#reformed film lab processing

[robertmatejcek]

Untitled Portrait with Sparkler No. 2 - mixed media - robert matejcek - 2022

'I'm radioactive, radioactive…' - Imagine Dragons - Radioactive

tags:

[superstardestroyer]

I'm starting to love the soft, dream-like quality of the Smena Symbol's lens the more I shoot with my crisp 00s telephoto on the SLR the more unique the '77 Soviet camera's photos look

[religion-is-a-mental-illness]

By: Mike Nayna

Published: May 7, 2023

Welcome to the world premiere of The Reformers, my new documentary series that explores the execution and aftermath of the infamous Grievance Studies Affair.

As social media matured through the 2010s, I noticed an interplay between the new technology and our innate religious impulses. I watched as moral communities formed into competing networks on social media and evangelised with increasing fervour.

A particular moral framework began to dominate the cultural landscape. I traced its doctrines upstream to the university where I started meeting with academics to discuss what I saw. I sat in on lectures and met with scholars from identity studies departments who seemed hostile to my asking questions about their work.

Later, I stumbled into something I called an “intellectual underground.” This was a collection of academics and intellectuals from around the world who recognised a creeping authoritarianism on campus. While parts of this network had gone public with their concerns, many more were afraid to do so and only corresponded in private. Two of the academics I spoke to took me off their official university email addresses to write more openly, and one professor walked me away from his office because he was "concerned someone will overhear us”.

From outside of the academy, this looked like an increase in passionate student protests, the kind of thing young people grow out of once they hit the “real world”. From the inside though, many academics could see that the students were imbibing a specific set of radical social theories that had escaped the academic lab and were now rapidly evolving in the popular realm.

The genesis point of these theories is within identity studies departments, and for many years their doctrines have been guiding an ever-expanding administrative apparatus inside the university system and beyond.

In part one of the four-part series, I share audio recordings from early discussions with philosophy professor Peter Boghossian and writer-mathematician James Lindsay, who told me about their secret hoax operation early in its conception.

Peter and James hatched a plan to expose the disciplines at their core - their most prominent journals. They believed if they could flatter the ideological biases of the activist scholars’ they would be able to get absurd and methodologically broken papers through their peer-review process. After which they would reveal what they had done to the public and bring attention to the worsening problem.

Although I thought there might be something off about the two, I wanted to see if they could help me get to the bottom of what I was seeing coming out of academia. Even if they failed, I could make a film about their career suicide. I agreed there was an interesting film in all this so flew out to meet them and their third author, Helen Pluckrose, a once-feminist historian, who they brought in for her expertise in the social theories they sought to expose.

Richard Baldwin, an ex-bodybuilder and retired history professor is the last piece of this clandestine puzzle. Peter, in particular, understood that to really have a shot at penetrating the academic fortress, they'd need an alias.

All three of the hoax authors were far too public about their opposition to the disciplines to write under their own names which, if not already known, could be found in a basic Google search. Peter asked Professor Baldwin to donate his clean identity to the team so they could submit their papers under his name.

This is where part one of the story wraps up, with me watching Pete, Richard, and James (by phone) concocting papers about obese bodybuilders and closeted BJJ practitioners, wondering what in the hell I’d gotten myself into.

In part two, we see James Lindsay in his natural habitat, learn more about the inner workings of the disciplines and watch the team take a big risk with the project to increase their chances of getting published.

[ Source: https://doi.org/10.1177/0193723599234002 ]

==

Part One is free to view on Mike's YouTube channel and Substack. The remaining parts will only be available to Substack subscribers.

[fantasticpersontaco]

Reformed Film Lab

Reformed Film Lab is the perfect choice for high-quality processing for color film. They specialize in working with 35mm, 120, and disposable camera films to deliver the best possible results.

[thedcdunce]

Blue Devil

“Killing demons has kept me plenty busy.” - Blue Devil

Real Name: Daniel Patrick Cassidy

Aliases:

Kid Devil

Gopher

Gender: Male

Height: 6′ 8″

Weight: 385 lbs (175 kg)

Eyes: Yellow

Hair: Bald

Skin: Blue

Powers:

Demonic Physiology

Abilities:

Acrobatics

Acting

Martial Arts

Mechanical Engineering/Gadgetry

Weaknesses:

Weirdness Magnet

Technological Reliability

Equipment:

Blue Devil Costume

Blue Devil Trident

Devilmobile

Trident of Lucifer

Universe:

Earth-One

New Earth

Base of Operations: 

Oblivion Bar

Metropolis

Los Angeles

Malibu, California

House of Weirdness

Citizenship: American

Marital Status: Single

Occupation: 

Special Effects Artist

Stuntman

First Appearance: Firestorm Vol 2 #24 (June, 1984)

Powers

Demonic Physiology: In his original superhero form, Blue Devil's abilities were largely the result of the technological devices built into his costume. Danny was reborn as a genuine demon after he was defeated by Neron in Hell.

Superhuman Strength

Superhuman Agility

Superhuman Durability

Accelerated Healing

Enhanced Senses

Enhanced Hearing

Enhanced Vision

Abilities

Acrobatics: Danny was an experienced stuntman. The Blue Devil suit then enhanced his strength and agility dramatically.

Acting: Danny worked in the film industry as an actor, stuntman, and special effects artist. He starred alongside Wayne Tarrant and Sharon Scott in the film, Blue Devil, as the title role.

Martial Arts

Boxing: Dan was an amateur boxer who retired undefeated in his last twenty fights, and was able to hold his own against Van Vanucci.

Mechanical Engineering/Gadgetry: Danny's greatest technical achievement was building the original Blue Devil suit and rocket propelled trident.

Weaknesses

Weirdness Magnet: After being fused into the Blue Devil suit, Norm theorized that Dan's fusion of science and magic made him a "weirdness magnet" that attracted abnormal activity to him. This was dismissed as a joke until until Dr. Kylburn had the statisticians at S.T.A.R. Labs substantiate the claims. They even gave him money to put his uncanny probability to the test in Las Vegas. The theory became conclusive upon meeting Cain, who confirmed the existence of such a concept, even pinpointing the positively charged force radiating from his abdomen. It's unknown if this phenomenon was caused by the magic of Nebiros or Danny's family history which has faerie blood on his uncle Seamus' side.

Technological Reliability: Although the suit was organically grafted to Danny, it was still mechanical in nature and vulnerable to being hijacked by the the correct frequency. His former friend and fellow stuntman Larry Bolatnsky managed to remotely control Blue Devil to fight Firestorm.

Equipment

Blue Devil Costume: Blue Devil's powers originally came from a highly sophisticated stunt suit Danny built for practical in-camera effects. The techno-organic exosuit disappeared when he was reborn as a true demon.

Superhuman Strength: Increased Danny's strength at least twenty times the norm.

Super-Leaping

Superhuman Durability

Accelerated Healing: After being grafted to Cassidy's body, the costume became organic and gained the ability to self-repair at an extremely fast rate.

Superhuman Agility

Enhanced Senses

Enhanced Hearing

Enhanced Vision: Infrared night vision.

Enhanced Vocals: Voice modulator.

Amphibious: The suit had "mini-gills" built into it, allowing Danny to breathe underwater.

Explosives: Exploding bubble effect from cuffs.

Blue Devil Trident: The trident had cybernetic relay connections to the suit, allowing it to be summoned and controlled remotely. In his original superhero costume, Blue Devil relied on the rocket-powered trident he had created to fly into action. It was built to support the weight of at least 20 people and traveled at approximately 60 mph.

Flight: Though mostly used enhance his super-leaping, the rockets could also provide sustained flight.

Flame Effect: The trident could be used to shoot fire.

Devilmobile: Danny's civilian vehicle was converted overnight by Jack Edison and James Jesse into a themed Devilmobile. Its gadgetry included an oil slick, a mist bomb, an anti-gravity disk, an ejector seat, booster rockets, and pyrotechnic and explosive features. It also had a reclining "make out" function.

Trident of Lucifer: Allows him to find demons on Earth and banish them to Hell.

Reluctant Hero

Dan Cassidy was a special effects wizard and stuntman whose credits had included The Battle of the Las Vegas Showgirls and Space Ninja when he was hired by his friend, film director Marla Bloom, to create and play the title character in the Verner Bros. monster movie Blue Devil. Cassidy's specialty was somewhat unusual - rather than create optical effects that would later be applied in post-production, Cassidy specialized in "in camera" mechanical and cybernetic effects. To that end, Cassidy created a full-body costume for Blue Devil, complete with a powered exoskeleton and built-in pyrotechnic devices. Cassidy also created a rocket-powered prop trident which was, among other things, capable of flying.

During location filming on the mysterious Ile Du Diable, Wayne Tarrant, the "hero" of the film, and his co-star Sharon Scott, accidentally freed a demon named Nebiros. Though Cassidy faced incredible odds and a near-death experience, he was able to effectively use the devices built into his costume to drive the demon back to its home dimension. Unfortunately, he was blasted with demonic energy in the process. After the fight, Cassidy found that the blast had permanently grafted the Blue Devil costume to his body. Cassidy, a devout Irish Catholic, was stuck in the "skin" of an unholy Blue Devil.

While trying to find ways of escaping his costume, the newly-named Blue Devil soon found himself involved in conflicts with super villains such as Metallo and The Trickster. Nebiros, who now had an affinity for his "little brother," would return time and time again to harass the Blue Devil, and just as often Cassidy would banish him to his own dimension. Cassidy's friend Norm Paxton, a cinematographer, theorized that the blast that had made Cassidy a Blue Devil had also turned him into a sort of "weirdness magnet." Though he initially insisted that he was no super hero, it took him little time to adapt to the realities of his existence. While he continued to seek a way to regain a normal life, Cassidy became more comfortable in the role of hero over time, and even gained an unwanted sidekick in the form of Kid Devil - actually Eddie Bloomberg, Marla Bloom's nephew.

Blue Devil would spend the next few years working with superheroes as diverse as The Creeper, Black Orchid, the Omega Men, and Superman. Later, he would also encounter Cain and Abel, who would go on to rent Blue Devil a room in the other-dimensional House of Weirdness, sister structure to the House of Mystery and House of Secrets. That house contained mystical doorways into a Malibu beach house, a house outside of Metropolis, and several other places.

Retirement and Comeback

After joining the rest of the heroic community in fighting the Anti-Monitor during the Crisis on Infinite Earths, Blue Devil found that he was attracting less and less weirdness to him and his friends, and went into semi-retirement as a hero. Though his younger sister Frankie was later revealed to have been a sleeper agent of the Manhunters, Blue Devil did not publicly participate in the Millennium affair or any of the subsequent major events during which the super-hero community banded together.

After a several-year period during which Cassidy's and Marla Bloom's careers suffered a downturn, Blue Devil resolved to help both himself and his good friend. Sensing an opportunity when the Justice League instituted an open-door membership policy, and sponsored by the mysterious organization known as the Arcana, Blue Devil came out of retirement and joined the team in order to make a "comeback" as a celebrity. Though he was only barely tolerated by some of the more serious members of the team, Cassidy's heart was in the right place, and he embarked on a quest to increase both his powers and his fortune.

Shortly after Blue Devil joined the team, the demon Neron took control of Hell and began seeking souls on Earth. Recognizing Cassidy's sense of thwarted ambition, Neron approached him with the chance to be a movie star, which the latter eagerly accepted. Cassidy had no way of knowing, however, that the true cost of his bargain would be the death of his close friend Marla Bloom. After performing the seemingly innocuous task of destroying an automatic electrical substation far in the desert, a chain of events was set in motion that would result in Bloom and her pilot dying in a helicopter accident. Blue Devil got his wish - sympathetic movie offers began to pour in - but the price was too high.

Guilt-ridden, Cassidy made the ultimate heroic sacrifice: he cheated Neron of his soul, but died in the process. Soon after, he was reincarnated as an actual demon, with an increase in power.

Demonic Existence

After the JLA disbanded and reformed again, this time with an invitation-only membership, Cassidy found himself without a team. Having long before lost the companionship of his movie-studio friends, he joined a new "Justice League of France" consisting of himself, Firestorm, the second Amazing Man, the surviving Crimson Fox, and a woman who claimed to be Icemaiden. Unfortunately, the latter was in fact the villainous Nash in disguise, and she killed nearly all of her erstwhile teammates. Again, the Blue Devil was destroyed, and again, he was restored to life, this time by the magician Faust, who used the Devil's bones to reanimate him. Facing Nebiros for the last time, Cassidy was granted the demon's Trident of Satan. Controlled by Faust, Blue Devil joined the Sentinels of Magic, where he worked alongside Ragman and Enchantress among other supernaturally powered beings. He was finally freed from his obligation to the team when Faust restored his last bone to him - however, Blue Devil soon lost his life a third time while fighting Hermes Trismegistus.

The Shadowpact

The Blue Devil did not remain dead long, however, and was soon seen roaming the Earth and banishing demons back to Hell. Cassidy began working as a bouncer at the Oblivion Bar, working for Nightmaster. There, he joined with Ragman and Enchantress once again, as well as Nightshade and Detective Chimp, in battle against the Spectre, who had declared war on all magic. He soon became the strong-man of the newly-dubbed Shadowpact, able even to wound Eclipso, and has since decided to stay with the team. He now helps his new teammates to contain the wild magic set free by the Spectre's actions.

