text:
Download popular TV Show Patrick Melrose season 1,2 complete, easy and safe, without torrents. | MKV AVI MP4 | Online stream
Patrick Melrose seasons list:
TV Show Patrick Melrose season 1,2 complete seasons with full episodes available for free download, no torrents and pop Ads, only direct download links are listed here, mobile and tablet support. Showtime,Sky Atlantic Episodes are uploaded in mp4|avi|mkv formats. Quality: 480p|720p|1080p Full HD | Free Stream
8.1	/10 25 votes
Patrick Melrose screencaps
Human life is like a book without a title when the inspection cover is impossible to guess the contents. The veneer and respectability of people is often a mask hiding deep emotional wounds and problems. Inner demons sitting deep in the subconscious, but sometimes break out turning life into a surreal nightmare resembling a run in a vicious circle where children's experiences and complexes are intertwined with reality, forcing us to find ways to muffle the incessant mental suffering. Trying to escape from this delirium people will do anything, including the most radical ways of solving problems. Patrick also known as Melrose – the representative of the aristocratic family, grew up in a wealthy and affluent family. At first glance the guy to be envied, because a pedigree is a dream of many. However, within a respectable family reigned complex relationship, therefore, the childhood of a young Merlose can not be called cloudless and carefree. Young Patrick can be roughly partitioned into light and dark moments. The white side of life certainly is the mother who tenderly loved son trying to indulge any desires of the boy. A black stripe is the father, who adhere to severe methods of discipline, sometimes bordering on outright stiffness. Also known as Melrose-senior believed that his son should grow a real man, so tried to prepare him for any life situation. Patrick Frank suffered from such treatment, but to his indignation at the support of the mother he had received. The woman loved my son, but did not prevent the father to be tough in every way concealing it from others. When the parents died, Patrick is left alone with the inner feelings and mental trauma, therefore, fell into a deep depression. The guy tried to stabilize the psycho-emotional state asking for help in specialized clinics, but even advanced treatment methods were powerless. Patrick finds an outlet generating a temporary, but calm in his traumatized soul. He's trying to deal with problems independently with the help of alcohol and drugs, but gradually becomes addicted to these harmful habits. The life of a playboy with aristocratic roots resembles a swamp that sucks him ever deeper destroying consciousness. Now Patrick is trying to fix his warped destiny, but it is not so easy task as it seems at first glance.
All Seasons of Patrick Melrose by Showtime,Sky Atlantic, download and watch online(stream) without registration
Patrick Melrose Season 1

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
Everything But The News Reports on Indiegogo and Crowdfunding
Rollin Bishop
In the tenth episode and season finale of the documentary comedy series Everything But The News, host Steve Goldbloom gets some bad news about the future of the show, visits crowdfunding company Indiegogo, and attempts to raise some money of his own.
PBS informs Steve about the cancellation of his show and assigns him a final report on crowdfunding with a promise to relay his findings on a live, on-air hit with NewsHour's Gwen Ifill. In a last ditch effort to save the show, Steve uses an interview at Indiegogo as a opportunity to launch an audience-powered campaign to stay alive.
Previous Post 'A Love Letter to Food', Facts About Food Loss And Waste In the United States
Next Post He-Gassen, A Japanese Art Scroll Featuring a Number of People Farting at Each Other


text:
Results for 'ontological realism'
Bibliography: Ontological Realism in Metaphysics
Ontological realism: A methodology for coordinated evolution of scientific ontologies.Barry Smith & Werner Ceusters - 2010 - Applied ontology 5 (3):139-188.details
Since 2002 we have been testing and refining a methodology for ontology development that is now being used by multiple groups of researchers in different life science domains. Gary Merrill, in a recent paper in this journal, describes some of the reasons why this methodology has been found attractive by researchers in the biological and biomedical sciences. At the same time he assails the methodology on philosophical grounds, focusing specifically on our recommendation that ontologies developed for scientific purposes should be (...) constructed in such a way that their terms are seen as referring to what we call universals or types in reality. As we show, Merrill's critique is of little relevance to the success of our realist project, since it not only reveals no actual errors in our work but also criticizes views on universals that we do not in fact hold. However, it nonetheless provides us with a valuable opportunity to clarify the realist methodology, and to show how some of its principles are being applied, especially within the framework of the OBO (Open Biomedical Ontologies) Foundry initiative. (shrink)
Clinical data wrangling using Ontological Realism and Referent Tracking.Werner Ceusters, Chiun Yu Hsu & Barry Smith - 2014 - In Proceedings of the Fifth International Conference on Biomedical Ontology (ICBO), Houston, 2014, (CEUR, 1327). pp. 27-32.details
Ontological realism aims at the development of high quality ontologies that faithfully represent what is general in reality and to use these ontologies to render heterogeneous data collections comparable. To achieve this second goal for clinical research datasets presupposes not merely (1) that the requisite ontologies already exist, but also (2) that the datasets in question are faithful to reality in the dual sense that (a) they denote only particulars and relationships between particulars that do in fact exist (...) and (b) they do this in terms of the types and type-level relationships described in these ontologies. While much attention has been devoted to (1), work on (2), which is the topic of this paper, is comparatively rare. Using Referent Tracking as basis, we describe a technical data wrangling strategy which consists in creating for each dataset a template that, when applied to each particular record in the dataset, leads to the generation of a collection of Referent Tracking Tuples (RTT) built out of unique identifiers for the entities described by means of the data items in the record. The proposed strategy is based on (i) the distinction between data and what data are about, and (ii) the explicit descriptions of portions of reality which RTTs provide and which range not only over the particulars described by data items in a dataset, but also over these data items themselves. This last feature allows us to describe particulars that are only implicitly referred to by the dataset; to provide information about correspondences between data items in a dataset; and to assert which data items are unjustifiably or redundantly present in or absent from the dataset. The approach has been tested on a dataset collected from patients seeking treatment for orofacial pain at two German universities and made available for the NIDCR-funded OPMQoL project. (shrink)
Dealing with elements of medical encounters: An approach based on ontological realism.Farinelli Fernanda, Almeida Mauricio, Elkin Peter & Barry Smith - 2016 - Proceedings of the Joint International Conference on Biological Ontology and Biocreative 1747.details
Electronic health records (EHRs) serve as repositories of documented data collected in a health care encounter. An EHR records information about who receives, who provides the health care and about the place where the encounter happens. We also observe additional elements relating to social relations in which the healthcare consumer is involved. To provide a consensus representation of common data and to enhance interoperability between different EHR repositories we have created a solution grounded in formal ontology. Here, we present how (...) an ontology for the obstetric and neonatal domain deals with these general elements documented in health care encounters. Our goal is to promote the interoperability of information among EHRs created in different specialties. To develop our ontology, we used two main approaches: one based on ontological realism, the other based on the principles of the OBO Foundry, including reuse of reference ontologies. (shrink)
Philosophical foundations of intelligence collection and analysis: a defense of ontological realism.William Mandrick & Barry Smith - 2022 - Intelligence and National Security 38.details
There is a common misconception across the lntelligence Community (IC) to the effect that information trapped within multiple heterogeneous data silos can be semantically integrated by the sorts of meaning-blind statistical methods employed in much of artificial intelligence (Al) and natural language processlng (NLP). This leads to the misconception that incoming data can be analysed coherently by relying exclusively on the use of statistical algorithms and thus without any shared framework for classifying what the data are about. Unfortunately, such approaches (...) do not yield sustainable results where we are dealing with widely distributed, highly heterogeneous and often changing bodies of data. We argue here that the needed integration requires the use of what we call an lntegrating Semantic Framework (ISF), which provldes a consistent set of categories and relationships that can be reused over and over again to tag successive bodies of data in ways which foster more coherent representation and reasoning. (shrink)
Non-Realist Cognitivism, Truthmaking, and Ontological Cheating.Farbod Akhlaghi - 2022 - Ethics 132 (2):291-321.details
Derek Parfit defended Non-Realist Cognitivism. It is an open secret that this metaethical theory is often thought at best puzzling and at worst objectionably unclear. Employing truthmaker theory, I provide an account of Non-Realist Cognitivism that dispels charges of objectionable unclarity, clarifies how to assess it, and explains why, if plausible, it would be an attractive theory. I develop concerns that the theory involves cheating into an objection that ultimately reveals Non-Realist Cognitivism faces a dilemma. Whether it can escape demands (...) further attention. In bridging metaethics and the truthmaking literature, I illustrate the importance of greater meta-metaphysical reflection in metaethics. (shrink)
The ontology of words: Realism, nominalism, and eliminativism.J. T. M. Miller - 2020 - Philosophy Compass 15 (7):e12691.details
What are words? What makes two token words tokens of the same word-type? Are words abstract entities, or are they (merely) collections of tokens? The ontology of words tries to provide answers to these, and related questions. This article provides an overview of some of the most prominent views proposed in the literature, with a particular focus on the debate between type-realist, nominalist, and eliminativist ontologies of words.
