How To Invite People To A Facebook Group?
Leave a Comment / Grow and Engage, Facebook Group Growth / By Simran Grover
How to invite all friends to a Facebook group?
How do you invite non friends to a Facebook group?
How to invite someone to a Facebook group by email?
How to create a Facebook group invite link?
Whether you have a public Facebook group or a private one, both you and your group members can invite a limited number of people each day to join your group, helping it grow.
Through this article, you can understand the stepwise process of:
How to invite people to a Facebook group? OR How do you invite non friends to a Facebook group?
So, let's dive right into the details.
1. To invite friends to your Facebook group via desktop, open your Facebook group from the left hand side menu in your newsfeed.
From mobile, open the Facebook app and head over the groups section. Under 'groups you manage', open the group you'd like to invite members to.
2. Below your Facebook group cover photo, click on the +Invite button that you see.
3. A dialog box with a list of names of people will appear. You can either search for people by typing their name or scrolling through that entire list. You can even choose from the filters given above like city you reside in, groups in common, workplace, to name a few.
4. After you're done, click on 'send invites' and the invite will be sent to those members.
As per Facebook's latest update, when you invite people to join a Facebook group, they get a notification for it.
In addition, they can also see a preview of your group content in their news feed like this.
This gives them a better understanding of whether or not your group is relevant to them, helping them decide if they would want to join it.
FYI: The group invite for public Facebook groups automatically expires in 30 days. So, you can choose to accept or decline the invite request within that time frame.
However, that's not the case if your Facebook group is private and hidden.
To invite others to private and hidden groups, you can create and share a link with them (More on this below) only after seeking permission from the admins.
Please note that if someone is previewing your Facebook group, they won't be added to the total member count. Only when they accept your request to join the group will they be a member and hence, your total member count will update.
To invite non-members to your Facebook group, you need to generate a Facebook group link and share it with them on Facebook or across other social media channels.
(Steps on how to create a Facebook group invite link shared below)
To invite others to your Facebook group via email, you need to draft an email that tells people what your Facebook group is about, how it is relevant for them, what value it will provide to them, and share your Facebook group's link at the end.
To create your public and private Facebook group invite link, please refer to the next section.
1. From the laptop, open your Facebook group from the left hand side menu in your newsfeed.
2. Below your Facebook group cover photo, click on the three dots given.
3. Select 'Share' and click on 'Copy Link'.
Now you can easily share your group link with others on and off Facebook.
In case you have a private Facebook group, people will be able to see the group's basic info and will have to request to join the group. Only after you or the moderators approve their request will they be able to access the group's content.
On the other hand, if you have a public Facebook group, people can join anytime they like. As per the new public groups' experience, they will be able to access the group's content even without being a part of the group.
However, in order to participate, they will first have to request permission in case participant approval is turned on.
If you'd like to learn everything about the new public group's experience on Facebook, check out this article that covers all the details.👇🏻
Facebook's new public groups experience – Know about all the latest updates and tools
That's all the information for how to invite people to a Facebook group.🙌🏻
If you'd like to share any further insights, please do so in the comments below. Or if wish to learn about the other ways to grow your Facebook group, refer to this BLOG.
You can also reach out to us in our Facebook group where thousands of power admins are discussing this and so much more about community building.🚀


Detroit Grand Prix
Quick links... Lions Tigers Red Wings Pistons College Sports High School Sports Golf Detroit Grand Prix
Pistons bench light up Heat, 119-96
Michael Reaves/Getty Images
MIAMI, FLORIDA - FEBRUARY 23: Andre Drummond #0 of the Detroit Pistons dunks Langston Galloway #9 with a water bottle after the game against the Miami Heat at American Airlines Arena on February 23, 2019 in Miami, Florida. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Michael Reaves/Getty Images)
Posted at 11:11 PM, Feb 23, 2019
MIAMI (AP) — If there's been an area of concern for Detroit coach Dwane Casey in this playoff push, it's been the play of the Pistons' second unit.
The concern was unfounded Saturday.
Ish Smith scored 22 points off the bench, fellow backup Langston Galloway added 15 points in the first five minutes of the fourth quarter to almost single-handedly turn a close game into a rout and the Pistons moved into seventh place in the Eastern Conference by downing the Miami Heat 119-96.
Detroit's bench outscored Miami's 66-35.
"Guys responded," Casey said. "Now it's the consistency part. We are on a journey. We can't relax."
Blake Griffin had 20 points while Galloway and Luke Kennard each scored 17 for the Pistons (28-30), who are 1 1/2 games behind Brooklyn for the No. 6 spot. Reggie Jackson added 13 points and Andre Drummond had 12 points and 14 rebounds for Detroit, which started the fourth quarter on a 25-8 run.
Galloway was the catalyst of all that, hitting four 3-pointers in the opening minutes. He had scored a total of 28 points in February before his dazzling fourth-quarter spurt put the game away for the Pistons.
"That's what they're supposed to do," Casey said of Detroit's bench. "They did the job and that's all you ask."
Josh Richardson scored 22 for Miami, which is 0-5 at home and 5-12 overall since Jan. 12. Dion Waiters scored 17, Dwyane Wade added 15 and Hassan Whiteside had 13 points and 15 rebounds for the Heat (26-32), who fell to 10th in the East.
"It's tough to explain," Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. "It is one game and we're just going to keep plugging away, as painful as it is."
Miami got point guard Goran Dragic on the floor for the first time since Dec. 10, after a two-month rehab to recover from right knee surgery.
The rest of the Heat injury news was bad.
Miami was without Justise Winslow -- who has been the starting point guard in Dragic's absence -- because of a sore left knee, and James Johnson also missed the game while dealing with a sprained left shoulder. If that wasn't enough, the Heat then lost starting forward Rodney McGruder in the first half with a bruised right knee and said his status would be evaluated further on Sunday.
Dragic came off the bench and finished with four points in 16 minutes. Duncan Robinson, who didn't play in the first half, started in McGruder's spot to open the third quarter.
The Heat were up 29-18 late in the first quarter, after making 13 of their first 23 shots. The rest of the night was all Detroit.
The Pistons outscored Miami 46-20 over the next 15 minutes, and never lost the lead again. Miami got within five in the third, but found itself down by as many as 26 in the fourth.
"They got momentum, they got confidence and they started making shots," Dragic said.
Pistons: Detroit, which went 6-10 in January, is 6-2 so far in February. ... The Pistons are exactly 28-30 after 58 games for the third consecutive year. They were 29-29 at this point in 2015-16. ... University of Miami coach Jim Larranaga and assistant Chris Caputo were at the game to watch Pistons rookie Bruce Brown, who played for the Hurricanes. Brown had two points.
Heat: It was Miami's first home game in three weeks. Saturday started a run where the Heat play 10 times at home in a 12-game stretch. ... Miami was 7 for 28 from 3-point range, and was outrebounded 41-33.
ELLINGTON RETURNS
Former Heat guard Wayne Ellington, traded earlier this month to Phoenix and then waived to sign with Detroit, returned to Miami as an opponent for the first time since the moves. Ellington spent a good part of his pregame warmup greeting former teammates, coaches and Heat officials. He had six points.
SECOND SWING
Detroit outscored Miami 34-17 in the second quarter -- the biggest margin for the Pistons in a second quarter all season. It was the fifth time that Miami has been outscored by at least 15 points in that period this season.
Pistons: Host Indiana on Monday. Detroit lost to the Pacers 125-88 on Dec. 28.
Heat: Host Phoenix on Monday. The Heat are 16-1 since 2009 against the Suns.


Former Trump chief of staff Meadows agrees to cooperate with Jan. 6 panel
© Reuters. FILE PHOTO: White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows speaks to reporters following a television interview, outside the White House in Washington, U.S. October 21, 2020. REUTERS/Al Drago
By Patricia Zengerle
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The House of Representatives committee investigating the deadly U.S. Capitol riot said on Tuesday that Mark Meadows, who served as former President Donald Trump's chief of staff, has provided it with records and agreed to appear "soon" for a deposition.
"Mr. Meadows has been engaging with the Select Committee through his attorney. He has produced records to the committee and will soon appear for an initial deposition," Democratic Representative Bennie Thompson, chairman of the House select committee, said in a statement.
Noting that the panel expects all witnesses to provide all the information requested and that it is lawfully entitled to received, Thompson added: "The committee will continue to assess his degree of compliance with our subpoena after the deposition."
Trump has urged associates not to cooperate with the committee, calling the Democratic-led investigation politically motivated and arguing that his communications are protected by executive privilege, although many legal experts say that principle does not apply to former presidents.
On Jan. 6, Trump supporters stormed the Capitol in a bid to prevent Congress from formally certifying his 2020 presidential election loss to Democrat Joe Biden. Shortly before the riot, Trump gave a speech to his supporters repeating his false claims that the election was stolen from him through widespread voting fraud and urging them to go to the Capitol and "fight like hell" to "stop the steal."
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© Reuters. A woman from Dancing Eagles dance troupe from the Osage and Creek tribes performs a dance at an Indian relay race over Memorial Day weekend in Pawhuska, Oklahoma, U.S., May 29, 2021. REUTERS/Stephanie Keith
By Valerie Volcovici
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced on Wednesday it plans to withdraw and reconsider a Trump administration decision to grant Oklahoma authority over environmental issues on tribal land after consulting with the state's 38 tribal nations.
The agency would reverse a decision made in October 2020 by then-EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler, who approved a request from Republican Oklahoma Governor Kevin Stitt to allow the state rather than tribal nations to regulate environmental issues on land inside historical tribal reservation boundaries.
