Prompt: Attention! This news was published on the old version of the website. There may be some problems with news display in specific browser versions. Thunder League Division Structure Dear players! You have become acquainted with the Thunder League and watched some of the matches by the pro division teams. Your participation in the league events and the purchasing of League “Dog tags” has made it possible to increase the prize pool of the pro division. We thank you for your support with the eSports development in the game! The time has come for our supporters to become participants - gather

your teams and start to make your way to the top of the Thunder League - to the pro division! The Qualifying tournament starts on February 2016 We announce two more divisions in the league: Novice Division – a division for the novice teams. Semi Pro Division – medium division. Semi Pro Division will be established after the qualifying Novice Division tournament, where all the Squadrons may participate. Rules of the qualifiers: Tournament format: 7 vs 7. Mode: realistic with markers for both sides. A match means a single battle between two Squadrons on a random map in [Domination] mode. Two respawns are available in every match. Players in a team can choose any vehicles from those that the arbiters have authorised. The best 24 Squadrons will be able to name 9 participants for the final group qualifying tournament. You can see the tournaments regulations here. 6 qualifying groups (4 teams per group) will determine 12 teams (2 best teams per group) and thus they will form the Semi Pro Division. After the Semi Pro Division qualifiers we will run the first season. First season rules: The team that took 1st place qualifies for the Pro Division. The team that took 2nd place will have a play-off match against the team that came 9th in the Pro-Division. The teams that took 9th to 12th position, will have a play-off round against the best 4 teams in the Novice Division before the second season of the League. Once the first season is over there will be no more final qualifying tournaments. Thus we will make the structure for the Thunder League, which will have constant rotation between the divisions. Good luck in the future battles! Index. Structure of the groups to qualify for the Semi Pro Division after the Novice Division


Prompt: BEIRUT (Reuters) - Syrian rebels killed at least 190 civilians and took more than 200 hostage during an offensive in Latakia province in August, Human Rights Watch said on Friday, in what it calls the first evidence of crimes against humanity by opposition forces. A Free Syrian Army fighter and a civilian look up from a window as they stand inside a room in Deir al-Zor October 10, 2013. REUTERS/Khalil Ashawi HRW said many of the dead had been executed by militant groups, some linked to al Qaeda, who overran army positions at dawn on August 4 and then moved

into 10 villages nearby where members of President Bashar al-Assad’s Alawite sect lived. In its first government-sanctioned trip into Syria during the 2-1/2-year conflict, New York-based HRW has documented a series of sectarian mass killings by Assad’s foes during a broader campaign in which Western-backed rebels took part. In some cases, entire families were executed or gunned down as they fled, according to a report titled “You Can Still See Their Blood”. HRW identified five rebel groups instrumental to funding, organizing, planning and carrying out the Latakia attacks, including the al Qaeda-linked Jabhat al-Nusra and Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant groups, as well as the Islamist group Ahrar al-Sham and another unit of foreign jihadi fighters. These groups publicized their involvement through videos and statements, some of which were used to corroborate the HRW report. The operation appeared to have been largely financed by private Gulf-based donors, HRW said. What is less clear is the role of fighters from the Free Syrian Army (FSA), the armed wing of the main opposition coalition which is openly supported by the United States, Britain, France and Sunni Muslim Gulf states. In a video posted on August 11 and apparently filmed in Latakia, FSA chief Salim Idriss said the body was participating in the offensive “to a great extent.” But HRW researcher Lama Fakih, who spent several days in Latakia province in September and spoke to residents, soldiers, militiamen, doctors and officials, said she could not confirm if the FSA were present on August 4 when the atrocities took place. Assad’s forces are also accused by rights groups of committing atrocities and using incendiary and cluster bombs in populated areas. They have carried out sectarian attacks, including killing up to 450 civilians in two massacres in mainly Sunni Muslim areas in May,


Prompt: And now here’s my recap and review of the 5th disc from this classic Softcore TV series. Once again produced by Alain Siritzky and this is directed by David Cove with Mark Evan Schwartz listed as screenwriter. The theme of this disc, as evidenced by the title, is dreams. The alien crew doesn’t dream, and so Emmanuelle decides to teach them about dreams, and how you can explore sexual fantasies in them. So while she sleeps on a special table in the spaceship, the Haffron (Paul Michael Robinson) and the crew gather around her and use their special head-band devices

to telepathically monitor her dreams, and that’s what we see acted out on screen. First, Emmanuelle dreams of going to some big castle, and settles into her room. Raymond (Reginald Chevalier) and Cara (Debra K. Beatty) are already there when she arrives, and then Pierre (Brad Nick’ell) and Tascha (Tiendra Demian) show up. Then two other female crewmembers, Jay (Lori Morrissey) and Gee (Holly Hollywood aka Stacey Mobley), arrive. And when Emmanuelle hears a noise in the room next to hers, she looks in and sees Theo (Timothy Di Pri) and a woman (I dind’t catch her character’s name) naked on the bed. Later that night she looks out her window and see Raymond and Cara having sex in an outdoor hot tub. That’s our first full sex scene of the disc, about 9 minutes into it, and it’s pretty hot (again notable for being an interracial sex scene, which is rare in softcore), and also give the real Raymond and Cara some idea up on the ship. In a flashback we get a replay of a sex scene from A Lesson In Love where Emmanuelle had sex in a dark room with a man (Carl Ferro), but we can’t see much. Then Emmanuelle takes a shower, and we’re treated to lingering close-ups of Krista’s nude body. Meanwhile, Emmanuelle has a crystal ball that she found somewhere, and while she’s in the shower a male genie (Andre Lemay) appears out of it. He introduces himself to Emmanuelle, and she names him Gene. That night there’s a big banquette at the castle, with all the couples from earlier eating at the table. And Emmanuelle inadvertently makes a wish that results in everyone getting naked and having sex on the table (Pierre and Tascha, Raymond and Cara, Jay and Gee, Theo and


Prompt: President Trump made his debut at the United Nations on Tuesday, addressing the U.N. General Assembly at its annual opening. Afterward, media headlines and news coverage of the speech focused on Trump’s absurd (but admittedly amusing) new nickname for Kim Jong Un, “Rocket Man,” and his threat that the United States is willing to “totally destroy” North Korea to protect itself and its allies. The mainstream media, liberal elites, and the international community have been doing a lot of handwringing about Trump’s rhetoric and his talk of going it alone. They also had a lot to say about his comments

concerning the Iran nuclear deal, whose dissolution the president has long desired. Although the focus was on Trump’s supposedly dangerous isolationism and nationalism, what’s really upsetting them is that he dared to say what no one is supposed to say: that the U.N. is broken and that it is unrealistic and dangerous to have a world without borders and without national sovereignty. In other words, Trump violated the Emperor Has No Clothes rule. The Importance of Governments Serving Their People One of the major themes of Trump’s U.N. speech was national sovereignty, both of the United States and of foreign countries: “Our government’s first duty is to its people, to our citizens, to serve their needs, to ensure their safety, to preserve their rights, and to defend their values. As president of the United States, I will always put America first. Just like you, as the leaders of your countries, will always and should always put your countries first.” Although the international community gives lip service to the idea of national sovereignty and the U.N.’s role in defending it, this concept fundamentally conflicts with the liberal belief that the world should be progressing toward a kind of borderless global nationalism, in which no one country can claim superiority over another. That’s the real reason Trump was so roundly criticized for saying that he’s willing to go it alone on North Korea. Trump also dared to praise America for its enduring legacy as a free democracy. His speech was devoid of the kind of America-bashing that President Obama was fond of, especially in front of international audiences. Instead, Trump asserted that the United States should “shine as an example for everyone to watch,” which indeed it should. He also praised the 230th anniversary of the U.S. Constitution as the “foundation of


Prompt: HXQ: A Compiler from XQuery to Haskell Download HXQ-0.19.0.tar.gz Description HXQ is a fast and space-efficient translator from XQuery (the standard query language for XML) to embedded Haskell code. The translation is based on Template Haskell. HXQ takes full advantage of Haskell's lazy evaluation to keep in memory only those parts of XML data needed at each point of evaluation, thus performing stream-based evaluation for forward queries (queries that do not contain backward steps). This results to an implementation that is as fast and space-efficient as any stream-based implementation based on SAX filters or finite state machines. Furthermore, the coding

is far simpler and extensible since it is based on XML trees, rather than SAX events. Since HXQ uses lazy evaluation, you get the first results of non-blocking queries immediately, while the non-streaming XQuery processors must first parse the entire input file and construct the whole XML tree in memory before they produce any output. Finally, HXQ can store XML documents in a relational database (currently MySQL or SQLite), by shredding XML into relational tuples, and by translating XQueries over the shredded documents into optimized SQL queries. The mapping to relational tables is based on the document's structural summary, which is derived from the document data rather than from a schema. It uses hybrid inlining to inline attributes and non-repeating elements into a single table, thus resulting to a compact relational schema. For each such mapping, HXQ synthesizes an XQuery that reconstructs the original XML document from the shredded data. This XQuery is fused with the user queries using partial evaluation techniques and parts of the resulting query are mapped to SQL queries using code folding rules so that all relevant predicates are promoted to SQL. This pushes most evaluation to the database query engine, thus resulting to a fast execution over large data sets. Performance HXQ shines best when used for data intensive applications. For example, the XQuery in tests/Test2.hs, which is against the DBLP XML document (420MB), runs in 36 seconds on my laptop PC and uses a maximum of 3.2MB of heap space (using the runtime options +RTS -H2m -M3.2m ). (All results are taken on an Intel Core 2 Duo 2.2GHz 2GB running ghc-6.8.3 on a 32-bit Linux 2.6.27 kernel.) To contrast this, Qexo, which compiles XQueries to Java bytecode, takes 1 minute 17 seconds and uses 1400MB of heap space for the same query, while


Prompt: In a recent interview, Angela Merkel made a statement that may be considered the signal for the implementation of the brutal Greek experiment inside Germany itself: I am concerned with trying to provide jobs for as many people as possible. We have improved in the last years and have managed to halve unemployment since 2006, but we have also made sure that minimum earning capacity has improved through the minimum wage. This means that people who work the full day should not be reliant on welfare. Economist Heiner Flassbeck explained to Sharmini Peries and The Real News how much the

