dublab Presents No Translation | KCRW's 24 Hours of Serenity - KCRW - Translation

dublab presents a one-hour set from ambient artist No Translation. No Translation is the ambient electronic solo project of Taiwanese/American musician and visual artist, Emma Palm. Her music is a meditation on the relative nature of personal connection to environments and memories that collages melodic synths, field recordings, and vocals.

dublab is a non-profit radio station based in Los Angeles. Since 1999, dublab has been broadcasting wide-spectrum music from around the world. The station’s programming has expanded to include the production of original art exhibits, films, events, record releases, and educational programs related to health, youth, development, education, and creative processes.

More about KCRW’s 24 Hours of Serenity

Listen  — we’re not saying you’re stressed out and need some relaxation… but we’re not not telling you that either ; )

So, just in case, look what KCRW has in store for you! It’s 24 hours dedicated to wellness and relaxation. Join us on Sunday, April 18th for an all-day virtual festival of calm. Everything from guided meditation with Valerie June to kitten cams, art classes with Self Help Graphics to baguette shaping with Bub and Grandma’s, soothing sounds of dublab artists to comforting home haircuts with ProjectQ… along with many of the KCRW voices you love and so much more. Seriously, it’s 24 hours — check out the schedule and details at kcrw.com/serenity.

The Zoom link will stay the same for 24 hours, so you can jump in and out of what interests you most throughout the day like you would at a festival. Drop by for one segment or stay for the whole 24 hours! We guarantee, this will be the chillest party you’ve ever been to. So breathe deep, hold it, and breathe out.

24 Hours of Serenity is free and open to the public starting on Wednesday, March 31st at 12pm noon, you only need to RSVP to attend.

Translation: After H&M Incident, Netizens Reflect on the Meaning of Patriotism - China Digital Times - Translation

Multinational clothing retailer H&M last week found itself the target of a state-sponsored storm of nationalistic scorn and a widespread boycott by Chinese consumers over a (recently deleted) October 2020 statement expressing “deep concern” about persistent allegations of forced labor in Xinjiang.

The Swedish retailer was the first and primary focus of the online rage, but other major companies who had previously made statements about ceasing use of Xinjiang cotton—including Nike, Adidas, Burberry, and Uniqlo—were also targeted by online ire. Subsequently, several Chinese celebrities and companies announced plans to terminate contracts with the brands. In reaction to the global tide of companies pledging to do their part in mitigating ongoing atrocities in Xinjiang—atrocities that the Chinese government continues to deny despite a growing body of evidence—many Chinese brands and influential figures joined nationalistic netizens in an online “support Xinjiang cotton” movement.

Meanwhile, authorities and state media played their part in fanning the flames of outrage. CDT Chinese editors found tight control of search results and social media commentary surrounding H&M and Xinjiang.

At the South China Morning Post, Celia Chen and Iris Deng reported on the role played by Chinese e-commerce firms’ in the boycott:

On Friday morning, an order placed for food to be delivered to an H&M store was denied by on-demand service giant Meituan. Hailing a car with an H&M store as the destination was not possible on ride-hailing app Didi Chuxing, which did not recognise the store address as being valid. Users were also not able to find H&M stores as destinations on China’s major online maps including Baidu, Tencent and AutoNavi maps.

[…] Further, H&M products were blocked for purchase on China’s leading e-commerce platforms including Taobao, owned by Alibaba Group Holding (owner of the Post), JD.com, and Pinduoduo.

[…On] Thursday, internet giant Tencent removed two Burberry-designed “skins”, outfits worn by video game characters, from its popular title Honour of Kings, just days after it unveiled a deal with the brand to promote its outfits in online games.

Tencent’s decision, according to two sources with knowledge of the matter, was related to Burberry’s position on Xinjiang-produced cotton as a member of the Better Cotton Initiative. London-based Burberry said last year that it did not use any raw materials from Xinjiang, where Beijing denies claims of genocide and forced labour in the region. [Source]

“The hate-fest part is not sophisticated; it’s the same logic they’ve followed going back decades,” said Xiao Qiang, a research scientist at the School of Information at the University of California, Berkeley, and the founder of China Digital Times, a website that tracks Chinese internet controls. But “their ability to control it is getting better,” he said.

[…] Squirrel Video, a Weibo account dedicated to silly videos, shared the Communist Youth League’s original post on H&M with its 10 million followers. A gadget blogger in Chengdu with 1.4 million followers shared a clip showing a worker removing an H&M sign from a mall. A user in Beijing who posts about television stars highlighted entertainers who had ended their contracts with Adidas and other targeted brands.