Stitt's had requested the authority in July 2020 after the Supreme Court ruled 5-4 in the landmark McGirt v. Oklahoma case that a large part of eastern part of the state would be considered Muscogee (Creek) Nation reservation land. The McGirt v. Oklahoma case focused on a question of criminal jurisdiction.
"Our sovereign Tribal partners continue to have significant concerns with EPA's previous decision and the consultation process used in reaching that decision," said Assistant Administrator for International and Tribal Affairs Jane Nishida. "Today's action reflects careful consideration of their concerns and our commitment to ensuring robust consultation on all policy deliberations affecting Tribal nations."
The Biden administration began informal talks with Oklahoma tribes over whether they should have a bigger say over a range of environmental regulations in the eastern half of the oil-rich state in April. It began formal government-to-government tribal consultations in June.
Tribes had complained that they had not been consulted with before the Trump administration made its decision.
Oklahoma Republican government sources told Reuters in April that it was concerned the state risks losing control of a big tax base and about regulation of natural resource extraction and industry if jurisdiction remains with tribes.
Most of Oklahoma's oil and gas production is in the western part of the state, but some fields are in the eastern part of the state.
The EPA will take comment on its withdrawal proposal until Jan. 31, 2022.
© Reuters. FILE PHOTO: Chinese and U.S. flags flutter outside a company building in Shanghai, China November 16, 2021. REUTERS/Aly Song
BEIJING (Reuters) -China has barred entry to four people from a U.S. commission on religious freedom, the foreign ministry said on Tuesday, following U.S. sanctions this month against Chinese people and entities over accusations of human rights abuses in Xinjiang.
The four people, from the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF), would be banned from mainland China, Hong Kong and Macau, ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said.
Their assets in China would also be frozen and Chinese institutions and citizens would be forbidden from dealing with them, Zhao said at a regular briefing in Beijing.
"We are not surprised to see the Chinese government impose additional baseless sanctions in response to growing concern over its egregious human rights and religious freedom violations," said USCIRF chair Nadine Maenza, one of the people China barred entry to, according to an online statement.
The United States had said that its Dec. 10 sanctions were in response to human rights abuses in China's Xinjiang region, where Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities are alleged to have been unlawfully detained, mistreated and forced to work. China denies abuses in Xinjiang and says its policies there help combat extremism.
The USCIRF is a federal government entity which evaluates and suggests policies for countries where religious freedom is deemed to be endangered.
Apart from USCIRF's chair, the sanctions would also affect the vice chair and two commissioners at USCIRF, Zhao said.
© Reuters. Press Secretary Jen Psaki holds a media briefing at the White House in Washington, U.S., December 14, 2021. REUTERS/Evelyn Hockstein/File Photo
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. President Joe Biden and Democratic Senator Joe Manchin remain on friendly terms despite Manchin's decision to oppose Biden's $1.75 trillion Build Back Better plan, White House press secretary Jen Psaki told reporters on Monday.
Psaki said action on Biden's legislative agenda is urgently needed. She said she would not "relitigate" Manchin's announcement of opposition on Sunday and her subsequent statement that was sharply critical of him.
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October 7, 2016 manoj
The speed of light being a constant sounds like a simple statement. But there is more to it, quite a bit more. Let's look at what this constancy really means. At first glance, it says that if you are standing somewhere, and there is a ray of light going from your right to left, it has a speed c. And another ray of light going from left to right also has a speed c. So far, so good. Now let's say you are in a rocket ship, as shown in the figure below, moving from right to left.
The yellow arrow is the rocket ship moving at a constant speed of v, and you are the scientist standing in there measuring the speed of the light beam as it passes you. Even that simple statement is not without its complications. When I say your ship is moving, I have to say with respect to what. Let's say the motion is with respect to the younger gentleman standing outside.
Let's also say you are trying to measure the speed of the light coming from the source S1, which is outside your spaceship. You would naively expect to measure c-v, because you are moving away from it to your left. But no, you will get c. The same holds true if you measure the speed of the light coming from source S2, which is inside the spaceship, moving with you.
If you think these results are peculiar, you haven't seen anything yet. Let's say the younger fellow measures the speed of the same light beams. He would also get c! In order for this to happen, the space in the rocket is contracted (shrunk), and the time dilated.
The special theory of relativity is highly counter-intuitive (which is physics speech for nonsensical) because it is not as though the rocket is really moving. Remember, only relative motion has physical significance, which is the principle of relativity. For you, the scientist in the rocket, you are stationary, and it is the younger fellow outside who is moving in the opposite direction at a constant speed of v. So it is his space and time that are contracted and dilated. This is all very strange, but true. This is exactly the basis of the thought experiment they call the twin paradox.
Twin Pradox
In twin paradox, one of two twin brothers goes on an inter-galactic mission at a very high (close to c) speed, and returns. His time runs slow because of his state of motion, and when he reunites with his brother, the travelling twin will be much younger than other one.
But then, you could look at it from the travelling twin's perspective. For him, it is the other twin, along with planet Earth, that is flying away at a high speed and coming back to join him. It is his time that is dilated, and he is the one who should be younger.
So who is going to be the younger one? This is the paradox.
The twin paradox is resolved once we realize that the travelling twin cannot make the journey without acceleration, and Special Relativity cannot be applied to accelerating (or the so-called non-inertial) frames. Since the travelling twin felt the motion because of acceleration and deceleration, he is the one who will be younger than the one that stayed back. The twin paradox is resolved using General Relativity, which can handle acceleration.
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Sound Recording611
Indiana University. Department of Radio and Television.313
See Other Contributors147
Wells, Herman B110
Indiana University, Bloomington. Audio-Visual Center33
Indiana University. Audio-Visual Center29
Short films.150
Nonfiction films.139
Educational films.58
Propaganda films.53
Sponsored films.41
IUL Moving Image Archive384
Indiana School of the Sky313
Herman B Wells Papers121
The Afro-American in Indiana (radio series)117
Cook Music Library, Jacobs School of Music Performances38
University Archives439
Archives of African American Music and Culture163
Institute for Digital Arts and Humanities54
Indiana University Libraries40
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English[remove]1,205
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« Previous | 201 - 250 of 1,205 | Next »
201. Black Churches Pt. I (32:36)
202. Black Churches Pt. II (32:31)
203. Black Codes in Indiana (32:10)
204. Black Drama Discussion (33:24)
205. Black History of Anderson (32:06)
197u-04-26
206. Black Learning Processes (32:32)
207. Black Movement in the 60s (31:16)
208. Black Music - Jerry Harkness (34:07)
Fr. Boniface Hardin and Dwight Smith host this episode on which Jerry Harkness, a former player for the Knicks and Pacers, joins the program as a guest. Hardin, Smith, and Harkness discuss the chal...
209. Black Newspapers (35:37)
210. Black Psychology (31:15)
211. Black Settlements in Indiana (32:17)
212. Black Statistics in Center Township (33:25)
213. Black Theology Practical Ministry (33:24)
214. Black Youth (32:00)
216. Black-Matriarchal Society (33:18)
217. Blacks & Spanish American War (33:12)
218. Blacks in Prison, Part II (31:44)
219. Blacks In War (32:13)
220. Blessings of Grass (20:33)
United States. Department of Agriculture; United States. Department of Agriculture. Forest Service
Introduced as "the story of cattle grazing in the national forest," the film depicts cooperation between the Forest Service and local ranchers to manage the grazing of herds on public land. Origina...
221. Block That Termite (19:43)
United States. Department of Agriculture. Bureau of Entomology and Plant Quarantine
A presentation of the Bureau of Entomology and Plant Quarantine's code for the prevention of termite infestation. Using animated diagrams and detailed photography of actual termite infestations, th...
222. Book: Vignettes on the Private Sector (31:28)
Wells, Herman B
The Herman B Wells papers includes materials pertaining to Wells' family and personal finances, his activities in the banking profession, his work in Germany for the United States government after ...
223. Book: Vignettes on Well's Father and the Acknowledgements (32:42)
224. Books Come Alive (06:46)
225. Booze and yous : a film created to encourage college students to make responsible decisions regar... (14:06)
Indiana University. School of Health, Physical Education, and Recreation
Features a W.C. Fields type cartoon character who gives hints for responsible drinking, clears up common misconceptions and myths about drinking, and points out possible consequences of irresponsi...
226. Borgo Lightning Talk (2018 Spring Symposium) (02:08)
2018-09-20 (Creation date: 2018-04-13)
Mary Borgo Ton; Institute for Digital Arts & Humanities
227. Brazil's Fishing School (14:52)
United States Information Agency; United States. Office of the Coordinator of Inter-American Affairs
Tells the story of Brazilian President Getúlio Vargas's favorite project, the Marambaia Fishing School, located fifty miles south of Rio de Janeiro on the Bay of Ilha Grande. Illustrates how the un...
228. Brazilian Quartz Goes to War (10:04)
The value of Brazilian quartz to the allied war effort is shown as narration proclaims "two-way radio is the one really new instrument in the armory of warfare." Explains the value of quartz in rad...
229. Brian Watson and Michael Morrone on Open Access (15:27)
Brian M. Watson; Michael Morrone
Brian M. Watson and Michael Morrone of Kelly Business School discuss the Journal of the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning and Open Access and its implications.
230. Brian Watson and Willa Tavernier on Open Access (21:50)
Brian M. Watson; Willa Liburd Tavernier
Brian M. Watson and Willa Liburd Tavernier discuss the history, benefits and future of Open Access.
231. Bring the World to the Classroom (19:54)
ERPI Classroom Films, Inc.; Encyclopaedia Britannica Films Inc.
