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Each unit has 4 data structures for input and output. Let be the FF input to unit at iteration , a vector of real numbers in the interval . In higher layers is a mass function, but in the lowest layer any values in this range can be provided. Let be the FF output, a matrix containing a normalized likelihood function over possible classifications of the input within . For the FB pass, let be a matrix of equal dimension to containing a probability mass function over predicted future classification-states in unit . Similarly, let be the FB output from , a vector of equal size to the input vector containing a prediction of future input to unit . To form a hierarchy, FF outputs from multiple lower units are concatenated and presented to higher unit[s]. Conversion from matrix to vector is not important as the classifiers (see below) assume all input dimensions are independent.
Messages between units (U) in different layers are relayed via “reward correlator” components (RC). FF messages (blue arrows) represent classifications of the current state of the agent in the world; these are correlated with objective internal measures of agent state (reward). The same reward value is provided to every RC; the hierarchy is tasked with modelling the separate external causes of changes in reward. FB messages are “predictions” of future agent-world state (red arrows). Biased messages are produced by RC components, making the hierarchy more likely to “predict” states in which it performs actions correlated with high reward. Sensor data is concatenated with motor output to form the interface to the MPF hierarchy. The FB output of an MPF unit is of the same form as its FF input. Different data may be presented to each unit at the bottom of the hierarchy. Sensor inputs and motor outputs may be mixed within one unit or interfaced to different units.
We operate our hierarchy iteratively. Each iteration includes a feed-forward (FF) pass of every unit, followed by a feed-back (FB) pass of every unit. The units are traversed in such an order that all units at the lowest level are FF prior to any unit at the next higher level (breadth-first or level-order traversal). On the FB pass, the units at the highest level are FB prior to any “lower” units, until the lowest level is reached. Each iteration therefore consists of a FF and a FB pass of the entire hierarchy ( figure 2 ). Although synchronous operation of the hierarchy is not biologically realistic, it should not affect the results of the algorithm described below.
The different problems of discrete and continuous outputs (action spaces) are discussed in the Reinforcement Learning literature. Many RL algorithms (such as Q-learning and SARSA) cannot handle continuous action spaces. However, approximately optimal continuous outputs can be learnt by methods such as CACLA (Continuous Actor-Critic Learning Automaton) [26] . The RL literature does include Monte-Carlo methods to explore the space of possible actions (policies) [28] , similar to our approach for discrete outputs.
If continuous motor outputs are desired, values in can be used without further processing. Discrete outputs are more problematic because learning within the MPF unit (within a SOM in this paper) will cause a feedback loop, pulling motor outputs towards intermediate values. Instead, discrete outputs can be produced by sampling from a multinomial of possible actions with probabilities . should represent the action actually chosen from . Therefore let if action k was chosen, and otherwise.
We want the MPF to generate behaviour directly. If then . Given the behaviour of the MPF, will be a prediction of and will be a prediction/suggestion of motor commands at ; i.e. when trained, .
However, in an iterative artificial adaptive agent , meaning that the state is comprised of current sensor values and consequent actions taken. The agent must learn which action to choose given that it is in a particular world/self state, so we must store this combination together. Imagine the Markov-Graph of this model; we are encoding the current vertex and outbound edges, rather than the current vertex and inbound edges (learning how we got into a nasty situation is not as directly useful as learning how to get out of it!). This is similar to the state-action pairing seen in SARSA.
Since in MPF the FF and FB data structures are of equal size, agent sensor values and motor commands must be present in both and . If is a vector of current values from the agent's sensors, and is a vector of values corresponding to motor commands, then . In other words, the input/output state to the MPF's lowest level is a concatenation of sensor values and motor commands.
Many reinforcement learning algorithms - such as Q-learning [3] and SARSA [33] - model the effect of [state,action] pairs on reward. The state contains both external and internal measurements from the agent in its world. Actions are generated by the agent. The expected reward of performing actions when in state is the “Quality” of the pair, typically denoted .
In the FB pass we wish to modify message passed from higher unit[s] to unit . Since is a probability mass function, we wish to increase the value (mass) of matrix elements associated with increase in reward, and reduce elements associated with decreases in reward. This can be done with the following formulas, in which is a normalizing factor ensuring constant mass and is a global scalar parameter determining the maximum influence of adaptive bias . Note that matrix is a nonlinear function of the correlation of unit states with reward, to ensure that weak correlations are rapidly tested and either strengthened or depleted. is a scalar constant corresponding to the uniform mass value i.e. if are the dimensions of . is the modified mass function: (5) (6) (7)
This formulation arises because we only want to change the correlation for active elements in and the influence of on any element should depend on the probability that SOM model represents the state that caused . ensures that the correlation never changes too quickly, forgetting historic values. If events happen comparatively quickly compared to the rate of iterating the hierarchy, a delay of at least 1 iteration should be applied to the correlating formula as shown above, although should be relayed without delay to higher units. In more sophisticated implementations, integrals of over time should be correlated with reward.
For every unit , if is a correlation matrix of equal dimension to and is a scalar learning-rate parameter (gradually decreased over time), then we define a temporary matrix to correlate: (3) (4)
The FF pass through the hierarchy should classify the current state as accurately as possible. The purpose of the FB pass is to generate predictions, and as a result, behaviour. We choose to modify messages between units in the FB pass, causing the MPF to preferentially “predict” states where its output causes actions associated with higher reward. More specifically, in the FF pass we correlate matrix with scalar and in the FB pass we modify matrix . Since there is a feedback loop within each MPF unit (detailed below), an alternative arrangement would be to correlate with and modify prior to relaying it to higher unit[s].
In the FF pass, delayed lower unit output is correlated with reward . The FF message is then relayed, unaltered. Correlations are stored in matrix . In the FB pass, higher unit messages are modified to bias them towards states correlated with high reward. The modified message is then relayed to lower units.
In this paper we suggest that correlation of activity patterns with reward values could occur between layers of the hierarchy. We posit a “reward correlator” component that relays messages between units in different layers, i.e. matrices and are inputs and outputs of a reward correlator above in FF and FB passes respectively ( figure 3 ).
Since we have defined that data inside the MPF hierarchy includes representations both of [sensed world-state] and [agent motor-actions], it should be possible to correlate activity patterns within the hierarchy with the reward values that result from the agent taking specific actions in specific situations. While it is necessary that concepts with appropriate abstractions and invariances exist somewhere in the hierarchy, it is not desirable to have to define where, before learning. We also wish to preserve the homogeneity of the MPF, therefore it must be possible to add the adaptive components throughout the hierarchy without negative effects.
In this paper we rely on the existence of an arbitrarily deep hierarchy with increasing temporal pooling, to avoid the need to consider discounted future rewards. We assume that for any event with delayed reward there will exist a level in the hierarchy that remains constant for the duration of the event-reward interval. For example, a state in the hierarchy corresponding to a high-level plan such as “walk the dog” could be active for long enough for all relevant rewards to be integrated, despite the existence of other transient plans during this period. This is unlikely to be an ideal approach and in future work we will investigate the use of discounted future reward.
This differs significantly from conventional reinforcement learning where a “discount” factor allows future reward signals to be considered when evaluating state-action pairs [4] . Rewards further in the future have less influence, and are therefore said to be “discounted”. Many RL algorithms iteratively propagate discounted rewards backwards in time towards the events that caused them.
Since the agent should be highly motivated to improve a bad situation, it is more useful to maximize the first derivative of reward. We also wish to measure changes in reward over a period of time, because the delays between actions and their consequences are varying and unknown. However, it is more likely that recent actions are responsible for changes in reward. Over a few iterations, this can be approximated simply as an exponentially-weighted moving average: (1) (2) is the maximum possible absolute derivative of reward per iteration, if known. The parameter is determines the influence of historic reward signals. If consequences of actions may take some time to be reflected in , the value of should instead be computed over a window of time. The period should be increased for units at higher levels in the hierarchy, whose state changes very slowly.
The adaptive-MPF system uses reinforcement learning rather than supervised learning because we do not wish to provide “correct” outputs for every conceivable situation. Instead, we wish to measure impacts of external causes on properties of the agent, such as pain or hunger. In this paper we will use the simplest possible reward function, providing a single varying scalar value such that . We use the term “reward” to imply that this function should be maximized. We will expect the MPF to build a model of the world that is capable of understanding the causes of changes in reward. By combining all possible definitions of things good and bad within a single scalar, it becomes much harder for the MPF to learn the separate causes of high and low reward.
SOM-MPF Implementation
Thus far we have described several additions to the Memory-Prediction Framework to enable it to be used as a complete control system for an adaptive intelligent agent. In summary, we have reformulated the input/output data to include sensors and actuators, and are modifying FB messages between hierarchy layers, by correlating delayed FF messages with smoothed reward signals (figure 2).
MPF Unit Structure. Although the above modifications should be compatible with various implementations of MPF (including HTM), we will describe our implementation of the MPF unit. Each unit performs spatial pooling, sequence learning plus prediction, and temporal pooling. We will discuss each of these components (figure 4). PPT PowerPoint slide
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larger image TIFF original image Download: Figure 4. Internal structure of a SOM-MPF unit. In the FF pass, SOM and RSOM components perform spatial and temporal pooling (compression) by classification of in terms of the finite sets of models and . FF SOM classification output is biased by previous prediction resulting in . is the FF input to the RSOM temporal pooler. RSOM FF output is used as unit FF output . Between the poolers, an internal loop estimates unit state in terms of SOM models, using both and FB predictions from higher units via the RSOM. Internal predictor output is combined with RSOM FB output to give the bias matrix . Predictions from higher units indicate the current sequence, as in HTM; predictions within the unit allow position within sequences to be tracked also. In the FB pass, roulette selections from and the combined PMF are used to reverse the RSOM and SOM transformations, giving unit FB output . https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0029264.g004 Our MPF unit is based on the Kohonen Self-Organising Map (SOM) [34], and unlike some HTM solutions, is capable of online learning. The SOM is a biologically-inspired artificial neural network used for unsupervised classification and dimensionality reduction. Others have previously used SOMs to build MPF-like hierarchies, such as Miller and Lommel's Hierarchical Quilted SOM (HQSOM) [35]. Pinto [36] extended this to a complete MPF implementation. Other SOM variants could equally be used. The chief innovation in Miller and Lommel [35] is use of a “Recurrent”-SOM (RSOM) that can perform temporal pooling (clustering) by allowing current classification to be affected by previous classifications. Therefore, a SOM-RSOM pair can perform both spatial (SOM) and temporal (RSOM) pooling, as described in the MPF.
Feed-Forward Pass: Spatial and Temporal Pooling. The SOM consists of two matrices and . is an matrix of models of the input vector such that given elements in , the dimensions of are . and are parameters that determine the number of models the SOM will contain. In this case the SOM has a 2-d topology, which is usually sufficient but cannot optimally represent all data. has size and represents the likelihood of observing the SOM model given the evidence . Each SOM model represents a possible configuration of and the models in the SOM learn to maximize their coverage of the input space observed in over time. Since the SOM has been thoroughly discussed in many works, the reader should consult e.g. [35] or [36] for detailed SOM weight update equations. For our purposes we define the likelihood function as the inverse of normalized sum of squared error, giving matrices and : (8) (9) These equations produce a very smooth result, with significant responses from many models within the SOM. This is desirable because we wish to bias the FF classification result using a matrix that was produced in the previous FB pass. is a probability mass function representing a (biased) prediction of , the spatial pooler classification: (10) is a normalizing constant such that becomes a probability mass function over the classification-states represented by the spatial pooling SOM models. The superscript ‘s’ indicates that this is the FF output of the spatial pooler in unit . According to MPF, the FF output of the spatial pooler (SOM) should be the FF input to the temporal pooler (RSOM). Since the RSOM and SOM treat all input dimensions independently, we can rearrange the SOM output matrix to become a vector of elements. However, as discussed in [35], the RSOM input should be highly orthogonal. This can be achieved by setting the maximum value in to 1 and others to zero. For other details of the RSOM, see [35]. The FF output of the unit would typically be the FF output of the temporal pooling RSOM: (11)but in hierarchy layers where a lot of spatial compression is required (e.g. in the visual cortex) the temporal pooler can be omitted. In this case the unit FF output is taken from the spatial pooling SOM: (12) In [37] it is noted that in higher layers of the hierarchy, there is little or no advantage to further spatial pooling. This is believed to be represented in biology by the absence of neocortical layer 4 [37]. To reproduce this effect, in these units the spatial pooling SOM can be omitted. The classification process in the RSOM is similar to the SOM but functions as a “leaky-integrator” so that classification outcome changes slowly. A matrix of equal dimension to is needed: (13) (14) It is not necessary to bias the RSOM classification result, either using a prediction or for adaptive purposes. This asymmetry is because in the FF pass, active RSOM sequences become spatial patterns in a higher unit, where they can be predicted. In the FB pass, adaptive selection between RSOM sequences translates into preference for sequences containing better spatial patterns. Hence: (15) is therefore a normalized likelihood function if an RSOM is used, or a probability mass function otherwise.
Prediction and Sequence Learning. The SOM-MPF units used in our experiments include either first-order or variable-order Markov prediction. The MPF framework does not require a prediction feature, as temporal pooling generates predictions of proximate future and past states in the FB pass. However, our prediction module predicts only future states, which reduces uncertainty within the system. It also allows units to track position within sequences. For prediction and sequence learning, an MPF unit should do three things: identify the set of observed temporal sequences, classify the current temporal sequence, and predict future sequences. Both first-order and variable order variants of HTM have been developed. The benefit of variable-order prediction can easily be illustrated: A 2nd (or higher) -order model can distinguish between in sequences and , whereas a 1st order model cannot. In [17], Hawkins et al use a Variable-order Markov Model (VMM) to implement the temporal pooling stage of HTM. However, they note that even with a VMM, the hierarchy must be used to distinguish between longer intersecting sequences. (The hierarchy allows assembly of longer sequences from shorter ones). The difference is flexibility and efficiency; a VMM-hierarchy can distinguish longer sequences using fewer layers. In our SOM-MPF implementation we present a first-order Markov Model to predict future classification outcomes. Later, we also show how using the biologically-inspired technique described in [17], we can adjust the first-order model to behave as if it were a variable-order model.
First-Order Prediction. The input to the prediction module is and the output is a matrix of the same size. Both are probability mass functions. is a prediction of . is generated from a matrix of size (i.e. each model in the SOM is treated independently and regardless of SOM topology). is updated using and and approximates the conditional probability of SOM model being active at given that model is active at time . The sum of each column of is normalized to 1. (16) (17)where is the learning rate (typically 0.99 initially and reduced to around 0.01 over time) and: (18) (19) Equations 17, 18 and 19 increment the conditional probabilities in if is observed to decrease while is increasing (a transition between and ). Since is a probability mass function, a reduction in mass at is interpreted as the exiting of state . Similarly, an increase in mass at represents entering state . These equations are best understood as approximating transition probabilities by computing the relative frequency of transitions between states. The relative frequency of an event becomes closer to the probability of an event as the number of trials increases. However, in this case the approximation is biased towards recent events by . Since the underlying system is continually changing (due to SOM learning), frequency-based approximation biased towards recent data is simple and effective. A first-order prediction can be obtained from and by: (20) Matrices and are treated as vectors in equation 20. is a normalizing constant giving a total mass of 1: (21)
Feedback Pass. In MPF, the purpose of the FB pass is to generate a prediction of the next FF pass. MPF proposes that FF classification be combined with FB prediction, yielding more accurate models of the world given noisy, indeterminate or insufficient data. Feedback also improves state estimation between sibling units, via higher units. In this paper, the purpose of the FB pass is also to generate adaptive behaviour. The FB pass through the unit starts with , a prediction from higher units in the hierarchy. (For the highest layer can be a uniform distribution). is a probability mass function over the set of models in the RSOM. “Roulette” selection is used to select an element from (i.e. the probability of the selection of any element is proportional to the value of ). The corresponding weights from this RSOM model are then copied to a matrix . The use of Roulette selection for the selection of a FB model from the (R)SOMs is unique to this paper and has some useful properties. If there are multiple modes in the FB pass will test them individually, until one fits. When a mode in accurately predicts reality, it will rapidly be reinforced by the feedback loops within the unit and hierarchy, and the mass of the other modes will decrease. More importantly, there is no guarantee that interpolating between the models in the SOM generates viable patterns, therefore a weighted-sum of the models in is not effective given high variance modes or a multimodal case (in practice, multi-modal distributions are quite common). Using clustering techniques to find a single mode in is more expensive and in our experiments gave no noticeable improvement. Over time, the series of selections from can be interpreted as a probability mass function because the normalized likelihood functions represented by the SOM models are conditioned on the distributions in . The kurtosis of the distribution in balances the conflicting demands of exploration and exploitation; if the distribution is flat chosen actions will be more random (i.e. exploratory). We wish to generate all behaviour within the MPF hierarchy and not require any external module to help control the agent. However, the MPF must explore the gamut of possible action-sequences, motor outputs etc. and learn their consequences. This objective is achieved both by using Roulette selection of individual SOM models, and by adding random noise to the models in the FB pass. Let represent the roulette-selected model from the RSOM. To add noise: (22) The magnitude of the noise is scaled by , a parameter that should initially be 1 and decreased over time to a low value ( ). All results are clamped to unit range. The schedule for reducing noise magnitude should consider the location of the unit within the hierarchy; higher units inputs' are not well defined until lower units have learned. is a uniformly distributed random value from the interval , as produced by most software random number generators. is a mass function of the same random variables as . They are both predictions of the outcome of the next FF classification from the SOM. We combine them using the element-wise product and add a small uniform mass to every element, giving us the bias matrix : (23) will be used in iteration . The uniform mass serves to introduce some plasticity and uncertainty into the system even when it has modelled predictable data very accurately. It also prevents numerical instability when predictions from higher layers do not agree with predictions within the unit, or when the final bias does not agree with observed reality. There is a fundamental conflict between the objectives of accurate prediction and adaptive bias; by definition, adaptive bias disrupts - damages - the prediction process. It is also important that biased classification in the FF pass does not become locked into an internal loop, ignoring observations from below. The final step in the FB pass is to transform into so that the message can be passed down the hierarchy. This is achieved by using “Roulette” selection to pick a SOM model from and adding noise: (24)
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Update 11 p.m.: As Tropical Depression Sixteen keeps moving northwest toward Nicaragua, forecasters are predicting it to become a tropical storm overnight.
The Mexican government has now issued a hurricane watch from Punta Herrero to Cabo Catoche.
The system is moving about 6 miles per hour and is expected to hit Florida’s Gulf Coast by Saturday night or Sunday morning as a Category 1 hurricane.
The next name on the 2017 hurricane list is Nate.
***
Update 8 p.m.: The still unnamed system hitting Central America with heavy rains has sustained winds of 35 mph, but those winds are expected to increase overnight.
The National Hurricane Center said coastal areas of Nicaragua and Honduras are under a tropical storm warning as forecasters anticipate the system to gain strength in the coming hours.
The official hurricane center forecast calls for the depression to reach hurricane strength just before landfall Sunday.
Hurricane center forecasters warned today that with nothing to stymie development and only nourishing warm water in its path, rapid intensification is possible.
Download the Palm Beach Post WeatherPlus app here.
***
Update 5 p.m.: The National Hurricane Center is keeping the system east of Nicaragua as a tropical depression this evening, but expects it to reach tropical storm status within 24 hours.
The next name on the 2017 hurricane list is Nate.
Although a hurricane hunter aircraft found a well-defined circulation this afternoon, the system lacks any inner core features.
The official hurricane center forecast calls for the depression to reach hurricane strength just before landfall Sunday.
Hurricane center forecasters warned today that with nothing to stymie development and only nourishing warm water in its path, rapid intensification is possible.
“The system is forecast to continue strengthening over the Gulf of Mexico and could affect portions of the northern Gulf Coast as a hurricane this weekend with direct impacts from wind, storm surge, and heavy rainfall,” forecasters wrote in their afternoon discussion. “However, it is too early to specify the timing or magnitude of these impacts.”
Florida’s October hurricane numbers are nearly as high as the peak month of September, when Florida has experienced 39 October hurricane landfalls, 19 of which were Cat 3 or higher, according to Colorado State University hurricane expert Phil Klotzbach.
“You can certainly see the west coast of Florida is under the gun in October,” Klotzbach said, noting that 24 hurricanes targeted areas from the far western reach of the panhandle to Chokoloskee, which is south of Everglades City at the mouth of the Turner River.
Update: Tropical Depression 16 formed this morning in the southwestern Caribbean with maximum sustained winds of 35 mph.
The system is expected to become Tropical Storm Nate before spinning into a hurricane near Florida’s Panhandle on Sunday.
National Hurricane Center forecasters said at their 11 a.m. advisory that rapid intensification of this system is possible as it moves over the warm, deep waters of the northwestern Caribbean and Gulf of Mexico.
The official 5-day forecast has the system becoming a low-end Category 1 hurricane just before making landfall somewhere between Biloxi and Clearwater on Sunday.
Previous story: The National Hurricane Center said a tropical depression is likely to form today from an area of showers and thunderstorms over the southwestern Caribbean Sea.
The area was given a 90 percent chance of development over five days as it moves slowly northwestward across or near the eastern portions of Nicaragua and Honduras on Thursday. Hurricane hunters are scheduled to fly into the system today.
If the system becomes a tropical storm, it would be named Nate.
Check The Palm Beach Post’s live storm tracking map.
Models had been showing this system more than a week ago, sending it into Gulf Coast states.
But while the track forecast has consensus, there is less agreement on intensity.
Download the Palm Beach Post WeatherPlus app here.
“Any feature that develops in this area is likely to drift in a general northward direction and over the Gulf of Mexico,” according to AccuWeather Hurricane Expert Dan Kottlowski.
Should a storm form and drift in the area aforementioned, Gulf Coast areas from Florida to Alabama, Mississippi and southeastern Louisiana could be at risk for damaging winds, coastal flooding, rough surf and beach erosion this weekend and into early next week.
If you haven’t yet, join Kim on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.
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Former President Barack Obama, right, gestures during a rally with Virginia's Democratic gubernatorial candidate Lt. Gov. Ralph Northam, in Richmond, Va. on Oct. 19. | Steve Helber/AP Photo Group spends $1M turning out Democratic-leaning groups in Virginia
A group looking to turn out key Democratic-leaning demographics plans to spend just over $1 million in Virginia, ahead of the state's closely watched gubernatorial and state legislative elections.
The Voter Participation Center, which aims to register and turn out members of underrepresented populations in elections, is on pace to send out 2.2 million pieces of mail from September to Election Day. From Oct. 25 to Nov. 1, the group will send out four waves of get-out-the-vote mailers to unmarried women, African-Americans, Latinos, Asian-Americans and young people — a potential boost to Lt. Gov. Ralph Northam’s campaign for governor. Each group is part of the so-called rising American electorate — young people, non-white people, and unmarried women — which has leaned toward Democrats in recent years.
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Some Democrats have worried about the low-key, genial Northam’s ability to excite the progressive base ahead of the critical Virginia gubernatorial election, which also serves as a de facto referendum on a president’s first year in office. Polls have shown the Democrat with a small but steady lead over Republican Ed Gillespie, a former lobbyist and RNC chair.
"The elections in Virginia couldn't be more important for the future of our communities, which is why the Voter Participation Center is investing heavily to make sure underrepresented Virginians register to vote and turn out on election day,” said Page Gardner, the founder and president of the Voter Participation Center.
Gardner noted unmarried women played a key role in Democratic Gov. Terry McAuliffe’s two-and-a-half-point victory over Republican Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli four years ago. Unmarried women supported McAuliffe by a 42-point margin, according to a Voter Participation Center post-election poll, while married women support Cuccinelli by a nine-point margin.
Morning Score newsletter Your guide to the permanent campaign — weekday mornings, in your inbox. Email Sign Up By signing up you agree to receive email newsletters or alerts from POLITICO. You can unsubscribe at any time.
The group plans to pay for a similar poll this year.
African-American participation in Virginia also grew from 2009 to 2013, with black voters making up 16 percent of the electorate in 2009 and 20 percent in 2013. Democrats are hoping for similarly high turnout this year — Northam performed well in heavily African-American cities during the Democratic primary, and former President Barack Obama campaigned for him in Richmond last week.
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It was high time for a return from enigmatic London-based producer Banshee, who we last heard from last year with his choppy and eerie tracks Blue Dream, Rain and Last Niht. Sailing right through the middle of both heartfelt bass and honeyed R&B samples, he manages to create an other-worldly realm of music that touches your soft side whilst still banging in the club. Check his remix of Sully's Concord on Hsuan Records and you'll get the drift – it's like he met Enya on a comedown and they're sailing down a lazy river. No bad trip included.
Picking up where he left off to continue building on this sound, Banshee returns with the two-track 'High Let Me Fly' EP, with a bonus remix from Zomby. Keeping us high above the clouds with the title-track, Banshee breathes life into an R&B sample before getting caught up in haunting undercurrents straight out of John Carpenter's soundtrack for Halloween. On the flip, Cold Water Part 2 keeps things icy, with rolling percussion that'd need more than a bonfire on steroids to melt it.
Zomby finishes up by running High Let Me Fly through his eski-inspired click, with the vocals skittering around the rink to really heighten the mood.
Overall, it's an absolute stomper of a release, that's sure to get some serious airtime 'til the year is out.
Banshee's 'High Let Me Fly' EP is out now on vinyl (buy) and digitally from November 11th (pre-order).
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LAS VEGAS — Perched in his suite at a high-rise hotel overlooking the Vegas Strip, a 64-year-old retiree with no real criminal history and no known affiliations with terror groups rained bullets down into a crowd at a country music festival Sunday, killing at least 59 people and injuring hundreds more in the deadliest mass shooting in modern American history.
The attack, at least initially, was as inexplicable as it was horrifying. Law enforcement officials said they could not immediately tell what drove Stephen Paddock to fire at thousands of unsuspecting concertgoers from the 32nd floor of the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino before killing himself.
Authorities said a sweep of law enforcement databases showed Paddock had no known run-ins with police, and — despite the Islamic State’s repeated claims otherwise — investigators also could not find any connections to international terrorist groups. He was the son of a notorious bank robber and his own crime demonstrated some amount of sophisticated planning.
[Route 91 Harvest festival: The Las Vegas ‘sleepover’ that ended in a nightmare]
Police said he stayed in a large hotel suite for several days and aroused no suspicion, bringing with him an arsenal of 23 guns — their calibers ranging from .223 to .308, some with scopes — authorities said. One of the weapons he apparently used in the attack was an AK-47 type rifle, with a stand used to steady it for firing, people familiar with the case said. He fired, without warning, from an elevated position on an open-air venue, leaving his victims few options to avoid harm.
“I can’t get into the mind of a psychopath,” said Joseph Lombardo, the sheriff of the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department, which is leading the investigation.
Investigators on Monday searched Paddock’s home and another piece of property he owned, and they hoped to review surveillance footage and other electronic equipment to determine how and why Paddock perpetrated an unprecedented massacre.
Among the questions they have: How a former accountant with a penchant for high-stakes gambling obtained a weapon that sounded to those on the ground like it could fire as an automatic, and how he was able to bring it and many other weapons into a Vegas hotel suite undetected.
Lombardo said hotel staff had been in and out of the two-room suite, which Paddock had stayed in since Sept. 28, and spotted nothing “nefarious,” though he had more than 10 suitcases.
“It wasn’t evident that he had weapons in his room” before the shooting, Lombardo said.
Investigators believe at least one of the guns functioned as if it were fully automatic, and they are now trying to determine if he modified it or other weapons to be capable of spitting out a high volume of fire just by holding down the trigger, people familiar with the case said.
Gun purchase records indicate Paddock legally bought more than two dozen firearms across a period of years, according to a person close to the investigation. Guns & Guitars, a store in Mesquite, Nev., said in a statement that Paddock purchased some of his weapons there, but employees followed all procedures required by law, and Paddock “never gave any indication or reason to believe he was unstable or unfit at any time.” Lombardo said Paddock also seemed to have purchased guns in Arizona.
Investigators also found at least 19 additional firearms, thousands of rounds of ammunition and the chemical tannerite, an explosive, at Paddock’s home in Mesquite, Nev. They also found ammonium nitrate, a chemical that can be used in bomb-making, in Paddock’s vehicle, Lombardo said.
More than 22,000 people had been at the Route 91 Harvest festival, a three-day country music concert with grounds across the street from the Mandalay Bay resort, when the shooting began about 10 p.m. Sunday, according to police. As country star Jason Aldean played what was expected to be one of the last sets of the night, Paddock opened fire — his bullets flying from a window on the casino’s golden facade, which Paddock had smashed with some type of hammer.
Aldean fled the stage. Thousands began racing for safety under the neon glow and glitz of the Vegas Strip.
[Las Vegas gunman Stephen Paddock enjoyed gambling, country music, lived quiet life before massacre]
“People were getting shot at while we were running, and people were on the ground bleeding, crying and screaming. We just had to keep going,” said Dinora Merino, 28, a dealer at the Ellis Island casino who was at the concert with a friend. “There are tents out there and there’s no place to hide. It’s just an open field.”
The death toll in Las Vegas was massive, surpassing the 49 people slain by a gunman in Orlando in June 2016. That shooter, who later said he was inspired by the Islamic State, opened fire inside a crowded nightclub. And Lombardo said the number of dead from Sunday’s concert shooting could rise, as an additional 527 were thought to have been injured.
The dead included a behavioral therapist who was soon to be married, a nursing assistant from Southern California, a commercial fisherman and an off-duty Las Vegas city police officer. Two other officers who were on duty were injured, police said; one was in stable condition after surgery, and the other sustained minor injuries. Another off-duty officer with the Bakersfield Police Department in Southern California also sustained non-life threatening injuries, according to a statement from the department.
Some of the wounded were injured not by gunfire, but in the ensuing chaos. One 55-year-old California woman who declined to give her last name said she was “trampled” trying to flee what she initially thought were fireworks. Clark County Fire Chief Greg Cassell said responders saw a “wide range” of injuries, including gunshot victims, those wounded by shrapnel, people who were trampled and people who were hurt jumping fences.
But those who ran said they could clearly see the gunman’s toll in the bullet wounds on those around them.
Taylor Benge, 21, said that when the lights came on he realized that “about five feet to the left of me there was a man with a bullet wound to his chin.”
“He was just lifeless on the ground,” he said. He said he and his sister threw themselves on the ground as the gunfire continued, then ran for the exit. “My jeans are covered in someone’s blood, my T-shirt is covered in someone’s blood, my sister’s whole leg was covered in blood,” Benge said.
[Are we doing enough to prevent mass shootings? Share your thoughts.]
Jonathan Smith — who came to Vegas to celebrate his brother’s 43rd birthday — was shot at least twice, including once in the neck.
“I really didn’t want to die,” Smith said.
Syed Saquib, a surgeon on duty Sunday night at University Medical Center, said the hospital treated 104 patients, most of whom had gunshot wounds.
“Those that could be saved, were saved,” Saquib said. “There were a few that came in with devastating, non-survivable injuries.”
Police and hotel security ultimately scoured several floors of the hotel looking for the shooter and came upon Paddock’s suite, Lombardo said. At some point, Paddock fired through the door and hit a security guard in the leg, he said, adding that the guard is expected to survive. SWAT officers ultimately stormed the room and some fired shots, though Paddock is believed to have killed himself, Lombardo said. He was not counted in the death toll that authorities reported.
President Trump ordered flags flown at half-staff and said he would visit Las Vegas on Wednesday. He praised the “miraculous” speed with which local law enforcement responded to the shooting — asserting that their actions saved lives — though he noted that hundreds were still mourning the loss of loved ones. Answers for them, he said, would “not come easy.”
“It was an act of pure evil,” Trump said during remarks from the White House.
[What we know about the Las Vegas shooting]
Visitors, residents and officials filled the pews at the Guardian Angel Cathedral on Monday looking for comfort and unity during an emotional interfaith service. Hundreds of people wiped tears and embraced, and during a moment of silence, community religious leaders rang a gong 59 times to honor the dead.
Steve Sisolak, Clark County Commission Chair from Las Vegas, praised the police for their quick response and commended the outpouring of support from the community; more than 25,000 people have donated to a fundraising effort for victims and people have been waiting eight hours in line to donate blood, he said.
“Las Vegas will never be quite the same as a result of this,” Sisolak said. But, he said, “We’ll be back.”
Eric Paddock, Stephen Paddock’s brother, said he was stunned to learn that his brother could be responsible for such violence.
Stephen Paddock had no history of mental illness nor did he have problems with drugs or alcohol, Eric Paddock said, noting that his brother was a high-stakes gambler, sometimes wagering hundreds of dollars on a single hand of video poker.
When he spoke to the FBI, Eric Paddock said he showed agents three years of text messages from his brother, including one that mentioned winning $250,000 at a casino. A federal law enforcement official said investigators had reviewed reports suggesting Paddock engaged in high-dollar gambling, and they are trying to determine whether he faced financial strains.
Eric Paddock said his brother was “wealthy,” in part because he had no children to support. Stephen Paddock had worked in the past as an accountant, and he had real estate investments in the Orlando area, Eric Paddock said.
Eric Paddock said he knew his brother had guns — Stephen once took Eric’s children skeet shooting — though not the sort of weaponry that police discovered.
Police said they believe Paddock was a “lone wolf” attacker, though they were still interested in speaking more with a woman named Marilou Danley who lived with him in Mesquite, Nev., a little more than an hour outside of Las Vegas on the Arizona border. Police had said they were searching for Danley, Paddock’s girlfriend, in the immediate aftermath of the shooting, but they later said she was outside the country — as of Monday afternoon, in Tokyo — and not involved in the shooting.
“We still consider her a person of interest,” Lombardo said Monday. He said investigators also are exploring a report that Paddock attended a different music festival in September.
Not long after the shooting, the Islamic State claimed responsibility, though law enforcement authorities were quick to reject that assertion. “We have determined, to this point, no connection with an international terrorist group,” Aaron Rouse, the special agent in charge of the FBI in Las Vegas, said at a news briefing.
The FBI was involved in the case — and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives was helping trace the weapons — but they said they were supporting local authorities in Las Vegas. Homeland Security officials said there were no specific, credible threats to other public venues across the country.
[A fire alarm from gun smoke led police to the Las Vegas shooter’s room, retired officer says]
The FBI had a previous dealing with the Paddock family, though it did not initially seem to involve Stephen. Eric Paddock said his father was Benjamin Hoskins Paddock, a convicted bank robber and con-man described in a wanted poster as “psychopathic’’ with suicidal tendencies. But Eric Paddock said that his father, who escaped from prison in 1969 and was at one point on the FBI’s list of most-sought-after and dangerous criminals, was not around during their childhood. Benjamin Paddock was apprehended in 1978, according to news reports.
Relatives said Stephen Paddock, a licensed pilot who owned two airplanes, was a quiet man who often went to Las Vegas to gamble and view concerts. In a statement, Lockheed Martin, the defense giant, said that Paddock worked for them for three years in the 1980s.
A former neighbor of Stephen Paddock’s recalled that his home in a 55-and-over community in Florida looked more akin to a college freshman’s dorm, with nothing on the walls and only a few pieces of furniture.
“One of the first times we met him, he told me he lived there, in Vegas,” Don Judy, his next-door neighbor in the community until two years ago, recalled. “He explained that he was a gambler, and a prospector. He said he was buying this house to check it out for his mother … and that if she liked it, he planned to buy another next door with a floor plan like ours.”
Soon, Judy said, Paddock put up a for-sale sign and was gone, saying that he was moving back to Las Vegas.
Zapotosky, Barrett and Berman reported from Washington. Tim Craig, Felicia Mello and Heather Long in Las Vegas; Barbara Liston in Orlando; Justin Glawe in Mesquite, Tex.; and Derek Hawkins, Travis M. Andrews, Brian Murphy, Wesley Lowery and Julie Tate in Washington contributed to this report.
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Traffic Sign Recognition with TensorFlow
Waleed Abdulla Blocked Unblock Follow Following Dec 16, 2016
Yes officer, I saw the speed limit sign. I just didn’t see you.
This is part 1 of a series about building a deep learning model to recognize traffic signs. It’s intended to be a learning experience, for myself and for anyone else who likes to follow along. There are a lot of resources that cover the theory and math of neural networks, so I’ll focus on the practical aspects instead. I’ll describe my own experience building this model and share the source code and relevant materials. This is suitable for those who know Python and the basics of machine learning already, but want hands on experience and to practice building a real application.
In this part, I’ll talk about image classification and I’ll keep the model as simple as possible. In later parts, I’ll cover convolutional networks, data augmentation, and object detection.
Setup
The source code is available in this Jupyter notebook. I’m using Python 3.5 and TensorFlow 0.12. If you prefer to run the code in Docker, you can use my Docker image that contains many popular deep learning tools. Run it with this command:
docker run -it -p 8888:8888 -p 6006:6006 -v ~/traffic:/traffic waleedka/modern-deep-learning
Note that my project directory is in ~/traffic and I’m mapping it to the /traffic directory in the Docker container. Modify this if you’re using a different directory.
Finding Training Data
My first challenge was finding a good training dataset. Traffic sign recognition is a well studied problem, so I figured I’ll find something online.
I started by googling “traffic sign dataset” and found several options. I picked the Belgian Traffic Sign Dataset because it was big enough to train on, and yet small enough to be easy to work with.
You can download the dataset from http://btsd.ethz.ch/shareddata/. There are a lot of datasets on that page, but you only need the two files listed under BelgiumTS for Classification (cropped images):
BelgiumTSC_Training (171.3MBytes)
BelgiumTSC_Testing (76.5MBytes)
After expanding the files, this is my directory structure. Try to match it so you can run the code without having to change the paths:
/traffic/datasets/BelgiumTS/Training/ /traffic/datasets/BelgiumTS/Testing/
Each of the two directories contain 62 subdirectories, named sequentially from 00000 to 00061. The directory names represent the labels, and the images inside each directory are samples of each label.
Exploring the Dataset
Or, if you prefer to sound more formal: do Exploratory Data Analysis. It’s tempting to skip this part, but I’ve found that the code I write to examine the data ends up being used a lot throughout the project. I usually do this in Jupyter notebooks and share them with the team. Knowing your data well from the start saves you a lot of time later.
The images in this dataset are in an old .ppm format. So old, in fact, that most tools don’t support it. Which meant that I couldn’t casually browse the folders to take a look at the images. Luckily, the Scikit Image library recognizes this format. This code will load the data and return two lists: images and labels.
def load_data(data_dir):
# Get all subdirectories of data_dir. Each represents a label.
directories = [d for d in os.listdir(data_dir)
if os.path.isdir(os.path.join(data_dir, d))]
# Loop through the label directories and collect the data in
# two lists, labels and images.
labels = []
images = []
for d in directories:
label_dir = os.path.join(data_dir, d)
file_names = [os.path.join(label_dir, f)
for f in os.listdir(label_dir)
if f.endswith(".ppm")]
for f in file_names:
images.append(skimage.data.imread(f))
labels.append(int(d))
return images, labels
images, labels = load_data(train_data_dir)
This is a small dataset so I’m loading everything into RAM to keep it simple. For larger datasets, you’d want to load the data in batches.
After loading the images into Numpy arrays, I display a sample image of each label. See code in the notebook. This is our dataset:
The training set. consists of 62 classes. The numbers in parentheses are the count of images of each class.
Looks like a good training set. The image quality is great, and there are a variety of angles and lighting conditions. More importantly, the traffic signs occupy most of the area of each image, which allows me to focus on object classification and not have to worry about finding the location of the traffic sign in the image (object detection). I’ll get to object detection in a future post.
The first thing I noticed from the samples above is that images are square-ish, but have different aspect ratios. My neural network will take a fixed-size input, so I have some preprocessing to do. I’ll get to that soon, but first let’s pick one label and see more of its images. Here is an example of label 32:
Several sample images of label 32
It looks like the dataset considers all speed limit signs to be of the same class, regardless of the numbers on them. That’s fine, as long as we know about it beforehand and know what to expect. That’s why understanding your dataset is so important and can save you a lot of pain and confusion later.
I’ll leave exploring the other labels to you. Labels 26 and 27 are interesting to check. They also have numbers in red circles, so the model will have to get really good to differentiate between them.
Handling Images of Different Sizes
Resizing images to a similar size and aspect ratio
Most image classification networks expect images of a fixed size, and our first model will do as well. So we need to resize all the images to the same size.
But since the images have different aspect ratios, then some of them will be stretched vertically or horizontally. Is that a problem? I think it’s not in this case, because the differences in aspect ratios are not that large. My own criteria is that if a person can recognize the images when they’re stretched then the model should be able to do so as well.
What are the sizes of the images anyway? Let’s print a few examples:
for image in images[:5]:
print("shape: {0}, min: {1}, max: {2}".format(
image.shape, image.min(), image.max()))
Output:
shape: (141, 142, 3), min: 0, max: 255
shape: (120, 123, 3), min: 0, max: 255
shape: (105, 107, 3), min: 0, max: 255
shape: (94, 105, 3), min: 7, max: 255
shape: (128, 139, 3), min: 0, max: 255
The sizes seem to hover around 128x128. I could use that size to preserve as much information as possible, but in early development I prefer to use a smaller size because it leads to faster training, which allows me to iterate faster. I experimented with 16x16 and 20x20, but they were too small. I ended up picking 32x32 which is easy to recognize (see below) and reduces the size of the model and training data by a factor of 16 compared to 128x128.
I’m also in the habit of printing the min() and max() values often. It’s a simple way to verify the range of the data and catch bugs early. This tells me that the image colors are the standard range of 0–255.
Images resized to 32x32
Minimum Viable Model
We’re getting to the interesting part! Continuing the theme of keeping it simple, I started with the simplest possible model: A one layer network that consists of one neuron per label.
This network has 62 neurons and each neuron takes the RGB values of all pixels as input. Effectively, each neuron receives 32*32*3=3072 inputs. This is a fully-connected layer because every neuron connects to every input value. You’re probably familiar with its equation:
y = xW + b
I start with a simple model because it’s easy to explain, easy to debug, and fast to train. Once this works end to end, expanding on it is much easier than building something complex from the start.
Building the TensorFlow Graph
Visualization of a part of a TensorFlow graph
TensorFlow encapsulates the architecture of a neural network in an execution graph. The graph consists of operations (Ops for short) such as Add, Multiply, Reshape, …etc. These ops perform actions on data in tensors (multidimensional arrays).
I’ll go through the code to build the graph step by step below, but here is the full code if you prefer to scan it first:
First, I create the Graph object. TensorFlow has a default global graph, but I don’t recommend using it. Global variables are bad in general because they make it too easy to introduce bugs. I prefer to create the graph explicitly.
graph = tf.Graph()
Then I define Placeholders for the images and labels. The placeholders are TensorFlow’s way of receiving input from the main program. Notice that I create the placeholders (and all other ops) inside the block of with graph.as_default(). This is so they become part of my graph object rather than the global graph.
with graph.as_default():
images_ph = tf.placeholder(tf.float32, [None, 32, 32, 3])
labels_ph = tf.placeholder(tf.int32, [None])
The shape of the images_ph placeholder is [None, 32, 32, 3]. It stands for [batch size, height, width, channels] (often shortened as NHWC) . The None for batch size means that the batch size is flexible, which means that we can feed different batch sizes to the model without having to change the code. Pay attention to the order of your inputs because some models and frameworks might use a different arrangement, such as NCHW.
Next, I define the fully connected layer. Rather than implementing the raw equation, y = xW + b, I use a handy function that does that in one line and also applies the activation function. It expects input as a one-dimensional vector, though. So I flatten the images first.
The ReLU function
I’m using the ReLU activation function here:
f(x) = max(0, x)
It simply converts all negative values to zeros. It’s been shown to work well in classification tasks and trains faster than sigmoid or tanh. For more background, check here and here.
# Flatten input from: [None, height, width, channels]
# To: [None, height * width * channels] == [None, 3072]
images_flat = tf.contrib.layers.flatten(images_ph)
# Fully connected layer.
# Generates logits of size [None, 62]
logits = tf.contrib.layers.fully_connected(images_flat, 62,
tf.nn.relu)
Bar chart visualization of a logits vector
The output of the fully connected layer is a logits vector of length 62 (technically, it’s [None, 62] because we’re dealing with a batch of logits vectors).
A row in the logits tensor might look like this: [0.3, 0, 0, 1.2, 2.1, .01, 0.4, ….., 0, 0]. The higher the value, the more likely that the image represents that label. Logits are not probabilities, though — They can have any value, and they don’t add up to 1. The actual absolute values of the logits are not important, just their values relative to each other. It’s easy to convert logits to probabilities using the softmax function if needed (it’s not needed here).
In this application, we just need the index of the largest value, which corresponds to the id of the label. The argmax op does that.
# Convert logits to label indexes.
# Shape [None], which is a 1D vector of length == batch_size.
predicted_labels = tf.argmax(logits, 1)
The argmax output will be integers in the range 0 to 61.
Loss Function and Gradient Descent
Credit: Wikipedia
Choosing the right loss function is an area of research in and of itself, which I won’t delve into it here other than to say that cross-entropy is the most common function for classification tasks. If you’re not familiar with it, there is a really good explanation here and here.
Cross-entropy is a measure of difference between two vectors of probabilities. So we need to convert labels and the logits to probability vectors. The function sparse_softmax_cross_entropy_with_logits() simplifies that. It takes the generated logits and the groundtruth labels and does three things: converts the label indexes of shape [None] to logits of shape [None, 62] (one-hot vectors), then it runs softmax to convert both prediction logits and label logits to probabilities, and finally calculates the cross-entropy between the two. This generates a loss vector of shape [None] (1D of length = batch size), which we pass through reduce_mean() to get one single number that represents the loss value.
loss = tf.reduce_mean(
tf.nn.sparse_softmax_cross_entropy_with_logits(
logits, labels_ph))
Choosing the optimization algorithm is another decision to make. I usually use the ADAM optimizer because it’s been shown to converge faster than simple gradient descent. This post does a great job comparing different gradient descent optimizers.
train = tf.train.AdamOptimizer(learning_rate=0.001).minimize(loss)
The last node in the graph is the initialization op, which simply sets the values of all variables to zeros (or to random values or whatever the variables are set to initialize to).
init = tf.initialize_all_variables()
Notice that the code above doesn’t execute any of the ops yet. It’s just building the graph and describing its inputs. The variables we defined above, such as init, loss, predicted_labels don’t contain numerical values. They are references to ops that we’ll execute next.
Training Loop
This is where we iteratively train the model to minimize the loss function. Before we start training, though, we need to create a Session object.
I mentioned the Graph object earlier and how it holds all the Ops of the model. The Session, on the other hand, holds the values of all the variables. If a graph holds the equation y=xW+b then the session holds the actual values of these variables.
session = tf.Session(graph=graph)
Usually the first thing to run after starting a session is the initialization op, init, to initialize the variables.
session.run(init)
Then we start the training loop and run the train op repeatedly. While not necessary, it’s useful to run the loss op as well to print its values and monitor the progress of the training.
for i in range(201):
_, loss_value = session.run(
[train, loss],
feed_dict={images_ph: images_a, labels_ph: labels_a})
if i % 10 == 0:
print("Loss: ", loss_value)
In case you’re wondering, I set the loop to 201 so that the i % 10 condition is satisfied in the last round and prints the last loss value. The output should look something like this:
Loss: 4.2588
Loss: 2.88972
Loss: 2.42234
Loss: 2.20074
Loss: 2.06985
Loss: 1.98126
Loss: 1.91674
Loss: 1.86652
Loss: 1.82595
...
Using the Model
Now we have a trained model in memory in the Session object. To use it, we call session.run() just like in the training code. The predicted_labels op returns the output of the argmax() function, so that’s what we need to run. Here I classify 10 random images and print both, the predictions and the groundtruth labels for comparison.
# Pick 10 random images
sample_indexes = random.sample(range(len(images32)), 10)
sample_images = [images32[i] for i in sample_indexes]
sample_labels = [labels[i] for i in sample_indexes]
# Run the "predicted_labels" op.
predicted = session.run(predicted_labels,
{images_ph: sample_images})
print(sample_labels)
print(predicted)
Output:
[15, 22, 61, 44, 32, 22, 57, 38, 56, 38]
[14 22 61 44 32 22 56 38 56 38]
In the notebook, I include a function to visualize the results as well. It generates something like this:
The visualization shows that the model is working , but doesn’t quantify how accurate it is. And you might’ve noticed that it’s classifying the training images, so we don’t know yet if the model generalizes to images that it hasn’t seen before. Next, we calculate a better evaluation metric.
Evaluation
To properly measure how the model generalizes to data it hasn’t seen, I do the evaluation on test data that I didn’t use in training. The BelgiumTS dataset makes this easy by providing two separate sets, one for training and one for testing.
In the notebook I load the test set, resize the images to 32x32, and then calculate the accuracy. This is the relevant part of the code that calculates the accuracy.
# Run predictions against the full test set.
predicted = session.run(predicted_labels,
feed_dict={images_ph: test_images32})
# Calculate how many matches we got.
match_count = sum([int(y == y_)
for y, y_ in zip(test_labels, predicted)])
accuracy = match_count / len(test_labels)
print("Accuracy: {:.3f}".format(accuracy))
The accuracy I get in each run ranges between 0.40 and 0.70 depending on whether the model lands on a local minimum or a global minimum. This is expected when running a simple model like this one. In a future post I’ll talk about ways to improve the consistency of the results.
Closing the Session
Congratulations! We have a working simple neural network. Given how simple this neural network is, training takes just a minute on my laptop so I didn’t bother saving the trained model. In the next part, I’ll add code to save and load trained models and expand to use multiple layers, convolutional networks, and data augmentation. Stay tuned!
# Close the session. This will destroy the trained model.
session.close()
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Thursday February 14th marked the fifteenth anniversary of V-Day, a global activist movement to end violence against women and girls that raises funds and awareness through benefit productions of Playwright/Founder Eve Ensler’s award winning play The Vagina Monologues and other artistic works. It was marked by the first global movement of music and dance – One Billion Rising – in which one billion women and those who love them were invited to WALK OUT, DANCE, RISE UP, and demand an end to this violence.
One Billion Rising was marked in Second Life by a series of activities right across the grid, and centred on One Billion Rising in SL, a special gathering of talent organised by a huge team of volunteers and held in four regions commissioned and sponsored especially for the event.
Four 24-hours, the music played across the huge, region-spanning stage standing at the centre of the sims, and people rose from across the grid and around the world to dance and lend their voices to the call to end violence against women of all ages. Eighteen of Second Life’s top artists also leant their talent to the call, providing eighteen thought-provoking works on the subject of women and the violence – physical or otherwise – so many face as they go about their daily lives.
As is so often the case, One Billion Rising in Second Life brought out the very best in Second Life, with people giving up their free time in droves to organise and support the event and ensure that it would be a memorable and enjoyable event for all those who participated as visitors. The organisation was near flawless, allowing for the inevitable quirks of SL, and everyone from the organising event staff through the teams of volunteers greeters, helpers and assistants, those providing event security, the builders and landscapers, the artists who provided art, the choreographers, dancers and film crew who participated in the creation the OBR in SL version of Breaking the Chain, those who provide video filming and streaming of the event itself, the DJs and – particularly importantly – the sponsors, and everyone else who participated in bringing the event together are to be congratulated.
For my part, I didn’t get to spend as much time at the event as I would have liked. An unexpected hole in the roof and a solid downfall of snow followed by rain led to a rather unexpected domestic situation on the 13th February, and meant that most of the 14th was spent helping with household repairs. However, this doesn’t mean I can’t still show support. The four regions of OBR in Second Life will be open through until 17:00 SLT on Friday February 15th. So if, like me, your time to dance and raise your hand in support of V-Day was curtailed or otherwise limited, there is still time to see the fabulous stage build by Victor1 Mornington and his team, and witness the 18 outstanding works of art around it.
Another way to capture the event is to visit the One Billion is SL Flickr group, where people have posted their own pictures of the event. But I really do urge you to tour the regions themselves and see the art pieces on display and take the time to both read the note cards accompanying them and give thought to what they represent, and how we perhaps all too easily accept violence and harassment as an acceptable part of human life.
Of course, One Billion Rising in either real life or Second Life, isn’t going to transform matters overnight. I had planned to comment on this at length – but Saffia Widdershins has already done so very eloquently, and provided considerable food for thought; particularly for those who responded with a degree of hostility towards the event or who sought to denigrate the subject of violence against women through obfuscation and mis-direction. As such, I’ll only repeat the title of Saffia’s post, Events don’t change things, people do, and allow people to read her thoughts first-hand.
Suffice it to say that I do hope this was the first in what will become an annual event in Second Life as well as in Real Life, and that in the future we’ll be able to see it spread to include more venues across the grid, and serve as a catalyst for people to speak out against all forms of violence in the world, whether committed against women, children or men – and in doing so, change attitudes and beliefs the world over where violence is concerned, and for the better.
Kudos and thanks again to everyone who played a part in making OBR in SL happen, and who took part on the day.
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A few days ago we published an article about the expected features of Samsung galaxy Note 7 and now when the phones has been launched, most of our speculations have proven to be right. The phone was unveiled yesterday on August 2nd by Samsung.
Samsung Galaxy Note 7 would be available to pre-order in UK from 16th August and will be released on 2nd of September but those who pre-order will receive it on 30th August. Not just this, if you pre-order from a selective store before August 30th, you will get the Samsung Gear VR headset for free.
In the USA it is available from August 3rd and will be available on August 19 for the users. In Australia the phone is available for pre-ordering from 5th of August and will be handed over on 19th August. The phone will ship in Black, Blue and Silver variants, but other than USA, Samsung Galaxy Note 7 will come in Gold variant as well.
So, we thought to come up with an article that will showcase all the best Samsung Galaxy Note 7 features that makes this phone stand out from the crowd. Let’s look at some of the amazing Samsung Galaxy 7 Features you would love to know about.
1. Galaxy Note7 S Pen Stylus
The Galaxy Note7 S Pen is more than a writing device. It allows users to implement their ideas when they strike without unlocking the screen by pinning the screen off memo. You can make and share unlimited GIF (Graphics Interchange Format) images using Smart Select and Air Command functions.
The ability of translation allows user to convert language with ease. The new unified app lets users make handwritten notes, draw pictures and edit memos from a single location. The S Pen can be used on wet screen as it is IP68 water resistant. It has a sharp and sensitive 0.7mm tip, which provides exact pressure on the screen and allows users to write or draw like a real pen.
2. Unlocking your Phone with Eyes
Samsung Galaxy Note 7 is the first phone which has the iris scanner to unlock the device. In addition, it has a fast fingerprint sensor which enhances its biometric authentication facility. According to the company the phone can recognize only one pair of iris and you can not use any high resolution picture of the owner’s eyes because it won’t have the similar infrared signature suppression.
The iris scanner is located on the top left corner from where an infra-red light flashes to authenticate the user by scanning his/her eyes. In order to activate the eye scanner, you need to,
Press the power button
Swipe up to get the lock screen
Hold your phone from the distance of approximately 10 inches.
The process isn’t as fast as unlocking by fingerprint scanner, but much safer.
3. Secure Folder
You can also create a secure folder to store your secret files, images and apps. The phone allows user to create a separate account to keep and use apps in the secure folder.
Even if you give access to someone else on your phone, he/she won’t be able to open the secure folder because it requires the real user’s permission and will be unlocked with the eye scanner only. This technology makes the phone extremely secure and no one can use your data without your permission or in your absence.
4. Translate Everything
There is no language barrier anymore as the S pen includes the ability to translate the text in 38 languages. This feature can be activated by the Air Command function/menu which appears when you take out the pen and keep it near the text you want to translate.
5. Magnify Tool
The Air command menu also enables magnify tool which can be used to zoom in anything up to 300% of its actual size on the screen. This technique is very useful for those who have weak eyesight.
6. High Quality Display
The new Samsung Galaxy Note 7 exceeds from its competitors in terms of display quality. Galaxy Note 7 phone offers a nice looking beautifully curved 5.7 inch Quad High Definition Super AMOLED screen to provide more bright and eye-catching visuals. The display colour accuracy has improved a lot by enabling support to stream HDR videos which is not available on other phones at the movement. You can watch your favourite movies on your phone and get the cinema like viewing experience on your phone.
7. Immersive Entertainment
The Galaxy Note7 has tie-up with Oculus to provide new Gear VR which allows user to experience high quality virtual reality. The new phone also features a Game Pack via Google play with new benefits. Users can discover from various apps, games and images from the library and enhance their entertainment level.
8. Advance Camera Functionality
The new Galaxy Note7 boasts an advance Gear 360 with high resolution of 3840 × 1920 pixels. The camera provides a wide-angle of viewing and capable enough to capture 360-degree images and videos which can surely overwhelm you with pleasure. You can easily edit and share those images on your social networks and live through the memory again using dynamic Gear VR.
The phone includes wide aperture lens and dual pixel autofocus technology for detailed and clear imaging at low light conditions. The phone also features the camera app to filter many motions and can be accessed from camera settings and modes.
9. No Need to Unlock Phone for Writing Down Notes
There is no use of pen if you don’t get a surface to use it. The Galaxy Note 7 includes a notepad which is very close to a real one. You can jot down your handwritten notes by pulling out your stylus without unlocking the phone and keep them on your home screen permanently.
In order to prepare a list of useful things and remind them when required, you have no need to turn on the device and unlock the screen. There is no issue of space as you can scroll around to write more and insert various ink colours. All notes are combined in one app instead of four like earlier models.
10. Innovative design
Samsung Galaxy Note 7 has a strong metal and glass body. Samsung challenges the limits of engineering with this new phone through its new innovative methods of designing. Nicely curved edges along with the surface provide solid grip and despite of having a large screen the phone is easy to handle with one hand. Samsung ensures its durability with Corning Gorilla Glass 5 protection. The phone has curved screen which allows the user to get access to applications faster and provide a better viewing experience.
11. Water and Dust Resistant
The new Samsung Galaxy Note 7 is water-resistant and can survive in 5 feet deep water for 30 minutes. The phone ships with IP68 rating, which stands for international protection marking and ensures saving from dust or water ingress. Having a waterproof body is essential for a premium smartphone like this because you can’t afford to lose it by just an accidental fall or sudden rain.
12. Double Internal Memory and Powerful Processor
The new Samsung Galaxy Note 7 offers 64GB internal memory which is expandable up to 256GB via a Micro SD card. The phone is powered by Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 820 SoC. The power efficient quad-core (2 x 2.15GHz cores + 2 x 1.6GHz cores) processor coupled with fast Adreno 530 GPU provide fast processing and high quality graphics.
All variants of this new phone offer 4GB of RAM, Strong 3,500mAh battery, effective Power Management user experience design (UX) via Smart Manager, and quick charging facility through the new USB Type C port.
So, these are all the best Samsung Galaxy Note 7 features that we liked about the phone and we hope you will like some of these features too in this phone.
By introducing the new Galaxy Note 7 Samsung has taken the smartphone manufacturing to another level. The phone offers elegant design, top class security with Iris Scanner and enhance the entertainment experience with its high quality immersive multimedia. Samsung Galaxy Note 7 offers many innovative solutions to improve the usability of a smartphone in a user’s daily life.
Meantime, do not forget to tell us about your favorite Samsung Galaxy Note 7 features that you’ll be using everyday after buying the phone.
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Introduction
The tips in this article are aimed to be applicable to most (if not all) decks, and I’ve tried to keep stuff like “play better cards/decks” out of here. This article isn’t about deck construction or deck choice. This article is about play decisions and matters pertaining to playing the game and not deckbuilding choices. I tried to keep any completely wild opinions largely out of this article where I could, and tried to stick to fact as much as possible, or at least the sort of content that opinions can be made from. With that in mind, this article is geared towards the sort of player who considers themselves moderately skilled but wants to improve and take every edge they can. I don’t think any of these tips are going to turn a first-time-player into the next world champion immediately, and I’m no perfect player myself, but, in my opinion, they’re the sort of thing that you need to know or do if you want any chance of becoming a world champion.
Netrunner’s a fairly overwhelming game, so if you’re a new player who’s struggling to maintain a cool head already, even without trying to do the things I’ve listed in this article and finding it hard to do them all, try doing one at a time. Work on each part of your game at a time, and it’s important that your brain is focused on the game. Ideally you want to be doing everything in this article ‘automatically’, so a slower approach to learning these tenets might help immensely.
A shout-out and thanks to accomplished player Tagore Nakornchai for proof reading this article.
1: Always Draw First (Except When You Shouldn’t)
Let me tell you a turn which is in almost all cases strictly incorrect as Corp: click one install; click two install; click three draw a card. If you’re planning on drawing in a turn, and as Corp, you should know what your three clicks are going to look like in almost every case before taking the first click and drawing is one of those options (unless you draw into something that changes your turn), it should happen first as it gives you more information and more options to evaluate, and could change what you would otherwise do in your turn. For completeness, an example where you might not know your three clicks exactly as Corp is if you plan on fast advancing into a Clot threat, but in this case you should have two sets of three clicks ‘planned’ and choose which one based on whether or not the Runner gets Clot or not.
You should draw first when you can for quite a few reasons. As we all know, in Netrunner, cards are options, and having more cards in your hand means you’ve got more options for what to do with your clicks. It follows from this that seeing what our options are earlier is better than seeing them later, and the card you see may very well change what you plan on doing or be something better than what you were going to do earlier. In the above example of install install draw, the drawn card could be an agenda that you want to protect HQ for, it could be a better piece of ICE that you’d rather install than one of the other two, or it could be something that’s better than installing that piece of ICE. To put it simply: drawing cards might improve your options and change what you want to do with the rest of the turn, so do it first.
This doesn’t only apply to Corp, and very much applies to Runners too. There’s a few nuances with the Runner side of things, though, as it’s a perfectly fine turn to run then draw three times. Adding runs into the equation where you might want to click through scary ICE like Ichi 2.0 or react to the Architect you just let fire or Snare! you just accessed makes it a lot less clear cut. If you run an unprotected R&D, you might get an agenda (or access something tasty to trash like Caprice Nisei) and want to check again, up to a theoretical four times. If you know all the rezzed ICE on a server, you can run late into your turn if you don’t plan on re-running the server, and if you aren’t running for an access because of effects like Bank Job, Security Testing, or even if you’re just running an unprotected Archives to see the facedowns, aside from traps there are very few reasons not to run after drawing, as you will not need those clicks to the same server again, and you may draw cards that change your course of action (or even just draw a card like Dirty Laundry or Desperado to make it better). In the Runner’s case, whether or not drawing earlier rather than later is correct is dependent on what types of runs you’re making, but I leave that to the reader as something to decide for themselves in each individual case. I should reiterate, however, that unless your turn contains running and your turn involves drawing, in almost every case it is correct to draw before doing other actions. In the more complex cases, it’s very game state dependent, but this advice can still be used as a good guideline.
2: Plan Your Turns, Not Your Clicks
This leads on from the last section, as I believe the reason some people do draw late in the turn is because of improper turn planning. I’m going to make a bit of a strong assertion here that might make a few people raise their eyebrows: I believe that relying on click trackers in games of Netrunner makes you a worse player. Your turn is not a set of three or four discrete clicks and in cases where taking a click doesn’t change the game state (e.g. running/drawing), you shouldn’t need to think about what you’re doing next, you should have known before you took your last action. Your clicks are a set of actions you use to achieve a goal, and not individual things you should decide without regarding the others. To this extent, before you take any of your clicks, I believe you should have a plan/goal in your head of what you want to achieve, then a more concrete set of clicks you’ll probably take (if these clicks don’t include drawing/running, they should be concrete and should not change between clicks).
