#disqualifying the Netherlands sure was a decision

[symeraid-s]

Ignoring the entire shitshow around Eurovision this year, it was pretty solid for music.

Switzerland absolutely deserved to win. The Code is a bop and their performance was my favourite of the evening.

Croatia also was really good. Baby Lasagna has a really strong voice and I really liked the vibes of it overall. Also, he's apparently an Electric Callboy fan, so that's a plus in my book.

Ireland was solid. I don't think I like the song as much as other people, but their staging and the screamo parts of the song were perfection.

On the other hand, Israel got way too many points. I kind of expected it, but it still stings. Like, even if the votes were unpolitical (which is highly doubtful), the song wasn't that good. Lativa had a way better ballad.

A thing I definitely didn't expect though, was Germany being in 12th place. It feels wrong to see us on the left side of the scoreboard. Though it is also funny, because Isaak told a newspaper: "who would want to end up on place 12?" He really jinxed himself with that one.

[borisbubbles]

Eurovision 2024: #32

32. THE NETHERLANDS Joost Klein - "Europapa" 26th place (Disqualified)

Decade ranking: 120/153 [Above Ochman, below Andrew Lambrou]

Yeah, #NotForMe. Don't like the blue chicken, don't like the awful murine clickbait faces, don't like how he tried appropriating Käärijä's legacy for his own benefit. In fact, there's a lot I don't like about Joost Klein. Get used to it. Feelings are mixed but they are trending towards the NEGATIVE.

The face of a man I want to trap inside a garbage truck.

What is funny to me though, is that I certainly could have liked "Europapa" if the Dutch hadn't made certain decisions. I have to remain honest. My ranking, my rules, my lack of taste. It didn't work for me.

The song's not without merit though. It's a fun eurodance number at a glance. "Europapa" works best when you hear it live after a few drinks and blurt along with its lyrics. It's an EXCELLENT concert and streaming entry, whipping up a good time out of thin air with few pretences.

As a Eurovision entry though... eh. It tried to be a lot of other things: A tribute to his dead parents, an introspective unspooling of his mental health, a spoof, a meme, a middle finger to society, like all at once? It has that Subwoolfer-like quality of straight men in a mancave brainstorming on how what a Eurovision entry looks like: stupid nonsense. How does that work? The answer to that is "barely", and only if you take it at face value.

The song is not really about Joost dead's father and his world view. That ... I think... is deliberate false advertisement. It's not untrue, but presenting it as the sole truth is a deception. If you delve into the song, you'll find that it's a little bit more complex (and less wholesome) than that.

Verse 1 is about desperately running away from your problems (Joost naming all of the destinations, clawing at people for money, having lost everything but time) and verse 2 tackles validation, desperately craving it and yet not feeling sated. "Europapa" is a coping mechanism first and a song second. It's a deep dive into Joost's inner workings and his soul, but one that exposes him as insecure and vulnerable and putting up a front of irreverence as a mask to the outer world. As per the second verse:

"I'm running from myself, I'm crying out for help - I even give people loads of money and there's nobody who gives me aid [...] turn the radio on, I hear Stromae's "Papaoutai" I won't stop [feel satisfied] until they say "yeah, he [Joost] is doing well, eh?"

Now, this is actually... not a bad thing. It proves that "Europapa" is authentic and has surprising complexity and layers. That's what distinguishes it positively from Finland, which is hollow and cringe.

The problem with the emotions is that they clash with the rest of the song?

Fewer sentiments kill the party mood quite AS hard as one of "Are you feeling alright? 😨 Is everything OKAY?😨 should I call a therapist?" 😨". For me it defo kills the vibe. I don't want to END a fun party song with concern for the singer's wellbeing. The fact that Joost is cishet and therefore incapable of talking about his feelings and yet PUT THESE VERBALIZED EMOTIONS IN PLAIN VIEW IN HIS EUROVISION SONG is enough to set the alarm bells ringing.

Of course it could have worked if the live got it right, but um lol. Let's be honest here: The live was BAD. It was INTENDED to be So-Bad-It's-Good, sure, because that's the only way cishets know to do camp. I don't mind a spoof of a 2008 joke act. It just was... performed and staged so poorly it became the thing it intended to parody.

You sir, are NOT Käärijä.

The best parts of the entry (the emotional complexity and the hak break) are completely washed away by a combination of the awful clickbaity faces, TERRIBLE vocals (the post-chorus "EUROs" in literal Cookie Monster Voice are amongst the ugliest sounds anyone created for Eurovision), nightmare fuel visuals and that ghastly, ghastly outro.

Actually, about that outro. That is what made me turn against Joost. It's the WORST section of ANY song this year. It's the combination of whiplashing from extreme rapture into literal mourning at the drop of a pin (which is kind of... really icky human behaviour when you think about it) with pushing it down our throats by including it in the recap. Make The Guillible Cry With Cheap Emotional Manip, it's not a tool exclusive to Israelis.

And you CAN actually blame this intrusive display of emotional expoitation squarely on Joost because he's a known perfectionist and therefore must have planned the execution of the outro the moment he and his cronies decided to include it in the song.

It did tie the ending together alright. But because it wasn't a showing of personal growth, or strength or accomplishment, which it could have been, it did not align with the rest of the song. Instead it underlined that Joost hasn't moved on and is hopelessly stuck in the past, desperate for validation.

Instead of underlining the cheerful, fun aspect of Europapa it instead brought my attention the dark, emotionally disturbing bits as the last thought, and that ultimately is what killed it for me. The song is a cry for help, which is nothing to be cheerful about.

Aaaaand that's the opinion on the song and the live performance. But we're not done yet because I must address what came after that. 🙄

So, let's tackle the press conference first. Zero complaints about that. I was annoyed with Joost before due to how desperately he tried to push himself as "Käärijä's" successor and fabricated his own PR campaign on TikTok (DIE TikTok), but his behaviour at the PC made me do a complete 180 on him. Him shooting pure unfiltered truth pellets at the EBU and Eden with no regard for the consequences was fucking GLORIOUS. All the things he said needed to be said and were said without a filter. It was pure oxygen and precisely what we all needed to hear, spoken because of its TRUTH and not for clout.