Realism, ontology, and the concept of reality.R. Martinelli - 2014 - Etica E Politica 16 (2):526-532.details
This essay focuses on realism in ontology and on the problem of defining reality. According to the definition given by many realists, reality is independent of our thoughts, conceptual schemes, linguistic practices, etc. Yet, this merely negative definition of reality has some disadvantages: it implies a dualistic view, and it is incompatible with scientific realism. As an alternative, I introduce and discuss the traditional definition of reality as effectiveness, or capability of acting. I then attempt to determine to (...) what extent this definition can be helpful in the debate concerning ontological realism. (shrink)
Ontological-Transcendental Defence of Metanormative Realism.Michael Kowalik - 2020 - Philosophia 48 (2):573-586.details
If there is something (P) that every possible agent is committed to value, and certain actions or attitudes either enhance or diminish P, then normative claims about a range of intentional actions can be objectively and non-trivially evaluated. I argue that the degree of existence as an agent depends on the consistency of reflexive-relating with other individuals of the agent-kind: the ontological thesis. I then show that in intending to act on a reason, every agent is rationally committed to (...) value 'above all else' being an agent, what consists in exercising the capacity to act and having the freedom to discriminate between more or less valuable actions: the transcendental thesis. Since the degree of possession of this personal but non-contingent good depends on relating to other agents in a special way, certain actions and attitudes may be objectively right or wrong for all agents. (shrink)
Spacetime, Ontology, and Structural Realism.Edward Slowik - 2005 - International Studies in the Philosophy of Science 19 (2):147 – 166.details
This essay explores the possibility of constructing a structural realist interpretation of spacetime theories that can resolve the ontological debate between substantivalists and relationists. Drawing on various structuralist approaches in the philosophy of mathematics, as well as on the theoretical complexities of general relativity, our investigation will reveal that a structuralist approach can be beneficial to the spacetime theorist as a means of deflating some of the ontological disputes regarding similarly structured spacetimes.
The Ontology of Quantum Field Theory: Structural Realism Vindicated?David Glick - 2016 - Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part A 59:78-86.details
In this paper I elicit a prediction from structural realism and compare it, not to a historical case, but to a contemporary scientific theory. If structural realism is correct, then we should expect physics to develop theories that fail to provide an ontology of the sort sought by traditional realists. If structure alone is responsible for instrumental success, we should expect surplus ontology to be eliminated. Quantum field theory (QFT) provides the framework for some of the best confirmed (...) theories in science, but debates over its ontology are vexed. Rather than taking a stand on these matters, the structural realist can embrace QFT as an example of just the kind of theory SR should lead us to expect. Yet, it is not clear that QFT meets the structuralist's positive expectation by providing a structure for the world. In particular, the problem of unitarily inequivalent representations threatens to undermine the possibility of QFT providing a unique structure for the world. In response to this problem, I suggest that the structuralist should endorse pluralism about structure. (shrink)
An ontological proof of moral realism.Michael Huemer - 2013 - Social Philosophy and Policy 30 (1-2):259-279.details
The essay argues that while there is no general agreement on whether moral realism is true, there is general agreement on at least some of the moral obligations that we have if moral realism is true. Given that moral realism might be true, and given that we know some of the things we ought to do if it is true, we have a reason to do those things. Furthermore, this reason is itself an objective moral reason. Thus, (...) if moral realism might be true, then it is true. (shrink)
Ontologically significant aggregation: Process structural realism (PSR).Joseph E. Earley - 2008 - In Weber (ed.), Handbook of Whiteheadian Process Thought. De Gruyter. pp. 2--179.details
Combinations of molecules, of biological individuals, or of chemical processes can produce effects that are not simply attributable to the constituents. Such non-redundant causality warrants recognition of those coherences as ontologically significant whenever that efficacy is relevant. With respect to such interaction, the effective coherence is more real than are the components. This ontological view is a variety of structural realism and is also a kind of process philosophy. The designation 'process structural realism' (PSR) seems appropriate.
Scientific Realism and Primitive Ontology Or: The Pessimistic Induction and the Nature of the Wave Function.Valia Allori - 2018 - Lato Sensu 1 (5):69-76.details
In this paper I wish to connect the recent debate in the philosophy of quantum mechanics concerning the nature of the wave function to the historical debate in the philosophy of science regarding the tenability of scientific realism. Being realist about quantum mechanics is particularly challenging when focusing on the wave function. According to the wave function ontology approach, the wave function is a concrete physical entity. In contrast, according to an alternative viewpoint, namely the primitive ontology approach, the (...) wave function does not represent physical entities. In this paper, I argue that the primitive ontology approach can naturally be interpreted as an instance of the so-called 'explanationism' realism, which has been proposed as a response to the pessimistic-meta induction argument against scientific realism. If my arguments are sound, then one could conclude that: (1) contrarily to what is commonly though, if explanationism realism is a good response to the pessimistic-meta induction argument, it can be straightforwardly extended also to the quantum domain; (2) the primitive ontology approach is in better shape than the wave function ontology approach in resisting the pessimistic-meta induction argument against scientific realism. (shrink)
Scientific realism and ontology.Uskali Mäki - 2008 - In Steven N. Durlauf & Lawrence E. Blume (eds.), The New Palgrave Dictionary of Economics : volume 7 : real balances - stochastic volatility models. Palgrave-Macmillan.details
Economists customarily talk about the 'realism' of economic models and of their assumptions and make descriptive and prescriptive judgements about them: this model has more realism in it than that, the realism of assumptions does not matter, and so on. This is not the way philosophers mostly use the term 'realism' thus there is a major terminological discontinuity between the two disciplines. The following remarks organise and critically elaborate some of the philosophical usages of the term (...) and show some of the ways in which they relate to economists' concerns. In the philosophy of science, scientific realism is the mainstream position – or rather a heterogeneous collection of positions - that includes ideas about the nature of scientific theories and how they are related to the real world and about the goals and achievements of scientific inquiry. However, most of what philosophers have contributed around these ideas is not designed to deal with the peculiarities of economics, thus some important adjustments are needed to make scientific realism an interesting position for economists. (shrink)
A realism-based approach to the evolution of biomedical ontologies.Barry Smith - 2006 - In Proceedings of the Annual AMIA Symposium. Washington, DC: American Medical Informatics Association. pp. 121-125.details
We present a novel methodology for calculating the improvements obtained in successive versions of biomedical ontologies. The theory takes into account changes both in reality itself and in our understanding of this reality. The successful application of the theory rests on the willingness of ontology authors to document changes they make by following a number of simple rules. The theory provides a pathway by which ontology authoring can become a science rather than an art, following principles analogous to those that (...) have fostered the growth of modern evidence-based medicine. Although in this paper we focus on ontologies, the methodology can be generalized to other sorts of terminology-based artifacts, including Electronic Patient Records. (shrink)
An ontology of weak entity realism for HPC kinds.Reuben Sass - 2021 - Synthese 198 (12):11861-11880.details
This paper defends an ontology of weak entity realism for homeostatic property cluster (HPC) theories of natural kinds, adapted from Bird's (Synthese 195(4):1397–1426, 2018) taxonomy of such theories. Weak entity realism about HPC kinds accepts the existence of natural kinds. Weak entity realism denies two theses: that (1) HPC kinds have mind-independent essences, and that (2) HPC kinds reduce to entities, such as complex universals, posited only by metaphysical theories. Strong entity realism accepts (1) and (2), (...) whereas moderate entity realism accepts only (1). Given its commitment to (2), strong entity realism is more theoretically complex than weak entity realism, with little explanatory payoff. Given their commitment to (1), moderate and strong entity realisms cannot explain how the identity conditions of HPC kinds are to be straightforwardly knowable. I argue that weak entity realism avoids such epistemic difficulties. I further rebut two plausible criticisms of weak entity realism, namely that weak entity realism cannot account for quantification over kinds, and that weak entity realism cannot provide identity conditions for HPC kinds which are both scientifically useful and objective. Given the theoretical costs of strong and moderate entity realism, and weak entity realism's adequate response to its most plausible challenges, weak entity realism about HPCs is to be preferred, especially for biological and chemical kinds. (shrink)
Foundations for a Realist Ontology of Mental Disease.Werner Ceusters & Barry Smith - 2010 - Journal of Biomedical Semantics 1 (10):1-23.details
While classifications of mental disorders have existed for over one hundred years, it still remains unspecified what terms such as 'mental disorder', 'disease' and 'illness' might actually denote. While ontologies have been called in aid to address this shortfall since the GALEN project of the early 1990s, most attempts thus far have sought to provide a formal description of the structure of some pre-existing terminology or classification, rather than of the corresponding structures and processes on the side of the patient. (...) We here present a view of mental disease that is based on ontological realism and which follows the principles embodied in Basic Formal Ontology and in the application of BFO in the Ontology of General Medical Science. We analyzed statements about what counts as a mental disease provided in the research agenda for the DSM-V, and in Pies' model. The results were used to assess whether the representational units of BFO and OGMS were adequate as foundations for a formal representation of the entities in reality that these statements attempt to describe. We then analyzed the representational units specific to mental disease and provided corresponding definitions. Our key contributions lie in the identification of confusions and conflations in the existing terminology of mental disease and in providing what we believe is a framework for the sort of clear and unambiguous reference to entities on the side of the patient that is needed in order to avoid these confusions in the future. (shrink)
Ontological omniscience in Lewisian modal realism.J. Reinert - 2013 - Analysis 73 (4):676-682.details
A simple argument against Lewisian modal realism as portrayed in On the Plurality of World arises from its treatment of doxastic modalities. It is easily shown that if it is true, it is impossible to doubt the theory on ontological grounds, or, that, if it is possible to maintain doubt about modal realism's existential postulate, it has to be false. The argument hinges on the fact that modal realism's main ontological hypothesis, if true, is necessarily (...) true. (shrink)
Cautious realism and middle range ontology.P. D. Magnus - 2018 - Metascience 27 (3):365-370.details
Part of a book symposium on Anjan Chakravartty's Scientific ontology: integrating naturalized metaphysics and voluntarist epistemology (Oxford University Press, 2017).