Shortly after the Infinite Crisis, Blue Devil and his teammates were trapped inside a "blood shield" that grew over the town of Riverrock, Wyoming. While inside the town, Cassidy met a member of magic-based villain group called the Pentacle named Jack of Fire. Jack, who wore a bandana over his mouth and wielded pyrokinetic abilities, claimed that he was Cassidy's brother, and that Cassidy's deal with Neron had cursed the entire Cassidy family to Hell. In addition to becoming demonic himself, Jack claimed that Blue Devil's late parents had been pulled out of Heaven, and that his "sisters" Mary and Frances were also cursed. The veracity of these claims is questionable - though Cassidy does have a sister, Mary Frances, he had never before mentioned a brother or another sister. Oddly, Blue Devil claimed to have no recollection of having any siblings at all - a mystery that has yet to be solved.

One day, Blue Devil's former sidekick Eddie Bloomberg, now a true demon himself, came to Cassidy inquiring about his aunt Marla's death. Blue Devil admitted that he had not been honest with Eddie regarding the circumstances of her demise, and the teen responded hastily in shock. Before he could explain the truth to Eddie, Cassidy was told by his former sidekick to stay far away.

Cassidy then found himself under threat by the former Justice League member Zauriel. Because of Blue Devil's popularity as a demon, he had unknowingly given hell and demons a better image, prompting others to make their own deals with demons. As a result, Zauriel was tasked with killing Blue Devil and doing away with his bad influence on the populace. However, when Zauriel realized that Blue Devil wanted nothing more than to combat hell, Zauriel agreed to give him some time to repair his mistakes. Blue Devil is currently in hell bargaining for his soul with a lawyer. After briefly resuming his human body with a more powerful exosuit, Cassidy is given back his Trident and demonic powers by Jack of Fire, but as a "demon with a soul".

His most recent appearance was with Zatanna and the Phantom Stranger at the desecrated grave of Batman in Blackest Night. In typical fashion, he cracks that the Stranger brought them there to "hold hands and sing Kumbaya." That changes when black rings take control of Crispus Allen. While Zatanna was sent to gather the Justice League, Blue Devil and the Stranger attempt to stop the Black Lantern Spectre, failing miserably. He and the Stranger head to Nanda Parbat, where the Stranger helps Deadman remove the black ring from his body. Blue Devil is then tasked by the Stranger to protect the body, being told that it is of "singular importance".

Fun Facts

Blue Devil's body gives off the aroma of brimstone.

Danny's an Irish Catholic and therefore has prayed at times of great need or during Mass. He still burns whenever he sets foot on holy ground.

[antoine-roquentin]

You’ve been an activist since you were a teenager. You’ve been very visible in the Occupy movement. When it comes to raising awareness for change, how different are you finding the power of a movie from the power of the street?

With a movie, you have the power of putting out an idea about the world and for people to take it seriously. I think often the stuff that we see just re-situates the status quo and confirms it. But my hope is to talk about things that could be.

I think the movements — even ones that I’ve been involved with — over the last 50 years have been mainly about spectacle, mainly about showing that people are fed up with something and not one that’s power-based, whereas movements of the ’20s and ’30s used the withholding of labor as their power base.

When they came out on the street in the ’20s and ’30s with 50,000 workers, they were able to say, “These are 50,000 people who can shut down your industry.”

And that was just a demonstration — that was a demonstration of power. What are we demonstrating when we get 50,000 people on the street today? We are demonstrating that it’s great for us to talk to each other because it allows us to say, “Well, here are people that are thinking the same thing I am, and people who are fed up.”

But in the end, it doesn't have the ability to exact change. It doesn’t have the ability to exact a demand. And in that way, it’s spectacle.

Therefore, doing a movie is similar in some regard, in the sense it is spectacle. It is talking about ideas. But I was involved in Occupy Oakland. And we have the most people of Occupy [nationally] to show up because we’ve called for a general strike in Oakland. And we got 50,000 people to show up because people were like, “Wow, this is something that might be able to do something.”

We all — even at a base level, even a Republican — understand that the people with the money are the ones with the power. We all learn that.

But what we don’t learn is that we are the ones that give the folks with money their wealth, and that we can cut those purse strings or hold back on them, and therefore have a conversation with power by using our power.

There are many people who, like your character Cassius — Cash — who say, “Look, I agree with you, but I need to pay the bills, and if I have to cross a picket line to do it, so be it. I’ll take whatever they pay me, and I’m happy to get it.” What makes these people feel they have any power?

I think that people end up realizing, in those situations, that they are just pawns as well, and they’re by themselves. You can’t get much done by yourself. Speaking as someone who made a movie — and it took hundreds of people to make it happen — I can say that. And any movement that we see, any big change, does take other people.

I actually don’t think most people would make those decisions [like Cash]. I think some would relate to what he’s saying.

One the one hand, many movements have put being involved in social justice as an extracurricular activity, as something you do when you’re off work or on Saturdays or whatever. And people say, I can’t be involved in it — I got to pay the bills. And we haven’t been organizing in the way that helps people pay the bills.

If there is a different kind of movement, where it is organizing around those things, organizing around putting food on the table, I think we’ll have a whole different look at these movements. People shouldn’t have to get involved after work; they should be able to get involved at work.

In the film, you make a lot of points by exaggeration. But it’s not that much of a stretch. For example, in China, you’ve got suicide nets hanging outside dormitories where workers live. And in your movie — I won’t ruin it for anyone — you make the point about workers being literally dehumanized.

In the movie, there’s [the fictional mega-corporation] Worry Free, which does lifetime contracts; you’re guaranteed housing, employment and food for life, and these things don’t exist in the U.S. It’s not only that they exist in other countries, but they really exist here because [of the overseas corporations] making things for U.S. corporations, so the exaggeration is only of geography.

There are so many things in this movie that, when I wrote them, hadn’t happened yet. For instance, one character in the 2014 version has the line that “Worry Free is making America great again.”

The reason that these things are becoming more and more clear to us now is because it’s connected to our economic system, not just connected to who’s in elected office.

You use humor as a storytelling device. The Coup’s 1993 album, “Kill My Landlord,” made me think of the old Eddie Murphy “Saturday Night Live” sketch “Kill My Landlord.” So the steel wrapped inside the smile seems to work a little better than all steel?

See, I don’t even look at it that way. I came up around organizers, a group of them who had come from the British mining strikes of the ’80s, and then some who were older and had been in the whole CP [Communist Party] days. These are jokesters. They know how to relate to people. They’re full of jokes, and the way that they’re pointing out things is really true.

The reason why it’s funny is this: Analysis is looking at how something works, and when you’re explaining how something works, that means explaining the contradictions in it. That point of contradiction is very similar to irony, and irony and humor go hand in hand.

And so it’s all one thing to me. It’s not like I have to put sugar on it.

When you wrote your screenplay around 2012, Barack Obama was the president and he was being reelected. But you also had Mitt Romney talking about the 47%. What’s changed in those years that your movie now gets made and distributed?

Movements. Movements coming to fruition. There’s been the Black Lives Matter movement, Occupy — all of those things showing that people want something different.

Also there was a [movie] development process that had to happen between then and now. At that time, I hadn’t gone through the Sundance [Institute screenwriting] labs, which gave people a lot more confidence in what I was doing.

There’s just a confluence of so many things that came together for this to happen. And I’m glad it didn’t happen before.

Why?

I probably would have been so eager for it to happen that there may have been other things that I would have compromised about. Through the process of the Sundance lab, I got a lot of good notes [about the screenplay]. I will say that the screenplay was controversial, in the sense that narrative-structure wise, it doesn’t do everything it’s supposed to do — “supposed to” in quotations.

And they’re all giving me advice, some of them that are extremely contradictory to each other. And then at some point, some of them are getting in heated conversations, and then I realized through this that nobody knows what they’re doing, and it’s up for grabs, right? You can do something different and fail, meaning it doesn’t connect to people. Or you could do something different, and it really works.

But it’s true about people wanting a good story, and a good story having to keep people on their toes to a certain extent.

If we were to update a movement anthem — maybe from “We Shall Overcome” — could you write one? What would it sound like? What would it say?

It would probably be a song from my last album, a song called “The Guillotine.” It’s a metaphorical guillotine because [if] you use the guillotine for real, just more of them pop up.

It’s talking about the idea that we have the ability to have a society where the people democratically control the wealth that we create with our labor, so we don’t have someone ruling us in that way.

Is this a system you’d ever take part in by running for office?

Nope. Here’s the thing: I know where the seat of power really is. And it’s not in the elected office.

Where is it?

It’s in the ruling class, the folks that have the money. For lack of a more understandable thing, the 1%, you know. Those are the puppeteers. The folks in office are the puppets. If we can make a movement that can get to the puppeteers, then the puppets will do whatever we want.

Think about it like this: Affirmative action came in under [President] Nixon, and it’s not because he just had one contradiction where he had some progressive idea and was like, “Hey, let’s do this.” No, it’s because the ruling class was afraid of this movement that was building.

Let’s take it back to even the New Deal. It’s the biggest liberal reform we’ve had in the 20th century — that and the civil rights bill. But that didn’t come because of a big campaign to get FDR in office. That came because all throughout the South, and places like Alabama, Utah, Colorado, Oklahoma, there were mining strikes, shutting down mines.

In the Midwest at the same time, in the ’20s and ’30s, there were people occupying factories. On the West Coast, at that time, there were the longshoremen who were shutting down the ports to create there, for the first time, a union.

In that milieu, with revolutions going on all around the world, the ruling class was afraid of an actual movement, perhaps a revolutionary movement happening, and because of that, we’ve got the New Deal, specifically because that’s what the left focused on — movements that were able to withhold labor.

So if we’re looking for extreme changes like that, and we want elected officials to make big changes like that, we’ve got to stop focusing only on elections because then we’re going to get caught in this cycle.

Right now, the next time a Democrat gets in office, all they have to do is be two inches to the left of [President] Trump.

The evil genius of Trump is that he’s already got the Democratic Party and people who want him out to move to the right in order to get him out. You got people cheering on the CIA and the FBI, this false nationalism where people are cheering, “Let’s only use politicians that only take U.S. billionaires’ money.”

There are people that are doing this that know better. But the opportunism of electoral politics makes people lie to each other.

Usually people ask filmmakers, “What do you want the audience to come out of the theater thinking?” But I’d like to know what you’d like the audience to come out of the theater doing.

I’d like people to get involved in campaigns and get involved in organization that can actually effect change. I hope that people are able to be involved in movements that take place at their job, that creates them, all of those things. For that to happen from the movie, that would be a lot, but that would be a great thing if it did happen.

But hopefully what happens is that organizations that are already taking on campaigns to change things, they will use the knowledge — one of the reasons that people like this movie is that it talks about changing the world — to get people involved in what they’re doing.

[argentdandelion]

Cross-Fandom Analysis: Lord Shen and W.D. Gaster

Introduction

On Easter 2018, I watched Kung Fu Panda 2. It was on this watching that I felt bad for Lord Shen, the villain of the film. I think I felt bad for him on this viewing, and not when I originally watched it in a theater in 2011, due to greater experience in analyzing characters' motives, greater empathy for (well-written) villainous characters, and, perhaps, realizing I admired him (or, rather, parts of him) beyond just being a "cool villain".

(The analysis below is 1,264 words. If the reader is already very familiar with Kung Fu Panda 2 and Handplates, the reader may want to skip to "Paralells Between the Two".)

Lord Shen Description W.D. Gaster Description Parallels Between the Two Doomed to be Unhappy (and Maybe Dead)

Lord Shen and Gaster Descriptions

Lord Shen Description

As a child, Lord Shen turned his parents' joyous invention of fireworks into something terrible: gunpowder. His parents, terrified by his invention's destructive potential and Shen's ambition, consulted a soothsayer. The soothsayer said that, if Shen continued on an evil path, he would be stopped by "a warrior of black and white".

Overhearing this, Shen figured this meant a panda would stop him, and set out to kill all the pandas. He later returns, believing himself successful in his goal. He tells his parents what he has done, expecting them to be proud of him. Understandably, they were instead horrified. They sent Shen into exile, though it broke their hearts to do so, and it's suggested this was their cause of death.

Years later, he returns to his home city with a cannon: a refinement of his invention and a superweapon in an era of kung fu. He kills a kung fu master his parents put in charge and takes over the city. He even replaces the throne, which he once played next to as a child, with one of his prized cannons.

Over the course of the movie, Po (a panda that had survived Shen’s extermination attempt as a baby) journeys to the city to stop Shen’s plot. When Shen commands his forces to attack Po with cannons in the film's climax, Po deflects the cannonballs back at the attackers with a sort of mystical aikido.

Afterward, Shen, apparently projecting his own issues onto Po, asks how he could deal with the emotional scarring of not having (loving) parents. In the end, Shen doesn't reform. Instead, he seems to conclude he can never be happy: when one of his cannons is set to fall onto and crush him, he doesn’t evade it (despite being quite capable of it) and closes his eyes, as if accepting his fate.

W.D. Gaster Description (Minor details of the Undertale backstory are clarified in accordance with *Handplates canon)*

When a child, W.D. Gaster's family had been all killed by humans in the first war of humans and monsters. While he had Asgore and Toriel as parental figures afterward, his family's fate (and the culpability he believed he had in it) weighed heavily on his psyche.

