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From RationalWiki edgy teens who know all the solutions dangerous anarchist terrorists out and about. (Hey, why does their symbol use a capital letter?) The anarchy symbol. If you see this, there may bedangerous anarchist terrorists out and about. (Hey, why does their symbol use aletter?) This page contains too many unsourced statements and needs to be improved. Anarchism could use some help. Please research the article's assertions. Whatever is credible should be sourced, and what is not should be removed. Not to be confused with the state of anarchy “ ” please do not say "top notch" to me unless you want to spend hrs explaining what the fuck these notches are & who determines their hierarchy —wint embraces anarcho-notchism[1] Anarchism is a political philosophy that advocates some form of political anarchy, direct democracy, or hyper-egalitarianism in decision making as preferable to hierarchical government, usually excepting decisions of individual rights, which are enshrined as unchangeable to prevent mob rule or the squelching of minority rights. Modern anarchists argue that all governments exist only to perpetuate their power, and apply this maxim equally to both democracies and dictatorships. While most anarchists have a specific conception of how a stateless society should be organized, some instead seek to replace the current system with what is sometimes called "Panarchism", which is basically a system where individual communities are free to create their own political system (a similar idea exists called "meta-utopia").[2] Under Panarchism, a community could be Anarcho-Communist, and bordered by Anarcho-Capitalists and Anarcho-Primitivists. Theoretically, a fascist state which allows people to enter and leave freely could also be considered Panarchist. The question is, would anyone other than the fascist dictator join the state at all, and would fascist states really let people go free? By the way, any information relating to anarchists should be reported to your local police. Do You Believe That? [note 1] Anarchism was historically associated very strongly with the labor union movement, as many anarchists saw organized labor as being an ideal tool for the overthrow of the twin evils of the state and capitalism. However, the success of the Russian Revolution, the failure of several attempted anarchist revolutions (most notably in Ukraine[3] and Catalonia)[4] and the active suppression of the anarchist movement throughout much of the 20th century devastated their support among organized labor (especially in Spain, where the CNT, formerly the largest anarchist organization in the world with nearly two million members, was outlawed and its members executed, imprisoned, or forced underground, and the United States, where the IWW was heavily repressed during the red scare with it's members jailed and tortured). Most anarchist trade unions have either collapsed or abandoned all traces of their former anarchist politics, though there are still exceptions such as the IWW, FAU and CNT, although both are nowhere near the same size as they were in the 20th century. Types of anarchism [ edit ] Anarchists differ from Marxists, who believe that the state and class rule are synonymous, and a tool of the enforcement of one class' rule over another. Marxists feel a transitional state (the "dictatorship of the proletariat") is necessary to safe-guard the revolution until it has been finalized and will then wither away to a stateless, classless society, or communism. Anarchists by contrast favor going directly to a stateless society, arguing that a dictatorship of the proletariat will inevitably be a repressive, self-perpetuating state and will not wither away. Mikhail Bakunin, a Russian anarchist who founded the anarcho-collectivist tendency, engaged in an ideological struggle with Karl Marx and his supporters in the 1870s inside of the International Workingmen's Association (the First International.) Marx won control, but the criticisms Bakunin leveled at Marx (such as its "transitional" absolute state becoming very permanent, with the danger that (pseudo)scientific "socialists" would become a new ruling class), have obviously proven extremely prescient. Market anarchism [ edit ] Market anarchists view the government as interfering with a truly "free market", believing that both government bureaucrats and corporations stand in the way of smaller businesses and distort prices. They would prefer producer and consumer coops and self-employed professionals to wage-labour. It is less popular than social anarchism. Mutualism [ edit ] Mutualism was the anarchist school of thought starting with Pierre-Joseph Proudhon, the first to call himself "anarchist" (though earlier thinkers had ideas much like his). In 1840, he wrote the book What is Property?, a critique of property-rights ideas that contains the famous declaration "Property is Theft." However, he also stated that property is freedom, rationalizing it by distinguishing two kinds of property: property earned by labor, which he stated was justified and essential to liberty, and property earned by coercion, which he stated was unjustified and would lead not to liberty but to tyranny. Seeing as the state is, by his definition, inherently coercive, it made the state illegitimate. Proudhon advocated mutual banks or a Bank of the People (similar to a credit union) for wage workers and independent craftsmen (in his time being driven out by mass production) to fund themselves. His mutualism supports what he called the "anti-capitalist free market", one with cooperative businesses competing and trading, while having a different conception of property based on the labor theory of value, namely possession, or active occupancy and use instead. This definition of property led him to mark the state as illegitimate, along with income earned through loans, investments, and rent. Even though it is based on the same theory of value that communism has, it stands alone in the field with its stance on private property. As mutualist Clarence Swartz said: “ ” One of the tests of any reform movement with regard to personal liberty is this: Will the movement prohibit or abolish private property? If it does, it is an enemy of liberty. For one of the most important criteria of freedom is the right to private property in the products of one's labor. State Socialists, Communists, Syndicalists and Communist-Anarchists deny private property. Mutualism effectively ceased to exist as an organized movement in the early 20th century but has recently been revived as sort of a middle position bridging the gap between anarcho-socialist tendencies on the left and the market anarchism of the libertarian movement, with Kevin Carson as its best-known modern theorist. Egoist anarchism [ edit ] Egoist anarchism, or simply Egoism, originated with Max Stirner in his 1844 book Der Einzige und sein Eigentum (in English, The Ego and Its Own; other translations include The Individual and His Property and Me and My Own). He argued for an extreme, though moral, rational self-interest, rejecting not only the usual anarchist bêtes noires (hierarchies, the state, capitalism, organized religion, etc.) but also conventional morality and values and all "higher ideals" (such as faith, nationalism, and ideology), seeing them as products of the ruling authorities that existed to uphold their legitimacy. He used the Protestant Reformation as a case study in this, arguing that the Protestants' rejection of the authority of the Roman Catholic Church, far from liberating them, merely enslaved them further, as they still bound themselves to the faith and morality espoused by the Church. The forces of Christian tyranny were only strengthened by growing more local and personal; secular rulers claimed spiritual power by establishing and supporting state churches, religious leaders claimed secular power, and religious conscience became a personal force that repressed people's natural desires. Stirner's work was little known in his time (though he was a friend of Marx and Engels, who critiqued The Ego and Its Own in their early book The German Ideology,[5]), only being rediscovered later in the 1890s. Very few anarchists are egoists or Stirnerites, as Egoism tends toward a "might makes right" philosophy and is rejected by most anarchists on that ground alone. Some have, however, theorized that he influenced Friedrich Nietzsche. More recently, Ayn Rand appropriated the Egoism label for her own philosophy, which she later named Objectivism. Rand's egoism has little to nothing to do with Stirner's beyond the focus on "rational self-interest", and in any case she was outspokenly opposed to anarchism of any sort. It's probable that Stirner would have scoffed at her in turn. On the more countercultural side, Anton LaVey's rejection of Christian morality, and his rationalization for such, was also framed in words very similar to Stirner's (albeit a fair bit more vulgar). Individualist anarchism [ edit ] Individualist anarchism was originated by American thinkers in the mid-19th century, around the time Proudhon and Stirner were writing. They held similar ideas to mutualism, although they were more anti-collectivist than Proudhon. They were primarily supportive of independent craftsmen in opposing rising industrial capitalism, which at that point had not yet fully taken over so much as in Europe. Josiah Warren, Stephen Pearl Andrews, William Greene, Benjamin Tucker, and Lysander Spooner were the prominent thinkers here. Historians locate individualist anarchism as a mainly American phenomenon, and the two classic histories on the subject, Native American Anarchism by Eunice Minette Schuster and Men Against the State by James J. Martin, trace its roots back to early American experiments in utopian living such as Modern Times and New Harmony, and further back to the thought of people like Henry David Thoreau and Thomas Jefferson. Schuster also found its roots in non-conformist Christian groups during the colonial era, who went in the same anarcho-pacifist direction later taken by Tolstoy. (This view was not shared by Martin, who, as an Egoist, rejected Christianity out of hand as being in any way compatible with anarchism.) The anarcho-capitalist theorist Murray Rothbard tends to agree with Schuster here, and points to the few successes in people living peacefully without government in early American history mostly being Quakers. Individualist anarchism, much like egoist anarchism and mutualism, barely exists as an organized tendency in the 21st century, though some of its principles were adopted by later anarchist movements. See the main article on this topic: Anarcho-capitalism Perhaps the most controversial of all of the movements listed here, anarcho-capitalism is exactly what it says on the tin: extreme laissez-faire capitalism taken to its logical conclusion with the elimination of government altogether. Anarcho-capitalists, or "an-caps", believe that an anarchic system of competing private contractors can perform all of the functions of government better than a coercive government can without that system becoming coercive itself. Many social anarchists will hesitate or refuse to classify it as a type of anarchism at all, and instead see it as an oxymoron, since they usually reject capitalism as another form of hierarchy and as something that exists only because of the state.[6] [7] Their greatest objections come from what they see as anarcho-capitalists' obsession with replicating the most heinous and coercive aspects of the state (law enforcement, national defense), and the things they most want to abolish, in the market via private defense agencies and private courts and prisons. Long story short, an-caps want to shuffle the deck until they have the best cards. Watching them interact is like seeing cavemen first discover basic things about civilization. They hate history like they do the other humanities ("soft" sciences), so they'll have to re-learn everything.[note 2] There is a "market anarchist" tendency on the left wing of the modern libertarian movement who agree with this model but reject the capitalist label, instead using terms like autarchist, agorist, or mutualist to describe themselves. For them, a completely laissez-faire free market, which would emerge in the absence of the state, is not the same thing as capitalism, which exists by the grace of the state through such things as corporate personhood and gunboat diplomacy. Many market anarchists also reject trying to replicate the most coercive functions of the state in the free market. Social anarchism [ edit ] The more popular form of anarchism is called "social anarchism", which advocates a more collectivized, locally-planned economy run by workers. As such, they are to the left of market anarchists. Depending on the system, money may or may not be abolished, and while they all agree on egalitarianism, it can differ between "perfectly equal" and allowing some differences based on jobs performed and/or hours worked, so long as said differences in wages are agreed on in a democratic manner by workers. Anarcho-collectivism was begun by the Russian anarchist Mikhail Bakunin (mentioned above). While naming Proudhon as "the father of us all", he felt mutualism was not a step far enough, particularly as capitalism and the state had both expanded in the time since. Bakunin was also opposed to religion, declaring that "the idea of God denies humanity. God being everything, man is nothing," and "if God really existed it would be necessary to abolish him" turning Voltaire's dictum on its head. More generally, he opposed organized religion, one of his most notable works being God and the State (1882), a position held by many anarchists since who view the church as another oppressive hierarchy alongside the state. Bakunin's anarcho-collectivism criticized Marxism as something that would lead to a new ruling class party hierarchy while advocating full collective worker management of production, a doctrine later expanded on by the anarcho-communists and anarcho-syndicalists. Anarcho-collectivism no longer exists as a distinct tendency but was an important ancestor of the anarcho-communist and anarcho-syndicalist movements. Anarcho-communism was founded by Prince Pyotr Kropotkin of Russia (who dropped his noble title at the age of twelve). His vision was of a moneyless gift economy made up of free communes in an equal society, following the same dictum as Marx of "from each according to his ability, to each according to his needs", albeit in a voluntary, democratic manner. Other thinkers like Emma Goldman and Errico Malatesta expanded upon anarcho-communism. Kropotkin's anarcho-communism refers more to voluntary communal living in communes and free sharing of everything, as opposed to the Marxist-Leninist conception of a dictatorship of the proletariat. Kropotkin's book Mutual Aid: A Factor In Evolution posits an equal role for cooperation in driving evolution as opposed to competition alone, and can be seen as a salvo against social Darwinism. Stephen Jay Gould felt he was onto something here.[8] Christian anarchism/anarcho-pacifism [ edit ] Leo Tolstoy, the Russian known for writing great literature such as War and Peace, was also a dedicated anarchist who helped to organize peasant communes (mirs) and free, democratically-run schools for their education, among many other things. His book The Kingdom of God is Within You set forth his own radical interpretation of the Christian Gospels, believing that Jesus wished to liberate people from oppression peacefully and redistribute wealth back to the hands of its creators, essentially an earlier version of liberation theology. However, Tolstoy also opposed violence absolutely, even in self-defense or to defend others, which influenced Gandhi later. Other anarchists, while admiring Tolstoy's great work in helping Russian peasants and his compassionate moral code, believe this is an overly idealistic view that would require a "community of saints", arguing that failing to protect innocents by force if absolutely necessary is itself a moral evil. Many would agree that nonviolence is still a good tactic, even that it should be the first used, but do not go so far as Tolstoyans. Some religious groups, most notably the Anabaptists (Hutterites, Amish, and Mennonites), are very similar in their beliefs to Tolstoy's pacifism, along with holding possessions in common. They are not strictly anarchist, however, and they usually believe the state is legitimate and ordained by God but that Christians are to be a separate people and not participate in its functions except as strictly required (i.e. paying taxes, etc). Anarcho-syndicalism is an Anarchist school of thought which believes that direct democratic trade unions could overthrow capitalism and the state (possibly with a general strike), afterward federating among themselves freely to create a non-hierarchical society. Anarcho-syndicalists view industrial unionism as the vehicle through which the state can both be overthrown, and around which society would be organized after the revolution. Production would thus continue without disruption, with workplaces democratically managed by workers and collectively owned. Anarcho-syndicalism has some similarities to De Leonism, with the main difference being that De Leon rejected anarchism and would have the state re-organized as a "dictatorship of the proletariat" rather than abolished entirely. In terms of absolute numbers, anarcho-syndicalism has historically been the largest and most politically active anarchist tendency, particularly in the 1920s and 1930s,[9] during which various anarcho-syndicalist organizations throughout the world collectively claimed well over ten million active members. Among the various anarchist traditions, anarcho-syndicalism has a fair bit of academic prestige associated with it, and in modern times is associated with western intellectuals such as Norman Spinrad and Noam Chomsky. The Mondragon corporation is a co-operative in Spain with over 80,000 employees (2012) that presents some idea of how workers can manage their workplaces successfully and competitively in a capitalist economy. Another example is the John Lewis chain of department stores in the UK, which had 84,700 employees in 2013. Neither of these two examples had much to do with anarcho-syndicalism, however, as they are hierarchical cooperatives with substantial pay differentials and managers having the power to hire and fire underlings. Better examples of modern anarcho-syndicalism are the CNT and CGT in Spain, CNT in France, and IWW in the USA — still highly active, though numerically diminished compared to their heyday. The anarcho-syndicalist strategy is to form workplace resistance groups amongst employees in workplaces controlled by capitalist firms, not to form cooperatives, although most anarcho-syndicalists would not be hostile to the cooperative idea, seeing it as a useful complement, especially for blacklisted workers. Not a separate tendency per se, this was partly based on the works of Emma Goldman, herself a dedicated feminist who advocated rights to birth control, abortion, free love, and open relationships along with equality for women in general long before such issues were considered acceptable for discussion, let alone to enact. Goldman argued prominently that voting rights for women by themselves would change nothing, that equality had to come along with a broader social revolution. Anarcha-feminists have followed her reasoning, critiquing sexism as simply another form of hierarchy (patriarchy or matriarchy here) while struggling for the same goals as other anarchists, especially devoted to making sure women have the same rights in anarchist movements and the idea of gender equality receives focus along with the rest. Free love advocacy and women's liberation have a long history within anarchism, going back to individualist anarchists Ezra Heywood and Moses Harman, whose freethought periodicals The Word and Lucifer the Light-Bearer were persecuted by Anthony Comstock under the Comstock Act for their open discussions of birth control and denunciation of marital rape,[10]. It continued to be influential through the writings of Emma Goldman and Ben Reitman, who were also prosecuted under the Comstock Act, with Reitman sentenced to prison for advocating birth control.[11] Green anarchism [ edit ] Green anarchists believe an ecological society living in harmony with the earth is incompatible with either capitalism or the state. They often look to Kropotkin's communal ideas as a potential model for an ecological society, while also absorbing other influences ranging from individualist anarchism to anarcho-syndicalism to distributism. Most green anarchism divides between those following Murray Bookchin's Kropotkin-influenced writings and those who tend more toward Edward Abbey's less well-defined (and probably more libertarian and individualist anarchist) preference for direct action over theory. This is sometimes portrayed as a divide between the "garden" or "urban village" model of environmentalism (Bookchin) and the "wilderness" model (Abbey).[12] Lifestyle anarchism [ edit ] Probably the most easily noticed group, these anarchists may not be in the majority of the anarchist community, but they tend to take up a disproportionate amount of attention considering how extreme and obnoxious they tend to be in their beliefs. They largely define themselves as simply opposing modern culture and government, and tend to have nihilistic views that are more informed by postmodernism than traditional leftism. They tend to mix their beliefs with a lot of New Age woo and try to make statements through counterculture-esque acts. They are loathed by other anarchists (to the point of some, such as Murray Bookchin, denying they are even anarchists) because they are usually more interested in making a provocative statement than actually organizing and trying to improve society, and tend to scare people away from "Anarchism" by associating it with kooks. Rightly or wrongly they are usually characterized (not least by other anarchists) more as middle-to-upper class kids going through a rebellious stage than actually caring about anarchist theory, instead using it as a shallow excuse to fight "The Man". Unlike other forms of anarchy, which are often very clearly on the political left, these forms of anarchy have a weird tendency to be so "out there" that it ends up in the weird space in between where the far-left bends into the far-right. For instance, Ted Kaczynski (see below) is fanatically opposed to leftism, yet is a primitivist, and has been admired by more left-wing primitivists nonetheless. Anarcho-primitivists go even further than green anarchists, viewing civilization itself, from modern labor-saving technologies to language, as an anti-ecological, hierarchical institution. They advocate the complete abolition of industry, capitalism, and even agriculture, returning to a hunter-gatherer mode of life which they argue is more leisurely, free, and in tune with nature. They believe wilderness and wildlife have a right to exist for their own sake, and therefore, endorse such a lifestyle that they see as least destructive. John Zerzan is probably the most prominent thinker of the primitivist tendency, although Bob Black also contributes greatly. The methods of how to achieve this primitive back-to-nature society are contentious. The British anarcho-primitivist magazine Green Anarchist once praised Unabomber Ted Kaczynski (arguably close to anarcho-primitivism in his views, although his manifesto was rooted far less in environmental concerns) and the Aum Shinrikyo cult in Japan who released Sarin gas in the Tokyo subway. Needless to say, most green anarchists and those of other tendencies reject anarcho-primitivism. Curiously absent is the answer to the question of which of the 7 billion people would have to die to make this dream a reality; the simple fact is that even if we all went vegetarian, without modern farming practices and the chemical industry we simply could not grow enough food for everyone. There is a reason that Britain, which now has 60 million people, only had a few million in Medieval times yet even then people routinely starved. Insurrectionary anarchism [ edit ] Insurrectionary anarchism is a recent innovation and seems to be influenced by postmodern philosophy, nihilism, guerrilla warfare tactics, and anarcho-primitivism with some Kropotkin and Stirner thrown in. It is a murky area that is difficult to understand for those not already steeped in postmodernism. Insurrectionary anarchists tend to define themselves in contrast to organizational anarchists such as anarcho-syndicalists. Any form of organization at all is suspect (conveniently ignoring the fact that Homo sapiens are social and tribal by nature, according to turn-of-the-century scientific racists ), probably at least proto-statist if not explicitly so, and deserving of deconstruction through the lens of postmodernism. In practice, this means that a permanent revolution and never-ending guerrilla insurrection, in the form of ever-shifting affinity groups that never coalesce into anything permanent, is needed. An obscure insurrectionary anarchist manifesto from France, The Coming Insurrection, became an unlikely best-seller in the U.S. because of Glenn Beck mentioning it several times and calling it the most evil book he has ever read. Glenn Beck's sneaky promotion-through-denunciation of this book probably has something to do with the fact that he agrees with its profoundly nihilistic opposition to liberalism, though not with its proposed solution. Post-left anarchism [ edit ] Post-left anarchism is a philosophical tendency within anarchism that takes the idea of rejection of all authority and hierarchy to its extreme conclusion and rejects all forms of social organization and economy altogether, including all other forms of anarchism. It is mostly defined in terms of what it stands in opposition to, rather than what it supports. Post-leftism opposes all forms of industrial production, all forms of economics and exchange (including both market capitalism and socialism), all forms of mass social organization including democracy, all forms of religion and morality, and all the various flavors of identity politics — feminism, gay and transgender rights movements, civil rights movements for racial minorities, class-struggle narratives, etc. This rather adversarial outlook on the world generally makes them extremely unpopular with other anarchists of all stripes, with the occasional exceptions of the insurrectionary anarchist and anarcho-primitivist communities, both of whom overlap somewhat with post-leftism. Due to their rejection of organization and political participation, they have a fairly minimal presence in the wider anarchist movement, though, there are always one or two of them at every anarchist book fair. Anarcho-transhumanism is a recent branch of anarchism that takes traditional and modern anarchism, typically drawing from anarcho-syndicalism , left-libertarianism or libertarian soclialism and combines it with transhumanism and post-humanism . It can be described as a “liberal democratic revolution, at its core the idea that people are happiest when they have rational control over their lives. Reason, science, and technology provide one kind of control, slowly freeing us from ignorance, toil, pain, disease and limited lifespans (aging)", Some anarcho-transhumanists might also follow technogaianism as well. Modern anarchism [ edit ] A few modern anarchists believe that humans can best live their lives without being told what to do by anyone, and oppose democracy. They generally have no idea how things like abortion and scientific-based policy would be decided and oppose all rules. There is also a "lifestyle anarchist" tendency for whom anarchy has more to do with "radical acts" like the punk culture, veganism, shoplifting, and squatting, and a more puerile "kiddie anarchist" tendency for whom anarchy means things like hacking, phreaking, The Anarchist Cookbook (and its many derivatives), and the Unabomber manifesto. Both tend to appeal mainly to teenagers, who either eventually make the leap to more serious anarchist theory or just grow out of it. The reality is that the various military industrial complexes have filled the world with AK-47s and the like, making it much more difficult to achieve those ends because one heavily-armed warlord can make it very difficult for 1,000 anarchists to do their own thing. But, as Bloody Mary sings in South Pacific, "If you don't have a dream, how you gonna have a dream come true?" Some are called "anarchists without adjectives", not desiring to follow any one tendency but claiming to welcome all ideas. "Anarchism without adjectives" was founded as a response to the sectarian infighting among other schools of anarchist thought and began with the premise that all anarchist tendencies are equally valid. Most modern "without adjectives" anarchists have abandoned this and instead argue that only their conception of anarchism is valid. People who subscribe to any other school of thought can expect to be told that without-adjectives anarchism is the only 'true' anarchism. "Anarchists without adjectives" generally focus on de-legitimizing the state rather than on one particular conception of an anarchist society, believing that all else will naturally follow and a world without government will likely be heavily mixed. Because most modern anarchists are not interested in forcing their ways on others, they tend frequently to blend into the background, living their anarchist lives happily out of the spotlight. Well, except for the free skool movement and various communes and revolutions. The prime example would be the establishment of anarchist communes starting in 1936 during the Spanish Civil War, in which production and innovation were reported to have increased fairly dramatically. Workers seized control of the factories, peasants the farmland, free schools were set up to teach in new ways, and universal literacy began to be achieved. They were eventually undermined by lack of funding due to the hostile Soviet Union controlling their money supply, attacks by the Stalinist-controlled Spanish Republican government, and finally the victory of fascist dictator Francisco Franco, supported by many in the West. This was helped by infighting of the groups on the Republican side, plus lack of support. The 19th century anarchist belief in the "propaganda of the deed" (such as tossing a bomb or shooting some Royal Person) has largely fallen into disrepute, though it was very common at the turn of the last century with several heads of state assassinated this way, giving us the "bomb-throwing" anarchist stereotype, which is unfortunate. Another working example of anarchism is the Ukranian Free Territory which existed for about three years before being destroyed by the Bolsheviks, though they had managed to successfully hold off the Whites. Current day Chiapas is an other example of functional anarchism that is still in existence. Not types of anarchism [ edit ] National anarchism [ edit ] See the main article on this topic: National anarchism National anarchism is a batshit crazy ideology which seeks the same aims of fascism but argues that a stateless society would achieve them better than a state ever could. National anarchists seek the establishment of 'National Autonomous Zones' which would be 'racially pure', 'traditional' in terms of gender relations, anti-capitalist and ecologically sustainable. Unlike most other anarchists, national anarchists do not oppose hierarchy. Rather they seek a hierarchy that arises 'naturally', not the current hierarchies of the capitalist system, which are based on exploitation. National anarchists share some common ground with pan-archists as they argue that 'if you don't like it, you can just leave'. They said you can just join an existing society based on other values or even start your own. For the most part, National anarchists are despised by other anarchists. That is provided they have even heard of them. National anarchism is a fringe movement even compared to anarcho-capitalism. They have a habit of showing up uninvited to anarchist book fairs, getting run off by angry Antifascist Action affinity groups, and whining on the Internet about it. See the main article on this topic: Anarcho-capitalism Inspite of its name, anarcho-capitalism is not related to the other anarchist movements more than the abolishing of the state. It is a far-right ideology which advocates a laissez-faire free market. Anarchism traditionally means not simply the abolition of the state but also all hierarchies, which are viewed as inherently oppressive. Since capitalism is hierarchical few, if any, leftist-anarchists view anarcho-capitalism as anarchism.[13] [14] However, ancaps simply view anarchism as the abolition of the state, so they view capitalism (and other hierarchies for that matter) and anarchism as compatible. In short, in the ancap's mind anarcho-capitalism is anarchism, in every other anarchist's it's not. Anarchist organizations [ edit ] Those who make no effort to understand anarchism generally suppose that the very term "anarchist organization" posits a hierarchical structure which is anathema to the egalitarian virtues of the anarchist worldview. This is not the case. Anarchists believe that human beings can organize themselves along non-hierarchical lines. Anarchists are not against organization, but rather oppose hierarchy, and do not advocate the 'lawlessness' and disintegration of society which the term 'anarchy' conjures. Anarchist organizations strive for a maximal degree of direct democracy and the accountability of officers to the rank and file. North America [ edit ] Canada [ edit ] Mexico [ edit ] United States [ edit ] Europe [ edit ] Asia [ edit ] Rojava (or North Syria Federation) is a region of Syria mostly controlled by Kurds and allied fighters. It could reasonably be considered an anarchist region; it incorporates several elements of anarchism including egalitarianism, decentralization, and self-determination. However, there are certain things about Rojava that some say would disqualify it, namely that it has an army of 50,000 troops alongside compulsory military service, a state governance structure, and good relations/direct military cooperation with other governments. But even if it isn't anarchist, it's still libertarian socialist, a broader political umbrella that includes anarchism among other philosophies/systems. Australasia [ edit ] ASF Australia South America [ edit ] Africa [ edit ] See also [ edit ] Anarchy Libertarianism, a term originally used by anarchists, such as "libertarian socialism", to distinguish it from authoritarian versions. Now used by radical classical liberals and supporters of laissez-faire capitalism. The former use is now ironically seen as an oxymoron by them, just as anarchists feel about such "right"-libertarian ideologies. capitalism. The former use is now ironically seen as an oxymoron by them, just as anarchists feel about such "right"-libertarian ideologies. Mobocracy Socialism Notes [ edit ] ↑ This is a joke in reference to the Westminster, U.K. police issuing a memo stating just that ↑ Maybe not all is lost for them, then? Just wait a couple of centuries.
Published online 4 January 2011 \| Nature \| doi:10.1038/news.2011.701 News Undermining belief in a fair world may mean that climate warnings go unheeded. Upsetting people's innate belief that the world is a fair place could make them less likely to take action on climate change. Anthony Skerman/AP/Press Association Images The use of dire predictions to encourage action on climate change may be backfiring and increasing doubt that greenhouse gases from human activities are causing global warming. Although scientific evidence that anthropogenic activities are behind global warming continues to mount, belief in the phenomenon has stagnated in recent years. "When I was a pollster, I was detecting that many dire messages seemed to be counterproductive, we really needed someone to determine why," says Ted Nordhaus at the Breakthrough Institute, a Californian think-tank for energy and climate issues. Matthew Feinberg at the University of California, Berkeley, wondered whether presenting children as the main victims of climate change, a common feature of warning messages, might be viewed as unfair because children have not caused global warming. He speculated that this, along with the apocalyptic descriptions of global warming's possible consequences, might threaten people's natural tendency to believe that the world is a fundamentally fair and stable place1. Undermining that belief has been shown to increase the likelihood that people will ignore reality and allow events to unfold around them without intervening2. Hard-hitting A few psychologists have explored the psychology of climate-change belief, with some work revealing that climate scepticism relates to peoples' tendency to defend the status quo, but little else has been done. "We saw a giant hole in the literature when it came to looking at psychological responses to global-warming messages," says Feinberg. So Feinberg and his colleague Robb Willer, also at Berkeley, asked 45 online participants spread across 15 cities in the United States to engage in what was ostensibly a sentence-unscrambling activity. Half of the volunteers were asked to unscramble sentences such as "Somehow justice will always prevail", whereas the others were given sentences such as "Often, justice will not prevail". This activity primed them to have either a strong or weak belief in a just world. The participants then completed a survey that measured their scepticism over climate change, asking questions such as "How solid is the evidence that the earth is warming?" and requiring participants to rate their answers on a six-point scale, in which six was not at all solid and one very solid. Next, participants watched two short global-warming warning videos created by the Environmental Defense Fund, a charity based in New York that campaigns on green issues. The first showed a train speeding towards a small girl as a metaphor for the impending catastrophe that awaits the world's children (see video). The second showed anxious children verbally simulating a clock ticking while describing the climate devastation that is coming (see video). After watching, participants again had their degree of scepticism over climate change measured. They were also asked to rate how willing they were to take action to reduce their carbon footprints. Off-target? Feinberg and Willer found that participants primed to have a stronger belief in a just world reported levels of scepticism that were 29% higher, and a willingness to reduce their carbon footprint that was 21% lower, than those primed to see the world as an unjust place. Their findings are reported in Psychological Science1. "The idea that persuasion is most effective when it matches a person's belief systems is something we have known about for a while, but what is nice about this research is that it identifies the just-world belief system as a key matter for climate-change communicators to attend to," says psychologist Janet Swim at Pennsylvania State University in University Park. ADVERTISEMENT However, whether the findings will change the way in which global-warming threats are communicated is not clear. "While the authors are certainly raising valid points, strong messages do have a place in activating people who are already with you," explains Keith Gaby, communications director of the climate section at the Environmental Defense Fund. Gaby argues that the fund's videos do effectively target the people that they are trying to reach. "One of our current ads has a child in it and is hitting the same emotional buttons that the train video does, but we are trying to send a message to Congress with it rather than communicate with the public," he says. "If we were running a $50-million ad campaign to change the minds of sceptics that would be different, and we would certainly consider these findings."
(From left) Rand Paul, Sharron Angle and Ken Buck are all currently tied with their opponents. \| AP Photos Tea party candidates losing steam? Tea-party-backed outsider candidates became the superstars of the midterm elections, drawing national attention after big Republican Senate primary wins — and leading tea partiers to pour millions into those campaigns, seeking credibility. But on Nov. 2, the tea party itself could get a mixed return on those investments. With about a week to go until Election Day, several candidates stamped with the tea party seal of approval are either locked in statistical ties with their Democratic opponents or sinking in the polls, despite well-funded war chests and endorsements from influential conservatives like former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin and Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.). In several cases, the candidates’ staunchly conservative views, thin political credentials and lack of campaign experience — the same assets that helped them upset the GOP status quo — have become liabilities in the general election. Story Continued Below That shift has allowed Democrats to remain competitive in a down election year and could help them retain control of the Senate. It has also forced Republicans to make tough decisions about where to allocate its resources, and it could blunt the tea party’s much-anticipated impact when the Senate reconvenes in January. The marquee race is in Nevada, where tea party favorite Sharron Angle is struggling to unseat Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, even though Angle raised $14 million in the third quarter alone — and Reid’s unfavorable rating languishes at 53 percent. But Angle’s difficulties in Nevada mirror other big-name, tea-party-supported Republican Senate nominees: Joe Miller in Alaska, Rand Paul in Kentucky, Colorado’s Ken Buck and Delaware’s Christine O’Donnell, who is running for Vice President Joe Biden’s old seat. In Nevada, almost every public poll taken this month has given Angle a narrow lead over Reid, with the most recent survey showing her with a 2-to-3-point advantage, a statistical dead heat. Angle had been leading Reid, but a gaffe-ridden summer — she suggested dissatisfied conservatives might use “Second Amendment remedies” and argued that the Constitution doesn’t explicitly separate church and state — led some Republicans to question whether she was ready for prime time, and the candidate herself all but disappeared from the campaign trail for several weeks to retool. “I think that she has a very good chance to win this race, despite the campaign she’s run,” said Chuck Muth, a Nevada conservative political consultant. “That’s more a reflection of how people feel about Harry Reid than the campaign she has run.” Muth and others said the highly anticipated debate between Reid and Angle on Oct. 15 served as an example: Though neither candidate clearly won, most pundits say Reid actually lost because he didn’t score a decisive victory.
Two years ago, I wrote an article about how to create an ebook in Open Office. Since then, I've moved to creating ebooks using the linux command line because I found it quicker and a lot simpler: from a finished text, a Kindle ebook can be created in less than a minute - and its all completely free. The tools I use to create epub and Kindle ready books using the command line interface (CLI) are any text editor (emacs, nano, vi, etc), pandoc and KindleGen. Create the ebook The most time consuming part (and fun part too) of the whole process is creating your ebook. To do this, you can use any text editor - you don't need any special software for this stage. You simply write your book using markdown syntax. Markdown allows you to write your book with the minimum of tags which can then be converted into lots of different formats. (This whole website is written in markdown.) An example of an ebook written on the Linux command line is shown below: % The name of your book % Your name A statement to appear on the first page. # Chapter One Whatever you want to put into your first chapter. # Chapter Two The contents of the all important chapter two, which also contains an image ![A lovely image](images/lovely.jpg) (For more details on the different formatting you can use in markdown then a markdown cheat sheet is invaluable. Save this file as yourfilename.md You don't need to create a table of contents for your ebook at this point because pandoc will do this for you. When you've written your book, you're ready for the next stage of the process. Convert markdown to epub format The second stage of the process is to convert your markdown ebook to the epub format. For this, we'll need to install pandoc - the Swiss army knife of document conversion. Download and install pandoc using: sudo apt-get install pandoc To create a simple ebook, make sure you're inside the correct directory and type: pandoc yourfilename.md -o mybook.epub This will create an epub file for you which you can read on most ebook readers (but not on Kindles as they have their own format - we'll come to this later). Note that if your markdown file contains links to local images, for example: ![A lovely image](images/lovely.jpg) then pandoc will automatically include the images in the generated epub. Adding a cover to your ebook To add a cover to your epub book then use the --epub-cover-image=cover.jpg flag. For example: pandoc yourfilename.md -o --epub-cover-image=cover.jpg myebook.epub Adding a table of contents to your ebook To add a table of contents to your epub, then add the --toc flag to the statement. For example: pandoc yourfilename.md -o --toc myebook.epub Creating one ebook from multiple documents If you're writing a large book, you may want to have one file per chapter. For example, chapter01.md chapter02.md. This will make your work a lot easier to manage. Also, you may want to have extra information about the book included as a seperate document. For example a file called title.txt can contain the following: % The name of your book % Your name To add all the chapters and the extra information together to create one book, to include an image for the title page and to create a table of contents, then the following command can be used: pandoc -o mybook.epub --epub-cover-image=cover.jpg --smart --toc --epub-metadata=metadata.xml title.txt chapter01.md chapter02.md Create a file compatible with the Kindle If you want to sell your book on Amazon, or read it on your Kindle then you'll need to convert the file from the epub format to a format that the Kindle can recognise. Luckily, Amazon have made their KindleGen tool readily available for free download. Convert your epub file to Kindle format Download the KindleGen tar.gz from www.amazon.com/kindleformat/kindlegen to a folder such as Kindlegen in home directory (~/KindleGen). Extract the contents of the file to ~/KindleGen . Open the terminal, move to folder containing the downloaded file using command cd ~/KindleGen and then use command tar xvfz kindlegen_linux_2.6_i386_v2.tar.gz to extract the contents. Move kindlegen to /usr/local/bin by typing sudo mv kindlegen /usr/local/bin Go back to the directory that you created the epub files in and type in kindlegen mybook.epub which will create a file called mybook.mobi in your current directory. You now have a mobi file that can be uploaded to Amazon's Kindle Direct Publishing. Congratulations - you've published your ebook using free tools from the Linux command line! As you can see, if you're creating a lot of books then this process is a lot faster and cheaper than other methods out there. I hope you've enjoyed reading this as much as I've enjoyed creating it.
The recent retirement of Tyrone Vickery from the Hawthorn Football Club has placed a spotlight on the treatment of footballers on social media. AFL Players Association Chief Executive, Paul Marsh has gone public with his concern over what he termed “an alarming trend towards scapegoats and whipping boys.” If there was ever an AFL whipping boy, Ty Vickery was one. He was drafted at pick 8 in 2008, which comes with a certain number of expectations. He’s not the first high draft pick to fail to live up to them. Jack Watts, drafted number 1 overall that same year has been under intense scrutiny his whole career to date. Jarrad Grant was pick 5 the year before, and was a much-maligned player for the entirety of his career as well before his delisting by Gold Coast at the conclusion of the 2017 season. Was the criticism of Vickery justified? His career comprised of 125 games – that in itself is an achievement. 119 were played for Richmond before moving to Hawthorn 12 months ago. There was a collective groan from Hawthorn supporters when Vickery was signed, coinciding with a sigh of relief from Tiger fans. Those optimists (myself included) thinking that he’d have a new lease on life at the Hawks, akin to the one David Hale enjoyed when he arrived at the club, were quickly silenced. In Vickery’s 6 games in the brown and gold, he averaged 10 touches, but kicked a total of only 2 goals. The Hawks brought him in to play forward, and he failed to convert. He did not play a senior game after Round 11. If great power comes with great responsibility, so too does the selection of a top 10 draft pick. The three players taken directly after the Tigers selected Vickery were Jack Ziebell, Phil Davis and Steele Sidebottom – two AFL captains, and a reigning Collingwood best and fairest winner. Drafting a player isn’t a perfect science, but it’s fair to say the Tigers got it wrong in ’08. In their defence, they’ve got plenty right since. Marsh stated that he believes the condemnation Vickery received during his career was linked to the position he was drafted, and thinks the level of criticism Vickery received was unfair. Whilst it is true that Vickery is in no way responsible for where he got drafted, or by whom, he has been responsible for his own performances. Many were sub-par. Richmond fans had long lamented Vickery’s play. Standing 2 metres tall, Vickery averaged over 5 marks per game only once in his career – in 2013. As poor as that seems, it compares favourably with a player like Nic Naitanui, who is yet to average over 3 marks per game in his career. It makes you wonder why Vickery was so maligned, yet people are still firmly in the camp of Naitanui despite the Eagles using the second overall pick on him the same year Vickery was drafted. It may come down to the fact that Nic Nat has been able to do things Vickery simply wasn’t able to. Naitanui is an athlete, and has proven to be a match-winner. He may not be a reliable mark, but he can do many other things. Big Ty was a plodder in a game that was quickly leaving plodders behind. The current matter at hand is the social media abuse. In an age where technology is now King, Twitter has emerged as the equivalent of the front bar at your local pub on a busy night. People exchange thoughts and emotions in the Twitter-verse medium as the game unfolds. They vent their frustrations when a decision does not go their way or when a player does not perform. They connect with each other and find those who think similarly, or contrarily. Twitter gives voice to their exasperation when a player doesn’t perform. It’s their outlet. Nothing much has changed in terms of the way people react, or the kind of frustrations they feel in relation to footy – it’s just that people are able to share these feelings way more readily than they once were. It turns out a lot of people felt the same way about Vickery. There will always be idiots that take things too far. Insulting a man’s family, his sexuality, race, colour or creed are, and should be off-limits. Wishing harm on someone is frowned upon as well. Cutting edge humour can be hit or miss. It is accepted as good natured ribbing, but it’s very clear when it’s vitriolic. Social media can be good at self-regulating maliciousness at times, and not so good at others. In theory, all of the above should have no impact on the way someone plays once they cross that white line. We've heard a lot of athletes speak about the sporting arena as their sanctuary; where nothing else matters but the contest. On-field performance is one area that is, will, and should always be available for scrutiny by the public. People draw good wages scrutinising the game and those in it. Some don’t even really cover the game, itself. As fans, you should always retain the right to voice your disapproval of the way someone is playing. Whether you think they’re being used incorrectly, or that they don’t look fit enough, or you feel that their commitment is not commensurate with that of the rest of your team – it is part and parcel of supporting a club to voice it. As a supporter, you have your ups and downs, and you celebrate the ups just as much as you lament the downs. These highs and lows are just now heard by so many more people. The world is now your front bar… and it is as busy as it’s ever been. We live in a society where everything you say and do is monitored. If you’re in the public eye, you’re watched, and if you slip up and take a fall, the vultures immediately start to circle. The head of the AFLPA, and even Vickery’s junior coach have pointed the finger of blame at online trolls. Perhaps those trolls are too readily lumped in with emotional fans on social media, as the lines can sometimes blur. However, it might serve them well to increase the scope of that blame to capture the mainstream media as well. They are far from blameless. Reporters who classify themselves as news breakers rarely stick to reporting on what happens on the field. It’s the gossip, the scandal and the innuendo that sells newspapers. They use social media as craftily as anyone. They will report a dozen stories on the life of Jake Stringer, interview his ex-partner and publish pieces on how his life has supposedly unravelled. A few weeks later they’re happily publishing pieces laying blame for a player’s psyche on individuals espousing an opinion or creating a meme online. Individuals don’t get their opinions printed on the front page of the Herald Sun – reporters do. Everyone is always looking for someone or something else to blame for a failure. Tyrone Vickery’s tenure at Hawthorn was devoid of highlights. He played 6 games for them. The fact of the matter is that he would’ve played more, and might still be playing in 2018, if he just played better football. AFL fans, it’s not your fault. Agree or disagree? Hit us up on Twitter at @themongrelpunt and give us a mouthful.
The trouble in Egypt is similar to that in Belgrade after the fall of Slobodan Milosevic, for which radical fans claimed credit Exactly what happened in Port Said on Wednesday night, and exactly who was to blame for the 74 deaths, remains unclear. What is certain, though, is that football "ultras" have become increasingly visible – and not just in Egypt. The ultras are, essentially, radical supporters' groups, but to dismiss them as hooligans is overly simplistic, underplaying both their level of organisation and what makes them so attractive to disaffected male youths in particular. Nobody doubts that ultras played a significant role in the demonstrations in Tahrir Square. The question is which club's they were, with both Al Ahly and Zamalek claiming credit, and both claiming the other was the establishment side that enjoyed the patronage of Hosni Mubarak. For a while a détente existed between the two teams as they rounded on a common enemy. "We fought the police in every match," said Ahmed, a leader of the Zamalek White Knights ultra group. "We know when they run. We taught the protesters how to throw bricks." The situation is similar to that in Belgrade after the fall of Slobodan Milosevic, for which fans of Crvena Zvezda (Red Star) and Partizan both claimed credit. It was at Zvezda's Marakana stadium on 26 July 2000 that there came the first clear sign the Serbian public had turned against Milosevic, as fans at a Champions League qualifier against Torpedo Kutaisi of Georgia began chanting: "Do Serbia a favour, Slobodan, and kill yourself." Police waded in, but this was the Zvezda hardcore, the Delije (the Strong Ones), and they fought back. They had been an anarchic hooligan force in the 80s, regularly causing havoc at away games, and Milosevic had sought to harness their power by appointing Arkan, later a notorious warlord, to control them. In the eyes of the Delije, it was they who enacted the first battle of the war in the former Yugoslavia as they rioted in Zagreb in 1990 at a league game against Dinamo, whose Bad Blue Boys were ultras with a clear Croatian nationalist ideology. Both ultra groups later became military units during the war. Behind the main stand at the Maksimir stadium in Zagreb stands a memorial to the Bad Blue Boys who died at the front. That the Delije had turned against Milosevic was hugely significant. Most games turned into anti-Milosevic rallies, with the police powerless to act. Civil disobedience spread and, when the mayor of Cacak, Velja Iljic, led his decisive march on Belgrade, his column of 10,000 protesters was joined in the capital by two groups: the students and the Delije (and, possibly, the Partizan equivalent, the Grobari, or Gravediggers). They were independent of the state, organised, had a clearly defined leadership structure and were used to fighting the police. The ultra groups are not just about fighting. A few years ago, I had lunch with a number of Delije leaders. The atmosphere was reminiscent of a mafia film, with a clear order of seniority behind the bonhomie and constant interruptions as those lower down the chain sought orders and favours. "We look after our own, you know?" one said, explaining how the Delije found jobs for their members and supported those too ill to work. I later saw the Delije helping a man all but crippled by polio into the stadium for a game. It's easy to understand the group's appeal. More recently, Serbian ultras caused the abandonment of a Euro 2012 qualifier against Italy in Genoa, cutting down fences and firing flares. The reasons offered ran a typically wide gamut and suggested how difficult ultras are to categorise: some said they were highlighting their opposition to US policy on Kosovo as Hillary Clinton visited Belgrade; some said they were protesting about the arrest of a Serbian drug-dealer; some were angry about the transfer of the former Zvezda goalkeeper Vladimir Stojkovic to Partizan. Football violence has been around almost as long as football, but an early instance of fans becoming politicised came in Budapest in the 1920s. As an economy ravaged by the first world war boomed, many from the working-class neighbourhoods of Pest felt they were being left behind. As the historian Tamás Krausz put it, "foreign money, ie 'Jewish capital' and 'foreigners' in general, was considered the main obstacle in the way of Hungarian prosperity". The disaffected found in Ferencvaros a football club that offered a sense of identity and purpose they could not find elsewhere, and accordingly it became a rallying point for anti-Semitism and ultimately the Arrow Cross party that led Hungary into an alliance with Nazi Germany. It would be wrong to speak of ultras as a movement, for the outlook and ideology of groups varies radically from country to country, from club to club and even within clubs. Some groups are concerned with nothing more than choreography, organising spectacular displays of support. Some just enjoy violence. I still remember the excitement that glinted in the eyes of a Spartak Moscow ultra who stared at me and said: "But the best thing is when you go abroad and fight the police … like a war." Some are essentially criminal gangs, involved in smuggling and drug-running. But some groups have become politically active. Last year, for instance, a few minutes into the opening game of the Copa America in Argentina, where internecine conflict between various barras (as the ultra groups are known there) has claimed 157 lives since 1979, one group of home fans unveiled a banner in support of a candidate in the Buenos Aires provincial elections, prompting a furious reaction from elsewhere in the ground. The barras often seem like mobs for hire, offering support to whoever gives them the best deal, but elsewhere there are more clearly defined political goals. The ultra groups are rarely ideologically coherent and are prone to abrupt political shifts, making them dangerous allies, But in street demonstrations, the ease with which they can be mobilised and their willingness to fight has made them an increasingly significant force.