Promotes the catalog of ERPI Classroom Films to educators, presenting excerpts from dozens of films with narration extolling their effectiveness (ERPI Classroom Films was the predecessor to Encylop...
232. Britain's paratroops (08:56)
Considine, Bob, 1906-1975
Bob Considine reports on the training of British parachute troops and their uses in warfare. Includes many remarkable aerial shots of parachutists in rehearsal.
233. Britain's youth (12:27)
Fry, Charles Burgess, 1872-1956
A short documentary on the widespread engagement in physical activity and athletics in England. Includes footage of amateur cricket matches, soccer games, tennis, darts, and other sports. The resur...
234. Building a bomber : a defense report on film (19:10)
United States. Office for Emergency Management
"Step-by-step manufacture and assembly of the B-26 medium bomber in the Glenn Martin plant at Baltimore."--War Films, Bulletin of the Extension Division, Indiana University, February, 1943.
235. Camping and recreational facilities for the handicapped (19:21)
236. Camping- a Key to Conservation (22:54)
Illustrates the various camping activities and points out methods of campsite conservation. Pictures loading of supplies, selection of a campsite, camp activities, and breaking camp. Indicates con...
237. Carol Anne Griffitt (59:29)
Indiana University Southeast. Institute for Local and Oral History
Carol Anne Griffitt was interviewed by Kristina Kimmick as part of the Floyd County Bicentennial Oral History Project, which commemorates Indiana's bicentennial by recording the past and present ex...
238. Case studies (33:46)
2003 (Creation date: 1997)
Austin, David R., 1941-
Gives actual case studies of recreational therapists and their clients.
239. Celebrating the life of David N. Baker. (2:09:55)
Baker, David, 1931-2016
240. Centering Gender: A Feminist Analysis of Makerspaces and Digital Humanities Centers (1:16:30)
Kimberly Martin
The maker movement, a subculture affiliated with a do-it-yourself ethos and, more recently, a passion for digital technologies, has been growing over the last two decades and is making its way onto...
241. Characteristics of plants and animals (10:47)
Uses animation, live photography, cinephotomicrography, and time-lapse photography to illustrate and explain the characteristics of living plants and animals. Shows the hydra, paramecium, and algae...
242. Chess Mates (05:31)
See Other Contributors
Profiles without narration the pleasures and pains of chess. Uses background music and the vivid expressions of young competitors to take viewers through subdued practice sessions and frenzied matc...
243. China crisis : the story of the Fourteenth Air Force (40:41)
United States. Army Air Forces. Combat Camera Unit, 16th.
Documentary record of the operations of the U.S. 14th Air Force in its support of the Chinese Army during the spring and summer campaigns of 1944.
244. Choosing a Digital Method: Data Mining (35:47)
Kalani L. Craig
Data mining encompasses a several different approaches to exploring large swaths of information, from the open largely unstructured text of the novel to the structured world of social-network entri...
245. Choosing a Digital Method: Making Digital Objects (52:29)
Kalani L. Craig; Tassie Gniady
From installations overlaid on the world around us to reprints of otherwise inaccessible archaeological finds that we can handle at will, digital objects help us interact with and understand the wo...
246. Choosing a Digital Method: Mapping (44:17)
Mia Partlow
Digital mapping offers a variety of options that range in complexity from dropping a point on your smartphone's mapping application to analyzing statistical differences in different geographies to ...
247. Christianity, Part 1 (29:19)
Discusses Christianity not only as ideology, but also as a historical religion, focusing upon Jesus. Surveys the human aspects of Jesus, and contrasts standards of values in the world with the teac...
248. Christmas and Its Effect on the Radio series: Afro-American in Indiana (31:16)
249. Chromik Lightning Talk (2019 Spring Symposium) (02:05)
Joanna Chromik; Institute for Digital Arts & Humanities
This project examines publicly available statements about sex and sex work in light of the #MeToo movement and in response to the passing of the FOSTA-SESTA. It focuses on the online efforts of sex...
250. Citizens army (10:38)
Taylor, Donald, 1911-1966
Men from a variety of backgrounds and professional fields are trained for the British Home Guard. Describes the development and standardization of this volunteer citizen's army. Scenes from trainin...


Day 216: Sundance Bound! by Ira Sachs
Tomorrow I fly in the morning to Park City for Sundance. It will be my fifth time there with a film, and probably my 20th time there over the decades, since my father has lived in Park City since the mid-70s. He moved out there in a Winnebago, and set up camp behind Utah Coal & Lumber, the one restaurant in town, where they made a very good pineapple burrito. This was when Park City was a sleepy hippy town, and I went to what was then called the US Film Festival for the first time in 1981, when the films screening were Melvin and Howard, Heartland, Return of the Secaucus Seven, as well as a great Henry Fonda retrospective that included My Darling Clementine and The Lady Eve. It was at Sundance that I saw my first Cassavetes movie, that I saw the first screening ever of Sex, Lies and Videotape, and of both Poison and Safe. But also any number of films we don't talk about any more, but that were amazing. Films like Patti Rocks, and Silverlake Life, and Heat and Sunlight. It wasn't until I was in my 40s did it suddenly click to me that maybe it wasn't a coincidence that — given that I went to Sundance every year from when I was 15 to at least 25 — that I thought I might become an independent filmmaker.
The last month has been a focused immersion in finishing the film. A week doing the color grade at Goldcrest with Thimios and John Dowdell, which means deciding the lights and the darks, the reds and the blues of the image. We were working in the same room that appears in the movie — the character Eric is a filmmaker and in one scene he does a color grade on the documentary he's finishing, In Search of Avery Willard. Then a very efficient 5 days at Sound One with mixer Dom Tavella, Sound Supervisor Damian Volpe, and Dialogue editor Dave Ellinwood mixing the film. It's a very interesting, very exacting process, sitting for day after day figuring out whether the sound of this door creak is too loud, or at what level to play a song in a disco to feel like you're in a disco, but not blowing the audiences ears out. The film becomes sweeter, almost literally, the colors richer, the sounds deeper. One thing I noticed is how Arthur Russell's music, used as the score of the film throughout, becomes even more of a character than I imagined. But one thing I continually have to tell myself during both the color grade and the sound mix is not to obsess. Soon enough, the decisions you make so carefully will be swallowed up by the film that's been made; all the details will be forgotten, and it will just be the movie. No one in the theater is going to think "those crickets are just too loud!"
It's now 730am and I need to pack. Sundance is many things for me, one of which is a place I have slipped on ice and fallen flat on my back, so I'm focusing this morning on which boots to bring, and how they will look with my suit tomorrow night at the premiere. There are about 25 to 30 of us heading to Park City to be there for the opening, and it should be a fun reunion. I'm not as nervous as I remember being other years, I think mostly because I'm older, and I've done this before, but also because the movie feels like a very direct expression of both me and the story. I do however go with my producer's head, and tonight we'll have a meeting with our sales team, our producers, and myself to talk about our talking points. Though in the end, to be honest, the film and Sundance itself talks for you. The word will be what the word will be.
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Africa's WTO Moment
October 26, 2020572 views0 comments
By Kingsley Chiedu Moghalu
BOSTON – The selection of the World Trade Organization's next director-general has entered its final phase, with two candidates left in the running: Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, a former Nigerian finance and economy minister and a former managing director of the World Bank, and Yoo Myung-hee, South Korea's trade minister. In view of the WTO's current challenges, Okonjo-Iweala is the better choice.
The WTO faces two major crises: an institutional crisis caused by the great-power rivalry between the United States and China, and a crisis of globalization – of which the WTO, as the overseer of global trade rules, is a major symbol.
Ending centuries of Africa's exploitation (3)
Sino-American trade tensions have paralyzed the organization, with the US blocking the appointment of new judges to its appellate body, which rules on trade disputes among member countries. Moreover, the COVID-19 crisis, another source of great-power tension, has prompted many firms to consider reshoring production in order to reduce their reliance on pandemic-hit Chinese suppliers, thus disrupting the global supply chains that are critical to world trade.
If chosen to head the WTO, Okonjo-Iweala has the leadership credentials to restore relevance to a broken organization. The WTO needs a tested global leader who is well versed in the role of trade in development, rather than a trade bureaucrat who might lack the broader view. With her experience at the World Bank (where the US and China are major players) and as a reformist finance minister in Nigeria, the Harvard and MIT-educated Okonjo-Iweala has a rare combination of political leadership skills and proven technocratic competence.
The WTO needs a leader who can build consensus, because the organization's design doesn't allow for top-down leadership. And Okonjo-Iweala has the gravitas to build bridges between the US and China, on the one hand, and between the WTO and Africa, on the other.
Despite being widely regarded as the world's next frontier for investment and development, Africa is essentially an onlooker in the world trading system, accounting for a meager 2% of global exports. Although the continent is a growing market for the products of globalization, it does not benefit much from world trade, owing to its limited presence in globalized value chains. Instead, Africa trades mainly in agricultural goods and natural resources, whereas most world trade is in manufacturing and services.
Africa needs to trade with the world on the same basis that other regions do, but the global trading system is keeping the continent underdeveloped. In particular, industrialized countries levy low tariffs on imports of African raw commodities, but higher ones on finished African goods – higher, in fact, than for similar goods imported from other regions.
Today's world trade is thus rigged against Africa. To help redress this imbalance, the WTO's special and differential treatment provisions for least-developed countries should permit African governments to provide temporary tariff protection for infant domestic manufacturers within WTO rules. We could call such necessary and temporary measures "smart protectionism."
