text:
Three-D Issue 29: MeCCSA 2018: Creativity and Agency
We are in the final stages of preparations for MeCCSA 2018, at London South Bank University on 10–12 January.
We have been delighted with the response to our call for papers. Following review of 261 submissions, we have selected 26 ready-made panels and 128 individual proposals – altogether we are programming 57 parallel panel sessions.
We have also been very pleased to receive many practice-based research proposals. We will be showing four full-length films during the conference, and are putting together a rolling programme of shorter screenings.
In addition to this, we are looking forward to a number of roundtables, including a session on 'Immaterial and "Wasteful" Artistic Labour', which aims to explore the potential for agency in the context of devalued '(artistic) labour' and overvalued '(creative) work'. The panel will particularly reflect on feminist theories of (re)production and how they inform the work of feminist activists and media artists.
Another roundtable is on 'Politics and Comedy', discussing the disconnect between 'orthodox' left-leaning comedy rhetoric and the voting behaviour of the country. The three professional comedians speaking on the panel will also be performing at the inaugural MeCCSA Comedy Night on the evening of 10 January.
Our final line-up of keynote speakers now includes Anita Biressi on 'Career selfies', examining prevailing messages about the manufacture of the successful neoliberal self. Andy Miah will be talking about 'Sport 2.0', exploring innovations such as artificial intelligence, wearables, and ingestibles as new, disruptive artefacts within our media culture. David Gauntlett will be giving the closing conference keynote, discussing creativity and agency in relation to the purposes of media studies and reflecting on how the discipline has changed.
More details are available on the conference website,
http://meccsa2018.org. We hope you'll agree this is a rich and interesting programme!
For those of you who cannot be with us, we will filming the keynote addresses and making them available later on the MeCCSA YouTube channel. We'll also be tweeting updates from @MeCCSA2018 and using the #MeCCSA2018 hashtag.
If you have any questions about the conference, please get in touch via firstname.lastname@example.com or visit http://www.meccsa2018.org
Three-D Issue 28: MeCCSA Conference 2017: Culture, Media, Equality and Freedom
We were delighted to welcome delegates to the University of Leeds for the MeCCSA 2017 conference (11-13 January 2017) would like to thank everyone for contributing to three special days of events.
Delegates were welcomed on 11 January by Dr Katy Parry (convenor), Dr Lee Edwards (Acting Head of School) and Professor Jay G Blumler (Emeritus Professor). Dr Lee Edwards touched upon the conference theme of 'Culture, Media, Equality and Freedom' in her address, with some poignant reflections on today's political and social climate, and the freedoms that are under threat; freedoms that we as media and communication scholars have an important role in actively defending.
The conference attracted scholars from as far away as USA, South Africa, China and Australia, with over 230 attendees in all. As summarised by Professor Blumler, the papers covered 17 different countries and topics included:
'creative and arts production, music and the popular arts, citizenship, politics and political activism, media economics including advertising, the environment and climate change, representations of women, ethnic minorities, young people and the disabled, documentaries, soap operas, ideologies such as neo-liberalism and populism, humour and professional wrestling!'
We felt that a particular strength of the conference was the passionate and socially committed keynote addresses, all of which pushed us to think beyond our disciplinary boundaries and to consider the ethical and political dimensions of how we as academics communicate our ideas and research.
Professor Andrew Ross (NYU) started the conference exploring the limitations of artistic rights for a variety of people working in 'creative labour', including the tensions between global universities and academic freedom of expression. Dr Shakuntala Banaji's (LSE) keynote on 'Techno-emancipation and the youthful poor' asked academics to think further about their own stories about digital empowerment, progress and use of ICTs. For example, how do we engage with some of the powerful common sense assumptions about digital empowerment and the 'rising' middle class in India?
As PhD researcher Jen Carlberg summarised in her report for the MeCCSA 2017 live blog, in his keynote Professor Paul Gilroy exhorted listeners to refocus their attentions upon the ways in which neoliberal capitalism has impacted upon struggles of race and gender, for instance by transforming politics into types of commoditised expertise, labelled as 'diversity management'. But we think it's also important to take heart from Professor Gilroy's later remark: 'I think our job is to imagine a better set of possibilities in this world'.
One profession which appears to be facing a serious dilemma in the way it imagines the world is journalism, and our final keynote from Professor Barbie Zelizer (University of Pennsylvania) considered how to 'reset' journalism in the aftermath of Brexit and Trump's victory. Professor Zelizer argued that not only had UK and US journalists failed to serve the public, but there was an urgent need to find critical and 'evolving answers to what journalism is for'.
These challenging and provocative deliberations also continued within our many panels and roundtables, not to mention at the social events, with local beers helping to keep the conversation flowing at the beer festival and pub quiz.
MeCCSA Chair Professor Natalie Fenton (Goldsmiths) expressed her heartfelt gratitude for a conference that was 'engaging, rigorous, politically attuned and lots of fun to boot!' whilst MeCCSA Executive member Professor John Downey (Loughborough) commented that we had 'raised the bar for MeCCSA conferences'. Indeed, there were delegates at the conference who remarked that they had not attended a MeCCSA conference before but now planned to make it a regular part of their conferencing calendar. It has been a real pleasure to play a part in showcasing the excellent and challenging scholarship undertaken in our field, and we look forward to our School continuing to contribute to such dialogue and debates.
You can re-live highlights from the conference via the 'live blog' archive: http://meccsa2017.org.uk/live-blog/. We are very grateful to Ian Bucknell and two Broadcast Journalism students, Harvey McMillan and Kathryn Underwood, for curating the blog; and to Jen Carlberg and Charlotte Elliott for providing reports on the keynotes. Many staff helped in organising the event but special thanks go to Anna Zoellner's excellent proposal and planning as the original convenor, and to committee members Chris Birchall, Lee Edwards, Julie Firmstone, Sarah-Joy Ford, David Hesmondhalgh, Steve Lax, Ian MacDonald and Kate Oakley. The conference committee would also like to thank all the postgraduate helpers for their professionalism, hard work and enthusiasm, welcoming delegates with a smile despite the bitterly cold weather, and led by the exceptional James Mason.
Three-D Issue 26: MeCCSA 2016: 'Communities'
Àgnes Gulyàs
Canterbury Christ Church University
The MeCCSA Annual Conference 2016 was hosted by Canterbury Christ Church University, Canterbury, 6-8th January 2016. We would like to thank everyone for their contribution and for attending! Special thanks to those who were involved in presenting, chairing panels, and reviewing abstracts. We have recorded and uploaded all plenary sessions to MeCCSA's new youtube channel, where you can relive the experience or if you did not make to the event you can catch up on what our great speakers said. You find the videos here: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCDsXEQ2O-VUn0xm09_pa-IQ/videos
Further highlights can be found at the conference website (http://www.meccsa2016.co.uk/) as well as on MeCCSA's Twitter feed (@MeCCSA2017).
Many members of the hosting School helped organising the conference, but the core organising committee included Dr Andrew Butler, Dr Agnes Gulyas, Sarah O'Hara, Dr Ruth Sanz Sabido, Dr Craig Smith, Julia Bennett, Dr Tim Long.
Over 200 hundred delegates attended the conference. During the three days there were 140 presentations in the parallel sessions, one end of project workshop, 2 screenings and one poster presentation. The breakdown for the three days were: 39 presentations on the Wednesday, 62 on Thursday, and 39 on the Friday. We had 14 student helpers who were essential for the smooth running of the conference. There were two social events, on the first night we had a reception and a quiz night (the quiz was reportedly rather challenging). On the second night we held the conference dinner at the Cathedral Lodge on the grounds of Canterbury Cathedral.
Plenary sessions
Originally five plenaries had been planned but a sixth was added relatively late in the planning cycle on the Future of the BBC because of the importance and currency of the topic. Plenary 6 only had one speaker on the day as Mark Deuze withdrew in the last minute. Because the external speaker, David Walker could only do Friday we moved the AGM from its traditional Thursday afternoon slot. Apart from the traditional three speakers' plenary we also had three roundtable plenaries with four speakers each of whom had ten minutes to present followed by a discussion. We feel this variety of the plenaries worked well and we had some positive feedback from delegates who appreciated the longer discussions.
- PLENARY 1: Communities and activism
Hilary Wainwright, Prof Jeremy Gilbert, Phil Cohen
- PLENARY 2: Roundtable: Local and community media
Adam Cantwell-Corn, Dr Peter Lewis, Ian Carter, Dr Andy Williams
- PLENARY 3: Communities on the margins
Dr Leah Bassel, Dr Helen Thornham, Prof Claire Wallace
- PLENARY 4: Roundtable: Communities, academic research and impact
Prof George McKay, Prof Claire Wallace, Dr Leah Bassel, Kathryn Geels
- PLENARY 5: Roundtable: Waiting for the BBC White Paper – What's missing?
Prof Patrick Barwise, Sophie Chalk, Bill Thompson, Prof Des Freedman
- AGM with David Walker, Head of Policy, Academy of Social Sciences,
- PLENARY 6: Communities in the digital age
Prof Helena Sousa
The plenary explored examples of communities that have arisen from social activism agendas.
Phil Cohen
The 'labourhood', a phrase coined by Phil Cohen, has, he proposed, its roots in a very English form of socialism, and it is characterised by urban and rural communities that embrace the spirit of self-governance. This has given way to new practices of democracy through forms of dispersed sociality that have emerged in and against the deregulated city. Communities of lifestyle, livelihood and leisure that have associated online presences. Phil proposed that an order of sorts is emerging through variety, and is not being imposed from powers above. This 'order of sorts' can be identified in the community initiatives Phil detailed: urban explorers reclaiming unused urban zones, guerrilla gardeners, skateboarders reclaiming the city, and groups mapping subterranean London. A gay community initiative in East London has used both physical and virtual mappings of popular cruising grounds, and this characterises the hybrid qualities and extended reach of self-initiated communities that are established through a common need. Each of these current communities in their own ways, Phil suggested, are indebted to Situationist precedents that also sought to discover new ways of articulating the experience of urban life and urban communities. These mappings of the environment for the purpose of identifying and bringing together disparate individuals to form new communities is an agenda developed by the activities of Common Ground. These practices can point the way to optimistic new possible communities that in turn communicate with other similar communities creating common ground that maps the ways that otherwise uncharted and unrecorded live and labours are recorded and understood.
Jeremy Gilbert
Jeremy Gilbert's discussion proposed that a neoliberalist agenda works against potent collectivity by situating economic factors within the private sector. The activist communities however operate because of, and despite, these overarching agendas. Jeremy identified the 'Momentum' movement that led to Jeremy Corbyn's leadership selection to head the labour party as an example of collective action. The process that led to Corbyn's leadership illuminated the distinction between movement and a campaign, and although these terms overlap, Jeremy suggested the terms merited further reflection. Corbynism was facilitated by social media, Jeremy argued. By reinforcing shared views, reverberating in their own social media caves as in an 'echo chamber', online discussion is possibly limited to like-minded people confirming their own views to each other. Jeremy proposed that an 'activist imaginary' can create a sense of collective coherence, where by working together, both formally and informally, new communities can operate effectively outside the neoliberalist agenda.
Hilary Wainwright
Hilary Wainwright discussed how different understanding of knowledge implicit in communities related to purposeful identification of outcomes that can be acted on. How do Communities relate to power? What is the relation of community to agency? Hilary distinguished two types of power, [centralised] power over and [community] power as a transformative capacity. Hilary argued there are tensions between a tribe or family type closed community or a truly communal base for changing society. Hilary discussed the ways in which the women's movement set up nurseries that influenced the power of the state. Another example of community initiative identifying local ambitions to act upon is the Exodus collective in Luton established in the early 1990s who won funding for a new deal for communities are an example of a DIY community initiating social housing projects and free community events. Picking up on Jeremy's paper, Hilary argued that Momentum and the labour party membership's potential to become agents for change outside of the parliamentary system were welcome developments. The conception of community can create a platform and base for transformative power through which initiative can lead to a wider movement, that is open putting ordinary people's lives on the map.
Adam Cantwell-Corn
Adam is the co-founder of 'Bristol Cable', which has a mission statement that clearly sets out to distinguish their offering from traditional or mainstream media organisations. "Bristol Cable is redefining local media through challenging multimedia, community action, cooperative ownership, online, in print and on the street." Adam argued that there has been a retreat in the number of local news media in terms of its general availability and perhaps more crucially in terms of overall quality. Bristol Cable are trying to redefine the model for local media on a community basis, and to reassert that media can have a political nature. Their multi-level proposition includes an emphasis on the following:
- Genuine engagement
- Social business model
- Quality, relevance, diversity and accessible journalism
- Interesting content
- Trustworthy
Bristol Cable provides workshops and practical skills to their 540 paying members and their social business model includes an ethical advertising charter.
Ian Carter
Ian, editor of the KM Group, provided an overview of the KM media group; an independent, family-owned publisher with a long history in the Kent area and includes the Kentish Gazette (founded in 1717). While he acknowledged the differences between the KM media group and the Bristol Cable, Ian argued that his organization also valued their readers, the importance of the brand and relationship with the readers. Ian highlighted the 1998 launch of KentOnline "The UK's fastest-growing regional news network", and the subsequent period of change and digital disruption that ensued. The growth of their online viewing figures has nevertheless been tempered by numerous online competitors and services like 'Rightmove' (housing), and 'Monster' (job searches), that have damaged traditional newspaper revenue streams.
The KM media group will look at diversification and partnerships, whilst building upon the traditional strengths. Ian argued that people rely on journalists more than ever to report in an honest and trustworthy fashion, in order to counter some of the more dubious material that often appears on social media. Although the digital era has proved challenging to the KM media group, they believe that their readers are loyal to them and that 100,000 people still spend up to £1.20 per week on the printed newspapers.
Peter Lewis
Peter Lewis provided a rich history of local community radio and suggested that "British community radio never had the type of explosive origins that we saw in the European mainland." He also identified the Thatcher years, whereby a short-term business philosophy pervaded community radio projects and short-term licences prevailed. In 2004 the community radio sector was authorised and launched. It took its place within the voluntary charitable sector although it's administered by the DCMS. Peter also argued that under this government, the sector is at the sharp end of a combination of outsourcing policy and cuts in local government spending. The ongoing policy of austerity was also roundly criticised. Peter raised the awareness of community radio with the audience by asking them "who listens to community radio" and "who if any included it in an academic module or course".
Andy Williams
Andy Williams was part of an AHRC funded team that examined the Hyperlocal sector. The research project included an online survey of 180 UK journalists, that asked about their working practices, revenues, and business models. Research revealed that the sector is now reasonably well established (73% of survey respondents have been doing it for more than 3 years). Most (70%) see what they do as a form of active participation in community life, with 57% describing what they do as "local journalism", and 55% as "active citizenship". Almost half of participants have some form of journalistic training/experience, which suggests an even split between amateurs and pros (or semi-pros). News tended to be geographically focused, community-oriented form of local news, local clubs, societies, leisure time activities covered regularly. Lots of coverage of local politics – which is declining in mainstream press (mentioned in 27% of posts). 42% of survey respondents have "started a campaign where the site has sought to change things locally in the last 2 years". Andy's research culminates in a call for support for the hyperlocal community news sector, arguing that the various groups of hyperlocal news journalists produce public interest news, but that there is a tough market out there that is dominated by established publishers in local advertising monopolies.
Leah Bassel (University of Leicester), Helen Thornham (University of Leeds) and Claire Wallace (University of Aberdeen) delivered the plenary 'Communities on the margins'. The keynote speakers discussed the intersections between peripheral communities, activism, public service provision, enterprising cultures and the availability of digital tools for community empowerment. More specifically, Leah focused on minority women's activism under austerity in England, Scotland and France. Speaking about her co-authored work with Akwugo Emejulu (University of Edinburgh), Leah highlighted the different layers of inequality that can be observed not only in the marginalization of certain communities but also in the contestation of that marginalization in the context of the current economic 'crisis'. From a different perspective, Helen pointed out that having a smart phone is not the same as having access to the online tools and services that people need, particularly when they are already marginalized for a variety of reasons (economic, disability, and so on). This leads to the conflation of digital and social issues that come together to immobilize or discriminate these individuals further. Finally, Claire offered an insight into processes of marginalization of rural communities, which are affected by their remoteness and their lack of broadband access. Based on her research, Claire concluded that there are five common factors that determine the success of broadband initiatives in these remote areas, including human, technological, social, identity and financial aspects.