Nekima Levy-Pounds, left, was last on the speaking roster. Kermit the Frog's only statement was on his sign. When Nekima Levy-Pounds rose Tuesday night to address the Minneapolis School Board there was a brief and pregnant pause. The University of St. Thomas law professor was part of a group that the night before had aimed a barrage of sharp tweets using the hashtag #jimcrowjr at Superintendent Bernadeia Johnson and other district leaders. Now members of a new group she helped found, the Black Education Advocates, were at the meeting to demand answers about a $375,000 no-bid contract being referred to in the community as “hush money.” Levy-Pounds was last on the roster. In the hour before her turn came, a long line of community members stepped to the podium to air a diverse and mind-boggling set of complaints. There were the North High School football players who showed up to ask for sports facilities equity. Or at a minimum indoor restrooms with running water. There was the woman who called out the district for letting employees into sporting events for free while charging even the poorest students. There was the 20-plus-year early childhood education aide who broke down describing the bureaucratic snafu that cost her and a number of her colleagues their jobs last spring, and the bureaucracy’s disinterest in hearing them out. And then there was Kermit the Frog, who showed up in a purple stocking cap and an orange jumpsuit emblazoned with the words “State Penitentiary,” a symbol of the school-to-prison pipeline. The frog, who was about the size of a human teen, did not speak but carried a hand-lettered sign: “Minneapolis Public Schools awarded a $375,000 contract to an organization with no website, no phone number, #butthat’snoneofmybusiness.” When Levy-Pounds finally spoke, her words summarized the evening’s angry groundswell. “You all constantly claim you want community engagement,” she said. “But when we step up our voices are silenced.” ‘Stop making excuses’ There was applause as she continued: “We are sick and tired of being sick and tired. Stop making excuses, hold yourself accountable and educate our babies.” While she spoke, Black Education Advocates co-founder Chris Stewart, a former MPS board member, created a devastating Storify, “Jim Crow Jr., Minneapolis Style,” featuring the tweets coming out of district headquarters as well as memes starring Kermit sipping a cup of tea under provocative questions about the CSI contract. Last week, the Black Education Advocates sent an open letter to district leaders calling for an outside investigation into a controversial contract that had been tucked into the board’s May consent agenda, the list of routine business requiring board approval but not meriting discussion. The contract in question awarded $375,000 to the Community Standard Initiative (CSI), a group that had no legal structure and could not articulate a plan beyond a desire to work in schools and neighborhoods to promote positive behavior. District leaders had recommended against inking the deal, especially after a $30,000 investment in trying to help CSI develop programming yielded little. CSI did, however, have some powerful promoters. Minneapolis DFL Sens. Jeff Hayden and Bobby Joe Champion either urged the district to enter into the agreement or threatened to turn off a crucial funding stream, depending on which version of the story is being told. A longtime district critic CSI’s creator, Al Flowers, is a longtime district critic. He also has a long history of showing up in controversial headlines — most recently after an encounter with police that is still under investigation. Champion is his attorney. CSI was paid $47,000 before news stories in this publication and others drew attention to the no-bid contract. The organization’s fiscal agent, Clarence Hightower, recently said it lacked the capacity to deliver the contracted services. Minneapolis Public Schools leaders, meanwhile, were mum on how the item made its way onto the consent agenda and which version of the story about lawmakers’ intercession was true. Board member Rebecca Gagnon last year testified in favor of the funding at the Capitol and her colleague Kim Ellison once worked for Hightower. District insiders have said at least four board members were in favor of the contract. Gagnon told the Star Tribune she is disappointed CSI could not deliver. A week ago, the Black Education Advocates — other members include leaders of Students for Education Reform — sent an open letter to district leaders calling for an outside investigation. A MinnPost request for comment on the letter went unfulfilled, although an article a day later in the Star Tribune elaborated on the district’s decision to end the arrangement. Board chair replies to letter On Monday, board Chair Richard Mammen replied to the letter [.png], saying that placing the contract on the consent agenda was legal and that he was confident all board members were aware of it. “The board will participate fully in any investigation ordered by an appropriate authority pertaining to this contract or any other matter concerning alleged ‘breaches of leadership,’” he wrote. Over the weekend, supporters of the lawmakers and CSI called out the Black Education Advocates in radio broadcasts, calling Levy-Pounds a bourgeoisie black elite. (It’s unclear whether either senator knew of or had a hand in the broadcasts.) Separately, members of another new group, Not on Our Watch, staged protests on the city’s north side. At Tuesday night’s board meeting, Natonia Johnson identified herself as a member of the second new group. “We want an independent audit of how the $47,000 given to CSI was spent,” she told the board. “We will get it. That’s not a threat, that’s a promise. You have not seen the last of my face.” After Levy-Pounds spoke, most of the angry community members filed out into the foyer, where the din threatened to drown out Johnson as she made her first public remarks [PDF] on the controversy. ‘Had many reservations’ “In considering the contract with CSI, my staff and I had many reservations about moving forward with it,” Johnson said. “I was cautious because it was apparent that they would need significant support and assistance from the district to fulfill the contract. MPS did more than our due diligence to help CSI succeed, even linking them up with our research and evaluation team, to develop a specific timeline for implementation and execution, as well as metrics to determine how the program was progressing. But I was also optimistic about the potential for students to benefit from the services that CSI said they could provide.” Johnson addressed the question of outside pressure only obliquely: “Several board members, elected officials and community members expressed support of this contract, which further influenced moving forward with the contract.”
Former Nebraska receiver Kenny Bell took to Twitter on Wednesday to express his dismay in Nebraska’s decision to remove performance records set by players under past regimes from the walls of its weight room. Today i found out anybody that trained in the weight room in the past 10 years has been removed from the walls. @Huskers no love for alum??? — Kenny Bell (@AFRO_THUNDER80) April 6, 2016 That hurts. Was told that because "we didnt train right" our records in the weight room at our Alma Mater are removed? Ouch. — Kenny Bell (@AFRO_THUNDER80) April 6, 2016 Scroll to continue with content Ad [Check out Dr. Saturday on Tumblr for entertaining things you won’t see on the blog] The performance records were displayed on a screen in the Suh Strength Complex, but assistant athletic director Boyd Epley said in a statement that Nebraska's strength staff found "inconsistency in testing procedures in various sports." "With that, it was hard to validate testing numbers and records that were achieved using differing timing procedures and equipment,” said Epley, who retired in 2006, but returned to the program in 2014. Forgettin the old regime I understand, let's move forward. But guys that gave 5 years to the program? @Ameerguapo deserves to b in that room — Kenny Bell (@AFRO_THUNDER80) April 6, 2016 Story continues I am not complaining, and i am not angry. I am genuinely saddened. I love that program and the guys that are apart of it. Disappointed. — Kenny Bell (@AFRO_THUNDER80) April 6, 2016 However, thanks in part to Bell, who played at Nebraska from 2011 to 2014, calling attention to the loss of records, Epley said the records would be put back up in the weight room. “All records will be restored and displayed regardless of the testing procedure, as we want to recognize all of our record holders regardless of the timing and testing system,” Epley said. "We are really proud of our athletes who worked hard in our strength and conditioning program to achieve great things." [Visit Dr. Saturday on Facebook for stories you might have missed and chat with the writers] For more Nebraska news, visit HuskerOnline.com. - - - - - - - Graham Watson is the editor of Dr. Saturday on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email her at dr.saturday@ymail.com or follow her on Twitter! And don’t forget to keep up with all of Graham’s thoughts, witty comments and college football discussions on Facebook
I’ve been thinking about the topic of logistics since reading the book Aerotropolis several months ago. One logistical issue that comes up on a regular basis is the congestion and delays that take place in and around Chicago. Being a chokepoint for numerous rail lines and highways at the south end Lake Michigan, the Chicago Region is critical hub for cross-country freight movements. With the rapid growth in just-in-time delivery, containerization, container ports, and intermodal facilities over the past few decades, any bottlenecks and/or delays here can spell big trouble for those firms depending on their goods being transported by rail or truck through Chicago. As a result, it seems to me that Michigan and Wisconsin may be missing a golden opportunity to take advantage of the routine bottlenecks in Chicago by developing a set of bypass container ports on either side of Lake Michigan for the un-congested transport of those goods moving cross-country. The container ports could be constructed at either Milwaukee, Racine, Sheboygan, or Manitowoc on the Wisconsin side of the lake and in Muskegon, Ludington, and possibly Manistee or Frankfort on the Michigan side. Granted this option would not be applicable to all goods moving in and out of Chicago, but those items moving towards the Eastern Great Lakes, Northeastern United States, and Eastern Canada could easily flow through these lake ports, be off-loaded onto rail cars, and/or and then be shipped eastward from there by rail or truck. Likewise for goods shipping westward to the Western Great Lakes, Northern Plains, Rockies, and Pacific Northwest. The trans-shipment across Lake Michigan could also serve as a back-up in case of a National emergency. Some may scoff at this notion and issue of low water levels would need to be resolved, but I think there is real merit in at least considering it as an economic development option. One only need to look at the growth of container ports across the globe to see the huge potential. Where rail cars were once shipped across the lake, could containers be a 21st Century option? Consider this: According to a recent (2012) New York Times article, trains are delayed by as much as 30 hours when passing through the Chicago bottleneck. For some of the 1,300 freight and passenger trains, this extent of delay could provide an open door to the cross lake option, if planned and designed properly. According to answers.com, a fully loaded, medium-sized container ship can be loaded and unloaded in 10-12 hours. Combined with the four hours for the lake crossing itself and you have a total of 14-16 hours. I have a feeling that a lot of companies would be thrilled to get their goods 15 hours earlier than if they went through Chicago. Seems to me, this could be a great opportunity for some savvy shipping firms, Lake Michigan harbor communities, businesspeople, and states of Michigan and Wisconsin to consider more fully. While shipping rail cars may not be competitively feasible as it once was, moving shipping containers across Lake Michigan could be a whole other story. Just a thought that perhaps both states ought to at least consider and analyze, if not pursue. Advertisements
With recent additions to the bullpen, the Blue Jays have some flexibility with how they handle the construction of their bullpen in regards to Mike Bolsinger and Joe Biagini. Just a few weeks ago, the Toronto Blue Jays bullpen was looking very bleak. The only arms penciled into the bullpen was Roberto Osuna, Jason Grilli, and Joe Biagini. The team has since added left hander J.P Howell and right hander Joe Smith, for 5 solidified arms for the bullpen. The addition of Howell and Smith allow for some flexibility when trying to determine the final two spots in the bullpen. However, I believe there’s a strong case to see rookie standout, Joe Biagini, start the season in AAA with the Buffalo Bisons, with Mike Bolsinger taking the place of Biagini in the bullpen. When Biagini came to the Blue Jays last year, it was as a Rule 5 pick from the San Francisco Giants. After a decent spring combined with the fact Biagini had to be on the Blue Jays 25 man roster, or he would be returned to San Francisco, he ended up breaking camp with the team. He never looked back. Biagini started as the long man and as the season went along, he started pitching in high leverage situations in the 7th and 8th innings. He even pitched in big spots in the Blue Jays run to the ALCS. In 67.2 innings, Biagini had a 21.0 K%, 6.4 BB%, 3.06 ERA, 2.95 FIP, 3.71 xFIP, and a 1.2 fWAR. All of those are fantastic numbers. Nobody could have projected the kind of season Biagini had as a Rule 5 pick. Last season was the first season in his career that he pitched as a reliever. He succeeded with his arsenal of 4 pitches. Thinking long term and short term, Biagini does play as a starting pitcher, like he was in the Giants organization. This is where the case for him beginning as a starter in Buffalo in 2017 has some serious merit. Mike Bolsinger was acquired at the trade deadline from the Los Angeles Dodgers for Jesse Chavez. Bolsinger saw just 27.2 innings in 2016, largely caused by injury. In 2015, he threw 109.1 innings with the Dodgers in 21 starts. He was a successful back of the rotation arm posting 21.0 K%, 9.7 BB%, 3.62 ERA, 3.91 FIP, 3.82 xFIP, and a 1.1 fWAR. For a back of the rotation arm, it’s a solid season. Like Biagini, Bolsinger does project as a starter long term, but given the Blue Jays current roster and a few years down the road, it would be a awhile before he could potentially fit in the Blue Jays rotation. That is assuming he is still with the team. Bolsinger goes into 2017 out of options, meaning that if he does not make the roster and starts in Buffalo, he would need to clear waivers before joining the team. Many people still could say that Bolsinger would be starting depth in Buffalo, but given the fact he is out of options it make things a bit more difficult. Biagini now has options with the Blue Jays, which would make him easier to use as depth for the rotation. The current plan for the Blue Jays heading into the spring is to stretch out Biagini to use as a 6th starter in the event of an injury. Going into 2017, behind the penciled 5 starters, there is virtually no depth in Buffalo in the event of an injury. The fact that Biagini is already going to be stretched out, and the fact he has options and Bolsinger does not, make it a smarter play to have Biagini as the 6th starter as opposed to Bolsinger. After the 2017 season, Marco Estrada and Francisco Liriano are free agents. The team could still bring Estrada back, but Liriano likely will be gone after this season. Biagini would slide right into the rotation as a useful piece, which would given them 4/5 starting pitchers or 3/5 if both Liriano and Estrada depart. Starting a full season in Buffalo where Biagini can work on all his pitches consistently can benefit the team for both 2017 and 2018. The current battle for spots in the bullpen with Biagini penciled in there includes the likes of Bolsinger, Ryan Tepera, Danny Barnes, Matt Dermody, Aaron Loup, Bo Schultz, Chad Girodo, Glenn Sparkman and many other roster invitees like Gavin Floyd, Leonel Campos, Jeff Beliveau, Wil Browning, T.J House and more. Tepera, Barnes, Dermody, Loup, and Girodo all have options. Bolsinger and Schultz are out of options and Sparkman is a Rule 5 pick from the Kansas City Royals. With Biagini starting the season in AAA that could allow for the Blue Jays to have the likes of Schultz, Sparkman, and Bolsinger in the bullpen to see what they have in those arms. Biagini starting in AAA as starting depth allows for this roster flexibility. The obvious concern on the minds of many going this route would be the big production lost from Biagini. Comparing Biagini’s 2016 as a reliever and Bolsinger’s 2015 as a starter, they both have the same K% but Bolsinger does walk more batters. Diving into the splits of the two of them, it looks as follows: Biagini vs. LHP: .281/.347/.378 .281/.347/.378 Bolsinger vs. LHP: .285/.377/.416 .285/.377/.416 Biagini vs. RHP: .236/.296/.348 .236/.296/.348 Bolsinger vs. RHP: .220/.282/.354 Both handle left handers and right handers very similar. Both have a wide assortment of pitches, something that benefitted Biagini as a reliever in 2016. Bolsinger features 5 pitches which can be used to a similar benefit to Biagini. When considering the pitchers who have options and those who don’t, the case for the Blue Jays to bring Bolsinger north on the 25 man roster is pretty strong, in my mind. In the event the bullpen starts off on the wrong foot, the easy solution for a reliever to slide in is calling up Biagini to pitch out of the bullpen again. Whoever makes the team can be swapped out for Biagini. The ability to use Biagini as starting depth in 2017 allows for roster flexibility, and it allows for the Blue Jays to have a quality arm to slide into the rotation if there is an injury, as he could be called up in a flash to spot start or pitch out of the bullpen. The same luxury cannot be said for Bolsinger. There will be a lot of answers in the coming months in regards to how the bullpen will shake down after spring. If the non-roster invitees do not impress enough to justify being given a spot on the roster, Biagini would stay. If Bolsinger has a terrible spring the team could risk him being the 6th starter in AAA and hope he sneaks through waivers. The final product could very well see Biagini staying in the bullpen for 2017. I would love if Biagini pitches out of the bullpen again in 2017, as he was highly effective last season. However, with the plan being to stretch Biagini out in the spring, I do think the front office is thinking along the lines of using him as starting depth. That move would be easier to make if a few arms in camp emerge. The decision to keep Biagini in the bullpen would also be easy if nobody impresses enough to make the team. It will be interesting to see how it all shakes down, but looking long term to keep Bolsinger around for 2018 and to have Biagini as a starter in 2018 and a depth guy for 2017, there is a strong case to be made for this to happen. Whatever happens, Joe Biagini will still be a key piece to the Blue Jays making another run in 2017.
What am I doing here? Bernard Tomic did not have a good time at Wimbledon. Credit:Getty Images Back then, life was normal for the Tomics. A boy chasing a dream with the help of his old man. Then it all went tits up. That moment sprung to mind while watching the final three minutes of Tomic's bizarre interview with Seven's Sunday Night. For the other 17 minutes, the 24-year-old could barely wipe that smug look from his face – the one that seems to really, really piss off most of Australia, almost the entire tennis world and one or two cranky bloggers. But it was in those final three minutes that Tomic showed us there's something more in there than the tennis brat who's watched too many episodes of Entourage and is living his life accordingly. Bernard Tomic, then aged 13, on the Gold Coast in 2006. Credit:Getty Images "I didn't come from a rich family," he said, voice quivering. "I was 12-13 years old, nobody knows the sort of life I had. We came to Australia with basically nothing. It was tough. We had a car, $200, $300, and now maybe going buying cars for half a million, a million, living in these lavish houses, property around the world, it's my choice ... I've worked for it and I've earned it. Being 24 and in my opinion achieving a lot in this sport, it's affected me a little bit mentally and emotionally. Now it's just about finding my balance and pushing on the next 10 years and being successful." Then he said this: "I'm trapped". Bernard Tomic bombed out in the first round at Wimbledon this year. Credit:AP Tomic has become such a punchline it's easy to dismiss and criticise instead of sending some empathy his way. This column has been guilty of it as much as anyone as his career has turned into a slow-moving car crash between his canary yellow Ferrari and bright orange BMW. Today, I can't condemn him. How sad that a 24-year-old can work so hard, can sacrifice so much, can do so much for his family who once drove around the Goldie in a beat-up old Mazda, and now feel so imprisoned by the life it's brought him. As a teenager, Bernard Tomic had his eyes on a grand slam title and top ranking. Credit:Getty Images What does Tomic owe you? Me? Us? Some will say the $4 million of funding from Tennis Australia that's helped him live this miserable existence with homes in Miami, Monaco and Surfers Paradise. Maybe. I've seen a lot more public money spent in worse ways. If Tomic isn't pulling on a green and gold tracksuit for Australia in the Davis Cup, or at the Olympics, he isn't really representing anyone but himself. Go and live in the real world. Work in a factory. What about the fans who have paid for the courtside tickets? What about the history of the game? Wimbledon? Why can't he be like Federer? Or Nadal? Or Rafter? In truth, he's more like Andre Agassi, who told us in 2009 autobiography, Open, just how much tennis tortured him. "I play tennis for a living even though I hate tennis, hate it with a dark and secret passion and always have," he wrote. It wasn't until he lost the hairspray and hairpiece, kicked the meth and found love and children with Steffi Graf that he came out the other side, winning grand slam titles and becoming a universally loved and adored character. Like Tomic, Agassi and Graf had overbearing fathers. In an interview with German news magazine Der Spiegel around the time of his book's release, Agassi revealed how tough the life of a tennis professional could be. He said: "I told a lot of people that I hated tennis – seriously and strongly hated it – and they all tried to talk me out of it: 'Ah, that is not right, Andre; in fact you love tennis, don't you?' Do you want to know what Stefanie said? 'Don't we all'." Agassi waited until the end of his career to announce how much he disliked his own sport. Tomic has announced it by tanking at Wimbledon, telling the media afterwards he was "bored" and then explaining to Channel Seven that he is just in this for the money. He says he will never find happiness while playing tennis – it's just a pay cheque to fund his playboy lifestyle. Again … how sad. Before we stepped into his father's old Mazda that afternoon, I'd spent a few hours interviewing Tomic. Just the two of us, away from his father, who had earlier drilled him on the practice court at Southport under a blazing sun. Loading He had it all worked out: he was going to win this grand slam, reach this ranking by that age, have the ground strokes of Federer, heart of Hewitt etc, etc, etc. How was he to know that he'd have none of those things? Just a big pile of money and no way out.
Here it is! My Sweet Apple Acres Con exclusive print!I've been working on this for about two weeks or so. It took some time getting used to working on such a massive scale, but it was worth it I think. Each character (save for the CMC and Rarity + Spike) was drawn separately and then scaled accordingly. Since SAAC is in July, I figured that I should draw a beach picture! There's Twilight tediously working on an elaborate Canterlot sand castle, Pinkie Pie leaping into the water about to splash poor Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash and Spitfire racing each other, Rarity and Spike chilling out, the CMC together in little innner tubes, and Doctor Whooves looking for Derpy!This will be a 17inx11in glossy print, to only be sold at Sweet Apple Acres Con. SAAC gave me permission to use their logo for this print. There will be 20-25 prints made. These are perfect prints to buy since you can get signatures on it from the special guests that will be there, making it the perfect memorabilia to remember the con! Enjoy~-- Sweet Apple Acres Con, digitally remastered for print size by myself-- Hasbro--
If you encounter any discussion among the punderati regarding the political dynamics of healthcare reform in Washington these days, it would be difficult not to acknowledge an important fact. The word "bipartisanship" may be tossed around, but in reality, when trying to get anything done, it is the dysfunction of our tri-party system that will be staring you right in the face – when not kicking you right in the gut. There are actually three distinct entities in the US legislature. There are Republicans, who believe less is more – and that doing nothing is the highest form of patriotism. There are Democrats, who are still fighting to ensure that a robust public option is contained in the eventual healthcare legislation and have fought for everything from equal pay for women to legislation to combat global climate change. And then there are Blue Dogs, a largely rural band of theoretical Democrats who only represent 3% of the US population at best and can be counted on to consistently attack, apologise and otherwise run away from their purported party label while seeking the best deal possible for their corporate benefactors. In a way, this behavior is almost understandable, as in no real sense are Blue Dogs Democrats. They are largely southern, where the Republican party still has a 50% approval rating (contrast that with the northeast and midwest, where they sport 7% and 13% approval ratings, respectively, rendering them slightly less popular than scurvy). And they are personal vacuums for contributions from the most noxious, consumer-screwing industries that exist. They are not "moderates", as they are often called by the clueless commentators on cable television, but ultra-conservatives on social, foreign and economic policy. Now, let me walk back a step from indicting the entire group. There are a few genuinely moderate and productive Blue Dog caucus members among their lot, such as Mike Arcuri of New York, Loretta Sanchez and Mike Thompson of California and Mike Michaud of Maine. On key votes, such as Barack Obama's economic stimulus plan, you can usually count on them to support progressive, good-government legislation. There are also a half-dozen (perhaps even a few more) additional adherents of the 52-member group, who are still relatively moderate and more often than not vote for the good for their constituents, party and country. But most of the rest of these never-bite-the-hand-that-feeds-your-campaign-cash-stash Blue Dogs do nothing but embarrass progressives and moderates, kill the Democratic party's brand and continually wreck any chance for it to become a lasting majority party. For these reasons, good Democrats and all progressives should actively root – with their time and wallets – for the worst of them to lose in the 2010 midterm elections. Even if it's to rightwing Republicans. Now, thankfully, that is not always the only option. First, there are some districts, such as those of sell-out John Barrow in Georgia and healthcare-reform-terminator Jim Cooper in Tennessee, where the aforementioned economic royalists/social-issue Attila the Huns are way to the right of their districts, and installing a progressive via a primary challenge is a promising possibility. In addition, there are newly open districts, such as that of Republican Adam Putnam in Florida, where a rightwing Blue Dog, Lori Edwards, is taking on progressive, Doug Tudor. Real Democrats should get in early behind Tudor, to replace a terrible Republican with a progressive, as opposed to an equally dreadful "Democrat". Yet, there just are certain locales where, quite frankly, the Democratic party and progressives would be better served without faux-Democratic representation, whatever the alternative. Uber-reactionary Blue Dog Parker Griffith of Alabama not only has the worst voting record of any House Democrat, but has stated publicly, that if re-elected, he will vote against his own party's leader, House speaker Nancy Pelosi. Meanwhile, in the case of Mike Ross of Arkansas, we have a "Democrat" leading the fight against the public option, after magically having his Tennessee property bought for substantially more than its apparent value by a drug store chain. Are the gods generous, or what? It is reactionary and corrupt Democrats such as these that make insane Republican legislation appear reasonable and "bipartisan" with their support, good Democratic legislation that is hugely popular seem "leftwing" with their gratuitous insults and opposition and the will and organisation of the Democratic party seem weak. Their very existence hurts our party and the country. If you think that a loss of 20 seats would be too severe, even though we'd still hold a strong majority in the House, I have an answer for you. Put progressives in Putnam's seat, Barrow's seat and Cooper's seat, and lose the 22 next-most extreme Blue Dogs to Republicans, and you'll have a more reliably progressive House than we do now. In fact, a progressive PAC, Blue America, realises this and has already started an effort to accomplish this very goal. In the end, I would hope we replace as many Blue Dogs as possible with real Democrats. Yet, when it comes to the reactionary and venal in our midst, I know how I'll handle their losses on election night, even to Republicans. I'll start a fire, roast some marshmallows and take a swig of champagne to toast their every defeat – by any electoral means necessary.
From Chris Derksen (Environment Canada), 26 March 2013 The field team has gone home for a short break before another round of SnowSAR flights in April. They will return to the same cabin in which they stayed in March, located on the shore of Husky Lake. In the meantime, here’s a short description of the work we did on the ground to support the SnowSAR flights. In addition to the main cabin, there is a small structure with room for two or three people to sleep. During the busiest time of the campaign, three people also slept in a tent behind the cabin. We are currently in a period of unusually intense solar activity, so during some nights the team was treated to northern lights. Another northern phenomena is a ‘Sun dog’ – the scientific name is ‘parhelia’. This is the appearance of two small rainbows on each side of the Sun. They are created by the refraction of light from the low angle of the Sun through clouds that have a high ice content. It’s been a heavy snow season on the tundra, so the field team had lots of snow to work with. There is evidence that high winds and blowing snow events have been less frequent than normal over the tundra this year. The snow is less dense than expected, the snow drifts are smaller than normal, and the small patches of trees are covered in snow and rime. Rime is formed by the deposition of water vapour in cold conditions, and gives vegetated landscapes a sepia-toned appearance. The field team made approximately 15 000 snow-depth measurements for comparison with the airborne radar data. These depth measurements can be acquired very efficiently using automated snow-depth probes equipped with a GPS. To help interpret the radar signal, it is also important to understand the vertical structure of the snowpack. How many layers are there? How dense is each layer? What is the grain size of each layer? The traditional way to acquire these measurements is to excavate a snowpit, and make a vertical series of measurements in the pit face. This captures the snow stratigraphy at a point. It’s also important to understand how the layers in the snowpack vary over the land surface because snow properties can be very heterogeneous due to interactions with vegetation and terrain (such as slopes). To better understand this variability, some of the field team excavated a 50 m long trench across one of the radar flight lines (see earlier blog post for a photo of the trench from the aircraft). They then used a near infrared (NIR) camera to take sequential photographs along the length of the trench. The NIR reflectance is sensitive to the snow grain size along the face of the trench, so these photos will be analyzed to provide precise information on how the snow layers vary both vertically and horizontally. The field team returns to Inuvik next week. In addition to the SnowSAR, we also anticipate measurements from an airborne LiDAR system. We will post further updates from the field.
Attorneys representing Austin Holzer, who killed Deputy Derek Geer last year after allegedly warning him, "Dude, you're gonna get fuckin' shot," have filed paperwork suggesting that they may claim self-defense in the case. This revelation is the latest twist in a tragic case that will determine the future for Holzer, who was seventeen at the time of the homicide but is being tried as an adult. At 11:06 a.m. on February 8, 2016, as we've reported in our previous coverage, deputies from the Mesa County Sheriff's Office were dispatched to the 500 block of Fruitvale Court, in the Grand Junction area. Continue Reading The report: a male with a gun. The suspect was said to have last been seen heading south across the Interstate 70 Business Loop and railroad tracks just to the south. From the scene of the shooting. KKCO file photo This information was broadcast to law enforcers, and shortly thereafter, Geer spotted and contacted a male matching the description near the intersection of E Road and 30 1/2 Road. After what the MCSO terms "a short interaction," Geer told the teen — Holzer — he would be detained as part of the investigation into the weapons report. At that point, the suspect tried to rabbit, so Geer fired his Taser. In response, the male allegedly opened fire on Geer, hitting him multiple times before fleeing on foot. Geer was rushed to a nearby hospital, where he subsequently succumbed to his injuries. In the meantime, a dragnet was thrown out for Holzer, who was taken into custody a few minutes after noon. In the days that followed, more information surfaced about Holzer, a onetime student at Grand Junction's Central High School. At the time of the shooting, according to the Grand Junction Daily Sentinel, Holzer had been using a Facebook page headed "ET Went Home"; it listed him as an employee of Burger King. The page has since been deleted, as has a post that Holzer is said to have placed on the page of a Facebook group called Western Slope Guns. The late Deputy Derek Geer. Mesa County Sheriff's Office On February 4, he allegedly tried to trade assorted items for a handgun. The message read in part: “I have items like a flat screen tv, a pair of new Bushnell insta focus 10x30x50 binoculars and a full box of 270 win 150 grain power point bullets pm me!!” Additionally, a onetime friend of Holzer's told the Sentinel that Holzer contacted him before the shooting in the hopes of obtaining rifle bullets. Even more details were revealed in Holzer's arrest documents, which are accessible below. For instance, the report reveals that Holzer had an active warrant in his name for an unspecified sex offense and was listed as a runaway. The account describes him as a meth-using gangster wannabe and quotes him as saying he wanted Geer to kill him and was disappointed that he used a Taser instead. While speaking to authorities, the teen insisted that his first instinct was to shoot himself — but when that didn't work, he chose to fire at Geer instead, striking him three times in the face. His description of what went down, as shared with investigators in the presence of his father, begins like so: "Walking down 29 Road...(unintelligible)...crossed the street. Cop pulled me over and asked me if I just crossed the street like thirty minutes ago and then he says, 'Oh yeah, thirty minutes ago'...(unintelligible)...put my coat on...I went to put my coat on. He said, 'Don't put that on, man.' I said, 'Why not? Am I being detained?' And he's like, 'Yes, you are,' and that's when he tased me, and then I had my hand on my belt when he tased me and...(unintelligible)...I could not get my hand out of my pants and off my belt and he kept yelling at me and asking me to. So that's when I decided to shoot myself." A 2011 Facebook photo of Austin Holzer. Facebook This plan "didn't work," Holzer continued, "and at that point, I tried to pull the gun out and shoot him. Didn't work the first time and then I cocked the gun again and shot three times and I saw blood just coming out of his face. So I ran and jumped the fence and hid in some shrubs." The next time through the account, Holzer added more details. "I had my gun in my pocket, but I wasn't trying to grab for that," he maintained. "I was trying to...(unintelligible)...because that Taser really hurts. And I had my hand on my belt and I don't know what was caught on it, but it was scaring me because I couldn't get it off and I had, like, a seizure or, like, some shit, and I couldn't.... He thought I was trying to shoot him and I was trying to shoot myself. And then I tried to shoot him and it got to him." Holzer claimed that he told Geer, "'Dude, you're gonna get fuckin' shot,' and he said, 'Please shoot me' [sic], and I cocked it back again and shot him three times in the face." While hiding, Holzer said he reloaded his gun, in part because he didn't want to be taken into custody. "Too scared of being in jail for too long," he allowed, in reference to his knowledge about the arrest warrant for him. "I've been in jail...fuckin' a....facility and I fuckin' hated it. Hated all my life. I'd rather run then get caught by a cop. That's why I wanted him to shoot me. I knew I was going to jail. I was like, 'Just shoot me, please, just please.' He wouldn't do it. He wouldn't shoot me. Couldn't even shoot myself." Another image from the crime scene. KKCO file photo The latest? In a new report, the Sentinel notes that public defenders Sheryl Uhlmann and Scott Burrill, who represent Holzer, have filed a motion asking the judge in the case for the MCSO's use-of-force procedures, particularly as they apply to calls involving weapons. "A person may assert self-defense, even when the alleged victim is a peace officer," one section of the motion reads. "The evidence likely to be presented at trial will indicate that Deputy Geer utilized force in the form of a Taser, causing Austin Holzer to be in fear of the use of imminent excessive force against him. At the time of his contact with Deputy Geer, Austin Holzer was not under arrest for any crime." This is hardly the only interesting tactic being utilized by Uhlmann and Burrill on behalf of Holzer. The court has already granted the lawyer's request to separate charges against Holzer, with one trial to hear about counts related to Geer's slaying, another to consider his failure to register as a sex offender, and a third to weigh in on accusations that he stole some guns. On top of that, the Sentinel reports, the attorneys are seeking a change in venue, to move the proceedings out of Mesa County, and have also asked that evidence related to Holzer's criminal history be withheld from the jury. Whether the self-defense strategy will actually be deployed is uncertain at this point. But it's already clear that Holzer's legal team is taking an unusual approach to a tragic case. Click to read the Austin Holzer arrest warrant. Look below to see his booking photo.
dickrockerjanecrocker: likesboyswholikeboys: you can preach about slut-shaming all you want, but you can’t deny there’s something very wrong with 13 and 14-year old girls going out in skirts and dresses so short they barely cover their asses and shirts with necklines so low they show off cleave they haven’t got yet, drinking and even smoking and hooking up with guys before they even have a substantial knowledge of how sex and sexual relationships work. Thank YOU HOLY SHIT if youre looking at a child and sexualizing their body then youre the one with something very wrong with you. why shame the children and not the pedophiles fucking preying on them?? i hope you all know these are all signs of sexual abuse in a child, and abuse in general because there have to be warped adults providing them with smokes and alcohol. but blaming the victims of this sort of abuse makes sense to yall, hah?
Lovins (Photo: Fred) Jackson Energy Authority plans to upgrade its optical infrastructure and make its Internet speed 10 times faster, officials said Tuesday. "We'll upgrade to 1,000 megabits per second," said Ben Lovins, senior vice president of JEA's Telecommunications Division. "Most of our customers are at 75 megabits, but let's round that up to 100. That means the Internet will be 10 times faster." Lovins said JEA expects the upgrade to take three years with initial upgrades for customers who want to order the new service. The project will cost up to $10 million, Lovins said. Customer pricing for the improved service has not been determined. "This is taking Jackson to the next generation," Lovins said. "The faster activity, faster speed, is putting us on the map with Nashville, Chattanooga, Austin (Texas) and Kansas City. "We've been in fiber, but what we are bringing to the citizens is a reinvestment, an upgrade to the next generation ... It's only because of the customers on the network that allow us to make this reinvestment to move Jackson forward." JEA serves about 35,000 customers with electric, gas or water services, and nearly all 35,000 have access to JEA's telecommunications services - Internet, cable television and telephone, Lovins said. About 18,000 use at least one of JEA's telecommunication services, and about 12,000 subscribe to the Internet service, Lovins said. JEA launched its broadband service in 2003 and plans to upgrade with equipment from the ADTRAN company, which is located in Huntsville, Ala. "We built this network, and we are doing this out of cash flow because of the customer, which is encouraging and exciting," Lovins said. "The gig is not just for the computer geek, it's for the infrastructure for the city, hospitals, with high-speed data for medical images for an example and schools." Lovins said the upgrade gives Jackson another step up in its quest for industry. "Jackson is more than a city in West Tennessee," Lovins said. "Name your company, and they can have an office in Chattanooga, California and Jackson. We got the approval to move ahead, and we know we are on the right track. Thank goodness we have the support." David Thomas, 731-425-9637 Read or Share this story: http://www.jacksonsun.com/story/money/2014/11/11/taking-jackson-next-generation/18887557/
An AP-Yahoo poll conducted April 2-14 found that “about 8 percent of whites would be uncomfortable voting for a black for president.” A measure of racism: 15 percent? I was talking the other day to a prominent Republican who asked me what I thought John McCain’s strongest issues would be in the general election. Lower taxes and the argument he will be better able to protect America from its enemies, I said. Story Continued Below Republicans have a pretty good track record with those two. The Republican shook his head. “You’re missing the most important one,” he said. “Race. McCain runs against Barack Obama and the race vote is worth maybe 15 percent to McCain.” The man I was talking to is not a racist; he was just stating what he believes to be a fact: There is a percentage of the American electorate who will simply not vote for a black person no matter what his qualities or qualifications. How big is that percentage? An AP-Yahoo poll conducted April 2-14 found that “about 8 percent of whites would be uncomfortable voting for a black for president.” I don’t know if 8 percent sounds high or low to you, but I was amazed that 8 percent of respondents were willing to admit this to a pollster. And I figure that the true figure is much higher. The same poll, by the way, found that 15 percent of voters think Obama is a Muslim. He is, in fact, a Christian. But thinking a person is a Muslim probably does not encourage you to vote for him in America today. And consider this little nugget from Monday’s Washington Post, in a story by Kevin Merida and Jose Antonio Vargas datelined Scranton, Pa.: “Barack Obama’s campaign opened a downtown office here on March 15, just in time for the annual St. Patrick’s Day parade. It was not a glorious day for Team Obama. Some of the green signs the campaign had trucked in by the thousands were burned during the parade, and campaign volunteers — white volunteers — were greeted with racial slurs.” Signs burned? Racial slurs shouted out loud? In this day and age? Maybe that 15 percent estimate is low. I am not suggesting for a second that McCain would exploit race in a campaign against Obama. He would not. But the real question is whether the racial issue has to be “exploited” at all. It is pretty powerful just sitting there on its own. Ronald Reagan began his presidential campaign in 1980 by giving a speech at a county fair in Philadelphia, Miss., where three civil rights workers — James Chaney, Michael Schwerner and Andrew Goodman — had been murdered in 1964. Reagan made no mention of the murders or civil rights in that speech but did say, “I believe in states’ rights.” “States’ rights” was common code in those days for letting states discriminate against black people.
At his first press conference since getting elected, Donald Trump casually and briefly defended himself against reports that Russia has collected compromising financial and personal information about him. Then he lied in a breathtaking blue streak about a variety of things and viciously insulted reporters in the room, because that is what he does. The alleged dossier on Trump released Tuesday night is full of frankly incredible and often shaky-sounding allegations. During the Wednesday press conference, Vice-president elect Mike Pence called the release of the dossier, purportedly written by a former MI6 agent, an attempt “to demean the president-elect.” Then Trump took the stage, to proclaim that the allegations are “nonsense” and to praise the “so professional” news organizations that chose not to run them. “I’ve just gone up a notch with what I think of you,” he beamed. Somewhere, a few people in the room clapped hesitantly (his people). Advertisement All this fulsome praise for the responsible press is little different than his tone earlier this morning, when he railed on Twitter against his “crooked” unnamed opponents and “fake news.” Advertisement Almost immediately, Trump tried to change the subject, praising himself again for winning the election and promising to do “a real job” as president. He promised the inauguration will be “a beautiful event” full of “tremendous talent,” which is also not true. In response to questions, Trump said the dossier is “all fake news. It’s phony stuff. It didn’t happen.” He said the unnamed people who put out the dossier are “sick people” who “put that crap together.” And yet, in a casual reversal, Trump also said the hacking of the DNC “was probably Russia” but added that lots of other people hack us too. “We have much hacking going on,” he said, including China on that list without any explanation. He insisted that the RNC wasn’t hacked because they had better defenses. (In fact the RNC was also hacked but the information wasn’t released.) Advertisement Trump was asked about intelligence reports that Putin ordered the hacking specifically to help him win. He un-responded by saying that it’s great news that Putin’s his buddy: “If Putin likes Donald Trump, guess what folks? That’s an asset, not a liability.” He also bizarrely said that he tells people “all the time” that there are tiny hidden cameras in hotel rooms all over the world when you travel: “I tell many people, be careful. You don’t want to see yourself on television... Again, not just cameras. All over.” Trump also made a veiled reference to the peeing allegations contained in the report: “I’m also very much of a germaphobe. Believe me.” Everyone laughed. Nobody asked him to explain. Then he said he has “very little debt” and no loans, dealings or debt with Russia. (Trump has staggeringly huge debts.) He also refused again to release his tax returns, saying, “The only one who cares are the reporters” and “You learn very little from a tax return.” He also emphasized that conflicts of interest don’t apply to the president (“I didn’t know about that” he said, unconvincingly), then brought a woman named Sherri Dillon from a law firm onstage to outline how he is “completely isolating himself” from his businesses to let his sons run them, even though he is not divesting himself from them. Trump’s sons have been heavily involved in the transition process. Advertisement Dillon also promised that an “ethics advisor” would be appointed to help sever Trump from the Trump organization, which is also not a solution: Advertisement Dillon said, without blinking or smiling or in any way indicating that she was joking, that putting his assets in a blind trust or selling them would “exacerbate” Trump’s conflicts of interest, and would also raise questions about whether he’d been paid too much for them. Dillon added said that Trump plans to “voluntarily donate” all the profits his hotels make from foreign governments to the U.S. Treasury, to avoid the appearance that he’s violating the Emoluments Clause. In the words of one politics reporter, that’s not how any of this works: Advertisement Trump got back onstage there, to declare himself “very proud” of his cabinet appointees and himself. Then he promised, again, to “repeal and replace Obamacare,” to replace it with something “far better,” to be named later. It was all garbage, bullshit, and blind, breathtaking mendacity on a staggering scale, combined with a healthy dose of shrugging. Perhaps it was the confusion that Trump is so good at sowing, but there was a bizarre lack of persistence from the reporters in the room, who changed the subject away from Russia, his tax returns, and his business dealings, giving Trump a chance to talk yet again about his plans to tax companies that leave the United States. (Nobody even bothered to point out to him that that plan would cost his daughter Ivanka’s business money, to see how he might respond.) Advertisement Trump didn’t even respond to a question about his tweet this morning about living in “Nazi Germany,” choosing instead to talk about building a wall. “Mexico will reimburse us for the cost of a wall,” he said. “That will happen.” He added that lots of people at his rallies liked that line. “Nobody’s ever had crowds like Trump has had,” the president-elect said contentedly, referring to himself in the third person. “You don’t like to report that.” Eventually, after a little more prodding, he said it was “disgraceful” that “intelligence agencies” allowed that dossier to be released: “It’s something Nazi Germany would do.” And he called BuzzFeed, who released the dossier in full, “a failing pile of garbage” who would “suffer the consequences.” After shouting over CNN’s Jim Acosta, he denounced media organizations he doesn’t like. Advertisement “Some of the media outlets I deal with are fake news,” Trump said, adding that he could name them but wouldn’t bother. “More than anything...I guess the advantage I have is I can speak back.” Trump was asked to say “once and for all” whether his campaign had contact with Putin or Russia, and to respond to Putin’s alleged hacking. He elected not to respond to the first part of the question. Advertisement “He shouldn’t have done it and I don’t think he’ll be doing it more,” he said of Putin’s alleged hacking. He added that everything will be great when he’s in charge: “Russia will have far greater respect for our country when I’m leading it.” Trump closed with a weak closing remark that hearkened back to the time when he was a reality star and not a terrifying existential threat to humanity. Smiling faintly, he told the room he hopes his sons will do a good job leading his businesses. “Otherwise, at the end of eight years, I’ll come back and say ‘You’re fired,’” he said, before fleeing the stage. Advertisement Should you desire to, you can read a full transcript of the press conference here, or watch it here.