German chancellor and her party is devoted to the 'ideology' of lowering wages in the name of job creation. As he said: What Angela Merkel says is an ideology. It's an ideology of her party, but also it's affecting the Social Democrats, that says if you go for a policy that reduces unemployment, this is the best kind of social policy that you can have. Even if people suffer or if wages fall, this is then absolutely necessary and is justified because falling wages do a good thing, produce a good thing, namely more jobs, which is not true. Unemployment is falling very slowly, but it's falling quite steadily, but it is not, so to say, the immediate result of the reduction of the social contributions to the poorer people or the reduction of the wages. It's mainly the result of Germany's huge export surplus, which cannot be copied by other countries. Germany has now a very low minimum wage. It's eight euros and a little bit, which is much too low given the productivity of Germany. If Madam Merkel would really be realistic and would not have her ideology of low wages producing jobs, she would increase the minimum wage. There would be no problem at all given the very high German productivity. The Social Democrats and the Green Party were those in the beginning of the century who reduced the social contributions, who said we have to lower the contributions dramatically to make the people search for work and that will reduce unemployment. The Social Democrats have never distanced from their own mistakes and so there is no difference between the Social Democrats and the Christian Democrats on this. The most probable outcome will be a continuation of the Grand Coalition, so we will go on for the


Prompt: Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo of New York speaks to reporters about his proposal to offer a $1.7 billion property tax credit for homeowners and renters. His was among proposals in several states this year to provide tax relief for property taxpayers. (AP) With some of the highest median property taxes in the nation, it’s no surprise that relief is at the top of many political agendas in New York, Connecticut and New Jersey. Counties that surround New York City in those three states account for 18 of the 20 highest-taxed counties in the nation, according to a Stateline analysis of

the U.S. Census’ 2013 American Community Survey data, which is the latest available. But they aren’t the only states where homeowners feel pressure from property taxes, which are rising faster than inflation nationally and prompting lawmakers to look for ways to provide relief. Median property taxes rose 57 percent from $1,334 in 2000 to $2,090 in 2013, while inflation was only 35 percent during the period. (See the map for the latest median property taxes in each state, and the county with the highest median property taxes in each state.) Texas lawmakers, for instance, are debating as much as a $2.2 billion cut in property taxes. The median tax bill there is about $2,500. That bill, however, is only about a third of the $7,300 for median property tax New Jersey, and a quarter of the tax bill property owners pay in Westchester County, New York, which has the highest median levy of $10,000. “If a New Yorker heard about a property tax bill in Texas, he would say. ‘You have nothing to complain about,’” said Scott Drenkard, an economist at the Tax Foundation, a nonpartisan tax policy research group. “But Texans complain about property taxes quite a bit. If you ask them what needs to be cut, the average Texan would say it’s property taxes. It’s the tax policymakers hear the most about from their constituents. It’s the most hated tax.” Although states generally don’t levy property taxes (Arizona did until 1996, and Minnesota taxes some commercial and seasonal property), state lawmakers routinely look for ways to ease them at the local level with caps, subsidies, exemptions, or changes in the balance between commercial and residential tax rates. In addition to New York, Connecticut and Texas, relief proposals have been up for debate in Pennsylvania, Maine and Nebraska this


Prompt: Capitalism no longer delivers a rising standard of living in the regions where it began and developed first: Western Europe, North America and Japan, says Richard Wolff. (Image via Shutterstock)Wage growth in the world slowed to an average of 2 percent in 2013. That was less than in 2012 and far less than the pre-crisis rate of 3 percent. Starker still were the differences between wage growth in the “developed world” (chiefly Western Europe, North America and Japan) and wage growth in the major “emerging growth” countries, chiefly China. In the “developed world” wage growth in 2012 was 0.1 percent,

and in 2013 it was 0.2 percent. Far from portending any economic “recovery,” that level of wage “growth” is rather called “wage stagnation.” In stunning contrast, wage growth in the major emerging growth economies was much better: 6.7 percent in 2012 and 5.9 percent in 2013. These remarkable statistics come from the Global Wage Report 2014/15 released on December 5, 2014, by its author, the International Labor Organization (ILO). This report clearly exposes the immense costs of a globalizing capitalism for the wage-earning majorities in Western Europe, North America and Japan. Allowing their leading capitalists to maximize profits by relocating production out of those regions is deeply and increasingly destructive to them. The ILO report’s chart below summarizes the key wage results of the last decade’s capitalism. Economic growth, rising real wages and rising standards of living are economic realities in China and other emerging growth countries. Economic crisis, stagnant wages and declining working and living standards are the economic realities for Western Europe, the United States and Japan. Capitalist enterprises keep moving their operations (first manufacturing, now also many services) from high to low-wage regions of the world to raise their profits. Departing capitalists leave their former host communities with unemployment and all its social costs. Such conditions force desperate competition for jobs that drives down wages and guts job benefits. Public services decline as government budgets suffer. Capitalism no longer delivers a rising standard of living in the regions where it began and developed first: Western Europe, North America and Japan. Instead of goods, capitalism delivers the bads. A second key insight emerges from another chart (below) in the ILO report. In the developed countries, while real wages stagnated throughout the crisis since 2007, the productivity of workers continued to rise. That explains the deepening inequalities of income


Prompt: Analysis This past Saturday afternoon, two New York City police officers were gunned down in cold blood while they sat in their squad car outside a Brooklyn housing project. Within hours, the head of the city’s largest police union declared whom was to blame for the terrible tragedy: Mayor Bill de Blasio. Standing outside the hospital where the slain officers were taken, Patrick Lynch, the president of the Patrolmen’s Benevolent Association, declared that there was “blood on many hands tonight” but that it “starts on the steps of City Hall, in the office of the mayor.” Those jarring comments followed

the extraordinary decision by Lynch and many officers to literally turn their backs on the mayor as he entered the hospital. Taken in tandem, those actions cemented the perception that de Blasio’s support for those protesting the chokehold death of Eric Garner had created a rift between the mayor and his city’s police force, one that Saturday’s slayings of officers Wenjian Liu and Rafael Ramos had potentially made insurmountable. But that’s an oversimplification of a story that’s been unfolding since long before Garner’s killing. The reality is that de Blasio and the union have been at odds since he campaigned for mayor last year on the promise to upend the city’s law enforcement status quo, including overhauling Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s stop-and-frisk program — a vow that de Blasio largely kept once in office. The police union, meanwhile, has a long history of taking public stands against New York City mayors, including law-and-order types Bloomberg and Rudy Giuliani. The relationship between de Blasio and the cops wasn’t soured solely due to the mayor’s response to Garner’s death and the subsequent protests. The mayor and the NYPD were never going to get along, no matter what. Devoid of that context, Lynch’s remarks this weekend sounded like a rare, raw moment of candor unleashed in the heat of the moment. In reality, this was simply the latest, loudest attempt to discredit de Blasio. Lynch’s ongoing efforts to undermine the mayor were caught on tape eight days earlier at a closed-door union meeting. “If they’re not going to support us when we need ’em,” Lynch said, according to a recording of his remarks obtained by Capital New York, “we’ll embarrass them when we can.” Given the chance Saturday, Lynch did just that. The tension between City Hall and the police union predates de Blasio


Prompt: With an impressive group of future television and movie stars, That '70s Show graced the Fox airwaves for eight seasons (almost a full decade!) beginning in 1998. Here are some facts about how the Point Place, Wisconsin cheese was made. 1. TOPHER GRACE WAS DISCOVERED PERFORMING IN A HIGH SCHOOL PLAY. Co-creators Bonnie and Terry Turner were the parents of a cast member of a high school production of A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum. Their attention gradually turned to the lead, Topher Grace. The Turners asked him to audition the following year for their new

show. 2. ASHTON KUTCHER WAS A MODEL BEFORE AUDITIONING. He got the part of Kelso after playing him “naive” at his audition, while everybody else played him as dumb. But Kutcher had never acted: "The first five episodes of That '70s Show, I was convinced I was going to be fired, because I was terrible," Kutcher told Rolling Stone. 3. MILA KUNIS LIED ABOUT HER AGE AT HER AUDITION. The then-14-year-old reasoned that the producers wouldn't want to cast someone too young because of work hour restrictions for minors, so "I told them I was going to be 18," Kunis told People. "But I didn't tell them when I was going to be 18!" 4. KUNIS’ FIRST KISS WAS ON THE SHOW, WITH KUTCHER. She enjoyed some other firsts on the show, not all of them with cast members she ended up marrying: Wilmer Valderrama taught her how to drive. Danny Masterson took her to her first club and bought her her first drink. He was also her prom date. 5. MASTERSON’S ROLE IN THE FACULTY WAS CUT SHORT SO HE COULD SHOOT THE PILOT. All the actor was told about his character, Hyde, was that he is a “deep theorist stoner type.” Masterson figured out how to play his character “by episode four or five.” 6. KURTWOOD SMITH BASED RED FORMAN ON HIS STEPFATHER. Smith's stepdad passed away shortly before the pilot was filmed. Smith also has the distinction of being the only regular cast member who was actually born in Wisconsin. 7. THE ORIGINAL TITLE FOR THE SHOW WAS TEENAGE WASTELAND. The Who songwriter Pete Townshend refused to allow his lyric from “Baba O’Riley” to be appropriated for the show; the same went for the proposed title of The Kids Are Alright. After Feelin’ All Right was presented