Then, the disqualification. It was 'a valid DQ' purely from a rules perspective but come on now. This was not a DQ worthy incident. He didn't touch the woman and she deliberately, repeatedly refused to respect his privacy despite multiple warnings AND an agreement he made with the EBU. How has this even been reported as a 'crime'? He APOLOGIZED profusely to the lady in question and she refused to hear him and called the police on him. Sometimes you just have the misfortune of running into a Karen on a bad day. And given how riddled with tension this year's backstage was, every day of rehearsals was a bad day for everyone involved.

The DQ went through because the EBU can't fucking clear up the slightest inconvenience. By the time the police became involved, there was no turning back, and they were forced to DQ as per their bureaucracy. The rest is backpedaling.

Both of these things made me feel more sympathetic towards Joost as a person. At the end of the day he's a deeply troubled, complex, tragic figure who (barely) functions on copium and is really terrible at expressing his true feelings and the events surrounding his DQ check out with that. He needs support from those who love him (and enter therapy.) The other delegations taking his side (other than ofc KUN(ts)), is a wholesome signal and proves that Europe can be United By Music even when it is Divided By Politics first. If this disqualification is what leads to some much-needed overhauls for next year (ideally the sacking of Österdahl, the cancellation of the MorroccanOil sponsorship and KAN's expulsion, in any order), I will gladly accept Joost's role in that as the proverbial sacrifce that needed to be made.

Ironically, it was the disqualification that made me realize I shouldn't bump Joost higher out of sympathy for his personality. I didn't miss Europapa on Saturday and barely noticed its absence. The results in the Grand Final were great, specifically because Switzerland won and Croatia beat Israel in the televote. If Joost competes, Swizterland and Croatia's TVs go down in western Europe, while Israel is still top five (since she beat Joost in the semi). He also shoves Bambie out of their serendipitous 6/6/6 placements to boot.

That realization is why I need to eliminate him NOW and not later down the road. I don't care for the song as a Eurovision entry, I DISLIKE the live performance and his presence could have made the results worse for me. Easy elimination at this stage.

Those that care about "Europapa" can keep singing its praises and should. Joost will need and shall appreciate the support after this nightmare Eurovision.

Ultimately though, I am not of his fans.

THE RANKING

[floppidywoppidys]

Time for some post eurovision thoughts. Voting I didn't realise but appearently voting was available worldwide. I'm not sure how I feel about this. If their weight is just a 1/27 of all the total televotes, I'm mostly okay with it. With steaming services Eurovision can be more global than ever I understand the change. Juries Am I happy that Switzerland won and Israel didn't finish second? 100%. But regardless of my personal wishing outcome, juries should just be removed. I imagine the fans of Baby Lasagna are just as upset as I was last year when Käärijä didn't win because of juries.

Israel Oh boy, the big controversy topic. I feel like I land in the middle of both sides with my opinions. I'm mostly angry at the EBU. Israel should just not be able to participate because of their ongoing conflict. Before this year, there was also a strong dislike for Israel but never to the likes of 2024. This just creates friction that doesn't unite people by music. If you decide to let Israel participate - then don't cover up the booing, this is just so cringe. It's also hard to be objective to Eden Golan's song when you know everything else that's going on with Israel AND when her song directly is about it. Joost I feel so sorry for Joost and the Netherlands. With social media and the internet it can be hard to know what's true and what's just speculations. But regardless of what happened, it's such a drastic descision to disqualify him. Overall Just a lot of mixed thoughts about this Eurovision and the shitshow it has become. I said earlier that an organsiation can make many decisions I don't agree with and I will still watch, but those decisions are starting to ramp up and I know for sure I don't feel as excited about next years Eurovision, which is a shame because I really love Eurovisions core message. And I am really excited and happy about Nemo winning. But yeah, a lot of emotions about this eurovision.

[candy--heart]

If we nominate a candidate plagued by a litany of disqualifying issues, Trump will win. We can’t make that mistake again.

---- ---- ----

JOE BIDEN

has been personally involved in nearly every bad policy decision of the last 50 years. Currently coasting on name recognition and association with Obama, he can only go down from here as people realize he is more comparable to Trump than he is to anyone else. With all the negatives of Hillary’s failed campaign but none of the positives, he would almost surely see us lose the general election again. If you love your grandchildren at all please do not vote for Biden.

TOP 5 HIGHLIGHTS:

Led the fight against desegregating schools even years after it had been proven a success and defended by Republicans [Expanded 7/6]

Voted for the disastrous Iraq War, then escalated it, then lied about it, still says he’d “do it again,” and just hired a foreign policy advisor who helped Bush orchestrate the war before joining a lobbying firm for the military-industrial complex [Expanded 8/13, 8/29, 9/6]

Wrote the racist Crime Bill that intentionally led to record-breaking mass incarceration, positioning himself to the right of even Reagan and Bush

Opposed Roe v Wade and voted to allow states to overturn it like they are now, worked to undermine the ACA’s coverage of birth control, does “not view abortion as a choice and a right” and still opposed federal funding for it multiple times including during this election

Long history of creepily/patronizingly groping/sniffing/kissing/grabbing/condescending women and young girls just so many times, even including intimidation and continuing even now after his non-apology [Expanded 10/14, 10/29, 11/9]

BUT THAT’S NOT ALL:

Racist comments like this and this, and fondness towards if not impassioned support for so many of the worst racists and segregationists like this whom he chose to work with, as well as Republicans like George Bush, Dick Cheney, Mike Pence, and Jeb Bush. Generally has no understanding of racism in America [Expanded 7/27, 8/8, 9/13]

As part of his crusade against desegregating schools he was the only member of the Senate Judiciary Committee to block two black appointees to the Department of Justice

Has lied about marching in the Civil Rights movement multiple times, and seems to lie about attending an HBCU [Expanded 8/31, 10/29]

Horrible treatment of Anita Hill during Clarence Thomas hearing

Supports cutting Social Security and Medicare and raising the retirement age on multiple occasions, backing Paul Ryan’s efforts to do so, while voting to gut welfare