Humans sealed the few surviving monsters underground with a magic spell. This spell, the Barrier, was so strong it required a power equivalent to seven human SOULs to break. After his son was killed by humans, Asgore declared war on humanity in revenge, stating that all humans who fall underground would be killed. However, he soon came to deeply regret it. Though he breaks his heart to kill the humans that fall into the Underground, he believes he cannot take back his declaration of war.

Gaster, hoping to soothe Asgore's suffering somehow, aimed to create "living tools" by cutting out chunks of bone from his hands with a laser. (a very painful process) With these "living tools", he would perform basic research needed to figure out how to break or bypass the Barrier.

Unexpectedly, these "living tools" grew into sentient skeleton children: Sans (or as he calls him, 1-S) and Papyrus (2-P). Though no sadist, Gaster believed "foolish sentimentality gets people killed", and he felt he had no choice but to continue with his original plans of potentially very painful experiments on his "living tools".

Much of Handplates focuses on the resulting suffering and trauma of the "mad science torture dungeon" of Gaster's lab. Though Gaster's mental (and even physical) health deteriorates because of his single-minded focus on the often torturous experiments, he believes he has no choice but to continue.

In the end, he dies something like Shen: aimless, very alone, and laid low by an inability to progress on his goals. Sans, seeking to kill Gaster for all his cruelty, pushes him into the magical vortex of the CORE, a magical geothermal power plant and his invention. He is consequently lost, erased from reality and forgotten by all, with reality itself filling in the gaps.

Parallels Between the Two

While the motives of Gaster and Shen aren't quite the same, they have similar personalities. Their ambition is not, in itself, evil, but their drive to do something great (Shen and his gunpowder, Gaster and bypassing the barrier) motivated them to disregard things that got in the way---and sometimes, those things were morals.

Neither one, in the end, are killed by the hero, but instead by their own creation. Shen’s cannon falls on him. Gaster is pushed into the CORE, something he made, by Sans, also something he made, and this is a fate that could have been averted had he bothered to have safety rails installed.

The motives of both seem linked to their childhood experiences, and need for parental love and approval.

Shen's desire for his parents to be proud of him shows they're important to him, but they also don't seem to care that much for him. Though exiling their son was the most merciful thing they could do after he tried to kill off all pandas, had they done something to make him feel loved and show they were proud of him before then, he would have no motive to do it.

Similarly, Gaster clearly cares a lot about his original skeleton family, though from what little is shown they seemed neglectful and emotionally unavailable. He tortures Sans and Papyrus in his mad-science torture dungeon at least originally in the hope of helping all monsterkind, but mostly for the sake of a parental figure, Asgore.

Doomed to be Unhappy (and Maybe Dead)

There are parts of their characters that I pity, and parts I even admire.

Shen’s desire for greatness, ability to act upon it, and persistence are things I like. He is also an expert in tactics, and good at improvising when the heroes don’t act according to plan.

Gaster’s drive----one could even say it’s single-minded---to bypass the barrier, even though he knows it’s difficult and has no clue how to do it, is something I admire. I admire his great intelligence (as arrogant as he is about it), even though it doesn't seem to help him bypass the barrier, as he never gets closer to his goal.

These good things---virtues, one could say---are unfortunately misapplied in such a way it only makes those around them (and themselves!) miserable.

Though I feel bad for both Shen and Gaster, the two are essentially doomed to be, at best, unhappy.

Shen will never get his parents’ approval, as they are dead by the beginning of the movie. As the Soothsayer asks: when will he be happy? When he conquers all of China?

As much as he likes to act otherwise, his torture of sentient beings and the ethical scrutiny of said beings has an emotional toll on Gaster, so severe it even affects his physical health. If Gaster goes the “Dadster” route, he’ll still be unhappy because he’ll hate himself for his “cowardice”, the barrier is no closer to being broken, and a human might still come down and kill them all anyway.

Both Gaster and Shen had many choices to stop; for the former, it is especially obvious because of little sub-AUs and the recurring theme of Undertale of different “timelines” splitting off from one’s actions. Yet neither took those chances.

I feel bad for them, for all their suffering and helplessness, and yet...their villainy was no accident. They deserve their fates, not just morally but as a direct consequence of their actions.

[frederator-studios]

Meet Kate Tsang and Jennifer Cho Suhr, Creators of “Welcome to Doozy”

Kate and Jennifer are award-winning, multidimensional filmmakers who bonded over being the food table hoverers at networking events. Others may schmooze; Kate + Jen sandwich. Their passion for food - and for their friendship - shines through in their short “Welcome to Doozy,” our 6th GO! Cartoon. I sat down with these very impressive ladies to discuss the bureaucracy behind imaginary friends, the importance of representation, and karaoke tea-time. 

Sooo, how’d you two meet? Kate: We met in film school at NYU, where we were in the same Masters program. Jen: Kate took classes in animation - but I have no animation background, and, sadly, can barely draw...

What brought you together as collaborators? Jen: We were paired in the same production group our first week of school, and became good friends. Kate: We’ve since collaborated on each other’s class exercises, thesis films, and various arty things.

Partners in movie-making! What brought you to Frederator as a team? Kate: I’ve always had an interest in animation. I love Adventure Time and Bee and PuppyCat. So when Natasha Allegri posted on her blog about GO! Cartoons, I told Jen we should ‘go’ for it. Jen: We had - still have! - the concept for a full series prepared, so we actually pitched the show bible first and then reverse-engineered that into the short.

How did “Doozy” change throughout your development process? Jen: A lot, actually. Lou is a Kitsune fox demon now - she started out as an eyeball with cowboy boots! But the concept was always 2 girlfriends, a la Broad City, having misadventures. Kate: A little origin story: Ex (who has always been a rabbit) recently retired from being an imaginary friend. The Bureau of Imaginary Friends handles the re-adjustment of retired IF’s back into the imaginary world. So this is the story of Ex re-assimilating: finding a roommate in Lou, getting a job, and developing a crush on her coworker Skeletim. Jen: Skeletim stayed really consistent since the pitch - Eric (Homan, our VP of Development) always really liked him. We joke that Eric only stuck with us because of Skeletim.

How much are Ex and Lou based on you two, and who’s who? Kate: It’s a bit of a mix… Jen: But I’d say I’m more Ex, almost by default - just because Kate is so much more like Lou. Kate: I AM the mischievous one. Jen: And I’m the more... straight-laced one? I guess that’s the way to put it. Although! Kate is the one who does martial arts, like Ex.

What themes recur in your work? Kate: There’s always hopefulness in mine. I’m interested in outsiders, and finding whimsy and humor, even when things look bleak. I enjoy working in mediums where I can create wonderment. Like right now: I’m learning magic! Jen: I care a lot about representation and grounding stories in the realities of human relationships. The feature film that I’m developing now is inspired by my relationship with my sister. And with “Doozy”: it’s very specific to Kate and my identities as Asian Americans. Kate: Like incorporating the bento box, and the influence of Japanese anime and manga, of which we’re both fans. We were definitely inspired by Hayao Miyazaki’s way with food.

❀ A happy lil side note: one of the most popular Youtube comments on the short reads ‘A lot of people won’t know what a bento is but thanks to you, now they do!’ ❀

Jen: And we were conscious of the fact that most buddy comedies are about male friendships. We wanted to show girls being silly together and represent female friendship as it really is. Kate: That’s why Broad City was such an inspiration and even a motivator for “Doozy”. We were like ‘Ok, people do want to watch this.’

I read recently that Broad City’s viewership is split almost evenly male/female - it’s actually something like 55/45, with more men watching than women. Kate: What? That’s awesome. Jen: It just goes to show that it all comes down to good comedy and strong characters. I’m actually about to have a baby boy which has made me think about the types of stories that I’ll read to him as he grows up. I’ve been thinking of some of my favorite YA books with female protagonists like Anne of Green Gables and A Wrinkle in Time… it’s important to me that he’s able to identify and empathize with female characters. The only reason that boys “wouldn’t be able to” as people say, is if they learn socially that they shouldn’t.

What are some cool things we’ll get to see if “Welcome to Doozy” gets a series? Jen: Well, let’s just say there are some nefarious happenings in Ex’s office…

Gasp! Not Mrs. Hugs! Kate: Nah, not Mrs. Hugs. She’s a true office drone, doesn’t know what’s really up. Jen: We’d also backtrack, to show how Ex and Lou came to be friends and roommates. Kate: And we’d get to introduce their pet popsicle, who lives in the freezer. Jen: And we’d get to see Lou working her job at a run-down mini golf course. She schemes and ~magics~ to keep it afloat. Kate: There’s an underlying mystery, and it’d be a lot of them screwing up while trying to investigate it.

What sorta stuff do you guys like to do together - any wild adventures? Kate: Actually, yes. We try to take a road trip together every year. So far we’ve done the Badlands, the Southwest, the Midwest, the South and New Orleans. Jen: Admittedly, the Midwest was probably the most boring… not to knock where I’m from. But here’s a story: when we were in Nashville - the biggest music town - we quickly realized that karaoke is different there and that everyone getting onstage was a pro or semi-pro country singer. And then Kate got up - Kate: I didn’t know any better. Jen: And sang an Amy Winehouse/Mark Ronson cover amid all this country music. Truly the new kids in town. And the audience TOTALLY ate it up! They loved it. Kate: We karaoke together a lot. Sometimes we rent a room for just the two of us… during the middle of the day… one might call us enthusiasts.

What cartoons do you guys like? Jen: Well, Kate and I have wildly different tastes. But we both love Adventure Time and Rick and Morty. Kate: And we share 90s cartoons, like Dexter’s Lab, Daria, and Invader Zim - Jen: But Kate likes things like Ren & Stimpy - which is too grotesque for me…

What about your favorite Studio Ghibli film? Jen: Spirited Away. Kate: My Neighbor Totoro.

Last up: what are you working on now, and what’s your favorite thing you’ve made in the past? Kate: Favorite film I’ve made is “So You’ve Grown Attached” - “Doozy” inherited elements from it, like the imaginary friends, and the name ‘Ex’. Jen: I’m really focused on getting my feature financed right now, which we want to shoot this summer.

Oo-ooh! What’s it about, and who’s the star? Jen: The film is called You and Me Both and we have Constance Wu from Fresh Off the Boat as one of the stars (me = !!). It’s a drama with comedic notes about two sisters, one a struggling heroin addict, who take a road trip to find their birth mother. While it touches on some heavy topics like loss and addiction, it’s ultimately a love story between sisters… so if anyone is looking to finance a film, hit me up! As far as favorite work… I don’t know… Kate: What about “Saeng-Il”? (“Birthday” in Korean) Jen: Okay, “Saeng-Il” then.

And Kate, what are you working on?

Kate: Eeeerrrrrr…. Jen: C’mon! Your feature! Kate: Okay, yeah, I’m working on a feature too. It’s a drama-comedy about a teen delinquent who teams up with a struggling party magician to battle her inner demons, strained home life, and avoid reform school. If anyone happens to know anyone who knows Catherine O’Hara - I’ve got a part for her.

You heard it here first, folks. Let’s snag financing for “You and Me Both” and Catherine O’Hara as Kate’s lead.

Thanks for taking the time, Kate and Jen! Great chatting with you, and best of luck on all of your projects. Can’t wait to see ‘em on the big screen (and also, little screens).

- Cooper

[sciencespies]

Scientists thrilled to observe the first milliseconds of gold crystal formation

https://sciencespies.com/physics/scientists-thrilled-to-observe-the-first-milliseconds-of-gold-crystal-formation/

Scientists thrilled to observe the first milliseconds of gold crystal formation

We now know how gold crystals start to form at the atomic scale.

For the first time, scientists have observed – and filmed! – the first milliseconds of gold crystal formation and found that it’s much more complicated than previous research suggested. Rather than a single, irreversible transition, the atoms come together and fall apart multiple times before stabilizing into a crystal.

This discovery has implications for both materials science and manufacturing, as it bolsters our understanding of how materials come together out of a messy pile of atoms.

“As scientists seek to control matter at smaller length scales to produce new materials and devices, this study helps us understand exactly how some crystals form,” explained physicist Peter Ercius of the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.

According to the classic understanding of nucleation – the very first part of crystal formation, in which atoms begin to self-assemble – the process is a pretty linear one. You put a bunch of atoms together under the right conditions, and they’ll gradually build themselves into a crystal.

This process, however, is not easy to observe. It’s a dynamic process that happens on extremely small scales, both spatially and temporally, and often has an element of randomness involved. But our technology has improved to the point that we can now observe processes on the atomic scale.

Just earlier this year, a team of Japanese scientists revealed that they’d been able to observe salt crystal nucleation. Now a Korean and American team led by engineer Sungho Jeon of the Hanyang University in the Republic of Korea has done the same with gold.

On graphene support films, the team grew tiny nanoribbons of gold cyanide, using one of the world’s most powerful electron microscopes to observe it, Berkeley Lab’s TEAM I. At speeds of up to 625 frames per second (fps) – extremely fast for electron microscopy – TEAM I captured the first milliseconds of nucleation in incredible detail.

The results were surprising. Gold atoms would come together into a crystal configuration, fall apart, and come together again in a different configuration, repeating the process several times, fluctuating between disordered and crystalline states before stabilizing.