Unchecked global warming is greatest threat to 21st-century security where mass migration could be ‘new normal’, say senior military Climate change is set to cause a refugee crisis of “unimaginable scale”, according to senior military figures, who warn that global warming is the greatest security threat of the 21st century and that mass migration will become the “new normal”. The generals said the impacts of climate change were already factors in the conflicts driving a current crisis of migration into Europe, having been linked to the Arab Spring, the war in Syria and the Boko Haram terrorist insurgency. Military leaders have long warned that global warming could multiply and accelerate security threats around the world by provoking conflicts and migration. They are now warning that immediate action is required. “Climate change is the greatest security threat of the 21st century,” said Maj Gen Munir Muniruzzaman, chairman of the Global Military Advisory Council on climate change and a former military adviser to the president of Bangladesh. He said one metre of sea level rise will flood 20% of his nation. “We’re going to see refugee problems on an unimaginable scale, potentially above 30 million people.” Previously, Bangladesh’s finance minister, Abul Maal Abdul Muhith, called on Britain and other wealthy countries to accept millions of displaced people. Brig Gen Stephen Cheney, a member of the US Department of State’s foreign affairs policy board and CEO of the American Security Project, said: “Climate change could lead to a humanitarian crisis of epic proportions. We’re already seeing migration of large numbers of people around the world because of food scarcity, water insecurity and extreme weather, and this is set to become the new normal. Trump’s climate denial is just one of the forces that point towards war \| George Monbiot Read more “Climate change impacts are also acting as an accelerant of instability in parts of the world on Europe’s doorstep, including the Middle East and Africa,” Cheney said. “There are direct links to climate change in the Arab Spring, the war in Syria, and the Boko Haram terrorist insurgency in sub-Saharan Africa.” After Donald Trump, who has called climate change a hoax, won the US presidential election in November, Cheney said he expected senior military officials to impress upon Trump the grave threat posed to national security by global warming. “I’ve got to believe there are enough folks on the national security side that we can make a dent in this.” R Adm Neil Morisetti, a former commander of the UK maritime forces and the UK’s climate and energy security envoy, said: “Climate change is a strategic security threat that sits alongside others like terrorism and state-on-state conflict, but it also interacts with these threats. It is complex and challenging; this is not a concern for tomorrow, the impacts are playing out today.” Morisetti said climate change would mean the UK military will be deployed more often to conflict and disaster zones. The military leaders were speaking ahead of an event in London on Thursday. In September, a coalition of 25 US military and national security experts, including former advisers to Ronald Reagan and George W Bush, warned that climate change poses a “significant risk to US national security and international security” that requires more attention from the US federal government. In 2015, a UK foreign office report made a stark assessment of the dangers posed by unchecked global warming, including very large risks to global food security, increased risk of terrorism as states fail, and unprecedented migration that would overwhelm international assistance. “Countries are going to pay for climate change one way or another,” said Cheney. “The best way to pay for it is by tackling the root causes of climate change and cutting greenhouse gas emissions. If we do not, the national security impacts will be increasingly costly and challenging.”
Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA) still can't get over the fact that Donald Trump is president, and boy is she still convinced that he's going to be impeached. On ?Friday, she suggested that Trump should be dragged down the hall of Congress to his impeachment. Instead of disabled people in wheelchairs, the only person who should be dragged anywhere is Trump - down the hall, to impeachment. — Maxine Waters (@MaxineWaters) June 23, 2017 Waters was referencing Thursday's protests against the new health care reform bill, which saw several people handcuffed. Waters has been beating the drum for Trump's impeachment since before he was sworn in as president. Unfortunately for her, Trump still hasn't actually committed an impeachable offense and is not in the midst of impeachment hearings. Trump will be the president for the foreseeable future. Just give it a rest, really.
If you know where to look on social media in Arabic, it is not difficult to find the traffickers. In fact, many of those offering a new life in Europe are openly touting for business: "With the beginning of the new season we have a range of journeys on offer" writes one site. "Turkey-Libya-Italy, $3,800. Algeria-Libya-Italy, $2,500. Sudan-Libya-Italy, $2,500." Pages like these have the look and feel of glossy travel brochures, but the reality of their services can be deadly. More than 1,700 people have drowned in this year alone making the crossing from Africa to Europe, most of them setting out from Libya. The trade is also big business. An estimated 200,000 people attempted the crossing last year, backed by a network of traffickers stretching across Africa, the Middle East and Europe. BBC journalists Daniel Adamson and Mamdouh Akbiek gained insight into this world when they directly contacted one of those traffickers. "Abdel Aziz" (not his real name) is a Libyan man running a Facebook page offering an array of routes into Europe by boat from the port of Zawara. He also claimed to able to help people reach Libya from across sub-Saharan African and the Middle East. He told Adamson that he has "agents in almost every Arab state," and to has "legal and illegal ways to get [anyone] into the country." His claims could not be verified. Abdul Aziz is believed to be one of hundreds of people smugglers who have taken advantage of the collapse of the law and order in Libya to offer their services. Competition online between them can be fierce. Some smugglers are now advertising special offers such as free tickets for children, or discounts for children under 10. Different routes with different levels of risk attract different fees. Each web page is also accompanied with tempting photoshopped images of cruise liners, aircraft and European passports. Adamson and Akbiek did ask Aziz whether he felt any sense of moral responsibilty for those who have died en route to Europe. Aziz replied that his boats were safer than other traffickers, and that in any case the number of those who survive a crossing far outnumbers those who drown.
My husband asked me a few days ago if I knew any vegan recipe using bitter gourd. It wasn't really his favorite but he'd like to share the recipe in reddit because there's a post asking about it. When I was young, the only use of bitter gourd to me was just for art work. I slice the bottom, dip the tip in water color, and make nice prints on white paper. But as I get older, I developed a relationship with vegetables I would never eat in my childhood. One of which is the bitter gourd or amplaya in Tagalog. It wouldn't be named bitter if it wasn't for its reputation, I suppose. I tell you it's bitter as hell and I don't think I know any child who likes it, not even much of adults. But I guess you just have to prepare and cook it right to be likeable. The secret to bitter gourd is to rub it with salt, let it sit for a while, and then rinse. Some people soak it in salt water, but rubbing works for me. This makes the bitterness milder. I love bitter gourd with eggs and tomatoes, but since Mark's requested vegan, I experimented today with mashed tofu. Here it goes. Ingredients: - firm tofu, halved - 2 pcs ripe tomatoes, sliced - 1 small white onion, chopped - 2-3 cloves of garlic, finely chopped - 1 medium sized bitter gourd - 1 tbsp soy sauce - salt and pepper to taste - 1 tsp. white sugar (optional) 1. Cut the bitter gourd in 3 parts, and then lengthwise. Remove the white middle flesh by scraping it with a spoon. 2. Rub it with a good amount of salt and set aside for 15 minutes. This will make the bitter taste milder. 3. Divide the firm tofu in to two. Mash half of it with your hand, but not too much because it's nice when it's a bit chunky. Refrigerate the other half. 4. Rinse the bitter gourd and slice it cross-wise, making like little Cs, but not too thick. 5. Heat oil in a frying pan. Sautee onions until it's soft. Add in the garlic. Sautee til it's golden brown. 6. Toss in the mashed tofu and fry it for about 3 minutes. 7. Toss in the bitter gourd. Mix it altogether until the bitter gourd is soft and cooked. I personally like it al dente. 8. Add tomatoes and continue cooking. I added the tomatoes last because I like it half cooked and still juicy. But you may add tomatoes before the bitter gourd. 9. Add a tablespoon of soy sauce for flavor. Add some salt and pepper according to your taste. 10. Add about a teaspoon of white sugar, but this is perfectly optional. I just like a bitter-sweet twist. Makes 2 servings. Best served with steamed white rice.
Perhaps you saw Spike Jonze and Dave Egger’s twee, sunlit, achingly earnest adaptation of the Maurice Sendak classic Where the Wild Things Are. Perhaps you found it irresistibly charming. Perhaps, however, you missed the sharp edges of Sendak’s lean adventure, its undercurrent of feral violence, its flirtations with matricide and cannibalism. Well who better to convey such frightening undertones than master of casual menace Christopher Walken? Just above, hear him read Wild Things like you’ve never heard it before. Walken’s interpolated commentary on the illustrations draws our attention to a few features we probably missed in our several hundred readings of the book, such as the possible suicide of Max’s teddy bear and a potential swarm of giant insects in his transformed bedroom. After you hear Walken’s take, Max’s harmless suppertime daydream might give you nightmares. Walken has long enjoyed entertaining the kiddies with his creepy interpretations of children’s stories. Just above see him read the Three Little Pigs in 1993 on the British comedy series Saturday Zoo. Once again, he adds his own explanatory comments. He’s a little more Billy Crystal than Captain Koons this time, and if his delivery doesn’t make you LOL, his day-glo sweater and wicker throne won’t fail to. Host Jonathan Ross liked the reading so much he invited Walken to read again in 2009 on his BBC show Friday Night with Jonathan Ross. This one’s for the older kids—a deadpan rendition of Lada Gaga’s “Poker Face,” below. Can’t get enough of Walken’s readings? Don’t miss Kevin Pollack’s spot-on parody of the actor Mickey Rourke once called a “strange being from another place.” Related Content: Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Raven,” Read by Christopher Walken, Vincent Price, and Christopher Lee Horror Legend Christopher Lee Presents a Heavy Metal Version of The Little Drummer Boy Lou Reed Rewrites Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Raven.” See Readings by Reed and Willem Dafoe Josh Jones is a writer and musician based in Durham, NC. Follow him at @jdmagness.
Hi All!Some issues have been reported following the release of the Call of the Beastmen campaign pack, as such we’re releasing a hotfix BETA which is a small patch that you can choose to opt in to through Steam that should address some of the issues.We release hotfixes as BETAs to publically test them first and if there are no issues as a result of the hotfix we will release it to everyone. As it’s a BETA it may cause unforeseen issues to your game, and you should report any bugs that you may come across after opting in to the support forum here: https://forums.totalwar.com/categories/support-area Below are the patch notes and instructions for how to opt in to the BETA.Patch NotesRe-balanced the Devolve spell in Call of the Beastmen.Fixed a crash when some players opened the Custom / Multiplayer Battle lobby, after the Call of the Beastmen / Patch 2 Update.Fixed a case where the game would become unable to End Turn during the Chaos Invasion when playing on save games started before the Call of the Beastmen/Patch 3 update.Fixed a Multiplayer Campaign crash in the Event Feed, when opening the faction overview panel or completing a Multiplayer Campaign.Fixed a battle hang, where in very specific instances, the battle may become stuck, and the player can only move the camera but not interact with the units or menus.Trees will no longer be missing from battlefields suffering from Chaos Corruption, loaded through the "An Eye For an Eye" Call of the Beastmen Campaign map.Players who do not own Call of the Beastmen can now see the Lore of Beast and Lore of the Wild in the spell browser. For example when using the Free Amber Wizard unit (who has access to Lore of beasts).Updated the Victory conditions in "An Eye For an Eye" Call of the Beastmen Campaign:- Replaced the Major victory “raze 30 regions” with an objective to destroy Carroburg and Cult of Ulric.- Lowered the raiding requirements slightly, making it slightly easier to meet the raiding requirements.- Added "Destroying Middenheim" as an Ultimate Objective.How to get the Call of the Beastmen hotfix Public BETA1) Restart Steam, and log back in.2) In the Steam Games Library, right-click "Total War: WARHAMMER" and select "Properties".3) In the Properties window, select the "BETAS" tab.4) In the "Select the beta you would like to opt into:" drop-down list, please select "beastmenhotfix -"5) Close the "Properties" window and the game should update.6) Once the game has finished updating, run it and you will see the build number in the top right corner of the main menu will say "10953.909200"Please Note: While you are opted into the public BETA, you can only play multiplayer with other users in the BETA, but can opt out at any time.
The small grill will hold the briquette. It needs to sit about a quarter inch or so below the bottom of the grill due to the thickness of typical charcoal briquettes. First you need to connect the legs. Put all 4 screws through the holes and secure them with a nut, but only thread one completely through. Do not tighten this nut either just yet, it should be loose. Next put the grill on the leg and loosely thread another nut on it about halfway down. For the remaining legs you'll need to screw the nuts in about halfway, align them with the holes in the grill, and then push them all the way through securing them with a second nut on the end. You will probably need to bend your tabs a little more at this point to get the alignment just right. At the end of this step tighten the top nut on all of the screws to secure the legs to the tin.
Thirty four months doesn’t sound like a long time, but in football it sure is. That is all the time that has passed since Alex Ferguson hoisted his final Premier League trophy aloft and said: “It was important to me to leave an organisation in the strongest possible shape and I believe I have done so. The quality of this league winning squad, and the balance of ages within it, bodes well for continued success at the highest level whilst the structure of the youth set-up will ensure that the long-term future of the club remains a bright one.” It is doubtful that these comments were made with an economic view of the club as a priority yet that is the one aspect that has maintained and grown in his semi-absence. On the pitch, with one manager down and another lurching around and never far from the cliff’s edge, regular success appears to have been replaced by a lesser role; for the third successive season, the team can only be regarded as no more than top four contenders and silverware aspirations appear to have fallen to the level that an occasional cup win would be probably seen as a solid return. Within this new landscape, Louis van Gaal could be seen an ideal choice. Content to appear oblivious to consternation, he continues to work with a system of football alien to the Ferguson method and no doubt believes that he is extracting the maximum possible return from his charges. But sterile possession has become anathema to a fanbase brought up with goals, winning and trophies and aspects of his tenure remain far too similar to his previous time at a giant club, Bayern Munich, back at the turn of the decade. On March 7th 2011, as his second season drew to a close, Bayern announced they were to cancel his contract that summer, and by the 10th of April they brought that forward and sacked him. This is the time frame we now find him in at Manchester United and with him on record as saying this will be his final job, it remains to be seen whether his retirement in the Algarve is imminent, or whether that will have to wait for 2017 or beyond. To justify the huge volume of cash spent on new players, is it right to expect more? Has van Gaal been handicapped by a squad in perpetual flux or does the buck really stop with him, his signings, his system and the moderate returns he has created? What remains Ferguson’s assertion on the quality and balance of his league winning squad in relation to the future looks like hubris viewed from this far out. Seven contributing players remain, only three under the age of thirty (David de Gea, Phil Jones and Chris Smalling) of which only de Gea has featured in more than half this season’s games. For differing reasons, Michael Carrick, Ashley Young and Antonio Valencia can feel fortunate to have maintained a squad position under subsequent management regimes and of the older brigade, only Wayne Rooney can be considered a guaranteed starter. From the outset, we can judge that van Gaal has had only three players from Ferguson’s regime to build around; de Gea, Smalling and Rooney, with Jones just far too frequently injured to be part of this equation. Add in Moyes signings Juan Mata and Marouane Fellaini, the only two purchases from a season in which there was an over-reliance on the qualities of the last title winning side, before we saw a change of policy upon the arrival of van Gaal. Ángel Di María came and went, Luke Shaw showed a willingness from the club to pay ludicrous fees to gamble on teenagers, Ander Herrera was Spanish and a midfielder so had credentials, Marcos Rojo had played in the World Cup and didn’t play for a top club so was available, Daley Blind fitted the “dad’s mates with the coach” remit and Radamel Falcao was once a forward. A pretty motley crew by any estimation and one brought together without what looked like a coherent plan. Fourth place secured, United doubled down last summer with two huge “potential” signings in Memphis Depay and Anthony Martial, a utilitarian midfield of Bastian Schweinsteiger and Morgan Schneiderlin plus an Italian full-back in Matteo Darmian. Throw in Sergio Romero as back up keeper, Jesse Lingard and a variety of kids and that’s Manchester United’s squad. From this array of hastily assembled talent, van Gaal has been expected to formulate a solid base, at least, and hopefully fashion top four contenders. It is largely a new and expensive team, but this is where blame–if appropriate–is tricky to allocate, as arguably his primary role is to coach the squad and maximise the output from the tools he has been given, or indeed chosen. With Manchester United’s recruitment policy variously veering from smart to reactionary to downright bizarre just what is an acceptable level of performance? Performance Simple stuff first: quickly we can see that as a rolling trend, during van Gaal’s reign, there has been something of a decline and his second season appears poorer than the first. Rolling goal difference and points quite naturally track in a fairly linear fashion and twice during this season, the goal difference has landed on a negative total. On each occasion this has signified runs of point-gaining at close to one per game. These outputs cannot be described as anything but sub-par. Even allowing for inevitable cold runs of form, a side aiming at the top four cannot carry these rates for long and expect to hit their targets. Big wins Manchester United no longer crush teams. Shots (using Opta data) It’s revealing towards van Gaal’s methodological desires that the shots peak towards the back end of last season came at the end of a three game losing streak in which United failed to score. In what feels like the absolute embodiment of the van Gaal era, his team beat Tottenham, Aston Villa, Liverpool then crushed Manchester City 4-2 before losing to Chelsea, Everton and West Brom. Forever in sight of the cusp of something, yet never quite reaching it. To this season and significant peaks of shots are a distant recollection. Most importantly, at no point have United been a dominant shots on target team, with these totals oscillating around zero almost throughout. We saw that the outputs (goals and points) were suppressed, now we see that the inputs (shots) are no better. It is hard to argue that this team deserves any more than it is currently getting. But what are the components here? Defence Manchester United are a genuine top four team. Don’t get excited, to be precise, Manchester United are a genuine top four team on the defensive end. They have conceded the second least number of goals in the league from the third least shots faced and the fourth least shots on target. Take it to expected goals if you like that flavour of analysis and the story is the same. Daley Blind might not be a natural centre back but it matters not in this iteration of the team. Overall, they maintain more possession than any team in the league, complete their passes and disrupt their opponents passing at the third highest rate too. All these simple aspects of their play feed into what a good team should do. Attack Manchester United’s attack is significantly below the quality you would associate with a top four challenging side. Leicester’s attack comes out historically on the lower end of such measures yet they at least have some attacking volume, coming out 8th and 5th for shots and shots on target, Manchester United rank 14th and 12th and are actually skewing positively for goals scored in 9th. van Gaal has fashioned half a good team and none of it is on the attacking end. This season they have spent 1301 minutes drawing 0-0, a total only exceeded by Crystal Palace and as far as action goes, their games feature the fewest combined volume of shots and shots on target and only Watford”s feature fewer goals. This overall shot repression of course impacts down to individual level, no player is exceeding rates of 4.5 shots taken and assisted per game or 0.5 goals scored and assisted per game, last season only Di Maria was able to escape the straitjacket. Players The trouble with comparing post-Ferguson Manchester United teams with the modern equivalent is the tangible difference in general quality. Even later year Ferguson teams were littered with superior talents in most positions, the lineage from Cristiano Ronaldo to Dimitar Berbatov and Robin Van Persie all supported by Wayne Rooney was a consistently high class forward line and though problems in midfield were exemplified by the recall of Paul Scholes from retirement, the defence was usually solid, with particular high quality mainstays Nemanja Vidic, Patrice Evra and Rio Ferdinand. So how many top class talents does van Gaal have at his disposal? Maybe three? David de Gea, Wayne Rooney and Bastian Schweinsteiger. There are those that rate Morgan Schneiderlin in the realm of defensive midfielders and Marouane Fellaini could be described as the best at what he does, if only it was possible to define what that is, but of the main three, only de Gea is in the prime of his career. Rooney and Schweinsteiger almost certainly have their best years behind them. This leaves van Gaal attempting to build a competitive unit from the base of one bone fide prime world class player; his goalkeeper, who lest we forget wanted to leave last summer. With a squad rapidly built over two summers and with a somewhat incoherent philosophy, 2015-16 stood little chance of being the season that Manchester United refound their stride. Both Depay and Martial are signings with enormous potential and in time may grow into stars, but for now it is too soon and the one irrefutably world class talent to have graced Old Trafford recently, Angel Di Maria, left in the summer. Injuries During van Gaal’s two seasons he has endured two huge injury crises. During the first half of last season, his defence was shredded to such an extent that young players such as Tyler Blackett (currently on loan and playing infrequently at Celtic) and Patrick McNair were fast tracked into the first team squad and made 18 starts between them. This season had been less blighted until recent weeks where @ObjectiveFooty noted this: I’ve tracked injury stuff for 4 seasons now & I’ve never seen a team have 14 players unavailable to play like Manchester United had tonight. — ObjectiveFootball (@ObjectiveFooty) March 2, 2016 Hence the emergence, seemingly not by choice, of Marcus Rashford. This injury run has had a tangible effect on performance too, van Gaal’s teams have completed all passes at a rate of around 83% throughout most of his tenure, since the turn of the year this has dropped to 77% and overall possession has dropped from nearly 60% to around 52% during the same period, all clear low rates. They do not indicate quality in themselves, but reflect a change against longer term trends and as we have seen throughout, control of the ball is a key tenet to van Gaal’s prescriptive methodology. If we refer back to the earlier chart, the shot rates have declined during this same period. It’s hard to attain a high level of performance during an injury blight. Now and the future Pre-season, a reasonable target for this team was to maintain their level. Any expectation that they would suddenly morph in to title contenders required an extremely positive reading of their performances in 2014-15 and a hope that all of their new signings would gel and succeed. Leicester City’s fairy tale rise will cause many a fan base to believe that similar runs are possible for their team in the future, and moreso for already wealthy and strong clubs, but it is quite evidently a one off influenced by a series of factors that have benefited them and harmed others. A smarter comparison might be the rise of Tottenham who have built a squad and coherent unit through ruthless pruning and a patient integration. This is not something easily replicated with a series of high priced signings and that van Gaal’s force of will has managed to imprint such a distinct style onto his charges is to greater credit than is being given. Of course, the wider perspective demands “is this enough?” A club used to success via high octane football has found it hard to adapt to its changing environment and patience has worn extremely thin through an erratic season. That any version of Manchester United should be so shot-shy is an extremely tough sell and it is a genuine puzzle as to whether they would be in a better situation under an alternative manager. Louis van Gaal has become noticeably more pragmatic with age yet he has been unable to marry this with consistency in results. With a disconnect between spending levels, results and expectation, it is easy to forecast another attempt to rebuild the squad in the summer and the club faces the likely problem of having finance and reputation as the chief bait rather than a promise of footballing freedom or trophies. Should the internal power battles resolve, fifth or worse will make van Gaal’s departure simple to justify and any subsequent recruitment will inform the direction the club wants to move. Jose Mourinho will feel like a grab for glory, Ryan Giggs an ill-conceived rabbit in the headlights of Pep Guardiola’s juggernaut and another viable candidate in Mauricio Pochettino seems smart and comfortable enough to resist overtures. Sticking with van Gaal would arguably be a brave choice but there are a subset of fans that can see beneath the surface failures and understand the strengths in his style. It may well be that he–or indeed any replacement– is perennially limited by the quality in the squad and longer term reflection will look on this period in Manchester United’s history as one of prolonged adjustment, both of expectation and team building. That they are far away from title contention is hard to refute, and the journey back to the summit could be a long one. __________________________________ Thanks for reading! Enjoy this? Try my analysis on Tottenham Follow me on twitter @jair1970 Related Article by James Yorke
Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Five-year-old Jackie Baldwin can give her name in Mandarin Australia's politicians often talk about the importance of building ties with Asia. Successive governments have promised to increase the number of schools teaching Asian languages, but in fact the number of children in high school learning Asian languages is falling. The BBC's Jon Donnison has been to one of the country's few bilingual schools. Sitting cross-legged on the floor of her classroom, chewing on the end of her pen, five-year-old Jackie Baldwin is deep in thought. Blonde haired, with pink spectacles balanced on the tip of her nose, her hand begins to move steadily and confidently across her page, leaving a neat line of Mandarin Chinese characters. Among them I spot the letters "BBC" in the English alphabet. "Today the BBC is visiting our school," Jackie says, helping me out with the translation. She is part of the bilingual English and Chinese immersion programme at Richmond West Primary School in Melbourne. Like most of the 23 children in her class, Jackie has only been learning Mandarin for a few months but to see her chatting and playing with her friends in a mix of English and Chinese, you would not know it. "The younger they start learning Chinese as a second language, the easier it is for them to learn," says Kim Lim, an effervescent teacher who has been at the school for around 20 years. "They are like sponges, socially and mentally they just easily absorb things. Learning a second language comes naturally." Grips with Mandarin Image caption Harry Flynn Kitchen said people were surprised when he spoke Mandarin in China The school is state-funded and is not in a well-off neighbourhood. It has children from 23 different ethnic backgrounds. Some of them are children from countries in Asia who have been adopted in Australia and brought up speaking English as a first language. They are now getting to grips with Mandarin. Two days a week, it is total immersion in Chinese, with all classes being taught in the new language. The school also has a similar, although less extensive, programme in Vietnamese, which it wants to expand. By the time the children studying Mandarin leave the school after six years, they can expect to be fluent in both reading and writing. "This school is a treasure," says Dr Jane Orton, director of the Chinese Teacher Training Centre at the University of Melbourne. "There are kids here, little blonde blue eyes and if I shut my eyes, I wouldn't know they weren't Chinese. It really shows that it can be done and that's what people need to see." Some of the older children at the school recently got to take part in a field trip to China organised by a group of parents. The students say they got a good reaction. "When I went into a couple of two-dollar shops over there and said, 'How much is this?' and 'Thank you', they were like, 'Wow you speak Chinese!'" says Harry Flynn Kitchen, 12. "They were very surprised," says Georgia Kellet, also 12. "It's not often they get to see a girl with blonde hair talking fluently in Chinese." Exception to the rule Image caption Georgia Kellet, 12, can speak fluent Mandarin If all schools were like this in Australia, you could imagine the country would be well on its way to be multilingual. But Richmond West is very much an exception. "If you thought this was typical, it's not," says Lloyd Mitchell, the school's principal. "There would probably be less than 10 schools across the country that are teaching bilingual immersion programmes in an Asian language." Dr Jane Orton says Asian languages are taught in many primary schools but only for half an hour or so a week, which is nowhere near enough to get a proper grasp of a language. It means when children move on to high school, there are very high drop out rates for Asian languages because many simply feel they have not progressed or it is too difficult. The dropout rate at high school for Chinese is around 95%. And all that is despite the fact that successive Australian governments have made big pledges to try and increase the number of children studying languages. The former Labor government proposed that every Australian high school child should be given the opportunity to learn an Asian language by 2025. The current government says 40% of high school children should be learning a foreign language in 10 years' time. The figure is currently only around 12% in the final year of high school. Some have accused the politicians of empty promises. "It's nonsense. It's not only unachievable. History has shown that it's not even going to be taken seriously," says Mr Mitchell. "We put these aspirational goals out there and then we sit back and just hope it happens. These things don't happen by osmosis. The discussion papers are there, the rhetoric is there, but the action is very slim on the ground." Some have suggested that to reach the 40% target by 2023, it could cost around A$2bn ($1.9bn, £1.2bn). "It would require targeted spending and investment and vision," says Dr Orton. "It's going to take longer than three years, the election cycle. But at the moment, I don't see a strategic plan in place to do it." The children at Richmond West should leave the school on the right track to play a role in what is often called the Asian Century. But they are a small minority. Most Australians seem to recognise the economic importance of engaging with Asia. "The capacity to engage with Asia is so great in terms of business, intellectual property, culture. If we don't seize that opportunity, somebody else will," says Mr Mitchell "I believe other countries are working harder than we are to achieve those goals. Unless we take some brave action, Australia will miss out."
BEIRUT, Lebanon — Across insurgent-held Syria over the past week, images have proliferated of protesters burning American flags, calling President Obama “the enemy of God,” and declaring that the American-led airstrikes against the Islamic State extremist group are helping the government of President Bashar al-Assad. “America became the arm of Bashar the terrorist,” read a sign held by a child in Kafr Daryan, in Idlib Province, in one of the dozens of protests that Syrians filmed and uploaded to the Internet. Some of the protesters are Islamic State supporters carrying its black flag, though in Raqqa, the northeastern city long run by the group, those demonstrations have grown smaller and smaller as the attacks have proceeded, with many residents relieved to see the extremists on the run. But the execution of the strikes has also been criticized, in interviews as well as online, by numerous Syrians bitterly opposed to the Islamic State. These insurgents and opposition activists have pleaded for years for the United States to strike the Syrian government forces that have been bombarding their towns and villages, and they initially welcomed the strikes on the Islamic State as a helpful second best.
Texas Gov. Rick Perry (R) vowed in December to make abortion in Texas "a thing of the past," and Republican state legislators obliged him on Tuesday by advancing a bill that opponents say could close 37 out of the state's 42 existing abortion clinics. Senate Bill 537, part of a growing national trend of so-called "TRAP" (Targeted Regulation of Abortion Providers) bills, would require all abortion clinics in Texas to meet the same physical requirements as ambulatory surgical centers, even if they do not perform surgical abortions. Clinics would have to have surgical operating rooms of at least 240 square feet, specific flooring for janitors' closets, and new ventilation systems that can sterilize operating rooms and regulate the humidity of administrative offices -- all requirements that would be hard to fulfill. “Proponents of this bill are not really concerned about women’s health," Carla Holeva, CEO of Planned Parenthood of West Texas, said in a statement. "This bill places onerous requirements on health centers, requirements that do nothing to improve the health or safety of women." The bill was approved Tuesday by the Senate Health and Human Services Committee in a 5-2 vote. State Sen. Bob Deuell (R-Greenville), the bill's sponsor, did not respond to The Huffington Post's request for comment. Only five of the 42 clinics in Texas are currently licensed as ambulatory surgical centers, according to a Planned Parenthood spokesperson. If the bill becomes law, the other 37 clinics will either be forced to close down or to undergo costly and extensive building renovations in order to comply. The five clinics that would remain open are in Texas' major metropolitan areas -- Dallas, Houston, Austin and San Antonio -- so women in most rural parts of Texas would have to drive much farther in order to access abortion care. Texas legislators have already passed a mandatory ultrasound law, a law mandating a 24-hour waiting period before abortions and a law prohibiting Planned Parenthood from participating in the state's low-income Women's Health Program. Only 11 of the clinics that would be affected by the new TRAP bill are Planned Parenthood clinics -- the rest are independent providers. "Planned Parenthood only provides 25 percent of abortions in Texas," a spokeswoman for Planned Parenthood Federation of America told HuffPost Wednesday. "The ironic thing here is that the impact will be felt even more by independent providers that have been providing safe and legal abortions for decades." Several other states have recently passed TRAP laws, including Virginia, North Carolina, North Dakota, Alabama and Indiana.
LAS VEGAS – The sweet taste of Saturday night's UFC 168 victory over Miesha Tate was so good for women's bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey, that she's ready to get back in there and do it again. And during the UFC 168 post-fight press conference, while basking in the glow of having put Tate once and for all behind her, UFC president Dana White announced that she would. And soon. Rousey will face Sara McMann at UFC 170 on February 22 in Las Vegas, less than two months from her second title defense against Tate on Saturday night. Rousey -- who took home $150,000 in bonus money for submission and fight of the night -- said she had already talked to White about the potential match-up before the Tate bout. "Dana actually approached me about this before this fight," Rousey said in the post-fight press conference. "I wanted to stay focused on this [fight], but I'd taken such a long time off that I feel like I want to fight again soon, I don't want to sit on the shelf. I'm in the best shape of my life now, so I think that it would be the perfect time to go back-to-back." The booking comes as a little bit of a surprise as Rousey's original opponent was supposed to be Cat Zingano, As Zingano is still in the recovery process from a knee injury -- the one that forced her out of the title bout and the coaching stint opposite Rousey on The Ultimate Fighter 18 -- the Olympic Freestyle Wrestler McMann steps into the contender role. McMann, who has captivated the imagination of many fans because of her wrestling credentials, last appeared in the Octagon at UFC 159 in April, when she defeated Sheila Gaff. She was slated to fight Sarah Kaufman this past August, though she had to pull out of the bout due to personal reasons. It will mark McMann's second UFC appearance, and only her eighth professional fight. UFC 170 will be co-headlined by Rashad Evans and 205-pound debutante, Daniel Cormier.
For some, it will be the challenge of a lifetime. Van Deren does several such races every summer. She supplements the calendar with competitions around the world, some in the dead of winter. On early-morning training runs, especially when pulling a sled with 60 pounds of sand through the snow, Van Deren sometimes startles hikers. They do not see under her blond hair, above her right ear, where an uneven crease maps where her skull was put back together. They just see a smiling woman who appeared from nowhere — and someone who just might need help getting pointed in the right direction. “When she is running, it helps her,” Don Gerber, a clinical neuropsychologist who has worked extensively with Van Deren, said of the hole in Van Deren’s brain. “In the rest of her life, it does not.” Race preparation is the hardest. Not the training, which Van Deren does eagerly, but the packing. In stopping the seizures, her mind, otherwise sharp and unaffected, was robbed of part of its memory and organizational skills. Her dining room table is covered with gear. She divides it into carefully marked bags that will await her at various aid stations, sometimes 40 miles apart, along the next course. Which bag needs a headlamp? Sunblock? Extra outerwear? Van Deren can no longer read maps. Telling her to go five miles, turn left, then right, then left is a confusing algorithm. She rarely runs a race without a wrong turn. “Everyone knows not to follow me now,” she said. Advertisement Continue reading the main story Gerber, who works at Craig Hospital, a rehabilitation hospital in Englewood, Colo., for people with brain or spinal-cord injuries, said that Van Deren “can go hours and hours and have no idea how long it’s been.” Her mind carries little dread for how far she is from the finish. She does not track her pace, even in training. Her gauge is the sound of her feet on the trail. “It’s a kinesthetic melody that she hits,” Gerber said. “And when she hits it, she knows she’s running well.” Newsletter Sign Up Continue reading the main story Please verify you're not a robot by clicking the box. Invalid email address. Please re-enter. You must select a newsletter to subscribe to. Sign Up You will receive emails containing news content , updates and promotions from The New York Times. You may opt-out at any time. You agree to receive occasional updates and special offers for The New York Times's products and services. Thank you for subscribing. An error has occurred. Please try again later. View all New York Times newsletters. Her family and friends offer full support. Still, they worry. “I’m just terrified we’re going to lose her,” said Barb Page, executive director of the Craig Hospital Foundation. Running was always the self-prescribed antidote to seizures. When Van Deren felt an aura, a tingling sensation that signaled an upcoming seizure, she would lace her running shoes and go out the door. She never had a seizure while running. Born Diane Kobs, she was a stellar multisport athlete who became a touring professional tennis player, unaware of her future bout with epilepsy. She married Scott Van Deren, taught tennis and dabbled in distance running. Pregnant with the couple’s third child (Matt, now 19), Van Deren had what seemed an out-of-nowhere grand mal seizure. Then another. Tests found a black mark on her brain, a scar of sorts, traced to an unexplained seizure that Van Deren had at 16 months. Like a burst dam, epileptic seizures flooded her life, three to five times per week. For nearly a decade she worried when the next would strike. When Scott was at work? While driving? Surgery to remove the part of the brain where seizures originate is sometimes possible, if the source is a concentrated spot. Van Deren’s head was tethered to electrodes. When she later saw the videotape of her next seizure, she witnessed what family and friends saw countless times: a rigid woman convulsing uncontrollably. Eyes rolled back. Blood dribbled from her mouth. It was horrifying. And illuminating. “I always thought epilepsy was my problem,” Van Deren said. “It wasn’t.” Advertisement Continue reading the main story She was eligible for surgery. She did not hesitate. She has not had a seizure since. The surgery was not without costs. Van Deren struggles to remember people she recently met and has missed flights simply by getting too involved in a conversation at the gate. “She never remembers where she parked,” Page said. “Never, not once, to this day.” The lapses are not always amusing. Her husband placed photo collages around the house to help his wife remember vacations and family milestones that slipped past her memory’s reach. Robin Van Deren, the 21-year-old middle child, recently told her mother that she lost a part of her in the surgery. They cried together. About seven years ago, Van Deren looked for help. She was teamed with Gerber. He has taught her coping tricks to keep life organized, from placing the keys in the same spot every time to marking trail forks with a rock or stick, just in case she has to go back. For someone who could not take a bath 12 years ago for fear of drowning from a seizure, every fork is just another challenge, happily accepted. That is why the text messages and e-mails from Van Deren so often come at about 3 in the morning, saying she is about to leave the house, maybe run up Pikes Peak. They are usually sent from a BlackBerry that her children have taught her to use. And they are usually filled with lots of exclamation points.
6 years ago Hempstead, New York (CNN) - Give a slight edge to President Barack Obama. Forty-six percent of voters who watched Tuesday night's presidential debate said that the president won the showdown, according to a CNN/ORC International nationwide poll conducted right after Tuesday night's faceoff here at Hofstra University on New York's Long Island. Thirty-nine percent questioned said Republican nominee Mitt Romney did the better job. - Follow the Ticker on Twitter: @PoliticalTicker - Check out the CNN Electoral Map and Calculator and game out your own strategy for November. Obama's seven-point advantage came among a debate audience that was somewhat more Republican than the country as a whole and is within the survey's sampling error. The president's edge on the question of who won the debate appears to be the result of his much better than expected performance and his advantage on likeability. But the poll also indicates that debate watchers said Romney would do a better job on economic issues. And the two candidates were tied on an important measure - whether the showdown would affect how the debate watchers will vote. Nearly half said the debate did not make them more likely to vote for either candidate, with the other half evenly divided between both men. Tuesday night's poll only reflects the view of voters who watched the debate, not the views of all Americans. The reactions of all voters across the country to the second presidential debate must wait until polls are conducted in the coming days. Nearly three quarters of debate watchers felt that Obama performed better than they had expected, with just one in ten saying that the president did worse. Only 37% said that the former Massachusetts governor did a better job in the debate than they had expected, with 28% saying Romney performed worse than they had expected prior to the faceoff, and one in three saying he performed the same as they expected. According to the survey, Obama had a 47%-41% edge on which candidate was more likeable. But on some key issues, Romney came out on top, including an 18-point lead on the economy. "Mitt Romney was seen as better able to handle the economy, taxes, and the budget deficit among the debate audience, but it seems that issues were trumped, or at least blunted, by intangibles, including the expectations game," says CNN Polling Director Keating Holland. By a 49%-35% margin, debate watchers thought that Obama spent more time attacking his opponent. The president was expected to be more forceful in attacking Romney following his lackluster performance in the first presidential debate in Denver two weeks ago. Other questions showed little daylight between the two candidates among debate watchers on some key characteristics. Romney had a 49%-46% edge on which candidate seemed to be the stronger leader and 45%-43% margin on who answered questions more directly, while Obama had a 44%-40% advantage on which man seemed to care more about the audience members who asked questions. Debate watchers were divided on whether Romney offered a clear plan for solving the country's problems, with more than six in ten saying the president didn't offer a clear plan. What will it all mean in November? On that measure, the debate can best be described as a tie. One-quarter of debate-watchers said the event made them more likely to vote for Obama, and an equal amount said it made them more likely to vote for Romney. Half said it would have no effect on their vote. The sample of debate-watchers in this poll was 33% Democratic and 33% Republican. "That indicates that the sample of debate watchers is about eight points more Republican than polls taken among all Americans throughout 2012, so the debate audience was more Republican than the general public," added Holland. "This poll does not and cannot reflect the views of all Americans. It only represents the views of people who watched the debate." The CNN poll was conducted by ORC, with 457 registered voters who watched the debate questioned by telephone after the end of the debate. The survey's sampling error is plus or minus 4.5 percentage points. By a 37%-30% margin, a CBS News poll conducted after the second debate also indicated that Obama won the showdown. - CNN Political Editor Paul Steinhauser contributed to this report. Also on the CNN Political Ticker - Colbert says he can't tell differences between Romney and Obama - All tied up ahead of second Obama-Romney showdown - Obama ad makes case for economic policies - Romney message this week: 'A clear choice on debt and deficits' - Largely hidden away, Obama reports debate prep 'going great'
Thursday, 25 Dec, 2008 Science Scientists Say it's Okay For Two First Cousins to Get Married Babies born as a result of marriage between first cousins have the same risk of having genetic defects as babies born from women over 40 years old. Two scientists, who call for the lifting of the taboo on first-cousin families, say that cousins who want to get married should not feel ashamed about it. Women in their forties, who decide to get pregnant, are not made to feel guilty about their decision and the same should be applied to first-cousin families, consider Professor Diane Paul of the University of Massachusetts in Boston and Professor Hamish Spencer of the University of Otago in Dunedin, New Zealand. Despite the fact that marriage between cousins is legal in Britain, some people disagree with the practice, calling for its ban due to the fact that babies born from such families have higher-than-average risk of genetic defects. But according to the two professors, the risk of developing congenital defects in babies born as a result of marriage between cousins is just two percent over the average. The risk of mortality among such babies is 4.4 percent higher than average, which is the same in babies born from women in their forties. "Women over the age of 40 have a similar risk of having children with birth defects and no one is suggesting they should be prevented from reproducing," said Professor Spencer, the co-author of the research, which is published in the online journal Public Library of Science. It is interesting to note that there was a time when marriages between cousins were rather common in Europe. The trend changed in the late 19th century, mainly because women became more mobile and the risk of genetic defects in babies became more evident. Early researches in the field of human genetics supported the idea about genetic defects related to the first-cousin marriages. The practice was prohibited by law in the majority of American states, China, Taiwan, North and South Korea, reports The Independent. Professor Spencer considers that these laws should be annulated. He mainly refers to the United States, where, according to the researcher, the legislation relies of over-simplified views of genetics. "There is no scientific grounding for it," he said. The question was raised in the UK after MP Phil Woolas, who now holds the position of the Immigration minister, stated this year that marriages between first cousins in Asian communities in the country led to an increased number of babies born with serious health issues. "A lot of arranged marriages are with first cousins, and that produces lots of genetic problems in terms of disability [in children]," said Mr Woolas. Short Info about Famous People Who Married their cousins: The famous American rock 'n 'roll star, country music singer, songwriter and pianist, Jerry Lee Lewis, married his 13-year-old first cousin once removed. He was 10 years older than his wife. In 1874 the famous American outlaw of the Wild West, Jesse James, married his first cousin Zerelda "Zee" Mimms. They were married for 12 years later and his wife gave birth to two children. The first wife of H G Wells, a famous English writer, the author of such science fiction novels as The Time Machine, The Island of Doctor Moreau, The Invisible Man and The War of the Worlds, was Isabel Mary Wells, the writer's first cousin. He later got divorced and married one of his students. American poet, writer of short stories, editor and literacy critic Edgar Allan Poe clandestinely married Virginia Eliza Clemm, who was his 13-year-old first cousin. Johann Sebastian Bach, a famous German composer and organist in 1707 married Maria Barbara Bach, who was his second cousin. She gave birth to 7 children. After her death the musician married Anna Magdalena Wilcke, who gave birth to 13 children. The famous English naturalist, Charles Darwin, married his first cousin Emma Wedgwood. The couple had 10 children.