[…]Many web users who speak up during such campaigns are motivated by genuine patriotism, even if China’s government does pay some people to post party-line comments. Others, such as the traffic-hungry blog accounts derided in China as “marketing accounts,” are probably more pragmatic. They just want the clicks.

In these moments of mass fervor, it can be hard to say where official propaganda ends and opportunistic profit seeking begins. [Source]

Also at The New York Times, in a “user’s guide” to the Chinese movement to cancel Western fashion brands, Vanessa Friedman and Elizabeth Paton highlight the importance of the issue:

The issue has growing political and economic implications. On the one hand, as the pandemic continues to roil global retail, consumers have become more attuned to who makes their clothes and how they are treated, putting pressure on brands to put their values where their products are. One the other, China has become an evermore important sales hub to the fashion industry, given its scale and the fact that there is less disruption there than in other key markets, like Europe. Then, too, international politicians are getting in on the act, imposing bans and sanctions. Fashion has become a diplomatic football.

This is a perfect case study of what happens when market imperatives come up against global morality. […] [Source]

For a detailed roundup of the “support Xinjiang cotton” movement—who’s associated hashtag as of March 28 had garnered more than six billion views on Weibo—and Beijing’s activities over the last year that led to it, read “Support Xinjiang MianHua!” – China’s Social Media Storm over Xinjiang Cotton Ban at What’s on Weibo. In the article, Manya Koetse noted that amid the chaos, another hashtag emerged reminding angry netizens of the impact this has on many ordinary Chinese:

In light of the heated discussions and calls for boycotts, there was also another hashtag that popped up on Weibo, namely that of “don’t make it hard for the workers” (不要为难打工人). The hashtag came up after some Chinese staff members at Nike and Adidas stores were scolded on a live stream, with netizens calling on people to stay rational and not let the boycott turn into personal attacks on people. But another popular video showed a man in Chongqing calling customers out in an H&M store for buying their “trash.” [Source]

CDT earlier translated examples of Chinese web users who criticized the “support Xinjiang cotton” movement, including some from commenters who urged their angry compatriots to support Chinese workers and also the Xinjiang people.

CDT Chinese editors have since archived further examples of online commentary deviating from the “anti-anti-forced labor” sentiment of the widely covered and state-sanctioned uproar of nationalism. In one WeChat essay that appears to still be live on the platform, @有病要讀書plus recalled the 2012 case of Li Jianli, who was left paralyzed and traumatized after being violently attacked during anti-Japanese protests in Xi’an for driving a Japanese car. CDT has translated a short excerpt from the article, in which the author points out a major contradiction in the conduct of  these self-described patriots:

I’m saying that some people these days are truly amazing. They are perpetually bursting with rage or exploding in tears as if they have some sort of mental illness.

Their naiveté and cynicism is extremely vicious. They are keen to make arrests among fellow ordinary citizens. They are very good at tagging others with unfair labels and collecting backup material. […]

Each and every one of them is like an accountant, looking to the whole wide world to settle accounts. They are not looking for the correct stance, but rather looking to fight with a team on their side. They want only to hear patriotic slogans being shouted, so that’s all they will allow.

I just wonder, how can these people have such a great sense of and urging for “justice” while maintaining indifference to the many injustices and abnormalities that surround them?

How does that work?

[…] Supporting something is of course the easiest and least costly thing one can do. But, what about supporting the tens of thousands of workers in the industrial supply chain that are facing unemployment?

Could it be that some people here are living a type of life that you can’t stand to believe?

Your boycotts only invite boycotts, your condemnation leads only to condemnation, and your resentment breeds only resentment.

[…] It is impossible for those with no love for their compatriots to truly be patriotic. If they care not for these specific individuals, then they don’t deserve to use the term “comrade.” […] [Chinese]

Also on WeChat, @南方找北 similarly analyzed the meaning of patriotism. After reminding the “protesters” who live broadcast themselves destroying Nike sneakers not to forget that “there are still 600 million people in China who make less than 1,000 yuan a month and can’t afford a pair of Nikes,” the author explains their understanding of patriotism with a long list of examples, including: “In my understanding, patriotism exists not only in people’s words, but in concrete actions that show love for those around them,” and “my understanding of patriotism is [shown in the words of] the whistleblower Dr. Li Wenliang: ‘There should be more than one voice in a healthy society’.”

