Predictions for Mother's Own Milk Breasteedings after NICU Discharge
Carol Chamblin, DNP, APN, RN, IBCLC / September 2019
The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends exclusive breastfeeding for infants for the first six months of life and continued breastfeeding for one year or longer (AAP, 2012). Breast milk has many health benefits for infants, including decreased rates of respiratory infections, asthma, ear infections, and gastrointestinal illnesses. For preterm infants in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU), breast milk feeding has decreased the risk of necrotizing enterocolitis by 77% (AAP, 2012).
Although rates are going up, according to the latest Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) report (2016), 81.1% of women initiate breastfeeding their infants. Breastfeeding exclusivity and duration rates decline rapidly, and only 22.3% of infants are exclusively breastfeeding at six months after birth (CDC, 2016). The Surgeon General's Call to Action to Support Breastfeeding addresses the necessity for health care providers to be educated about delivering evidence-based lactation care and support (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 2011).
Anatomy and Physiology of Lactating Breasts
The anatomy and physiology of the lactating breast begins its development during pregnancy (Neville, M. & Morton, J, 2001). Progesterone levels elevate and the ductal lobules within the breast increase in number and size. During pregnancy, secretory differentiation occurs as fat globules increase in size in the cells of the mammary gland, referred to as stage I Lactogenesis. High levels of circulating progesterone during pregnancy inhibit the release of prolactin. At the time of birth, progesterone levels
drop upon delivery of the placenta, and the onset of copious milk secretion occurs, referred to as stage II Lactogenesis. As prolactin secretion takes place by either the newborn's suckle at breast, or in the absence of direct breastfeeding, the effective use of a hospital-grade (multi-user) breast pump, milk removal occurs and milk secretion is maintained. Failure of efficient milk removal at this time can lead to breast involution and insufficient milk volume.
Preterm infants in the NICU demonstrate immature suckling capability for adequate milk removal (Geddes et al, 2017). Recent ultrasound studies indicate that oral vacuum is instrumental in milk removal. For the preterm infant, the degree of vacuum strength is compromised compared to the term infant, and this impacts feeding effectiveness. Until the preterm infant can overcome limitations caused by neurological or developmental immaturity, and respiratory conditions such as immature coordination of suck-swallow-breathing, effective pumping allows a mother to maintain milk expression.
Early Breast Milk Expression
Research demonstrates improved health benefits for all infants, especially infants weighing < 1500 g at birth, or very low birth weight (VLBW) infants (Parker, L.A. et al. 2012). Decreased morbidity associated with prematurity, feeding intolerances, sepsis and necrotizing enterocolitis are a few examples. Providing the nutrition of exclusive breast milk for premature infants in the NICU can be very challenging for mothers, despite its heightened necessity for this vulnerable population of newborns to receive their mother's own milk (MOM).
Dr. LA Parker at the University of Florida in Gainesville, FL has performed extensive research on the subject of early initiation of breast milk expression on the impact of milk volume (Parker et al, 2012; Parker et al, 2015). Lactogenesis stage II occurs with the change from production of small quantities of colostrum to copious amounts of breast milk. For mothers delivering term infants, this stage takes place after delivery of the placenta with a decrease in progesterone, effective removal of milk from the breast, and ongoing prolactin levels. Preterm delivery and a delay in breastfeeding have been associated with a delay in Lactogenesis II. Mothers of preterm infants may be affected by decreased mammary gland development and decreased exposure to prolactin, cortisol and other hormones that occur during term pregnancy. Delayed lactogenesis can lead to inadequate milk volume and discontinuation of milk expression, or breastfeeding.
Secretory activation, initiation of copious milk secretion, occurs 30-40 hours after birth for the term infant who is capable of efficient milk removal. There are rapid increases in milk secretion at this time such that infant milk transfer increases from less than 100 mL/day on day one post-delivery to between 500-750 mL/day by day 5, and reaching 750-800 mL/day on average by one month (Saint, Smith, Hartmann 1984). Transition from Lactogenesis II to a sufficient milk output at two weeks for exclusive breastfeeding has been termed "coming to volume" (CTV) by Dr. Paula Meier and her research team at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago, IL (Meier et al, 2016). Once CTV is achieved at two weeks post-birth, some pumpdependent mothers are able to decrease pumping frequency and still maintain adequate milk output (Edwards & Spatz, 2010).
Initiate and Maintain Maternal Milk Volume
Establishment of breastfeeding for the very low birth weight (VLBW) preterm infant is fraught with many obstacles (Parker et al, 2012; Geddes et al, 2017). Often these infants are too ill to directly breastfeed immediately after birth. The method of initial oral feeding is often per feeding tube. A main priority at this time is the initiation and establishment of maternal milk volume. Recent evidence demonstrates expressing breast milk within an hour of delivery has a significant impact on how much milk volume mothers are able to produce at six weeks post-delivery. It has also been demonstrated that there is a strong correlation between the frequency of pumping and milk volume.
Research studies demonstrate mothers of infants in the NICU who are breast pump-dependent experience problems with delayed lactogenesis and inadequate milk volume. Only 29% of mothers of preterm infants were able to provide exclusive mother's own milk throughout the NICU stay in one study (Schanler et al, 2005). Recent studies comparing different breast pump suction patterns and implementation of pumping within 1 hour of birth may reduce the number of mothers who cannot produce enough milk volume (Meier et al, 2010; Meier et al, 2012).
The first two weeks are a critical time for the initiation of an adequate milk supply (Meier et al, 2011). "Milk production is enhanced with pumps that mimic infant suckling patterns in the first few days of life" (Meier et al, 2012). Term infants exhibit an irregular, intermittent sucking pattern of rapid sucking bursts followed by long pauses (Santoro W., Jr. et al, 2010). Dr. Diane Spatz, a renown researcher and Director of the lactation program at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia outfitted all breast pumps in the NICU with Medela© Symphony Plus® breast pumps featuring the Initiation Technology™ to facilitate the removal of colostrum and support the establishment of milk supply. (Fugate et al, 2015). While it is beyond the scope of this article to describe more fully the evidence-based breast pump technology, mothers using this technology had significantly higher milk volumes by day 14 post-delivery.
To facilitate early initiation of pumping, it is the primary responsibility of the nursing staff to educate the mother on pump use and the safe handling of human milk (Fugate et al., 2015). Expressed breast milk needs to be used in the order pumped for the first two weeks to maximize protein intake and immunological properties. NICU mothers are educated to label the bottles of their expressed milk in pumping session order from 1 to 60 (Meier et al., 2011). After these bottles are used, fresh nonfrozen human milk is preferable to frozen milk since immunomodulatory proteins are reduced by the freezing process (Akinbi et al., 2010).
Human Milk Oral Care
Human milk oral care is the process of applying fresh breast milk to an infant's oral mucosa with a swab. Performing this care by mothers of infants hospitalized with congenital diaphragmatic hernia (CDH) was determined to have an impact on mothers to remain motivated to keep pumping and build their milk supplies (Froh, E. et al, 2015). Though research was performed for infants with CDH, it applies to all infants separated from mothers by hospitalization.
Evidence-Based Best NICU Practice
The ability of mothers to have adequate milk volume to exclusively feed their infants mother's own milk (MOM) feedings from the NICU days through to discharge is based on best practice changes within NICU settings. All of the aforementioned implementation strategies are based on in-depth evidence for optimal lactation care. Between February 2008 and December 2012, 402 VLBW infants and their mothers were involved in a study at Rush University Medical Center to determine predictors
of MOM feeding at NICU discharge (Hoban et al, 2018). Findings demonstrated achievement of CTV by postpartum day 14 as the strongest predictor for infants receiving MOM feedings at NICU discharge in breast pump-dependent mothers. Clinical practice incorporating effective pumping technique and technology to prevent low MOM volume should be targeted during the first postpartum week.