Oh, dear! What will Ellen Barkin, Michael Moore, Joe Biden, the NAACP, Attorney General Eric Holder and his apologists, Rep. Keith Ellison, and other unhinged leftists (redundant) say about this suppress-y turn of events? As they have told us, over and over, there is nothing more bigoted than requiring photo identification. Well, except for maybe “kitchen cabinets” and “chairs.” What will Rob Delaney say about this latest “suppression?” https://twitter.com/robdelaney/status/242270436786843648 From the convention website: Please complete the following form regarding your organization’s primary contact information and the authorized designee(s) to whom your 2012 Democratic National Convention credentials can be issued. Authorized Pickup All pickup persons must have a state-issued ID that matches the name submitted below. We suppose it shouldn’t be surprising, what with the racist Democratic National Convention line-up being paler than the MSNBC masthead. Conservatives call out the DNC for their rampant hypocrisy. Oh, the irony! “@DamnTrue: So I just read that the DNC is going to require photo ID to enter the convention. Need I elucidate the irony in that? #tcot #p2” — Kate (@catydoodle) September 2, 2012 @eileenleft “@Conservative_VW:@trumpetman: Photo ID required to enter DNC. WHAT?Are they trying to keep minorities from participating? — Kubu (@Kubu_1) September 2, 2012 @BarackObama PHOTO ID into DNC & mingle w/ Elite. To Vote, no photo ID. Vote OBAMA but can't dine with him. Wise up DEMS. He's using you. — Brian Pinette (@damienrecords) September 2, 2012 @jjauthor @MittRomney @rushlimbaugh @BretBaier so tell me again how you can take mass transit or a cab to DNC but not to DMV to get an ID? — neal young (@thenealyoung) September 2, 2012 Utter hypocrisy!Dems REQUIRE Photo ID 2 get into DNC Convention.Unions require ID 2 vote at halls on union contracts.But voter ID is bad? — Kate (@catydoodle) September 2, 2012 @thenealyoung And once u got to the DNC, no I.D. No entrance! Complete, utter joke! @jjauthor — jeff russell (@sikhnky) September 2, 2012 If I need an ID to buy cold medicine, use a check, or even get into the DNC CONVENTION why shouldn't I need an ID to vote? NEXT — MO (@MoInfo2Know) September 2, 2012 And this citizen claims he needed, or felt like he needed, identification to enter his own building today, due to the DNC presence. https://twitter.com/SupermansCousin/status/242272108158263297 He’s likely not alone. From Charlottein2012.com Pedestrians walking to their home or business that falls into a restricted area will be required to provide identification when the road is closed. Passenger (as opposed to commercial) vehicles attempting to enter streets with restricted vehicle access must go through a vehicle checkpoint. What type of identification is required? A standard issued government ID is requested. Huh. Fancy that. Related articles
Just a few minutes after they first received the call, firefighters from Dublin Fire Brigade were battling a blaze in a smoke-filled house in the capital's north inner city, carefully paving their way across a floor which was littered with rubbish, cans, aerosols and syringes. Just a few minutes after they first received the call, firefighters from Dublin Fire Brigade were battling a blaze in a smoke-filled house in the capital's north inner city, carefully paving their way across a floor which was littered with rubbish, cans, aerosols and syringes. From house fires to assaults, our emergency workers face their own fears to save lives every day It's just after midnight on Friday morning, and members of Dublin Fire Brigade (DFB) are attending a fire at a residential property on the north side of Dublin city. All the inhabitants of this building, many sleepy, are safely installed in the front garden by the time we get there and the fire is quickly extinguished due to the dozen or so men in uniform strolling in and out of the house in a manner that is so calm and relaxed it's almost impossible to believe they just saved several lives. As the majority of the population of 1.3 million people slept soundly across the city and county last Thursday night, 170 firemen and women were powering their way through the night in 14 different stations. But last week was nothing particularly special, this happens every night. Shortly before 7pm that evening, District Officer Donal Petherbridge was guiding us through the control centre in Tara Street fire station, explaining that the seven or eight people manning the phones before us were operating the "nerve station" of Dublin's fire service and dispatching "all the tentacles of the brigade". The Dublin native is now almost 30 years in the service and he describes it as a vocation. The dedication and loyalty he has to the DFB uniform is evident from the way he passionately and proudly explains how deeply rooted the brigade is in our society. Donal explained to us that the fire brigade has already responded to almost 18,000 calls in Dublin since the start of the year. He is the District Officer of the 'C-Watch' team in the Tara Street station, where 19 officers were on the 15-hour night shift in what is known as the Echo district. The special thing about the team that keeps our city safe, and the unique service they offer that is often forgotten, is that they are all trained paramedics who work on both fire appliances and ambulances. This is a raw topic for the team we were following, as Dublin City chief executive Owen Keegan recently announced that the HSE's National Ambulance Service will become responsible for all emergency calls in Dublin. Members of Dublin Fire Brigade passionately believe that the dual response works and shouldn't change. And, we saw several pertinent examples of how efficient it was in the city last Thursday. Shortly after 8pm, we were speeding down the quays in a blur of blue lights. A woman in her 80s needed help, as a caller has told dispatch she was displaying symptoms of a respiratory arrest. This is what is classified as an 'echo' situation, when a person could die unless they are in receipt of immediate medical intervention. We reach the south Dublin facility where she lives in eight minutes and by the time we arrive, a fire appliance from Dolphin's Barn is already at the scene and has retrieved this woman from the brink, undoubtedly saving her live. She is then carefully placed in the ambulance and transferred to St James's Hospital. "From the medical emergency perspective, our ambulances deal with an average of 16 calls in a 24-hour period," Donal tells us. "From the medical perspective, our fire tenders attend around 14,000 medical calls per year. So they would be first in attendance at nearly 66pc of cardiac arrest cases that we are sent to." Shortly after 9.30pm, we were pulling up to a busy St Stephen's Green, where a woman in her 50s had been struck by a taxi. Within three minutes of the call coming in, the fire brigade and ambulance were at the scene and within a further six minutes she is "treated, packaged and gone to hospital". "It shows our simultaneous response of a fire tender and ambulance at the same time, that's where it kicks in. Everybody arrives there, the tender parks in a position where the ambulance crew is protected from any other oncoming traffic, so that makes the scene safe for everybody," Donal explains. As the night wears on, it's coffee and comradery that ensures the energy levels and spirits don't dip. The team treats a man in a city centre pub whose friends feared he was displaying signs of a cardiac arrest and another man who was thought to have been assaulted. "We are a very close bonded unit of people within this organisation. We look out for each other," Donal tells us as he makes us a cup of coffee in a large kitchen where the DFB crew in Tara Street cook meals and eat together. After 2am, it's our clocking off time, but before we leave Donal shows us a painting that's hanging in the main reception area. This large painting was commissioned as part the 150th anniversary celebrations in 2012. And incorporated into the large canvas are images of some members who have passed away, including Willie Bermingham who founded Alone, and DFB tenders that attended the scene of some our country's most historical and defining events; the Easter Rising, Bloody Sunday and the Stardust tragedy. Other pieces of memorabilia which adorn the walls include items from visiting American firefighters, and Donal tells us that an "unspoken bond" exists between the firemen and women of our two countries. "Regardless of where the firefighters and paramedics are from, they still experience the same fears, satisfactions, stresses and emotions. It's a way of life. "It gets in to your blood, in to your system." Irish Independent
A historic civil-rights moment is on the horizon, as the US supreme court prepares to hear arguments on same-sex marriage – but full equality for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender Americans is not just around the corner. Steven Thrasher meets three very historic couples – still facing discrimination in three very different places – to reflect on a watershed experiment Gay marriage is ready to be legal across America. The culture war is far from over Gay marriage is ready to be legal across America. The culture war is far from over Eleven years and 37 states ago, then-San Francisco mayor Gavin Newsom allowed some of the first same-sex marriages in the United States to become legal because he thought, simply enough, that it was unconstitutional to discriminate against gay people. He got the idea from George W Bush. It was the height of the Iraq war, and Newsom, seated in the back rows of the US Capitol for Bush’s 2004 State of the Union address, found it “curious” when the newly re-elected president chose to focus instead on his own culture wars: sexual abstinence and drug testing in schools, steroids in baseball and faith in God, and then, surprisingly, “moral tradition” and the gays. “He ended with a call for the defense of the Defense of Marriage Act,” Newsom, now the lieutenant governor of California, told the Guardian, referring to the national edict, signed by Bill Clinton and since partially discredited by the US supreme court, that ruled the legal definition of marriage is only between one man and one woman. “He ended with this crescendo that we needed a constitutional amendment to protect the country from same-sex marriage.” Newsom’s politically and civilly disobedient nuptials led to the issuing of 4,036 same-sex marriage licenses the next month in San Francisco, as couples flocked from 43 states and six countries. But it also resulted in a five-year legal battle in California, where in 2008, on the same night voters sent Barack Obama to the White House, one state’s voters redefined marriage as between one man and one woman. Now, as the US supreme court prepares to hear arguments about the confusion over marriage equality on Tuesday, the crescendo is just as complex: an estimated 180,000 same-sex couples got married legally in America last year – they are recognized in all but 13 states, after a rapid advance since the justices last took up marriage equality in 2013 – and many expect the justices to lean toward a national constitutional right for all to wed. But full equality for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender Americans is not just around the corner. Indeed, a secret culture war happened on the way to the history books, state by combative state. Just as a major civil-rights movement was sweeping the US, mostly from the west and the northeast, three contradictory political processes were aiming to make sure that discriminating against LGBT people stays constitutional, mostly across the southern Bible belt: Since 1993, 20 state legislatures have enacted a series of so-called “religious freedom” restoration acts, or RFRA bills, which have recently led to national outrage but have effectively been allowing open discrimination against gay people – in public and at the workplace – during the same years that chapels have been challenged to open their doors. At the same time, acceptance arrived in the strangest of places: a different kind of RFRA, combined with laws that do protect LGBT people, has brought together an unholy alliances of religious followers and civil libertarians. Racial justice has been misconstrued to be at odds with LGBT rights. Black Americans were blamed for homophobia, just as a widespread backlash was unleashed upon most non-male, non-white, non-straight and non-gender conforming people. “It didn’t make any sense,” former NAACP executive director Benjamin Jealous told the Guardian, to scapegoat the black community for California’s Proposition 8 when it passed “by a margin greater than 100% of black voters” – and when black queer people remain among the most marginalised. The rise of marriage equality sucked money and energy from other LGBT causes such as the resurging healthcare crises of HIV/Aids and ageing, the epidemic of homeless teens, the history of children being taken from queer parents, and the legal continuation of so-called “conversion therapy” for young people in 48 states. These three struggles are, ironically, being felt by the very first same-sex couples to get married in the disparate civil rights landscapes of Alabama, Utah and New York. A detailed look by the Guardian at their lives, in the years since and especially in the months leading to another landmark ruling from the supreme court, reveals unique challenges – of jobs and Jesus, blackness and homelessness, cancer and kids. Threaded together with continuing legal challenges across the country, however, their stories – and their bravery – tell an irrefutable truth about the American experiment: progress moves forward and back at the same time. ‘In the south, which one’s worse: being outed at your job – or at church?’ Facebook Twitter Pinterest The same month she became the first legally married woman in Alabama, Shanté Wolf-Sisson, left, says an employer rescinded a near-job offer after finding out who she was. Video by Mae Ryan/The Guardian When Shanté Wolf-Sisson, 21, and Tori Wolfe-Sisson, 24, got married on 9 February, they knew it was both historic and risky: Here was the first lesbian couple to wed in Alabama, breaking through in a state where marriage is still not fully legal, in the middle of a weeks-long saga: an outspoken state judge was trying to stop same-sex marriages, even after the US supreme court had allowed them to proceed. The couple arrived early at a probate office in Montgomery, hoping to beat the rush. Legal same sex marriage is coming to Alabama – it's just a question of when \| Steven W Thrasher Read more But nobody else showed up, Shanté said in an interview with her wife from their home the next month, and “nobody was coming behind us to camp out”. The most famous newlyweds in Alabama history had a rather low-key wedding day, despite being all over the news. The simple reason they were alone and in love, she said, is that being out in the south can come with serious consequences – if not at the courthouse, then certainly at the workplace. While newly enacted “religious freedom” discrimination laws in Indiana and Arkansas led to even more pronounced national outrage, Alabama voters put a RFRA on the books in 1997. But as Alabama native and Apple chief executive Tim Cook wrote of such legislation, which allows people to refuse to serve or employ other people based on their personal beliefs, discrimination “moves in the shadows”. At a job interview in February after she got married, Shanté says a prospective employer told her the company was “desperate” to hire and that she could potentially start immediately. Then they got to talking – “You just look familiar to me,” she remembers the hiring manager saying – and by the time the woman had come back from fetching some paperwork with another employee, Shanté says things changed. “I believe what happened was the employee said, ‘Well, that’s the one who got married in Alabama,’” Shanté remembers. “So when she came back, our interaction was totally different. She was just like: ‘Well, we’ll pull applications in a month or so. We’ll give you a call.’” A Pew Research Center survey conducted in 2013 – as Congress was taking up an employee protection act, since scrubbed after a supreme court ruling that entered more religious protections nationwide – found 21% of adult LGBT respondents reporting direct workplace discrimination. But even after Obama forbade federal contractors from discriminating against LGBT employees in 2014, only 19 US states have legal civil-rights protections for them – mostly in the west, upper midwest and northeast. Despite a longtime push from activists to update the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the words “sexual orientation and gender identity” do not appear in it. Today, in 29 states, it is not against the law for a person to lose her job for being gay. “It doesn’t stop with fear,” Shanté explained. “You can be fired if you’re out publicly and your boss didn’t like it. You can be evicted. You can be outed at your church. And, you know, in the South, I mean, really, which one’s worse: being outed at your job or being outed at church?” So in the American south, with an unprotected LGBT population of more than 100,000 in Alabama alone facing discrimination both overt and covert, “gay couples don’t really show affection,” Tori said. “Someone could walk by and throw a Bible at us, or shoot us … It’s perfectly legal for a restaurant to kick us out.” But Shanté and Tori do choose to show off in public, and even if people sometimes assume they are sisters or cousins, nobody can pretend two out black lesbians in the south are all that unusual any more: nine of the top ten states with the highest proportion of black people are in the south, and the south is the region of the US where LGBT couples are most likely to be raising children. It’s also the region with the highest rate of LGBT discrimination laws – and where black voters are most likely to be disenfranchised. Like many black families, as research has shown, the Wolf-Sissons live in black communities, not in a white “gayborhood”. They recently participated in the 50th anniversary of the Selma march, disavowing a common trope that people are black or gay – or that full equality in places like Alabama requires anything less than justice regardless of race, gender, gender identity or sexuality. “Despite all that,” Shanté said in her living room, “I love the south.” ‘Bringing up the very worst from a person’s life’ Facebook Twitter Pinterest ‘I went through years of conversion therapy,’ said Michael Adam Ferguson. The pseudo-scientific practice remains legal for adults in all 50 US states. Video by Mae Ryan/The Guardian In late March, J Seth Anderson and Michael Adam Ferguson walked through Temple Square – the epicentre of the Church of Latter Day Saints in Salt Lake City, Utah – and held hands. Mormons glared. Some shuttered and looked away. A security guard asked the Guardian’s film crew to leave. But mostly, the mood among the blossoming spring gardens was indifference to the gay couple. A fellow ex-Mormon even recognized them from Facebook and reached out to offer support – as well as to knit a sweater for their pet rat, Amber. As it turns out, Utah – home of the Mormons, who pumped millions into California’s outlawing of same-sex marriage, who wrote a “friend of the court” briefing to the supreme court last week “declaring that the traditional institution of marriage is indispensable” – is relatively accepting of certain LGBT rights. Improbably, as “religious freedom” discrimination laws were mushrooming elsewhere in the country, Utah – with the religious endorsement of the Mormon church – passed a non-discrimination bill of its own in mid-March. The legislation contains a host of exemptions that leave legal inequality on the books, critics argue, but its passage was celebrated by an unusual coalition of LGBT advocates, Mormons, the American Civil Liberties Union, and the business community, as well as Democratic and Republican lawmakers. University of Utah law professor Clifford Rosky said existing federal law “has the same exemption for small employers” regarding racial civil rights (and none for LGBT rights), while Utah’s new law could give LGBT workers access to “over a million” jobs. “Utah is nothing but queer, from its very beginning,” said Anderson, 33, who can rent an apartment with his husband without fear of being kicked out, but can still be denied a hotel room or a restaurant table. He attributed the unlikely hub of equality to Mormons’ history of embracing “a non-monogamous marital system” – a tradition that research suggests lives on within contemporary gay male American culture. Salt Lake City has the seventh highest per capita rate of LGBT people for a metro area in the US, according to the census bureau, far surpassing the queer percentages of New York and Los Angeles. But it joins other seemingly unlikely gay-friendly urban centers like Columbus, Ohio, and Louisville, Kentucky, where acceptance is blossoming, yet outright and even quasi-medical rejection is allowed. “I went through years of conversion therapy,” said Ferguson, 33, recalling weekend retreats when a “therapist” gathered groups of men struggling with their sexuality, recreated moments of strain with their fathers or memories of sexual abuse they’d experienced, and tried to make them straight. “Really, all that you’re doing is just bringing up the very worst from a person’s life,” Ferguson said. He is involved in a lawsuit to further shut down legalized conversion in New Jersey; it is one of only two states – plus the District of Columbia – where the practice is illegal for use on minors. Despite stalled attempts to curtail such “therapy” in 18 other states, longstanding suspicions from the American Psychological Association and the White House’s forceful call this month to ban the tactics, so-called conversion therapy remains legal for adults in all 50 states. The supreme court refused to rule on it last year. Anderson and Ferguson do not see their marriage as an end of the rainbow. They are deeply invested in the fight for equal rights in Utah and beyond, with a commitment to homeless LGBT youth and an attempt to engage other Mormon and ex-Mormon people struggling with their sexual orientation and gender identity. “Love is a process,” Anderson said. ‘Now our grandkids don’t have to question who they are’ Facebook Twitter Pinterest ‘Back in the day, if you were gay, you weren’t normal, you weren’t human – so they would take you to a mental institution and start shocking your brain.’ Video: Mae Ryan/The Guardian Kitty Lambert-Rudd underwent 13 electric convulsion treatments in her twenties to “cure” her lesbianism. Now 58 years old and re-married in Buffalo, this time to a person of the gender she’s always known she was meant to love, she’s just trying to make sure she can get to the hospital on time – and that her 15 grandchildren can, too. Her wife Cheryle, 57, also knew she was gay before she married a man and had children as a young woman. Cheryle “escaped” shock treatments when she came out at 40, but she lost contact with her 13-year-old son. She hasn’t seen him in the 17 years since. The Lambert-Rudds have not stopped fighting for full equality in liberal New York since they became the first couple legally married in the state in 2011. But there are some things they no longer have to fear, as federal guidelines have kept up with public support for same-sex families: a poll released on Thursday found 61 percent of American in support of gay marriage, as even more than that thought LGBT couples “can be as good parents as straight people”. They have been separated at moments through a heart attack and two rounds of cancer, but they can now visit one another in the hospital, as can any married same-sex couple at hospitals that receive federal funds. They are eligible to inherit from each other, file joint taxes and share health insurance plans, which LGBT couples in 13 states still cannot. But marriage does not heal the wounds of losing a child in a custody dispute, Cheryle said. The kind of discrimination she faced while going through a divorce and custody trial all those years still exists. The rules governing adoption by same-sex couples varies state-by-state. Raising children who need homes, as a same-sex married couple, remains precarious: This week, Arizona allowed gay couples to become foster parents – and Florida considered letting private agencies deny same-sex couples the ability to adopt. Of the 15 grandchildren Kitty and Cheryle share, some are biological and others “we collected along the way,” Kitty said. Among them are those who have been homeless, “kids who come in and out of the house and we’ve adopted them and refer to them as our grandkids”. Homelessness for LGBT young people is particularly a problem in New York state, as those rejected from families across the country find their way to New York City. The Centers for Disease Control considers homeless queer youth at high risk for becoming infected with HIV. For grandparents who have seen the arc of justice bend closer toward equality, anxieties remain. “The supreme court decision that’s coming down, it weighs so heavy in the hearts of all of us,” Cheryle said. “Has it been worth it? “Oh, yes,” Kitty interrupted. “It’s been pretty tiring times, but it’s been worth it. We’re being treated more like human beings. “We’re normal. We are really normal.” *** Back in 2004, after Bush’s speech, Gavin Newsom said he immediately called his San Francisco aides. “We need to do something to for gay rights,” he said. The Democratic mayor expected pushback from conservatives, but he wasn’t expecting “the level of hostility from members of my own party” nor “from some members of the LGBT community,” who asked the straight Newsom: who are you to be doing this? Now, with a record level of Americans supporting marriage equality, it’s liberals and even the odd Republican pushing the final holdouts in the states, even as discrimination keeps getting put on the books: Who are you to be holding back gay rights? Legal experts expect the supreme court’s hand to be forced in turning Tuesday’s cases – on challenges in Michigan, Ohio, Kentucky and Tennessee – into full marriage equality by the end of its term in June. The first couples of Alabama, Utah and New York are still trying to ensure a job for all, a quiet table at the diner for all, and a safe home for queer kids on the street. For them, the process of love will always wind its way through the curious American way of dealing with justice. Then again, as minorities, they know that American love and justice have always been hard-won. “I thought maybe it would happen in my lifetime,” Newsom said he once thought of same-sex marriage, “and I was planning to live a long life.”
If you have a round peg that doesn’t fit in a square hole, do you blame the peg or the hole? You probably blame neither. We don’t assign blame to inanimate objects. But you might have some questions about the person who provided you with these mismatched items and set you up to fail. If a lion and a zebra show up at the same watering hole, and the lion kills the zebra, whose fault is that? Maybe you say the lion is at fault for doing the killing. Maybe you say the zebra should have chosen a safer watering hole. But in the end, you probably conclude that both animals acted according to their natures, so no one is to blame. However, if this is your local zoo, you might have some questions about who put the lions with the zebras in the same habitat. Now consider human males. No doubt you have noticed an alarming trend in the news. Powerful men have been behaving badly, e.g. tweeting, raping, cheating, and being offensive to just about everyone in the entire world. The current view of such things is that the men are to blame for their own bad behavior. That seems right. Obviously we shouldn’t blame the victims. I think we all agree on that point. Blame and shame are society’s tools for keeping things under control. The part that interests me is that society is organized in such a way that the natural instincts of men are shameful and criminal while the natural instincts of women are mostly legal and acceptable. In other words, men are born as round pegs in a society full of square holes. Whose fault is that? Do you blame the baby who didn’t ask to be born male? Or do you blame the society that brought him into the world, all round-pegged and turgid, and said, “Here’s your square hole”? The way society is organized at the moment, we have no choice but to blame men for bad behavior. If we allowed men to act like unrestrained horny animals, all hell would break loose. All I’m saying is that society has evolved to keep males in a state of continuous unfulfilled urges, more commonly known as unhappiness. No one planned it that way. Things just drifted in that direction. Consider Hugh Hefner. He had every benefit of being a single man, and yet he decided he needed to try marriage. Marriage didn’t work out, so he tried the single life again. That didn’t work out, so he planned to get married again, although reportedly the wedding just got called off. For Hef, being single didn’t work, and getting married didn’t work, at least not in the long run. Society didn’t offer him a round hole for his round peg. All it offered were unlimited square holes. To be fair, if a man meets and marries the right woman, and she fulfills his needs, he might have no desire to tweet his meat to strangers. Everyone is different. But in general, society is organized as a virtual prison for men’s natural desires. I don’t have a solution in mind. It’s a zero sum game. If men get everything they want, women lose, and vice versa. And there’s no real middle ground because that would look like tweeting a picture of your junk with your underpants still on. Some things just don’t have a compromise solution. Long term, I think science will come up with a drug that keeps men chemically castrated for as long as they are on it. It sounds bad, but I suspect that if a man loses his urge for sex, he also doesn’t miss it. Men and women would also need a second drug that increases oxytocin levels in couples who want to bond. Copulation will become extinct. Men who want to reproduce will stop taking the castration drug for a week, fill a few jars with sperm for artificial insemination, and go back on the castration pill. That might sound to you like a horrible world. But the oxytocin would make us a society of huggers, and no one would be treated as a sex object. You’d have no rape, fewer divorces, stronger friendships, and a lot of other advantages. I think that’s where we’re headed in a few generations.
The Pofalla case, they said, was the latest demonstration of a faster-revolving door between the two sectors, and of the growing potential for business and political leaders to trade influence. Lobbying, while less intense here than in Washington or Brussels, still casts a large shadow, watchdog groups warned. “For us, this is a clear signal that we quite urgently need a cooling-off period,” said Timo Lange, a spokesman for LobbyControl, an organization financed by small private donations that has been working since 2006 for regulation of lobbying. Those leaving the top ranks of government should wait three years before being able to lobby, he said, and lobbyists should be registered, as in the United States. Almost worse than the speed of the transition in the Pofalla case, said Christian Homburg, the executive director of the German office of Transparency International, the anticorruption group, was that it appeared to revive an old tradition of creating lucrative jobs for long-serving politicians. His group endorsed a three-year pause. On Friday, Mr. Pofalla, who has been a conservative member of Parliament since 1990 and retains his seat, declined to comment through his office, which said he would not be at work until the end of next week. Deutsche Bahn also had no comment. The deputy spokesman for Ms. Merkel’s government, Georg Streiter, told reporters that since Mr. Pofalla had left the government, there was nothing to say. The reputation of Ms. Merkel’s government for staying out of business was called into question two months ago when a state minister in her chancellery, Eckart von Klaeden, 48, quit to join the Daimler auto company as chief lobbyist. The move had been mooted months earlier, fueling criticism that Mr. von Klaeden stayed on in government to influence successful lobbying by the German government in Brussels for less stringent emission limits on high-end cars.
This article is over 3 years old Opponents say the laws are killing off the Sydney’s nightlife with venues being forced to close and hundreds of jobs lost along with patronage Thousands march through Sydney to protest against nightlife lockout laws A rally against Sydney’s lockout laws has turned into a dance party after thousands marched through the city. Analysis shows Sydney’s lockout laws led to 40% drop in live gig revenue Read more Hours after emergency service workers urged the NSW government to keep the laws, Sydneysiders took to the streets in a rally organised by the Keep Sydney Open group. Opponents say the laws are killing off the city’s nightlife with venues being forced to close and hundreds of jobs disappearing along with patronage. Protester Adrienn Lord, 28, said the laws were crushing Sydney’s culture and diversity. “The lockout laws have seen Sydney’s night life leached away while the violence and aggressive atmosphere has just spread to other areas,” he said at the Sunday afternoon protest which marched from Belmore Park to Hyde Park in the city centre. Pete Cooper (@pc0) Keep Sydney Open Photos w Rally Highlights #keepsydneyopen https://t.co/9J3aN1IgZQ pic.twitter.com/GYTpYqUZ7M The legislation requires central Sydney venues to turn people away from 1.30am, serve last drinks by 3am and ban the sale of takeaway alcohol after 10pm. The suite of measures were introduced following a number of one-punch deaths and assaults during alcohol-fuelled nights out. “We hit the dance floor, not each other,” read one placard, while another read, “Drop the Mike!” But a coalition of New South Wales doctors, nurses, paramedics and police disagree. Alcohol-fuelled violence has “fallen off a cliff” since the laws came into effect, emergency services say. Dr Tony Sara told reporters in Sydney the number of victims of alcohol-related violence turning up at St Vincent’s Hospital had fallen by one-third since the laws were introduced. Sydney lockouts: seven creatives give their views – and none of them are good Read more “All assaults have gone down by 32% and the number of severely injured persons has also gone down,” he said. There have not been any deaths from alcohol-related violence or trauma since the lockouts, and there have only been three patients admitted to the intensive care unit for such violence, he said. “Prior to that, it was scores every year.” Sara rejected suggestions violence had simply been pushed to pockets of Sydney where the laws do not apply. He claimed it was a “furphy” being peddled by the alcohol industry and he called for an expansion of the lockouts. However, Sara said relaxing the laws for live music venues “could be a good idea” if proven effective through a small-scale trial.
Monash University has become the first ''brand'' in the world to secure its own top-level domain on the internet. The global governing body for domain names, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, has been evaluating new TLDs, which are joining the likes of .com, .net and .au on the internet. New TLDs that have already been approved to go ''live'' on the internet include domains in non-Roman script, such as Arabic and Chinese, and generic domains such as .menu. Australian company ARI Registry Services is the technology provider for some of the new TLDs. Its chief executive, Adrian Kinderis, said .monash had outpaced the likes of Google, Amazon, Apple and 600 other major brands around the world to have its custom domain suffix added to the internet. ''Monash University were the very first '.brand name' that's been released in the new top-level domain program,'' he said. Other new Australian TLDs such as .afl, .iinet, .auspost, .melbourne and .sydney are expected to follow. Mr Kinderis said the .brand name TLDs would be a marketing tool to support the brand's digital strategy. ''Largely, what it's about is creating a source of truth on the internet, saying to the world if you want to find anything about Monash University, for example, it must end in .monash.'' The university will gradually phase .monash into its digital communications but will continue its current online presence of monash.edu.
The mock seductive voice that has tickled commuters on the Docklands Light Railway was captured once again on social media yesterday – this time as the train pulled into Lewisham. Thousands of commuters have been entertained by the conductor’s unusual announcements, which have also gained him the nickname of jazz voice. The driver of the #DLR to #lewisham right now, cheering everyone up with his Friday words of wisdom and soothing jazz voice #Nice 👍👏 — Glenn Firmin (@GlennFirmin) January 27, 2017 His honeyed tones were widely heard on social media last month after a passenger recorded his announcements on the service to Woolwich Arsenal. The conductor on the DLR almost made me scream shekwhahai pic.twitter.com/oNnWSNh9c6 — noah fence but (@intssssss) January 9, 2017 Yesterday another commuter captured a snippet of his performance as the train reached the end of its journey in Lewisham. Yes #DLR driver! You certainly brightened my dreary day with them silky smooth tones 😘 oooohhhh yeeeaaah! #TfL #lewisham pic.twitter.com/gNn5S4rixg — Kelly Griffiths (@kellysgriffiths) February 9, 2017 Most passengers have enjoyed the style of the conductor’s announcements. There's a fairly new conductor on the DLR lately that speaks in a smooth and soft manner, and it's bloody lovely in the mornings! — Matt (@Mattsnotyours) January 16, 2017 Others have reacted less favourably, with one describing it as “truly disturbing”. On the DLR. There's a conductor onboard who is doing his best to make announcements in the most erotic RP voice possible. Truly disturbing. — Martin Stanley (@Gamblersnovel) January 3, 2017 Up until this point, however, only the voice of the conductor seems to have been captured and his true identity remains a mystery. Do you know who the DLR’s jazz voice/ Barry White really is? Let us know at Lewisham Lately. Lead picture courtesy of Hippotanks/ Wikipedia Advertisements Share this: Twitter Facebook Google Like this: Like Loading...
It’s funny: After L Word Mississippi aired, it was met with a host of comments, opinions, criticisms. The most notable of criticism being that our stories weren’t real; that they must have been exaggerated. I recall one person saying she was from Mississippi, and she never knew anywhere to be “like that.” One said, “That can’t be true. They must have paid them off.” Funny how now, two years later, our country sits up and listens. We’ve been screaming and flailing our arms saying, “Hey, guys look what’s going on here…” And now that it may be too late, the world is finally taking notice. I wonder what those critics would have to say today. And I can’t help but ponder why it took such a drastic, horrendous act from our state legislator for people to finally see behind the curtain. If you want my truth, I am hurt, I am angry, I am saddened and I am afraid. I am afraid that Kasen will go to school and the teachers will treat him poorly because he has two mommies. I am saddened that our governor does not see us as people but as problems. I am angry that I must pull away from my partner in a restaurant for fear of being kicked out, or worse, and I am hurt that when the governor looks at me, he only sees an African American lesbian, a threat to what this country was founded upon, when I am so much more. A photo posted by Jana (@jpaige31) on Dec 7, 2014 at 5:44pm PST I am the total of a mother and father who fought and lived through segregation and civil rights, of a grandmother who could not write her own name but cleaned the homes of wealthy white men and women so that her children and grandchildren would have an opportunity at a life of which she could only dream. I am the product of parents who believed that right here in Mississippi a little black girl, who happened to be gay could be the exception and not the rule if her parents worked hard enough and dreamed big enough for their daughter. This bill is a slap in the face to my grandmother. This bill is a slap in the face to my parents, and it’s a slap in the face to me. It’s a slap to the countless lives that were lost in the name of civil rights. I am more than what you surmise when you look at me, Mr. Governor, and I deserve better from you. The truth of the matter is that this bill is in fact discrimination of the highest order. It will open doors for more intolerance, hate crimes, and bigotry in the name of religion. It will cause far more problems than it will solve in the misrepresentation of Jesus, and if not reprieved, I am fearful that blood will be shed as a result of HB 1523, in the name of the bible. You cannot spew bigotry and Bible from the same mouth. Apples and oranges cannot grow from the same tree, love and hatred cannot come from the same heart. And this bill and God’s desire for his people do not occupy the same space. I’m just a little girl from Amory, MS. I grew up drinking sweet tea and going to church every Sunday (yes… every…. single… Sunday!) I grew up saying “Yes ma’am,” and “Please and thank you.” I grew up believing if I worked hard enough, I could be a teacher or doctor or even the governor. I grew up believing that you treat every single person the same, no matter how different they seemed. I grew up believing Jesus loves all of us; white people, black people, gay people, homeless people, short people, left-handed people, and that His house (the church), was the one place every single one of those people could go and just be people. I grew up believing the words of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.: “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.” Well, HB 1523 is an injustice. And if you think because you are thousands of miles away, or because you’re not directly impacted or because you don’t know a gay person or a trans person, or because “it’s not your business,” you’re not called to action, then you are sadly mistaken. This injustice in Mississippi is a threat to justice in California, North Dakota & Florida. It’s a threat to justice in New York, and in Texas, Nevada, and Michigan. This injustice in Mississippi is a threat to justice in your back yard. As a small child in church, we sang “Yes, Jesus loves me / For the Bible tells me so.” Well, I am no longer the little girl who believes that all people were created equal. I no longer believe that if I work hard enough, I can be anything. I no longer believe that Jesus’ house is a safe haven for all, and I no longer believe that all people, no matter how different they may seem, are treated the same. Those things are not true, because, on April 5th, MISSISSIPPI told me so. Over 200 years ago these words were ratified in the preamble of the constitution and in 2016, it was modified. “We the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America” “Unless you’re different.” (Governor Phil Bryant, Mississippi 2016)
Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump said in a 1999 interview that he once promised his daughter Ivanka he’d never date a girl younger than her. Ivanka Trump would have been 17 in 1999, when Trump made the claim to radio host Howard Stern, according to the New York Daily News. “I have a deal with her. She’s 17 and doing great ― Ivanka. She made me promise, swear to her that I would never date a girl younger than her,” Trump said. “So as she grows older, the field is getting very limited.” Trump divorced his second wife, Marla Maples, in 1999, two years after they separated. He had met his third wife, Melania, in 1998, when the model was 28 years old. They wed in 2005. Trump has been slammed for his rhetoric about women throughout his campaign. That criticism was amplified this week after Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton brought up Trump’s incendiary comments about former Miss Universe Alicia Machado during the first presidential debate. After Trump continued to slam Machado in a series of late-night tweets, Clinton took down Trump’s comments on Twitter, highlighting his other attacks on women.
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — So much stability on offense for the Carolina Panthers. Cam Newton and the Panthers offense are once again in limbo following the departure of offensive coordinator Rob Chudzinski. Last year marked the first time Newton worked with the same coordinator in back-to-back seasons since high school and the second-year quarterback improved as the season progressed. But with Chudzinski being introduced Friday as the Cleveland Browns new head coach, the direction of the Panthers’ offense is unclear. Article continues below ... Coach Ron Rivera declined interview requests Friday, saying in a statement “there’s no timetable” to name Chudzinski’s replacement. “We wish Chud the very best and appreciate the great job he did here in laying a foundation for our offense,” Rivera said. “We are in the process of filling staff positions now and will continue to work through that in the coming days. Our goal is to identify the best candidates.” Rivera fired two offensive assistants Tuesday leaving quarterbacks coach Mike Shula as the only staff member with previous experience as an offensive coordinator. However, Shula struggled in that role with Tampa Bay from 1996-99 and the Panthers could look outside the organization for a replacement. During Shula’s four seasons with the Bucs they were 27th in the NFL in points scored, 29th in total yards and last in passing offense, according to STATS INC. The Bucs never finished better than 22nd in total offense during his four seasons with Tampa Bay, meaning the Panthers could look outside the organization for a replacement. Among the notable offensive coordinators looking for work are Hue Jackson, Pat Shurmur, Cam Cameron, Chan Gailey and Norv Turner, who was Rivera’s former boss in San Diego. Regardless of who replaces Chudzinski it will certainly represent an adjustment for Newton, Carolina’s franchise quarterback. Newton could not be reached for comment on Friday, but backup Derek Anderson, who played two seasons under Chudzinski in Cleveland and two more in Carolina, said there is no sugarcoating the fact Chudzinski’s departure definitely hurts the Panthers, who finished the season strong by winning five of six games. “It (stinks) for our team because I feel we made strides toward the end of the season,” Anderson said. “Learning how to win isn’t easy.” Still, veteran offensive tackle Jordan Gross believes Newton will be fine. “If Chud had left last year after Cam’s rookie season I might have felt different,” Gross said. “But I think Cam has grown so much as a player and matured so much in the last year that I think he’ll be fine no matter who is calling the shots.” For the most part Newton has played well under Chudzinski’s tutelage. Chudzinski inherited an offense that finished last in the league in total offense, points scored and yards passing in 2010 and the Panthers made dramatic improvements in their first year with the rookie Newton at the helm. Despite losing a good portion of the offseason to the NFL lockout, the Panthers finished 2011 seventh in total offense and fifth in points scored. This past season the offense started slow and the Panthers started the season 1-5, costing them any realistic shot at the playoffs. However, Chudzinski simplified the playbook midway through the year and the offense rebounded strong in the second half of the season finishing 12th in total offense. In two seasons Newton has thrown for 7,920 yards and 40 touchdowns and run for 22 scores. He has turned the ball over 32 times. Gross believes the Panthers have the talent to move on without missing a beat. “One thing I’ve learned in 10 seasons is that an organization is never about one person, whether it’s player or coach,” Gross said. “I know we have ability to win with who is here. I still think we have a good staff here.” Albeit a shrinking one. Rivera fired running backs coach John Settle and receivers coach Fred Graves and Chudzinski could try to take his right hand man and close friend, offensive quality control coach Scott Turner, with him to Cleveland. According to Panthers spokesman Charlie Dayton, Rivera doesn’t want to comment until next week because he’s busy filling out his staff. Along with having to make three hires on offense, Rivera still must replace linebackers coach Warren Belin. He could also opt to hire a replacement for interim special teams coordinator Richard Rodgers, who put in charge midway through last season after Rivera fired special teams coordinator Brian Murphy. It’s already been a busy offseason for the Panthers. Owner Jerry Richardson ended the coaching drama when he elected to retain Rivera as the team’s coach after letting him twist in the wind for a week. On Wednesday Richardson ended a three-month long search for a GM by hiring Dave Gettleman to replace Marty Hurney.
The fight against ISIS is "a third world war by other means," Jordan's King Abdullah II told CBS News' Charlie Rose during an interview on Friday morning. The king is currently in Washington and is due to meet with U.S. President Barack Obama later on Friday. "This is a Muslim problem," Abdullah said, referring to the challenge posed by the Islamic State. "We need to take ownership of this. We need to stand up and say what is right and what is wrong." The king added that Arab and Muslim leaders around the world were beginning to work together to defeat ISIS, though he was unwilling to give details. "This is a war inside of Islam," he said. "So we have to own up to it. We have to take the lead. And we have to start fighting back. And all of us have to make that decision and stand up to the plate and take our responsibilities." Despite the threat of ISIS, the king still considers the Israeli-Palestinian conflict the core issue in the Middle East. "You know, whether it's true or not, that argument is still being used by the extremists," he said. "And countries around the world realize that they have to solve the problem for their benefit." Keep updated: Sign up to our newsletter Email * Please enter a valid email address Sign up Please wait… Thank you for signing up. We've got more newsletters we think you'll find interesting. Click here Oops. Something went wrong. Please try again later. Try again Thank you, The email address you have provided is already registered. Close
Starting with NixOps (and thus Nix and NixOS), part 1 While learning the Nix ecosystem and trying to use it, I found it a bit more harder than I thought to achieve what I wanted. In this post and the next one, I’m documenting what I learned, partly for myself, partly to share with other people that would like to follow the same path. The prerequesite to follow along this post is to install Nix and NixOps. Basics The basics of Nix are actually very well documented elsewhere; in particular: Running example As as a starting point, here I give a do.nix file suitable for the nixops executable. I will use it in the rest of the post as a running example: $ cat do.nix { network.description = "Some machines (actually just one)"; resources.sshKeyPairs.ssh-key = {}; machine-1 = { config, pkgs, ... }: { deployment.targetEnv = "digitalOcean"; deployment.digitalOcean.region = "ams2"; deployment.digitalOcean.size = "512mb"; }; # machine-1 } That file contains a single Nix expression and is enough to get a machine up and running on Digital Ocean. (It seems the support for the AWS environment is much more mature but for what this post is about, Digital Ocean support is fine.) Here is how you instruct NixOps to use that file to spin up a machine and provision it (you can create API tokens at https://cloud.digitalocean.com/settings/api/tokens): $ nixops create -d do do.nix $ nixops list +----------------+------+------------------------+------------+--------------+ \| UUID \| Name \| Description \| # Machines \| Type \| +----------------+------+------------------------+------------+--------------+ \| c94aa2ee-7954- \| do \| Unnamed NixOps network \| 0 \| \| +----------------+------+------------------------+------------+--------------+ $ nixops info -d do Network name: do Network UUID: c94aa2ee-7954-11e7-8947-0242c5c1eaab Network description: Some machines (actually just one) Nix expressions: /home/thu/projects/web/nixops/do.nix +-----------+---------------+---------------------+-------------+------------+ \| Name \| Status \| Type \| Resource Id \| IP address \| +-----------+---------------+---------------------+-------------+------------+ \| machine-1 \| Missing / New \| digitalOcean [ams2] \| \| \| +-----------+---------------+---------------------+-------------+------------+ $ DIGITAL_OCEAN_AUTH_TOKEN=xxxx nixops deploy -d do machine-1> creating droplet ... ... This creates a “deployment” using our expression: a mean for NixOps to track the state associated with our machines and name that deployment “do” (which can be used instead of its UUID) then actually deploy it to Digital Ocean. (For good measure I call also nixops list and nixops info to demonstrate those two commands.) After a while (a long while when using the Digital Ocean target), you should be able to SSH into the machine: ... machine-1> activation finished successfully do> deployment finished successfully $ nixops ssh -d do machine-1 [root@machine-1:~]# For good measure again: $ nixops list +----------------+------+-----------------------------------+------------+--------------+ \| UUID \| Name \| Description \| # Machines \| Type \| +----------------+------+-----------------------------------+------------+--------------+ \| c94aa2ee-7954- \| do \| Some machines (actually just one) \| 1 \| digitalOcean \| +----------------+------+-----------------------------------+------------+--------------+ $ nixops info -d do Network name: do Network UUID: c94aa2ee-7954-11e7-8947-0242c5c1eaab Network description: Some machines (actually just one) Nix expressions: /home/thu/projects/web/nixops/do.nix +-----------+-----------------+--------------+-------------+----------------+ \| Name \| Status \| Type \| Resource Id \| IP address \| +-----------+-----------------+--------------+-------------+----------------+ \| machine-1 \| Up / Up-to-date \| digitalOcean \| \| 188.226.174.95 \| \| ssh-key \| Up / Up-to-date \| ssh-keypair \| \| \| +-----------+-----------------+--------------+-------------+----------------+ Deploying changes When you want to update the machine, following changes to the Nix expression describing it, the same deploy command is used again. (You can already do it again with no changes and it should complete much more quickly.) Destroying the machine You can destroy the droplet with the following command: $ DIGITAL_OCEAN_AUTH_TOKEN=xxxx nixops destroy -d do machine-1> destroying droplet 57418645 Next Part 2 is here.
Ever since Juan Manuel Marquez put Manny Pacquiao to sleep on December 8, 2012 with a right hand from hell, he has been telling anyone who would listen that he was finished with Pacquiao. He had put his exclamation point on the series and couldn't possibly have ended it any better. Or so it seemed. According to a report from Lance Pugmire at the LA TImes, Marquez has recently experienced a change of heart when it comes to facing Pacquiao for an unprecedented (in modern boxing terms) fifth time. Money will do that. Oh, wait that's not the reason. I'm sorry. Marquez's promoter Fernando Beltran: "He wants the challenge of the Bradley - Pacquiao winner, he wants to make history of a fifth world title in five divisions. If Pacquiao wins he'll have the belt and, Juan wants it." According to the article, Bob Arum is excited about this. I bet. Marquez had been very firm about wanting a rematch with Timothy Bradley and nothing else. I think most people assumed that he would eventually come around to being open for another fight with Pacquiao, but it certainly took a long time for it to come out. If Pacquiao wins, the money for a fifth bout with would be huge, especially considering that Marquez won via KO the last time out. One would figure that he gets a bigger piece of the pie, but we never know in boxing. Should Bradley emerge victorious on April 12, a rematch between he and Marquez would also be a definite PPV in the fall. Bradley took home a close decision over Marquez last October. BUT , thankfully, Bradley knows deep inside his heart that he lost.