Another WeChat essay archived by CDT Chinese (but, apparently still online in China) is titled “Behind the H&M Incident Lies the Livelihoods of Countless Workers.” The post offers a detailed look at China’s position in the global textile and garment supply chain, and at the mainstream nature of ethical standards and multi-stakeholder governance organizations like the Better Cotton Initiative in modern international trade. The author concludes: “If our firms wish to continue engaging with Western markets, then rather than simply bullying they must comply with the guiding principles of supply chain risk management and maintain dialogue with the international community in transparency and trust.”

One Weibo user, @YvonnAlmond, spoke out against rampant online nationalism, writing: “A country where you can’t protest in the streets has raised a den of internet vigilantes… They’re always making trouble, making noise.” She was later detained by the Beijing Public Security Bureau.

The Wall Street Journal this week reported that Chinese propaganda authorities “quietly celebrated in Beijing two days after a Chinese social-media post helped ignite a frenzy of outrage against Western clothing brands […] in what they saw as a victory in a new effort to inoculate China against criticisms from the West.” At Bloomberg, opinion columnist Clara Ferreira Marques questions the accuracy of the reportedly victorious propagandists, noting a surefire result of the high profile nationalism Beijing has fanned over the last week: sustained focus on the situation in Xinjiang both in China and abroad:

For now, there’s only one clear outcome from this mess, and that’s noise. Boycotts will keep bringing attention to accusations of brutal abuse against Uyghur and other ethnic minorities in parts of China where too little light is shed.

That’s not necessarily what Beijing, for all its wolf-warrior aggression, was aiming for. [Source]

Bourbon Dictionary with Taylor Calandro 3-31-2021 | 1045 ESPN - 104.5 ESPN - Dictionary

Taylor Calandro, Wine & Spirits Director from Calandro’s, joined Matt to take your whiskey questions.

Democrats Burn the Dictionary: Why AOC’s Border Newspeak Should Be Ditched - National Review - Dictionary

NRPLUS MEMBER ARTICLE D imly aware that the border crisis is taking a toll on its popularity, the Democratic Party has finally resolved to do something concrete: It is going to burn the dictionary.

Wands outstretched and shouting incantations, prominent Democrats have begun to curse our language. In a livestream performed last night, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez attempted to change the meaning of the word “surge” in the hope that she might be able to magic away the news from the border. “They wanna say, ‘But what about the surge?’” Ocasio-Cortez said. “Well, first of all, just gut check, stop. Anyone who’s using the term ‘surge’ around …

Urban Dictionary's Latest Addition: "Vaxhole" | 93.1FM WIBC - WIBC - Indianapolis News & Politics - Dictionary

Do you frequently find yourself engaged in the act of shaming others for not wearing a mask?

Are you staunchly opposed to voter I.D. laws but absolutely insistent upon TSA agents having full access to the medical history of private citizens prior to boarding a commercial airliner?

Did you applaud Jenny McCarthy for her “courageous contribution” to a rise in infectious diseases, fiercely argue that children are healthier building “natural immunity” to polio – even if it kills them – yet now proclaim it is every American’s “patriotic duty” to get the Coronavirus vaccine?

If so, dear friend, you’re might be a “vaxhole.”

“Ah, but what is a ‘vaxhole?'” you inquisitively ask!

According to the fine and studious people of the Urban Dictionary, a “vaxhole” is defined as follows:

“VAXHOLE” 

“One who has been fully vaccinated for the COVID-19 virus and brags about it.Two weeks after the second shot and that vaxhole is posting selfies from a Cancun bar.”

Don’t: Be a “Vaxhole.”

Do: Click below to hear more informative tips on this important topic from your friends at the Hammer and Nigel Show.

Latvia's ancient poetry is getting its first major translation - The Economist - Translation

Mar 31st 2021

OVER THE years, Swedes, Germans and Russians have all had a go at conquering Latvia and imposing their flavours of Christianity on it. Today Lutherans worship mainly in the country’s west, and Russian Orthodox in the east. But Latvia’s deepest rituals are still inspired by its home-grown brand of paganism. They include wild summer-solstice parties and a national song-and-dance festival every five years.

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The hymns of this prehistoric faith are folk poems, typically four lines long, called dainas. Thanks to Krisjanis Barons, a folklorist who encouraged Latvians to note down such quatrains in the 19th and early 20th centuries, over a million of them are on file at the national library in Riga, the capital. Some have musical notation, but since dainas follow predictable schemes the tunes tend to be repeated, as in Celtic jigs and reels.