On Thursday afternoon, we had a roundtable plenary session on communities, academic research and impact, that was led by George McKay (University of East Anglia), Claire Wallace (Aberdeen), Kathryn Geels (Nesta) and Leah Bassel (Leicester). George, as Arts and Humanities Research Council Leadership Fellow for its Connected Communities Programme (2012-18), pointed out that in order to have a successful bid the community partner must be at the centre of the project. Claire also spoke about the importance of working with community partners from the very beginning of the process, as she reflected on regeneration areas and communities in Aberdeen. Kathryn provided an insight into the projects with which Nesta is currently working, focusing particularly on 'hyperlocal' media. To round off the discussion, Leah highlighted that the impact agenda poses an important democratic challenge, as we need to consider who is defining the problem. Listening becomes crucial in impactful research, and Leah pointed out that, as academics, we need to talk less in order to listen properly, and we need to talk with – and not in the place of – people.
Helena provided a detailed account of the world's Lusophone community. There is a formal structure called the Lusophone community set up in 1996 due to common political will and interests. Helena argued that it is unequivocally a post-colonial reconstruct but Portugal was/is not the leading actor . The various Lusophone countries are located in four continents. Brazil is arguably the most important Lusophone country, with a population of over 200 million. Angola is also considered to be an important Lusophone community.
A map of the World with the Lusophone areas has been used in Portuguese schools to suggest that "Portugal is not a small country". The authors of this map place Angola and Mozambique on top of an existing map of Western Europe to seemingly promote the importance of the geographical catchment area of the Lusophone community. There is more sceptical literature on the Lusophone construct. Authors such as Eduardo Lourenço believe that Lusophony fulfils an imaginary space of imperial nostalgia so 'we can feel less isolated and more visible in the world, given that the imperial cycle is definitely over'. Helena referred to Lourenço as a 'critical' or 'skeptical' author.
Helena argued that Portugal is not the centre of the Lusophone community. For economic reasons, Brazil has over 200 million citizens and is an emerging economy. She stated that Brazil is one example of 'cultural reverse dependency'. Helena also argued that the Lusophone political community per se does not explain the proliferation of Lusophone micro-communities. But it is through language that a shared discursive patrimony (both divergent and convergent) is developed.
We organised a special session titled 'Early Career Perspectives', in which Shane Blackman, Asya Draganova, Jane Milton and Chris Pallant discussed academic careers based on their own experiences: Blackman encouraged attendees not only to publish in academic journals but to become involved in the publishing process too. Draganova shared her views on accessing academia as a PhD candidate, while Milton reflected on her experience of joining academia having worked in industry. Pallant offered useful tips for Early Career researchers to develop their careers strategically.
The MeCCSA Postgraduate Network is close to our hearts, so we were proud to offer two Best Paper awards for postgraduate students. The winners were Bethan Michael and Nikita Hayden (MeCCSA 2016 Best Student Paper, for their article on Young People's Sense of Community in Bedford) and Roger Hallam (MeCCSA 2016 Best Student Paper on Communities, for his research on empowerment of radical campaign groups).
Three-D Issue 24: MeCCSA 2015: Generations
Rosie White, Karen Ross and James Leggott
Northumbria University
This year's MeCCSA Annual Conference was hosted by Northumbria University in Newcastle Upon Tyne, 7th-9th January 2015. We started preparing for the event over a year in advance and one of our key concerns was that bad weather (snow, ice, hail, wind or other act of god) would disrupt travel to and from the conference and make transport to the evening venues problematic or even dangerous. Fortunately this was not the case and the weather was remarkably fine and sunny, albeit not warm – it was January in the North East, after all.
Around 250 people came, and stayed, and took an active part in discussions over coffee, over lunch, in seminar rooms, in plenaries and in the main foyer. For the planning team, on day one, it was hard to believe that the conference was actually taking place after its long gestation and all the trials and tribulations of planning. At times, there was a sense that we were having an out of body experience: the technology did not turn against us, catering turned up on time (and was good), the speakers were fantastic and, against all expectations, we did not have to engage in hand to hand combat with timetabling in order to ensure access to the rooms. The Northumbria Events team led by Shelley Brunsdon were wonderfully efficient on the day, as were our student ambassadors, all helping to make the event look seamless and professional and of course, making us look pretty good as well.
The opening plenary, 'My Brilliant Career', featured Professor Bob Franklin (Cardiff University), Professor Karen Boyle (University of Stirling) and Dr Ruth Sanz Sabido (Canterbury Christ Church University) talking about their experiences of the profession and reflecting upon the current situation post REF and pre-election (see features in this issue). As we had hoped, the speakers were thoughtful, engaging and frank. There was a distinctly autobiographical slant to this first session; in keeping with the conference theme, the debate reflected on generations of academics and provoked further discussion in subsequent panels, continuing outside the conference.
Delegates were then confronted with an almost impossible choice between six parallel panels in the two subsequent sessions on Wednesday afternoon, all offering a smorgasbord of academic delights. Very helpfully, all the rooms were on the ground floor and our outstanding student ambassadors were on hand to guide people from the registration area, to the plenary lecture hall and then to the seminar rooms. The first afternoon closed with a wine reception in the main foyer, allowing delegates to stock up on canapés and essential fluids before venturing out into the chilly Newcastle evening. A brave few continued on to the conference comedy event in the City Tavern, ably hosted by Kate Fox, stand up poet and doyenne of Radio 4's Saturday Live. There was even a competition to write a comic poem which was, rather embarrassingly, won by one of the conference organizers. No money changed hands – honest, guv'nor.
Thursday morning opened with a stunning plenary about the mediation of age and aging. Professor Dafna Lemish (University of Southern Illinois Carbondale) dazzled the gathered throng with frankly gob-smacking graphics which demonstrated how animation for children is stereotypically gendered even when representing objects. Professor Lynne Segal (Birkbeck, University of London) addressed the representation of aging from a gendered perspective, noting how contemporary media has yet to fully acknowledge or access the possibilities of an ageing demographic. The plenary fed directly into a subsequent panel session on 'Media and Older Age' where Tricia Jenkins, Deborah Jermyn and Claire Mortimer referenced Lynne Segal's recent work in this field.
As is traditional, the MeCCSA Network groups met during Thursday's lunch break to discuss business and make plans for the coming year. The Women's Network meeting was particularly well attended and it was good to see academics from all generations contributing ideas and adding to the debate. Thursday afternoon began with an essential overview of 'the EU funding maze' from Professor Kirsten Drotner (University of Southern Denmark), before delegates had to make more difficult choices between equally appealing panels, while the MeCCSA AGM at the end of the day featured a presentation by Professor Chris Rojek (City University) on open access publishing.
The conference dinner held at the Copthorne Hotel was, if not quite the highlight of the conference, at least edible, with wine and conversation that flowed well in all directions. Your conference organizers left at a reasonable time, leaving a number of tired but happy delegates still musing over the day's debates or possibly something else entirely.
A plenary on 'Digital Futures' began the third day of the conference and although Dr Donna Leishman (University of Dundee) unfortunately had to withdraw due to illness, the remaining speakers outlined a digital landscape that was by turns terrifying and fascinating. Professor Ian Brown (Oxford Internet Institute) made clear how difficult it is not to be potentially under constant electronic surveillance, offering insights into the current practices of the 'Five Eyes' security forces of the UK, US, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. Dr Paulo Gerbaudo (Kings College London) gave a nuanced overview of shifts in contemporary internet activism, sceptical of the liberal potential of 'cyberdemocracy'.
During the morning break on Friday there was a 'happening' performed by a local community group, Grand Gestures. The event did not appear in the programme as it was designed to be a surprise. Some delegates seemed a little nonplussed at the sight of a bunch of older people who suddenly began rattling cups and saucers, balancing piles of crockery and running off with the muffins. It was fitting that, during a conference about 'generations', that this group of pensioners with attitude were able to disrupt, unsettle and amuse their audience.
Many thanks to everyone who participated in MeCCSA2015, as speakers, delegates and supporters – we couldn't have done it without you. Onwards, Canterbury Christ Church.
Conference photos courtesy of Karen Ross and Jessi O'Donnell
Three-D Issue 22: MeCCSA 2014: Media and the Margins
Einar Thorsen, Daniel Jackson, Shelley Thompson & Hugh Chignell
MeCCSA 2014 Conference Comm.
Bournemouth University
The MeCCSA Annual Conference 2014 was hosted by Bournemouth University at its Talbot Campus, 8-10th January 2014. We would like to thank everyone who attended for making this such a great conference! Special thanks to those who were involved in presenting, chairing panels, and reviewing abstracts. This was a massive undertaking and we could not have done it without you!!
You can re-live highlights (photos, videos, live blogs, keynote sessions etc) from the conference via our website: http://meccsa2014.bournemouth.ac.uk
Don't just take our word for it, here's a brief video with reflections from delegates themselves: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=joyEIiON1nQ
If you have photographs or experiences you would like to share, you can still post them
on our Facebook event group (https://www.facebook.com/events/500155406711675/) or use the #MeCCSA Twitter hashtag.
Hugh Chignell was responsible for identifying keynotes with suggestions from others, whilst Kate Murphy acted as their main point of contact and liaison.
11 keynotes were invited to speak on themed keynote panels. In tune with the conference theme, of those invited nine were women and of the two men one was African and one African American. The relative novelty of all women panels was noted and complimented, for example by Professor Suzanne Franks in her keynote address. Feedback from delegates was extremely positive and this aspect of the conference was considered to be a success.
Two of the invited keynote speakers, Zizi Papacharissi and Zane Ibrahim, had to pull out due to illness. Since one was speaking on a panel of two it was considered necessary to invite a replacement to provide parity with the other keynote sessions. Professor Stuart Allan (at the time a member of staff at Bournemouth University) kindly stepped in at short notice and did an excellent job at pulling together the themes from the conference.
Looking forwards to future conferences the lesson of this part of the conference is that keynote panels provide a valuable buffer if individual keynote speakers drop out. All of those invited to speak had a particular interest in the conference theme or were able to respond to it effectively and this was an important part of the success of the plenary sessions.
Keynote sessions were as follows:
Tim McIntyre-Bhatty, Deputy Vice Chancellor, Bournemouth University
'Media and cultural studies – where we are now'
Sonia Livingstone, LSE
Suzanne Franks, City University
Roberta Pearson, University of Nottingham
Chair: Stephen Jukes
'Media and the margins'
Daniela Berghahn, Royal Holloway, University of London
Darrell Newton, Salisbury University
Sarita Malik, Brunel University
Chair: Heather Savigny
Jude England, Head of Social Sciences at the British Library
'Community, local and alternative media'
Clemencia Rodriguez, University of Oklahoma
Monika Metykova, Sussex University
Chair: Stuart Allan
'Media and Cultural Studies, Where are we going?'
Karin Wahl-Jorgensen, Cardiff University
Stuart Allan, Bournemouth University
Chair: Iain MacRury
Three-D Issue 20: Conference Report, Derry 2013
Conference Report, Derry 2013
Magee Campus, University of Ulster, 9-11 January, 2013
151 people registered via Eventbrite, most giving papers. 72 of these delegates also paid to attend the Gala dinner. A further 20 University of Ulster staff and students attended the conference who were helping with the conference. 6 UU people attended who were not helpers.
The programme and schedule with details and of all the speakers, times, locations and composition of panels is available online (http://www.arts.ulster.ac.uk/meccsa2013/). Because the hard copies of these had to be printed before Christmas there were several last minute changes which went up online after going to press, and which were printed out as Errata in the conference packs. Hopefully this was helpful.
We were pleased with the diversity of the topics, which did eventually come together in reasonably coherent subject panels, and we were also pleased with the international flavour of some of the contributions. The Space and Place theme was dealt with in a variety of imaginative ways, and there was a particularly strong series of panels about virtual space and online creativity, journalism and political activism.
Panels and plenaries
There were 7 panel strands (up from the originally planned 6 due to popular demand) and 5 panel timeslots throughout the three days. There were 7 plenary sessions, which included both single keynote speakers (John Hill, Bruce Brown) and plenary panels with more than one speaker. The keynotes also provided excellent diversity of content, we thought. At the organisations' request, we fitted in special presentations from the BUFVC in the Research and Pedagogy plenary, and from the Carnegie Trust, prior to the Journalism plenary.
Events and screenings
Because the conference was part of the City of Culture programme, and received a great deal of practical and moral support from the Derry Visitor and Convention Bureau, we wanted to ensure that delegates had an opportunity to see some of the city. Hence we left time in the programme for people to sign up for tours of the walls, and visits to the museums. A majority of delegates did take advantage of this. A number of delegates wanted to show screenings of practice work – and we made sure that screening slots for material (which was of varied timings), were not scheduled against panels. We also provided options for multiple showings – the Nerve Centre arts complex in the city obligingly scheduled a number of screenings during the three days. For future reference, it would help conference planners if producers of practice work could provide advance flyers and/or posters for publicity purposes. Despite requests, we did not receive this, apart from one flyer from Brian Winston. We think we could have used the City of Culture publicity mechanisms to advertise screenings in the city and in the local media, with advance notice, but we did not have the information from producers to do this. So attendance at screenings was less than it could have been. This is a lesson for future organisers.
Venue, website and University support
The Venue, the Magee campus of the University, is not our own campus, and we want to place on record our appreciation of the support we got from the admin, catering, security and technical staff of this campus, and from the Provost Professor Deirdre Heenan. The University did not charge us for the use of the (very nice, we think) rooms in the Martha Magee building. We were also pleased that our Chancellor, James Nesbitt, was able to attend the reception at the Playhouse on the first night, and to participate in the discussion panel on regional film and TV. We had to pay to hire the Playhouse for the venue: the food and drink were paid for by the City Council.
Our conference website, http://www.arts.ulster.ac.uk/meccsa2013/ – designed by Adrian Hickey and Alan Hook, and managed by Rowan Morrey – was a major support in the successful administration and publicising of the conference – thanks to Einar Thorsen too, for backup on this. We owe considerable gratitude to Adrian and Rowan for their attendance throughout, and for their helpful and patient support of delegates through the three days. Adrian and Rowan also arranged to live-stream a number of the sessions and these can be seen at http://www.ustream.tv/channel/centre-for-media-research. The Facebook and Twitter pages facilitated the 'buzz' of interactivity that accompanied the event, and this continued for several following days. See http://www.arts.ulster.ac.uk/meccsa2013/tweets.php. Images and photographs can be seen at http://www.arts.ulster.ac.uk/meccsa2013/flickr.php
Our part-time freelance administrator, Zoe Reid, also gave valuable support. She was aided by a very patient and competent team of undergraduate and postgraduate students, who gave guidance to delegates and provided technical support in every room. We had a technical run through the day before the conference with these students and we would definitely recommend this dry run as a way of minimising headaches on the first day.
Derry City support
Finally, as mentioned, we had support from the Derry Visitor and Convention Bureau, especially Aoife Thomas, from the beginning of the planning process in summer 2011. They arranged for the City Council to host the reception in the Playhouse and helped with transport and hotel accommodation arrangements throughout. Our thanks to them too.
We used Eventbrite to handle all registrations and payments. This worked well, whilst also costing a percentage of the income in handling fees. Another slight challenge was the fact that the person paying for registration (e.g. School Administrators) was not always the same person who was giving a paper. Thus the record of names registered was not the same as the names who'd submitted abstracts. This required a fair bit of cross-checking to avoid inaccuracies in the programme schedule.