It’s not dissimilar to what the Japanese scientists observed with the salt crystals, actually; those atoms, too, fluctuated between featureless and semi-ordered states before coming together into a crystal. But that process was filmed at 25 fps; the gold atoms fluctuated much, much faster.

Only the 625 fps detector speed had a hope of catching it, according to Ercius.

“Slower observations would miss this very fast, reversible process and just see a blur instead of the transitions,” he said.

So what causes it? Heat. Nucleation and crystal growth are exothermic processes, which release energy in the form of heat into their surroundings. Think of a really teeny tiny bomb. This repeatedly melts the crystal configurations, which try to reform.

But the reforming process is not helped by the recurrent collisions of incoming atoms that disrupt the cluster of atoms dynamically. Eventually, though, the atoms come together in a way that can withstand the heat released by them doing so.

Et voila! We have a stable gold crystal onto which more atoms can build without collapsing back into the disordered state.

“We found that crystal nucleation of gold clusters on graphene progresses through reversible structural fluctuations between disordered and crystalline states,” the researchers wrote in their paper.

“Our findings clarify fundamental mechanisms underlying the nucleation stage of material growth including thin-film deposition, interface-induced precipitation, and nanoparticle formation.”

Their next step is to develop an even faster detector in the hope of finding even more hidden nucleation processes.

The team’s research has been published in Science.

#Physics

[beatiewolfe]

Cynthia Erivo, Mark Mothersbaugh, Beatie Wolfe, Baratunde Thurston & More Join SXSW Online 2021

Cynthia Erivo, Mark Mothersbaugh, Beatie Wolfe, Baratunde Thurston & More Join SXSW Online 2021

Introducing the first programming announcement for SXSW Online 2021, an exclusive digital experience packed with powerful presentations from some of the world’s most inspired thinkers and diverse visionaries from the ever-evolving worlds of tech, film, music, and beyond.

“Spanning numerous industries, the Featured Speakers in today’s announcement strongly reflect the programming themes that will underscore our upcoming event,” said Hugh Forrest, Chief Programming Officer. “As always, SXSW brings together the world’s most important thought leaders to address society’s most important challenges.”

From creating postcards for democracy to combating climate change with aquaculture, the initial Conference lineup explores our 2021 Themes including A New Urgency – a look at how business, non-profit, government, science, and tech communities are tackling global crises and what advancements are needed to create immediate and lasting progress. Dive into programming across all seven themes with a stellar roster of Featured Sessions and Featured Speakers including Dominique Crenn, Cynthia Erivo, Cherie Hu, Wyclef Jean, David E. Kelley, Michael Lewis, Mark Mothersbaugh, Cat Packer, Nonny de la Peña, Maria Sharapova, Baratunde Thurston, Logan Ury, Amy Webb, Beatie Wolfe, Andrew Zimmern, and more.

Looking for your next creative collaborator? Ready to elevate your career to the next level? In need of some inspiration? For SXSW Online, we’re offering one pass that covers the entire event, allowing attendees to take in programming and connect with others across the many industries that SX serves. Register to attend SXSW Online 2021 from March 16-20 early to save!

Get to know the initial round of Featured Speakers and Featured Sessions below. Stay tuned for more big announcements in January including Conference Keynotes and Featured Speakers, sessions accepted from PanelPicker® speaking proposals, Film Festival screenings, Music Festival showcases, and more. SXSW Comedy Festival content will be announced as we get closer to the March event.

Featured Speakers

Amy Webb – Quantitative futurist, professor of strategic foresight at the NYU Stern School of Business and the Founder of the Future Today Institute, a leading foresight and strategy firm that helps leaders and their organizations prepare for complex futures. She is the best-selling, award-winning author of several books, including The Big Nine: how The Tech Titans And Their Thinking Machines Could Warp Humanity and The Signals Are Talking: Why Today’s Fringe Is Tomorrow’s Mainstream. She serves as a technical, script and creative consultant for films and shows set in the future. All of her futures research, frameworks, and tools are open source and made freely available to the public.

Angela Benton – Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Streamlytics, a next generation data intelligence ecosystem which helps everyday people and companies ethically access consumer data streams. Prior to her role at Streamlytics, Angela Benton founded the first accelerator for minorities globally in 2011, NewME was acquired in December 2018. Benton has been featured on Goldman Sachs’ 100 Most Intriguing Entrepreneurs; Fast Company’s Most Creative People in Business and their Most Influential Women In Technology; Business Insiders’ 25 Most Influential African-Americans in Technology, and many more.

Angela Roseboro – As Chief Diversity Officer for Riot Games, Angela Roseboro develops and implements initiatives to drive inclusion and cultural growth. Roseboro manages all activity relating to diversity and inclusion (D&I) while also leading the recruiting team in driving inclusivity in Riot’s hiring and talent sourcing processes. Prior to joining Riot, Roseboro was the Global Head of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion at Dropbox. Previously she provided human resource guidance to Fortune 500 companies including T. Rowe Price, Jones Lang LaSalle, Genworth Financial, Whirlpool Corporation, and Manpower International.

Ann Hiatt – During her 15 years as the Executive Business Partner for Jeff Bezos, Founder and CEO of Amazon, and Eric Schmidt, CEO/Executive Chairman of Google, Ann Hiatt received her initial business training and now consults with executives and companies across the globe to reverse engineer their moonshot goals. Hiatt is an international speaker and her first book, Bet On Yourself, will be published by HarperCollins in 2021.

Allison Murphy – In February 2019, Allison Murphy assumed the position of Senior Vice President, Ad Innovation at The New York Times Company. In this role, Murphy leads the development and delivery of The Times Company’s ad innovation strategy, directing cross-functional teams responsible for accelerating the Company’s development of market-leading ad platforms and products. She is also responsible for the Company’s advertising mission, a cross-functional team that spans product, tech and data to accelerate digital advertising.

Baratunde Thurston – Emmy-nominated host Baratunde Thurston has worked for The Onion, produced for The Daily Show, advised the Obama White House, and wrote the New York Times bestseller How To Be Black. He’s the executive producer and host of two podcasts: How To Citizen with Baratunde and We’re Having A Moment which CNET called “the most important podcast of 2020.” He’s also the creator and host of the weekly pandemic show, Live On Lockdown. In 2019, he delivered what MSNBC’s Brian Williams called “one of the greatest TED talks of all time”. Right now, the writer, activist, and comedian is using his powerful voice to help people understand this revolutionary moment with his unique blend of insight, humor, and empathy.

Benjamin Hubert – Award-winning British design entrepreneur Benjamin Hubert is the founder of the creative agency, LAYER. LAYER is focused on experience-driven design for both the physical and digital worlds. Led by Hubert and a growing creative team, LAYER is partnering with forward-thinking brands – including Nike, Google, Bang and Olufsen, Samsung, Braun, Fritz Hansen and Vitra – to create products that will help define the way we live, work and communicate in the future, from A.I. to smart wearables and furniture systems, to the next generation of media devices and mobile communication tools.

Bruce Mau – A brilliantly creative optimist, Bruce Mau’s love of thorny problems led him to create a methodology for whole-system change. A serial entrepreneur since the age of 9, he became an international figure with the publication of his landmark S,M,L,XL, co-authored with Rem Koolhaas. He is the author of Massive Change and MC24. He is cofounder and CEO of Massive Change Network and Bruce Mau Studio, based in Chicago, and Chief Design Officer for Freeman.

Bryony Cole – Since launching the top-rated podcast, Future of Sex, Cole has been on stages across the world, defining the direction of sextech for governments, technology and entertainment companies. In 2020, she launched Sextech School, the first and only program empowering entrepreneurs in the pursuit of breakthrough sexual innovations in technology.

Cathy O’Neil – Having earned a Ph.D. in math from Harvard and postdoc at the MIT math department, Cathy O’Neil was a professor at Barnard College where she published a number of research papers in arithmetic algebraic geometry. After switching over to the private sector for the hedge fund D.E. Shaw and RiskMetrics, she then left finance in 2011 to work as a data scientist in the New York start-up scene, building models that predicted people’s purchases and clicks. She wrote Doing Data Science in 2013 and launched the Lede Program in Data Journalism at Columbia in 2014. O’Neil is a regular contributor to Bloomberg View and author of Weapons of Math Destruction. She recently founded ORCAA, an algorithmic auditing company.

Cat Packer – Within her role as the first Executive Director and General Manager of the Department of Cannabis Regulation, Cat Packer leads the licensing and regulation of commercial cannabis activity within the City of Los Angeles and manages the implementation of the City’s cannabis related policies and programs. Packer previously served as California Policy Coordinator for the Drug Policy Alliance, where she worked to ensure the successful and equitable implementation of various cannabis policy reforms, as well as the Campaign Coordinator for Californians for Responsible Marijuana Reform, a social justice-centered campaign in support of the 2016 Adult Use of Marijuana Act.

Cherie Hu – Cherie Hu is the founder and publisher of Water & Music, a newsletter about music-industry innovation that reaches over 10,000 subscribers. She has written hundreds of articles on music, tech and finance for the likes of Billboard, Forbes, NPR Music, and Pitchfork. Hu currently teaches a course on music and gaming as an adjunct professor at NYU’s Clive Davis Institute of Recorded Music.

Dr. Michael Watkins – Michael Watkins is the Director of Jet Propulsion Lab (JPL), NASA’s lead center for robotic exploration of the solar system, including such legendary missions as Voyager, Cassini, and the Mars Curiosity rover, as well as the upcoming Mars Perseverance rover, Europa Clipper, and more. Watkins also serves as a Vice President of the California Institute of Technology, which staffs and manages JPL for NASA. He has led major science and engineering teams for JPL for 25 years.

Jim McKelvey – Cofounder of Square Jim McKelvey is a serial entrepreneur, glassblower, philanthropist, and Independent Director of the St. Louis Fed. McKelvey is also a master glass artist and author, having written the world’s most widely read text on the subject, The Art Of Fire. His industrial design work is part of the permanent collections of the Museum of Modern Art in NYC and The Smithsonian in Washington DC. His glass studio, Third Degree Glass Factory in St. Louis, is one of the main US hubs for the glassblowing arts. He is also the founder of LaunchCode, a nonprofit making it possible for anyone to learn programming and land a full-time job in under six months, for free. McKelvey’s newest venture, Invisibly, is working to give people control of their online identities.

Joost van Dreunen – An academic and entrepreneur with an expertise in video games, Joost van Dreunen teaches at the NYU Stern School of Business. Previously he was co-founder and CEO of SuperData Research, a games market research firm, which he sold to Nielsen in 2018. He is an advisor and investor, author of One Up, and and writes a weekly newsletter on gaming, tech, and entertainment called SuperJoost Playlist.

Logan Ury – Behavioral scientist turned dating coach Logan Ury is an internationally recognized expert on modern love. As the Director of Relationship Science at the dating app Hinge, Ury leads a research team dedicated to helping people find love. After studying psychology at Harvard, she ran Google’s behavioral science team—the Irrational Lab. She recently published her first book, How To Not Die Alone.

Michael Lewis – New York Times bestselling author Michael Lewis’ most recent works are The Fifth Risk, The Undoing Project, Flash Boys, and The Big Short. The Blind Side, published in 2006, tells the story of Michael Oher, a poor, illiterate African-American kid living on the streets of Memphis whose life is transformed after he is adopted by white Evangelical Christians. Before that he wrote Moneyball, a book ostensibly about baseball but also about the way markets value people. Both of his books about sports became movies, nominated for Academy Awards, as did his book about the 2008 financial crisis, The Big Short. His other works include Boomerang, The New New Thing, Coach, Losers, and Liar’s Poker.

Steve DeAngelo – A globally recognized cannabis leader, Steve DeAngelo was dubbed “the father of the legal industry” by former Speaker of the California Assembly Willie Brown. As a lifelong activist, author, educator, investor, and entrepreneur, he has spent more than four decades on the front lines of the cannabis reform movement. His most notable business achievements include cofounding Harborside, one of the first six dispensaries licensed in the US, a publicly-traded company on the Canadian Securities Exchange with five dispensary locations in California including one of the first to feature a drive-thru; Steep Hill Laboratory, the first cannabis analytics company; and Arcview Group, the first dedicated cannabis investment network.

Featured Sessions

AI and Great Power Competition – President Xi Jinping claims China will be the AI world leader by 2025. Russian President Vladimir Putin says whatever country leads in AI will be the ruler of the world. Google’s former Chairman Eric Schmidt warned there is a digital Berlin Wall being erected. The link between AI and great power competition will set the stage for the rest of this century. How will the private and public sector in western democracies work together to survive and thrive? More importantly, how can we create technologies that are authentic to our values? Join experts at the intersection of AI and national security who are on the frontlines of this fight – Lieutenant Colonel Alexander S. Vindman and CEO of Pryon Igor Jablokov. Gain insights on AI advancements and explore what role you can play in this challenge.