Revised Baby Friendly Hospital Initiative
World Health Organization (WHO) and United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) published the Ten Steps to Successful Breastfeeding in 1989 for implementation of policies and procedures for facilities providing maternity and newborn services in support of breastfeeding. WHO and UNICEF launched the Baby-Friendly Hospital Initiative (BFHI) in 1991 to motivate facilities offering maternity and newborn services in the implementation of the Ten Steps. The latest revision of the Baby Friendly Hospital Initiative was released in April 2018. A key statement of this publication is: "The first few hours and days of a newborn's life are a critical window for establishing lactation and providing mothers with the support they need to breastfeed successfully." Breastfeeding is described as a biological norm for healthy moms and newborns. However, interruptions such as necessary medical procedures, and separation of mothers from their infants in the NICU population may pose an increased risk for breastfeeding challenges and the initiation and maintenance of milk supply.
The updated guidance of the Ten Steps continues to cover the protection, promotion and support of breastfeeding healthy term newborns rather than the needs of the sick or preterm infants. However, it does mention that small, sick and/or preterm newborns have their own set of needs and that more specific guidance is available elsewhere. In 2004, Dr. Diane Spatz adapted the Ten Steps for Vulnerable Infants, and as a result, there was an increase in the percentage of infants receiving mother's own milk (MOM) at initiation of feeds and at discharge (Fugate et al., 2015).
The revised Baby Friendly Initiative has several key points inclusive of support for the initiation and maintenance of breast milk in times of common difficulties:
Practical support for preterm or late preterm infants is critical to establish and maintain milk production
Mothers of preterm infants often have health problems and need extra motivation and support for milk expression
Late preterm infants are generally able to exclusively feed at the breast, but are more at-risk for jaundice, hypoglycemia and feeding difficulties, requiring increased vigilance
Mothers of multiples need extra support
Mothers need to be taught how to express their breast milk as a means to maintain lactation if separated from their infants
Mothers must be supported and encouraged to express their own milk as a priority
Mothers should have adequate space to express milk adjacent to their infants
For preterm infants unable to breastfeed directly, non-nutritive sucking (pacifier use) may be beneficial until breastfeeding is established
NICU Breastfeeding Case Scenario
A primiparous 27 year old had preterm labor at 32 weeks gestation and delivered a baby boy who was admitted to the NICU. During this mom's pregnancy, contact with a lactation consultant in private practice was established. Mom signed consent to give permission for information and/or photos of breastfeeding-related nursing care to be anonymously used for professional articles or studies for professional education. Another aspect of the consent covered the use of emailing or texting for non-urgent care and treatment. The following is a partial exchange of texting between mom and the author.
Mother: New doctor on rotation today and she came in and was like WOW look at all that milk!
Author: Great! Because you have enough breast milk, your baby will tolerate his feedings well. He most likely will gain weight and be discharged earlier than if he was being fed formula.
If the amount of milk you are expressing is filling the small containers close to the level of the yellow valves, you should start using the larger containers. Soon you will have enough breast milk to start storing it in the freezer because you will have more milk than your baby will need in the NICU.
December 5, 2018 — On day seven post-delivery, mom was able to express 10 ounces from 11pm-12N and texted the author to ask if this was a good milk volume.
December 9, 2018 — On day 11 post-delivery, Mom was expressing a little over 600 mL's.
Author: You are doing great! The goal by day 14 is to be expressing 750-850 mL in 24 hrs. You are increasing your milk supply by continuing to pump seven times in 24 hours and are right on track! Do you have any questions about putting your baby to breast next week? You had said yesterday that you were told you would have the opportunity to put your baby to breast.
Mother: Not yet. I'm sure I'll have questions once we try it.
Mother: We latched and licked today but mostly just spooned my breast milk to Andy. I'm expressing 650-700 mL/24 hours.
Milk output is 675-820 mL/24 hours
Baby Andy was discharged from the NICU at age six weeks. There were some feeding issues related to anemia which postponed his discharge by a few weeks. Mom had initiated and maintained adequate milk volume by effective pumping. Andy is a robust, healthy five month old and has only been fed MOM. This mom continues to express her breast milk for her now five month old.
Initiation and maintenance of adequate milk volume is based on ongoing effective infant suckle at breast, or effective pumping technique for infants in the NICU. Early milk expression using effective breast pump technology within one hour of birth in the absence of an infant at breast significantly alters a mother's ability to achieve a full milk supply by 14 days; known as "coming to volume". Evidence-based NICU practice adheres to the goal of achieving mother's own milk feedings in the NICU
and at discharge from the NICU. Many NICU settings do not have unit protocols that support the latest breast pump technology for support of optimal mother's milk volume. There is opportunity for continuous process improvement projects in the area of breast milk feeding and pumping in the NICU population because every preterm infant in the NICU deserves to receive mother's own milk (MOM).
This article was previously published in Neonatal Intensive Care, Vol. 31, No. 4 / Fall 2018
Akinbi, H., Meinzen-Derr, J., Auer, C., Ma, Y., Pullum, D., Kusano, R., Zimmerly, K. (2010). Alterations in the host defense properties of human milk following prolonged storage or pasteurization. Journal of Pediatric Gastroenterology and Nutrition, 51(3), 347-352.
American Academy of Pediatrics Section on Breastfeeding (2012). Breastfeeding and the use of human milk. Pediatrics 129(3), e827-e841. doi: 10.1542/peds.2011-3552
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (2016). Breastfeeding report card United States/2014. Atlanta, GA: Author. Retrieved from http://www.cdc.gov/breastfeeding/ pdf/2016breastfeedingreportcard.pdf
Edwards T., and Spatz, D. (2010). An innovative model for achieving breast-feeding success in infants with complex surgical anomalies. J Perinat Neonat Nurs, 24(3), 246-253.
Froh, E., Deatrick, J., Curley, M., & Spatz, D. (2015). Making meaning of pumping for mothers of infants with congenital diaphragmatic hernia. JOGNN: 44(3), 439-449.
Fugate, K., Hernandez, I., Ashmeade, T., Miladinovic, B., & Spatz, D. (2015). Improving human milk and breastfeeding practices in the NICU. JOGNN: 44(3), 426-438.
Geddes, D., Chooi, K., Nancarrow, K., Hepworth, A., Gardner, H. and Simmer, K. (2017). Characterisation of sucking dynamics of breastfeeding preterm infants: a cross sectional study. BMC Pregnancy and Childbirth, 17:386. DOI 10.1186/s12884-017-1574-3
Hoban, R., Bigger, H., Schoeny, M., Engstrom, J., Meier, P., and Patel, A. (2018). Milk volume at 2 weeks predicts mother's own milk feeding at neonatal intensive care unit discharge for very low birthweight infants. Breastfeeding Medicine, 13(2): 135-141.
Meier, P., Engstrom, J., Patel, A., Jegier, B., and Bruns, N. (2010). Improving the use of human milk during and after the NICU stay. Clin Perinatol. 37(1), 217-245.
Meier, P., Engstrom, J., Janes, J., Jegier, B., & Loera, F. (2012). Breast pump suction patterns that mimic the human infant during breastfeeding: Greater milk output in less time spent pumping for breast pump-dependent mothers with premature infants. Journal of Perinatology, 32(2), 103-110.
Meier, P., Patel, A., Hoban, R., and Engstrom, J. (2016). Which breast pump for which mother: an evidence-based approach to inidividualizing breast pump technology. J Perinatol. 36(7):493-499).
Neville, M. & Morton, J. (2001). Physiology and endocrine changes underlying human lactogenesis II. Journal of Nutrition, Nov. 13(11): 3005s-3008s.
Parker, LA., Sullivan, S., Krueger, C., Kelechi, T., and Mueller, M. (2012). Effect of early breast milk expression on milk volume and timing of lactogenesis stage II among mothers of very low birth weight infants: a pilot study. Journal of Perinatology, 32, 205-209.