For the past 22 years, Ieva Szentivanyi has been rendering dainas into English. Her first volume was published in 2018 and the second is ready for the press. The rhythm of Latvian is hard to translate, but more difficult is conveying the affection of the language’s diminutive suffixes. The English diminutive of “book” is “booklet”; in Latvian, she explains, it more like a “dearest, sweetest, most beloved book”. Dainas are short, but rich in metaphor and symbolism:

Birch tree, dear, thou art so ample All the way to the ground; Dearest wife, thou art so lovely All the way to deep old age.

Aficionados say this canon of folk poems is as significant as any body of classical literature. Ms Szenivanyi calls them Latvia’s wisdom to share with the world. Some scholars claim a few could date from the Bronze Age: in one a warrior duelling with his sister’s abuser breaks his sword against a gatepost, something an iron weapon would be unlikely to do.

There is one class of daina that Mrs Szentivanyi dares not touch, mythical ones that speak of melting seas and waves of sunshine, which are confusing enough in the original Latvian. She aims to finish 2,000 of them. It is a daunting challenge: as one of her favourite dainas has it, “the words go on and on”.

This article appeared in the Europe section of the print edition under the headline "Folk histories in four lines"

Courtesy Translation: Additional restrictions on sports, commerce, culture and gathering of people – night curfew between 9 p.m. and 5 a.m. in Mainz - DVIDS - Translation

Press Release from the Mainz city government, 30 MAR 2021
Courtesy Translation: Nadine Bower, Community Relations

Further restrictions on sports, commerce, culture and gathering of people – night curfew between 9 p.m. and 5 a.m. in Mainz.

Press release: Incidence levels in Mainz exceed limit value of 100 last Sunday – City of Mainz significantly tightens measures to protect the population against coronavirus infections

Yesterday, the administrative staff of the state capital Mainz met again under the leadership of Lord Mayor Michael Ebling and assessed the current developments in the spread of coronavirus infections. Since Sunday, the 7-day incidence - i.e. the number of new infections per 100,000 inhabitants per week - in the state capital Mainz is above the limit of 100 - at the same time the forecasts of the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) assumes further growing values nationwide.

The administrative staff has therefore decided, in accordance with the 18th Corona Control Ordinance of Rheinland-Pfalz (18th CoBeLVO), to take further measures to protect the population against coronavirus infections. These will be published tomorrow, Wednesday with a general decree and will apply starting Thursday, Apr. 1st, 2021, at midnight until at first and including Sunday, Apr. 11th, 2021:

Contacts

Staying in public spaces is only permitted alone or with the members of one’s own household and a person of one other household (children of both households up to and including six years old are not included in the determination of the number of persons).

Night curfew

Leaving one’s apartment or accommodation located in the area of the state capital Mainz and the stay outside one's own apartment or accommodation is generally prohibited daily between 9 p.m. until 5.00 a.m. of the following day.

During the period referred to in the first sentence, staying in the territory of the above-mentioned localities is in principle also prohibited for persons who are not residents there.

Exceptions to these restrictions apply only if there is a valid reason. The main reasons are:

(a) professional activities;
(b) actions necessary to avert an imminent danger to life, limb and property;
(c) the use of urgent necessary medical and veterinary care services;
(d) visiting spouses, partners within the meaning of the Civil Partnership Act, close relatives (within the meaning of Section 1589 paragraph 1 sentence 1 of the German Civil Code), the elderly, the sick or people with restrictions (outside institutions) and the exercise of the right of custody and access in the private sector;
(e) the support and care of persons and minors in need of assistance;
(f) the accompaniment of the dying and persons in urgent life-threatening conditions;
(g) caring for animals, including the walking the animal (only one person);
(h) the pursuit of hunting in order to reduce the risk of the spread of animal disease, in accordance with the hygiene concept of hunting;
(i) the attendance of Easter services.

Businesses and retail

Commercial facilities are closed to customer traffic, unless otherwise specified below. Pickup and delivery services of commercial facilities are permitted upon prior order in compliance with the general protective measures.

Commercial establishments may open if, by prior agreement, individual appointments are made in which only persons belonging to the same household are granted access to the establishment at the same time.
The obligation to register contacts applies for such individual appointments.