Prompt: Pin 0 Shares I recently found out that one of my associates uses her Roth IRA as an emergency fund. Rather than put money into a low yield savings account, or some other cash account, she uses her retirement account as an emergency fund. Technically, the basics of a Roth IRA are conducive to this arrangement. However, you do want to be careful. Think things through before you use your Roth IRA as an emergency fund. Why Your Roth IRA Could, In Theory, Be An Emergency Fund In theory, your Roth IRA works as an emergency fund because of the

withdrawal rules. You are actually allowed to withdraw your contributions to a Roth IRA at any time, and for any purpose – no matter your age. This means that you can take money out of your Roth IRA with no penalty or tax, as long as you are only withdrawing money that you have sent to the account through regular annual contributions. As long as your withdrawal amount doesn't exceed your overall contribution amount, you don't have to pay a penalty or taxes. Keep in mind that previous withdrawals count against your overall contribution amount. Continues after Advertisement You do have to be careful, though. Withdrawing from your Roth IRA can cost you if you don't do it right. If you are under 59 1/2, and you exceed your contribution amounts (except in certain cases), you might be subject to a 10% penalty and to paying income taxes on the amount. Make sure you know what you are doing before you withdraw money from your Roth IRA to shore up your finances in the case of emergency. Opportunity Cost While you might not have the expenses associated with penalties and taxes when you withdraw your contributions to your Roth IRA, you are still subject to opportunity cost. Remember: The money in your Roth IRA is working for you. You are earning interest at a pretty good rate (depending on your asset allocation and market conditions), and if you withdraw principal, you miss out. You can't replace the time that your money might have spent in your Roth IRA, growing with the power of compound interest. On the other hand, though, some insist that the opportunity cost comes when you put that money in a low yielding cash account as an emergency fund. Because your money (theoretically) grows faster in the


Prompt: In March 2009, SAX Limited had sought a loan from Gulf Bank to buy two aircrafts and related equipment. Mohamud Sheikh Hussein offered his property L.R No. Eastleigh 36/11/1 as the guarantor. By then, his property was worth Sh160M and has since gone up. For him it was just another of many bank engagements but unknown to him, it would end up in a decade long fight to regain full control of his suit property. In April, 2009, Gulf Bank after reviewing the securities, agreed to advance a Murabaha Asset Finance Facility To SAC Ltd as the borrower Sh95M. This

amount would be used in purchasing a used Aircraft Beechcraft Baron 95-E55,5Y-BPC at a cost of Sh11,200,000. A 5 tonne, Sideley HS478 Aircraft From Track Mark Ltd at Sh80M and Sh2.9M to purchase propellers. The Sh160M property of Mohamud was to guarantee for Sh120M with SAC directors guaranteeing Sh94M but the registration was to remain jointly in the name of the bank and the company SAC. The terms for this MURABAHA facility was that profit and not interest would be charged at 16.5% of the facility. That was a deal sealed and so Mohamud thought his work was finished. Things started making twists on 4th May barely weeks after SAC was advanced the principal amount of Sh95M. Gulf issued SAC with a second letter of offer varying the terms of the MURABAHA facility and this would translate into review of security terms for the mortgage. In a offer letter dated 4th May 2008, now the security property as the first ranking had a legal charge of Sh95M, Mohamud switched to guarantee Sh95M. In a letter of offer dated 4th November 2009 and seen by Kenya Insights, a second Murabaha stock finance was advanced to SAC the borrower for the sum of Sh15M. This amount was over and above the sums secured by the initial mortgage dated 9th September according to court papers. Now here’s the point Fraud started playing, this second facility of Sh15M was given by the bank to SAC using Mohamud’s knowledge and consent as the guarantor and so the Murabaha facility wasn’t secured by the initial mortgage according to a court of appeal ruling on this case. Gulf representatives liaised with SAC, reviewed the terms of mortgage while using the guarantor’s property, went ahead and issued another facility of Sh15M without his consent just to make the


Prompt: Yelling and swearing and even threats of violence have come to characterize public-engagement sessions in Calgary, but the city is far from alone in seeing its civic gatherings devolve into such uncivil behaviour, council heard Monday. "Things are changing," said city manager Jeff Fielding, who held top administrative jobs in Kitchener, Burlington, and London, Ont., before taking on his current role in Calgary in 2014. "People are not only engaged, but they're angry-engaged." Fielding said he's observed a marked increase in "the degree of acrimony" in the public's behaviour over the past five years, in particular. His comments came during

a special council meeting on the city's public-engagement policies. Mayor Naheed Nenshi said Monday's meeting had been planned months earlier but acknowledged the coincidental timing with the "elephant in the room" — last week's testy information session on the southwest transitway project. The day after that public meeting, Nenshi announced all subsequent info sessions on the project would be cancelled due to verbal harassment and even threats of violence against city staff. "I heard of 20-odd incidents that had happened, including the following: one member of the public saying about one of my colleagues, 'Where is that bitch? I'm going to strangle her,'" Nenshi said in explaining his decision. The mayor also revealed a city employee had been physically assaulted at an earlier public-engagement session on the same project in October, with her clothing pulled at and her name tag ripped off. 'Berated, demeaned, physically assaulted' The mayor didn't name that employee but she came forward via a public Facebook post, saying the pattern of behaviour at such sessions is nothing new. "I have been berated, demeaned, physically assaulted and disrespected by complete strangers on too many occasions," Emma Stevens wrote. "I'm sorry for the Calgarians that now won't get the chance to provide their input in person because of the behaviour of some of their neighbours," she added. "But I'm also, frankly, relieved that I won't be put in a position that compromises my safety and well-being." The city will continue to carry out online engagement as it finalizes plans for the bus rapid transit expansion in the southwest, but all in-person gatherings have been called off. Fragmented media reinforces worldviews The shift toward angrier people at public-engagement sessions has also been noticeable in the United States, according to public-participation specialist Wendy Green Lowe, who visited Calgary to work


Prompt: After reading my Assassin’s Creed 3 multiplayer abilities and crafting guide, it’s only natural you wanted more information on setting up your ability slots. After all, that stuff only makes up the active half of assassination… what about passive effects? Today, we’re taking a look at the perks, streaks, and bonuses available in Assassin’s Creed 3 multiplayer. Find out what every option does, where it shines, and whether or not you should be using each passive boost available. Combined with our abilities advice, you’ll have an excellent head-start in virtual colonial manslaughter. Assassin’s Creed 3 multiplayer perks explained Perks are

always-on effects you choose that give your persona an advantage in certain gameplay situations. Some are offensive in nature, letting you find and kill your targets more easily. Others are defensive, allowing you to hide and escape from would-be murderers. Yet other perks are fairly neutral, granting bonuses that influence the way you navigate or use your abilities. For each ability set, you may have exactly two perks. For the most part, there’s no downside to filling them right away, so study the advice below and stock up on the passive boons that best resonate with your game mode and personal style. Blender: 4/5 Ideal for the lonely-hearted, Blender ensures you’re never alone. Whenever your persona enters a blend group, if there are no duplicates already within, one will randomly transform into a clone of you. The animation is noticeable, but quick, and the effect lasts indefinitely. If you move to a new blend group, your magically-created copy will revert, and a fresh clone will spring up in your new group. Blender is a strong consideration for Deathmatch, where there are no natural clones of your character. It allows you to constantly create diversions without expending an ability slot, something most perks can’t do. It’s also generally useful whenever you’re on defense, since generating additional twins will always decrease the odds that your pursuers will identify you correctly. While Blender is powerful, it does have its downsides – this perk has no use on offense, and can actually be a detriment when you’re on the hunt. If you move into a blend group with or near your target, he or she is likely to notice the animation of a fresh copy being spawned. Your cover as a real player will immediately be blown, costing you an otherwise high-scoring kill. Copycat:


Prompt: My Little Pony: The Movie is a 2017 animated musical fantasy film based on the television series My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic, which was developed as part of the 2010 re-launch of the My Little Pony franchise by Hasbro. The film was directed by Jayson Thiessen and based on a story and screenplay co-written by Meghan McCarthy, both Friendship Is Magic veterans. The plot follows the alicorn Twilight Sparkle, her five pony friends – collectively known as the "Mane 6" – and her dragon assistant Spike embarking on a quest to save their home of Equestria from an evil

conqueror, gaining new friends in the process. In addition to the show's regular voice cast reprising their roles, the film features the voices of Emily Blunt, Kristin Chenoweth, Liev Schreiber, Michael Peña, Sia, Taye Diggs, Uzo Aduba, and Zoe Saldana as new characters. The film was produced by Allspark Pictures and DHX Media,[4][5] using traditional animation created with Toon Boom Harmony.[6] It premiered in New York City on September 24, 2017,[7] and was released on October 6, 2017 in North America through Lionsgate[8] and Canada through Entertainment One Films. The film received mixed reviews from critics and grossed over $60 million worldwide on a $6.5 million budget. Plot [ edit ] The ponies of Equestria prepare for their first Friendship Festival, overseen by Princess Twilight Sparkle in Canterlot. The festivities are interrupted by an invasion of monsters commanded by the broken-horned unicorn Tempest Shadow, who uses magical obsidian orbs to petrify Twilight's fellow princesses; Princess Celestia gives Princess Luna incomplete instructions to seek help from "the queen of the hippo" before they are both petrified. Twilight flees the city alongside her five pony friends – Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Applejack, and Fluttershy – and her dragon assistant, Spike. Tempest is contacted by her superior, the Storm King, who reminds her to gather all of Equestria's princesses for him to harness their magic through his mystical staff, promising to restore her horn in exchange. Twilight's group travel to the desert city of Klugetown in search of the aforementioned "hippos". A feline con artist named Capper offers to escort the group, secretly intending to sell them to settle a debt; however, he develops a genuine friendship with them. Twilight discovers an atlas that reveals the "hippos" to be hippogriffs, exposing Capper's treachery. After the group evade a pursuing Tempest aboard a


