Gentlemen, Choose Your Weapons—The Race Conditions for the America’s Cup

1990 ◽  
Vol 27 (02) ◽  
pp. 94-100
Author(s):  
Karl L. Kirkman

It is probable that no competitor has entered the America's Cup competition without holding some expectation of winning, and a dominant factor in doing so is the equipment used. Yacht racing is an equipment sport, and except for a small minority of so-called one-designs, no serious observer considers the equipment to be equal for the various competitors. Because of the great variety of conditions under which races are conducted, and the statistically small samples used to select an America's Cup winner, the variation in equipment takes on supreme importance. Indeed, the competition has sometimes been won2 before the preparatory gun for the first race; thoughtful equipment choices made the racing itself a sail-over. On the other hand, public opinion seems to eschew a mismatch. A paradox seems to exist in that part of the competition is understood and agreed to involve the "contest before the contest"—placing oneself at advantage by means of clever equipment choices—while at the same time observers claim to want a fair race series, which directly contradicts the acceptance of equipment advantage. In short, the public wants a victory but not a rout. In light of recent controversy regarding equipment rules in the 1983, 1987 and recently in the 1988 series, the paper recounts the historical context of equipment choices to assist in the understanding of an apparently chaotic situation.

2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. e58909
Author(s):  
Flávia Foresto Porto da Costa

Criadas em 1994 como uma confederação de exércitos privados colombianos, as Autodefesas Unidas da Colômbia (AUC) marcaram uma expansão do paramilitarismo e um recrudescimento do conflito armado naquele país, tendo sido atuantes até seu processo de desmobilização, em 2002. Buscando compreender as origens, a organização e os discursos desse fenômeno paramilitar, o presente trabalho realiza uma pesquisa bibliográfica e documental que inclui, entre outros, os documentos originais das AUC e entrevistas com suas principais lideranças. Verifica-se que as AUC constituíram, por um lado, uma continuidade em relação ao paramilitarismo das doutrinas contrainsurgentes da Guerra Fria e aos grupos de civis armados financiados por narcotraficantes e proprietários de terra do final dos anos 70, e, por outro, um ponto de inflexão da estratégia paramilitar na Colômbia, quando esses exércitos buscam se projetar como atores políticos e independentes diante da opinião pública, buscando imitar pelo avesso a retórica e as estruturas guerrilheiras.Palavras-Chave: Paramilitarismo; Contrainsurgência; Colômbia.ABSTRACTCreated in 1994 as a confederation of Colombian private armies, the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia (AUC) marked an expansion of paramilitary and a renewed armed conflict in that country, having been active until its demobilization process in 2002. Seeking to understand the origins, the organization and the speeches of this paramilitary phenomenon, the present work conducts a bibliographic and documentary research that includes, among others, the original documents of the AUC and interviews with its main leaders. It appears that the AUC constituted, on the one hand, a continuity in relation to the paramilitarism of counterinsurgent Cold War doctrines and groups of armed civilians financed by drug traffickers and landowners in the late 1970s, and, on the other hand, a point inflection of the paramilitary strategy in Colombia, when these armies seek to project themselves as political and independent actors before the public opinion, trying to imitate the rhetoric and guerrilla structures inside out.Keywords: Paramilitarism; Counterinsurgency; Colombia. Recebido em: 04/04/2021 | Aceito em: 09/06/2021. 


Author(s):  
Zari Dorri

Holden Caulfield, the major character in Jerome David Salinger’s most rewarded novel The Catcher in the Rye, long stood as the innovative and leading figure for such distinctive and revolutionary traits in a character he presented in 1959s’ America literary domain. Salinger media-shy and no interview policies led the public to spread out the idea of the author’s being the whole genius behind the sheer novelty of Holden Caulfield character by making a myth out of the author who turns down any kind of publicity and is finally lionized. This student-friendly hero who denigrate respectability and” phoniness” with his cynical attitude and obscene language, in one way or another, is kept being compared to such huge characters like Huckle Berry Finn whose universal popularity is barely deniable; but the question is that, could at any rate, J.D.Salinger be the sole innovator behind this genuineness? On the other hand, are there any other social and environmental factors, which came to pave the way for any kinds of Holden to be born and well liked? The main purpose of the paper is to answer these questions by a kind of critical theory as New Historicism and survey through the history as a discourse in this method. The results and findings indicate that, apparently, there was a specific social context for the emergence of this novel, with which the author had to interact. By opening up the environmental condition of those days and considering the facts, which affected Holden’s birth and popularity in that era. This essay will point out the fact that criticizing America’s 50s in such aforementioned ambience was inevitably and to some extent predictable.