Even in situations where you need to draw/run, you should still have a goal in mind and still have a plan of clicks, but it should be of a forked path in your head. The fork in your turn should cover what happens if nothing changes or nothing goes wrong (this can almost always be mapped out as four clicks beforehand) and a slightly less concrete turn-idea that covers if things do go wrong (which could be as simple as “have clicks free in case something goes wrong during the run”). This goes hand in hand with preventing or minimising the damage of these threats to begin with; if you’re already thinking about what happens if things go wrong or if your options suddenly change, you’ll be hurt less when things do go wrong. Your threat prevention is built into the way you’re thinking about and planning your turns.
Planning turns instead of clicks strengthens your individual clicks themselves. Your reasoning for each click is backed up by your plan for the turn, this makes each click less of a whimsical decision and more of a cog for an already-designed machine. Planning your turns instead of clicks will also help you be a faster Netrunner player. Removing the need to ponder between each click means you can do most of your decision making on the opposing player’s turn (even if it’s more of an “if they do X, then I’ll Y, else I’ll Z”) and means you have a better idea about what you should doing on each click, condensing many decision points into one. It’s easy to see that a turn can be fast and fluid if you already know what you’re going to do beforehand.
3: Count Your Rez Costs
Picture this scenario: You’re Haas Bioroid: Engineering The Future, and you’ve got a completely unrezzed server containing a Tollbooth, Heimdall 2.0, and an Ash 2X3ZB9CY. R&D is also unrezzed, but protecting it is an Architect. For the sake of argument, the runner can break all of this ICE, but is fairly poor. You’re sitting pretty comfortably on 25 credits, and, feeling like you’ve got more than enough to score an agenda, install-advance-advance a Priority Requisition. Now sitting on 24 credits, you’re feeling pretty good, but as the runner runs R&D and you rez your Architect, you slowly realise you can’t afford to rez both pieces of ICE protecting your Priority Requisition and then score your agenda next turn (not even taking into account your Upgrade), meaning when the Runner runs your agenda, they can take it with relative ease. If you’d done some counting beforehand, you either wouldn’t have rezzed the Architect or wouldn’t have gone to score just yet.
When you’re going to score, you need to take into account the rez costs of your unrezzed ICE everywhere. Even if it looks like you’re rich, you don’t want to rez something and immediately regret it, and you should be very clear on whether scoring your agenda means you’re going to leave a central server open. Count your rez costs before you go for the play, recognise what you intend on rezzing on the Runner’s turn and what you intend on not rezzing. You don’t want to haphazardly realise that you can’t do something you wanted to do half way through the runner’s turn. Plan ahead. Recognise the credits you can spend over the next few turns, recognise what cards you can’t rez if you rez others, and recognise when you want to not rez certain things so you can rez others. If you’d counted beforehand, you’d know exactly what you’d be able to rez in each scenario and could evaluate whether or not you want to try and score with more information than without counting.
4: Pay Attention to R&D’s Top Card(s)
This one probably sounds pretty obvious, but I want to kind of highlight it in more ways than you’d normally think about this. The obvious application of this is that if you see an ICE on R&D and they install an ICE first click despite gaining three the turn previous, you can usually infer that there’s a high chance that the newly installed card is the ICE you just saw. You can extend this to other cards, such as if the Corp just drew a Celebrity Gift and hasn’t played it despite obviously struggling for econ, you could infer that they’re holding it back to conceal cards they don’t want you to see, steal or trash. Perhaps some runs on HQ are in order next turn?
Perhaps one of the biggest things to consider is the well-known idea of “R&D Lock”, which is the notion of not letting your opponent’s mandatory draw (and ideally more) be cards you’ve already seen. If you trash the top card of R&D, you need to take into account whether you’re giving your opponent “fresh” cards. If I run last click on R&D and trash a Jackson Howard off the top, though they’re one Jackson down, I remove an “R&D Lock” from my opponent, the card they draw with their mandatory draw will be fresh, unseen, and didn’t take a click. This could be game-losing if they draw into an Accelerated Beta Test with a Biotic Labor in hand with 5 points scored. Bear all of this in mind when considering trashing cards from R&D. How many fresh cards can you afford to give the Corp? Is trashing the card off R&D better than giving your opponent fresh cards? It depends on the game state, but it’s always something you should consider. As Runner, always bear in mind what cards the Corp is about to draw, and what you left on top of R&D.
Of course, what cards the Runner has seen on top of R&D also affect your play as Corp. If you’re playing an NBN deck and your opponent saw a PAD Campaign off R&D last turn, they may assume that the PAD Campaign is the next card you install. You can try and be cheeky by throwing out an AstroScript Pilot Program that you have in hand out as if it’s a PAD Campaign (making sure not to install both, however). Both players know what the Runner has seen on R&D and both players will be able to act accordingly. You should bear in mind “R&D lock” as Corp as well, and if you have the chance to draw through the cards the Runner has seen, that can sometimes be something you want to do if you’ve a bulky scoring server but a weak R&D for whatever reason. A card like Jackson Howard is a good example of a way to power-draw through an “R&D lock”, as it will be able to give you a “fresh” (unseen by the Runner) card even if they accessed four cards from R&D last turn. As Corp, always bear in mind what cards the Runner left on top of R&D.
5: Accept That Variance Happens
This advice might feel out of place and disconnected from the other points, but I feel it’s worth a slot in the article. Variance is a key part of every card game that I know of, and that includes Android: Netrunner. I believe that understanding what makes a game tick will make you a better player, On the grandest scale, no player is consistently lucky or unlucky, and chances are, if you just went to three 64 player regionals and came 35th at each one, it wasn’t bad luck that meant you didn’t make the cut; on the flip-side, if you just played three 64 player regionals and won each one, chances are it wasn’t luck that you won all three. On a smaller scale, this means that you shouldn’t be angry if your Accelerated Beta Test hits the only three agendas you had left in your otherwise ICE-filled deck, and understand that the fact that it happened this time doesn’t necessarily mean it was a bad decision.
To expand upon that last point a bit more, you could make a play that gives you a 66% chance to win but a 33% chance to lose. If you lose from this play, it is important to remember that you didn’t (necessarily) make a bad decision, and it was not (necessarily) a bad play to make (unless there was a line of play with better odds to win/lose). Of course, variance is not biased, so you could make a play that gives you an 20% chance to win and a 80% chance to lose, and it could well make you win, but that does not (necessarily) make the play correct (it could have been correct if it was the line of play with the best odds to win/lose). The flip-side of variance is something people forget often, and statements like “I only win games I don’t get unlucky in” very usually ignore the times they got lucky and won because of that. Remember that the outcome — both positive and negative — of your plays isn’t necessarily indicative of how correct they were to make, and this is one of the many factors that makes Netrunner so hard to improve at for a lot of people. As counter-intuitive as it is, a play that made you lose could have been the best choice and would make you win the highest percent of the time.
Blaming variance for losses isn’t what the last two paragraphs covered, so I want to quickly mention it here. Winning or losing a game doesn’t always come down to play skill, but it doesn’t always come down to variance either. Even if your opponent won because they made a “lucky” run, was there anything you could have done to reduce the odds? Was there any way you could have denied them the chance? The answer to these questions is sometimes no, but I feel like complaining about that fact is a waste of time, and it doesn’t inherently make you a better player if the only games you lost were to “lucky” plays. Variance is a part of the game and it should factor into your decisions. Calculate the odds and make the best plays around those odds. You never “deserve” or “didn’t deserve” a win that comes down to something you deem lucky.
6: Analyse Your Opponent’s Played Cards, Archives, and Heap
The Archives/Heap is a veritable goldmine of information, so you should always be aware what’s in there. It would be foolish not to gain every advantage you can from information that is open for you to look at! Here are a few things that you can learn from looking at your opponent’s heap, both over the course of the game and as they discard cards. People don’t discard randomly, and a lot can be learnt by what they put in their bin:
How much influence has been used so far, and therefore how much influence is left in their deck. Very important to know what tricks might be coming your way.
How many copies of cards are left in their deck. Chances are, if Gabriel Santiago has played two copies of Account Siphon, there’s another one there somewhere.
What their deck composition looks like, both overall and at the current point in the game.
What cards are left in their deck or facedown on the board. As a brief example of this point, if you see two pieces of bulky ICE sitting in Archives and they’re an otherwise low-to-the-ground Near Earth Hub: Broadcast Center fast advance deck, chances are they don’t have much left.
What they can get back if they play a card like Clone Chip or Interns.
What cards that you’ve accessed (or seen with cards like Salem’s Hospitality) in the past have been discarded to hand size for whatever reason now? What does this mean?
What cards are in their hand. This one’s another one I want to explain. If a Criminal player discards a Corroder from their hand, you just learned (at least) two pieces of information. Firstly, they (probably) have a Corroder in their hand (or, less likely, a way to get one). Secondly, to evidence an earlier point in this section, you just learnt that they (probably) have spent four influence on Corroder. This can also be of course stuff like your opponent discarding economy cards: what does that mean? Remember, people don’t discard randomly.
To be clear, you can (and in a perfect world, would) also get this information as the game is going on by simply adding up the cards they’ve played as the game goes, but I specifically say Archives/Heap because that’s where it ends up. Sometimes things like influence can be a little mentally taxing to track. Knowing what your opponent has played is the key part of this point, but don’t be afraid of double checking in the Archives/Heap to make sure.
7: Don’t Be Afraid of Giving Up Points
One of my good friends, James, was struggling to win with Jinteki: Replicating Perfection leading up to UK Nationals 2015. I have a wealth of experience with the ID and it’s one of my most played Corp IDs at tournaments, whereas he’d only picked it up recently. I sat next to him through a couple of games and talked with him through them to hopefully try and help. It very quickly became apparent to both of us that one of the problems was a fear of attempting to score an agenda if R&D was still easy to get in or if there was a small chance that the Runner could break through his lategame remote. This fear is something that’s easy to have and it’s something that James had to overcome, and I’m certain a lot of other players are struggling with this very thing. The reason not to be fearful is twofold: firstly, even if they can get into R&D, you should take any deal that gives you an agenda (and all of its benefits, like Nisei MK II) but only gives the runner the chance to get an agenda. Secondly, if they have a small chance of getting into your lategame remote, then it’ll usually completely bankrupt them if they do, meaning you’ve a clear path to start pushing out another agenda next turn.
Getting agendas from a scoring remote server will (usually, or more accurately, should) cost the Runner a lot of money or resources (e.g. Cerberus “Lady” H1 counters or cards for Faust). There are plenty of times where you’ll happily drain the runner’s credits for the cost of a few agenda points, usually when it means you can score some agendas because that swing makes your remote impenetrable for at least a few turns in the future. If it’s correct to let your opponent take an agenda (from any server) to retort with your own, then that’s a line of play that you should be happy to make. Though you shouldn’t exactly be handing out agendas for free, you don’t need to have every server on absolute lock-down, and it’s practically impossible to get to that point anyway. The chance that a runner can steal an agenda is a perfectly acceptable cost when scoring your own.
A good example of this rule in action is the time-honoured tradition of Haas Bioroid decks firing Accelerated Beta Test. There are plenty of cases where it’s okay to lose an agenda to get some more ICE, and indeed, the reason that there are some times where you want to fire Accelerated Beta Test without a card like Jackson Howard to save you if things go wrong is a perfect example of this rule in action. Maybe-losing-an-agenda isn’t always the end of the world and is sometimes very much the correct decision (how much it’s the correct decision is not something I’ll discuss here, though it’s absolutely not 100% or 0%), though I see some players who will never, under any circumstances fire ‘unsafe’ Accelerated Beta Tests, which is, I believe, most certainly a mistake.
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It looks like the wait is almost over. According to 43 Rumors, the new Lumix G X VARIO 12-35mm f2.8 should be shipping this week in Asia and Europe (no word yet on the U.S. and Canada), and the Olympus 75mm f1.8 should be coming in July. If you’ve had a hankering to see videos of these lenses in action then you’re in luck:
Lumix G X VARIO 12-35mm f2.8
Here's Panasonic's Lumix G X VARIO 12-35mm f2.8 demo footage shot on a GH2:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ob3FgDwjiJw
And here are a couple of clips from the Chinese website Mobile01 shot on a GF5:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ZP5whjwQmA
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o3JueVUevxA
All in all, the images on the Lumix are looking good. The lens is nice and sharp, with good contrast, vivid color rendition, circular bokeh, and it's going to be the fastest constant aperture zoom in the Lumix line. On top of that, it has a Nano Surface Coating to reduce flare and ghosting and a UED (Ultra Extra-Low Dispersion) lens to minimize chromatic aberration.
You can see more images and video of the Lumix G X VARIO 12-35mm f2.8 over on Mobile01. However, the Google translation of the page leaves something to be desired, so if you’re looking for reviews there’s a preview on DP Review and a great in-depth series of tests over at the Photography Blog.
Olympus 75mm f1.8
Blunty, the same YouTube user behind the D800 VS OM-D EM-5 Shootout, posted this short review of a pre-production version of the Olympus 75mm f1.8:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PwAsgpebIWc
The Olympus looks like it has a warm, smooth color rendition somewhat reminiscent of the Voigtlander f0.95, good sharpness and contrast, and some very pleasing bokeh. It also has three ED (Extra-Low Dispersion) elements to correct chromatic aberrations and a lens coating to reduce reflections.
There's a preview of the Olympus 75mm f1.8 at DP Review and you can see more images at CSC Rumors.
Overall, these clips have more of a “video look" than I would like, so it's probably best to take what you see with a grain of salt until AF-100 and hacked GH1/GH2 shooters get their hands on these lenses.
What are your impressions of these lenses thus far? Do they look like they would be good additions to your kit?
Links:
Via [43 Rumors-Lumix G X VARIO 12-35mm f2.8 & 43 Rumors-Olympus 75mm f1.8]
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by
Jimmy Carter’s book, Palestine Peace Not Apartheid, has opened up much of the American public to serious discussion of Israel’s realities. He’s no expert on Zionist history, but the Anti-Defamation League and other pro-Israel propagandists must now work 25 hours a day, 366 days a year, trying to discredit equating Israel and apartheid South Africa.
Curiously, Carter only mentions South African apartheid 3 times. He relates how, on his 1973 visit to Israel,
“General Rabin described the close relationship that Israel had with South Africa in the diamond trade (he had returned from there a day or two early to greet us) but commented that the South African system of apartheid could not long survive.”
He also tells us that
“Israeli leaders have embarked on a series of unilateral decisions, bypassing both Washington and the Palestinians. Their presumption is that an encircling barrier will finally resolve the Palestinian problem. Utilizing their political and military dominance, they are imposing a system of partial withdrawal, encapsulation, and apartheid on the Muslim and Christian citizens of the occupied territories. The driving purpose for the forced separation of the two peoples is unlike that in South Africa — not racism, but the acquisition of land. There has been a determined and remarkably effective effort to isolate settlers from Palestinians, so that a Jewish family can commute from Jerusalem to their highly subsidized home deep in the West Bank on roads from which others are excluded, without ever coming in contact with any facet of Arab life.”
And he presents the 3 unattractive options in front of Israel’s public. One is
“A system of apartheid, with two peoples occupying the same land but completely separated from each other, with Israelis totally dominant and suppressing violence by depriving Palestinians of their basic human rights. This is the policy now being followed, although many citizens of Israel deride the racist connotation of prescribing permanent second-class status for the Palestinians. As one prominent Israeli stated, ‘I am afraid that we are moving toward a government like that of South Africa, with dual society of Jewish rulers and Arab subjects with few rights of citizenship. The West Bank is not worth it.'”
Beyond that, his only citation re post-apartheid South Africa is listing Nelson Mandela as supporting the “Geneva Initiative” Israel/Palestine peace plan that Carter was involved in drawing up.
In reality, Israeli and American Zionist ties to racist Pretoria were so close that there can be no doubt that Zionism’s leaders were accomplices in apartheid’s crimes, including murderous invasions of Angola and Namibia.
Israel denounced apartheid until the 1973 Yom Kippur war as it sought to diplomatically outflank the Arabs in the UN by courting Black Africa. But most Black states broke ties after the war, in solidarity with Egypt, trying to drive non-African Israel out of the Sinai, part of Africa. Jerusalem then turned towards South Africa.
During WW ll, Britain had John Vorster interned as a Nazi sympathizer. But in 1976 Israel invited South Africa’s Prime Minister to Jerusalem. Yitzhak Rabin, then Israel’s PM, hailed “the ideals shared by Israel and South Africa: the hopes for justice and peaceful coexistence.” Both confronted “foreign-inspired instability and recklessness.” Israel, alone in the world, allowed Bophuthatswana, SA’s puppet ‘black homeland,’ to open an embassy.
In 1989, Ariel Sharon, with David Chanoff, wrote Warrior: An Autobiography. He told of his 1981 trip to Africa and the US as Israel’s Defense Minister:
“From Zaire we went to South Africa, where Lily and I were taken to see the Angola border. There South Africans were fighting a continuing war against Cuban-led guerrilla groups infiltrating from the north. To land there our plane came in very high as helicopters circled, searching the area. When the helicopters were satisfied, we corkscrewed down toward the field in a tight spiral to avoid the danger of ground-to-air missiles, the Russian-supplied SAM 7 Strellas that I had gotten to know at the Canal. On the ground I saw familiar scenes. Soldiers and their families lived in this border zone at constant risk, their children driven to school in convoys protected by high-built armored cars, which were less vulnerable to mines. I went from unit to unit, and in each place I was briefed and tried to get a feel for the situation. It is not in any way possible to compare Israel with South Africa, and I don’t believe that any Jew can support apartheid. But seeing these units trying to close their border against terrorist raids from Angola, you could not ignore their persistence and determination. So even though conditions in the two countries were so vastly different, in some ways life on the Angolan border looked not that much different from life on some of our own borders.”
Sharon went to Washington to deal with a range of Middle Eastern questions. He also
“took the opportunity to discuss with Secretary of State Alexander Haig, Secretary of Defense Casper Weinburger, and CIA Director William Casey other issues of mutual interest. I described what I had seen in Africa, including the problems facing the Central African Republic. I recommended to them that we should try to go into the vacuums that existed in the region and suggested that efforts of this sort would be ideally suited for American-Israeli cooperation.”
By 1989 it was certain that apartheid was about to close down, hence Sharon’s “I don’t believe that any Jew can support apartheid.” But a 12/14/81 NY Times article, “South Africa Needs More Arms, Israeli Says,” gave a vivid picture of Israel’s earlier zeal for its ally’s cause:
“The military relationship between South Africa and Israel, never fully acknowledged by either country, has assumed a new significance with the recent 10 day visit by Israel’s Defense Minister, Ariel Sharon, to South African forces in Namibia along the border with Angola. In an interview during his recent visit to the United States, Mr. Sharon made several points concerning the South African position. First, he said that South Africa is one of the few countries in Africa and southwestern Asia that is trying to resist Soviet military infiltration in the area. He added that there had been a steady flow of increasingly sophisticated Soviet weapons to Angola and other African nations, and that as a result of this, and Moscow’s political and economic leverage, the Soviet Union was ‘gaining ground daily’ throughout the region. Mr. Sharon, in company with many American and NATO military analysts, reported that South Africa needed more modern weapons if it is to fight successfully against Soviet-Supplied troops. The United Nations arms embargo, imposed in November 1977, cut off established weapons sources such as Britain, France and Israel, and forced South Africa into under-the-table deals…. Israel, which has a small but flourishing arms export industry, benefited from South African military trade before the 1977 embargo. According to The Military Balance, the annual publication of the International Institute for Strategic Studies in London, the South African Navy includes seven Israeli-built fast attack craft armed with Israeli missiles. The publication noted that seven more such vessels are under order. Presumably the order was placed before the 1977 embargo was imposed…. Mr. Sharon said Moscow and its allies had made sizable gains in Central Africa and had established ‘corridors of power,’ such as one connecting Libya and Chad. He said that Mozambique was under Soviet control and that Soviet influence was growing in Zimbabwe. The Israeli official… saw the placement of Soviet weapons, particularly tanks, throughout the area as another danger. South Africa’s military policy of maintaining adequate reserves, Mr. Sharon said, will enable it to keep forces in the field in the foreseeable future but he warned that in time the country may be faced by more powerful weapons and be tter armed and trained soldiers.”
American Zionists were equally committed to apartheid. The 5/86 ADL Bulletin ran “The African National Congress: A Closer Look.” It revealed the organization’s hatred of the movement leading the liberation struggle in South Africa. The ADL sent its tirade to every member of the US Congress!
It formally bowed to political correctness: “Discussion of the political scene in South Africa properly begins with the self-evident stipulation that apartheid is racist and dehumanizing.” But
“this is not to suggest closing our eyes to what may emerge once apartheid is gone…. We must distinguish between those who will work for a humane, democratic, pro-western South Africa and those who are totalitarian, anti-humane, anti-democratic, anti-Israeli and anti-American.
It is in this context that the African National Congress (ANC), so frequently discussed as an alternative to the Botha government, merits a close, unsentimental look…. The ANC, which seeks to overthrow the South African government, is a ‘national liberation movement’ that, plainly said, is under heavy Communist influence. The ANC has been allied with the South African Communist Party (SACP) for 50 years…. The fall of South Africa to such a Soviet oriented and Communist influenced force would be a severe setback to the United States, whose defense industry relies heavily on South Africa’s wealth of strategic minerals.”
ADL spying on America’s anti-apartheid movement, for BOSS, South Africa’s secret police, became public in 1993 when San Francisco papers revealed that Tom Gerard, a local cop and ex-CIA man, illegally gave police information to Roy Bullock, ADL’s man in SF.
Gerard pled no contest to illegal access to police computers. The ADL made a ‘we didn’t do it and won’t do it again’ deal with the DA. It agreed to an injunction not to use illegal methods in ‘monitoring’ the political universe. ADL National Director Abe Foxman said that, rather than go to trial, where — of course! — they would certainly have been found innocent, ADL settled because “continuing with an investigation over your head for months and years leads some to believe there is something wrong.”
Despite the slap-on-the-wrist deal, Bullock’s activities were documented. The ADL claimed that he was a free-lance informer whose activities for the apartheid regime were unknown to them. But (FBI) FD-302, a 1993 FBI report on an interview with Bullock, takes up a letter found in his computer files, “prepared for transmission to the South Africans.” It said that, “during an extended conversation with two FBI agents,” in 1990, they asked
“‘Why do you think South African agents are coming to the West Coast? Did I know any agents’ they finally asked?…. I replied that a meeting had been arranged, in confidence, by the ADL which wanted information on radical right activities in SA and their American connections. To that end I met an agent at Rockefeller Center cafeteria.”
The FBI said that “Bullock commented that the TRIP.DBX letter was a very ‘damning’ piece of evidence. He said he had forgotten it was in his computer.” Of course he hastened to tell the FBI that “his statements to the FBI that the ADL had set up his relationship with the South Africans were untrue.”
The ADL was so anti-ANC that only fools could think that they didn’t know that Bullock was working with the South Africans. Isn’t it more likely that he told the truth in 1990 and lied in 1993? The feds came on another matter in 1990, surprising him with questions re South Africans. They interviewed him in his lawyers’ office in 1993. Be certain that they told him what not to say. He also knew that if he wanted ADL help in his FBI troubles concerning South Africa, he had to claim that they had nothing to do with his BOSS connection. In any case, the ADL continued to work with Bullock. And NY’s 7/27/93 Village Voice reported that Irwin Suall, its Chief Fact-finder, i.e., head spy, told the FBI that “he didn’t think dealing with South African intelligence was different than dealing with any other police agency.”
Time hasn’t been kind to the ADL. The ANC runs its country and is a model of ethnic and religious tolerance. It never was anti-Semitic and there are Jewish ANCers in the Pretoria parliament. But Foxman always has a cleanup for Israeli and ADL infamies. On October 11th, 2007 he spoke at a NY Barnes & Noble bookstore on his latest book, The Deadliest Lies: The Israel Lobby and the Myth of Jewish Control. It has a chapter denouncing Carter. I was in his audience and challenged him:
“You brought up the fact that Jimmy Carter used the word apartheid in his title. But I would remind you that of course that Israel was allied to apartheid South Africa. I’m looking at the December 14, 1981 New York Times, “South Africa needs more arms, Israeli says,” Israeli meaning Ariel Sharon, the Minister of Defense, who was on a tour, as it were, with the South African army as it was invading Angola. And then, in May 1986…
Foxman: I get the point. Brenner: Excuse me! The ADL sent this to every member of Congress, denouncing the African National Congress as pro-Soviet and wicked, yes, and anti-Semitic and so on and so forth.”
I sat several rows from him. Two words on my tape are indistinct and tentatively printed here in caps. But they don’t effect general understanding of his statement, even with its grammatical irregularities as he grappled with my surprise accusations:
“OK. The African National Congress during the fight for SUFFRAGE, the struggle for AFRICAN liberation, was anti-Semitic, it was pro-Communist, it was anti-Israel, it was, where ever it could, become friends and allies of Arab, Palestinian terrorism, etc. I had the privilege, I had the privilege of flying to Geneva to meet President Mandela, before he was President, after he was freed and before he came to the United States on his 1st visit. I had the very, very special privilege of spending 5 hours with him and several American Jews who came to meet with him in advance of his visit, to better understand. And he said to us, ‘if,’ he said, ‘I understand why Israel made friends with apartheid South Africa. Because Israel was boycotted all over the world, Israel couldn’t have relations with other countries in the world, Israel wasn’t sold arms to defend itself, so I do not judge Israel, I understand why Israel, you need not to judge me, for the friends that I make. I make friends with the PLO, I make friends with those who supported our liberation movement, and if you don’t make it as a prerequisite that your enemies have to be my enemies, I will not make it a prerequisite for me.’ So Mandela, who was a heroic fighter in the struggle for, understood, very well, that just like he had to make deals with the devil, he made deals for support with people that he didn’t agree with, that he didn’t like. You certainly know from his record, he was not a Communist, yet he took the support of Communists, because they were the only ones, he understood, and respected, that Israel was dealing with South Africa. South Africa was one of the few countries that sold it arms. Now these were the years that America wouldn’t sell Israel arms. Those were the years that Europe wouldn’t sell Israel arms. So he understood it. Was it pleasant for everybody? No. Did we send the stuff about the ANC then? Yes. And today things are changed, very dramatically changed.”
How accurately did he recall Mandela’s remarks? We know that the ANC made a deal with apartheid’s leaders. Blacks got their rights and hearings were to be held on what repressive crimes actually happened during the racist era. But white military and other officials retained their posts under the new Black-led government. So if Mandela said what Foxman claims he said, it was in that reconciling spirit: ‘You did what you thought you had to do, same with me, now lets move on.’
The ANC’s generous peace didn’t retrospectively make apartheid less criminal. If Mandela wanted relations between his new government and Israel to go to a friendlier level, that didn’t make Israeli and ADL collaboration with racism even a speck less felonious. And of course ANCers still denounce Israeli crimes against Palestinians. Archbishop Desmond Tutu, chair of South Africa’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission, was emphatic at a Boston “End the Occupation” rally in 2002:
“You know as well as I do that, somehow, the Israeli government is placed on a pedestal. To criticize it is to be immediately dubbed anti-Semitic…. People are scared to say wrong is wrong because the Jewish lobby is powerful — very powerful. Well, so what? For goodness sake, this is God’s world! We live in a moral universe. The apartheid government was very powerful, but today it no longer exists. Hitler, Mussolini, Stalin, Pinochet, Milosevic and Idi Amin were all powerful, but in the end they bit the dust.”
Five years later, Israel is still very powerful. But in time it too shall be replaced by a democratic secular binational Palestinian/Israeli state. The model for that is today’s South African constitution. Most whites there say that they as well as blacks are the better for it. And when secular bi-nationalism finally wins, Israelis as well as Palestinians will likewise rejoice in their equality, peace and prosperity.
Lenni Brenner is the author of 4 books, Zionism in the Age of the Dictators, The Iron Wall: Zionist Revisionism from Jabotinsky to Shamir, Jews in America Today, and The Lesser Evil, a study of the Democratic Party. They have been favorably reviewed in 11 languages by prominent publications, including the London Times, the London Review of Books, Moscow’s Izvestia and the Jerusalem Post.
In 2002 he edited 51 Documents: Zionist Collaboration with the Nazis. It contains complete translations of many documents quoted in Zionism in the Age of the Dictators and The Iron Wall.
In 2004 he edited Jefferson & Madison On Separation of Church and State: Writings on Religion and Secularism.
He blogs at: www.smithbowen.net/linfame/brenner
This essay originally appeared in the Nov. 5, 2007 edition of CounterPunch.
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The Constitution Amendment Bill to create a uniform Goods and Services Tax regime is under consideration for about a decade now. The corporates, the Centre, some state governments, some political parties and some media organisations think this Bill is a panacea for growth. The BJP-led government accuses the Opposition of not allowing the Bill to be passed in Parliament. But all these groups are carefully forgetting one thing — why the Bill was delayed for so long? The reason is that this Constitution Amendment Bill makes serious threat to the essence of our Constitution, which is federalism.
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In the Constituent Assembly debates, maintaining his position that the States (then provinces) have the right to collect Sales Tax according to their necessities, B R Ambedkar even opposed an amendment to put a ceiling on the Sales Tax to be levied by provinces. He said while a large number of resources “on which the Provinces depend have been concentrated in the Centre”, it is desirable “at least to leave one important source of revenue with the Provinces”. “Therefore, I think that the proposal to leave the sales tax in the hands of the Provinces, from that point of view, is a very Justifiable thing,” he said replying to a debate on the issue in Constituent Assembly.
He rejected an amendment that the power of the provinces to levy the sales tax should not be “free and unfettered” and that there should be a ceiling fixed by Parliament and said: “It seems to me that if we permit the sales tax to be levied by the provinces, then the provinces must be free to adjust the rate of the sales tax to the changing situation of the province, and, therefore, a ceiling from the Centre would be a great handicap in the working of the sales tax.”
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The GST Bill is against this principle of our Constitution. It will ring the death bell of the federalism in India. Without federal powers to decide taxes according to their necessities, States will have to come with a begging bowl to the Centre frequently. This will in turn start the process for a Presidential or an authoritarian rule of the Centre as is being envisaged by the BJP and its ideological fountainhead, the Sangh Parivar.
This Bill subsumes State Value Added Tax/Sales Tax, Entertainment Tax (other than the tax levied by the local bodies), Central Sales Tax (levied by the Centre and collected by the States), Octroi and Entry tax, Purchase Tax, Luxury tax, Taxes on lottery, betting and gambling; and State cesses and surcharges in so far as they relate to supply of goods and services. In short, not just State governments, but local bodies will be affected by the GST proposal.
The revenue collection in 2014-15 on octroi in Mumbai Corporation was somewhere around Rs 6,733 crores which is individually around 42 per cent of the entire finance generated there. This matter has been pointed out in the report submitted by the select committee on the GST Bill. If the Centre wants to take that away, how development in that city can be ensured?
Also read | GST, explained
Taxation powers cannot be viewed only as a measure of resource mobilisation. It could be used as a tool to control and restrict the consumption of some goods for social good. For example, Tobacco products generally attracts huge tax rate as a measure to control the consumption on health grounds. Here tobacco producing States argue for lesser taxes for maximum sales and the Consumer States will demand for a leverage for fixing higher taxes. Health concerns ratify the higher rate of tax on tobacco. Whose interest the Centre will protect, when the regime of uniform tax rate comes? Likewise If a state government needs an additional resource mobilisation for facing a natural calamity, it cannot decide for any special levy. Swachabharat and other Central schemes can only be decided and used by the Central Government.
“Make in India” Programme is focused for strengthening and protecting the domestic industry from foreign import. Likewise, state governments have to protect local industry and employment. For this objective lesser sales tax and other incentives is needed for helping local producers. But the right of state governments for variable taxation will end with the introduction of GST regime.
The Left parties have been asking both the UPA and the NDA governments to bring clarity on the issue of protecting federal rights. The Centre has an undemocratic veto power in the proposed GST Council. The pleas to make distinction amongst the states in weightage is not being heard. The weightage of the vote of the Centre should be reduced and that of the states should be increased to ensure federal balance.
The GST will take away the rights of states to decide taxes according to their socio-economic situations. If passed, this may create a Grexit or Brexit like situation in India, too.
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The situation in Kerala is quite different than the situation in Tamil Nadu or Assam or Bihar or West Bengal. Each state has its own socio-economic-political reasons to decide the type of tax to be levied. The Centre is in no hurry to decide a better uniform minimum wages for the workers in this country despite a long-standing demand by the trade unions. But to please its corporate masters, both the BJP and the Congress want this Bill to be passed. This Bill will set a dangerous trend against the federalism in this country.
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In the early 20th century, an eccentric businessman named Roger Babson declared gravity to be mankind’s greatest threat. He devoted part of his fortune to defeating it, creating the Gravity Research Foundation which sponsors a yearly essay contest focused on the understanding of gravity. This contest has been won by the likes of Stephen Hawking and Lawrence Krauss. Despite its fringe beginnings, the annual gravity essay contest serves as a historical record of the zeitgeist of gravitational research, and may be attributed to bridging the gap between the the decline of gravity research after Einstein and its re-ignition in the quest for quantum gravity.
Roger Babson was born in Massachusetts in 1875. He attended MIT and worked for several investment firms before founding his own business analysis firm, which still exists today. He founded Babson College near Boston, wrote several books on investing, ran for president against Franklin Roosevelt, and was involved in the early development of the parking meter. He had a theory that by applying Newton’s laws of motion and gravity to the stock market he could predict its ebb and flow, and nominally used this to predict the 1929 market crash. Reading his brief biography, I can’t help but be reminded of today’s larger-than-life investment magnate and wannabe politician, Donald Trump [Authors note, 2018: Hindsight is 20/20].
Two of Babson’s relatives, his sister and his grandson, both perished in separate drowning incidents, the latter in 1947. These tragedies could be ascribed to poor safety procedures, bad luck, or the murky deep. Babson however blamed gravity, and set out to defeat it, lest this ever happen again. He penned the essay “Gravity-Our Enemy Number One,” describing the cruelty of gravity and why it must be defeated. Starting with a recollection of his sister’s death:
“…she was unable to fight Gravity which came up and seized her like a dragon and brought her to the bottom,”
he goes on to describe many woes which today we would ascribe to bad ventillation:
“As Gravity pulls the water-ladened and impure air down into the valleys and low spots of the ground, so it holds the stagnant impure air down in the lower portion of rooms, offices, stores and factories.”
The essay can be found here, posted with the kind permission of George Rideout, Jr.: Babson,Gravity-OurEnemy
He teamed up with his associate George Rideout, and they founded the Gravity Research Foundation. It was located at a campus in New Boston, New Hampshire, far enough from Boston to survive if the city was hit by a nuclear bomb, a pertinent threat in 1949. Among the foundations early efforts included annual letters to major manufacturing research companies asking if they had serendipitously discovered a gravitational insulator, and writing to mental institutions to find out if patients’
behaviour depended on the lunar phase and distance. Most importantly, they decided that one way to spur interest in anti-gravity research was to encourage an essay contest, with a cash prize. The wording of the initial contest announcement, as relayed by the foundation’s website, reflects that: “… the awards were to be given for suggestions for anti-gravity devices, for partial insulators, reflectors, or absorbers of gravity, or for some substance that can be rearranged by gravity to throw off heat.”
The website contains the winning essays dating back to 1949, and a list of abstracts dates back to 1961 (the more recent papers from these abstracts can often be found online). The winning essay in 1949 was by a University of Wisconsin undergraduate named David Wittry. It was titled “The possibility of discovering an absorber insulator or reflector for gravity waves.” Reading the introduction, it is interesting to note that even in 1949 the same terminology, “crackpot,” was used as it is now to describe people with fringe physics ideas. The paper begins with a review of some contemporary experiments on the universality of gravitation (e.g. by Eotvos). His essay is interested on whether a body (B) in between two others (A and C) will screen the gravitational field from A felt at C. If this happened, there might be a material that was an especially good screen of gravitational fields, and could be used for some kind of gravity shield. He notes that if this were the case then the moon would recede slightly from the Earth during each lunar eclipse, due to the screening of the sun’s gravity from the Earth, and mentions some other effects that also don’t happen. He continues with a review of potential equivalence violations and their magnitudes, and uses the various non-observations of gravitational permeability to rule out alternate theories of gravity that were proposed at the time. Today, this paper seems to be about a topic that nobody would really take seriously, but it is a well-written and scientifically rigorous paper and does not make any outlandish claims.
The essay contest, as we know, did not succeed in finding a cure for gravity. Babson was apparently convinced by Rideout that the best way to defeat or harness gravity would be to understand it completely, and thus the competition was devoted to promoting a fuller understanding of gravity, something that the scientific community could more readily get behind. Going through the list of winners on their website, one can get a sense of how gravity research has evolved over the last half century. Most of the essays focus either on unifying gravity with particle physics in some way, or focus on extragalactic cosmology. Just looking at decade-ending years, the winners are:
1950-The Possibility of New Gravitational Effects
1960-Gravity and the Nature of Fundamental Particles
1970-Using Gravity to Determine the Nature of Superluminous Astronomical Objects
1980-A Neutrino Dominated Universe
1990-Using Gravitational Lenses to Detect Gravitational Waves
2000-Monopoles and the Emergence of Black Hole Entropy
2010-Building up spacetime with quantum entanglement
Today the winners are firmly on the “hot topics” of gravity research, although the honorable mentions cover a wide range of topics. The essays are evaluated by a panel of judges, and prizes for a top five range from $500 to $4000, and appear in an edition of the International Journal of Modern Physics D, along with the “honorable mentions” that undergo additional peer review.
The list of winners is a who’s-who of theoretical physics: Stephen Hawking (who has won six awards but only one First Prize), Jacob Bekenstein, Frank Wilczek, Richard Arnowitt, Bryce deWitt, John Ellis, Gabriel Veneziano, Gerardus t’Hooft, George Smoot, John Archibald Wheeler, Sean Carroll, and a bunch of other people that I’ve heard of although not everyone has. Many of them got their starts by entering this contest, others won it after they were already established researchers.
It may be possible to credit this contest with maintaining a sense of continuity in gravitational research, which had died down after Einstein’s work in the early 20th century, before it once again became a “hot topic” in the late 20th century. As historian David Kaiser discusses in his chapter “Roger Babson and the Rediscovery of General Relativity,” in Kaiser, Making Theory: Producing Physics and Physicists in Postwar America (Ph.D. dissertation, Harvard University, 2000), pp. 567-595., by the 1940s research in general relativity had been relegated to mathematics departments and was thought almost irrelevant to physics. When Babson began his contest, it was one of the only outlets for gravitational physics research at a time when the main focus was on nuclear research. The output of gravitational research worldwide was greatly accelerated by foundation, and in 1953 Bryce deWitt’s essay “New Directions for Research in the Theory of Gravitation” laid down a lot of the early framework for the attempted description of gravity in the formalism of quantum field theory, what we now call quantum gravity. In 1957, the “Conference on the Role of Gravitation in Physics” was one of the first gatherings of gravity researchers worldwide, and started a new chapter in the quest to understand gravity. Kaiser argues that Babson’s organization and contest were responsible for this renewed scientific interest in gravity which had been experiencing a lull.
I have some personal experience with this contest, as I entered it last year. Ever since I became aware of the contest around 2010 I had always toyed with the idea of entering it. After my tunnel-through-the-Earth paper was finally accepted to the American Journal of Physics at the end of 2014, I got the idea of writing an extension of the paper that would use a more general model of gravity inside a planet and try to fit that model to what was known about the interiors of various planets. I managed to finish the paper just before the deadline for the contest on March 31 2015 (it was fairly hacked together in the last minute), about a week after my paper went viral, which gave me some nice momentum to finish it. The contest is currently run by George Rideout, Jr., the son of Babson’s business partner. The contest is entered by sending your essay to his AOL email address. I did that, and he promptly replied thanking me. About two months later the awards were posted on the Gravity Research Foundation website with literally zero fanfare. I found out that I did not win (Nobel Laureate Gerardus t’Hooft won). I didn’t expect to win, but I was a bit disappointed to find out that I didn’t even get an honorable mention. There were about 30 of those, but I don’t know many entries there were. My essay could have been 36/40, 36/100, or 99/100 but I don’t know. I eventually published another version on arxiv.
In addition to his foundation in New Boston (which ended operations after he died in 1967) and his yearly contest, Babson also left a number of stone monuments around the East Coast of the United States, mostly in New England. Some of these contain financial tips (one is just a boulder that has “KEEP OUT OF DEBT” engraved on it), but many are devoted to his anti-gravity crusade. Pictures of these monuments can be found on the Wikipedia page of the foundation, but recently I went to visit one of these, at Tufts University. The cosmology research group at Tufts was generously endowed by Babson, and they have a tradition of dropping apples on the heads of graduating students next to the monument, and used to dig it up every year and try to carry it to see if gravity had been defeated yet. One intrepid blogger went on a quest to visit all the monuments in New England.
Overall, I think this annual contest is a neat little part of physics history, and a potentially important part of keeping gravitational research cohesive throughout the late 20th century.
Further reading:
David Kaiser, “Roger Babson and the Rediscovery of General Relativity,” in Kaiser, Making Theory: Producing Physics and Physicists in Postwar America (Ph.D. dissertation, Harvard University, 2000), pp. 567-595.
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Unix / Linux - Useful Commands
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This quick guide lists commands, including a syntax and a brief description. For more detail, use −
$man command
Files and Directories
These commands allow you to create directories and handle files.
Given below is the list of commands in Files and Directories. Sr.No. Command & Description 1 cat Displays File Contents 2 cd Changes Directory to dirname 3 chgrp Changes file group 4 chmod Changes permissions 5 cp Copies source file into destination 6 file Determines file type 7 find Finds files 8 grep Searches files for regular expressions 9 head Displays first few lines of a file 10 ln Creates softlink on oldname 11 ls Displays information about file type 12 mkdir Creates a new directory dirname 13 more Displays data in paginated form 14 mv Moves (Renames) an oldname to newname 15 pwd Prints current working directory 16 rm Removes (Deletes) filename 17 rmdir Deletes an existing directory provided it is empty 18 tail Prints last few lines in a file 19 touch Updates access and modification time of a file
Manipulating data
The contents of files can be compared and altered with the following commands.
Given below is the list of commands in Manipulating data. Sr.No. Command & Description 1 awk Pattern scanning and processing language 2 cmp Compares the contents of two files 3 comm Compares sorted data 4 cut Cuts out selected fields of each line of a file 5 diff Differential file comparator 6 expand Expands tabs to spaces 7 join Joins files on some common field 8 perl Data manipulation language 9 sed Stream text editor 10 sort Sorts file data 11 split Splits file into smaller files 12 tr Translates characters 13 uniq Reports repeated lines in a file 14 wc Counts words, lines, and characters 15 vi Opens vi text editor 16 vim Opens vim text editor 17 fmt Simple text formatter 18 spell Checks text for spelling error 19 ispell Checks text for spelling error 20 emacs GNU project Emacs 21 ex, edit Line editor 22 emacs GNU project Emacs
Compressed Files
Files may be compressed to save space. Compressed files can be created and examined.
Sr.No. Command & Description 1 compress Compresses files 2 gunzip Helps uncompress gzipped files 3 gzip GNU alternative compression method 4 uncompress Helps uncompress files 5 unzip List, test and extract compressed files in a ZIP archive 6 zcat Cat a compressed file 7 zcmp Compares compressed files 8 zdiff Compares compressed files 9 zmore File perusal filter for crt viewing of compressed text
Getting Information
Various Unix manuals and documentation are available on-line. The following Shell commands give information −
Sr.No. Command & Description 1 apropos Locates commands by keyword lookup 2 info Displays command information pages online 2 man Displays manual pages online 3 whatis Searches the whatis database for complete words 4 yelp GNOME help viewer
Network Communication
These following commands are used to send and receive files from a local Unix hosts to the remote host around the world.
Sr.No. Command & Description 1 ftp File transfer program 2 rcp Remote file copy 3 rlogin Remote login to a Unix host 4 rsh Remote shell 5 tftp Trivial file transfer program 6 telnet Makes terminal connection to another host 7 ssh Secures shell terminal or command connection 8 scp Secures shell remote file copy 9 sftp Secures shell file transfer program
Some of these commands may be restricted at your computer for security reasons.
Messages between Users
The Unix systems support on-screen messages to other users and world-wide electronic mail −
Sr.No. Command & Description 1 evolution GUI mail handling tool on Linux 2 mail Simple send or read mail program 3 mesg Permits or denies messages 4 parcel Sends files to another user 5 pine Vdu-based mail utility 6 talk Talks to another user 7 write Writes message to another user
Programming Utilities
The following programming tools and languages are available based on what you have installed on your Unix.
Given below is the list of tools and languages in Programming Utilities. Sr.No. Command & Description 1 dbx Sun debugger 2 gdb GNU debugger 3 make Maintains program groups and compile programs 4 nm Prints program's name list 5 size Prints program's sizes 6 strip Removes symbol table and relocation bits 7 cb C program beautifier 8 cc ANSI C compiler for Suns SPARC systems 9 ctrace C program debugger 10 gcc GNU ANSI C Compiler 11 indent Indent and format C program source 12 bc Interactive arithmetic language processor 13 gcl GNU Common Lisp 14 perl General purpose language 15 php Web page embedded language 16 py Python language interpreter 17 asp Web page embedded language 18 CC C++ compiler for Suns SPARC systems 19 g++ GNU C++ Compiler 20 javac JAVA compiler 21 appletvieweir JAVA applet viewer 22 netbeans Java integrated development environment on Linux 23 sqlplus Runs the Oracle SQL interpreter 24 sqlldr Runs the Oracle SQL data loader 25 mysql Runs the mysql SQL interpreter
Misc Commands
These commands list or alter information about the system −
Given below is the list of Misc Commands in Unix. Sr.No. Command & Description 1 chfn Changes your finger information 2 chgrp Changes the group ownership of a file 3 chown Changes owner 4 date Prints the date 5 determin Automatically finds terminal type 6 du Prints amount of disk usage 7 echo Echo arguments to the standard options 8 exit Quits the system 9 finger Prints information about logged-in users 10 groupadd Creates a user group 11 groups Show group memberships 12 homequota Shows quota and file usage 13 iostat Reports I/O statistics 14 kill Sends a signal to a process 15 last Shows last logins of users 16 logout Logs off Unix 17 lun Lists user names or login ID 18 netstat Shows network status 19 passwd Changes user password 20 passwd Changes your login password 21 printenv Displays value of a shell variable 22 ps Displays the status of current processes 23 ps Prints process status statistics 24 quota -v Displays disk usage and limits 25 reset Resets terminal mode 26 script Keeps script of terminal session 27 script Saves the output of a command or process 28 setenv Sets environment variables 30 stty Sets terminal options 31 time Helps time a command 32 top Displays all system processes 33 tset Sets terminal mode 34 tty Prints current terminal name 35 umask Show the permissions that are given to view files by default 36 uname Displays name of the current system 37 uptime Gets the system up time 38 useradd Creates a user account 39 users Prints names of logged in users 40 vmstat Reports virtual memory statistics 41 w Shows what logged in users are doing 42 who Lists logged in users
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Home Daily News Federal prosecutor admits she listened to…
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Federal prosecutor admits she listened to recordings of attorney-client conversations, filing says
A federal prosecutor is no longer employed by the U.S. Attorney’s office in Kansas City, Kansas, after admitting to her supervisor that she had listened to recorded attorney-client conversations, according to court documents.
The special assistant prosecutor, Erin Tomasic, admitted that she had listened to multiple recorded conversations between a Leavenworth inmate and his lawyer, and one conversation between another female inmate at the prison and her lawyer, according to a notice (PDF) filed by federal prosecutors on June 19. The Kansas City Star and the Associated Press have reports.
Tomasic revealed to her supervisors on May 10 that she listened to the female defendant’s phone call with her mother’s friend, which also picked up a conversation between the mother and the defense lawyer, before a sentencing hearing, according to the June 19 filing. She also said she listened to the male defendant’s phone calls with his lawyer during his trial, but the conversations were in Spanish in an unfamiliar dialect, and she was unable to discern much of what was said.
The document was filed with a federal judge who has ordered a special master to investigate the recordings made by a private prison company now known as CoreCivic Inc. The judge, U.S. District Judge Julie Robinson, expanded the special master’s probe last month to include a look at the conduct of prosecutors and government agencies.
Tomasic had not mentioned that she had listened to the conversations in a September 2016 court hearing when she said law enforcement agents inadvertently listened to a few seconds of some inmate phone calls, but they stopped as soon as they realized a call was being made to a law office.
“Tomasic expressed remorse for having listened to the defendant’s calls,” the court filing said, “and for not revealing this action sooner.”
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Welcome back to the Lovecraft reread, in which two modern Mythos writers get girl cooties all over old Howard’s original stories. Today we’re looking at “The Thing on the Doorstep,” written in August 1933 and first published in the January 1937 issue of Weird Tales. You can read the story here. Spoilers ahead.
Synopsis
Daniel Upton is giving this statement to explain why he killed his best friend. He describes the origins of his friendship with Edward Derby when Derby was a child prodigy: sickly, brilliant, and obsessed with the macabre.
Derby meets Asenath Waite when he’s 38 and she’s—ostensibly—23. She is from Innsmouth and has a reputation as a magician: At school she was able to look at people and give them a feeling of “exchanged personality,” as if they were looking at themselves from her perspective. This was generally attributed to her hypnotic skill. Her father Ephraim (now deceased) had a similar nasty reputation.
Edward and Asenath marry swiftly, and settle in Arkham. Upton sees little of them for 2 years. However, he hears that Derby has started to act… out of character… sometimes. For example, although he didn’t previously know how to drive, he is now sometimes seen racing out of town with an uncharacteristically determined look in his eyes. Driving skillfully is apparently kind of nefarious—although maybe we in the 21st century have just forgotten that driving is a fundamentally predatory act.
When Upton sees him again, Derby hints at dissatisfaction, even to the point of fearing for his own identity. Strange rumors abound. A friend sees Asenath peering miserably from an upstairs window when she’s supposedly out of town. Derby starts to speak more directly of the horrors he’s seen, and drops hints that old Ephraim may not really be dead. Sometimes he cuts off abruptly, as if Asenath may be using some form of mind control to limit his communications.
Derby staggers out of the Maine woods, delirious and raving, remembering only enough to send a telegram to Upton. Upton picks him up and is treated to a rant about everything in the Lovecraftian mythos. Shoggoths are involved. Derby also talks more bluntly about Asenath forcing him to switch bodies. Furthermore—he admits at last—he’s discovered that Asenath is really Ephraim, that Ephraim stole her body and then poisoned his old body with her in it. Upton believes Asenath has put Derby through some sort of hypnotic ordeal, and resolves to help him get a divorce.
Then the thing happened. Derby’s voice was rising to a thin treble scream as he raved, when suddenly it was shut off with an almost mechanical click. I thought of those other occasions at my home when his confidences had abruptly ceased—when I had half fancied that some obscure telepathic wave of Asenath’s mental force was intervening to keep him silent. This, though, was something altogether different—and, I felt, infinitely more horrible. The face beside me was twisted almost unrecognizably for a moment, while through the whole body there passed a shivering motion—as if all the bones, organs, muscles, nerves, and glands were readjusting themselves to a radically different posture, set of stresses, and general personality. Just where the supreme horror lay, I could not for my life tell; yet there swept over me such a swamping wave of sickness and repulsion—such a freezing, petrifying sense of utter alienage and abnormality—that my grasp of the wheel grew feeble and uncertain. The figure beside me seemed less like a lifelong friend than like some monstrous intrusion from outer space—some damnable, utterly accursed focus of unknown and malign cosmic forces.
He forces Upton to switch places and takes the wheel. Eventually he apologizes for his outburst, attributes it to “overstudy,” and promises Upton that he’ll be fine after a few weeks of rest.
Derby indeed disappears for a few weeks while Upton dithers, then shows up again seeming once more like himself. He claims to have marshaled his own occult defenses and forced Asenath to go away without him. However, he delays leaving the house he shared with her, and his moods swing wildly. At last he has a breakdown, ranting that even death can’t stop “it.” Upton commits him to the Arkham Sanitarium.
After a few weeks, the sanitarium calls to say that Derby’s reason has returned, although his memory is spotty. He should be able to leave in a week. However, when Upton visits, Derby exhibits the disturbing personality from the car. Upton senses an “ineffable cosmic hideousness.” He returns home to pace and worry.
That night, Upton hears knocking at his door—in the pattern that Derby always used to announce himself. He opens the door and finds a “dwarfed, grotesque, malodorous thing” that seems barely alive. The thing (on the doorstep) hands him a letter from Derby in which he confesses that he didn’t send Asenath/Ephraim away, but killed her. Even in death, however, Ephraim’s soul survived, and his cultists carried out the final sacrifice that would enable him to take over Derby’s body permanently—leaving Derby in Asenath’s corpse. Derby begs Upton to kill the thing in his body. He begs him to ensure that the body is cremated so that Ephraim cannot steal another one, for the sake of the entire world. The thing stops moving. In the morning, Upton goes to the sanitarium and shoots Derby’s body. And the corpse on the doorstep is identified as Asenath’s.
What’s Cyclopean: This is one of Lovecraft’s favorite words. It only shows up once in Thing, describing the ruins in the Maine woods
The Degenerate Dutch: Lovecraft was prone to dropping extremely unflattering ethnic descriptions into his stories. To him any ethnicity other than pure “Nordic” seemed to be just another element of cosmic horror.
“Thing” is better than many. The standard description of the Necronomicon’s author as “the mad Arab Abdul Alhazred” appears, and one of the servants from Innsmouth is “a swarthy young wench who had marked anomalies of feature and seemed to exude a perpetual odour of fish.” And that’s about it—this story is all about the misogyny.
Mythos Making: A significant portion of the Mythos shows up in Derby’s rants, but this story is particularly notable for being the second to make use of Innsmouth’s community of semi-amphibious cultists—although by necessity it takes place earlier.
Here, as elsewhere, it’s clear that mythos lore is well-known at Miskatonic, but not how many people believe it or have seen evidence. The “Bohemian crowd” at Miskatonic is rumored to perform black magic—custom drabble for the first person to come up with a “La Vie Boheme” parody.
The Hall School at Kingsport (Asenath’s alma mater) never gets mentioned elsewhere. I persist in believing it to be Miskatonic’s sister school.
Libronomicon: We get quite the library here, including Azathoth and Other Horrors by Edward Pickman Derby (poetry), The People of the Monolith by Justin Geoffrey, Book of Eibon, Unaussprechlichen Kulten by von Junzt, and the Necronomicon. The secret of body theft is in the Necronomicon, but Derby won’t say what page.
Madness Takes its Toll: Justin Geoffrey “died screaming in a madhouse in 1926 after a visit to a sinister, ill-regarded village in Hungary.” Abdul Alhazred was mad. Ephraim Waite ostensibly died mad, but one suspects that poor Asenath was all too sane at the end. Edward Derby winds up in Arkham Sanitarium, and Ephraim-as-Derby dies there (hopefully).
Ruthanna’s Commentary
This is one of Lovecraft’s final stories, but it’s a perfect starting point for the reread because it so perfectly encapsulates his contradictions. It has passages that take my breath away with how perfectly they evoke a mood, and words he uses so frequently that they just make me giggle. It has genuine horror and horrifying glimpses of the author’s prejudices. The creepiness and the problematicity are inextricable.
I learned, this time around, that Lovecraft wrote this story just after his divorce from Sonia Greene. (I’ve often wondered why a Jewish woman would marry Lovecraft in the first place. Apparently he helped her revise a story for publication and reviewed her fanzine in flattering terms.)
This explains why Thing is one of the few Lovecraft stories with a major female-presenting character, and also why it’s so unreservedly misogynistic. Not only do we get Ephraim-as-Asenath’s rants about the inferiority of the female brain, but when one looks closer, women in this story are almost entirely effaced. Derby asks: “Asenath… is there such a person?” There was, and her story is even more horrific than Derby’s. But we never see her or hear her voice. (And wouldn’t Derby reading some hidden journal of hers have made a fine addition to the creepiness?)
Women in Thing are, in fact, an illusion. Derby tries to marry one, but she’s secretly a man—and the realization that the only person he’s ever been attracted to is male seems to be deliberately part of the horror, albeit a subtle part. Upton has a wife, but she never appears on screen. Male friendship is the only real, healthy relationship, and it can’t save you.
One of the things I find interesting here is that from the outside, Derby’s relationship with Waite would look quite abusive—but in the other direction. Their estranged college friends see her imprisoned in the house and looking utterly hopeless, hear her cries, see her aging rapidly. And these friends, Upton included, use the little inconsistencies in that apparent picture as excuses to do absolutely nothing. This is possibly the most realistic and depressing part of the story.
Lovecraft can’t resist tying all the levels of horror together, and I think the blurring of scale ultimately interferes with the effect a bit. What could be a very personal threat is vaguely tied into Shoggoths and Shub-Niggurath and cultists. Ephraim is described as a cosmically evil threat to the world, but the simple line of stolen lives that he leaves behind seems starkly horrifying on its own. Adding Shoggoths into the mix doesn’t make it significantly worse.
Anne’s Commentary
In my grade school days, even vanilla heteronormative sex was a mystery, never mind more exotic flavors. One day I snuck into the library’s reference room and dug up the dirt, but the other girls refused to believe it. I had physiological sense on my side—didn’t my scoop explain those intriguing “down-there” differences? The doubters had an unanswerable counterargument: Would our parents have DONE anything like that?
Enough said.
This being my state of enlightenment when I first read “The Thing on the Doorstep,” I focused on its nonsexual horrors: sorcery and shoggoths and rotting but ambulatory corpses. My latest reread, the psychosexual issues have exploded off the page.
Lovecraft’s one story with a prominent female character welters in anxiety about sex, gender, and identity itself. The conceit that males are psychically superior through sheer masculinity is blatant, surface, and perhaps the least interesting aspect of the anxiety and its defenses. Subsurface, there’s much more writhing around.
With transfer of souls at story center, the question of identity’s inevitable. Let’s focus on gender identity. Poor Ephraim Waite. He sired no sons, so when he jumped from his failing body into his child’s, it was a leap from male to female. That would’ve been a shock for anyone, let alone a misogynist whose manly tangle of a beard is a prominent feature. When Ephraim exchanges Asenath’s body for her husband’s, Edward Derby also undergoes abrupt gender switch. But does Lovecraft (more or less subconsciously) imply that the switch is more appropriate for Edward?
After all, Edward’s described as weak-willed, soft, childish, chubby, parent-dominated, dependent, shy, inert. In contrast to beardy Ephraim, he can barely raise a moustache. Lovecraft doesn’t call him effeminate, but he might as well. He doesn’t call him gay, but does he hint at homosexual tendencies in Edward’s general behavior and in his involvement with a wild college set whose “daring…Bohemian” activities and “dubious conduct” must be hidden from the Derby elders? Edward’s presence at a “certain affair” is so shocking Edward must pay off a blackmailer to keep the scandal from his father’s notice. Lovecraft mentions the wild set’s rumored involvement in black magic after the “affair,” which makes me think the “affair” was of a mundane if unconventional nature.
And Asenath is most “feminine” when she’s really wistful weepy Edward, locked in the couple’s library like Mrs. Rochester in the attic.
And wasn’t the woman to wow and win Edward actually a man?
No writer of erotica, Lovecraft leaves sex offstage, where the imaginative reader can thoroughly unnerve him or herself. After Ephraim steals his daughter’s body (talk about extreme incest), “Asenath” attends a girls’ school, where “she” mesmerizes students and indulges in “leers and winks of an inexplicable kind.” We may well share Asenath/Ephraim’s “obscene zestful irony” about her/his wolfish presence among the young ewes.
Then there’s Edward and Asenath’s marriage. They honeymoon in Ephraim’s native Innsmouth, and Edward returns a changed man. Lovecraft tells us Asenath has made her husband shave his “undeveloped” mustache but passes that off as insignificant. Is it? Or is it instead a symbolic emasculation, a further subordination of Edward’s “feminine” temperament to Asenath’s masculine one? Have they consummated their marriage, and how’s that coupling gone, under Ephraim’s roof, probably in Ephraim’s old marriage bed?
Scary stuff. It may be more than exposure to Innsmouth that leaves Edward saddened and sober. Things get worse when Asenath/Ephraim inflicts on him the violation of body-stealing. The climax of repeated soul-rape comes when Edward slips back into his body during a coven meeting Ephraim was leading. Edward stands before “the unholy pit where the black realm begins.” Freudian interpretation is facile. He sees “a shoggoth—it changed shape.” And changing shape—identity—has become for him a horror. In a “fury of hysteria,” he cries “I can’t stand it—I’ll kill her—I’ll kill that entity—her, him, it—I’ll kill it!”
A her that becomes a him must become an it, too confounding for toleration?
More scary stuff, and I feel as if I’ve only begun to peel back the skin of this story.
Join us next week as we explore more body-switching horror and the world’s best library in “The Shadow Out of Time.”
Ruthanna Emrys’s novelette “The Litany of Earth” is available on Tor.com. Her work has also appeared at Strange Horizons and Analog. She can frequently be found online on Twitter and Livejournal. She has strong opinions about Oxford commas, but then, doesn’t everyone?
Anne M. Pillsworth’s short story “Geldman’s Pharmacy” received honorable mention in The Year’s Best Fantasy and Horror, Thirteenth Annual Collection. “The Madonna of the Abattoir” is published on Tor.com, and her first novel, Summoned, is available June 24, 2014 from Tor Teen. She currently lives in a Victorian trolley car suburb of Providence, Rhode Island.
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What are we to make of events in Syria now that Secretary of State Kerry’s latest (and very possibly last) attempt to establish a limited cease-fire has gone down too literally in flames? This is not the first such failure, of course: There have been eight previous attempts to stop the tragic violence and bring opposing sides to the negotiating table, beginning with two such efforts by the Arab League in late 2011. But this time, things are different. Questions are raised. It is possible the beginning of the end has just begun. Ad Policy
Kerry’s accord with Sergei Lavrov, his Russian counterpart, collapsed in spectacular fashion last week. The Syrian army and air force, supported by Russian bombers, instantly mounted a campaign against rebel-controlled East Aleppo that may be the fiercest yet conducted in this war. In the news reports it starts to resemble a minor-league blitzkrieg: A decisive finality appears to be the objective. Why this, why now? We reach a critical moment in this very critical post–Cold War crisis. So it is important to read into these latest events, even as our corporate media are not going to offer any help as we do.
We seek causality, in other words. The startling speed and ferocity of the new Syrian-Russian advance more or less shoves us up against the question. This is a display of force without restraint, so far as one can make out. It is also an assault on Kerry’s diplomatic efforts, we must not miss—a middle finger raised in anger. So if it is aggressive action, we must also understand it as reaction and then ask, “To what?”
The Obama administration, to the evident perplexity of the Russians, insisted on secrecy as the Kerry-Lavrov agreement was concluded September 9. We do not even know what is in it apart from an outline of responsibilities assigned to each side. As widely reported, the Russians were to restrict the Assad government’s bombing sorties, and their own, to designated targets—Islamic State and al-Nusra positions—and relief columns were to enjoy safe passage. The Americans were to require their “moderate rebels”—we stay with quotation marks, of course—to separate from those considered immoderate. If all went well, we were in for a breakthrough of potential consequence: Russian and American air-force officers were to strategize jointly against the Islamic State and al-Nusra, the two groups both sides agree are to be defeated. Moscow has just told Washington, “If you insist on declaring Cold War II, we will wage it.”