Prompt: Sarah Kliff covers health policy for The Washington Post and writes for Wonkblog. Coined by the health insurance industry, the term “young invincibles” has come to describe 18-to-34-year-olds who go without coverage because they expect to remain healthy. But young invincibles are crucial to making the Affordable Care Act work: The White House is counting on them to buy coverage under the new law, helping to spread the risk and hold down premiums for everybody. Let’s debunk a few myths about who these uninsured young people are and what they want from the health-care system. 1. Young adults are uninformed

about the health-care law. Young adults tend to be about as aware of the health-care law as the rest of the population. A Kaiser Family Foundation poll in August found that 33 percent of adults had heard nothing about their state health insurance exchanges. That figure was 43 percent among 18-to-25-year-olds and 41 percent among 26-to-35-year-olds. Separate polling from the Pew Research Center found that young adults were more aware than any other demographic that the health-care law offers subsidies for low-income Americans to purchase insurance. However, they were less aware of the requirement to buy coverage. Young Americans are especially aware of the provisions that affect their own coverage options, most prominently the option to stay on their parents’ insurance plans until age 26. A Commonwealth Fund poll in March found that 62 percent of young adults knew of that program. 2. They don’t want health insurance. Young adults do have the highest uninsured rate of any demographic, with about 27 percent of people between 19 and 34 lacking insurance coverage, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation. Health-care experts say this doesn’t necessarily mean that they don’t want insurance, but rather that they are less likely to be offered coverage through their employers. That’s because more young people work part-time or hourly-wage jobs that do not offer health benefits. When offered coverage by their employers, about 80 percent of young adults sign up — about the same rate as older workers. Millions of young adults have also gained coverage under the health law’s provision that allows them to stay on their parents’ health insurance until they’re 26. The Department of Health and Human Services estimates that, since this option became available in 2010, more than 3 million young adults have taken advantage of their parents’ insurance plans. When the


Prompt: Customers Can Keep The Tip — Which Might Please Restaurant Workers Enlarge this image toggle caption Courtesy of Packhouse Meats Courtesy of Packhouse Meats Imagine there's no tipping. By getting rid of gratuities, a few restaurants believe they'll make life easier for customers, while providing a more stable income to servers. "It eliminates the pressure on the guest to worry about paying our staff," says Brian Oliveira, chef at Girard, a French-style restaurant opening in Philadelphia in a few weeks that intends to offer its staff up to $13 an hour in salary, plus health benefits, but with no tips.

Successful ideas in the restaurant business always get copied. Oliveira said he and his partners were inspired by no-tipping experiments happening at a handful of restaurants in California, Texas and New York. Those restaurants say employees are more satisfied and that service has actually improved. Moving away from tipping may never spread industrywide, but it's a model that may help answer some complaints about poor salaries. Packhouse, a no-tip meat emporium that opened in Newport, Ky., in January, pays servers $10 an hour and gives them the chance to earn 20 percent of their total sales per shift if they hit certain targets — whichever is higher. Servers bring home the bigger amount most days. "If it's dead all day, they don't walk out making nine bucks," says Kurt Stephens, Packhouse's general manager. Not all servers will be better off under this type of arrangement, but lack of tipping makes for easier accounting for customers and the business itself. Menu prices might read a bit higher, but diners will know what they'll end up paying at meal's end — probably no more than they would have at an equivalent place where they'd tip. And lack of tips simplifies compliance for restaurateurs obligated to make up the difference between servers' base pay and the standard minimum wage, if they don't make enough in tips. Currently, the federal minimum wage for tipped workers is $2.13 an hour, although that baseline is higher in a majority of states. Tipping creates winners and losers. The people who bring you your steaks at high-end restaurants are probably doing quite well off tips, but many restaurant workers can't count on bringing home big bucks, especially after slow shifts on off days. A recent study from the labor-backed Economic Policy Institute found that 17 percent of restaurant


Prompt: News in Science Heartbeat key for blood growth in embryos For blood cells to grow in an embryo, they need the pressure of a beating heart, say US researchers. The finding explains why an embryo's heart starts beating just weeks after conception, and it points the way to new stem cell-based treatments for a host of blood disorders such as leukaemia. "In learning how the heartbeat stimulates formation of embryos, we've taken a leap forward in understanding how to direct blood formation from embryonic stem cells in the petri dish," says Dr George Daley of Harvard Medical School and Children's

Hospital Boston, whose study appears in the journal Nature. "These observations reveal an unexpected role for biomechanical forces in embryonic development," says Guillermo Garcia-Cardena of Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, who also worked on the study. Stem cells are the body's master cells, providing a renewable source of brain, bone, muscle, blood and other cells. An embryo in the first days after conception is made up entirely of these cells, each of which can give rise to all of the cells and tissues in the body. Daley's team looked at how the stress of friction and the flow of fluid affected the formation of blood cells from mouse embryonic stem cells. Promoting blood The study showed that these forces promote blood formation and increase the production of colonies of cells that give rise to specific types of blood cells. Mouse embryos with a mutation that kept the developing heart from beating had far fewer of these so-called progenitor blood cell colonies. In a separate study, a team led by Dr Leonard Zon of Harvard and Children's Hospital Boston, looked at the effects of the embryonic heartbeat in zebrafish, which have transparent embryos. "We were looking in real aortas in real vertebrate embryos to see the actual stem cells," says Zon. The study published in journal Cell found that levels of nitric oxide, which is known to play a key role in blood vessel formation, increase when blood is flowing. Mutant embryos that had no heart beat or circulation were found to have far lower levels of blood-forming stem cells known as hematopoietic progenitor cells. Researchers think nitric oxide may work as a type of signal to start the process of blood stem cell production. "This finding connects the change in blood flow with the production of new blood cells,"


Prompt: Wayne County is moving forward with plans to complete its unfinished jail in downtown Detroit after reaching a settlement with the original design engineers and architects and hiring a consultant to oversee the project. Still up in the air is an effort by businessmen Tom Gores and Dan Gilbert to build a soccer stadium at the 15-acre site on Gratiot Avenue at I-375. On Thursday, the Wayne County Commission approved a settlement with Detroit-based AECOM and Dearborn-based Ghafari Associates LLC, which provides the county with a $2.5 million payment from the two firms, ownership of all design documents and dismissal

of all counter claims against the county and the building authority. In addition, the county approved a nearly $4 million contract with Carter Goble Associates, which will serve as the county's owner representative on the jail project. In December, the county entered into an interim settlement agreement with AECOM and Ghafari, requiring concept plans and cost estimates to complete the jail, along with a road map for completion. After discussions with Carter Goble Associates, the administration recommended approving the current settlement agreement instead of the interim settlement agreement. "The commission's decision to approve the settlement agreement with AECOM and Ghafari puts us one step closer to removing the eyesore that the unfinished jail site has become," Wayne County Executive Warren Evans said in a news release. "Now that we have settled with AECOM and Ghafari, we can focus on completing the Gratiot jail; the next step is preparing and then issuing a design/build RFP." Construction of the $200 million, 2,000-bed jail began in 2011 under County Executive Bob Ficano. Work was stopped in June 2013 because of about $100 million in cost overruns and corruption charges. South Carolina-based Carter Goble Associates offers services, including developing and issuing design/build RFPs, reviewing RFPs and contractor selection, reviewing project plans and managing the project budget, according to the release. The release also states one of major problems in the construction of the jail was the county's failure to have a consistent and conflict-free owner's representative overseeing the jail project. Evans said Thursday that until the design/build RFP process is complete and a bid has been received, he will cooperate with Gilbert and Gores in exploring alternative sites for the jail. The county will not use any of its funds to explore alternative options. In April, a day after Gilbert and Gores announced plans


Prompt: After Downing Street | Someone just pointed this out to me. FBI claims to be continuing anthrax investigation. They’ve narrowed it to “about four” suspects and “at least three” of them are from Fort Detrick. FBI Focusing on ‘About Four’ Suspects in 2001 Anthrax Attacks By Catherine Herridge and Ian McCaleb, Fox News Friday , March 28, 2008 WASHINGTON – The FBI has narrowed its focus to “about four” suspects in the 6 1/2-year investigation of the deadly anthrax attacks of 2001, and at least three of those suspects are linked to the Army’s bioweapons research facility at Fort Detrick

in Maryland, FOX News has learned. Among the pool of suspects are three scientists – a former deputy commander, a leading anthrax scientist and a microbiologist – linked to the research facility, known as USAMRIID. The FBI has collected writing samples from the three scientists in an effort to match them to the writer of anthrax-laced letters that were mailed to two U.S. senators and at least two news outlets in the fall of 2001, a law enforcement source confirmed. The anthrax attacks began shortly after the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks, further alarming a nation already reeling from the deaths of 3,000 Americans. Five people were killed and more than a dozen others were infected by the deadly spores in the fall of 2001. A leading theory is that the anthrax was stolen from Fort Detrick and then sealed inside the letters. A law enforcement source said the FBI is essentially engaged in a process of elimination. Much of the early public focus fell on a Fort Detrick scientist named Steven Hatfill, who is suing federal authorities for identifying him as a person of interest. Now the FBI is focusing on other scientists at the facility. “Fort Detrick is run by the United States Army. It’s the most secure biological warfare research center in the United States,” a bioterrorism expert told FOX News. Asked to comment on the likelihood that the anthrax originated at the facility, the expert said: “It’s not suprising, except that it would underscore that there was serious security deficiencies that existed at one time at Fort Detrick – the ability of researchers to smuggle out some type of very sophisticated anthrax weapon and in some quantity. And, nevertheless, it was possible.” In December 2001, an Army commander tried to dispel the possibility of a connection


Prompt: In October 2009 Peter Laird sold the Turtles to Viacom , the parent company of Nickelodeon . At WonderCon 2011, it was announced that IDW Publishing had secured the rights to publish a new series and reprint the older comics. After conceiving the Turtles' mentor as a rat who had come from Japan and was a ninja master, Eastman and Laird thought of giving the turtles Japanese names, but as Laird explained, "we couldn't think of authentic-sounding Japanese names". Instead they went with Renaissance artists, and picked the four they were most familiar with, with the help of Laird's copy

of Janson's History of Art . [1] [4] The Turtles' origin contained direct allusions to Daredevil : the traffic accident between a blind man and a truck carrying radioactive ooze, a reference to Daredevil's own story, (indeed in the version told in the first issue, Splinter sees the canister strike a boy's face). The name " Splinter " also parodied Daredevil's mentor, a man known as " Stick ." The Foot , a clan of evil ninjas who became the Turtles' arch-enemies, likens to the Hand , who were a mysterious and deadly ninja clan in the pages of Daredevil . [1] The concept originated from a comical drawing sketched out by Kevin Eastman during a casual evening of brainstorming with his friend Peter Laird. The drawing of a short, squat turtle wearing a mask with nunchakus strapped to its arms was humorous to the young artists, as it played upon the inherent contradiction of a slow, cold-blooded reptile with the speed and agility of Japanese martial arts . Laird suggested that they create a team of four such turtles, each specializing in a different weapon. [1] Eastman and Laird often cited the work of Frank Miller and Jack Kirby as their major artistic influences. [2] Volume 1: 1984–1993 Edit The first issue of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles was advertised in issues #1 and #2 of Eastman and Laird's 1984 comic, Gobbledygook, in addition to the Comics Buyer's Guide, issue 545. The full page advertisement in CBG helped gain the attention of retailers and jump-started their early sales. Because of the CBG's newspaper format, many were disposed of, making it a highly sought-after collector's item today. The book premiered in May 1984 at a comic book convention in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. It was printed in an oversized, magazine-style format using