Anti-Realism, Easy Ontology, and Issues of Reference.Iñaki Xavier Larrauri Pertierra - manuscriptdetails
In order to re-contextualize the otherwise ontologically privileged meaning of metaphysical debates into a more insubstantial form, metaphysical deflationism runs the risk of having to adopt potentially unwanted anti-realist tendencies. This tension between deflationism and anti-realism can be expressed as follows: in order to claim truthfully that something exists, how can deflationism avoid the anti-realist feature of construing such claims singularly in an analytical fashion? One may choose to adopt a Yablovian fallibilism about existential claims, but other approaches can (...) be appealed to as well. Amie Thomasson's Easy Ontology is one such approach, whereby the interaction of empirical as well as analytic features within the construction of its ontological theory affords a role for analytical rules without forsaking a link with empirical reality. The development of these analytical and empirical features has resulted in significant critiques regarding, one, potential reference failure of easy-ontological claims, and two, a circularity in how easy ontology explains the relation between its analytical rules and existential claims. This essay offers a response by showcasing how an easy ontological deflationism can reject these criticisms without succumbing to, one, the anti-realism of pure analyticism, and two, a further critique of wholesale referential indeterminacy in its referring terms. (shrink)
Foundation for a Realist Ontology of Cognitive Processes.David Kasmier, David Limbaugh & Barry Smith - 2019 - In Proceedings of the International Conference on Biomedical Ontology (ICBO), University at Buffalo, NY.details
What follows is a first step towards an ontology of conscious mental processes. We provide a theoretical foundation and characterization of conscious mental processes based on a realist theory of intentionality and using BFO as our top-level ontology. We distinguish three components of intentional mental process: character, directedness, and objective referent, and describe several features of the process character and directedness significant to defining and classifying mental processes. We arrive at the definition of representational mental process as a process that (...) is the bringing into being, sustaining, modifying, or terminating of a mental representation. We conclude by outlining some benefits and applications of this approach. (shrink)
Can an Ontological Pluralist Really be a Realist?J. T. M. Miller - 2016 - Metaphilosophy 47 (3):425-430.details
This article examines whether it is possible to uphold one form of deflationism towards metaphysics, ontological pluralism, whilst maintaining metaphysical realism. The focus therefore is on one prominent deflationist who fits the definition of an ontological pluralist, Eli Hirsch, and his self-ascription as a realist. The article argues that ontological pluralism is not amenable to the ascription of realism under some basic intuitions as to what a "realist" position is committed to. These basic intuitions include (...) a commitment to more than a stuff-ontology, and a view that realism carries with it more than a rejection of idealism. This issue is more than merely terminological. The ascription of realism is an important classification in order to understand what sorts of entities can be the truthmakers within a given theory. "Realism" is thus an important term to understand the nature of the entities that a given theory accepts into its ontology. (shrink)
Physics and ontology - or The 'ontology-ladenness' of epistemology and the 'scientific realism'-debate.Rudolf Lindpointner - manuscriptdetails
The question of what ontological insights can be gained from the knowledge of physics (keyword: ontic structural realism) cannot obviously be separated from the view of physics as a science from an epistemological perspective. This is also visible in the debate about 'scientific realism'. This debate makes it evident, in the form of the importance of perception as a criterion for the assertion of existence in relation to the 'theoretical entities' of physics, that epistemology itself is 'ontologically (...) laden'. This is in the form of the assumption that things (or entities) in themselves exist as such and such determined ones (independent of cognition, autonomously). This ontological assumption is not only the basis of our naïve understanding of cognition, but also its indispensable premise, insofar as this understanding is a fundamentally passive, 'receptive' one. Accordingly, just as 'perception' is the foundation, ('objective') description is the aim of cognition, that which cognition is about. In this sense, our idea of cognition and our idea of the things are inseparably linked. Without the ontological premise mentioned we just would not know what cognition is, but it is basically just a kind of image that we have in our minds (an assumption that helps us understand 'cognition'). Epistemology not only shares this basic assumption (which it also shares with metaphysics), but it revolves (unlike metaphysics) entirely around it by making the idea and demand of 'certainty' a condition of 'real' knowledge. As 'certainty' is a subjective criterion this entails the 'remodelling' of the real, holistic cognitive situation (to which metaphysics adheres) into a linear subject-object-relation (which results in the strict 'transcendence' of the objects). And it also establishes, due to its 'expertise' in matters of cognition, the 'primacy of epistemology' over all other sciences. Now, on closer inspection, however, the expertise of epistemology seems not all that dependable, because it basically consists only of paradigms which, from the point of view of the holism of the real cognitive situation itself, are nothing more than relatively simplistic interpretations of this situation. However, we do not yet know what another conception of cognition might look like (which is not surprising given the high rank of the phenomenon of cognition in the hierarchy of phenomena according to their complexity). 'Certainty' as a criterion of cognition is thus excluded from the outset, and thus the linear relational model of cognition appears as what it is, a gross distortion of the real, holistic cognitive situation. The significance of this argumentation with regard to physics is that the linear epistemological model of cognition itself is a major obstacle to an adequate epistemological understanding of physics. This is because it is fixed 'a priori' to an object-related concept of cognition, and to 'description' as the only mode of ('real') cognition. But physics (without questioning our naïve notion of cognition on the level of epistemology) simply works past it and its basic assumptions. Its cognitive concept (alias heuristic) is fundamentally different from that of metaphysics. The acceptance of the real, holistic cognitive situation is, in my opinion, the condition for an adequate understanding of physics' heuristic access to objects, its transcendental, generalizing cognitive concept, as well as its ontological relevance and dimension of its own. (shrink)
Biological explanations, realism, ontology, and categories.Matthew J. Barker - 2013 - Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part C: Studies in History and Philosophy of Biological and Biomedical Sciences 44 (4):617-622.details
This is an extended review of John Dupré's _Processes of Life_, a collection of essays. It clarifies Dupré's concepts of reductionism and anti-reductionism, and critically examines his associated discussions of downward causation, and both the context sensitivity and multiple realization of categories. It reviews his naturalistic monism, and critically distinguishes between his realism about categories and constructivism about classification. Challenges to his process ontology are presented, as are arguments for his pluralism about scientific categories. None of his main conclusions (...) are rejected; rather it is main arguments for them that are the focus. (shrink)
Benefits of Realist Ontologies to Systems Engineering.Eric Merrell, Robert M. Kelly, David Kasmier, Barry Smith, Marc Brittain, Ronald Ankner, Evan Maki, Curtis W. Heisey & Kevin Bush - 2021 - 8th International Workshop on Ontologies and Conceptual Modelling (OntoCom).details
Applied ontologies have been used more and more frequently to enhance systems engineering. In this paper, we argue that adopting principles of ontological realism can increase the benefits that ontologies have already been shown to provide to the systems engineering process. Moreover, adopting Basic Formal Ontology (BFO), an ISO standard for top-level ontologies from which more domain specific ontologies are constructed, can lead to benefits in four distinct areas of systems engineering: (1) interoperability, (2) standardization, (3) testing, and (...) (4) data exploitation. Reaping these benefits in a model-based systems engineering (MBSE) context requires utilizing an ontology's vocabulary when modeling systems and entities within those systems. If the chosen ontology abides by the principles of ontological realism, a semantic standard capable of uniting distinct domains, using BFO as a hub, can be leveraged to promote greater interoperability among systems. As interoperability and standardization increase, so does the ability to collect data during the testing and implementation of systems. These data can then be reasoned over by computational reasoners using the logical axioms within the ontology. This, in turn, generates new data that would have been impossible or too inefficient to generate without the aid of computational reasoners. (shrink)
Markov blankets: Realism and our ontological commitments.Danielle J. Williams - 2022 - Behavioral and Brain Sciences 45:e217.details
The authors argue that their target is orthogonal to the realism and instrumentalist debate. I argue that it is born directly from it. While the distinction is helpful in illuminating how some ontological commitments demand a theory of implementation, it's less clear whether different views cleanly map onto the epistemic and metaphysical uses defined in the paper.
Ontology of Knowledge Beyond the opposition idealism/realism (issue 20221026).Jean-Louis Boucon - 2022 - Academia.Edu.details
From 1) the main ideas of the Kantian CRP - 2) a reinterpretation of the concept of transcendental subject and - 3) the logical principle of Individuation, we propose a new ontology in which subject and object are of the same reality. We describe the dynamic principle by which the Existence of the subject emerges from formless meta-substance and separates into an animated representation of the world.