Aquaculture, Food Systems and Climate Change – Food is simply the biggest lever we have to combat climate change and improve the health and wellbeing of the planet’s growing population. Aquaculture, the farming of aquatic animals and plants, is vital as the planet’s fastest growing food production system. Seafood is one of the healthiest proteins to consume and one of the most efficient and sustainable to produce. Done well, aquaculture can be a powerful force for ecological and social good. The moderated panel of experts will discuss aquaculture’s key role. Join award-winning ocean activist Alexandra Cousteau; four-time James Beard Award-winning TV personality and chef Andrew Zimmern; multi award-winning writer and producer David E. Kelley; and organic seaweed farmer and entrepreneur Sarah Redmond to explore the context of the global climate crisis and aquaculture’s key role in transforming our food systems.

Can VR Create Real Change? – VR has gotten quite a reputation for creating impact. But does the hype really add up? We are at a pivotal moment in history, with socio-political division at an all-time high and less than a decade left to prevent climate crisis. Could creating virtual realities actually help move us towards a better tomorrow? Join AR/VR producer and director Fifer Garbesi; award-winning immersive artist and professor Gabo Arora; Director of EarthXR Tiffany Kieran; and founder of Emblematic Group Nonny de la Peña as they dig into the impacts of this medium, putting real change and direct action front and center.

Driving Action & Advocacy Through Online Community – Online communities are not new; but as the world has adapted to 2020, these digital spaces have proven their worth in a whole new way. Reddit has witnessed this first hand, as more people have joined its many thousands of communities for connection, distraction, and belonging in a time of unprecedented disconnection. While IRL experiences continue to evolve in unexpected ways, the communities on Reddit remain a constant source of conversation and companionship, as well as a valuable lens from which to examine human psychology, behavior, and sentiment. Join Reddit’s COO Jen Wong and CNN’s Kerry Flynn for a conversation about why online communities were made for this moment, their role in the digital ecosystem, and the value they bring to brands looking to build real connection, advocacy, and drive action.

How to Scale a Mission-Driven Brand – Join Supergoop! CEO and Founder Holly Thaggard and her early-stage investor, world-class tennis champion and entrepreneur Maria Sharapova, for an inspiring conversation sharing insights on how Thaggard scaled her company from a mission to end the skin cancer epidemic to a business with millions in revenue, all while innovating a category and changing consumer behavior. Hear from Sharapova first-hand about how she identified a promising investment opportunity in a young, but high-growth brand with an authentic mission as its north star, and advice for other emerging entrepreneurs prioritizing mission and doing good.

Inside GENIUS: ARETHA, the Story of the Queen of Soul – National Geographic’s GENIUS is an Emmy-winning anthology series that dramatizes the fascinating stories of the world’s most brilliant innovators, exploring their extraordinary achievements along with their volatile, passionate, and complex personal relationships. The third season will explore Aretha Franklin’s musical genius, incomparable career and the immeasurable impact and lasting influence she has had on music and culture around the world. She will be portrayed by Oscar-nominated Cynthia Erivo (Harriet, The Color Purple) and Emmy-winning Courtney B. Vance (The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story) will play Aretha’s father, C.L. Franklin. Our acclaimed panelists including GENIUS: ARETHA executive producer and director Anthony Hemingway; multi award-winning producer and author Brian Grazer, multi award-winning actress and singer Cynthia Erivo; Broadway and television costume designer Jennifer Bryan; and Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Suzan-Lori Parks will explore the craft and care that goes into honoring her legacy and bringing her story to life.

The New Marketplace of Music Royalties – The Music Modernization Act takes effect this year, mechanical streaming royalty rates are on the rise, and the newly formed MLC, along with BMI, ASCAP, SESAC, SoundExchange and others, is tracking music royalties using new technologies. These changes are empowering creatives and independent artists, especially in the wake of Covid-19. As music royalty rights grow in value, what do royalty holders need to know in order to maximize and leverage their royalty assets? This panel of global thought leaders will help royalty owners, managers and advisors make informed decisions regarding the potential value and versatility of royalty copyrights and licenses. Join Founder and CEO of Sound Royalties Alex Heiche; CMO of The Mechanical Licensing Collective Ellen Truley; entertainment lawyer Robert A. Celetsin, and Grammy award-winning musician and actor Wyclef Jean for a discussion on the democratization of the music industry is underway as the expansion of digital streaming transforms the landscape of music royalties.

Postcards for Democracy: A Collective Art Demo – Artistic visionaries DEVO cofounder Mark Mothersbaugh and self-proclaimed “musical weirdo” Beatie Wolfe share a love of tangible artforms, in and amongst their futuristic explorations. In light of the threat to our 225yr old postal service, at a time that could jeopardize the democracy of the country, Mothersbaugh and Wolfe joined forces for this collective postcard art demonstration. The aim of this campaign is to encourage as many people as possible to support USPS (if we don’t use it we’ll lose it!), our right to vote, and democracy as a whole via the power of art.

What is Taste? – Without taste, the experience of eating would be a routine and joyless chore. Taste is an almost magical part of our individual experience because everyone’s perceptions and preferences are so unique; but what IS taste, really, and what informs it? It is so much more than a chemical reaction on our taste buds. Taste is made up of shifting cultural norms, food science and technology, and the art of cooking, of bringing a dish to life through careful preparation and the right ingredients. And by better understanding how all of these elements work together, you can develop an even deeper appreciation for your favorite food experiences. Cofounder of So Vegan Ben Pook, three-Michelin-starred chef Dominique Crenn, CEO of Motif FoodWorks Jonathan McIntyre, Ph.D, author and scientist of senses and emotion Rachel Herz, Ph.D. will discuss how culture, science, and technology shape one of the most important aspects of our lives.

[robertmatejcek]

Guitar No. Four (Self) - mixed media - robert matejcek - 2022

“I don't know anything about music. In my line you don't have to.“ - Elvis Presley

tags:

[astrobial]

The universe is a truly incredible thing. It is an endlessly cycling chaotic simulacra, churning out endless iterations of itself. The best part about being immersed in such wonder? No one needs to travel to the ends of the Universe to see this. At roughly 93 billion light years across there’s plenty to see. But the thing is, the universe is self assembling!

Yes, self assembling. What does this mean?

Exactly what it says. Nature is chock full of patterns. It’s said that nature abhors a vacuum. Perhaps it’s more accurate to say that nature abhors disorder. Patterns arise naturally from the firmament of whatever lies beneath the universe every single second every where at once all across the universe. In all of that vastness messes and disorder arise, but order always eventually spontaneously emerges.

Or at least it seems that way.

Life is a special example of emergence in action. A rather special example. It’s the most incredible phenomenon in all of existence. It’s right next to me as I write:

This is a collective of eukaryotic organisms. They all share the same genome: a special set of instructions which has emerged over evolutionary time. This set of instructions co-opts other seemingly random but very precisely designed molecules to pretty much do nothing but make more copies of itself ad infinitum. This collective of cells has organised itself into specialised structures that make the business of being a collective a little bit easier for all involved.

Now, replication of these instructions will eventually become riddled with flaws, as a process called senescence begins to emerge from this collective’s previously youthful state. Time will march on and eventually another equilibrium will emerge called death.

It doesn’t even end there. All of the atoms and compounds within this collective (from now on we’ll call this collective “Jasper”) will cycle through soil, clouds, other organisms, stars, molecular clouds, other planets and galaxies. Eventually they’ll come to rest at the end of time along with everything else. It’s a heck of a story. Really.

And all of that is self organising. Structures and patterns arise spontaneously from the laws of nature. Structures such as rivers and streams are no different to other familiar branching structures such as circulatory systems. Methane based river systems on frozen Titan resemble precisely the branching network of blood vessels that winds through your body like…..well, a river system. And it all creates itself!

Ligeia Mare, a methane lake on Titan, complete with channels and tributaries. Image: NASA/JPL

Titan today, viewed by ESA’s Huygen Lander. Image: NASA/JPL

Naturally arising branching patterns on earth.

This spontaneous self organisation is ubiquitous in nature. Life , and especially multicellular life, has borrowed this proclivity for patterns, recreating those which seem conducive to biological processes functioning well.

Is this how multicellularity got a leg up?

Consider this example. Physarum polycephalum is the scientific name for a rather interesting species of plasmodial slime mold. Now, its name is a sign of things to come, meaning “many-headed slime”.

Plasmodial slime molds; not quite colonial, not quite multicellular. Image: Wikipedia

P. polycephalum breaks several tenets of what we would call common sense. Essentially, it is a single gigantic cell, consisting of thousands or millions of individual cells which have joined together for common interest. Unlike creatures like you and me, however, these cells aren’t compartmentalized like our own. In us, each cell is partitioned from its brethren by walls and membranes. The innards, including the nuclei are tucked away safe and sound. It’s truly a neighbourhood as we would understand it. Within the slime mold it’s like the sixties never died. It’s an orgy in there. All of the individual nuclei all slosh around inside this plasmodial common area. Creatures bearing this property are called coenocytic.

So. The slime mold has this kind of generic look about it, doesn’t it?

All of these structures emerge spontaneously, coded for by some as yet unknown aspect of spatial and quantum topography. I don’t know what this is, or how to elucidate it, but I know it’s there.

Life has somehow managed to encode these structures. Just like Jasper in the first image, these structures have evolved over geological time to work together, creating assemblages from which something emerges that is greater than the sum of its parts.

Could the first attempts at multicellularity have gotten a leg up? Did the laws of nature lay the groundwork for biological structures shared by the vast majority of multicellular organisms today? Consider this scenario.

Earth, several billion years before the present day. You’re drifting above a hellish landscape, in a little temporal bubble, that allows you to observe and record data but not interact with the landscape in any way. That could be disastrous. How so? Just imagine accidentally stepping on L.U.C.A; the Last Universal Common Ancestor of all life. Let your imagination do the rest. So you’re drifting along, observing, and you see something.

The earth at this time is hot. Islands of freshly minted land protrude above the semi-molten surface of a world still cooling down. You see chunks of the planet high above you, settling into a tenuous orbit. Only recently something the size of Pluto crashed into baby earth, shattering much of its outer skin and sending it into high orbit. All of those chunks you see in the sky will one day become the Moon. The collision wiped the surface clean like an Etch-A-Sketch, and so as a result baby earth is reforming again. Pockets of land like this one harbour water and other organic muck delivered by comets; the Universe’s version of Fed-Ex. Not to mention the stranger that caused all this damage in the first place.

Space plays rough. Earth’s surface, wiped away in a catastrophic collision, provided the raw materials for its moon. Image: NASA/JPL

The view is impressive. Just imagine every vision or rendition of Hell you’ve ever seen and apply reality to it. It’s pretty cool. But something else huge is happening as well. Life is forming in the midst of this apocalypse. Your time machine hovers over the most momentous event in the history of the universe…

Whatever this tiny thing is, drifting about in warm eddies and swirls in that hot little pond, it’s the first. It may not live to see another day, or it may eventually give rise to things like you. You would love to examine it in more detail, but you ask yourself. How did this singular piece of organic machinery manage to figure out that one day forming collectives would be a good idea? Your time machine bubble thing seems to know what you’re thinking. It is only fictional after all, and the writer decides to jump forward a billion years or so….

Something large and dark slowly glides past you in the brightly lit upper layer of a sea that completely covers over three-quarters of the planet. The thing pushes you aside as a tremendous tail fin propels it down into dark depths. It’s some kind of fish. A big fish. The armour plating on its head gives it an appearance reminiscent of a tank. If Thunderbird 2 and the Batmobile (Christian Bale’s batman of course) had a baby, it would look something like this: Dunkleosteus. Your time bubble wobbles alarmingly as the behemoth sends powerful compression waves through the water. You know this is a fictional scenario, but you don’t care. You’ve gone too far forward anyway….

Primeval earth, with a toxic atmosphere, much closer moon and primitive colonial life, in the form of stromatolites (right foreground). Image: NASA/JPL

A haze wafts across a landscape dominated by volcanic ash and a truly huge moon. Waves crash against a dark craggy shoreline. The time bubble lets you observe, but not interact, right? You can observe with all your senses. This place stinks. The shoreline is matted with a thick film of bacteria and gunk. Waves crash against the mat, breaking it up, and dispersing it further landward. You’re guessing with the moon so close tides must be insane here. This whole area is sub-littoral. Anything that can hold on here has to be tough. The rocks all give off steam. The sun isn’t as hot now as it is where you come from, but seams of volcanic activity are evident out in the water. Pillow like ridges of freshly solidified lava stretch up the shore, still not quite cool. Bacteria, or these Archean versions of them carpet some of the rocks. It’s here that you see something big. Almost as big as life appearing in the first place. Channels and rivulets run through some of the mats. Skins have formed and as water has reduced within the mats, structures have appeared. These mats have been given a push towards colonialism by the blind forces of nature. In these early more experimental times, genetic information and it’s transfer is a lot more promiscuous. A lot less Darwinian and a little more Lamarckian. These bacteria with their scrambled DNA and transfer will find this way of doing things a little easier, and will adopt it. Quickly.

Does this scenario make any sense? It does, but it had to have some basis in fact. I saw the principles in action, and they are as follows: an organic matrix, containing all manner of constituents useful to life is forced into biologically useful patterns and structures by some kind of energetic input. Where did I see this happen, or at least some analogue of it?

My creature lives! Meet Soupenstein.

Meet Plasmodium botanicus, or plant muck. Otherwise known as puree vegetable soup. It does bear a striking resemblance to P. polycephalum, doesn’t it? This little monstrosity was created accidentally in the lab. Or should I say kitchen?