Prompt: LGBT is an evolving abbreviation, a process that, in and of itself, isn't so remarkable. Language morphs all the time, but what's happening with LGBT — like nearly all things pertaining to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people, hits on age-old struggles around issues of sexuality, identity, gender and freedom of expression. What should people be called? Members of the LGBT community have likely grown up hearing some pretty nasty words and labels. The bus ride home from high school was always hell for me. And even the non-pejorative words can get a little grating: Homosexual, anyone? So, now there's

LGBT, which has turned to LGBTQ in a growing number of circles, with the "Q" standing for "queer" — a controversial word given its past derogatory use — and/or "questioning." Also becoming more prevalent is LGBTQIA, the "I" stands for "intersex" and the "A" for "asexual" and/or "allied." "It's very culturally and generationally driven," said Margo M. Jacquot, founding director of The Juniper Center, a psychotherapy practice in Park Ridge, of the ever-longer abbreviations coming to the fore. The question is just how abbreviated should this initialism be? Debate about this topic isn't new — take a look at a 2012 posting on Michael Hulshof-Schmidt's Social Justice for All blog, co-authored with his husband, Robert, titled "What's in an acronym? Parsing the LGBTQQIP2SAA community." Using LGBT "explicitly calls out key components of a diverse group," they wrote, adding that "as shorthand goes, it's fairly effective, recognizing the spectrum of sexual orientation and gender identity in four simple letters. Of course, it can't please everyone, and like most compromises, leaves plenty of people feeling unheard." "Orange Is the New Black" star Lea DeLaria addressed this issue in a 2016 interview, saying she favored using "queer" for all of the various communities under the LGBT umbrella. "This is the biggest issue we have in the queer community to date and will continue to be the biggest issue until we learn to accept our differences, and that's the issue," she told PrideSource.com. "And part of me believes that this inclusivity of calling us the LGBTQQTY-whatever-LMNOP tends to stress our differences. And that's why I refuse to do it. I say queer. Queer is everybody." Michael Hulshof-Schmidt said his views on labels haven't changed much since that 2012 post. They're "somewhat unwieldy," said the executive director of EqualityWorks, NW, a Portland, Ore.-based company that


Prompt: This organization in Montana is helping meet the needs of underprivileged students discreetly and respectfully. My Student In Need, a nonprofit that services schools across the state, runs an online program where teachers request necessities and other items their underserved students need, while others can offer to fulfill them. What’s more, the students’ identities are kept anonymous in the process. Since the organization’s launch back in 2013, donors have filled more than 1,500 requests for students in need. The group’s goal is to help students get adequate resources without making them feel uncomfortable, Kim Wombolt, the organization’s executive director, told

The Huffington Post. “No person ― whether it’s a student or an adult ― likes to be in a position where they have to ask for help,” Wombolt said. “By providing a forum for students to get assistance without having to publish that they are, they can ask for help with dignity.” The issue of not being able to afford basic items or school supplies is far-reaching across the U.S. Almost half of the children in the country are living near the poverty line, according to data from the National Center for Children in Poverty. And in the 2013-2014 school year, a staggering 1.36 million public school students were homeless, the Department of Education reported. Wombolt says that through her organization, students from low-income families or those that have difficulty covering certain expenses, can get help. She explained that for a district to participate in the program, its superintendent must submit a signed letter to the organization. Afterwards, any teacher from that district can put in requests on the website to help their students and in most cases, they consult parents before doing so to figure out exactly what the kids’ needs are. In the past, requests have typically been for necessities like winter jackets and boots, or school-related items like a band instrument or basic sports equipment. “It has to be a need and it has to be reasonable,” Wombolt explained, adding that a cell phone, for example, would not be accepted as a request. A donor can identify a request they want to fulfill on the website and either donate the actual item or submit a monetary donation through My Student In Need. With the submitted funds, the nonprofit then purchases a gift card and sends it to the teacher to use towards buying the necessary item for


Prompt: SproutCore has always been an interesting project. It is the application framework behind Apple’s impressive iCloud apps, and the MobileMe ones before that, as well as many other high profile projects. The SproutCore view layer has gone through many revisions. At one point it used Ruby templates combined with CSS, and then it switched to a JavaScript only system, which still used embedded HTML and CSS to layout and construct views. Erich Ocean, a SproutCore contributor since the early days, and others have been hard at work on a new fork of the SproutCore project called Blossom, which reimagines the

view layer without the use of any HTML or CSS. How does it do this? It renders the entire view structure of your application on a giant HTML5 canvas element. Perhaps this seems crazy, but it has quite a few benefits over traditional HTML and CSS. Firstly, it abstracts all browser differences away at the lowest level and makes more complex views that were not possible or very difficult to create with HTML and CSS much more manageable. Once this has been abstracted, building views on top of it can be much easier for both application developers as well as framework authors, leading to better, more maintainable applications. Secondly, it’s fast. Modifying the DOM is about the slowest thing you can do in the browser, and unfortunately it’s probably the most common as well. There are some performance issues with drawing everything to one huge canvas, so they have separate canvas contexts for each view that then get composited back together at the final step in rendering using drawImage. This style is akin to the way Core Animation works in Apple’s Cocoa framework, and in fact, GPU accelerated 3D transitions are possible in Blossom as well. Obviously, when not rendering to HTML and CSS, you have to manage everything yourself, from hit testing of views, to all the nuances of text handling including all the platform native keyboard shortcuts. This isn’t the first time we’ve seen an attempt to create an entirely canvas based view pipeline, but it certainly the most ambitious. Back in 2009 when Dion Almaer and Ben Galbraith were working at Mozilla on the Bespin code editor (now Ace), they also started work on a framework they called Thunderhead, which worked like this. Ultimately, they didn’t get too far on it, so Blossom seems to be the


Prompt: Chancellor Angela Merkel arrived in Chengdu in southern China last Saturday (5.7.2014) with two dozen top managers in tow, including five heads of DAX-listed companies. Since Tuesday, the final day of Merkel's China visit, it's been evident that the large German business contingent made less of an impression on the Chinese than some of the members of the delegation had hoped. In the end, the Chinese were not quite as open to everything the German business leaders had on their wish list as the Germans would have liked. Accords amounting to 3 billion euros ($4 billion) were signed, which is

not bad at all. However, it's a relatively small package if you take into account the fact that China's Prime Minister Li Keqiang spread around more than 21 billion euros on his last trip to Britain three weeks ago. Only Volkswagen and Airbus had reason to be pleased - and Airbus is half-French. VW and its Chinese partner FAW agreed on two additional plants in China, with investment of a billion euros each. Airbus secured a contract on the shipment of 100 helicopters worth about 300 million euros. However, there were plenty of disappointments: Siemens failed to close deals with four major Chinese cities that would have brought the group orders into the three-digit million euro range. Germany's stock exchange failed to garner the bid to form a joint enterprise with the Shanghai stock exchange. Complaints about conditions Frank Sieren: China makes the rules Even more important than concrete deals: on the flight to China, Chancellor Merkel had enough time to listen to German business leaders' complaints. Many feel the framework for business deals in China is unfair. Why, they wonder, can the Chinese buy practically every medium-sized German company they have an appetite for, while German corporations that want to do business in China are forced into joint ventures that flush a good deal of money into Chinese coffers. VW chief Martin Winterkorn can tell you a thing or two about that. For years, he's been fighting for permission to found a wholly-owned subsidiary in China. China dictates the pace Understandably, the Chinese approach has been angering German managers. But it's not likely to change any time soon. Who can force China? Not even Europe's mightiest politician, Angela Merkel, has that power. Beijing will open its economy at the pace it deems to be correct, and won't let the


Prompt: Formatting may be lacking as a result. If this article is un-readable please report it so that we may fix it. Posted on September 4, 2013, Ross Lincoln Xbox Live Gold Not Needed for Xbox One TV Features (UPDATED) Which next-gen console will be better? Game Front gives the definitive opinion with our massive Xbox One vs. Playstation 4 Ultimate Buyer’s Guide. UPDATE: September 4, 2013: A Microsoft spokesperson has responded this morning to our request for clarification of Penello’s comments. Xbox One will have a TV experience for everyone, including non-Gold members. We’ll have more to share and show

in the coming weeks. Original Article: After speaking with a Microsoft representative at PAX Prime 2013, it seems at least some Xbox One functionality previously thought to require an Xbox Live Gold membership actually won’t. Most recently, Microsoft confirmed that in addition to the built-in game DVR, the OneGuide system requires an Xbox Live Gold membership subscription. Previously, Microsoft explained that users would be able to connect an HDMI line from their cable box to the Xbox One’s HDMI-in port, allowing the game console to handle controlling the user’s TV service, and it seemed that functionality would fall under the purview of OneGuide. As described on the official Xbox One web site, OneGuide allows users to “Connect your cable or satellite box to Xbox One and watch all your favorite television shows right through the console.” On its Xbox Live features page, Microsoft explains OneGuide’s features with the following: “Xbox Live Gold members with Xbox One can experience a customized view of what’s on TV, and see what’s trending within the Xbox Live community.” The assumption made by many, including Game Front, is that all cross-functionality between your cable TV and Kinect (AKA saying, “Xbox: TV.”) would require an Xbox Live Gold subscription. As it turns out, that isn’t the case, at least according to Microsoft’s Lead Planner for the Xbox group, Albert Penello. We spoke to Penello earlier this afternoon at PAX. “You can do the HDMI pass through,” he said, when I asked about assumption that TV functionality required Xbox Live Gold. He added that Xbox One owners can also “do the TV guide stuff without Gold.” That’s good news for those purchasers looking forward to using a feature Microsoft made the cornerstone of its reveal event in May without hassle. But it also makes things a little