text:
PSI shoots himself dead with service revolver
NOTICE THE BIAS: It is known that the suicide happened because of the torture from wife, and the police is still probing the matter further. If it was a wife who died for any reason, her husband would have been arrested automatically!
AMRAVATI: A police sub inspector, presently posted at Akola Control Room, shot himself with his service revolver in the wee hours of Thursday at Amravati.
According to information from the police department, the deceased PSI has been identified as Amol Datir (42), a resident of Jagriti Colony in Amravati. He had been posted to Akola Control Room some time back. PSI Datir was an intelligent officer, his fellow officers have said. He had completed his MSc and then passed the MPSC exam in the first attempt in 1995.
On Wednesday night, at around 1.50am, Datir shot himself with his service revolver and died on the spot. Sources said that he had a dispute with his wife, who had lodged a complaint against him in 2006 at Akola police station. After this complaint, offences had been registered against PSI Datir under 498 section of IPC. It is also learnt that his wife had filed a case against him and demanded alimony from him. The hearing in this case was scheduled on Thursday.
Datir had been under tremendous tension after his wife lodged the complaint against him, as she had also levelled allegations against Datir's family members also. Sources also said that Datir had been suffering from peptic ulcer since many days and had been on leave for the last three months. It is conjectured that Datir took the extreme step due to tremendous pressure on him.
Gadge Nagar police have registered offences under relevant sections of IPC and are probing the matter further.