Led the disastrous War on Drugs, and somehow still opposes cannabis legalization (while simultaneously trying to destroy the growing industry by handing it over to the Big Pharma), yet two of his children escaped consequences for drug use [Expanded 8/31]

Pushed to expand death penalty, even to those on drug charges

Opposes Medicare for All while he and his campaign lie about it what it would entail, and wants to bring back penalizing those who can’t afford to pay for private insurance. He continues to praise Big Pharma to his ultra-wealthy donors and is the only candidate to refuse to meet with disabled healthcare activist Ady Barkan [Expanded 7/6, 7/27, 9/21, 10/14]

Originally claimed he “doesn’t have time” to propose his own healthcare plan, then proposed one that would kill 125,000 Americans and leave over 10 million uninsured (which he’s lied about) in a rollout sponsored by Big Pharma (even his own wife admits he’s not good on healthcare, and he’s let slip the true reality of his proposal) [Expanded 7/6, 7/27, 8/19, 8/26, 10/14]

Personally fought to make cancer medication unaffordable for patients in developing nations [Added 10/14]

Opposed equal rights for the LGBTQ+ community even very recently, only eventually coming around just 7 short years ago, and is still awkward at best on the issue [Expanded 9/22, 10/14]

Supported the NRA in passing massive anti-gun control legislation, and has blamed videos games for mass shootings multiple times [Expanded 8/5]

Opposes meaningful action on the climate crisis like the Green New Deal, instead pursuing the “middle ground” while his campaign attacks publications for accurately reporting this

He’s rated D- by Greenpeace in part because he supports fracking, oil and gas exportation, and the building of new fossil fuel infrastructure, and his campaign shot down the proposed climate debate and skipped MSNBC’s climate forum [Added 8/23, Expanded 9/6, 9/16]

Plagiarized fossil fuel groups’ language in his woefully inadequate climate crisis plan after his climate advisor made $1 million from one natural gas company alone. He then made uncomfortable physical contact with and rudely dismissed a young woman who asked him about this [Expanded 10/14]

Broke his own pledge to not accept fossil fuel money by attending a fundraiser hosted by his former advisor and current oil corporation co-founder/owner Andrew Goldman, and lied about it twice [Added 9/6, Clarified/Expanded 9/7, 10/14]

Voted to expand deportations and indefinite detention for immigrants multiple times and opposed amnesty for immigrants and supports requiring them to learn English

As VP his administration deported more people than any other in American history, deporting people at a higher rate than Trump’s administration even according to ICE themselves, and expanding the anti-immigrant system Trump now uses by 3,600%. He still refuses to answer for this and has gone as far as calling the police on immigration activists for passing out flyers [Expanded 7/9, 10/14]

As VP his administration built the inhumane concentration camps in which children separated from their families are still illegally caged, beginning the practice which Trump has now continued and resulting in the ongoing lawsuit claiming that ICE is violating the Flores Agreement by not providing basics like toothpaste and soap [Added 7/9]

Voted to build border walls and supported sending military to the border long before Trump

Voted to ban immigrants with HIV, locking Haitian refugees up in Guantanamo Bay

Spearheaded the Alliance for Prosperity which increased deportations, border militarization, privatization, and oil pipelines for American exploitation while worsening the refugee crisis

Architected Plan Colombia, internationalizing the War On Drugs resulting in mass death, displacement, and destruction of food crops, while opening the country to US business interests

Sides with Trump in backing right-wing coup in Venezuela

Voted to authorize invasion of the Netherlands if an American is tried for war crimes by the International Court of Justice in The Hague, refusal to participate in UN peacekeeping unless the US obtains immunity, and withdrawal of aid to countries that ratify ICC treaty

Supports Israel’s right-wing regime and apartheid in Palestine purely to protect US interests. A self-described Zionist, he blames Palestinians for multiple US-backed Israeli massacres, including an attack that killed 9 peace activists. Calls BDS “anti-semitic” and has a 100% rating from AIPAC [Expanded 7/4]

Recklessly threatens nuclear war with North Korea

Sided with banks to overturn Glass-Steagall and deregulate, leading to financial crisis, and has dishonestly tried to take credit for the formation of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau despite actually helping strip state consumer protection [Expanded 10/18]

Defends billionaires hoarding wealth and promises to ensure it keeps happening at the expense of everyone else while voting to slash the top income tax rate and cripple the estate tax, resulting in $83 billion lost annually

Led the disastrous Bankruptcy Bill resulting in increased debt and specifically fought to make student loan debt more difficult to live with before dismissing the plight of Millennials who are now the most indebted generation ever [Expanded 8/26]

Lied about his own student debt multiple times, his own scholarship, and his own academic achievements, and has not proposed any plans to make public college tuition free or to abolish student debt [Added 8/26]

Voted against abolishing the electoral college that undemocratically elected Bush and Trump

Took $200,000 to help a Republican beat a Democrat to Congress despite being anti-abortion

Voted against enhancing labor protection enforcements

Voted for NAFTA, supports TPP, is generally to the right of Trump on trade, and argued against the prediction that China would become an economic competitor [Expanded 9/13]

Works with union-busters, voted to cut union pensions, continues to snub unions, and is generally bad for workers [Expanded 10/14]

Consistently sides with special interests and corporations against antitrust regulation and voted for the first antitrust exemption since 1922

Opposes net neutrality

Driving force behind the Patriot Act, supports warrantless wiretaps / mass surveillance while his son partially owns the Chinese government’s Islamophobic mass surveillance system [Edited 9/13]

Personally tried to prevent Ecuador from providing asylum for Edward Snowden

Says the CIA torture report is not a “black stain on this country” but a “badge of honor”

Worsened the opioid epidemic and made it harder to treat

Wants to make up reasons to jail anyone associated with a rave and literally bulldoze it down while his RAVE legislation lets kids die from preventable drug overdoses

Was the only senator to vote against expanding a child care tax credit [Added 7/29]