 It was busy. I was moving at a million miles an hour, when I spilt soup on the grill plate next to me. This odd structure was the quick result. Branching patterns and channels formed within seconds, and I was instantly taken by its similarity to a slime mold. It was this random splash that was the inspiration for this post. Now, this post is only a speculative “what if?” with some cheap time travel thrown in, but could the earliest multicellular life, or collective modes of existence have been given some kind of initial leg up by similar incidents or circumstances? There are parallels between my imagined “slime on a rock” and the soup accident above. Let’s call the soup an extracellular matrix. It is a composite substance, containing all manner of organic compounds, plus a few impurities (probably. What doesn’t?). Energy in the form of heat is applied to the ECM as it comes into contact with a flat hot surface. Water in the ECM reduces, leaving behind a concentration of material, which forms channels and branches in accordance with the laws of nature. Bacteria within this newly formed arrangement suddenly find life a little bit easier.

What of other mixes of organic and inorganic compounds? Could life have resulted from a random splash like this? Did multicellular life arise when the cosmic cook was a little busy and not being careful? It would be interesting to perform a series of experiments. Why not use foodstuffs such as soup? Would different recipes lead to different structures? Would other energy sources, or electricity, lead to new outcomes? Who knows? That’s the point of experimenting!

I’d be interested to hear what others have to say on this. Thanks for reading.

  Ben.

References and Further Reading:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Titan_(moon)

http://www.elijahwald.com/origin.html

https://www.seeker.com/life-continues-within-the-body-after-death-evidence-shows-2212720233.html

http://www.medicaldaily.com/life-after-death-according-science-cells-fight-stay-alive-long-after-body-dies-409525

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5303275/

Emergence in Action The universe is a truly incredible thing. It is an endlessly cycling chaotic simulacra, churning out endless iterations of itself.

[walters-tampon-string]

There’s Hope for You Yet...

Fandom: Batman

Rating: K

Warnings: Past Relationships, a bit sad but has an uplifting ending.

Characters: Jonathan Crane/Scarecrow, Edward Nygma/Riddler.

Relationships: Scriddler (Past Relationship but Hopeful Possible Reconciliation at the end) (No smooching or anything in this story though, sorry). 

Description: Edward was a part of Jonathan’s past he wanted to forget. Too bad Edward won’t let him.

Extra Notes: P.I. Riddler!!!

“What a surprise. Jonathan Crane still holing himself up in abandoned warehouses instead of investing in an actual warehouse like every other rogue. Really Crane, if you’re going to be a villain at least stop and rob the Gotham Bank like everyone else has at least once so you can afford a place with working electricity…”

Jonathan Crane flinched violently at the sudden voice, nearly dropping the test tube full of chemicals he had in his hand. That certainly wouldn’t have been good. Once he composed himself, he gritted his teeth to control his temper as he gently placed the tube back in the test tube rack. He had been hidden away in this warehouse for about a month now, tirelessly trying to concoct a new chemical formula for his fear toxin to make it extra potent and easier to manipulate. After all, there were still grudges that he needed to settle, and he might as well make it so his lab rats suffered all the more.

He thought he was the only one who knew of his dealings here. He had been careful to make it like that after all. He hadn’t hired any henchmen (he would hire some when he was actually ready to hit the streets of Gotham with his chemicals and when he could actually afford to splurge some cash on them), got all chemicals and ingredients from providers miles away from Gotham, and had interacted with no other rogue since his escape from Arkham. When he went out, he used a fake ID and wore sunglasses and other such things to hide his face. He had done everything in his power to make sure that he wasn’t a blip on the map.

There were only two people in his life who seemed to constantly know where he was no matter what he did… and he had to say, when he found himself actually wishing it was Batman he was dealing with instead, then that was a bad sign. At least Batman wasn’t chatty… and at least he and Batman didn’t have a certain kind of history that Jonathan would very like to erase from the fabric of his mind.

Oh how he wish he had a syringe right now…

Keeping his voice cold and tight, he turned around to face the green-clad man in front of him and said, “Hello Edward, still loud and as obnoxious as ever I see… care to tell me how you found this place?”

Edward’s face was annoyed at the insult but Jonathan watched as it eventually morphed into a proud and smug expression. No doubt the man was eager to explain how he brilliantly managed to figure out where Jonathan was hidden, just like Jonathan knew he would be. For a man who prided himself on being an enigma, he was awfully predictable once you got to know him a little better. Jonathan still couldn’t believe he used to find this man so intriguing.

He was really mad at himself on the fact that he still kind of did.

“It was merely simple deduction, Crane. I knew you never went to the effort of making a proper lair before, so I quickly pinpointed all of the abandoned warehouses and farms and such in Gotham. Then, once I did that, I thought to myself, ‘Hm, now which of these buildings is located somewhere around the outskirts of the city and in a seedy or reclusive area where no one would question someone going in and out of a warehouse?’ Badaboom, and voila! I found this place!”

Edward’s chest was actually puffed out with pride, as if he was expecting praise of some kind. Unfortunately for him, Jonathan wasn’t willing to give it.

“My my, very impressive, Edward. Now are you going to get on your knees and lick the law’s feet by arresting me or are you just going to hang around and waste my time as per usual?”

He saw a flash of anger shoot through Edward’s face for a brief moment, and Jonathan prepared himself to hear Edward yell or perhaps have the man call the police and cameramen over so they could film his arrest, but he was surprised to see Edward quickly managed to collect himself by closing his eyes and letting out a breath. Jonathan had to admit, he was somewhat intrigued. Edward would’ve never done that before. That coma really must have changed the man somewhat.

Once Edward seemed to deem it safe to open his eyes, he proceeded to flash Jonathan an infuriatingly cocky grin. He took his last statement back. That coma hadn’t changed him enough. At this point, Jonathan was tempted to finish the job that the person who placed Edward in a coma failed to do, but he controlled himself once more. Temper, temper. He knew physical confrontation wasn’t his strong suit and quite frankly he found such methods immature. Once his toxin became more refined however…

“Charming as ever I see, Crane. However, my reason for coming here is neither of those things.”

Jonathan couldn’t help the annoyance that seeped through his voice like a poison, “Then tell me, Nygma, why ARE you here?”

He suddenly saw Edward’s green eyes dart away from his gaze. The man bit his lip and began playing with his hands… almost as if he was… unsure of something. It was a rare expression to see on Edward and despite a large part of Jonathan wanting to say ‘fuck it’ and slosh the chemical he made into Edward’s face and record what happened when the incomplete formula was administered through the eyes, he couldn’t help but feel curious on what had gotten the usually over-confident man so antsy. A very, very small, shriveled up part of him hidden deep within the confines of his flesh actually felt a flicker of hope. A hope that maybe Edward would hushedly whisper to him that this whole private investigator thing was merely an act and that this was all part of some elaborate ruse that he wanted Jonathan to partake in.

Jonathan couldn’t help but inwardly roll his eyes at his own optimism. Yeah, and pigs would suddenly develop the ability to fly and Edward would get on his knees and beg him to forgive him and let them rekindle whatever it was they once had way back in the day. He knew from personal experience that good things like that didn’t conveniently and neatly plop on his lap like that. They never had and they probably never would. Even if Edward did such an out-of-character thing, what would he even do? Would he reject Edward and walk away with the satisfaction of knowing he had gotten the last laugh… or would he agree to go back with him?

He can’t believe he had gotten himself in a situation where he would even have thoughts like that. It made him even more mad that he didn’t have a solid answer to that question. Thankfully, Nygma spared him from thinking too hard about it as he interrupted Jonathan’s thought process by saying, “I came here to see if I could perhaps convince you to perhaps consider joining Quinzel and I in perhaps reforming.”

Jonathan’s jaw clenched. So that was what this was about. He should’ve known that it would be something stupid. So why was this obnoxious feeling of bitter disappointment in his chest?

Keeping his voice even, he let out a cold chuckle and shook his head. Turning back around to the table full of lab equipment, he said, “I knew you would only come here to waste my time. Sorry to say, Nygma, but I am afraid I will have to refuse your offer of suddenly becoming buddy-buddy with the law.”

He heard Nygma take a step forward as he exclaimed, “Jonathan, wait! You know it can’t be this way forever right? I mean look at you! Your lurking around in abandoned, dusty warehouses like some sort of street rat… obsessively pouring over your chemicals day after day, thinking that this time you have done it. You came up with the perfect plan to foil the Bat and all of those who stand in your way. And maybe at the beginning, your plan will work at first…”

God, did he ever shut up? Jonathan considered telling him to do so, but it wasn’t like Edward ever listened. So Jonathan continued to pretend like he wasn’t listening and that he wasn’t getting angrier and angrier by the second and that the grip on the flask wasn’t getting tighter than necessary…

“But we all know how it ends Jon. The Bat or someone else will beat you up or foil your plan and you’ll be sent back to Arkham Asylum and have to deal with all of that until you finally get your opening to escape once more. Rinse and repeat. And you're so convinced… that this is it. This is the plan. You’ve ironed out all the flaws. You’ve grown wiser. But you know what… so has the Bat and all of his Robins.

Shut up. Shut up. Shut up!

That was the mantra going on his head right now. He was beginning to see red almost… and he could feel the early inclinations of the Scarecrow starting to show through already… wanting so badly to make Edward scream until his heart gave out if it just meant he would stop talking.

If it meant that he would just stop confirming all the thoughts that Jonathan had thought before but had tried so hard to deny.

If it meant that Edward Nygma would stop being right.

No… no. He wasn’t right. That was a quitter's attitude. Jonathan’s research was so close… his revenge list almost done… he had come so far. He couldn’t give up now. Not at the pinnacle. So what if he died? At least it would be doing it to spread the message of fear all over the place. What did Nygma know, huh?

“I know this because I was just like you right before the coma,” Edward said in a tone so sad that Jonathan couldn’t help but deflate a little bit at it. All of the anger seemed to vanish from his lanky frame and all of a sudden he was just left feeling… tired.

When Jonathan finally gathered up his bearings, he turned around to give Edward a withering look as he asked, “Why are you telling me this, Nygma?”

Edward took another step forward, face encouraging as he said, “Because it doesn’t have to be like this Crane. You can do better for yourself, I know you can. You’re one of the smartest rogues in Gotham. Got a lick more sense than everyone else… and hey, if I can get a successful job, who says you can’t? Perhaps you can even go back to teaching…”

“Nygma,” Crane cut off, closing his eyes… trying to stop all of this false optimism, all this fake positivity from deluding him. But of course, Nygma didn’t listen.

“No Crane, really. I talked to the staff of the asylum and they actually think they are making progress with you. Of course you still have some issues to work through… I think we all do. But I genuinely believe you can do this. If you just go back to the Asylum and get your sanity card out of there… perhaps you can move on and do something with the rest of us. The rogue life… it has no conclusion. It’s a never ending cycle and you got to break out of it.”

Jonathan remained in contemplative silence for a moment. Part of him eyed Edward, wondering if this was a trap. This was all just a ploy of Edward’s to emotionally manipulate him to going back to the asylum so he could reap the glory of capturing the infamous Scarecrow and sending him back to Arkham to his fans. He was about to say as much when Nygma interrupted once more.

“I don’t want us to be enemies anymore, Jon.”

Fuck. Why did he have to say that? Jonathan stood there in silence, trying to formulate what to say to all of this without sounding too emotional. The memories of Edward coming to him that one last time and explaining how their lives were too different now… how they couldn’t keep whatever it was they had going… seeing him leave him behind. He used to be so mad at Edward for all of it. Used to hate him. Now he wasn’t sure what he felt anymore and he wasn’t sure how to react to that.

Thankfully, it seemed Jonathan didn’t have to say anything because Edward simply diplomatically tipped his head and said, “Of course, I am not going to force the decision on you… I just want you to know my side of the argument. And who knows. Maybe if you head back there I can give a word in for you or something… and if you get out, maybe we can work together… that is, if you would allow. Well… that was all I had to say… goodbye, Crane.”

As he turned around to walk away though, Jonathan couldn’t help but feel dissatisfied that that was how they were leaving things off. So… before his mind could stop him by thinking about it too hard, he said, “I’ll… consider your proposition, Nygma. No promises.”

He turned around before he could gauge Edward’s reaction, but he swore he could hear the smile on Edward’s face as he said, “Well then… maybe there is hope for you yet, Jonathan.”

[thatsnotcanonpodcasts]

Dr Who, Bubbles & Dreams

Doctor Who has finished another season with the biggest bombshell in nearly 60 years of stories. What does this mean? Why is it happening? And why does it taste like caramel and marzipan? Nobody except the leakers could have known what was going to happen this time, and it's more controversial than politics. Doctor Who has time traveled back to the 80s to pick up some plot ideas from the Dark Times between the cancellation and revival.

Hello Ducky, my old friend. I've come to talk with you again. Because a bathtub slowly filling is behind this week's scientific breakthrough. The Sound of Bubbles is key to understanding the physics behind their growth and collapse. Aren't you glad I didn't choose "Where did you come from, where did you go, where did you come from Bubbleeye Joe?" as the musical reference.

And then it's time for Dreams, the newest evolution in a long history of amateur game development tools. Some developers have already been picked up by a company thanks to their work on a No Man's Sky clone. Professor is excited for the resurgence of amateur game development and hopes Dreams will rise up to be the next generation's rapid prototype and release tool.