There is plenty of blur—officially generated, per usual—as one tries to decipher what went so quickly and badly wrong as soon as the Kerry-Lavrov accord went into effect. At this point, it is a truism to say there are no innocents in this conflict other than its victims and the millions forced to flee. It does not appear as if either the Assad government or its battlefield adversaries took the deal seriously enough. Nothing new in this. But there is a new reality we must consider: Moscow appears to have given up on the Americans. Having long sought to “partner” with Washington—Russian officials use the term habitually—the Putin government has just given Americans a rough shove in full knowledge, apparently, of the potentially grave consequences in any number of contexts.
In my read, Moscow has just told Washington, “If you insist on declaring Cold War II, we will wage it.” If I am correct, this is big.
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I see three reasons the Russians just went over the edge, if indeed they have: Related Article Syrian Writers, Artists, and Journalists Speak Out Against US and Russian Policy Syrian Writers, Artists, and Journalists Against US and Russian Policies in Syria
The Americans did nothing, as in nothing, to eliminate what is called the marbling of supposedly moderate rebels from those of supposedly more radical stripes. This was probably never possible for practical reasons alone: It is prima facie impossible to require rebel militias of any kind to leave their own towns and cities to fight in unfamiliar districts.
More to the point, the Kerry-Lavrov deal produced a moment of truth on the ideological side: Moderate Islamists favoring one or another form of tolerant democracy do not as a rule carry assault weapons, plain and simple. This fiction now explodes. Last week The Nation published an open letter signed by 157 prominent Syrian intellectuals—some, many, or most of them Muslim, all of them secular democrats. It should be read—in full knowledge that the US strategy in Syria has nothing to do with their cause apart from undermining it. The last thing Washington wants in the Arab world is democracy, as any history book can make plain.
This is part of the signatories’ point, indeed. As Moscow has finally grasped, there is no persuading the Americans to drop their obsession with advancing another coup in the cause of great-power rivalry. From here on out, we can forget about this iteration of the Reagan era’s “freedom fighter” narrative. And we can dismiss the Obama administration’s “strategic ambiguity” as to its objectives in Syria as so much rubbish. The Russians, please note, just did.
Even before Kerry and Lavrov completed their accord, the secretary was having an easier time with the Russians than with Ashton Carter and his generals. It is now plain, as a very few of us have argued for months, that the defense secretary wages a second front against anything Kerry might accomplish by way of diplomacy.
Here is Lt. Gen. Jeffrey Harrigan, who heads the Air Force’s central command, talking to reporters by video about the Kerry-Lavrov pact four days after it was announced: “I’m not saying yes or no. It would be premature to say that we’re going to jump right into it.” There we have it: A uniformed officer announces that the Pentagon may or may not follow an order issued by civilian authority, depending on what it thinks of things. The Pentagon did its best to jawbone the accord into oblivion, which was its intent from the first.
Did your jaw drop on reading that? Mine hit the edge of my desk. It does not appear many Americans were much stirred, such is our soporific state, but I wager many Russians were. The American bombing of a Syrian military base days after Kerry-Lavrov went into effect dealt the deal a major blow, and we can debate all we like whether it was purposeful (as I suspect it was). Leave that aside and step back: The Pentagon did its best to jawbone the accord into oblivion, which was its intent from the first.
Everyone watched the presidential debate Monday evening. Everyone as in a lot of Russians, too. As the prospect of a Clinton II presidency draws near, the calendar is the third reason we now witness a military advance of exceptional severity in Aleppo. This is my read. Moscow wants to get as much as possible done in Syria prior to November 8.
Russia’s objectives in Syria have changed not at all: It wants to destroy the Islamic State and al-Nusra and, with no great regard for Assad, preserve the central government so that a political settlement of one or another kind can be negotiated.
Clinton, a Russophobe from way back, threatens both goals. Is it not barbaric to insist on turning a nation into nothing more than a theater of geopolitical competition?
Remember, Clinton continues to advocate a no-fly zone enforced by US bombers. “It’s important, too,” she said during the first primary debate a year ago, “that the United States make it very clear to Putin that it’s not acceptable for him to be in Syria creating more chaos, bombing people on behalf of Assad.” See the problems here? Russians act in Syria at the invitation of a sovereign government; American jets break international law every time they enter Syrian air space. Tragic as Syria is now, can Moscow plausibly argue—with causality in mind—that worse may otherwise await?
The infinitely righteous Samantha Power, Obama’s UN ambassador, calls the new Syrian-Russian campaign in Aleppo “barbarism.” It might be, although one takes the word of our hopelessly compromised press for very little. But why stop there? Is it not barbaric to insist on turning a nation into nothing more than a theater of geopolitical competition—an entire population jotted down as collateral damage?
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This is not my first piece for The Nation: That lies 40 years’ back in the archives. It is my first as a foreign affairs columnist. I am delighted and honored to join so many professional colleagues and contributors. I hope my pieces measure up to the standards evident on the website daily and in the magazine every week.
In the past couple of decades—decisively since 2001, maybe—it has become impossible to think of foreign and domestic policies as separate universes. The world is too small now, interdependence too much with us, and—far from least—American foreign policy in too severe a crisis. What we think of our conduct abroad matters ever more. This is an excellent thing, even if it makes our minds the objects of relentless, Cold War–ish campaigns of mis- and disinformation as to what we do and why when acting among others. This we must not forget and must counter at every turn.
As the columns will make clear, I welcome the just-noted crisis in policy: Americans must pass through it to arrive at a more dignified and honorable idea of ourselves and our place in the world. Good enough this point is made in a magazine called The Nation. While remaining true to its mission as declared in 1865, it has also evolved to cast its gaze far more widely. It is my privilege to be part of this, and in so important a time.
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The case against Daniel Holmes - whose final appeal is set for today, 4 July - has not only exposed Malta to international attention on account of apparent discrepancies in Malta's drug law regime. It has also revealed glaring anomalies in the legal aid system which may amount to a human rights violation.
Holmes is currently serving an 11-year sentence (complete with €23,000 fine) after pleading guilty to the cultivation of cannabis in his Gozo apartment. He was arrested in 2006 but would spend five years awaiting trial, as well as a further two years awaiting appeal.
The sentence was widely criticised as excessively harsh, given that Holmes had admitted cultivating for personal use only and that the prosecution had failed to provide any hard evidence of actual trafficking. Moreover, the severity of the sentence meted out to Holmes stands in stark contrast to much more lenient sentences handed down for often much more serious crimes: including domestic violence and even attempted murder.
Among others, these factors have resulted in a global petition calling for a revision of his sentence, which has attracted over 5,000 signatures from various parts of the world.
Meanwhile, other discrepancies have since emerged. In comments to MaltaToday's sister paper Illum last Sunday, Daniel's father, Mel Holmes, revealed a hitherto unknown detail: after his arrest, Holmes was initially denied access to a lawyer, despite requesting to be provided one through the legal aid system.
"From the start, on 19 June 2006 (yes, seven years ago!) when he was arrested, [Daniel] admitted using and cultivating cannabis," Mel Holmes said. "He was, however, denied a lawyer while the police were trying to get an initial statement. He says that when he asked for one he was told to 'get real, this is not TV'."
Mel Holmes adds, "In the initial questioning by the police he thought he was being honourable by not saying anyone else was involved. He did not know that the police had actually been watching the other man, not him. After years of asking to make a fresh statement he wrote one himself and handed it to his lawyer in 2008. This statement has still not been presented to the courts."
Failure to be provided with a lawyer through the State's legal aid system is universally (at least, in functioning democracies) recognised as grounds for a mistrial. And by sheer coincidence, it was reported just yesterday that a man charged with theft from a PN club 10 years ago was acquitted specifically because he had had no access to a lawyer when the police took his statement.
There have been a number of similar acquittals ever since it was established that legal assistance during interrogation is, in fact, a requirement for a fair trial in Malta, as elsewhere. Strangely, however, Holmes was convicted in 2011 - the year is significant, because it occurred after Malta, in 2010, finally ratified a legal provision to ensure the right to legal access while under arrest - despite almost identical circumstances.
Nor is this the only apparent discrepancy involved in the case. Mel Holmes also observes that Holmes had been advised to plead guilty, not just by his lawyer (he was finally provided with one for the trial) but, unconscionably, also by the presiding judge, who went on to deliver such a harsh sentence, even after advising the accused to enter a guilty plea.
"After pleading guilty, on the advice from the judge and his lawyer, he was given a 10.5 year sentence and a €23,000 fine, despite the facts that a) Daniel was not the sole owner of the plants - he was co-accused with another man [Barry Charles Lee], who committed suicide the day after he was given his indictment to the Criminal Court threatening five life sentences - and b) after the prosecution had examined Daniel's mobile phone records, bank accounts and day-to-day activities, there was still no evidence that he had been selling or intending to sell the cannabis."
Talking to this newspaper yesterday, Mel Holmes reiterated his personal surprise at the fact that the judge would first encourage a guilty plea, then proceed to throw the book at Daniel Holmes anyway.
"It was surprising to me that the judge, having pointed Daniel in the direction of pleading guilty, in order to save the court time and resources, would then go onto disregard the complete lack of evidence of any trafficking and give him the full sentence for trafficking regardless..."
Mel Holmes also explains that he has since asked several local lawyers for an explanation as to why his son was denied legal assistance and still convicted, when the law at the time was clear on the point that legal assistance was required for legal prosecution.
"Not one of them ever got back to me," he told MaltaToday.
And yet, access to a lawyer of one's choice is a right safeguarded by numerous treaties to which Malta is a signatory state. The UN Convention Against Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (UNCAT), for instance, observes that legislating for safeguards such as prompt access to a lawyer is one of the best ways for States to fulfil their obligation to take such effective measures.
The UN treaty bodies - specifically the Human Rights Committee (HRC) and Committee Against Torture (CAT) - have also specifically recognised this safeguard as essential for the prevention of torture and other breaches of fundamental human rights. (In fact the Maltese government was pressured to introduce these safeguards by the Council of Europe's Committee for the Prevention of Torture. The legal notices were passed in 2004 and eventually ratified in 2010 - before Holmes's conviction in 2012).
Moreover, in 1990 the United Nations revised its provisions for the rights of persons in custody to also include access to legal assistance, observing that "1. All persons are entitled to call upon the assistance of a lawyer of their choice to protect and establish their rights and to defend them in all stages of criminal proceedings.
"2. Governments shall ensure that efficient procedures and responsive mechanisms for effective and equal access to lawyers are provided for all persons within their territory and subject to their jurisdiction, without distinction of any kind, such as discrimination based on race, colour, ethnic origin, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth, economic or other status.
"3. Governments shall ensure the provision of sufficient funding and other resources for legal services to the poor and, as necessary, to other disadvantaged persons. Professional associations of lawyers shall cooperate in the organization and provision of services, facilities and other resources.
"4. Governments and professional associations of lawyers shall promote programmes to inform the public about their rights and duties under the law and the important role of lawyers in protecting their fundamental freedoms. Special attention should be given to assisting the poor and other disadvantaged persons so as to enable them to assert their rights and where necessary call upon the assistance of lawyers."
It would seem that Holmes's case is but one of several which are now under the spotlight for an apparent breach of some of the basic, entry-level judicial requirements.
Lawyer Michela Spiteri - who also runs a website (www.without-prejudice.org) aiming to explain the justice system to outsiders - remarks that the State's legal aid system is not functioning on a number of levels. It is not just that statements are often taken in the absence of any legal advice - as was the case with Daniel Holmes - but it transpires that Malta has only partially implemented the legal provisions in question.
"Unlike the situation in the UK... where all available evidence against the suspect is disclosed and made available to lawyers during the interrogating stage, the right to legal assistance in Malta is the biggest mirage and con of them all," Spiteri writes.
"What the police don't tell you is that they are not obliged to disclose any information to lawyers, who therefore know precious little as to why you have just been arrested and in reality can't be of any legal assistance whatsoever. The only thing that a lawyer can and should tell you, if you've just called him up, is 'you've just lost your right to remain silent mate, be very careful what you say'."
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Cutting the Cost of Toddler Snack Time
Supermarket snacks are getting so pricey
I should preface this article, by first admitting that I do believe in the power of the snack. Despite having the mantra, 'snacks will spoil your dinner' drummed in to me as a youngster, I am not a firm follower of the no snacks between meals ethos, so if snack time doesn't exist in your household, you might want to avert your eyes.Whatever works for you, but this is unashamedly a quick read on handy snacks for your little ones; snacks that you can prepare from your pantry contents, rather than always having to pay over the odds for shop bought treats. Whilst toddler snacks from the shops are very convenient and I definitely rely on these from time to time, I'm appalled at how expensive they are, so I've started to think about what else I can prepare as a quick snack to keep hunger at bay throughout the day. As kids get bigger so does their capacity to eat more at the dinner table and reduce the need for snacks in the day. However, a toddler invariably due to smaller tummies, and possibly attention thresholds, can't eat as much at mealtimes, so to avoid hunger meltdowns in the day, a well timed snack can keep the peace and help keep them going until their next proper meal.If you're looking for some inspiration, as I so often am when I go to the pantry, here's a quick list of popular snacks in my house for my little guys.1) Fruit - ok, it's an obvious one. But you can also dress it up so that it's not just fruit on its own. My little guy loves apple slices topped with peanut butter, and grapes straight from the freezer on a hot day. Buy seasonally, and this can be quite a healthy and frugal snack.2) Mini sandwiches. When I know that I am going to be out all day, or if I'm heading to a play date, I make up a quick batch of sandwiches that I can take with me, to provide a quick snack when on the go. Fillings vary dependant upon what's in the fridge, but these are easy peasy and very transferrable.3) Cheese and crackers. Another portable snack, but also a great one if you are putting a platter together if you've got a bunch of kids over at yours for a play date. Bonus points for home made crackers which you can make easily if you've got cheese, flour and butter in your provisions. Cheese is a great source of protein that will help keep your little one full of energy.4) Celery and ants. Ok, not ants exactly, but a fun and filling snack that's quick to create is a quarter stick of celery, filled with cream cheese and scattered with raisins (ants) on top. You can get your little ones to pretend that its ants on a log. They get gobbled up in no time.5) Mini muffins. The basics of a muffin is generally flour, milk, butter and eggs, but the combinations of muffin flavours are endless, and they can be a great vehicle to sneak veggies into. For savoury, try cheese, capsicum, onion and carrot and for sweet, try chocolate chips or berries. The best thing about making muffins is that you can make a giant batch of multiple flavours and you can freeze them so that you always have a supply of snacks in your freezer. Great for picnics too.6) Veggie sticks with dips. Crunchy vegetables make great portable snacks for toddlers. Great choices are carrot sticks, capsicum, cauliflower, brocolli and cucumber. Popular toddler dips include peanut butter (great for protein and fibre), cheese based dips, and guacamole This is another fabulous choice if you're entertaining and want to put out some healthy snacks for the kids.7) Mini pizzas. If you include melted cheese in a snack in our house, it's an instant winner so easy home made pizza's are a great option. For a simple pizza base you can you use sliced bread, an english muffin, a crumpet, a pita bread or some turkish bread. You can cut out into rounds or even into fancy shapes if you've got some cookie cutters. Keep it simple and top with a ready made pizza sauce base and cheese and meat or vegetables. You can make a quick pizza sauce with canned tomatoes, herbs and tomato puree. This is a versatile snack that also eats well cold.8) Popcorn. This high fibre treat need not be swimming in butter and fat. Instead, buy your own popping corn and either use a popping machine or pop your own in a saucepan. Deliciously crunchy all by itself with no need to add sugar and salts. Keeps very fresh in a ziplock bag so perfect for a day out.9) Smoothies. You'll need a blender or similar device to make this one work - but essentially grab some milk, fruit and yogurt and blend away to create a filling and delicious drink treat for your toddler. A popular one in our house is banana, strawberry and blueberries, but flavours vary dependant upon what fruit is in season, or what berries have been on offer.10) Frozen bananas. You'll need to plan ahead for this one, and it's worth doing so if you've got hot weather on the horizon. For this simple treat, grab a banana, dip up to about half way in yogurt and then roll in crushed cereals, or nuts and pop into the freezer. This will be ready to eat about 5 hours after you have frozen it. You can use a lollipop stick if you have them to hand, but this isn't mandatory.What other tips do you have for cutting down the cost of toddler snack time? Do you have any frugal ideas that you use in your household?
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This image released by Paramount Pictures shows Jennifer Lawrence in a scene from "mother!"
Darren Aronofsky, one of America's most-celebrated filmakers has officially bombed at the U.S. box office as critics and viewers alike are blasting his new film, "mother!" Christian audiences are particularly enraged as they see the film, which is steeped in biblical imagery, as a blatant attack on their values from secular Hollywood.
National Review film critic Kyle Smith called the film “the vilest movie ever released by a major Hollywood studio" and a “stain on the reputation” of Paramount Pictures. He slammed the film "as a macabre pastiche of people’s most cherished and deeply held beliefs" – a "grotesque spoof of the Nativity."
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The horror film, which stars America's sweetheart Jennifer Lawrence and Javier Bardem, cost $33 million to make and is projected to gross only $9 million at the U.S. box office its opening weekend. The film received an "F" rating on CinemaScore, a rare rebuke from movie goers. The film is currently 68% "Fresh," however, on RottenTomatoes.com.
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Aronofsky, who was raised in a Jewish home in Brooklyn, is best known for his Oscar-nominated film "Black Swan" starring Natalie Portman.
Rolling Stone described the film as a “biblical allegory, with intimations of 'Rosemary’s Baby,' while The Associated Press summed it up as “the Old Testament crashes into modern anxiety."
Some critics have praised the film, with A.O. Scott from the New York Times writing, "Don’t listen to anyone who natters on about how intense or disturbing this movie is; it’s a hoot!"
"Nothing about mother! makes one lick of sense," writes Observer's Rex Reed, who also called the film "two hours of pretentious twaddle" and gave it zero out of four stars. Ouch.
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The box office was dominated by another horror film over the weekend, after shattering September records, "It", based on the Stephen King novel of the the same name, is expected to top the North American box office for the weekend ending September 17. The movie brought in $123 million in its debut weekend last week.
Reuters contributed to this report
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BUDAPEST (Reuters) - Hungarian anti-terrorist police last week detained four people heading to the capital with explosives in their car, and found a bomb-making laboratory set up for a mass killing, the unit’s chief said on Tuesday, declining to rule out a link to Islamist militants.
Security has been tightened for senior officials entitled to “top protection”, the Counter Terrorism Centre said in a statement.
The center’s director general, Janos Hajdu, said the suspects had been detained last week as police stepped up investigations that touched on the security of these officials, whom he declined to name.
After the suspects in the car were detained, a subsequent house search revealed a bomb-making laboratory with “explosives and devices that were suitable for killing people to the utmost extent”, Hajdu told the state television channel M1.
He said police had also caught two other people with submachine guns, ammunition and silencers in their car, and that it was not clear whether the two groups were connected.
Asked whether the suspects had jihadist links, he said: “Let me reply to that in the next few days.”
Hajdu declined to disclose the suspects’ identities, nationalities or presumed motives, but added that the case had an international dimension.
Much of western Europe has been on high alert since Islamist militants killed 130 people in coordinated attacks in Paris on Nov. 13 that were claimed by Islamic State, and the Belgian capital Brussels has been in lockdown for several days because of fears that another attack is imminent.
Counter Terrorism Centre officials were not immediately available for further comment.
M1 said two of the suspects had been formally placed under arrest, and a court would decide on the others on Wednesday.
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Last week, the Italian internet was briefly galvanized by an anonymous troll with a rather Catholic-looking Facebook page (see right), apparently created to advocate for the abortion of gay fetuses. Yes — gay fetuses, which, claimed the troll, doctors now have the ability to identify with some specificity. The page launched on June 19th, with this exhortation:
Too many people have been misled by the false morality of the sodomites. But now, thanks to the miracle of science, we can prevent this. Yes, it is terrible to abort even the poor children burdened with sodomite genes, but it is the lesser evil.
(The translation's approximate, but that's the gist.)
The page stuck around, and its author stayed busy. Eventually, if I've got the translation right, it seems the author began to provide fake reports from clinics about the murder of infants — in one case, a report of gay babies who'd been strangled with their umbilical cords. Fake testimonials from fake mothers appeared, including this one:
After my [unborn] son was diagnosed with homosexuality, I wandered aimlessly and craved death above all things … After aborting the homosexual fetus I became pregnant again. My son is now healthy. I have seen God. I am happy.
It was all insane. It looked like the mindless jabbering of an under-supervised and over-caffeinated 14-year-old with psych issues. None of it was very worth thinking about. Except — for some reason, this particular detonation of nuttery managed to capture the attention of thousands. By the end of last week, when public furor over the troll caused Facebook to can his account, the profile had racked up more than 2,000 comments, and illicited comment from Italian politicians. Paola Tanning, some kind of official with the Democratic Party, threatened legal action against Facebook if the troll's page didn't disappear. Paola Concia, a member of the Italian parliament, publicly expressed solidarity with any gay kids who might have seen the page. And Stoppello Daniel, a famed lawyer who deals with cases of threats and discrimination against gays, told La Repubblica that the Facebook page was actionable:
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November 2013 Replication Data Loss Issue
What is the November 2013 Replication Data Loss Issue?
This is an issue, discovered Nov. 18, 2013., which can cause data corruption on a Hot-Standby replica when it is (re-)started, by marking committed transactions as uncommitted. This issue is fixed in the December 5th 2013 update releases.
Hackers mailing list discussion here
What are the symptoms of the issue?
The primary symptom of this corruption is rows that:
are present on the master, but missing on the replica
have been deleted on the master still appear to be visible on the replica
have been updated, and their old versions appear alongside the new, updated versions on the replica
Any of the above issues can cause key and constraint violations on the corrupted table.
Even if the issue has occurred it will often have no visible effect due to correctly set Hint Bits.
Who is at risk for this issue?
Users who:
are on one of the following PostgreSQL versions: 9.3.0, 9.3.1, 9.2.5, 9.1.10, and 9.0.14. Earlier versions are not affected.
Replicas which:
Have Hot Standby enabled: hot_standby = on in the configuration
Use recovery.conf to configure Streaming-Replication, Archive based Replication or PITR
Have (re-)started the database using any of the affected versions
The likelihood of the issues increases
by restarting the standby frequently
by having many short transaction performing write queries at the point the standby was restarted
by having infrequent checkpoints (high checkpoint_timeout, checkpoint_segments settings)
when data is never read on the primary
when having configured full_page_writes = off
When will this be fixed?
The PostgreSQL project released an update release on December 5th which fixes this issue. We strongly advise all users who are using the builtin replication to apply that update. A patch for the issue has been committed to the git branches of all affected versions.
What can I do to prevent this issue until then?
If you are currently using 9.2.4, 9.1.9 or 9.0.13 and use any form of builtin replication do not install the most recent update. Instead, wait for the next update (9.2.6, 9.1.11 and 9.0.15) to come out.
Options for users who have already updated, or are running 9.3, include:
if you are using 9.2.5, 9.1.10 or 9.0.14, downgrade your replica servers to the prior update release (9.2.4, 9.1.9 or 9.0.13). Packages from apt.postgresql.org for these versions can be found at http://apt.postgresql.org/pub/repos/apt/nov2013replicationissue/
disable read-only access to replicas by setting hot_standby=off until a fixed version has been installed
start your replica by taking a new base backup with write traffic halted on the master (i.e. a downtime)
minimize the number of times you restart your replicas
applying the source code patch which fixes the issue. This requires users to install from source or to build their own packages.
In any case, we recommend that all users who were running streaming replication under one of the affected versions recreate each of their replicas from a fresh base backup, either:
after downgrading the replica, or
after applying the patch, or
after applying the update when it is released, or
after disabling Hot-Standby by setting hot_standby = off, or
after stopping write access to the primary
How can I verify whether I already have this corruption?
There is no known way to identify that the issue has affected a standby in the past but comparing the data from the primary with the standby.
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WASHINGTON (JTA) — The White House is set to name Matt Nosanchuk, a lawyer who has been prominent in advancing the Obama administration’s gay rights policies, as its new full-time Jewish liaison.
JTA learned Wednesday that Nosanchuk will replace Zach Kelly, who has held the job part time since the last full-time liaison to the Jewish community, Jarrod Bernstein, left for the private sector in January.
From 2009 to 2012, Nosanchuk was a top staffer in the Justice Department’s civil rights division, where he helped shape the Obama administration’s response to a challenge to the Defense of Marriage Act. That challenge last month successfully nullified the act, extending federal rights to same-sex couples.
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The administration at first refused to defend the act and ultimately submitted a brief arguing that it should be struck down.
Nosanchuk also oversaw implementation of the Matthew Shephard Hate Crimes Act, passed in 2009, that expanded hate crimes to include those motivated by gender, gender identification and disability. Hate crimes generally mandate tougher sentences for crimes in which bias is part of the motivation.
Since 2012, Nosanchuk has worked at the Department of Homeland Security.
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Sunday: Pokémon World Championships - Pokkén Tournament + Pokémon of the Week by Serebii This update may be amended throughout the day so be sure to check back. If you have any ideas for the site, be sure to send them in
With the new generation out, the Chatroom has been rife with discussion while the WiFi Chatroom has been a place for battles, trades and Friend Safari hunting, so be sure to visit them. Our Forums have also had these discussion and are a bustling trade and competitive section for the games. Be sure to like our FaceBook Page .
Last Update: 13:00 GMT
Edit @ 13:00: Pokémon of the Week In The Games Department Pokkén Tournament - Pokémon World Championships Last year, in addition to the VGC and TCG arms of the Pokémon World Championships, the Wii U fighting game Pokkén Tournament was added to the line-up. Since then, questions have been raised about whether or not Pokkén Tournament would return to the World Championships, being held in Anaheim this year, due to the lack of additional events announced to lead up to it and the lack of it at the VGC & TCG International Championships across the globe. However, The Pokémon Company has confirmed through a Japanese Pokkén Tournament competition that Pokkén Tournament will be returning to the Pokémon World Championships this year. Qualification for this has yet to be confirmed but we'll bring more information as it comes
Edit @ 07:42: During the event today in Japan, it also announced a variety of changes to move and support Pokémon that will be implemented in the arcade version on February 14th, altering things such as Yveltal & Latios' supports being only used once per match and various move updates. No sign of implementation into the Wii U version at this time In The Pokémon of the Week Department Who's That Pokémon Today marks the eleventh entry into the Generation VII competitive field with a Unova Pokémon. These entries are created by the visitors for the visitors and then compiled by our writers Archangel, Miror, Psynergy, EKZ1505, UR2L8 & KillerDraco. To get involved, Click here for the discussion forum
Today, we are covering a Pokémon introduced in the fifth generation. It uses its special mucus to close the wounds of injured Pokémon. The reason for this behavior remains unknown. They float upon the open sea. Many water Pokémon gather in the area around Alomomola. So, here it is, the tenth entry, Alomomola Until Next Time, See Ya
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A second case of Ebola emerged in Sierra Leone after health officials thought the epidemic was over, with a close relative of the first victim testing positive for the virus that has killed more than 11,000 people, authorities said Thursday.
About 150 of the first victim's contacts have been under monitoring, and the new patient had been under quarantine.
Health Ministry spokesman Sidi Yaya Tunis said the new patient was one of the people who prepared the initial victim's body for burial. The 22-year-old died in mid-January, and relatives were allowed to hold a traditional funeral as authorities at the time did not suspect she had died from Ebola.
Ebola is spread through direct contact with the bodily fluids of victims, and corpses are especially contagious. Traditional funerals in the region where mourners touch the body were a major source of virus transmission during the epidemic in Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea.
The new cases in Sierra Leone have marked a major setback for the region, as virus transmission had appeared to stop. Even in announcing the apparent end of the outbreak, though, World Health Organization officials had warned that additional "flare-ups" of new cases were still possible.
However, Sierra Leone's new cases are particularly worrisome to experts because no one identified the first victim as an Ebola patient, and burial precautions were not taken to prevent further infections. There also had not been any known cases in Sierra Leone for two months, and it is still not known exactly how the 22-year-old contracted the virus.
Associated Press
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However one feels about the proliferation of mostly actresses getting plastic surgery in Hollywood, we can probably reach a middle point of agreement that they’re doing so because of the inhumane beauty standards in an industry where talented women often discuss work drying up by the time they hit 40.
Women, moreso than men, are expected to be white, lithe, taut-skinned, plump-lipped, perfectly rhinoplastied and up for anything, and if you’re not, well, fuck you, no one’s gonna dress you. Jennifer Lawrence, talented as she is, is 25 years old and is cast as middle-aged women with some regularity; it is perfectly feasible that a similarly talented woman like Renee Zellweger, now 47 years old but 27 at her arguably most famous (Jerry Maguire), would feel these pressures as acutely as any actress, or any woman in the entertainment industry, for that matter.
At the same time, the public’s fascination with speculating who’s done what to their face or butt is understandable, if often cruel, though I suspect the main driver behind it is a quest for something relatable. If Kim Kardashian, say, is deemed a perfect human, there’s a pathos in wondering if she’s had work done, so that our own reflections don’t feel so incongruous with what the system deems as worthy. And whether you’re an actress up for roles against women who are either half your age or who’ve been surgically beautified, or an OK! reader who feels invisible in the mix, who can blame anyone for it? It’s a destructive, self-perpetuating cycle.
This is a generalized reading, and perhaps a generous one. But when longtime film critic Owen Gleiberman wrote an essay on plastic surgery in Renee Zellweger’s face for Variety this week, he actually complicates that pressure, in parts understanding the circumstances but also somewhat berating her for what he assumes is a change in her looks by plastic surgery, and all because he is mad that she no longer looks like Bridget Jones.
We can all agree that Zellweger looks different now, and not just older; we can speculate that it’s very clear that she has probably had something done. We can speculate on her reasons, wonder if she likes herself better now, and then conclude that, though she is a public figure, none of us owns her face. The shock that Gleiberman expresses in his piece is ironic considering the way he describes it, making many presumptions about why she may have done so, and contrasting the change in her face with the way she “has been a poster girl for the notion that each and every one of us is beautiful in just the way God made us”:
You have to realize just how radical it was that this nobody, who looked not so much like the sort of actress who would star in a Tom Cruise movie as the personal assistant to the sort of actress who would star in a Tom Cruise movie, was suddenly…starring in a Tom Cruise movie.
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Never mind the fact that Zellweger’s looks were so “radical” in 1996 that she was white, blonde, blue-eyed, bow-lipped and thin! We’ve come a long way, baby.
Gleiberman’s sexism isn’t necessarily put forth here in an obvious way, but he treads to the near reaches of that point by doing a thing that we like to call extreme concern-trolling, assuming Zellweger’s face changed because she hates herself, and leaving little room for the option that perhaps she feels fucking awesome:
That’s the rub about being in a culture such as Hollywood—you might feel pressure to look younger, more stereotypically beautiful, more symmetrical, but it’s also a probability that once you do that, people are going to start treating you differently.
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I would agree with most of his premise here but not his conclusion, which is that those people are going to start treating you differently in a negative way—very likely quite the opposite, similarly as when people generally start treating you better when you lose weight—in which Gleiberman substitutes “those people” for himself:
The most toxic thing about “having work done” is the feeling it can create that someone doesn’t look dramatically different from the way they looked before so much as they look…less. Less vivid, less distinctive, less there. You can’t prove it, but you know it when you see it.
There’s no denying that the Hollywood culture cycle sets us all up to reject our own natural looks and trade them in, if we can, for a more “streamlined” version. There’s also no denying that there’s so much projection going on in this piece that it barely makes any sense, and despite the sheen of best intentions, Gleiberman’s the one who sounds snippy and petty in the end.
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PS: Bridget Jones would almost DEFINITELY have had plastic surgery.
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These naturally green cakes use vegetables for the colour instead of food dyes!
Pictured recipes (clockwise from main picture):
Kale and Orange Cupcakes with Orange Icing
Stinging Nettle and Lemon Cake with Lemon Icing and Blackberries
Cucumber and Mint Cupcakes with Rose Water Buttercream
Kale and Apple Cake with Apple Icing
Pea and Vanilla Cake with Lemon Icing and Pea Shoots
Spinach and Coconut Yogurt Cake
St Patrick’s Day is massive in North America. When I was growing up in Canada, mid-March was awash with green beer, green-dyed party foods like devilled eggs, green bread and plenty of green cakes. But they were dyed with huge amounts of chemical food dyes. That stuff can’t be good for anyone. Particularly people drunk on green beer and their yearly pint of Guinness.
How else to celebrate without donning a giant leprechaun hat and filling yourself with dye? Colour your cakes naturally, with kale, spinach and cucumber.
I’ve been adding vegetables to my cakes for years. Like in carrot cake, you can’t actually taste the vegetable, but they mean that you can add less fat and sugar. And the added moisture from the vegetables means that they last for ages. With no dodgy preservatives, vegetable cakes can easily last a week without drying out. Plus, those veg leave behind some extra nutrients in the cake, so you can appease your dessert guilt by fooling yourself that it’s a portion of veg.
Where to start with your naturally green vegetable cake adventures? How about this Kale and Apple Cake with Apple Icing. My sister has made it half a dozen times on her boyfriend’s request (fiancee, actually. Seriously, engaged for more than two years? Sort it out!) and I’ve had many many readers write to me about how much they’ve enjoyed it. This is my most popular recipe on the blog. You can’t taste the kale, the cake is wonderfully moist and isn’t sickly sweet. For the icing, I lightened the usual buttercream by replacing much of the butter with applesauce to give it structure and flavour without being heavy.
Happy St Patrick’s Day and happy vegetable cake making!
Follow my new Veggie Desserts facebook page for vegetable desserts, healthy living tips and a love of veg.
What are you planning for St Patricks Day? Leave me a comment. Sláinte!
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Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption The BBC's James Cook reports from Dallas.
US President Barack Obama says the US is "not as divided as some have suggested" in the wake of fatal shootings involving African-Americans.
Five white police officers were shot dead by a black man, Micah Johnson, during a protest rally on Thursday.
The march was against the killing of black men by police. Two deaths this week have led to nationwide protests.
Mr Obama said "it was just not true" the US was returning "to the situation in the 60s".
His comments, on the side of a Nato summit in Warsaw, echoed those earlier of Vice-President Joe Biden, who said Americans had a duty to stand up against injustice, but that people also needed to support police.
Johnson, who was himself killed during the assault in Dallas, supported black militant groups who encouraged violence against police.
Dallas police chief David Brown said Johnson had told a negotiator that he had wanted to kill white people, especially white police officers, because he was angry about the recent shootings of black men by police.
The attack came after the police killings of Philando Castile in Minnesota and Alton Sterling in Louisiana.
Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption A step-by-step guide to Dallas shootings
Mr Obama said Americans of "all races, all backgrounds", including many of those who were protesting, were outraged by the Dallas killings.
The unity shown in the wake of the attack was a strong foundation on which to build, he said.
"When you start suggesting that, somehow, there is this enormous polarisation and we are back to the situation in the 60s, it's just not true," he said.
"You are not seeing riots and you are not seeing police going after people who are protesting peacefully.
"We have seen almost uniformly peaceful protests and we have seen, uniformly, police handling those protests with professionalism.
"And so, as tough, as hard, as depressing as the loss of life this week, we have got a foundation to build on. We just have to have confidence that we can build on those better angels of our nature."
He also repeated his call for urgent action on gun control, saying anyone who cared "about the safety of our police officers" had a duty to address the issue.
As well as the five police officers killed, another seven were injured. Two civilians were also hurt.
Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Michael Mata of the Dallas Police Association: Police had built links with community
The police and the public - Tara McKelvey, BBC News, Dallas
Image copyright Reuters
The shootings of police officers have made even the critics of the police force here soften their language.
One of these critics, Greg Johnson, a stage technician, came into a convenience store with a colleague, Keelen Whitfield, during their lunch break.
Mr Johnson said he resented the way police officers carry heavy weaponry and artillery when dealing with the community. He said that they tote around the kind of weapons used in war zones.
"Why do you have to got so militarised?" he said.
Still, he didn't condone the violence. "At the end of the day, those police officers - they're innocent," he said.
Mr Whitfield said he hoped that the shootings, however brutal, might change things.
"The police may get the message to kind of tone it down on African-Americans."
Read more here: Dallas unites behind police
Johnson, 25, who officials say acted alone, was killed by remotely detonated explosives that were sent into a car park where he had taken refuge after the shootings.
He was a member of the US Army Reserve from 2009 to 2015 who had served in Afghanistan.
Bomb-making material, rifles and a combat journal were found his home in the Dallas suburb of Mesquite.
A number of gun attacks involving police officers and civilians have occurred in other parts of the US in the aftermath of the deaths in Minnesota and Louisiana.
Early on Saturday in Houston , police shot dead a man they said had pointed a gun at officers. Reports said he was black, and police say he was shot a number of times
, police shot dead a man they said had pointed a gun at officers. Reports said he was black, and police say he was shot a number of times In Missouri on Friday, a police officer was shot from behind after he walked back to his patrol car to check the driving status of a black man who he had stopped. Antonio Taylor, 31, was later arrested but the motive for the shooting is unknown
on Friday, a police officer was shot from behind after he walked back to his patrol car to check the driving status of a black man who he had stopped. Antonio Taylor, 31, was later arrested but the motive for the shooting is unknown In Georgia on Friday, an officer was shot after he responded to a call from a man who said his car had been broken into. Again, the motive is unknown
Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Serena Williams on Dallas
The violence was also addressed by US tennis player Serena Williams after she won her 22nd Grand Slam title at Wimbledon on Saturday.
"I do have nephews that I'm thinking, 'Do I have to call them and tell them, don't go outside. If you get in your car, it might be the last time I see you?'
"I don't think that the answer is to continue to shoot our young black men in the United States."
Protests against the recent police killings took place on Friday in cities including Atlanta, Houston, New Orleans and San Francisco.
Leaders of the Black Lives Matter organisation have condemned the Dallas killings but say planned marches, including a "Weekend of Rage" in Philadelphia, will go ahead.
A Black Lives Matter march was also held in London on Friday.
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Joel Matip will not travel to Gabon to play in the Africa Cup of Nations
Liverpool defender Joel Matip has turned down the chance to resurrect his international career with Cameroon at the Africa Cup of Nations next month, according to Sky sources.
Matip has not played for his country since 2015 after criticising the setup within the national side and held talks with coach Hugo Broos over the issue.
But he has decided against ending his exile, thus handing Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp a boost by being available during the tournament, which takes place in Gabon from January 14 to February 5.
Matip took full part in training this week after missing the 4-3 defeat at Bournemouth with an ankle problem.
The centre-half travelled with the squad for the bonding trip to Barcelona and is likely to return to the first XI for the Super Sunday clash with West Ham at Anfield.
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Four indicted in North Texas teen's forced abortion, burning of stillborn baby
Sharon Lee Jones, 45, has been charged with engaging in organized crime for taking part in the brutal beating and forced abortion of a then-14-year-old girl who gave birth to a stillborn baby in 2013. Sharon Lee Jones, 45, has been charged with engaging in organized crime for taking part in the brutal beating and forced abortion of a then-14-year-old girl who gave birth to a stillborn baby in 2013. Photo: Dallas County Jail Photo: Dallas County Jail Image 1 of / 37 Caption Close Four indicted in North Texas teen's forced abortion, burning of stillborn baby 1 / 37 Back to Gallery
A grand jury in Dallas County has indicted four relatives in the forced abortion and brutal beating of a teenager in 2013.
The girl, 14-years-old at the time of the beating, had allegedly been raped by another family member, The Dallas Morning News and NBC DFW reported.
Lonnell McDonald, 27, Cecila McDonald, 25, Cedric Jones, 27, and Sharon Lee Jones, 45, have each been charged with engaging in organized crime for taking part in beating the girl, eight months pregnant at the time, according to Dallas County Jail records.
RELATED: Police: Texas man posed as massage therapist to sexually assault women
An arrest affidavit said the family had learned that the girl was pregnant in 2013 and gave her multiple doses of emergency contraception and birth control pills to abort the baby, NBC DFW reported.
When that failed, the suspects allegedly beat her for six hours straight to abort the child, the news station reported.
Sharon Jones told the girl that "you ain't about to get my kids taken away from me" as Lonnell McDonald laughed and sat on her stomach, "repeatedly bouncing up and down" while the other suspects allegedly kicked and punched the girl's stomach, The Dallas Morning News reported.
The girl told police that she suffered extreme pain, but that the suspects stopped beating her after she started bleeding heavily and that she gave birth to the stillborn baby two hours later.
RELATED: Texas has enough lethal injection drugs for 8 remaining executions in 2015
The suspects then burned the 8-month-old stillborn on a charcoal grill to dispose of the evidence, NBC DFW reported.
The girl first told police about the incident in May and is now in the custody of Child Protective Services, according to the Dallas Morning News.
Robert Joseph Cayald, 22, was arrested and charged with aggravated sexual assault, but has not been indicted, the newspaper reported.
The five suspects are each being held in Dallas County Jail on a $150,000 bond.
jfechter@mySA.com
Twitter: @JFreports
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Kirsty Young's castaway is Chris Hadfield.
He was the first Canadian commander of the International Space Station and took part in three space missions spending a total of 166 days orbiting the Earth. He has spent over 14 hours doing two space walks.
He flew his first eight day mission into space in 1995 during which he visited the Russian space station Mir. In 2001 he paid his first visit to the International Space Station to help install Canadarm2, a robot arm helping to build the station which was launched three years previously. In 2012 he began his final five month stay in space on board the ISS. It was on this mission that his videos of life in space - including a film of him singing David Bowie's Space Oddity and accompanying himself on guitar - led to him enjoying a huge following on social media.
Chris was born in 1959 in Ontario, the second of five children: his father was a pilot and the family lived on a farm. He mapped out his future career aged nine when he watched Neil Armstrong become the first person to walk on the moon in 1969. In pursuit of his dream Chris first become an Air Cadet, then attended military college, becoming a fighter pilot and then a test pilot, as well as an aeronautical engineer. He finally achieved his ambition of becoming an astronaut in 1992.
He went onto become the Chief of Robotics at the NASA Astronaut Office and Chief of International Space Station Operations at the Johnson Space Centre in Houston, Texas. Following his final space mission, Chris retired from the Canadian Space Agency in July 2013. Amongst the awards he's received are the military Meritorious Service Cross, NASA's Exceptional Service Medal and the Queen's Diamond Jubilee Medal.
Producer: Cathy Drysdale.
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Home » Administer US Military Denies, Then Admits, Use of Chemical Weapons in Iraq Late last year, the US military responded to allegations that it had used chemical weapons in Fallujah, Iraq, by outright denial. In a State Department
The fighting in Fallujah, Iraq has led to a number of widespread myths including false charges that the United States is using chemical weapons such napalm and poison gas. None of these allegations are true.
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The United States categorically denies the use of chemical weapons at any time in Iraq, which includes the ongoing Fallujah operation. Furthermore, the United States does not under any circumstance support or condone the development, production, acquisition, transfer or use of chemical weapons by any country. All chemical weapons currently possessed by the United States have been declared to the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) and are being destroyed in the United States in accordance with our obligations under the Chemical Weapons Convention.
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No Mark-77 firebombs have been used in operations in Fallujah.
A recently aired Italian documentary called "Fallujah: The Hidden Massacre" shows the use of
The documentary, however, clearly shows the corpses of women and children burned to the bone. White phosphorus, when used as an incendiary, burns through flesh often leaving clothing intact. The documentary is available
The use of chemical weapons in general is forbidden by a treaty the US signed in 1997. In addition, a 1980 UN treaty makes the use of MK77 on civilians illegal.
Sources: Guardian Unlimited.
Update: The US military is currently claiming that phosphorus isn't a chemical weapon, yet
Update: I've replaced an image previously included in this article with a new one. I'd pulled a frame from the video which showed a victim of Saddam's gas attacks on the Kurds, mistaking it for a Fallujah victim. Apoplogies for taking the image out of context. The image there now is in the proper context. Thanks to Lt for pointing the error out.
Late last year, the US military responded to allegations that it had used chemical weapons in Fallujah, Iraq, by outright denial. In a State Department missive ironically labelled as "Identifying Misinformation", the administration claimed:A recently aired Italian documentary called "Fallujah: The Hidden Massacre" shows the use of white phosphorus , a highly toxic chemical that can be used as an incendiary, on Iraqi civilians. It also airs statements by former US soliders that MK77 was used. In response to the documentary, the US military first denied the use of white phosphorus as a weapon then changed its position to state that it did not use the weapon against civilians.The documentary, however, clearly shows the corpses of women and children burned to the bone. White phosphorus, when used as an incendiary, burns through flesh often leaving clothing intact. The documentary is available here for viewing or downloading.The use of chemical weapons in general is forbidden by a treaty the US signed in 1997. In addition, a 1980 UN treaty makes the use of MK77 on civilians illegal.Sources: Christian Science Monitor The US military is currently claiming that phosphorus isn't a chemical weapon, yet they referred to phosphorus as a chemical weapon in documents related to Sadam's assaults on Iraq's Kurdish population.I've replaced an image previously included in this article with a new one. I'd pulled a frame from the video which showed a victim of Saddam's gas attacks on the Kurds, mistaking it for a Fallujah victim. Apoplogies for taking the image out of context. The image there now is in the proper context. Thanks tofor pointing the error out.
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I come home from work. The lamp on a timer that has welcomed me back through the gloom of the last few months burns, unnecessarily, in the sunny kitchen. I'm reading a thriller, which is living up to its name. I sit down with my coat still on and return eagerly to chapter three.
Two hours later, I put the book down and realise it's dark. The lamp provides the only pool of light in an otherwise pitch-black house. It's also quiet, deathly quiet, without even the hum of the central heating or the swoosh of the washing machine to break the silence. Radio 4, also on a timer, tuned itself off before the Archers. The mobile phone on the table beside me is silent. It hasn't rung, beeped or throbbed, probably since yesterday, maybe the day before. No calls, no emails, no texts, no Facebook notifications, no tweets, and there's nothing blinking on the answerphone, because the landline hasn't rung since December, except people in call centres who can't pronounce my name.
All these methods of communication and yet nobody's communicating with me.
There was a time when coming back to an empty house would fill me with pleasure – like a snowy day at school. I'd luxuriate in the extra, unexpected bonus of having the place to myself, and happily breathe in the peace and quiet. But now, as anticipated, when, two years ago I wrote here about my very empty nest – with the kids grown, gone, or not yet home from college – it's just lonely. There, I've said it. I'm lonely.
We're all so popular now, so connected. Social networking is the buzzword. We have all these new verbs – we blog, we Skype and tweet our thoughts in fewer than 140 characters. We post our status on Facebook and talk and surf constantly on our mobiles so that the trains or buses in the evening are a sea of heads, all bowed as though in prayer, worshiping their Blackberries and iPhones, tap, tap, tap – the rosary of the text message. It's a mark of shame to have no friends, real or virtual, no followers, not to be linked-in to everyone you ever met for five minutes at a party – once – in 1974. So finding yourself at home, alone, with only 30 followers on Twitter, four of whom are the same person, a silent phone, and nobody you care to call must mean there's something wrong with you. You're unpopular, friendless, abandoned, alone. Lonely.
Surely somewhere there's a party you should be at, a dinner you should be invited to, a partner who should be partnering you, a family who should be missing you?
In my case, I have four kids and my solitude is only temporary. In a week, a month, my newly graduated son and student daughter will arrive to re-colonise their bedrooms. For the next year or two, even without David Cameron's edict, my semi-adult offspring will continue to be reluctant, economic refugees in the house.
Children need their parents, even grown-up children – but they just need them to be alive, they don't need them in the same room. They want you to be uncomplainingly happy somewhere over there. In the background. Out of the way. And only to step forward when needed. They don't want you to tag them on Facebook. This is as it should be. You raise them to be confident, caring, well-adjusted, independent adults with rich, fulfilled lives and friends of their own. You can't whine about being lonely if they then do just that. If mine were still clinging to me for company, I would feel I had failed them. Like surely, I myself have failed at this popularity contest called life if I'm lonely; as, apart from Eleanor Rigby, the elderly and the recently bereaved, apparently I'm the only one who feels this way – alone in this club too.
It's not as though I am an unfulfilled shut-in. I'm a novelist with a convivial job in a publishing company. My colleagues are sociable and fun. "So, can't you call someone from work?" Mr Ex urged recently when a back injury transformed me from able to disabled in the course of a day and I realised, with horror, that he was one of the few people in my support system I could call on for help.
But no, of course I can't. To quote the thriller I've just devoured in page-turning haste, work is not "the equivalent of adult daycare", there to provide me with play dates and nursing care. Work is what people do to earn enough to facilitate their other "real" life of home and family and friends and leisure activities. I may spend more time with my desk-mate "office wife" than I ever did with my home husband, but I still can't intrude on her private time. The fact that my private time is often all too very, very private, is my problem.
Not for others though. Oh, I long for time alone. I need my space. I love being by myself, people say, defensively – as though the mere suggestion of loneliness was like being incontinent, or having herpes. They'd rather admit to alcoholism than loneliness. And at least then, they'd have the meetings.
But also they don't have time to be lonely. As Tim Kreider wrote in the New York Times recently, there's also that "boast disguised as a complaint" of those who are so, so very busy all the time. Those who are too busy to fit you in for supper before May 2013 may well, as Kreider suggests, "dread what they face in its absence", their busyness "a hedge against emptiness" – and why not? Emptiness is lonely. "All the lonely people, where do they all come from?" asked the Beatles. Not North Kensington where, surely, only sad losers get lonely. And none of us are sad – we're successful, Pinteresting, we're posting a link on Facebook, Flickring our holiday snaps, then tweeting about it so everyone knows how busy and relevant and overwhelmingly popular we are.
But look, I'm busy too: I volunteer, I write, I belong to a choir, a quiz team, an evening class and Chelsea football club. It's not that I don't have enough pastimes, it's that I have too much past – all of it full of people who aren't here. Furthermore, I was a latchkey kid – I grew up in an empty house, idling away the hours with dreams and books. I like my own company – but frankly, even I'm not that scintillating. Still, I don't want to turn every hour, every evening into a whirlwind of displacement activity. I enjoy indolence and know how to manage it. I never said I was bored or without inner resources. I said I was lonely. It's not the same thing.
I miss my old life – the dull, companionable drone of marriage and the analgesia of motherhood, my chattering, once ever-present younger children and their ever-present needs. I miss the noise of footsteps followed by an ominous crash overhead. I miss the sound of competing CD players, the clash of a computer game battle, the dissonant ringtones of four mobiles, the silence of bedtime when everyone was safe inside a circle of which I was the centre.
I miss my dead parents, and the extended family seated around my equally extended table that turned meals into an episode of the Waltons with mince. Now with distance, death and divorce, everything has contracted. The table has only one leaf, and dinner is often just me eating salami on Ryvita, standing by the fridge. Of course, I could have a glass of wine at one of my three tables, set with linen and crockery from my several sets of 12. I could light a candle to make it special. But it's not special. It's miserable. My life is too big for me. I've shrunk in the wash. I'm a desperate housewife, without the rest of the cast.
I do entertain. I cook. I invite. But I'm actually not that sociable. I'm not the life and soul. I also have a long-term lover. So, I'm not lovelorn. I have children who care about me. So I'm not unloved. I really am not alone. But as Margaret Mead said: "One of the oldest human needs is having someone to wonder when you are coming home at night." And David Archer really isn't that fussed. The partnered-up don't appreciate the quality, or indeed, the quantity of "me" time that exists when I survey the desert of the evening stretching before me, and wonder why I hurried home from work. What for? What to? I'm a blunt pencil. I have no point.
Of course, I do have friends. Some. A few. The ones who aren't too busy seeing plays that haven't opened yet, the last people to leave the party after my marriage broke up who got stuck with me in the split. But despite my evening classes and my Girl Guide range of worthy preoccupations, it's hard to make new friends. It's like waiting to be picked for a team when everyone else is already paired up. All the good players have gone. I'm a substitute. No dinner invitations come from couples we used to see. I get the odd off-peak coffee, or lunch, outside zone 1 weekend socialising hours (women only) but mostly I've fallen into the black hole of divorce. Anyway, I don't need someone to go out with, I need someone to stay in with. So what to do? It's too late to suddenly turn myself into the most popular girl in high school at 54. Especially as I can't just sleep with the football team.
Well, I could. Now the house is empty, I could finally be the hedonistic slut that propriety and good-girl morals prevented me from being in my youth. OK, I don't know where the bars are that my fortysomething American sitcom sister frequents in her little black cocktail dress when she wants to pick up a man. But I don't want a one-night stand. Loneliness has nothing to do with libido. It's far easier to find love, or at least sex, online than it is to find a new BFF. If only there were a match.com for friendship. But as nobody admits to needing any friends, who would join? And who wants to meet another lonely loser like yourself? If you were halfway interesting, or as vivacious and funny as you think you are, then you'd be Dorothy bloody Parker, and Truman Capote would be inviting you for the weekend. You wouldn't be spending it with a box set of Grey's Anatomy and barely quenched panic. Your dry goods wouldn't all be labelled in glass jars in your pantry.
And anyway, as I mentioned, as well as alphabetised lentils, I already have a lover. But a lover doesn't keep the wolf of loneliness away from the door – it doesn't skulk off into the night for just anyone. Loneliness is a curiously fussy companion for someone who doesn't have 387 Facebook friends.
I'm lucky. I'm not old. Yet. I am ambulatory again and not drowning, or even paddling, in self-pity. I'm more embarrassed than distressed. I don't feel sorry for myself, only ridiculous. I count my blessings – I have many. I just get lonely. But it's not a character defect. It just is. You probably didn't even know I had it. It's my superpower. I'm like a comic-book hero with a double life. By day I go about my business and by night – I sit at home, and disappear by myself.
Though I also have a cat. But you probably guessed that.
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Dear Readers,
I have a bone to pick with all of you out there. You so-called “readers,” “supporters” and “people.” The last post was a good one, a lot of viewers heading this way. That’s awesome. It finally seems like you are telling your barbers and grandparents like I suggested some time ago.
But what hasn’t been pleasing to see is voting rates. Don’t you guys remember Vote or Die? The US Government apparently gave P. Diddy the right to kill anyone who didn’t vote. I would have to assume that it extends beyond just presidential elections. It would have to apply to any and all opportunities one has to vote in order to be fair. So that means get out there and vote for your county coroner. But first vote on my polls. Or else P. Diddy’s gonna getchya. So yeah. Rates have been poor at best and, further, some written-in votes have been unhelpful and feeling-hurty:
I know how unsettling this may be for you, my faithful Dear Readers–I advertise myself as a man of mettle and unwavering, steely resolve. Surely I would not fold to the trifling displays of cowardice as are afforded by Great Internet’s anonymity? Alas, Readers, truth be told I am but a simple, bear-hating boy in a man’s bear-hating world. And sucking is nothing I wish to do.
In other, actually important news…. I have my trip fully planned. Seattle, Washington to Princeton, New Jersey. I won’t list the cities I will be going through on here as that would be exhausting, but here is the route as per Google Maps:
Disaster March 2012
The route is just the cities, so don’t go looking for directions or anything like that. If you know anyone living in or near these destinations who would be willing to put me up for a night, please tell me! All I need is a place to legally pitch my tent.
So the list thing is gonna keep going. Let’s go on to this weeks list:
Six Answers to Questions Everyone is Thinking But No One Wants to Ask:
1). “You Smell Bad.”
So right out of the box, I gotta call you out here, Dear Readers. “You Smell Bad,” is an observation; a statement. Not a question. And don’t act like that isn’t how you phrased it in your heads. We know each other better than that by now.
But hygiene is a big concern during the trip. That’s why I developed a bulletproof method to stem the legions of bacteria from accumulating on my skin and assure hygienic… courtesy. You’re welcome, world. Here I present my system with the worst picture ever taken:
As you can see, here we have a water bottle with a puncture in the top. When filled, I can squeeze this item and replicate precisely* the sensation and quality of an in-home shower. Throw in some camp soap and I’ll be cleaner than I have ever been before!** Now, the above image is only a prototype of my shower system. A meager 16.9 fluid ounces of water will hardly constitute a shower. I’ll probably be upgrading to a liter size bottle because I’m a high roller like that and I prefer the opulence of long, water bottle-powered showers over light-weight traveling. With a separate cap this bottle will double as an additional, albeit soapy, drinking water container.
*Absolutely, 100% nope.
**Distressingly, this is probably true.
2). How/Where Will You Be Sleeping? …Eh? Eh?
Probably the best and most essential gift I was given for this trip was my OR Alpine Bivy Shelter. I plan on pitching that sucker under the stars for the majority of my evenings. I have also been told that a polite couple words around municipalities (town halls, fire/police departments, churches etc.) often result in a lawn to sleep on and some food and water. These are my two primary plans for sleeping. Additionally, I will be relying on the good nature of the locals throughout my trip. Couchsurfing.org and Warmshowers.org are two excellent resources for travelers. They help world-wanderers meet with sympathetic souls to exchange stories, get some food and, most often, find a place to stay for an evening. I am on both so you should look me up and friend me.
Again, if any of you Dear Readers out there have a place or know someone with a place where I could be put up for an evening, please let me know. This could be your living room:
What’s more, with some pillows, blankets and cushions I could throw a pretty sick addition onto that. Swimming pool, loft, a full bath–you name it. Refer to my parents Jan and Gary for reviews. My pillow fort handiwork is years in the making and completely unmatched by any of my loser neighbors who are just jealous anyway.
3). What About When Nature Calls?
The inevitable dilemma of finding a way to relieve oneself while out in Nature. Let’s be honest here, Dear Readers. We have all been there, done that. That precarious moment when you wake up in the morning only to find your roommate is just stepping into the shower, those long runs that were just… a bit… too… long, or when when you’re at Wrigley Field and you conclude it is more hygienic and convenient to leave the stadium, improve the community of Wrigleyville by adding some of your bodily fluids to the sidewalk and then buy another ticket to get back in and watch the Cubs lose. Or just go home. Because you already know how the game is going to end.* The only difference between these situations and myself is that I will toss a trowel and a generous supply of tp into the equation. Because I am classy.**
* If it’s any consolation, Cubs fans, the Sox are terrible, too.
**Refer to Question #1 and/or #4.
4). Nick, How Will You Keep Your Clothes Fresh and Crisp?!
For any of you out there who use synthetic clothing for athletics, you probably know that once they start to smell, they smell forever. No matter what. Well, unless you buy that special, expensive synthetic material detergent, but let’s not kid ourselves here: I won’t be rolling with the Win Sport detergent train until I’m eating caviar for breakfast everyday and paying someone to open doors for me. And if I could afford that, I’d also be paying people to run ahead of my bike and pull me along. I’m just not there yet, guys.
My entire wardrobe for Disaster March is synthetic. The material breathes, is warm if necessary, dries quickly and is extremely lightweight. It will also be stinky as sin. But I have yet another airtight method to combat olfactory offensiveness:
So you see it all on the bag: Just add some soap, set the sucker to Large Load, Cold Cold water and Regular Wash Cycle and you’re ready to go. Fortunately my clothes will dry quickly in the sun so I won’t have to lug a dryer around.
5). How Will You Not Starve To Death?
Another excellent gift I was given for this trip is a portable camp stove. So I will have hot “food” throughout the adventure. The only concern there is whether I will be able to cook anything worth eating. I’ll be burning thousands of calories everyday so it’ll be important to pack something in whenever I have the opportunity. Therefore lightweight, calorie-dense foods with little or zero prep time are the name of the game. I have a few recipes for the stove which will come later, but in the meantime I will outline my eating strategy for when I am on-the-go and don’t have time to cook.
Eating Strategy, Disaster March 2012:
-Eat Peanut Butter
-Repeat
Relatively lightweight, enormously calorie-dense, nutritionally sufficient and, of course, delicious. Peanut butter is awesome and I am considering setting up a church in tribute to it. The know-it-all reader might pipe up here with an asinine comment along the lines of “But Nick, a diet of pure peanut butter won’t satiate you or keep your body functioning properly!” or maybe, “Nick, peanut butter can’t possibly be the focus of an entire religious movement!” Regarding the latter: Good point. The inherent dissent between rival peanut butter factions (Crunchy, Smooth, Honey Roasted etc.) would bring the world to the brink of destruction. And regarding the former: Right. Like you would know, kid. Who is doing the blogging here? Look:
Peanut butter is all you need to survive.
Where did you just read that last sentence? Oh… Was it on the goddamn Internet?! Then that makes it right, doesn’t it? Thought so. Internet is never wrong. Besides, all touring bikes come set up for easy peanut butter consumption:
What the hell else would these things be used for? And, as an added bonus, this diet might entirely eliminate the problem presented by Question #3. Win-win? You’re goddamn right it is. Peanut Butter for life! (Pounds heart with fist)
6). What About the Elephant in the Room? Or, Well, the Elephant that Would be in the Room if Bears Hadn’t Already Eaten It?
I taste delicious. I know this because every summer mosquitoes flock to me and because I might have… you know… tested the waters once or twice myself. (What? Yeah, that’s some Edgar Allen Poe, Fall of the House of Usher shit right there. Dark stuff.) So bears have been a concern for me from the get-go. With my pure peanut butter diet I can only imagine I’m doubly delicious. Every murderous bear in the country is going to be on my trail as I gallivant my nougaty-outside, peanut buttery-inside across the US. So I need to be prepared. Prepared to defend my candy bar-esque self.
Some people have made comments to the effect that I am over-hyping the bear problem. That aggressive encounters with the creatures are few and far between and, further, they are usually a result of human error rather than the animals’ nature. I wish I could believe that, Dear Readers, but these are just lies promulgated by those masquerading bears Stephen Colbert mentioned in the above link. We have to be ready. I have to be ready. Because bears have been reading this blog. And they are getting ready for me:
This image rattles me to the bone. It was terrifying (though not surprising) enough that their murderous tendencies drove bears to learn to read for the sake of following my blog. But this? This is a combination of motor skills and cognitive understanding hitherto unseen in bearity (bearitude?). Now, what we have here is a standard steel frame, quill stem comfort bicycle. Dated, but certainly functional. Even more unsettling is the fender/rear rack combination. Clearly bears wish to look presentable during and after riding. This indicates self-awareness and self-respect–two telltale signs of cultural development. And culture means organization. So, where are they riding as an organized group? I can’t be sure, but that rack should allow them to haul their precious cargoes of (I can only assume) human flesh and honey quite a good distance. My guess is bears are assembling an armada of elite assassin bicycle-bears for the sake of getting me. I know what they are and what they are becoming, and they don’t want me telling the rest of the world.
So how do I fight this Elite Assassin Bicycle-Bear Armada? Well, frankly, I can’t. Even the US army allows these machines of mayhem and carnage to roam freely. Why? Complete and utter stalemate. You thought the Cold War was a terrifying arms race? Open your eyes, man! Since I can’t fight back against these creatures, I’ve decided to take myself out of the equation should it ever come to that. I’ll always keep a cyanide capsule on my person and a cliff nearby. I might go down, but I won’t give the bears the satisfaction of taking me down themselves.
That’s all this time, Dear Readers. I’ll talk to you all soon.