Applying the Realism-Based Ontology-Versioning Method for Tracking Changes in the Basic Formal Ontology.Selja Seppälä, Barry Smith & Werner Ceusters - 2014 - In P. Garbacz & O. Kutz (eds.), Formal Ontology in Information Systems (FOIS 2014). IOS Press. pp. 227-240.details
Changes in an upper level ontology have obvious conse-quences for the domain ontologies that use it at lower levels. It is therefore crucial to document the changes made between successive versions of ontologies of this kind. We describe and apply a method for tracking, explaining and measuring changes between successive versions of upper level ontologies such as the Basic Formal Ontology (BFO). The proposed change-tracking method extends earlier work on Realism-Based Ontology Versioning (RBOV) and Evolutionary Terminology Auditing (ETA). We (...) describe here the application of this evaluation method to changes between BFO 1.0, BFO 1.1, and BFO 2.0. We discuss the issues raised by this application and describe the extensions which we added to the original evaluation schema in order to account for changes in an ontology of this type. Our results show that BFO has undergone eight types of changes that can be systematically explained by the extended evaluation schema. Finally, we discuss problematic cases, possible pitfalls and certain limits of our study that we propose to address in future work. (shrink)
Process structural realism, instance ontology, and societal order.Joseph Earley - 2008 - In Franz Riffert and Hans-Joachim Sander (ed.), Rearching with Whitehead: System and Adventure. Berlin: Alber. pp. 190-211.details
Whitehead's cosmology centers on the self-creation of actual occasions that perish as they come to be, but somehow do combine to constitute societies that are persistent agents and/or patients. "Instance Ontology" developed by D.W. Mertz concerns unification of relata into facts of relatedness by specific intensions. These two conceptual systems are similar in that they both avoid the substance-property distinction: they differ in their understanding of how basic units combine to constitute complex unities. "Process Structural Realism" (PSR) draws from (...) both of these approaches in developing an account of how combinations of processes may produce ontologically significant coherences. When a group of processes achieves such closure that a set of states recurs continually, the effects of that coherence differ from what would occur in the absence of that closure. Such altered effectiveness is an attribute of the system as a whole, and would have consequences. This indicates that the network of processes, as a unit, has ontological significance. The closed network of processes, together with the conditions that prevail, constitute the form of definiteness of the coherence. That form continues to obtain as long as the coherence persists. Constituents contribute to, rather than share, that characteristic. Aspects of some recent research in systems biology, microeconomics, and social psychology illustrate the application of PSR. (shrink)
Actor Network, Ontic Structural Realism and the Ontological Status of Actants.Corrado Matta - 2014 - Proceedings of the 9th International Conference on Networked Learning 2014.details
In this paper I discuss the ontological status of actants. Actants are argued as being the basic constituting entities of networks in the framework of Actor Network Theory (Latour, 2007). I introduce two problems concerning actants that have been pointed out by Collin (2010). The first problem concerns the explanatory role of actants. According to Collin, actants cannot play the role of explanans of networks and products of the same newtork at the same time, at pain of circularity. The (...) second problem is that if actants are, as suggested by Latour, fundamentally propertyless, then it is unclear how they combine into networks. This makes the nature of actants inexplicable. -/- I suggest that both problems rest on the assumption of a form of object ontology, i.e. the assumption that the ontological basis of reality consists in discrete individual entities that have intrinsic properties. I argue that the solution to this problem consists in the assumption of an ontology of relations, as suggested within the framework of Ontic Structural Realism (Ladyman & Ross, 2007). Ontic Structural Realism is a theory concerning the ontology of science that claims that scientific theories represent a reality consisting on only relation, and no individual entities. -/- Furthermore I argue that the employment of OSR can, at the price of little modification for both theories, solve both of the two problems identified by Collin concerning ANT. -/- Throughout the text I seek support for my claims by referring to examples of application of ANT to the context of networked learning. As I argue, the complexity of the phenomenon of networked learning gives us a convenient vantage point from which we can clearly understand many important aspects of both ANT and OSR. -/- While my proposal can be considered as an attempt to solve Collin's problems, it is also an experiment of reconciliation between analytic and constructivist philosophy of science. -/- In fact I point out that on the one hand Actor Network Theory and Ontic Structural Realism show an interesting number of points of agreement, such as the naturalistic character and the focus on relationality. On the other hand, I argue that all the intuitive discrepancies that originates from the Science and Technology Studies' criticism against analytic philosophy of science are at a closer look only apparent. (shrink)
Kant on the Moral Ontology of Constructivism and Realism.Paul Formosa - 2013 - In Margit Ruffing, Claudio La Rocca, Alfredo Ferrarin & Stefano Bacin (eds.), Kant Und Die Philosophie in Weltbürgerlicher Absicht: Akten des Xi. Kant-Kongresses 2010. De Gruyter. pp. 185-196.details
There has been much recent debate on the question of whether Kant is to be best understood as a moral realist or a moral constructivist. In an attempt to resolve this debate I examine whether moral constructivism is a form of moral idealism, briefly contrast realism and idealism, and draw on work in social ontology to look at the different accounts of moral ontology implicit in realist and constructivist accounts. As a result of this investigation I conclude that Kant (...) is a moral constructivist. (shrink)
Negative findings in electronic health records and biomedical ontologies: a realist approach.Werner Ceusters, Peter Elkin & Barry Smith - 2007 - International Journal of Medical Informatics 76 (3):S326-S333.details
PURPOSE—A substantial fraction of the observations made by clinicians and entered into patient records are expressed by means of negation or by using terms which contain negative qualifiers (as in "absence of pulse" or "surgical procedure not performed"). This seems at first sight to present problems for ontologies, terminologies and data repositories that adhere to a realist view and thus reject any reference to putative non-existing entities. Basic Formal Ontology (BFO) and Referent Tracking (RT) are examples of such paradigms. The (...) purpose of the research here described was to test a proposal to capture negative findings in electronic health record systems based on BFO and RT. METHODS—We analysed a series of negative findings encountered in 748 sentences taken from 41 patient charts. We classified the phenomena described in terms of the various top-level categories and relations defined in BFO, taking into account the role of negation in the corresponding descriptions. We also studied terms from SNOMED-CT containing one or other form of negation. We then explored ways to represent the described phenomena by means of the types of representational units available to realist ontologies such as BFO. RESULTS—We introduced a new family of 'lacks' relations into the OBO Relation Ontology. The relation lacks_part, for example, defined in terms of the positive relation part_of, holds between a particular p and a universal U when p has no instance of U as part. Since p and U both exist, assertions involving 'lacks_part' and its cognates meet the requirements of positivity. CONCLUSION—By expanding the OBO Relation Ontology, we were able to accommodate nearly all occurrences of negative findings in the sample studied. (shrink)
Demarcation, instantiation, and individual traits: Realist social ontology for mental disorders.Polaris Koi - 2021 - Philosophical Psychology 35 (6):793-813.details
Realists about mental disorder have been hasty about dismissing social explanations of how mental disorder is constituted. However, many social ontologies are realist ontologies. In order to create a meaningful distinction between realism and social metaphysics about mental disorder, I propose that realism about mental disorder is best understood as Individual Trait Realism (ITR) about them. For ITR, mental disorders exist in virtue of traits. I defend the view that ITR is compatible with social metaphysics, arguing that, (...) in asking whether constituents in the social sphere figure the metaphysics of psychopathology, we are asking questions on three different strata of explanation: the strata of demarcation, instantiation, and individual traits. Distinguishing between these strata allows for nuanced realism that need not reject the social constitution of mental disorder. (shrink)
Scientific Realism without the Wave-Function: An Example of Naturalized Quantum Metaphysics.Valia Allori - 2020 - In Juha Saatsi & Steven French (eds.), Scientific Realism and the Quantum. Oxford University Press.details
Scientific realism is the view that our best scientific theories can be regarded as (approximately) true. This is connected with the view that science, physics in particular, and metaphysics could (and should) inform one another: on the one hand, science tells us what the world is like, and on the other hand, metaphysical principles allow us to select between the various possible theories which are underdetermined by the data. Nonetheless, quantum mechanics has always been regarded as, at best, puzzling, (...) if not contradictory. As such, it has been considered for a long time at odds with scientific realism, and thus a naturalized quantum metaphysics was deemed impossible. Luckily, now we have many quantum theories compatible with a realist interpretation. However, scientific realists assumed that the wave-function, regarded as the principal ingredient of quantum theories, had to represent a physical entity, and because of this they struggled with quantum superpositions. In this paper I discuss a particular approach which makes quantum mechanics compatible with scientific realism without doing that. In this approach, the wave-function does not represent matter which is instead represented by some spatio-temporal entity dubbed the primitive ontology: point-particles, continuous matter fields, space-time events. I argue how within this framework one develops a distinctive theory-construction schema, which allows to perform a more informed theory evaluation by analyzing the various ingredients of the approach and their inter-relations. (shrink)
Would SNOMED CT benefit from realism-based ontology evolution?Werner Ceusters, Kent Spackman & Barry Smith - 2007 - AMIA Annual Symposium Proceedings 2007:105-109.details
If SNOMED CT is to serve as a biomedical reference terminology, then steps must be taken to ensure comparability of information formulated using successive versions. New releases are therefore shipped with a history mechanism. We assessed the adequacy of this mechanism for its treatment of the distinction between changes occurring on the side of entities in reality and changes in our understanding thereof. We found that these two types are only partially distinguished and that a more detailed study is required (...) to propose clear recommendations for enhancement along at least the following lines: (1) explicit representation of the provenance of a class; (2) separation of the time-period during which a component is stated valid in SNOMED CT from the period it is (or has been) valid in reality, and (3) redesign of the historical relationships table to give users better assistance for recovery in case of introduced mistakes. (shrink)
Building Ontologies with Basic Formal Ontology.Robert Arp, Barry Smith & Andrew D. Spear - 2015 - Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.details