Parker, L., Sullivan, S., Krueger, C., and Mueller, M. (2015). Association of timing of initiation of breastmilk expression on milk volume and timing of lactogenesis stage II among mothers of very low-birth-weight infants. Breastfeeding Medicine 10 (2): 1-8.
Saint, L., Smith, M., and Hartmann, PE. (1984). The yield and nutrient content of colostrum and milk of women from giving birth to 1 month post-partum. Br J Nutr. 52: 87-95.
Santoro W. Jr., Martinez F.E., Ricco, R.G., Jorge, S.M. (2010). Colostrum ingested during the first day of life by exclusively breastfed healthy newborn infants. J Pediatr, 156(1): 29-32.
Schanler, RJ, Lau, C., Hurst, NM, and Smith, E. (2005). Randomized trial of donor human milk versus preterm formula as substitutes for mothers' own milk in the feeding of extremely premature infants. Pediatrics, 116(2): 400-406.
Spatz D. (2004). Ten steps for promoting and protecting breastfeeding for vulnerable infants. Journal of Perinatal & Neonatal Nursing, 4, 385-396.
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. (2011). The Surgeon General's call to action to support breastfeeding, 2011. Washington, DC: Author. Retrieved from http://www.surgeongneral.gov/library/calls/breastfeeding/calltoactiontosupport breastfeeding.pdf
World Health Organization, UNICEF, (2018). Protecting, promoting, and supporting breastfeeding in facilities providing maternity and newborn services: the revised Babyfriendly Hospital Initiative 2018
Carol Chamblin has spent over 30 years caring for mothers and infants in pediatrics, lactation, PICU and NICU settings. She became certified as an International Board Certified Lactation Consultant in 1995. Her successful private practice specializing in lactation-related care began over 17 years ago. In 2010 Carol extended her role as an Advanced Practice Nurse in a pediatric office, teaching prenatal breastfeeding classes and providing clinical expertise. Carol earned her Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) from Rush University in 2012.


5 Minutes with… Taehan Yoo
5 minutes with...
The Accenture Song design director speaks with LBB's Delmar Terblanche about how his work has helped him find himself and change the world
"I was always a very quizzical or philosophical child," says Taehan Yoo.
"Clay-making was something I liked a lot. Normally, children would make cute dinosaurs or clay boats, but I kept making very sharp mountains, often making them sharper and sharper. Craft was something that I've always been interested in. I would ask myself what makes things beautiful, and I would make mountains repetitively in different shapes and curvatures."
The design director has a gentle smile as he recalls his childhood creativity, one which does not waver as those memories become slightly more serious.
"I'm a Japanese Korean – born and raised in Japan but I hardly speak any Korean. Since I was little, I questioned my existence. Why I exist, why am I different from other people? I was always a very quizzical and philosophical child. I keep going back to the question of what makes me different all the time – during my kindergarten days, the art projects I made such as the little clay sculptures, were always attempts to express my individuality."
This search for individuality and self-expression would guide Taehan throughout his design career. Not only did he want to create work that helped him find himself through its creation, he was determined to create work which might, one day, help others struggling with those same questions.
LBB> How did you then take that love of creativity further into your studies?
Taehan> In high school I played a lot of basketball and I liked art classes. The interest in design was reignited when I went to college. When I enrolled in university, computers were the "in" thing, so I studied computer programming.
I started building websites, dabbled in photography, drew my own artwork and uploaded them to the websites. I was really drawn to web design and that's when I started studying art and design properly. After I graduated from college, I went on a six months' exchange in Canada to study English.
LBB> You mentioned thinking a lot about beauty earlier. Did your ideas of beauty evolve during your time there?
Taehan> I was exposed to the notion of inner beauty as a kind of uniqueness. I saw everybody expressing themselves in their own way and yet were still resilient. That was to me a type of self-expression.
LBB> What does self-expression mean to you?
Taehan> It's my reason for existence. My raison d'etre. There are times I express myself more, and sometimes less. It gives me a sense of identity and presence in society.
LBB> Can you tell us any more about your experiences in Canada?
Taehan> It was a very enriching six months. I was in Toronto which is a very diverse place compared to Japan. There were also significant differences. For example, in Japan, it was a requirement to include your photo on all CVs and resumes as well as gender. In Canada, this practice is optional. Suddenly, those questions I always asked as a child about who I was and why I was different were put in a new light. The experience in Canada made me rethink conformity and self-expression as the latter was acceptable as long as I was considerate of others.
Being a minority living in Japan, my experience in Canada made me reflect a lot about the Japanese society and I wanted to positively impart some of the great Canadian practices back home. So I started thinking about what kind of job would enable me to do that.
Being a politician came to mind but it was challenging to be one straight out of college. I started thinking about design and advertising due to its reach. If I wanted to change something in society, then it's important to be able to create something that a lot of people will see. I can also blend my thoughts and perspective into the work.
LBB> Tell us about how you started doing that work.
Taehan> I started working a lot in the field of website design, general advertising, and designing children's books. While these were capabilities I possessed, I wasn't as engaged as I'd like to be. I wanted to be able to work on projects that allowed me to influence societal changes. Through mutual friends, I joined Accenture. Accenture worked with the top global companies in Japan and I saw it as an opportunity for me to do work with great impact and global scale.
LBB> Could you elaborate on work you did at Accenture that tapped into that desire to change society?
Taehan> We created Japan's first digital bank, Minna Bank. Financial literacy in Japan is very low compared to other countries. It did not help that financial products and functions are often full of jargon and it can be daunting for the younger generation to understand. We wanted to create a bank where the younger generation would want to enter, like to keep and love to have. We knew it was not enough to be a trustworthy or beneficial bank for customers. So we focused on a smooth, accessible, easy customer interface; and to make things as direct and easy to use as we could. We focused on creating value for people rather than products.
LBB> Let's talk about your process. When you receive a brief, how do you break it down into the set of key ideas you want to communicate?
Taehan> It doesn't matter whether there is a brief. We always start with research and with the audience in mind. With Minna Bank, we knew that the younger generation were not as interested in banking-related matters, find it a complicated and formal affair and would rather not think about it. It was important for us to approach the topic from a "non-banking/ financial" lens. Instead of focusing our research on the financial experiences of our target audience, we deep dived into their interests, lifestyles and cultures.
Back in the day, it was enough to have a functional bank. Today, there's so much information out there, and people are making decisions, not just about the bank, but in terms of how a bank can integrate in their lifestyle, and become a part of their lives. They are making different financial decisions for multiple different reasons. So we need to understand each person's life to understand what problem we need to solve.
LBB> When it comes to your design work, how much is experiential, and how much is visual or aesthetic?
Taehan> Visual design is important to me personally. People get 80% of the information visually. First impressions of a product or service – regardless of how great they may be – are made based on what people see. With Minna Bank, we focused on its visual design, making sure not to over-complicate the design. It had to look usable.
LBB> Tell me about your process with visual design. Are there any particular aesthetics or movements or artists that you tend to draw inspiration from, or does it vary depending on the individual project?
Taehan> I draw inspiration from all genres and types of artists, photos, and illustrators. It's not skewed towards anything specific. In fact, I strategically design my artwork. With Minna Bank, I knew that the target audience liked Manga, so I decided "well, why don't we write comics?" I also decided to do it all in black and white, because there wasn't a bank in Japan that had a monochrome aesthetic.
LBB> When you say you strategically design it, is that because the size of your goals means you need to be very strategic, or is it just a process that works for you?
Taehan> I think both apply. I tend to think strategically so that works for me. At the same time, I know that for a design to bring about social impact and social change, it can't just be beautiful. It needs to be something that will become more widespread. That's where strategy comes in.
LBB> If you could go back in time and speak to the version of yourself that was in high school, playing a lot of basketball, and trying to find his own identity; what advice would you give him?