Prompt: U.S. Border Patrol Scrutinized For Increasing Fatalities Shooting deaths of foreign national is up along the Southwest border. The agency has been called to modify its use-of-lethal-force policy. But it has a culture of secrecy and lacks transparency. STEVE INSKEEP, HOST: For people near the U.S. border with Mexico, the Border Patrol is part of life. You pass agents on the highway, or parked quietly by the border fence. Along with the security has come criticism for violence. In numerous incidents, agents are accused of shooting unarmed Mexicans, some of them said to be throwing rocks. The incidents are a

sensitive subject for the agency. NPR's John Burnett learned just how sensitive. JOHN BURNETT, BYLINE: The U.S. Border Patrol, with more than 21,000 agents, is the second-largest law enforcement agency in the United States, after New York City's. Working on the southwest border, often in remote back country, populated with bandits, smugglers and undocumented immigrants, the job presents unique challenges. A MORNING EDITION team witnessed the arrest of 18 migrants last month near Hidalgo, Texas for the Borderland series. (SOUNDBITE OF DOOR CLOSING) INSKEEP: One by one, the people were loaded into vans, and the agents loaded their belongings into plastic bags. Other agents continued searching the woods. BURNETT: The Border Patrol says in recent years, conditions have gotten more dangerous here on the southern frontier, and violence against agents is on the rise. But fatalities caused by border officers have also increased sharply, prompting concern that the agency must improve its use-of-force policies and training. One recent independent review looked at 67 shooting incidents that resulted in 19 deaths between January 2010 and October 2012. The report, which was leaked to the Los Angeles Times, describes border officers shooting at moving vehicles and at rock throwers without sufficient provocation, and it criticized the agency's overall handling of officer-involved shootings. Senator Robert Menendez, a Democrat from New Jersey, has been a leading voice among 16 members of Congress calling for change. SENATOR ROBERT MENENDEZ: Uniformity of what is the standard on the use of the force is incredibly important, because we see in some parts of the Border Patrol, where some kid on the other side of the border flings a rock and they get shot at, and another side of the border a kid flings a rock and, you know, nothing happens. BURNETT: Responding to criticism, last month, the


Prompt: They may be good for the environment, but photovoltaic solar panels are not really something you’d go out of your way to visit and admire. So in a bid to make solar power more appealing to young people, one Chinese company has ditched the traditional approach of filling fields with uninspiring rows of PV panels, instead building its solar plants in the shape of giant pandas. Image: UNDP Green Pandas The above image is an artist’s impression of Hong Kong-based Panda Green Energy Group's first panda solar plant, which began generating electricity in June. The reality, so far at least,

is a little different. Image: Snopes/UNDP China Located in China’s northern Shanxi province, the Datong Panda Power Plant is a giant 50MW solar array spread across 100 hectares. It is the first plant to be built under a scheme agreed by the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) and Panda Green Energy’s major shareholder, China Merchants New Energy. As well as building Panda-shaped solar plants, the UNDP agreement also supports three initiatives aimed at promoting green energy among young Chinese. These are: an Open Design Challenge encouraging young people to design solutions for sustainable development; summer camps at the Datong panda plant focusses on innovation in science and technology; and a Youth Exchange programme helping “marginalized” Chinese youths to go overseas. Solar superpower Some might question whether China really needs to invest in promoting solar power at all: it is by some distance the world leader when it comes both the manufacture and installation of PV panels. Image: REN21 According to data published by REN21, at the end of 2016 China had 77.4GW of solar PV installed, representing more than a quarter of the global total. China also dominates when it comes to building new solar PV plants, adding 34.5GW last year. This accounted for 46% of all new solar power plants across the planet in 2016. While a second 50MW Panda power plant is planned for Datong, Panda Green Energy Group’s mission to promote green energy includes an ambition to expand into other countries. Image: Panda Green Energy Group Limited Earlier this year the Prime Minister of Fiji, Josaia Voreqe Bainimarama, said he hoped the planned construction of a panda power plant on the South Pacific island would start soon. Solar theme park While Panda Green Energy Group’s solar power plants are striking, they are not the first PV installations


Prompt: Unpacking the Ninth Circuit’s travel-ban ruling — and a rejoinder to Rich Lowry in our ongoing discussion of nationalism. EDITOR’S NOTE: The following is Jonah Goldberg’s weekly “news”letter, the G-File. Subscribe here to get the G-File delivered to your inbox on Fridays. Dear Reader (including the manufacturers of the Bernie Sanders action figure, now with the seize-the-means-of-production Marxist grip), One of my favorite scenes of any comedy — and it’s very un-PC — is in Tropic Thunder when Robert Downey Jr. (in blackface!) explains to Ben Stiller that you “never go full retard.” The conversation is about film roles. Well,

if you haven’t seen it, watch: Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Now, I don’t like the term “retard” — and I really don’t like it in political debates. We aim for something loftier here. Still, the scene came to mind because there should be a similar rule in legal circles: “Never Go Full Ninth Circuit.” Personally, I think it sounds better in Latin: Nolite umquam ire plenus nona circuit (and if any of you Latin pedants send me an e-mail correcting my translation, I will come to your house and scatter your Dungeons and Dragons figurines off the kitchen table). The other day I noted on Special Report that Antonin Scalia had a rubber stamp on his desk with one of his favorite phrases: “Stupid but Constitutional.” I hope that one day, a Supreme Court justice will have a stamp on his desk that says, Numquam Plenus Nona Circuit. Anyway, I understand that the case against the Ninth Circuit can be exaggerated. Yes, the West Coast’s federal appellate court has the highest rate of cases that have been oveturned by the Supreme Court, but the vast majority of its cases don’t get appealed to the Supreme Court. Hence the qualifier “Full Ninth Circuit.” Going Full Ninth Circuit is when you claim that that the Pledge of Allegiance is unconstitutional. That’s a Simple Jack move, not a Rain Man or even a Forrest Gump move. It’s not that any single one of their findings in the travel-ban case violates the principle of Nolite umquam ire plenus nona circuit, it’s the totality of the thing. For starters, here is what the relevant statute says: Whenever the President finds that the entry of any aliens or of any class of aliens into the United States would be detrimental to the interests of the United States,


Prompt: As Vogue celebrates its 125th year, we look back at the history of fashion, and the magazine, in a series of “five points” videos by decade, narrated by the stylish Sarah Jessica Parker. 1930–1939The flapper was a casualty of the stock market crash of 1929. Out of her ashes rose the femme fatale. At night she was a modern Diana in figure-molding bias-cut satins that oozed to the floor. By day, she might play with a Surrealist as served up by Elsa Schiaparelli. Then war came, and removed frivolity from fashion. THE LONG RUNHemlines were lengthening before the Great Crash

of 1929; they fell to the floor after that debacle and stayed there for quite a while. There was nothing prim about these sweeping hems, however. The abbreviated silhouette was traded for a long, sculptural one built along classic lines that emphasized the figure within the frock. Madeleine Vionnet’s diagonal bias-cutting technique resulted in dresses that were sensuously molded to the body. Such perfection as not easily come by; “simplicity,” noted Vogue, “is a complex art.” LOVE SCHIAPEven more complicated was the kismet that brought Prince Edward into the orbit of an American divorcée named Wallis Simpson, for whom he’d abandon his throne and be exiled from his sceptered isle. Theirs was a romance that was well chronicled in Vogue by John McMullin, the magazine’s “As Seen by Him” columnist, and Cecil Beaton, who were part of the royal entourage. Before she married her prince in a Wallis blue Mainbocher design, Beaton famously captured her posing in some splendors by Elsa Schiaparelli, including the “lobster” dress hand-painted by Salvador Dalí. ALTERNATIVE FACTSDalí and the influence of the Surrealists was pervasive in the ’30s. Like the “phony war” that preceded major action on the Western Front, the movement, which aimed to yoke dreams and reality, captured the tension and strangeness of the time. Elsa Schiaparelli, the Paris-based Italian couturier and Chanel’s nemesis, was most closely associated with this movement and she aligned herself with artists like Jean Cocteau and Marcel Vertès. Surrealism made its way into Vogue, too. Not only did Dalí become a frequent contributor, but Giorgio de Chirico created artwork for the magazine and Cecil Beaton incorporated elements of the movement’s style into some of his photographs. THE FEMALE GAZEThere were few women working among the stellar stable of artists working at Vogue during the 1930s, which included photographers


Prompt: Didn’t you think Mark Zuckerberg is tall? According to a 2010 New Yorker profile, he’s “only around five feet eight, but he seems taller, because he stands with his chest out and his back straight, as if held up by a string.” Wired writer Graham Starr thinks Zuck seems tall for another reason: He stages his photos to exaggerate his height. Advertisement Zuckerberg doesn’t wear vertical stripes or platform shoes (or Timberlands). But in publicity photos from his “I’m not running for president” tour of the U.S., he often stands closer to the camera, or holds himself higher as others

walk or lean around him. Check out his shoes in the truck photo above, next to the shoes of the man behind him. Either Zuckerberg has gigantic feet, or he’s a lot closer to the camera than he first seems. Props to him, really. Looking taller next to other people is a lot harder than looking taller in solo photos. And while it shouldn’t matter to anyone, Zuckerberg has an image to maintain. 58% of Fortune 500 CEOs are over six feet tall, and the last president shorter than Zuckerberg was William McKinley. But Zuckerberg comes across as much taller, even towering over 5' 10" Bill Gates on a sofa. Most internet sources, including the murky world of celebrity height forums, list Zuckerberg as just 5' 7". IMDb splits the difference at 5' 7.5". Either way, I feel a kinship, as I’m 5' 6" on a good day. So I went out with my colleague Patrick Austin to see if we could use Zuckerberg’s tricks to make me look taller. Advertisement First we started easy, with a subject who was already shorter than me. As I inched toward the camera, I easily doubled our height difference. Advertisement But that was easy mode. All I accomplished here was to make someone else look short. Could I look taller than someone my height, or even someone taller? Advertisement I couldn’t even get my arm up over our next volunteer’s shoulders. So instead I just beelined for the camera. Advertisement I believe we achieved some parity in that last shot, even if I had to wave my hat above my head in a desperate bid to confuse the viewer. Without a pair of $200 elevator shoes, I clung to that hat, hoping it would give me an extra optical inch. It was time