In the era of "big data," science is increasingly information driven, and the potential for computers to store, manage, and integrate massive amounts of data has given rise to such new disciplinary fields as biomedical informatics. Applied ontology offers a strategy for the organization of scientific information in computer-tractable form, drawing on concepts not only from computer and information science but also from linguistics, logic, and philosophy. This book provides an introduction to the field of applied ontology that is of (...) particular relevance to biomedicine, covering theoretical components of ontologies, best practices for ontology design, and examples of biomedical ontologies in use. After defining an ontology as a representation of the types of entities in a given domain, the book distinguishes between different kinds of ontologies and taxonomies, and shows how applied ontology draws on more traditional ideas from metaphysics. It presents the core features of the Basic Formal Ontology (BFO), now used by over one hundred ontology projects around the world, and offers examples of domain ontologies that utilize BFO. The book also describes Web Ontology Language (OWL), a common framework for Semantic Web technologies. Throughout, the book provides concrete recommendations for the design and construction of domain ontologies. (shrink)
Realism about the wave function.Eddy Keming Chen - 2019 - Philosophy Compass 14 (7):e12611.details
A century after the discovery of quantum mechanics, the meaning of quantum mechanics still remains elusive. This is largely due to the puzzling nature of the wave function, the central object in quantum mechanics. If we are realists about quantum mechanics, how should we understand the wave function? What does it represent? What is its physical meaning? Answering these questions would improve our understanding of what it means to be a realist about quantum mechanics. In this survey article, I review (...) and compare several realist interpretations of the wave function. They fall into three categories: ontological interpretations, nomological interpretations, and the sui generis interpretation. For simplicity, I will focus on non-relativistic quantum mechanics. (shrink)
Why Realists Need Tropes.Markku Keinänen, Jani Hakkarainen & Antti Keskinen - 2016 - Metaphysica 17 (1):69-85.details
We argue that if one wishes to be a realist, one should adopt a Neo-Aristotelian ontology involving tropes instead of a Russellian ontology of property universals and objects. Either Russellian realists should adopt the relata-specific relational tropes of instantiation instead of facts, or convert to Neo-Aristotelian realism with monadic tropes. Regarding Neo-Aristotelian realism, we have two novel points why it fares better than Russellian realism. Instantiation of property universals by tropes and characterization or inherence between tropes and (...) objects are more transparent ontological notions than relational inherence, which is assumed in Russellian realism with the relational tropes of instantiation. Neo-Aristotelian realism makes better sense about abstract universals, which are a more viable option than concrete universals. (shrink)
Realism, Antirealism, and Conventionalism about Race.Jonathan Michael Kaplan & Rasmus Grønfeldt Winther - 2014 - Philosophy of Science 81 (5):1039-1052.details
This paper distinguishes three concepts of "race": bio-genomic cluster/race, biological race, and social race. We map out realism, antirealism, and conventionalism about each of these, in three important historical episodes: Frank Livingstone and Theodosius Dobzhansky in 1962, A.W.F. Edwards' 2003 response to Lewontin (1972), and contemporary discourse. Semantics is especially crucial to the first episode, while normativity is central to the second. Upon inspection, each episode also reveals a variety of commitments to the metaphysics of race. We conclude by (...) interrogating the relevance of these scientific discussions for political positions and a post-racial future. (shrink)
Informational realism.Luciano Floridi - manuscriptdetails
What is the ultimate nature of reality? This paper defends an answer in terms of informational realism (IR). It does so in three stages. First, it is shown that, within the debate about structural realism (SR), epistemic (ESR) and ontic (OSR) structural realism are reconcilable by using the methodology of the levels of abstractions. It follows that OSR is defensible from a structuralist-friendly position. Second, it is argued that OSR is also plausible, because not all related objects (...) are logically prior to all relational structures. The relation of difference is at least as fundamental as (because constitutive of) any relata. Third, it is suggested that an ontology of structural objects for OSR can reasonably be developed in terms of informational objects, and that Object Oriented Programming provides a flexible and powerful methodology with which to clarify and make precise the concept of "informational object". The outcome is informational realism, the view that the world is the totality of informational objects dynamically interacting with each other.. (shrink)
Hic Rhodos, hic salta: From reductionist semantics to a realist ontology of forceful dispositions.Markus Schrenk - 2009 - In G. Damschen, K. Stueber & R. Schnepf (eds.), Debating Dispositions: Issues in Metaphysics, Epistemology and Philosophy of Mind. De Gruyter. pp. 143-167.details
It is widely believed that at least two developments in the last third of the 20th century have given dispositionalism—the view that powers, capacities, potencies, etc. are irreducible real properties—new credibility: (i) the many counterexamples launched against reductive analyses of dispositional predicates in terms of counterfactual conditionals and (ii) a new anti-Humean faith in necessary connections in nature which, it is said, owes a lot to Kripke's arguments surrounding metaphysical necessity. I aim to show in this paper that necessity is, (...) in fact, of little help for the dispositionalists. My argument makes use of one of the above mentioned counterexamples against Humean reduction: antidotes. Turning the tables, I ask how the dispositionalists themselves can deal with antidotes. The result will be to show that if the dispositionalists are to demystify antidote cases, they must make plausible a conceptualisation of dispositions that does not invoke any kind of necessity. I will cautiously suggest that the anti-Humean link dispositions bring to the world has to be thought of in terms of (Newtonian) forces. (shrink)
Ontological Pluralism and Notational Variance.Bruno Whittle - 2021 - Oxford Studies in Metaphysics 12:58-72.details
Ontological pluralism is the view that there are different ways to exist. It is a position with deep roots in the history of philosophy, and in which there has been a recent resurgence of interest. In contemporary presentations, it is stated in terms of fundamental languages: as the view that such languages contain more than one quantifier. For example, one ranging over abstract objects, and another over concrete ones. A natural worry, however, is that the languages proposed by the (...) pluralist are mere notational variants of those proposed by the monist, in which case the debate between the two positions would not seem to be substantive. Jason Turner has given an ingenious response to this worry, in terms of a principle that he calls 'logical realism'. This paper offers a counter-response on behalf of the 'notationalist'. I argue that, properly applied, the principle of logical realism is no threat to the claim that the languages in question are notational variants. Indeed, there seems to be every reason to think that they are. (shrink)
Realism and the Epistemic Objectivity of Science.Howard Sankey - 2021 - Kriterion - Journal of Philosophy 35 (1):5-20.details
The paper presents a realist account of the epistemic objectivity of science. Epistemic objectivity is distinguished from ontological objectivity and the objectivity of truth. As background, T.S. Kuhn's idea that scientific theory-choice is based on shared scientific values with a role for both objective and subjective factors is discussed. Kuhn's values are epistemologically ungrounded, hence provide a minimal sense of objectivity. A robust account of epistemic objectivity on which methodological norms are reliable means of arriving at the truth is (...) presented. The problem remains that deliberative judgement is required to determine the relevance and relative significance of a range of methodological norms. A role is sketched for cognitive virtues which may be exercised in the course of the deliberative judgement. (shrink)
Selective Realism and the Framework/Interaction Distinction: A Taxonomy of Fundamental Physical Theories.Federico Benitez - 2019 - Foundations of Physics 49 (7):700-716.details
Following the proposal of a new kind of selective structural realism that uses as a basis the distinction between framework and interaction theories, this work discusses relevant applications in fundamental physics. An ontology for the different entities and properties of well-known theories is thus consistently built. The case of classical field theories—including general relativity as a classical theory of gravitation—is examined in detail, as well as the implications of the classification scheme for issues of realism in quantum mechanics. (...) These applications also shed light on the different range of applicability of the ontic and epistemic versions of structural realism. (shrink)
Ontologies and Politics of Biogenomic 'Race'.Rasmus Grønfeldt Winther & Jonathan Michael Kaplan - 2013 - Theoria. A Journal of Social and Political Theory (South Africa) 60 (3):54-80.details
All eyes are turned towards genomic data and models as the source of knowledge about whether human races exist or not. Will genomic science make the final decision about whether racial realism (e.g., racial population naturalism) or anti-realism (e.g., racial skepticism) is correct? We think not. We believe that the results of even our best and most impressive genomic technologies underdetermine whether bio-genomic races exist, or not. First, different sub-disciplines of biology interested in population structure employ distinct concepts, (...) aims, measures, and models, producing cross-cutting categorizations of population subdivisions rather than a single, universal bio-genomic concept of "race." Second, within each sub-discipline (e.g., conservation biology, phylogenetics), genomic results are consistent with, and map multiply to, racial realism and anti-realism. Indeed, racial ontologies are constructed conventionally, rather than discovered. We thus defend a /constructivist conventionalism/ about bio-genomic racial ontology. Choices and conventions must always be made in identifying particular kinds of groups. Political agendas, social programs, and moral questions premised on the existence of naturalistic race must accept that no scientifically grounded racial ontology is forthcoming, and adjust presumptions, practices, and projects accordingly. (shrink)
Realism and the limits of explanatory reasoning.Juha Saatsi - 2018 - In The Routledge Handbook of Scientific Realism. London: Routledge. pp. 200-211.details
This chapter examines issues surrounding inference to the best explanation, its justification, and its role in different arguments for scientific realism, as well as more general issues concerning explanations' ontological commitments. Defending the reliability of inference to the best explanation has been a central plank in various realist arguments, and realists have drawn various ontological conclusions from the premise that a given scientific explanation best explains some phenomenon. This chapter stresses the importance of thinking carefully about the (...) nature of explanation in connection with evaluating realists' appeals to explanatory reasoning and inference to the best explanation. (shrink)
Scientific realism with historical essences: the case of species.Marion Godman - 2018 - Synthese 198 (Suppl 12):3041-3057.details
Natural kinds, real kinds, or, following J.S Mill simply, Kinds, are thought to be an important asset for scientific realists in the non-fundamental (or "special") sciences. Essential natures are less in vogue. I show that the realist would do well to couple her Kinds with essential natures in order to strengthen their epistemic and ontological credentials. I argue that these essential natures need not however be intrinsic to the Kind's members; they may be historical. I concentrate on assessing the (...) merits of historical essential natures in a paradigm case of Kinds in the non-fundamental sciences: species. I specify two basic jobs for essential natures: 1) offering individuation criteria, and 2) providing a causal explanation of the Kind's multiple projectable properties. I argue that at least in the case of species historical essences are fit for both tasks. The principled resistance to Kinds with historical essences should also be cleared. (shrink)
Cosmological Realism.David Merritt - 2021 - Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part A 88 (C):193-208.details
I discuss the relevance of the current predicament in cosmology to the debate over scientific realism. I argue that the existence of two, empirically successful but ontologically inconsistent cosmological theories presents difficulties for the realist position.