Taehan> I would just tell myself to be myself. I worried about identity and all these issues ad nauseam for a long time; I worked for nine years at a single firm, drawing a stable salary and doing the work I've been assigned. But now, with projects like Minna Bank, I'm doing work that can change the world. So, I would tell myself that I don't have to change. Because I will end up doing the things that I love to do.
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Published on International Communist Current (https://en.internationalism.org)
Home > World Revolution 2000s - 231 to 330 > World Revolution - 2006 > World Revolution no.296, July/August 2006 > Extract from Bilan, no.36: The meaning of the new institutions...
Extract from Bilan, no.36: The meaning of the new institutions...
The following is an extract from a much longer article on the events of July 19, 1936 written by Bilan, which can be found here: ir/006_bilan36_july19.html [1]
When the capitalist attack came in the form of Franco's uprising, neither the POUM nor the CNT even dreamed of calling the workers to go out into the streets. They organized delegations to go to Companys for arms. On 19 July the workers came out spontaneously – by calling for a general strike the CUT and UGT were simply acknowledging a de facto state of affairs.
Since Companys, Giral, and their ilk were immediately regarded as allies of the proletariat, as the people who could supply the keys to the arms depot, it was quite natural that when the workers crushed the army and took up arms no one would think for a moment of posing the problem of the destruction of the state which, with Companys at its head, remained intact. From then on an attempt was made to spread the utopian idea that it is possible to make the revolution by expropriating factories and taking over land without touching the capitalist state, not even its banking 'system.
The constitution of the Central Committee of the militias gave the impression that a period of proletarian power had begun; while the setting up of the Central Council of the Economy gave rise to the illusion that the proletariat was now managing its own economy.
However, far from being organs of dual power, these organs had a capitalist nature and function. Instead of constituting a base for the unification of the proletarian struggle – for posing the question of power – they were from the beginning organs of collaboration with the capitalist state.
In Barcelona the Central Committee of the militias was a conglomeration of workers' and bourgeois parties and trade unions; not an organ of the soviet type arising spontaneously on a class basis and capable of providing a focus for the development of proletarian consciousness. The Central Committee was connected to the Generalidad and disappeared with the passing of a simple decree when the new government of Catalonia was formed in October.
The Central Committee of the militias represented a superb weapon of capitalism for leading the workers out of their towns and localities to fight on the territorial fronts where they are being ruthlessly massacred.
Source URL: https://en.internationalism.org/wr/296_july19
[1] https://en.internationalism.org/ir/006_bilan36_july19.html


Austrian economist predicts Slovak economic stagnation in 2010
The Slovak economy will stagnate in 2010 even if the economies of Slovakia's biggest customers, such as Germany and the Czech Republic, recover, TASR was told by Zdenek Lukáš, an economist from the Vienna Institute for International Economic Studies, on Sunday, October 11.
Lukáš views the fact that the government wants to reduce the public-finance deficit in 2010 to 5.5 percent of GDP as positive. He views the tools with which the government wants to do this as insufficient, however.
"It's illusionary to expect that tax incomes for next year will grow without reforms. A significant recovery in the economy would be necessary for this. We don't expect one, however," said the economist.
According to Lukáš, no substantial consolidation of public finances, by which the Government aims to cut the deficit to 3 percent of GDP by 2012, will be possible without increasing tax incomes. "This can be achieved by radical changes on the side of incomes, including by raising taxes," he added.
The government expects that it will manage to draw €3.5 billion from EU funds in 2010 but Lukáš views its chances of success as low. "Completely-prepared and clearly-defined projects and lobbying in Brussels are missing in particular," he said, adding that these problems are common among new EU-member countries. TASR
12. Oct 2009 at 14:00


Objectivism or Marxism
Utopia and Revolution
WSWS launches smear campaign
Shallow moralizing not Marxism
Case of the disappearing letter
Sterile flowers, poisonous weeds
WSWS 'curious fumble' in Iraq
PSG and the EU elections
PSG and Berlin elections
PSG: A case of magical thinking
The deadweight of sectarianism
Distorting history of ICFI
David North and Soviet History
North and Service on Trotsky
A case of abandoning dialectics
The gutter politics of David North
Empty place of psychology in Marxism
From Alienation to Revolution
Gender and materialism
Freudianism in Soviet Union: I
Freudianism in Soviet Union: II
Freudianism in Soviet Union: Exchange
Mental illness and American dream: I
Mental illness and American dream: II
Heidegger: Philosopher and Nazi
Heidegger and Nazism: Comment Part I
Heidegger and Nazism: Comment Part II
End of Irony or the Irony of Ends
Turkish economy: illustion and reality
A Charlatan Exposed
Opportunism and Empiricism
Plekhanov and Russian Marxism
Trotsky's Philosophical Notebooks
Trotsky: Philosophy of Superman
Marxism Without its Head...
MWHH: Chapter 1
MWHH: Chapter 10
MWHH: Conclusion
Afterword: Vulgar Critique
Downward Spiral of the ICFI
Downward Spiral: Chapter 1
Dialectical Path of Cognition
Utopia and socialist consciousness
Crackpot Philosophy and Double-Speak
Espiral descendente Capítulo 1
Der Fall Heidegger: Teil 1
Heidegger: Zwei Briefe Teil 1
Psychoanalyse in der Sowjetunion
Der WSWS beim Irak-Krieg
Die PSG und die Europawahl
Der Ballast des Sektierertums
Дело Мартина Хайдеггера Часть 1
New York Mayor evicts Occupy Wall Street protesters
The New York City Police raided the Occupy Wall Street encampment last night and evicted the protesters who had been there since Sept 17. This followed by one day the eviction of protesters at Occupy Oakland in what was acknowledged by police officials as a carefully coordinated assault undoubtedly stemming from the White House. But by this afternoon (Nov 15) the protesters were back at Zuccotti Park, though without their tents or their property, which had been confiscated and wantonly destroyed by the NYPD during their carefully planned raid in the middle of the night.
Protester shouting at police
The scene at Zuccotti Park was at once both tense and hopeful. The protesters were not demoralized by the loss of their encampment. They have once again shown their capacity for inventiveness and organization by reconfiguring their governing bodies so that they could continue their functions under the new circumstances. The kitchen was back in operation, this time from the back of a truck parked in front of the Trinity Church cemetery two blocks south on Broadway. Housing arrangement were being made for hundreds who need a place to sleep for the night. Most of the housing arrangements are in the homes of sympathetic New Yorkers but some might be going to other encampments in other cities. Whether the encampment reemerges at Zuccotti Park or elsewhere, the protesters are not going away. A statement from one of the speakers made it clear that they see their struggle as transcending the immediate symbol of an encampment in downtown Manhattan:
"Such a movement cannot be evicted. Some politicians may physically remove us from public spaces – our spaces – and, physically, they may succeed. But we are engaged in a battle over ideas. Our idea is that our political structures should serve us, the people – all of us, not just those who have amassed great wealth and power. We believe this idea resonates with so many of us because Congress, beholden to Wall Street, has ignored the powerful stories pouring out from the homes and hearts of our neighbors, stories of unrelenting economic suffering. Our dream for a democracy in which we matter is why so many people have come to identify with Occupy Wall Street and the 99% movement."
Protesters clash with New York Police after being removed from Zuccotti Park Photograph: Lucas Jackson/Reuters
The General Assembly at Zuccotti Park tonight was much larger than recent ones. I would estimate the crowd at between 1000 – 3000 people. One ironic outcome of Mayor Bloomberg's eviction is that now that tents are gone there is plenty of space for holding a public meeting in this square. The General Assembly resolved to stage a massive march on the New York Stock Exchange on Thursday, Nov 17, the two month anniversary of the start of Occupy Wall Street.
Today's meeting took place as the square was surrounded by hundreds of police, many of them wearing riot helmets. It was also barricaded so that the police could closely monitor the one entrance point protesters were allowed to pass through. Dozens of police vans and news trucks surrounded the square.
