if you're a regular reader you'll know is almost the oppostite skin type to me. So how did it pan out for me?
The texture of this is like a runny honey, it has a slight sticky feeling to it and is orange in colour – when applied onto the skin it becomes clear and other than a bit of shine, it's pretty unnoticeable on the skin. The product has a citrus fruity fragrance which I think is mainly thanks to the papaya extract included. The bottle advises to use a generous layer of product, I've found 2 pumps to be a perfect amount to add a good enough layer without it starting to become too drippy.
So, the ingredients are made up primarily of Lactic Acid for treating brightening dull complexions, treating hyper-pigmentation and age spots. Glycolic Acid which is great for resurfacing and as a chemical exfoliator, whilst the citrus blends contained are great at brightening the complexion.
In addition to the ingredients, there is also the free-from list. There's no parabens, sulphates, mineral oil, petroleum, synthetic fragrance or colours and silicones – there's a much more extended list on their website, but they are very much keeping their skincare clean . Additionally – it's also cruelty free.
On the skin this mask has a slight sensation – I find that it lightly tingles in patches around my face, it can move from my cheeks then the forehead. It doesn't however happen every time I wear the mask. On open skin – e.g a spot that's maybe a little cracked the feeling is more noticeable, but even then it's not uncomfortable. I would say however if you have sensitive skin then to proceed with a some caution.
After the mask has been left on for 10-15 minutes I rinse off with warm water and a cloth. Instantly my skin feels smooth, soft and refreshed. I've been tending to use this in the evening but I think it could make a great pre-makeup mask for a great smooth application. The next morning however my skin is GLOW-ING. Seriously the radiance claims in this are probably the best that I've experienced with any mask.
Finally, the mask does come with an added bonus – a muslin cloth to help remove the product. Personally I've found this cloth to be a little thick to hold it's own against the slightly sticky residue that the mask has – I prefer something a little thicker like a microfibre flannel works a little better.
The mask comes in at £36 – which to start with felt a little on the pricey side but despite me using it so frequently in the last few weeks it has plenty of uses still left in it. The mask is available widely, but I'm a dedicated fan of the M&S Beauty department at this point – you can find it on their website here, they also do 20ml miniatures for £14 – so if you're not sure if it will work for your skintype or whether you'd use it up in 9 months then this could be a good option too!
What are your favourite Radiance Boosting masks?
The REN Glycolactic Skin Renewal Peel Mask was kindly gifted in PR by M&S. Review is based on my thoughts and experience with the product and is 100% honest as always. Post contains affiliate links.
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