Prompt: North Korea continues to dominate the headlines amid growing concerns about its alarming advances in nuclear weapons capabilities. The incendiary rhetoric from both Washington and Pyongyang, the North’s testing of two ICBMs, and its sixth and largest nuclear test led to U.S. shows of force, including sending B-1B bombers further north of the demilitarized zone than any U.S. fighter jet or bomber has gone in the 21st century. In the past several months, despite the tough talk about “military options” by President Trump and his senior officials, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un continues to defy the international community. Amid escalating

tensions, he issued a rare, if not unprecedented, personal statement against the U.S. president, calling him “the mentally deranged U.S. dotard.” His behavior—and the ongoing U.S.-North Korea tension—is stoking fears about the possibilities of a nuclear war or a bloody military conflict. How did we get to this point? What is driving Kim Jong-un and how can we explain North Korea’s provocative actions this summer? An aggressive track record Frankly, Kim has been hurtling toward these advanced nuclear weapons capabilities since he came to power in December 2011. Lately, he has been bigger, badder, and bolder. In the past six years, Kim Jong-un has conducted four nuclear tests and tested close to 90 ballistic missiles, more than his father and grandfather combined. And in those six years, he has yet to meet with any foreign head of state—his most significant exchanges with foreigners have been with a Japanese sushi chef and U.S. basketball player Dennis Rodman. He has also rebuffed Chinese attempts to rebuild ties and refused to engage with the United States and South Korea. His father, Kim Jong-il, on the other hand, bargained and negotiated with the United States, South Korea, and Japan, at least paid lip service on denuclearization, and maintained good ties to China, the North’s primary benefactor. Personality matters. Kim is unlikely to back down in the face of President Trump’s public challenges and come to the negotiating table. He wants to look tough domestically and externally and show who is driving events on the Korean Peninsula. In fact, he has more national and international political leadership experience than Trump, who has been president for less than a year, and South Korean President Moon Jae-in, who came into office in May. Kim’s statement calling President Trump “mentally deranged” and promising the “highest-level of the hardline


Prompt: Venture Communism Dmytri Kleiner. The Telekommunist Manifesto. Network Notebook Series (Amsterdam: Institute of Network Cultures, 2010). Kleiner starts with a materialist analysis of class relations quite similar to Marx’s. Through their access to the wealth that results from the continuous capture of surplus value, capitalists offer each generation of innovators a chance to become a junior partner in their club by selling the future productive value of what they create in exchange for the present wealth they need to get started. The stolen, dead value of the past captures the unborn value of the future. * * * Whatever portion

of our productivity we allow to be taken from us will return in the form of our own oppression. This is possible only because of a monopoly on the function of marketing future value, combined with an artificial floor under the cost of getting started. The productivity of horizontal, networked peer groups is expropriated by the holders of artificial property rights. Those who are able to control the circulation of the product of the labor of others can impose laws and social institutions according to their interests. Those who are not able to retain control of the product of their own labor are not able to resist. Thomas Hodgskin fairly well demolished the “labor fund” doctrine. The financing of subsistence of workers engaged in production can just as accurately be conceived in horizontal terms, as the continual mutual advance of credit by workers to each other against their future production. The capitalist is not someone who advances pay from a labor fund derived from their own “past abstention,” but someone who relies on the preemption and monopoly of this mutual advance of credit function by a privileged class, with the help of the state. The idea of capitalist abstention as the source of the mythical labor fund, and of profit as the reward for abstention or long time-preference on the capitalist’s part, is especially laughable given the fact that the original accumulation of capital — the concentration of enormous investment funds in the hands of a small plutocracy — was actually accomplished through robbery rather than abstention or savings. And it’s rendered even more so by the fact that banks lend money into existence out of thin air, without even the pretense that it’s backed by anyone’s savings. The radical erosion of the latter barrier through ephemeral technology (as described


Prompt: David Stock David Stock David Stock David Stock The inaugural World Drone Racing Championships (aka Drone Worlds) is the culmination of over a year’s anticipation for a truly global, world-leading first-person-view drone racing competition, and expectations were high. The event was held on Kualoa Ranch in Hawaii on the island of O'ahu, the spectacular setting which has served as the famous backdrop for Jurassic Park and many other films. The epic volcanic cliffs, which encircle the race course, create a rather dramatic backdrop. Entering the racers’ village, the international nature of the event is immediate; it's reminiscent of an Olympic

village, albeit on a much smaller budget. "The Worlds were designed to be very much like an Olympic style event," says Scot Resfland, chairman of the Drone Sports Association, the umbrella organisers of the Drone Worlds. David Stock David Stock David Stock David Stock David Stock David Stock David Stock Over 180 pilots, representing more than 30 countries made it here, highlight just how much FPV drone racing has grown globally since we first featured it back in mid-2015. As to be expected, the biggest national representation came from those closest to the site. USA, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Korea, and China all supplied numerous pilots, spotters, and support infrastructure, but more distant countries were represented, too. Denmark, Hungary, and Poland all manged to send pilots to compete, and France and Ukraine showcased sizeable squads. The UK, sadly, was under represented, with only one UK pilot present—Matthew Evans—despite Chi Lau, James Bowles, Brett Collis, Gary "Justice FPV" Kent, and current Drone Prix champion Luke Bannister all being eligible. However, there was no shortage of big names on board to entertain the crowds, including Shaun "Nytfury" Taylor, Minchan Kim, Brian "BrainDrain" Morris, and Mac Poschwald. Competition began with the Aloha Cup—a paid entry competition which served as the final qualifier event for the Drone Worlds. This was followed by seeding events for the freestyle, individual, and wing competitions. There was also an international competition, pitting the USA, Canada, UK, New Zealand, Korea, Australia, and Russia against one another in a series of five point-scoring races. Ultimately the USA won with Korea taking second and team UK, or as they were known in the village, Team Brexit, managing a respectable third. The final two days, Friday and Saturday, were set aside for the remaining pilots to battle it out for the top


Prompt: (AP Photo/David Goldman) Jeff Ploussard waves an American flag during a rally protesting the NRA's annual convention in Atlanta on April 29, 2017. We are in the midst of what many pundits call the “Trump era,” but in fact most Americans neither like nor agree with President Trump, as Tuesday’s election results strongly suggest. Since June, Trump’s job approval ratings have hovered between 33 percent and 40 percent, according to the Gallup poll. This is lower than any other president’s approval rating at this point in his presidency. Nine months into the “Trump era”, 65 percent of Americans say he

has accomplished “not much” or “little or nothing,” according to a Washington Post-ABC News survey. A national poll conducted in October asked Americans to name the first word that comes to mind when they think of Trump. The most popular words were “strong,” “determined,” and “bold,” followed closely by “arrogant,” “egocentric,” and “narcissist.” The next most popular words were “incompetent” and “unqualified,” with “idiotic,” “ignorant,” and “great” not far behind. These words—both positive and negative—focus on Trump’s outsized personality, not his policy ideas. But when it comes to key policy areas, polls show that a vast majority of Americans also depart from Trump by leaning left. That lean isn’t generally reflected in Americans’ self-designations, nor is ideological consistency a notable American trait. A new Pew survey found that about one-third of Americans hold both liberal and conservative views, depending on the specific issue. Another Pew report divides Americans into nine categories based on their political and social views, from core conservatives (13 percent) to solid liberals (16 percent). But even those on the extreme right and left ends of the spectrum share some views in common. Since Trump’s inauguration in January, much attention has focused on how his racist rhetoric toward immigrants and Muslims, disdain for the rule of law, and hostility toward the free press have polluted the nation’s public discourse and given legitimacy to hate groups associated with the “alt-right.” But the focus on division and bigotry can obscure views that most Americans share, especially when it comes to such matters as economic fairness, protecting the environment, and the drift toward plutocracy. The vast majority of Americans are liberal or progressive when it comes to these matters. Even some Trump supporters, Republicans, and people who call themselves “conservatives” have liberal views on many topics. Americans are generally upset


Prompt: It’s funny. Only two years ago the GOP was continuing to use gay marriage as a wedge issue. We were to believe that there was a pernicious homosexual agenda at work that would undermine and destroy straight marriage – and that the GOP were the ones to stop it. Now that people are catching wise, some of the Republicans are embracing the evil of marriage equality in order to save their political lives. Opportunism, it’s what’s for dinner. I suspect more GOP people are about to turn a 180 in the exact same way (while pretending as though they’d always

been disappointed in the GOP’s oppression of gay people). But for the ideologically pure of the GOP base, the Tea Partiers, they’re not having it. Perhaps they believe god will carry them through an election with a position opposed by most of the electorate. That must be what Mike Huckabee is thinking when he says that if the GOP adopts marriage equality that the Evangelicals will form a third party. But rest assured, it’s not because Evangelicals are against gay people. Huckabee says so. And it’s not because there’s an anti-homosexual mood, and nobody’s homophobic that I know of, but many of us, and I consider myself included, base our standards not on the latest Washington Post poll, but on an objective standard, not a subjective standard. Of course, equality for all citizens is objectively better for a healthy society, where oppressing them is just objectively what’s in the bible. If you’re the type that let’s the former take precedence over the latter, you’re a horrible person. Anyway, below is my open letter to Mike Huckabee: Mr. Huckabee, Please don’t form a third party! With the support of Evangelicals combined with the moderate Republicans (along with some obscene gerrymandering) the GOP managed to only get curb-stomped in the last election while keeping power in local governments. If you split the party, dividing the votes, anything could happen. It could mean the death of gay marriage for centuries! Clearly, what has been weighing the GOP down have been the ideologically impure. Remember when you said that god didn’t protect the Sandy Hook students because we don’t pray in schools? Well, this is kind of the same way. Most atheists like me have thought for a long time that the GOP better not ditch the moderates, whose opinions are less offensive to