Bernard Brogan's matchday diet compared to what he eats on a normal day It's a long way from the ham and cheese sandwiches and roast dinners on matchday. The supplements and protein shakes are nowhere near as common as they were over the past decade. In that drive to find that extra edge, and 1%, inter-county teams are bringing nutritionists and sleep experts into the fold. GAA players do not need to burn off as many calories as Ireland's rugby players but they would still require 2,500 to 3,000 calories a day to keep enough energy in reserve for training. We caught up with Bernard Brogan at the launch of SuperValu's Good Food Karma project and asked him to share a typical, daily diet to what he consumes on match-day. Daily Diet (non-training day) BREAKFAST: Weetabix with some raspberries, blueberries, flax seeds, a drizzle of honey. "I would usually have a banana too. That sets me up for the day." MORNING SNACK: Seeds, nuts, almonds. "You get good fats from the nuts and it is enough to keep you going until lunch." LUNCH: Salad with pine nuts, peppers, lettuce, chicken. "We train three or four times a week but if there is no training, later, there is no need for carbs." DINNER: Small potatoes or noodles, simple vegetables and lean beef or fresh fish OR Stir fry with peppers, onion, garlic, salt and pepper, soya sauce, chicken (optional) "There would be lots of water taken over the course of the day. Kiera, my fiancee, likes to cook and eats well. I share that with her and really enjoy it." Matchday diet "The day before a match is probably more important than the matchday itself. It involves eating well, again, but loading up on carbohydrates. This provides an energy store that you will call on the following day." BREAKFAST: Porridge with fruit and honey. MORNING SNACK: Nuts and seeds. LUNCH: Potatoes with a bit cut of meat. "I would have this about two and a half hours before the match. Closer to the game, I might snack on some eggs or bacon." This is an important lesson to many players who are unsure as to when is the optimum time to eat before a match. It can be tough to strike the balance between feeling strong and full, and not too bloated. Some players wouldn't eat for up to 3/4 hours before a game for fear of getting a stitch. This will probably leave you weaker and hungry when the game begins. HALF-TIME: Isotonic drink. POST-MATCH DINNER: Baby potatoes, fresh vegetables and chicken, lean beef or fresh fish. Alternate from meat consumed at lunch. "We might have a drink of something too. That often depends on the pub we stop at or where we are in the season. The big nights are now few and far between." Brogan (left) was joined by David Gillick, Anna Geary, and chefs Martin Shanahan and Kevin Dundon to promote the Good Food Karma Project.
Theme: www.youtube.com/watch?v=bjWvxC… One step closer Closer to the light No matter where we're going I'll be by your side And everything we used to know Crashed into the great unknown One step closer We're gonna be alright Cause even underneath the waves I'll be holding on to you And even if you slip away I'll be there to fall into the dark To chase your heart No distance could ever tear us apart There's nothing that I wouldn't do I'll find my way back to you On my way now Don't give up on me And no one knows what What tomorrow brings These weary eyes will never rest Until they look in yours again I'm on my way now I still believe Cause even underneath the waves I'll be holding on to you And even if you slip away I'll be there to fall into the dark To chase your heart No distance could ever tear us apart There's nothing that I wouldn't do I'll find my way back to you I'll find my way back to you I'll find my way back Into the dark to chase your heart No distance could ever tear us apart There's nothing that I wouldn't do I'll find my way back to you There's nothing that I wouldn't do I'll find my way back to you I'll find my way back to you I'll find my way back Champagne ~~"You look nervous."Amethyst eyes shot towards the gazing emeralds that tirelessly observed her from a russet canvas of soft fur. Oh but how her warning look positively seethed with absolute disdain. How the smooth talking, sly fox continually managed to best her by caressing her innocent and willing naiveté - it was astoundingly beyond her ability to grasp! And yet, the tall vulpine companion effortlessly did so. Young Judy Hopps was only beginning to learn how to be comfortable around the taller-than-normal fox, and yet, just when she was 'comfortable' with thinking "I've got you figured out, Nick Wilde", he up and changed the game, and took her by surprise again."Don't be nervous." His voice interrupted her thoughts with it's irritatingly smooth, appealing quality, causing Judy's insides to twist and churn with restless butterflies. "You look beautiful, Carrots."The reality-grasping inept Judy Hopps shot him a scathing look. "You are gonna be in for a wooorld of punishment, Mr." She whispered sweetly, though the daggers in her smouldering gaze never relinquished their glinting blades of abhorrence. How did he keep managing to get her into elements and atmospheres that were worlds beyond her comfort zone? First the Naturalists Club, (see) and now, this! The ZPD annual Christmas Party, which was now taking place with the classic ballroom theme, and while Judy had planned on laying low so that she could avoid the fiasco of getting herself "dolled up" and wearing heels, Nick it seemed, had another agenda up his sleeve.However her threat seemed to fall on ears with a talent for deafness. To her promise of punishment, Nick smiled, leaning forward, elbow on the table, the open face of his paw supporting his cheek. "SoundsCarrots, I can't wait! It's athen."Judy's eyes snapped open wide from the original cool slits they had formerly been when she realised Nick had twisted her words so completely that he landed a DATE out of it! "What~? No-NO!" She hissed, "It isa da~"?" Choking on her final word, Judy looked up startled to see a sleek Bengal Cat had come to their table with a bottle prepped and ready, water condensation glistening on its chilled surface. Judy flushed, as if she'd been caught with her knickers down and looked to Nick who was silently, though smugly smiling at her with the pained expression of trying to keep a lid on his chortles. Clearing his throat he straightens in his seat, speaking confidently without a hitch. "Yes, thank you."Judy, who, for reasons entirely beyond her (mostly denial, though she won't admit it), would have absolutely refused a drink! Well, would have, that is, if words had not abandoned her entirely, leaving her to the mercy of the fetching young fox sitting across from her. Did the waiter think they were a couple?Then again, Why did it matter?Crystal glasses were filled with ethereal, liquid gold; light, transparent and sparkling. When the server left, Nick plucked up his glass and leaned back languidly in his seat. "To us." He said, waiting for Judy to lift hers.The befuddled and flushed little Bunny however, had no such intention. But what is the cause of such trepidations? What is the fox's offence? In truth, nothing. But in the wake of rising emotions that one is not ready to accept or assimilate, well, the only logical remedy is a healthy serving of denial - and in this moment, Judy was gorging herself on it.Soft white digits wrapped slowly around the slender neck of her glass, but didn't lift it from the table.Nick, undaunted by her hesitance, merely shrugged with the same aloof grace that resonated from him. "Us." He replies, a cheeky grin forming in his eyes. Judy wasn't convinced, and so, he leans forward. "Its always been, Carrots. You and me. Since the beginning."He made her heart flutter... Either that or she was about to go into cardiac arrestHer glass however left the table. "To us then." The softwas heard as the toast was made.Nick's ear twitched and the cheeky grin finally made an appearance, creeping slowly across his lips. The pair took a sip, and then both fox and bunny ears alike swivelled towards the dance floor as music began to fill the room, and the lights began to light the floor. "Ah, that's our cue." Taking another, more hearty drink from his glass, downing over half of it, he sets it back down, rising to his feet while doing up the last button on his suit coat."Cue forexactly?" Alarm began to rise, and Judy's posture grew rigid and stiff. Nick Wilde said nothing, closing the distance between them. Halfway towards quite hysterics, the safety of the table between them was now entirely void."A Dance." He replied as though it were entirely naturally obvious. His paw extends towards her, and a brow raised. "Surely you won't deny yourthis dance?" He gave her a charmingly disarming look of pleading, and the poor Bunny was left quite speechless. "I only request that I get the first, and last dance, Carrots. I won't hog you for the entire evening.""Hey!" Snorted a boar from the neighbouring table.Nick feigned a flinch of regret and tossed him a lazy smile. "Sorry, Officer Boarlock. Just an expression."That got Judy smiling despite her total and complete rising panic at the thought of dancing. Judy had grown up in the Burrows, Bunnyburrows to be exact, and their idea of dancing was not so... refined as what ballroom standards were like, and judging by how calm Nick was, this was familiar territory for him."Nick I, I don't dance..." She whispered, shying away from his hand.Nick raised a brow. "Is that a fact or an excuse?"Deep down, she knew it was an excuse... A BIG one. Any excuse she could find to keep her from falling deeper than she already was... "I don't dance, Nick...""Mhmm." Ignoring her, his paw, being rejected by hers, instead lifted to her chin, thumbing it thoughtfully. "I'll believe that when I see it, Carrots." He then took her paw in his, and gently but firmly tugged her from her seat and led her onto the dance floor.Judy's only hope of surviving the night diminished in a blink as she was suddenly standing in awkward heels and clinging to Nick's paw like it was a lifeline and she was being tossed on a tumultuously storming sea. "Nick, Nick!" She pleaded, awkwardly skidding along behind him.Nick however, seemed to be two steps ahead of his Partner. The scraping of her heels didn't escape his ears, and when her petition, so desperate and so tragic, reached him, he turned, grasping her around her slender waist. Effortlessly he lifted her off the ground, her feet slipping free of her heels. Taking two steps away from them, he set her feet gently down onto the polished floor. "Yes?"Speechlessness seemed to be an ongoing theme of late, and Judy was left gazing up at him through wide, violet eyes. The Vulpine however didn't miss a beat, and in one, liquid move, he had her pressed flush up against him, his arm down, around her back, and the other, holding her paw. Feeling him... Move in such a way against her left Judy quite beside herself with an absolute tsunami of panic ridden emotion. Her heart lurched into a gallop, beating rapidly within its bone cage while she struggled to find her footing and move with at least half the grace of her partner."Nick I can't do this!" Whispered the blushing, petite Bunny that was helpless in his arms."Yes you can." He whispered back calmly, stepping back in order to spin her smoothly under his guidance and direction before sweeping her back in against him.Judy half squeaked when he'd done that, and clung to him the moment he pulled her back in. "No I can't!"Nick slowed to a stop, his arms pulling away and he took a step back. Judy knew she should have been relieved and yet, she was anything but. The warmth of his arms around her, the feel of him against her...was...It was comfortable...It felt like... It was supposed to be that way.With an animated sigh, he thumbed her chin again. "Judy Hopps. WhatI going to do with you?"Judy wasted no time and jumped on the opportunity that presented itself. "You could take me home so I can getof this ridiculous dress?"Evidently, Judy didn't' realise howsounded to a Fox like Nick, but the poor Vulpine was nearly rolling with the endless possibilities. However, he remained smug in his regard of her, chuckling voicelessly. "Oh, I'll be taking you home Carrots, you can bet your cute lil' cotton tail on that." He then stepped forward, this time, wrapping both arms around her, and lifting her up till she was standing on his paws. His arms remained tight and secure around her. The Bunny's head was now tucked snuggly under his chin, her scent, filling his lungs with sweet abandon, which manifested itself in a growl laced hum of pleasure. His head dipped down and he whispered softly into her ear, "But not until I've had my dance."Lifting his head just so, Nick pressed his nose against her temple, gently nuzzled her in that spot a moment, and then settled for resting his chin atop her head. For Judy, it was as if he'd just kissed her...It wasn't the first time neither would it be the last time that Nick caught her off guard, she knew. But when he swept her into his arms, and began to slowly dance with her beneath the waves of golden light, Judy came to the realisation of something that would ultimately change her life in the moment sheand accepted it:She was falling in love with Nick Wilde.Her Partner.ThePartner...Now she had two choices. She could either fight it, or, embrace it.With a deep breath, one that filled her lungs with the richness of his scent, Judy released it slowly a contented sigh. Judy Hopps closed her eyes and allowed herself to live in the Here and Now. In the moment. Her hold on him tightened and in return, Nick's arms held her a little tighter. With her right paw on his shoulder, her left lifted over his shoulder and gently cupped the back of his head, her white digits caressing through the softness of his sunset-fur. Nick held her with all the care, tenderness, and all the affection that he forandalone. Affections he never put words to. However tonight, showed her... At least,is what Judy believed. What she...~~This is the song I hear when I think of them dancing together <3What can I say, I'm a sucker for the oldies What song do you hear when you think of Nick and Judy dancing?
Here's the question no one is asking as 2012 ends, especially given the effusive public support the Obama administration offered Israel in its recent conflict with Hamas in Gaza: Will 2013 be a year of confrontation between Washington and Jerusalem? It's on no one's agenda for the New Year. But it could happen anyway. It's true that the Israeli-Palestinian peace process appears dead in the water. No matter how much Barack Obama might have wanted that prize, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has rebuffed him at every turn. The president appears to have taken it on the chin, offering more than the usual support for Israel and in return getting kloom (as they say in Hebrew). Nothing at all. However, the operative word here is "appears." In foreign affairs what you see -- a show carefully scripted for political purposes -- often bears little relation to what you actually get. While the Obama administration has acceded to the imagery of knee-jerk support for whatever Israel does, no matter how outrageous, behind the scenes its policies are beginning to look far less predictable. In fact, unlikely as it may seem, a showdown could be brewing between the two countries. If so, the outcome will depend on a complicated interplay between private diplomacy and public theater. The latest well-masked U.S. intervention came in the brief November war between Israel and Gaza. It began when Israel assassinated a top Hamas leader deeply involved in secret truce talks between the supposedly non-communicating foes. Destructive as it was, the war proved brief indeed for one reason: the American president quickly stepped in. Publicly, he couldn't have sided more wholeheartedly with Israel. (It felt as if Mitt Romney had won, not lost, the election.) In private, though, as he pressured Egyptian President Morsi to force Hamas to a truce, he reportedly pushed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu just as hard. The truce agreement even had an Obama-required twist. It forced Israel to continue negotiating seriously with Hamas about easing the blockade that, combined with repeated destructive Israeli strikes against the Palestinian infrastructure, has plunged Gaza so deep into poverty and misery. Talks on the blockade are reportedly proceeding, though wrapped in the deepest secrecy. It's hard to imagine Israel upholding the truce and entering into a real dialogue to ease the blockade without significant pressure from Washington. Washington is also deeply involved in the tensions between Israel and the Palestinian Authority (P.A.) in the West Bank. When P.A. president Mahmoud Abbas asked the U.N. General Assembly to accord Palestine observer status, Israel publicly denounced any such U.N. resolution. The Obama administration wanted to offer a far softer resolution of its own with Israeli approval. The Israelis gave in and sent a top official to Washington to negotiate the language. In the end, the U.S. had no success; the stronger resolution passed overwhelmingly. Israel promptly retaliated by announcing that it would build 3,000 additional housing units in various settlements on the West Bank. To make the response stronger, the Israeli government indicated that it would also make "preliminary zoning and planning preparations" for new Israeli settlements in the most contentious area of the West Bank, known as E1. Settlements there would virtually bisect the West Bank and complete a Jewish encirclement of Jerusalem, ending any hope for a two-state solution. Washington Can Lay Down the Law There is a history of the Israeli government publicly announcing settlement expansions for symbolic political effect, and then, under U.S. pressure, pursuing only limited construction or none at all. Some observers suspect Netanyahu is now playing the same game. As the New York Times reported, "For years, American and European officials have told the Israelis that E1 is a red line. The leaked, somewhat vague, announcement... is a potent threat that may well, in the end, not be carried out because the Israeli government worries about its consequences." Prominent Israeli columnist Shimon Shiffer was more certain. "Netanyahu," he wrote, "does not plan to change the policies of his predecessors, who assured the Americans Israel would not build even one house in problematic areas" like E1. Maybe that's why Netanyahu sounded so tentative on the subject in an interview: "What we've advanced so far is only planning [in E1], and we will have to see. We shall act further based on what the Palestinians do." Israeli officials admitted to the New York Times that the move on E1 was "symbolism against symbolism." But several European nations took the E1 threat seriously and responded with unusually sharp criticism. Some Israeli insiders claimed that Obama's hidden hand was at work here, too. The American president, they speculated, gave the Europeans "the green light to respond with extreme measures... The European move is essentially an American move." If so, it was all done in private, of course. (The White House publicly denied the claim.) However Peter Beinart, editor of the Open Zion page at the Daily Beast and author of The Crisis of Zionism, claims administration officials have told him that such behind-the-scenes maneuvering is Obama's new strategy. Publicly, Washington will "stand back and let the rest of the world do the confronting. Once the U.S. stops trying to save Israel from the consequences of its actions, the logic goes, and once Israel feels the full brunt of its mounting international isolation, its leaders will be scared into changing course." As Beinart suggests, international isolation is what worries Israelis most. A cut-off of U.S. military aid would be troubling indeed but in itself hardly fatal, since Israel already has the strongest military in the Middle East and a sizeable military-industrial-high-tech complex of its own. What Israel needs, above all, from the U.S. is diplomatic support to protect it from international rejection, economic boycotts, and a diplomatic tsunami that could turn Israel into a pariah state. Political analysts have long assumed that any Israeli leader who loses the protection of the U.S. would pay the price at the polls. That's why some insiders, like Daniel Kurtzer, former U.S. ambassador to Israel and Egypt, think Obama can "lay down the law" to Israel on E1 -- behind closed doors, of course. The influential Israeli journalist Anshel Pfeffer puts the situation in the simplest of terms: "It is clear who is boss." Obama's New Diplomatic Weapon The rules of Israel's political game, however, may also be changing. And that's a key to understanding why 2013 could be the year of confrontation between the leaderships of the two countries. Netanyahu has allied his Likud party with the strongest party to its right, Yisrael Beitenu. To seal his victory in the upcoming election on January 22nd, he's put his political fate in the hands (or talons) of his country's hawks. If he wins (which everyone assumes he will), he'll have to satisfy those hawks -- and they don't care about shrewd secret bargaining or holding on to allies. What they want, above all, are public displays of unilateral strength made with much fanfare, exactly like the recent settlement-expansion announcement and the accompanying threat to turn E1 into an Israeli suburb. Many observers have suggested that the primary audience was Netanyahu's new, ever-more-right-wing partners. Plenty of them still don't trust him, especially after the ceasefire in Gaza under pressure from Washington. Most analysts saw the Israeli announcement as a public punishment of the Palestinians for their success at the U.N. The BBC's Kevin Connolly had a different interpretation: Israeli hawks felt that letting the U.N. vote pass without some strong response "would be seen as a sign of weakness." Israeli political life has always been haunted by a fear of weakness and a conviction that Jews are condemned to vulnerability in a world full of anti-Semites eager to destroy them. The hawks' worldview is built upon this myth of insecurity. It demands instant retaliation so that Jews can show the world -- but more importantly themselves -- that they are strong enough to resist every real or (more often) imagined threat. To keep the show going, they must have enemies. So they seek out confrontations and, at the same time, "actually welcome isolation," as the venerable Israeli commentator Uri Avnery says, "because it confirms again that the entire world is anti-Semitic, and not to be trusted." "For the sake of his target voter," writes another Israeli columnist, Bradley Burston, "it's in Netanyahu's direct interest for the world to hate Israelis" and for Obama to be "fed up and furious with Israel. That is, at least until Election Day." Obama owes the Israeli prime minister nothing after the recent U.S. election season in which Netanyahu practically campaigned for Mitt Romney and publicly demanded that the U.S. threaten an attack on Iran -- a demand that the administration publicly rebuffed. The president might finally be fed up, and so in a mood to ratchet up private pressure on the Israelis. If Obama is planning to put more heat on them, he will undoubtedly wait until after their election. Then, in the late winter months of 2013, before spring comes and Netanyahu can revive the possibility of an attack on Iranian nuclear facilities, the president might well provoke a showdown. He has good reason. If he can secure a definitive halt to settlement expansion, he can bring the Palestinians back to the table with a promise to press Israel to negotiate seriously for a two-state solution. In a chaotic region where the U.S. seems to be losing ground weekly, Washington could score sizeable foreign policy points, especially in improving relations with regional powers Turkey and Egypt. And faced with Netanyahu's new post-election government, Obama would find himself with a new diplomatic weapon in his arsenal. Suppose -- an administration aide might suggest to an Israeli counterpart -- the U.S. publicly reveals that it's allowing, perhaps even pushing, other nations to isolate Israel. Some Israeli hawks would undoubtedly welcome the chance to proclaim Obama as Israel's greatest enemy and demand that Netanyahu resist all pressure. But Israeli centrists -- still a large part of the electorate -- would be dismayed, or worse, at the thought of losing Washington as their last bulwark against international rejection. The fear that Israel could become a pariah state, blacklisted, embargoed, and without its lone invaluable ally would be a powerful incentive. They'd insist that Netanyahu show flexibility to avoid that fate. Netanyahu would find himself caught in a political battle he could never hope to win. To avoid such a trap, he might well risk yielding in private to U.S. pressure, with the understanding that the two allies would publicly deny any change in policy and the U.S. would continue to offer effusive public support. (The Israelis could always find some bureaucratic excuse to explain a halt -- even if termed a "delay" -- to settlement expansion.) Battle on the Home Front That prospect should be tempting for Obama, but he has domestic political risks of his own to weigh. There's a common misconception that the administration worries most about "the Jews." The latest polls, however, show 73% of U.S. Jews supporting Obama's policies on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Nearly as many want him to propose a specific plan for a two-state solution, even if it means publicly disagreeing with Israel. Nor is there too much reason to worry about Jewish money, since most Jewish contributors to the Democrats are liberals who are pro-Israel but also pro-peace. Nor are Christian Zionists the big problem. They do have some clout in Washington, but not enough to make Obama fear them. The administration's main worry is undoubtedly the Republican Party and especially its representatives in Congress. Recent polls by CNN, the Huffington Post, and Pew indicate that Republicans are roughly twice as likely as Democrats to take Israel's side, while Democrats are about five times as likely to sympathize with Palestinians. Men, whites, and older people are most likely to support Israel unreservedly in the conflict. In the U.S. presidential campaign, Republicans were eager to play on the traditional American belief in Israel's insecurity: an innocent victim surrounded by vicious Arabs eager to destroy the little Jewish state. Obama, the GOP charged, had "thrown Israel under the bus." But the issue never gained real traction, an indication that the domestic political climate may be changing. Another small sign of change: a relatively weak measure threatening a cutoff of funding to the Palestinians, which in the past would have sailed through Congress, recently died in the Senate. If Obama and the Democrats come out of the "fiscal cliff" process looking strong, they will feel freer to put real pressure on Israel despite Republican criticism. The more they can keep that pressure hidden from public view, while mouthing all the old "we stand with Israel" clichés, the more likely they are to take the risk. In such a situation, Israeli right-wingers might well give their GOP allies enough evidence to rip off the mask. Then, Obama would have to speak more candidly to the American people, though his honesty would surely be well tempered with political spin. Our goal, he might say, has always been to make Israel secure, something long ago achieved. We've ensured that Israel maintains such a huge military advantage over its neighbors, including its Iron Dome missile defense system, that it is now effectively safe from any attack. And we'll continue ensuring that Israel maintains its military superiority, as we are required to do by law. But now at long last, he would continue, we are showing our friendship in a new way: by bringing Israel and its Palestinian neighbors to the negotiating table so that they can make peace. Israelis shouldn't have to live eternally in a fortress. We refuse to condemn them to that kind of future. We are instead taking steps to help them be free to flourish in a nation that is genuinely secure because it has made peace. Some may call it tough love, but let everyone understand that it is an act of love. Whether Obama believed such talk or not would hardly matter. Public theater deftly meshed with private diplomacy is the key to peace. And confrontation in 2013 could be the first step on the path toward it.
Every NFL team has to navigate the minefield that is the offseason, from free agency and the draft to front-office and coaching-staff makeovers. While it’s impossible to definitively predict how each franchise’s decisions will pan out, it’s clear that some teams have fared better than others over the past few months. With the deadline to lock up franchise-tagged players imminent, training camp just over the horizon, and rosters coming into focus, it’s time to assess the transactions, crown the team that won the offseason, and shame the one that lost it. Winner of the 2016 Offseason: Jacksonville Jaguars Yes, that’s right: the Jags, who excelled in the draft and free agency alike. Jacksonville entered the NFL’s free-agency period with nearly $75 million in burnable cap space, giving them lots of power at the negotiating table. They used their stack of chips to sign Malik Jackson to a six-year, $85.5 million contract, which might look like an overpay on the surface — the $14.25 million average annual value ranks eighth highest among all NFL defensive linemen — but it was a necessarily bold move to secure the best interior rusher on the market. GM David Caldwell and head coach Gus Bradley likely view Jackson as a Michael Bennett–type player in their 4–3 system, a similar scheme to what Pete Carroll runs in Seattle. Like Bennett, Jackson doesn’t have a true position; he’ll play the 3-technique a lot (lining up on the outside shoulder of the guard), but should also see snaps as an end (at the 4i technique, or the inside shoulder of the tackle), where he was very effective for Denver. Wherever they put him, he’ll shoot gaps or pair with the Jags’ other pass rushers on stunts, and the team will count on him to provide steady disruption in the backfield. Bradley and his fellows on Carroll’s coaching tree share a common refrain: It’s all about “affecting the quarterback.” Jackson may not rack up double-digit sacks, but his numbers for quarterback hits and hurries are elite among defensive tackles. Acquiring Jackson wasn’t the only boon to the Jaguars’ pass rush. Underrated situational rusher Ryan Davis returns on a second-round restricted free-agent tender, and getting last year’s third overall pick, Dante Fowler, back from a torn ACL is the NFL offseason version of finding a hundred-dollar bill in your couch cushions. The same could be said for defensive tackle Sen’Derrick Marks, who missed all but four games last season but is back and fully healthy entering 2016. It’s safe to say that Jacksonville’s defensive group is having a good summer. And that’s before factoring in the rookies. It’s typically tough to count on much from any team’s freshman class, but in Jacksonville’s case, the 2016 draft was unique: The Jags managed to grab maybe the two best overall players in the draft in Jalen Ramsey and Myles Jack. Despite suffering a slight meniscus tear in May, Ramsey, the fifth overall pick, is slated to start at corner on day one; Jack, meanwhile, is healthy now, but fell all the way into the second round due to concerns that he might need microfracture surgery someday. Long-term concerns aside, he looks like a sure shot to at least get reps as a nickel linebacker with the upside to play three downs at some point this year. Both are freakish athletes — think Patrick Peterson for Ramsey and Jamie Collins for Jack — and that infusion of speed and explosiveness is exactly what the Jags need. Third-round defensive end Yannick Ngakoue and fourth-round defensive tackle Sheldon Day should also bolster Jacksonville’s defensive depth. Free agent (and 2014 Pro Bowler) Tashaun Gipson looks like the starter at free safety, meaning he’ll fill an absolutely essential role as the center fielder in Bradley’s cover-3-heavy scheme, and Prince Amukamara — a former first-rounder on a one-year prove-it deal — will be a factor both inside and on the outside in bump-and-run. It’s not always a good thing when a unit gets such a heavy face-lift, but schemewise, these acquisitions make a ton of sense for the Jags when taken together. On the other side of the ball, Jacksonville added depth and talent to the offensive line by signing quality tackle Kelvin Beachum away from Pittsburgh, and he’ll get a shot at the left tackle job provided his surgically repaired ACL holds up. As another injury-return bonus, the Jags get one of their best interior linemen, Brandon Linder, back after he missed all but three games in 2015. He’ll compete to start at center. They also signed Chris Ivory, a tough inside runner who adds a fierce mentality to an already-burgeoning backfield, and made smart moves in extending receiver Allen Hurns and re-upping tight end Marcedes Lewis. Plus, the one-year extension (through 2017) for head coach Bradley means he’ll have his shot to finally field a winner thanks to all of these additions, and neither he nor his players will have to deal with the distractions of a contract year. It’s a win-win for Bradley and the team: If Bradley stumbles again, the team can move on, but if he produces, the Jags can sign him to a long-term deal. The offseason losses — offensive linemen Zane Beadles and Stefen Wisniewski and pass rushers Chris Clemons and Andre Branch — aren’t concerning. The Jaguars significantly upgraded their pass rush, added explosive talent to their secondary, bolstered their offensive line, took several immediate impact players in the draft, and get a number of key contributors back from injury. The pieces are in place for Jacksonville to finally challenge in the AFC South, and that couldn’t have happened without acing the offseason. Loser of the 2016 Offseason: Indianapolis Colts While no 2016 squad matched the miserable offseason that the San Francisco 49ers experienced in 2015, a few earned attention for questionable decisions and underwhelming inactivity. At the top of the list: the Colts. Andrew Luck’s long-term extension being the only impressive move for the Colts this offseason feels like a microcosm of Ryan Grigson’s entire tenure as GM in Indianapolis. Drafting Luck remains far and away Grigson’s best decision, and giving Luck $140 million over six years was as obvious of a choice as was drafting the Stanford star no. 1 overall in 2012. Grigson has been consistent in believing in Luck; unfortunately for Colts fans, he’s also been consistent in not giving Luck the support he needs on either side of the ball. Over the past four seasons, Indy’s defense has never finished better than 13th in DVOA, and its rush offense has finished 30th, 27th, 11th, and 18th in that metric going back to 2012. Much of that can be attributed to bad drafting. None of Grigson’s defensive draft picks from 2012 to 2014 remains on the roster, and the decision to trade a first-round pick for Trent Richardson in 2013 remains an all-time flop. And yet owner Jim Irsay extended Grigson and head coach Chuck Pagano, a pair whose relationship was reported to be “toxic” and “‘100 times worse’ than the team’s poor play on the field.” Handing out big extensions to Grigson and Pagano feels a little like having a kid to try to save a relationship that’s clearly broken. The draft is the lifeblood of every NFL roster, helping teams build depth at every position, amass future stars, and do so on cheap rookie contracts. The lackluster drafting from 2012 to 2014 has caught up with the Colts: They needed upgrades to their pass rush, to their secondary, and at running back, and absolutely needed to address some of those holes via free agency after failing to do so in Chicago. Instead, even after heading into the offseason with around $25 million in cap space, they stayed very quiet aside from extending Luck. They signed cornerback Patrick Robinson to play opposite Vontae Davis, but the rest of their additions — quarterback Scott Tolzien, running backs Robert Turbin and Jordan Todman, receivers Brian Tyms and Josh Boyce, and offensive linemen Kevin Graf, Mitchell Van Dyk, and Jeremy Vujnovich (who?) — look like replacement-level depth at best. It’s not as if the Colts lacked holes to plug. They lost tight end Coby Fleener to the Saints while retaining Dwayne Allen on what looks to be a massive overpay, and they lost their best linebacker in Jerrell Freeman (to the Bears), plus fellow LB Jonathan Newsome, center Khaled Holmes, safety Dwight Lowery, and cornerback Greg Toler. The Colts’ draft didn’t do enough to allow for that poor of a showing in free agency. Center Ryan Kelly looks like a year-one starter, but safety T.J. Green is raw as a converted receiver, and Le’Raven Clark will likely need some time to develop. After Kelly, it’d be a reach to expect a ton from this draft class right out of the gate. Overall, locking up Luck means the Colts should remain competitive in the AFC South, but their stranglehold on that division is far in the rearview. They doubled down on a precarious relationship between Grigson and Pagano, didn’t get demonstrably better in any area this offseason, and worse, the other three teams in their division seem to be on the rise. The Jaguars added a ton of pieces, the Titans look like they could do some fun things in the division, and the reigning division champion Texans remain a real contender even with a huge question mark in quarterback Brock Osweiler. While everyone else in the South makes strides, the Colts seem content to keep taking baby steps — or worse, stepping backward.
We share this world with a lot of types of spiders and some of them are unbelievably (like horror movie) big. Take a look at our list of the world's largest spiders, starting from the smallest of the largest, all the way to the winning monster-sized, biggest spider in the world. 10. Cerbalus Aravensis The smallest, but still large, spider on our list is the black and white Cerbalus Aravensis spider, which was discovered in Israel in 2009. It has a leg span of 5.5-inches and lives underground where it peaks out ready to jump on unsuspecting prey. Stay out of the Israeli sand dunes at night because this is when the Cerbalus Aravensis likes to hunt. 9. Brazilian Wandering Spider The Brazilian Wandering spider isn't the world's biggest spider with it's 5.9-inch leg span, but it does have one of the deadliest venoms. This spider's venom rarely kills humans, but its bite will make you writhe in pain. You don't have to go to Brazil to find this venomous spider either; one was found in the Whole Food's produce apartment in Oklahoma. It had snuck into the country and health food store by riding on a banana. Watch out, this spider likes to hide in shoes. Did You Know? The Brazilian wandering spider is not a Tarantula. Brazilian wandering spiders are not even in the same family group. Tarantulas are harmless to humans and are mostly ambush killers who wait for prey to come to them. Brazilian wandering spiders are active hunters. Brazilian wandering spiders and Tarantulas do have one thing in common, however, they do not eat bananas. 8. Camel Spider Myth surrounds the Camel spider. People claim these spiders eat camels and humans, but really they do neither. They do probably scare both though. The Camel spider is also called the Scorpion spider because it's related to both spiders and scorpions, and it looks a little like both. If that isn't scary enough, they're also 6-inches long. 7. Hercules Baboon Spider The Hercules Baboon spider is the rarest spider in the world. This huge spider has an 8-inch leg span, but don't let that scare you, because none of these spiders have been seen since the year 1900. So don't be fooled by those pet stores that try to pass off other spiders as the rare Hercules Baboon. Despite its name, the Hercules doesn't eat baboons. It prefers to feast on insects. Did You Know? Due to its rarity, it is one of the most highly sought out arachnids, especially in the pet trade. It is widely regarded that most of the specimens sold as Hercules baboon spiders are actually the smaller king baboon spider 6. Colombian Giant Black Tarantula The Colombian Giant Black tarantula -- with the less pronounceable scientific name of Xenesthis monstrosa -- can have a leg span of up to 9.1-inches. Its mostly black in color, but has brownish hairs and some reddish markings. This species is an extremely aggressive eater, but is harmless to humans, besides the scare factor. Like all tarantulas, these guys experience balding in the thorax area in their senior years. 5. Brazilian Giant Tawny Red Tarantula Native to Brazil, Uruguay, Paraguay and Argentina, the Brazilian Giant Tawny Red is a spider that is among one of the biggest in the world. It can have a leg span of up to 10.2-inches. Don't think your safe from this beast if you live elsewhere, because it is also found as a pet worldwide. Did You Know? Unlike most spiders who suffer from parental abandonment, its mother actually sticks around to help it break free from the egg sack. 4. Poecilotheria Rajaei The Poecilotheria Rajaei spider has been recently discovered in Sri Lanka 2009. This spider has an 8-inch leg span and has a pinkish-gray band on its abdomen. These spiders like to live in fallen trees, rocks and inside people's homes. Think about that before visiting Sri Lanka. 3. Brazilian Salmon Pink Birdeater Despite the name, the Brazilian Salmon Pink Birdeater spider doesn't eat birds. It instead feasts on insects, lizards, frogs and mice. This spider lives in the rainforest and has a 10-inch leg span. It has a brown body with salmon-pink hairs that it shoots at its prey to disable them. Then it pounces on its prey and spits digestive juices on it, pre-digesting the victim before sucking it up. Did You Know? There are no known specific threats to the Brazilian salmon pink tarantula. However, it inhabits the Atlantic forest which is under severe threat from deforestation as a result of illegal logging, land conversion to pasture, agriculture, and forest plantations, and the expansion of urban areas 2. The Huntsman Spider The Huntsman spider is really big. Its body can reach 1-foot long and its leg span can get up to 6-inches long. This spider is native to Asia, but can also be found in subtropical areas of Florida, Texas and California. The spiders traveled into the U.S. by hitching a ride on bananas, which is why their also called Banana spiders. Yuck, watch out next time you eat an imported banana. The creepiest factor about the Huntsman is that they are really fast, can walk sideways and can scurry up perfectly smooth surfaces, such as window glass, without a problem. 1. The Goliath Bird-Eating Tarantula The largest spider in the world is the Goliath Bird-Eating tarantula. Yes, as the name suggests, this spider is large enough to eat birds, and it does. Yikes! The Goliath can reach up to 1-foot in body length and has 1-inch long fangs. It's considered bigger than the Huntsman Spider because it has a heavier body mass. The Goliath has tiny hairs on its body that it shoots at whoever or whatever is threatening it. Its bite isn't deadly to humans (unless you're allergic), but if you get bit by one, expect to experience severe pain, nausea and profuse sweating.