Realism in the Desert.Achille C. Varzi - 2014 - In Massimo Dell'Utri, Fabio Bacchini & Stefano Caputo (eds.), Realism and Ontology without Myths. Cambridge Scholars Press. pp. 16–31.details
Quine's desert is generally contrasted with Meinong's jungle, as a sober ontological alternative to the exuberant luxuriance that comes with the latter. Here I focus instead on the desert as a sober metaphysical alternative to the Aristotelian garden, with its tidily organized varieties of flora and fauna neatly governed by fundamental laws that reflect the essence of things and the way they can be, or the way they must be. In the desert there are no "natural joints"; all the (...) boundaries we find are lines we have drawn, artificial fencings that merely reflect of our own demarcations, our classifications, our desperate need to ward off the flux and meet an excusable but ungrounded demand for order and stability. The desert returns a picture of reality that is radically anti-realist. And yet the picture does not amount to a form of irrealism. The desert is out there and is what it is regardless of how we feel. And it is not completely structureless. It's just that the structure it has is very thin and does not correspond to the sort of structure that so-called metaphysical realists—and scientific realists alike—tend to attribute to it. (shrink)
Assessing Ontologies: The Question of Human Origins and Its Ethical Significance.Daniel Cohnitz & Barry Smith - 2003 - In E. Runggaldier & C. Kanzian (eds.), Persons: An Interdisciplinary Approach. öbv&hpt. pp. 243--259.details
In their paper "Sixteen Days" Barry Smith and Berit Brogaard try to answer the question: when does a human being begin to exist? In this paper we will address some methodological issues connected with this exercise in ontology. We shall begin by sketching the argument of "Sixteen Days". We shall then attempt to characterize what is special about the ontological realism of "Sixteen Days" as contrasted to the linguistic constructivism which represents the more dominant current in contemporary analytic (...) philosophy. This will allow us to infer guidelines for assessing the quality of ontological theories of various types. We shall argue that ontological parsimony, groundedness, faithfulness to ordinary language, consistency with science, coherence, and fruitfulness are at least part of the adequacy criteria for such theories. These criteria will then be applied to the theory presented in "Sixteen Days", and they will lead us to some revisions of this theory as well as to some reflections on its ethical implications. (shrink)


Party with sophistication in Jasz Couture 6247. Strapless and curvy neckline shows off your attractive shoulders. Lavish lace wrapped the entire outfit giving the dress a vintage feel. Full length skirt with sweep train gives a magnificent finish.


If you've got a special event coming up or you're simply looking to get a head start on party season prep, look no further than Fayola dress. It's made from shimmering glittered tulle, which will look so striking on the dance floor and in photos. The front is embroidered with 3D florals and the waist is highlight by a velvet waistband. We love how the scalloped edges add to the feminine, romantic feel. Fits true to size, take your normal size. Cut to be fitted at the bust and waist, loose at the hip. Lightweight, heavily embelished stretchy fabric. Model is 176 cm and is wearing a EU 36.
Fabric: tulle: 70% polyamide, 30% lame; organza: 100% polyamide; Lining: 100% viscose.


Police say to avoid valleys and drive cautiously if people must venture out.
SHARJAH // Sharjah Police rescued 30 Emirati families in Kalba, Khor Fakkan and Al Madam areas after rainwater flooded their homes.
The families were sheltered in hotels, while residents in Sharjah's eastern region were also warned to stay clear of valleys during heavy rain, as police cordoned off Wadi Al Helo because of flooding.
Sharjah Police said that all major roads are open. However, traffic is moving at a slow pace.
Major Jasim bin Heda, from the operations department, said that there was heavy traffic on Mohammed bin Zayed and Al Wahda roads. "We urge motorists to keep a safe distance between vehicles and stay away from water pools forming on the emirate's roads," he said.
"In the eastern region, police patrols have cordoned Wadi Al Helo road due to flooding and as a precautionary measure.
Abdulkhaliq Abdullah, director of the engineering department at Sharjah Airport, said that there have been no cancellations.
"There has been delays, however, there are no cancellations so far," he said, adding that several flights to Dubai Airport were redirected to Sharjah Airport due to the weather.
Sharjah Municipality has closed all public parks due to the heavy rainfall and it has deployed emergency crews and water pumps to clear floodwater in various areas.
"Until now, everything is under control in the emirate; teams are working on clearing water pools on the main roads and other reported areas," said Abdulrazaq Al Hamadi, director of the water and sewage department at Sharjah Municipality.
Sharjah Civil Defence called on residents to not go outside. "Residents need to stay indoors to make sure that Civil Defence teams are not hindered in case of emergencies," said Brigadier Abdullah Al Suwaidi, the Civil Defence director.
In Umm Al Quwain, authorities were offering similar warnings to residents, to drive safely and slowly and be cautious when out in such weather.
The public works and services department in UAQ postponed the closing ceremony of the activities of the afforestation week, where trees were planted in areas previously bare.
Meanwhile, Ajman Civil Defence said it was prepared to respond to emergency cases. Col Nasser Al Zari, head of the media and public relations department, urged people to stay at home, to take precautions to avoid electrical problems and to avoid beaches and valleys.
The rain did not spare Fujairah, leaving streets clogged with water and farms inundated on Wednesday. In Ras Al Khaimah, police closed the road leading to Jebel Jais and Wadi Al Qor in Al Minae area.


text:
Jack Juggles, Liz Returns To Doing Her Thing And 30 Rock Season 4 Moseys On.
The Good: Moments of real humor, Guest performances are convincing and good, Jack's character growth.
The Bad: Not as memorable as earlier seasons, No impressive, Most of the characters do not grow.
The Basics: After watching 30 Rock Season 4, I find I have shockingly little to say about it. The season is amusing once, but lacks a resonance that makes me want to watch it repeatedly.
Last year, after much initial resistance from me, my wife and I started watching the DVD sets of 30 Rock. My resistance was an old grudge and a silly one at that. The year 30 Rock made its debut, there was a similar show also on NBC, Studio 60 On The Sunset Strip (reviewed here!) and I fell in love with that. When it was canceled, I blamed, in part, 30 Rock for filling the same niche, but with more of a pandering to the half-hour sitcom crowd than the thinking person's dramedy audience, which Studio 60 On The Sunset Strip was geared for (yea Aaron Sorkin!). But last year, I came around and my wife and I watched the first three seasons of 30 Rock and I found there was a lot to enjoy. So, it was with a great amount of enthusiasm that my wife and I devoted a whole weekend during my recent government training to watching 30 Rock Season 4 on DVD.
And I wish I could say it was worth it.
I cannot, though. In its fourth season, 30 Rock is not superlative in any recognizable way and the death knell for the show from this reviewer's perspective is this: I watched the final six episodes of the season four times each and I had been real excited about watching this DVD set and yet, nothing sticks out in my mind about the season. In fact, when I thought about a gag I particularly enjoyed, I realized that it was not from one of the episodes in 30 Rock Season 4, but rather from the episode my wife and I randomly caught on television last Thursday night. My point here is sadly obvious: 30 Rock may have lost its mojo in the fourth season. More precisely, while I enjoyed watching the episodes once, they left me with no lasting impressions and less desire to watch them a second time than with prior seasons of the show. In fact, the episodes I did watch multiple times did not make me laugh the second (or more) time.
In its fourth season, 30 Rock embodies part of the worst of network, ratings-driven sitcoms. While the show is fairly heavily serialized, it is not building a larger motif or a more meaningful net product or story. Instead, with 30 Rock Season 4, NBC seems obsessed with keeping the ratings high with celebrity guest stars whose appearances are less about creating a meaningful narrative and more about generating Nielsen ratings and thus advertising revenue. After the initial humor of a joke or episode passes, there is nothing that encourages viewers to return to these episodes and ultimately, that is why it continues its downslide into mediocrity.
The exception to all this is in the character of Jack, the head of NBC in 30 Rock, though notably not in Alec Baldwin. But I get ahead of myself.
With Liz Lemon riding high on her new television show based upon her bestselling book Dealbreaker, everything seems to be going well for the executive producer of T.G.S. With Tracy Jordan. But Liz's ineptitude in front of the camera quickly lands her back at her writing and management desk, running the writer's room and marshaling the celebrity stars of her weekly sketch comedy show. While Liz returns to her normal rut, dreaming of a romance with Astronaut Mike Dexter, her subordinates and manager go on their own adventures.
For Tracy, it means trying to make good with his wife, especially when it becomes public knowledge that he has never cheated on her. He begins his dimwitted quest for an EGOT (Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and Tony) based upon a necklace while Jack finds himself in a relationship with a girl from his hometown. But when she is hesitant to end her marriage and run off with Jack, Jack turns to Avery Jessup, a whip-smart financial reporter who delights him and stimulates his ambitions. When Jack's mentor, Don Geiss, dies, Jack is left crippled by an inability to make the hard choices, most notably between Nancy and Avery.
30 Rock Season 4 seems incredibly familiar for a sitcom and most of the surprises - both in physical and verbal comedy - fall short, becoming less than what one might expect. There is a lack of originality to much of the season, so those in tune with the show are less likely to laugh. Take, for example, a gag when Liz and Kenneth attempt to get Jack out of his funk following his mentor's death. Kenneth tells Jack that the peacock Jack was bequeathed made a sound much like the nicknames Jack and Don used to have for one another. When he leaves Jack's company, he calls Liz and speaks in code, referring to all of the subjects (Kenneth, Liz, Jack and the peacock) all as "badger," making for an almost incoherent message. When Liz calls him on this, Kenneth says he thought Liz told him to use "badger," but she flippantly admits "I said I didn't care." What was once fast wordplay on the show has devolved into a strangely obvious series of exchanges. In this case, viewers who "get" Liz figure she is indifferent and when Kenneth begins to confuse her, she has an antipathy toward him and his plans, even if she was in on them at the beginning.
Unfortunately, while I usually love serialized shows, 30 Rock Season 4 does not add up to anything extraordinary. From early in the season, Liz learns her ex-boyfriend will be getting married and she will be reading at his wedding, but because he is a peripheral character, the impending wedding is a non-event and as Liz gets roped into other weddings on the same day, the viewer cares less about her struggles and more about those of the characters around her, most notably Jack.
This is, arguably, Jack's season as he wrestles with dating two different women, one who represents his past, another that represents a potential future to him. Other main characters seem to work in his orbit. Kenneth works as his lackey, from breaking into Nancy's house for him to trying to help him get out of his funk. He also continues to be a part of Tracy's entourage, but he does not have any memorable moments of his own. Instead, he is relegated to a support character, though he is given more airtime and one-liners than Pete or Frank. Jenna is also downgraded for much of the season, though she enters into a bizarre romance near the end of the season that gives her a few good moments. Even Tracy in his quest for the EGOT is not nearly as vital or crazy as he was in earlier seasons.