Has questionable electability based on receiving less than 0.22% in 3 previous Democratic primary elections. He has a history of insulting voters and is currently skipping major party events, hiding from the press, and holding only between a quarter and half as many public events as his rivals

Has questionable electability based on his infamous propensity for awkward “gaffes,” including many, many, many, many, many, many, many in this election cycle alone, to the point where he is literally unable to campaign [Added 8/9, Expanded 8/11, 8/13, 8/15, 8/23, 8/24, 9/2, 9/17, 10/14]

Plagiarized law school papers and campaign speeches (in which he lied about having coal miner roots), which ended his 1988 presidential run

His anti-progressive campaign surrogate Ed Rendell is a sexist, pro-fracking, pro-AIPAC Fox News supporter who approved bombing a black neighborhood in Philadelphia, killing 5 children and 6 adults [Added 6/26]

Used Charlottesville as a prop in his campaign video despite never even visiting once

Lied about getting shot down in Iraq and experiences in Afghanistan [Added 8/31]

Has no plan to reform the court system or counter its Republican takeover, has proposed re-nominating the failed Merrick Garland to the Supreme Court, a nearly 70 year-old “moderate” who has opposed voting rights and human rights for Guantanamo detainees, and is fine with Kavanaugh remaining on the Supreme Court for life [Added 7/6, Expanded 9/16]

Is still openly courting Republican billionaires for donations, including John Catsimatidis, who’s compared taxing the wealthy to Nazi persecution of Jews

Endorsed by Alan Dershowitz, the millionaire Trump supporter accused of taking part in Jeffrey Epstein’s sex ring, after Biden’s son ensured a similar billionaire pedophile avoided prison after raping his own toddler

Voted to deregulate the credit card industry while a credit card company was his top donor from 1989–2000 and then hired his son

His administration awarded a $1.5 billion contract to his brother’s construction firm despite his brother having no prior residential construction experience

Has a long history of generally Trump-esque nepotism that he refuses to address [Added 10/14]

Broke his own pledge to take over 2x more money than Trump from lobbyists and special interests, including at least 13 billionaires, has the same general donor base as Trump, and very openly partakes in general corruption [Expanded 8/5, 8/11, 8/23, 10/14]

Flip-flopped on his initial opposition to using Super PACs and established one with military industrial complex and private healthcare lobbyists, even after admitting, “You shouldn’t accept any money from a Super PAC, because people can’t possibly trust you” just one year prior [Added 10/25]

His Senate chief of staff is now running Fox News’ lobbying operation [Added 10/14]

Hasn’t released any tax returns since 2015, which people seem to care about now [On 7/9 he released them to no media attention, revealing an $11 million increase in income in his first year out of office alone]

Seems to have found a loophole to avoid paying his interns [Added 7/12]

Unconvincingly co-opted Bernie’s education plan and slogan, and a Biden PAC plagiarized Kamala Harris’ slogan for its name

Despite his supposed frontrunner status he is a distant 5th in individual donors, raising questions of electability [Added 10/14]

“A lot of us sit around thinking up ways to vote conservative just so we don’t come out with a liberal rating. I’m really quite conservative…”

Meghan and the McCain family and Strom Thurmond have endorsed him, and Trump has donated to him

The worst part? He’s still not sorry for any of this (but wants a black man to apologize to him)

[violet-studying]

Speech tips: From someone who went to state.

This is my post that I wrote to add on to another post about speech, and I thought I would make it my own as well :)

So fun fact about me: This is going to be my fourth year in Speech. I’ve been in it since 8th grade and am just going into 11th grade this year (Somehow??? I’m like twelve). This year I’m going to be a captain, and  I also went to state this year for my Creative Expression piece (Which is wild since I’m a sophomore aha, I’m still trying to figure out how I made it this far). I’ve noticed that a lot of people don’t know what speech is or how to do it, so I figured that I would give some tips to the newbies/people who were thinking about doing it. I’m going to link some videos of the national competitors from this year, and then I will write some tips up. 

Champion in Original Oratory

Champion in Humor

Dramatic Interpretation Runner up

Duo (No idea what place they got lmao)

It isn’t letting me link any more, yikes. 

Anyway,

Here’s some tips:

Don’t sway or do distracting things. There’s actually a way you can do that easily. Plant your feet on the ground, shoulder width apart, and keep them there. If you have an issue with your hands swaying, keep them at your sides and try to keep them lined up with the seam of your pants/skirt.

Tip for enunciation: There’s two ways you can do this, and you are going to hate both of them. :

    Way 1: Get a writing utensil and stick it between your teeth, then try to do your speech

    Way 2: rip a 1/4 sheet of paper, crumple it up, then throw it in your mouth. Try to talk with in; try to do your speech with it.

    Disclaimer: You can not do this during an actual speech round

Get to know your character: This is especially important if you didn’t write it and got a script instead. Decide what this character’s favorite food would be. What time they would go to bed. What they would look like. Decide all the small things that would make them the person they were. This is going to help you when you have to act as them.

Another tip on the above, when choosing a speech, choose a speech with a character that you want to be.

Character pops are different based off of what your speech is about. If you’re in humor, you’re probably going to want to do quick, jerkier pops. It adds a bit of energy to you presenting. If you’re in something like prose, or just something that’s going to be a sadder speech, you are not going to do your pop like you would in humor. I consider sadder speeches’ pops to be more graceful. While you aren’t going slow, you aren’t jerking the way humor does. Your transition is going to be something graceful, like floating on clouds.

Speaking of character pops, please get different ways for your characters to look, especially if you are in Humor. Remember how you were supposed to learn everything about your character? This counts. Learn how they stand, what their voice is going to sound like, their facial expression.

If you are doing a draw category (Like storytelling, exempt reading,etc) Make sure you actually do the readings and work on them as much as you would for any other piece. in fact, work on them more. You’re learning 15 different things. I don’t care who you are, you can not put a winning speech together in the 30 minutes they give you if you don’t work on it at home as well.