Saturday May 10, 1941, dawned bright and clear. Rudolf Hess, deputy führer of Nazi Germany, awoke at his villa in the Munich suburb of Harlaching knowing that this was the day. His astrological adviser had recommended this date as most favorable for a journey in the interest of peace; six planets were in Taurus, and the moon would be full. Karl Haushofer, a friend and mentor, had told Hess that he saw him in a dream walking through the tapestried halls of English castles, bringing peace to two great nations. Hess spent the morning with his 3-year-old son Wolf, nicknamed Buz. He then had lunch alone with Alfred Rosenberg, a racial ideologue of the Nazi Party. After Rosenberg’s departure, Hess changed into a blue Luftwaffe shirt and tie and breeches, and looked in on his wife, Ilse, who had stayed in bed that morning. He found her reading The Pilots’ Book of Everest by the Scottish Marquess of Douglas and Clydesdale, the first man to fly over Mount Everest. English friends had given the book to Hess, with the inscription: “With all good wishes and the hope that out of personal friendships a real and lasting understanding may grow between our two countries.” This had been one of Hess’s main aims before the war. Shortly after 2:30 in the afternoon, Hess and his adjutant were driven off to the Messerschmitt aircraft works at Augsburg, where his personal Bf 110 fighter-bomber was on the apron. It had been fueled and fitted with drop tanks for an extended flight. He shook hands with the Messerschmitt staff and climbed into the cockpit. At 5:45 p.m. he took off, setting a northwesterly course toward Bonn, then following the Rhine River to the West Frisian Islands off the Dutch coast. There he made a dogleg to the right to distance himself from British radar before resuming a northwesterly course up the North Sea. Later, in a letter to Ilse, he would describe an overwhelming feeling of loneliness mixed with awe at the “fabulous beauty” of the evening light over the sea. Hess’s destination was Dungavel House in Scotland, home of the Duke of Hamilton—formerly the Marquess of Douglas and Clydesdale, whose book Ilse had been reading that morning. Hamilton had London establishment ties and, like Hess, he had worked for Anglo-German friendship before the war. Reaching the latitude of Dungavel, Hess turned west and, after making landfall on the Northumbrian coast, dived to just above sea level. He had been detected by radar but flew in so low that he was not seen by three Spitfire pilots vectored onto his track. It was 10:25 in the evening. Hess steered west but, despite a full moon, failed to find Dungavel, and flew on and out over the Firth of Clyde coastal waters before turning back inland. By then his fuel tanks were dry; he had to bail out. He floated down on a moonlit Scottish field barely 12 miles from the duke’s estate, overcome, he later wrote, with “an indescribable sense of elation and triumph.” His plane crashed a short distance away and burst into flames. Hess’s flight was a feat of courage, skill, and endurance. But why had he made it? More than 70 years afterward, this remarkable event continues to provoke questions. Had Adolf Hitler sent Hess on a mission to make peace with his sole remaining enemy in the west, in order to avoid a two-front war when he turned east on his real ideological enemy, the Soviet Union? The German assault on Russia was scheduled for the following month. Hess always denied that the führer knew anything of his mission. Did the British Secret Intelligence Service (MI6) lure Hess to Britain with the bogus prospect of peace talks? There is plenty of evidence that supports the theory. Both British prime minister Winston Churchill and Hitler promoted the story that Hess was deranged and acted alone, and that is the consensus among historians in Britain and Germany. British historian and Hitler biographer Ian Kershaw, for example, concludes “there is not a shred of compelling evidence” to suggest that Hess acted with Hitler’s knowledge or encouragement. Instead, he writes, Hess acted “in deep (if confused) belief that he was carrying out his wishes.” Kershaw is equally certain there was no British plot to lure Hess to Britain. The best German study of Hess’s mission, by historian Rainer F. Schmidt, also concludes that Hitler had no influence on or knowledge of Hess’s flight. But Schmidt and other researchers, this author included, do believe that British intelligence duped Hess into making his flight—and there is evidence to support that assertion. Still other credible tidbits point to a story even more complex and surprising. The clues to Hess’s motivation begin with his personality and his career. He had fought as an infantryman in World War I, and—unlike Hitler—gained rapid promotion. After receiving a serious wound, he trained as a pilot and qualified just in time to engage in the final aerial battles over the Western Front. The Armistice left Hess disillusioned and bitter about the lost war, but in 1920 he heard Hitler speak in Munich and was enthralled. This was the man who would restore German pride. Hess attached himself to Hitler body and soul, with the aim of becoming his most loyal aide and interpreter. After the failed 1923 Beer Hall Putsch, the two were imprisoned together and Hess helped Hitler write his defining manifesto, Mein Kampf. When Hitler came to power in 1933, he made Hess his deputy. The characters of the two men were profoundly different, however. One of Hess’s adjutants referred to his “almost feminine sensitivities”; the chief of the organization representing Germans abroad called him “the biggest idealist we have had in Germany, a man of a very soft nature.” Hitler, on the other hand, was ruthless and destructive. Hess recognized this, but his loyalty prevented him from intervening. The resulting stress affected him physically. He suffered stomach pains and sleeplessness, and turned increasingly to herbalists, spiritualists, and astrologers for relief and guidance. This may help to explain his flight. Karl Haushofer seemed to imply it when he said after the war that his friend had flown to Britain because of “his own sense of honor and his desperation at the murders going on in Germany”—likely a reference to routine atrocities against Jews and Poles in German-occupied Poland. Hess conceived the idea of his peace mission after France fell to Germany in 1940. That August, he asked Haushofer’s son Albrecht, who served as his principal expert on England, to devise ways of contacting those British circles in favor of negotiated peace. There were many, including the great landowning aristocracy, captains of finance in London, media barons, and military strategists—all of whom viewed the Soviet Union as a greater threat to the British Empire than Nazi Germany. Most British politicians—save those committed anti-Fascists on the left—knew Britain was in a hopeless military position, and many believed the only way out was to settle with Hitler and allow him to smash his real enemy, Bolshevism, at its source in Russia. Winston Churchill and his followers viewed these “wobblers” as craven defeatists. Churchill detested Hitler and all that Nazism stood for. He knew the island kingdom had dispatched many continental tyrants over the centuries, and hoped and expected that—as in World War I—the United States would enter the conflict on Great Britain’s side. Albrecht Haushofer had met the future Duke of Hamilton at the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin, and afterward both men had kept in touch. In 1940, Hamilton had been appointed Lord Steward of the Royal Household, a position that gave him direct access to King George VI—one possible reason Hess targeted Hamilton for his peace mission. Hess asked Haushofer to write to Hamilton, and drafted another letter himself. But Haushofer’s letter, mailed through an intermediary on September 23, 1940, was intercepted by British censors. They forwarded it to the Security Service (MI5), which began an investigation into Hamilton’s loyalty. Hess’s own letter to Hamilton has disappeared. Ernst Bohle, who translated it for Hess into English, said after the war that he had gained the impression that Hess wanted to meet Hamilton in Switzerland, and that Hitler was aware of the plan. Meanwhile, Hess was honing his piloting skills. He had acquired a two-seat twin-engine fighter-bomber from his friend, Willy Messerschmitt, and had begun making practice flights with guidance from Messerschmitt’s chief test pilot. The first man to approach Hess when he fell to earth near Hamilton’s estate was a farmer who had heard the plane overhead. Hess introduced himself in English as Hauptmann (“captain”) Alfred Horn, and asked to be taken to Dungavel House; he had an urgent message for the Duke of Hamilton. Instead, the man escorted Hess to his nearby cottage and offered him a cup of tea. Home Guards and police soon burst into the house. Hess repeated his request to be taken to the duke at Dungavel, unaware Hamilton was not at home. The duke was the commanding officer of the Edinburgh air base, RAF Turnhouse, and was on duty that night. The police informed Hamilton by telephone of the German aviator’s strange request; meanwhile, Hess was taken to the local Home Guard headquarters. There he was interrogated by a German-speaking Pole, who later described conditions as chaotic, with Home Guards, police, and Royal Air Force officers “inspecting the prisoner and his belongings at their leisure,” and shouting questions from all corners. Hess remained calm. Asked why he had come, he replied he had a message for the Duke of Hamilton—one “in the highest interest of the British air force.” He would say no more, and was eventually driven to an army hospital in Glasgow. Hamilton visited Hess at the hospital at 10 the next morning. Hess told him he had come on “a mission of humanity.” The führer was convinced that Germany would win the war, but he had never wanted to fight Britain. For his part, Hess said, he wished to stop the unnecessary slaughter that would occur if the fighting continued, and he asked Hamilton to gather leading members of his party to discuss peace proposals. Hess had erred on a number of points. He believed, as he later wrote to Ilse, that when he made himself known to Hamilton as a Parlamentär—a negotiator—coming under a flag of truce to talk peace, he would be treated like a diplomat and flown back home. But since he denied that Hitler had sent him, he could not be considered a negotiator. Hess had also chosen the wrong man: Hamilton was loyal, as the MI5 investigation had concluded. He had no “party” of peacemongers. Instead, he reported Hess’s arrival to his superior officer and flew south to personally report to Churchill. Instead of a self-proclaimed Parlamentär, Hess became a prisoner of war. Churchill turned him over to the chief of MI6, who isolated him in a specially prepared suite, bugged for sound, in a country house called Mytchett Place outside London. There he was joined by three “companions”—all MI6 German specialists whose task was to draw from Hess everything he knew of German armaments and Hitler’s plans. In Germany, meanwhile, on the morning after Hess’s departure, his adjutant, Karl-Heinz Pintsch, arrived at the Berghof, the führer’s mountain headquarters. He had news of Hess’s flight, and bore a letter from Hess to Hitler explaining the mission. The letter ended, according to Ilse Hess: “Should, mein Führer, my project end in failure…, you can always distance yourself from me—declare me mad.” The next day, having heard nothing from Britain, Hitler did just that. A communiqué was broadcast nationally to announce that the deputy führer had taken off on May 10 on a flight from which he had not returned, and that “a letter which he left behind unfortunately showed traces of mental disturbance which justifies the fear that Hess was the victim of hallucinations.” The following day, Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels attempted to repair the shattering impression of a deranged deputy führer with a broadcast depicting Hess as an “idealist” who hoped “by personal sacrifice and by personal contact with former English acquaintances to convince responsible Englishmen of the futility of further struggle.” The story of the lone fantasist, however, might not have been the whole truth. Hess may well have been caught up in a disinformation campaign by British intelligence, designed ultimately to deter Hitler from an invasion of Britain. Using foreign agents and contacts, MI6 had leaked false stories that the Nazi bombing campaign had demoralized the British, and that leading personalities were seeking to topple Churchill and reach a peace compromise. That’s precisely what Hitler—eager to avoid a two-front war—would have wanted to hear. Dusko Popov, a double agent for the British, acknowledged the disinformation campaign in a 1974 memoir; German foreign ministry files confirm its existence. German historian Rainer F. Schmidt, in his 1997 book on the Hess flight, asserts that MI6 agents—operating through Switzerland—made contact with Hess’s confidants. For proof, Schmidt points to Walter Schellenberg, the German counterintelligence official charged with investigating Hess’s flight. After the war, Schellenberg described receiving a secret dossier some time after Hess’s flight that proved the de facto chief of Hess’s personal intelligence office, Kurt Jahnke, was a top-level British spy. An MI5 register of communications with MI6 seems to support this. There are other indications of British involvement. On May 31, only three weeks after Hess’s arrival in Britain, the secretary to the Czech president in exile in London was shown a “top secret” report that led him to write in his diary: “It is clear that the Nazi No. 3 was enticed into an English trap.” In September, a Soviet agent in France reported that MI6 had lured Hess to Britain. In October 1942, the head of Czech military intelligence in London made the same assertion in a report to Moscow: British intelligence had tricked Hess into making his trip by posing as Hamilton in correspondence with him. And when Churchill visited Moscow in 1944 and the dinner conversation turned to Hess, Stalin raised his glass to, as he put it, “the British intelligence service which had inveigled Hess to Britain.” No one who met Hess on his arrival in Scotland questioned his mental balance. Ivone Kirkpatrick, a German specialist who interviewed Hess after his flight, wrote that he had turned over the peace initiative in his mind so much it had become a “monomania.” The first doctor who examined Hess described him as “surprisingly ordinary…, quite sane, certainly not a drug-taker, a little concerned by his health and rather faddy about his diet.” But Hess soon realized that his mission had failed, and his behavior became erratic. Hess claimed that poisons or drugs were in his food, and exchanged his plate with others at mealtimes. Perhaps he was given drugs to induce him to talk. He eventually claimed a complete loss of memory. Increasingly depressed, Hess attempted suicide on the night of June 16–17 by throwing himself down a stairwell. He hit a railing on the way down and broke his leg. Afterward, a psychiatrist sent to monitor him concluded that he had “definitely [passed] over the border that lies between mental instability and insanity,” though others in contact with Hess did not share that view. When the war ended, Hess was sent to Nuremberg for trial as a major war criminal. His counsel pleaded that Hess’s memory loss made it impossible for him to defend himself, but Hess rose and announced to the court that his memory was in full working order; his amnesia had been purely tactical. He was not called to testify, but at the end of the trial he made a statement declaring his devotion to his late führer, Adolf Hitler, “the greatest son my Volk has brought forth in its thousand-year history.” He would not, he said, wish to erase the time he had spent working for him. “I regret nothing.” Hess was sentenced to life imprisonment. This may have been more cruel than the hangman’s rope, for he spent the rest of his long life inside Spandau Prison in Berlin as Prisoner No. 7, stripped even of his name. His few fellow war-criminal inmates were discharged at intervals, when their terms expired or on compassionate grounds, but the Soviets refused to sanction Hess’s release on the basis that he was a chief architect of the assault on their country. He was the sole occupant of his cell block for more than 20 years; his total time in prison, 46 years, far surpassed all norms. Churchill seemed to acknowledge that fact, saying at one point: “I am glad not to be responsible for the way Hess has been, and is, being treated. He came to us of his own free will and so, without authority, had something of the quality of an envoy.” Hess grew old and infirm—and finally, on August 17, 1987, committed suicide by hanging himself with a lamp cord from a window latch in the garden summerhouse. He was 93. Were there secrets Hess never divulged? Probably. One could be that Hitler himself had initiated the mission, sending his deputy to start peace talks with Britain before the strike against Russia. Hess’s unswerving loyalty to Hitler may have prevented him from acknowledging that point. In 2011, a German historian discovered a 28-page report by Pintsch, Hess’s adjutant, in the Russian archives. It was handwritten in 1948, when Pintsch was a Soviet prisoner. Pintsch wrote that Hitler had approved of Hess’s flight, and that Berlin and London had been holding peace talks. Hess’s mission, Pintsch added, was to “use all means at his disposal to achieve… at least the neutralization of England.” The Soviets might have coerced Pintsch into making that assertion, but he might also have written what he thought—or knew—to be true. Hess carried papers on his flight to Scotland, and it’s possible that a draft peace treaty was among them. There is no tangible evidence to prove it, only hints. Released MI5 files show that “documents were recovered from a ditch in the field where Hess landed.” And the wife of the farmer whose field Hess landed in wrote at the time to a friend: “The police was ordered to search for a valuable document which was missing, [and] he found it over near the wee burn in the park.” A September 30, 1945, article in the British Sunday Dispatch—found in the Foreign Office files in Britain’s National Archives—describes how French war correspondent André Guerber discovered documents in the ruined Berlin Chancellory that “definitely established that it was Hitler himself who decided to send Hess to Britain.” In the story, Guerber claimed to have found a verbatim record of a meeting between Hitler, Luftwaffe chief Hermann Göring, and Hess on May 4, 1941—six days before Hess’s flight. There, Hess told Hitler he was convinced England was ready to talk peace. Guerber supposedly also saw a four-part peace plan draft for Britain. No one, however, has been able to trace Guerber or the documents he claimed to have seen. More suggestive is an October 1942 dispatch from the British Ambassador in Moscow to the Foreign Office, also found in the Foreign Office files. One passage reads: “If these [Hess’s] alleged proposals were indeed (as was suggested to me at the time) that in exchange for the evacuation of certain of the occupied countries we shouldwithdraw from the war and leave Germany a free hand in the East, our declared rejection of them should be enough to satisfy the most difficult and suspicious of the Russians.” Yet there is no mention in any other open government file of a German offer to evacuate occupied countries. If Hess was carrying a peace proposal draft that offered Britain a way out of its dicey military situation, and, if the terms included a German offer to evacuate certain occupied countries, Churchill almost certainly would have had to conceal it to hold his government together. He could not have risked the offer leaking to British peace advocates, to the heads of occupied European governments in exile in London, and—above all, perhaps—to President Franklin D. Roosevelt, who was arming Britain. Churchill was determined to fight on. Unless the relevant MI6 files are released, which is unlikely, there cannot be a definitive account of the Hess mission. What is certain is that Hess tried to bring peace. In a suicide note to Ilse, penned in 1941 at Mytchett Place before he threw himself down the stairwell, he expressed his desperate hope for the final success of his mission: “Perhaps despite my death, or indeed through it, there will be peace as a result of my flight.” Hess remained proud of his effort for the rest of his life, and his cemetery headstone was inscribed with his own evaluation of his feat: ICH HAB’S GEWAGT—“I have dared.” Peter Padfield is an established naval historian and biographer. His interest in Nazi history was sparked by writing a biography of Hitler’s successor, Grand Admiral Karl Dönitz. Since then he has written biographies of Heinrich Himmler and Rudolf Hess, which have been translated into most European languages. He lives with his wife in Suffolk, England. Sponsored Content:
DHARMSALA, India – Lobsang Sangay has been re-elected prime minister of the Tibetan government-in-exile in voting held last month, officials announced Wednesday, with Sangay saying the election shows that Tibetans in exile “are practicing democracy, whereas China is not.” Tibetan election officials announced the result in the northern Indian town of Dharmsala, the headquarters of the government-in-exile. Sangay, 47, defeated his only rival, Penpa Tsering, receiving about 58 per cent of the 58,740 votes cast. It was the second election since the Dalai Lama stepped down as head of the government-in-exile in 2011 to focus on his role as the Tibetans’ spiritual leader. Tibetans living in exile cast their votes in 40 countries. China says Tibet has historically been part of its territory since the mid-13th century, and the Communist Party has governed the Himalayan region since 1951. But many Tibetans say that they were effectively independent for most of their history, and that the Chinese government wants to exploit their resource-rich region while crushing their cultural identity. The Dalai Lama and his followers have been living in exile in Dharmsala since they fled Tibet after a failed 1959 uprising against Chinese rule. China doesn’t recognize the Tibetan government-in-exile, and hasn’t held any dialogue with the representatives of the Dalai Lama since 2010. “This election sends a very clear and powerful message to the Chinese government and the country, China,” Sangay told reporters after the result was announced. “It is a clear statement that even exile Tibetans are practicing democracy, whereas China is not.” Sangay said his government would continue to fight for basic freedoms and genuine autonomy for Tibetans living under Chinese rule in Tibet. Last month, he called for China to engage in dialogue on autonomy for his people’s homeland. Stressing that a dialogue with China would be his main initiative, he said he hoped that Chinese President Xi Jinping would look at the Tibetan issue and take the initiative to hold talks with Tibetan exiles. On Wednesday, Sangay called the results of the election “the consolidation of democracy” and said an increased participation of Tibetans in the voting process reflected their maturity. “By democratic standards, the exile Tibetan democracy is now a full-fledged, consolidated democracy,” he said. The international community, he said, should look at his administration as a legitimate democratic identity. He said the exiled government “in many ways” reflected the aspirations of Tibetans inside Tibet. Tibetan officials in exile say at least 114 monks and laypeople have set themselves on fire to protest Chinese rule over their homeland in the past five years, with most of them dying. U.S. government-backed Radio Free Asia puts the number of self-immolations at 144 since 2009. Beijing blames the Dalai Lama and others for inciting the immolations and says it has made vast investments to develop Tibet’s economy and improve the quality of life.
Two northern B.C. hunters nearly killed by a grizzly bear last September have raised more than $30,000 in honour of the search teams who came to their rescue. Chris Eyre and his friend Robbie Austin were sheep hunting on Sept. 6 about 200 kilometres south of Fort Nelson, B.C., when the bear attacked. "She tore up my face really badly and my arms, and chest. She broke my skull and broke my ribs," Eyre said. Despite having a rifle on him, Eyre says there wasn't much he could do in the time between spotting the sow and her sprinting 100 metres towards him. "It happened all so fast," he said. "I only had about three or four seconds before she was basically on me." The grizzly's two cubs looked on as she ripped and tore at his flesh. When his companion yelled at the bear, she grabbed and bit him. "If it wasn't for my best friend, she would have killed me, for sure. That's what her intent was," Eyre said. "He got a puncture to his carotid artery, which caused him to have a stroke." Somehow, Austin managed to fire his rifle and the bear ran off — either because she was wounded or in search of her spooked cubs. As Austin lay on the ground, paralyzed by the stroke, Eyre called for help using an emergency satellite communicator. But the horror of the catastrophe wasn't over yet. Because it was dark by time team crews were deployed, the two men had to spend the night among the trees in freezing temperatures before the crew from CFB Comox was able to rescue them. Both men were airlifted to hospital the next morning with the crew's help and the use of long ropes to pull them out of the bush. Giving back This week, the men decided to honour the rescuers who came to their aid. "We kind of thought about it and we really wanted to give back," he said. Eyre says they couldn't donate money to CFB Comox because it's part of the military. So they decided to donate $33,000 to Prince George Search and Rescue — the closest rescue group to their home in Fort St. John. They ran several fundraising events to come up with the donation money, Eyre says, as well as a crowdfunding page. They also got to meet the CFB Comox team that saved them. "It kind of brings closure to the whole thing," he said. Neither man has been hunting since the attack, but they both intend to get back into the bush as their emotional scars heal. Eyre says conservation officers were unable to track the bear.
Three men from St. Tammany Parish had just arrived in Houston when they spotted an elderly woman face-down in the floodwaters brought by Tropical Storm Harvey, a medical patient's white band around her wrist. Joshua Lincoln said he and fellow "Cajun Navy" members Ricky Berrigan and Donnie Davenport were able to pull the woman, 73-year-old Wilma Ellis, into their boat and get her breathing again in relatively short order. "It was just being in the right place at the right time," Lincoln said in a brief phone interview. Lincoln, of Madisonville, said he met up with Berrigan, of Lacombe, and Davenport, of Pearl River, at a gas station Sunday night. They drove through the night to get to Texas, navigating 18 inches of standing water in some spots, Lincoln said. Can't see video below? Click here. They had the boat running before daybreak Monday. They were in northeast Houston about 8 a.m. when they approached what they initially thought was a trash bag, but quickly realized was a woman in trouble. The current was so strong they almost lost their boat, but they were able to get Ellis aboard and start chest compressions, Lincoln said. Once they got Ellis breathing again and out of harm's way, they posted images on Facebook, hoping to catch the attention of any family members. Eventually they got a hold of the woman's grandson, Jerele Ellis. After Lincoln posted some images on Facebook, a Baton Rouge-area computer security specialist named James Smith reached out to Houston woman Katrenna Ellis and asked her if she was related to Wilma Ellis. It turned out that Katrenna Ellis' husband, Jerele, was her grandson. Jerele Ellis was told that his grandmother was safe at a high school shelter, and the family began arranging to pick her up. In a brief interview Monday, he called his grandmother's rescuers "a godsend." +3 Here's how, where N.O. residents can donate to Harvey flood victims Looking to help the victims of Tropical Storm Harvey in Texas? Here is a list of where and h… Ellis' relatives and Smith said the saga illustrates the kinship that southeast Louisiana shares in times of disaster with Houston, where tens of thousands of New Orleanians displaced by Hurricane Katrina in 2005 sought refuge. Also, Katrenna Ellis, a military veteran, was once stationed at the naval base in Belle Chasse, just outside New Orleans. Lincoln said Wilma Ellis was one of "thousands and thousands" of people in Houston who needed help in the wake of Harvey, which arrived in Texas as a Category 4 hurricane late Friday night. He said the level of floodwaters was continuing to rise Monday. On the positive side, Lincoln said he had lost count of the number of people manning airboats, Jet Skis and various other vessels in the floodwaters, seeking to rescue anyone in need. Before excusing himself to return to the task at hand, Lincoln asked people to donate anything they can to relief efforts following Harvey.
Gallery Folders Sketches Sketches Search Gallery Pajama Pinkie Bill-the-Pony 13 Advertisement Advertisement Tavi and Vinyl dancing while Pinkie parties hard Bill-the-Pony 1 Apple Family Bill-the-Pony 27 Leo and Octavia Bill-the-Pony 3 Berry Punch, Button's Mom, and Cheerilee Bill-the-Pony 9 Zecora and Clementine Bill-the-Pony 2 Celestia resting Bill-the-Pony 9 The Night Crew Bill-the-Pony 12 Rainbow Dash taking a breather Bill-the-Pony 5 Derpy makes a new friend Bill-the-Pony 3 Fluttershy Stargazing Bill-the-Pony 11 Twilight learns how to repair books Bill-the-Pony 8 Break of Day Bill-the-Pony 2 Cadance and Fluttershy listening to music Bill-the-Pony 7 Rarity Bill-the-Pony 8 Enthusiatic Fluttershy Bill-the-Pony 3 Windswept Mane Bill-the-Pony 5 Best Night Ever!!! Bill-the-Pony 59 Twi and Phaidon Bill-the-Pony 4 Applejack and Shooting Stars Bill-the-Pony 106 Twilight Alicorn Bill-the-Pony 6 Advertisement Advertisement Pinkie Pie taking a break Bill-the-Pony 17 Sweetie Belle Can Fly and Stuff 2.0 Bill-the-Pony 40 Pinkie and her Party Canon Bill-the-Pony 33
Only five AFL clubs made a profit in 2013 without the assistance of poker machines, according to figures presented to the clubs by the AFL. And remarkably, one of the clubs that made a pokies-free profit was North Melbourne, which made a decision to avoid poker machines from its business model, and is among the smallest clubs for revenue. Illustration: Mick Connolly The five clubs that made a profit without non-football revenue - almost all of which is from poker machine venues - were Collingwood, Richmond, West Coast, Fremantle and North Melbourne. The Kangaroos are the clear outlier from that group of five and, according to the club, made a profit of $1.3 million in 2013 as a result of running a very low-cost operation. Even Hawthorn, the 2013 premier and one of the game’s most financially robust clubs, had a profit that was assisted by pokie earnings. The Hawks made a healthy profit of $3.1 million in 2013, but they are understood to have earned more than $4 million from their lucrative Waverley Gardens gaming venue, and have plans to earn more from their new Caroline Springs venue.
8th September 2014 \| International Solidarity Movement, Khalil Team \| Hebron, Occupied Palestine This morning in al-Khalil (Hebron), through the Salaymeh checkpoint, a seven-year-old was forcefully detained and three more were arrested, including another child. At 07:40, approximately six young children started throwing small stones towards the checkpoint. A few minutes later a group of Israeli border police emerged running from a road close to the schools, and more border police ran down from the checkpoint. Israeli forces threw two stun grenades and fired approximately three tear gas canisters towards the children standing outside their schools. Two border police officers grabbed 12-year-old Yousef Hajajreh by the neck and walked him to the checkpoint where he was later arrested and driven away in a police car. Two more border police officers forcefully dragged and carried Oday Rajabi, a seven-year-old boy, who was also on his way to school, and detained him for approximately 40 minutes. Border police officers aggressively pushed Palestinian men, including teachers from the nearby schools, whilst they were trying to protect the children. A teacher, Abd al-Aziz Hmad Rjob, from the UN school was forced into a headlock as he was trying to intervene with the crying seven-year old. He was also dragged up the road where he was arrested. Palestinians and internationals then gathered at the Salaymeh checkpoint where an 18-year old man, Malak Salaymeh, working at the same school was also arrested as he confronted the soldiers. Another man was also briefly detained. Palestinian children threw several more stones, and Israeli forces fired three more tear gas canisters. An ISM volunteer who was present stated, “The situation was terrible, I felt like it was a planned operation where the aim was clearly to terrify schoolchildren and the soldiers were out to arrest.” Yousef, Abd, and Malak were released at noon, roughly three hours after they were arrested. Israeli forces have previously targeted extremely young children as they wait for school in al-Khalil; ISM has documented a number of these incidents while monitoring Salaymeh checkpoint as children pass through to go to school.
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Today, you should be reading and sharing New York Times’ front page coverage (and extended on-line coverage, where you can add your own comments) by Laurie Goodstein and Jodi Kantor about Mormon women. It puts Mormon women at the center of the Mormon story, and it puts the Mormon story at the center of American life. Yes, everyone, that’s us—front page Sunday New York Times, and above the fold in the paper edition that lands on my driveway Sunday mornings. Not buried in the back pages. Not a footnote. Those are our faces in the photographs. Those are our voices shaping the storyline. We are the authorities. Only one man is quoted in this article—LDS Church PR head Michael Otterson—and he doesn’t materialize until its final paragraphs. Equality is not a feeling, people. It matters when women’s voices, perspectives, and words drive the story. In this important respect, the NYT article is a beautiful inverse of the world of institutional Mormonism, where hymns, General Conference talks, Church meetings, even our Relief Society manuals center around male voices, faces, and perspectives. What would it be like to tell the Mormon story from our perspective, to live in a Mormon world where most of the quoted authorities are women? Read the article. It portrays Mormon women as the ambitious, intelligent, hard-working, resilient, dedicated human beings that we are. This is not how Mormon women have been generally represented in American media for the last 150 years. We’ve been portrayed as victims and voiceless dupes—of polygamy, of inexorable patriarchy (Sonia Johnson and the September 6), and of bearded madmen kidnappers (Elizabeth Smart). Not here. In the New York Times, we are bright, world-travelling, hard working, scripture-studying women with plans to rule the globe. Yes, our religion has issues. Every religion has issues. And one of our issues is that Joseph Smith told early Mormon women that he would make of them a “kingdom of priests” and set into motion some extremely powerful theology in the temple. Early Mormon women knew this. But then Joseph died. And today, Mormonism still has no clear idea of what Joseph meant. (That’s why I say “Gender equality is the great unfinished business of the Church.”) The restoration will not be complete until we take our proper place in the kingdom. The women in this article are ready to do that. Because of its balanced, respectful, and thoughtful approach, this article is worth sharing with Mormon (and non-Mormon) friends across the orthodoxy spectrum. It quotes everyone from Linda Burton to FMH’s own Lindsay Park! And in the on-line edition, it features extended quotes from voices we love, like Rosalynde Welch and Kristine Haglund. I also love the central focus on sister missionaries. This gives the article a hopeful, future-oriented tone, while it still does not flinch from the harder edged realities of inequality in the faith. Positive and truthful, this article is a conversation starter. Mormon women of color have a significant and visible role in this story. It’s important that any story about Mormon women not focus only on white women and our experiences. I love the extended interview with Melissa Ovard, an Asian-American returned missionary who no longer attends church. Her account of trying to find a spouse post-mission speaks directly to the lingering racism that quietly suffuses Mormon life—“She found that many Mormon men did not want to marry an Asian,” the Times reports—as well as to other thorny aspects of our lives, including the fact that Church policy obliges Mormon women to talk about intimate personal details with male Church leaders from the time we are young. Ovard shoots straight and stands out. It gets the missionary shift right. Many of us who hunger for change in the Church felt in our bones that the missionary age change of October 2012 would be a truly big deal for Mormonism. Sitting that Saturday morning on the sidelines of my daughter’s soccer game, I cried over the news for an hour, for reasons I could scarcely articulate. From what I know, Laurie Goodstein and Jodi Kantor initially did not originally plan to write about Mormon women missionaries, but eventually settled on missionaries and the age change as a central example of how younger Mormon women will have opportunities both inside and outside the Church that will shape the Church’s future, whether the Church knows what to do with us or not. Oh, and one more reason, the New York Times gives Feminist Mormon Housewives a shout out! Thank you! FMH folks, what did you think? Are you sharing? What kind of responses are you getting?
Beit Daras and the Buried History of Massacres Few with any sense of intellectual or historical integrity would still question the bloody massacre that took place in the village of Deir Yassin 65 years ago, claiming the lives of over 100 innocent Palestinians. Attempts at covering up the massacre have been dwarfed by grim details by well-respected historians, including some of Israel’s own. Even narratives offered by historians such as Benny Morris – an honest researcher who remained committed to Zionism despite the ghastly history he had himself uncovered – presented a harrowing version of the events that unfolded on that day: “Whole families were riddled with bullets… men, women, and children were mowed down as they emerged from houses; individuals were taken aside and shot. Haganah intelligence reported ‘there were piles of dead. Some of the prisoners moved to places of incarceration, including women and children, were murdered viciously by their captors…” It was the Irgun Zionist militias of Menachem Begin and the Stern Gang (Lehi) lead by Yitzhak Shamir that took credit for the infamy of that day; and both were rewarded generously for their ‘heroism’. The once wanted criminals rose to prominence to become Israeli Prime Ministers in later years. The importance of the Deir Yassin massacre to historians often obscures important facts. One amongst them is that Deir Yassin was one of many massacres perpetrated by Zionist troops, including Haganah units. Another is that these militias had jointly formed the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) following the official Israeli Declaration of Independence on May 14, 1948 despite their supposed differences during the conquest of Palestine. David Ben-Gurion had made his decision on May 26 and hesitated little to include both the Irgun and Lehi, alongside the Haganah. Not only did the leaders of the terrorist militias command respect and enjoy prestige within Israeli society, armed forces and the political elite, but the very murderers who butchered innocent men, women and children were empowered with bigger guns and continued to ‘serve’ and terrorize for many more years. Another often overlooked fact is that what started at Deir Yassin never truly finished. Sabra and Shatila, Jenin, Gaza and many more are only recreations of the same event. But another sad reality also emerged and crystalized in the last 65 years. Since then the right to credible narration has still largely been reserved for Israeli historians. Most of these historians, whether sympathetic or otherwise, either played no part in that history, were privileged by its outcome or were themselves active participants. Still, it would take an Israeli historian to ‘discover’ a Palestinian massacre in some village at some point in time. For example, only when Israeli journalist Amir Gilat chose to run a story in Ma’arive newspaper a few years ago, citing the research of Israeli master’s degree student Theodore Katz, did western media acknowledge the Tantura massacre. It mattered little that the descendants and relatives of 240 victims of that grief stricken village who were killed in cold blood by Alexandroni troops, never ceased remembering their loved ones. A ‘massacre’ is only a massacre when half-heartedly acknowledged by an Israeli historian no matter how long it takes for that admission to resurface. Even Palestinian historians, at least those who are held accountable to the rules of western media and academia, find themselves borrowing mostly from Israeli sources, aggrandizing Israeli writers and celebrating Israeli historians who are supposedly more trustworthy than Palestinians. The logic has it that a sympathetic Israeli narrative would win greater acceptance by American or British audiences than one told by a Palestinian, even if the Palestinian historian had lived the event and experienced its every gory detail. It is a travesty for the Palestinian narrative to live on borrowed analogies, borrowed histories and borrowed historians in order to enjoy an iota of credibility. This is just the tip of the iceberg and the problem runs much deeper than this. In my last book, My Father Was a Freedom Fighter: Gaza’s Untold Story, I charted a detailed account of the Massacre of Beit Daras, when scores of inhabitants of that brave village, located in southern Palestine, were gunned down by Haganah troops only weeks after Deir Yassin inhabitants were massacred in a similar fashion. Beit Daras is the village from which my family was dispossessed to subsist in an impoverished refugee camp in Gaza. Although Beit Daras was located at the north eastern part of the Gaza District in southern Palestine, it was high on the Zionist leadership agenda as early as the first months of conquest. The small village was one of a few villages and towns marked for destruction in Operation Nachshon and Harel aimed to completely cut off the Jaffa-Jerusalem landmass. The war for Beit Daras began early, as heavy shelling began between March 27-28, 1948, killing 9 villagers and destroying large areas of the village’s crops. Several attempts had failed to drive the resilient villagers out. What turned out to be the last battle took place in mid-May. Um ‘Adel and Um Mohammed were two young girls in Beit Daras at the time. Now old women in Khan Younis refugee camp in Gaza, they helped me connect some of the pieces regarding what happened on that day. I provided their historically consistent accounts in my book on Gaza. Here are few excerpts: Um ‘Adel recalls: The women and children were told to leave because the news of the Deir Yassin massacre was spreading and with it lots of fear. We were told that the Jews not only massacre people, but rape women. The women had to be sent away, but the men wouldn’t leave. But so many of them were killed. The men fought like lions, and many were killed as well, including Abu Mansi Nassar and his two brothers, Ali Mohammed Hussain al-Osaji, and four youth from al-Maqadima. Um Mohammed elaborated:
This article is about the font characteristic. For the software company, see Serif Europe . For other uses, see Serif (disambiguation) Sans-serif font Serif font Serif font (red serifs) In typography, a serif () is a small line or stroke regularly attached to the end of a larger stroke in a letter or symbol within a particular font or family of fonts. A typeface or "font family" making use of serifs is called a serif typeface (or serifed typeface), and a typeface that does not include them is a sans-serif one. Some typography sources refer to sans-serif typefaces as "grotesque" (in German, "grotesk") or "Gothic",[1] and serif typefaces as "roman". Origins and etymology [ edit ] Serifs originated in the Latin alphabet with inscriptional lettering—words carved into stone in Roman antiquity. The explanation proposed by Father Edward Catich in his 1968 book The Origin of the Serif is now broadly but not universally accepted: the Roman letter outlines were first painted onto stone, and the stone carvers followed the brush marks, which flared at stroke ends and corners, creating serifs. Another theory is that serifs were devised to neaten the ends of lines as they were chiseled into stone.[2][3][4] The origin of the word serif is obscure, but apparently is almost as recent as the type style. In The British Standard of the Capital Letters contained in the Roman Alphabet, forming a complete code of systematic rules for a mathematical construction and accurate formation of the same (1813) by William Hollins, it defined surripses, usually pronounced "surriphs", as "projections which appear at the tops and bottoms of some letters, the O and Q excepted, at the beginning or end, and sometimes at each, of all". The standard also proposed that surripsis may be a Greek word derived from συν (together) and ριψις (projection). In 1827, a Greek scholar Julian Hibbert printed with his own experimental uncial Greek types, remarking that the types of Giambattista Bodoni's Callimachus were "ornamented (or rather disfigured) by additions of what [he] believe[s] type-founders call syrifs or cerefs". The printer Thomas Curson Hansard referred to them as "ceriphs" in 1825.[5] The oldest citations in the Oxford English Dictionary (OED) are 1830 for serif and 1841 for sans serif. The OED speculates that serif was a back-formation from sanserif. Webster's Third New International Dictionary traces serif to the Dutch noun schreef, meaning "line, stroke of the pen", related to the verb schrappen, "to delete, strike through". Schreef now also means "serif" in Dutch. (The relation between "schreef" and "schrappen" is documented by Van Veen and Van der Sijs in Etymologisch Woordenboek (Van Dale, 1997). Yet, "schreef" literally is past-tense of "schrijven" (to write). In her Chronologisch Woordenboek (Veen, 2001), Van der Sijs lists words by first known publication in the language area that is The Netherlands today. Van der Sijs: schrijven, 1100; schreef, 1350; schrappen, 1406. I.e. "schreef" is from "schrijven" (to write), not from "schrappen" (to scratch, eliminate by strike-through).) The OED's earliest citation for "grotesque" in this sense is 1875, giving stone-letter as a synonym. It would seem to mean "out of the ordinary" in this usage, as in art grotesque usually means "elaborately decorated". Other synonyms include "Doric" and "Gothic", commonly used for Japanese Gothic typefaces.[6] Classification [ edit ] Serif fonts can be broadly classified into one of four subgroups: old style, transitional, Didone and slab serif, in order of first appearance. Old-style typefaces date back to 1465, shortly after Johannes Gutenberg's adoption of the movable type printing press. Early printers in Italy created types that broke with Gutenberg's blackletter printing, creating upright and later italic styles inspired by Renaissance calligraphy.[7][8] Old-style serif fonts have remained popular for setting body text because of their organic appearance and excellent readability on rough book paper. The increasing interest in early printing during the late 19th and early 20th centuries saw a return to the designs of Renaissance printers and typefounders, many of whose names and designs are still used today.[9][10][11] Old style type is characterized by a lack of large differences between thick and thin lines (low line contrast) and generally but less often by a diagonal stress (the thinnest parts of letters are at an angle rather than at the top and bottom). An old-style font normally has a left-inclining curve axis with weight stress at about 8 and 2 o'clock; serifs are almost always bracketed (they have curves connecting the serif to the stroke); head serifs are often angled.[12] Old-style faces evolved over time, showing increasing abstraction from what would now be considered handwriting and blackletter characteristics, and often increased delicacy or contrast as printing technique improved.[8][13][14] Old-style faces have often sub-divided into Venetian (or humanist) and Garalde (or Aldine), a division made on the Vox-ATypI classification system.[15] Nonetheless, some have argued that the difference is excessively abstract, hard to spot except to specialists and implies a clearer separation between styles than originally appeared.[16][b] Modern typefaces such as Arno and Trinité may fuse both styles.[19] Early 'humanist' roman types were introduced in Italy. Modelled on the script of the period, they tend to feature an "e" in which the cross stroke is angled, not horizontal, 'M's with two-way serifs, and often a relatively dark colour on the page.[7][8] In modern times, that of Nicolas Jenson has been the most admired, with many revivals.[20][7] Garaldes, which tend to feature a level cross-stroke on the 'e', descend from an influential 1495 font cut by engraver Francesco Griffo for printer Aldus Manutius, which became the inspiration for many typefaces cut in France from the 1530s onwards.[21][22] Often lighter on the page and made in larger sizes than had been used for roman type before, French Garalde faces rapidly spread throughout Europe from the 1530s to become an international standard.[17][21][23] Also during this period, italic type evolved from a quite separate genre of type, intended for informal uses such as poetry, into taking a secondary role for emphasis. Italics moved from being conceived to separate designs and proportions to being able to be fitted into the same line as roman type with a design complementary to it.[24][25][26][c] A new genre of serif type developed around the 17th century in the Netherlands and Germany that came to be called the "Dutch taste" ("goût Hollandois" in French).[28] It was a tendency towards denser, more solid typefaces, often with a high x-height (tall lower-case letters) and a sharp contrast between thick and thin strokes, perhaps influenced by blackletter faces.[29][30][28][31][32] Examples of contemporary Garalde old-style typefaces are Bembo, Garamond, Galliard, Granjon, Goudy Old Style, Minion, Palatino, Renard, Sabon, and Scala. Contemporary typefaces with Venetian old style characteristics include the particularly faithful revival Cloister, Adobe Jenson, the Golden Type, Hightower Text, Centaur, Goudy's Italian Old Style and Berkeley Old Style and ITC Legacy. Several of these blend in Garalde influences to fit modern expectations, especially placing single-sided serifs on the 'M'.[33] Typefaces specifically in the "Dutch taste" style include the work of Nicolaas Briot, Christoffel Van Dijck, Van den Keere, Caslon and the Janson and Ehrhardt designs based on the work of Miklós Tótfalusi Kis.[31] Transitional [ edit ] Transitional, or baroque, serif typefaces first became common around the mid-18th century until the start of the nineteenth.[34] They are in between "old style" and "modern" fonts, thus the name "transitional". Differences between thick and thin lines are more pronounced than they are in old style, but less dramatic than they are in the Didone fonts that followed. Stress is more likely to be vertical, and often the 'R' has a curled tail. The ends of many strokes are marked not by blunt or angled serifs but by ball terminals. Transitional faces often have an italic h that opens outwards at bottom right.[35] Because the genre bridges styles, it is difficult to define where the genre starts and ends. Many of the most popular transitional designs are later creations in the same style. Fonts from the original period of transitional typefaces include early on the "romain du roi" in France, then the work of Pierre Simon Fournier in France, Fleischman and Rosart in the Netherlands, Pradel in Spain and John Baskerville and Bulmer in England.[36][37][38] Among more recent designs, Times New Roman (1932), Perpetua, Plantin, Mrs. Eaves, Freight Text and the earlier "modernised old styles" have been described as transitional in design.[d] Later 18th-century transitional typefaces in Britain begin to show influences of Didone typefaces from Europe, described below, and the two genres blur, especially in type intended for body text; Bell is an example of this.[40][41][e] Didone [ edit ] modern serif Bodoni , an example of aserif Didone, or modern, serif typefaces, which first emerged in the late 18th century, are characterized by extreme contrast between thick and thin lines.[f] These typefaces have a vertical stress and long and fine serifs, with minimal bracketing (constant width). Serifs tend to be very thin, and vertical lines very heavy. Didone fonts are often considered to be less readable than transitional or old-style serif typefaces. Period examples include Bodoni, Didot, and Walbaum. Computer Modern is a popular contemporary example. The very popular Century is a softened version of the same basic design, with reduced contrast.[44] Didone typefaces achieved dominance of printing in the early nineteenth-century printing before declining in popularity in the second half of the century and especially in the twentieth as new designs and revivals of old-style faces emerged.[45][46][47] In print, Didone fonts are often used on high-gloss magazine paper for magazines such as Harper's Bazaar, where the paper retains the detail of their high contrast well, and for whose image a crisp, "European" design of type may be considered appropriate.[48][49] They are used more often for general-purpose body text, such as book printing, in Europe.[49][50] They remain popular in the printing of Greek, as the Didot family were among the first to establish a printing press in newly independent Greece.[51][52] The period of Didone types' greatest popularity coincided with the rapid spread of printed posters and commercial ephemera and the arrival of bold type.[53][54] As a result, many Didone typefaces are among the earliest designed for "display" use, with an ultra-bold "fat face" style becoming a common sub-genre.[55][56][57] Slab serif [ edit ] slab serif Rockwell, an example of a more geometricserif Clarendon, an example of a less geometric slab serif Slab serif typefaces date to about 1817.[g][58] Originally intended as attention-grabbing designs for posters, they have very thick serifs, which tend to be as thick as the vertical lines themselves. Slab serif fonts vary considerably: some such as Rockwell have a geometric design with minimal variation in stroke width: they are sometimes described as sans-serif fonts with added serifs. Others such as those of the "Clarendon" model have a structure more like most other serif fonts, though with larger and more obvious serifs.[59][60] These designs may have bracketed serifs that increase width along their length. Because of the clear, bold nature of the large serifs, slab serif designs are often used for posters and in small print. Many monospace fonts, on which all characters occupy the same amount of horizontal space as in a typewriter, are slab-serif designs. While not always purely slab-serif designs, many fonts intended for newspaper use have large slab-like serifs for clearer reading on poor-quality paper. Many early slab-serif types, being intended for posters, only come in bold styles with the key differentiation being width, and often have no lower-case letters at all. Examples of slab-serif typefaces include Clarendon, Rockwell, Archer, Courier, Excelsior and TheSerif. FF Meta Serif and Guardian Egyptian are examples of newspaper and small print-orientated typefaces with some slab-serif characteristics, often most visible in the bold weights. Other styles [ edit ] Méridien , an example of a Latin typeface. Méridien is a quite restrained example of the genre; other designs in the style have much more exaggerated serifs. During the nineteenth century, genres of serif type besides conventional body text faces proliferated.[61][62] These included "Tuscan" faces, with ornamental, decorative ends to the strokes rather than serifs, and "Latin" or "wedge-serif" faces, with pointed serifs, which were particularly popular in France and other parts of Europe including for signage applications such as business cards or shop fronts.[63] Well-known typefaces in the "Latin" style include Wide Latin, Copperplate Gothic, Johnston Delf Smith and the more restrained Méridien. Readability and legibility [ edit ] Serifed fonts are widely used for body text because they are considered easier to read than sans-serif fonts in print.[64] However, scientific study on this topic has been inconclusive. Colin Wheildon, who conducted scientific studies from 1982 to 1990, found that sans serif fonts created various difficulties for readers that impaired their comprehension.[65] According to Kathleen Tinkel, studies suggest that "most sans serif typefaces may be slightly less legible than most serif faces, but ... the difference can be offset by careful setting".[66] Other studies have found no significant difference in readability for serif or sans serif.[67][68] Serifed fonts are overwhelmingly preferred for lengthy text printed in books, newspapers and magazines.[citation needed] For such purposes sans-serif fonts are more acceptable in Europe than in North America, but still less common than serifed typefaces.[citation needed] Sans-serif are considered to be legible on computer screens. According to Alex Poole,[67] "we should accept that most reasonably designed typefaces in mainstream use will be equally legible". A study suggested that serif fonts are more legible on a screen but are not generally preferred to sans serif fonts.[69] Another study indicated that comprehension times for individual words are slightly faster when written in a sans serif font versus a serif font.[70] When size of an individual glyph is 9-20 pixels, proportional serifs and some lines of most glyphs of common vector fonts are smaller than individual pixels. Hinting, spatial anti-aliasing, and subpixel rendering allow to render distinguishable serifs even in this case, but their proportions and appearance are off and thickness is close to many lines of the main glyph, strongly altering appearance of the glyph. Consequently, it is sometimes advised to use sans-serif fonts for content meant to be displayed on screens, as they scale better for low resolutions. Indeed, most web pages employ sans-serif type.[71] Recent introduction of desktop displays with 300+ dpi resolution might eventually make this recommendation obsolete. As serifs originated in inscription, they are generally not used in handwriting. A common exception is the printed capital I, where the addition of serifs distinguishes the character from lowercase L. The printed capital J and the numeral 1 are also often handwritten with serifs. East Asian analogues [ edit ] From left to right: a serif typeface with serifs in red, a serif typeface, and a sans-serif typeface. In the Chinese and Japanese writing systems, there are common type styles based on the regular script for Chinese characters akin to serif and sans serif fonts in the West. In Mainland China, the most popular category of serifed-like typefaces for body text is called Song (宋体, Songti); in Japan, the most popular serif style is called Minchō (明朝); and in Taiwan and Hong Kong, it is called Ming (明體, Mingti). The names of these lettering styles come from the Song and Ming dynasties, when block printing flourished in China. Because the wood grain on printing blocks ran horizontally, it was fairly easy to carve horizontal lines with the grain. However, carving vertical or slanted patterns was difficult because those patterns intersect with the grain and break easily. This resulted in a typeface that has thin horizontal strokes and thick vertical strokes[citation needed]. In accordance with Chinese calligraphy (kaiti style in particular), where each horizontal stroke is ended with a dipping motion of the brush, the ending of horizontal strokes are also thickened[citation needed]. These design forces resulted in the current Song typeface characterized by thick vertical strokes contrasted with thin horizontal strokes, triangular ornaments at the end of single horizontal strokes, and overall geometrical regularity. In Japanese typography, the equivalent of serifs on kanji and kana characters are called uroko—"fish scales". In Chinese, the serifs are called either youjiaoti (有脚体, lit. "forms with legs") or youchenxianti (有衬线体, lit. "forms with ornamental lines"). The other common East Asian style of type is called black (黑体/體, Heiti) in Chinese and Gothic (ゴシック体, Goshikku-tai) in Japanese. This group is characterized by lines of even thickness for each stroke, the equivalent of "sans serif". This style, first introduced on newspaper headlines, is commonly used on headings, websites, signs and billboards. See also [ edit ] Lists of serif typefaces: Notes [ edit ] ^ Note that this image includes 'Th' ligatures , common in Adobe typefaces but not found in the sixteenth century. ^ [7] However, the waves of "Garalde" faces coming out of France from the 1530s onwards did tend to cleanly displace earlier typefaces, and became an international standard.[17][18] Specifically, Manutius's type, the first type now classified as "Garalde", was not so different from other typefaces around at the time.However, the waves of "Garalde" faces coming out of France from the 1530s onwards did tend to cleanly displace earlier typefaces, and became an international standard. ^ [27] Early italics were intended to exist on their own on the page, and so often had very long ascenders and descenders, especially the "chancery italics" of printers such as Arrighi. Jan van Krimpen 's Cancelleresca Bastarda typeface, intended to complement his serif family Romulus, was nonetheless cast on a larger body to allow it to have an appropriately expansive feel. ^ [39] Monotype executive Stanley Morison , who commissioned Times New Roman, noted that he hoped that it "has the merit of not looking as if it had been designed by somebody in particular". ^ [40][42] It should be realised that "Transitional" is a somewhat nebulous classification, almost always including Baskerville and other typefaces around this period but also sometimes including nineteenth and twentieth-century reimaginations of old-style faces, such as Bookman and Plantin , and sometimes some of the later "old-style" faces such as the work of Caslon and his imitators. In addition, of course Baskerville and others of this period would not have seen their work as "transitional" but as an end in itself. Eliason (2015) provides a leading modern critique and assessment of the classification, but even in 1930 A.F. Johnson called the term "vague and unsatisfactory." ^ [43] Additional subgenres of Didone type include "fat faces" (ultra-bold designs for posters) and "Scotch Modern" designs (used in the English-speaking world for book and newspaper printing). ^ Early slab-serif types were given a variety of names for branding purposes, such as Egyptian, Italian, Ionic, Doric, French-Clarendon and Antique, which generally have little or no connection to their actual history. Nonetheless, the names have persisted in use. References [ edit ]
It seems the excitement for the Pokemon Go including in the Philippines has been temporarily stopped after the remote servers have been blocked for those outside Australia and New Zealand territory. How to Download Pokemon Go in Android and iOS or iPhone Why the Philippines and other countries have been blocked in Pokemon Go The main reasons might be the high traffic and server overloading brought by several thousands of new users playing the game. And these issue affects not only the Philippines but all countries that are candidates and will be supported by the game even Japan. When are you able to play Pokemon Go again The good news is that this is temporary and Pokemon Go is still in beta, we might see the servers be backed again anytime soon for the continuous global roll out. For the meantime, we will keep you posted for Pokemon Go updates. If you’re one of the users successfully installed Pokemon Go in your Android or iOS, here’s the list of Rare Pokemons and their secret locations and maps in the Philippines that may help. Here’s the latest update about Sign Up for Pokemon Go from official Pokemon Go twitter account: Due to the incredible number of #PokemonGO downloads, some Trainers may experience sign-up difficulties. Don’t worry, our team is on it! — Pokémon GO (@PokemonGoApp) July 7, 2016 It looks like some countries will be having some problems signing up on Pokemon go too. But Niantic already assured that this temporary.