One curious fact that I noticed both today and on previous occasions is the almost complete absence of any of the left groups. To be sure some of them are there as individuals and occasionally as Internet "journalists", but they hardly ever have any sort of organized presence. I did see literature tables from two small groups representing different factions of what used to be the "Militant" group in the UK, lead by the late Ted Grant. One would think that if a socialist political movement was interested in battling over its ideas among the Occupy Wall Street protesters it would have at least set up a literature table. But groups like the SWP, Spartacist, or the Socialist Equality Party are nowhere to be found.
The idea of the 99% comes out of America's populist and radical traditions. But given the absence for at least two generations of a tradition of Marxism and socialism, and the quiesence of the labor movement, it was all but inevitable that the idea of the 99% would be articulated as an initial, if vaguely formulated stand in for the working class. Nevertheless the articulation of widespread sentiment against social inequality marks an important step forward in the American political psyche. It means that the myth of America as a society that has escaped the class systems of the older countries of Europe, and where anyone, as long as they apply themselves with hard work and energy, can become the next Warren Buffet, is once and for all put to pasture. The remarkable thing about the Occupy Wall Street movement is that despite all the political confusion its leaders evince, it has placed capitalism itself on the agenda of political discourse. That is no small accomplishment considering that the full weight of the ideological and state apparatus has worked overtime for decades to keep that question off the agenda. Suddenly there is an openness to a consideration of an alternative economic system the likes of which have not been seen since the 1960s.
The movement as it stands now is still far from being able to induce fundamental social change. That will require the entry of the working class onto the political stage and a break from the two party system that has trapped politics within the confines of capitalism. It will also require the conscious articulation of socialist policies and the development of a revolutionary leadership, something that is currently anathema to the anarchist-minded leadership of Occupy Wall Street. However, these are mostly young people who are still developing their political outlook. Whatever differences we Marxists have with them, we do not place them in the same camp as the professional political operatives and cynics who populate various left and liberal organizations. Outfits like the Nation Magazine and Moveon.org as well as the bureaucrats of unions like the UAW come to mind in this context. In short, what we have in this movement is just a beginning, but one that has already captured the imagination of millions and has the capacity to spread and mature politically.
The following are interviews at Occupy Wall Street that I conducted this past Saturday, prior to the eviction.
Alex Steiner, Nov. 16, 2011
Posted by Alex Steiner at 2:46 AM
Labels: Occupy Wall Street
Thomas Cain said...
Alex, (or Mr. Steiner if you prefer)
Thanks for the writings you have contributed that pertain to the Occupy movement. Reading through all the other negative articles can, whether one tries to stay objective or not, rub off on the reader. I really appreciate the optimism that you display, despite the political limitations of the protestors.
I just have a quick question about a previous comment of yours in another post. You said that in order to build a revolutionary movement,
"...we must find the bridge between where they are and the objective requirements of the situation."
I apologize if I am displaying ignorance, but can you explain that a bit?
Alex Steiner said...
The reference to a "bridge" is an allusion to the Transitional Program of the Fourth International, written by Trotsky:
"It is necessary to help the masses in the process of the daily struggle to find the bridge between present demand and the socialist program of the revolution. This bridge should include a system of transitional demands, stemming from today's conditions and from today's consciousness of wide layers of the working class and unalterably leading to one final conclusion: the conquest of power by the proletariat.
Classical Social Democracy, functioning in an epoch of progressive capitalism, divided its program into two parts independent of each other: the minimum program which limited itself to reforms within the framework of bourgeois society, and the maximum program which promised substitution of socialism for capitalism in the indefinite future. Between the minimum and the maximum program no bridge existed. And indeed Social Democracy has no need of such a bridge, since the word socialism is used only for holiday speechifying."
Link to Transitional Program
One can add that it is not only the Social Democracy and its descendants that have no use for transitional demands. Sectarian abstentionists have no use for them either. We previously reprinted an important essay by Trotsky on this topic:
Sectarianism, Centrism and the Fourth International
Alex Steiner
Cuba: International Conference on Trotsky
First International Conference on Trotsky: Part I
First International Conference on Trotsky: Part II
Interview with Frank García Hernández, Part I
Interview with Frank García Hernández, Part II
Entrevista con Frank García Hernández: I
Entrevista con Frank García Hernández: II
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The World Socialist Web Site (WSWS) edition of May 17 featured a hysterical diatribe against me by the leader of that organization, David North.
Here we are today, 33 years after the split with Healy. Does the fact that North was on the right side of that split confer upon him the legitimacy of a hereditary monarch? Reading North's comments, one would think that for him the Fourth International is some kind of franchise that he alone can operate. If the continuity of the Fourth International is to have any meaning, other than a ritualistic invocation meant to shore up the flagging morale of one's followers, it can only be in one's adherence to the program and theoretical conceptions of the Fourth International. If we examine the political conceptions and organizational practices of the group North has led for all these years it is clear that in all respects it bears little resemblance to the organization Trotsky founded in 1938. It is in fact our exposure of the hollowness of North's claims to be the inheritor of the mantle of Trotsky that has so infuriated him. Why else would he be spending more time writing about me and Frank Brenner, two individuals, than about the Stalinists, Pabloites and state capitalists?
Read More ----> The gutter politics of David Norh
Trump and the crisis of liberalism
by Frank Brenner
It is tempting to say that 2016 marks the death of liberalism, but that's probably wishful thinking. What is dead, though, is the old 'centrist' political consensus, i.e. the pendulum swings from centre-left to centre-right that made mainstream politics in the West about as predictable (and stable) as an old grandfather clock. Now the swings are much more extreme - or rather the swings to the right are. (One might add that what led up to this was a major shift rightward of the 'center' itself from Reagan/Thatcher on – what Tariq Ali rightly dubbed the "extreme center".
Link to full essay: Trump and the crisis of liberalism
Link to Greek translation: Ο Τραμπ και η κρίση του φιλελευθερισμού
Gerry Healy: A Charlatan Exposed
The Crackpot Philosophy of David North
A Case Study in the Neglect of Dialectics
Comment on Heidegger Part I
Comment on Heidegger Part II
What Comes Naturally: Evolution and Human Nature
Dialectical Biologists against Positivism
Notes on Marxism, Alienation and Teleology
The Dialectics of Revolutionary Strategy
Your Brain is not a Computer
The Crisis in Cosmology
Greece at the Crossroads
Greece at the Crossroads Part I
Greece at the Crossroads Part II
Greece at the Crossroads: Epilogue
Panel discussion of 'Greece at the Crossroads'
Response to an attack on 'Greece at the Crossroads'
Η Διαλεκτική της Επαναστατικής Στρατηγικής και Τακτικής
Sectarianism and the Greek working class
Battle for the referendum: Days 1 and 2
Battle for the referendum: Day 5
Battle for the referendum: Final Day
Η ΜΑΧΗ ΓΙΑ ΤΟ ΔΗΜΟΨΗΦΙΣΜΑ ΣΤΗΝ ΕΛΛΑΔΑ
The working class in fantasy and reality
A postscript on sectarianism and the Greek referendum
Statement for Jan. 2015 Greek election
Experience in scare quotes
The Greek people have shaken the world
A letter from Greece
Workers Self Management at Occupied Studios
Defend VIOME workers
Plan C: The Socialist Alternative for Greece
Σχέδιο Γ: Η σοσιαλιστική εναλλακτική λύση για την Ελλάδα
Caravan of Struggle and Solidarity
50 Years of Austerity
ΕΛΛΑΔΑ: 50 ΧΡΟΝΙΑ ΛΙΤΟΤΗΤΑ
Third Euro-Mediterranean Conference
Before the snap Greek election
A Pyrrhic victory for Syriza
Imperialism and War: Russia, China, the Ukraine
Whither Ukraine
Comment on whither Ukraine
Problems of Ukraine
Trotsky on lessons of Ukraine
Trotsky on independence of Ukraine
An empty resolution on war
The nature of Russia and China
Russia as an imperialist power
Lecture: Dialectics of Revolutionary Strategy and Tactics
Alex Steiner gave a talk at the Locomotiva Cooperative Cafe in Athens, Greece on July 9, 2015, shortly after the historic vote for NO - OXI -in the Referendum of July 5. The event was a huge success attracting a packed audience of about 50 people. The talk was sponsored by the Workers Revolutionary Party of Greece (EEK) and was chaired by Savas Michael-Matsas. A Greek translation of this talk is now available. The translation was first published in the theoretical journal of the EEK, Revolutionary Marxist Review, in the issue of November 2015-February 2016. The translation was the work of Eve Manopoulou.