-Nick
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This article is about the species. You may be looking for the language of this species, or the Sith Order. This article is about. You may be looking for
"The term Sith actually refers to a species of red-skinned beings who were native to Korriban." ―Vestara Khai [src]
The Sith, known alternatively as Red Sith or Sith Purebloods, were a species of red-skinned Humanoids that originated on the world of Korriban, before eventually resettling on the ice-world of Ziost. Also distinct for their bone spurs, facial tentacles, and genetic predispositions toward both left-handedness and the dark side of the Force, the Sith species coalesced into an empire ruled first by kings and later by Dark Lords. After the arrival of the Human Exiles on Korriban in 6900 BBY, interbreeding and genetic manipulation altered the Sith species; over the course of several generations the original species became a hybrid race of Sith and Human heritage. Original Sith blood became a symbol of pride among the Sith, with the term "Sith pureblood" referring to Sith who had a higher than average concentration of Sith blood.
Despite a society dominated by barbarism and infighting, Sith civilization culminated in a Golden Age, after which the species was all but scattered across the galaxy. An eponymous dark side tradition took the species' name, one that, despite numerous manifestations over time, maintained foundations borne of the customs, science and magic practiced by the ancient Sith species.
Contents show]
Biology and appearance Edit
The Sith were a proud and violent species of humanoids[1] that originated on Korriban, a planet within the Horuset system in an isolated Outer Rim region called the Stygian Caldera.[9] Sith had a larger than average number of individuals with potential to use the Force in their species,[10] so high in fact that the entire species[1] was considered strongly[11] Force-sensitive.[1] The abundant Force-sensitivity resulted from a symbiotic relationship with the dark side of the Force,[12] where they—like the other few creatures that inhabited the planet[9]—derived sustenance directly from the dark side of the Force,[9][12] and empowered it in turn.[12]
Adult Sith characteristically had skin of a crimson-hue,[5][13][14] although infants of the species appeared a lighter shade of red.[15][16] However, even though typically a dark red,[14] some members of the species retained more pink shades of skin tone in adulthood.[17][18] Sith had sharp,[2] fierce predatory profiles[1] and features all over their bodies,[2] including bone spurs protruding from under their skin at various locations[19] like the elbows.[17][18] Their faces displayed a notable pair of cheek tendrils[17] that hung down from their high cheekbones.[16][17][18] Sith also had cranial horns,[14] pointed teeth, simian mouths below their small noses,[17][18] and glowing yellow eyes[1][2] covered by cartilaginous[19] eyebrow–stalks.[16][17][18] In addition, some Sith had long bony chins,[14][17] while others did not show this trait and instead possessed less prominent chins that receded from their mouth.[17][18][20] Most Sith had three clawed[21] digits on each hand, and three on each foot; two forward facing and one backward facing.[17]However, some Sith had five digits on their hands and feet, such as Sek'nos Rath. The Sith were commonly left handed too, and as a result their signature weapon, the lanvarok, was constructed only for their left-handed tendencies.[5]
The cheek tendrils on the jowls of Sith that descended from their cheekbones displayed different expressions amongst their species through twitching and other movements.[16][19] For example, slight curling of the tendrils showed that the particular Sith was of a rejuvenated attitude, while stroking of the right tendril was an expression of thoughtfulness.[16] Also, quivering of the tendrils could show signs of anger, as well as a questioning expression when coupled with raising of the eyebrow–stalks. The Sith—specifically the Massassi subspecies—also had very keen senses relative to those of Humans, particularly their hearing, despite their small ears.[19]
Hybridization Edit
"They figured out a way to mingle their DNA with that of the Sith natives, and gradually that species became extinct." ―Vestara Khai, speaking of the Dark Jedi and their Sith subjects [src]
After their arrival in Sith space after the Hundred-Year Darkness, Human Dark Jedi began to interbreed with the Sith. For nearly two thousand years, superstition, loyalty and sympathy were bred out as the two groups interbred, and qualities such as cunning, ambition and affinity to the Force were favored, which shaped Sith society over the centuries.[2][22][23] In the Sith Empire, as time progressed pure-blooded Sith were steadily bred out,[5] resulting in only a few pure-blooded Sith left in the Sith Empire by the time of the Great Hyperspace War.[14] Long after, the true species in the Empire were believed to have gone extinct due to the interbreeding process.[24]
Characteristics shown would be determined depending on how much Dark Jedi or Sith blood an individual possessed due to interbreeding. By the time of the Great Hyperspace War in 5000 BBY, the majority of the Sith within the Empire displayed mainly Sith traits. It was common for the Sith of this age,[17][18] especially half–breeds (like Ludo Kressh[14] and Marka Ragnos[25]) to have four digits on each of their hands.[17][18] Although there was at least one who showed more than average Dark Jedi traits like Naga Sadow—who had among the purest Jedi lineage, with minimal Sith blood.[26] Sadow showed many Human features, including five digits on his hands and feet, as well as the absence of bone spurs and eyebrow-stalks. However, he maintained qualities of the Sith species such as cheek tendrils[17][18] (albeit shorter than those of purer Sith lineage),[21] and red skin.[17][18]
However, some such as the hybrid[23][27][28] Sith Purebloods in the Great Galactic War showed even more dilute Sith characteristics than the likes of Sadow. One such example was Exal Kressh, who only expressed Sith traits such as red skin, glowing yellow eyes, and Force-sensitivity. All other features such as cheek tendrils or eyebrow-ridges were not present,[29] though some other members did show other features shared with the original species.[23][30] Some members even expressed more features than the actual Sith species showed; like the presence of extra pairs of cheek tendrils.[23][31] In fact, the Sith Purebloods were thought to be very different from the original Sith species as a whole,[27][32] and to be a Pureblood required that one had retained enough traits shared with the original species to be visually clear in their appearance.[23] Elderly Purebloods showed signs of old–age through their skin developing deep wrinkles, paling and mottling with dark brown age spots. Aged Purebloods also tended to have withered tendrils.[3] Unlike their ancestors, Sith Purebloods did not exist as an entirely Force sensitive race, though it was extremely rare to find members unable to manipulate the Force.[23][32]
The extremes of hybridization were shown in an individual named Ebya T'dell, who was part of the Lost Tribe of Sith around 4985 BBY. Though considered Human, she had unusually pink skin and high cheekbones, which were considered to be signs of apparent Sith species ancestry. Further still, many of the so-called Human crew of Omen in the Lost Tribe had had some degree of interbreeding with the Sith species,[16] though they showed no morphology to suggest it[33]—their Force-sensitivity was the only known feature they retained from the interbreeding.[13] After 2000 years deformities seen in the Lost Tribe were associated as being related to the Red Sith originally in the Lost Tribe,[21] and even in 44 ABY it was deemed possible for Lost Tribe descendants to still have traces of Sith DNA.[24]
By 3642 BBY, it was estimated that 97.8 percent of the Sith Empire's population had some amount of Sith ancestry, but the amount was usually insufficient to express itself in any noticeable way[34].
The certain Dark Jedi traits inherited from the Dark Jedi–Sith interbreeding Post–Hundred-Year Darkness were selected for by some individuals,[17] claiming that they were the strongest because of it.[35] However, others were not supporters of this blood over Sith bloodlines;[25] some being proud of their Sith traits and lineage,[1] as well as despising any other species[10] and their inclusion in the Sith Empire. From the view of the Red Sith, none other than themselves should be considered Sith.[16]
Society and culture Edit
Culture Edit
"The Sith had strictly defined castes […] There was no transitioning from one to the other." ―Vestara Khai [src]
Though they were in an almost constant state of war, their civilization was quite sophisticated; they saw these acts not as cruel or barbaric, but simply basic aspects of existence. They were notable for engaging in supposedly primitive practices such as sentient sacrifices in the name of their gods.[5] Their constant warring led to a dwindling of the population on their original homeworld of Korriban as well as cultivated an intensely xenophobic society.[10]
Native Sith culture included the Sith, the consumption of bloodsoup, a rigid and stratified caste-based society, live sentient sacrifices to the Sith deities and use of ancient and arcane alchemy and magic. For the Sith, war and violence were just as much a part of the natural order of life as peace or serenity. Their social order was very rigid, and while many rose to the title of Sith Lord, only one, King Adas, attained the position of monarch. Another aspect of Sith culture, the creation of Sith holocrons to record knowledge, originates from their first contact with the Rakata of the Infinite Empire.[5]
One aspect that originated from Korriban was the position of Shadow Hand; a title that was analogous to that of a Jedi Padawan. One of the oldest and greatest strengths of the Sith was their knowledge of sorcery. This great power allowed them to accomplish great feats such as causing stars to go supernova.[2]
Castes Edit
"In times long past, the Sith race proved malleable…splitting into a meek and servile slave class…an intelligent and nimble engineer class…others interbred with the early exiled Jedi—like the ancestors of Ludo Kressh—watering down the powerful bloodlines…but most useful of all were members of the vicious Massassi Warrior class." ―Naga Sadow describes the Sith caste system [src]
The Sith society was very hierarchical, utilizing both a rigid caste system and a stratified rank structure to put its subjects in their proper place.[36] Due to how long Sith society has separated the Sith into castes (across approximately 100,000 years), each caste is sometimes referred to as a sub-species of Sith. All Sith castes were red-skinned humanoids with distinctly sharp, predatory features and tentacle beards.[36][37] Among the Sith, the stroking of a right cheek tendril was a sign of thoughtfulness. After interbreeding with the Dark Jedi exiles, the original members of the species became known as Red Sith.[13] Their caste system included the skilled and intelligent Zuguruk caste, the priestly Kissai caste, and the war-like Massassi caste.[36]
The following were notable castes present amongst the Sith:
Zuguruk Caste : The Zuguruk were notably loyal engineers who built and maintained Sith technology, including droids, starships, and tombs. [36]
: The Zuguruk were notably loyal engineers who built and maintained Sith technology, including droids, starships, and tombs. Massassi Caste : Massassi were the warrior caste of the Sith. This was because Massassi tended to be taller and stronger than the other Sith castes, this combined with the natural Sith aggression made very efficient and vicious soldiers for the Sith military. Massassi were not very intelligent but they could be trained well enough to carry out complex battle plans and maintain their equipment, starships, and weaponry making them very useful to the Sith Empire. The Massassi's loyalty had to be earned but once it was they were unswervingly obedient to the Dark Lord of the Sith; they were also loyal to the individual Sith Lord they served, though this loyalty was secondary to their loyalty to the Dark Lord. [16] [36] [37] The Massassi also had a complex language of their own, which may be related to the Sith.
: Massassi were the warrior caste of the Sith. This was because Massassi tended to be taller and stronger than the other Sith castes, this combined with the natural Sith aggression made very efficient and vicious soldiers for the Sith military. Massassi were not very intelligent but they could be trained well enough to carry out complex battle plans and maintain their equipment, starships, and weaponry making them very useful to the Sith Empire. The Massassi's loyalty had to be earned but once it was they were unswervingly obedient to the Dark Lord of the Sith; they were also loyal to the individual Sith Lord they served, though this loyalty was secondary to their loyalty to the Dark Lord. The Massassi also had a complex language of their own, which may be related to the Sith. Kissai Caste : The Kissai were the priest class in the Sith caste system and were known to study the nature of the Dark side of the Force and practice of ancient Sith magic and alchemy. [5] The Kissai were just as ruthless as the Massassi, but they were more intelligent, observant and lacked the physical advantages that Massassi possessed. [5]
: The Kissai were the priest class in the Sith caste system and were known to study the nature of the Dark side of the Force and practice of ancient Sith magic and alchemy. The Kissai were just as ruthless as the Massassi, but they were more intelligent, observant and lacked the physical advantages that Massassi possessed. Slaves: While not a full caste like the others, slaves still occupies an important part of the Sith social order. Sith slaves could be any of a myriad of species ranging from Herglic, Human, Mrlssi, and their own kind. Slaves were typically referred to by the scornful epithet "Grotthu."[38] The Sith slaves among them were a meek and servile sub-species, the lowliest in Sith hierarchy.[36] Pure blooded among them had only three digits on each hand unlike the other sub-species, but after the fusion of bloodlines with the Dark Jedi Exiles, the Slaves seemed to have four digits.[37] They worshiped the Sith Lords as gods, and were often used as sacrifices.[37] The Sith Lords used them for slave labor.[36][37] When a Sith Lord died, his slaves were buried alive with his body in his tomb on Korriban.[37]
Technology Edit
The Sith art of alchemy allowed them to imbue objects as well as living beings with the Dark side.[10] Due to their great skill in sorcery and magic, the Sith often created Talismans in order to focus their concentration as well as to further tap great amounts of Dark side power. Such artifacts were often used during long elaborate rituals and allowed a sorcerer to temporarily enhance their abilities. These constructs often took many different forms ranging from crystals to amulets. After encountering Jedi attempting to use their talismans for the Light side of the Force, the Sith developed ensnarement talismans which, when used, turned their users to the Dark side. This in turn led to Sith artifacts being outlawed following the destruction of the Sith. In addition to these artifacts, the Sith long ago developed healing talismans after a revolt led by Naga Sadow which led to pure blooded Sith finding means to provide an advantage to their faction. Healing talismans worked by quickening natural healing processes but at the expense of the user's connection to the Force. Another talisman was the shield talisman that worked by absorbing any form of energy attack and using that as a power source for the relic. Following the destruction of the Sith Empire, the Jedi discovered that talismans were very difficult to destroy due to different means employed in obliterating them - some made use of the destruction of physical components while skilled Jedi Masters were sometimes needed to remove the reservoir of Dark side energy in the relics and some were even capable of being destroyed by the Dark side only. This led to certain talismans being hidden while others were placed in hazardous locations such as nebulas or stars in order to prevent them from falling into anyone's hands.[12]
Talismans were not the only Force empowered artifacts that the Sith were capable of creating. They had long ago learned that the usage of the Force created ripples that could be sensed by others which led to the creation of Force masks in order to hide this emanation from others.[12] In addition, they were also capable of creating potent toxins such as Sith poisons that weakened their targets from the influence of the Dark side.[1] While there were many forms of common artifacts used by the Sith, there were certain relics that were unique and created by individual Sith Lords. This had led to several specially crafted items such as the Gauntlet of Kressh the Younger, Muur Talisman, Dreypa's Oubliette, Eye of Horak-mul, Helm of Dathka Graush, Scepter of Ragnos, Sword of Ieldis and the Heart of Graush as well as the Yoke of Seeming.
During ancient times, the Sith often made use of tomes and manuscripts to record their knowledge. These scrolls and tablets contained teachings on how to learn certain techniques ranging from alchemy to weapon crafting to magic. It was only later that the Sith began to adopt holocrons as teachings tools.[10] One piece of technology that did not originate from the Sith was holocrons which had been originally adapted from the Rakata.[2] Following this event, holocrons became a preferred method of storing Sith teachings, though they were considered rare. By transferring a portion of the user's personality into the device as well as imbuing it with the Force, they were capable of creating a Gatekeeper that was a sentient presence that interacted with future users. As the different creators of holocrons had different specialities, it meant that these data storage devices often contained aspects of a single field of Sith lore. This had led to the side effect of certain Sith teachings being lost because the knowledge was either never recorded or destroyed. Those holocrons that had survived over the years either fell into the hands of dark side acolytes or remained within the sanctuaries of the dead Sith Lords.[12] Their usage also had a corrupting influence on those that accessed its forbidden knowledge.[10] While holocrons were used, manuscripts and other means of containing Sith teachings were also used. Such relics included the Epistle of Marka Ragnos and the Codex of Karness Muur.
Sith alchemy was also regularly used in the creation of weapons such as Sith swords. These blades were one of the earliest weapons made by the Sith and were remarkably effective.[1] Such blades were treated so that they were reinforced to withstand any blow, which allowed them to combat lightsabers. Their unique creation also meant that they were capable of surviving for thousands of years and in perfect condition.[12] The ancient Sith Lords of Ziost were known to had made use of Cortosis-weave to create Sith Tremor Swords: a powerful vibroblade melee weapon. In addition, they made use of Sith alchemy to enhance the strength as well as destructive power of blade weapons such as Sith war swords.[2] A primitive ranged weapon created by the Sith was the Lanvarok that was originally used as a hunting tool. In contrast to weapons, the Sith also crafted dark armor which provided additional protection for their wearers and were crafted to meet the individual requirements of their user.[1]
This talent in Sith alchemy also extended to create biological weapons which allowed them to genetically engineer creatures to become tainted abominations. Such feats were used to engineer the Tuk'ata that served as guardians for various Sith tombs. In fact, the ancient Sith Empire made use of this art to create Chrysalis beasts that were used as guards as well as pets to various Sith Lords. They even engineered weapons to be employed for sieges such as mutating Silooth in order to break enemy defenses.[10]
Sith were noted for considering the construction of structures and edifices to be a work of art. They felt that such buildings were an extension of their creators personality. This had the resulting effect of preventing enemies from being able to properly chart the internal structure of such sanctuaries and provided the Sith a tactical advantage.[12] Such techniques were also used to create focusing chambers designed to amplify a Sith Lord's power. This allowed the Sith to create vessels such as the Sith Meditation Sphere that were imparted with a level of sentience as well as the capacity to magnify Force power to great levels. Grander scales of their technological abilities included the creation of Force-empowered superweapons such as the Dark Reaper that was constructed during the years of the Great Hyperspace War.[2]
History Edit
Early civilization Edit
Sith civilization evolved on the planet Korriban,[5][1][14] leading barbaric[5][3] and hedonistic lifestyles while[3] using the dark side of the Force.[14] The Sith had a natural symbiotic relationship fused with the dark side.[12][23] They fed on it and empowered it, developed and perfected techniques of the dark side through it, that were once thought impossible—such as sorcery. Though they had great power, the Sith were not united, and lived in tribal "circles", led by one or more Sith sorcerers who were responsible for the safety and protection of their people.[12] The state of war between the Sith nations on Korriban was common in their society, but this existence was treated as one on par with peace and serenity by the Sith people. They did not, or could not differentiate one state from another, and this, including other barbaric practices, were accepted into Sith society not as being antagonistic or contrary, but integral to their lives. They could not see these barbaric practices they undertook as anything else but their only way to live; their ultimate existence. Sith civilization described as such was said to have began around the year 100,000 BBY;[5] however, the Dark Holocron contained Sith lore and forgotten histories that dated back even further.[39]
It was speculated among some historians that several of the ancient Sith practices, such as the consumption of bloodsoup, were due to an interaction been Sith and Anzati cultures at some point in pre-history. The Jedi Volfe Karkko was fond of remarking to the Jedi Knights that the Anzati—his own species—"remember the very first Sith" after studying a Sith holocron. However, beyond his claims, there is no further evidence to support this theory.[5]
During this time Sith recorded information in scrolls, tomes and tablets. These contained dark knowledge, such as writings that described dark side powers, alchemy, the construction of Sith weapons and artifacts, and treatises on the domination and destruction of others. However many of these ancient writings were imbued with the madness of those Sith who wrote them, and consequently, the knowledge was capable of driving unprepared seekers of knowledge to insanity.[10] It was known that the Sith already had a great knowledge of the depths of their powers by this era, specifically the rage and revenge that lead to the dark side of the Force. Demonstrating this, the Sith drove off an invasion by the Killiks around 30,000 BBY.[9]
Around 36,453 BBY Tho Yor pyramid ships gathered the galaxy's best Force-sensitive philosophers, priests, scientists and warriors from around the galaxy to the Force-strong world of Tython. Some members of the Sith species were taken from their Korriban homeworld in this time, to eventually become some of the first Je'daii. After ten millennia of studying a balance between what would be called the light and dark sides of the Force, descendants of these founders still existed as Je'daii Masters, Journeyers and diplomats in the Tython system. Shortly before the outbreak of the Force Wars, an event caused the light and dark side of the Force to polarize within the minds of the Je'daii, eventually culminating with the formation of the Jedi Order.[40]
Unification Edit
Civil war between Sith nations on Korriban continued for many thousands of years, but eventually, Korriban was united under the rule of a single Sith—Adas. Adas was raised as a chosen being due to the unusual nature of his charcoal colored skin, and he grew into a powerful being, demonstrating great skill in fighting as well as great intelligence. Adas also had an extreme talent for Sith magic. Forging his own massive battle axe through the use of Sith alchemy, Adas led the unification of Korriban’s warring nations.[5]
Though with much bloodshed, Adas united the disparate nations of Korriban into a single kingdom, becoming an inflexible and undisputed leader of the Sith around 28,000 BBY.[5][1][2] Adas became the King and God of the Sith as his reign continued and he earned the title of the Overlord known as the Sith'ari[5]—the perfect being.[2] Adas became the first Sith Lord.[5] Eventually, his people came to believe that his reign would be eternal, and that Adas was immortal.[5]
Adas had been ruling three hundred years[1] when the dark sided invaders of the Rakatan Infinite Empire arrived on Korriban.[5] The Rakatans hid their ultimate agenda from Adas, and tried to lull him into their confidence by teaching the Sith new technologies such as how to build and store knowledge inside a device known as a Holocron. Eventually however, the Rakatan's tried to conquer the Sith people, and the Sith’ari rose to repel the invaders with the indomitable will of his people behind him.[5] During this time of war, it was known that the Rakata also took at least one prisoner—Raspir, who was once a court magician of King Adas, but was imprisoned inside a Rakatan mind trap.[41] Adas took his battle axe to the invaders and managed to outsmart the immensely powerful Infinite Empire despite the advanced technology the Sith were up against, eventually defeating the conquerors.[5][2] From there, he took control of the Rakatan hyperspace-capable craft and spread his rule and Sith civilization to neighboring worlds, including nearby Ziost.[9] However, in order to secure freedom for his people, Adas was forced to sacrifice his life to guarantee total victory for the Sith.[5][2]
Disintegration Edit
With Adas's death, and the absence of his unifying influence, the Sith once again plunged into the previous state of war, where reigning combatants arrogantly proclaimed themselves as the new Sith'ari. Over time, the title of Sith Lord as it was translated became relatively common amongst the Sith.[5] With Korriban devastated by the Rakata,[1] and the constant war all over the planet, the Sith were forced to relocate the Sith capitol to Ziost using new Rakatan Force-based technology the Sith had obtained.[5][2][9] There, the priestly Kissai caste oversaw the rebuilding efforts.[2] The Sith prospered, continuing to expand their Empire to nearby planets like Jaguada, as well as to planets further out such as Malachor V and Arbra.[7][2] But the Rakatans' did more than just give the Sith new technology: they gave the Sith the concept of the dark side of the Force, which conflicted with the Siths' spiritually serene lives of warring, sentient sacrifice to their gods and sortilege.
However, some Sith priests interpreted the death of their Sith'ari, the death of Adas as a sign to reject the Sith concept of life. Declared as heretics, they were banished, and found their way through the Force[9][42] to the world of Tund using Rakatan hyperdrive technology,[2][9] and formed a pure-blooded society of Sith sorcerers, based on their new beliefs. The sorcerers lived what they viewed as perfectly harmonious lives, and practiced magic, ontology and science, through the Force. They—like the Rakatans—believed that all sentients were Force-sensitive, as well as claimed that the omnipresence of the Force proved that the division of the Force (or what they called "the Unity") into true opposites was a falsity.[42] It was at this time that recorded history began for the Sith.[9]
Eventually, the Sith largely abandoned the planet Korriban and it became a ceremonial tombworld, however populations still remained in the form of religious cultists.[2][9] Over the thousands of bloody years, the Sith Empire filled valleys across Korriban with the tombs of the Sith, making them even larger and more impressive as the years went by.[43] These vast cemeteries contained hundreds of tombs belonging to Sith Lords or other powerful dark side users that were built both on and hidden underneath the surface of Korriban.[10] One of these valleys was known as the Valley of Golg, an example of the many "Valleys of the Sith Lords" that covered the planet at this time.[43]
The Sith continued to expand their Empire, encompassing worlds like Krayiss Two; building a Sith library-temple there by 14,000 BBY, where Sith sorcerers would come to meditate and reflect on their experiments—evolving Sith techniques and manipulation of the dark side.[44] As far back as 8000 years before the battle of Yavin, Humans and other Republic species fled during the Tapani Dynastic Era and found their way into Sith space where they interacted with the Sith, though due to the properties of the Stygian Caldera which made hyperspace navigation extremely difficult there, the Sith Empire was largely kept secluded from the rest of the galaxy.[9]
Over 7000 years before the battle of Yavin, one Sith conqueror known as Dathka Graush and his forces initiated and won one of the cyclical wars on Korriban,[43] leaving most the planet's cities devastated.[9] Graush continued to rule on Korriban for 50 years, a rule characterized by his cruelty and the terror he brought to the Sith people on Korriban—even by Sith standards. Graush was eventually assassinated and entombed in the Valley of Golg. At the point of his death, the self-proclaimed Sith Overlord and King had been in control of two-thirds of Korriban.[43]
Exile Edit
In Republic space, around this same time some of the more ambitious Jedi in the Order opened themselves up to the dark side of the Force. They experimented with it, and found they could use it to literally bend life itself, able to transform and mutate creatures to their will.[1] These "fallen" or "dark" Jedi, as they were known, had previously conducted their dark studies in secret, and were persecuted for their beliefs and defying the Jedi Council. But these Dark Jedi soon emerged in greater numbers, and declared themselves free of the will of the Jedi Council, starting the Second Great Schism.[1][22] Three years later, they rebelled against the Jedi Order as a whole, and a war erupted between them. The Jedi constantly battled against these Dark Jedi, forbidding their experiments and practice of their dark side knowledge. While at the same time the Dark Jedi continued to convert Jedi to their cause.[1]
The war between the Jedi and the Dark Jedi continued for one hundred years, and was finally ended at the Battle of Corbos, where the Jedi, who were more numerous,[22] overwhelmed the Dark Jedi, and forced the survivors to surrender.[1] Unwilling to execute their prisoners, the Jedi chose to purge their names and all evidence of their existence from galactic records, removing them symbolically.[1][22] The Jedi then herded them onto a drone ship with no weapons or navigational devices, and banished them into a previously unexplored region of the Outer Rim, far beyond the boundaries of the Republic.[1] Their defenseless ship drifted through hyperspace, guided by the dark side of the Force, and finally emerged upon the planet Korriban.[1][22]
Conquest Edit
On Korriban, the Dark Jedi were astonished to find the native Sith as a Force-sensitive people.[1] As had been the case since the beginning of Sith civilization, the Sith at this time preferred to remain in a societal structure made up of bands of Sith called tribal "circles", each lead by one or more ruling sorcerers.[12] On arrival the primitive,[1] religious,[9] superstitious, and barely civilized Sith there greeted the outsiders with their Sith swords, and attempted to terrify the Dark Jedi with crude and imaginative, though impressive illusions using their Sith magics.[1] However, the Dark Jedi were surprised by the relatively primitive species's dark knowledge—some of which themselves and the Jedi had never come across—[23] and took particular interest in their various techniques of drawing power from the dark side, seeking to learn it from them.[12] To do this the Dark Jedi went about trying to subjugate the Sith people under their rule, to take the knowledge from them.[23] Protective of their secrets, the Sith felt they should prevent the outsiders from obtaining their dark side knowledge,[1] and struck back at the Dark Jedi,[23] trying to prove themselves, and drive the Dark Jedi away. But the Dark Jedi eventually proved to be more intelligent and stronger than even the greatest sorcerers of these primitive Sith,[1] and with their Force abilities, lightsabers, and superior technology,[5] they continued to persist. Ultimately, the Dark Jedi outmatched the natives through their Jedi training and technology,[23] and stole the Sith people's knowledge of sorcery and then used it against them.[12] Though, even when defeated the Sith demonstrated honor,[1] the natives eventually became the unwilling subjects of the Dark Jedi.[12] The Jen'jedai—as they were known in the Sith language—then used the help of the reigning overlord's Shadow Hand to lure the self-proclaimed Sith King into their confidence, and destroyed him. Astonished, the Sith never anticipated the sequence of events that lead to the downfall of their Sith'ari,[5] and readily accepted the Dark Jedi exiles as their masters,[1] bestowing upon them King Adas's Holocron. The Dark Jedi declared themselves living gods and kings over the Sith people,[22] becoming overlords themselves,[5][22][23] and Ajunta Pall—who had personally slew a dozen Jedi at the mining world of Corbos[1]—was first to earn the title of Jen'ari, or Dark Lord of the Sith.[2]
The Sith took to worshiping and devoting their lives to their new masters, who honed their battle arts with new Sith knowledge and expanded their reach from Korriban to neighboring worlds and star systems. Eventually, all of the Sith in previous Sith Empire space were brought under the rule of the Dark Lord of the Sith.[1] Ziost was taken as the capital world, where the Dark Lord would reign from,[35] and fortresses were built there with towering spires, from which the newly-proclaimed Sith Lords ruled. New starship and weapons were constructed, and with their new knowledge of Sith alchemy, new creatures were produced. The influence of the Dark Jedi on the Sith peoples even managed to benefit the already awe-inspiring Sith architecture.[1] The new Sith Lords felt the Sith culture suited their philosophy well,[23] and under the rule of the Dark Lord of the Sith, the crude, rigid and highly stratified Sith caste system remained in place, based off the Sith's many subspecies.[5][1] Particular interest was given to the Massassi warrior caste, which the Sith Lords used as foot soldiers for their new developing Empire.[1] Armed with their new Massassi warriors, weapons, and sorcery, a number of ambitious Sith Lords sought revenge against the Republic. Analyzing the navigational computer from the ship that had brought them to Sith space, these vengeful Sith reprogrammed it for a trip back to the Republic, against the Dark Lord's wishes.[1][2] These Sith Lords and their new armies were not heard of again in Sith space, and failed in their attempt to conquer the Republic, only succeeding in revealing to the Jedi that the Dark Jedi exiles had survived in an unknown region called Sith space, and had took to calling themselves Sith after the people they ruled.[5][1]
The Sith Lords that did not go back to the Republic found that other than being able produce new creatures through Sith alchemy, they were able to produce offspring with the Sith people via alchemical means[1][2]—starting with the Massassi subspecies.[1] So, these remaining Lords mingled their Jedi blood with the Sith people, and for almost two-thousand years this process continued, with characteristics such as superstition, loyalty, and sympathy being bred out.[2] In contrast, qualities such as ambition, cunning, and raw power in the Force were encouraged throughout the generations.[2][23] Soon the elite, ruling Kissai class in the Sith Empire was almost entirely made up of ruthless, ambitious, and powerful hybridized offspring of the high Kissai priests and the Dark Jedi.[23]
As time progressed, the magocratic Sith Empire, led by a council of Sith Lords and a single ruling Dark Lord,[9] rapidly expanded their territory,[22] sprawling across entire sectors of the galaxy,[7] though they largely remained in the Stygian Caldera.[9] As they expanded, the Sith came into contact with many planets, and as a result, Myke, Arkanian, and Kruskan cultures all show hints of Sith influence.[7] They even came across Tund, where Sith-Human hybrids settled alongside the pure-blooded Sith sorcerers that had found their way there millennia before. By the end of the Empire's expansion they encompassed hundreds of worlds,[9] rivaling the Republic,[22] from Dromund Kaas, to Ashas Ree, Korriz, Ch'hodos, and even the distant, early Sith world of Malachor V.[9] Each of the ten Sith Council members were also personally in control of a dozen worlds each.[1][35] But of all the planets under Sith control, there were only five sacred Sith planets: Ziost, Khar Delba, Rhelg, Krayiss II, and Korriban.[9]
Sith society continued to evolve and advanced over this time, discovering new ways to manipulate the dark side of the living Force,[22] in their new ordered Empire, ruled by militarism and reverence for the dead. The Sith existed in a state of continual conflict, with Sith Lords raising private armies against their rival Lords, and in their efforts to gain the position of Dark Lord from their reigning ruler. Most inhabitants lived in their ridged, caste determined lives, that still continued to exist after the union of Jedi and Sith blood. Grotthu spent their lives working hard to build tombs for their Lords, and many millions died over the many years in numberless, violent wars within the Empire. Sith Lords were pre-occupied with warring against each other and cowing other civilizations within their range. As a result, not much attention was given to expansion into the Republic, and travel between it and the Empire was extremely rare.[9] Those few who did stumble into the Empire were unable to escape due to the Stygian Caldera's unique properties, and soon found themselves as slaves to Sith Lords of minor status. Over generations, the rulers of these immigrants would continually change, and eventually, they would forget where they came from, and called themselves Sith too.[16] Being extremely xenophobic,[10] the Sith Lords seldom let them rise to any position other than lowly Grotthu under their rule.[16]
End of a Golden Age Edit
Around 5100 BBY, the half-breed Sith Lord Marka Ragnos rose to the position of Dark Lord of the Sith[35] after a series of short, brutal wars against his adversaries,[25] and defeating rival Sith Lord Simus in combat.[35] Ragnos was a very powerful warlord, both physically, and in raw power of the dark side, and as a result he was admired, feared and obeyed as the Sith leader. However, he did have those who contested him, and Ragnos maintained his rule by pitting his enemies against one another, manipulating them into challenging him, or simply assassinating them—crushing all resistance over the years.[25] His century long reign of iron rule resulted in the Empire becoming great, powerful, wealthy, and stable. This was an era which would be known as the Golden Age of the Sith.[15]
After almost two millennia of interbreeding, the Sith Empire was ruled by what foreign species called the Red Sith, who made up the nucleus, majority, and held power within the Empire.[13][16] By this stage in the Empire's history, some, though little fully pure-blooded Sith had remained in the Empire,[14] even those of Human ancestry that accidentally found their way into the Empire had at least some degree of mixing.[13][16] During this time the powerful Sith Lords Ludo Kressh, and his arch-rival Naga Sadow rose from their seats on the Sith Council to fight to become the next in line for the position of Dark Lord.[15] Like Ragnos, Kressh was a half-breed,[14] and also like Ragnos, he sought to maintain the Empire in its current state of wealth.[15] Kressh followed the old traditional ways of the Sith, and was conservative; he believed that the Sith Empire must grow strong within itself before looking to expand into new territories.[25] In contrast, Sadow was more of a progressive Sith Lord who claimed to be largely of 'Jedi' blood. He believed that through the Golden Age of the Sith, the Sith Empire had become stagnant and that it was necessary for the Sith to expand and conquer new worlds to bring glory to the Empire, in opposition to Kressh's views.[15] Sadow was extremely unusual compared to the other Sith Lords; because of his progressive attitude, those who were not Red Sith were allowed to rise to more prestigious positions under his command.[16] This saw Human descended beings becoming miners and captains of ships under Sadow.[13] If allowed, those non-Red Sith who excelled in areas such as science and medicine were also able to make breakthroughs in their field, under the very few Lords like Sadow over the millennia, while the Red Sith occupied themselves with the dark side's secrets. The other, vast majority of Sith Lords, notably Kressh, would never allow this to occur, and instead kept the non-Red Sith to lowly slave positions under their command, sticking to the rigid caste system, and feeling that only Red Sith should be allowed positions other than Grotthu.[16]
When Ragnos died he left a power vacuum in his absence, which Kressh and Sadow immediately stepped up to fill.[15] Kressh had the support from most other Sith to become the next Dark Lord, while Sadow controlled the majority of military forces. Potentially, they could have been very powerful together,[25] but there could only be one Dark Lord of the Sith. The two fought for the right to rule during Ragnos's funeral. As the battle went on, there was no clear victor, both participants injuring and dominating the other at some point. They were finally interrupted by the spirit of Ragnos himself, who told them about their people's—the Empire's past, and of the Golden Age of the Sith. He finally disappeared cautioning them to choose their paths wisely. At that moment, a ship carrying the two hyperspace explorers Gav and Jori Daragon arrived in the Valley of the Dark Lords from the Republic.[15] They were instantly seized by the Sith, and put in the prisons of Ziost. Kressh and the Sith Council eventually decided they were to be executed. Sadow however, saw the two Humans as the key to expanding the Sith Empire into the Republic, and secretly rescued the prisoners, killing old Simus in the process to make the event seem like a Republic attack. The Sith Council believed his trickery, and through that, the majority of the Council voted Sadow as the new Dark Lord of the Sith. Kressh was outraged, not accepting Sadow's new status, and declared that he would be the true Dark Lord before he and his followers stormed out. The Empire was split in two under Kressh and Sadow, igniting a civil war within the Empire.[35]
Kressh soon discovered Sadow's trickery, and he and his factions launched an attack upon Sadow's private fortress on Khar Delba.[45] Little did he know that it was only a decoy fortress, and once Kressh's forces thought they had destroyed Sadow and all his forces, Sadow's fleet emerged from the dark side of Khar Shian—Khar Delba’s moon—where his real citadel was. In this surprise attack, he caught Kressh's forces off guard and forced Kressh and his remaining followers into a retreat. During this time, Sadow had Jori Daragon fly back to the Republic on the Starbreaker 12, with Sadow attaching a tracking device to it, giving him a route into the Republic's core.[46]
Sadow then gathered his forces from all over the Empire to Khar Delba, preparing for the invasion of the Republic. However, Kressh's ship appeared above the meeting, and sent down a message to the Sith Lords there, warning them of Sadow's trickery and the doom he thought Sadow would bring to the Empire.[47] In order to block the transmission, Sadow had Gav Daragon activate the automated systems, destroying Kressh's ship in the process, and supposedly killing Kressh along with it. With Kressh thought dead, Sadow now had no one to stop him from invading the Republic, and set about organizing the invasion forces.[47][48]
The Great Hyperspace War Edit
Sadow's invasion forces gathered together from the far reaches of the Empire, and converged on Khar Shian, from starships to the Massassi ground troops, and finally jumped into hyperspace along the Daragon Trail towards the Republic.[48] The Sith forces homed in on the locator aboard Starbreaker 12,[49] coming out of hyperspace around the unstable red-supergiant star Primus Goluud.[9] There, Sadow assigned a mining flotilla and their crews to mine Lignan crystals from Phaegon III for the upcoming battle of Kirrek.[13][19] A few months later,[19] he deployed his forces simultaneously to consume the entire Republic,[49] while he held back at Primus Goluud in his meditation sphere. Sadow knew that the Sith did not have the numbers to defeat the Republic navy, so he relied on surprise,[9] and also cast Sith illusions through Sith magic to make the invasion forces seem larger than they really were.[9][49] The Sith Empire took the Koros system by surprise, exhausted by the recent Unification Wars. With Koros major, Kirrek, and all the other planets under Empress Teta collapsing under the seemingly infinite forces of the Sith, the Sith moved along the Koros trunk line to overwhelm Foerost, then Coruscant, Kaikielius, Metellos, Basilisk, and eventually Shawken, where Republic shipyards were stationed.[9]
The Republic defenders struggled against the unstoppable forces of the Sith, and their unique weapons.[9] On Coruscant, the Jedi on the planet had been cautioned of an impending Sith invasion by Memit Nadill through Jori Daragon[48] and Jedi Master Relin Druur,[19] but they could not prepare in time for the attack. Lead by Sith Lord Shar Dakhan, the Sith landing forces there forced their way to the steps of Senate Hall, where a last band of Jedi continued to repel the waves of Sith onslaught.[9][49] However, on Koros Major, Gav Daragon had been made Commander of the armies taking over the planet,[49] but was now betraying the Sith after the death of his friend Aarrba the Hutt. He flew back to Primus Goluud, and fired on Sadow's meditation sphere, hoping to break the Dark Lord's concentration, and to stop the sorcery he was working over the armies of the Sith. Just as Coruscant was about to fall to the surging Sith forces, Sadow's concentration was broken, and the illusions disappeared, showing the true extent of the Sith armies. The Republic forces there launched a counterstrike with what they had left of their military on the confused Sith, pushing them back into a retreat. On Kirrek, the Sith swarmed and continued to break through the planet's defenses. Even attempts of Battle meditation by Jedi Odan-Urr failed to have an effect on the single minded Massassi in their rage.[50] But like Coruscant, the Sith push was eventually slowed. The Celegian Jedi Master Ooroo released toxic cyanogen gas to poison the Sith in the area, sacrificing his life in the process, but still the Sith continued to push forward. At this stage, the chances of victory for the Sith seemed slim, and when reinforcements from Ronika arrived allied with the Kirrek defenders, their chances diminished even further. The Sith retreated and the Republic allied forces emerged victorious.[50][51]
Republic forces and reinforcements from Anaxes gained confidence with the sudden disappearance of Sith forces, and pushed back the retreating[50] Sith armada back to Koros Major.[9] Also, Jori Daragon, who was at the death of Aarrba, followed Gav from Koros Major, and called on Empress Teta's fleet for assistance. The Tetan[50] and other Republic forces[9] emerged from hyperspace at Primus Goluud, to confront Sadow and the remnants of his recalled forces.[9][50] Sadow had previously tricked Gav Daragon and was now on his Sith battleship, while he left Gav trapped on his damaged meditation sphere. The Republic and Sith forces clashed before Sadow caused the red-supergiant star to go supernova, killing Gav Daragon in the process, while he and his remnants jumped back to the Sith Empire.[50]
In Sith space, Ludo Kressh had survived. He had since gathered his own forces, rallying those Sith Lords who chose to remain behind, as well as promising them wealth and power under him if they allied with him against Sadow. Consequently, with their support, he seized power to become the Dark Lord of the Sith of the Sith Empire, while Sadow was out trying to expand into the Republic.[9][25][51] When Sadow arrived back over Korriban to try to drum up more Sith forces, Kressh revealed himself. Sadow was informed that the title of Dark Lord had been stripped of him, and how Kressh used a decoy ship to stage his own death above Khar Delba. Dark Lord Kressh then went on to exile Sadow from Sith space forever.[51] The two Sith fleets clashed in a battle of pride,[9] with Kressh devastating Sadow's damaged ships.[25] However, the battle was ended when Sadow ordered one of his doomed ships to crash into Kressh’s flagship, killing the Dark Lord. The remnants of Kressh’s armada held back, choosing not to continue fighting Sadow's forces.[51]
Immediately after, Republic forces who had followed the Daragon Trail to the Sith Empire came out of hyperspace near Sadow's battered fleet. The Republican fleet devastated Sadow's, taking victory against his fleet. After Sadow refused Empress Teta's offer to surrender, he made a barricade with his remaining ships and set course for the Denarii binary stars.[51] He then used the Force[9] and the remaining power he had aboard his ship to cause a supernova in each of the stars, escaping and eliminating his Republic pursuers in the process. With Sadow thought dead in the explosions of the stars, Empress Teta recalled the Republic fleet and left the fragmented Empire.[51]
At this point the Empire posed no threat to the Republic,[52] however Supreme Chancellor Pultimo[9] was unsatisfied.[52] He soon ordered an invasion of Sith space[9] to annihilate Sith civilization entirely and ensure the Sith never returned. It was the Republic's and the Jedi's mission to ensure no remnants of the Sith Empire remained.[52] In effect, hundreds of Republic warships invaded the Stygian Caldera to take on the disordered Empire—still in turmoil following the death of their Sith leader Ludo Kressh.[9] The Jedi Order also invaded with their Jedi Shadows and sought to destroy all they found of the Sith teachings and ways, though some of their ranks denounced this need to destroy.[2] The Jedi and the Republic destroyed the Sith Lords, their artifacts, talismans and strongholds,[12] eventually driving the Sith to the point of surrender.[9] During this period the Jedi Urr would use a unique way to combat the Sith: instead of inflicting harm, he chose to take the power of individual Sith away, stripping Sith of their use of the dark side. He would use this technique so frequently on the Sith that he would become an adept of the technique.[39] Shar Dakhan—now the acting Dark Lord in the absence of Kressh and Sadow—had his Massassi warriors ram the invading fleets in suicide attacks as a last and only option. The heavy casualties inflicted by the Sith in this manner forced the Republic into a temporary retreat. Eventually though, the Sith were driven to defeat, and many lower-caste Sith killed themselves ritualistically.[9] Within a few years, the Empire crumbled[22] and the Republic had finally emerged victorious from the war, though at a great cost to their own.[51]
Dissolution Edit
The Sith worlds were absorbed into the Republic,[22] but the Jedi chose not to destroy all the palaces, strongholds, libraries, and talismans of the Sith after the war, selecting a few to keep intact and study should the Sith threaten them again. At the end of the Great Hyperspace War it was widely thought that the Sith in both religion and species were extinct,[12] and many compared the attitude the Jedi had against the existence of the Sith to that of Bothans in an Ar'krai.[5] In reality, most of those Sith that were not killed in bloody war[12] were chased far into deep space where none had returned from.[32] However, despite the thoroughness of the onslaught by the Jedi and the Republic, the Sith species[2][10] and their culture continued to persist.[12]
Some Sith forces that survived the Great Hyperspace War fled Jedi Shadows and sentinels to the unknown regions of the galaxy to recover and plan revenge on the Jedi and the Republic in secret. Explorers in these regions were likely to come across Sith settlements during these times and throughout the Old Republic era. During other eras however, chances of this happening became less likely.[41]
Some Sith of a predominantly Human stock crew aboard the ship Omen, under the command of Sadow also managed to survive the war. The ship had been knocked off course in hyperspace from a collision with their sister ship Harbinger, due to an attack by a Jedi starfighter while mining for Lignan ore before the battle of Kirrek.[13] These Sith found their way to a previously unknown planet called Kesh by the natives. The survivors of Human and some Sith descent subjected the natives, coming to be worshiped as the god-like Skyborn of the native Keshiri legend.[33]
Some other Sith also fled to Vjun after the war. A small number of Sith[9] and Sith supporters fled to Thule—a planet that had previously been inhabited by Sith stealth forces—to regroup with Sith special forces. Believing their defeat at the hands of the Jedi and the Republic was only temporary, the Sith there on Thule strove to build up an advance force, lead in a military fashion to take revenge against their enemies.[53] These were not the only Sith to escape however, Sadow had also managed to escape the annihilation he had caused at the Denarii nova. Exiled from Sith space by the previously reigning Dark Lord Kressh,[51][54] and declared as a criminal by the Republic, he and his followers aboard his lone ship found their way to the Yavin system. There they settled on the jungle moon of Yavin 4, where Sadow planned to build a base, and expand from there.[51]
Elsewhere, on Tund, the pure-blooded Sith magicians that had survived there over the millennia had escaped the devastation that had spread across many other worlds from the Great Hyperspace War, alongside Sith–Human Hybrids that had settled there after the Dark Jedi exiles conquered the Sith. Eventually the pure-blooded Sith society there evolved into what would be known as the Sorcerers of Tund. These dark side Force-users[9] investigated heavily into the use of the Force, enough to drive some members mad. They were capable of producing powerful and extreme powers in thaumaturgy, transmogrification, and phantasm.[2]
Another Sith refuge[9] and focal point for escaping Sith included the world of Ambria.[12] A Sith sorceress had enslaved the native population there, and forced them to construct a giant, black obelisk over a century. Once it was completed, she experimented by performing an ancient Sith ritual using Sith magic. However, the sorcery proved beyond her own abilities and resulted in a release of dark side energy that enveloped the planet, transforming it into a desolate desert-world, and destroying herself and the native species in the process.[55][56] Centuries before 4,000 BBY, the spirits of the Sith that had fled there and died remained, embedded in the planet itself, before eventually being trapped in Lake Natth by the Jedi Thon.[12]
Following their defeat of the Great Hyperspace War and the carnage on Korriban, a small armada carrying at least a few hundred Sith[57][58] fled in the direction of the unknown regions,[9] using random hyperspace co-ordinates in desperation to escape the Jedi and the Republic.[59] In their retreat, the Sith also brought with them tens of thousands[57] of prisoners from their early victories against the Republic, whose lives and descendants would be condemned to slavery.[3] Deep in unknown space, this handful of Sith forces forged a new Sith Empire lead by the newly proclaimed Sith Emperor and his most trusted Sith Lords.[60] For twenty years the Sith armada drifted through deep space after the Great Hyperspace War, utilizing random hyperspace jumps and blind scouting missions to lead their way.[59] Late in this process, the wandering Sith came across the Chiss Ascendancy, and like all other instances where the Sith came across civilizations with resources and technology that the Sith deemed useful, the renewed Empire demanded that the Chiss surrender to the rule of the Emperor, or be conquered, enslaved, and/or destroyed entirely in the case of refusal. The Chiss surprised the Sith in their response, however, seeking non-forceful means to solve the conflict. The Chiss ruling class requested a meeting with the Sith, which the Sith military leadership agreed to in their confusion. In private, the best Chiss negotiators met with important Imperial diplomats, including the commander of the Imperial Guard, eventually concluding that the Chiss would become the first official allies of the Empire.[61] Eventually however, twenty years after their escape, the Empire stumbled and settled upon the long-forgotten Sith world of Dromund Kaas.[59] Here the Emperor would further manipulate his followers to his plans of conquest of the Republic, by re-christening this planet as the "true" homeworld of the original Sith species.[3][4] Similarly, ancient artifacts, tomes and manuscripts were available, at least one claiming Dark Jedi exiles arrived on the claimed Sith homeworld around 14,000 BBY.[3]
Meanwhile, fifteen years after landing on Kesh, the Red Sith portion of the Lost Tribe of Sith secretly used cyanogen silicate to kill off all the people in a Keshiri village. Trying to portray it as a plague that could potentially threaten the Human Sith there, it was a last attempt to try and convince the Lost Tribe to focus on getting off world. However, one of the Human Sith who had suffered under the care of Dark Lord Kressh had a grudge against all Red Sith as a result. She had secretly been killing all the Red Sith offspring born over their time on Kesh, and once she realized what the Red Sith were doing under the leadership of a Sith named Ravilan Wroth, she framed them. Eventually she converted her husband, the Grand Lord to her cause, and launched a specicide event against the Red Sith there, killing all the Red Sith on the isolated planet.[16]
Sadow also never succeeded in expanding from his the fourth moon of Yavin as time passed. With the intentions of creating guardians to watch over his legacy, Sadow eventually used Sith alchemy to commit heinous experiments on the Massassi he had brought on his ship, transforming them into more powerful and violent, but less intelligent mutants.[62][63] Eventually, the former Dark Lord Sadow entombed himself in suspended animation,[64] never forgetting the Empire he had once ruled, before he died.[1] Over the centuries, these primitive, hunched, monstrous Massassi savages would come to worship one of Sadow's alchemical creations as a god,[2] and fulfilled their role as guardians of Sadow's legacy.[62] This included defending long-dead Sadow's temples against Dark Jedi Freedon Nadd around 4400 BBY.[64] Nadd awakened Sadow's spirit, and became Sadow's apprentice. After learning all he could from Sadow and his knowledge stores, Nadd defeated Sadow's spirit, and with the Holocrons of both King Adas[1] and Darth Andeddu,[14] he went on to found a Sith Order not directly associated with the Sith species.[1]
One thousand years after the fall of the Sith Empire, dark side devotees had begun to discover these Sith caches on remote worlds, where those that did not perish in the Great Hyperspace War sought to preserve their knowledge for future generations. Housing ancient Sith lore, talismans and the like, these dark side retreats and library-temples were of great concern to the Jedi Order. However these sanctuaries continued to elude the sight of the Jedi.[12]
The Great Sith War Edit
Yavin IV and its mutant Massassi inhabitants would be visited again centuries later by a student of the spirit of Nadd—Exar Kun, in his ambitions to obtain Sith secrets. Initially, the primitive, tribal Massassi defended the temples[62] their ancestors had built in Sadow's honor[2] and attacked Kun.[62] They stripped his ship and captured the intruder, bringing him to the Great Sith Temple of Fire to be devoured in a "Massassi blood sacrifice" ritual. During this ritual, the god of these Massassi was awoken. This dark god was one of the Sith wyrms that Sadow had produced through his experimental Sith alchemy years earlier,[2] and attempted to devourer Kun. However, after fully embracing the dark side through a Sith amulet, Kun was able to destroy the creature; earning the honor of the Massassi. However, with his new power provided by his embrace of the dark side and the amulet, he destroyed the spirit of Nadd, like Nadd had done to his own master.[62] Kun became the ruler of these Massassi, who thought that he was the foretold Dark Lord of the Sith of legend. With accordance to the ancient Sith designs, Kun had his Massassi build temples as dark side focal points. In addition, through studying ancient texts that Sadow and his followers had brought with them when they arrived at Yavin IV, Kun experimented on the Massassi, like Sadow had done years before: The texts spoke of using Sith alchemy to alter and transform creatures through metamorphosis. The Massassi legends told that this process was one that would transfer warriors into gods. Convinced that the transformation would be painless and transform him into the greatest of all Massassi, the Massassi priest Zythmnr was the first to be transformed in this ancient fashion by Kun. Kun, like Sadow, sought to create an army of servants out of his mutated Massassi through Sith alchemy.[65] In search of fellow students of Nadd, Kun took two of his new Massassi servants with him, to Empress Teta (formerly Koros Major), to find and destroy these potential rivals. There he found Aleema Keto and Ulic Qel-Droma, and fought them, quickly defeating Keto, and entering a lightsaber duel with Qel-Droma. Neither of them could gain the upper hand however, and eventually, the spirit of Marka Ragnos intervened, drawn by the power of the Sith amulets both combatants were wearing. He then proclaimed Kun the new Dark Lord of the Sith, and Qel-Droma his apprentice.[66]
Qel-Droma then went about making steps to conquer the galaxy under the Sith, as did Kun; by bringing Jedi to Yavin IV as students. After an argument broke out between Kun and the Jedi, the Massassi on the jungle moon misunderstood the situation, the Massassi tried to protect Kun and attacked the Jedi. Ceasing the attack, Kun the proceeded to convert the Jedi to his cause by unleashing spirits of Sith exiles that were trapped in a Sith holocron he had stolen, and allowing them to possess the Jedi. In a premature attack against the Republic capital of Coruscant, Qel-Droma was captured,[67] so Kun and his Massassi went to Coruscant to retrieve him, while his new students set out to kill their previous Jedi masters. Kun and his minions infiltrated the Republic senate chamber, where Qel-Droma was on trial for his crimes. Kun took control of the senate and the guards through a Sith spell, and the Jedi tried to stop the rescue attempt, and a battle broke out between Massassi and the Jedi, while Kun battled his own master.[68] Kun had some forces attack the Republic and had them use Sadow’s ancient ship to rip the cores out of several stars at the Cron cluster, creating a chain reaction of supernovas which resulted in the destruction of both Republic and Sith fleets.[69] After the Jedi learnt that Ossus was going to be wiped out by the force of these supernovas, they desperately tried to evacuate and save the stores of Jedi knowledge at the library there. In this confusion, Kun arrived with his Massassi to claim artifacts that may have been of use to him. The mission was not a complete success however; as ancient lightsabers were prevented from getting into Kun’s hands by Ood Bnar, and the Jedi Crado attacked the Sith as they were about to leave, killing several Massassi in the process.[70]
Kun and the Sith returned to Yavin IV with their haul, however, Qel-Droma had betrayed Kun, and revealed the location of the Sith forces on the Yavin moon to the Jedi. The Jedi forces converged on Yavin IV, and knowing that he would not be able to defeat all the Jedi alone, Kun turned to ancient Sith knowledge to preserve his life.[71] Before carrying out the ritual however, Kun took some of his Massassi abominations offworld,[2][10] and mutated one Massassi further still,[72] sending him into the isolation pits beneath the Massassi temples to hibernate and survive should his plans fail.[71][72] Kun then summoned all other Massassi,[71] and began a ritual to free his spirit from his physical body, so he could live forever.[72] The ritual drained the life of his Massassi armies[73] and their elders on the moon to support Kun,[74] and as the Jedi fleet closed in on Kun's temples, they formed a Wall of Light to extinguish the dark side energies. The clash of the dark and light sides of the Force resulted in a massive fire that raged across the surface of the planet, and also sealed Kun's spirit to his temple, unable to escape. The Jedi departed the moon, set on restoring and rebuilding the galaxy, while Yavin IV was left a barren wasteland.[71]
Aftermath Edit
Following the Great Sith War, those Massassi that were taken off Yavin IV prior to its decimation would come to live lives of their own choosing; some deciding to live in isolation from the greater galactic society. Some others sought revenge against the Sith for the acts committed against the Massassi people on Yavin IV, and others chose find their way to and join the new Sith Empire.[2] On Yavin IV itself, the moon had recovered from the events of the war after a decade, and was once again a lush, jungle moon.[75] There, some Massassi had also managed to survive, and continued to inhabit the planet, dwelling around the ancient temples and the tomb of their long dead master Sadow.[63]
Through this period, the Sorcerers of Tund presented themselves to the galaxy as powerful wizards, interested in further understanding the galaxy and the powers that held it together.[25] When the Jedi had first became aware of the Sorcerers of Tund, they had recognized their sorcerous ways and magical study as a practicing the use of the Force. The Jedi sent representatives to Tund, and tried to recruit them at first into their Jedi Order and turn them away from their views on the Force—which the Jedi viewed as a trapping for the Sorcerers. However, in response some of the Sorcerers demonstrated abilities at least as great as the Jedi recruiters’ own, and repeatedly declined the offers of the Jedi. Subsequently, the Jedi Council allowed the Sorcerers to continue their practice of the Force in their own fashion.[1][25] The Jedi would continue to send representatives to the Sorcerers periodically, over the thousands of years, but instead of recruiting them, they simply visited them to ensure they were not venturing into the use of the dark side[1] and becoming corrupted.[25] For most of the time, the two groups were able to co-exist without any tension.[1][25] However, in the years following the war with Kun, and during the time of the Dark Wars, a powerful sorcerer and prophet named Karnak Tetsu rose to rule among the Sorcerers of Tund. His reign was marked by a period of terror, and after restoration that followed, the Jedi—who had merely viewed the pure-blooded Sith on Tund as another Force sect, such as the Jal Shey or Zeison Sha—saw the Sorcerers’ beliefs as prohibited unorthodoxy.[42]
Though the Sith were involved in activities around this time,[10] it was largely thought that the species had died out centuries prior, with the Sith only remaining in the form of an ideal[76] and a belief.[77] On Korriban, the Sith—specifically the Kissai and Massassi subspecies—continued to occupy the planet,[2] and built an academy there to help train their numbers and teach them the ways of the dark side,[10] even though their civilization there was destroyed in the Great Hyperspace War.[60] Descendants of those who chose not to abandon the planet in 27,700 BBY, these Kissai and Massassi would live in several isolated settlements, scattered across the planet.[2] There the extremely xenophobic Sith species came to share their planet as many members of various species arrived on the planet, mostly in the form of bounty hunters, smugglers, and mercenaries. Though these and the Czerka Cooperation would limit themselves to the capital of Dreshdae, others such as Sith archaeologists, scientists and other academics would venture into the Valley of the Dark Lords to excavate and study tombs. However, these academics were only allowed to do so under heavy scrutiny and security, under the eyes of the native Sith people.[10] Despite their xenophobia, at least one Sith had been in contact with the immigrant species once, with a several people in Dreshdae knowing a half-breed Massassi that knew the location of Terentateks, three years after the Great Sith War.[78]
During this time it was rare to have Sith adventurers exploring Republic space. The species would tend to draw attention to themselves naturally if they did chose to explore the Republic, but even then not many beings would recognize a Kissai or a Massassi at first glance. The species also did not join the ranks of the Jedi at this time, and even in the new Sith Empire formal training of their species by Sith masters was prohibited—but that's not to say that it could not occur during this time.[2]
Resurgence Edit
Meanwhile, throughout the events of the Great Sith War, Jedi Civil War, and afterwards, the Sith Emperor who had escaped the carnage of the Great Hyperspace War continued to build his Empire[60] on the distant planet[79] of Dromund Kaas,[59] patiently planning his vengeance against the Jedi. The power hungry Sith Emperor's role in the reconstruction was as visionary alone; he went into isolation,[58] focusing on acquiring and perfecting arcane,[59] dark rituals to lengthen his lifespan and his undisputed rule,[60] wrecking the ionosphere of Dromund Kaas and transforming it into an electric storm as a result.[59] While doing this, logistics of the Empire's re-establishment were left to his newly formed Dark Council, who debated the long-term power structure of the Empire. The task of establishing order was given to the Human Odile Vaiken, who brought all non-Force users together to form the Imperial military, and eventually the Imperial Navy.[58][79] Throughout their first century on Dromund Kaas, the Sith focused their efforts on re-establishing the Imperial Sith society to its previous grandeur. Within the dense jungles of the world the capital of Kaas city was constructed, and a citadel was built as a symbol of the power of the Emperor,[59] to serve as a palace, fortress, and meeting place for the Dark Council.[3] In preparation for their return to the greater galaxy, they worked ceaselessly to produce both the massive Imperial armies and fleets of advanced warships for the Imperial Armada,[58][59][60] generations devoting their lives[79] over a thousand years[60] to the Emperor's dreams of vengeance.[79] Eventually the daily life of society—including mechanics, farmers, cooks, janitors, teachers—was completely controlled by the Imperial military with efficiency and discipline.[3] During the early period of the newly formed Empire, the Empire attempted to conquer at least one alien system from their capital of Dromund Kaas in an Imperial Campaign.[58] As time went on, the Sith continued to expand their influence to dozens of worlds throughout the unknown regions, almost rivalling the expansion of their ancestral Empire.[3]
The centuries leading up to the invasion of the Republic were marked by a period of cooperation and sacrifice by the Sith, as they accelerated their preparations for their vengeance. Throughout this time, the Sith Emperor established networks in the Republic, infiltrating high areas of Republican society such as the Jedi Order and Political circles. The Ovair family was a particular case of such, appearing as Republican citizens while hiding their true allegiance to the Emperor. Their mission was to eliminate the spirits of other ancient Sith Lords, so the Emperor would be uncontested when he finally revealed himself and his Empire to the greater galaxy. Barel Ovair, revered false Jedi scholar, was a member of this particular family of infiltrators, and like his forefathers he went out of his way within the Order to visit the tombs of the Sith in various locations, disguising the travels as study of the mysteries of the Force. Eventually in 3756 BBY, Ovair and his apprentice traveled to the ancient temples on Yavin IV to investigate the tomb of long deceased Naga Sadow. There they would be confronted by descendants of Sadow's metamorphosed Massassi warriors. Defeated by the Massassi, the pair were driven deep into Sadow's tomb, coming across the lingering dark energies of Sadow himself. Ovair managed to escape back to Coruscant, but his apprentice was unable. Years later, it was revealed that Ovair had failed to seal Sadow's spirit in his tomb for good, as he encountered his apprentice—possessed by Sadow's spirit, and convinced to destroy Ovair. Despite Sadow's formidable powers, Ovair eventually defeated his possessed apprentice. His victory was celebrated by the Jedi, never suspecting Ovair's ulterior motives.[63]
During this time, Sith Hybrids in this re-established Empire[23][27][28]—descendants of the elite ruling class in society, offspring of Kissai high priests and Dark Jedi exiles hundreds of generations before,[23] like Marka Ragnos and Naga Sadow[30]—were referred to as Sith Purebloods,[23][27][28][30] or true-bloods.[80][81] By 4000 BBY, "Purebloods" were anything but pure Sith from a species point of view. The name itself was vanity. It had become clear that there is a direct correlation between those with enough of the old Sith blood in them to still be born with original Sith species traits and Force sensitivity. While not any stronger in the Force than the more human Sith, it was extremely rare to find a Pureblood who is completely without Force sensitivity. Thus those with the marks of the old Sith came to call themselves Purebloods with the obvious insinuation that they are superior to those without. All of this was purely the realm of fashion and societal politics, though no non-Pureblood would stand up and say the entire claim was foolish.[32]
The Emperor was known to keep many Purebloods around him; many of his inner circle[32] and his personal apprentice bared the characteristic red-skin of the Purebloods. As a Pureblood and apprentice to the Emperor, Exal Kressh loyally and gratefully served her master, scouring the galaxy in search of Holocrons, or following stories to satisfy the Emperor's hunger. The Emperor would continue to hollow her out to do his bidding, filling her with his power. Eventually, following stories and tribal legends of shamans who could escape death, she would come across Lenico IV and a tribe of Ortolans there. These people's myths told of patriarchs who lived through their descendants, and as it was a power the Emperor craved, he watched through his apprentice as she learnt the truth to their legends, and then had her destroy them. He used the knowledge he had obtained from this to turn his apprentice into his puppet—the first and only of the so-called "Emperor's Children".[82]
In final preparation for invasion, the Emperor brought about disunion throughout the Outer Rim, making secret arrangements with warlords and criminals, and establishing puppet governments on the worlds of Sernpidal, Ruuria, and Belkadan.[83] When he felt his forces were completely prepared to defeat the Jedi and the Republic,[84] the Emperor initiated his offensive against them. He first devastated Outer Rim Republican worlds, and sent Sith battle cruisers to the fringes of the Tingel Arm, and waited for a diplomatic convoy from the Republic to arrive, so that the Emperor could reveal to the Republic the true nature of his forces. After he revealed to the Republic what they were up against, his forces destroyed the convoy, and the Emperor's forces moved on to the Aparo sector, conquering it before the Republic forces had a chance to arrive there. When the Republic did arrive in the Tingel Arm, they found themselves surrounded by enemies as their allies on Sernpidal, Ruuria, and Belkadan had turned on them. Forcing the Republic into desperate measures; every available ship was requested to assist the Republic fleet there, but eventually the Republic fleet was overwhelmed and forced to scatter.[83] During this time, the way that the Republic had sent for all its ships left Korriban defended by only a few Jedi security ships, leaving the Sith to take the holy planet back as their first priority,[84] without the Jedi Council even realizing it.[83] Meanwhile the Sith continued to attack[83] and seize[60] targeted Outer rim worlds, destroying the Sluis sector's Republican shipyards, blockading the Rimma Trade Route,[60][83] and forcing the Minos Cluster and their resources into submission. The Republic and the Jedi were unable to respond to the initial invasion, caught up in confusion, and politics over whether choices made would leave specific systems open to attack. As a result of the Republic's infighting, systems had to defend for themselves against the Sith, as was the Emperor's plan, giving him time to improve his plans on the sweep of the Core Worlds.[83]
After 10 years of war, and dozens of victories for the Empire, the Empire had established true dominance in the Outer Rim, and turned their attention to pushing through the Mid Rim. Believing that the Republic was still recovering from its losses, the Empire attempted to take Bothawui, but instead were obliterated as they met the full force of the entire Republic fleet. As the first major victory for the Republic, the hopes of Republican citizens were re-vitalized. The Sith struck back at the Bothan space and the renewed strength of the Republic, and suffered heavy losses against their Republican and Jedi foes that had already accepted that their death was inevitable. The Republican soldiers and Jedi were eventually wiped out, but not before the Imperials were forced into a full retreat. The Emperor had expected to sweep through the galaxy destroying the Jedi and the Republic without the need for alliances, however he did not foresee the sacrifices his enemies were willing to make, such as the heroic stand on Bothawui that restored hope, and rallied the Republic’s forces to fight with renewed courage.[85] As a result, the Empire changed strategy by 3667 BBY, and used Imperial Intelligence officers to forge alliances with criminal networks, Hutt cartels and Bounty Hunters. Most would remain independent however, until Imperial Intelligence managed to produce a puppet Mandalore figure for Mandalorian mercenaries and Bounty Hunters to rally under. This was the second step in the Emperor's master—plan. Using their Mandalorian allies to their advantage, the Sith used them to blockade the Hydian Way,[86][87] and block off the Republic's supplies[87] and military support to the Outer rim.[88] Even though the blockade was ultimately unsuccessful and eventually broken,[88] the blockade had already set the stage for an attack of the Core worlds by the Sith.[86]
Though the Emperor had control of half the galaxy, he grew impatient after 28 years of war, expecting his triumph over the opposition to come quickly.[89] This forced the Emperor to undertake a risky maneuver, in light of all his other methods failing.[88] He had his Dark Council approach the Republic with an offer of peace, an offer that the Jedi and Republic could not refuse; especially when the Republic was still in recovery from the recent Mandalorian blockade. The Republic and Sith diplomats converged on Alderaan to discuss the treaty of ceasefire, however, the Sith tricked the Republic and attacked Coruscant and captured the Jedi Temple and Senate tower. With the Sith Empire holding the Republic capital hostage, the Republic diplomats had no choice but to sign the unfair terms of the Treaty of Coruscant.[89]
Cold War Edit
Since the Treaty, the Emperor's plans have left the galaxy in state of fear and uncertainty as to each side's boundaries,[90] allowing the Emperor to defer control of the Empire to his Dark Council (the majority of which consisted of non-Purebloods at this time)[32] while he pursues his own secret goals.[60] The Emperor's absence left a massive power vacuum, and in its wake the most powerful and cunning Imperial leaders attempted to assume authority over the Empire.[60] With the Dark Council consolidating the Empire's new dominion, altering the Empire's domain and structure, they tasked the Imperial military with more practical matters, while the Sith Lords' planned for the Empire's future.