More generally, it is time to make the WTO work for all member countries, not just for the great powers or countries whose global economic success was built on trade protectionism but now seek to "kick away the ladder" for developing economies. This structural rebalancing, which will expand the global sphere of prosperity, is best mediated by a WTO leader who is not from a major trading power.
Furthermore, African countries currently do not use the WTO's dispute-settlement system, because they are too weak to take on donor countries, whether Western powers or China. So, Chinese products, for example, have been "dumped" in African markets with no consequences. Okonjo-Iweala has the skills to build a consensus on giving Africa a fairer shake in the global trading system.
Much will also depend on the outcome of the US presidential election on November 3. President Donald Trump believes that China has gamed global trade to the detriment of US national interests, while China thinks America has rejected the WTO's rules-based regime. Resolving this tension will require both powers to find the political will to compromise. It will also require a global development leader such as Okonjo-Iweala, who has served on international development commissions with current and former heads of government, to facilitate a rapprochement. But regardless of who wins on November 3, the COVID-19 pandemic will inexorably weaken globalization as the US and other countries seek to shorten and localize supply chains.
Meanwhile, the importance of world trade to human development will again become apparent when billions of doses of COVID-19 vaccines become available, most likely sometime in 2021. As chair of the board of Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, Okonjo-Iweala has played an important leadership role in negotiations to make vaccines widely available in developing countries.
The WTO's predecessor, the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, was originally conceived as part of the post-World War II Bretton Woods system, but weak domestic political support in the US delayed its establishment. The International Monetary Fund has been headed since its founding by Europeans, and the World Bank by Americans. This realpolitik blocked Okonjo-Iweala's bid to lead the World Bank nearly a decade ago.
It is past time to eliminate such a spoils system, and for the developing world finally to have its chance. And in Okonjo-Iweala, Nigeria and the world have a highly competent candidate to lead the WTO.
Moghalu, a former deputy governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, is a senior fellow at the Council on Emerging Market Enterprises at The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University.
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Is a Passed Ball an Error?
Is a passed ball an error in baseball? Before we get to answering this question, let's dive into some basic stuff you'll need to know before you can understand why a passed ball isn't an error in baseball and softball, but why some people might consider and think it to be an error.
1. The Catcher
2. Passed Ball
3. Errors in Baseball
3.1. Wild Pitch vs. Passed Ball
3.2. Runs Batted In (RBI)
The Catcher
The catcher in a baseball game is on the fielding team and designated to play behind home plate, to catch out any legal pitches that may be missed by the batter. Whenever a catcher catches a legal pitch, this is considered a strike on the batter, and three strikes mean the batter is out. After three outs that is the end of that inning and the teams switch sides.
Passed Ball
A passed ball is basically when the catcher catches a legal pitch, but then loses control and lets go of the ball. When this happens, the batter may proceed to run to the base. Another way a passed ball might be scored is when the batter runs to a base on a supposed passed ball swinging third strike.
A passed ball is not considered to be a stolen base unless the batter starts running before the pitcher begins the throw, but it's also not considered an earned run, however, if any other batting players are already out on the bases and reach home plate, these can be considered earned runs. These rules also apply to Passed Balls in Softball.
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Errors in Baseball
This is when a fielder misplays a ball in which lets an at-bat continue after the batter should have been put out if it weren't for the misplay, this results in a free base for the batter or a runner that is already out on the field.
A passed ball, much like a wild pitch, are both not considered to be errors because these are thought of as "acts of pitching" rather than fielding, and can be done on purpose when the situation calls for it. Since many baseball analysts have often been critical on the use of error as a skill for fielding, it has been added to the rule of error that forcing out a batter if the play isn't available or failure to guard any base aren't considered errors in baseball.
Wild Pitch vs. Passed Ball
Deciding whether a situation should be marked as a wild pitch or a passed ball is usually up to the scorers, so let's take a closer look into the differences between the two very similar but game-changing traits of each move.
Wild Pitch
Pitched balls that are considered to be a little more "out of the way" for the catcher to catch
Pitched balls that are considered to be significantly easier to catch, or pitched normally for a normal catch
Scoring a run is considered to be an earned run
Scoring a run is not considered an earned run
Runs Batted In (RBI)
An RBI or a Run Batted In is when a batter scores a run in a legal play that is eligible to add to the run score. A run scored from a wild pitch is eligible to be marked as an RBI, but runs scored in passed balls are not considered to be an RBI.


Ohio State University 'Sex Week' event encourages students to 'thank' abortion providers
Several Ohio State University departments are sponsoring "Sex Week" put on by a student organization, which includes one event where students are asked to "help thank abortion providers."
Student Advocates for Sexual Health Awareness is hosting the "Sex Week," but told Fox News Digital that several Ohio State University departments such as the Ohio State University Department of Women's, Gender and Sexuality Studies and the College of Social Work are providing financial support for the week-long event.
One event hosted during "Sex Week" is "Valentine's for Abortion Providers" where students can "help thank abortion providers" for the work that they do.
"Meet SASHA in the Union on the 1st floor on to help thank abortion providers in Ohio and Texas for the valuable work they do for reproductive rights!," the event description states.
KRISTI NOEM'S PRO-LIFE PROPOSAL BLOCKED BY SOUTH DAKOTA REPUBLICANS
This May 8, 2019, file photo, shows a sign for Ohio State University in Columbus, Ohio.
(AP Photo/Angie Wang)
Sky Hart, president of Student Advocates for Sexual Health Awareness told Fox News Digital that the organization is hosting the abortion appreciation event because it thinks abortion providers "deserve appreciation."
"We feel that it is important to appreciate the family planning providers that are able to provide essential healthcare for our communities. Our organization emphasizes the constitutional right to a safe abortion, however many do not share that belief. Because of this, many providers and their offices are often ridiculed for providing legal, affordable, safe healthcare. We feel they deserve appreciation, and should be reminded of the fact they are assisting our communities greatly," Hart said.
Hart said that attendees will be creating cards that will then be mailed to abortion providers.
GOP POLITICIANS SAY UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH FETAL TISSUE PROBE A 'WHITEWASH' AND NOT NEARLY SUFFICIENT
The Ohio State University logo at the top of the Ohio Stadium at sunset, during a summer day on The Ohio State University campus.
(Photo by Stephen Zenner/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)
The "Sex Week" website also states that the organization receives funding through the Council on Student Affairs, which comes from student activity fees.
Kristan Hawkins, president of Students for Life, told Fox News Digital that the university is doing a "disservice to students" by sponsoring the event.
Students wearing protective masks walk through campus during the first of classes at Ohio State University in Columbus, Ohio, U.S., on Tuesday, Aug. 25, 2020.
(Ty Wright/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
"It's pathetic that schools are ignoring their mandate to educate students and instead act as though their real purpose is facilitating the parties. This is a great disservice to students. And a huge waste of money for parents," Hawkins said. "Almost always ignored by these sponsors is the fact that you can't protect emotionally vulnerable students from a broken heart when they follow the false pitch that all consequences — babies included — can be ignored."
An Ohio State University spokesperson told Fox News Digital that "Ohio State has a deep and abiding commitment to free speech."
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Information leaflets in English
TRIPLE X MENTAL HEALTH PROFESSIONALS LEAFLET. 2021
Triple X Syndrome Support is a new innovative idea that is piloted in Birmingham, UK is inspired to supporting people affected by Triple X Syndrome.
They are a small team of volunteers who are passionate about Triple X from a UK social perspective. Research is at the heart of everything they do.
They collaborate with leading organisations.
triplexsyndromesupport.co.uk
Information in plain language
by Thea van de Velde & Ida Bakker
from Contact Group Triple-X Syndrome.
written in Dutch, translated in English in March 2007.
The information in this leaflet has been gathered from various sources, such as publications of doctors and research workers who have studied and described this syndrome.
The personal experiences of parents of girls with Triple-X and women who have Triple-X themselves however were just as important in writing this article.
The text has been verified by prof. C. Stumpel, professor of clinical genetics, Academic Hospital Maastricht (the Netherlands).
Diagnoses Triple-X What can be expected?
Unique UK Trisomy X leaflet
Unique, the rare chromosome disorder support group UK, has created a new and extended leaflet on Triple X Syndrome.
It was recently published on their website.
Click on this link to download this leaflet
Kathleen Erskine, a graduate student in the Joan H. Marks Graduate Program in Human Genetics at Sarah Lawrence College conducted a study to identify the important aspects of 47, XXX/ 3X/ Triple X/ Trisomy X to discuss with girls when they first learn about their Trisomy X diagnosis.
The end result of this study is this educational booklet for parents to give their daughter when they first tell her about Trisomy X.
Guide to Trisomy X
Available at www.genetic.org
KS&A TRISOMY X- 47,XXX SYNDROME Leaflet
This is an informational and educational brochure.
This is not typical promotional brochure.
This is intended for professionals and newly diagnosed individuals who are eager to learn about this condition.
KS&A Trisomy X- 47, XXX Syndrome leaflet
New brochures by AXYS about several sex chromosome aneuploidies; Triple X Syndrome
47,XXX Syndrome AXYS Brochure 2014
[English section]


Behind your speedy Amazon delivery are serious hazards for workers, government finds
By Andrea Hsu
Justin Sullivan
Workers pack orders at an Amazon fulfillment center on January 20, 2015 in Tracy, California. OSHA cited Amazon after federal safety inspectors found ergonomic hazards at three Amazon warehouses.
Updated January 18, 2023 at 2:01 PM ET
Federal safety inspectors have concluded that the twisting, bending and long reaches that Amazon warehouse workers perform as much as nine times per minute put them at high risk for lower back injuries and other musculoskeletal disorders and constitute an unacceptable hazard.