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Who We Are
"You cannot be an effective leader if you don't have a personal practice to bring your best self to the world everyday."
- Mark Bertolini, CEO Aetna
InnerSpace is a community for entrepreneurs that strive to build happy, effective and purposeful organizations. We believe in the power of authentic relationships and the importance of intentional culture. We strive to practice the same values in our workplaces - compassion, generosity, vulnerability - that we do in our personal lives.
Semira Rahemtulla
Chief Vivacious Officer
Semira has trouble writing bios for herself. She realizes that may detract from her Vivaciousness.
Joe Greenstein
Chief Voracious Officer
Joe lives in SF with his wife Rachel and several plants for which they are still considering names. He was previously founder/CEO of Flixster.
Hannah Knapp
Chief Tenacious Officer
Hannah brings a practical eye and a helping hand to whatever she's involved in. She was previously many things at Flixster, all under the broad banner of VP of Human Potential.
Beth Powell
Events Coordinator
Beth loves all things math and music. Her greatest fear is having to choose between them. She tries to create a fun and safe space in all that she does.
Saran Chari
Helper / Tech Guy
Saran was previously co-founder/CTO at Flixster. When he's not helping out at InnerSpace, he's dreaming about traveling to outer space (go Elon!).
Diana Chapman
Diana is cofounder of the Conscious Leadership Group, author of The 15 Commitments of Conscious Leadership, and works regularly with leaders of organizations from startups to the Fortune 500.
Ed Batista
Ed is an executive coach, consultant and instructor at Stanford's Graduate School of Business. He teaches a new course "Self-Coaching" at Stanford and has an upcoming book on the same topic being published by the Harvard Business Review.
Michael Terrell
Michael is passionate about helping people develop authentic and effective leadership capabilities that have measurable impacts on their company cultures, business outcomes, relationships, and personal well-being. Michael is an executive coach and facilitates learning groups for one of the most popular courses at the Stanford Graduate School of Business, Interpersonal Dynamics.
Wendy Bittner
Wendy is a coach and facilitator who equips individuals and teams to learn continuously, lead with skill, and transform themselves and their businesses. Prior to her work at Cultivating Leadership, Wendy was VP of People Development at Keystone Strategy. For eight years, Wendy was a Senior Manager of Leadership Development and Senior Engagement Manager at McKinsey & Co.
Mike Robbins
Mike teaches leaders and organizations how to improve their workplace results and their lives using appreciation and authenticity. Clients include Google, Microsoft, The San Francisco Giants, First Round Capital & Wisdom 2.0.
Will Kabat-Zinn
Will has practiced Insight Meditation in the U.S. and Burma for more than thirteen years. He has taught meditation to diverse populations, from neuroscientists at the Mind and Life Summer Research Institute to incarcerated youth in the South Bronx, Riker's Island, and Oakland.
Carole Robin
Chief Inspirational Advisor
Carole is currently the Director of the Arbuckle Leadership Fellows Program at Stanford. She holds a full-time lectureship appointment in the Organization Behavior area where she teaches Interpersonal Dynamics, High Performance Leadership, Leadership Coaching and Mentoring and Taking Stock and Moving Forward. As a consultant and executive coach, Carole has been helping people and organizations thrive in the business, nonprofit, and public sectors since 1985.
Scott Kriens
Chief Perspirational Advisor
Scott is the founder of the 1440 Foundation whose mission is to support organizations that work to grow compassion and foster authentic relationships in the world. Previously he was Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of the Board of Juniper Networks from 1996 to 2008.
Julia Hartz
President & Cofounder, Eventbrite
Kevin Chou
CEO & Cofounder, Kabam
Kunal Sarkar
CEO & Cofounder, Lumosity
Sam Chaudhary
CEO & Cofounder, ClassDojo
Ben Rattray
CEO & Founder, Change.org
Chase Adam
Founder, Watsi
Josh Reeves
CEO & Cofounder, ZenPayroll
Oh no, so lonely. Send us a check and a logo!