Go in for practice more than what is necessary. I’m not sure how it works for other schools, but at my school the way speech works is that our coaches are available every day after school and you sign up for a time to work with them. I’ve heard other schools do it differently, but if yours works anything like this, don’t just go once a week because that’s all that is necessary. I was going in 3-4 times a week, along with starting to come in even before the season started.

If you’re doing an action that feels awkward, find a way to make it not feel awkward. Just... trust me on this. When it feels awkward you are going to look uncomfortable. If you are putting on a backpack and you don’t know what you are doing, it’s going to look weird. Either learn how to do the action you are trying to do or find an alternative.

Memorize your damn speech, it’ll make a world of a difference when you don’t have to hold the damn papers.

How to set up the beginning of your speech:

    small piece in of the beginning of the speech, maybe a minute or so.

   when you’re done with this part, do not rush into your intro. Give a one second pause, and then ease your body into a power stance. You look more confident this way, and shows the audience that you are speaking as you and not your character.

   Your intro can start with a quote, small story, whatever you would like. Let the audience know how this relates to your speech. At the very end, state the name of the speech and the name of your speech.  Nothing in any of this should be longer than three minutes.

  Here’s my example from last year:

      According to Medicinenet.com, Euthanasia is a term to refer to intentionally ending a life in order to relieve pain and suffering. There’s 7 countries that offer legal Euthanasia as a medical procedure, one of them being the Netherlands. The story follows Caroline, who in attempt to make sense of things tells her story about her relapse with her terminal illness and in an effort to protect her family from the financial and emotional burden, ran away hoping to receive such services. Dying in Amsterdam.

    Notice how Amsterdam didn’t have a name of an author come after it? That’s because I wrote the speech myself. Saying “Dying in Amsterdam, by me” Would just be dumb

  Note about this: Nothing in Public address has to have this teaser/intro thing. This is a interpretation thing.

When you go to meets, for the first time or two go watch your own round. Write down how those people are different from you, what they do that you would like to take and put into your own speech.

If you are using a speech someone else wrote, you can not go changing or adding words. No if, ands, or buts.

If you are in public address and had to look up information, you have to cite all your sources. This is so so so important. I’ve seen kids almost get into state and then get disqualified because they didn’t cite all their sources and were accused of plagiarizing.

The mood is going to be very different in a round based on what category you’re in. In my experience humor seems to have a weird atmosphere to it, kinda pretentious. People in prose or drama give no fucks, they’re already dying inside.

Don’t start a duo with your best friend. We have had about four duos in my time of speccing, all of them best friends, and you know how many survived? NONE. If you want to do a duo, choose someone with the same work ethic as you. Better yet, let your coach decide for you, please. 

DO NOT EAT A TON OF SHIT JUNK FOOD UNTIL AFTER YOUR PRELIMINARY ROUNDS ARE OVER.

      My best advice would be to eat small things in between rounds, and then if you must pig out wait until just after rounds are over and/or after finals while waiting for judges to make final decisions. The reason I say that is that if you pig out in between your full stomach and the taste of pizza still in your mouth is going to be so distracting. If you wait until after rounds are over, you’ll be able to let the food settle in the chance that you final.

Don’t talk shit about the judges. Not only is it rude, but it can come to bite you in the ass if the wrong person hears you.

Please note that you aren’t going to be the best at first, and that is okay. It’s going to take time, but if you are willing to work for it you’ll eventually get there. It’s gonna be okay. If you have any other questions, feel free to drop questions in my ask :)

[biotechtimes]

DUO-India Fellowship Programme (Students) 2020

New Post has been published on https://biotechtimes.org/2019/08/02/duo-india-fellowship-programme-students-2020/

DUO-India Fellowship Programme (Students) 2020

2020 DUO-India Fellowship Programme (Students)

The DUO-India Fellowship Program is set up in 2019 with the objective of encouraging the balanced and permanent exchange of individuals between India and European countries. For this program, only such institutes which are part of the Joint Research Projects under Scheme for Promotion of Academic and Research Collaboration (SPARC) are eligible to participate.

DUO-India aims to fund every year, 100 student-pairs for exchanges for one semester, starting from 2020 onwards aiming to provide mobility between Indian and European institutes. In this respect, DUO-India requires that a PAIR (two persons) of students be exchanged, and they should be from any of the collaborating institutes (both Indian and European) under SPARC projects.

The list of such institutes (both Indian & European) can be seen in https://sparc.iitkgp.ac.in/. As of now, 14 European countries namely Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and UK are part of SPARC programme.

CAUTION: If any application falls under the following 3 cases, the application is disqualified and will not be considered for selection. If such a case is found after the selection, the Secretariat reserves the right to cancel the fellowship (BOTH Indian/European students) and request the return of the fellowship in full. Therefore, the contact persons of the institutes should carefully confirm that the applications do not fall under the following 3 cases.

• Case 1. In case of the Transfer of Credits, the credits for transfer are less than 10 credits (20 ECTS): language and sports courses are NOT to be counted • Case 2. GPA/ECTS written on the application are different from those of the transcript • Case 3. During the period for the fall semester 2019, the Indian student does not stay in India (leave of absence is allowed) or the European student does not stay in Europe (leave of absence is allowed)

Definitions of students are as below: • Students: undergraduate, master, doctoral and post-doctorate students who are currently enrolled in institutes (leave of absence is allowed)

N.B.: All applicants shall maintain their “enrollment status” at the time of application until the time they are engaged in exchanges.

1.1. Eligibility

Due to the unique nature of this programme, in order to be eligible, the following are required:

The exchange fulfills all the three requirements below:

1. The Indian Institute (Home institute) will select an Indian national student enrolled at the Home institute to send to the European institute (Host institute), and such selection has been accepted by the Host institute;

2. The same Host institute will select an EU citizen student enrolled at the Host institute to be sent to the Home institute, and such selection has been accepted by the Home Institute.

3. If any of the students are in exchange programmes in the fall of 2019, then they are disqualified.

1.2. Duration and Fellowship

DUO-India 2020 is for exchange of students for spring semester (between Jan/Feb and May/June, 2020) and fall semester (between Aug/Sep and Nov/Dec, 2020). The selection of DUO-India Fellows would be made ONLY once a year. In this respect, those who are planning to exchange in 2020 shall apply for DUO-India 2020 within the timelines specified below.