If several individual appointments are allocated for one day in a row, a period of at least 15 minutes between the end and the beginning of the individual appointments shall be kept free. The above also applies to libraries and archives.

Excluded from closure are:

- retail establishments for food,
- direct marketers of food,
- beverage markets,
- drugstores,
- baby markets.

In addition, excluded are also:

- booths on farmer’s markets whose supply of goods corresponds to the permitted retail establishments,
- pharmacies, medical centers, health centers,
- gas stations,
- banks and savings banks, post offices,
- laundromats
- newspaper and magazine sales, bookstores,
- tool stores, animal supply markets,
- wholesale,
- flower shops,
- gardening stores, horticultural establishments and horticultural markets.

If an establishment offers other goods or services in addition to the above-mentioned goods or services, this is permitted, provided that the additional range of goods or services is not the focus of the sales assortment or offer.

If the distance between persons cannot be complied with because of the nature of the service, such as in beauty studios, wellness massage salons, tattoo or piercing studios and similar establishments, the activity is prohibited.

Medical-hygienic services

Services intended for medical or hygienic reasons, such as those provided by:

- opticians,
- hearing aid acousticians,
- hairdressers,
- foot care and podiatric,
- for physical therapy, occupational and logo therapies,
- in rehabilitation sports and functional training (within the meaning of Section 64 paragraph 1, number 3 and 4 of the Ninth Book of the Social Law Code).

Only those services of the hairdressing trade may be provided where compliance with the mask obligation is possible. Hairdressers have to control access by prior appointment. For all offers, the distance requirement must be observed between customers.

The mask requirement applies if the type of service permits, provided that a medical face mask (surgery mask) or a mask of the standards KN95/N95 or FFP2 or a comparable standard is to be worn. In addition, the obligation to register contacts applies.

Gastronomy

Dining facilities inside and outside are closed.

Sports
Training and competition in amateur and leisure sports in team sports and in contact sports are prohibited.
Individual training in amateur and leisure sports on and in all public and private uncovered sports facilities is only permitted outdoors and only alone, in pairs or with persons belonging to one’s own household.
In addition, the distance requirement applies.

Cultural institutions, museums
Museums, exhibitions, galleries, memorials and similar facilities remain closed.

Regulation on additional sales outlets
Outlets and similar establishments, in particular gas stations, kiosks, retail shops and supermarkets, are prohibited from selling alcoholic beverages between 9 p.m. and 6 a.m.
By way of derogation from Section 3 No. 2 of the Rheinland-Pfalz Shop Opening Act, sales outlets close no later than 9 p.m.
On the basis of the Infection Protection Act, in agreement with the Ministry of Social Affairs, Labor, Health and Demography of the State of Rheinland-Pfalz and the local health office, the state capital Mainz therefore will issue a corresponding general decree for these measures, which will be announced on Wednesday, 31 March 2021 and thus will enter into force on Thursday, Apr. 1st, 2021, midnight. The general decree will initially apply until the end of Apr. 11th, 2021.
Lord Mayor Michael Ebling said: "The additional significant increase in infection rates, not least due to the British mutation, shows us that the coronavirus pandemic is far from over and that we must continue to exercise the utmost care and caution. The measures are being taken to protect all citizens - and we are all demanding concessions. I appeal to everyone: please observe the strict guidelines, continue to adhere distance and hygiene rules at all times, avoid meetings and accept the curfews that have been imposed, as have been and will be accepted in other cities and states. This approach is in line with the agreements made by the federal and state governments to apply the 'emergency brake' with incidence levels over 100. This is a time of sacrifices, but that is the only way we can protect our neighbors, our families, from contagion and help reduce the number of infections. However, the increasing number of vaccinations and rapid tests will contribute to the improvement of the situation in the long term. Until then: Stay disciplined and remain patient."

The administrative staff of the state capital Mainz will continue to monitor the development of coronavirus infections continuously and will adapt the measures accordingly. The administrative staff shall meet at close intervals.

Up-to-date information from the Mainz City Council on the protective measures to control coronavirus infections under https://ift.tt/3fsgj7b.

Source: https://ift.tt/2OeQ1ds

Date Taken:	03.31.2021
Date Posted:	03.31.2021 11:08
Story ID:	392682
Location:	WIESBADEN, HE, DE

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This work, Courtesy Translation: Additional restrictions on sports, commerce, culture and gathering of people – night curfew between 9 p.m. and 5 a.m. in Mainz, by Nadine Bower, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://ift.tt/2vbbNT7.