LOS ANGELES -- The Los Angeles Kings will get their Game 6 winning puck back after all. As first reported by LAKingsInsider.com, the Kings got a call from the New Jersey Devils on Thursday informing them that the puck, which had been missing since the end of Game 6 on June 11, would be returned. Apparently, Devils left winger Patrik Elias, who was the last to be seen with the puck after flipping it into his glove after the game, returned from his vacation, checked his equipment bag and found the puck. Earlier this week, Elias said he didn't have the puck but would check again. Apparently, all he needed to do was look harder. The puck has been verified, according to the teams, and the Kings will voluntarily make a donation to Elias' favorite charity.
week in review The "Dump GoDaddy Day" message registered with the domain registrar. GoDaddy, targeted by online activists in response to its enthusiasm for a pair of Hollywood-backed copyright bills, finally denounced the legislation in response to a scheduled boycott. Warren Adelman, the company's chief executive, said that "GoDaddy opposes SOPA," short for the Stop Online Piracy Act, which is facing a House of Representatives committee vote next month. The idea of boycotting GoDaddy began with a protest thread on Reddit and was aided by Jimmy Wales' announcement last week that "Wikipedia domain names will move away from GoDaddy." It inspired GoDaddyBoycott.org, which urged Internet users and companies to "boycott GoDaddy until they send a letter to Congress taking back any and all support of the House and Senate versions of the Internet censorship bill, both SOPA and PIPA." Go Daddy gets name off SOPA supporters list GoDaddy accused of interfering with anti-SOPA exodus More headlines Company confirms that it will soon begin charging customers a $2 fee to process payments made online or by phone. But the company also offers ways to avoid the fee. Reports that Apple plans to release two new iPad models to join the iPad 2 next month are receiving a lashing around the Web. Hurd, now president of Oracle, loses an appeal in court this week that would keep the letter accusing him of sexual harassment confidential. Massachusetts authorities subpoenaed Twitter for information on an Occupy Wall Street figure but ran afoul of Twitter's own privacy policy. At least 4.2 million iOS devices were activated on Christmas compared with about 2.6 million Android devices, according to rough calculations put together by Fortune. Search edges social networking for Web users this year, according to data from market researcher Nielsen. Also of note New York Times mistakenly e-mails millions about subscriptions Windows Phone Marketplace hits 50,000-app mark U.S. takes bite out of Oracle's Google lawsuit
The Winnipeg Jets Hockey Club today announced they will host their second annual Fan Fest at MTS Iceplex on Saturday, Sept. 19. Fan Fest is an outdoor event in the parking lot of MTS Iceplex which will kick off the start of a new season of Jets hockey for our passionate fans.Fan Fest will run from 9:00am until 2:00pm and is open and free to the general public. The event includes access to Jets training camp sessions, live player and management interviews as well as a range of interactive games and activities.The first 5,000 fans on site will receive a FREE complimentary lunch.In addition the first 3,000 fans will have the opportunity to watch one of two Winnipeg Jets Training Camp sessions at 9 a.m. or a scrimmage to follow at 12 p.m. Admission to these sessions is limited to available seating on a first come, first served basis, and fans are asked to begin lining up after 7 a.m. Fans that do not get into one session will be able to line up for the ensuing one.During and following the ice times, the Fan Fest stage will feature select Winnipeg Jets players and management as they participate in live Q & A sessions moderated by TSN play-by-play announcer, Dennis Beyak.Join us on the Fan Fest grounds as several interactive activities will be available to fans of all ages including inflatable bouncers, arts and crafts, various activations and displays, ball hockey with Mick E. Moose and live music. Come visit the Jets Gear Trailer which will be on site with all new 2015 Jets and Moose merchandise! In addition, don’t forget to watch for the Winnipeg Jets Flight Squadron as well as our Winnipeg Jets in-game hosts who will be on hand giving away prizes throughout the event.Free parking is available throughout the day to the north of the MTS Iceplex in the adjacent Assiniboia Downs lot. For more information please visit www.winnipegjets.com/fanfest.
Image copyright AP Image caption President Assad said all matters could potentially be resolved at talks in Geneva Syria's president has said "opposition forces" could form part of a new government, the shape of which could be agreed at peace talks in Geneva. Bashar al-Assad told a Russian news agency he would expect it to consist of "independent forces, opposition forces and forces loyal to the state". Indirect talks between the government and opposition resumed this month. The opposition insist Mr Assad must step down, though the government says his fate is not up for discussion. The president has previously said it is up to the people of Syria to decide who governs them. A spokesman for the main opposition umbrella group at the UN-led talks dismissed Mr Assad's latest comments. "The government, whether it's new or old, as long as it is in the presence of Bashar al-Assad, is not part of the political process," said George Sabra, of the High Negotiations Committee (HNC), Reuters news agency reported. "What Bashar al-Assad is talking about has no relation to the political process." The major powers backing rival sides in the war agree that there must be a political transition process, a new constitution and elections in Syria, but so far the talks in Geneva have not produced any signs of progress. 'No walkouts' Speaking to RIA Novosti, Mr Assad said despite deep differences between the two parties, the format for a new government could emerge from the talks. "There are many questions that need to be discussed in Geneva, but there are not difficult questions," he said. "I don't consider them difficult, they can all be resolved." Mr Assad did not spell out what he meant by "opposition forces". The Syrian government does not recognise rebel groups, which it commonly refers to as "terrorists", while there has long been a tolerated political opposition inside Syria. Mr Assad said a new draft constitution could be drawn up "within a few weeks" and would then need to be put to a national vote. The HNC has accused the Syrian government of trying to scupper the negotiations by refusing to discuss Mr Assad's future. At the end of the previous round of talks last week, the UN's special envoy said both sides were taking the process "very seriously", noting the atmosphere had been more constructive than previously with "no breakdowns; no walkouts; and no de-legitimisation". The talks are expected to resume in the first half of April.
by Jettins » Mon Jul 15, 2013 10:52 pm Xanth wrote: It lead to me discovering that you don't have a lucid dream or an astral projection... instead, you're lucidly aware and astrally aware while experiencing the non-physical. Lucid dream predominantly of the psyche Astral Projection predominantly outside the psyche what reads like a lucid dream How to avoid this problem of becoming unknowingly stuck? Xanth wrote: The general consensus of what "lucid dreaming" means is simply the " how " you get to experience the non-physical. Yeah, when I am not being critical about why I am calling an experience a lucid dream or an astral projection experience I like to refer to it as: becoming objectively aware, objectively conscious, or consciously aware in the non-physical.First of all one would have to establish what Astral projection and lucid dream experiences actually are to even begin trying to distinguish the difference. So I’ll just define it as such:– perceptual (or based on) thought energy(constricted)– perceptual thought energy(expanded)There are many things to consider that happen during non-physical experiences, such as the changes in psychological states that trigger shifting perceptions. These differences can only be properly made by each individual as no two minds are operating exactly alike (but can be understood with a high degree of personal experience). There are different ways how the shifts in perceptions can occur since not everyone will be living the same inner and out realities. This means that *can in fact be an astral projection experience and vice versa. We have to look at it from a different angle to know what is happening, an angle that understands and considers what generates the shifts in perception from a constricted into an expanded state.To me the lucid dream and the astral projection experience have many similarities because the states blend together. However, there are constricted psychological states in which everything around you is predominately originating from our own psyche, and there are expanded psychological states in which what is around you is being predominately sensed and recreated by your inner senses, therefore sustained collectively. Some argue that when objective consciousness is increased, one is in the Astral projection state. But this cannot be completely correct or is incomplete because a lucid dreamer can have a high objective consciousness to not sense and become aware of outer realities, therefore stay involved within the designated parameters of his or her experience (psyche). Or in other words to become objective with the therapeutic "thought forms". So if these two states can blend together, the confusion is the lack of understanding of what is being sensed. When you find the "exit point to the lucid dream" think about what is happening psychologically, this is how you can notice the perceptions expanding into the "astral projection" state in the same way as when you “feel the exit sensations” during the onset of an out-of-body experience.Xanth mentions about clearing the mind as a requirement for a conscious astral projection, this is great, but have many other people done this within the lucid dream state, was an expanded perception a result? (an increase in perceptional awareness will separate the different states, ex. constricted to expanded). If the person thinks of the lucid dream state as not really existing as something separate, I think this will work well. If the person thinks of the lucid dream and the astral experience as being the same (with the consensus definition), the person might not experience these shifts in perception because the "separation" process wasn't objectively realized. If the person is not thinking of it as constricted or expanded (inner vs. outer) the perceptions just won’t present themselves to be realize. If this is the case, the experiences will have an imperceptible change in flow if static or a similar story-line if active. I am not saying that a changing story-line is universally an AP experience, what this means is that the person runs a greater risk of not knowing what is what and therefore incorrectly concluded the psyche (the person) is not sensing anything different in origin. The realization of their condition in the form of intuition during non-physical experiences just won't come up. Examples of how deceased entities are living "lucid dream" like constricted realities would explain things further. If this is not fully realized experiences become colored by our inner prejudices that come standard with every subtle existence which include our expectations, non-expectations, beliefs, disbeliefs known and unknown. When this is happening becoming unstuck form undesired non-physical story-lines is more difficult for sure. The subconscious or memory gets projected everywhere, it is the perceptional points (or based on points) being referred that may change.Ultimately you clean the perceptions, which means you will do so by figuring yourself out in the process.I don't think anyone in this forum will have a problem with this. I remind the readers that my views aren't meant to be universal.I think the general consensus on what "lucid dreaming" means should be "why" you experienced the non-physical, instead of "how". With this thinking it will sort itself out for sure.
The 2014-15 Big East basketball season came to a close tonight, as the Arizona Wildcats sent the Xavier Musketeers, the conference's final team, home packing with a 68-60 victory. It was a great run for the Big East, sending six teams to the NCAA tournament and opening up the second round 4-0, but after the round of 32, just Xavier was left to hold down the fort during the second weekend. The second-seeded Wildcats will take on No. 1 seed Wisconsin for a spot in the Final Four on Saturday. We'll have more content coming in the next few weeks to put a bow on this year's Big East season, but for now, here's what we learned from tonight's Xavier loss. 1. T.J. McConnell lifts the Wildcats down the stretch Xavier held a 53-51 lead with just over six minutes remaining in the second half, but Arizona guard T.J. McConnell almost single-handedly swung the game back in the Wildcats' favor over the next few possessions. McConnell hit a pair of free throws to tie things up, and after Brandon Ashley hit two more from the charity stripe, the senior knocked down his first three of the night to stretch out an Arizona lead that the team would never give up. In the end, the Wildcats sealed things with a dominant performance at the free throw line, shooting 17-of-19 as a team (bring their to total to 61-of-70 during the NCAA tournament, as the CBS crew reported after the game). It was a terrific team win for Arizona, and with a balanced squad like Wisconsin on tap, they showed a resilience that will take them far as they chase a title. 2. Matt Stainbrook goes down with the ship While the Musketeers slipped away during the game's final minutes, senior big man Matt Stainbrook showed off his trademark fighting mentality all game long. Stainbrook forced the Wildcats to take (and eventually make) shots from the mid-range and three, erasing the paint altogether defensively and giving Arizona's Kaleb Tarczewski a brutal matchup offensively. Stainbrook, in the final game of his college career, finished with 17 points and ten rebounds, and while the team is going home for the offseason, their senior leader deserves a lot of credit for his play all postseason. Again, the Wildcats knocked down the shots they needed to down the stretch, but Stainbrook did all he could to keep this Xavier team alive. 3. Arizona-Wisconsin is already the best Elite Eight matchup That's not a knock on Kentucky and Notre Dame, but man, Wisconsin and Arizona definitely feels like a Final Four, doesn't it? I still think the winner of that game probably has the best shot of anyone to knock off the Kentucky juggernaut, but these two teams are going to be an unbelievable matchup from an X's and O's standpoint. Both teams boast deep, well-rounded rosters on both ends, and while Wisconsin will hurt you with brilliant ball movement and three-point stature, Arizona can hit back with their size and athleticism. In the end, the region ended up going chalk for the most part, but this is going to be one hell of a regional final.
Starting today, we’re going to start offering drones available for rental. Obviously, this is a bit of a dicey decision, as there is a lot of variables that come into play when it comes to flying, renting, and servicing drones when compared to video and photography equipment. However, we’ve decided to do so because we want to continue to offer the best products available to our customers so that they can keep creating – without limitations. That said, I wanted to take a moment to talk to you about flying drones, what you need to know, and some helpful tips on how to make your next drone rental an enjoyable one. As an owner of a DJI Inspire 1 myself, and someone who has flown dozens of drones over the years, I can speak personally and say that the experience is an incredible one. However, there first must be some rules and regulations in place before renting a drone. How to Be Eligible for a Drone Rental No registration with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is required, though is certainly encouraged to ensure safe and responsible flying. Registration is only $5, and is good for 3 years after the registration date. While not required for personal flying, it is certainly encouraged by both the FAA and Lensrentals.com. If flying your drone for commercial purposes, you’re required to hold a remote pilot airman certificate, and your drone must be registered with the FAA. Breakdown of Flight Rules and Regulations Along with being registered with the FAA, you must also abide by all federal and local laws pertaining to drone use. While laws vary from location to location, the general guidelines and requirements from the FAA are broken down as follows — For Recreational Flying For Commercial Flying Who qualifies? Anyone who is not using the drone for commercial purposes Anyone commercial use in connection with the use of a drone. Examples include professional wedding or real estate photography or commercial cinematography. Drone requirements: Must be less than 55 pounds Must be less than 55 pounds Flight rules: Must fly under 400 feet above ground Drone must remain in the operator’s line of sight Do not fly within 5 miles of an airport or heliport without contacting the airport or control tower Must fly under 400 feet above ground or within 400 feet of a structure if more than 400 feet above ground Drone must remain in the operator’s line of sight Must fly at or below 100 MPH May only fly during daylight hours Must yield right of way to manned aircraft May not fly over people Rental Rules Users are responsible for inspecting and ensuring all drones are in working flying condition before use. Lensrentals does not assume, and the customer indemnifies Lensrentals against any liability or claims resulting from use or malfunction of the equipment. Renter assumes all liability that may arise from use or failure of the equipment. Renter assumes and shall bear the entire risk of damage to the equipment from any cause, except damage in the possession of the Shipper. All drone rentals are subject to the full Lensrentals Rental Agreement. Drones Available for Rental At this current time, we’re bringing you 3 different drone models available for rental. For those unacquainted to DJI’s product line of drones, a short list of features and specs are listed below, but they’re broken down into three very simple styles and purposes. The DJI Mavic Pro is designed for portability. With its foldable arms, the DJI Mavic Pro folds down into a size slightly larger than a 12oz soda can. The DJI Phantom 4 Pro is noticeably larger than the Mavic Pro and is among the most common drone designs in recent years (The white ‘X’ shaped body). The larger size of the DJI Phantom 4 Pro allows for more stable flying and generally faster speeds. Finally, the DJI Inspire 2 Pro is the largest all in one quadcopter available from DJI and is designed for the pro market of drone flyers. Quite a bit larger than even the Phantom 4, the DJI Inspire 2 allows for even more stability and faster flying, a carbon fiber construction, and 360-degree camera access. DJI Mavic Pro DJI Phantom 4 Pro DJI Inspire 2 Pro Flight Time ~21 Minutes ~28 Minutes ~27 Minutes Max Speed 40 mph 45 mph 58 mph Sensor Size CMOS 1/2.3” CMOS 1” CMOS 1″ Image Size 12.5 Effective MPs 20 Effective MPs 20 Effective MPs Video Recording C4K: 4096×2160 24p 4K: 3840×2160 24/25/30p 2.7K: 2720×1530 24/25/30p FHD: 1920×1080 24/25/30/48/50/60/96p HD: 1280×720 24/25/30/48/50/60/120p H.265 C4K:4096×2160 24/25/30p @100Mbps 4K:3840×2160 24/25/30p @100Mbps 2.7K:2720×1530 24/25/30p @65Mbps 2.7K:2720×1530 48/50/60p @80Mbps FHD:1920×1080 24/25/30p @50Mbps FHD:1920×1080 48/50/60p @65Mbps FHD:1920×1080 120p @100Mbps HD:1280×720 24/25/30p @25Mbps HD:1280×720 48/50/60p @35Mbps HD:1280×720 120p @60MbpsH.264 C4K:4096×2160 24/25/30/48/50/60p @100Mbps 4K:3840×2160 24/25/30/48/50/60p @100Mbps 2.7K:2720×1530 24/25/30p @80Mbps 2.7K:2720×1530 48/50/60p @100Mbps FHD:1920×1080 24/25/30p @60Mbps FHD:1920×1080 48/50/60 @80Mbps FHD:1920×1080 120p @100Mbps HD:1280×720 24/25/30p @30Mbps HD:1280×720 48/50/60p @45Mbps HD:1280×720 120p @80Mbps H.264 C4K:4096×216023.976/24/25/29.97/47.95/50/59.94p @100Mbps 4K: 3840×216023.976/24/25/29.97/47.95/50/59.94p @100Mbps 2.7K: 2720×153023.976/24/25/29.97p @80Mbps 47.95/50/59.94p @100Mbps FHD: 1920×108023.976/24/25/29.97p @60Mbps 47.95/50/59.94p @80Mbps119.88p @100MbpsH.265 C4K: 4096×216023.976/24/25/29.97p @100Mbps 4K: 3840×216023.976/24/25/29.97p @100Mbps 2.7K: 2720×153023.976/24/25/29.97p @65Mbps 47.95/50/59.94p @80Mbps FHD: 1920×108023.976/24/25/29.97p @50Mbps 47.95/50/59.94p @65Mbps 119.88p @100Mbps General Flying Tips Make a Note of Your Altitude When using DJI’s DJIGo app, your altitude will automatically mark your starting location as 0 ft/m. Before flying anywhere, I usually fly the drone up to the treetops and make a mental note of their altitude. As you fly the drone further away and maneuver it in various directions, it’s easy to get confused with your general depth perception. Having that mental note will help you recenter your bearings, and remind you of your flight clearance. Green Means Go, Red Means Reposition By default, all DJI drones, have four LEDs – one on each arm of the quadcopter. On the back of the quadcopter, are green LEDs, with red LEDs on the front. When still learning the techniques of flying, it’s always recommended to fly with the drone positioned facing the same direction as you. When turning the drone 180 degrees, by default, the controls don’t change to your position. So left suddenly becomes right, and right becomes left. It’s incredibly easy to get disoriented when this happens, so it’s always best practice to keep the drone in the same orientation of you at all times and to just rotate the camera as needed to get those specialty shots. Never Fly Below 25% Battery A general rule of thumb is that when your drone reaches 25% battery life, to bring it home. One of the major concerns when flying a drone is what is known as voltage drops, causing your drone to shut down and fall from the sky. While these cases are rare, they’re far more likely to happen on a depleted battery. It’s important to acknowledge the safety and risks when flying and always encouraged to land it at around 25% battery life. Understand The Batteries, and Charge them Fully Between Uses Another explanation for voltage drops comes in battery mishandling. The intelligent batteries within the DJI drone systems require that batteries be fully charged before retaking flight. Failure to do this can cause damage to the batteries and increases the likeliness of a voltage drop. Calibrate Your IMU and Compass Normally when owning a drone, you’re not required to calibrate your compass and IMU before each and every flight. But because these drones are being shipped all over the United States as rentals, it’s important to calibrate both of these before your initial flight with the unit. The process is simple, and can be done within the DJIGo software, and will ensure accurate and precise measurements from the unit while it’s in the air. Hopefully, by following these rules and tips, you’ll be able to have a safe flight, with plenty of opportunities to capture the photos and videos you need for your next project. As always, we ask all those who rent drones from us to fly responsibly and follow all the federal and local laws to ensure safe and responsible flying. Have photos or videos of your drone flying? Post them in the comments below!
Russian President Vladimir Putin attends his annual end-of-year news conference in Moscow, Russia, December 23, 2016. REUTERS/Sergei Karpukhin A Tennessee-based New York Times writer lamented over the weekend that Southern evangelicals are blindly following President Donald Trump even though he is “the utter antithesis of Christian values.” In an op-ed for the Times, Margaret Renkl reveals that she is ashamed to tell people she is a Christian because the word “has become synonymous with angry white voters in red hats, personally responsible for handcuffing all those undocumented mothers and wrenching them out of their sobbing children’s arms.” “What’s new is how baldly the 2016 election exposed the collision between basic Christian values and Republican Party loyalty,” Renkl writes. By any conceivable definition, the sitting president of the United States is the utter antithesis of Christian values — a misogynist who disdains refugees, persecutes immigrants, condones torture and is energetically working to dismantle the safety net that protects our most vulnerable neighbors. Watching Christians put him in the White House has completely broken my heart. According to Renkl, “most conservative Christians ignore [Christ’s teachings] when they step into the voting booth.” “In part that’s because abortion has become the ultimate border wall for Southern believers,” she observes. “I can’t count the number of Christians I know who are one-plank voters: They’d put Vladimir Putin in the White House if he promised to overturn Roe v. Wade.” “Republicans now have what they’ve long wanted: the chance to turn this into a Christian nation,” Renkl adds, noting the irony that many of Trump’s policies “will hit my fellow Southerners harder than almost anyone else.” “My people are among the least prepared to survive a Trump presidency, but the “Christian” president they elected is about to demonstrate exactly what betrayal really looks like — and for a lot more than 30 pieces of silver.”
RMSDC is a rail mounting system for low power DC components like the ones often used with Arduino and RPi projects. Each piece can be joined with small (~3mm) zip ties to quickly assemble a functional hardware interface for a project. I have uploaded the basic pieces that I have already printed and proofed, but more will be on the way. Each hole is ~3mm in diameter, with the holes center point being 4mm from any edge, and 8mm from the next holes center point. Once I am finished with version 1 of this system, I may post the sketches for each part. Each side rail can be joined to another side rail if it is flipped. This way you can expand the system to be as large as you want (within reason). When attaching the angle brackets, use a 2x2 joiner to fill in the gab on the rear of the side rail, this will make the assembled unit much stronger. I highly recommend printing each part on a raft. No supports should be needed if each part is oriented properly in your slicer. Upcoming Parts: Arduino Mounting Plate (Will be in two halves much like the LCD Bracket) Toggle Switch Mounting Plate Feet Read more about the RMSDC system here: http://megamattmiller.com/2016/01/10/rail-mounting-system-for-dc-components/
“My bees are so friendly, you can pet em,” beams Dave Carter, leader of the Environmental Advocacy Training Workshop I attended a few weeks ago. Having once worked for the Delaware Department of Natural Resources, he doesn’t bee keep for the profit of honey production. It’s more of a “zen thing” for him. This season alone he produced about 14 gallons of honey. Most of it he gave away to friends, family, and poor college students, like us. Since the honey is organic, it offers a natural remedy to allergies. Each bee hive was hand-crafted by Dave, a sort of handi-man for the environment. Visiting Dave’s house and farm was the perfect ending to a day of training. In the comfort and serenity of the Blackbird Reserve, we learned the tools of advocacy. Dave and Amy Roe were the organizers, but all of us were students. We learned how to distribute the various role of a movement. We need organizers, media producers, artists, scientists, economists, and sheer numbers. Everyone’s skills can come together in a perfect harmony to get the job done. We talked about the importance of forming a 30 second message. We collaborated on issues important to us. The conversations there were beautiful. Everyone was so incredibly dedicated to serving our planet. Throughout the day, I met with so many inspiring people and learned from each and every one. I even met a blogger, who gave me some advice about using social media to our advantage (something I have been working on with the social media team at UD.) Members of Eqaute talked to us about PNC bank and their funding of mountain top removal. A young woman, who was gased at a recent protest, talked about the Delaware City Refinery and their possible tie to tar sands. It just so happened, that they were simultaneously hosting a community day featuring free ice cream. Suddenly, free ice cream isn’t worth it anymore. The talk of deepening the Delaware River hit close to home after many conversations about dredging the Chesapeake. Then, we dove into the gritty politics behind each of these problems, because ultimately changing policy is how to move forward. Six hours of this wasn’t enough, so we continued the conversation at Dave’s farm. There he gave us a tour of his gardens, solar panels, composting pile, and bee colonies. Every aspect of his life mirrored what he had taught us. He built the pavilion that the solar panels were resting on. The angle may not have been perfect due to the fact that his knees could no longer handle the steep slope, but the panels still provided more energy than he and his wife used. It must be an amazing feeling to know that you’re not pulling any energy out of our limited reserves. He had patches of fruit and vegetable gardens scattered throughout his yard. He fashioned a protective housing for his wife’s strawberry plants, as an anniversary present. Everything was organic, of course. He had corn fields, and tractors, typical of other farmers, but his passion for sustainability made the whole thing feel like much more of a lifestyle than any sort of business. He was willing to show us how to drive a tractor and invited us to come back for a hayride sometime, anything to give people more positive outdoor experiences. When he would talk to local reporters about issues concerning the watershed, he would take them out into the estuary in a canoe. It’s hard to write a negative piece when you’re face to face with the beauty. I was thankful for his knowledge that he and Amy bestowed on us, but I was equally appreciative for the tour of his house. It was truly inspiring to see someone incorporate their passion into a functioning lifestyle. Finally, the general doom and gloom attitude when it comes to environmental issues didn’t seem quite as harsh. There was proof that a community could operate following the rules of nature. The research regarding the state of our environment has already been done. We know that we are affecting the earth’s natural balance in a negative way and we know what we have to do to prevent further damage. It is our generation’s job to convince everyone else. It requires a personal connection and relating our own values to whomever we are trying to convince. With one step on to Dave’s farm, he made everything we had talked about personal. I knew instantaneously that he lived every word that he preached.
Target Australia have announced in a press release that they will be changing their name and logo to avoid any affiliation with violence of any form. The drastic decision to make the change came less than twenty-four hours after the company decided to remove the popular video game Grand Theft Auto V from sale, after being hit with complaints from many customers regarding the game’s content. Among the complaints was a petition on Change.org. A petition is a good way to get notoriety for a particular issue, but quite often an online petition can be factually incorrect. The petition to target stated: “It’s a game that encourages players to murder women for entertainment. The incentive is to commit sexual violence against women, then abuse or kill them to proceed or get ‘health’ points – and now Target are stocking it and promoting it for your Xmas stocking.” The only factual part about that statement is that “Target are stocking it and promoting it for your Xmas stocking”. At no point in the game are players encouraged to murder women for entertainment, nor is there any incentive to commit sexual violence against women, including abusing and killing for health or points. If this content was in the game then it would have been Refused Classification by the Australian Classifications Board. The rules for video game classifications state that a game will be refused classification if it contains: Gratuitous, exploitative or offensive depictions of: (i) violence with a very high degree of impact or which are excessively frequent, prolonged or detailed; (ii) cruelty or real violence which are very detailed or which have an extremely high impact; (iii) sexual violence Although target agreed to remove GTA V from sale, other games and movies containing similar content or even the same classification of R18+ are still available for purchase, including a previous game in the GTA series, GTA IV. GTA IV contains similar content to the newest title but due to the classification laws at the time, was only given a rating of MA15+, the highest rating that was then available. This is one of the issues that was fixed with the introduction of the R18+ classification. Games that might have contained content that would today be rated R18+ were only rated MA15+. More than anything education is key. Consumers need to be educated on what the ratings system in Australia is for and what the actual ratings mean to them and the dependents in their care. The petition also states: “Games like this are grooming yet another generation of boys to tolerate violence against women. It is fuelling the epidemic of violence experienced by so many girls and women in Australia – and globally.” Parents and guardians need to understand the content of a game and make an informed choice whether or not it is suitable for the younger generation of boys. Contrary to popular belief, women and girls actually play games too. If you are letting your child play GTA V and think that the content is grooming them to tolerate violence against women and that it’s fueling an epidemic of violence, then first off you shouldn’t be letting them play that game and second, your child may be mentally disturbed or living in a bad environment to think such things. Like all retailers in Australia, Target is bound by rules set by the Australian Classifications Board on who can legally purchase games of a particular rating. The ratings system is as follows: G – General. The G classification is suitable for everyone. G products may contain classifiable elements such as language and themes that are very mild in impact. However, some G-classified films or computer games may contain content that is not of interest to children. PG – Parental Guidance The content is mild in impact. The impact of PG (Parental Guidance) classified films and computer games should be no higher than mild, but they may contain content that children find confusing or upsetting and may require the guidance of parents and guardians. They may, for example, contain classifiable elements such as language and themes that are mild in impact. It is not recommended for viewing or playing by persons under 15 without guidance from parents or guardians. M – Mature The content is moderate in impact. Films and computer games classified M (Mature) contain content of a moderate impact and are recommended for teenagers aged 15 years and over. Children under 15 may legally access this material because it is an advisory category. However, M classified films and computer games may include classifiable elements such as violence and nudity of moderate impact that are not recommended for children under 15 years. Parents and guardians may need to find out more about the film or computer game’s specific content, before deciding whether the material is suitable for their child. MA15+ Mature Accompanied The content is strong in impact. MA 15+ classified material contains strong content and is legally restricted to persons 15 years and over. It may contain classifiable elements such as sex scenes and drug use that are strong in impact. A person may be asked to show proof of their age before hiring or purchasing an MA 15+ film or computer game. Cinema staff may also request that the person show proof of their age before allowing them to watch an MA 15+ film. Children under the age of 15 may not legally watch, buy or hire MA 15+ classified material unless they are in the company of a parent or adult guardian. Children under 15 who go to the cinema to see an MA 15+ film must be accompanied by a parent or adult guardian for the duration of the film. The parent or adult guardian must also purchase the movie ticket for the child. The guardian must be an adult exercising parental control over the person under 15 years of age. The guardian needs to be 18 years or older. R18+ – Restricted The content is high in impact R 18+ material is restricted to adults. Such material may contain classifiable elements such as sex scenes and drug use that are high in impact. Some material classified R18+ may be offensive to sections of the adult community. A person may be asked for proof of their age before purchasing, hiring or viewing R18+ films and computer games at a retail store or cinema. Retailers can be hit with major fines for breaching regulations on selling MA15+ and R18+ to minors and although there are cases where this does happen, parents need to be responsible too. All current video game consoles have parental settings where you have the ability to lock out games above a certain rating. Parents also have the ability to monitor the games that their children play by physically watching what is on the TV whilst the game is turned on. Another thing that needs to be understood, with GTA V in mind, is that video games are not violent. They are depections of violence. To quote Penn Jillette: “They’re not violent, there is no violence in video games at all. I don’t know of anyone that’s been injured in a video game. It is depiction of violence. It is depiction of violence, just like Shakespeare is depiction of violence” Video games also do not cause people to have violent tendencies. A person who plays a game with depictions of violence who then commits violent crimes are disturbed long before playing a video game. The Beatles song Helter Skelter did not encourage Charles Manson to commit his crimes. His mental illness is a lead contributor to that. To the delight and approval of their customers Target revealed their new logo. From the beginning of January 2015 Target Australia will begin trading under their new business name Nanny Stores Australia. In a quote from the press release: “Target Australia wish to remove affiliation of any and all forms of violence against women. It’s not that we as a company hold the same values as those who have persuaded us to remove Grand Theft Auto V from sale, we are just scared of the feminist population, and feminism is all the rage right now.” A double outrage has hit Target over the course of just a few days, starting with members of the group Collective Shout pressing hard on the company to do their bidding. Collective Shout claim to be: “Collective Shout is a grassroots campaigns movement mobilising and equipping individuals and groups to target corporations, advertisers, marketers and media which objectify women and sexualise girls to sell products and services. Collective Shout names, shames and exposes corporations, advertisers, marketers and media engaging in practices which are offensive and harmful, especially to women and girls, but also to men and boys. Collective Shout is for anyone concerned about the increasing pornification of culture and the way its messages have become entrenched in mainstream society, presenting distorted and dishonest ideas about women and girls, sexuality and relationships.” It is easy to respect such values as a community and race of people. It certainly is a cause that should be fought for. What is hard to respect is the misinformation, militia like tactics and outright lies used to further a cause. Where does it stop? The end never justifies the means. On the flip-side of those fighting for the cause, there are just as many, if not more, fighting for their own rights. Their rights to purchase material that has been approved by the Australian Classifications Board for their viewing and use. As a consumer I am disgusted in Target’s choice to remove GTA V from sale, but I have to accept it. They are a private company and they have the right to sell, or in this case, not sell whatever products they wish to in their stores. There are always going to be people on both sides of this argument. It’s my hope that the people against the issue do more, or at least some research into what is happening. I hope that more people look at the classifications system in Australia and learn what it is all about. I hope more people review and if necessary, restrict what their children watch and play. The coin of responsibility has two sides. Provision and revision. PROVISION being the retailer following the regulations of sale and then REVISION from parents and consumers of what they and their children play and watch. I’ve talked about the Australian classification system before and some of the issues it has in the article Classifications in Australia – A little bit different. Oh hey, this article has some satire in it. I hope you are able to tell what is satirical and what isn’t. Advertisements
Act 1: The Optional Cast Let’s take a look at as in its purest form, the optional cast. class Post {} class MediumBlogEntry : Post {} var entry = Post() //Returns nil if unsuccessful entry as? MediumBlogEntry Like most modern programming languages, it’s well documented that a variable or constant of a certain class type could possibly represent an instance of a subclass behind the scenes. Due to this flexibility, it’s often necessary to infer the correct type at runtime. In swift, this is where the optional cast makes its money. When you perform optional casting, you are telling the compiler that you are aware that the cast could return nil. That’s usually the smartest and safest way to proceed. A common use case could be found when foraging through the hierarchy of view controllers. class CustomViewController: UIViewController {} let controller = UIViewController() if let myNavVC = controller.navigationController { let topVC = myNavVC.topViewController as? CustomViewController } Another situation that will leave you calling as? by name is when one is casting against Any or AnyObject. These most certainly could produce nil, so the compiler will hastily inform you at build time that any casting with these two must of the optional variety. Act 2: The Guaranteed Cast Of course, if you are feeling spritely you can always perform the reliable guaranteed cast. These are casts that the compiler can gurantee success, thus eliminating the need for any optionals. Though they be few and far between, they are certainly a welcome feature. Brace yourself for an earth shattering example: 1 as Double Though we may know and love 1 as an Int most of the time, swift can certainly verify that it could also manifest itself as a Double. The use case for this occurs when one is upcasting, that is, casting a class to one of its superclasses. From our example earlier: class Post {} class MediumBlogEntry : Post {} var mediumPost:MediumBlogEntry = MediumBlogEntry() mediumPost as Post Act 3: Swift 1.2 Forced Conversion As its name implies, swift keeps adding features or otherwise changing them at a blistering pace. Swift 1.2 provides to use the concept of a forced conversion, which manifests itself like so: as!. Back to our scenario: class Post {} class MediumBlogEntry : Post {} var mediumPost:Post = MediumBlogEntry() //MediumBlogEntry is not convertible to Post mediumPost as MediumBlogEntry //But a forced downcast is allowed mediumPost as! MediumBlogEntry Swift is trying to avoid one to experience a runtime trap. For this same reason, the following will work without any warning: class Post {} class MediumBlogEntry : Post {} var mediumPost = MediumBlogEntry() //Upcast is just peachy mediumPost as Post Apple has bluntly stated their stance on the matter. For lack of a better explanation, take it from the belly of the beast itself: It may be easiest to remember the pattern for these operators in Swift as: ! implies “this might trap,”while ? indicates “this might be nil.” Closing Act: Final Words Of course, it wouldn’t be a T.T.I.D.G. post without a knock on switch statements in Objective-C. Swift allows you to utilize type checking and casting to carry out sophisticated switch cases. As follows: var assortedRandomness = [AnyObject]() assortedRandomness.append(1) assortedRandomness.append(“Jordan”) assortedRandomness.append(UIView()) assortedRandomness.append(2.0) for item in assortedRandomness { switch item { case 1 as Int: println(“First item”) case let possibleName as String: println(“Second item”) case let aView as UIView: println(“Third Item”) case let val as Double where val > 3.0 println(“Nope”) default: println(“Alls well that ends well, eh?”) } } I think we can all safely agree that’s neat. If we harken back to the Objective-C syntax, our switch case becomes slightly less pleasant and certainly more verbose. Swift certainly allows for powerful evaluations disguised in a clean written manner. That’s it for this week. May the next seven days be filled with runtime type checking and casting as! needed.
A Twitter account representing Hillary Clinton Hillary Diane Rodham ClintonREAD: Cohen testimony alleges Trump knew Stone talked with WikiLeaks about DNC emails County GOP in Minnesota shares image comparing Sanders to Hitler Holder: 'Time to make the Electoral College a vestige of the past' MORE's 2016 presidential campaign trolled President Trump for a tweet attacking Clinton, one of the accounts first tweets in months since the election. On Thursday, Trump renewed his attacks against his former Democratic opponent, tweeting, "Why is that Hillary Clinton's family and Dems dealings with Russia are not looked at, but my non-dealings are?" ADVERTISEMENT The Clinton campaign account, @TheBriefing2016, responded to Trump with a gif from the hit movie "Ferris Bueller's Day Off" that says, "You're still here," and added the caption "????" It was a surprise move from the Clinton campaign's Twitter account, which hasn't been active since a day before the 2016 election, when Clinton lost to Trump.
We have more 12 Days of Disney Parks Christmas news to share today! As part of Hong Kong Disneyland’s multi-year expansion plan, the icon of the park will soon be reimagined and undergo a transformation, the first-of-its-kind at any Disney park. Today, we have a new rendering to show you what a magical centerpiece the new castle will be for our guests in Hong Kong! The classic castle will draw inspiration from a variety of storybook influences and styles, with new thematic spires, domes and a design that reaches ever skyward. Features will be inspired by many of the Disney princesses, including special finial decorations on the spires such as Snow White’s apple, Cinderella’s coach and Belle’s rose. Original artwork and unique sculptures will add even more magic and fantasy. Guests will be able to visit the all-new Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique for transformations of their own and meet Disney princesses at the castle. The changes will also take the park’s entertainment to new heights with the premiere of a new daytime show and nighttime spectacular against the impressive backdrop. Work on the castle will begin after the finale of the “Disney in the Stars” fireworks on January 1, and the expansion plan will continue to bring new entertainment to the park almost every year through 2023. Local and international guests alike won’t want to miss the exciting new offerings coming soon to Hong Kong Disneyland!
As soon as Jazz Jennings was able to talk, she was telling her parents something just didn’t feel right. Jennings – who was designated male at birth – says she always knew she was meant to be a female. At the age of 5, she became one of the youngest people diagnosed with gender dysphoria. Since going public with her transition in 2007, Jennings, now 14, has become a major spokesperson in the transgender community. “I tell [other transgender kids] to always stay strong and be your authentic self, and to keep moving forward because if you have a positive attitude things will get better.” She uses this same advice in her own life. With Jennings starting high school in the fall, she plans to count on the support of her friends to ward off any negativity that comes her way. “I’m just, you know a little bit concerned,” she says, “but I know that if I have my friends and love myself along the way, that whatever they say won’t be worth it and it won’t matter to me.” For more on Jazz Jennings, pick up your copy of this week’s PEOPLE, on newsstands Friday. And catch her new show, I Am Jazz, July 15 on TLC
ZF 24 Retailerul german Lidl, intrat pe piaţa locală în 2011, are în prezent printre cele mai mari salarii de pe piaţa de retail alimentar, respectiv circa 1.400 de lei net pe lună pentru un vânzător din oraşele mici şi peste 4.000 de lei net pe lună pentru un şef de magazin. „Noi am înţeles că o companie supravieţuieşte dacă angajaţii sunt bine pregătiţi şi fericiţi la locul de muncă, astfel încât să aibă toată atenţia îndreptată către ceea ce trebuie să facă. Ei nu au de ce să îşi facă griji pentru că nu intră salariul sau pentru că nu pot promova. Este timpul să investim în resurse umane şi vrem să impunem tendinţe în această direcţie“, a spus Ileana Ştefan, directorul de resurse umane al Lidl. Începând din acest an, Lidl a lansat un program de dezvoltare dedicat echipelor de conducere din cele aproape 190 de magazine pe care le are pe plan local. Aceştia vor fi implicaţi în programul în care s-au investit 5 milioane de euro timp de un an, iar şefii de magazine vor primi câte un autoturism Skoda Rapid şi vor avea cheltuielile de transport asigurate. Programul se doreşte a fi un instrument de învăţare în cascadă, prin care cunoştinţele să fie transferate de la echipa actuală de conducere a magazinelor (care nu a beneficiat până în prezent de un astfel de curs de studii dedicat lor) către viitorii lideri din companie. În prezent, Lidl are 4.000 de angajaţi şi are în plan recrutarea a încă 200 de oameni până la finalul anului. Ziarul Financiar vă recomandă: ASUS ar putea cumpăra HTC
Photo by stephendepolo via Flickr CC Plastic bottles always suck, even if they're being recycled. That's because the energy it takes to recycle them is mind-boggling. It's no simple task to melt down all those bottles, and the plastic is usually degraded in the process and often can't be used for food-grade products again. Take a tour of a plastic bottle recycling facility in this video and be amazed. Core77 states it best, "Ecostar recycling facility in Wisconsin. The amount of steps--not to mention electricity, water and manpower--that need to be taken to go from a bale of plastic bottles into safe, useable material is pretty staggering." To clarify, we aren't knocking recycling. And we aren't knocking Ecostar, because we love that they're at least paying homage to greener materials and recycling. Recycling is a vital step to keeping items out of landfills and in the consumer stream. However, recycling should be a last line of defense in slowing down our consumption of natural resources. Plastic bottles -- indeed anything disposable -- is simply a bad idea from the start. Reduce, and reuse are the two most important Rs in the loop. For some reason, recycling gets the most attention. It might be because it doesn't require us to change the important habits, like shifting what items we buy in the first place so we avoid excessive packaging and disposable items. It's sort of amazing that in 2011, we're still battling plastic bottles even after we know the destruction they cause. But just to hammer home the point, and since today is World Oceans Day, we'll end on this note: It is estimated that we have 6 times more plastic than plankton in our Oceans. If that doesn't make you want to ban the bottle along with the bag, I'm not sure what will. UPDATE: When I found this statistic, it seemed a little dramatic. Luckily, TreeHugger writer John Laumer was all over it, and just sent us these back of the napkin calculations from his friend Friend Russ George: World plastic production is now about 40 million tons per year. Ocean plankton production is about 1gm/m2/day or about 1 tonne/ km2/day Oceans are about 300 million km2 That's about 300 million tonnes of plankton growth each day, a low estimate. So maybe 30 - 40 billion tonnes of standing plankton biomass per year. How does one get from 40 million tonnes per year total world plastic production to an ocean filled with more plastic than plankton? If one assumes 100% of all plastic ever produced is floating today in the oceans one might estimate 100 years of plastic production x 40 million tonnes per year (current production rate) might equal 4 billion tonnes of plastic ever produced. More likely 1/10th that, but hey go ahead and give max case in favour of the plastic horror vs. least case for Pico and kin. If one factors in the fact that not all plastic production is making it out of the land fills and into the oceans to float around as one factor, nothing near 4 billion tonnes of plastic has ever been produced as another factor, recycling of plastics another factor, breakdown in the environment another factor, and perhaps more then just how do "they" justify the outrageous scare media marketing tactics. There are 4 or 5 orders of magnitude of "scary spice" in the soup. Scary spice added with gusto or not, these numbers give us some perspective on the plastic vs plankton ratio. Despite the un-surety over the actual statistic, we do know that plastics plague ocean wildlife, from sea turtles ingesting plastic bags to albatross feeding their chicks bottle caps. And that is reason enough to back off of disposable plastics consumption. Follow Jaymi on Twitter for more stories like this More on Plastic Bottles The US Consumes 1500 Plastic Water Bottles Every Second, a fact by Watershed Pablo Calculates the True Cost of Bottled Water An Ocean of Plastic...In Birds' Guts (Slideshow)
Hey backers! This is a short announcement to let you all know that every fulfillment email has been sent. If you haven’t gotten yours yet, check your spam filters please! What this is, since it’s been a couple updates since we last discussed it: No new money is owed. If you’ve already paid, all we ask is you login, create (or link) an UberNet account, and click done. All there is to it. You can add shipping information if you’re at the $100 ($95) + tiers, excluding of course the $140 digital only tier. Add Beta or Retail keys, depending on your backing level. Everyone at $15 and up can buy more retail keys, you need to be $40+ to add beta keys. You cannot add Alpha keys. That was listed in error in a prior update. Add t-shirts or USB thumb drives, again, for people at the $95/$100+ reward tiers, same exclusion applies. Please contact pakickstarter at uberent dot com for support issues, as it’s the fastest way to get help if you run into problems. Remember, we sent it to the address on record when you pledged, through Kickstarter or PayPal. If you are attempting to look up your pledge information, you can start here: http://uberent.com/KS/FindMyPledge Please get in touch if you haven’t received your email yet, you can't find it through the link above, and it’s not in your spam filter. Thanks for all your support, and we’re excited about the game you have all helped make possible!