Dr Who Finale Discussion & Christmas announcement

            -https://comicbook.com/tv-shows/2020/03/01/doctor-who-season-12-finale-2020-new-year-christmas-special-revo/

The sound of…..bubbles

- https://www.sciencenews.org/article/sound-soap-bubbles-pop-reveals-physics-behind-bursts

- https://journals.aps.org/prl/abstract/10.1103/PhysRevLett.124.084502

Next gen making games using…the power of Dreams

            - https://www.escapistmagazine.com/v2/dreams-is-already-helping-to-foster-the-next-generation-of-game-devs/

Games Played

Professor

- Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary - https://store.steampowered.com/app/1064221/Halo_Combat_Evolved_Anniversary/

Rating – 3.5/5

DJ

- SYNTHETIK Arena - https://store.steampowered.com/app/984110/SYNTHETIK_Arena/

Rating – 3/5 

Other topics discussed

Truck carrying toilet paper rolls exploded in the middle of the highway

- https://10daily.com.au/news/australia/a200304ghwdy/toilet-paper-gate-continues-after-truck-carrying-rolls-bursts-into-flames-20200304

Regeneration (In Doctor Who, regeneration is a biological ability exhibited by the Time Lords, a race of fictional humanoids originating on the planet Gallifrey. This process allows a Time Lord to undergo a transformation into a new physical form and a somewhat different personality after instances which would normally result in death.)

- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regeneration_(Doctor_Who)

Cartmel Masterplan (fan name for the planned Doctor Who backstory developed primarily by Andrew Cartmel, Ben Aaronovitch and Marc Platt, by which they intended to restore some of the mystery of the Doctor's background that had been lost through revelation of the existing backstory.)

- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cartmel_Masterplan

Dr Who : Who are the Division

- https://www.cbr.com/doctor-who-season-12-finale-division-explainer/

Section 31 (Section 31, in the fictional universe of Star Trek, is an autonomous intelligence and defense organization that carries out covert operations for the United Federation of Planets.)

- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Section_31_(Star_Trek)

Bradley Walsh to quit Dr Who after Christmas special

- https://www.mirror.co.uk/tv/tv-news/bradley-walsh-set-sensationally-quit-21618111

Dr Who : Series 13 to feature the return of the Daleks

- https://www.cbr.com/doctor-who-series-13-daleks/

CyberMaster (The CyberMasters were Cyber-convertedTime Lords created by the Master from the corpses of all those who had been on Gallifrey when he destroyed the Capitol.)

- https://tardis.fandom.com/wiki/CyberMaster

John Nathan Turner (ninth producer of the long-running BBC science fiction seriesDoctor Who. He was also the final producer of the series' first run on television (from 1980 until it was cancelled in 1989).)

- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Nathan-Turner

BBC drama chief: Dr Who will not get cancelled

- https://www.cbr.com/doctor-whos-ratings-are-dropping-but-show-is-in-no-cancelation-danger/

Time Field (The time field was a body of time energy that spilled from cracks in the fabric of time and space.)

- https://tardis.fandom.com/wiki/Time_field

The Rani (Ushas, better known as the Rani and known more formally as Ushas of Miasimia Goria, was a renegade Time Lord and member of the Deca.)

- https://tardis.fandom.com/wiki/The_Rani

Jenny (Jenny was the daughter of the Tenth Doctor, artificially created from his DNA when it was sampled by a progenation machine.)

- https://tardis.fandom.com/wiki/Jenny_(The_Doctor%27s_Daughter)

Georgia Moffett (Georgia Elizabeth Tennant (née and credited as Moffett) appeared as Jenny, the title character of the Doctor Who story The Doctor's Daughter.)

- https://tardis.fandom.com/wiki/Georgia_Moffett

Chris Chibnall (English television writer and producer, best known as the creator and writer of the award-winning ITV mystery-crime drama Broadchurch and showrunning the long-running BBC sci-fi Doctor Who.)

- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chris_Chibnall

The Slow Mo Guys : Bubble bursting at 18,000fps

- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ktvZ2Z_s4Bo

Tom Scott : Help, My Fusion Reactor's Making A Weird Noise

- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IrtGp8hv-0Y

PS2 : An important piece of gaming history

- https://www.bbc.com/news/newsbeat-51736665

Unity (cross-platform game engine developed by Unity Technologies, first announced and released in June 2005 at Apple Inc.'s Worldwide Developers Conference as a Mac OS X-exclusive game engine.)

- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unity_(game_engine)

Blender (a free and open-source 3D computer graphics software toolset used for creating animated films, visual effects, art, 3D printed models, motion graphics, interactive 3D applications, and computer games.)

- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blender_(software)

Kodu Game Lab (originally named Boku, is a programming integrated development environment (IDE) by Microsoft's FUSE Labs. It runs on Xbox 360 and Microsoft Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows 7, Windows 8 and Windows 10.)

- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kodu_Game_Lab

Garry’s Mod ((often abbreviated as GMod) is a sandbox game developed by Facepunch Studios and published by Valve.)

- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garry%27s_Mod

Lancing with Myself (TNC Podcast)

- https://thatsnotcanon.com/lancingwithmyselfpodcast

Shout Outs

29 February 2020 –Game Developers Conference 2020 postponed - https://www.pcgamer.com/au/game-developers-conference-2020-has-been-cancelled-due-to-coronavirus-concerns/ 

GDC has announced that the 2020 event will be postponed until "later in the summer" due to ongoing concerns about the Covid-19 coronavirus outbreak. "After close consultation with our partners in the game development industry and community around the world, we’ve made the difficult decision to postpone the Game Developers Conference this March," reads an update from GDC's organizers. The coronavirus is also having an impact on events outside of GDC: Sony, Square Enix, Capcom, CD Projekt, and PUBG Corp all pulled out of PAX East. Multiple game tournaments, like IEM Katowice, have also had to deny access to the public, opting to continue as an online only event.

1 March 2020 – Luis Alfonso Mendoza passed away - https://comicbook.com/anime/2020/03/01/dragon-ball-anime-latin-dub-death-murder-gohan-luis-mendoza/ 

Luis Alfonso Mendoza Soberano known mainly for being the voice in the Latin American Spanish dub of teenage and adult Gohan in Dragon Ball Z and Dragon Ball GT, Daniel LaRusso in The Karate Kid saga, the voice of Bugs Bunny since 1997 and Sheldon Cooper in The Big Bang Theory was murdered in a shooting in Mexico City at 604 Balboa Street. According to local media, the incident was due to "a quarrel for a property" with the attacker. He died at the age of 55.

1 March 2020 – Ghibli art exhibition in Japan – https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/interest/2020-03-01/preview-ghibli-theme-park-displays-one-last-time-before-its-2022-opening/.156989

The Aichi Prefectural Museum of Art will hold an exhibit called "The Great Ghibli Exhibit ~Two More Years Until the Ghibli Park's Opening~". It will include display items destined for the upcoming Ghibli Park from June 25 to September 16. The exhibit will be the last preview of the theme park's contents before they move into the park's Ghibli no Daisōko Area (Giant Ghibli Storehouse) in two years. The latest version of the exhibit will also add previously unreleased materials. Entry to the exhibit will cost 1,600 yen (US$14) for a same-day adult ticket, or 1,400 yen (US$13) for a pre-booked ticket.

Remembrances

2 March 1729 – Francesco Bianchini - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francesco_Bianchini

Italian philosopher and scientist. He worked for the curia of three popes, including being camiere d'honore of Clement XI, and secretary of the commission for the reform of the calendar, working on the method to calculate the astronomically correct date for Easter in a given year. His deduction of a rotational period of Venus was based on the observation of its surface using a 2.6" (66mm) 100-foot focal length aerial telescope. Today, we know that this is impossible, because of the thick cloud cover on this planet. He also worked on the parallax of Venus, and he measured the precession of the Earth's rotational axis. As part of his efforts to improve the accuracy of the calendar, Bianchini was commissioned by Clement XI to construct an important meridian line in the Basilica of Santa Maria degli Angeli e dei Martiri (the Basilica of Saint Mary of the Angels and the Martyrs) in Rome, a device for calculating the position of the sun and stars. Craters on Mars and the Moon are named in his honour. He died at the age of 67 in Rome.

2 March 1930 – D.H Lawrence - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/D._H._Lawrence

English writer and poet. His collected works represent, among other things, an extended reflection upon the dehumanising effects of modernity and industrialisation. Some of the issues Lawrence explores are sexuality, emotional health, vitality, spontaneity, and instinct. Lawrence's opinions earned him many enemies and he endured official persecution, censorship, and misrepresentation of his creative work throughout the second half of his life, much of which he spent in a voluntary exile he called his "savage pilgrimage". Lawrence is best known for his novelsSons and Lovers, The Rainbow, Women in Love and Lady Chatterley's Lover. In these books, Lawrence explores the possibilities for life within an industrial setting. Lawrence is concerned with the nature of relationships that can be had within such a setting. Though often classed as a realist, Lawrence in fact uses his characters to give form to his personal philosophy. His depiction of sexuality, though seen as shocking when his work was first published in the early 20th century, has its roots in this highly personal way of thinking and being. He died from tuberculosis at the age of 44 in Vence.

2 March 1944 – Ida Maclean - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ida_Maclean

English biochemist and the first woman admitted to the London Chemical Society. Between 1920 and 1941 Maclean published in the Biochemical Journal approximately thirty papers, many in collaboration, on her particular interests, namely the role of fatty acids in animals and the synthesis of fats from carbohydrates. She came to be regarded as an authority on biochemistry, and her 1943 monograph The Metabolism of Fat was the first published of Methuen's series Monographs on Biochemical Subjects. She died at the age of 66 in London.

2 March 1962 – Charles Jean De La Vallee Poussin - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Jean_de_la_Vall%C3%A9e_Poussin

Charles-Jean Étienne Gustave Nicolas, baron de la Vallée Poussin, Belgianmathematician. He is best known for proving the prime number theorem. The king of Belgium ennobled him with the title of baron. Although his first mathematical interests were in analysis, he became suddenly famous as he proved the prime number theorem independently of his coeval Jacques Hadamard in 1896. He also published a counterexample to Alfred Kempe's false proof of the four color theorem. The Poussin graph, the graph he used for this counterexample, is named after him. He died at the age of 95 in Watermael-Boitsfort, Brussels.

Famous Birthdays

2 March 1545 – Sir Thomas Bodley – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Bodley

English diplomat and scholar who founded the Bodleian Library in Oxford. In 1444, the existing university library was augmented by a gift of some 300 manuscripts from Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester, the youngest son of Henry IV; this prompted the university to build a new library above the Divinity School which was at that time under construction. However, during the Reformation of the 1550s, the library had been stripped and abandoned, remaining virtually untouched until the return of Bodley in 1598. The library was later named the Bodleian Library in his honour. He determined, he said, "to take his farewell of state employments and to set up his staff at the library door in Oxford." In 1598 his offer to restore the old library was accepted by the university. Bodley began his book collection effort in 1600, using the site of the former library above the Divinity School, which was in near ruin. Although Bodley lived over 400 years ago, modern libraries benefit from some of his ideas and practices. One important idea that Bodley implemented was the creation of a "Benefactors' Book" in 1602, which was bound and put on display in the library in 1604. While he did have funding through the wealth of his wife, Ann Ball, and the inheritance he received from his father, Bodley still needed gifts from his affluent friends and colleagues to build his library collection. Although not a completely original idea (as encouragement in 1412 the university chaplain was ordered to say mass for benefactors), Bodley recognized that having the contributor's name on permanent display was also inspiring. He was born in the city of Exeter in Devon.

2 March 1886 – Willis H. O’Brien – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Willis_H._O%27Brien

American motion picture special effects and stop-motion animation pioneer, who according to ASIFA-Hollywood "was responsible for some of the best-known images in cinema history," and is best remembered for his work on The Lost World (1925), King Kong (1933) and Mighty Joe Young (1949), for which he won the 1950 Academy Award for Best Visual Effects. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) proposed giving O'Brien an Oscar for his technical effects on King Kong but Willis insisted that each of his crew receive an Oscar statue also, which the AMPAS refused to do, so O'Brien refused to accept the Oscar award for himself.  He was born in Oakland California.

2 March 1902 – Edward Condon - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Condon

Distinguished American nuclear physicist, a pioneer in quantum mechanics, and a participant in the development of radar and nuclear weapons during World War II as part of the Manhattan Project. The Franck–Condon principle and the Slater–Condon rules are co-named after him. During the McCarthy period, when efforts were being made to root out communist sympathizers in the United States, Edward Condon was a target of the House Un-American Activities Committee on the grounds that he was a 'follower' of a 'new revolutionary movement', quantum mechanics; Condon defended himself with a famous commitment to physics and science. Condon became widely known in 1968 as principal author of the Condon Report, an official review funded by theUnited States Air Force that concluded that unidentified flying objects (UFOs) have prosaic explanations. The lunar crater Condon is named for him. He was born in Alamogordo, New Mexico.