text:
We provide cabs/taxis for rent/pickup and drop facility within the state of Goa. Bikes for rent and sight seeing package is also available
- Stage Concept Only
- Industry Internet / Web Services
- Location Candolim, GA, India
- Currency USD
- Website cabsingoa.com
Company Summary
Our services allow users to book or hire a cab from anyplace within Goa. We also provide bikes for hire. We also suggest sightseeing packages for the users. We have been getting a very good response from the customers, as a result we are planning to extend our services. Our customers are all individuals who want to spend some quality, hassle free time on their vacations, basically everyone who visits Goa
Raghu UdiyarCo Founder
Software and Systems engineer with 4+ years experience working in IT infrastructure automation, deploying custom IT solutions, and resolving complex issues in production environments. In addition, web development expertise in Python and front-end technologies such as Jquery.
Prabhas B NayakCo Founder
Web developer and Designer with keen interest in learning the latest web technologies, web standards and best practices.


text:
WIRED.com is now entirely HTTPS. In other words: All our content is encrypted in transit from our servers to your browser, and this ensures no one is fiddling with that content before it reaches you.
We began this rollout nearly five months ago and took the final step of turning on HTTPS across the entire site last week. Now that we've reached this milestone, we wanted to share our experiences with you—just in case you want to move a media site to HTTPS.
Our Strategy
Planning and preparing for moving to HTTPS was more of a human engineering than a technical engineering project. We started discussing the possibility of moving to HTTPS as far back as June 2015, with conversations intensifying toward the end of 2015. We coordinated closely with our ad teams—both the people who manage the technical and the operational aspects of ad delivery. We also worked with our SEO and business development teams as we evaluated risks associated with moving to HTTPS.
We decided that a staged rollout, where we convert one section at a time to HTTPS, would allow us to take on smaller amounts of risk at a time (a move that we cribbed from The Washington Post). With each section migration, we could evaluate the impact of the change.
Before encrypting the whole site, we converted individual sections. That covered approximately 10 percent of our content. We did these three migrations at three different times over the past four months. Additionally, we launched our brand new Video section during this process and deployed it with HTTPS from the start.
While we had a good plan for our rollout, an HTTPS migration of this nature is complex, and we ran into some issues along the way. If you're considering a move to HTTPS, we have five basic recommendations:
- Deploy HTTPS on small sections before rolling it out side-wide to assess risk as you go, though this can complicate SEO
- Monitor mixed content issues via CSP reporting
- Use upgrade-insecure-requests (now in Chrome, Firefox, and Safari) to fix mixed content issues automatically for many users
- Use 301 redirects, update canonical URLs, and update your sitemaps to use HTTPS URLs for best SEO results
- Work with your teams that manage third party content to ensure that they are prepared to update their processes for managing HTTPS compliant content
If you want to learn more, read on.
Security First
On April 28, we began the rollout by migrating our Security section to HTTPS. And we learned a lot in just the first few hours.
Some content was inaccessible due to redirect loops. Previously, we redirected HTTPS requests to HTTP, and these redirects were cached. When we then turned on HTTP-to-HTTPS redirects, we created a redirect loop. To fix, we flushed URLs cached at our CDN for the affected URLs. Learning from this lesson, we prepared a "prelaunch" mode for future rollouts. Prelaunch mode allows URLs to be accessed at their HTTP or HTTPS URLs, without redirects being cached. Once we were sure no HTTPS-to-HTTP redirects were cached, we could turn on HTTP-to-HTTPS redirects without the dreaded redirect loop.
We also immediately identified content that was still being served over HTTP. We used Content Security Policy's reporting mechanism to find HTTP content still served on the site. These pieces of HTTP content were being used on HTTPS pages, causing mixed content errors. Most of these were related to configuration changes between our staging and production environments that we simply missed. We were monitoring for these issues and were able to quickly spot and fix them.
Disaster Strikes
When we started our rollout, we targeted May 12 as the day that we would turn on HTTPS across the site. Yep, we thought everything would be ready for prime time after merely two weeks. As I sit here writing this four months after our planned launch date, I cannot help but think how naive we were.
The primary issue was SEO. Our Security section appeared to take a rather catastrophic nose dive with regard to search referrals, search clicks and page rank. While changes in these metrics can certainly be attributed to other situational factors, it was pretty clear to us that this was related to the HTTPS switchover. We reviewed the situation to assess what we had done incorrectly.
The first change we made was to update our redirects from 302 to 301 redirects. In HTTP nomenclature, a "302 redirect" means that the redirect is only "temporary," whereas a "301 redirect" means the redirect is "permanent." We intentionally used 302 redirects as we thought this would allow us to easily roll back if necessary. It is possible that we confused search engines by failing to signal that the content has permanently moved.
We did correctly update the canonical URLs for each page. If the page was served over HTTPS, we updated its canonical URL to HTTPS. Given that canonical URLs have so much influence, we assumed that the redirects (even 302 redirects), plus proper canonical URLs would be sufficient to signal the real location of content.
It is incredibly difficult to understand what works and what does not work with regard to SEO. That said, I think we should have launched with 301—permanent redirects. However, I cannot say one way or another whether or not it would have made a difference. The feedback loop for SEO-related changes is so slow and influenced by so many factors that it is difficult to pin changes to any single cause.
The Checklist
When we evaluated our HTTPS rollout on our Security section, we also wanted to understand how well our ads performed in this two week phase. Our main concern with ads was discrepancies between first and third party reporting. First party reporting is the ad deliverability tracking conducted by our internal teams. Third party reporting is tracking that is implemented by other, non-WIRED, organizations. When our first party and third party tracking doesn't match, it raises concerns about the state of the ad delivery. Fortunately, our analysis of this data suggested that we were seeing no concerning discrepancies after launching HTTPS.
Additionally, we looked at the number of mixed content issues that our visitors experienced. From this data, we were able to tell that our site triggered numerous mixed content issues. By examining this data, we were able to pinpoint categories of content that were still being delivered over HTTP. As you can probably guess, much of this content was from third parties. We were able to identify some systemic issues that we could address with our ad teams. Specifically, we found that delivery of non-visible HTTP assets were commonly overlooked in QA processes. Since these assets were not clearly breaking visual display of the ads, they would pass QA. We worked with our ad teams to look for these assets by using the Chrome Developer Tools Security Panel, which highlights insecure domains. Our ad teams later introduced automated tools to help spot mixed content issues.
Beyond examining individual mixed content issues, we wanted to assess if, as a company, we were getting better at delivering content over HTTPS. To this end, we calculated a daily ratio of mixed content errors to page views, which gives us a standardized value for judging progress that is not impacted by changes in page views. We saw a steady decline in this ratio in the first two weeks of HTTPS delivery, suggesting that our engineering and ad teams were effectively removing mixed content from the site over time.
Then we looked for general trends among mixed content errors. We noticed that 77% of the mixed content errors stemmed from Webkit, the browser engine used by Safari. This was due to Webkit not supporting the "upgrade-insecure-requests" directive for Content Security Policy. This directive instructs browsers to automatically use HTTPS to download assets, even if they are using the HTTP scheme. It fixes a broad array of mixed content errors without manual intervention.
After we published a story discussing how helpful Safari support for upgrade-insecure-requests would be, Apple began implementing the feature in Safari. Much to our delight, the Safari team has fully implemented "upgrade-insecure-requests" in Webkit, which is available in iOS 10 this week and macOS Sierra later this fall.
Phase Two
At this point, we thought that ad delivery was handled sufficiently. We also thought that we fixed our most egregious SEO mistakes and decided to move another section, Transportation, to HTTPS as a test. We certainly were not comfortable enough to move the whole site to HTTPS yet. We stated that we would aim to convert the rest of the site to HTTPS on May 24th.
After 12 days of the Transportation section on HTTPS and nearly a month of the Security section on HTTPS, SEO performance continued to be a concern. The Security section still was nowhere near recovering, and Transportation's SEO performance was down. It was not nearly as bad as Security, but still bad enough that we did not have confidence in moving the rest of the site to HTTPS.
When you read about best practices for performing "site moves"—the term Google's SEO guides use for changing a site to HTTPS—you will find estimates for SEO recovery to be from a few weeks to 2–3 months. Perhaps we just needed to wait longer to see the recovery? Maybe. They do not suggest SEO issues as bad as we experienced, so we still believed something else was amiss.
Examining our site once again, we reviewed our sitemaps, which we had not touched at all when moving the Security and Transportation sections to HTTPS. Best practices for handling sitemaps for a "partial site move" (i.e., for moving only part of a site to HTTPS) are not entirely clear. We were not able to find any literature discussing this specifically. As such, we thought that as long as the redirects and canonicals were in place, the search engines would figure it out. Because we were a month into this and still seeing SEO issues, we decided to follow best practices for a full site move with regard to sitemaps.
Radio Silence
We decided to make a few changes to our sitemaps. To begin, the URLs in our primary sitemaps were updated to use the proper scheme where necessary: If a story had been converted to HTTPS, it now had the HTTPS URL in the sitemap. This change was pushed out on June 6th. Next, we created a second sitemap, that only included stories that were served over HTTPS. This sitemap was created and deployed on June 14.
During this period of time, we went silent. We wanted to update people following this story, but we didn't have much to say. "We haz SEOz problems and we are trying to figure it out" was about all we could communicate—not much of a story.
At this time, we also began to engage others to further understand if we were doing anything wrong. We reached out to Google and asked them if there was a reason that we were seeing such terrible results. The initial response from Google was that we were not doing anything problematic with our SEO implementation and we should not expect to see any changes in search traffic after 3 to 4 weeks. We also studied the HTTPS rollouts of other media organizations and found no evidence of SEO problems on a similar scale that we experienced.
After this set of changes, we waited, hoping that we'd see the rebound we were promised. We also checked in on our mixed content issues during this time. We continued to see acceptable amounts of issues and a downward trend in the ratio of mixed content issues to page views. Our ad teams were getting into a rhythm with spotting and removing HTTP requests from ads before they ever made it to our site. At this point, we were quite confident in our ad delivery over HTTPS.
Ironically, ensuring appropriate ad delivery was the primary reason that we took a staged approach to the rollout. However, it seemed like this approach is what caused our SEO woes and ad issues were not as problematic as we anticipated.
Phase Three
Throughout the summer, we continued to monitor SEO impact. We hoped that by the 2 to 3 month mark we would be recovered. And in mid-August, we heard back from Google regarding our SEO issues. They indicated that their analysis showed that there was no significant loss caused by the HTTPS transition. They confirmed that there was an unspecified issue right after the initial Security transition and that we recovered from it quickly.
They emphasized that, because we are a news site, our ranking tends to change frequently due to the regular cycle of news. If we are not publishing anything that is making major news, we could see ranking fluctuations. As such, we cannot parse that out from the HTTPS transition. We were told that they saw no evidence that our HTTPS transition was causing declines in search traffic or clicks.
At this point, we decided that we would do one final test on our Design section. With all the potential mistakes corrected and assurance that our SEO will not be impacted, we moved our Design section to HTTPS and planned to wait 2 weeks. If SEO looked good, we would move to HTTPS everywhere.
The Whole Enchilada
On September 8, we rolled out HTTPS site-wide, after our search traffic analysis of the Design section suggested that the transition did not impact traffic. Our ratio of mixed content errors to page views continued to show a downward trend. Our results suggested that whatever problems we were previously suffering from had been properly mitigated, so we were comfortable moving to HTTPS everywhere. Similar to when we enabled HTTPS on the Security section, we found a few mixed content issues that we had missed. These were quickly mitigated, because we were closely watching our mixed content errors.
Other than those minor issues, the rollout went smoothly. We avoided the redirect issues that we previously experienced and were prepared to handle sitemaps more efficiently than we previously had.
Moving such a large site with so much content is a massive team effort. While it is easy to think of this project as purely technical, the real challenge was preparing our whole organization for what it means to deploy a website and its web of dependencies over HTTPS. It required a lot of people to be forced to change their processes, which is no small thing to ask. No one ever pushed back on this process without a good reason. There was an overwhelming willingness within WIRED to get this done.
Peter Elbaor, Pawan Sandhu, Christina Doehmer, and Robbie Sauerberg ensured that ad content would be delivered properly over HTTPS. They provided data to evaluate our success, reworked their quality assurance process to handle HTTPS, and worked with third parties to educate them about HTTPS. Our SEO team, composed of John Shehata and Ron Tumbokon, guided us through the SEO related setbacks we experienced. They leveraged their years of experiences to help us assess our issues and strategize fixes and tests. Toy Charassinvichai on the data team helped us build out a Content Security Policy violation report collector. This collector was arguably one of the most important technical contributions to the project.
Mark McClusky and Sam Baldwin prioritized the project from a product perspective and never let it fall off the roadmap regardless of the setbacks we faced. Scott Dadich, our Editor-in-Chief, never needed convincing that this was important and backed it from the earliest stages of the project. Finally, Kathleen Vignos, our former Director of Engineering, allowed for WIRED's Tech Team to sink time into researching this project while pursuing an otherwise aggressive technical roadmap.
Large scale HTTPS transitions are massive undertakings. My biggest piece of advice when taking on this challenge as part of a media organization is to build your team before you build your tech. HTTPS deployments touch every single piece of your tech stack and business and you need people to advocate and problem solve every step of the way.