Play Facebook Twitter Embed Trump's Campaign: 18 months in 2 minutes 2:23 autoplay autoplay Copy this code to your website or blog Thirty-six hours after Donald Trump won the presidential election, his campaign committee is still asking supporters for money, calling into question the amount of debt the campaign racked up in the final days of the race. An email to supporters with the subject line "Thank You," has a bright red "Contribute" button at the bottom of the email. Campaign finance law says a candidate can continue to raise money after Election Day to pay off any debts or to raise money for re-election. Debt is a possibility. At the end of the last fundraising report on Oct. 20, Trump had an uninspiring $16 million cash on hand and was also $2 million in debt. Play Facebook Twitter Embed 1990s: After Bankruptcies, Trump Goes From Building to Branding 4:53 autoplay autoplay Copy this code to your website or blog Trump gave himself a $10 million infusion on Oct. 21 to help carry him through the final, expensive days of campaigning. A disclaimer on his website says the first $2,700 donated "will be allocated first to 2016 General Election Debt Retirement." The next campaign finance reports detailing Trump's spending and debt will be released on Dec. 8. Brendan Fischer with the Campaign Legal Center wonders why Trump would raise money to pay off any debt since he has contributed just $66 million to his own campaign — despite publicly and repeatedly saying he would contribute $100 million to his candidacy. "Given these facts, it is surprising that Trump appears to be asking his supporters to pay down his campaign debts rather than paying out of his own pocket," Fischer said. Play Facebook Twitter Embed What Will a Trump Administration Look Like? 2:09 autoplay autoplay Copy this code to your website or blog The alternative: He's already thinking about 2020. His website also says that a second $2,700 "will be designated to the 2020 Primary Election." The fundraising email is from Trump's Make America Great Again Committee, a joint fundraising committee between Trump and the Republican National Committee in which the Trump campaign receives 80 percent of the donations. It's the committee that raised most of Trump's small-dollar donations.
A ‘Donetsk separatist’ from the 15th special forces squad ‘Vyatich’ of the Interior Troops of the Russian Federation. We continue to disclose the facts of the Russian servicemen’s presence in Ukraine. This time another participant of the ‘civil war’ is identified – ‘Artem Kupriyanov’ (archive). On closer examination, he appeared to be Aitugan Unusov, a Russian spetsnaz fighter (archive) from the 15th special forces squad ‘Vyatich’ (Russia’s Internal Troops, military unit No. 6761, Armavir, Krasnodar krai, North Caucasus Regional Command). This is so-called ‘Armavir spetsnaz’ (it made me recall the fight at height ‘715.3’ in Dagestan in 1999). It should be noted that the ‘Information Resistance’ group mentioned deployment of this unit to Ukraine in December of 2014. But there were no photo- or video-proofs of the ‘Ukrainian assignment’ provided. Conducting research of publicly available sources, InformNapalm community has found several evidence which made the basis of our investigation. So, Unusov underwent compulsory military service in 2011-2012. The photos from that time can still be found in the Net (archive). These are the pictures of him wearing the Russian ground forces uniform (archive 1 and 2). But in the period from February, 2013, till January, 2015, pictures show him in the uniform of the Internal Troops (archive). Here are more photos from those times: https://archive.is/EIItV, https://archive.is/VSCxX (holding 6P30 ‘Val’ rifle), https://archive.is/Isvcz, https://archive.is/nFw8h, https://archive.is/Nxksp, https://archive.is/wnqon, https://archive.is/WEl44, https://archive.is/cRVNp Special attention should be paid to the exposed banner of the 15th squad ‘Vyatich’ (archive) and the ‘white horse on black background’ arm badge, which means belonging to the North Caucasus regional command of the Internal troops (archive). Now the 15th squad consists of contract soldiers only, and a ‘new’ contract is signed for 1 (seldom), 3, 5, 10 years, or it can be termless. Taking into account the chronology of the photos, Unusov signed at least a 3-year contract. A typical ‘first year contract’ scheme does not fit here (1 year of compulsory service + 2 years of contract) – he served in different troops during the compulsory and contract service. By a strange coincidence, in February, 2015, a fake ‘Artem Kupriyanov’ appeared as a false-militant with callsign ‘Multik’. This was the cover for Unusov, who started to fight in Ukraine. Here are several pictures from his trip to Ukraine: https://archive.is/IJrJZ, https://archive.is/HXpQx, https://archive.is/APmwq, https://archive.is/P14OQ, https://archive.is/LRqL4. In general, it is clear where he was (especially on this photo – ‘Flag Day’ in ‘DPR’). Comparing both profiles the following details catch the eye: 1. Unusov uploaded a single ‘militant’ picture to his ‘real’ profile : 2. Everywhere you can find the outward similarity between ‘Kupriyanov’ and Unusov 3. An important detail: ‘Kupriyanov’ was let down by his love to motorcycles. He also screwed up by uploading a picture with ‘Armavir motocross‘ label to his fake profile. Armavir is the home base of ‘Vyatich’ squad. 4. Another motorcycle clue – the same faces and sport wear in both accounts: ‘Kupriyanov’ (archive) and Unusov (archive) 5. Again we see the similarity between a friend (a person with beard) of ‘Kupriyanov’ (archive) and a friend of Unusov (archive). Concluding, we can assume that ‘Kupriyanov’ and Unusov are the same person. And the information about the 15th spetsnaz squad will be saved in the database with facts of the Russian invasion in Ukraine. (CC BY 4.0) Original article by Nikolay Mahno, translated by St.Grishin
The San Francisco 49ers are overhauling their roster in the early stages of a rebuilding process under GM John Lynch and head coach Kyle Shanahan. This is not surprising, and it is also not surprising to see how significant the overhaul is. Our friends at Over The Cap put together an analysis of roster turnover around the league, and the 49ers figure prominently in it. Some ways are expected, and some are a little surprising. OTC figured out a handful of categories, including percentage of total snaps lost, percentage of quality snaps lost, percentage of quality special teams snaps lost, and average APY lost, and a ranking based on all these categories. The 49ers finished No. 1 in most total snaps lost, at 37.5 percent. They also lost 19.8 percent in the quality snaps category. Quality snaps represent players lost who then signed with another team. Obviously some players who got contracts are not the most “quality” of players, but it’s a general way to assess players who signed elsewhere vs. those who have not. The 49ers rank eighth in this category. One issue with this is that a player who has not signed elsewhere is not included. That means Colin Kaepernick does not count as a “quality snap lost.” That also means Dallas’ number doesn’t include Tony Romo, and Chicago’s doesn’t include Jay Cutler. The 49ers ranked No. 6 overall when combining all the categories. Here’s what OTC had to say about their ranking: This ranking surprised me especially since Colin Kaepernick remains unsigned and doesn’t count as a lost “quality snap” because of that. For as bad as the 49ers were they saw a large number of free agents get opportunities to play elsewhere, though as you can see by the average APY they are almost all bubble players that may not be on a roster in September. Still teams saw enough talent to at least give them a look. Some of the notable 49ers starters to sign elsewhere include WR Torrey Smith, S Antoine Bethea, and K Phil Dawson. Part time starts or notable reserves signing elsewhere included RB Shaun Draughn, ILB Michael Wilhoite, ILB Nick Bellore, QB Blaine Gabbert, ILB Gerald Hodges, and Rod Streater. Marcus Cromartie, a notable special teamer, also landed a contract elsewhere. There is a decent chance this number goes up with final roster cuts in September. The 49ers have a lot of new young talent, and quite a few free agents added to the roster, and they’ll replace some significant players. The average APY lost figure will remain low given the level of talent involved, but the percentage of snaps lost numbers will increase.
Europe's Rosetta mission, which aims to put a robot on Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko, has identified five potential locations for the touchdown. Image copyright ESA/Rosetta/MPS for OSIRIS Team Image caption Potential landing sites: Three on the smaller lobe (B, I, J); two on the bigger lobe (A, C) The choice of sites was driven largely by operational considerations - they are places engineers believe a lander can get down with the least risk. No-one has attempted to land on a 10-billion-tonne comet before. The Rosetta probe will despatch its Philae contact robot to 67P's icy surface on 11 November. 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko Named after its 1969 discoverers Klim Churyumov and Svetlana Gerasimenko Referred to as a "Jupiter class" comet that takes 6.45 years to orbit the Sun Orbit takes it as close as 180 million km from the Sun, and as far as 840 million km The icy core, or nucleus, is about 4km (2.5 mi) across and takes 12.4 hours to rotate The European Space Agency says it will be a one-shot opportunity. Rosetta and the comet are currently about 400 million km from Earth, making real-time radio control impossible. Instead, the process will have to be fully automated with commands uploaded several days in advance. The five sites on the "longlist" were selected at the end of a special meeting convened in Toulouse, France, this past weekend. Esa project managers were joined by attendees from the space agencies of France (Cnes) and Germany (DLR), which play key roles in the Philae effort. Instrument principal investigators on the washing machine-sized robot were also there to argue their preferences, as were the engineers, who could explain the technical possibilities. If one considers the comet to look like a rubber duck, then three of the chosen potentials (B, I and J) are on the head. Two are on the body (A and C). The dramatic neck region has been ruled out. The letter designation stems from an even longer list of 10 that was used to kick-off the whole selection process. The letter ordering carries no weight. A landing site needs to be relatively flat and free from boulders and fissures. Image copyright ESA/Rosetta/MPS for OSIRIS Team (A) interesting "body" site that will be attractive because it will afford a view of both lobes (C) another body site that features depressions, cliffs, hills and smooth plains (B) on the "head" and has a crater-like structure with a smooth bottom (I) looks to have a lot of fresh material on its surfaces. Also on the head (J) the third head location, with interesting features and good lighting conditions One key requirement has been the need to find places on the comet that experience something of a day/night cycle. This will give not only a better appreciation of the changing behaviour of 67P under all conditions, but will provide the lander with some important protection - from too much sun, which could lead to overheating, or too little light, which would make it difficult to charge the batteries. The engineers have also emphasised the need to find locations where Rosetta can deliver Philae at the right altitude and velocity, and maintain a communications link throughout the descent, which is likely to take several hours. Image copyright ESA/Rosetta/MPS for OSIRIS Team Image caption The neck region with its dramatic gorge has been ruled out of contention The longlist will be reduced to a leading candidate and perhaps a couple of back-ups in mid-September. A final go/no-go decision on a target landing site is expected by mid-October. By then, Rosetta's cameras and other instruments will have returned detailed data on the number one choice. Comet 67P has very little gravitational attraction - several hundred thousand times weaker than what Philae would experience at the Earth's surface. For this reason, it will touch down at no more than a walking pace - about 1m/s. It will use harpoons and ice screws to try to hang on to the comet and avoid bouncing back into space.
“The National Review crowd can’t admit they were wrong, dead wrong, about Donald Trump,” said Rick Manning, president of Americans for Limited Government. Manning made his comments during Friday’s edition of SiriusXM’s Breitbart News Tonight with Breitbart Senior Editor-at-Large Rebecca Mansour. “[Donald Trump] is the most conservative president in my lifetime, and I include Ronald Reagan,” opined Manning, reflecting on National Review’s ongoing framing of the 45th president as lacking conservative bona fides. National Review’s 2016 “Against Trump” article derided then presidential candidate Donald Trump as a “philosophically unmoored political opportunist who would trash the broad conservative ideological consensus.” Manning reflected on National Review’s expressed contempt for “white working class” communities, recalling the magazine’s 2016 cover story by Kevin Williamson which described predominantly white and rural communities as “dysfunctional and downscale.” “White working class” communities “deserve to die,” wrote National Review’s Williamson in that 2016 cover article about then-candidate Trump’s voters. When confronted by criticism for this stance, the magazine doubled down. Manning said Williamson was “dead wrong” that we should “let rural America die.” “Rural America is being murdered,” explained Manning. “They weren’t dying, they were being murdered by trade laws that sent out jobs overseas, by tax laws that made it too expensive to build stuff here, and by environmental laws that strangle the life out of anybody who wants to grow anything, extract anything, or build anything.” “And that’s why Kevin Williamson was dead wrong in his arrogance in believing that free trade was everything, when in fact what’s really important is having trade based on a level playing field,” said Manning. “America tied both hands behind her back in a boxing match trying to use our forehead to fight with. We’ll never be able to win that boxing match. Donald Trump’s changed the game.” Mansour said she is “still appalled” by that Williamson National Review article. “They were trying to write off these working class communities in the Rust Belt and these rural communities throughout America,” said Mansour. “And yet, this was the same National Review that shilled endlessly for the Bush administration’s wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and you know what? The sons and daughters of the very same people in these communities that National Review is telling us, ‘Oh, just let ‘em die off’ — those were the ones that went and fought the wars that National Review was shilling for. Those were the ones that bled in those wars. Those were the ones that came home injured from those wars, and National Review has the gall to then say, ‘Oh, your community should be allowed to die. You’re just lazy. You’re indefensible.'” “It was the most appalling piece I had ever read,” said Manning of Williamson’s National Review cover article. America’s decades-long hemorrhaging of manufacturing jobs, said Manning, was not an inevitable phenomenon, but a function of irresponsible trade policies. Trump, he added, was working toward enacting changes to make America’s economic landscape more hospitable to manufacturing enterprises. President Donald Trump is increasing American global economic competitiveness, said Manning, with specific aim at China. “He is creating an environment where America will have a chance to regain all the momentum of an economy that they had when I was a kid in the 1960s and 1970s,” said Manning. “We were the dominant economy in the world. We’re going to able to compete with the Chinese.” “We’re going to compete,” Manning explained. “We’re going to fight for our market. We’re not just going to roll over on our backs and say, ‘Oh, it’s a new normal, and turn the world over to the Chinese.’ Donald Trump is getting rid of the obstacles that block those opportunities to expand our own individual lives. I’m just overwhelmed with joy, right now, that we have a world now where America will compete, and our people will be able to compete, as opposed to being shut out because their own government refuses to fight for them.” Mansour concurred with Manning’s description of Trump’s conservatism. “It looks as if after one year in office we can definitely say that Donald Trump is governing as a conservative,” said Mansour. “Everything that ‘Against Trump’ magazine cover article told us — that Trump is not really a conservative, that he’s a Democrat in sheep’s clothing — they were one hundred percent wrong. He’s a conservative. He’s actually done certain things that even the other so-called conservatives on the stage during the primary — the sixteen other guys — some of them wouldn’t have done.” “Ivy league prigs” among the ostensibly conservative commentariat, said Manning, were myopic in their utilitarian and economic political analyses: “Ivy League prigs who sit there with their little theories not caring who gets harmed, hoping that they’ll be able to get a big screen TV for ten dollars less than they would’ve otherwise, in order to trade the jobs overseas. That’s got to end, and Donald Trump’s ending it, and that’s what’s important. That’s his victory.” The most important metric of presidential success, said Manning, a president’s impact on social attitudes. Trump is succeeding in this dimension, he said: “Here’s the measurement by which I measure a president. Has he changed the culture? Has he changed the mindset, has he changed the belief in the country about where we’re going to go and the hope for the future? This president has.” National Review markets itself as a “conservative” news media outlet. LISTEN: Breitbart News Tonight airs weeknights between on SiriusXM Patriot channel 125 between 9:00 p.m. and midnight Eastern (6:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. Pacific). Follow Robert Kraychik on Twitter @rkraychik.
The end of the year is quickly coming upon us, and with it comes your last chance to take advantage of some last minute tax deductions for the 2010 tax year, in addition to planning ahead for the tax credits you're going to claim. If you’re anything like me, you'll do what you can in order to ensure that more of your money stays in your pocket. So what are some of the credits and deductions you can claim in 2010? 10 Tax Credits And Tax Deductions Bump up your contributions to your retirement account: Max out the contributions to your 401k, 403(b) or IRA to lower your taxable income. With an IRA you can contribute up to$5,000, $6,000 if you are 50 or older. For a 401k or 403(b) the contribution limit is $16,500 , or 22,000 if you’re 50 or older. Write off investment losses: If you have lost money on your investments, you can deduct up to the $3000 in investment losses against normal income each year if your losses exceed your gains. Also known as tax loss harvesting. Home Improvement Tax Credits: You can claim up to a $1500 tax credit for certain energy efficient improvements to your home. Details here. Make tax deductible donations to charity: You can claim a deduction for certain eligible donations to charity. Make sure the charity is legitimate! Deduct medical costs: If you’ve had a lot of medical expenses during the year, you can deduct the amount of your medical and dental expenses that is more than 7.5% of your AGI. Details here. Child care credit: You can claim up to $6000 in child care expenses, but pre-tax spending accounts via workplaces usually have a $5000 limit. If you spend above that $5000, you are still eligible to claim an additional $1000, and save more by reducing your taxable income! Prepay your mortgage or real estate taxes: You can prepay your mortgage or real estate taxes, even if they’re not due until January. You can then deduct them on your 2010 taxes! Job hunting expenses: Looking for a new job? add up your expenses from mailings, travel, agency fees and resume preparation. Those job hunting expenses can be tax-deductible, as long as you are looking for a new job in the same field, and your costs are at least 2% of your adjusted gross income. This expense has to be itemized as “Miscellaneous”. Moving expenses to take first job: While you can't deduct expenses incurred looking for your first job, you can deduct expenses to move to a new location for that first job. If you moved more than 50 miles, you can deduct 16.5 cents per mile of the cost of getting yourself and your household goods to the new area, (plus parking fees and tolls) for driving your own vehicle. [source] Refinancing points: If you refinanced your house, you get to deduct the points you paid, over the life of the loan. That means you can deduct 1/20th of the points a year if it’s a 20-year mortgage—that’s $50 a year for each $1,000 of points you paid. Doesn't seem like much, but it's something! Bonus Tip – Challenge your property taxes: If you haven’t checked to see the value your county has assessed your property at, you may be paying too much in property taxes. Appeal your property taxes and save hundreds per year. Detail on how to do it here: Challenge property taxes. What Is The Difference Between A Tax Deduction And A Tax Credit? One thing a lot of people don't understand is the difference between a tax deduction and a tax credit. Generally a tax deduction will allow you to reduce the amount of taxable income that you have in that year. A tax credit will allow you to actually reduce the amount of taxes that you pay. So in most cases a tax credit will lead to a bigger reduction in your taxes. For example, if you have $50,000 in taxable income and you’re in a 25% tax bracket, here is the difference between a $1000 deduction and a $1000 credit. If you have a $1000 tax deduction – you would then have $49,000 in taxable income – and you would pay $12,250 in taxes. If you have a $1000 tax credit you would then pay $11,500 in taxes. That’s a big difference! Are there other tax credits or tax deductions that you think people should remember this year when filing? What tax deductions and credits are you taking advantage of this year? Tell us your thoughts in the comments!
tommybecausereasons: you can’t talk about your intentional weight loss and be neutral. it doesn’t matter whether you’re talking about goals, wishes, hopes, process, success, or failure. it doesn’t matter what tone of voice you use. it doesn’t matter whether you’re sounding serious or playful, confident or self-deprecating. we live in such a virulently fatphobic culture that talking about your personal intentional weight loss reinforces the hegemony. can’t help but. i left a disability community because of this: people wanted to share their personal weight loss successes and they wanted those statements to count as “only personal.” they wanted to talk about their intentional weight loss without being considered to be talking about anyone else’s fatness. that doesn’t exist. it can’t be neutral, and it can’t be just personal. we hear too many fatphobic messages every single day at gale wind force for anyone’s personal weight loss talk to be neutral or just personal. we’re subject to too many punishments for fatness. talking about your intentional weight loss contributes to the cultural value that fatness is bad, terrible, disgusting, unhealthy, immature, a “before” picture, a sign of a house not in order. (unless you’re being analytical about something you’ve done in the past, and using a fat politics lens. that’s not what this post is about.) you get to do whatever you want with your body. if someone tells you that fat activists want to prevent you from trying intentional weight loss, that’s a straw man and a lie. it’s also fucking laughable to frame fat activists as the power side of that any binary. you get to do what you want, and you get to talk about whatever you want – but your words count, and they have impact. so if you go ahead and talk about your intentional weight loss, know that you’re not being neutral in the world. you’re supporting the fatphobia that slams people every day. the fatphobia that kills fat people. no, you won’t kill a specific person from talking about your diet. but you’re on that side of the war. and consider this: why do you have the urge to talk about it? what social and cultural rewards do you get from talking about it? pin those down and you’ll start to see the problem.
(CNN) Another week, another series of demonstrations by opponents of President Donald Trump. Protesters in cities across the country took to the streets on Monday for "Not My President's Day" rallies with a strong anti-Trump message. Olga Lexell, who was one of about 20 people who helped organize the events in Los Angeles, Chicago, and New York, said they were intended to show Trump there was widespread opposition to his policies and "ridiculous" executive orders. "A lot of people are angry because he lost the popular vote and is ruling like somebody who won by a landslide," Lexell said. In New York's Columbus Circle, protesters held signs with a simple message -- the word "No!" in different languages. In addition, merchants sold T-shirts reading "Not My President" above smaller text reading "Elected but not chosen." "In the name of humanity, fascist America -- No! No! No! No! No!," they chanted. The rallies on Monday came amid what has been a fierce backlash from liberal grassroots groups to the Trump administration. That opposition has been voiced on a broad range of issues, including women's reproductive rights, immigration, and climate change. New Jersey resident Janell Kastner joined the New York rally to protest the "gross incompetence" of President Trump, she said. She said she hopes the protest "further unifies those of us who do not adhere to Donald Trump's apparent lack of moral standing." #notmypresident #dumptrump #blacklivesmatter #presidentsday #protest #whatinspiresyou A post shared by Janell Kastner (@janellkastner) on Feb 20, 2017 at 8:48am PST Rachel McPhee, another rally attendee, told CNN that she hoped "that people keep coming together to resist this administration and to show Donald Trump how much opposition he has, as he did not win the popular vote and isn't representative of our whole country." The protests took place in several dozen cities, according to the Not My President's Day Facebook page In Los Angeles, protesters gathered and held signs at City Hall, chanting "No ban, no wall!" And in Atlanta, protesters included college students like Alyssa McNerney, who said she came out to highlight Republican party's hypocrisy. Alyssa McNerney, 25, college student, says she came out to highlight the hypocrisy within the Republican Party #NotMyPresident protestor pic.twitter.com/Tk76a0eu90 — Nick Valencia (@CNNValencia) February 20, 2017 Rallies aim to 'keep momentum' Lexell said the rallies were an attempt to "keep the momentum" between the widely attended Women's March last month and the upcoming Tax Day March on April 15. Historically, protests against new presidents are not unusual, said David Meyer, a sociology professor at the University of California, Irvine, and author of "The Politics of Protest." "What is unusual is the vigor, speed, size, and number of issues that they're challenging Trump on," Meyer said. "To have a sustained (protest), every weekend, every couple of days, and it's a different issue -- I've never seen anything like this before." Monday's marches, and other similar rallies, do not have a clear and concise policy proposal, but Meyer said they still had a unifying message to the White House: "No" "To fixate on a single coherent agenda is something that social movements aren't really good at," Meyer said. "It doesn't really matter that much, as long as there's some kind of message that comes out. ... Campaigns focused so far on "No" have done that." Lexell said she thought the "No" message has already had an impact, and pointed to Republican politicians who have pushed back against Trump. "I feel like we are getting that done," she said. "I feel like this whole movement in general has been successful."
Screenshot by Dara Kerr/CNET To quote the Insane Clown Posse, "I've seen miracles in every way. And I see miracles everyday." And today happens to be one of those days, because it's the miracle of the birth of JuggaloCoin. That's right, a virtual currency strictly for Juggalos -- the counterculture devoted to the Insane Clown Posse rap group. Why? You ask. Well, what better way to buy clown makeup, stick meat, Faygo, and HatchetGear? Launched by a colorful-seeming character named Papa Nutt, the JuggaloCoin Web site debuted on Tuesday with supposed sales of the cryptocurrency starting on Wednesday. The site details everything Juggalos and Juggalettes need to know about amassing coin. Nutt says that JuggaloCoin (JUG) is specifically for Juggalos, so that they can "keep the funds in the family" (as the subculture often calls itself), "promote the positive aspects of the Juggalo lifestyle," "support Juggalo charities," and more. "These are coins that rightfully belong to the Juggalo Family," Nutt writes. "If someone is pretending to be a Juggalo just to get coins, that's basically stealing from the Family. PUBLICLY. Trust me, that's not something you want to do." It's unclear if JuggaloCoin is actually real or a spoof. Since the debut of Bitcoin, dozens of other digital currencies have popped up -- even ones that seem like a hoax, such as the cute, dog-inspired Dogecoin and the Kanye West-inspired Coinye. If JuggaloCoin is indeed real, it might not be that absurd of an idea -- considering how many Juggalos there are around the world. Also, the "family" has a massive marketing infrastructure with its annual Gathering of the Juggalos where tens of thousands of fans congregate, camp out, listen to live music, eat, get wasted, and brawl. As the Insane Clown Posse says in its "Miracles" song, "There's enough miracles here to blow your brains." (Via Vice)
Jonathan Cheban touches down in London as Celebrity Big Brother rumours mount KIM Kardashian's best friend Jonathan Cheban lasted just six days in the Celebrity Big Brother house last January. Jonathan Cheban has announced his arrival in the UK [Getty] But now it appears the 42 year old is back in the United Kingdom once again, after announcing his arrival on social media. Taking to Instagram, the publicist can be seen strolling through the airport in a red hoodie. Also wearing a pair of black jeans and dark sunglasses, the American looked relaxed as he entered the country. And with his his jumper emblazoned with the words "deadly intruder", the reality star could have been giving a hint of what he will be getting up to as he stays in London. "Touch down London Town," the TV personality captioned the picture. Jonathan has recently been rumoured to be re-entering the Celebrity Big Brother house after the Channel 5 show launched just last night. And with Kim's ex boyfriend Ray J already in the Borehamwood mansion, things could be "explosive" if the speculation is true. Ray J has hinted that he is happy to talk about his personal life, having already mentioned his infamous sex tape with the Keeping Up With The Kardashians star. Jonathan Cheban shared a photo of his suitcases [Twitter] "This is set to be explosive," a source told the Daily Mail. "Jonathan is fiercely protective of Kim so for the first time one of her nearest and dearest is going face to face with Ray J it's all going to kick off!" Celebrity Big Brother 2017 Friday, February 03, 2017 1 / 140 / Play slideshow Celebrity Big Brother 2017 Friday, February 03, 2017 1 / 140 / Play slideshow The stars reflect on their time in the Big Brother house [Channel 5] Rumoured Celebrity Big Brother 2017 stars are spotted arriving at a secret hotel The insider then continued: "Ray J has no idea that Jonathan might be coming into CBB and this will totally unsettle the house. "This will be the first time Jonathan and Ray J will have met although Jonathan has been vocal in the past about Ray J." Jonathan Cheban has made it clear he is watching Celebrity Big Brother at home [Twitter] However Jonathan is still yet to comment on the speculation, choosing not to reveal his purpose in the UK. But the publicist has made it very clear that he is watching this year's series of the show, making his opinions known on social media. "So far extremely boring #cbb," the former contestant wrote. "Can't see it getting much better." Kim Kardashian's best friend Jonathan Cheban entered the Celebrity Big Brother house last year [Getty] While moments earlier the star had written: "What a loser #CBB (you know who I'm talking about).. "See you soon London."
This week, the Supreme Court put to rest any doubt that when it invalidated a patent that added nothing novel to an otherwise unpatentable idea back in March, it was talking about software patents, too. In that case, Mayo v. Prometheus, the Court reviewed the three types of inventions that cannot be patented: laws of nature, natural phenomena, and abstract ideas and held that the patent at issue there—one covering diagnostic testing—represented nothing more than a law of nature, with “conventional steps, specified at a high level of generality,” appended. At the time, we commented that this ruling should likewise apply to software patents, so that merely adding a "conventional step" to an otherwise abstract idea would not make that abstract idea patentable (which is exactly what happened in the Ultramercial v. Hulu case). On Monday, the Supreme Court told the Federal Circuit to reconsider its Ultramercial ruling in light of Mayo, which sounds a lot like an endorsement that Mayo's limitations on patentable subject matter should extend to software, too. When Mayo was first decided, we were pleased to see that the Supreme Court’s language included abstract ideas in its analysis. Of course, many consider most software, and the algorithms that form its basis, abstract ideas that should not be patented. So you can see why the Mayo ruling, applied to abstract ideas, would have the potential to limit some of the worst software patents we’ve seen. Case in point: Ultramercial. We’ve written about this dangerous ruling before (here and here), but, in case you missed it, there the Federal Circuit upheld a patent that merely claimed a process for doing no more than viewing ads online before accessing copyrighted content. The court claimed that the patent was not abstract because the steps were completed on the Internet, despite the fact that the underlying idea—viewing ads in exchange for content—was indeed abstract. Essentially, if more courts and the Patent Office follow Ultramercial, the mere act of performing an abstract idea on the Internet would somehow make that otherwise abstract idea no longer abstract. Given the myriad ways in which the world is moving online, you can see just how badly this could go. Lately, many have argued about whether the Mayo ruling would apply to software, too. We think it clearly should, and does. It seems the Supreme Court thinks so, too. We hope the Federal Circuit will get it right this time and strike Ultramercial from the books.
How should Manitoba set up legal marijuana sales? Tell us what you think in a video comment in our new Good Talk experiment. On the south side of the 49th parallel, where football has four downs and Kinder Surprises are illegal, the rules governing weed are all over the place. In U.S. states such as Colorado and Washington, all cannabis products are completely legal. In Delaware and Illinois, medical cannabis is kosher, but recreational weed has merely been decriminalized. In North Dakota and Arizona, medical marijuana is legal, but recreational cannabis remains against the law. In Utah and Oklahoma, legalization applies only to medical cannabis products containing cannabidiol, a chemical that doesn't get humans high. Then there are states like Idaho and Nebraska, where cannabis is entirely illegal. The patchwork of regulations means both recreational and medical marijuana users in the U.S. ought to be mindful when they cross state lines. It also creates all manner of economic and regulatory headaches for the American municipalities who wind up enforcing the rules, assuming they choose to do so, not to mention municipal, county or state authorities tasked with trying to regulate the industry. When the Trudeau government announced plans to legalize marijuana, it appeared possible Canada could escape a similar fate. One set of the cannabis rules north of the border could prevent the creation of a patchwork of rules. But the prospects of a uniform Canadian cannabis regime are fading quickly. The Liberal government is now promising cannabis legislation that creates a north-of-the-border patchwork of marijuana rules. Ottawa plans to regulate marijuana producers and create safety standards, both to ensure contaminants are not present in commercial cannabis products and to measure the levels of active ingredients such THC, the cannabinoid that makes people high, and cannabidiol, which is believed to combat anxiety and improve sleep. The provinces, however, will determine pretty much everything else, including how cannabis products are distributed at the wholesale level, sold at the retail level and the prices for everything from dried marijuana leaves to condensed oils to edible products containing THC. The provinces will even be able to set the minimum age for marijuana use. The federal regulation pegs that age as 18, but every province will be able to set it higher, perhaps to coincide with the minimum drinking age. Ottawa's decision to give provinces this form of regulatory power could be seen in a number of ways. Cynically, handing the provinces the responsibility to regulate the distribution and sale of marijuana could be seen as downloading a complex and unwanted task. Cannabis at a grey-market pot dispensary in Montreal. Quebec is among the provinces where existing cannabis dispensaries are creating headaches in advance of formal rules. (Paul Chiasson/Canadian Press) Provinces like Ontario, Quebec and B.C., where illegal cannabis dispensaries are widespread and somewhat tolerated, may welcome the opportunity to regulate the cannabis retail industry. But in Manitoba, where the Progressive Conservative government has urged Ottawa to hold off on legalization, this regulatory handoff may constitute yet another irritant in federal-provincial relations. A day after Ottawa divulged more details of its legalization plans, the Pallister government isn't saying much. "Our government recognizes there are numerous challenges to address while provinces adjust to marijuana legalization in Canada," Justice Minister Heather Stefanson said Monday in an emailed statement. "We have been preparing for expected federal legislation through extensive research and consultation and will further review the policies of their legislation when it's introduced." This research dates back to the previous provincial government. Contrary to statements made by former premier Greg Selinger, who wanted Manitoba liquor stores to sell legal weed, the province has been studying the U.S. legalization experience to figure out what model would work well in Manitoba. For example, it seems entirely logical to hand the Manitoba Liquor & Gaming Authority responsibility for enforcing a regulatory framework for cannabis distribution and sales. The LGA already enforces gambling and alcohol-related regulations. Retail sales pose a bigger quandary. The province could choose to sell cannabis products through government stores, perhaps run by Manitoba Liquor & Lotteries. This is what Selinger once proposed in off-the-cuff comments that were later contradicted by provincial officials with more knowledge of the issue. It's more likely for a Progressive Conservative government to allow private businesses to conduct some or all of the cannabis retailing. The apparent Tory disdain for cannabis legalization may be offset by the prospects of creating a new retail sector that would likely be more innovative and competitive than a closed market of government-run cannabis stores. This is important, on a number of levels. On the customer-service side, consumers of legal cannabis products will be more likely to patronize establishments where the clerks can offer credible and knowledgeable advice. Selling cannabis is not like selling bottles of wine or whiskey, which differ from each other in terms of flavour and aroma. Cannabis products are chosen mainly because of their various psychoactive effects, which are dictated by the relative levels of THC and cannabidiol. THC-infused lollipops are displayed in Toronto in December. The provinces will be responsible for regulating the distribution and sale of cannabis products. (Chris Young/Canadian Press) In other words, the people who work at cannabis retailers have even more responsibility, when it comes to customer satisfaction, than do clerks at beer vendors or liquor stores. And that suggests the legal-cannabis retail environment may be more demanding and upscale than most purveyors of alcohol are now. Another question to consider is the variety of marijuana products that will be on offer in Manitoba. If fewer strains or edibles are available for sale here than in Saskatchewan or Ontario, or if there is an inadequate supply of legal cannabis, the marijuana black market Ottawa hopes to eliminate through legalization will persist. Manitoba's retail price for cannabis product also has to be competitive in order for the black market to disappear. Organized crime elements who profit from marijuana now will continue to move illicit weed so if legal stuff is priced above the ability for consumers to pay. Manitoba and the other provinces have a scant 15 months to figure out a regulatory system, assuming the Trudeau government is serious about enacting legalization on Canada Day, 2018. If we get it wrong, the results may be a lot more bizarre than the U.S. prohibition of Kinder eggs.
On April 4th, 2016, there was a Reddit rumor claiming that NX was using x86 architecture. Reddit’s moderators verified the post, and this gave the rumor some legitimacy. After speaking to seven different people this week, I can say with confidence that this is false. NX is not using x86 architecture like PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. The NX has special, custom-made chips and the overall design of the hardware is very modern. The chips are industry leading because they are very modern chips, but having modern chips doesn’t necessarily mean Nintendo is aiming to create the most powerful hardware on the market. Furthermore, any NX rumors on “Polaris chips” and “Polaris architecture” are all wacky. There’s a good reason why those rumors are wacky. In terms of raw power, numerous sources tell me that NX is much closer to Xbox One than PlayStation 4. Even that might be stretching it a tiny bit. Anyone who is claiming that NX is “two times the power of PS4 GPU” is being misled by their sources. Based on what I’ve heard, I don’t believe the NX will compete directly with PS4 (Neo) / PS4K in raw power. There will be plenty of debates over the NX’s specs because it’s not simple to directly compare two apples (with x86 architecture) to an orange (that doesn’t use x86 architecture). But everything that I’ve heard (so far) indicates that NX isn’t going to blow away any of the consoles on the market today…except for Wii U.
Nick Wass/Associated Press The Eugene Monroe era at left tackle is seemingly over for the Baltimore Ravens, as the team has reportedly decided to release him after exploring a potential trade for the offensive lineman. Adam Schefter of ESPN reported the move, noting Baltimore parted ways after trade talks with the New York Giants "fell through." Schefter noted the Giants, San Diego Chargers and Seattle Seahawks could have interest. The move is far from a shock, as NFL Network's Ian Rapoport reported Wednesday the "expectation is that [Monroe] won't be on the team by the end of [Thursday]. Could even be traded or released by the end of [Wednesday]." Jeff Zrebiec of the Baltimore Sun reported Tuesday the Ravens are "moving on" from the veteran tackle at some point in the near future. Clifton Brown of CSN noted Monroe was not on the field with his teammates at minicamp Tuesday despite being cleared for action. Monroe, 29, spent most of the 2015 season dealing with a shoulder injury. He was limited to just six games overall and has played 17 since signing a five-year, $37.5 million contract in March 2014. The Ravens will have a dead-money cap hit of $6.6 million, per Spotrac, though they would likely designate Monroe for a post-June 1 cut and spread that out. The move runs contrary to what owner Steve Bisciotti said in March, per Zrebiec: He is our left tackle going into next year. It's like [Mike] Campanaro. We think the world of him. But you have to know what you get out of the guy, and Eugene has been a pretty durable player these last couple years. But nobody works out harder than he does. I just feel bad. I think a lot of the speculation about us moving on from him clearly comes down to the fact that he's been hurt a lot, because he's played pretty well when he's been in there. We've always been happy with him when he's on the field. The Ravens later selected Notre Dame's Ronnie Stanley with the No. 6 overall pick in April's draft. While that confirmed Monroe was no longer their long-term fit at left tackle, his presence on the roster all the way into June seemed to indicate he'd be around. It's possible the team was waiting until he was cleared to avoid an injury settlement. A 2009 first-round pick, Monroe had been largely healthy before the last two seasons. He missed just four games in his first five seasons and emerged as a solid, albeit flawed, blindside protector. The Ravens acquired him four games into the 2013 season, and he played some of the best football of his career while playing at both tackle spots. Monroe isn't going to lack for work, but he may be better off playing the right side going forward. He's always been a far better run-blocker than a pass-blocker, and moving him to the less taxing side may help him stay healthy. There are probably more than a dozen teams around the league that would benefit from having Monroe take over at right tackle.
As an avid Android user, one of the biggest complaints I have with the platform is how long it takes to get a device updated to the latest version of the OS after it has been announced. Case in point: when I purchase the original Samsung Galaxy S I was told by both Samsung and T-Mobile reps that it would see an update to Gingerbread within a month or so. This wait turned into a six month long debacle where Samsung made and retracted promises on when the update would be delivered. The issue holding everything up was the fact that the TouchWiz interface that Samsung had created to go on the device had its tendrils so deep into the OS that it made it difficult to update. I had to wait for both Samsung and then T-Mo to update and test for quality control, which took much longer than anticipated. Samsung devices weren’t the only ones affected by this, HTC handsets that came with the Sense UI were slow to be updated as well. However, there is hope of this issue being rectified with Google making a strong move to bring standardization to the interface on Android devices. In an announcement made on the official Android Developer Blog , Google has now made it a requirement that an unmodified version of the Holo UI be installed on all devices running Android 4.0 and beyond. Google gives the reason for the decision as being a coordinated effort to ease the burden on app developers who have had to take into consideration how each different manufacturer skin may affect their programs. This is certainly valid, but to go one step further that mentioned in the post, the move is going to make it easier from here on out to start to eliminate fragmentation on the platform. Whether you agree or not, the fact that there are so many different versions of Android still in everyday operation out there speaks to the problem of platform disunity. Yes, more and more devices are showing up using Gingerbread, and this is certainly a good thing, but with Ice Cream Sandwich being the flavor of the month, the gap is once again going to widen until people begin to upgrade their devices on their own, or purchase a new phone with the OS installed. Google has made an excellent decision concerning the UI requirement because it’s going to force manufacturers to make the skins they put on devices a choice for users, not a mandatory “this is what you get.” This should lessen the time it takes to roll out new updates to legacy devices that can support the newest versions of Android. What is genius on Google’s part is that it has escaped looking draconian by saying that don’t want to stop companies from “building their own themed experience across their devices.” In the same move that mandates uniformity, they give manufacturers a guideline where they can still control the look and feel to a certain point. I am encouraged greatly by this decision, it shows that Google is taking user issues seriously and is actively trying to make the platform better. Now if they could release an ICS based tablet to truly unify the platform experience across multiple devices, I will have gotten everything on my Christmas list. via Android Developers Blog
The 27th annual Frank B. Memorial Book Sale will be held on Monday, April 8 through Friday, April 12 on the Brickyard outside D. H. Hill Library. The book sale generates funds to support the NCSU Libraries’ mission. Each event is the culmination of hundreds of hours of work by volunteers from the Friends, the Libraries staff and others. It’s a great way to recycle your unneeded books and to support library services and collections--giving NCSU Libraries that extra boost needed to help the NCSU Libraries remain a world-class resource for the University. The Frank B. Armstrong Memorial Book Sale honors the work and the passing of one of the Libraries most devoted supporters. Monday, April 8 5:00 – 6:00 pm: open for Life members of the Friends of the Library 6:00 – 8:00 pm: open for Friends of the Library members and volunteers (Note: if you are an NC State student, you can join the Friends of the Library for free) Hardbound books and media – $4; paperbound – $2 Tuesday, April 9 9:00 am – 6:00 pm: public Hardbound books and media – $4; paperbound – $2 Wednesday, April 10 9:00 am – 6:00 pm: public Half Price Sale! Hardbound books and media – $2; paperbound – $1 Thursday, April 11 9:00 am – 6:00 pm: public Bag Sale! Everything you can fit in a bag – $5 (bags will be provided by the Friends of the Library) Individual items will be sold at $2 (hardbound books and media) and $1 (paperbound books). Friday, April 12 9:00 am – 12:00 pm: public Bag Sale! Everything you can fit in a bag – $5 (bags will be provided by the Friends of the Library) Individual items will be sold at $2 (hardbound books and media) and $1 (paperbound books). Where to park. Proceeds from the 2019 sale will benefit the Libraries' endowment. The Friends of the Library is part of the NC State University Foundation. Donations of books, cds, and dvds are welcome year-round at the D. H. Hill Library loading dock, on the Hillsborough Street side of the building, Monday through Friday, 7:30 am to 3:30 pm. We do not accept VHS or cassette tapes. If you have any questions, please call the Friends of the Library office at (919) 515-2841. *Donate used books
----- Here goes the mandatory list... Other Steampunk Ponies: The Inventor - Twilight Sparkle The Timid - Fluttershy The Lady - Rarity The Mechanic - Applejack The Pilot - Rainbow Dash The Random - Pinkie Pie --- The Princesses - Celestia and Nightmare Moon The Dentist - Colgate The Flyers - Spitfire and Soarin' The Smuggler - Carrot Top The Messenger - Derpy Hooves The Dreamer - Lyra The Professor - Cheerilee The Virtuoso - Octavia The Evil Queen - Chrysalis The DJ - Vinyl Scratch The Soldier - Big Macintosh The Illusionist - Trixie The Perfumer - Roseluck The Herbalist - Zecora I couldn't sleep and my internet desided to slow down so I couldn't watch any movie... so I dug out an old sketch and finished it. It came out... a bit larger than I expected.And here's the wallpaper version, by the way - sta.sh/011zfnj0qq8e Some time ago I realized that I never actually stempunked Luna properly. I mean, yeeeah, there was this steampunk-armored Nightmare Moon but that doesn't count. And I also wanted to draw a looong multi-layered dress with transparent fabrics.And I also love drawing steampunk stuff without using this brass-and-copper color palette. I mean, it does look cool but gets old and kinda boring after a while. And victorian dresses used to be very vibrantly colored, so... yeah. Besides, I just don't see Luna wearing browns. She's just too majestic and... noble for that. I just like to imagine that she loves dressing up in sparkling, heavy decorated yet tastefuld outfits and even Celestia is more modest in this aspect. But that's just my headcanon.And that mane. Unf, I just love that mane.Oh, and her "profession" is of course "The Princess".The Confectioner - Bon Bon nastylady.deviantart.com/art/T…

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