As part of a larger investigation into hazardous working conditions, the Occupational Safety and and Health Administration announced on Wednesday it has cited Amazon for failing to keep workers safe at warehouses in Deltona, Florida; Waukegan, Illinois; and New Windsor, New York.
"While Amazon has developed impressive systems to make sure its customers' orders are shipped efficiently and quickly, the company has failed to show the same level of commitment to protecting the safety and wellbeing of its workers," said Assistant Secretary for Occupational Safety and Health Doug Parker.
The e-commerce giant faces a total of $60,269 in proposed penalties, the maximum allowable for a violation of the General Duty Clause of the Occupational Safety and Health Act, which requires employers to provide a workplace free from recognized hazards.
Amazon has 15 days to contest OSHA's findings.
"We take the safety and health of our employees very seriously, and we strongly disagree with these allegations and intend to appeal," said Amazon spokesperson Kelly Nantel in a statement.
"Our publicly available data show we've reduced injury rates nearly 15% between 2019 and 2021," Nantel added. "What's more, the vast majority of our employees tell us they feel our workplace is safe."
Parker noted that willful or repeated violations by an employer can lead to higher penalties. He said that there are no ergonomic-related violations in Amazon's history that put the company on track for the "severe violator program," but with further inspections, that could change.
In December, OSHA cited Amazon for more than a dozen recordkeeping violations, including failing to report injuries, as part of the same investigation.
Patrick T. Fallon / AFP via Getty Images
The Amazon fulfillment center in Bessemer, Alabama photographed on March 26, 2021.
Inspectors compared DART rates — days away from work, job restrictions or transfers — across the warehouse industry and at Amazon facilities, and found the rates were unusually high at the three Amazon warehouses.
At the Amazon fulfillment center in Waukegan, Illinois, where workers handle packages in excess of 50 pounds, the DART rate was nearly double the DART rate for the industry in general, and at the Amazon facilities in New York and Florida, it was triple.
The DART rate for the industry in general was 4.7 injuries per 100 workers per year in 2021, Parker said.
Inspectors also found that workers are at risk of being struck by falling materials unsafely stored at heights of 30 feet or higher at the Florida facility.
Should the government prevail, Amazon would be required not only to pay the fines but also to correct the violations, which Parker noted, could result in significant investments in re-engineering their processes to provide workers with a safer working environment.
Editor's note: Amazon is among NPR's recent financial supporters.
NPR NewsNational / World News
Andrea Hsu
Andrea Hsu is NPR's labor and workplace correspondent.


About EIFA
Conference announces the formation of EIFA in Brussels
On June 11, during a press conference in Brussels chaired by Struan Stevenson, President of the European Parliament's Delegation for Relations with Iraq, the formation of a new NGO, the European Iraqi Freedom Association (EIFA) was announced.
At this meeting Sid Ahmed Ghozali – former Prime Minister of Algeria, Alejo Vidal-Quadras – Vice President of the European Parliament ( 1999 – 2014), Stephen Hughes, Vice-President of the Socialists-Democrats group and former MEP Paulo Casaca, an expert on Iraq, participated and spoke, focusing on the following points:
1- The Conference strongly condemned the human rights violations in Iraq, the unprecedented number of executions and massacre of Iranian refugees in Camps Ashraf and Liberty, and stressed that the monopoly of power in Maliki's hands in the past 8 years and the unprecedented infiltration of Iran and its terrorist Qods Force in Iraq has been the main cause of the problems. After the withdrawal of U.S. forces, the Iranian regime filled the power vacuum in Iraq. The Conference described the support of Western governments, particularly the United States, for Maliki, as shameful and said they must share responsibility for the murder and massacre of the Iraqi people, and called for an end to US and Russian arms being supplied to Maliki to help him suppress the popular uprising, which Maliki falsely claims is being led by ISIS and Al Qaeda.
2- Developments in Iraq have dramatically affected the entire region. If a national government, not-dominated by Iran, was in place in Iraq, Bashar Assad would have fallen long ago. The life of the Iranian regime depends on Assad and Maliki, and the fall of any one of them, brings Iran closer to its edge. So the regime is in full force killing people in both countries.
3- Representatives of various Iraqi factions reiterated that recent elections were neither free nor fair and all of them have been defrauded by Maliki and the Iranian regime. While most of the Iraqi political factions oppose Maliki, with the support of Iran and using intimidation and threats, he is desperately trying to buy or bribe his way to becoming Prime Minister for a third consecutive term.
4- Residents of 6 Sunni provinces have staged sit-ins since December 2012 protesting widespread repression and executions. These peaceful protests were confronted by suppression and lethal attacks by the Iraqi military under orders from Maliki and people and tribes in these provinces, especially al-Anbar, have been forced to defend themselves. Maliki has resorted to the indiscriminate killing of innocent civilians by barrel bombs and missile strikes and repeated air attacks in these areas. These operations are carried on under the command and monitoring of the Iranian regime's terrorist Quds Force. There is no doubt that these attacks constitute war crimes and the international community should strongly condemn them. In the meantime there are strong rumours that Maliki has evacuated his family to the UK and may even be preparing to flee the country himself.
5- Reacting to the on-going attacks and oppression, the Iraqi people and tribes have taken control of Nineveh province and Mosul, Iraq's second largest city, driving out the Iraqi military and releasing hundreds of political prisoners. Iraqi military forces have been routed in Nineveh and more than half of Salahadin Province, with fighting now within 30 kilometres of Baghdad. Maliki misleadingly pretends that the terrorists and ISIS have taken control of Nineveh province in order to pave the way for bombings and missile attacks as well as to find an excuse for the U.S. and the Iranian regime's military intervention in Iraq. He also arrogantly asked Iraq's neighbouring countries to help him to suppress the terrorists in these areas, basically sending an open invitation to Iran's IRGC and Qods force to intervene.
6 -Western countries, especially the U.S. and the U.K. and some other countries that had played a key role in toppling the former government in Iraq and empowering Maliki, bear serious responsibility for the current situation. For the past eight years the U.S. has provided unilateral support for Maliki and has maintained silence about his atrocities against Iraqi citizens, particularly the Sunni population and other religious and ethnic minorities as well as foreign refugees. The US has also turned a blind eye to the increasing domination of the Iranian regime in Iraq, which has played a major role in creating the current situation.
7-The conference stressed the fact that the crisis of Iraq can only be resolved by an urgent change of leadership and the ousting of Maliki, combined with the complete eviction of the Iranian regime from Iraq, through the creation of a national and democratic government that rejects sectarian tendencies and represents all parts of Iraqi society. The conference asked western countries, in particular the U.S. and the EU to stand with the Iraqi people in order to realize this goal and to avoid providing any further support for Maliki.
8- The European Iraqi Freedom Association (EIFA) as an NGO has been formed to be a voice for the people of Iraq, who deserve a better future. Many distinguished politicians and notable leaders who share these objectives have joined in this task. The Board of EIFA includes John Bruton – former Prime Minister of Ireland, Geir Haarde – former Prime Minister of Iceland, Alejo Vidal-Quadras – Vice President of the European Parliament from 1999 to 2014, Giulio Terzi – former Foreign Minister of Italy, Lord Carlile – former National Security Advisor to the UK Government and Paulo Casaca (MEP from 1999 to 2009).
Struan Stevenson, MEP
President, European Parliament's Delegation for Relations with Iraq
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In Washington, growing chorus calls for Iraq's Maliki to go | Reuters
U.S. Lawmakers Express Frustration With Iraq's Maliki
Maliki Proves Losing Bet for U.S. as Iraq's Unifier(Bloomberg.com)
Huffington Post: A Fictitious ISIL to Scare Us Away From the Truth in Iraq, By Lord Maginnis
FACT SHEET ON DEVELOPMENTS IN IRAQ
EIFA Report : Iran's Support for Islamic Fundamentalist Groups, Relations With al-Qaeda & Sunni Extremists Under Scrutiny
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You are here: HomePress ReleasesConference announces the formation of EIFA in Brussels Scroll to Top
New EIFA Report : Iran's Support for Islamic Fundamentalist Groups, Relations With al-Qaeda & Sunni Extremists Under Scrutiny
EIFA WARNS ABOUT GROWING PRESENCE OF SECTARIAN IRANIAN MILITIAS IN IRAQ AND CALLS FOR THEIR EVICTION
REPORT: Destructive role of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) in the Middle East
Iraq: We must stop meddling by Iran and its criminal militias
Iraq Report – February 2015
Speech by Struan Stevenson - European Parliament Iraq Delegation 3 Dec 2015
A note from Struan Stevenson about an excellent report by Mr Ad Melkert
Exclusive: Biography and record of Hadi Farhan Abdullah al-Ameri
Shocking video shows Shiite militia beating man in Iraq's Salaheddine
Iran's increased role in Iraq stirs concerns among US' Arab allies
Allawi condemned the assassination incident of imams in Basra and calls to unity
Australian PM Tony Abbott visits Iraq
Iraq: Anbar delegation to call for more US assistance in fight against ISIS
Abadi: 2015 will be year to liberate all Iraqi territories from ISIL
Washington Times: Iraq without Nouri al-Maliki The prime minister's link with Iran has prompted the ISIS offensive
Iran's Quds force aiding Iraqi Shiites with Obama administration's blessing
Struan Stevenson: Work out the enemy in Iraq conflict
Use of Shia militia is a bad way to run foreign policy
US must change policy in war against ISIS
The enduring short-sightedness of Iraq policies
Copyright © 2014 EIFA(European Iraqi Freedom Association). All Rights Reserved.