text:
Typical Swiss food and where to get it.
Overview of the public holidays in Switzerland.
About the four different languages spoken in Switzerland, and standard German versus Swiss German.
Independent Switzerland was founded in 1291. Learn why that happened, and how modern Switzerland arose.
About the national and regional governments, and Swiss neutrality.
Let Swiss travel consultants create a customized itinerary. They will book your entire trip.


text:
Don't have much time this weekend but thought of something silly I wanted to see if I could do last night. So this morning I took two hours to throw this little initial prototype together. It's still missing a lot of gameplay type stuff but I wanted to have something to play around with regarding the main player character and to use it to refine my ideas.
Basic idea is a risk/reward mechanic overtop of a basic mouse skills game. The player decides how much/where they want to suck from the body parts. Those arm hairs wiggle around. The more the player sucks the more erratic they move but I'll likely increase a score multiplier. So the idea would simply be to guide your mosquito to the body part areas you want to get blood from and then escape without getting slapped.
Here is the current earliest test prototype showing what I got finished in my first two hours here. I'm using Flash CS5.5 and ActionScript 3.0.


text:
Disclosure: I was invited to the conference by P&G, however all opinions expressed are my own.
My Trip to #AccessPG Part 4
Are you getting tired of my posts from my trip to #AccessPG ? This week will have my last posts of the rest of the awesome events that transpired on that weekend! It's been a couple weeks now and it still feels like a dream and getting my pictures organized and making them pretty just brings back all the moments spent with the amazing folks of Procter and Gamble and the wonderful ladies/fellow bloggers there as well. Did I tell you this was the first event Procter and Gamble have done like this?! YES! I think that's another reason why I just have to pinch myself when I think- I WAS THERE FOR IT! So that's probably another reason why I'm dragging it out. Truly a wonderful experience for myself.
So this is picture heavy again! Get ready!
Ok so here we go! A day full of activities was planned for us and it started with Yoga thanks to Tampax and the #AwesomelyActive Girls promotion!
We did a lite session of yoga with a local studio owner in Cincinnati. It was really nice. Yoga is awesome. After the session we had a beautiful breakfast and a lesson on Tampax engineering! One of the Tampax engineers joined us for yoga, spoke with us during breakfast and gave us an up close on the science of the braided end of the tampons! Those braids save people in a pinch ya'll! The braid at the end of the tampon can actually hold a good amount so that you don't leak. Might be TMI for some folks, but that subject matters!
We got the green liquid, not the blue from television 😉
After breakfast we broke to get dressed. Came back down to the museum to get our learn on with Jb Kropp on Twitter.
Learned some great insight too! Have you seen my posts on Vine?? Thanks to my new friend Zippy from Champagne Living for being my muse for my first Vine video ever!
After the session we got ready for our walk to head to the Procter & Gamble headquarters, for the rest of the afternoon!
The Procter and Gamble building is really beautiful! I was very impressed that they use their products in their offices too. Can we say Charmin toilet paper in the bathrooms?! YES!! It was Charmin blue too.. 😉 I know my Charmin!!
We went into a large conference room and the Bounty fun began!
After lunch we were split up into two groups. Our group headed to get our Iams learn on! I don't have any pets, but the information I learned really made me want to get a pupper and feed that baby some Iams So Good food!
Pawl is even cuter in person too. And so well behaved too! Makes me want to have a dog. I wish we could! I tell Aramis that once Ezra is potty trained and we are sort of settled we can hopefully get a doggie. He can't wait!
How about those serious picture collages eh? I have so many pictures this post could go on for days. Tomorrow's post will have the rest of the day's events and the end. Oh say it aint so! I don't even want to be done blogging about the conference.
Terry Farmer – Marketing


text:
|Short URL:
|stateofmankind Subscribe
|2019-12-12 21:53:27
CCP Military Parade
CCP unveiled CH-7 Stealth Combat Drone
State Of Mankind - How Much Do You Know?
Excerpts from "How the Specter of Communism Is Ruling Our World"
(142)Communist China's Military Ambitions
At the 2018 Zhuhai Airshow in China, the debut of the CH-7 Rainbow drone caught the attention of military experts. The Rainbow series signifies that China has caught up in the technology for developing armed drones. A large number of CH-4 Rainbows have taken over the military markets of Jordan, Iraq, Turkmenistan, and Pakistan, countries that were restricted from purchasing armed drones from the United States. [94] The latest CH-7 Rainbow, in some ways, is as well-equipped as X-47B, the best the United States has to offer. An observer noticed that the latest CH-7 was revealed at the 2018 Airshow in China before it was tested by the PLA. [95] The video played at the airshow simulated the drones combating the enemy, which was clearly the U.S. military. [96] All of these moves clearly show China's ambition to challenge the U.S. hegemony.
In recent years, as China's military power became more developed, its ambition couldn't stay unnoticed. Chinese vessels followed and harassed a U.S. surveillance ship (USNS Impeccable) in the South China Sea while it was conducting routine operations in international waters [97].
A similar incident took place later in Yellow Sea international waters. The Chinese vessels repeatedly came close to the USNS Victorious. They came within 30 yards of the U.S. ship, forcing it to make a dangerous sudden stop. [98] The most recent incident happened in September 2018, when a Chinese warship conducted aggressive maneuvers warning the USS Decatur to depart the area. The Chinese ship approached within 45 yards of the bow of the American vessel, forcing the Decatur to maneuver to prevent a collision. [99]
The CCP regime revealed its military ambitions long ago. Its strategy is to move from being a land power to being a maritime superpower and eventually establishing hegemony on both land and sea. In 1980, Beijing's strategy was to perform active defense, and its focus was mainly on defending its own borders. At the time, its main adversary was the Soviet Army. In 2013, Beijing's frontline defense turned into active offense for the purpose of expanding its frontline. It proposed "strategic offense as an important type of active defense." [100]
In 2015, a Chinese military theorist and author of Unrestricted Warfare: China's Master Plan to Destroy America made the following statements: "One Belt, One Road policy requires the army to have expeditionary ability." "The Chinese land forces must take a flying leap and revolutionize itself." "The national interests that come with One Belt, One Road are an enormous incentive for the Chinese army to reform." [101] All this fuels Beijing's aim to become a land-based superpower.
The U.S. Department of Defense said in its Annual Report to Congress in 2018:
China's maritime emphasis and attention to missions guarding its overseas interests have increasingly propelled the PLA beyond China's borders and its immediate periphery. The PLAN's [the Chinese navy] evolving focus — from "offshore waters defense" to a mix of "offshore waters defense" and "open seas protection" — reflects the high command's expanding interest in a wider operational reach. China's military strategy and ongoing PLA reform reflect the abandonment of its historically land-centric mentality. Similarly, doctrinal references to "forward edge defense" that would move potential conflicts far from China's territory suggest PLA strategists envision an increasingly global role. [102]
China's goal is to first break through the boundaries of the first island chain and head to the open waters of the Pacific and Indian oceans. The first island chain stretches from the Kuril Islands in the north to the islands of Taiwan and Borneo in the south. The chain surrounds the Yellow Sea, the East China Sea, and the western Pacific Ocean.
The purpose of China's expansion in the South China Sea was to break through the first island chain. China built islands and militarized reef islets in the South China Sea. It equipped them with airports, shore-based aircraft, and missiles. Currently three strategically important islets in the South China Sea, namely Fiery Cross Reef, Subi Reef, and Mischief Reef, have been fortified with anti-ship cruise missiles, surface-to-air missiles, and airfields. The islands have essentially formed stationary aircraft carriers that can be used in the event of military conflict. At the strategic level, the Chinese navy is capable of breaking through the boundaries of the first island chain and has the capability to fight in the open ocean.
Steve Bannon, former White House chief strategist, said on several occasions that the United States is headed for military conflict with China. "We're going to war in the South China Sea in five to ten years," he said in March 2016. "There's no doubt about that." [103]
Lawrence Sellin, former American colonel and military commentator, believes that "China is now attempting to extend its international influence beyond the South China Sea by linking to a similar framework for dominance in the northern Indian Ocean. If permitted to complete the link, China could be in an unassailable position to exert authority over roughly one-half of the global GDP." [104]
The dominance of the South China Sea isn't an issue of territory, but of global strategy. Each year, close to US$5 trillion in merchandise moves through the South China Sea. [105] For China, its Maritime Silk Road begins with the South China Sea, and an estimated 80 percent of its oil imports are projected to travel via the region. [106] Peacekeeping in the South China Sea following World War II fell to the United States and its allies. This poses a big threat to the Chinese regime, which is preparing to go to war with the United States and deems the South China Sea a key area for its economic growth and military expansion.
Taylor Fravel, the Arthur and Ruth Sloan Professor of Political Science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), pointed out an interesting fact after figuring out how China has solved it territorial disputes in history. Since 1949, China has engaged in twenty-three territorial disputes with its neighbors. It settled seventeen of these disputes. In fifteen of these settlements, Beijing offered substantial compromises on the allocation of disputed territory. But when it comes to issues in the South China Sea, since the 1950s, even when the Chinese navy was militarily insignificant, it has taken an uncompromising approach and has claimed indisputable sovereignty over the region. China has never used such absolute language to other land disputes. [107]
Apparently, "fighting every inch" isn't how China solves its border conflicts. Professor M. Taylor Fravel listed several reasons for China's strong stand on South China Sea (SCS) issues. "China views offshore islands such as the Spratlys as strategic. From these islands, China can claim jurisdiction over adjacent waters that might contain significant natural resources and even jurisdiction over some activities of foreign naval vessels," he said. "South China Sea outcrops can also be developed into forward outposts for projecting military power." "They might also aid China's submarine force by preventing other states from tracking Chinese submarines that seek to enter the Western Pacific from the South China Sea." [108]
The Chinese regime's aggressive and expansionary actions in the South China Sea, especially the steps it has taken in recent years to change the status quo, have heightened military tensions in the greater region. Japan has reversed a decade of declining military expenditures, while India has revived its stalled plans for naval modernization. [109]
Masking its efforts with the excuse of safe passage for energy and freight, China's active expansion in the South China Sea has tipped the balance of power in the region and increases the possibility of military conflict. One expert pointed out that "Chinese perception of the SCS as a security concern has led to an erosion of security in the region." [110] This standpoint echoes that of Bannon.
In 2017, the Chinese military established its first overseas military base in Djibouti. Western scholars believe that Chinese military officials are looking beyond the Western Pacific Region and considering how to project power ever farther abroad. [111] For example, the CCP has recently been active in the Pacific Island countries, regardless of costly investments. Its long-term goal is that in the future, these island countries serve as supply stations for the PLAN's blue-water fleet. [112] The military expansion of the CCP is not limited to the traditional divisions of land, sea, and air; it is also making advances into the realms of space and electromagnetic warfare.
The CCP's military ambitions are backed by vast reserves of manpower, equipment, and funding.
The CCP regime maintains the largest regular army in the world, with two million active military personnel. The People's Liberation Army also has the largest ground force in the world, the largest number of warships, the third-most naval tonnage, and a massive air force. It has a trinity nuclear strike capability consisting of intercontinental ballistic missiles, ballistic-missile submarines, and strategic bombers.
The Chinese regime also has 1.7 million armed police personnel, which are under the unified leadership of the CCP Central Military Commission, and a large number of reserve and militia units. The Party's military doctrine has always stressed the importance of "people's war." Under the CCP's totalitarian system, it can quickly impress all available resources to military use. This means that the CCP has a pool of over a billion people (including overseas Chinese) from which it can draft huge numbers of people into militia service.
China's GDP increased rapidly between 1997 and 2007. The CCP relies on economic power to rapidly expand armaments production and upgrade its arsenal. It is estimated that by 2020, the PLA ground forces will have five thousand modern main battle tanks. The PLAN will have at least two aircraft carriers in its fleet. Ninety percent of PLA Air Force fighters are of the fourth generation, and China has begun to introduce fifth-generation fighters.
In early 2017, China announced a 6.5 percent inflation-adjusted increase in its annual military budget to US$154.3 billion. Analysis of data from 2008 through 2017 indicates China's official military budget grew at an annual average of 8 percent in inflation-adjusted terms over that period. [113] Observers estimate that the actual military spending of the CCP is twice as much as what is officially acknowledged. Aside from this, the military strength of the regime is not fully reflected in military spending because its actual military expenditure is higher than the public figures, and the CCP can requisition many civilian resources and manpower at its discretion. The entire industrial system can serve the needs of war, which means its true military capabilities far exceed official data and the usual estimates.
The CCP will build a global system consisting of more than thirty Beidou (Big Dipper) navigation satellites by the end of 2020, with global GPS military positioning capabilities. The mass production of the Rainbow series of military drones serves more tactical considerations for the CCP. For example, in the Taiwan Strait layout, the CCP may gain advantages through its unmanned aircraft machine-sea tactics. [114] A large number of aerial drones can form clusters under the control of satellites and artificial intelligence, making them useful in regional and asymmetrical conflicts.
The stealth fighter Chinese J-20, which was unveiled at the Zhuhai Air Show, resembles the American F-22, while the Chinese J-31 appears modeled on the F-35. The PLA is closing the gap with the United States in the development of modern jet fighters.
In addition, the CCP uses a broad range of espionage to catch up with the United States in technology. According to some recent estimates, more than 90 percent of espionage against the United States conducted via hacking comes from China, and the CCP's networks infiltrate large American companies and the military, stealing technology and knowledge that the Chinese cannot develop independently. [115] China's drone technology was stolen from the United States.
In terms of tactics, the PLA is keen on asymmetric capabilities: asymmetric warfare, asymmetric strategy, and asymmetric weapons. [116] Adm. Philip S. Davidson, the new commander of the Indo-Pacific Command, described China as a "peer competitor." He said that China is not trying to match America's firepower at a one-to-one ratio; rather, it is trying catch up with the United States by building critical asymmetric capabilities, including the use of anti-ship missiles and capabilities in submarine warfare. He warned that "there is no guarantee that the United States would win a future conflict with China." [117]
The CCP relied on its research and development of Dongfeng 21D missiles (anti-ship ballistic missiles for use against U.S. aircraft carriers) to conduct similar sniper-mode confrontation. In 2018, the CCP publicly exhibited the land-based Eagle-Attack-12B supersonic anti-ship missile, known as the "aircraft carrier killer." It has drawn a 550-kilometer "death zone" in the western Pacific, in which American carrier battle groups will be susceptible to ultra low-altitude saturation strikes. These missiles become an important military means of the PLA's regional denial operations aimed at preventing U.S. military intervention.
Following the rapid expansion of its military power, the CCP regime has become a huge weapons exporter to the world's authoritarian regimes, such as North Korea and the rogue regimes of the Middle East. On the one hand, the goal is to expand its military alliances, and on the other hand, to disperse and counter U.S. military power. The CCP regime spreads and encourages anti-American sentiment and hatred. It is easy for the CCP to unite with other anti-American regimes to further its hegemonic ambitions.
At the same time, the CCP leadership advocates terrorist military theories such as the aforementioned unrestricted warfare. It advocates the necessity of war by saying that "war is not far from us, it is the birthplace of the Chinese century." It legitimizes violence and terror with words such as "The dead are the driving force for the advancement of history." It justifies aggression: "There is no right to development without the right to war," and "the development of one country poses a threat to another — this is the general rule of world history." [118]
Zhu Chenghu, dean of the Defense College of the National Defense University of the People's Republic of China, publicly stated that if the United States intervenes in a war in the Taiwan Strait, China will preemptively use nuclear weapons to raze hundreds of cities in the United States, even if all of China to the east of Xi'an (a city located at the western edge of China's traditional boundaries) were destroyed as a consequence. [119] Zhu's statements were a public display of the CCP's ambitions and a means of probing reactions by the international community.
It is important to be aware of the fact that the CCP's military strategies are always subordinate to its political needs, and that the regime's military ambitions are only a small part of its overall schemes. The Party's approach is to rely on both economic and military means to impose its communist ideology on the rest of the world. [120]
From Chapter Eighteen
|State Of Mankind