Revue Romane ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 49 (2) ◽  
pp. 333-348
Author(s):  
Stefano Jossa

The discussion on Italian identity has recently been brought to the attention of the public opinion in Italy as an outcome of the so-called “fine della prima Repubblica” (“end of the first Republic”). Literary identity has soon become a core issue, in order to promote a reflection on the idea of Italy independently of its political unity. This essay aims to reconstruct the various positions pro and contra the hypothesis of a literary identity, which can be seen, on the one hand, as an outcome of Risorgimento and Fascist propaganda, but also, on the other hand, as a means to overcome political divides and develop a shared rather than ethnical community.


2020 ◽  
Vol 6 (4) ◽  
pp. 27-37
Author(s):  
Zhanar Abdigapbarova

Teaching fiction is closely related to science because any sphere of science involves theoretical and applied practical meaning. While forming a fiction-reading student by teaching literature we should take into account both theoretical and applied systems of the literature and pay attention to its artistic nature. When the meaning of the word, a concept, or an idea influence the student, he/she starts to think deeply and attentively. Moreover, reading fiction affects consciousness differently. On one hand, it may encourage an individual to act, on the other hand, it may invoke his interest in the subject (literature) and encourage him/her to read fiction. Teaching is a bilateral process, hence, its quality is directly related to the attitudes of the student and the level of cognitive activity and didactic improvement of the teacher’s work. Improving critical thinking improves students’ cognitive activity. The literature of any nation develops in a close relationship with its history. Any scientific sphere is also closely related to history. There is no life beyond history as well as literature. Therefore, teaching fiction is an extremely effective way of forming historical consciousness. The public opinion in Kazakhstan is formed through the history and literature of the Kazakh nation.


APRIA Journal ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 11-16
Author(s):  
José Teunissen

In the last few years, it has often been said that the current fashion system is outdated, still operating by a twentieth-century model that celebrates the individualism of the 'star designer'. In I- D, Sarah Mower recently stated that for the last twenty years, fashion has been at a cocktail party and has completely lost any connection with the public and daily life. On the one hand, designers and big brands experience the enormous pressure to produce new collections at an ever higher pace, leaving less room for reflection, contemplation, and innovation. On the other hand, there is the continuous race to produce at even lower costs and implement more rapid life cycles, resulting in disastrous consequences for society and the environment.


Author(s):  
Matthias Albani

The monotheistic confession in Isa 40–48 is best understood against the historical context of Israel’s political and religious crisis situation in the final years of Neo-Babylonian rule. According to Deutero-Isaiah, Yhwh is unique and incomparable because he alone truly predicts the “future” (Isa 41:22–29)—currently the triumph of Cyrus—which will lead to Israel’s liberation from Babylonian captivity (Isa 45). This prediction is directed against the Babylonian deities’ claim to possess the power of destiny and the future, predominantly against Bel-Marduk, to whom both Nabonidus and his opponents appeal in their various political assertions regarding Cyrus. According to the Babylonian conviction, Bel-Marduk has the universal divine power, who, on the one hand, directs the course of the stars and thus determines the astral omens and, on the other hand, directs the course of history (cf. Cyrus Cylinder). As an antithesis, however, Deutero-Isaiah proclaims Yhwh as the sovereign divine creator and leader of the courses of the stars in heaven as well as the course of history on earth (Isa 45:12–13). Moreover, the conflict between Nabonidus and the Marduk priesthood over the question of the highest divine power (Sîn versus Marduk) may have had a kind of “catalytic” function in Deutero-Isaiah’s formulation of the monotheistic confession.