Link to English version: --->Dialectics of Revolutionary Strategy and Tactics
Link to Greek translation: ----> Η Διαλεκτική της Επαναστατικής Στρατηγικής και Τακτικής
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[Turkish] New York Belediye Başkanı Wall Street'i ...
New York Mayor evicts Occupy Wall Street protester...
Marxism Without its Head or its Heart
Downward Spiral
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Bernie Sanders' awkward Vatican junket
Peter Weber
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Over the weekend, Sen. Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton both decamped from New York, just days before the Tuesday New York Democratic primary they both view as must-win. Sanders went to the Vatican on Friday to speak about "moral" economics at a conference hosted by the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences, and Clinton attended a big-money fundraiser at George Clooney's house on Saturday. If you stop reading here, that alone seems to reinforce everything Sanders has been saying about Clinton and her dependence on the almighty dollar.
That is certainly the impression the Sanders side of the Democratic nomination brawl wanted to focus on. But like many things in this presidential campaign, if you did a little deeper, things start getting a little weird.
On Saturday, outside the Studio City home of a wealthy Sanders backer, a group of Sanders supporters threw 1,000 $1 bills at Clinton's motorcade as she approached Clooney's house for the Clinton-Democratic Party fundraiser. ("The overwhelming amount of the money that we're raising is not going to Hillary to run for president," Clooney told NBC's Meet the Press. "It's going to the congressmen and senators to try to take back Congress" — a claim PolitiFact rated "mostly true" — so they can approve a Supreme Court justice who will "overturn Citizens United and get this obscene, ridiculous amount of money out so I never have to do a fundraiser again.")
Of course, big Hollywood fundraisers are pretty mundane as far as presidential politics go. A quick jaunt to the seat of the Roman Catholic Church isn't. And Sanders' trip to the Vatican was controversial from the moment he announced it.
First, Sanders' political allies expressed confusion about his decision to leave New York for 36 hours when he is trailing Clinton in the polls, all to give a 15-minute speech to a group of people who can't vote for him. "Some things are more important than politics," Sanders campaign manager Jeff Weaver shrugged. "When you get invited by the Vatican, I think you go."
Then the president of the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences, Margaret Archer, accused Sanders of inviting himself to the conference for political gain. "Sanders made the first move, for the obvious reasons," she told Bloomberg. "He may be going for the Catholic vote but this is not the Catholic vote and he should remember that and act accordingly — not that he will." (Archer, who is English, says she "quite liked" Sanders' views on helping the poor, but that failing to go through her office was "a monumental discourtesy.")
The chancellor of the academy, Bishop Marcelo Sanchez Sorondo, then said he had invited Sanders, and papal spokesman Fr. Federico Lombardi clarified that Sanders had been invited "not by the pope but by the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences." Right before the trip, Lombardi said, "There won't be a meeting with the Holy Father," seemingly dashing Sanders' hopes of meeting the pope.
The brouhaha over who invited Sanders can be chalked up to murky Vatican intrigue and bureaucratic scuffling. But it's pretty clear that the Vatican did not want Sanders to drag the pope (further) into the 2016 U.S. presidential race. Sanders did not seem to take the hint.
On Saturday morning, Sanders did meet the pope, as Francis was on his way out to visit Syrian refugees in Greece. Sanders quickly told The Associated Press that he and his wife "had an opportunity to meet with him this morning," adding, "It was a real honor for me, for my wife and I to spend some time with him. I think he is one of the extraordinary figures not only in the world today but in modern world history." Here's more on how Sanders described the meeting:
Compare that to how the pope described their meeting to reporters on the flight to Greece:
"This morning when I was leaving, Sen. Sanders was there, he had come to the convention," the pope said. "He knew I was leaving at that time and he had the courtesy to greet me. I greeted him, his wife, and another couple who were there and were sleeping in Santa Martha," the hostel where Francis also lives. "When I came down, I greeted him, I shook his hand, and nothing more. This is called good manners and it is not getting involved in politics.... If anyone thinks that greeting someone is getting involved in politics, I recommend that he look for a psychiatrist."
That's awkward.
There is no photograph of the meeting. This pope is generally not camera-shy. Sanders was obviously very excited to have met with a man he greatly admires. But his trumpeting of the meeting does not speak well of his diplomatic skills. Indeed, the entire trip was downright bizarre.
Set aside the weirdness of Sanders using his campaign funds to charter a 200-seat Boeing 767-300 to fly 8,500 miles to Rome with his family and a small Secret Service detail so he could briefly talk about income inequality and climate change before the Vatican equivalent of a think tank, for a celebration of an encyclical by Pope John Paul II that is critical of socialism and includes favorable nods to market capitalism. Instead, let's look at why Sanders made the trip in the first place. He and his aides are adamant that the journey wasn't motivated by politics or courting Catholic Democrats in the heavily Catholic, delegate-rich northeastern states where Sanders is struggling. Let's take him at his word — Pope Francis is very popular among liberal Catholics, but more as a moral figure than a celebrity, and certainly not as a campaign prop.
But if Sanders isn't trying to touch the political hem of the pope's garment, what then?
Chad C. Pecknold, a theology professor at Catholic University, speculated that Sanders is preparing for whatever role he will play if he doesn't get the nomination. "Let's say that he is realistic and that his path to the nomination is extremely slim," Pecknold told The Washington Post. "Then he must say, 'Well, what is my role after this campaign?' It seems clear that he is in a position now to highlight his new profile."
Others note that foreign trips during campaigns are generally supposed to raise a candidate's international profile and make him appear more statesmanlike. Barack Obama visited Israel during his 2008 campaign, and Mitt Romney went to both Israel and Britain in 2012 — though, of course, those two nations are major U.S. strategic and economic allies, while Vatican City is neither.
But the explanation Sanders gives is that the trip was a "once in a lifetime" opportunity. "I am deeply impressed by the commitment of the pope to speak out about economic and social and environmental injustice and I would be kicking myself if I refused this opportunity," he told AP. "I would be kicking myself forever if I did not seize the opportunity," he repeated to The Washington Post. That suggests his motivation was "more fan boy than presidential," Sarah Posner says at Rolling Stone.
Sanders is the underdog, and underdogs have to take risks. But presidential campaigns are job auditions. Taking time off before a big deadline to meet a personal hero on company money is nice work if you can get it, as the Gershwins said. But it does leave some questions about how committed you really are to the job.
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7 lingering questions about Jeffrey Epstein's death
What Trump learned from Hollywood about playing president
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Twitter Inspires New Online Niche Communities
In the past two years Twitter has grown from an online community of big techies to a community that is inclusive of many niche audiences including moms and political junkies. Twitter has also empowered people across the world to use their API as well as launch similar micro blogging sites such as Frazr, the French and German version of Twitter, and Jisko in Spain.
By Allyson Kapin 1 minute Read
Just this past month two new community niche sites Gospelr.com and Twittermoms.com launched and rely heavily on Twitter's technology. Gospelr, a microblogging community for Christians was started by John Saddington in hopes of challenging people to take their faith and broadcast it to the world wide web. The site is growing at approximately 100 users a day and people are using the site to meet other Christians.
