Prompt: It’s the app that launched a thousand jokes about breaking the first rule of Fight Club. Last Friday, November 6, tech blog Venture Beat posted a story about a new app that’s currently in development called Rumblr. Basically a Tinder-style service for aggro assholes who are looking for street fighting partners, “Rumblr is an app for recreational fighters to find, meet, and fight other brawl enthusiasts nearby,” according to their official site. Promising “Casualty-free casual fighting for free” (which is their actual slogan, no matter how silly and impossible to guarantee that is), Rumblr will allow anyone looking for a

fight to match up with similarly-minded individuals “who want to throw down,” arrange and schedule fights (or “Pussy Out,” Rumblr’s charming answer to swiping left), and even prepare for your opponents by checking out the detailed tale of the tape-style statistics in their profile. Because god forbid you go into an unsanctioned public melee ill-prepared. Fight options appear to be separated into three sections: Rumblr, RumblrHER, and RumblrGROUP, for the poly-aggro-ish amongst us. If you just like to watch or you really, really miss the salad days of Bum Fighting or that time Logan paid indigent people to fight on Veronica Mars, though, Rumblr has you covered as well. “You don’t need to fight to use Rumblr. With Rumblr Explore, anyone can browse and attend fights close by that other Rumblr users have arranged – all for free!” Rumblings about Rumblr quickly spread over the internet, attracting attention from outlets as wide-ranging as Complex, Dangerous Minds, The Bleacher Report, The New York Daily News, and The Daily Mail (which you could call the Rumblr of newspapers in the sense that it is ill-conceived, unnecessarily antagonistic, lowest common-denominator-appealing, and of questionably veracity). The attention attracted a number of casual warrior hopefuls, who signed up for the chance to be given access to a beta version of the app on the Rumblr site. “More than 78,000 people have signed up for beta access, an email sent out to the lucky early-bird brawlers showed,” The New York Daily News reported yesterday. “The email also claimed to be giving away ten pairs of golden brass knuckles to ten people who tweet about the app.” The team behind Rumblr also told the paper that they were working with the iOS store “to hash out legal issues preventing Rumblr’s approval.” They still plan to launch the


Prompt: A prominent Muslim feminist and author penned an op-ed criticizing CNN political commentator Sally Kohn, arguing that her recent defense of Sharia law as moderate is an “offensive” and “dangerous” affront to progressive Muslims. Ms. Kohn, who is openly gay, made headlines last week after she claimed “many progressive Muslims” supported Sharia law. She followed up in a CNN column explaining that there are progressive interpretations as well as more “fundamentalist conservative” interpretations of Sharia, which can be both personal and political. “Sadly, the fact that there are many interpretations of Sharia, just as there are many interpretations of Jewish

and Christian moral codes, gets lost in the weeds of right-wing generalizations and fear-mongering,” Ms. Kohn wrote. Ms. Raza, president of the Council for Muslims Facing Tomorrow and author of “Their Jihad, Not My Jihad,” wrote that Ms. Kohn’s position is “a danger to those of us reformist Muslims on the front lines.” “In using her voice to propagate this liberal apologist position, she is doing a great disservice to progressive reform-minded Muslims like myself,” Ms. Raza argued. “Her words are an affront to me, a female Muslim activist, as I have made it my life’s mission to educate others on this topic and to wrestle back my religion from the clutches of extremists who wish to make sharia the law of the land.” She called Sharia an anti-women, anti-Semitic, homophobic distortion of Islamic law that would have gay individuals like Ms. Kohn killed, jailed or persecuted. “As a woman, and as someone who enjoys the freedoms and liberties that are systematically assaulted by sharia law, Sally Kohn needs to think twice before defending this oppressive, perverse practice,” Ms. Raza wrote. “Sharia is practiced in most parts of the Muslim world, often on the whims of dictators and male religious bullies and it is entirely man-made,” she continued. “This homophobic, anti-woman, repressive sharia is no longer confined to the mosque or to majority Muslim nations. “This is why in the Muslim Reform Movement declaration, we (Muslims) make it very clear that we do not need or want institutionalized laws, a parallel legal system or sharia in the West. Religion is, and should be, a personal relationship between ourselves and our maker. Ms. Kohn, if you believe in separation of religion and state/law, then you must be against sharia law,” Ms. Raza argued. “I don’t believe that Ms. Kohn has malicious


Prompt: Andy Burnham’s campaign has ensured he remains the current favourite to be the next Labour leader. Part of his nascent leadership campaign is an online army of fans who are promoting his cause and attacking his opponents. Twitter and Facebook are going to be key battlegrounds for each of the contenders — offering an easy way to spread a message without the filter of the media. Naturally, Burnham’s campaign has an official Twitter account: @Andy4Leader. As far as I can see, this is the only official account associated with Burnham’s campaign. The account has 1,421 and mostly retweets favourable news