In this sense, Lords focused on recruiting and training new acolytes, to increase the Empire's power and prepare for their final confrontation with the Jedi.[79] Due to the dwindling of the Sith ranks after decades of war, the Sith academy's entry requirements were relaxed,[91] in effect, those born Force-sensitive were allowed to train to become Sith.[92] Those in the slave caste, not of proper Sith bloodlines were even admitted if born with Force-sensitivity.[91] This resulted in the training of Sith Inquisitors during this now highly stratified Empire,[93] observed by their Sith Pureblood overseers that forever loathed to work with alien species like Humans.[80]
Sith Purebloods were born into positions of privilege within the Empire during this time, and were known to have been prepared from childhood to train at the Sith academy on Korriban.[93] In this way, Purebloods became members of the class known as Sith Warriors during this era. The Pureblood Warriors used their rage of their fallen ancestors to their advantage, dominating and intimidating those on their battlefield with their presence.[30]
Isolation and Withdrawal Edit
Eventually the Sith race seemed to disappear,[64] vanishing[7] to become part of history. Largely the species was believed not to be seen or heard of since their Golden Age. However the Sith Lords' ancient teachings continued to plague the Republic as the term Sith branched to refer to an arcane cult of devotees who dedicated themselves to studying the dark side lore and ways of the original Sith; taking the species' name as their own, rather than being connected to the species itself.[64] While the original Sith physically seemed to have vanished, their language especially lingered in those planets and species that had writing systems tracing back to Sith influences, such as Myke, Arkanian, and Kruskan languages. The language was also preserved through those that sought the knowledge of the original Sith. Consequently, the language[7][56] and relics[56] dominated and outlasted the Sith species as a legacy to their overall culture.[7]
Roughly 1,000 years before the battle of Yavin the Jedi Order became preoccupied with their war with the Sith Lord Skere Kaan and the New Sith Wars. Following the Seventh Battle of Ruusan, the Jedi ranks, depleted as they were, stopped visiting Tund and all but forgot about the pure Sith Sorcerers there.[25] Even Darth Bane, who was the Dark Lord of the Sith in the battle's aftermath, considered the Sith species long extinct.[56] Years later, Jedi such as Mace Windu were also under the same impression.[38]
In 45 BBY Toong refugees settled on Tund, adding to the small world population of pure Sith Sorcerers that inhabited the planet. Being as solitary as the Sorcerers of Tund were, they did not warm to the presence of the newcomers. As such, the Sorcerers began to persecute the Toong, which eventually made its way to the Republic Senate. With this, Palpatine convinced the public into viewing the Sorcerers as charlatans with a high regard for themselves.[9] However, being a Sith Lord, Palpatine also took an interest to the Sorcerers, and had his agents scour their planet to discover more about the pure Sith.[9][26]
At least one Sorcerer of Tund such as Adler Roty made his way off world to Coruscant. Roty started a show around 23 BBY and 22 BBY in the CoCo District Theatre as a professional magician.[14][94] Eventually in 5 BBY,[9] a Force sensitive Croke called Rokur Gepta, skilled in creating illusions to deceive others,[25] came to Tund. Using his talents[26] he infiltrated the Sorcerers of Tund, and learned all he could about their dark side lore.[9][1] Gepta was interested in the pursuit of power—more so than the rest of the Sorcerers—and hence exploited what knowledge he learned from the Sorcerers to extend his reach across the galaxy.[25] In this way, the self-proclaimed Sorcerer of Tund[26] wiped out the Sorcerers and all life on Tund with "green fire" from an electromagnetic torpedo;[9][26] after perceiving the Sorcerers as competition to his goals.[9]
In 41 ABY a ship named the Harbinger was pulled out of hyperspace 5,000 years after they entered it, a freak time shift caused by the Jedi Master Relin Druur destroying half of the Harbinger's hyperdrive before the jump. The ship, commanded by Saes Rrogon was carrying many Massassi warriors, and other Sith, along with Lignan ore, that was going to be utilized by the now ancient Sith Lord Naga Sadow during the Great Hyperspace War. Druur, who was also sent forward in time met with the Jedi Knight Jaden Korr who was lead to the immediate conflict through a Force vision. The Harbinger opened fire upon the ship Korr arrived in, now housing Druur. Devising a plan to allow Korr to continue his own mission on a nearby moon, and so that Druur could destroy Harbinger's dangerous cargo, Druur found his way to the Sith ship's landing bay. There, Druur fought his way through Massassi warriors, to confront Rrogon. After eventually killing the Sith captain, Druur used the power of the Lignan ore to engulf the ship, destroying it and crashing it into the moon's surface, killing himself and everyone aboard the ancient vessel.[19]
Behind the scenes Edit
For the Thrawn Trilogy, Timothy Zahn initially intended the Noghri to be the Sith, but was told to change that by Lucasfilm. It is also rumored that originally the Yuuzhan Vong were intended to be exiled Sith, but that it was changed prior to the New Jedi Order series.[source?]
Appearances Edit
Sources Edit
Notes and references Edit
In other languages
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Is Silly String Biodegradable?
Silly String has long been a mainstay of children's birthday parties and celebrations. Silly String comes in a can that is filled with liquid plastic that is under pressure. When the button is engaged, the liquid comes out of the can in a small stream and hardens mid-air. This leaves long strings of colorful plastic everywhere which is loads of fun for children.
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History
Leonard Fish and Robert Cox invented Silly String in 1972, when it began being produced by the company Wham-O. Since that time, many other companies have released similar products, but the original product (although the company that produces it is now called Just For Kicks) retains the name "Silly String."
Function
Silly String is bright, colorful and festive. Spraying Silly String at celebrates has long been done as an alternative or in addition to confetti.
Considerations
Silly String is considered by some to be an environmental menace. Because it is a plastic resin, it is not biodegradable. In fact, is has been known to clog up sewer systems and as a result has been banned by a number of cities.
Another issue is the propellants that are used to allow the Silly String to exit the can. In the past, these have been CFCs (chlorofluorocarbons), which have recently been banned once it was discovered that these compounds can damage the ozone layer. However, there are still cans containing CFC propellants being produced in foreign countries that do not have stringent environmental laws.
Benefits
Recently Silly String has been used in the Iraqi war to indicate the presence of dangerous trip wires. When sprayed onto a surface, the Silly String will land gently on the trip wire and expose it without causing it to explode.
Warning
There are personal risks associated with using Silly String. The propellants used in Silly String can be very cold, and can actually freeze skin as it exits the can. Silly String cans are also under pressure, and the contents are flammable, which poses a fire risk particularly when sprayed near an open flame (like a candle on a birthday cake). The plastic that makes up Silly String can interact negatively with vinyl, and can permanently damage it.
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Oh, chute!
A British skydiver plunged a terrifying 2,000 feet when his parachute malfunctioned — yet survived with a stroke of nearly incredible luck.
Paul Lewis, a parachutist of 20 years’ experience, was videotaping a novice’s jump from 10,000 feet Friday afternoon, The Times of London reported.
He deployed his main parachute, but it failed at 3,000 feet. When his reserve chute also malfunctioned, he went straight down for nearly half a mile.
But the second chute snagged on the pitched metal roof of an airline hangar — saving him from falling the remaining 30 feet to the concrete below.
“As soon as I saw the parachute spiral, I knew something was wrong,” Colin Fitzmaurice, owner of the Parachute Centre told the paper. “Even before he hit the ground, I’d called an ambulance.
“He is incredibly lucky. He’s almost without injury. If he’d fallen 10 feet [laterally] either way, he would have landed on concrete. I went to see him earlier today [in the hospital], and he was in good spirits.”
It took firefighters nearly an hour to reach Lewis, who suffered head and neck injuries.
tom.liddy@nypost.com
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CLOSE Automakers released a variety of technologies in 2015 that increasingly allow the car to take over some tasks from the driver.
Google's new self-driving prototype car built in Livonia (Photo11: AP)
DETROIT — Ford and Google could be planning a joint venture to build autonomous cars, pairing the strengths of the two companies to get self-driving cars on the road faster.
Ford CEO Mark Fields will make the announcement in January at the 2016 International Consumer Electronics Show, according to Yahoo Autos, citing three sources.
Ford officials would not confirm the details Monday, but the automaker has been making a series of announcements about ramping up its testing of autonomous cars. And the automaker has said more news is planned when Fields attends the CES next month.
Spokesman Alan Hall said the automaker would not comment on speculation.
"We have been and will continue working with many companies and discussing a variety of subjects related to our Ford Smart Mobility plan," Hall said. "We keep these discussions private for obvious competitive reasons, and we do not comment on speculation."
Meanwhile, the two companies have the connections and have laid the groundwork.
Last year Google’s self-driving car group teamed up with Roush to develop and build a self-driving pod. Roush is building a test fleet of pods in Livonia, which are shipped to California where there is no snow to worry about.
In January, Chris Urmson, director of Self-Driving Cars for Google, said the Internet company's goal is to have driverless cars available on the market within five years.
He said hundreds of people were working on the project in both Detroit and California.
In September, Google hired former Ford and Hyundai executive John Krafcik as CEO of Google's Self-Driving Car Project and Google parent Alphabet is planning to make the project its own unit to compete in the car-sharing business.
Former Ford CEO Alan Mulally is on Google's board of directors.
Google's Urmson said earlier this year he had already met with Ford and other automakers including General Motors, Toyota, Volkswagen and Daimler because Google was interested in working with conventional automakers who have expertise in engineering and building cars.
“For us to jump in and say we can do this better, that’s arrogant,” Urmson said in Detroit.
Fields recently announced Ford has received the permits needed to test Fusion autonomous vehicles in California, where it has established a research center in Silicon Valley, near Google.
And Ford will be the first automaker to test its autonomous Fusion at Mcity, a simulated city created on the campus of the University of Michigan that provides a safe area to put a car through repeated paces.
The facility, part of the university’s Mobility Transformation Center, opened in July for use by more than a dozen automakers, suppliers, telecommunications and other companies in the pursuit of autonomous driving technology.
Mcity provides an ideal setting for testing driverless cars in all seasons and conditions in a controlled environment.
Follow Alisa Priddle on Twitter: @AlisaPriddle
Read or Share this story: http://usat.ly/1m5QhIb
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The inventor of an improved telephonic earphone
Nathaniel Baldwin (December 1, 1878 – January 19, 1961)[1] was the inventor of an improved telephonic earphone amongst many other inventions, and a supporter of the early Mormon fundamentalist movement.
Biography [ edit ]
Baldwin was born in Fillmore, Millard County, Utah to Nathaniel B. Baldwin, a native of Ontario, Canada, and Margaret Ohler, a native of Philadelphia.[1] Baldwin's family were members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) and his mother was his father's second polygamous wife. As a child, he was interested in technology and built his own bicycle and steam engine.[2]
Teaching [ edit ]
Baldwin studied at Brigham Young Academy (BYA), Utah State Agricultural College,[2] and then Stanford University, receiving a degree in electrical engineering.[3] He then returned to BYA to teach physics and theology and remained after its name changed to Brigham Young University (BYU). Though the LDS Church had officially discontinued the practice of polygamy in 1890, and again in 1904, fellow professor John Tanner Clark convinced Baldwin the church was making a mistake. Since the LDS Church owned BYU, this led to Baldwin's firing and Clark's excommunication in 1905.[2]
Inventing and business [ edit ]
Baldwin worked at remote hydroelectric plants at the Snake Creek near Heber City and in East Mill Creek Canyon.[3] He was also an electrician and air compressor operator while he experimented with sound amplification using compressed air. He used an idea for a telephonic feature to invent a more sensitive telephonic receiver in 1910, and later after surpassing testing standards, sold production versions on contract to the U.S. Navy. His first ones were made by hand in his kitchen and, despite the Navy's suggestion, never patented the headset assembly because he considered their invention "trivial." The earpieces were themselves patented, first in 1910, and the improved versions in 1915.[4] "Headphones", two telephonic receivers on a headbow, were already in use by early wireless radio operators as early as 1906-1907, prior to Baldwin's telephonic receiver improvement and patent in 1910.
In 1914, Baldwin started a business in East Millcreek, Utah called The Baldwin Radio Company. He powered the plant and the neighborhood through a hydroelectric generator which he made out of bicycle wheels and piano wire. The company peaked at 150 employees and $2 million in annual sales in the 1920s.[3] One legend tells that Philo Farnsworth built his first television in Baldwin's factory.[3]
Mormon fundamentalism and company bankruptcy [ edit ]
Baldwin used his success to help support the post-Manifesto polygamous movement in the 1920s. Many officers in his company were leading polygamists, including Lorin C. Woolley, John Y. Barlow, Israel Barlow, Leslie Broadbent, and Lyman Jessop.[5] During this time, these employees drew up plans to create the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (FLDS Church) in southern Utah.[2] He is considered the most important financial support to the Mormon fundamentalist community before his company failed.[6]
Unwise investments, often with fellow supporters of polygamy, led to Baldwin's company's bankruptcy in 1924.
In a new business venture with his polygamous friends, Baldwin began selling stock for the Omega Investment Company, which led to his conviction for mail fraud in 1930 and two-year sentence at McNeil Island Federal Prison. After this period, Baldwin was never again able to recapture his previous success.[3]
Despite his doctrinal support of polygamy, he married only once, to Elizabeth Ann Butler. They were the parents of seven children.[1]
References [ edit ]
Further reading [ edit ]
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Col. Russell Williams, 46, was also charged Monday in with sexual assault in connection with two home invasions in the Tweed area, Det. Insp. Chris Nicholas said at a news conference today in Belleville.
The commander of CFB Trenton, a career officer with 23 years in the military, has been charged with two counts of first-degree murder in the deaths of two women - a corporal at Trenton and a Belleville woman who vanished 11 days ago.
The home invasions occurred in September. “Geography played a role” in the investigation, said Belleville Police Chief Cory McMullan.
Jessica Lloyd, 27, vanished Jan. 28 and police said on Monday that her body had been found. A second woman, Cpl. Marie France Comeau of the 435th squadron, Trenton, was found dead in her home in Brighton on Nov. 25, 2009.
The charges came “due to a singularity in those incidents,” Nicholas said. “We linked those crimes to a single suspect.”
During his career he has also been responsible for flying Canadian dignitaries around, including the Governor General.
Earlier in January, Williams made an appearance and was photographed with defence minister Peter MacKay and General Walter J. Natynczyk, Chief of the Defence Staff during an inspection of a Canadian aircraft that was on its way to support relief efforts in Port-au-Prince.
He also was responsible for co-coordinating re-supply for Canada’s mission in Afghanistan and air support at the Vancouver Olympics.
He has been responsible for some of Canada’s most significant recent military operations, including overseeing the backbone of Canada’s contribution to the crisis in Haiti – a 24-hour “air bridge” that links Trenton with Port au Prince, Jacmel and Kingston, Jamaica.
Williams has had a full and high profile 23-year career in the military.
Blondin said the entire base “was shocked” by the news of the charges. Blondin flew to CFB Trenton this afternoon from his base in Winnipeg. He is Williams’ direct commander and spent the afternoon meeting with staff on base as well as members of the community. “We are as touched as the community,” he said.
At a late afternoon news conference, Maj. Gen. Yvan Blondin, flanked by other miliatary personnel, offered his condolences to the loved ones of those who had been murdered. He also announced that Williams has been relieved of his command.
He told the news conference that the operations of the base – which are vital to Haiti, Afghanistan and the Vancouver Olympics – “must and will continue.” As to Williams and the charges, Blondin said: “We don’t know the results of the investigative process … we do know charges have been laid.”
Blondin said that the military does not perform pyschological evalutations before it promotes its officers. Promotions are based on perfomance and those who are promoted for leadership “are extraordinary,” he said. As Williams’ commander, Blondin said that’s what he saw – extraordinary performance during his military career. He assured the media that due process will take place.
Earlier Monday afternoon Williams appeared in the provincial courthouse in Belleville in hand and leg shackles. He entered the courtroom confidently, dressed in a blue prison-issue jumpsuit and booties. He was remanded in custody and will appear by video on February 18th. A publication ban was ordered, typical in bail hearings, and there is a publication ban is on the names of the sexual assault victims.
A family friend, who did not want to be identified, told The Canadian Press earlier that Lloyd’s family was told about the discovery of the woman’s body on Sunday night.
The last time anyone heard from Lloyd was at 10:36 p.m. on Jan. 28 when she sent a text message to a friend.
She was reported missing the next day after she failed to show up for her job with the Tri-Board Student Transportation Services in neighbouring Napanee.
Lloyd’s purse and her glasses were still in her apartment when they went there to check for her.
Police had used ground and helicopter searches to look for Lloyd, and friends and acquaintances distributed flyers around the Belleville area and had set up several Facebook groups to spread the word about her disappearance.
“The community is devastated,” said Tweed reeve Jo-Anne Albert.
“Everyone has followed the news and hoped and prayed that this young lady would be found and brought home to her family. So it’s definitely not the outcome that we wanted.”
Albert and her staff can’t believe it, she said. Tweed is a peaceful community and this is the first time something like this has happened there, she said.
Everyone has been involved because of how close Lloyd lived to Tweed, said Albert, who did not know Lloyd or her family personally.
Comeau’s boyfriend discovered her body inside her Raglan St. home, neighbours said.
He had come to check up on her after she missed a shift as a flight attendant with 437th transport squadron at CFB Trenton.
“He came out white as a ghost, just saying, “She’s been killed. She’s dead,’” one neighbour said.
Chanci Mackenzie, who lived next door to her, said Comeau, 37, had moved to the newly-developed street in September, 2008.
She was quiet and kept to herself, perhaps the result of being a French speaker in a mostly Anglophone neighbourhood. But in their brief encounters, Mackenzie said Comeau was always friendly.
“She was really nice, really pleasant,” she said. “It’s a very new street. We all moved in at the same time and we were still all getting to know each other.”
Since her death, Comeau’s friends and family have commemorated her life on a Facebook page.
“Marie, you were such an absolutely (sic) beautiful angel here on earth with your warm and embracing nature and the love you had for everyone who surrounded you,” wrote Marion Chalut.
Adam Morrison, a friend of Comeau’s for eight years, wrote, “I will truly miss you and your open mind as well as your beautiful smile and always shining personality.”
Comeau’s death rattled the small community, home to dozens of military personnel. Now that Col. Williams has been charged, the area is in shock.
“The phone hasn’t stopped ringing. People from the base calling around,” said one neighbour, who asked not to be named. “(Williams) is someone who is very much respected in the military community… it makes it even more personal.”
An active member of the local community, Williams made a public appearance this past fall at a Belleville Bulls’ hockey game when the team announced plans to dedicate the 2009/2010 season to the men, women and families of 8 Wing Trenton. He also was front and centre at Trenton when the Olympic flame torchbearer was announced for his base.
Williams, who has a degree in Economics and Political Science from the University of Toronto and a Master of Defence Studies from the Royal Military College, enrolled in the Canadian Forces in 1987.
He received his wings in 1990 and was posted to three Canadian Forces flight training schools where he was an instructor. Williams, who has no children, is said to be a keen photographer, fisherman and runner.
In 1992, Williams was posted to the 434th (Combat Support) Squadron in Shearwater, Nova Scotia, where he flew the CC144 Challenger – a military plane used to transport high-ranking officials such as the Prime Minister and the Governor General.
He is married to Mary Elizabeth Harriman, who lives and works in Ottawa as the associate executive director of the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada. According to a neighbour who asked not to be identified she comes to their house in Trenton on weekends.
“Mary Elizabeth is a beloved member of our staff … She’s taking an extended leave of absence to focus on this matter,” said spokeswoman Eileen Melnick-McCarthy, declining to comment further.
In January 2009 he was posted to the Canadian Forces Language School in Gatineau for a 6-month period of French language training, during which he was promoted to his current rank. He took over as commander of 8 Wing CFB-Trenton in July, 2009.
With files from Canadian Press
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As the debate over legalization heats up, Adriana Barton examines the effects of marijuana on the developing brains of teenagers – our nation’s most prolific users – and finds there is no such thing as a harmless habit
Photo illustration by Matt French/The Globe and Mail
Like it or not, your kids will probably try marijuana. So will their friends. Canadian teens are more than twice as likely as adults to smoke pot – and have the highest rate of cannabis use in the developed world. Marijuana has become as much a part of Canada’s youth culture as hockey or Katy Perry.
Fully 28 per cent of Canadian children aged 11 to 15 admitted to using cannabis at least once in the past year (compared to 23 per cent in the United States, where pot is legal in the states of Colorado and Washington, and 17 per cent in the weed-friendly Netherlands), a 2013 United Nations Children’s Fund study found. As much as 5 per cent of Canadian adolescents – and as much as 10 per cent of Grade 12 students – smoke pot every day, according to the Canadian Centre on Substance Abuse.
Canada’s youth are not only top consumers of the world’s most widely used illicit drug – they are also lab rats for the most potent bud the world has ever known. The pot smoked at Woodstock in 1969 contained about 1 per cent of the psychoactive ingredient, tetrahydrocannabinol. It was mere shrubbery compared to today’s street-grade marijuana, which typically has THC concentrations of at least 10 per cent, but may contain upwards of 30 per cent, according to Health Canada.
As Canadian youth take advantage of easy access to the street drug, despite law-enforcement efforts, pot’s reputation as “nature’s medicine” continues to grow, fuelling the debate over whether to decriminalize or legalize recreational marijuana use. Legalization is shaping up as a key election issue. Just last week, the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health in Toronto declared criminalization a failure at “preventing or reducing harms associated with cannabis use” – prompting support from Bill Blair, chief of police of Canada’s biggest city.
Politicians are staking out ground on marijuana, with the Liberals championing legalization and regulation, the NDP favouring decriminalization and the Conservatives holding the line on enforcement. But do Canadians actually know how the drug affects our most prolific users? For tweens and teens, whose brains are in a crucial stage of development, is there such thing as a harmless pot habit?
To determine what science has to say about the effects of high-octane pot on the developing brain, The Globe interviewed top researchers in the field and combed through dozens of peer-reviewed studies, taking reasoned critiques into account. Here are some key ways cannabis use could affect your child’s brain.
A protester lights a joint during a 4-20 marijuana rally on Parliament Hill in Ottawa on Friday, April 20, 2012. (Sean Kilpatrick/The Canadian Press)
LEARNING PROBLEMS, OVERTAXED BRAINS
While cannabis is not the most dangerous of drugs, as with alcohol “it has a lot of harmful effects,” said Dr. Harold Kalant, a professor of pharmacology at the University of Toronto who has conducted research on alcohol and cannabis since 1959.
Marijuana hijacks normal brain functioning in teens, and many scientists believe the drug may have permanent effects on brain development.
Dr. Andra Smith, an associate professor of psychology at the University of Ottawa, used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to compare brain activity in youth ages 19 to 21 who did not smoke pot regularly, and those who had smoked at least one joint a week for three years or more. Urine samples confirmed their cannabis use.
In a series of published studies, Smith assessed the youth’s executive functioning – the umbrella term for mental processes involved in organizing, decision-making, planning and meeting long-term goals.
Smith and colleagues found increased brain activity in the regular pot smokers as they completed tasks designed to measure impulsivity, working memory, visual-spatial processing and sustained attention.
While increased brain activity may sound like a good thing, “it is actually interpreted as having to work harder, having to engage more brain resources to respond accurately,” Smith said.
The youth were drawn from the Ottawa Prenatal Prospective Study, which has followed them from before birth to age 25 to 30. Researchers collected about 4,000 lifestyle variables, including socio-economic status and prenatal exposure to marijuana and alcohol, as well as teenage cannabis use.
Marijuana was the most likely culprit for the increased brain activity, Smith said.
Earlier studies on rats, conducted by Kalant in the 1980s, suggest cognitive deficits linked to cannabis use may be long-term. Even after the equivalent of nine human years without marijuana exposure, rats given marijuana extract in adolescence showed residual mental deficits in learning and memory that persisted into adulthood. But rats given marijuana extract as young adults did not develop long-lasting impairments, Kalant said, adding that the cannabis receptors in the brains of humans and rodents work “in very similar ways.”
A more recent study, published in April in the Journal of Neuroscience, found structural changes in the brains of 18- to 25-year-olds who smoked pot at least once per week, compared to those of youth with little to no history of marijuana use.
Using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), researchers from Northwestern University detected alterations in brain regions involved in emotion and reward processing. The heavier the marijuana use, the greater the abnormalities in both brain regions, they found.
“This study raises a strong challenge to the idea that casual marijuana use isn’t associated with bad consequences,” the researchers wrote.
A large crowd filled Dundas Square in Toronto as pot smokers gathered on April 20, 2011. (Peter Power/The Globe and Mail)
A BLOW TO INTELLIGENCE
Adolescents with a “wake-and-bake” habit risk permanent losses in IQ. While marijuana activists can probably list examples of teen potheads turned successful lawyers, it’s tough to argue with the findings from a long-term study conducted in the New Zealand city of Dunedin.
The ongoing study has followed 1,037 people born in Dunedin during 1972-73, from birth to their early 40s.
In a 2012 report, researchers from Duke University analyzed data from Dunedin and found that the earlier and more frequently a person smoked pot, the greater the loss of intelligence by age 38. Compared to their IQs measured at age 13, people who had started using cannabis as teens and maintained a daily pot habit into adulthood had, on average, a six-point drop in IQ. The decline was not trivial: By age 38, their average IQ was below that of 70 per cent of their peers, according to the report, published in the journal PNAS.
Individuals who began using cannabis heavily as adults did not show similar losses in IQ, but quitting pot did not seem to restore intellectual functioning in those who had been chronic pot users as teenagers, the researchers found.
Critics of the research suggested personality differences could explain the link between cannabis and IQ, since less conscientious people may be more drawn to cannabis – and more likely to perform poorly on intelligence tests. Others argued the drops in IQ were mainly due to socio-economic factors.
But the researchers rebutted each point, noting that they had measured childhood self-control – a precursor of conscientiousness – and had ruled out a range of factors other than marijuana use, including tobacco and alcohol use, schizophrenia and education levels. To account for socio-economic factors, they had conducted a separate analysis excluding participants from both low- and high-income families.
Even after crunching the numbers again and again, the researchers found the association between persistent cannabis use and IQ decline “remained unaltered,” they wrote.
The cannabis-psychosis link has long been a chicken-or-egg question, since people with schizophrenia are known to self-medicate by smoking pot. (Kevin Frayer/The Canadian Press)
RISK OF PSYCHOSIS
Teens smoke pot for its mild hallucinogenic effects, but in some cases, cannabis may trigger a more serious break from reality.
The cannabis-psychosis link has long been a chicken-or-egg question, since people with schizophrenia are known to self-medicate by smoking pot. One in four schizophrenia patients is diagnosed with a cannabis-use disorder, according to a 2010 review.
Nevertheless, the case that marijuana may provoke psychosis in adolescents with genetic vulnerabilities has grown stronger in recent years.
In 2002, researchers using data from the Dunedin study found that cannabis use in adolescence significantly increased the likelihood of schizophrenia in adulthood, especially in individuals who had used the drug by age 15. In this study, published in BMJ, the link remained even after the researchers looked at whether participants had psychotic symptoms at age 11 – before they started using drugs.
The research confirmed the results of an earlier Swedish study showing that heavy cannabis use at age 18 increased the risk of later schizophrenia sixfold. Studies in the Netherlands and Germany had similar findings.
Scientists say it is still unclear whether marijuana use leads to alterations in brain regions associated with hallucinations, or whether cannabis precipitates psychosis in people with genetic abnormalities. Another theory is that the cannabis-psychosis link is due to an overlap of genetic and environmental factors, such as child abuse and easy access to drugs.
But the idea that marijuana’s role in schizophrenia is mainly a phenomenon of self-medication “has been largely eliminated,” according to a 2014 review published in the journal Addiction.
Another major review, published this month in the same journal, estimated that the risk of developing psychosis doubles from about 7 in 1,000 for non-cannabis users to 14 in 1,000 among regular users.
With the Colorado state capitol building visible in the background, partygoers dance and smoke pot on the first of two days at the annual 4/20 marijuana festival in Denver, Saturday April 19, 2014. (Brennan Linsley/Associated Press)
A HAZY FUTURE?
Teens who smoke pot daily are 60 per cent less likely to finish high school or get a university degree than their weed-free peers, according to a high-profile study published in September in the Lancet.
The researchers, mainly from Australia, looked at outcomes from three long-term studies conducted in Australia and New Zealand. They compared participants’ life status at age 30 to their patterns of marijuana use before age 17 (never, less than monthly, monthly or more, weekly or more, or daily).
Compared to people who had never used cannabis, those who were daily users before age 17 had an 18-times greater chance of becoming cannabis dependent. They were eight times more likely to use other illicit drugs in adulthood, and seven times more likely to attempt suicide.
But critics suggested that other variables, such as teachers’ disapproval of pot-smoking students, could have influenced education levels. Others pointed out users may have had drug convictions that affected entry into universities.
Nevertheless, the Lancet study was widely praised for ruling out more than 50 factors other than marijuana use that might explain the results, and for demonstrating a dose response, meaning that the negative outcomes worsened with increased cannabis use. The researchers noted that previous studies published in 1998 and 2000 had shown similar findings.
“Prevention or delay of cannabis use in adolescence is likely to have broad health and social benefits,” they concluded.
Smith echoed that idea: “I don’t really care if you smoke at 35,” she said, “but don’t do it when you’re 13 because you’re just setting yourself up for failure.”
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Israeli security forces have kept steady contacts with the Syrian rebels over the past 18 months, mainly treating wounded fighters but possibly supplying them with arms, UN observers at the Israeli-Syrian border reported.
In a series of reports to the UN Security Council by the United Nations Disengagement Observer Force (UNDOF), there are a number of documented instances (March 2013 – December 2014) of Israeli Defense Forces' (IDF) dealings with “armed members of the opposition” on the Israeli-Syrian border of the Golan Heights.
The reports do not distinguish various Syrian militants fighting against President Bashar Assad, which range from West-supported Free Syrian Army to the radical Islamists of the Islamic State, formerly known as ISIS.
“UNDOF sporadically observed armed members of the opposition interacting with IDF across the ceasefire line in the vicinity of United Nations position 85,” the most recent report reads.
The October 27 report states two unknown people entered Israel from the Syrian side of the border after two IDF soldiers had opened a gate, allowing them in. That same report also details the IDF's incursion into Syrian territory to set up tents for 60-70 families some 300 meters from the Israeli side.
Israeli newspaper Haaretz explains that in September, Damascus had sent a letter of complaint to UNDOF, claiming that the camp was a“base”for“armed terrorists,”and would be seen as a legitimate target for military engagement unless demolished by Israel.
Prior to that, a report issued June 10, 2014 to the UNSC said UN observers witnessed IDF soldiers handing two boxes with unknown contents to Syrian rebels on the Syrian side of the border.
The timing of the incidents corresponds with the withdrawal of most UN troops from the Syrian to the Israeli sector of the buffer zone in September after Al-Qaeda-linked fighters kidnapped dozens of peacekeepers.
READ MORE:43 UN peacekeepers in Golan Heights seized by militants
Stretching for 70 kilometers from Lebanon to Jordan, Israel seized the Golan Heights from Syria during the 1967 Six-Day War. Syria unsuccessfully tried to retake the Golan Heights during the 1973 Yom Kippur War. The two countries signed an armistice in 1974 and a UN observer force has been in place on the ceasefire line since then.
Most documented exchanges between IDF and Syrian militants are humanitarian in nature and show the Jewish state treating wounded arriving from the Syrian side.
For instance, the June 10, 2014 report accounts 59 incidents at Position 85 where UN team “observed armed members of the opposition transferring 89 wounded persons from the Bravo side across the ceasefire line to IDF and IDF on the Alpha side handing over 19 treated and 2 deceased individuals to the armed members of the opposition on the Bravo side.”
Israel’s Ministry of Health indicated that Israel treated about 1,000 Syrians at four hospitals in the north of Israel, among them fighters from the Free Syrian Army, Israeli news site i24news.tv reported.
The news outlet also noted that last month, Israel’s Druze minority protested against the treatment of extremists in Israel, as Israel’s Druze community largely support Bashar al-Assad’s government in Syria.
The IDF, when reached by i24 confirmed that, “in the past two years Israeli Defense Forces have been engaged in humanitarian, life-saving aid to wounded Syrians, irrespective of their identity.”
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ROBERT C. KOEHLER FOR BUZZFLASH AT TRUTHOUT
Stopping crime before it happens is a great idea, but stopping young men for "walking while black" — touted by true believers as the same thing — is a game played by an occupying army.
The tactic is called stop-and-frisk. As practiced by many police departments, including New York's, it amounts to blatant racial profiling. Stop-and-frisk makes it impossible for young men of color to lead normal lives, to walk outside without fear of preemptive police harassment. The long-term hatred and tension it engenders does far more harm to a community than all the questionable good that proponents ascribe to it. Security based on racism is a sham.
So I join in the celebration of Judge Shira A. Scheindlin's ruling Monday in Manhattan's Federal District Court, declaring the New York Police Department's stop-and-frisk policy unconstitutional. She accused the city of "checkpoint-style policing" in minority communities and wrote in her decision, according to the New York Times: "Blacks are likely targeted for stops based on a lesser degree of objectively founded suspicion than whites."
That is, blacks will be stopped for carrying a wallet or cellphone in their pocket, because the bulge could be a gun. The same thing happens in Chicago, where I live, and throughout the country. A young man out walking changes direction; he's stopped and frisked. A young man parks his bike; he's stopped and frisked, accused of riding his bike on the sidewalk. A young man is wearing a hoodie...
"No one should live in fear of being stopped whenever he leaves his home to go about the activities of daily life," the judge wrote, according to the Times article, which added:
"During police stops, she found, blacks and Hispanics 'were more likely to be subjected to the use of force than whites, despite the fact that whites are more likely to be found with weapons or contraband.' . . .
"She emphasized what she called the 'human toll of unconstitutional stops,' noting that some of the plaintiffs testified that their encounters with the police left them feeling that they did not belong in certain areas of the cities. She characterized each stop as 'a demeaning and humiliating experience.'"
Judge Scheindlin's ruling in the case, Floyd, et al. v. City of New York, called for outside oversight of the police department's stop-and-frisk practices rather than outright elimination, along with a series of community meetings to get public input and the establishment of a pilot program in which officers in at least five city precincts wear cameras that will record street encounters. This seems reasonable, though I share the skepticism of those who feel racism is structured into the system and real change is unlikely.
What makes the ruling remarkable is that it requires the police and city to incorporate holistic thinking into crime prevention and control.
The point of stop-and-frisk tactics is to stop crime before it happens, as in, whoa, that guy looks suspicious, we'd better pull him over. The logic in the concept is obvious. Some of the people caught in this net, especially in poor and crime-plagued neighborhoods, will be carrying incriminating evidence, such as a gun or drugs, and get arrested. Even though the arrest rate is low — about 6 percent of those stopped, according to former federal prosecutor I. Bennett Capers, and mostly for petty offenses such as marijuana possession — defenders of stop-and-frisk tactics give it total credit for New York's drop in homicides and other crimes in recent years.
The link is faith-based. Capers also notes, for instance, that one gun is found for every thousand stops, no better a haul than completely random stops would elicit. But what do I know? Maybe the policy really has managed to reduce crime. Even if that's the case, the damage it does remains enormous.
Stop-and-frisk policing leaves serious collateral damage in its wake. These aren't neutral encounters; they're emotionally charged. If 6 percent of those stopped are arrested, that means 94 percent are merely harassed and humiliated, reminded that they live in occupied territory and left to nurture bitterness toward the police. Like buzzing drones overhead or the presence of armed checkpoints in a community, stop-and-frisk policing is a tactic of occupation. The police impose order on a community and remain separate from it, answerable only to a distant government entity, not the locals.
This is a costly, inefficient and ultimately self-defeating way to keep order, especially when racism is part of the power imbalance. Eighty-four percent of the 4.43 million people stopped in New York since 2004 were black or Hispanic. This is a dangerous statistic, further evidence of an American caste system in operation. Even if it occasionally stops crime, it doesn't bring security. As James Forman Jr. and Trevor Stutz wrote last April in the Times, "stop-and-frisk practices are harming the community in order to protect it."
The District Court ruling hasn't outlawed stop-and-frisk, just required outside oversight of it. That's kind of the same thing as requiring accountability, but it was intolerable to Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly, who will likely appeal the decision.
What a waste of energy. How can there be order without accountability? Crime prevention requires every facet of the community working together, not an army of occupation.
(Photo: longislandwins)
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Robert Koehler is an award-winning, Chicago-based journalist and nationally syndicated writer. His new book, Courage Grows Strong at the Wound(Xenos Press) is now available. Contact him at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. , visit his website at commonwonders.com or listen to him at Voices of Peaceradio.
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Navajo is a "verb-heavy" language — it has a great preponderance of verbs but relatively few nouns. In addition to verbs and nouns, Navajo has other elements such as pronouns, clitics of various functions, demonstratives, numerals, postpositions, adverbs, and conjunctions, among others. Harry Hoijer grouped all of the above into a word-class he called particles (i.e., Navajo would then have verbs, nouns, and particles). Navajo has no separate words that correspond to the adjectives in English grammar: verbs provide the adjectival functionality.
Verbs [ edit ]
The key element in Navajo is the verb. Verbs are composed of an abstract stem to which inflectional or derivational prefixes are added. Every verb must have at least one prefix. The prefixes are affixed to the verb in a specified order.
The Navajo verb can be sectioned into different components.[1] The verb stem is composed of an abstract root and an often fused suffix. The stem together with a "classifier" prefix (and sometimes other thematic prefixes) make up the verb theme. The thematic prefixes are prefixes that are non-productive, have limited derivational function, and no longer have a clearly defined meaning. Examples of thematic prefixes, include the archaic yá- prefix, which only occurs on the verb stem -tééh/-tiʼ meaning "to talk" as in yáłtiʼ "he's talking". The theme is then combined with derivational prefixes that in turn make up the verb base. Finally, inflectional prefixes (which Young & Morgan call "paradigmatic prefixes") are affixed to the base — producing a complete Navajo verb.
Verb template [ edit ]
The prefixes that occur on a Navajo verb are added in specified more or less rigid order according to prefix type. This type of morphology is called a position class template (or slot-and-filler template). Below is a table of a recent proposal of the Navajo verb template (Young & Morgan 1987). Edward Sapir and Harry Hoijer were the first to propose an analysis of this type. A given verb does not have a prefix for every position. In fact, most Navajo verbs are not as complex as the template might suggest: the maximum number of prefixes is around eight.
The Navajo verb is composed of a verb stem and a set of prefixes. The prefixes can be divided into a conjunct prefix set and disjunct prefix set. The disjunct prefixes occur on the outer left edge of the verb. The conjunct prefixes occur after the disjunct prefixes, closer to the verb stem. Two types of prefixes can be distinguished by their different phonological behavior.
disjunct prefixes conjunct prefixes stem
The prefix complex may be subdivided into 11 positions, with some of the positions having even further subdivisions:
disjunct prefixes conjunct prefixes stem 0 1a 1b 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 postposition
object "null
postposition" adverbial-
thematic iterative plural direct object deictic adverbial-
thematic mode-
aspect subject classifier stem
Although prefixes are generally found in a specific position, some prefixes change order by the process of metathesis. For example, prefix ʼa- (3i object pronoun) usually occurs before di-, as in
ʼadisbąąs "I'm starting to drive some kind of wheeled vehicle along" [ ← ʼa- + di- + sh- + ł + -bąąs].
However, when ʼa- occurs with the prefixes di- and ni-, the ʼa- metathesizes with di-, leading to an order of di- + ʼa- + ni-, as in
diʼnisbąąs "I'm in the act of driving some vehicle (into something) & getting stuck" [ ← di-ʼa-ni-sh-ł-bąąs ← ʼa- + di- + ni- + sh- + ł + -bąąs]
instead of the expected ʼadinisbąąs (ʼa-di-ni-sh-ł-bąąs) (note also that ʼa- is reduced to ʼ-).
Although the verb template model of analysis has been traditionally used to describe the Navajo verb, other analyses have been proposed by Athabascanists.
Pronominal inflection [ edit ]
Navajo verbs have pronominal (i.e. pronoun) prefixes that mark both subjects and objects. The prefixes can vary in certain modes, particularly the perfective mode (See Mode and Aspect section below for a discussion of modes). The prefixes are inflected according to person and number. The basic subject prefixes (and their abbreviations as used by Young & Morgan) are listed in the table below:
Number Subject prefixes Object prefixes Singular Dual-plural Singular Dual-plural First (1) -sh- -Vd- shi- nihi- Second (2) ni- -oh- ni- Third (3) -Ø- bi- Third (3o) yi- Fourth (3a) ji- ha- ~ ho- Indefinite (3i) ʼa- ʼa- Space (3s) ha- ~ ho- ha- ~ ho- Reflexive – (ʼá)-di- Reciprocal – ʼahi-
The subject prefixes occur in two different positions. The first and second subject prefixes (-sh-, -Vd-, ni-, -oh-) occur in position 8 directly before the classifier prefixes. The fourth, indefinite, and "space" subject prefixes (ji-, ʼa-, ha-~ho-) are known as "deictic subject pronouns" and occur in position 5. The third person subject is marked by the absence of a prefix, which is usually indicated with a zero prefix -Ø- in position 8. The object prefixes can occur in position 4 as direct objects, in position 1a as "null postpositions", or in position 0 as the object of postpositions that have been incorporated into the verb complex.
The fourth person subject prefix ji- is a kind of obviative third person. It refers primarily to persons or personified animals (unlike the regular third person). It has a number of uses including:
referring to the main character in narratives
distinguishing between two third person referents
referring politely or impersonally to certain socially-distant individuals (e.g. when speaking to opposite-sex siblings and relatives through marriage, giving admonitions, speaking of the dead)
When used as an impersonal, it may be translated into English as "one" as in béésh bee n ji néego hálaʼ da ji igish " one can cut one's hand playing with knives". The "space" prefix can be translated as "area, place, space, impersonal it" as in ha lgai "the area/place is white" and na ha łtin " it is raining". The prefix has two forms: ha- and ho- with ho- having derived forms such as hw- and hwi-.
An example paradigm for "to freeze" (imperfective mode) showing the subject prefixes:
Singular Dual-Plural First yishtin "I freeze" yiitin "we (2+) freeze" Second nitin "you freeze" wohtin "you (2+) freeze" Third yitin "he/she/it/they freeze" Fourth (3a) jitin "he/she/they freeze" Indefinite (3i) atin "someone/something freezes"
Classifiers (transitivity prefixes) [ edit ]
The "classifiers" are prefixes of position 9 (the closest to the verb stem) that affect the transitivity of the verb, in that they are valence and voice markers. Calling them "classifiers" is a misnomer, however, as they do not classify anything and are not related to the classificatory verb stems (which actually do classify nouns, see classificatory verbs below). There are four classifiers: -Ø-, -ł-, -d-, -l-. The -Ø- classifier is the absence of a prefix, which is usually indicated by a null morpheme.
The -ł- classifier is a causative-transitivizing prefix of active verbs. It often can transitivize an intransitive -Ø- verb: yibéézh "it's boiling" (yi-Ø-béézh), yiłbéézh "he's boiling it (yi-ł-béézh); naʼniyęęsh "somethings flows about in a meandering fashion" (naʼni-Ø-yęęsh), naʼniłhęęsh "he's making it flow about in a meandering fashion" (naʼni-ł-yęęsh).
The -d- classifier occurs in most passive, mediopassive, reflexive, and reciprocal verbs that are derived from verbs with a -Ø- classifier: yizéés "he's singeing it" (yi-Ø-zéés), yidéés "it's being singed" (yi-d-zéés).
The -l- occurs in most passive, mediopassive, reflexive, and reciprocal verbs that are derived from verbs with a -ł- classifier: néíłtsááh "he's drying it" (ná-yi-ł-tsááh), náltsááh it's being dried" (ná-l-tsááh).
Some verbs can occur with all four classifier prefixes:
siʼą́ "roundish object lies in position" ( -Ø-ʼą́ )
"roundish object lies in position" ( ) haatʼą́ "roundish object was taken up & out (i.e. extracted)" ( -d-ʼą́ )
"roundish object was taken up & out (i.e. extracted)" ( ) séłʼą́ "I keep a roundish object in position" ( -ł-ʼą́ )
"I keep a roundish object in position" ( ) néshʼą́ "I have my head in position" (-l-ʼą́)
In other verbs, the classifiers do not mark transitivity and are considered thematic prefixes that simply are required to occur with certain verb stems.
Mode and aspect [ edit ]
Navajo has a large number of aspectual, modal, and tense distinctions that are indicated by verb stem alternations (involving vowel and tonal ablaut and suffixation) often in combination with a range of prefixes. These are divided into seven "modes" and approximately twelve aspects and ten subaspects. (Although the term mode is traditionally used, most of the distinctions provided by the modes are in fact aspectual.) Each Navajo verb generally can occur in a number of mode and aspect category combinations.
Modes [ edit ]
Navajo has the following verb modes:[2]
Imperfective
Perfective
Progressive
Future
Usitative
Iterative
Optative
The modes above have five distinct verb stem forms. For example, the verb meaning "to play, tease" has the following five stem forms for the seven modes:
Mode Stem Form Imperfective -né Perfective -neʼ Progressive/Future -neeł Usitative/Iterative -neeh Optative -neʼ
The progressive and future modes share the same stem form as do the usitative and iterative modes. The optative mode usually has the same verb stem as the imperfective mode, although for some verbs the stem forms differ (in the example "to play, tease" above, the imperfective and the optative stems are the same).
The imperfective indicates an event/action that has begun but remains incomplete. Although this mode does not refer to tense, it is usually translated into English as a present tense form: yishááh "I'm (in the act of) going/coming", yishą́ "I'm (in the act of) eating (something)". With the additional of adverbials, the imperfective can be used for events/actions in the past, present, or future. The mode is used in the second person for immediate imperatives. The imperfective mode has a distinct imperfective stem form and four different mode-aspect prefix paradigms: (1) with a ni- terminative prefix in position 7 as in nishááh "I'm in the act of arriving", (2) with a si- stative prefix in position 7 as in shishʼaah "I'm in the act of placing a SRO" in dah shishʼaah "I'm in the act of placing a SRO up" (dah "up"), (3) with no prefix in position 7, usually identified as a Ø- prefix, as in yishcha "I'm crying", (4) with either a yi- transitional or yi- semelfactive prefix in position 6 (and no prefix in position 7).
The perfective indicates an event/action that has been completed and usually corresponds to English past tense: yíyáʼ "I went/came/arrived", yíyą́ą́ʼ "I ate (something)". However, since the perfective mode is not a tense, it can be used to refer non-past actions, such as the future (where it may be translated as English "will have" + VERB ). The perfective mode has a distinct perfective stem form and four different prefix paradigms: (1) with a yí- perfective prefix with a high tone in position 7 as in yíchʼid "I scratched it", (2) with a ní- terminative prefix with a high tone in position 7 as in níyá "I arrived", (3) with a sí- stative prefix with high tone in position 7 as in sélį́į́ʼ "I roasted it", (4) with a yi- transitional prefix in position 6 (and Ø- in position 7) as in yiizįʼ "I stood up".
The progressive indicates an incomplete event/action that is ongoing without reference to the beginning or end of the event/action. This mode may be translated into English as BE + VERB -ing + "along": yishááł "I'm going/walking along", yishtééł "I'm carrying it along". The future mode is primarily a future tense — indicating a prospective event/action: deeshááł "I'll go/come", deeshį́į́ł "I'll eat (something)". The progressive mode has a yi- progressive prefix (in position 7), the future has a di- inceptive prefix (in position 6) and the yi- progressive prefix.
The usitative indicates a repetitive event/action that takes place customarily: yishááh "I usually go", yishdlį́į́h "I always drink (something)". The iterative is a frequentative indicating a recurrent event/action that takes place repeatedly and customarily: chʼínáshdááh "repeatedly go out" as in ahbínígo tłʼóóʼgóó chʼínáshdááh "I always (repeatedly) go outdoors in the morning" (ahbínígo "in the morning", tłʼóóʼgóó "outdoors"), náshdlį́į́h "drink (something) repeatedly" as in nínádiishʼnahgo gohwééh náshdlį́į́h "I drink coffee when I get up" (nínádiishʼnahgo "when I get up", gohwééh "coffee"). The iterative is distinguished from the usitative by a ná- repetitive prefix (in position 2) and also sometimes by a -d- or -ł- classifier prefix (in position 9).
The optative indicates a positive or negative desire or wish. The mode is used with the addition of adverbial particles that follow the verb, such as laanaa and lágo: nahółtą́ą́ʼ laanaa "I wish it would rain", nahółtą́ą́ʼ lágo "I hope it doesn't rain". With punctual verbs, the optative mode can be used to form a negative imperative: shinóółʼį́į́ʼ (lágo) "don't look at me!". In certain adverbial frames, the optative indicates positive or negative potential.
Aspects and subaspects [ edit ]
The Primary aspects:
Momentaneous - punctually (takes place point in time)
Continuative - indefinite span of time & movement with specified direction
Durative - indefinite span of time, non-locomotive uninterrupted continuum
Repetitive - continuum of repeated acts or connected series of acts
Conclusive - like durative but in perfective terminates with static sequel
Semelfactive - single act in repetitive series of acts
Distributive - distributive manipulation of objects or performance of actions
Diversative - movement distributed among things (similar to distributive)
Reversative - result in directional change
Conative - attempted action
Transitional - shift from one state to another
Cursive - progression in a line through time/space (only progressive mode)
The subaspects:
Completive - event/action simply takes place
Terminative - stopping of action
Stative - sequentially durative and static
Inceptive - beginning of action
Terminal - inherently terminal action
Prolongative - arrested beginning or ending of action
Seriative - interconnected series of successive separate & distinct acts
Inchoative - focus on beginning of non-locomotion action
Reversionary - return to previous state/location
Semeliterative - single repetition of event/action
Navajo modes co-occur with various aspects. For example, the verb "rain falls" can occur in the perfective mode with the momentaneous and distributive aspects: -tsąąʼ (perfective momentaneous), -tsįʼ (perfective distributive). As with the modes, different aspects have different stem forms even when in the same mode, as seen with the previous "rain falls" perfective stems. Thus, a given verb has a set of stem forms that can be classified into both a mode and an aspect category. Verb stem paradigms of mode and aspect are given below for two different verbs:
"to curl, shrivel, contract into distorted shape" Imperfective Perfective Progressive-
Future Usitative-
Iterative Optative Momentaneous -chʼííł -chʼil -chʼił -chʼił -chʼííł Transitional -chʼííł -chʼiil -chʼił -chʼił -chʼííł Continuative,
Conclusive -chʼil -chʼil -chʼił -chʼił -chʼil Semelfactive -chʼił -chʼił -chʼił -chʼił -chʼił Repetitive -chʼił – – – – Conative -chʼiił -chʼil -chʼił -chʼił -chʼiił
"to smell, have an odor, stink" Imperfective Perfective Progressive-
Future Usitative-
Iterative Optative Momentaneous,
Diversative,
Distributive -chįįh -chą́ą́ʼ -chįįł -chįįh -chą́ą́ʼ Continuative -chą́ą́ʼ -chą́ą́ʼ -chį́į́ł -chį́į́h -chą́ą́ʼ Conclusive -chin -chą́ą́ʼ -chį́į́ł -chįįh -chą́ą́ʼ Semelfactive -chįh -chįh -chįh -chįh -chįh Repetitive -chą́ą́ʼ – – – – Conative -chį́į́h – – – – Cursive – – -chį́į́ł/-chį́į́h – –
As can be seen above, some aspect and mode combinations do not occur depending mostly upon the semantics of the particular verb. Additionally, some aspects do not occur at all with a particular verb. The patterns of verb stem alternations are very complex although there is a significant amount of homophony. A particularly important investigation into this area of the Navajo verb is Hardy (1979).
Classificatory verbs [ edit ]
Navajo has verb stems that classify a particular object by its shape or other physical characteristics in addition to describing the movement or state of the object. Athabaskan linguistics identifies these as classificatory verb stems and usually identifies them with an acronym label. The eleven primary classificatory "handling" verb stems appear listed below (in the perfective mode):
Classifier+Stem Label Explanation Examples -ʼą́ SRO Solid Roundish Object bottle, ball, boot, box, etc. -yį́ LPB Load, Pack, Burden backpack, bundle, sack, saddle, etc. -ł-jool NCM Non-Compact Matter bunch of hair or grass, cloud, fog, etc. -lá SFO Slender Flexible Object rope, mittens, socks, pile of fried onions, etc. -tįʼ SSO Slender Stiff Object arrow, bracelet, skillet, saw, etc. -ł-tsooz FFO Flat Flexible Object blanket, coat, sack of groceries, etc. -tłééʼ MM Mushy Matter ice cream, mud, slumped-over drunken person, etc. -nil PLO1 Plural Objects 1 eggs, balls, animals, coins, etc. -jaaʼ PLO2 Plural Objects 2 marbles, seeds, sugar, bugs, etc. -ką́ OC Open Container glass of milk, spoonful of food, handful of flour, etc. -ł-tį́ ANO Animate Object microbe, person, corpse, doll, etc.
To compare with English, Navajo has no single verb that corresponds to the English word give. To say the equivalent of Give me some hay!, the Navajo verb níłjool (NCM) must be used, while for Give me a cigarette! the verb nítįįh (SSO) must be used. The English verb give is expressed by eleven different verbs in Navajo, depending on the characteristics of the given object.
In addition to defining the physical properties of the object, primary classificatory verb stems also can distinguish between the manner of movement of the object. The stems may then be grouped into three different categories:
handling propelling free flight
Handling includes actions such as carrying, lowering, and taking. Propelling includes tossing, dropping, and throwing. Free flight includes falling, and flying through space.
Using an example for the SRO category, Navajo has
-ʼą́ "to handle (a round object)", -neʼ "to throw (a round object)", and -l-tsʼid "(a round object) moves independently".
yi-/bi- Alternation (animacy) [ edit ]
Like most Athabaskan languages, Southern Athabaskan languages show various levels of animacy in its grammar, with certain nouns taking specific verb forms according to their rank in this animacy hierarchy. For instance, Navajo nouns can be ranked by animacy on a continuum from most animate (a human or lightning) to least animate (an abstraction) (Young & Morgan 1987: 65-66):
humans/lightning → infants/big animals → midsize animals → small animals → insects → natural forces → inanimate objects/plants → abstractions
Generally, the most animate noun in a sentence must occur first while the noun with lesser animacy occurs second. If both nouns are equal in animacy, then either noun can occur in the first position. So, both example sentences (1) and (2) are correct. The yi- prefix on the verb indicates that the 1st noun is the subject and bi- indicates that the 2nd noun is the subject.
(1) Ashkii boy atʼééd girl yiníłʼį́. yi-look Ashkii atʼééd yiníłʼį́. boy girl yi-look 'The boy is looking at the girl.'
(2) Atʼééd girl ashkii boy biníłʼį́. bi-look Atʼééd ashkii biníłʼį́. girl boy bi-look 'The girl is being looked at by the boy.'
But example sentence (3) sounds wrong to most Navajo speakers because the less animate noun occurs before the more animate noun:
(3) * Tsídii bird atʼééd girl yishtąsh. yi-pecked * Tsídii atʼééd yishtąsh. bird girl yi-pecked 'The bird pecked the girl.'
To express this idea requires that the more animate noun occur first, as in sentence (4):
(4) Atʼééd girl tsídii bird bishtąsh. bi-pecked Atʼééd tsídii bishtąsh. girl bird bi-pecked 'The girl was pecked by the bird.'
Note that although sentence (4) is translated into English with a passive verb, in Navajo it is not passive. Passive verbs are formed by certain classifier prefixes (i.e., transitivity prefixes) that occur directly before the verb stem in position 9. The yi-/bi- prefixes do not mark sentences as active or passive, but as direct or inverse.
Nouns [ edit ]
Many concepts expressed using nouns in other languages appear as verbs in Navajo. The majority of true nouns are not inflected for number, and there is no case marking. Noun phrases are often not needed to form grammatical sentences due to the informational content of the verb.
There are two main types of nouns in Navajo:
simple nouns and nouns derived from verbs (called deverbal nouns)
The simple nouns can be distinguished by their ability to be inflected with a possessive prefix, as in
Noun stem Gloss Possessed Noun stem Gloss Morpheme
composition béésh "knife" bibéézh "her knife" bi- (3rd person) + béézh "knife" hééł "pack" shiyéél "my pack" shi- (1st person singular) + yéél "pack"
Deverbal nouns are verbs (or verb phrases) that have been nominalized with a nominalizing enclitic or converted into a noun through zero derivation (that is, verbs that are used syntactically as nouns without an added nominalizer). An example of a nominalized verb is náʼoolkiłí "clock", which is derived from the verb náʼoolkił "it is moved slowly in a circle" and the enclitic nominalizer =í. Another example is the deverbal noun hataałii "singer" (from verb hataał "he sings" + nominalizing enclitic =ii). Converted deverbal nouns include chʼéʼétiin "exit, doorway" and Hoozdo "Phoenix, Arizona" — when used as verbs chʼéʼétiin may be translated into English as "something has a path horizontally out" and hoozdo as "place/space is hot". Deverbal nouns can potentially be long and complex, such as
chidí naaʼnaʼí beeʼeldǫǫhtsoh bikááʼ dah naaznilígíí "army tank"
which is composed of
the nominalized noun chidí naaʼnaʼí "caterpillar tractor" (which itself is composed of noun chidí "car", verb naaʼnaʼ "it crawls about", and nominalizer =í ) the noun beeʼeldǫǫhtsoh "cannon" (which, in turn, is composed of verb beeʼeldǫǫh "explosion/boom is made with it" and adjectival enclitic =tsoh "big") the postposition bikááʼ "on it" the verb dah naaznil "they sit up" the nominalizer =ígíí
Possession [ edit ]
Possession in Navajo is expressed with personal pronoun prefixes:
Singular Dual Plural First shi- nihi- danihi- Second ni- nihi- danihi- Third bi- Fourth (3o) yi- Fourth (3a) ha-, hw- Indefinite (3i) a-
Most of the time, these prefixes take a low tone, but in some nouns and postpositions, the final syllable of the prefix takes a high tone, such as shílaʼ "my hand," nihílaʼ "our/your hand."