Prompt: Editor's Note: "Destination Unknown" typically features posts regarding Pacers play-by-play radio broadcaster Mark Boyle's life on the road, basketball insight, and general musings. This entry follows a different route, taking a personal turn that's put Mark on a different type of journey away from the basketball court. As always, Mark's take is uniquely his own and does not necessarily reflect the opinions of the Indiana Pacers, their partners, or sponsors. My brother is dying. Not in the way most of us are dying, where death is merely a concept, and even though we know it’s inevitable we rarely think about

it. No, my brother Scott is dying in a way that is tangible and bitter, like a dark cloud hovering on the horizon, waiting to unleash a torrent of pain and agony. My brother has terminal liver cancer. I’ve written about Scott before, so I won’t go into the specifics again here, except to say that I’ve more or less assumed for a long time that he would die before I did, even though he’s younger than I am. Still, when my dad called to tell me the news about my brother’s diagnosis (5:52 PM, October 13, 2014; you don’t forget stuff like that), it hit hard. I don’t show my emotions easily or often, but I was enjoying a cup of coffee at a local establishment when I got that call, and I cried in public for the first time in my life. The lady sitting next to me, a total stranger, gave me a big hug, told me her own sister was a cancer survivor, and assured me that everything would turn out all right. But it won’t. And it’s not just because Scott is nearing the end. That’s a big part of it, obviously, but I’ve always wondered if I could have been a better and more supportive brother. When we were kids, it wasn’t enough to beat him in our various competitions, I had to humiliate him. When I got A’s in school, I would ruthlessly taunt him about his C’s and D’s. I know part of that is about brothers being brothers. But, still, you wonder. What if I’d been more supportive? What if I’d been more empathetic when he started having his problems with drugs and alcohol, instead of wondering why he didn’t have his act together? Yes, I was 17 years old then,


Prompt: When Zak Pashak moved to Detroit five years ago, he seemed to be swimming against the tide. He bought a house in a city battered by job loss, blight and crime, at a time when much of the population was on its way out. He arrived with a plan to open a bike factory in a city long abandoned by manufacturers. He had no bike-making experience, wasn’t a serious cyclist and had left a vibrant hometown, Calgary, for a place that would become America’s largest city to file for bankruptcy. But as an entrepreneur, Pashak was used to taking risks.

Today, his company, Detroit Bikes, is a growing business and part of a lively entrepreneurial scene crucial to the revival of Detroit. The scene includes tech startups, investors, artisans, foodies, shop owners and transplants like Pashak, drawn to Detroit’s mix of grit and opportunity. Detroit Bikes appears this week on Microsoft’s #DoMore page on Instagram and kicks off a series about entrepreneurship in the Motor City. “It’s a great city to start something in,” says Pashak, a music entrepreneur before he launched Detroit Bikes. “There’s a real culture of encouraging each other and teamwork, almost. And there’s a lot of really talented people.” Entrepreneurs key to Detroit’s resurgence Once the automotive center of the world, Detroit has become one of the most distressed cities in America, a decline triggered by lost jobs and hastened by the mortgage crisis. By the time it filed for bankruptcy in 2013, the city had shriveled to its smallest population since the 1910 census. Detroit emerged from bankruptcy last year and is on a long road of tackling crime, poverty and thousands of vacant lots and unlit streets. Entrepreneurs play a key part in Detroit’s recovery, with businesses and investments revitalizing its downtown. Detroit’s business district used to be a lackluster space with empty buildings, but now bustles with office workers, a thriving tech community and a busy streetscape of retail and residents. “The entrepreneurial scene in Detroit is amazing. It’s off the charts. You’ve got these incredible, passionate people who are pouring their heart and souls into the city,” says Josh Linkner, a founder of Detroit Venture Partners, a venture capital firm that funds early-stage tech startups in Detroit. Linkner recently stepped down as CEO of Detroit Venture Partners to focus on his career as a book author and keynote speaker. Detroit’s woes have


Prompt: Breaking News Emails Get breaking news alerts and special reports. The news and stories that matter, delivered weekday mornings. Jan. 1, 2015, 11:43 PM GMT / Updated Jan. 2, 2015, 4:40 PM GMT Two men were arrested after one of them allegedly shot two West Virginia police officers during a traffic stop in Lewisburg Thursday — and then were found to be transporting two dead bodies in their vehicle, authorities said. The suspects are reportedly a father and son from Texas, with the father being the shooter, according to NBC affiliate WVVA. They were identified as Edward Campbell, 54, and

Eric Campbell, 21, according to WSAZ. The Lewisburg police officers were wounded and expected to survive, West Virginia State Police said. The officers were shot after they pulled over a sport-utility vehicle with stolen license plates at 4 p.m. on Interstate 64, and a red Chevrolet pickup truck that was following that car pulled over as well, police said. Edward Campbell, the driver of the pickup, pulled out a handgun and shot both officers, police said. Donna Hinkle, director of administration at the Greenbrier County 911 Center, told NBC News that one was shot in the ribs but was wearing a bulletproof vest, and the other was grazed. One of the officers returned fire and wounded the driver of the SUV, Eric Campbell, in the leg. He drove off and tried to hide in a wooded area behind a guardrail, but surrendered about 90 minutes later, state police said. His father ran into the woods but was soon apprehended, police said. After the exchange of gunfire, police found two "recently deceased" bodies in the bed of the pickup truck, hidden under a mattress. The sheriff in Granville County, North Carolina told NBC affiliate WNCN that the bodies were those of Jerome Faulkner, 73, and his wife Dora, 62. The Faulkners were at their Oak Hill home when two men entered around 7 a.m. Thursday, according to Sheriff Brindell B. Wilkins Jr. The men reportedly set the couples house on fire and then stole their red Chevy pickup truck. It was unclear at what point the Faulkners were killed or how, and authorities did not have a potential motive yet for the killings. Both were arrested for malicious assault and attempted murder of a police officer. The shot officers were identified as Lt. Jeromy Dove and Patrolman Nicholas Sams with the


Prompt: New York’s Mayor Michael Bloomberg is locking up the baby formula, because he wants newborns to drink breast milk instead. He’s using his mayoral power to direct maternity-ward nurses to hide baby-milk formula after Sept. 2 so that new moms feel pressured to provide breast milk to their newborns. Bloomberg’s mammary-mandate is supported by white-coated public-health officials, who say the scientific data shows that mothers’ milk aids infants’ digestive systems and shields them from some diseases. His wishes are law because he controls much of the city’s health network in a city-wide version of Obamacare. But Bloomberg’s lactate-dictate is likely

to get him a slap in the face from women who prefer to choose how they will raise their children, and how they juggle child-rearing and work in a city where unemployment has reached at least 14 percent in the Bronx. The “reality is that some women may not want to breastfeed their baby and it is simply their choice,” said Cherlyn Harley LeBon, a lawyer, mom and member of the libertarian-minded Project 21’s advisory board. “I completely support breastfeeding our babies… [but] the government should not force them to do it,” she said in a July 29 statement. “Mayor Bloomberg is now playing the role of pediatrician and neonatal specialist… [who has declared that] a mother is now forced to breastfeed unless she has a medical reason for not doing so.” The story was broken by The New York Post, where commentators were merciless. “I’m another former member of La Leche League who nursed all my kids,” said Rosemarie Scott, at Marymount Manhattan College. “I’m all for encouraging women to breastfeed but agree that this is NOT the way to do it. Leave it to Bloomberg to be so heavy-handed as to turn off even a breastfeeding advocate like myself.” The mayor’s formula-fatwa follows his earlier effort to stop moms — or any one else — from buying cups of soda larger than 16 ounces. Babies, however, will be pushed to drink from cups sizes A to DDD under the new rules, dubbed “Latch On NYC.” Women who refuse to nurse their infants face no penalty, because there’s no requirement that they discharge milk before they’re discharged from the hospital. Twenty seven of the city’s 40 hospitals are complying with Bloomberg’s nursery rules. The breast-behest is the newest feature of Bloomberg’s big-government, nanny-state, experts-first-citizens-second, progressive outlook. He’s a social


Prompt: "Creepy Uncle Sam" is doubling down! He’s got new ads out, and he’s using the image-sharing site Snapchat in his campaign to scare young Americans away from Obamacare. Will he and his creator, the conservative political nonprofit Generation Opportunity, successfully convince Millennials they shouldn’t sign up for insurance via President Obama’s signature Affordable Care Act? The final answer to that won’t be clear until March 31 of next year, the deadline for 2014 enrollment, if then. But Creepy Uncle Sam’s weird vibe does appear to have irritated Mr. Obama himself. At a White House Youth Summit devoted to the ACA

last week, the president said “believe it or not, there are actually organizations that are out there working to convince young people not to get insurance.” “Now think about that. That’s a really bizarre way to spend your money,” said Obama, presumably referring to the wealthy donors who fund those organizations. In case you’ve never heard of him, Creepy Uncle Sam is a large-head costumed actor similar in appearance to a college sports mascot. But the frozen expression on his enormous face is ... creepy. There’s no other word for it. As we’ve previously said, he looks like a freaky, patriotic garden gnome. And Generation Opportunity has employed him in ads creepy enough to be controversial on their own. In one, a young woman is set to have a gynecological exam, when Creepy arises from between her legs snapping a speculum. “Don’t leg government play doctor,” reads the video’s tagline. “Opt out of Obamacare.” In October, Creepy starred in his own mini-Halloween movie, which ended with him making some kind of triumphant guttural roar over a stash of candy extorted from frightened Millennials. On Dec. 5, Generation Opportunity dropped a new Creepy ad, titled “Not a Game.” It features a panning shot of a hospital while a female voiceover talks about why Millennials are opting out of Obamacare, interrupted by periodic buzzing. At a crucial point the voice says her generation is not doing the ACA because, “We have not lost our [expletive] minds.” Her swearing is bleeped out by the buzzing sound, which turns out to be caused by Creepy Uncle Sam playing – and losing at – the old board game “Operation.” Another ad released last week noted that Creepy will be on Snapchat, where users can share pictures and videos that self-delete after 10 seconds. But it’s