2 March 1904 – Dr. Seuss – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dr._Seuss

Theodor Seuss "Ted" Geisel, American children's author, political cartoonist, illustrator, poet, animator, screenwriter, and filmmaker. He is known for his work writing and illustrating more than 60 books under the pen name Dr. Seuss. Geisel adopted the name "Dr. Seuss" as an undergraduate at Dartmouth College and as a graduate student at Lincoln College, Oxford. He published his first children's book And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street in 1937. During World War II, he took a brief hiatus from children's literature to illustrate political cartoons, and he also worked in the animation and film department of the United States Army where he wrote, produced or animated many productions – both live-action and animated – including Design for Death, which later won the 1947 Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature. After the war, Geisel returned to writing children's books, writing classics like If I Ran the Zoo (1950), Horton Hears a Who! (1955), If I Ran the Circus (1956), The Cat in the Hat (1957), How the Grinch Stole Christmas! (1957), and Green Eggs and Ham (1960). He published over 60 books during his career, which have spawned numerous adaptations, including 11 television specials, five feature films, a Broadway musical, and four television series. He was born in Springfield, Massachusetts.

Events of Interest

2 March 1949 – Captain James Gallagher lands his B-50 Superfortress Lucky Lady II in Fort Worth, Texas after completing the first non-stop around-the-world airplane flight in 94 hours and one minute - https://www.wired.com/2010/03/0302b50-nonstop-circumnavigation/

The flight covered 23,452 miles, averaging a ground speed of 249 miles per hour. The modified bomber required air-to-air refueling four times as it flew ever eastward. The airplane was an updated version of the B-29 that had fought in World War II and was close to being obsolete by 1949. Refueling while flying was the biggest challenge of the flight. Though commonplace today, the technique was not widely used at the time. The Lucky Lady II was refueled from its close relative, the tanker version KB-29. Four pairs of KB-29s based in the Azores, Saudi Arabia, the Philippines and Hawaii were used as airborne gas stations. The Lucky Lady II was actually the second aircraft set up for the around-the-world flight. The first B-50, Global Queen, experienced engine problems after taking off Feb. 25 and landed in the Azores. The jet-powered B-52 bomber erased the Lucky Lady II's record in 1957 with a circumnavigation lasting just 45 hours, 19 minutes. Another B-52 lowered the record in 1980 to 42 hours, 23 minutes. The record still stands today.

2 March 1972 – The Pioneer 10 space probe is launched from Cape Canaveral,Florida with a mission to explore the outer planets - https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/pioneer-10-launched-to-jupiter

Pioneer 10, the world’s first outer-planetary probe, is launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida, on a mission to Jupiter, the solar system’s largest planet. In December 1973, after successfully negotiating the asteroid belt and 620 million miles, Pioneer 10 reached Jupiter and sent back to Earth the first close-up images of the spectacular gas giant. In June 1983, the NASA spacecraft left the solar system and the next day radioed back the first scientific data on interstellar space. NASA officially ended the Pioneer 10 project on March 31, 1997, with the spacecraft having traveled a distance of some six billion miles.

2 March 1978 – Grave robbers steal Charlie Chaplin’s body - https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/grave-robbers-steal-charlie-chaplins-body

In one of history’s most famous cases of body-snatching, two men steal the corpse of the revered film actor Sir Charles Chaplin from a cemetery in the Swiss village of Corsier-sur-Vevey, located in the hills above Lake Geneva, near Lausanne, Switzerland. After Chaplin’s widow, Oona, received a ransom demand of some $600,000, police began monitoring her phone and watching 200 phone kiosks in the region. Oona had refused to pay the ransom, saying that her husband would have thought the demand “ridiculous.” The callers later made threats against her two youngest children. After a five-week investigation, police arrested two auto mechanics–Roman Wardas, of Poland, and Gantscho Ganev, of Bulgaria–who on May 17 led them to Chaplin’s body, which they had buried in a cornfield about one mile from the Chaplin family’s home in Corsier. That December, Wardas and Ganev were convicted of grave robbing and attempted extortion. Political refugees from Eastern Europe, Wardas and Ganev apparently stole Chaplin’s body in an attempt to solve their financial difficulties. Wardas, identified as the mastermind of the plot, was sentenced to four-and-a-half years of hard labor. As he told it, he was inspired by a similar crime that he had read about in an Italian

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[jamesnoblein]

Press Note of Department of Industries, Government of Himachal  Pradesh dated June 4, 2019 on salient features of the Pradesh’s Industrial Policy, 2019

Press Note of Department of Industries, Government of Himachal  Pradesh dated June 4, 2019 on salient features of the Pradesh’s Industrial Policy, 2019

             In order to realize the full investment potential of Himachal Pradesh and to give a quantum boost to the economic development of the State, a slew of measures having wide ramifications for prospective investors and entrepreneurs has been approved  by the Government of the Chief Minister Shri Jai Ram Thakur  on June 1, 2019. The primary objectives of these reforms  are to showcase the distinctive advantages of investing in the State and to  facilitate ease of doing business, elimination of unnecessary procedures , time bound approval for investment proposals , online sanction of projects and to extend comprehensive  fiscal and non fiscal  incentives to attract national and international investment in the State in  a wide range of manufacturing and services sectors activities such as tourism , hospitality , real estate,  housing, food processing, wellness centers, AYUSH facilities, information technology, skill development, power, pharmaceuticals , manufacturing, MSME  etc.

           The salient features of these reforms include:-

·        A big step has been taken in the direction of simplifying and speeding up the process of purchase and lease of land in the Pradesh for industrial   activities and other investment proposals. Persons and companies desirous  of purchasing/leasing land for their businesses will no longer have to run from pillar to post to obtain  No Objection Certificates  from various departments which were earlier required for  obtaining an Essentiality Certificate before purchasing land for a project.  This reform will drastically reduce the time in setting up projects in the Pradesh besides reducing footfalls in different offices. Permission of land purchase in the Pradesh will now be a smooth and hassle free online process for the prospective investors.  

·              Himachal being a scenic and picturesque State endowed with all the  nature’s bounties , a big boost has been provided to the film and entertainment industry for shooting movies in the Pradesh  through a separate film policy. The measures under this policy include   creation of a Film Development Fund for financing schemes for film development and related infrastructure, attractive sops for shooting films in the State and for developing a Film City, studios, labs and shooting locales. The State Government will allow usage of  its air strips and helipads to facilitate movement of crew and artists throughout the State. Attractive financial benefits and grants will be given for shooting of regional films, vernacular films and for revival of closed cinema halls or for setting up of multiplexes and other centres of entrainment. Incentive will also be given for training of local artists and technicians. These measures will showcase Himachal Pradesh  as a  very attractive and popular film shooting destination of the country.

·        To give a boost to the MSME sector which forms the back bone of the State economy, entrepreneurs have been allowed to initiate physical implementation of their projects through a system of self certification up to  a period of two years . The policy provides for interest subvention on term loan of up to Rs. 20 lakhs for enterprises and   reimbursement of up to Rs. 10 lakhs for filing of patents. Additional benefits such as financial assistance for preparation of DPRs, e marketing ,reimbursement of cost incurred on inland carriage and transit insurance up to Rs. 3 lakhs and participation in trade fairs are also  provided for in the policy .

·        Wide ranging fiscal and non fiscal incentives have been offered to the investors in the Pradesh in the industrial policy- 2019. Capital infrastructure  subsidy up to Rs. 25 crore will be admissible  for setting up private industrial areas and theme parks  in areas such as agro, herbal, food processing, IT/ITES, pharmaceuticals and textile.

·        To encourage fresh industrial investment in the State, the industrial policy has provided for allotment of land to enterprises at the concessional rate of up to 70% in the industrial areas an easy payment schedule spreading over many years.

·        A very important objective of the industrial investment policy is strengthening of common industrial and social infrastructure in the Pradesh. Private sector investment for creation and up gradation of common effluent treatment plants, working men and women hostels, schools, testing centres, R&D centres, tool rooms and recreational facilities has  been equated with MSME sector for the purpose of grant of incentives and concession under the industrial  policy-2019.

 ·        A very significant policy initiative to offset the logistics issues and cost disadvantage faced by the enterprises is the provision of reimbursement of the net State GST to the enterprises up to 90% for a period of  7 years.

 ·        Himachal being a power surplus State, the policy encourages industrial development by providing concession on electricity duty for  five years for various categories of industries.

 ·        As some of the areas of the State are remote, the policy envisages transport subsidy for different types of investors up to Rs. 30 lakhs per annum .

 ·        As the development cost in the State could be high in some areas owing to the  hilly terrain,   policy envisages  concession on stamp duty and registration fee up to 90 % for enterprises.  In most of the areas of the State, 100% exemption from payment of Change of Land Use has been allowed .    

 It is expected that the progressive and investor friendly  concessions, facilities and incentives extended  to the investors and entrepreneurs   in the  Pradesh through the 2019 industrial policy will lead to balanced,  sustainable,  all round and equitable development of the State  and employment for all its people.

             **********

[uttarakhandtourismblog]

Press Note of Department of Industries, Government of Himachal   Pradesh dated June 4, 2019 on salient features of the Pradesh’s Industrial Policy, 2019

In order to realize the full investment potential of Himachal Pradesh and to give a quantum boost to the economic development of the State, a slew of measures having wide ramifications for prospective investors and entrepreneurs has been approved  by the Government of the Chief Minister Shri Jai Ram Thakur  on June 1, 2019. The primary objectives of these reforms  are to showcase the distinctive advantages of investing in the State and to  facilitate ease of doing business, elimination of unnecessary procedures , time bound approval for investment proposals , online sanction of projects and to extend comprehensive  fiscal and non fiscal  incentives to attract national and international investment in the State in  a wide range of manufacturing and services sectors activities such as tourism , hospitality , real estate,  housing, food processing, wellness centers, AYUSH facilities, information technology, skill development, power, pharmaceuticals , manufacturing, MSME  etc.

           The salient features of these reforms include:-

·        A big step has been taken in the direction of simplifying and speeding up the process of purchase and lease of land in the Pradesh for industrial   activities and other investment proposals. Persons and companies desirous  of purchasing/leasing land for their businesses will no longer have to run from pillar to post to obtain  No Objection Certificates  from various departments which were earlier required for  obtaining an Essentiality Certificate before purchasing land for a project.  This reform will drastically reduce the time in setting up projects in the Pradesh besides reducing footfalls in different offices. Permission of land purchase in the Pradesh will now be a smooth and hassle free online process for the prospective investors.  

·              Himachal being a scenic and picturesque State endowed with all the  nature’s bounties , a big boost has been provided to the film and entertainment industry for shooting movies in the Pradesh  through a separate film policy. The measures under this policy include   creation of a Film Development Fund for financing schemes for film development and related infrastructure, attractive sops for shooting films in the State and for developing a Film City, studios, labs and shooting locales. The State Government will allow usage of  its air strips and helipads to facilitate movement of crew and artists throughout the State. Attractive financial benefits and grants will be given for shooting of regional films, vernacular films and for revival of closed cinema halls or for setting up of multiplexes and other centres of entrainment. Incentive will also be given for training of local artists and technicians. These measures will showcase Himachal Pradesh  as a  very attractive and popular film shooting destination of the country.

·        To give a boost to the MSME sector which forms the back bone of the State economy, entrepreneurs have been allowed to initiate physical implementation of their projects through a system of self certification up to  a period of two years . The policy provides for interest subvention on term loan of up to Rs. 20 lakhs for enterprises and   reimbursement of up to Rs. 10 lakhs for filing of patents. Additional benefits such as financial assistance for preparation of DPRs, e marketing ,reimbursement of cost incurred on inland carriage and transit insurance up to Rs. 3 lakhs and participation in trade fairs are also  provided for in the policy .

·        Wide ranging fiscal and non fiscal incentives have been offered to the investors in the Pradesh in the industrial policy- 2019. Capital infrastructure  subsidy up to Rs. 25 crore will be admissible  for setting up private industrial areas and theme parks  in areas such as agro, herbal, food processing, IT/ITES, pharmaceuticals and textile.

·        To encourage fresh industrial investment in the State, the industrial policy has provided for allotment of land to enterprises at the concessional rate of up to 70% in the industrial areas an easy payment schedule spreading over many years.

·        A very important objective of the industrial investment policy is strengthening of common industrial and social infrastructure in the Pradesh. Private sector investment for creation and up gradation of common effluent treatment plants, working men and women hostels, schools, testing centres, R&D centres, tool rooms and recreational facilities has  been equated with MSME sector for the purpose of grant of incentives and concession under the industrial  policy-2019.

 ·        A very significant policy initiative to offset the logistics issues and cost disadvantage faced by the enterprises is the provision of reimbursement of the net State GST to the enterprises up to 90% for a period of  7 years.

 ·        Himachal being a power surplus State, the policy encourages industrial development by providing concession on electricity duty for  five years for various categories of industries.

 ·        As some of the areas of the State are remote, the policy envisages transport subsidy for different types of investors up to Rs. 30 lakhs per annum .

 ·        As the development cost in the State could be high in some areas owing to the  hilly terrain,   policy envisages  concession on stamp duty and registration fee up to 90 % for enterprises.  In most of the areas of the State, 100% exemption from payment of Change of Land Use has been allowed .    

 It is expected that the progressive and investor friendly  concessions, facilities and incentives extended  to the investors and entrepreneurs   in the  Pradesh through the 2019 industrial policy will lead to balanced,  sustainable,  all round and equitable development of the State  and employment for all its people.

             **********