The training of school-children was to be carried out in the same way: few words, no explanation, a total silence interrupted only by signalsbells, clapping of hands, gestures, a mere glance from the teacher, or that little wooden apparatus used by the Brothers of the Christian Schools; it was called par excellence the Signal and it contained in its mechanical brevity both the technique of command and the morality of obedience.
The first and principal use of the signal is to attract at once the attention of all the pupils to the teacher and to make them attentive to what he wishes to impart to them. Thus, whenever he wishes to attract the attention of the children, and to bring the exercise to an end, he will strike the signal once. Whenever a good pupil hears the noise of the signal, he will imagine that he is hearing the voice of the teacher or rather the voice of God himself calling him by his name. He will then partake of the feelings of the young Samuel, saying with him in the depths of his soul: Lord, I am here.
Mind-blowing documentary about the people who come to The Gathering of the Juggalos. In the Vimeo comment thread, user Daniel Cronin links to photographs taken at the gathering over the last two years.
Monday, 15 August 2011
For the last month I’ve been working on a script to allow me to import animated GIFs into Yojimbo, which script incorporates a few of the concepts I used for Add Bookmark to Yojimbo and Yojimbo Bookmark Collection From Front Window. Stoked by hot new scripting functionality, I decided to accept Software Update’s waiting updates.
A few days later I noticed my new script» was failing to add the selected text to the comments of the new Yojimbo items it creates. A few moments with Google led me to the problem.
Until Apple updates Safari so JavaScript can once again identify selected content, I’m staying with the earlier version of Safari (for me Safari 5.0.5). If you’ve upgraded and are missing the ability to refer to content selected in Safari using JavaScript, you can follow these instructions from MacOSXHints to downgrade Safari to your previous version.
Monday, 8 August 2011
“We know that we cannot achieve everything,” Itzik Shmuly, the chairman of the National Union of Students, acknowledged from the podium in Tel Aviv. “But living here has become impossible, and we will not accept it.”
The wave of protests has been largely driven by Israel’s working middle classes, who are afflicted by rising costs of basics like housing, food and gasoline, and by high taxation. At the same time, the country’s social services have been shrinking and there is a growing gap between the rich and poor.
In Tel Aviv and Jerusalem young people, retired couples and families marched.
Ayelet Kol, a 37-year-old graphic designer in Tel Aviv, said she has been fighting a losing battle to get by financially even though she downsized into a one-room studio apartment, canceled her gym membership and cable subscription and has entirely cut out meeting friends at restaurants.
“Until now most people thought it was their fault that they could not get by,” she said, “but now they are realizing it’s hard for everyone and that they are not alone.”
About a quarter of a million people, more than three percent of the Israeli Jewish population, poured into the streets of Tel Aviv and Jerusalem to protest the cost of living, one of which symptoms is an increasing wealth disparity between rich and poor.
My question is whether the working poor and the vanishing middle class in the United States feel similarly and, if so, what we can learn about the ongoing activism in the Middle East.
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