1918 ◽  
Vol 12 (3) ◽  
pp. 403-426 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. O. Sauer

The gerrymander is an American name for a political abuse, which, though by no means exclusively American, has been most widely practiced and generally tolerated in this country. It is a device for the partial suppression of public opinion that simulates agreement with democratic institutions. The subterfuge, therefore, has no place in countries in which oligarchic control is legitimized. Nor is it suited to European conditions, because it is difficult there to shift electoral boundaries. European electoral units in large part have a clearly defined historical basis, which in turn rests upon geographic coherence. This solidarity is commonly so great that it cannot be disregarded. American political divisions on the other hand show in major part very imperfect adjustment to economic and historic conditions, largely, because many of the divisions were created in advance of such conditions. They are, in the main, not gradual growths, but deliberate and arbitrary legislative creations, made without adequate knowledge of the conditions that make for unity or disunity of population within an area. Political divisions tend, therefore, to be less significant than in European countries and to be regarded more lightly. It is in particular the smaller unit, such as the county, that has been manipulated for electoral purposes. In spite of their poorly drawn individual boundaries, groups of counties can be organized into larger electoral units in such a manner as to represent a common body of interests predominating. On the other hand they can be so arranged as to mask these interests. The lack of proper coherence in the individual county may be rectified in large measure in the group, or it may be intensified. Gerrymandering accomplishes the latter result.


2021 ◽  
Vol 29 (1) ◽  
pp. 36-61
Author(s):  
Michael Poznic ◽  
Rafaela Hillerbrand

Climatologists have recently introduced a distinction between projections as scenario-based model results on the one hand and predictions on the other hand. The interpretation and usage of both terms is, however, not univocal. It is stated that the ambiguities of the interpretations may cause problems in the communication of climate science within the scientific community and to the public realm. This paper suggests an account of scenarios as props in games of make-belive. With this account, we explain the difference between projections that should be make-believed and other model results that should be believed.


2018 ◽  
Vol 66 (4) ◽  
pp. 507-531 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Großheim

Abstract We know that Helmuth Plessner complained about his anthropological magnum opus, published in 1928, being overshadowed by Heidegger from the beginning. When the latter, in turn, responded to Plessner, for example to his preface to Stufen, it was always anonymously; Heidegger never actually mentioned Plessner in any publication. Plessner on the other hand emphasized that he had developed his concept without any knowledge of Sein und Zeit, even though since 1924, he had shown strong interest in the yet-unknown colleague’s work. Thus, it appeared to the public that they philosophised independently of one another. In fact, the situation is much more complicated. This paper tries, above all, to identify the sources of the peculiar discomfort caused on both sides by the work of the respective other, as well as to delineate the philosophical effects. Notably in Heidegger’s case, not enough is known about this. Heidegger starts out, in the 1920’s, cultivating a strong anti-anthropological affect; however, after his triumphal success, both with his publication and in the institutional field, in 1927/1928, he finds himself in an orientation crisis; it is from this point onwards that traces of Plessner’s anthropology can be found in his thinking. Ultimately, Plessner will prove a serious source of irritation as well as of inspiration for Heidegger. Additionally, from a systematic point of view, the present text retraces the main points of Plessner’s critique (subjectivity, disembodiedness of fundamental ontology). The investigation makes use of a broader corpus of text than was available to Plessner and Heidegger’s contemporaries, and concentrates on two questions: Did Plessner understand his opponent? Is he able to raise valid objections? It becomes obvious that Plessner is right in complaining about disembodiedness (even though his own Leib philosophy remains conceptually diffuse), while some differentiation is advisable concerning the subjectivism charge.


2020 ◽  
pp. 292-344
Author(s):  
Vuk Vukotić

This article compares the language ideologies of language experts (both academic and non-academic) in online news media in Lithuania, Norway and Serbia. The results will reveal that language is understood in diametrically opposed ways amongst Lithuanian and Serbian academic experts on the one, and Norwegian academic experts on the other hand. Lithuanian and Serbian academic experts are influenced by modernist ideas of language as a single, homogenous entity, whose borders ideally match the borders of an ethnic group. Norwegian academic experts function in the public sphere as those who try to deconstruct the modernist notion of language by employing an understanding of language as a cognitive tool that performs communicative and other functions. On the other hand, non-academic experts in all the three countries exhibit a striking similarity in their language ideologies, as the great majority expresses modernist ideals of language.


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