What We're Pinning: Powerful Women of the World
By Emily Riemer
The following six women are some of the most celebrated, powerful and inspirational women around. But women and men everywhere–in every country and in all walks of life–can and do make a difference every day because every person can do one thing, big or small, to change the world around them. Check out these pins, learn about these women, and be inspired to take action yourself, to do just one thing to empower women, whether they're in your neighborhood or on the other side of the world. You can make the difference.
President Joyce Banda, the first female president of Malawi, is working to improve life for Malawians.
The former (and first female) prez of Ireland, and the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Mary Robinson.
Queen Noor of Jordan is an outspoken voice on issues of world peace and justice.
Nobel Peace Prize laureate Leymah Gbowee is a Liberian peace activist and the leader of a women's peace movement that helped end 2003′s Liberian Civil War.
Along with her diplomatic work, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is a strong proponent of women's empowerment around the world.
Born into extreme poverty, Somaly Mam is a dedicated activist for the protection of women and girls, and an end to sex trafficking in Cambodia.
Who inspires you? Add a powerful women, or man, to the list in the comments below!
What We're Watching: Last Chance to Watch Half the Sky Movement's Documentary Online
Today is the First-Ever United Nations International Day of the Girl


RAF air power support for OMID HAFT
The planning for OMID HAFT began several weeks ago. Since then, elements of Task Force Helmand built around 3 Commando Brigade have been working…
The planning for OMID HAFT began several weeks ago. Since then, elements of Task Force Helmand built around 3 Commando Brigade have been working closely with 6th Kandak (Battalion), 3rd Brigade, 215th Corps of the Afghan National Army (ANA), to co-ordinate an operation to rid the Kopak, Malgir and Loy Mandeh areas of Nahr-e Saraj of insurgent activity and extend the safe, protected community up to the Nahr-e Bughra canal.
To ensure this was possible, the full range of RAF assets in theatre were used to prepare the battlespace for the operation, with sorties being flown by 617 Squadron's Tornado GR4s and 39 Squadron's Reapers from Kandahar.
Several days before the operation began, RAF Lossiemouth-based 617 Squadron, known more famously as 'The Dambusters', launched sorties from Kandahar Airfield to conduct tactical reconnaissance missions over the Loy Mandeh area using the RAPTOR (Reconnaissance Airborne Pod for TORnado) intelligence-gathering system - a canoe-sized digital camera pod which is capable of photographing an area the size of Cyprus in a single sortie.
Flying at around 20,000 feet [6,000 metres], the crew conducted a detailed survey of the area in order to check ground transit routes, potential helicopter landing sites, buildings and compounds for signs of insurgent activity and the presence of improvised explosive devices (IEDs).
Squadron Leader Ian Sharrocks, Officer Commanding Weapons Flight on 617 Squadron, said:
The RAPTOR is a really impressive piece of kit. It's a niche capability that is in demand across ISAF, offering fantastically detailed imagery.
On the Tornado's return to Kandahar, a team of imagery analysts from the RAF's Tactical Imagery-Intelligence Wing (TIW) worked against the clock to turn the raw imagery into intelligence reports; indentifying threats, and indicating the type of terrain, lengths of roads, and size of habitation.
This information was vital to ground commanders, allowing them to determine how many troops were required, what equipment and weapons they needed, how they would enter and extract from the area and how to best utilise their resources in order to complete the mission.
The TIW Detachment Commander, Flight Sergeant Sara Catterall, said:
The information we provide is essential, and a real necessity in the planning stage of an operation, and the feedback that we get from the commanders is extremely positive.
In the early hours of Thursday 26 May, equipped with a multitude of key information provided by 617 Squadron and the TIW, nearly 300 ANA soldiers and riflemen from 1st Battalion The Rifles took part in one of the largest partnered air assaults in Afghanistan since operations began.
As the operation progressed, 39 Squadron's remotely-piloted Reaper aircraft, and the 617 Squadron Tornado GR4s, carrying precision guided weapons, provided armed overwatch for the Afghan and British troops inserting into the Loy Mandeh area by support helicopter.
High above the helicopters, the Tornado and Reaper aircraft were constantly providing situational awareness and a level of reassurance to the troops on the ground below.
With the operation fully underway, Royal Marines from 42 Commando approached the insurgent-held village of Loy Mandeh. A once thriving centre of commerce, it had become a desolate and uninhabitable area due to insurgent intimidation and the numbers of IEDs lying in wait.
The Royal Marines' mission was to enter, clear out the insurgents, and then prevent them from coming back by erecting checkpoints (CPs) in the newly-liberated village. The biggest challenge facing the men was the numbers of IEDs. Several devices were found which were safely disposed of by members of the Counter-IED Task Force and their Afghan counterparts.
RAF Police Corporal Michael McConnel is one of a number of dog handlers who took part in the operation:
During one patrol, one of the lads partly initiated an IED. After he was taken to hospital, Memphis and I carried on patrolling - we had to make sure the route from the new CP site was clear to get the essential stores needed to build it. It felt good to bring security to the people in the area.
On the Saturday, just two days after the Afghan and ISAF troops entered the contested areas, Afghan Major Rahim Ali visited ANA warriors who had just taken down a large Taliban propaganda flag from the outskirts of Loy Mandeh village. The flag was replaced with an Afghan flag to indicate to the local population the return of the Government of Afghanistan to the area.
Colonel Peter Eadie, the Commander of the UK Joint Aviation Group, responsible for co-ordinating the helicopters, said:
This was a complex operation involving large numbers of Royal Navy, Army and Royal Air Force personnel, as well as US Marine Corps troops. Between them, they co-ordinated 22 aircraft which inserted hundreds of troops and tonnes of stores into a high threat area, in poor weather, at night.
Days of detailed planning paid off as the mission was a resounding success and a textbook example of multinational co-operation.


A film by Johanna Demetrakas, 1974, 47 minutes, Color, DVD
WOMANHOUSE is an historic documentary about one of the most important feminist cultural events of the 1970s. Judy Chicago (best-known as the creator of THE DINNER PARTY) and Miriam Shapiro rented an old Hollywood mansion and altered its interior through decor and set-pieces to "search out and reveal the female experience...the dreams and fantasies of women as they sewed, cooked, washed and ironed away their lives." WOMANHOUSE is a fascinating historical look at feminism, its reception in the 1970s, and the ever-important relationship between art and social change.
Judy Chicago Discusses Womanhouse as part of the Visual Archive at National Museum of Women in the Arts
Interview with Faith Wilding by Amy Jin Johnson on Womanhouse
WOMANHOUSE IS NOT A HOME
Produced by Lynne Littman, Directed by Parke Perine, KCET Los Angeles, originally aired February 1972


From the ALWS archives: A selection of papers from the International Wittgenstein Symposia in Kirchberg am Wechsel
Keywords 20th century philosophy Nachlass Wittgenstein Ludwig action aesthetics certainty common sense context culture description epistemology ethics experience explanation expression form of life grammar intentionality interpretation knowledge language language game logic meaning metaphor metaphysics method mind mind vs body naturalism nonsense object ontology perspicuous presentation phenomenology philosophy philosophy of language picture picture theory private language realism reference religion rule-following sense skepticism therapy thinking time truth understanding
Home > (2010) Papers of the 33rd IWS (eds. E. Nemeth, R. Heinrich, W. Pichler) >	Funke
Independence vs. Compossibility
Ralf Funke, Hamburg, Germany
Wittgenstein and Leibniz had a radically different view on the ultimate constituents of the world and resulting from this on the ontological status of the actual world in contrast to possible worlds. Whereas Leibniz thought that the world (the actual world) was chosen "as a whole" by God out of infinitely many alternative possible worlds, Wittgenstein believed that the world was a random conglomerate of mutually compatible "states of affairs". For Leibniz no part of the actual world could be identical to a part of a different world. For Wittgenstein every part of the world had exact counterparts in other worlds. They both agreed on the importance of logic though, and they both shared a desire to explain the nature of contingency.
1. Leibniz' Possible Worlds
2. Wittgenstein's Possible Worlds
It is well known that Leibniz introduced the concept of a possible world in an attempt to prove that the world as it is does not contradict the claim that God is all-mighty, all-knowing and all-good. The principle of an infinitude of possible worlds is part of his theodicy.
"I call 'World' the whole succession and the whole agglomeration of all existent things, lest it be said that several worlds could have existed in different times and different places." (Theodicy, p. 128)
Notoriously, Leibniz held that this is the best of all possible worlds. This seemed to many a not very plausible view, but the interesting observation is that Leibniz thought that there were other worlds imaginable. He was contradicting Spinoza and Hobbes who believed that everything possible must exist.
Everything possible would indeed be existing (real) if it were the case that all possibles were "compossible". Two individuals are said to be compossible if they are not only possible in isolation but also "capable of joint realization". "A possible world is a set of mutually compossible complete individual concepts". (Mates, p. 340). "The actual universe is the collection of all existent possibles [...] and as there are different combinations of possibles, some better than others, there are several possible universes, each collection of compossibles constituting one." (Gerhardt, 1965, p. 573, quoted in Parkinson 1995, p. 213)
Thus, out of all possibles a subset of compossibles constitutes the world. According to Leibniz "all things which are possible, or express essence of possible reality, tend by equal right towards existence in proportion to the quantity of essence or reality which they include, or in proportion to the degree of perfection which belongs to them." (Ultimate, p. 138) This could mean that the largest number of mutually compatible things exists. If there were 4 things A, B, C, D that were in essence similar and D were incompatible with A and B, but A were compatible with all but D, and B and C were also compatible then the series of ABC rather than CD would exist. (cf. Wahrheiten, p. 177) This is probably an overly simplified example, as Leibniz claims in other papers that the perfect world is determined instead of by the number of things by variety and simplicity. There is always, he says, "to be found in things a principle of determination which turns on considerations of greatest and least; namely, that the greatest effect should be produced with [...] the least expenditure." (Ultimate, p. 138)
The question how a world must be constituted in order to be brought to existence, interesting as it is, is of secondary importance. In another line of reasoning Leibniz comes to the conclusion that the fact that this world exists is a proof that it must be the best of the possible worlds. This is a result of the principle of sufficient reason.