The duration of the exchange should be at least one semester. Exchange of less than one semester is NOT allowed.

If the duration of a semester is longer than 4 months, the fellowship will be given for 4 months. Similarly, If the duration of a semester is less than 4 months, then the fellowship will be adjusted on a pro-rata basis

The duration and the amount of the fellowships are standardized as follows:

Detail Amount in Euro Europe to India (one semester or 4 months) Travel to and from Indian institute 1,000 Living expenses @250 EURO per month for 4 months 1,000 Total for EU students in India 2,000 India to Europe (one semester or 4 months) Travel to and from European institute 1,000 Living expenses @1,500 EURO per month for 4 months 6,000 Total for Indian students in EU 7,000

2. Application and Selection Procedure

2.1 Application Period

Applications will be accepted from July 15 to August 31, 2019 local Indian time.

Applications submitted after August 31, 2019 will not be accepted.

2.2. Who Applies?

The Indian institute applies on behalf of both institutes and people who are to participate in the exchange. European institutes in partnership with Indian institutes shall cooperate fully with Indian institutes in supplying precise information of European applicants.

Individuals wishing to take part in exchanges are advised to contact the relevant offices, most probably international relations offices of the institute to file an application for this program.

The Home institute will decide the contact person for DUO-India Fellowship, who probably should be from the international relations office and other than the Professor / Lecturer.

2.3. Documents

1) Filling out an Online Application Form ONLY. 2) A copy of Passport of paired applicants (a copy of document showing nationality for Indians or citizen card for Europeans are acceptable). 3) A copy of Transcript of paired applicants (including the grades until spring semester 2019, if available) 4) A Motivation Letter of paired applicants (the form can be downloaded from the ASEM-DUO website atwww.asemduo.org).

2.4. Application Submission

1) Click JOIN US button and find the Name of Home institute to get an ID. ※If you don’t find the name of your institute, please contact the Secretariat at admin2@asemduo.org to add your institute to the list. 2) Enter your password with the minimum information of the contact person in Home institute. One institute can get ONLY one ID. 3) There should be ONLY one contact person in the same institute. 4) Home institute should fill out the whole application including the information of Host institute. If needed, Application Form in word file can be downloaded from the ASEM-DUO website (www.asemduo.org). 5) The rest of the documents (Passport Copies, Transcripts and Motivation Letter) can be uploaded in the last step of the application process. 6) Once completed, please make it sure to submit your application by clicking “Submit” button. Home institute should get a confirmation email from the Secretariat within 3 days after completion of submission. If you don’t get a confirmation email, please contact admin2@asemduo.org promptly.

2.5. Selection Method

An Indian Selection Committee, as decided by the Apex Committee of SPARC will make the selection after the application deadline. The decision will be announced by October 2019, subject to change depending upon the workload.

The notification will be displayed on website, www.asemduo.org and the Secretariat will directly notify Contact Persons/Awardees in writing. Hard copies of notification and Letter of Acceptance (forms are also available atwww.asemduo.org) will be forwarded to both Home and Host institutes. Contact Persons may download forms of Letter of Acceptance, if they so wish.

2.6. Selection Criteria

1) Eligibility: master and doctoral students preferred, but undergraduate student or post-doctorate can be considered in case of exceptional merit. 2) Subject Groups: Sciences, Technology and Social Sciences 3) Institutes: Students from such Indian institutes which are part of joint research projects under SPARC with European institutes will get the first priority. The European students shall be from such European institutes which are already in association with the Indian institute under the SPARC project. 4) Fellowship Amount: The fellowship covers the travel and living expenses for the students @ 4 months.

Additionally, the following selection criteria will be considered; a) Motivation letter b) Courses to take in Host and Home institutes c) GPA and ECTS

2.7. Fellowship Amount

There are no restrictions in using the fellowship. It can finance the tuition, and living or travel expenses. However, if the student stay in exchange country less than 4 months (120 days) or traveled without informing the Secretariat in advance, the fellowship will be adjusted on a pro-rata basis.

3. How to Fill out Application Form

3.1. Language of Application

You should write your application in English.

3.2. Structure of the Application Form

1) Page 1. – Home institute

The first box of ID number and Date of submission is for the use of the Secretariat only. Please, start from filling out information of Home institute.

• CONTACT PERSON: means a regular staff of Home institute who arranges the exchange and is willing to communicate with the Secretariat in such events as verifying application details, monitoring exchanges and providing further information on the status of the exchange. The Home institute will decide the contact person for DUO-India Fellowships, who should preferably be from international relations office. • PERSON OF EXCHANGE: shall be an Indian student who will participate in the exchange. • GPA: means a grade which an Indian student has earned up to the most recent semester. • Type of Exchange: for the undergraduate student, click the boxes how many years an Indian student has accomplished (you may include the fall semester of 2019). For others, click the appropriate boxes.

N.B.: For each pair of an exchange, the exchange period of Indian and European students need not necessarily coincide, and the field of exchange need not be the same.

2) Page 2. – Host institute

In this page, provide information of Host institute involved in the exchange. The Host institute shall be resided in 14 European countries which are part of SPARC (Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and UK).

• CONTACT PERSON: means a regular staff of European institute who arranges the exchange and is willing to communicate with the Secretariat in such events as verifying application details, monitoring exchange and providing further information on the status of the exchange. • PERSON OF EXCHANGE: shall be any European student who will participate in the exchange. • ECTS: means a whole ECTS that an European student has earned up to the most recent semester. • Type of Exchange: for the undergraduate student, click the boxes how many years an European student has accomplished (you may include the fall semester of 2019). For others, click the appropriate boxes. • Confirmation on Agreement with Host institute (TO BE SIGNED BY the CONTACT PERSON at the Home institute): since the contact person in Home institute is required to complete the application on behalf of two people who will participate in the exchange and the Host institute, he/she should confirm here by checking on “YES” that the contact person in the Host institute also agree with this submission of the application.