text:
Assessment & Rubrics
Wikis > Assessment & Rubrics
Here is a collection of links on how to assess online course assignment submissions. Sample rubrics are also available.
- Rubrics for Assessment
From the University of Wisconsin – Stout, this page provides "a collection of rubrics for assessing portfolios, cooperative learning, research process/ report, PowerPoint, oral presentation, web page, blog, wiki, and other social media projects."


text:
Page Manager: Webmaster
Last update: 9/11/2012 3:13 PM
Stefanos Stagkourakis
Johan Dunevall
Zahra Taleat
Andrew G Ewing
Christian Broberger
|Published in
|The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience
|Publication year
|Published at
Department of Chemistry and Molecular Biology
|Subject categories
|Analytical Chemistry
The relationship between neuronal impulse activity and neurotransmitter release remains elusive. This issue is especially poorly understood in the neuroendocrine system, with its particular demands on periodically voluminous release of neurohormones at the interface of axon terminals and vasculature. A shortage of techniques with sufficient temporal resolution has hindered real-time monitoring of the secretion of the peptides that dominate among the neurohormones. The lactotropic axis provides an important exception in neurochemical identity, however, as pituitary prolactin secretion is primarily under monoaminergic control, via tuberoinfundibular dopamine (TIDA) neurons projecting to the median eminence (ME). Here, we combined optogenetic stimulation and fast-scan cyclic voltammetry to address dopamine release dynamics in the male mouse TIDA system. Imposing different discharge frequencies during brief (3 sec) stimulation of TIDA terminals in the ME revealed that dopamine output is maximal at 10 Hz, which was found to parallel the TIDA neuron action potential frequency distribution. Over more sustained stimulation periods (150 sec), maximal output occurred at 5 Hz. Application of the dopamine transporter blocker, methylphenidate, significantly increased dopamine levels in the ME, supporting a functional role of the transporter at the neurons' terminals. Lastly, TIDA neuron stimulation at the cell body yielded perisomatic release of dopamine, which may contribute to an ultra-fast negative feedback mechanism to constrain TIDA electrical activity. Together, these data shed light on how spiking patterns in the neuroendocrine system translate to vesicular release towards the pituitary and identify how dopamine dynamics are controlled in the TIDA system at different cellular compartments.SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENTA central question in neuroscience is the complex relationship between neuronal discharge activity and transmitter release. By combining optogenetic stimulation and voltammetry, we address this issue in dopamine neurons of the neuroendocrine system, which faces particular spatiotemporal demands on exocytotic release; large amounts of neurohormone need to be secreted into the portal capillaries with precise timing to adapt to physiological requirements. Our data show that release is maximal around the neurons' default firing frequency. We further provide support for functional dopamine transport at the neurovascular terminals, shedding light on a long-standing controversy about the existence of neuroendocrine transmitter reuptake. Finally, we show that dopamine release occurs also at the somatodendritic level, providing a substrate for an ultra-short autoregulatory feedback loop.


text:
News — clinical
Magnetic Bracelet Clinical Studies
Posted by Lynda F on
Pain from osteoarthritis of the hip and knee decreases when wearing magnetic bracelets. Randomised controlled trial of magnetic bracelets for relieving pain in osteoarthritis of the hip and knee Study completed by Tim Harlow, general practitioner, Colin Greaves, research fellow, Adrian White, senior research fellow, Liz Brown, research assistant, Anna Hart, Edzard Ernst, professor of complementary medicine. Objective To determine the effectiveness of commercially available magnetic bracelets for pain control in osteoarthritis of the hip and knee. Participants 194 men and women aged 45-80 years with osteoarthritis of the hip or knee. Intervention Wearing a standard strength static bipolar magnetic bracelet,...
- Tags: arthritis, bracelet, bracelets, carpal tunnel, clinical, hematite, knee, magnetic, onyx, pain, studies, therapy, trials


text:
...a competition open to qualifying secondary school students in Ireland.
Aviation and piloting provide an immediate, tactile, firsthand experience of math and science applications. When you control a flying machine, your own biology can literally feel, see and hear the physics of flight in action. Chemical reactions produce propulsion, all governed by mathematical principles.
Aerprize was created to explore the role of science and mathematics in aviation. Show us its impact to win!
|Located in sunny Long Beach, California, Angel City Flyers is a premiere flight training company dedicated to producing proficient pilots and aviation innovation.
The Irish Science Teachers' Association, Eol Oidí na hÉireann, is the Professional Association for the Teachers of Science in the Republic of Ireland.
Two students will win all-paid private pilot certification training in the United States by Angel City Flyers.