The prefixes are also used when the possessor noun in a possessive phrase is a noun, as in Jáan bimá lit. "John his-mother," i.e., "John's mother."
Navajo marks inalienable possession for certain nouns — relatives, body parts, homes and dens. These nouns can only appear with a possessive prefix, as in shimá "my mother." If one wishes to speak of mothers in general, the 3rd person indefinite prefix ʼa- "someone's" is used, amá.
Postpositions [ edit ]
Navajo uses a number of postpositions where Indo-European languages tend to favor prepositions; thus, all spatial and most other relations such as under, on, or above are expressed by using the possessive prefix in combination with a postposition. All postpositions are inalienable, meaning that a prefix or fusion with a true noun is mandatory.
Examples include biyaa (under it), bikááʼ (on it), and bitah (among it). These can be combined with all prefixes to construct forms such as shiyaa (under me). Occasionally, postpositions are fused with true nouns to form a single word, such as Dinétah.
Numerals [ edit ]
Navajo uses a decimal (base-10) numeral system. There are unique words for the cardinal numbers 1-10. The numerals 11-19 are formed by adding an additive "plus 10" suffix -tsʼáadah to the base numerals 1-9. The numerals 20-100 are formed by adding a multiplicative "times 10" suffix -diin to the base numerals 2-10.
base numeral +10 ( -tsʼáadah ) x10 ( -diin ) 1 tʼááłáʼí łaʼtsʼáadah (11) – 2 naaki naakitsʼáadah (12) naadiin (20) 3 tááʼ tááʼtsʼáadah (13) tádiin (30) 4 dį́į́ʼ dį́į́ʼtsʼáadah (14) dízdiin (40) 5 ashdlaʼ ashdlaʼáadah (15) ashdladiin (50) 6 hastą́ą́ hastą́ʼáadah (16) hastą́diin (60) 7 tsostsʼid tsostsʼidtsʼáadah (17) tsostsʼidiin (70) 8 tseebíí tseebíítsʼáadah (18) tseebídiin (80) 9 náhástʼéí náhástʼéítsʼáadah (19) náhástʼédiin (90) 10 neeznáá – neeznádiin (100)
In the compound numerals, the combining forms of the base numerals have irregular vowel and consonants changes. The numeral "1" has three forms:
łáaʼii (used in counting "one", "two", "three", etc.)
(used in counting "one", "two", "three", etc.) -łaʼ- (a shortened combining form)
(a shortened combining form) tʼááłáʼí (used in larger numbers and with a distributive plural prefix)
The combining form łaʼ- is used in the compound łaʼ-tsʼáadah "11". The numeral tááʼ loses the final ʼ consonant while the final vowel in hastą́ą́ is shortened when the -tsʼáadah "+10" suffix is added. The suffix loses its initial tsʼ becoming -áadah when added to ashdlaʼ "5". Several changes occur when the -diin suffix is added involving a loss of the final consonant or a reduction in vowel length:
naaki → naa-
→ tááʼ → tá-
→ dį́į́ʼ → díz-
→ ashdlaʼ → ashdla-
→ hastą́ą́ → hastą́-
→ tsostsʼid → tsostsʼi-
→ tseebíí → tseebí-
→ náhástʼéí → náhástʼé-
→ neeznáá → neezná-
For the cardinal numerals higher than 20 between the multiples of 10 (i.e., 21-29, 31-39, 41-49, etc.), there are two types of formations. The numerals 21-29 and 41-49 are formed by suffixing the ones digit to the tens digit, as in naadįįnaaki "22" ( ← naadiin "20" + naaki "2") and dízdįįłaʼ "41" ( ← dízdiin "40" + -łaʼ "1"). Here the -diin suffix appears in the combining form -dįį-. The combining form -łá "1" is used as well:
20 40 naadiin (20) dízdiin (40) 21-29 41-49 naadįįłaʼ (21) dízdįįłaʼ (41) naadįįnaaki (22) dízdįįnaaki (42) naadįįtááʼ (23) dízdįįtááʼ (43) naadįįdį́į́ʼ (24) dízdįįdį́į́ʼ (44) naadįįʼashdlaʼ (25) dízdįįʼashdlaʼ (45) naadįįhastą́ą́ (26) dízdįįhastą́ą́ (46) naadįįtsostsʼid (27) dízdįįtsostsʼid (47) naadįįtseebíí (28) dízdįįtseebíí (48) naadįįnáhástʼéí (29) dízdįįnáhástʼéí (49)
The other numerals are formed by placing dóó baʼąą "and in addition to it" between the tens digit and the ones digit, as in tádiin dóó baʼąą tʼááłáʼí "thirty-one" and ashdladiin dóó baʼąą tʼááʼ "fifty-three". The numerals 41-49 may also be formed in this manner: "forty-two dízdiin dóó baʼąą naaki or dízdįįnaaki.
The cardinal numerals 100-900 are formed by adding the multiplicative enclitic =di to the base numerals 1-9 and adding the word for "hundred" neeznádiin, as in tʼááłáhádí neeznádiin "one hundred", naakidi neeznádiin "two hundred", táadi neeznádiin "three hundred".
base numeral x100 (=di + neeznádiin) 1 tʼááłáʼí tʼááłáhádí neeznádiin (100) 2 naaki naakidi neeznádiin (200) 3 tááʼ táadi neeznádiin (300) 4 dį́į́ʼ dį́įʼdi neeznádiin (400) 5 ashdlaʼ ashdladi neeznádiin (500) 6 hastą́ą́h hastą́ądi neeznádiin (600) 7 tsostsʼid tsostsʼidi neeznádiin (700) 8 tseebíí tseebíidi neeznádiin (800) 9 náhástʼéí náhástʼéidi neeznádiin (900)
The base numerals with a high tone in the last syllable change to a falling tone before =di.
For the thousands, the word mííl (from Spanish mil) is used in conjunction with =di: tʼááłáhádí mííl "one thousand", naakidi mííl "two thousand", etc. The word for "million" is formed by adding the stem -tsoh "big" to mííl: mííltsoh "million" as in tʼááłáhádí mííltsoh "one million", naakidi mííltsoh "two million", etc.
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The other day David Frum apologized for his vicious post saying that the New York Times’ Sergey Ponomarev faked a photograph of Palestinian victims of slaughter in Gaza. Frum’s colleague at the Atlantic James Fallows has now published a long piece assailing Frum for his cynicism about an elemental trust in journalism: the idea that journalists bear witness, that their work attests, “I saw this.”
Fallows is a hero in my book because he has forcefully denounced the slaughter in Gaza, by likening it to Americans napalming civilians in Vietnam in the belief that was a strategy. I think he knows– Israel is delegitimizing itself.
But I want to pick up here on Fallows’s journalistic credo, and challenge him on it. I agree with him, that journalists are most effective when they affirm to a reader, I saw this. In fact, this whole website was founded on that principle: In the early 2000’s I knew that I as an American Jew bathed in the meritocracy had a special understanding of the role of Zionism in the US political culture and, given the disaster in Iraq, I had a responsibility to share my understanding with other Americans. When my brother said in 2003 that he had demonstrated against the Vietnam war, but his Jewish newspaper said, This war might be good for Israel, I knew I had to speak out and explain every part of my privileged liberal Jewish Zionist inheritance to readers.
Explaining that meant talking about the Jewish rise into the establishment in my generation. It is not possible to explain the influence of neoconservatism or neoliberalism without speaking about the Jewish rise. We came into the establishment in the 1970s and 80s and rechristened those old strains, liberalism and conservatism. Neocons David Frum and David Brooks have been somewhat straightforward about this process. Frum said that Bill Clinton had the most philosemitic presidency in history. Both his Supreme Court picks were Jewish, so was much of his staff, even his girlfriend was Jewish. Now his son-in-law is too.
I saw this. At Harvard and later when I moved to New York to pursue my brilliant career, my cohort was Jewish men whose fathers bore resentment over anti-semitism, whose career-arcs had been dented by prejudice. Now my friends were climbing into the turrets of the new establishment. We remade Wall Street and journalism and the broader culture.
James Fallows knows this as well as I do. He has always been something of an outsider himself, as a westerner with a journalist’s wide-eyed sense of wonder. He was at Harvard just before I was and saw the wave. In Fallows’s last year at Harvard, Alan Dershowitz threatened to leave the law school unless they finally named a Jewish dean. Well Dersh didn’t leave; and there have been several Jewish deans since. One of them, a Zionist, is now on the Supreme Court, thanks to Barack Obama, who has said that his “cabal” are three Chicago J Street Jews, liberal Zionists who funded his first campaigns.
This establishment has obviously had a huge effect on our Middle East policy. George H.W. Bush is widely perceived to have lost the presidency in part because he opposed settlements (even Tom Friedman agrees with me). When AIPAC blessed Clinton in 1992, its director said Clinton loved Jews and George Bush didn’t:
I have full confidence that we’re going to have a much better situation. He’s got Jewish friends. A girl who worked for me at AIPAC stood up for them at their wedding. Hillary lived with her. I mean we have those relationships. We have never had that with Bush.
No we didn’t. The occupation flourished under Clinton, and Bill Kristol purged the Arabists from the Republican Party and George W. Bush had a neocon braintrust that saw the Israeli occupation as emulable; and Barack Obama vetoed the Security Council resolution against settlements in 2010. The Israel lobby permeates our political culture. When former Israeli ambassador Dore Gold– born in Connecticut, living in Israel, drawing $96,000 a year from the American Enterprise Institute as a “scholar”– said last night on CNN that Israel would have to be a glutton for punishment to go near the U.N., Wolf Blitzer, who once worked for AIPAC, laughed and said, “Yeah I know.”
Chuckling through a massacre.
I saw this; and when I began writing as an anti-Zionist about the establishment I’d been reared to join, that ended my career in the mainstream media like turning off a light. Jim Fallows is as sociological as I am. He became famous for a brilliant piece he wrote in 1975 that was about political action. Called, “What did you do in the class war, Daddy?” the piece anatomized the corruption of Fallows’s own white and privileged class during the Vietnam war. The elites had escaped the draft but failed to resist it, Fallows said. Why did people with “any presumptions to character… let it go on?”
Today Fallows knows better than I do (because my experience is now so stale) the extent of Zionism inside the American elite. He served Jimmy Carter; he saw the rise of the Israel lobby against Carter; he was at the Atlantic in 2005 when they funked journalistic duty and killed “The Israel Lobby” by John Mearsheimer and Stephen Walt, and so the two published it in England, and Walt, an optimistic Californian like Fallows, gave up any dream of serving in the State Department.
There’s just been a second massacre, worse than the last massacre in Gaza, or the one before that– the one that the U.S. turned a blind eye to and cashiered the U.N.’s effort to hold Israel accountable for the slaughter. I challenge Jim Fallows to resist, to tell us what he knows about Zionism in the US establishment.
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Ostracized as a pariah for almost four decades, Iran is back in business in a mere ten days—and with both East and West. On Saturday, the Islamic Republic welcomed Chinese President Xi Jinping—and a delegation of three deputy premiers, six cabinet ministers, and a planeload of business executives—with much pomp and publicity. The two countries announced plans to resurrect the ancient Silk Road that once defined trade across Asia, this time with high-speed trains. They also agreed to increase trade to six hundred billion dollars over the next decade. Xi, on his first trip to the Middle East, said the deals marked a “new chapter” in relations. “China and Iran are two important developing countries that must continue regional and international coöperation,” he said. The leader of the largest atheist nation was even afforded a rare audience with Iran’s top theocrat, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei.
Then, on Monday, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani arrived in Europe, for four days of talks with his Italian and French counterparts, as well as Pope Francis. “Landed in #Rome. Looking forward to deepening bilateral ties & exploring opportunities for #ConstructiveEngagement,” Rouhani tweeted. At Quirinale, the Presidential Palace, he was greeted by an honor guard, and the Iranian national anthem was performed—in a country where, less than two weeks earlier, business dealings with Iran had been a crime.
Despite Tehran’s ongoing human-rights abuses, missile tests, and ties to extremist groups, Iran is a prize catch for Europe, with its sagging markets. Rouhani, the first Iranian President to visit Europe in sixteen years, is expected to sign big deals. The government already leaked plans to buy more than a hundred passenger planes from Airbus, during Rouhani’s stop in Paris. The deal, worth an estimated ten billion dollars, would begin to update one of the world’s oldest fleets; many of Iran’s planes were acquired before the 1979 revolution. Tehran claims that it needs another four hundred civilian aircraft over the next few years.
The Great Race—for what a Western ambassador in Tehran described as “the last gold mine on Earth”—has begun. With eighty million people, Iran is the largest economy to return to the global marketplace since the Soviet Union’s demise, a quarter century ago. It urgently needs to refurbish its crumbling infrastructure. Unlike Eastern Europe, however, Iran is flush with cash, after gaining access to a hundred billion dollars in oil revenues that had been locked in foreign banks during sanctions.
“The legs of Iran’s economy are now free of the chains of sanctions, and it’s time to build and grow,” President Rouhani tweeted on January 17th, a day after international sanctions were lifted.
Countries that long confronted and sanctioned Tehran are now courting it. Britain went through a decade of crisis after the 1989 fatwa by Ayatollah Khomeini condemning the novelist Salman Rushdie to death. In 2007, fifteen British sailors in the Persian Gulf were captured and held for two weeks by the Revolutionary Guards for allegedly straying into Iranian waters. London closed its Tehran embassy after it was ransacked by a mob, in 2011. And, over the past decade, Britain repeatedly championed international sanctions on Iran at the United Nations. But last week London heralded Tehran’s return to the fold.
“I hope British businesses seize the opportunities available to them through the phased lifting of sanctions on Iran,” British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond said when the nuclear deal went into effect, on January 16th. “The future is as important as the landmark we’ve reached today.”
Iran’s return has the potential to change the balance of both power and profits in the Middle East, especially between the Shiite theocracy and the rival Sunni monarchies in the Gulf. Iran’s savvy and consumer-starved market—larger than all the Gulf sheikhdoms combined—is a huge commercial attraction. Over the past eighteen months, dozens of foreign delegations went to Tehran to explore trade potential as diplomacy inched closer to a nuclear deal. Now they can legally sign.
Iran’s return could impact oil markets, too. On the first day that it was open for business, the National Iranian Oil Company announced that it would increase oil production by half a million barrels a day—and by a million barrels within a year. Iran has the world’s fourth-largest reserves of crude oil and the second-largest natural-gas reserves, much of the gas untapped. It has almost forty million barrels of oil in floating reserves ready to sell. Putting its petroleum products back on the market, even at depressed prices, is an income gain for Iran—and a potential loss for the Sunni monarchy in Saudi Arabia, which has already been forced to tap into its financial reserves to compensate for plummeting oil prices.
Iran is now free to game those assets politically, too. The European Commission, the executive wing of the European Union, announced this week that it is exploring energy ties with Iran as an alternative to Russia. Europe gets roughly a third of its oil and gas from Russia, which Moscow leveraged diplomatically, notably on Ukraine. Largely because of dependence on Russian energy, the European Union was divided on punitive action after Moscow seized Ukraine’s Crimea region in 2014. A European team is due to visit Tehran next month.
“Iranian government policies in the post-sanctions era will focus on attracting foreign investment, expanding non-oil exports, and making the best use of financial assets,” Rouhani told parliament, on the day after sanctions were lifted. Tehran hopes to attract up to fifty billion dollars of foreign capital, annually, over the next five years.
Iran’s return represents an opportunity for nearly every nation except the United States. The two nations show no signs of renewing diplomatic relations, despite intense diplomacy between Secretary of State John Kerry and Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif over the past two years—and more to come on Syria. The United States still sanctions Iran—barring most sales and all investments—for its human-rights violations and its support of terrorist groups. Leaders of the Revolutionary Guards, judiciary, and intelligence community are personally sanctioned.
“The United States will always stand with those in Iran who aspire to have their voices heard,” the White House said, in 2010, when sanctions were imposed for human-rights abuses. “We will be a voice for those aspirations that are universal, and we continue to call upon the Iranian government to respect the rights of its people.” Washington has not deviated, although the Obama Administration this month did lift the ban on selling American aircraft, and Tehran has indicated an interest in buying some Boeings.
But there’s a big difference between taking Tehran’s money from big-ticket sales today and investing in its future. The Islamic Republic still faces hurdles because of past behavior and ongoing practices. It still has to prove itself long-term to Western banks and businesses that fear sanctions will “snap back,” as stipulated in the nuclear deal, if Iran cheats. Tehran fully complied with an interim agreement for two years, as diplomats from the world’s six major powers brokered final terms. It then dismantled parts of its program far faster than expected. But it takes years to build credibility. Then there are the practical and physical considerations facing businesses returning to Iran, a country where foreigners from many nations (not to mention its own former officials) have been imprisoned and the Saudi embassy was set on fire by a mob earlier this month.
Big-name banks are particularly wary. Several—including HSBC, Barclays, Credit Suisse, Deutsche Bank, ING, and BNP Paribas—paid millions of dollars in penalties to U.S. regulators for violating Iran sanctions. They’re concerned about further “reputational risks.” And multinational businesses do not want to engage with Iran if it jeopardizes doing business in the United States. Under a new U.S. visa law, visiting Iran already makes it harder to gain entry to the United States. Foreign businesses face additional challenges navigating a complex economy riddled with corruption and badly in need of reforms in business regulations, public subsidies, and the labor market.
So, for now, Iran will be able to buy part of its way back into international markets. The wooing for its riches has only begun. The global appetite to reëngage with the Islamic Republic has already boosted public confidence at home. The day before the nuclear deal took effect, the Tehran Stock Exchange rose by more than a thousand units, setting a record. But persuading investors to fork over billions of dollars to help Iran meet its economic goal of annual growth of eight per cent—it was nearly at zero—and become one of the world’s top twenty economies will be far harder. The Islamic Republic still has a revolutionary government, with all its inherent uncertainties and dangers.
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At midnight on Wednesday July 4th, 2012, I finally sit down to watch Room 237, the documentary about people obsessed with Stanley Kubrick and The Shining, in which I am one of the five featured obsessives.
Those of you also obsessed with The Shining will nod in solemn observance of the mystical significance of the exact time and date of my viewing of my own screen debut, but for the rest of you... well, where do I start? Where do I start to try to explain the complex web of synchronicity surrounding Kubrick's most enigmatic creation?
Scores of people have written thousands of words trying to explain The Shining in great detail - all of whom have different points of view, and none of whom cover "everything", none of whom have discovered the Higgs boson of the film. The more you look, the less you know. I can't offer you the secret, but I can give you a brief tour of some of more puzzling anomalies hidden within The Shining...
Ullman's Disappearing Cigarette Trick
Besides the famous 'impossible window' and hotel manager Ullman's weird hand shapes, the interview scene also offers one of Kubrick's bizarre continuity errors. Notice the differences in the two shots above. Besides the pen changing angles, in the lower right hand corner of the screen the cigarette in the ashtray seems to disappear. There is no practical reason why this error would occur as no one in this scene ever smokes. In fact, no one in the whole movie is seen smoking except for Wendy. If you look at the ashtray closely, you'll notice that the cigarette hasn't really disappeared, just the glass ashtray has been rotated 90º clockwise. Take into account that in the film's climax Wendy takes a 90º clockwise turn to enter the bloody elevator hallway located directly behind Ullman's false window. Coincidence? Maybe, but these are the kind of things that keep you up at night once you start obsessing over the details in The Shining.
The Three-Storey Moving Tree
This is the final frame of the shot where Ullman is giving the Torrances the tour of the Overlook Hotel grounds. Notice that Ullman walks right in front of a moving car - a little bit of Kubrickian slapstick humour. Also notice the three-storey tall tree at the far left of the screen, only viewable for a second at the end of this moving shot.
Later in the film when we see the hotel exterior again, the tree is missing.
Even further into the film we see the tree has moved several yards down to the left past the third awning. Fairly elaborate continuity error - what is Kubrick trying to communicate here? Kubrick has said that he left out the animated topiary animals from the Stephen King novel because the special effects would be unconvincing, but here he is, moving trees around subliminally.
The Red Witch & The Black Skier
The posters in the games room scene are a gallery of mysteries. Is the 'Ski Monarch' poster a symbol for Illuminati mind control? Or is it an in-joke reference to Stephen King, deposed monarch of The Shining? Questions without answers, but I'd like to point out a different poster, the one by the door in the first shot of the scene.
What exactly are we looking at? Another skier? Or a hunched-over witch in a red dress knocking at a door? Another echo of Hansel and Gretel to match Wendy's reference to a trail of breadcrumbs? Or a purposely vague image to trap the imagination of seekers like myself?
Other posters in the film also confound. What is Julius Erving doing here in the lobby of The Overlook and why does it look like skis and ski poles have been airbrushed into the picture? For a resort closed for the winter, there seems to be awful lot of focus on skiing in the decor.
Driving The Big Wheel Beyond The Veil
Notice in this one frame from Danny's second Big Wheel ride around the Hotel hallways we see for a split-second the stained glass windows from the vast Colorado Lounge. In this split-second we can make a physical connection between the Lounge and this floor, which includes the famous hexagonal carpet and of course taboo Room 237. A very expensive split-second because it requires a working second storey to be added to the already incredibly large Lounge set. This gives you an inkling of the absurd lengths Kubrick will go to make a tiny subliminal detail that will go unnoticed by almost everyone watching the picture. Also notice the strange diaphanous curtain hanging down from the stairwell. We are moving beyond the veil...
Dissolving 2001: A Space Odyssey
Of the many dissolves in The Shining, this might be my favourite. The scene fades from Wendy and Danny watching TV in the lobby to Danny entering their suite upstairs, but in this instant it seems as if the doorknob takes Danny's place on the blanket by the TV and the door chain extends out from it. Now consider the door chain resembles the spaceship Discovery and the doorknob resembles HAL 9000 from 2001: A Space Odyssey. As Danny is replaced by a murderous computer in this scene, it foreshadows Danny being replaced by Tony, who definitely has MURDER on his mind. The television is the method of psychic communication that Danny uses to bring his 'spaceship' to the Hotel in the form of the Hallorann-piloted Snow Cat.
Up Or Down The Mountain?
Speaking of the Snow Cat, when we see Hallorann driving it towards the mountaintop hotel, it paradoxically seems as if the vehicle is moving downhill.
Later on when Wendy and Danny use the Snow Cat to escape the Hotel, it seems as if they drive the vehicle uphill, into the clouds...
The Loser Has To Keep America Clean
Have you noticed there is no toilet paper in Room 237?
The Edge Of Sanity
Here's the "great party" man, one of the fabulous WTF moments from the climax of the film - but what is that in the glass case to the right? Some sort of fossilized fish or bird head? Another vague and unidentifiable shape lurking in the corners... and speaking of corners, check out the lower right hand corner of the screen. See how it seems as if the dark wood molding disappears into the side of the white column? Seems like reality crumbles around the edges in The Overlook.
Wendy's Knife Switch Trick
Wendy goes from left-handed to right-handed to left-handed to right-handed in the four scenes of her 'shining' visions of The Hotel - color coded blue and red too. I don't know what to make of this one, even if the knives seem only to be literally shining in the blue scenes.
One Final Parting Shot
Did you ever notice the man-bear-pig upstairs has Wendy's eyes?
Performer, musician and recording artist with electronic rock group Excepter, and also of New York free-music ensemble The No-Neck Blues Band, John Fell Ryan writes and edits KDK12, an ongoing visual analysis of Stanley Kubrick and The Shining. He is also a DJ, palindromist, former video librarian, and current culture-jammer for WFMU, the longest-running freeform radio station in the USA. More of John’s work can be found here.
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Red Tornado is played by Iddo Goldberg in the CBS series Supergirl
DC Entertainment and CBS have released a first official look at Iddo Goldberg as Dr. T.O. Morrow, AKA Red Tornado, from the upcoming TV series Supergirl. You can check out the photo in the gallery below!
In the series, the character is officially described as follows: “The most advanced android the world has ever seen. Designed by scientist T.O. Morrow for the U.S. Army as the ultimate superweapon, he soon becomes sentient, posing a grave danger to National City — including the people Supergirl cares about most.”
Created by Gardner Fox and Dick Dillin, Red Tornado made his first full appearance in 1968’s “Justice League of America” #64, however the character’s origins can be traced back even further to a 1960 issue of “Mystery in Space.” In that title’s 61st issue, readers were introduced to Ulthoon, called “The Tornado Tyrant” of the planet Rann. Ulthoon’s consciousness was merged with a terrestrial android (constructed by T.O. Morrow) to become the Justice League’s Red Tornado.
Melissa Benoist leads the cast of Supergirl as the title character with a cast that also includes Mehcad Brooks as James Olsen, Laura Benanti as Alura Zor-El, Calista Flockhart as Cat Grant, Chyler Leigh as Alexandra “Alex” Danvers, Jeremy Jordan as Winslow “Winn” Schott, Jenna Dewan Tatum as Lucy Lane (sister of Lois), Iddo Goldberg as Red Tornado, David Harewood as Hank Henshaw, Peter Facinelli as Maxwell Lord, and Dean Cain and Helen Slater.
Hailing from Warner Bros. TV and Berlanti Productions (who also produce the hit DC Comics series “Arrow” and “The Flash” for The CW), Supergirl is based on the characters from DC Comics and centers on Kara Zor-El, who comes to Earth after escaping the destruction of Krypton. After many years hiding her abilities, she joins the ranks of her cousin Superman to become the hero she was meant to be.
The pilot episode of Supergirl was written by Ali Adler (“No Ordinary Family”) and Greg Berlanti (“Arrow,” “The Flash”). They will also executive produce along with Sarah Schechter and Warner Bros. TV.
Supergirl will premiere on Monday, October 26 at a special time (8:30-9:30pm) before it moves to its regular time slot on Monday, November 2 from 8:00-9:00pm.
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Peter Trigger is banned from wearing a skirt or showing bare legs A man banned from wearing skirts or showing bare legs on school days has been found guilty of breaching an Asbo. Peter Trigger, 60, from Farndon Close, Northampton, was given an anti-social behaviour order in December 2008. He is forbidden from behaving in a manner which causes or is likely to cause harassment, alarm or distress. Northampton Magistrates' Court found him guilty of harassing his neighbours but declined to activate a suspended prison sentence he also faced. Trigger had been banned from wearing a skirt or showing bare legs on a school day between 0830 and 1000 and 1445 and 1600 GMT or BST, the court was told. Magistrates found him guilty of breaching the Asbo by deliberately bending over in front of his neighbours early in the morning on 16 December last year, causing them harassment, alarm and distress. You have the human right to dress as you wish but your actions must not cause harassment, alarm or distress
Chris Musson, bench chairman Trigger was given the Asbo, which runs until 2013, in December 2008 after parents complained he was waiting near a primary school in the town dressed in clothes similar to school uniform. He also has a 12-week suspended prison sentence for exposure imposed last year. Chairman of the bench Chris Musson said: "Your action in standing in front of the van and bending over two or three times was deliberate. "Mr and Mrs Copping were upset. You have the human right to dress as you wish but your actions must not cause harassment, alarm or distress." Parents complained to police about how Peter Trigger dressed She said they would not activate the 12-week suspended sentence. "We feel it would be unjust because this breach itself would not warrant a prison sentence and you are the carer for your aged mother." Trigger has to attend sex offenders' group work and is on the sex offenders register for seven years. He also is under supervision for 24 months and must observe a 12-week curfew from 0700 to 0900 GMT. Trigger was also fined £100 and ordered to pay £300 court costs and a £15 to his victims. Jerena Tomaszewska, prosecuting, said Trigger was seen outside his house at 0725 GMT on 16 December by neighbours Philip and Mary Copping. "He stood by the witness's van with his back to it. He bent down and was appearing to be doing something with his laces. "He repeatedly bent down until Mr and Mrs Copping drove off." Trigger told police he was bending down to collect debris from a wall which had collapsed between his house and the one next door. Ms Mason told him: "We are not going to send you to prison today and you are quite fortunate in that."
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EXIT...STAGE LEFT (LIVE) Released: October 29th, 1981
(Recorded live at The Apollo. Glasgow, Scotland -- June 10th & 11th, 1980 and The Forum. Montreal, Quebec -- March 27th, 1981)
Certified Gold by RIAA: January 5, 1982
Certified Platinum by RIAA: November 9, 1987
View All Album Certifications
Highest Billboard Chart Position: 10
Liner Notes
Articles
Track Listing
- Bass guitar, vocals, synthesizers, bass pedal synthesizer, and occasional rhythm guitar- Electric and acoustic guitars, bass pedal synthesizer- Drums and percussionProduced by Terry BrownA Passage To Bangkok, Closer To The Heart, Beneath, Between & Behind, and Jacob's Ladder recorded in the U.K. by Mobile OneEngineered by Andy Rose, Tech-man Barry AinsworthSet-up by Tim and JamesThe Spirit Of Radio, Red Barchetta, YYZ, Broon's Bane, The Trees, Xanadu, Freewill, Tom Sawyer and La Villa Strangiato recorded in Canada by Le MobileEngineered by Broon, Tech-man Guy CharbonneauSet-up by CliffAnd by the Record Plant MobileEngineered by Broon, Tech-man Jack CrymesSet-up by Mark and HutchMixed at Le Studio, Morin Heights QuebecEngineered by Paul NorthfieldMastered by Bob Ludwig and Brian Lee atGateway Mastering Studios, Portland, MaineArt Direction, graphics, and cover concept by Hugh SymePhotography by Deborah SamuelSpecial guest, Ian Melhuish as the Puppet KingManagement by Ray Danniels,SRO Productions, Inc., TorontoExecutive Production by Moon RecordsRoad Manager and Lighting Director: Howard UngerleiderConcert Sound Engineer: Jon (Mushy) EricksonStage Manager: Michael HirshStage Right Technician and Crew Chief: Liam (Calculator-Head) BirtStage Left Technician: Skip GildersleeveCentre Stage Technician: Larry (The Green Shrav) AllenGuitar and Synthesizer Maintenance: Tony (Jack Public) GeraniosStage Monitor Mixer: Greg ConnollySecurity Chief: Ian GrandyProjectionist: Lee TennerPersonal Shreve: Kevin (Barney Rubble) FlewittConcert Sound By: National Sound--Tom Linthicum, Dave Berman, and Fuzzy FrazerConcert Lighting by See Factor International--Nick Kotos, Mike Weiss, Mark Cherry, John Quinton, Steve Tuck, Robbie Gilchrist, et ceteraBus and Truck-Faces-Tom Whittaker, Pat Lynes, Mac MacLear, Billy Barlow, Richard Owens, Steve Connelly, and Al PosnerU.K. transportation by Edwin Shirley Trucking, Len Wright Travel, and "The Red Flash" - Bill ChurchmanConcert Rigging by Bill Collins-Southfire RiggingPeople of the Wonderful Thing: The cast and crew of Le Studio, especially André for making the new all-colour Jack Secret Show a reality, Raru Ponce de Leon, Dr. Carl Zbourg, Major Seventh, Lou, Suzanne, Ronnie, Bjorn Erlichmann the Stunned Man, Punjabi, Dirk the Cameraman, and Daisy O'Williams and the Dogmatics, The Fabulous Projecting Men, featuring a Chorus of Fools, Nick the cat, Explosion Magazine, the lovely Rushka, Joe E. Ross-ooh ooh!, the people of Fooland, the Expos, the Great White North, and the members and crew of "FM" for their important comedic and musical support--Öfshnatzen d'Rötz!!Max Webster R.I.P.This album is dedicated to the world-renowned they--(Slider's uncles, Eddie and Glen).Alex's performance in Broon's Bane is dedicated to Elliot.A special tribute to the Glaswegian Chorus for the backround vocals on Closer To The Heart. Nice one, folks!Our personal thank you to the Griffin family for their wonderfulness, and to the people of NASA for their spectacular launch of the Columbia which we were privileged and thrilled to witness.We also should include a (loose) translation for the new lyrics to the Danforth and Pape section of La Villa Strangiato"Patty-cake, patty cake,Mother's going to buy you shoes,Father's going to buy you socks,Baby's going to have red cheeks."Enough said.Well, just a few more words! In seven years of touring we have made many friends in many different places. Some have worked for us, some have cheered for us, and some have just been nice to us.For reasons beyond our comprehension, we have become increasingly more popular, and hence stretched ever more thinly among ever more people.If sometimes we can't give the time they deserve to our friends and loved ones, we hope that they will understand and forgive us.After all, we didn't change, everybody else did!© 1981 Mercury Records © 1981 Anthem Entertainment1. The Spirit of Radio (5:12)2. Red Barchetta (6:48)3. YYZ (7:44)4. A Passage To Bangkok (3:47)5. Closer To The Heart (3:09)6. Beneath, Between and Behind (2:34)7. Jacob's Ladder (8:47)8. Broon's Bane (1:37)9. The Trees (5:50)10. Xanadu (12:10)11. Freewill (5:33)12. Tom Sawyer (5:01)13. La Villa Strangiato (An Exercise in Self-Indulgence) (9:38)
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We are thinking of making an online database with all "verified" twitter accounts & their family/job/financial/housing relationships. — WikiLeaks Task Force (@WLTaskForce) January 6, 2017
The move is bizarre: verifying "lets people know that an account of public interest is authentic," according to a Twitter FAQ. But other than affording a level of internet street cred, there's nothing universally tying verified users together. A 2015 report demographically split verified users as such: 25% journalists, 18% sports teams and athletes, 13.6% actors and entertainers, 12.7% companies and businessmen, 12% musicians and bands, 6.8% media outlets, 6.5% governments/NGOs, 3.1% shows and movies and 2.9% politicians.
Assuming @Verified follows every user as soon as they get the fabled blue check mark, that's over 237,000 users (or .07% of its 313 million-strong userbase) who will get doxxed by Wikileaks. Why they're targeting this sliver of the userbase is uncertain: Releasing "family/job/financial/housing relationships" information is typically done to highlight insidious or profitable hidden connections, but verified users are so diverse that publishing all that data is, at best, an invasive shotgun attack on dubiously-badged internet celebrities.
At worst, it's an incredibly creepy invasion of privacy. Even for Wikileaks' increasingly frayed justifications for disclosure of private information, this is an extreme measure. Full disclosure: This author's Twitter account is verified, and became so over a year ago back when the company secretly approved users according to its internal arbitrary criteria (Twitter finally let users apply for verification last July).
It seems like another madcap detour from an organization bent on burning the rest of its goodwill. Wikileaks spent the last year ramping up its politically-motivated leaks, releasing a trove of Democratic National Committee emails in July and Clinton Foundation donor data in October (along with Obama's old personal email address) but not dropping a shred of comparable information from the RNC or any Republican candidates. It's incredibly likely that Russian hackers had penetrated the DNC and fed their stolen goods for Wikileaks to publish, while the organization got the Clinton info from alleged lone wolf Guccifer 2.0, leaving evidential crumbs suggesting Wikileaks was used in a Russian campaign to influence the US presidential election.
But don't worry, everyone, Twitter's @Safety account has come out guns blazing to protect its users by vaguely, indirectly telling the world that a massive doxxing would be against its rules:
In which Twitter subtweets Wikileaks https://t.co/2gOBJmJUGZ — Steph Haberman (@StephLauren) January 6, 2017
Update: Wikileaks has since deleted its tweet calling for doxxing database of verified Twitter users. But since nothing ever really disappears from the internet, here's a screencap of the offending tweet. So much for WikiLeaks' big talk of "radical information transparency".
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If you have dined-in at a fast food restaurant at some point in your life, you have likely noticed that everything you order comes individually wrapped up and placed on your tray just the same way as it would if it was ordered at the drive through. By this I mean, your burger/chicken sandwich is in a paper wrap or cardboard box, your fries are in a cardboard caddy, your nuggets are in paper or cardboard, your cookie is even in a tissue. And if you are like me, the first thing you do is open up the sandwich, unfurl its wrapper, dump the fries/nuggets on to join the sandwich, and start your meal.
The proposal is simple: Have an OPTION at fastfood joints to request Eco Wrapping for Dine-in customers where the food is minimally packaged. For instance, 1 sheet can be placed on the tray, the burger, fries, and chicken, cookie, whatever, can be placed directly on that, and you will immediately start to reduce waste.
*Despite the graphics, the initial proposal is not to adopt glassware or silverware for dine-in customers, but at the initial onset, to at least reduce all the little cardboard and paper containers that food comes in.
The Eco Wrap code word: It would be ideal if each restaurant could adopt a universal code word so customers could speak one simple phrase and not have to explain the concept in detail. Restaurants that adopt the concept would inform their employees on what the code word means and Eco Wrapping could flourish. My proposed code word is: Eco Wrap, but it could be something else.
How to push the concept:
Test it out next time you are at a fast food joint dining in. You will have to explain it to the cashier, but at least you’ll be reducing waste.
Write McDonald’s
Write Wendy’s
Call or text Wendy’s: 888-624-8140 – I texted, worked well
email Wendy’s: customercare@wendys.com
Call or text Wendy’s: 888-624-8140 – I texted, worked well email Wendy’s: customercare@wendys.com Write Burger King
Join the Facebook Group
If enough people express an interest in this idea, we are likely to get some traction with some of these industry giants. And once they consider the savings by reducing the amount of one-time-use materials they need, they might even start to promote the idea to accelerate its usage.
Where to share your experiences:
A small Facebook group has been started up to try and help promote the cause. Come join the group and help promote the cause.
What Remains:
Items like Drinks, Soups, Chili, etc would likely remain in their disposable food carriers. For this concept to catch on, it has to be easy and possibly beneficial to the restaurants. So having disposable containers for the drive through and reusable containers might be ideal, but would require a lot more dish washing which fast food restaurants are geared to avoid.
Salads are unfortunate. They most often come in a plastic bowl with a lid that is tossed at the end. There is no proposal on the table at this point to change this, but it is sadly wasteful.
My recent success at Wendy’s:
I recently went to Wendy’s and thought I would try my luck at explaining the concept to the cashier. She quickly caught on and said, “oh, so green.” She informed in a few words the folks in the back and out came a tray with just the burger, fries, nuggets, and drink (4four$4) on the tissue the burger normally comes in.
As an experiment, my coworker order the same thing normally… By comparison, the “Eco Wrapping” in this case reduced the usage of 2 cardboard caddies from being used for 10 seconds and going to the trash….Success!
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Vermont governor Peter Shumlin speaking at the Moving Planet rally in the state capital Montpelier, 350.org organizer Joe Solomon calls it "the most ambitious speech for climate action by any American politician of that rank...and the first governor to stand with the Tar Sands Action arrestees."
Intentional or not, Governor Shumlin just also quite succinctly stated the connection between the concerns of environmentalists and Occupy Wall Street.
I've been on this job for nine months, and in that short time I've fought more natural disasters than I ever dreamt possible as a kid growing up in the Green Mountain State. This is not the Vermont we knew. This is not the planet that we knew.
We will not join the others in the denial, in the pretend, in the business as usual, because our kids and our grandkids mean more to use than our own greed.
We're going to get off oil and move forward as quickly as we know how.
We'll take a lesson from [Irene] and we'll do the following. We're gonna harness the sun and the wind and the water and the woods -- and that's where we're gonna get our power.
We're gonna make sure that everyone has the resources, to do energy efficiency right. We're gonna take the buildings that we have and make them tighter, and the ones we build and make them zero-net energy buildings.
We can do this together because we're smarter than the rest of the 49 states.
When Wall Street and the oil companies want to drill and dig and dredge for tar sands and oil all over the world. And build pipelines that ship it to places that refine it and make sure that our kids live an unlivable future on this planet. We're gonna say NO: Not on our watch. Turn it back. Stop the plan. Go renewable. Re-build with wind and solar and biomass. We can do this right.
And when our brothers and sisters from this great state, whether it's Bill McKibben or all the people next to him, stand in Washington and sit behind bars for our future -- We Stand With Them.
Let's make sure that we don't make the mistake of thinking we're so right that we talk about the challenge ahead in such lofty language -- that we don't make this a unified effort of all Vermonters from all walks of life, of understanding that we have a joint and collective mission to do this together.
Moving from oil to renewables affects everything we do.
It's not just about energy, it's about jobs. When you see the biggest income gap in the history of this great country. The wealthiest 1% having the most resources, and all the rest watching their income stagnant. The answer is the economic innovation, the economic expansion that comes as we move from oil to renewables.
It affects everything we do: from what we eat and where it comes from. To how we move around, how you got here today. It affects every single segment of the building trade. How we build our highways and our roads and our bridges and schools and our churches.
We can get this right, and when we do its jobs for all Vermonters. And then when they catch up with us, jobs for all Americans. And then when they catch up with us, jobs for all the world. It'll make the Industrial Revolution and the tech-boom look small.
We can lead it together: it's jobs, it's growth, it's a strong economic future. NO to oil means economic power for all Vermonters, and all Americans, and the entire globe.
We can do this together, and we will.
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With his move to Chelsea not yet working out for both parties (1 goal in 348 minutes in all competitions), Colombian standout Radamel Falcao could be a good fit for MLS, according to Argentine playmakers Federico Higuaín and Diego Valeri in comments made in a pre-MLS Cup conference call last week.
Both players are former teammates of Falcao, Higuaín at River Plate and Valeri at Porto, and have seen his abilities firsthand.
"I think it's a very personal decision, but obviously I'd love to see him here; if he wants to come, he would be welcome," Valeri said. "Having enjoyed a great relationship with him, I am convinced he would like to live in this country and have an experience in the MLS."
With 25 caps in 63 career appearances for Colombia, Falcao is a giant on the international scene, finishing third in CONMEBOL qualifying for the 2014 FIFA World Cup with nine goals. But he missed the World Cup finals due to injury and was not called into the Colombian squad for November World Cup qualifiers due to his limited playing time with Chelsea.
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[Editor’s Note: This article is part of our ongoing coverage of Solar Decathlon entries leading up to the event’s kick off on Sept. 23.]
The Southern California Institute of Architecture and the California Institute of Technology’s entry for the 2011 Solar Decathlon was inspired by the high land costs and urban sprawl prevalent in California. To combat the challenges of living in such a place, CHIP was designed to be an affordable home with a small footprint, while still accommodating the region’s warm, coastal climate as well as the mountainous Sierras.
CHIP looks somewhat different from other houses at the Decathlon, with a futuristic outer layer that looks like a silver quilt and an upward-thrusting north end that gives it a spaceship-like shape. But that lifted end serves a very Earthbound purpose: a shady place to park a car. The quilt-like exterior does as well. This vinyl-coated fabric mesh contains the protective “outsulation” that keeps interior temperatures more constant. Inside, the house has multiple levels to separate living, cooking and sleeping spaces without walls.
The outer layer is surprisingly simple, made of affordable, common materials traditionally used to make billboards, and is fastened with zip ties and screws. Inside, a fan powerful enough to effect the whole house can change the air and temperature in under 20 minutes. CHIP also comes with an iPad application that allows residents to view their energy use in real time with instant feedback, and can even control the shades. Cameras track motion inside and adjust lights based on occupancy of an area.
The 800 ft2 CHIP is targeted to young professionals in the California region, providing them the option of owning their own home in the face of prohibitive costs. In urban settings, CHIP fits the Los Angeles’ Small Lot Ordinance, and in more rural locales, the house can be expanded by way of an opening on the southern side that increases the size of the living room. After the Decathlon, CHIP will be featured at public and museum exhibits in California, and will ultimately be owned by a permanent resident, as it is fully ready to be installed in Los Angeles.
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This article is about the beverage. For other uses, see Juice (disambiguation)
A hand press juicer
Juice is a drink made from the extraction or pressing of the natural liquid contained in fruit and vegetables. It can also refer to liquids that are flavored with concentrate or other biological food sources, such as meat or seafood, such as clam juice. Juice is commonly consumed as a beverage or used as an ingredient or flavoring in foods or other beverages, as for smoothies. Juice emerged as a popular beverage choice after the development of pasteurization methods enabled its preservation without using fermentation (which is used in wine production).[1] The largest fruit juice consumers are New Zealand (nearly a cup, or 8 ounces, each day) and Colombia (more than three quarters of a cup each day). Fruit juice consumption on average increases with country income level.[2]
Etymology
Fruit juice being used in the preparation of a smoothie
The word "juice" comes from Old French in about 1300; it developed from the Old French words "jus, juis, jouis", which mean "liquid obtained by boiling herbs".[3] The "Old French jus "juice, sap, liquid" (13c.)...[came] from Latin ius [which means] "broth, sauce, juice, soup," from PIE root *yeue- "to blend, mix food" (cognates: Sanskrit yus- "broth," Greek zyme "a leaven", Old Church Slavonic jucha "broth, soup," Russian: уха "ukha", Lithuanian: juse "fish soup")."[3] The use of the word "juice" to mean "the watery part of fruits or vegetables" was first recorded in the early 14th century.[3] Since the 19th century, the term "juice" has also been used in a figurative sense (e.g., to mean alcohol or electricity). Today, "au jus" refers to meat served along with its own juice, commonly as a gravy.
Preparation
Juice is prepared by mechanically squeezing or macerating (sometimes referred to as cold pressed[4]) fruit or vegetable flesh without the application of heat or solvents. For example, orange juice is the liquid extract of the fruit of the orange tree, and tomato juice is the liquid that results from pressing the fruit of the tomato plant. Juice may be prepared in the home from fresh fruit and vegetables using a variety of hand or electric juicers. Many commercial juices are filtered to remove fiber or pulp, but high-pulp fresh orange juice is a popular beverage. Additives are put in some juices, such as sugar and artificial flavours (in some fruit juice-based beverages); savoury seasonings (e.g., in Clamato or Caesar tomato juice drinks). Common methods for preservation and processing of fruit juices include canning, pasteurization, concentrating,[5] freezing, evaporation and spray drying.
Although processing methods vary between juices, the general processing method of juices includes:[6]
Washing and sorting food source
Juice extraction
Straining, filtration and clarification
Blending pasteurization
Filling, sealing and sterilization
Cooling, labeling and packing
After the fruits are picked and washed, the juice is extracted by one of two automated methods. In the first method, two metal cups with sharp metal tubes on the bottom cup come together, removing the peel and forcing the flesh of the fruit through the metal tube. The juice of the fruit, then escapes through small holes in the tube. The peels can then be used further, and are washed to remove oils, which are reclaimed later for usage. The second method requires the fruits to be cut in half before being subjected to reamers, which extract the juice.[7]
After the juice is filtered, it may be concentrated in evaporators, which reduce the size of juice by a factor of 5, making it easier to transport and increasing its expiration date. Juices are concentrated by heating under a vacuum to remove water, and then cooling to around 13 degrees Celsius. About two thirds of the water in a juice is removed.[6] The juice is then later reconstituted, in which the concentrate is mixed with water and other factors to return any lost flavor from the concentrating process. Juices can also be sold in a concentrated state, in which the consumer adds water to the concentrated juice as preparation.[7]
Juices are then pasteurized and filled into containers, often while still hot. If the juice is poured into a container while hot, it is cooled as quickly as possible. Packages that cannot stand heat require sterile conditions for filling. Chemicals such as hydrogen peroxide can be used to sterilize containers.[7] Plants can make anywhere from 1 to 20 tonnes a day.[6]
Processing
A variety of packaged juices in a supermarket
High intensity pulsed electric fields are being used as an alternative to heat pasteurization in fruit juices. Heat treatments sometimes fail to make a quality, microbiological stable products.[8] However, it was found that processing with high intensity pulsed electric fields (PEF) can be applied to fruit juices to provide a shelf stable and safe product.[8] In addition, it was found that pulsed electric fields provide a fresh-like and high nutrition value product.[8] Pulsed electric field processing is a type of nonthermal method for food preservation.[9]
Pulsed electric fields use short pulses of electricity to inactivate microbes. In addition, the use of PEF results in minimal detrimental effects on the quality of the food.[10] Pulse electric fields kill microorganisms and provide better maintenance of the original colour, flavour, and nutritional value of the food as compared to heat treatments.[10] This method of preservation works by placing two electrodes between liquid juices then applying high voltage pulses for microseconds to milliseconds.[10] The high voltage pulses are of intensity in the range of 10 to 80 kV/cm.[10]
Processing time of the juice is calculated by multiplying the number of pulses with the effective pulse duration.[10] The high voltage of the pulses produce an electric field that results in microbial inactivation that may be present in the juice.[10] The PEF temperatures are below that of the temperatures used in thermal processing.[10] After the high voltage treatment, the juice is aseptically packaged and refrigerated.[10] Juice is also able to transfer electricity due to the presence of several ions from the processing.[10] When the electric field is applied to the juice, electric currents are then able to flow into the liquid juice and transferred around due to the charged molecules in the juice.[10] Therefore, pulsed electric fields are able to inactivate microorganisms, extend shelf life, and reduce enzymatic activity of the juice while maintaining similar quality as the original, fresh pressed juice.[10]
Terminology
In the United Kingdom, the name or names of the fruit followed by juice can only legally be used to describe a product which is 100% fruit juice, as required by the Fruit Juices and Fruit Nectars (England) Regulations[11] and the Fruit Juices and Fruit Nectars (Scotland) Regulations 2003.[12] However, a juice made by reconstituting concentrate can be called juice. A product described as fruit "nectar" must contain at least 25% to 50% juice, depending on the fruit. A juice or nectar including concentrate must state that it does. The term "juice drink" is not defined in the Regulations and can be used to describe any drink which includes juice, whatever the amount.[13] Comparable rules apply in all EU member states in their respective languages.
In the US, fruit juice can only legally be used to describe a product which is 100% fruit juice. A blend of fruit juice(s) with other ingredients, such as high-fructose corn syrup, is called a juice cocktail or juice drink.[14] According to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the term "nectar" is generally accepted in the US and in international trade for a diluted juice to denote a beverage that contains fruit juice or puree, water, and artificial sweeteners.[15] "No added sugar" is commonly printed on labels of juice containers, but the products may contain large amounts of naturally occurring sugars;[16][17] however, sugar content is listed with other carbohydrates on labels in many countries.
Depending on trends and regulations, beverages listed as 100% juice may actually contain unlisted additives. For example, most orange juice contains added ethyl butyrate (to enhance flavor), vitamin C (as ascorbic acid), and water (if from concentrate). When fruit juice is too sour, acidic, or rich to consume, it may be diluted with water and sugar to create an -ade (such as lemonade, limeade, cherryade, and orangeade). The 'ade' suffix may also refer to any sweetened, fruit-flavored drink, whether or not it actually contains any juice.
Health effects
Fresh fruit juices alongside the fruits used to prepare them
Advertisers often urge parents to buy juice for their children.
Juices are often consumed for their perceived health benefits. For example, orange juice with natural or added vitamin C, folic acid, and potassium,[18] but may have added sugar, such as grape juice having as much or more sugar than soft drinks.[citation needed]
High consumption of fruit juice with added sugar may be linked to weight gain,[19][20] but not all studies have shown this effect.[21] If 100% from fruit, juice can help meet daily intake recommendations for some nutrients.[22]
Cranberry juice
Although preliminary research indicated that cranberry (juice or capsules) may decrease the number of urinary tract infections in women with frequent infections,[23] a more substantial Cochrane review concluded that there is insufficient evidence to indicate that cranberry juice consumption has any effect on urinary tract infections.[24] Long-term tolerance is also an issue[24] with gastrointestinal upset occurring in more than 30% of people.[25]
Negative effects
The American Academy of Pediatrics as of 2017 says that fruit juice should not be given to children under age one due to the lack of nutritional benefit.[26] For children ages one to six, intake of fruit juice should be limited to less than 4–6 oz (110–170 g) per day (about a half to three-quarters of a cup)[26] due to its high sugar and low fiber content compared to fruit. Overconsumption of fruit juices may reduce nutrient intake compared to eating whole fruits, and may produce diarrhea, gas, abdominal pain, bloating, or tooth decay.[27][28]
Overconsumption of fruits and fruit juice may contribute to dental decay and cavities via the effect of fruit acids on tooth enamel.[29] Longitudinal prospective cohort studies showed a significantly increased risk of type 2 diabetes when juices with added sugars were consumed compared to eating whole fruits.[30] Overconsumption of fruit juice with added sugars has also been linked to childhood obesity. The American Journal of Public Health proposed that the Healthy Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010 in the United States eliminate 100% fruit juices and substitute instead with whole fruits.[31]
Amount consumed
The largest fruit juice consumers are New Zealand (nearly a cup, or 8 ounces, each day) and Colombia (more than three quarters of a cup each day). Fruit juice consumption on average increased with country income level.[2]
Fruit juice consumption overall in Europe, Australia, New Zealand and the US has increased in recent[when?] years.[32]
In 2015, people in the United States consumed approximately 6.6 US gallons of juices per capita with more than half of preschool-age children are regular drinkers.[33]
Juice bars
A juice bar is an establishment that primarily serves prepared juice beverages such as freshly squeezed or extracted fruit juices, juice blends, fruit smoothies (a thick fruit drink, often iced), or other juices such as fresh wheatgrass juice. Sometimes other solid ingredients or nutritional supplements may be added as boosters, such as fresh bananas, eggs, nuts or nut butter, bodybuilding supplements, soy protein powder or others such as whey or hemp protein powders, wheat germ, or Spirulina (dietary supplement) or Chlorella. Also if less juice is used with these same ingredients drinks called health shakes may be produced.
Juice bars share some of the characteristics of a coffeehouse, a soda fountain, a café, and a snack bar, such as providing blended drinks and light food. Juice bars may be standalone businesses in cities, or located at gyms, along commuter areas, near lunch time areas, at beaches, and at tourist attractions. In Mexico, juice bars have become more popular in the 2000s. Mexican juice bars often also sell healthy beverages and snacks.
Chains
History
Groups of grape pits dated to 8000 BCE show early evidence of juice production; although it is thought that the grapes may have been alternatively used to produce wine.[34] One of the first regularly produced juices was lemonade, appearing in 16th-century Italy, as an import, after its conception in the Middle East. Orange juice originated in the 17th century. In the 18th century, James Lind linked citrus fruits to the prevention of scurvy, which, a century later, led to the implementation of the Merchant Shipping Act of 1867, requiring all Ocean-bound British ships to carry citrus-based juice on board.[34]
In 1869, a dentist by the name Thomas B. Welch developed a pasteurization method that allowed for the storage of juice, without the juice fermenting into alcohol. His method involved filtering squeezed grape juice into bottles, sealing them with cork and wax, and then placing them in boiling water. This method kills the yeast responsible for fermentation. He then sold his new product as "Dr Welch's Unfermented Wine".[35] In the late 18th-century United States, circulation of foreign fruit juices were heavily regulated by tariffs. The McKinley Tariff Act of 1890 increased import takes from 38 to 49.5 percent, and set taxes on fruit juices based on the alcohol content of the drink. Juices with 18% or less alcohol were taxed 60 cents per gallon, while anything above 18% was taxed US$2.50 per proof gallon.[1]
Figurative uses
The use of the word "juice" to mean "liquor" (alcohol) is from 1828.[3] The use of the term "juice" to mean "electricity" dates from 1896.[3] As a verb, the word "juice" was first recorded as meaning "to enliven" in 1964.[3] The adjective "juiced" is recorded as meaning "drunk" in 1946 and in 2003 "enhanced or as if enhanced by steroids".[3] The adjective "juicy" has meant "succulent" since the 15th century (e.g., a juicy roast beef).[3] The figurative meaning "wealthy, full of some desired quality" dates from the 1620s[3] (e.g., a pirate calling a heavily laden ship he aims to plunder a "juicy catch"). The meaning "lively, suggestive, racy, sensational" (e.g., a juicy scandal) is from 1883.[3]
See also
References
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Image copyright Thinkstock
Mastercard is testing a smartphone app that uses facial recognition to verify online purchases.
Users in the trial can hold their phone up as though taking a selfie to approve transactions.
"The new generation, which is into selfies... I think they'll find it cool," the firm's security expert Ajay Bhalla told CNN.
One security expert told the BBC facial recognition should be complemented with "extra layers of security".
"Google tried facial recognition on Android phones and there were a lot of problems in the early days", said Ken Munro, security researcher at Pen Test Partners.
"People realised you could take a photo of somebody and present it to the camera, and the phone would unlock."
Spoofed
Google admits its facial recognition is "less secure than a pattern, PIN or password" on the website for one of its devices.
Mastercard's app asks users to blink to prove that they are human, but even this has been spoofed in the past.
"People took photographs and animated them, drawing eyelids on," said Mr Munro. "There have been advances in biometrics since then, but they're not quite there yet."
Image copyright Mastercard Image caption Ajay Bhalla is Mastercard's president of enterprise security
Mastercard is exploring facial recognition as an alternative to SecureCode, its security software that asks online shoppers for a password to make purchases.
The company said the technology was used in three billion transactions last year.
In March, Chinese shopping brand Alibaba demonstrated a facial recognition app, but hasn't brought it to market yet.
Mastercard's facial recognition trial involves 500 users in the United States.
'Cumbersome'
"Mastercard will want this to be secure because they're dealing with money. But there is a case for adding extra layers of security," said Mr Munro.
"If an ordinary password gets compromised you can simply revoke it or change it.
"What happens if your facial recognition data gets stolen? You can't change your face."
Mastercard said it was also exploring fingerprint security and voice recognition, which could make life easier for customers.
Mr Munro was clear that the best security would be a little more "cumbersome".
"Ideally I'd like to see facial recognition used in conjunction with a Pin. Both systems have flaws, but work brilliantly when you combine them."
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ICO Review of : SIFT (Crypto Trading and Investment Fund that pays a dividend and has a ten year verifiable history)
Trickle Down Clown Blocked Unblock Follow Following Aug 2, 2017
Today I would like to talk about the Smart Investment Fund (SIFT). This project is one of the more interesting ICOs which started August 1. They have a verifiable history of 10 years and existing infrastructure and code that they are bringing to the crypto space.
This offering is unique and promising for many reasons some of which I have outlined below. Read on to get my take on what they offer. Due diligence is extremely important so please also go to their website and read their whitepaper.
What is SIFT?
“Smart Investment Fund (SIFT) is a high yield dividend fund that will trade blockchain assets using a proprietary method of financial trading.”
This is a very complicated way of saying they know with a high degree of certainty where prices will go on a given coin and take advantage of this throughout the trading day to generate profits and pay dividends.
The Founders
The founders have been working together on various projects for nearly two decades. SIFT is the culmination of nearly five decades of market and technology expertise. The founders first worked together with tech startups almost 20 years ago. They have experience creating automated proprietary volume trading systems and refining very complex methods of analysis for markets ranging from Stocks to Forex to Oil to Crypto.
Guy Powell, the CTO, has two decades of software development and architecture experience. Guy has led projects for startups and multi-nationals. He has designed security systems for governments and started working with blockchain technologies five years ago. He’s currently undertaking a PhD in Robotics and AI as well as leading SIFT’s technology development.
James May has nearly three decades of experience in the financial sector building algorithmic systems and automating complex trading methods. James is an established trader and risk expert when it comes to volatility and price. His proprietary software and systems are based on volume/price analysis and has been his main focus for more than a decade.
What is the main focus of SIFT? What problem does it solve?
The SIFT fund aims to allow people that would otherwise be unable to trade crypto effectively the ability to very easily profit from moves on these assets each day. The fund also pays a dividend each month based on the trading performance of the fund for the month before.
From their website:
What SIFT does in simple terms
SIFT trades cryptocurrency such as Bitcoin, Etherium and Litecoin each day using proprietary algorithms and systems
The profits of these trades are reinvested back in the fund each day
At the end of each month, profits made that month are paid out as dividends per share to SIFT holders
Half of the trading profits stay in the fund to increase available trading capital, and grow the NAV of the tokens each month
Clients will earn a monthly income from the dividends and will also be able to sell SIFT shares and potentially profit from the increase of the value of the fund itself
SIFT operations closely match how a traditional investment or hedge fund is managed and structured with some very unique advantages
SIFT has many unique advantages
Their algorithms use a proprietary form of volume analysis and artificial intelligence to isolate trades worthy of action
These algorithms have been time tested over 10 years in various financial and futures markets and are used by over 15,000 clients world-wide
Based on their systems they know the likely end result of a trade, how long precisely to keep a trade open, and the expected profit for each trade prior to its execution
All trades are taken by humans, the AI is there to support their decision making
They do not risk the entire fund on any single trade — a prudent reserve is always kept and allocations for each coin are detailed in their white paper.
Each cryptocurrency trading pair is risk assessed and weighted against the fund so that each individual currency also doesn’t risk the entire trading fund
They report asset values and trading account balances throughout the day and have these independently audited so that clients can confirm trades and asset values
Unlike many other ICOs offered, SIFT is based on systems, methods and software developed over 10 years and is already commercially proven in multiple markets including crypto
For a small investment (there is no minimum or maximum investment required) a client can participate and profit from the crypto markets with systems well beyond anything else that is out there.
The biggest draw for me is the dividend and the income it could provide each month. For each token you own, you will be paid a dividend based on the funds performance for the previous month. A fairly basic example is if the profits for the month equal 1.00 per share and you hold 1000 sift tokens you would receive 1000.00 for that month. You also have the token itself which should rise as the fund grows in value.
Transparency
SIFT has done a very large amount in regards to transparency, not only on their website, and whitepaper but within the coin itself. The following graphic from their whitepaper illustrates how the token uses external audits and internal audits to publish to the blockchain each part of the fund’s operations.
Wrapping up
I mentioned above the biggest draw for me was the dividend and the monthly income it will provide. There are a lot of great benefits to this offering and I think for most ICO investors, all of the check marks for a “perfect” ICO are met by this offering from SIFT. They have a proven product that has existed for nearly ten years. They have been working within crypto specifically both in development and also optimizing their trading systems since 2013. The team is fully committed to transparency. Their foundation and road map is solid. It is very likely they will do what they say they can. There is risk and like I said in the opening of this article, due diligence is extremely important. Visit their site, read over their whitepaper and join their Telegram group. The founders are active in there answering questions.
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The Uber passenger caught on camera attacking his driver wants to meet him to apologize.
Benjamin Golden is now facing legal action, not only from the Uber driver but also from the Orange County district attorney. He says he was drunk when he got into the car, but also says his behavior was inexcusable and out of character, reports CBS News correspondent Carter Evans.
Thirty-two-year-old Golden says he has no memory of his violent behavior caught on dash cam during a ride last Friday in Costa Mesa, California.
"It's not me in the video, it's not me," Golden said, crying. "It was hard to watch and I'm ashamed."
He says he lost count of how many drinks he had that night. Moments before the attack, the video shows him falling over in the back seat and arguing with the driver, Edward Caban.
"Get out of my car or I will call the police," Caban tells Golden in the video. That's when Golden snaps.
"I'm not one to get in fights. I think a lot of people that I know are in shock by what they saw," Golden said.
Caban used pepper spray to defend himself. He says he's afraid of Golden and has no intention of meeting him for an apology.
"He says it's not him, but that's the only him I know," Caban said. "That wasn't him, but it was him who had the first drink. It was him who made the decision to go out that night, and in the end, it was him who made the decision to beat me."
Man accused of attacking Uber driver apologizes
Golden was arrested shortly after he left the car.
"So the next day, I got out of jail and I didn't know what happened until I saw this video," Golden said. "My heart sank."
Following the incident, Golden was fired from his post as marketing executive of Taco Bell.
He is now facing four misdemeanor charges, including assault and battery, and could spend a year in jail.