3) Page 3. – Description of Exchange Program

In this section, please describe the duration and purpose of exchange as instructed on the form.

• Duration of Exchange: As stipulated in General Description above, duration of DUO-India Fellowship is standardized on a semester basis. One semester means 4 months. • Purpose of Exchange: Please, specify what the purpose of the exchange is. A minimum of 10 credits (20 ECTS) must be taken up during the semester in exchange.

4) Page 4.- Exchange Details/Source of Finance

• Exchange Details: Under this heading, intended class schedules by Indian and European students should be listed during their exchanges periods. • Source of Finance: If this exchange has any other source of finance, please specify.

CAUTION: If the actual courses differ from the courses listed on the application, such changes shall be approved and noticed in advance. If this procedure is not taken beforehand, fellowship may be subject to cancellation and/or refund. Please note intensive language courses and the sport courses by students is not honored in this program

※ Please refer to section 3.2 of the Implementation Guideline.

5) Page 5. –Certification of Authenticity

After completing all relevant items in appropriate manner on the entire field of application, please write the date and the names of contact person of Home institute and the president or Director of institute in the section of Certification of Authenticity. Submit the form to the Secretariat by clicking “submit” button. ※Save the attachment files as a Surname_Given name in its order (e.g. John_Smith).

If your application has been selected, the scanned version of all documents with signatures by email, along with an endorsement letter by the contact person of the institute that the scanned version is authenticated/verified will be requested.

3.3. After the Submission: Acknowledgement

The acknowledgment on the receipt of submission will be sent to the contact person in the Home institute by e-mail within 3 working days after submission.

CAUTION: If the application is incomplete, incorrect or inconsistent, please note that such applications may be disqualified.

[johanlouwers]

OSI's Simon Phipps on Open Source's Past and Future

OSI's Simon Phipps on Open Source's Past and Future

Image

Christine Hall Wed, 04/11/2018 - 09:20

open source

With an eye on the future, the Open Source Initiative's president sits down and talks with Linux Journal about the organization's 20-year history.

It would be difficult for anyone who follows Linux and open source to have missed the 20th birthday of open source in early February. This was a dual celebration, actually, noting the passing of 20 years since the term "open source" was first coined and since the formation of the Open Source Initiative (OSI), the organization that decides whether software licenses qualify to wear that label.

The party came six months or so after Facebook was successfully convinced by the likes of the Apache Foundation; WordPress's developer, Automatic; the Free Software Foundation (FSF); and OSI to change the licensing of its popular React project away from the BSD + Patents license, a license that had flown under the radar for a while.

The brouhaha began when Apache developers noticed a term in the license forbidding the suing of Facebook over any patent issues, which was troublesome because it gave special consideration to a single entity, Facebook, which pretty much disqualified it from being an open-source license.

Although the incident worked out well—after some grumblings Facebook relented and changed the license to MIT—the Open Source Initiative fell under some criticism for having approved the BSD + Patents license, with some people suggesting that maybe it was time for OSI to be rolled over into an organization such as the Linux Foundation.

The problem was that OSI had never approved the BSD + Patents.

Simon Phipps delivers the keynote at Kopano Conference 2017 in Arnhem, the Netherlands.

"BSD was approved as a license, and Facebook decided that they would add the software producer equivalent of a signing statement to it", OSI's president, Simon Phipps, recently explained to Linux Journal. He continued:

They decided they would unilaterally add a patent grant with a defensive clause in it. They found they were able to do that for a while simply because the community accepted it. Over time it became apparent to people that it was actually not an acceptable patent grant, that it unduly favored Facebook and that if it was allowed to grow to scale, it would definitely create an environment where Facebook was unfairly advantaged.

He added that the Facebook incident was actually beneficial for OSI and ended up being a validation of the open-source approval process:

I think the consequence of that encounter is that more people are now convinced that the whole licensing arrangement that open-source software is under needs to be approved at OSI.

I think prior to that, people felt it was okay for there just to be a license and then for there to be arbitrary additional terms applied. I think that the consensus of the community has moved on from that. I think it would be brave for a future software producer to decide that they can add arbitrary terms unless those arbitrary terms are minimally changing the rights and benefits of the community.

As for the notion that OSI should be folded into a larger organization such as the Linux Foundation?

"When I first joined OSI, which was back in 2009 I think, I shared that view", Phipps said. He continued:

I felt that OSI had done its job and could be put into an existing organization. I came to believe that wasn't the case, because the core role that OSI plays is actually a specialist role. It's one that needs to be defined and protected. Each of the organizations I could think of where OSI could be hosted would almost certainly not be able to give the role the time and attention it was due. There was a risk there would be a capture of that role by an actor who could not be trusted to conduct it responsibly.

That risk of the license approval role being captured is what persuaded me that I needed to join the OSI board and that I needed to help it to revamp and become a member organization, so that it could protect the license approval role in perpetuity. That's why over the last five to six years, OSI has dramatically changed.

This is Phipps' second go at being president at OSI. He originally served in the position from 2012 until 2015, when he stepped down in preparation for the end of his term on the organization's board. He returned to the position last year after his replacement, Allison Randal, suddenly stepped down to focus on her pursuit of a PhD.

His return was pretty much universally seen in a positive light. During his first three-year stint, the organization moved toward a membership-based governance structure and started an affiliate membership program for nonprofit charitable organizations, industry associations and academic institutions. This eventually led to an individual membership program and the inclusion of corporate sponsors.

Although OSI is one of the best known open-source organizations, its grassroots approach has helped keep it on the lean side, especially when compared to organizations like the behemoth Linux or Mozilla Foundations. Phipps, for example, collects no salary for performing his presidential duties. Compare that with the Linux Foundation's executive director, Jim Zemlin, whose salary in 2010 was reportedly north of $300,000.

"We're a very small organization actually", Phipps said. He added:

We have a board of directors of 11 people and we have one paid employee. That means the amount of work we're likely do behind the scenes has historically been quite small, but as time is going forward, we're gradually expanding our reach. We're doing that through working groups and we're doing that through bringing together affiliates for particular projects.