Tina Fey does fine as Liz Lemon, but "fine" is not a strong, defining performance. With this season, the viewer has the sense that she just stayed in her role from Date Night (reviewed here!) and isn't even stretching for more versatility now. Similarly, Alec Baldwin plays the dry humor of the first three seasons exclusively and his performance does not give the audience anything new.
On DVD, 30 Rock Season 4 has minimal extras, including a few commentary tracks and featurettes on the season. Like the primary programming, they are stiflingly average.
For other seasons of 30 Rock, please visit my reviews of:
30 Rock Season 1
For other television DVD and episode reviews, please visit my index page by clicking here!
© 2011 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
Labels: Alec Baldwin, Television Review, Tina Fey, Tracy Morgan


text:
Home [english] Issues Human Rights Defenders Turkey: Four human rights (...)
Turkey: Four human rights defenders convicted under terrorism charges
TUR 005 / 0717 / OBS 078.8
Conviction /
The Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders, a partnership of FIDH and the World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT), requests your intervention in the following situation in Turkey.
The Observatory has been informed by reliable sources about the conviction of Messrs. Taner Kılıç, founding member and Honorary Chair of Amnesty International Turkey, and Günal Kurşun, former Chairperson and lawyer with the Human Rights Agenda Association, and Mses. Özlem Dalkıran, member of the Citizens' Assembly, and İdil Eser, former Director of Amnesty International Turkey, as well as the acquittal of Messrs. Veli Acu, member of the Human Rights Agenda Association, Ali Gharawi and Peter Steudtner, security consultants, Nejat Taştan, member of the Association for Monitoring Equal Rights, and Şeyhmus Özbekli, trainee lawyer and member of the Rights Initiative, and Mses. Nalan Erkem, lawyer with the Citizens' Assembly, and İlknur Üstün, member of the Women's Coalition.
According to the information received, on July 3, 2020, during the last hearing in the case against the eleven defenders, the Istanbul 35th High Criminal Court sentenced Mr. Taner Kılıç to six years and three months in prison for "membership to a terrorist organisation" and Mses. Özlem Dalkıran and İdil Eser and Mr. Günal Kurşun to one year and 13 months in prison for "assisting a terrorist organisation". The other seven human rights defenders prosecuted under the same case, namely Messrs. Veli Acu, Ali Gharawi, Peter Steudtner, Nejat Taştan and Şeyhmus Özbekli and Mses. Nalan Erkem and İlknur Üstün, were all acquitted. Convicted human rights defenders expressed their intention to appeal the decision. If their sentences are confirmed by the higher court, they will face risk of imprisonment.
The Observatory firmly condemns the conviction of Messrs. Taner Kılıç and Günal Kurşun and Mses. Özlem Dalkıran and İdil Eser, as it only aims at punishing them for their legitimate human rights activities.
As regards Messrs. Veli Acu, Ali Gharawi, Peter Steudtner, Nejat Taştan and Şeyhmus Özbekli and Mses. Nalan Erkem and İlknur Üstün, the Observatory welcomes their acquittal but recalls that they should never have been prosecuted and arrested in the first place, as their detention was arbitrary and the judicial harassment against them only aimed at punishing them for exercising their legitimate human rights activities.
On July 5, 2017, Ms. Nalan Erkem, Ms. Özlem Dalkıran, Ms. İlknur Üstün, Ms. Idil Eser, Mr. Günal Kurşun, Mr. Veli Acu, Mr. Nejat Taştan, Mr. Şeyhmus Özbekli, Mr. Ali Gharawi and Mr. Peter Steudtner were arrested and detained in different police stations across Büyükada, Istanbul, following a police raid during a digital security and information management workshop organised by the Human Rights Joint Platform in Büyükada. The owner of the hotel where the workshop was being organised was also arrested and released on July 6, 2017. Under Turkey's state of emergency, they were not given access to their lawyers and family for at least 24 hours. On July 6, 2017, after 24 hours, their detention was extended for seven days.
On July 10 and 11, 2017, Ms. Nalan Erkem, Ms. Özlem Dalkıran, Ms. İlknur Üstün, Ms. Idil Eser, Mr. Günal Kurşun, Mr. Veli Acu, Mr. Nejat Taştan and Mr. Şeyhmus Özbekli's houses were raided and searched by the police, who seized electronic equipment including flash disks, external disks, CDs and sim cards. According to search warrants, the police were looking for evidence to substantiate the Prosecutor's allegation of "meeting with a suspicion of terrorist activity". However, due to the confidentiality of the investigation neither copy of search warrants nor of seized materials were given to their lawyers. Furthermore, some searches took place without the presence of lawyers. Ms. Nalan Erkem's apartment search was postponed until a representative of Istanbul Bar Association was able to assist, the next morning. Likewise, Mr. Nejat Taştan was briefly taken out of custody to open the door of his apartment in order to allow police search. Despite his objection, they carried out the search without the presence of a lawyer.
On July 11, 2017 Istanbul's Terror and Organised Crime Investigation Bureau's Prosecutor extended the pre-trial detention period of the ten human rights defenders for seven more days to complete his investigation. The Prosecutor also ordered the confidentiality of the investigation, thus preventing lawyers to access the files.
On July 18, 2017, the Public Prosecutor at Çağlayan Court House formally charged the ten human rights defenders on charges of "committing a crime in the name of a terrorist organisation without being a member". However, neither the Prosecutor nor the Judge referred to any specific organisation nor to any criminal provision. Moreover, as the investigation remained confidential for a while, lawyers could not access their clients' files.
Despite the request of the Prosecutor to indict and place in pre-trial detention all ten human rights defenders on July 17, 2017, the Court ordered the release on judicial control of Ms. Nalan Erkem, Ms. İlknur Üstün, Mr. Nejat Taştan and Mr. Şeyhmus Özbekli. Yet on July 21, 2017, the Public Prosecutor at Çağlayan Court House ordered their re-arrest. Ms. Nalan Erkem and Ms. İlknur Üstün were arrested on July 22, 2017 at midnight.
On July 24, 2017, Mr. Nejat Taştan went to the Prosecutor's Office in Istanbul, and had to wait until 3 a.m. on July 25 at the İstanbul Courthouse, which eventually ordered his release on judicial control.
On July 25, Mr. Şeyhmus Özbekli appeared at the Diyarbakır Court House, where the Judge also ordered his release on judicial control. They were both under obligation to show up at the police station twice a week and a travel ban was imposed on them.
On August 1, 2017, the Criminal Court of Peace in Istanbul refused to release Mr. Ali Gharavi, Mr. Peter Steudtner, Mr. Günal Kurşun, Mr. Veli Acu, Ms. Özlem Dalkıran, and Ms. İdil Eser.
Respectively on July 18, 2017, Mr. Veli Acu and Mr. Günal Kurşun, on July 31, 2017, Ms. Idil Eser, Ms. Özlem Dalkıran and Ms. Nalan Erkem, and on August 1, 2017 Mr. Ali Gharawi and Mr. Peter Steudtner were transferred to Silivri prison in Istanbul.
On October 16, 2017, the Heavy Penal Court in Istanbul accepted the bill of indictment against the ten human rights defenders initially issued on October 4, 2017 by Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor's Office. The ten human rights defenders were charged with "assisting an armed terrorist organisation" under Articles 314.2, 314.3, 220.6, 53.1 and 58.9 of the Turkish Penal Code as well as Articles 3 and 5 of the Anti-Terror Law n°3713, and requested 15 years' imprisonment against them.
On October 16, 2017, the case of Mr. Taner Kılıç was merged to this indictment who is, in addition to the above-mentioned first set of charges, accused of "membership of an armed terrorist organisation" under articles 314.2, 53.1, 314.3 and 63.1 of the Turkish Penal Code as well as Articles 3 and 5 of the Anti-Terror Law n°3713.
The bill of indictment was not immediately notified to the human rights defenders and their lawyers, who were first informed through the media on October 8, 2017. Their lawyers were notified of the indictment on October 16, 2017.
On October 25, 2017, the Heavy Penal Court in Istanbul ordered the provisional release of Mr. Veli Acu, Ms. Idil Eser, Ms. Özlem Dalkıran, Mr. Günal Kurşun, Mr. Ali Gharawi, Mr. Peter Steudtner, Ms. Nalan Erkem and Ms. İlknur Üstün. However, the court ordered a travel ban against Ms. Özlem Dalkıran, Mr. Veli Acu, Mr. Nejat Taştan and Mr. Şeyhmus Özbekli. Additionally, the Court subjected Ms. Özlem Dalkıran and Mr. Veli Acu to a judicial control. They both had to report twice a month to police stations. The judicial control over Mr. Nejat Taştan and Mr. Şeyhmus Özbekli was lifted on October 25, 2017.
On October 26, 2017, a Court in Izmir ordered the continued pre-trial detention of Mr. Taner Kılıç, pending further investigation.
On January 31, 2018, Istanbul's 35th High Criminal Court ordered the release of Taner Kılıç under travel ban. However, the Prosecutor appealed the Court's decision to Istanbul's 36th High Criminal Court, which then issued a new arrest warrant for Taner Kılıç. Mr. Taner Kılıç was eventually released on August 15, 2018, upon decision of Istanbul's 35th High Criminal Court.