text:
Would you believe me if I told you that everything on the plate pictured above was freshly caught or grown in and off the coast of NJ? From the tuna to the rice, this dinner is 100% Jersey delicious.
Growing up, I earned the nickname Sammy The Seal at the age of 3, thanks to my ability to slurp down sushi like it was nobody's business. As my commitment to seasonal, sustainable, local eats strengthened, it became hard for me to find sushi restaurants committed to this way of preparing food. So, when I get a hankering for sushi now, I whip up a deconstructed sushi rice bowl or poke bowl with sustainably sourced fish, and it cures all my cravings.
Blue Moon Acres' sushi rice is a constant staple in my household, but not just for this dish. I use it whenever white rice is called for (except for risotto) in some of my favorite dishes, like chicken and rice or any sort of rice casserole! I love that it cooks up in less than 20 minutes, has a great chewy texture, but can also achieve a silky smooth creaminess to it when I need it to. It's a versatile pantry item, and I am constantly switching between the sushi rice and their Black & Tan rice when I need something with a little more grain separation for dishes like rice salads and pilafs.
And this beautiful bluefin tuna came from a friend that goes fishing 80 miles off the coast all summer long. It doesn't get fresher tasting than this! When the tuna is this good, you really don't want to cook it, marinade it for too long, or overpower it with strong sauces and marinades. Let the silky smooth fish shine with a light, vibrant dressing.
And while you likely won't find NJ-caught bluefin at your local supermarket, you can get a similar quality from Local 130 Seafood in Asbury Park, which has a network of fishermen that catch tuna and a variety of local fish. You can read all about the incredible work they're doing here.
With all of this in mind, I am challenging you to start looking differently at what sustainable, seasonal, and local means to you. New Jersey grown rice didn't exist 10 years ago. Local fresh seafood wasn't easily accessible, unless you knew a fisherman who would bring it home for you. And I'm pretty sure you weren't eating tatsoi 10 years ago either – the variety of greens and vegetables that have gained popularity over the last decade is so inspiring for adventurous home cooks! It's getting easier and easier here in the Garden State and beyond to create meals that are 70, 80, 90% local. Head to your farmers market and see what new vendors are popping up this weekend!
Tuna Sushi Rice Bowl with Tatsoi
(serves 2)
8oz bluefin tuna
1 small bundle of tatsoi (baby bok choy)
2 scallions, diced
1 garlic clove, minced
1 tbsp. oil
½ cup sushi rice
2 tbsp. soy sauce
1 tbsp. ponzu sauce
1 teaspoon rice wine vinegar
1 teaspoon sesame oil
Optional: Rice seasoning
Rinse sushi rice thoroughly and pour in a small saucepan with about 1 cup of water and a pinch of salt. Bring to a simmer, stir, lower heat and put the lid on the saucepan. Cook for about 15 minutes, then turn off and let steam for 5 minutes.
While rice is cooking, heat oil in a cast iron skillet over medium heat. Add minced garlic and scallions, let cook for one minute. Add tatsoi and mix to coat evenly in the oil. Let green cook for 3-5 minutes until wilted.
With a very sharp knife, slice your tuna and then dice into small cubes. I prefer to err on the smaller side. Take the fish and put it in your dressing, but don't let it marinade. Get ready to plate your bowl immediately: spread rice evenly, and with some tongs, place the sautéed tatsoi around the rice. Top with your fish and rice seasoning.


text: The method used is "Evolutiv'Tennis", it was directly inspired by a 25 years experience in teaching regular lessons, clinics and coaching competitiors. The key is, through the use of a variety of teaching material, to gradually increase the diffculty of the exercises. Every children being dierent, the increasement must be specifc to everyone's capabilities without leaving anyone out of the game. The #1 objective is to make the students do their best in a fun and motivating atmosphere, respecting their age and abilities {link on}


text:
1968 Ford
- Stock
- Engine Size
- Transmission
- 5 Speed Manual
- Miles
- 46,389
- Location
- Atlanta
or give us a call at (678) 279-1609
The smartest thing you can do when buying a fun hobby car is to buy someone else's finished project. This 1968 Mustang coupe is a great example of a passionate owner doing all the right things, yet still offering the car for a fraction of the investment require to restore it. Thoroughly updated to be safe, reliable, and fun, it offers great Mustang looks and comfort with V8 performance and a very affordable price tag.
That vivid code F Gulfstream Aqua paint is how this car was originally delivered, and you sure can't argue with the way it looks today. The car hails from the warm, dry south, so major rust was a non-issue, and it's pretty clear that a good amount of cash was invested to get it looking right. There are no major blemishes or prep issues, and if you want a car that'll stand out at the local cruise night, this is an awesome choice. Our studio doesn't quite capture the color properly, but it's quite striking in person, particularly with the white accents. The coupe is a bit more formal than the fastback or convertible, but it offers details like a set of GT fog lamps in the grille beautiful polished stainless trim around the tail panel (which was actually optional), and a brilliant C-stripe along the flanks to really highlight the sheetmetal's shape. Nice chrome bumpers stand out against the paint, and most of the other bright work is in very good shape. The white vinyl top was surely replaced at some point and it still shows brilliantly with no major stains and great fit with no issues underneath. The truth is, the whole car has a great all-of-a-piece look that's very appealing.
The matching two-tone aqua blue interior also received a thorough makeover, starting with a set of replacement seat covers, matching door panels, and correct carpets on the floor. A fat wood-rimmed steering wheel looks vintage but is easier to grip and the entire dashboard was painted to match the bodywork. The gauges, including a factory tach, show bright markings and shiny lenses and yes, that's a 5-speed manual shifter poking out of the transmission tunnel. Other upgrades include a modern A/C system that looks suitably vintage and an aftermarket console with a pair of cup holders between the seats. There's lots of sound-deadening material used throughout, so it's cool and quiet, and the trunk carries a reproduction mat and a full-sized spare tire on a matching styled steel wheel.
A 289 cubic inch V8 offers plenty of power for the relatively lightweight coupe and with upgrades like a Holley 4-barrel carburetor, Edelbrock intake manifold, and an electronic ignition system, there's a bit more power on tap than you'd expect. Nicely finished in Ford Blue with chrome valve covers and a factory-style air cleaner, it doesn't break any new ground but the sound of the free-flowing exhaust system is plenty entertaining. In fact, there's plenty of chrome throughout, including the Monte Carlo bar, export brace, and even the A/C compressor. A Borgeson power steering system feels remarkably modern and capable, and the power front disc brakes have a new booster. Combined with the ultra-tall overdrive 5th gear in the transmission, the factory 3.00 gears make this a peerless highway cruiser. The dual exhaust has twin outlets below the rear valence and those handsome 14-inch styled steel wheels with GT center caps carry 215/70/14 whitewall radials that are very much like it would have looked originally.
This is a very affordable Mustang with all the heavy lifting already done. It's fast, comfortable, and more reliable than any old car has a right to be. Call today!
- AM/FM Radio
- Defrost
- Air Conditioning
- Heat
- Vinyl Interior
- Front Disc Brakes
- Power Brakes
- Power Steering
- Seatbelts
- Exterior Color
- Aqua Blue
- Interior Color
- Aqua
- Front Brakes
- Power Disc
- Rear Brakes
- Power Drum
You May Also Be Interested In...
Why Consign with Streetside?
Because we make it easy for you to get more money in your pocket. Here are even more reasons to choose us…Learn More


text:
I hope you have a wonderful birthday!
Have a great one!
Happy Birthday!
im doin ok!! I moved to texas a few weeks ago, to save my job, I really fuckin hate it here lol
Great! How are you hon?
Have a happy day today!!!
Send an Instant Message to Daphne Using...
Renowned Death Hag
Death Hag Extraordinaire
Death Hag of Legend


text:
Shine-Dalgarno sequence
The Shine-Dalgarno sequence, proposed by Australian scientists John Shine and Lynn Dalgarno,[1] is a ribosomal binding site generally located 6-7 nucleotides upstream of the start codon AUG. The Shine-Dalgarno sequence exists only in prokaryotes; the six-base consensus sequence is AGGAGG. This sequence helps recruit the ribosome to the mRNA to initiate protein synthesis by aligning it with the start codon. The complementary sequence (CCUCCU), is called the anti-Shine-Dalgarno sequence and is located at the 3' end of the 16S rRNA in the ribosome. Eukaryotic equivalent of the Shine-Dalgarno sequence is called Kozak sequence.
Mutations in the Shine-Dalgarno sequence can reduce translation. This reduction is due to a reduced mRNA-ribosome pairing efficiency, as evidenced by the fact that complementary mutations in the anti-Shine-Dalgarno sequence can restore translation.
When the Shine-Dalgarno sequence and the anti-Shine-Dalgarno sequence pair, the translation initiation factors IF2-GTP, IF1, IF3, as well as the initiator tRNA fMet-tRNA(fMET) are recruited to the ribosome.
Shine-Dalgarno sequence vs. ribosomal S1 protein
In Gram-negative bacteria, however, Shine-Dalgarno sequence presence is not obligatory for ribosome to locate initiator codon, since deletion of Anti-Shine-Dalgarno sequence from 16S rRNA doesn't lead to translation initiation at non-authentic sites. Moreover, numerous prokaryotic mRNAs don't possess Shine-Dalgarno sequences at all. What principally attracts ribosome to mRNA initiation region is apparently ribosomal protein S1, which binds to AU-rich sequences found in many prokaryotic mRNAs 15-30 nucleotides upstream of start-codon. It should be noted, that S1 is only present in Gram-negative bacteria, being absent from Gram-positive species.
- Voet D and Voet J. 2004 Biochemistry. 3rd Edition. John Wiley and Sons Inc: pp.1321-2 and pp.1342-3
External links
See also
- Kozak consensus sequence, the ribosomal binding site for eukaryotes.
de:Shine-Dalgarno-Sequenz it:Sequenza di Shine-Dalgarno