While the public perception might be that OSI's role is merely the approval of open-source licenses, Phipps sees a larger picture. According to him, the point of all the work OSI does, including the approval process, is to pave the way to make the road smoother for open-source developers:

The role that OSI plays is to crystallize consensus. Rather than being an adjudicator that makes decisions ex cathedra, we're an organization that provides a venue for people to discuss licensing. We then identify consensus as it arises and then memorialize that consensus. We're more speaker-of-the-house than king.

That provides an extremely sound way for people to reduce the burden on developers of having to evaluate licensing. As open source becomes more and more the core of the way businesses develop software, it's more and more valuable to have that crystallization of consensus process taking out the uncertainty for people who are needing to work between different entities. Without that, you need to constantly be seeking legal advice, you need to constantly be having discussions about whether a license meets the criteria for being open source or not, and the higher uncertainty results in fewer contributions and less collaboration.

One of OSI's duties, and one it has in common with organizations such as the Free Software Foundation (FSF), is that of enforcer of compliance issues with open-source licenses. Like the FSF, OSI prefers to take a carrot rather than stick approach. And because it's the organization that approves open-source licenses, it's in a unique position to nip issues in the bud. Those issues can run the gamut from unnecessary licenses to freeware masquerading as open source. According to Phipps:

We don't do that in private. We do that fairly publicly and we don't normally need to do that. Normally a member of the license review mailing list, who are all simply members of the community, will go back to people and say "we don't think that's distinctive", "we don't think that's unique enough", "why didn't you use license so and so", or they'll say, "we really don't think your intent behind this license is actually open source." Typically OSI doesn't have to go and say those things to people.

The places where we do get involved in speaking to people directly is where they describe things as open source when they haven't bothered to go through that process and that's the point at which we'll communicate with people privately.

The problem of freeware—proprietary software that's offered without cost—being marketed under the open-source banner is particularly troublesome. In those cases, OSI definitely will reach out and contact the offending companies, as Phipps says, "We do that quite often, and we have a good track record of helping people understand why it's to their business disadvantage to behave in that way."

One of the reasons why OSI is able to get commercial software developers to heed its advice might be because the organization has never taken an anti-business stance. Founding member Michael Tiemann, now VP of open-source affairs at Red Hat, once said that one of the reasons the initiative chose the term "open source" was to "dump the moralizing and confrontational attitude that had been associated with 'free software' in the past and sell the idea strictly on the same pragmatic, business-case grounds that had motivated Netscape."

These days, the organization has ties with many major software vendors and receives most of its financial support from corporate sponsors. However, it has taken steps to ensure that corporate sponsors don't dictate OSI policy. According to Phipps:

If you want to join a trade association, that's what the Linux Foundation is there for. You can go pay your membership fees and buy a vote there, but OSI is a 501(c)(3). That's means it's a charity that's serving the public's interest and the public benefit.

It would be wrong for us to allow OSI to be captured by corporate interests. When we conceived the sponsorship scheme, we made sure that there was no risk that would happen. Our corporate sponsors do not get any governance role in the organization. They don't get a vote over what's happening, and we've been very slow to accept new corporate sponsors because we wanted to make sure that no one sponsor could have an undue influence if they decided that they no longer liked us or decided to stop paying the sponsorship fees.

This pragmatic approach, which also puts "permissive" licenses like Apache and MIT on equal footing with "copyleft" licenses like the GPL, has traditionally not been met with universal approval from FOSS advocates. The FSF's Richard Stallman has been critical of the organization, although noting that his organization and OSI are essentially on the same page. Years ago, OSI co-founder and creator of The Open Source Definition, Bruce Perens, decried the "schism" between the Free Software and Open Source communities—a schism that Phipps seeks to narrow:

As I've been giving keynotes about the first 20 years and the next ten years of open source, I've wanted to make very clear to people that open source is a progression of the pre-existing idea of free software, that there is no conflict between the idea of free software and the way it can be adopted for commercial or for more structured use under the term open source.

One of the things that I'm very happy about over the last five to six years is the good relations we've been able to have with the Free Software Foundation Europe. We've been able to collaborate with them over amicus briefs in important lawsuits. We are collaborating with them over significant issues, including privacy and including software patents, and I hope in the future that we'll be able to continue cooperating and collaborating. I think that's an important thing to point out, that I want the pre-existing world of free software to have its due credit.

Software patents represent one of several areas into which OSI has been expanding. Patents have long been a thorny issue for open source, because they have the potential to affect not only people who develop software, but also companies who merely run open-source software on their machines. They also can be like a snake in the grass; any software application can be infringing on an unknown patent. According to Phipps:

We have a new project that is just getting started, revisiting the role of patents and standards. We have helped bring together a post-graduate curriculum on open source for educating graduates on how to develop open-source software and how to understand it.

We also host other organizations that need a fiduciary host so that they don't have to do their own bookkeeping and legal filings. For a couple years, we hosted the Open Hatch Project, which has now wound up, and we host other activities. For example, we host the mailing lists for the California Association of Voting Officials, who are trying to promote open-source software in voting machines in North America.

Like everyone else in tech these days, OSI is also grappling with diversity issues. Phipps said the organization is seeking to deal with that issue by starting at the membership level:

At the moment I feel that I would very much like to see a more diverse membership. I'd like to see us more diverse geographically. I'd like to see us more diverse in terms of the ethnicity and gender of the people who are involved. I would like to see us more diverse in terms of the businesses from which people are employed.

I'd like to see all those improve and so, over the next few years (assuming that I remain president because I have to be re-elected every year by the board) that will also be one of the focuses that I have.

And to wrap things up, here's how he plans to go about that:

This year is the anniversary year, and we've been able to arrange for OSI to be present at a conference pretty much every month, in some cases two or three per month, and the vast majority of those events are global. For example, FOSSASIA is coming up, and we're backing that. We are sponsoring a hostel where we'll be having 50 software developers who are able to attend FOSSASIA because of the sponsorship. Our goal here is to raise our profile and to recruit membership by going and engaging with local communities globally. I think that's going to be a very important way that we do it.

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