"I've worked so hard and I've tried so hard and I had a stupid night and it's my fault and I've thrown everything away, you know," Golden said. "I'm going to make it right, and I think that's the only thing I can do."
Caban is suing for at least $25,000 for assault and intentional infliction of emotional distress.
"I don't know whether he was crying because he was so shocked that it went viral. I don't know whether he's crying because he's been outed," said Caban.
Caban has since left Uber and says they did nothing to prepare him to deal with violent passengers.
As for Golden, he says he does not think he has a drinking problem, despite pleading guilty to a DUI charge three years ago in Kentucky. He now says he is seeking counseling.
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Chance's younger brother celebrates his birthday by opening up and hopefully inspiring others to do the same.
On his single "Miserable America," Kevin Abstract fearlessly tackled his sexuality. "My boyfriend saved me, my mother's homophobic / I'm stuck in the closet, I'm so claustrophobic," sang Abstract, frustrated over the reality of being a young, gay, black man in America.
Over the past two years, several members of our writing team have tackled homophobia in hip-hop. Sure, progress has been made over the past 25 years, but we still have a long way to go. Whenever we cover Young Thug's unique approach to fashion or art, the reader comments that follow are usually a cesspool of ignorance and hatred.
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While rap was built on a foundation of hyper-masculinity, there's a new generation of artists—jackhammers in hand—who want to break through the concrete and inspire change. One of these artists is Taylor Bennett, who is so much more than just Chance's little brother.
Before turning 21 on Thursday (January 19), Bennett took to Twitter to open up about his sexuality, he says, to help others who are currently struggling with coming out as gay or bisexual to their family and friends.
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Bennett, like his big brother, understands the real impact he can make for his community—a community that, by and large, is intolerant of any lifestyle that isn't heterosexual.
In much the same way Chance has inspired Chicago's youth to get involved in local affairs and build community, Taylor's brave admission will hopefully encourage other young men and women to not feel ashamed to simply be themselves.
On January 25, Bennett will release the video for the title track off his appropriately-titled new album Broad Shoulders. A sneak preview can be seen in a video trailer below.
Applaud this man.
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It was an odd week for Kevin Owens, given WWE's dearth of credible heels. On Monday Night Raw, he lost cleanly to Dolph Ziggler, a stale act who has been treading water for the past twelve months. On Smackdown, he lost again to WWE United States Champion Kalisto, which wasn't quite so egregious, as he looked dominant before the finish and only lost via roll-up due to Ziggler distracting him. However, the message is clear: Owens is now a member of WWE's dreaded 50/50 club, someone company management deems not worthy of protection going into WrestleMania 32, because they have no big plans for him.
Company management would include former WWE wrestler Brian James, better known as The Road Dogg, who has worked as a WWE producer (or road agent) and later as a creative team member since October 2011. According to Court Bauer, he was recently made the lead writer of Smackdown. James is also a long term friend of Paul "Triple H" Levesque and has been dubbed his right-hand man by knowledgeable sources.
In a worrying sign, given that James is so influential when it comes to WWE programming, he responded on Twitter to complaints aimed at him regarding Owens' recent booking, by arguing that wins and losses don't matter, because wrestling isn't real competition:
@philgreensauce wins and losses don't count, it's about character and he's a winner! — Brian G. James (@WWERoadDogg) February 4, 2016
@philgreensauce of course I mean that, it's not real competition so how can they count? You and I just see it differently I guess. All good — Brian G. James (@WWERoadDogg) February 4, 2016
This is a similar argument to the one Triple H gave at the Needham Interconnect Conference in the summer of 2014 when he was put on the spot about UFC being competition to WWE, which he resolutely denied because professional wrestling is scripted entertainment like the Rocky film series and is more about telling stories than physical combat, although he didn't go so far as to say that who wins in WWE didn't matter. I hope that's because Hunter realises, unlike his deputy seemingly, that the timing of wins and losses in the Rocky movies was critically important to the success of their plots. For example, how can you tell a tale of the hero overcoming adversity building to his great triumph if the villain loses all the time? Indeed, my friend Charles Humphreys, felt James' defence was the dirt worst:
If wins and losses dont matter, what's the point of watching? That's worse than folks saying selling doesn't matter. https://t.co/0xfeCOe4Xw — It's Frayley (@TheFrayMovement) February 6, 2016
It's so bad that one has to wonder whether he really believes the claptrap he's spouting or if he's just rolling out a corporate line to defend bad booking or intentional sabotage/sidelining of talent?
It also shows a lack of understanding of his own career trajectory, as The New Age Outlaws went six months before cleanly losing a tag team match to one of their rivals. Without that protection, it's unlikely the duo would have ever taken off like it did, even with his charisma and "Oh, you didn't know?" catchphrase. If they had lost all the time, he would have remained an opening match geek, no matter what he did.
Having said all that, it should be unsurprising that WWE's head writer of Smackdown feels the way he does. As Smackdown reviewer Ru Gunn noted in her analysis of the Owens vs. Kalisto match for Voices of Wrestling:
"In wrestling, as a whole: strong booking decisions make decisive actions regarding strengths and weaknesses of characters; their futures; triumphs and downfalls. They let us leave having learnt more about a story than when we started. That’s why we watch, isn’t it? To feel like we’re part of something that matters, that leaves the internal universe different from when it became. WWE booking—particularly on SmackDown—is more like a metronome, swinging back and forth on a pivot equally in both directions and ultimately inconsequentially. When the metronome returns back to the vertex, nothing has been lost or gained from its previous oscillations."
Fortunately for WWE, their monopolistic business model is set up in a way that it is very hard for them to lose money, now that the WWE Network is established and it has enough subscribers to generate a modest profit. But this can be a double-edged sword, as it can lead to complacency from their creative team, as exhibited by James bragging that "last year was the most profitable year on record". That's not quite true, as WWE is expected to report an adjusted OIBDA for the full year of 2015 of $62-66 million next week, which is at healthy, but not record breaking, levels. So WWE can get away with their creative team not firing on all cylinders, but they may be storing up more problems for their future, if they continue to book talented wrestlers like Owens to lose frequently, hurting whatever momentum they build up.
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Man receives 20 years for half an ounce of marijuana
Storified by AJAMStream· Fri, Sep 27 2013 14:33:55
@Lawsonbulk this is insanity-shows what a colossal #fail #congress is on #marijuana laws & waste of #tax dollars let alone personal tragedySCVIndy
@FieldsHG The "Justice" system is just amazingMatthew Kirton
@rcooley123 That really is cruel and unusual punishment. Disgraceful.Beth Smith
One Twitter user chose to focus on the strict punishments enforced in Louisiana in particular:
@consprcy_carrot That would be legal or non-criminal in other parts of the SAME country.Rick Nothing
Another person criticized the U.S.' "War on Drugs" policy:
@jackhartmann we need to criminalize the drug war.Michelle
Although Ladd's race was withheld, some used his case to highlight the disproportionate incarceration rates that have come to characterize the War on Drugs:
@DrugPolicyNews @GreenerGA Continued SILENCE about #DrugApartheid Discrimination Policy = These Hate Crimes continuing unabated. WAKE UP!Medcanpoet
@Michelle9647 @dabreakradio This seem more personal than just, if nt colr, judge hvin a bad day.ccwriter
Others chose to pinpoint the implicit roles of private prisons in the continued policies that constitute the drug war:
@Michelle9647 They have to keep those privatized corporate prisons full. It's in their contracts.FriendofTrees
27-Year-Old Man Gets "20 Years Hard Labor" for Half Ounce of Pot.This is how they keep private prisons full http://www.alternet.org/drugs/27-year-old-man-gets-20-years-hard-labor-half-ounce-pot #CorruptAlmaz
A few felt that the punishment was warranted:
Louisiana Man Ladd Sentenced To 20 Years In Prison For Half Ounce Of Marijuana http://www.opposingviews.com/i/society/drug-law/louisiana-man-ladd-sentenced-20-years-prison-half-ounce-marijuana He's a Habitual Offender. So?David
@derekbayer @joerogan prior drug convictions, sentenced as habitual offender. Also his sentence is UP to 20 years, not a flat 20RJ Reber
@jaylee4291 But some of the cities in America are ravaged by drugs, it's a tragedy. So complicated.David Brown
What do you think about the sentence? Leave a comment below.
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B.C. Premier Christy Clark is refusing to commit to any of the recommendations from the climate leadership team she appointed last summer.
In an interview with B.C. Almanac host Gloria Macarenko, Clark was asked point-blank if she would accept any of the team's recommendations, in particular, its recommendation to resume regular increases to the carbon tax, which Clark froze in 2012.
"We've received the recommendations. We haven't sort of endorsed them," she said. "We need to really talk to people. There's a lot of recommendations, not just the one you've mentioned, so let's consult, and then decide where we're going to go next and when we want to get there."
"We are leaders now. Nobody has caught up to us. … but we want to stay leaders, so we want to act on that and act on the elements that we think could work."
Clark appointed members from B.C. businesses, First Nations, local governments, academia, and environmental groups to the team, and last week they came back with a list of 32 recommendations to help guide the province in the fight against climate change.
Those recommendations include regular $10-per-ton increases to the carbon tax starting in 2018, making B.C.'s electricity production 100 per cent renewable by 2025 and lowering the PST to offset the costs to individuals.
And while the climate leadership team believes B.C. is sure to miss its 2020 target of 33 per cent lower emissions than 2007, Clark also said she doesn't know if B.C. will be able to meet its new 2030 interim target of 40 per cent lower emissions than 2007.
Clark highlighted energy efficiency in buildings, public transportation, energy transmission and pipelines as potential future areas of work for reducing B.C.'s carbon footprint.
"Most of the emissions come from those areas, not industrial emitters," she said.
Mark Jaccard, professor at Simon Fraser University's School of Resource and Environmental Management said that Clark must take "complete" responsibility for missing emissions targets.
"Christy Clark came in in 2011 and immediately froze everything," he said. "All of that was in place and moving towards ensuring that we would hit the 2020 target by also hitting the 2012 and the 2016."
"We were in line to hit the 2012, then Christy Clark froze everything, stopped all the effort."
To hear the full story, click the audio labelled: Christy Clark won't commit to climate leadership team's recommendations
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Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak, Lil B and comedian Will Ferrell are all feeling the bern.
All three were included on a list of 128 celebrities that Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) announced had endorsed him on Friday. The list also included screenwriter Adam McKay, Flea of the Red Hot Chili Peppers and actor Jeremy Piven.
"As artists and citizens we believe it is time for government to once again represent the people and not just big money," McKay said in a statement sent by Sanders campaign. "Bernie Sanders is the only candidate speaking against the wide spread legalized corruption that has handed our government to billionaires, large corporations and banks.”
Sanders has surged ahead of former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in New Hampshire poll averages by more than 10 percentage points, according to HuffPost Pollster. Several Iowa polls have put Sanders ahead of Clinton. Polls this early in a presidential contest are not always indicators of the final outcome.
Also on HuffPost:
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Soon there will be an entire American football league built on the premise that fans should be able to choose the players and coaches that make up each of the eight inaugural teams and even pick the teams' offensive plays. The innovative league is based on the belief that fans will enjoy a product that feels more like a video game than a traditional football-watching experience.
The forthcoming league has been branded the Fan Controlled Football League (FCFL). Its uniqueness is also centered on the fact that it is powered on the Ethereum blockchain with a newly developed cryptocurrency - the FAN Token - serving as the digital currency of the league and a tool for ranking the voting power of fans when it comes to drafting players, picking coaches and calling the plays that the seven-on-seven teams carry out on the field. Each fan will be required to pick one team to support and will thereafter be ranked based on FAN Token ownership.
Over $2 million was raised by the FCFL in the first forty-eight hours of a pre-sale for the token, which is being hosted by Indiegogo. The league has capped its pre-sale at $5 million.
In total, eight teams will compete in the FCFL and they will all share the same facility in order to cut what would otherwise be a major cost in travel. Instead of playing in a stadium or arena, teams will participate in what is described as a "high tech production studio," which is intended to create a strong digital product for fans who will be watching on mobile devices around the world.
"Think about an American Ninja Warrior set," says FCFL CEO Sohrob Farudi. "Maybe 500 people are actually there, but the product itself is built for the digital audience. It will be a fifty-yard field with padded walls. The idea is to keep it indoor, smaller, fast pace."
The match-ups will be seven-on-seven and limited to one hour in length.
"We look at this league as building a real life video game," adds Farudi. "Sports is very tribal and geographic-based, but video games aren't. When you load up a game for the first time, you're drawn to a character or team for a number of factors. So we're building eight different archetypes for these teams. Different in look, feel, logo, color and we really create reasons for a fan to align."
The FCFL will host and livestream tryouts around the country. It will employ knowledgeable individuals to put profiles together on the prospects so that fans are educated about the players before the draft occurs.
Farudi believes that the structure of the league supports executing two seasons per year, because each season will last only around three months.
The concept of a fan-controlled team is certainly unique, but not a first-of-its-kind offering. In fact, those behind the FCFL were originally backers of the Salt Lake Screaming Eagles, a franchise in the ten-team Indoor Football League (IFC) that also turned over the keys of the team to the fans and will be included in the FCFL's inaugural season.
"Our original thought when we went into the Indoor Football League and bought the team was that we would license the technology to other teams, potentially buy other teams in the league, and kind of transform the IFL to the Interactive Football League," explains Farudi. "What we realized was that we were trying to fit a square peg in a round hole a little bit. We had a digitally focused, worldwide look at what we wanted to build with less focus on fans in the arena and more focus on a global digital audience. The rest of the owners in the IFL gave us an opportunity to play and were supportive, but from our point of view we thought a lot of things needed to change in the game itself. It would've taken years to convince the owners in that league for the changes we wanted to make."
Farudi, who was also the team's majority owner, says that the Screaming Eagles checked all of the boxes that he hoped to check, despite coaches and players being concerned early on as to how the fan-interaction and technology would affect them with preparation and during actual games.
"We established that real-time play technology could work and not negatively impact the game," says Farudi. "You could get the plays in to the field on time and run the plays the fans actually wanted to run."
The Screaming Eagles went 5-11 as an expansion team, but was ranked third in offense in the league. Fans participated in calling plays from around the world, including Australia, Germany, France and Asia. The play calling was integrated into a Twitch platform that also was the conduit for airing the team's final six home games.
FCFL will announce a major media partner shortly, which will also incorporate the interactivity features within its product. Farudi's goal is to have a million dollar championship purse that will be split between winning team, coaches and team's top fans. Raising $2 million in forty-eight hours and having a major media partner in the wings is a good start toward reaching that goal.
Darren Heitner is the Founder of South Florida-based HEITNER LEGAL, P.L.L.C. and Sports Agent Blog. He authored the book, How to Play the Game: What Every Sports Attorney Needs to Know.
Follow @DarrenHeitner
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Woh Genre Horror Created by Glen Baretto and Ankush Mohla Written by Based on It by Stephen King Directed by Glen Baretto and Ankush Mohla Starring See below Country of origin India Original language(s) Hindi No. of seasons 1 No. of episodes 52 Production Cinematography Deepak Malwankar Camera setup Multi-camera Release Original network Zee TV Picture format 480i (SDTV) Original release 1998
Woh (English: She) is an Hindi language Indian television horror-thriller series which aired on Zee TV in 1998. The series starred Indian film director Ashutosh Gowarikar as the main protaginist.[1] The series is a loose adaptation of Stephen King's 1986 novel It, the second adaptation of the book following the 1990 ABC miniseries of the same name albeit with many changes made to the original story including having it all take place in modern-day India as opposed to both the 1950s and modern-day America, It being a vengeful ghost instead of an ancient cosmic evil that awakens every 27 years, and scrapping the concept of the Macroverse altogether.[2]
Premise [ edit ]
Seven teenagers – Ashutosh, Raja, Julie, Shiva, Ronnie, Sanjeev, and Rahul – battle a malevolent being called Woh, who kills and kidnaps children in the form of Pennywise the Dancing Clown, and rid the town of Panchgani of him for at least 15 years. They promise that they'll return if Woh ever returns. Fifteen years after they part ways, Ashutosh starts seeing balloons, at the places where children are being killed and kidnapped. He immediately recognizes that Woh has returned and calls his friends to return. All the friends return except Sanjeev who gets killed by Woh. The day they realize it the police take the friends into custody and they narrate how they battled Woh with the help of Samidha 15 years ago. Police believe them and release them. They go and meet Samidha and she joins their group. They finish She with difficulty. The same day Ashutosh comes to know his wife is pregnant. Raja proposes to Samidha. All the friends return to their normal lives. Bad omens happen during the birth of Ashutosh's child Siddharth, his doctor and years later Ashutosh's wife's aunt is mysteriously killed. Ashutosh's friends arrive for Siddharth's 7th birthday, they realize Woh has returned in form of Siddharth. They go to the same caves and find out from the mother of Woh that he is her son who faced trouble from the society due to his short height. He committed suicide and became a vengeful ghost. The friends convince him to leave Siddharth's body and help him attain salvation. Siddharth is saved and the story ends on a good note.
Cast [ edit ]
See also [ edit ]
Hyatt's World of Hyatt ("WOH") membership program
List of Hindi horror shows
References [ edit ]
Zee TV has uploaded all the episodes to YouTube. The show is available at Woh.
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UK ambassador to Washington Peter Westmacott criticised after calling on US to use British-made missiles in Reaper drones
Britain's ambassador to Washington has been criticised by human rights campaigners after he called on the US to use British-made missiles on its Reaper drones.
Peter Westmacott, the UK's senior diplomat to the US, made the call in an article in which he said that the US military had just finished testing a British-designed missile, the dual-mode Brimstone, at a test facility in California.
"The tests successfully proved that the Brimstone is compatible with one of America's main unmanned aerial vehicles, the Reaper, and is a more accurate weapon than anything comparable on the market," wrote Westmacott in the piece for Defense One, a US defence site.
"It makes sense to buy equipment that your allies have already developed, rather than invest millions or billions of dollars of taxpayers' money to duplicate what's already available. This more cost-effective approach to procurement is especially important when budgets are tight. I'm tempted to say it's not rocket science – but in this case that's not strictly true!"
Reprieve, a London-based human rights group, wrote to the foreign secretary on Tuesday to ask what the position of the UK government was on the legality of US drone strikes in Yemen and Pakistan and what assessment it had made of the potential legal and diplomatic consequences of supplying UK-built missiles for use in strikes by the US.
Drawing attention to Westmacott's recent comments, which it described as enthusiastic salesmanship, Reprieve said: "As you will be aware, the Reaper – along with its smaller cousin, the Predator is best known for its use by the CIA and other secretive US agencies in carrying out covert strikes in Yemen and Pakistan."
"Such strikes are in violation of international law, and known to have killed large numbers of civilians outside of declared war zones."
Reprieve claimed that the potential future supply of such missiles was "an alarming prospect when one considers that, as recently as December, one such strike was reported as having 'turn[ed] a wedding into a funeral'."
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The colder temperatures have wreaked havoc with Mother Nature’s schedule here and throughout the West and the Northwest, altering people’s expectations of what they could and could not do this summer. In some areas, visitors were skiing in their bathing suits on the Fourth of July. In other cases, the unseasonable weather may have contributed to various accidents and deaths.
Here, at one of the jewels in the crown of the national park system, hikers have met closed roads and trails too dangerous to try. Rangers are advising hikers to use ice axes and crampons, equipment they normally do not need.
“There has never been this amount of snow, and it stopped us from doing things we would usually do,” Carol Larkin, 66, of Richland said the other day as she and her husband, Dave, 67, changed out of their hiking boots at a rest stop beneath towering Douglas firs near the mountain’s base.
They have hiked here every year since 1990 and wanted to keep up their ritual, even if it was curtailed. They said they encountered some people along the trail who turned back after seeing the snow and others who were unprepared but nonetheless forged ahead.
“I was amazed at some of the people we saw on the trail,” Mrs. Larkin said. “They didn’t have poles. One person was in flip-flops.”
People can be caught off guard here because the weather on this glacier-capped mountain, which sits just 100 miles east of the Pacific Ocean, is so changeable. The location, the park service says, means that Rainier “makes its own weather.”
It also acts as its own billboard advertisement, because it is so big and can be seen from so far away. “If the weather is poor and you can’t see the mountain, you don’t come,” Ms. Hannevig said.
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The amount of snow still on the ground, as measured at Paradise, the park’s main visitor area, is setting records. Last Sunday, it set a record of 44 inches, said Stefan Lofgren, the park’s mountaineering district ranger. The previous record for Aug. 7 was 40 inches, set in 1974.
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Another record was set Tuesday, when 43 inches remained on the ground. Mr. Lofgren said he expected records for another couple of weeks. At this elevation (5,400 feet), Paradise normally gets about 630 inches of snow a year, but this year it received a whopping 907 inches.
This is not the most snow ever for what rangers call “one of the snowiest places on Earth,” but it is close. The difference this year was the extended low temperatures in the spring and summer, which brought some of the coldest months on record in more than 100 years, preventing the snow from melting.
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“It will probably be the third week of August until subalpine meadows in Washington State will be free of snow,” Mr. Lofgren said.
For mountain climbers, the persistent snow has extended the climbing season, often creating firm-enough bridges over weak spots that might otherwise collapse into deep crevasses and swallow up even an experienced climber.
Moore Phillips, 24, a student who lives in Chapel Hill, N.C., was preparing to climb Rainier’s summit the other day via Liberty Ridge, one of the mountain’s most exposed and challenging routes.
When the snow is gone, he said, “the rock fall is like a bowling alley,” and that, combined with weak bridges, normally makes this climb too perilous so late in the season. “If there wasn’t this snow,” he said, “we couldn’t do Liberty.”
Liberty Ridge is where an experienced climber, Rob Plankers, 50, of Olympia, apparently slid to his death in June. Despite having proper gear, he got hypothermia and frostbite, park spokesmen said, and others in his party left him to seek help. Mr. Plankers then apparently slid to his death 2,000 feet down a steep and icy slope. Foul weather and ferocious winds hampered recovery efforts.
Rob Reuter, 49, an environmental engineer in Seattle, climbed to the summit last weekend with friends. The sun was strong during the day, and some of the snow started to melt, making for an unexpectedly slushy and slippery descent. “Coming down was more treacherous than normal,” he said. “The snow bridges were starting to collapse and it was a little scary at times. It took an extra hour and a half.”
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While conditions are still good for climbers, Mr. Lofgren, the ranger, said, 1,200 fewer climbers tried to reach the summit this year compared with last year. (Generally, about 10,500 climbers a year try and about half make it.) “Ironically,” he said, “the foggy, cold, snowy, windy weather that has preserved favorable climbing conditions often make it impossible to climb.”
But in his view, the bad weather is only part of the story. Another factor, he said, is the economy. Not only is climbing expensive — equipment alone can cost $2,500 — but gas prices have been high. And then the stock market began its wild gyrations, creating new anxiety. (Studies show that those who climb Rainier make an average of $90,000 a year, so it would not be surprising if many were invested in the market.)
“The number of climbers on the mountain has just as much to do with the Dow Jones and the Consumer Price Index as it has to do with weather conditions,” Mr. Lofgren said.
“If the stock market hadn’t just crashed,” he said, “we would have had a whole lot more people coming to the park.”
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As the world's most pathetic patriarch, Frank Gallagher (Macy) is known for drowning his sorrows with buckets full of booze, cough medicine, rubbing alcohol—basically he'll drink whatever it takes to make his words slur. However, Jeremy Allen White promises that fans are going to see "a new kind of Frank" this season.
Introducing…Sober Frank! At the end of season three, Frank realized that his party-hard lifestyle has finally caught up with him and he needs to eliminate all liquor from his diet. So how is Frank going to curb his cravings? One rule: No more alcohol, just drugs. Way to stay classy, Frank! Macy explains, "His whole goal is to get himself healthy again so he can get back to the bar and back to his life."
Ready for ever more dysfunctional family fun? Of course you are! Take a look above at our exclusive behind-the-scenes trailer for Shameless' fourth season to find out what's ahead for Fiona, Lip and all the rest of the chaotically crazy Gallagher brood.
Season four of Shameless premieres Sunday, Jan. 12, at 9 p.m. on Showtime.
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Image caption Recovery of the bodies: Difficult and dangerous
Between 20 and 25 bodies, thought to be the victims of drug gang violence, have been found in an abandoned silver mine in southern Mexico, officials say.
The bodies appeared to have been thrown down a 200m (650ft) ventilation shaft over a period of time, police said.
The mine is near the city of Taxco in Guerrero state, a focal point for drug-related violence that has claimed some 23,000 lives nationwide since 2006.
A tip-off from a person arrested on Friday sparked the search.
Police and soldiers have been using breathing equipment as they descend deep underground to recover the bodies.
Many of the corpses had their hands and feet tied, Mexican media reported.
The mine is located near Taxco, a colonial era city popular with tourists.
While much of the drug violence over the past four years has been in northern Mexico, in particular in areas bordering the US, other regions have not been immune.
Guerrero, in the south and with a Pacific coastline, has also seen vicious bouts of bloodshed amid bitter turf wars for control of the trade in illegal drugs.
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Now that the dust has settled on the 2016 presidential election, it’s time to think about what the next four years will look like. As a former cop and current police spokesman, I’m particularly concerned about what the immediate future holds for the brave men and women in blue who patrol the increasingly dangerous streets of America.
After suffering through eight years of an administration at war with law enforcement, we need a president who understands that cops do a difficult, important job that keeps us all safe. Too many have forgotten that or devalued the job police do.
Or worse.
Police killings are up over 70 percent in 2016, and fatal ambushes are up by over 150 percent. A downward trend in fatal assaults of peace officers ended in 2013. That’s because murders of police have been up every year since Michael Brown died trying to disarm a Ferguson, Missouri, police officer in 2014. It has resulted in the “Ferguson Effect,” responsible for a sharp increase in violent crime, murder and attacks on cops coupled with a general tendency toward lawlessness in our urban centers. America is a considerably less safe place because of it, and policing is more hazardous than ever. Our hometown heroes, it seems, need a hero of their own.
This is where you come in, President-elect Trump.
We’re asking you, Mr. Trump, to save us (cops) and to save US (the United States – a nation of laws, a nation of order, a nation of enduring principles).
You’re off to a good start. You said all the right things on the campaign trail, keenly recognizing the complexities of modern-day police work and fearlessly rejecting the false narratives abounding that portray cops as racially biased, trigger-happy, soulless storm troopers. Contrast that with your opponent who parroted the same tired, baseless criticisms of police the Obama administration has advanced for eight years. She then had the audacity to invite the mothers of would-be cop killers to join her on the stage at the Democratic Convention, a slap in the face to police officers, their families and their supporters.
I believe that was the moment the winds changed in the 2016 election. In fact, I expect historians to remember it as the moment you sealed your victory, Mr. Trump.
Before then, law officers and law-abiding citizens seemed fairly indifferent to the outcome of this election. But the battle line etched in the sand by the convention gaff turned law and order into a wedge issue in this election. And a decisive one at that.
This tide-turner, I posit, set things in motion for my union, the Fraternal Order of Police, to become the only major labor union to endorse the Trump-Pence ticket. That’s a big deal. The FOP endorsement is one of the most coveted endorsements in politics with nearly 350,000 members and millions of citizens who are influenced by our seal of approval.
The demonizing of police: How far will it go? Get a cop’s-eye view of the current climate against law enforcement with Jeff Roorda’s “The War on Police: How the Ferguson Effect is Making America Unsafe”
Before the convention, it seemed like the FOP was going to pinch its nose and stay neutral in the presidential election. That was the conventional wisdom anyway. The FOP lodge I manage in St. Louis had already decided to cast its vote for no endorsement in the state-by-state process the union uses to determine how to proceed in national elections. But after Clinton’s “Mothers of the Movement” blunder, I implored my board to call an emergency meeting, rescind their previous vote and cast their preference for a Trump endorsement. As one of the largest lodges in the Midwest, we set an example that many others followed, parlaying the FOP endorsement for the Trump camp and delivering an upset victory that was touted by the press as improbable, almost impossible.
Now, sir, you must govern. That’s no small task in a nation as vast, diverse and divided as this one. We are only divided as a nation when it comes to public safety because our leaders have told us to be. If you lead us in a different way and remind us all that we have a shared stake in the peace and security of our commonwealth, rational people will follow your lead.
After all, those who vilify policing are acting irrationally. They do so under the banner of “black lives matter” or “no justice, no peace” but everyone suffers under that mantra, most predominantly blacks whose lives are lost and whose peace is disrupted at an alarmingly disproportionate rate when cops’ jobs are made harder.
Here’s what we need from you, Mr. President-elect. Protect our due process rights so that we’re not afraid to do our job. Proposals to change the rules of evidence, the standard of guilt or the rights against self-incrimination when it comes to charges against police officers are not only repugnant to the Constitution, they would result in the total shutdown of law enforcement and a return to the rip-roaring days of the Old West.
We also need to end meddling in local affairs. The framers of the Constitution abhorred the idea of a national police force – that’s one of those enduring principles I spoke of earlier. But Obama’s Department of Justice has been busy federalizing law enforcement one police department at a time through consent decrees, collaborative reform agreements and other bullying tactics that represent unabashed government overreach.
While you’re at it, let’s stop calling life-saving protective gear “militarized equipment.” I’ve personally seen the MRAP’s that were used in Ferguson. Every one of them is scarred with bullet dings that each represent a cop we’d have buried if those armored vehicles hadn’t been deployed. Level 4 vests have been called intimidating militarized equipment that provoke riots, but if they would have been deployed at that fateful Black Lives Matter protest in Dallas, we’d have had five fewer police funerals this year.
One more thing: Don’t take away our right to influence workplace safety and working conditions through agreements with our employers. BLM spinoff group “Project Zero” has made eliminating or diluting police union contracts its top priority. Please don’t be their ally in that unjust crusade. You would never align yourself with Black Lives Matters’ radical agenda in any other area. Don’t make this your common ground with cop haters. The only thing that has saved working police officers for the last three years have been the protections we’ve negotiated in our union contracts.
Finally, there just aren’t enough of us. We are in the midst of a national crisis when it comes to recruiting and retaining police officers. Most major departments are down by more than 10 percent of their pre-Ferguson staffing levels. And we were already understaffed then. Re-authorize the COPS grants of the ’90s and make additional federal funds available so that local police agencies can afford to pay their officers a competitive salary. That will help with recruiting and retention but not as much as ending the senseless slaughter of police. When the job becomes safer, people will return to the profession.
All it takes to make the job safer is honesty and candor. And you, Mr. Trump, are known for your candor. If you use the Oval Office as the base of operations for rejecting the false narratives that have been manufactured about police, you will instantly see a normalizing of relations between cops and the communities they serve and a return to some semblance of peace and safety.
In other words, save us and you’ll save US.
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Why I am running:
I am running for Mayor to offer a representative voice to Berkeley Heights. One to protect the tax payers and to represent all of the residents. Berkeley Heights absolutely needs a problem solver who can provide solutions and question initiatives that may not have the residents best interest at heart. I will approach the job honestly and with integrity and humility.
I will focus on two main initiatives:
Reduction of Municipal Taxes Improvement of Communication / Transparency
It is important to have someone who can offer a different perspective creating a smaller governement and focusing on lowering taxes.
I will do all I can to greatly improve communication and transparency. It is imprerative that the Town Government do as much as it can to ensure that people who are interested get the level of information that they desire.
It would be my honor to serve Berkeley Heights. I will bring ideals of Liberty and Prosperity to the Council. It is my honor running to serve Berkeley Heights.
About me:
My name is Edmund Thomas Maciejewski. I was born and raised in Union County and have lived in Berkeley Heights for the past 13 years. I have worked in the financial industry as a technologist. I currently run a small fund from home which allows me time to work on my campaign and on solving town issues.. I have a degree in Chemical Engineering from NJIT.
I have been married for 23 years. I have two children in the Berkeley Heights school district. I also have a daughter who has graduated Seton Hall University and Stetson Law and is a member of the NJ State Bar. My mother, Margaret Maciejewski, lives in town and is part of the senior community. I enjoy travel, photography, crossfit and physics. As a traveler I have travelled through 25+ countries and over 30 states
I worked in Tower 1 of the World Trade Center for Lehman Brothers on 9/11 and survived the attack. The events after the attack have partially molded my political principles.
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An agnostic led his town’s City Council in a prayer Monday to protest the regular practice before government functions.
Steve Vincent said he was surprised to learn that each City Council meeting begins with a prayer, and he became particularly irritated during an online discussion with neighbors about a “Celebration of Faith” held earlier this year by Rancho Cordova’s community council.
Vincent said he became a legally ordained minister online as a member of the “Pastafarian” Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster – a process he said was free and took about five seconds.
The community council granted his request to give the invocation, which cannot be sectarian or disparage any other faith.
Vincent used his invocation to cast doubt not only on the existence of God, but also whether such displays are appropriate in a community government setting.
“God? I’m not sure if you’re there,” Vincent said during his invocation. “You’re an agenda item on our government meeting. I’m not sure that’s what you had in mind for prayer, God.”
Vincent said he hopes others from less mainstream faiths will sign up to give the invocation.
“Let’s get Scientologists and Wiccans and everybody to come pray,” he said. “The more the merrier.”
KPLC 7 News, Lake Charles, Louisiana
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Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield blasted off into space this morning aboard a Soyuz spacecraft and is on his way to the International Space Station, where he is set to make history.
Hadfield, American Tom Marshburn and Russian Roman Romanenko lifted off at 7:12 a.m. ET (6:12 p.m. local time) in the freezing steppes of Baikonur, Kazakhstan, where temperatures were hovering around –30 C.
The astronauts could be seen waving, and giving the thumbs-up inside the spacecraft.
Just a few hours after the launch, Hadfield's sons took over their father's Twitter account and posted a message. "The Soyuz launch was an incredibly emotional experience," they wrote. "Godspeed, Dad. Your achievement has literally brought us all to tears."
Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield waves prior to the Soyuz launch at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on Wednesday. (Dmitry Lovetsky/Associated Press)
Hadfield's sons will be posting on his Twitter account over the next few days.
The current Soyuz is an upgraded version of the unmanned spacecraft first used by the Soviet space program in 1966.
All three had been in Baikonur for the past two weeks to prepare for the trip, which includes a two-day journey to the International Space Station, where they will be in orbit for five months. Hadfield will take over command of the ISS in March — the first time a Canadian has done so.
"Yes I'll take it seriously and yes it's important for Canada, but for me as just a Canadian kid, it makes me want to shout and laugh and do cartwheels," Hadfield told CBC News recently.
The crew will spend 147 days in orbit before their scheduled landing on May 14.
Canadians at home and abroad will be watching Hadfield's journey closely. Gov. Gen. David Johnston joined other officials at the Canadian Space Agency east of Montreal on Wednesday to watch the spacecraft carrying the Canadian astronaut blast off.
"What a great day to be here at the Canadian Space Agency, a great day for Canada, a great day for the world of discovery and innovation," Johnston said. "We're so proud that Chris Hadfield is now up in space, the first Canadian to be commanding the space station."
Former Canadian astronaut Robert Thirsk, who also watched the launch from the space agency, added, "Pride is what I feel. I'm part of this Canadian astronaut corps which has existed for over a quarter century now. We've taken small baby steps which have culminated today."
Hadfield, a Milton, Ont., native, still can’t believe what he's about to do.
"You expect someone to come in and go, 'Wait a minute, you aren't a guy that could command a spaceship, come on.' You expect to get busted by somebody because it's just such an unlikely thing to ever happen in your life, and so it absolutely thrills me just as a person."
Influences include Star Trek
For Hadfield, it’s a pinnacle of achievement that’s been 20 years in the making.
A Canadian Forces fighter pilot with a mechanical engineering degree from the Royal Military College in Kingston, Ont., Hadfield was chosen to become one of four new Canadian astronauts in 1992.
Since then, he's flown on two NASA space shuttle flights and was the first Canadian to operate the Canadarm in orbit. He has done two spacewalks, and was the first Canadian to float freely in space. Training for the space station mission has consumed the past four years.
Among his many influences, he names the movie 2001: A Space Odyssey and the TV series Star Trek, recalling that one of his childhood heroes was fictional: "You know, James Tiberius Kirk commanding the Enterprise."
Hadfield says he didn’t need another space flight for personal fulfilment.
"I instead feel an obligation to fulfil this role, to do this thing right. I would not have felt hard done by if I didn’t get a third space flight."
Nonetheless, he is going on another space journey and orbiting for six months — quite long for a human body, which means the muscles, the heart and bones tend to atrophy.
'An incredible accomplishment'
The Soyuz TMA-07M spacecraft sits at its launch pad at Baikonur, Kazahkstan, before it blasted off Wednesday morning. (Shamil Zhumatov/Reuters)
Marc Garneau, the first Canadian to shuttle into outer space, says he's proud of Hadfield's accomplishments and wishes him well.
"This is a first," he said Tuesday. "The first [Canadian] commander of the International Space Station."
"That's an incredible accomplishment. He's an incredible guy."
Thirsk, the last Canadian astronaut to go into space for a long-duration flight, said he had offered one piece of advice to Hadfield: enjoy it.
"Just to enjoy the fact that you're up there. Take time to look out the window, fly around like Superman.… Make sure you enjoy those moments. That's what you'll miss the most when you come back home."
Space music
One of the things Hadfield is looking forward to aboard the ISS is a special song set to premiere on Feb. 8, which will be featured on CBC-TV, radio and CBCMusic.ca
"It'll be really nice to be able to play music, to try and capture the experience as best I can," Hadfield said of his song about space flight, Is Somebody Singing? or ISS, which he wrote with Ed Robertson of the Barenaked Ladies.
Starting in January, CBCMusic will team up with Hadfield and Robertson to produce a series of blog posts, behind the scene photo galleries and playlists.
Also while aboard the ISS, Hadfield will also be involved with more than 130 experiments, including Microflow, a Canadian blood-sampling experiment that he compared to a hospital in a box.
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The Obama administration's enthusiasm for high-speed rail is a dispiriting example of government's inability to learn from past mistakes. Since 1971, the federal government has poured almost $35 billion in subsidies into Amtrak with few public benefits. At most, we've gotten negligible reductions -- invisible and statistically insignificant -- in congestion, oil use or greenhouse gases. What's mainly being provided is subsidized transportation for a small sliver of the population. In a country where 140 million people go to work every day, Amtrak has 78,000 daily passengers. A typical trip is subsidized by about $50.
Given this, you'd think even the dullest politician wouldn't expand rail subsidies, especially considering the almost $11 trillion in projected federal budget deficits between now and 2019. But no, the administration has made high-speed rail a top priority. It's already proposed spending $13 billion ($8 billion in the "stimulus" package and $1 billion annually for five years) as a down payment on high-speed rail in 10 "corridors," including Philadelphia to Pittsburgh and Houston to New Orleans.
The White House promises fabulous benefits. High-speed rail "will loosen the congestion suffocating our highways and skyways," says Vice President Biden. A high-speed rail system would eliminate carbon dioxide emissions "equal to removing 1 million cars from our roads," adds the president. Relieve congestion. Fight global warming. Reduce oil imports. The vision is seductive. The audience is willing. Many Americans love trains and regard other countries' systems (say, Spain's rapid trains between Madrid and Barcelona, running at about 150 mph) as evidence of U.S. technological inferiority.
There's only one catch: The vision is a mirage. The costs of high-speed rail would be huge, and the public benefits meager.
President Obama's network may never be built. It's doubtful private investors will advance the money, and once government officials acknowledge the full costs, they'll retreat. In a recent report, the Government Accountability Office cited a range of construction costs, from $22 million a mile to $132 million a mile. Harvard economist Edward Glaeser figures $50 million a mile might be a plausible average. A 250-mile system would cost $12.5 billion and 10 systems, $125 billion.
That would be only the beginning. Ticket prices would surely be subsidized; otherwise, no one would ride the trains. Would all the subsidies be justified by public benefits -- less congestion, fewer highway accidents, lower greenhouse gases?
In a blog-posted analysis, Glaeser made generous assumptions for trains ("Personally, I almost always prefer trains to driving") and still found that costs vastly outweigh benefits. Consider Obama's claim about removing the equivalent of 1 million cars. Even if it came true (doubtful), it would represent less than one-half of 1 percent of the 254 million registered vehicles in 2007.
What works in Europe and Asia won't in the United States. Even abroad, passenger trains are subsidized. But the subsidies are more justifiable because geography and energy policies differ.
Densities are much higher, and high densities favor rail with direct connections between heavily populated city centers and business districts. In Japan, density is 880 people per square mile; it's 653 in Britain, 611 in Germany and 259 in France. By contrast, plentiful land in the United States has led to suburbanized homes, offices and factories. Density is 86 people per square mile. Trains can't pick up most people where they live and work and take them to where they want to go. Cars can.
Distances also matter. America is big; trips are longer. Beyond 400 to 500 miles, fast trains can't compete with planes. Finally, Europe and Japan tax car transportation more heavily, pushing people to trains. In August 2008, notes the GAO, gasoline in Japan was $6.50 a gallon. Americans regard $4 a gallon as an outrage. Proposals for stiff gasoline taxes (advocated by many, including me) go nowhere.
The mythology of high-speed rail is not just misinformed; it's antisocial. Governments at all levels are already overburdened. Compounding the burdens with new wasteful subsidies would squeeze spending for more vital needs -- schools, police and (ironically) mass transit. High-speed rail could divert funds from mass-transit systems that, according to a study by Randal O'Toole of the Cato Institute, have huge maintenance backlogs: $16 billion in Chicago; $17 billion in New York; $12.2 billion in Washington; $5.8 billion in San Francisco. Any high-speed rail system should be financed locally; states should decide their transportation priorities.
All this seems familiar, because it's Amtrak writ large: the triumph of fantasy over fact. The same false arguments used to justify Amtrak (less congestion, pollution, etc.) are recycled. Evidence and experience count for little. Obama and Biden pander to popular prejudices instead of recognizing past failure. Boondoggles become respectable. A White House so frivolous in embracing dubious spending cannot be believed when it professes concern about future taxes and budget deficits.
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Some of you might already heard of the Australian guys that are trying to build a live scale E-100. After quite a long time, they made a status update on their Facebook page, letting everyone know what’s up.
Let me quote them: ” Hello!
It’s been some time since our last update so here’s what’s been happening:
-After some time and much confusion between the company WarGaming, we’ve finally made contact with them again, they’ve also been receptive to the idea of providing support. However we’re awaiting a further reply to get confirmation and begin the contracting process.
– We’ve had a big opportunity regarding a permanent residence for our build and assembly site, along with (possibly) our company and museum HQ. Of course the latter being much later down the track, but this land looks fantastic and I’ll likely have pictures for you soon! Once confirmed, we’ll share details, however for now the rough location is central QLD, Australia.
– Currently our focus is on hiring experienced metal fabricators and engineers of various types. These individuals will partake on the physical build along with providing training courses for those with basic training in metalworks. Not only is this a way for us to thank you for helping us with the build, it also gives you the skills to continue doing great things within the trade, possibly further construction/restoration work? But that part’s a secret.
Any individuals interested in this program, contact the page directly and I’ll be happy to chat with you about details! – Our next priority is raw material, and plenty of it. We’ll be hoarding as much heat-treated steel as possible and readying it for fabrication into tank parts! Having the location confirmed was a big step towards this, as this gives us a place to store said metal and begin the slow steps to shaping the hull.
As always, if you’re an entity or represent one who has access to said metal, feel free to contact us. We’re always open to donations and are more than happy to sponsor your company name in a variety of ways. – Recently a few individuals have doubted the integrity of the project and our funding platform. I can understand how it might seem like an impossible task, however my team and I are determined to make it a reality. This page and our crowd-funding page is for those who are interested in the project and the vehicle we’re constructing, along with those willing to donate, if you’re unsure about donating, we urge you to ask questions, or simply wait for a while. Especially for these early preparation stages the donations are aimed at tank/history enthusiasts, people who know us personally and company entities. As always if you have any questions, leave them below. We urge you to look over previous Q&A posts before posting though. Thanks guys! We’re all really excited. ” We are (at least I am) really excited as well. I hope this works out for them and that Wargaming will give their full support, so that we can all see how this beast should have looked like on the front. It’s going to be an interesting one, I bet.
However, they do have a problem. Quite a bad one, actually, since nothing in this world comes free, unfortunately. Currently they are trying to raise money for their project and they’re looking for help. Here is their FundRazr link, you can also find more info about the project there as well.
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Special thanks to Gavin Wood for prompting my interest into abstraction improvements, and Martin Becze, Vlad Zamfir and Dominic Williams for ongoing discussions.
For a long time we have been public about our plans to continue improving the Ethereum protocol over time and our long development roadmap, learning from our mistakes that we either did not have the opportunity to fix in time for 1.0 or only realized after the fact. However, the Ethereum protocol development cycle has started up once again, with a Homestead release coming very soon, and us quietly starting to develop proof-of-concepts for the largest milestone that we had placed for ourselves in our development roadmap: Serenity.
Serenity is intended to have two major feature sets: abstraction, a concept that I initially expanded on in this blog post here, and Casper, our security-deposit-based proof of stake algorithm. Additionally, we are exploring the idea of adding at least the scaffolding that will allow for the smooth deployment over time of our scalability proposals, and at the same time completely resolve parallelizability concerns brought up here - an instant very large gain for private blockchain instances of Ethereum with nodes being run in massively multi-core dedicated servers, and even the public chain may see a 2-5x improvement in scalability. Over the past few months, research on Casper and formalization of scalability and abstraction (eg. with EIP 101) have been progressing at a rapid pace between myself, Vlad Zamfir, Lucius Greg Meredith and a few others, and now I am happy to announce that the first proof of concept release for Serenity, albeit in a very limited form suitable only for testing, is now available.
The PoC can be run by going into the ethereum directory and running python test.py (make sure to download and install the latest Serpent from https://github.com/ethereum/serpent, develop branch); if the output looks something like this then you are fine:
[email protected] 15:01:03 serenity/ethereum: python test.py REVERTING 940534 gas from account 0x0000000000000000000000000000000000000000 to account 0x98c78be58d729dcdc3de9efb3428820990e4e3bf with data 0x Warning (file "casper.se.py", line 74, char 0): Warning: function return type inconsistent! Running with 13 maximum nodes Warning (file "casper.se.py", line 74, char 0): Warning: function return type inconsistent! Warning (file "casper.se.py", line 74, char 0): Warning: function return type inconsistent! Length of validation code: 57 Length of account code: 0 Joined with index 0 Length of validation code: 57 Length of account code: 0 Joined with index 1 Length of validation code: 57
This is a simulation of 13 nodes running the Casper+Serenity protocol at a 5-second block time; this is fairly close to the upper limit of what the client can handle at the moment, though note that (i) this is python, and C++ and Go will likely show much higher performance, and (ii) this is all nodes running on one computer at the same time, so in a more "normal" environment it means you can expect python Casper to be able to handle at least ~169 nodes (though, on the other hand, we want consensus overhead to be much less than 100% of CPU time, so these two caveats combined do NOT mean that you should expect to see Casper running with thousands of nodes!). If your computer is too slow to handle the 13 nodes, try python test.py 10 to run the simulation with 10 nodes instead (or python test.py 7 for 7 nodes, etc). Of course, research on improving Casper's efficiency, though likely at the cost of somewhat slower convergence to finality, is still continuing, and these problems should reduce over time. The network.py file simulates a basic P2P network interface; future work will involve swapping this out for actual computers running on a real network.
The code is split up into several main files as follows:
serenity_blocks.py - the code that describes the block class, the state class and the block and transaction-level transition functions (about 2x simpler than before)
- the code that describes the block class, the state class and the block and transaction-level transition functions (about 2x simpler than before) serenity_transactions.py - the code that describes transactions (about 2x simpler than before)
- the code that describes transactions (about 2x simpler than before) casper.se.py - the serpent code for the Casper contract, which incentivizes correct betting
- the serpent code for the Casper contract, which incentivizes correct betting bet.py - Casper betting strategy and full client implementation
- Casper betting strategy and full client implementation ecdsa_accounts.py - account code that allows you to replicate the account validation functionality available today in a Serenity context
- account code that allows you to replicate the account validation functionality available today in a Serenity context test.py - the testing script
- the testing script config.py - config parameters
- config parameters vm.py - the virtual machine (faster implementation at fastvm.py )
- the virtual machine (faster implementation at ) network.py - the network simulator
For this article, we will focus on the abstraction features and so serenity_blocks.py , ecdsa_accounts.py and serenity_transactions.py are most critical; for the next article discussing Casper in Serenity, casper.se.py and bet.py will be a primary focus.
Abstraction and Accounts
Currently, there are two types of accounts in Ethereum: externally owned accounts, controlled by a private key, and contracts, controlled by code. For externally owned accounts, we specify a particular digital signature algorithm (secp256k1 ECDSA) and a particular sequence number (aka. nonce) scheme, where every transaction must include a sequence number one higher than the previous, in order to prevent replay attacks. The primary change that we will make in order to increase abstraction is this: rather than having these two distinct types of accounts, we will now have only one - contracts. There is also a special "entry point" account, 0x0000000000000000000000000000000000000000 , that anyone can send from by sending a transaction. Hence, instead of the signature+nonce verification logic of accounts being in the protocol, it is now up to the user to put this into a contract that will be securing their own account.
The simplest kind of contract that is useful is probably the ECDSA verification contract, which simply provides the exact same functionality that is available right now: transactions pass through only if they have valid signatures and sequence numbers, and the sequence number is incremented by 1 if a transaction succeeds. The code for the contract looks as follows:
# We assume that data takes the following schema: # bytes 0-31: v (ECDSA sig) # bytes 32-63: r (ECDSA sig) # bytes 64-95: s (ECDSA sig) # bytes 96-127: sequence number (formerly called "nonce") # bytes 128-159: gasprice # bytes 172-191: to # bytes 192-223: value # bytes 224+: data # Get the hash for transaction signing ~mstore(0, ~txexecgas()) ~calldatacopy(32, 96, ~calldatasize() - 96) ~mstore(0, ~sha3(0, ~calldatasize() - 64)) ~calldatacopy(32, 0, 96) # Call ECRECOVER contract to get the sender ~call(5000, 1, 0, 0, 128, 0, 32) # Check sender correctness; exception if not if ~mload(0) != 0x82a978b3f5962a5b0957d9ee9eef472ee55b42f1: ~invalid() # Sequence number operations with minusone = ~sub(0, 1): with curseq = self.storage[minusone]: # Check sequence number correctness, exception if not if ~calldataload(96) != curseq: ~invalid() # Increment sequence number self.storage[minusone] = curseq + 1 # Make the sub-call and discard output with x = ~msize(): ~call(msg.gas - 50000, ~calldataload(160), ~calldataload(192), 160, ~calldatasize() - 224, x, 1000) # Pay for gas ~mstore(0, ~calldataload(128)) ~mstore(32, (~txexecgas() - msg.gas + 50000)) ~call(12000, ETHER, 0, 0, 64, 0, 0) ~return(x, ~msize() - x)
This code would sit as the contract code of the user's account; if the user wants to send a transaction, they would send a transaction (from the zero address) to this account, encoding the ECDSA signature, the sequence number, the gasprice, destination address, ether value and the actual transaction data using the encoding specified above in the code. The code checks the signature against the transaction gas limit and the data provided, and then checks the sequence number, and if both are correct it then increments the sequence number, sends the desired message, and then at the end sends a second message to pay for gas (note that miners can statically analyze accounts and refuse to process transactions sending to accounts that do not have gas payment code at the end).
An important consequence of this is that Serenity introduces a model where all transactions (that satisfy basic formatting checks) are valid; transactions that are currently "invalid" will in Serenity simply have no effect (the invalid opcode in the code above simply points to an unused opcode, immediately triggering an exit from code execution). This does mean that transaction inclusion in a block is no longer a guarantee that the transaction was actually executed; to substitute for this, every transaction now gets a receipt entry that specifies whether or not it was successfully executed, providing one of three return codes: 0 (transaction not executed due to block gas limit), 1 (transaction executed but led to error), 2 (transaction executed successfully); more detailed information can be provided if the transaction returns data (which is now auto-logged) or creates its own logs.
The main very large benefit of this is that it gives users much more freedom to innovate in the area of account policy; possible directions include:
Bitcoin-style multisig , where an account expects signatures from multiple public keys at the same time before sending a transaction, rather than accepting signatures one at a time and saving intermediate results in storage
, where an account expects signatures from multiple public keys at the same time before sending a transaction, rather than accepting signatures one at a time and saving intermediate results in storage Other elliptic curves , including ed25519
, including ed25519 Better integration for more advanced crypto , eg. ring signatures, threshold signatures, ZKPs
, eg. ring signatures, threshold signatures, ZKPs More advanced sequence number schemes that allow for higher degrees of parallelization, so that users can send many transactions from one account and have them included more quickly; think a combination of a traditional sequence number and a bitmask. One can also include timestamps or block hashes into the validity check in various clever ways.
that allow for higher degrees of parallelization, so that users can send many transactions from one account and have them included more quickly; think a combination of a traditional sequence number and a bitmask. One can also include timestamps or block hashes into the validity check in various clever ways. UTXO-based token management - some people dislike the fact that Ethereum uses accounts instead of Bitcoin's "unspent transaction output" (UTXO) model for managing token ownership, in part for privacy reasons. Now, you can create a system inside Ethereum that actually is UTXO-based, and Serenity no longer explicitly "privileges" one over the other.
- some people dislike the fact that Ethereum uses accounts instead of Bitcoin's "unspent transaction output" (UTXO) model for managing token ownership, in part for privacy reasons. Now, you can create a system inside Ethereum that actually is UTXO-based, and Serenity no longer explicitly "privileges" one over the other. Innovation in payment schemes - for some dapps, "contract pays" is a better model than "sender pays" as senders may not have any ether; now, individual dapps can implement such models, and if they are written in a way that miners can statically analyze and determine that they actually will get paid, then they can immediately accept them (essentially, this provides what Rootstock is trying to do with optional author-pays, but in a much more abstract and flexible way).
- for some dapps, "contract pays" is a better model than "sender pays" as senders may not have any ether; now, individual dapps can implement such models, and if they are written in a way that miners can statically analyze and determine that they actually will get paid, then they can immediately accept them (essentially, this provides what Rootstock is trying to do with optional author-pays, but in a much more abstract and flexible way). Stronger integration for "ethereum alarm clock"-style applications - the verification code for an account doesn't have to check for signatures, it could also check for Merkle proofs of receipts, state of other accounts, etc
In all of these cases, the primary point is that through abstraction all of these other mechanisms become much easier to code as there is no longer a need to create a "pass-through layer" to feed the information in through Ethereum's default signature scheme; when no application is special, every application is.
One particular interesting consequence is that with the current plan for Serenity, Ethereum will be optionally quantum-safe; if you are scared of the NSA having access to a quantum computer, and want to protect your account more securely, you can personally switch to Lamport signatures at any time. Proof of stake further bolsters this, as even if the NSA had a quantum computer and no one else they would not be able to exploit that to implement a 51% attack. The only cryptographic security assumption that will exist at protocol level in Ethereum is collision-resistance of SHA3.
As a result of these changes, transactions are also going to become much simpler. Instead of having nine fields, as is the case right now, transactions will only have four fields: destination address, data, start gas and init code. Destination address, data and start gas are the same as they are now; "init code" is a field that can optionally contain contract creation code for the address that you are sending to.
The reason for the latter mechanic is as follows. One important property that Ethereum currently provides is the ability to send to an account before it exists; you do not need to already have ether in order to create a contract on the blockchain before you can receive ether. To allow this in Serenity, an account's address can be determined from the desired initialization code for the account in advance, by using the formula sha3(creator + initcode) % 2**160 where creator is the account that created the contract (the zero account by default), and initcode is the initialization code for the contract (the output of running the initcode will become the contract code, just as is the case for CREATEs right now). You can thus generate the initialization code for your contract locally, compute the address, and let others send to that address. Then, once you want to send your first transaction, you include the init code in the transaction, and the init code will be executed automatically and the account created before proceeding to run the actual transaction (you can find this logic implemented here).
Abstraction and Blocks
Another clean separation that will be implemented in Serenity is the complete separation of blocks (which are now simply packages of transactions), state (ie. current contract storage, code and account balances) and the consensus layer. Consensus incentivization is done inside a contract, and consensus-level objects (eg. PoW, bets) should be included as transactions sent to a “consensus incentive manager contract” if one wishes to incentivize them.
This should make it much easier to take the Serenity codebase and swap out Casper for any consensus algorithm - Tendermint, HoneyBadgerBFT, subjective consensus or even plain old proof of work; we welcome research in this direction and aim for maximum flexibility.
Abstraction and Storage
Currently, the "state" of the Ethereum system is actually quite complex and includes many parts:
Balance, code, nonce and storage of accounts
Gas limit, difficulty, block number, timestamp
The last 256 block hashes
During block execution, the transaction index, receipt tree and the current gas used
These data structures exist in various places, including the block state transition function, the state tree, the block header and previous block headers. In Serenity, this will be simplified greatly: although many of these variables will still exist, they will all be moved to specialized contracts in storage; hence, the ONLY concept of "state" that will continue to exist is a tree, which can mathematically be viewed as a mapping {address: {key: value} } . Accounts will simply be trees; account code will be stored at key "" for each account (not mutable by SSTORE ), balances will be stored in a specialized "ether contract" and sequence numbers will be left up to each account to determine how to store. Receipts will also be moved to storage; they will be stored in a "log contract" where the contents get overwritten every block.
This allows the State object in implementations to be simplified greatly; all that remains is a two-level map of tries. The scalability upgrade may increase this to three levels of tries (shard ID, address, key) but this is not yet determined, and even then the complexity will be substantially smaller than today.
Note that the move of ether into a contract does NOT constitute total ether abstraction; in fact, it is arguably not that large a change from the status quo, as opcodes that deal with ether (the value parameter in CALL , BALANCE , etc) still remain for backward-compatibility purposes. Rather, this is simply a reorganization of how data is stored.
Future Plans
For POC2, the plan is to take abstraction even further. Currently, substantial complexity still remains in the block and transaction-level state transition function (eg. updating receipts, gas limits, the transaction index, block number, stateroots); the goal will be to create an "entry point" object for transactions which handles all of this extra "boilerplate logic" that needs to be done per transaction, as well as a "block begins" and "block ends" entry point. A theoretical ultimate goal is to come up with a protocol where there is only one entry point, and the state transition function consists of simply sending a message from the zero address to the entry point containing the block contents as data. The objective here is to reduce the size of the actual consensus-critical client implementation as much as possible, pushing a maximum possible amount of logic directly into Ethereum code itself; this ensures that Ethereum's multi-client model can continue even with an aggressive development regime that is willing to accept hard forks and some degree of new complexity in order to achieve our goals of transaction speed and scalability without requiring an extremely large amount of ongoing development effort and security auditing.
In the longer term, I intend to continue producing proof-of-concepts in python, while the Casper team works together on improving the efficiency and proving the safety and correctness of the protocol; at some point, the protocol will be mature enough to handle a public testnet of some form, possibly (but not certainly) with real value on-chain in order to provide stronger incentives for people to try to "hack" Casper they way that we inevitably expect that they will once the main chain goes live. This is only an initial step, although a very important one as it marks the first time when the research behind proof of stake and abstraction is finally moving from words, math on whiteboards and blog posts into a working implementation written in code.
The next part of this series will discuss the other flagship feature of Serenity, the Casper consensus algorithm.
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Hong Kong’s 2017 Beer Run is to go ahead without the alcohol, following a flurry of criticism.
Up to 5,000 people were expected to take part in the 1.6km run on November 4 at the Kai Tak cruise terminal. Joggers were to be handed a 330ml glass of beer after every 400 metres, though organisers said on Friday that alcohol will no longer be given out.
“[S]ome intense attention over health concern, together with opinions of difference stance [sic], was received from certain groups and personnel, the operation of the event has to be revisited… Runners will not be provided with alcoholic drinks during the run,” a statement from RunOurCity said.
It added that the event intended to “nurture optimism and perseverance” and promote running culture in the city.
Health concerns
Last week, the health department sent a letter to organisers warning that alcohol can cause dehydration, accidents and have an adverse effect on sport performance: “We urge the organiser not to encourage participants to drink when doing sports.”
RunOurCity co-founder Andes Leung told RTHK on Tuesday that he was surprised at the outcry, as the event was held successfully in Hong Kong last year.
The fun runs were first held in the 1990s in Canada.
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Thanks to a very generous offer from a Rotarian friend, we were able to spend last weekend in Canberra, the capital city of Australia, visiting him and his family. It was our first time to really get away from the hustle and bustle of Sydney since our trip to the Blue Mountains several months ago. Canberra, about a 3 ½ hour drive from Sydney, was the political answer to the 1901 rivalry between Sydney and Melbourne about where to locate the capital of the new nation. Our National Geographic Traveler guide describes the location as “equally inconvenient to both cities.” But Canberra should be thought of as much more than an inconveniently located compromise.
Although we only had the weekend in the city, we got a good taste for Canberra thanks to our warm and welcoming hosts. We started our first full day in the city with a hike up Red Hill where we saw wild grey kangaroos.
For us, the trip was pretty much made at that point, as we had only seen ‘roos in Taronga Zoo. Seeing them in the wild was one of Dan’s main goals in Australia, so at least he can return to the US happy. A short hike up the hill provided just the opportunity we’d been hoping for, and at the end we were treated to a beautiful view of the city.
We took a quick drive around the city to view the Old Parliament House and the Aboriginal “embassy” (essentially an approved, permanent protest) before heading to Parliament House.
After our weekend in Canberra we have learned quite a bit about how Australia’s federal government operates. I am left wishing we had the ability to dissolve Congress when it gets to a deadlock, just as Australia can. We got another spectacular view of the city from the roof of Parliament House. Yes. The roof. As our host explained, the design was created such that the people could always stand above their political representatives, reminding the elected officials of their duty to their constituents.
From the roof of Parliament House, you can look down the Anzac Parade to the War Memorial and Ainsley Hill, with Lake Burley Griffin and the city below. The Parliament House also holds a 1297 version of the Magna Carta, limiting the rights of the King and establishing the rights of the English people. Parts of the Magna Carta are actually still in force in parts of the United Kingdom and Australia. Before leaving Parliament House, our final treat was to have lunch with Queen Elizabeth. I must say, she was so struck upon meeting us that she remained speechless throughout our entire meal!
From Parliament House, we headed to the Australian War Memorial. The War Memorial recognizes all Australians who have died in battle. Attached to the memorial is an extensive museum about each of the wars Australia has fought. (And by extensive I mean you would need at least 3-4 days to get through all of the displays.)
The museum does a really interesting job of integrating the displays of airplanes and warships with narrated presentations, video, photographs and informative placards. We had to be shooed out of the museum at closing time, where we paused outside for the daily remembrance. The War Memorial has started a tradition of sharing the personal story of a soldier who has died in war, “lest we forget.” By telling an individual’s own story, it is a moving reminder of the heavy toll of war.
Before heading back to our host’s home for another delicious meal (and let me tell you, we ate very well over the weekend!), we took a trip to the top of Mount Ainsley to view the city as the sun set and the lights came on. The view from the top of the hill helped us get a better idea of Canberra’s sprawling reach.
Our evening ended with wine and a rugby game on TV. Dan and I (well, more Dan than me) have a better understanding of the rules of Rugby Union now. Wait, Rugby League? Union? Agggh! Tell me again in which league the New Zealand All Blacks play?