"Some of the users have expressed that they've been encouraged by the service, and have been able to meet others they would not have ever had the chance to meet," said Saddington. "Some are using it as a digital prayer wall. Others are using it to communicate news and updates about their offline ministries and organizations."
Gospelr was built using Twitter's API, as well as Open Source technology, MySQL, and PHP.
Twittermoms.com, built on Ning, was launched in early September to simply connect with other mom's. "As a stay at home mom, you sometimes don't get enough grown-up interaction during the day," says Founder Megan Calhoun. "Twitter was great for connecting with people, and I noticed a lot of moms on it – but no easy way to learn more about them."
In just three weeks, the site has grown from 4 members to over 1500 moms and over 20,000 unique visitors mostly through word of mouth and a small amount of online advertising. 78% of users on twittermoms.com manage their own blog, and nearly all are connected to followers on Twitter.
Currently, Calhoun is working on creating a Twittermoms Holiday Catalog for women to feature their blogs, wares, products, and services in an electronic catalog (with descriptions of 140 characters or less – like a tweet). The catalog will go live November 1, and will be distributed on the site.
How does Calhoun feel about Twittermom's success? "When moms unite, it's powerful."
Allyson has been named one of "Top Tech Titans" by the Washingtonian, one of the Most Influential Women In Tech by Fast Company and one of the top 30 women entrepreneurs to follow on Twitter by Forbes for her leadership role in technology and social media. As Founding Partner of Rad Campaign she leads the firm's client and online strategic services. For over a decade Allyson has helped non-profit organizations and political campaigns create dynamic and award-winning websites and online marketing and recruitment campaigns


Bowers & Wilkins updated its Pi7 and Pi5 earbuds with better battery life
The company also improved Bluetooth range and added new colors.
Billy Steele
·Senior News Editor
Pi7 S2 (Bowers & Wilkins)
Bowers & Wilkins debuted its first true wireless earbuds in the spring of 2021. In fact, it announced two models at that time: the Pi7 and Pi5. Today, the company revealed updated versions for both which will carry the S2 label Bowers & Wilkins typically uses for retooled but not entirely brand new products. While the Pi7 S2 and Pi5 S2 aren't rebuilt from the ground up, there are still some notable upgrades to both.
The Pi7 S2 and Pi5 S2 now both offer five hours of battery life on a charge. That's up from four hours on the Pi7 and Pi5. A 15-minute quick-charge feature still gives you two hours of use and the included cases carry an additional 16 hours for the Pi7 S2 and 19 hours for the Pi5 S2. Both still have wireless charging capabilities, though the case for the Pi7 S2 is equipped with Wireless Audio Retransmission. Like it did for the Pi7, the case can connect to can external audio source — like in-flight entertainment — and wirelessly send sound to the earbuds. This isn't novel to Bowers & Wilkins earbuds, but it is a handy feature nonetheless. Bowers & Wilkins says it also updated the antenna design on the Pi7 and Pi5 to increase Bluetooth range up to 25 meters.
The key difference between the two models is audio quality. The Pi7 S2 supports aptX Adaptive with 24-bit/48kHz streaming from compatible devices and services. 9.2mm balanced armature dynamic drivers are paired with Bowers & Wilkins' digital signal processing tech for higher quality audio that what the Pi5 offers with CD-quality sound and regular aptX. The Pi7 S2 also packs one additional microphone per earbud which should make it the preferred option for calls. And while both feature active noise cancellation (ANC), the Pi7 S2 has an adaptive setup that automatically monitors your surroundings to adjust the audio as needed for "the best possible, uninterrupted listening experience."
Both the Pi7 S2 and Pi5 S2 are available starting today, replacing the Pi7 and Pi5. The $399 Pi7 S2 comes in black, white and dark blue color options while the $299 Pi5 S2 offers light grey, dark grey and purple. A green version of the Pi5 S2 is slated to arrive later this spring.
Pi5 S2
Aussie reporter breaks down in tears on live TV: 'You don't care'
The reporter is hopeful the attention his area is getting will lead to meaningful, longterm change. Find out more here.
NSW parties vow domestic violence support
NSW domestic violence victims will have easier access to housing through concessions on stamp duty and rental bond loans if the Perrottet government is re-elected.At the same time, Labor has pledged to build a domestic violence support centre in Sydney's southwest for migrant and refugee women.
Leadership challenge on for WA Liberals
The decision by Western Australia's opposition leader to stand down has prompted one of the state's two Liberal MPs in the lower house to challenge for the party leadership.WA opposition leader Mia Davies announced her resignation on Friday, saying she didn't have enough "fuel left in the tank" to go on.


The quantum ohm comes from PTB
(Nanowerk News) With its new molecular beam epitaxy facility, PTB continues to be the only metrology institute to produce primary quantum Hall effect resistance standards.
For a long time, the electrical units are feeling at home in the quantum world. In the endeavour to trace the entire International System of Units (SI) back to natural constants, they have long been in the lead – because, among other things, the resistance can be realized with the aid of the quantum Hall effect. The Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt (PTB) is the only metrology institute worldwide that can produce the respective primary standards. So that this would still be the case after the purchase of a more modern molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) facility, the scientists had to come up with some tricks.
The new facility is to primarily serve for single-electron tunnelling research – and thus, for instance, for the question of whether also the unit of current ampere can be traced back to natural constants. At first it seemed less suited to the quantum ohm. But by means of the specific alteration of the growth parameters and the layer structure of the crystals, PTB scientists succeeded in the feat of making the facility equally fit for both tasks. Thus, PTB was able to safeguard its competence to also in future be able to produce its own quantum resistance standards.
The new molecular beam epitaxy facility in vertical design. Especially noticeable is the large flange-mounted cryogenic pump on the right which is responsible for the extremely good vacuum. The huge dimension of this pump can be seen in comparison to a "normal" cryogenic pump which is flange-mounted on the left and serves here only as a replacement pump.
Since 1990, the unit of resistance "ohm" has been traced back to a natural constant, i.e. the von Klitzing constant RK. Five years before, its discoverer of the same name had been awarded the Nobel Prize, because he had found out that a phenomenon already observed before (i.e. steps of constant voltage which are generated at low temperatures and strong magnetic fields vertical to a current) does not depend on a material property or the magnetic field strength, but only on the natural constants "Planck's constant" h and "elementary charge" e. The ratio h/e2 was given the name "von Klitzing constant" and became the universal reference quantity for resistance measurements which can be exactly reproduced anywhere in the world - provided that the suitable technique and sufficient know-how are available.
The required precision measurements are rather sophisticated, as they must be performed at low temperatures of 1.4 K (also – 272 °C) and very high magnetic fields of 10 T. At PTB, the value of the von Klitzing constant can be measured up to a relative measurement uncertainty of ± 2 · 10–9, i.e. exact to nine decimals, and serves in practice for the calibration of test resistances. Starting point for these calibrations are quantum Hall primary standards which have so far been prepared at PTB in an older conventional molecular beam epitaxy(MBE) facility.
Decisive for the properties which a quantum Hall standard will have later is a so-called two-dimensional electron gas (2DEG), an ultra-thin (only approx. 10 nm in width) conducting layer in a semi-conductor layer structure of GaAs and AlGaAs. The density of the electrons must have a specific value and their mobility must not be too high. These parameters are already determined during the GaAs crystal growth - and this has for years already been successfully performed in the facility used so far.
When PTB bought a new MBE facility especially for highly mobile electron systems for additional research tasks - among other things for single electron tunneling - the question arose whether a fundamental problem could be overcome. With the facility, electron mobilities of more than 10 million cm²/Vs can be achieved and there are almost no residual impurities any more which impede the flow of the electrons. Up to now, it has not been possible to simultaneously generate low-mobility samples in such a facility.