If God, so the argument goes, has to choose among the infinity of possible worlds, one to bring to existence he must of necessity choose the best one as only the best sticks out. For Leibniz (in contrast to Descartes) there can be no arbitrary choices, not any made by us and certainly not made by God. If we were told to draw a triangle, we would, says Leibniz, draw an equilateral triangle. If we have to go from a to b we take the shortest route, if there are no further qualifications. (Ultimate, p. 138).
This means that "if there were not the best (optimum) among all possible worlds, God would not have produced any". (Theodicy, p. 128) And it also follows that God cannot just create anything but that He is restricted to possibles that "exist" independently of Him (although they are only ideas in His mind): "God's decree consists solely in the resolution he forms, after having compared all possible worlds, to choose that one which is the best, and bring it into existence together with all that this world contains, by means of the all-powerful word Fiat." (Theodicy, p. 151)
Leibniz gives the following example: "It is very much like what happens in certain games, in which all the spaces on the board have to be filled in according to certain rules: unless you show some ingenuity you will find yourself at the end kept out of certain refractory spaces, and thereby compelled to leave empty more that you need have done, and more than you wished." (Ultimate, p. 138) – The game Leibniz alludes to here is Solitaire.1
Obviously only possible Solitaire games with a solution, i.e. one peg in the center of the board are candidates for "best possible" solitaire world. Consecutive jumps with one peg are called moves. So a further objective might be to find a solution with as few moves as possible. Whatever the constraints might be the point is that given the solitaire rules, there is a fixed number of possible games and if God wants to realize one of them He must pick out the one that is the best – if there is one.
Since only a complete world is chosen by God it does not make much sense to ask for alternatives within a world. After move 5 in the Dudeney world there must come the move from top left to top right. Otherwise it would be by definition another world.
Leibniz addresses the problem though when he talks of mediate knowledge, that is a knowledge of the possible but not actual. "Instance is given of the famous example of David asking the divine oracle whether the inhabitants of the town of Keilah, where he designed to shut himself in, would deliver him to Saul, supposing that Saul should besiege the town. God answered yes; whereupon David took a different course." (Theodicy, p. 145)
This example is rather complicated since it asks for the hypothetical reaction of the inhabitants of Keilah to a counterfactual condition. Leibniz thinks he can use the possible world concept to handle it: "For the case of the siege of Keilah forms part of a possible world, which differs from ours only in all that is connected with this hypothesis, and the idea of this possible world represents that which would happen in this case." (Theodicy, p. 146)
But actually the problem starts with the first step: Will Saul besiege the town or not. Or put in a different way: Are there possible worlds in which Saul besieges the town and others in which he does not? Now, given the principle of sufficient reason this cannot be because it would suppose two possible worlds that are exactly alike until Saul takes an arbitrary decision to siege in world A and not to siege in world B. Since every decision must have a sufficient reason it means that something in world A must have been different from B before Saul makes his decision. Whatever the difference might be, something must have caused this again and so back to the very beginnings of worlds A and B. In other words for two worlds to be different it is necessary that they differ at the start.
This means there can be no "trans-world-identity". Leibniz, of course, is well aware of this. This is why he speaks of an "approximation" of Sextus when imagining a Sextus who did not rape Lucretia. And about "counterparts" of Adam he says: "When considering Adam we consider a part of his predicates, as for instance that he is the first man, set in a pleasure garden […] and we give the name »Adam« to the person to whom these predicates are attributed, all this is not sufficient to determine the individual, for there might be an infinity of Adams …" (Correspondence, p. 55)
But if there are an infinity of Adams, or of Sauls, by whatever loose criterion, then God's answer to David's question could only be something like: Out of the infinity of reasonably "similar" possible worlds the inhabitants of towns similar to Keilah would deliver you in 52% of them.
If only "our" Adam has all the predicates to determine the individual, how can any (description of one) of his actions be called contingent? Or, what comes to the same thing, in what sense can his actions be of free will, if any alternative action would by definition not be his and thus not be one of this world?
For Leibniz in every universal affirmative truth the predicate is in the subject (Specimen, p. 75) or formulated slightly differently the "notion of the predicate is in some way contained in the notion of the subject." (Primary, p. 87). Every truth can in the end by analysis of its notions be reduced to a primary truth, that is, to an identity like "A is A". An absolutely necessary truth is one whose opposite implies a contradiction, like truths of mathematics. A truth like "Adam is rational" can be shown to be true since Adam is a man and man is by definition a rational animal. That is, the truth can be resolved to truths of identity in a finite number of steps. These truths are also called metaphysical or geometrical.
A truth of fact on the other hand, or a contingent truth, is one whose contradiction is not impossible. But its truth is just as certain. The essential distinction between necessary and contingent truth - and Leibniz calls this a "wonderful secret" (Primary, p. 88) – is that it takes infinitely many steps to reduce a contingent truth to a primary truth. In the case of contingent truths "the reduction proceeds to and is never terminated. So the certitude and perfect reason of contingent truths is known only to God." (Speciman, p. 75)
In the case of Wittgenstein it is less obvious that he had a concept of possible worlds. It is not mentioned in the Tractatus at all and only in passing in the Notebooks where he uses "possible" as an alternative to imagined world. He does not seem to use it as a technical term when says: "In every possible world there is an order even if it is a complicated one." (NB, p. 83)
In the Tractatus he sometimes seems to speak of world in a metaphorical sense, e.g. in 6.43 ("The world of the happy is quite another than that of the unhappy.") or in 5.6 ("the limits of my world").
But in the "ontological" section at the beginning of the Tractatus where he introduces the objects, he says that the objects form the substance of the world (2.021) And he goes on: "It is clear that however different from the real one an imagined world may be, it must have something – a form – in common with the real world." (2.022) This form consists of the objects. (2.023)
What this suggests is that the World in 2.021 is to be understood as "the totality of possible worlds".
Although interpretations vary wildly even as to the meaning of the most basic of Wittgenstein's concepts the ontology of the Tractatus is really quite simple if taken literally.
1. All possible worlds share a common substance – simple objects.
2. An object can stand in configuration with some others (can be concatenated with them) and together they form a "state of affairs" (or "atomic fact").
3. A state of affairs either exists or not.
4. The sum of all existing states of affairs constitutes the (actual) world.
Whatever the nature of an object and whatever the nature of a state of affairs, Wittgenstein is crystal clear about one thing: the objects determine the number of possible states of affairs. Every subset of possible states of affairs (including of course the empty set) can exist. If the states of affairs (in a subset of all states of affairs) do exist they build the actual world, if not, they form a merely possible world.
The sum of existing states of affairs determines the ones that do not exist. That any subset can be seen as a possible world is of course due to the wonderful property of the state of affairs, namely, to be independent of one another. Wittgenstein says so explicitly in 2.061: "States of affairs are independent of one another." And more prominently right at the beginning: "Each item can be the case or not the case while everything else remains the same." (1.21)
The independence thesis has never been very popular, perhaps because it seems to be just as implausible as the claim that this is the best of all possible worlds. Raymond Bradley calls it the "myth of independence". (Bradley, p. 101)
Attempts have been made to make sense of the thesis, the most obvious one by distinguishing a logical from an ontological independence. Bradley provides the rather lukewarm solution that only "entirely different" states of affairs are independent. (Bradley, p. 120)
A strict reading of the Tractatus is not made easier by the well-known fact that Wittgenstein himself had later some serious doubts about the truth of some of the main assumptions of the Tractatus.
But on the positive side, I for one, find it rather difficult to resist the charm of the Tractatus, where it says, that given a fixed form (the objects) that can combine to n states of affairs, all possible worlds can be established. If there are n possible states of affairs there are 2n combinations of states of affairs (4.27) and thus 2n possible worlds. And since there is a one-to-one relationship between states of affairs and elementary propositions, I can take any logical product of elementary propositions to describe a possible world. The truth of an elementary proposition does only depend on the existence of the depicted state of affairs. So while it takes an infinite number of steps to prove the truth of a contingent proposition according to Leibniz, the truth (or falsity) of an elementary proposition is immediately given. (Of course, how to analyze a sentence of ordinary language like "the watch lies on the table" is quite a different question.)
If we have two states of affairs a and b we obviously have four possible worlds, the empty one, the one where a exists, the one where b exists and the one where a and b exist. We can visualize them like this: [a], [b], [ ], [ab]. We might call them A, B, C, D respectively. Let p be the proposition that says that a and q be the proposition that states b, then p is true in A (or A is a truth-maker of p) and in D. Instead of saying that p is true in two possible worlds one could take it one step further and say that p is made true by the set of possible worlds consisting of A and D. In this way any logical combination of the two elementary propositions is made true by one of the 16 sets of combinations of possible worlds. The tautology if p then p and if q then q is made true by {[A], [B], [C], [D]} the contradiction by {[ ]}. Instead of using logical constants or truth tables we could take any number of elementary propositions and point to one set of sets of possible worlds that is a truth-maker of any logical connection between them.