We then spent Sunday morning at the (free) Australian National Portrait Gallery. The gallery features a paragraph long description of each of the portraits, giving us an introduction to the individual’s contributions as well as a better understanding of aspects of Australian history and culture. We also strolled around near Lake Burley Griffin and peaked into the National Library before returning home for a traditional Australian lunch of prawns in hollandaise and roasted leg of lamb. (See, I told you we were well fed this weekend!) We had just enough time for a quick drive through the Australian National University campus before catching our bus back to Sydney.
There are a number of things we would still like to do in Canberra, so it looks like it will have to remain on our list for a return visit.
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After nine years, the GOP relented and passed Dec. 22 a health bill for 9/11 responders in what turned out to be the not-so-lame-duck session of the 111th Congress.
The Zadroga Bill, named after James Zadroga, the New York City detective who died after complications from inhaling 9/11 dust, was held hostage by the Republicans right up to the last minute. Even the final bill bears the marks of the Republican Party’s drive to cut costs at the expenses of working Americans, the nation’s heroes included: the original bill was to span ten years at a cost of $7.4 billion. To win GOP support, Senate Democrats had to make cuts to the bill, which now spans only five years at a cost of $4.3 billion.
The bill, passed first by the Senate and then the House, also compensates survivors of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on New York City. Under immense public pressure, Republicans finally agreed to the smaller $4.3 billion bill. Union leaders, community organizations, churches and media personalities, for days before final passage, had expressed shock over how a political party willing to spend $700 billion for tax cuts for the rich couldn’t see its way clear to supporting a few billion dollars in health care for sick and dying national heroes.
Just two days before the final vote, Oklahoma Republican senator Tom Coburn went on Fox News in an attempt to save face for himself and fellow GOP obstructionists by saying the bill was being held up because it had not gone through the committee process. Within hours major news outlets across the country were reporting how the bill had in fact gone through that process and how Coburn had failed, on June 29, to attend a meeting of his own committee, which had held the hearing. Footage of Coburn’s empty chair at that hearing, surrounded by the occupied chairs of the rest of its members, was viewed by tens of millions of TV viewers across the nation.
Among those suffering in the nine-plus years since the terrorist attacks are fire fighters, rescue workers, responders, cops, emergency medical personnel, military personnel, construction workers, clean-up workers, residents, area workers and school children. Dozens of firemen and 31 policemen have died since the attacks because of related ailments including rare cancers and emphysema.
The bill covers 71,000 workers and 38,000 others, according to Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., the chief sponsor of the measure.
In the weeks before passage, millions of Americans were reminded again of the heroism of the first responders.
They heard from Harold Schaitberger, president of the Fire Fighters, how a fire chief from California flew in and worked 16 hours a day, digging for the remains of the 343 New York fire fighters who were buried when the Twin Towers collapsed on top of them. They heard about the fears sick and dying responders have about caring for families as they, themselves, become increasingly disabled.
The passage of the bill is seen as a crowning achievement for the 111th Congress, which goes down in history as having written more laws affecting more people than any Congress since the Great Society of the 1960s. The legislative achievements include health care reform that gives 32 million Americans coverage, the most sweeping Wall Street reform since the Great Depression, the spending of $1.67 billion to revive the economy, including tax cuts and stimulus to create 3 million jobs, construction of roads and bridges, initial steps towards green energy projects, an end to the ban on gays serving openly in the military, and a massive nuclear arms reduction treaty with Russia.
Polls this week give President Obama an approval rating of 56 percent for his handling of the lame duck Congress, with 41 percent dis-approving.
Observers see a possible weakening of solidarity in the ranks of Republican senators, with a number of them having crossed over on several issues to support President Obama.
Alaska’s Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski backed all four of President Obama’s signature initiatives in the lame duck session – repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, the tax cut compromise, the START Treaty and the DREAM Act.
Image: Phil // CC BY-NC-ND 2.0
CONTRIBUTOR John Wojcik John Wojcik is editor in chief at Peoplesworld.org. He started as labor editor of the People's World in May, 2007 after working as a union meat cutter in northern New Jersey. There he served as a shop steward, as a member of a UFCW contract negotiating committee, and as an activist in the union's campaign to win public support for Wal-Mart workers. In the 1970s and '80s he was a political action reporter for the Daily World, this newspaper's predecessor, and active in electoral politics in Brooklyn, New York.
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SEATTLE -- The San Francisco 49ers have a quarterback problem. This quarterback problem has nothing to do with their own quarterbacks or their coach's decision to replace Alex Smith with Colin Kaepernick a few weeks back.
This quarterback problem for the 49ers wears No. 3 for the Seattle Seahawks. His name is Russell Wilson. He was the most dynamic player on a field filled with outstanding ones Sunday night. His poise, throwing accuracy and maddening elusiveness was the reason Seattle landed a 42-13 right cross to the 49ers' noses for all to see on national television.
Wilson is the No. 1 reason why the Seahawks have scored 150 points over their past three games. He is why they are as dangerous as any NFL team heading toward the playoffs.
"You look back at a couple of the past Super Bowl winners, they were wild cards who got hot," veteran linebacker and Super Bowl XL participant Leroy Hill said. "I'm feeling a certain way. We're hot right now."
When the Seahawks were trying to run out the clock with backup Matt Flynn, receiver Sidney Rice suggested to Wilson on the sideline that the rookie quarterback re-enter the game and run around for as long as it took for the remaining time to expire.
"There was one play where it felt like he was running around for about 15 seconds out there," 49ers safety Donte Whitner said.
If Wilson beat the 49ers with his four touchdown passes, he exhausted them with constant movement to avoid their grasp. The 49ers had nothing left by the end.
"He made guys look silly out there," Seahawks defensive end Red Bryant said. "This is the National Football League. He's a handful, and I'm glad I don't have to play him."
Wilson is going to be a problem for the 49ers and every team the Seahawks face for the foreseeable future, including in the upcoming postseason.
Seattle clinched at least a wild-card berth by improving to 10-5. While San Francisco (10-4-1) will likely clinch a second consecutive NFC West title by beating the Arizona Cardinals in Week 17, the Seahawks would not for one minute trade what they've got going for what anyone else has going right now.
That's no slam on the 49ers or anyone else. San Francisco remains one of the strongest, most complete teams in the NFL. The 49ers could still charge forward into the Super Bowl in spite of injuries to Justin Smith, Vernon Davis and Mario Manningham.
The likelihood of that happening did take a hit with this defeat, however.
"We will wake up tomorrow and have a half-game lead on the division," 49ers coach Jim Harbaugh said. "Our hand will be on the dial next week to take care of business."
The 49ers' chances for a first-round playoff bye are severely diminished after the Green Bay Packers improved to 11-4 with a 55-7 victory over the Tennessee Titans. While they could use a bye week to get healthy, Seattle looks like a team that would embrace playing in the wild-card round for the opportunity to keep a good thing going without interruption.
"It's just the way we're playing right now," Seahawks safety Kam Chancellor said. "I guess the world is just seeing it now. We're still not going to get any respect just because of where we are and who we are, but who cares?"
The 49ers respect Seattle.
"They have improved tremendously," Whitner said.
Wilson should get respect as a legitimate (and perhaps leading) candidate for offensive rookie of the year. He has eight total touchdowns over the Seahawks' past two games. He trails only Peyton Manning and Tom Brady in Total QBR since Week 2. He trails only Aaron Rodgers and Manning in NFL passer rating over the same period. His 97.6 QBR score Sunday night was the highest in the NFL for Week 16.
"Russell played like crazy tonight," Seahawks coach Pete Carroll said.
What happened Sunday night was more about the Seahawks than it was about the 49ers. It was about Wilson shredding arguably the best defense in the NFL, albeit one without arguably its best player, the injured Smith. With Smith safely on the sideline, the Seahawks ran 10 times for 77 yards and a touchdown outside left tackle, up from four such runs for 25 yards when the teams played in Week 7, according to ESPN Stats & Information.
The 49ers might have been more competitive with Smith, but I'm not sure they could have located and brought down Wilson with 13 or 14 defenders on the field.
For the Seahawks, this game was about following an overtime victory at the Chicago Bears with a 58-0 thumping of Arizona. Then following that whooping with a 50-17 manhandling of the Buffalo Bills, and then converting 11 of their first 12 third-down chances against the 49ers. It was about being the aggressor on both sides of the ball, delivering hits that knocked out Davis and had the 49ers' receivers favoring self-preservation when they saw defenders coming.
The score was 14-0 in the first quarter and 28-6 at the half.
"They started off fast, their crowd was loud, they were in it," 49ers tight end Delanie Walker said. "Their defense was physical. They stopped us. Their offense put points on the board quick and we couldn't catch up."
Wilson completed 15 of 21 passes for 171 yards and a 115.3 passer rating. He took just one sack despite holding the ball and scrambling around to buy additional time. The 49ers were effective in preventing Wilson from striking well downfield after scrambling, but Wilson can beat a defense in more ways than one.
Wilson completed five of seven passes for 78 yards from outside the pocket, according to ESPN Stats & Information. Kaepernick also moves well, but he's less experienced and doesn't move as purposefully as Wilson does at this stage. Not many quarterbacks do. Kaepernick completed just five of 12 passes from outside the pocket, including an 18-yard touchdown pass to Walker when the game was well out of reach.
Seahawks cornerback Richard Sherman, perhaps playing his final game of the season unless he wins an appeal of an NFL suspension, picked off Kaepernick in the end zone and scored on a blocked field-goal return.
"If you're going to throw the ball late, I'm going to bait him into that every time," Sherman said. "He tried to throw late across his body and you don't do that against our defense."
The Seahawks have now scored touchdowns on 23 of their last 33 red zone possessions after converting at a 6-of-18 rate over their first seven games. They have won four in a row and six of their last seven.
"I've been on some good teams, some playoff teams," Hill said, "but how hot we are right now, I haven't seen it."
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In our recent discussion of Dessler v Spencer, UC raised monthly centering as an issue in respect to the regressions of TOA flux against temperature. Monthly centering is standard practice in this branch of climate science (e.g. Forster and Gregory 2006, Dessler 2010), where it is done without any commentary or justification. But such centering is not something that is lightly done in time series statistics. (Statisticians try to delay or avoid this sort of operation as much as possible.)
When you think about it, it’s not at all obvious that the data should be centered on each month. I agree with the direction that UC is pointing to – a proper statistical analysis should show the data and results without monthly centering to either verify that the operation of monthly centering doesn’t affect results or that its impact on results has a physical explanation (as opposed to being an artifact of the monthly centering operation.)
In order to carry out the exercise, I’ve used AMSU data because it is expressed in absolute temperatures. I’ve experimented with AMSU data at several levels, but will first show the results from channel 4 (600 mb) because they seem quite striking to me and because troposphere temperatures seem like a sensible index of temperature for comparing to TOA flux (since much TOA flux originates from the atmosphere rather than the surface.)
In the graphic below, the left panel plots the CERES TOA Net flux (EBAF monthly version) against monthly AMSU channel 4 temperatures. (Monthly averages are my calculation.) The right panel shows the same data plotted as monthly anomalies. (HadCRU, used in some of the regression studies, uses monthly anomalies.) The red dotted line shows the slope of the regression of flux~temperature, while the black dotted line shows a line with a slope of 3.3 (chosen to show a relationship of 3.3 wm-2/K). Take a look – more comments below.
Figure 1. CERES TOA Net Upward Flux (EBAF) vs AMSU Channel 4 (600 mb) Temperature. Left – Absolute; right – monthly anomaly.
The differences between regressions before and after monthly centering are dramatic, to say the least.
Considering absolute values (left) first. Unlike the Mannian r2 of 0.018 of Dessler 2010, the relationship between TOA flux and 600 mb temperature is very strong (r2 of 0.79). TOA flux is net downward when 600 mb temperature is at a minimum (Jan – northern winter/southern summer) and is net upward in northern summer (July) when global 600 mb temperature is at its maximum.
The slope of the regression line is 7.7 wm-2/K (slopes greater than 3.3 wm-2/K are said to indicate negative feedback.) There is an interesting figure-eight shape as a secondary but significant feature. This residual has 4 zeros during the year – which suggests to me that it is related to the tropics (where incoming solar radiation has a 6-month cycle maxing at the equinoxes, with the spring equinox stronger than the fall equinox.)
In “ordinary” statistics, statisticians try to fit things with as few parameters as possible. In this case, a linear regression gives an excellent fit and, with a little experimenting, a linear regression plus a cyclical term with a 6-month period would give an even better fit. There doesn’t seem to be any statistical “need” to take monthly centering in order to get a useful statistical model.
Now let’s look at the regression after monthly centering – shown on the same scale. Visually it appears that the operation of monthly centering has damaged the statistical relationship. The r^2 has been decreased to 0.41 – still much higher than the r^2 of Dessler 2010. (The relationship between TOA flux and 600 mb temperatures appears to be stronger than the corresponding relationship with surface temperatures, especially HadCRU.)
Interestingly, the slope of the regression line is now 2.6 wm-2/K i.e. showing positive feedback.
I’ve done experiments comparing AMSU 600 mb to AMSU SST and both to HadCRU. The results are interesting and will be covered on another occasion.
In the meantime, the marked difference between regression results before and after taking monthly centering surely warrants reflection.
I try to avoid speculations on physics since I’ve not parsed the relevant original materials, but, suspending this policy momentarily, I find it hard to visualize a physical theory in which the governing relationship is between monthly anomalies as opposed to absolute temperature. Yes, the relationship between absolute quantities still leaves residuals with a seasonal cycle, but it would be much preferable in statistical terms (and presumably physical terms) to explain the seasonal cycle in residuals in some sort of physical way, rather than monthly centering of both quantities (24 parameters!).
If there is a “good” reason for monthly centering, the reasons should be stated explicitly and justified in the academic articles (Forster and Gregory 2006, Dessler 2010) rather than being merely assumed – as appears to have happened here. Perhaps there is a “good” reason and we’ll all learn something.
In the meantime, I think that we can reasonably add monthly centering to the list of questions surrounding the validity of statistical analyses purporting to show positive feedbacks from the relationship of TOA flux to temperatures. (Other issues include the replacement of CERES clear sky with ERA clear sky and the effect of leads/lags on Dessler-style regressions.)
I suspect that it may be more important than the other two issues. We’ll see.
PS – there are many interesting aspects to the annual story in the figure shown above. The maximum annual inbound flux is in the northern winter (Jan) and the minimum is in the northern summer – the difference is over 20 wm-2, large enough to be interesting. The annual cycle of outbound flux and GLB temperature reaches a maximum in the opposite season to the one that would expect from the annual cycle of inbound flux. I presume that this is because of the greater proportion of land in the NH as Troy observed. In effect, energy accumulates in the SH summer and dissipates in the NH summer. An interesting asymmetry.
Note: AMSU daily information is at http://discover.itsc.uah.edu/amsutemps/. I’ve uploaded scripts that scrape the daily information from this site for all levels and collate into monthly averages. See script below. My collation of monthly data is also uploaded.
The CERES data used here is the EBAF version from downloaded from http://ceres-tool.larc.nasa.gov/ord-tool/jsp/EBAFSelection.jsp as ncdf file getting TOA parameters. Collated into time series and placed at CA:
The graphic is produced by:
A=ts.union( ceres=-ebaf[,”net_all”],amsu=amsum[,”600″], ceresn=anom(-ebaf[,”net_all”]),amsun=anom(amsum[,”600″]))
month= factor( round(1/24+time(A)%%1,2))
A=data.frame(A) #reverse sign by convention
A$month=month
nx= data.frame(sapply(A[,1:2], function(x) tapply(x,month,mean,na.rm=T) ) ) # if (tag) png(file=”d:/climate/images/2011/spencer/ceres_v_amsu600.png”,h=480,w=600) layout(array(1:2,dim=c(1,2) ) )
plot(ceres~amsu,A ,xlab=”AMSU 600 mb deg C”,ylab=”Flux Out wm-2″,ylim=c(-10,10),xlim=c(251.5,255),xaxs=”i”,yaxs=”i”)
lines(A$amsu,A$ceres )
points(nx$amsu,nx$ceres,pch=19,col=2)
title(“Before Monthly Normal”)
for(i in 1:11) arrows( x0=nx$amsu[i],y0=nx$ceres[i],x1=nx$amsu[i+1],y1=nx$ceres[i+1], lwd=2,length=.1,col=2)
i=12; arrows( x0=nx$amsu[i],y0=nx$ceres[i],x1=nx$amsu[1],y1=nx$ceres[1], lwd=2,length=.1,col=2)
text( nx$amsu[1],nx$ceres[1],font=2,col=2, “Jan”,pos=2)
text( nx$amsu[7],nx$ceres[7],font=2,col=2, “Jul”,pos=4)
abline(h=0,lty=3)
fm=lm(ceres~amsu,A); summary(fm)
round(fm$coef,3)
a=c(250,255);b=fm$coef
lines(a,fm$coef[1]+a*fm$coef[2],col=2,lty=3,lwd=2)
abline( 3.3* b[1]/b[2], 3.3,lty=3)
text(251.5,9,paste(“Slope:”, round(fm$coef[2],2)),pos=4,col=2,font=2) plot(ceresn~amsun,A ,xlab=”AMSU 600 mb deg C”,ylab=”Flux Out wm-2″,ylim=c(-10,10),xlim=c(-1.75,1.75),xaxs=”i”,yaxs=”i”)
lines(A$amsun,A$ceresn )
title(“After Monthly Normal”)
abline(h=0,lty=3)
fmn=lm(ceresn~amsun,A); summary(fmn)
round(fmn$coef,3) # 2.607
a=c(-2,2);b=fmn$coef
lines(a,b[1]+a*b[2],col=2,lty=3,lwd=2)
abline(0,3.3,lty=2)
text(-1.5,9,paste(“Slope:”, round(fmn$coef[2],2)),pos=4,col=2,font=2)
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Late last week, President Trump met with Xi Jinping, the Chinese head of state and (more importantly) the head of the Politburo Standing Committee of the Chinese Communist Party. The two men no doubt discussed many issues, but the elephants in the room were the conflict in strategic visions between China and the United States, and the military facts on the ground that are empowering China’s regional strategy.
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China’s leaders want their country to reassume its historical role as the Middle Kingdom in Asia — as the hegemon of, at minimum, East Asia and its near seas. They want this for powerful strategic, economic, and nationalistic reasons, and also in order to ensure the stability of the Communist regime.
There are of course no democratic institutions in China, and there aren’t going to be under the current regime. The Party is not going to give up power, but at the same time it knows that to support its legitimacy, it must deliver not only a better quality of life, but also the “China dream”: the idea of a resurgent China that once again is master of its strategic environment — the big dog that gets the benefits, to which other countries must defer, regardless of the nominal rules of international engagement.
To that end, China has in the last six years asserted the rights of a sovereign throughout the region. It has declared an Air Defense Identification Zone in the East China Sea; flooded the Senkaku Islands, which Japan controls, with ships and planes; used its maritime militia and Coast Guard (which includes several well-armed ships, some of which are painted-over former naval frigates) to harass and attack the fishing vessels of other nations; deployed an oil rig in disputed waters; wrested control of Scarborough Shoal from the Philippines; and built military installations on several of its claimed artificial islands in the South China Sea — after having specifically promising not to militarize the islands.
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The United States wants what it has always wanted: a rules-based international order where countries relate to each other according to agreed-upon laws and norms rather than size and strength, and where everyone is free to move and trade on the same basis. The Trump administration has added certain elements to this mix — a more protectionist approach to trade negotiations, and somewhat greater insistence on enhanced allied contribution to defense — but it has not and will not change the broader strategic objectives of the United States.
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So the first elephant in the room is that the vital interests of the United States and China are fundamentally incompatible. President Xi understands that; he knows that China cannot have what it wants unless it succeeds in disrupting America’s alliance relationships, detaching China’s neighbors from the United States, and reducing American influence and the effectiveness of its forces in the region. The regime he leads has been pursuing those goals over the last six years through systematically coercive tactics, relying on the enormous power that China has built over the last two decades.
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President Trump has only two choices. He can gradually surrender American interests and rights, or he can resolve to defend them. Beijing will not leave him any other option. And if he makes the latter choice, he must deal with the second elephant in the room: China’s fast-modernizing military, and the impact it is having on the strategic balance of power in the region.
I have written before about the growth of China’s military power and the decline of American strength because of the defense cuts in recent years. Here is a graphic illustration, compiled from open sources, of how that shift in power is affecting the Pacific theater:
China has become, at least regionally, a peer military competitor of the United States. It may or may not be the greatest global threat to America’s global interests, but it is beyond question the “pacing” threat: the primary factor against which the Pentagon must plan as it sizes and shapes American forces for the future.
But no matter how much the Pentagon plans and maneuvers, it cannot restore the balance of power in the Pacific without a major increase in the defense budget — something on the order of $150 billion over the next two years. That cannot happen unless Congress removes the caps on defense spending that the Budget Control Act imposed five years ago; it is extremely unlikely that the Senate at least can be induced to do so unless the caps are also removed on non-defense discretionary spending.
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So we have reached an inflection point. The United States can either continue to suppress both defense and non-defense discretionary spending, or it can remove the caps, increase the short term deficit, and build up its military enough to defend its interests, not just in Asia, but in Europe and the Middle East, and against Islamic jihadism globally.
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Many choices in public policy are not binary. But this one is.
President Trump has repeatedly said that his maxim for foreign policy is “peace through strength.” It was Reagan’s maxim too. But peace through strength only works if a nation actually is strong, and the first and most important index of national power is military power, particularly in the minds of authoritarians like Xi Jinping.
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Joseph Stalin was once warned that the pope did not approve of his oppression of Catholics in Russia. Stalin responded: “The pope? How many divisions has he got?”
For my part, I believe the spending caps must come off. The major fiscal challenge facing the federal government isn’t the discretionary budget anyway; it’s the cost of the entitlement programs, which consume most of the federal budget. The Budget Control Act didn’t even address those programs.
I liken America’s current situation to that of a family that is in a budget crisis because it is spending 60 percent of its income on shelter, and that decides to relieve the pressure by reducing the food budget — even though the children are already malnourished. A family in that situation urgently needs either to reduce its housing budget or get another job to increase the family’s income. But while it decides what to do, the children have to eat, even if the only way to feed them is to borrow money.
It is time for Washington, on both sides of the aisle, to prioritize the defense of the United States, whatever the cost. The weaker America becomes, the greater the risk that it will face a choice even more unpalatable than the one it faces now: the choice between surrendering its rights, or making a stand against a purposeful adversary under circumstances where the United States is outnumbered, outgunned, and outranged. President Trump won’t have to make that choice immediately, but unless the facts on the ground change quickly, he may well have to make it before the end of his term. The net is closing now, on him and on us, and the man he hosted last week at Mar-a-Lago knows it.
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SACRAMENTO (AP) — California is on the brink of becoming the first state to define when “yes means yes” while investigating sexual assaults on college campuses.
A bill doing so, SB967, passed the Assembly on a 52-16 vote Monday as states and universities across the U.S. are under pressure to change how they handle rape allegations. It now heads back to the Senate for what is expected to be a final vote on amendments.
The bill by state Sen. Kevin De Leon, D-Los Angeles, changes the definition of consent for campuses investigating sexual assault cases by requiring “an affirmative, unambiguous and conscious decision” by each party to engage in sexual activity. That marks a shift from the popular sexual-assault prevention refrain, “no means no.”
“Sexual assaults are too common on our campuses, and the need for change is now,” said Assemblyman Jimmy Gomez, D-Los Angeles.
Advocates for victims of sexual assault supported the change as one that will provide consistency across campuses and challenge the notion that victims must have resisted assault in order to have valid complaints.
Some critics say the legislation is overreaching and sends universities into murky, unfamiliar legal waters.
Silence, lack of resistance and an existing sexual relationship are not considered consent under the legislation. Students also are not able to grant consent if they are unconscious or incapacitated by drugs or alcohol to the point where they “could not understand the fact, nature, or extent of the sexual activity,” according to the legislation.
All California post-secondary schools, public and private, that receive state money for student financial aid must abide by the legislation. The California State University and University of California systems are backing the legislation after adopting similar consent standards this year. Legislative staffers were unable to determine if independent and community colleges already comply, according to a bill analysis.
But some Republican lawmakers questioned if statewide legislation is an appropriate venue to define consent.
“This bill goes so far past what is acceptable for government to regulate,” said Assemblywoman Kristin Olsen, R-Modesto, a former vice president of marketing at California State University, Stanislaus. “It will just become another one of the many laws in California that always lead to litigation.”
Ada Meloy, general counsel of the American Council on Education representing college presidents, said law enforcement is best suited for handling serious sexual assault cases.
“Frequently these cases involve two individuals, both of whom maybe were under the influence of alcohol or drugs, and it can be very tricky to ascertain whether consent was obtained,” Meloy told The Associated Press earlier this month.
SB967 also requires colleges and universities to adopt “victim-centered” sexual-assault response policies and implement comprehensive programs to prevent assault.
Gov. Jerry Brown has not indicated his stance on the bill.
(© Copyright 2014 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)
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It turns out that the fatal crash of an Amtrak train from Washington, DC, to New York City came just the night before the House voted to make huge cuts to its funding.
Politico reports that the House Appropriations Committee voted Wednesday 30-21 for a bill that cut about $260 million from Amtrak's typical $1.4 billion share. The vote was along party lines, and Democratic amendments that would have restored or increased the funding failed.
The death toll rose to seven Wednesday, and as the National Transportation Safety Board continued its investigation of the crash site, the cuts were closely scrutinized.
"While we don't know the cause of this accident, we do know that starving rail of funding will not enable safer train travel," said Rep. Nita Lowey of New York.
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There are many kinds of food that humans eat which are unsafe for dogs. Onions are not an exception. Feeding your pooch onions can make him seriously ill, whether they are raw, cooked, or in powdered form.
What you Need to Know
Onions are toxic to canines because of the substance they contain known as thiosulfate. Since dogs do not have the enzyme used to digest this substance, onions become a harmful food for them. Although rarely any observable side effects can be seen if your pooch consumes just a minimal amount of onions. For example, he sneaks a piece of pizza off the counter or steals a bite of your burger, most likely he will be just fine. Too frequent feeding of onions, however, can affect your pet’s health and vitality. Additionally, onions contain a compound called organosulfur that results in toxicosi, a condition brought about by poisoning which can be easily absorbed by the dog’s digestive tract.
Onion ingestion commonly leads to liver damage, asthmatic attacks, allergic reactions, weakness, diarrhea, discolored urine, anemia, vomiting, and even dermatitis.
Onions and Heinz Body Anemia
One of the most critical problems that arises from onion toxicity is canine Heinz Body Anemia, also referred to as Hemolytic anemia. It is a condition that is brought about by the destruction of the dog’s red blood cells that leads to a decrease in red blood cell count; thus, causing anemia.
Symptoms vary depending on the amount of onions the dog has consumed, his size, and the time period for which they have been ingested. It is notable that consuming a large amount of onion in a single sitting is less dangerous that consuming a very small amount over a length of time. Remember this if you’re someone that feeds your dog from the table. Many of the foods we eat contain at least a small amount of onion or onion powder. Read your labels carefully and avoid feeding these foods to your dog.
Common warning signs for Heinz Body Anemia include pale mucous membranes like the gums, brownish or reddish urine color, rapid heart and/or respiratory rate, weakness, and depression. Vomiting, diarrhea, and loss of appetite may also be observed.
What to Do when Your Dog Ingests Onions
It is important that you immediately consult your vet if symptoms occur as a result of onion ingestion. Treatment normally involves inducement of vomiting, carrying out gastric lavage or flushing out the stomach, and making use of activated charcoal to treat not just poisoning but allergic reactions as well. Bathing and drying your dog may also be necessary in cases of skin infection.
Other treatment options include maintaining the dog’s hydration by providing fluid in his bloodstream, applying therapy for liver damage, and calling for blood transfusions if necessary.
Did you know that there are many over-the-counter human medications that can be safe and effective for dogs, when used correctly?
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Yesterday we told you about the sexual harassment lawsuit against Boalt Hall Dean Sujit Choudhry, alleging a pattern of inappropriate hugging, kissing, and touching. Well, the reaction from alumni, students and the school has been immediate, and not at all encouraging for Dean Choudhry.
The first hint that there something was afoot came from a tipster, who reported that alumni were organizing to get the matter dealt with to their satisfaction:
You may be interested to know that recent alumni are already in discussions about making a formal demand on the law school regarding how sexual harassment allegations are handled and also for his resignation or termination. Many are pledging to withhold all donations to Boalt until he’s gone.
Then we received a copy of a formal petition circulated by alumni chastising the school for its handling of the situation. They point out this is not the first time a Berkeley Law dean has been be embroiled in a sexual harassment scandal, and you’d think that they’d have a better strategy in place. From the petition:
As proud alumni of the UC Berkeley School of Law, we were shocked and dismayed to learn that Dean Sujit Choudhry sexually harassed his executive assistant, Tyann Sorrell, less than 15 years after Dean John Dwyer resigned in another sexual harassment scandal. Even more disappointing are the University and Law School’s response and seeming complicity in continuing Dean Choudhry’s employment after the University’s own investigation confirmed the truth of these violations. In short, this feeble response has betrayed students, the UC Berkeley community, Boalt alumni, and the values that we hold dear.
The letter goes on to link the pattern of behavior Dean Choudhry stands accused of with broader issues of social justice:
A leading institution of legal education–one that fashions itself on the cutting edge of progressive legal education–must do more. As alumni, we demand it. As Chancellor Dirks reminded the entire campus in 2014, “sexual assault has no place on a college campus or anywhere in civilized society.” Generations of Berkeley Law students, many of them women and women of color, have worked tirelessly to recruit a more diverse faculty and create a more inclusive environment for the study of law. UC Berkeley, and in particular the Law School, is an institution that prides itself on commitment to gender equity and social justice, which is the reason many of us specifically chose to attend Berkeley Law. Law school deans should model the values of the school that they represent. Moreover, Boalt’s Dean should and must be someone that faculty, staff, and students feel comfortable and safe approaching with questions and concerns and as a leader that the entire legal academy and professional looks to with admiration.
All of this culminated with an email sent to all Berkeley Law students and faculty yesterday. The statement reveals that Choudhry is on indefinite leave from the deanship, but otherwise comes off very defensive of the administration’s handling of the situation:
The following statement comes from Claude Steele, Berkeley’s Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost: Sujit Choudhry will be taking an indefinite leave of absence from his position as dean of Berkeley Law, stepping down to his faculty position and salary. We will have an announcement as soon as possible about an interim replacement. Attached is the full report of the investigation conducted by the university’s Office for the Prevention of Harassment and Discrimination. A thorough investigation of this case found that Dean Choudhry’s behavior in this situation violated policy, and that he demonstrated a failure to understand the power dynamic and the effect of his actions on the plaintiff personally and in her employment. Based on the findings of the investigation I believed that a combination of disciplinary actions, monitoring of his behavior and formal training would be an appropriate and effective response, and would produce the necessary changes in his behavior. I docked Choudhry’s salary as dean by 10%. I required him to immediately engage in counseling at his own expense and I instructed him to make an apology to the employee. At the same time, I granted her a fully paid administrative leave—which she is still on—and once she felt ready to return to the workplace, we supported her search to find a position on campus that meets her interests and needs. I know we all share the goal of eliminating of sexual harassment and all forms of discriminatory behavior at UC Berkeley. I intend to listen carefully to what members of our campus community and others have to suggest when it comes to how we prevent and respond to incidents like these.
The email also attaches a highly redacted version of the Report of Investigation and Findings from the Office for the Prevention of Harassment and Discrimination, which found that Choudhry did violate the school’s police against sexual harassment. You can read the full report on the next page. It provides some support for the claims made in Tyann Sorrell’s lawsuit, and it also includes this description of events, which reads like stage directions from a RomCom rather than an appropriate interaction between colleagues at an institution of higher education:
[Choudhry] would also come up behind [Sorrell] while she was at her desk typing and rubbed her shoulders from behind, rubbed the side of her arms from her shoulders to her elbows and kissed her on the cheek from behind. [Choudhry] has also squeezed [Sorrell’s] arm when he passes by her desk.
None of this bodes well for Choudhry’s long-term career prospects at Boalt Hall, but we will keep you updated on any developments in this story.
Update 03.10.16 1:51 p.m.: We just received word that Sujit Choudhry has resigned from the deanship in a message sent to all members of the Berkeley Law community:
From: Holly Doremus
Date: Thu, Mar 10, 2016 at 10:29 AM
Subject: email
To: Members of the Boalt Community, We have been informed this morning that Sujit Choudhry has resigned as dean of the law school. A formal announcement will be forthcoming from the Provost’s office. We will keep you informed as we learn more details of the process to appoint an Interim Dean. Holly Doremus —
Holly Doremus
Associate Dean for Faculty Development and Research
James H. House and Hiram H. Hurd Professor of Environmental Regulation
Faculty Co-Director, Center for Law, Energy and the Environment
790 Simon Hall
UC Berkeley School of Law
Berkeley, CA 94720
(Flip through the next pages for (1) the full version of the Report of Investigation and Findings from the Office for the Prevention of Harassment and Discrimination and (2) the alumni petition.)
Earlier: T14 Law School Dean Sued For Sexual Harassment
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A man suffered serious injuries early Sunday in a fall from the cliffs in Isla Vista, according to the Santa Barbara County Fire Department.
Emergency crews were called out to the 6600 block of Del Playa Drive shortly after midnight, and found the victim on the beach below, said fire Engineer Russ Sechler.
The 22-year-old victim apparently crossed over the fence at the top of the cliff, and fell to the beach, Sechler said.
He was carried back up to Del Playa, then transported by ambulance to Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital, where he was reported in serious condition early Sunday, Sechler said.
Details on his injuries were not available Sunday.
— Noozhawk executive editor Tom Bolton can be reached at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) . Follow Noozhawk on Twitter: @noozhawk, @NoozhawkNews and @NoozhawkBiz. Connect with Noozhawk on Facebook.
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Oakland, CA – Oakland is beginning an experiment that can be considered both laudable and questionable. As cannabis businesses are set to spring up across the city, following California’s legalization of recreational cannabis, Oakland is providing reparations to victims of the drug war.
They’re not doling out money, though. They’ll be doing it through the normally mundane permitting process, in accordance with ordinances passed in March.
“The ordinances require the city to give at least half of all available cannabis permits to individuals who were convicted of a marijuana-related offense in Oakland and earn an income less than 80 percent of the city average. “Equity applicants” can also qualify if they lived in an Oakland neighborhood for 10 of the last 20 years that saw a disproportionately high number of cannabis arrests.”
Since permitting began in May, 72 applications have been received, and, somewhat surprisingly, almost half of them (31) are equity applicants.
There was plenty of doubt and controversy about the program, with many saying it wouldn’t work and others calling it unfair government overreach. And now, some would-be equity applicants are finding it impossible to sign up due to what they call unrealistic qualification requirements.
Related | Lobbyists Lining Up To Influence Marijuana Laws In Maine
Another part of this strategy involves incentivizing “general applicants” to help out “equity applicants,” which is certainly strange in that a business owner would be providing a large benefit to his or her competitor.
“Someone who doesn’t qualify under either definition — a “general applicant” — can move up in line by giving an equity applicant at least 1,000 square feet of free rent through an “incubator” relationship.”
The motives of Oakland lawmakers and their constituents who supported the move are certainly noble, and a welcome sign that government can recognize the injustice of the drug war.
For decades, individuals and families have suffered under government’s senseless prohibition crusade. The drug war was not started to aid humanity but was spawned of racism, suppression of dissent, and political corruption.
Only the police state and corporate entities such as the prison-industrial complex, the alcohol industry and Big Pharma benefit from locking people in cages for using “illicit” substances. Cannabis prohibition is particularly cruel and unjust, as it denies people the miraculous healing power of this medicinal plant.
Related | Nevada’s Marijuana Legalization Gives Control To Newly Created ‘Cannabis Cartel’
The brunt of prohibition’s injustice has fallen on minority communities. Even though cannabis use is about the same among white and black ethnicities, blacks are almost four times more likely to be arrested for possession.
Recognizing this, Oakland intends to give an advantage to those who’ve been victimized for decades. But even with its noble motivations, do drug war reparations amount to government overreach? Is it rationing, or unfair denial of business opportunity to “general applicants”?
The plan will surely be tested, including when applicants must apply for state licenses.
“The city permit is only the first step in legally operating a pot business in California. Starting next year, pot businesses that have local permits must apply annually for state licensing. It’s unclear whether equity applicants with criminal backgrounds will be approved for state licenses. State law authorizes agencies to deny licenses to some applicants with criminal backgrounds.”
Equity program or not, there is a “labyrinth of regulations” in Oakland for those seeking to get into the cannabis business in Oakland. However, the city is very appealing because “it’s one of the few places in California that allow every type of operation — from laboratory testing and cultivation to delivery and dispensary.”
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At E3 2016 we got a good look at the coming sequel Dishonored 2, due for release on PS4, Xbox One and PC on November 11. We learnt that the game is set 15 years after the 2012 original. We also learnt that while we’re still in the Empire of the Isles, we’re quite a trip from the oppressive rat-plagued streets of Dunwall. Instead, Dishonored 2 is set in the sunny seaside village of Karnaca, which is modelled on the iconic coastline of Southern Europe – in particular, Italy, Greece and Spain.The E3 demo focused in on new protagonist, Emily Kaldwin. The daughter of the first game’s hero Corvo Attano, she had been ruling the land as the Empress of Dunwall prior to the beginning of Dishonored 2. However, now she has been dethroned and outcast. Emily has since followed in her father’s footsteps; becoming a deadly assassin armed with her own array of supernatural powers, bestowed upon her by The Outsider. She is in Karnaca with her father seeking something – not yet revealed – that is critical to overthrowing the “otherworldly usurper” and regaining Emily her throne.In the mission shown at E3, two local forces – the Howlers and the Vice Overseer – vie for power in Karnaca, and Emily was able to choose a side to support. It’s an important choice we’re told, which will not only define the future of the city, but also play a large role in deciding which ending you will witness. Emily chose to side with the Howlers.For this new demo at QuakeCon, we enjoyed the same mission – which unfolds in a district called Dust – but this time in the shoes of Corvo. And Corvo decided to side with the Overseer. Despite unfolding in the same sandbox, the difference in the two demos is stark, and when compared with each other, it suggests Dishonored 2 is two games in one.You see, both characters are playable throughout the entire game, (bar the Prologue, which is Emily-specific), yet have different styles of play, so can manipulate the sandbox in their own unique way. It’s ultimately player-driven, but the variety it offers is impressive.It’s every bit an extension of the game’s driving design pillar – player choice – as you are merely confronted with a location and an objective. You are then free to use your ever upgrading set of powers and skills to find a solution to the puzzle by any means you see fit. Emily is more elegant about her business, with her own set of abilities that perhaps tier her more towards stealth and deception as her main tactics. But it’s clear that the older, male hero is a bit more heavy-footed. A bit more prone to taking the ultra-violent path, perhaps.Corvo retains all the skills and abilities from the first game, ensuring a familiar playing landscape for those who simply wish to return into the popular character’s skin once again. For example, while sneaking towards Paolo’s – the head honcho of the Howlers – location, Corvo finds himself supressed by a nest of Bloodflies. Using possession, he dives into the skin of one of the Bloodflies then moves in bug form to a safer location to return to human shape. The sequence shows just how handy the power can be, and instantly floods the mind with numerous strategic opportunities to utilise in future encounters.It’s clear the level design has opened up, and players have more freedom to get up, in and over buildings and objects (as does the AI), as well as being offered more tactical options from a higher vantage point. Whereas in the Emily demo great use was made of that verticality, in the Corvo demo, a completely different route through the stage is taken. More like the first game, it bounces between the streets and internal locations, feeling more claustrophobic and frantic as a result.Corvo does devise a rather grand escape. In the demo’s most crowd-pleasing moment, the limp body of an unconscious Paolo is thrown over the side of a building. Corvo slows-time as the body falls, Blinks down towards a threat on the street below who is killed dramatically in the diving motion, leaving Corvo enough time to turn and catch the falling body as the world returns to normal.Interestingly, Corvo wasn’t meant to be part of Dishonored 2 when development began – it was a relatively late decision to add him and his skillset to the game-world. It’s his inclusion, however, that makes it feel like this is two games in one. Until we have time to truly explore this sandbox and test its limits, we won’t be able to see how the level design holds up to two competing character skillsets seeking the same objective – will they truly feel unique, or did Arkane have to go out of its way to show something different in its two demos?As it stands, Dishonored 2 appears to offer even greater player-choice. Especially given the branching narrative - this particular mission really has four different experiences to offer depending on who you play, and which side you choose. Has Arkane bitten off more than it can chew? Or will the game offer mission after mission of incredible player freedom? We’ll find out in a few months.: In an interview with Harvey Smith, co-creative director for Dishonored 2, following the initial publication of this article, we got further clarification on how the character select will work. As it turns out, after the initial prologue, you will choose either Emily or Corvo and be stuck with that choice for the remainder of the game. However, there are more options in the Dust stage than initially thought. You can choose to assassinate both targets, or neither. So in truth, the plot has only thickened.
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Encrypting USB Flash memory from Kingston, SanDisk and Verbatim Kingston, SanDisk and Verbatim all sell quite similar USB Flash drives with AES 256-bit hardware encryption that supposedly meet the highest security standards. This is emphasised by the FIPS 140-2 Level 2 certificate issued by the US National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), which validates the USB drives for use with sensitive government data. Security firm SySS, however, has found that despite this it is relatively easy to access the unencrypted data, even without the required password.
The USB drives in question encrypt the stored data via the practically uncrackable AES 256-bit hardware encryption system. Therefore, the main point of attack for accessing the plain text data stored on the drive is the password entry mechanism. When analysing the relevant Windows program, the SySS security experts found a rather blatant flaw that has quite obviously slipped through testers' nets. During a successful authorisation procedure the program will, irrespective of the password, always send the same character string to the drive after performing various crypto operations – and this is the case for all USB Flash drives of this type.
Cracking the drives is therefore quite simple. The SySS experts wrote a small tool for the active password entry program's RAM which always made sure that the appropriate string was sent to the drive, irrespective of the password entered and as a result gained immediate access to all the data on the drive. The vulnerable devices include the Kingston DataTraveler BlackBox, the SanDisk Cruzer Enterprise FIPS Edition and the Verbatim Corporate Secure FIPS Edition.
When notified by SySS about this worst case security scenario, the respective vendors responded quite differently. Kingston started a recall of the affected products; SanDisk and Verbatim issued woolly security bulletins about a "potential vulnerability in the access control application" and provided a software update. When asked by heise Security, Verbatim Europe said that none of the affected drives have been sold in Europe – and that none will be shipped before the hole has been closed.
The real question, however, remains unanswered – how could USB Flash drives that exhibit such a serious security hole be given one of the highest certificates for crypto devices? Even more importantly, perhaps – what is the value of a certification that fails to detect such holes?
(Juergen Schmidt)
(trk)
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Updated 11/16/16: This article has been updated to reflect an interview with Charles D. Heywood’s granddaughter Barbara Nilmeier.
No one seems to remember Charles D. Heywood.
When Jesse Arreguin was elected to be Berkeley’s next mayor, news outlets across the Bay Area not only acknowledged that he would be Berkeley’s first Latino mayor but also that he would be the city’s youngest.
But that title undoubtedly belongs to Heywood.
A one-term Berkeley mayor, Heywood was just 31 years old when he was elected to the seat April 26, 1913, making him about two months younger than Arreguin — who turned 32 on Sept. 4 this year — when he was elected.
“Jesse Arreguin was elected and everyone was saying he was the youngest, and somewhere in my memory I remembered Grandpa — he was 32-years old (when he took office)” said Barbara Nilmeier, one of Heywood’s granddaughters.
Born May 5, 1881, Heywood was a successful businessperson, serving as president of the Berkeley Lumber company, “one of the most successful business organizations on this side of the bay,” according the now-defunct local newspaper the Berkeley Daily Gazette.
Hoping to capitalize on his business expertise, Heywood emphasized the need for the city to prioritize sound financial practices and improved infrastructure.
“There is much to be done,” he said on the last day of campaigning to the Berkeley Daily Gazette. “As a city we have grown faster than we have provided. Consequently our schools are crowded, our streets are worn and we have not (provided) efficient and economical service which is to be desired.”
Heywood came from a prominent Berkeley family with political and social clout — his father, Samuel Heywood, was a president of the city’s Board of Trustees when Berkeley was still incorporated as a town in the late 1800s.
“Charles D. Heywood stands for business efficiency in municipal affairs and service protection of competent employees, adequate educational facilities (and) respect and honest administration of city finances,” read an endorsement in the Berkeley Daily Gazette.
His opponent was Charles H. Spear, who had served as Berkeley’s town clerk for a number of years, as well as chair of California’s Republican campaign committee.
“I shall pay attention to all the people’s interests because I have no business interests of my own that may at some times conflict with theirs or hinder me in the administration of my office,” Spear had said to the Berkeley Daily Gazette.
But despite Spear’s past local government experience, Heywood won with 4,523 votes, beating Spear by 794 votes. He later took office July 1, 1913, replacing socialist mayor J. Stitt Wilson.
By the end of Heywood’s term, the city had allocated $15,000 annually, or more than $360,000 every year when adjusted for inflation, to complete the city sewer system and installed a municipal garbage collection program. In addition, Heywood oversaw the creation of several new schoolhouses and establishment of a civil service commission and a park commission.
Though confident his incumbency would allow him to win the seat again, Heywood failed to even make it past the city’s primary elections for mayor in April 1915.
Nilmeier said that while the newspapers may have claimed Heywood was a great businessman, the story told in their family suggests the success didn’t last forever. After many of the campus buildings finished construction and a major fire ripped through the city in 1923, “lumber went out of fashion,” Nilmeier said, prompting Heywood to pursuit politics later in life.
Serving as Berkeley mayor, however, would mark the peak of his political career. But more than 100 years later, Heywood’s legacy as the city’s youngest mayor — though largely forgotten — remains untouched.
“It matters not one bit to anybody but (it does) in the context of historical accuracy,” Nilmeier said. “I’m sure the new mayor has a lot of good things going for him as the first Latino mayor, and he sounds very progressive, but he’s still not the youngest.”
Alexandra Yoon-Hendricks is the city news editor. Contact her at [email protected] and follow her on Twitter at @ayoonhendricks.
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Discover a Place Where Programming Hugs Literature
Root Info Solutions Blocked Unblock Follow Following Nov 14, 2016
Computer programming and literature are poles apart. Considering the complexity and logics involved with the programming, from childhood kids often with poor reasoning capability, or those scoring low grades in exams are bullied by so-called intelligent cohorts, including brighter students and teachers. The are recommended not to take science or computer science stream for further study. Education is for all but science is not for all. Millions think this way only. Are you one of them? There is no surprise, if you are. However, after knowing about this Arabic Quick learning app, built by Android and iOS Swift app developers at Root Info Solutions, you are most likely to have a different mindset.
Arabic Learning App
Dr. Moku, with over 250, 000 subscribers, is a leading name in the e-learning sphere, particularly, when the discourse is of learning a foreign language. The ease with which Dr. Moku facilitates learning of Arabic language, which is considered as one of the most difficult languages in the world for any foreigners, is really appreciable. The app harnesses the native Android and iOS app development resources to let users get the optimum performance from the app on their devices.
How to Use
This app uses Modern Standard Arabic (MSA). There is a Learn section in the app that makes way to options including Quiz, Speak and Chart. You can listen to the audio on each sample word and play the animated examples to maximise your learning power.
The Quiz section is nothing but a kind of practice exercise where users can test their skills. There are 3 types of quiz, viz., Alphabet Quiz, Words Quiz and Listening Quiz. Based on the skills gained, test your expertise with different levels of quiz from challenging to moderate to the easiest ones.
The app presents every essential Arabic word or phrase in the Speak section. There is a comprehensive Arabic language audio phrasebook with attributes mentioned below.
100% offline: no internet connection needed.
Learn essential Arabic words and phrases: greetings, introductions, making yourself understood, small talk, talking about yourself, profession and family.
Create your own Favourites list.
All audio is recorded by a native speaker.
Autoplay audio for concentrated studying.
Once you are acquainted with the basic knowledge of the language, you can go with the Pro version through an in-app purchase. The paid version is equipped with following features for advanced learning.
Writing Practice: write directly on screen with your finger then check the results.
Advanced Alphabet Quiz
Advanced Words and Sentences Quiz
Advanced Listening Quiz
800+ additional Arabic words
More phrases that are used in daily such as those linked with hotel, directions, times, dates, numbers, shopping, money, clothes sizes, cosmetics,etc., can be added.
So, are the two poles apart? Drop your comment.
Interested in app language and education apps built using iOS Swift, Android or PhoneGap? You can count on Root Info Solutions.
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1. Employment and support allowance (ESA) Afp / Getty Images
This month government MPs forced through a motion for a £30-a-week reduction in the ESA paid to those disabled people considered capable of undertaking "work-related activity". The move sparked outrage: Yesterday three Tory MPs were asked to resign as patrons of disabilities after voting for the motion, while the Disabilities Benefits Consortium, an informal coalition of 60 national disability charities, described the decision as a "step backwards". There has also been anger ever since Duncan Smith took over as work and pensions secretary over the administration of the tests for people to claim ESA (which had originally been introduced by Labour). In 2013 the work and pensions select committee concluded that the system was "clearly causing claimants considerable distress and anxiety." Many felt that the use of outsourced contractors – first Atos and then Maximus – introduced a profit incentive into a system that was crucial for people's lives. According to figures released last year, over 2,300 people died shortly after their benefits ended and they were declared fit for work between 2011 and 2014. The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) insisted it was impossible to establish a direct link between people losing benefits and dying as it did not hold information on the cause of death. A study in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health found that almost 600 suicides could be linked to DWP work assessments.
2. Workfare Carl Court / Getty Images
Duncan Smith's department ran a number of schemes that forced people to undertake voluntary work placements or risk losing benefits. They included Help to Work, the Work Programme, and Mandatory Work Activity – some of which have now been discarded. Critics claimed they exploited the jobless, that there was a lack of transparency, and that there were question marks over the effectiveness of the schemes. This led to a number of flash points – including companies withdrawing from the schemes, an occasion when a man was ordered to work without pay for a company that had let him go, and the case of Cait Reilly, a graduate who was made to work for free at Poundland: She successfully challenged the government in court, forcing a retrospective change in the law.
3. Universal credit Dan Kitwood / Getty Images
Duncan Smith was a passionate believer that many families were trapped by the benefits system. His main answer to this was universal credit, which aimed to merge six benefits into one monthly payment. The idea was for payments to be aligned to wages in a bid to prepare people for the world of work. However, the scheme soon ran into a number of problems, including the claim that many wouldn't be able work the online system, delays in payments, and the belief that disabled people would stand to lose out under it. However, the most severe criticisms from MPs regarded the mounting costs and delays in implementing the policy.
4. The bedroom tax Chris Ratcliffe / Getty Images
The bedroom tax was a change in housing benefit rules introduced in April 2013 – housing benefit is paid to less well-off tenants in council houses and those renting from housing associations so they can make their rent, and the change meant those who local authorities felt had surplus space would get a reduced payment. Those with one spare room received a cut of 14%, while those with two or more lost 25%. Many people with family members who were disabled felt they were being unfairly targeted, despite a belated decision to exclude severely disabled children from the plans. In January 2016, the Court of Appeal ruled that the bedroom tax was unlawfully discriminatory in two separate cases – one involving a domestic violence victim and the other the grandparents of a 15-year-old boy. The government is appealing the decision.
5. Personal independence payments (PIP) Peter Macdiarmid / Getty Images
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This Level:Highest:Total:Avg. Per Level:
This Level:Highest:Total:Avg. Per Level:
This Level:Highest:Total:Avg. Per Level:
Switching levels or resetting will prestige you, removing most upgradesYou will gain evolution points equal to ((Level # + 1) * 1.2^(Lowest Square's Bonus)) * (Achievement Bonus)Each evolution point gives 5% more nanite productionCurrently you haveevolution points.You will getevolution points on new level
(Must have enough available EP, and it takes from both available and permanent EP)
Autobuy Max Amt. To Spend:Cost:EPNext Cost:EPMaximum of 50%
Click on the starting Square and upgrade it.Point it at the Square you want to activate next.Cost goes up every bonus level, but nanite production doubles. The first bonus level is at 10, then every 25, increasing later.Every second, a Square generates its own nanites, and sends nanites to another Square.Nanites Sent per second = Transfer Rate * Total NanitesCapture all the Squares and improve them before changing levels'Lowest' will show the square with the least upgrades, then least nanites.Click and drag to select multiple.The total nanite consume cost of a level goes up 2x per level.Press the WASD / arrow keys to change directionPress shift WASD / arrow keys to select the next squarePress enter / space to buy upgrades of the selectedClick the edges of the screen (or right click and drag) to scroll aroundClick Export to export to your clipboard (ctrl-v somewhere else).Paste a save and click Import to import.Sorry for lag when pasting save.WARNING: Import will break the game if invalid save. Empty import will hard clear the game
When clicking Squares on the grid:
Select One
Select Multiple
When buying an upgrade for multiple Squares:
Buy Squares with lowest upgrade amount, all together
Buy Squares with lowest upgrade amount, each tries
Every Square tries to buy
When selecting multiple Squares,
the upgrade amount/cost will:
Show Last Selected
Show Lowest
When selecting multiple Squares, the borders colors are:
The same color
Lowest Squares are a different color
Show what on the Square:
None
Nanites
Upgrade Amount
Both
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In Japan, "permanent residency is not given to Muslims," the "propagation of Islam" is banned, "one cannot import a Koran published in the Arabic language," and "Muslims cannot even rent a house."
Amid rising concerns about terrorist attacks by ISIS, we’ve seen an uptick in chain emails and viral images about Islam.
One viral image points to Japan as an example of a country that keeps out radical Islam by cracking down on all forms of Islam and its adherents, implying that this is a good model for the United States to follow.
The graphic is a simple black-and-white block of text with the headline, "Japan keeps Islam at bay by putting restrictions on Islam and ALL Muslims." The graphic then mentions a variety of ways in which Japan supposedly keeps tight control over the Muslims in its midst:
• "Japan is the only nation that does not give citizenship to Muslims"
• "Permanent residency is not given to Muslims"
• "Propagation of Islam in Japan is banned"
• "In the University of Japan, Arabic or any Islamic language is not taught"
• "Japan is the only country in the world with a negligible number of embassies in Islamic countries"
• "One cannot import a ‘Koran’ published in the Arabic language"
• "Muslims must follow Japanese law and language".
• "The Japanese government is of the opinion that Muslims are fundamentalist, and unwilling to change their Muslim laws"
• "Muslims cannot even rent a house in Japan"
• "There is no sharia law in Japan"
We wondered whether the graphic is accurate. To streamline our analysis, we focused mostly on these four claims -- that in Japan, "permanent residency is not given to Muslims," the "propagation of Islam" is banned, "one cannot import a Koran published in the Arabic language," and "Muslims cannot even rent a house."
We heard back from three experts who have experience with the intersection of Japan and Islam, and all three said the graphic is blatantly incorrect.
"The chain email is nothing but malicious falsehood," said Kumiko Yagi, a professor at the Tokyo University of Foreign Studies Graduate School who has written extensively about Islam and other religions.
Kamada Shigeru, a professor of Islamic studies at the University of Tokyo, agreed, saying that all four of the claims we spotlighted are wrong.
He said Japan doesn’t discriminate in permanent residency on the basis of religion and that "propagation" of Islam is not banned. He added that the Koran or other religious books in Arabic can be imported.
As for renting a residence, he said there may be some reluctance among residents of Japan to rent apartments to foreigners as a general rule, but he said there’s no specific animus toward Muslims.
These four claims "are totally unfounded," said Glenda S. Roberts, a professor of cultural anthropology and Japanese studies at the graduate school of Asia-Pacific Studies at Waseda University in Tokyo. "It is disturbing that such an email is circulating," she added. "These claims are simply ridiculous."
Other claims in the graphic are easily debunked.
For instance, the graphic claims that "Japan is the only country in the world with a negligible number of embassies in Islamic countries." Yet a quick visit to the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ website shows that Japan has embassies in such countries as Afghanistan, Bahrain, Iran, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates and Yemen, plus a permanent representative to the Palestinian Authority.
Meanwhile, there is nothing in Japanese nationality law that prevents Muslims from becoming naturalized citizens. The requirements concern length of residency, age, a history of "upright conduct," the ability to support oneself and a willingness to give up other nationalities. There is no mention of religion.
As for universities not teaching Arabic, we found that the Tokyo University of Foreign Studies does. Classes in Arabic are also taught at the Arabic Islamic Institute in Tokyo.
Last year, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe made clear Japan’s respect for people of the Islamic faith during an event with the Islamic diplomatic corps.
"I have found that a fundamental aspect of the spirit of Islam is harmony with and love for others," Abe said. "I believe therein lie points of commonality with the Japanese spirit, which is founded on co-existence."
Our ruling
The graphic says that in Japan, "permanent residency is not given to Muslims," the "propagation of Islam" is banned, "one cannot import a Koran published in the Arabic language," and "Muslims cannot even rent a house."
Each of these four statements is incorrect, and the overall point of the graphic -- that Japan keeps itself free from radical Islam by discriminating against all Muslims -- is dramatically off-base. We rate these claims Pants on Fire.
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Spieth, 23, bogeyed three holes and was involved in huge drama at the 13th.
The American appeared to have steadied the ship with three pars to start the back nine, but dropped out of the lead in extraordinary circumstances on the 13th.
After a wild drive into the rough, Spieth took a penalty for an unplayable lie, entitling him to go back in a straight line as far as he liked to find a favourable place to drop.
That happened to be the practice range between the 13th and 15th holes and specifically a truck belonging to one of the equipment manufacturers, from where Spieth could then get a free drop away from a temporary immovable obstruction.
Around 20 minutes after finding his ball, the 23-year-old eventually hit his third shot short of the green, chipped to seven feet and holed out for a remarkable bogey.
That gave Matt Kuchar the outright lead, but that only lasted a matter of minutes as Spieth almost holed his tee shot on the par-three 14th and holed from three feet for birdie.
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BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Al Qaeda claimed responsibility on Tuesday for simultaneous raids on two Iraqi prisons and said more than 500 inmates had been set free in the operation, one of its most brazen in Iraq.
Mourners pray at the coffin of a victim killed during an attack on a prison in Taji, during a funeral at the Imam Ali shrine in Najaf, 160 km (100 miles) south of Baghdad July 22, 2013. REUTERS/Haider Ala
The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, formed earlier this year through a merger of al Qaeda’s affiliates in Syria and Iraq, said it had stormed Baghdad’s Abu Ghraib jail and another, some 20 km (12 miles) north of capital, after months of preparation.
Monday’s attacks came exactly a year after the leader of al Qaeda’s Iraqi branch, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, launched a “Breaking the Walls” campaign that made freeing its imprisoned members a top priority, the group said in a statement.
Sunni Islamist militants have in recent months been regaining momentum in their insurgency against Iraq’s Shi’ite-led government, which came to power after the U.S. invasion to oust Saddam Hussein.
The group said it had deployed suicide attackers, rockets, and 12 car bombs, killing 120 Iraqi guards and SWAT forces in the attacks in Taji, north of Baghdad, and Abu Ghraib, the prison made notorious a decade ago by photographs showing abuse of prisoners by U.S. soldiers.
Interior ministry and medical sources said 29 police and soldiers were killed, and 36 wounded.
“In response to the call of the mujahid (holy warrior) Sheikh Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi to seal the blessed plan of ‘Breaking the Walls’ ... the mujahideen brigades set off after months of preparation and planning to target two of the biggest prisons of the Safavid government,” read the statement posted on militant forums.
Safavid is a reference to the dynasty that ruled Iran from the 16th to 18th centuries and is used by hardline Sunnis as a derogatory term for Shi’ite Muslims.
Shi’ite Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki accused militias affiliated with his rival, the anti-U.S. cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, who is also Shi’ite, of complicity in the prison-break.
“What happened in Abu Ghraib prison was the guards who were inside the prison, are connected to these militias, and it was they who colluded and it was they who opened the doors,” he said on state television.
SYRIA-BOUND
Sectarian tensions across the region have been inflamed by the civil war in Syria, which has drawn in Shi’ite and Sunni fighters from Iraq and beyond to fight against each other.
A senior Iraqi security official said security forces were on high alert and had received information that some of the most high-profile al Qaeda operatives who managed to escape were now on their way to Syria.
Iraq has tightened border controls to prevent them leaving the country, said the official on condition of anonymity: “We are cooperating with the Ministry of Justice to get full descriptions and records of the fugitives to help recapture them and bring them back to prison”.
The official added that the level of coordination of the prison raids suggested former military officers had been involved in planning, if not executing them.
Jail-breaks are not unusual in Iraq, but the scale of Monday’s assaults prompted some politicians to say that the government had lost any semblance of control over security, which has been steadily deteriorating since late last year.
Twin roadside bombs planted near two Sunni mosques in the ethnically mixed city of Kirkuk killed seven people late on Tuesday, police said.
A further four people were killed when two roadside bombs exploded outside a Sunni mosque in Baghdad’s southern district of Doura as worshippers were leaving after evening prayers, police said. It was not clear who was behind the attacks.
Insurgents have been regrouping and striking on an almost daily basis, drawing new recruits from the country’s Sunni minority, which increasingly resents Shi’ite domination since Saddam’s overthrow.
Mourners carry the coffin of a victim killed during an attack on a prison in Taji, during a funeral at the Imam Ali shrine in Najaf, 160 km (100 miles) south of Baghdad July 22, 2013. REUTERS/Haider Ala
The violence has raised fears of a return to full-blown conflict in Iraq, where ethnic Kurds, Shi’ites and Sunnis have yet to find a stable way of sharing power.
So far in July, almost 700 people have been killed in militant attacks, according to violence monitoring group Iraq Body Count.
That is still well below the height of Sunni-Shi’ite bloodletting that followed the U.S. invasion, when the monthly death toll sometimes topped 3,000.
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Republican presidential candidate and former neurosurgeon Ben Carson warned that if the definition of marriage were changed to include gay couples, it would also have to be changed to incorporate other types of unions.
But Carson, in an interview with CBNC’s John Harwood, wouldn’t elaborate on what other “groups” would be allowed to marry.
Carson started out saying if you “change the definition of marriage for one group, what do you say to the next group?”
“What is the next group?” Harwood interjected.
“Do you say, ‘well we changed it for this group but that’s it, we’re not changing it for anybody else?” Carson asked. “Does that seem fair?”
“Well, but what other groups are there?” Harwood asked.
“There are more groups, I guarantee,” Carson said. “I think you know there are more groups. Everybody knows there are more groups.”
“Honest to God, I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Harwood said.
“Other variations on traditional marriage. You don’t think there’s any others?” Carson asked.
“You mean like bigamy or something?” Harwood asked.
“That’s a possibility, that’s a possibility,” Carson said. “Why would you stop with one group being able to change it and then say to the next group ‘you can’t change it’?”
Harwood said he wasn’t “advocating” one way or another there.
“I’m just asking a question,” Carson said.
As TPM previously noted, Carson said in an interview with Newsmax that if the Supreme Court were to rule in favor of same-sex marriage, the President of the United States still wouldn’t have carry out that ruling.
Watch the exchange below:
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