For the investigation, quantum Hall resistances were generated in the new MBE facility at modified growth conditions: at lower temperatures and with a much smaller distance between the electron gas and the doped layer. This leads to a lower mobility without additional impurities. The values of these quantum Hall resistances were compared with the best quantum Hall standard of PTB from the conventional MBE facility. The result of the precision measurements is rather impressive, because the resistance values of the two samples agree within the excellent measurement uncertainty of ± 2 · 10–9.
The new MBE facility is, thus, regarded as validated and the supply of PTB with quantum Hall standards has been put on a wider basis. The results will be presented at the forthcoming international conference for electro-magnetic precision measurements (CPEM) which will take place from June 13 to 18, 2010, in Daejeon/ Korea.
Source: PTB


Don't knock tsunami response | The Honolulu Advertiser | Hawaii's Newspaper
Don't knock tsunami response
By David Shapiro
It's incredible that there are even smatterings of criticism in the community about the emergency response to last month's mini-tsunami.
Now that the costs have come in for scrambling Civil Defense teams on a weekend � more than $760,000 in the four counties alone � there's grousing that the mobilization unnecessarily inconvenienced coastal residents who had to evacuate and was unduly expensive for the state and counties as they struggle to balance their budgets.
It was initially estimated that the tsunami generated from an earthquake in Chile could bring waves as high as 8 feet to Hawai'i, but it ended up doing little more than roiling the water in Hilo and Kahului harbors.
The thing is, that roiling was pretty powerful for those who saw video of it, and it wasn't difficult to imagine the damage it could have done if waves had come in at the size predicted or bigger.
Tsunami tracking is as much an art as a science, with all kinds of wild cards depending on the direction the wave comes from and the angle it hits land.
This was a real event and the response was appropriate; we're never going to be certain about the size of a tsunami in advance and it's always better to be safe than sorry.
Civil Defense is a core public safety function where we can't cut corners. Instead of grumbling about unavoidable costs, we should be grateful that state and county agencies, as well as the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center, performed so efficiently in keeping residents informed and getting us out of harm's way.
We only have to remember the 61 dead in the 1960 Hilo tsunami to remind ourselves of the real cost of being caught unprepared.
Tsunami forecasters get it from both sides. In the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami that killed nearly 230,000 people, they were harshly criticized for not sounding enough of an alarm.
Scientists refine their accuracy with data they gather from each event like this one and have advanced light years from my teen years in Hilo, when we had to evacuate virtually every time there was a big earthquake anywhere in the Pacific basin. But they'll never get to 100 percent accuracy because of the many variables in a very big ocean.
This was a time when government worked. Some citizens could reduce their own inconvenience by not taking every Civil Defense siren as a signal to rush out and buy enough Charmin to freshen half the bears in Yellowstone.


News World Trump says he never asked ambassador to bring British Open to his...
Trump says he never asked ambassador to bring British Open to his golf course
FILE PHOTO: U.S. President Donald Trump holds a meeting on "opportunity zones" in the Cabinet Room of the White House in Washington, U.S., May 18, 2020. REUTERS/Leah Millis/File Photo
U.S. President Donald Trump on Wednesday denied reports in U.S. media that he had asked the U.S. Ambassador in Britain Woody Johnson to try to bring the British Open to his Golf resort in Turnberry, Scotland.
"I read a story about it today, and I … never spoke to Woody Johnson about doing that, no," Trump told reporters at the White House.
(More to follow)
By Annie Charalambous
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By Paul Negri
On vacation, Joe took Ellen and their little son Jackie on a private excursion to swim with the manatees. It was expensive, but Joe had had a good year selling industrial plastic wrap to companies in South America. The tour guide said that, at four years old, Jackie was at the perfect age to bond with nature, and there was nothing like a hands-on adventure with one of God's most lovable creatures to do that.
They went out on a boat, just the three of them and the guide, and waited in a shallow, sheltered bay, a secret place, the guide said, that was known only to him and the manatees. Out on the deck, they sat and waited for the manatees to arrive. Jackie said he wanted to go home, and Joe promised to buy him a toy if he would be a good boy and wait patiently, and not bother his mother. The guide showed Jackie how to tie sailor's knots, including one that looked just like a cross and that he could wear around his neck. But Jackie did not want to put a rope around his neck. After a while, just as Jackie was falling asleep, the manatees appeared. The guide put Joe and Ellen and Jackie in life vests and gave them face masks—the small one for Jackie was yellow and shaped like a shark's open mouth—and helped them off the rear platform of the boat and into the clear, still water.
Although the guide told them the manatees were perfectly safe—gentle giants, he called them—Jackie was afraid of them. Ellen too seemed uneasy. She said they looked like giant embryos from another planet. Joe tried to see them as cute and friendly, but found their gray, lumpy bodies hardly bodies at all, repulsive.
The guide told them they could touch the manatees only if the manatees approached them, and then they could touch them with only one hand. It was a rule for the manatees' safety. Jackie clung to Ellen and averted his eyes. One of the manatees kept circling around and looking with his tiny pinpoint eyes into Jackie's face. Joe took Jackie's hand and held it out until the manatee came close and touched it with his nose. Joe was almost glad when Jackie became hysterical and they had to cut the activity short.
Still, he told Jackie there was nothing to fear and, back in the gift shop of the marina, bought him a toy as promised—a big manatee plush toy half as big as Jackie himself—to sleep with.
Back home, the toy gave Jackie nightmares. Ellen said they had to get rid of it. Joe told Ellen that was ridiculous. First of all, he maintained, there was nothing to fear. And secondly, if Jackie was afraid, he needed to get over it. He was a boy, after all. And, Joe added, as far as he was concerned, Ellen, who was plainly afraid of the manatees herself, had set a very bad example for their son. Ellen glared at Joe. She took the toy, wrapped it in a plastic trash bag, and took it outside to the trash bin.
That night, Joe lay restless in bed, and sometime before dawn, resentment still simmering in him, he got quietly out of bed and, his feet bare, went outside to the trash bin. He retrieved the toy, went to Jackie's room, and gently placed it next to the sleeping child. Jackie would be surprised to see it, Joe thought. It would be like magic and Jackie would love it.
The next morning, Ellen woke first. She poked Joe until he too was awake. She told him it was now she who was having nightmares. Joe told her to stop being a child, turned over, yawned, and tried to go back to sleep, but Ellen insisted he get up. Then he remembered how he had returned the plush toy to Jackie's bed. He did indeed want to go and check the bedroom, anticipating the look on Ellen's face. They tiptoed to the bedroom and slowly opened the door.
Ellen screamed and covered her eyes. Joe fell back against the wall. The manatee was fat and bloated. Jackie was gone.
wolf says
I believe manatees are only vegetarians, but the idea of that plush toy keeping fear alive is a great premise, like evil and the devil, but in this story the fear is a cute manatee rather than Jaws. I hope the boy is just under the bed pranking his parents, right Paul? cool story
Paul Negri says
Thanks, Wolf. I'm afraid Jackie is now truly bonded with the manatee, in a rather alimentary sense. Glad you liked this little piece.
Cathy Cade says
Take a pair of scissors to it. Good premise – some of those big toys are scary. (And dads always know best, dont they?)
Sometimes dads are dummies–rather like stuffed toys. Glad you liked this.
Paul Smith says
Nice twist at the end. I didn't see it coming.
Thanks, Paul. I've been writing some horror stuff lately and the endings are always the hardest part to do well. Glad this worked for you.
Really good premise and you had great tension. I had a clear picture of Ellen and Joe.
Hard to do in 1000 words.
Nice job Paul
Thanks, Kirk. I do find the 1K word limit a challenge. I've written stories as long as 12K words, my average is about 6K. The flash stories force me to get down to essentials.
It's a real challenge to get the essence down in 1,000 words. Great job Paul and thanks for a fun read.
Thanks, Art. Part of the fun is the challenge.
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