We have seen that Leibniz and Wittgenstein are at opposite ends with regard to the ontological status of the world and to the logical status of a contingent truth. For Leibniz every tiny piece of the world is essentially connected to every other: "For it must be known that all things are connected in each one of the possible worlds: the universe, whatever it may be, is all of one piece, like an ocean: the least movement extends its effect there to any distance whatsoever, even though this effect become less perceptible in proportion to the distance." (Theodicy, p. 128) To understand one contingent sentence, you must fully understand the whole universe.
So because of the interconnectivity only on the level of complete worlds there is a form of independence.
With Wittgenstein, on the other hand, we have total compossibility on the level of the states of affairs. Instead of an ocean his world resembles a jigsaw puzzle. Any piece might be missing, we still have a complete picture of the world. A missing piece does not affect the other pieces at all. We can totally understand a contingent proposition without knowing anything about the rest of the world.
The price to pay is rather high for both of them. Accepting Leibniz' view means to accept a world that is fully determined. Accepting Wittgenstein means one has to be totally agnostic as to the question how an ordinary sentence is analyzed, what is the nature of an object. One can only say that all attached properties to objects must somehow emerge from a concatenation of real objects, including colour and a position in space and time.
Fig. 1: Best of all possible Solitaire worlds? Henry Ernest Dudeney's elegant 19-move solution.
Bradley, R. 1992 The Nature of All Being, Oxford: Oxford Univerity Press.
Berlekamp E.R., Conway, J. and Guy, R.K. 1982 Winning Ways for Your Mathematical Plays, Vol.2 Games in Particular London: Academic Press.
Gerhardt, C.I. (ed.) 1965 Die Philosphischen Schriften von Leibniz, 7 vols. Berlin: Weidmann, 1875-90; reprinted Hildesheim: Olms.
Leibniz, G.W. Theodicy: Essays on the Goodness of God, the Freedom of Man and the Origin of Evil, Project Gutenberg. Translated by E.M. Huggard from C.J. Gerhardt's Edition of the Collected Philosophical Works, 1875-90 Access: http://www.gutenberg.org/files/17147/17147-h/17147-h.htm#page123
Leibniz, G.W. "A Specimen of Discoveries About Marvellous Secrets of a General Nature" in: Parkinson, 1973.
––– "Correspondence with Arnauld" in: Parkinson, 1973.
––– "Primary Truths" in: Parkinson, 1973.
––– "On the Ultimate Origination of Things" in: Parkinson, 1973.
––– "Über die ersten Wahrheiten" in: Holz, H.H. (trans. and ed.) 1973 Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz: Kleine Schriften zur Metaphysik Frankfurt am Main: Insel.
Mates, B. "Leibniz on Possible Worlds" in: Frankfurt, H.G. (ed.) 1976 Leibniz: a Collection of Critical Essays London: University of Notre Dame Press.
Parkinson, G.H.R. 1973 (trans. and ed.) Leibniz: Philosphical Writings, London: Dent.
––– "Philosophy and logic", in: Jolley, N. (ed.) 1995 The Cambridge Companion to Leibniz, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Characteristically he says: "The game called Solitaire pleases me very much. I take it in the reverse order. That is to say that instead of making a configuration according to the rules of the game, which is to jump to an empty place and remove the piece over which one has jumped, I thought it was better to reconstruct what had been demolished, by filling an empty hole over which one has leaped." (quoted in Berlekamp et. al., p. 711) Of course this is logically just the same game with only "hole" and "peg" reversed or a game played backwards in time.
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Celebrity chef Guy Fieri helps feed fire crews
Celebrity chef and Food Network host Guy Fieri is up in Redding feed residents displaced by the deadly and destructive Carr Fire, as well as first responders who are aiding in the firefight.
Fieri, a Northern California native who frequented Redding as child, took a team of about 20 volunteers to Shasta College. Once there, they set up a makeshift kitchen and cooked up approximately 750 meals for both lunch and dinner on Sunday.
"My son and I, and his buddies and a bunch of mine, loaded up our caravan from wine country and drove four hours up here," Fieri told CNN.
The host of shows such as "Diners, Drive-ins and Dives" and "Guy's Grocery Games" said his crew is working "arm and arm" with the Salvation Army, Operation BBQ Relief, local chefs and residents to prepare the meals.
"The Salvation Army has been on the ground in Redding … They got involved right off the bat," Fieri said. "They got involved Friday, started helping folks with a place to stay, and get something to eat, and get water, and you know all those basics that we … have on a regular basis, and all of a sudden they're gone."
About 36,000 residents have been displaced, he noted. The conditions are so bad up there because of the fire that "you can't even see the sun," Fieri added.
Nearly 1,000 structures, including many homes, have been destroyed by the 98,000-acre inferno, making it among the top 10 most destructive wildfires ever in California.
Fieri was also on hand with his team last October when the most destructive fire in state history — the Tubbs Fire — burned in Sonoma County, destroying more than 5,600 structures.
A Santa Rosa resident, his family was among those who were evacuated as the deadly blaze raged.
Fieri urged people visit to the Salvation Army's website if they'd like to help victims of the Carr Fire.
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Buhari Meets Obasanjo
President Muhammadu Buhari on Thursday met behind closed door with former President Olusegun Obasanjo inside the Presidential Villa, Abuja.The meeting which was held inside the President's office lasted about an hour.Obasanjo who was driven into the forecourt of the President's office in a black Sports Utility Vehicle cracked jokes with journalists on his photographs with the wife of former President Goodluck Jonathan, Patience, which went viral on the internet recently before entering the President's office.At the end of the meeting, the former President told State House correspondents that he used the opportunity of the meeting to share his experiences on some of his recent international engagements with Buhari.
The former President also feigned ignorance of the recent claim by the National
When asked to comment on the 2016 Appropriation Bill, Obasanjo said he could not do so until he would have read the document and know what it contains.
On Buhari's delay in signing the budget, he said, "The constitution allows you (the President) to continue with the budget provided you did not go beyond the previous year. That can be done up to the middle of the year.
When also asked for his view on the ongoing trial of the President of the Senate, Bukola Saraki, before the Code of Conduct Tribunal, the former President said, "Eh en? What is wrong with him?" as he walked towards his waiting car.


Flawed (Volume 2)
THERE'S THE PERSON who you think you should be and there's the person who you really are. I've lost a sense of both.
A WEED IS just a flower growing in the wrong place.
They're not my words, they're my granddad's.
He sees the beauty in everything, or perhaps it's more that he thinks things that are unconventional and out of place are more beautiful than anything else. I see this trait in him every day: favoring the old farmhouse instead of the modernized gatehouse, brewing coffee in the ancient cast-iron pot over the open flames of the Aga instead of using the gleaming new espresso machine Mom bought him three birthdays ago that sits untouched, gathering dust, on the countertop. It's not that he's afraid of progress—in fact he is the first person to fight for change—but he likes authenticity, everything in its truest form. Including weeds: He admires their audacity, growing in places they haven't been planted. It is this trait of his that has drawn me to him in my time of need, and why he is putting his own safety on the line to harbor me.
Harbor.
That's the word the Guild has used: Anybody who is aiding or harboring Celestine North will face severe punishment. They don't state the punishment, but the Guild's reputation allows us to imagine. The danger of keeping me on his land doesn't appear to scare Granddad; it makes him even more convinced of his duty to protect me.
"A weed is simply a plant that wants to grow where people want something else," he adds now, stooping low to pluck the intruder from the soil with his strong hands.
He has fighting hands, big and thick like shovels, but then in contradiction to that, they're nurturing hands, too. They've sewn and grown, from his own land, and held and protected his own daughter and grandchildren. These hands that could choke a man are the same hands that reared a woman, that have cultivated the land. Maybe the strongest fighters are the nurturers because they're connected to something deep in their core, they've got something to fight for, they've got something worth saving.
Granddad owns one hundred acres, not all strawberry fields like the one we're in now, but he opens this part of the land up to the public in the summer months. Families pay to pick their own strawberries; he says the income helps him to keep things ticking over. He can't stop it this year, not just for monetary reasons but because the Guild will know he's hiding me. They're watching him. He must keep going as he does every year, and I try not to think how it will feel to hear the sounds of children happily plucking and playing, or how much more dangerous it will be with strangers on the land who might unearth me in the process.
I used to love coming here as a child with my sister, Juniper, in the strawberry-picking season. At the end of a long day we would have more berries in our bellies than in our baskets, but it doesn't feel like the same magical place anymore. Now I'm de-weeding the soil where I once played make-believe.
I know that when Granddad talks about plants growing where they're not wanted, he's talking about me, like he's invented his own unique brand of farmer therapy, but though he means well, it just succeeds in highlighting the facts to me.
I'm the weed.
Branded Flawed in five areas on my body and a secret sixth for good measure, for aiding a Flawed and lying to the Guild, I was given a clear message: Society didn't want me. They tore me from my terra firma, dangled me by my roots, shook me around, and tossed me aside.
"But who called these weeds?" Granddad continues as we work our way through the beds. "Not nature. It's people who did that. Nature allows them to grow. Nature gives them their place. It is people who brand them and toss them aside."
"But this one is strangling the flowers," I finally say, looking up from my work, back sore, nails filthy with soil.
Granddad fixes me with a look, tweed cap low over his bright blue eyes, always alert, always on the lookout, like a hawk. "They're survivors, that's why. They're fighting for their place."
I swallow my sadness and look away.
I'm a weed. I'm a survivor. I'm Flawed.
I'm eighteen years old today.
Copyright © 2017 by Cecelia Ahern