On November 27, 2019, during the 10th hearing of their case, the Prosecutor suggested Istanbul's 35th High Criminal Court to convict Messrs. Günal Kurşun, Veli Acu, Nejat Taştan and Mses. Idil Eser, Özlem Dalkıran over charges of "assisting an armed terrorist organisation", under Articles 220/7 and 314/2 of the Penal Code as well as Article 5/1 of the Anti-Terror Law no. 3713. Additionally, Mr. Taner Kılıç was asked to be convicted of "membership of a terrorist organisation" under Article 314/2 of the Penal Code as well as Article 5/1 of the Anti-Terror Law no. 3713. Their lawyers stated in the hearing that the Prosecutor's considerations did not have any incriminating basis and were only based on incidents including depositing money to a bank that is allegedly connected to a terrorist organisation, and being in contact with and making bank transfers to individuals allegedly connected to terrorist organisations. One of those, for instance, was a bank transfer for the payment of legal fees. The lawyers also underlined that the Prosecutor's considerations did not take into account any evidence submitted to the Court following the issuance of the indictment, such as acquittal from terrorism charges of some of those individuals, who were allegedly connected to terrorist organisations. On the other hand, the Prosecutor recommended the acquittal of Messrs. Ali Gharawi, Peter Steudtner, Şeyhmus Özbekli and Mses. Nalan Erkem and İlknur Üstün.
Please write to the authorities of Turkey asking them to:
i. Put an end to all forms of harassment, including at the judicial level, against Messrs. Taner Kılıç, Günal Kurşun, Veli Acu, Ali Gharawi, Peter Steudtner, Nejat Taştan and Şeyhmus Özbekli and Mses. Özlem Dalkıran, İdil Eser, Nalan Erkem and İlknur Üstün and against all human rights defenders in Turkey;
ii. Comply with all the provisions of the United Nations Declaration on Human Rights Defenders adopted by the UN General Assembly on December 9, 1998, in particular its Articles 1, 6(a), 9, 11 and 12.2;
iii. Ensure in all circumstances respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms in accordance with international human rights standards and international instruments ratified by Turkey.
· President of the Republic of Turkey, Mr. Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, Fax: +90 (312) 525 58 31. Email: contact@tccb.gov.tr
· Minister of Justice, Mr. Abdülhamit Gül. Email: info@adalet.gov.tr. Fax: +90 (0312) 419 33 70
· Minister of Interior, Mr. Süleyman Soylu. Email: diab@icisleri.gov.tr ; sti@icisleri.gov.tr
· Ambassador Mr. Mehmet Kemal Bozay, Diplomatic Mission of Turkey to the European Union in Brussels, Belgium. Fax: + 32 2 511 04 50. Email: info@turkdeleg.org; tr-delegation.eu@mfa.gov.tr
· Ambassador Mr. Sadık Arslan, Permanent Mission of Turkey to the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland. Email: turkey.unog@mfa.gov.tr
Please also write to the diplomatic missions or embassies of Turkey in your respective country.
Paris-Geneva, July 6, 2020
The Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders (the Observatory) was created in 1997 by FIDH and the World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT). The objective of this programme is to intervene to prevent or remedy situations of repression against human rights defenders. FIDH and OMCT are both members of ProtectDefenders.eu, the European Union Human Rights Defenders Mechanism implemented by international civil society.
· E-mail: Appeals@fidh-omct.org
· Tel and fax FIDH + 33 1 43 55 25 18 / +33 1 43 55 18 80
· Tel and fax OMCT + 41 22 809 49 39 / + 41 22 809 49 29
Member organisations - Turkey
HUMAN RIGHTS FOUNDATION OF TURKEY (HRFT)
INSAN HAKLARI DERNEGI / ANKARA (IHD/A)
INSAN HAKLARI DERNEGI / DIYARBAKIR (IHD/D)
New Kavala hearing: a symptom of Turkey's gangrened justice system
Turkey: Attack on Freedom of Assembly Undermines Work of Human Rights Defenders
en fr tr


During their in reign India, the Dutch established in Surat a warehouse on Dutch Road, in which five parsee gentlemen were employed to make breads. When the Dutch left India at the end of their rule they handed over their ovens to one of our ancestors Mr. Faramji Pestonji Dotivala.
Ardeshir Kotwal Road, Makkai Bridge, Nanpura, Surat-395 001. Gujarat India.
© Copyright 2013 Dotivala.com All rights reseved.


Las Vegas, Nevada (CNN) — In the Masquerade wing of the Rio Hotel and Casino in the gambling capital of the world, there's a giant statue of a head hanging over a lobby of slot machines.
The masked figure has two faces and four digital eyes — clairvoyant blue — that track back and forth constantly, as if recording the movements of everyone who enters.
That awkwardly self-conscious — even slightly paranoid — feeling you get from seeing being watched by that enormous casino head is pretty much a steady-state for most of the hackers who attend the DEF CON hacker event, taking place at the Rio this weekend.
Started 19 years ago as an underground gathering of sometimes-nefarious computer wizards, DEF CON has sprawled into a 15,000-person, four-day convention where anyone with $150 — in cash only, please, lest these hackers give up their identities — can learn the latest tricks and trade of computer hacking, lock picking and security breaching.
The aim of the event is to better inform both insiders and everyday people about the risks of operating in our increasingly digital world and to work on solutions. But the practical result of gathering this many highly skilled hackers in one building — in a Las Vegas casino, no less — is that everyone here is experiencing some level of terror.
Insiders say there's no place on Earth where you're more likely to get hacked.
"You're on the most hostile network in the world. If you can perform business here, you can do it anywhere," said Brian Markus, referring to the public Wi-Fi network at DEF CON, which veterans know to steer clear of.
Unlike at other tech events, which tend to focus on Facebook-like concepts such as "sharing" and "connecting," DEF CON is all about who can stay the most private, and therefore, who will remain the most secure in this digital war zone.
Those who don't are shamed into doing so.
So, how does one avoid the "Wall of Sheep"?
Markus suggests scrambling your Internet connection.
There are several free services that will do this, including OpenVPN and Ace VPN. That way, if someone like him is "sniffing" the Wi-Fi connection you're using, they won't be able to see exactly what you're up to.
Another method: Type in "https" instead of "http" in your browser bar. That puts you on a more secure version of many major websites.
Plenty of people, however, are subjected to more sophisticated hacks.
Dan Kaminsky, one of the world's most notable do-gooder hackers, said he had his personal passwords, e-mails and instant messages with a girlfriend dumped out into the public domain at a previous DEF CON event.
"If you walk onto a battlefield, you might get shot," he said.
People still try to dodge the bullets, though.
As he darted through a mob of black-T-shirt-wearing convention attendees, Eli, better known by his hacker handle "Dead Addict," told me how much he hates crowds.
Not only is there the social anxiety, there's also the chance someone with an RFID reader and an antenna in their backpack could swipe your credit card info right out of your pocket.
The readers are the size of an old Walkman and, with a proper antenna, can grab data right off of credit cards that use quick-swipe technology (you can tell if you have one of these cards by looking for a little radio-wave symbol).
Eli, who started hacking in his teens and stopped breaking into corporate sites after all of his friends got arrested for doing the same thing, carries a metal-lined wallet to block this attack.
Other DEF CON veterans said they purchase junk computers they can throw away after the convention because they figure they're going to get infected. Eli says he just leaves the laptop at home.
Most of the attendees carry cash. No one uses the ATMs after an incident in 2009 in which someone rolled a fake ATM machine into the event, according to Wired, and apparently used it to collect credit card information instead of dispensing money.
There's also the anonymity of it all. Some hackers only go by their handles. Others don't want digital records they attended the event, which does not require attendees to register or give their real names.
– Your hotel key card can be scanned by touch, so keep it deep in your wallet.
– Do not use the ATM machines anywhere near either conference. Bring cash and a low balance credit card with just enough to get you through the week.
– Turn off Fire Sharing, Bluetooth and Wi-Fi on all devices. Don't use the Wi-Fi network unless you are a security expert; we have wired lines for you to use.
– Don't accept gifts, unless you know the person very well – a USBdevice for instance.
– Make sure you have strong passwords on ALL your devices. Don't send passwords "in the clear," make sure they are encrypted. Change your passwords immediately after leaving Vegas.
– Don't leave a device out of sight, even for a moment.
– People are watching you at all times, especially if you are new tothe scene.
That is it for now.
After seeing that, I left my credit cards, debit card and company laptop in my hotel room — hidden, of course, since I'm on this newly paranoid kick. I kept my iPhone on "airplane" mode for most of Friday, turning it on only to send a couple texts.
I was particularly concerned about this phone hacking stuff, so I asked Austin Steed, another security researcher-slash-hacker about that.
He said mischievous hackers can install their own cell phone towers to intercept your calls before passing them on to the real mobile carrier. These "man-in-the-middle attacks," he said, let hackers eavesdrop, but they can also alter the conversation you're having, without your knowledge.
"You send a text saying 'I love you,' and he (the hacker) says, 'I want to break up with you.'" Or worse than that, Markus said, you could be doing business — maybe the hacker would change "sell it all" to "buy it all," with potentially huge ramifications.
The hackers who attend DEF CON — now in their thirties instead of their teens as they were at the start of the hacker movement — hope, in a strange way, that by teaching people about hacking they will make the tech world safer.
DEF CON is their playground of sorts. Many of the hacks aren't necessarily malicious. They are people toying around just to see what's possible.
If they don't do it, then the really bad guys will, they say. There are sessions on cracking Google, PayPal, Apple — even cars and prison cells.
DEF CON attendees can also learn how to pick locks. On Friday, 17-year-old Cherry Rose de los Reyes picked her first lock while her dad, Roselito, an IT professional, watched admiringly.
"I think I got it," she said, turning a key she had reverse-engineered.
"There, now I don't have to pay Home Depot no more!" her dad said with a laugh.
Some parents might cringe at a dad helping his teenage daughter learn a skill that could be used for breaking and entering. But Roselito de los Reyes says they'd be missing the point.
It's not about breaking the lock, he said, it's about learning the lock can be broken.
So maybe there's a point to the paranoia after all.
This entry was posted in technology and tagged Automated teller machine, CNN, computer safety, Dan Kaminsky, DEF CON, encryption, hacking, iPhone, Las Vegas Nevada, online security, PayPal, strong password, Wi-Fi, wifi, worm by dimitri seneca snowden. Bookmark the permalink.