from others about Burnham. On May 13, it posted this video of Burnham announcing he was running: Watch why @andyburnhammp is running for Leader of the Labour Party https://t.co/hREK6rKRuk Volunteer / donate here http://t.co/ZdnRTuJPYN — Andy for Leader (@Andy4Leader) May 13, 2015 That account aside, there are at least four other accounts promoting Burnham’s cause using variations on Andy for Leader. The smallest is @AndyforLeader, whch has just 60 followers. This account specialises in tweeting odd pictures of Burnham with various slogans, such as: Then we have @Andy4Leader2015, which has 889 followers and specializes in more aggressive ranting messages, attacking the’‘Tory press and media’: Tory press and media are at it AGAIN! Doing what they do best – LYING. They just don't like Andy – do they! I wonder why! — TeamBurnham2015 (@Andy4Leader2015) May 25, 2015 @AB4LabLeader has 2,433 followers — more than the official Burnham campaign account. As well as tweeting about #HeartofLabour, this account points out that Burnham is the favourite in the polls: And finally we have @LabourAndy, which has managed to garner whopping 10,500 followers in a short space of time. Easily the most aggressive of the Burnham-supporting accounts, whoever runs it enjoys attacking the ‘Murdoch press’ Fact that The Sun thinks it is a failure of Andy Burnham's to be a proud Evertonian shows how out of touch they are pic.twitter.com/iO3oIiZUIM — Andy For Leader (@LabourAndy) May 24, 2015 For those of you who are aware of the infamous Labour activist Dr Éoin Clarke, you might see some similarities between @LabourAndy and @LabourEoin. Guido reckons that he might be behind this account. They both tweet similar things: In case you missed it, today was the day Rupert Murdoch's Papers went after Andy Burnham for being an Everton Fan pic.twitter.com/SZili95J0c — Dr Éoin Clarke (@LabourEoin) May


Prompt: July 19, 2016 Tickets to Tacotopia at the Track are $45 if purchased online in advance and provide entry to the track and unlimited tacos. Promo code SDVILLE saves $5 per ticket. Admission for this event is open to all ages and no pets are allowed. Children age 2 and under get in for free, and children's tickets are available for those ages 3-10 for $20 (must be accompanied by an adult). Ticket holders are asked to bring a hard copy of their Tacotopia at the Track ticket to The Reader booth at will-call, located near the Run Admission Gates

(look for signage), in order to receive their wristband and an entry ticket to the races. Get your tickets to Tacotopia at the Track before they sell out. For more info and to scoop your passes, visit sandiegoreader.com/tacotopia-at-the-track Participating eateries serving tacos at Tacotopia at the Track include Aquis es Texcoco BBQ, City Tacos, Common Theory Public House, El Paisa Mexican Grill, El Trebol Marisco's, Encinita's Fish Shop, Henry's Pub, La Guerrerense, Lolita's Mexican Food, Lucha Libre, Mariscos El Pulpo, The Patio Group, Parq Restaurant, Meze Greek Fusion, Puesto, Salud, South Park Brewing Company, The Taco Stand, Tacos Kokopelli, TJ Oyster Bar, Tostadas North Park, Un Mundo Mexican Grill and many more! At Tacotopia at the Track, after you eat your weight in tacos and bask in the San Diego sunshine, there will be a live concert from 311 and Matisyahu (for those 18 and over) which is included with admission! There will also be a full cash bar serving beer, wine and cocktails.Tickets to Tacotopia at the Track are $45 if purchased online in advance and provide entry to the track and unlimited tacos. Promo codesaves $5 per ticket. Admission for this event is open to all ages and no pets are allowed. Children age 2 and under get in for free, and children's tickets are available for those ages 3-10 for $20 (must be accompanied by an adult). Ticket holders are asked to bring a hard copy of their Tacotopia at the Track ticket to The Reader booth at will-call, located near the Run Admission Gates (look for signage), in order to receive their wristband and an entry ticket to the races. The San Diego Reader is continuing its search to find the best taco in Southern California, and on Saturday, August 13, over 40 top eateries from


Prompt: The return of point guard Mo Williams to the Cleveland Cavaliers was news that made sense on a number of levels, especially in regards to financial and depth issues related to the team. Williams, who will turn 33 in December, will have a new role in this comeback, one that will hopefully protect the team from the disaster that very likely cost the Cavaliers their first NBA title. Williams can still put points on the board, which is one reason why signing him appealed to the Cavs’ front office. Still, the question about exactly what Williams can provide to the

team’s offense is one that remains. During his previous two-plus seasons from 2008-11, Williams was a fixture in the team’s backcourt. In his first season, he was part of a squad that won 66 regular season games, a record for the franchise. That season, Williams reached a peak in scoring by averaging 17.8 points per contest. Those numbers would begin to decline until hitting bottom during his one year with the Portland Trail Blazers in 2013-14, when his scoring average dipped to 9.7 per game. However, a resurgence took place this past season, when he again became a part-time starter and averaged 14.2 points while playing for both the Minnesota Timberwolves and Charlotte Hornets. The clearest indication of what Williams could still do with the ball was shown during the Timberwolves’ January 13 game at Indiana. Connecting on 19 of 33 shots from the field, Williams torched the Pacers for 52 points, one of eight games with Minnesota in which he tallied more than 20 points. After heading to Charlotte, he had a 12-game stretch that began in late February that saw him average 21 points a game. Outside of his rookie year and the aforementioned 2013-14 campaign, Williams has always averaged double-digits in scoring, and has never been shy about launching up shots. He also still has a knack for being able to effectively dish the ball to teammates, something LeBron James can attest to from their two previous seasons together when Williams averaged 4.6 assists per game. That year with Portland and his only full season with the Los Angeles Clippers in 2011-12 were years in which Williams was strictly a reserve, which will be his role with the Cavaliers. In that season with the Clippers, he averaged 13.2 points per game. Combining those two seasons means that


Prompt: by In today’s post we are goint to talk about a somewhat old technique (although programs like Signal have recently started using it) that I have always found to be a really clever hack: domain fronting. For example, let’s take the IP address of the frontal that serves www.google.es: $ host www.google.es www.google.es has address 216.58.210.227 If we take a look at the Common Name (CN) field of the TLS certificate returned by the server: $ echo | openssl s_client -CApath /usr/lib/ssl -connect 216.58.210.227:443 | openssl x509 -subject depth=3 C = US, O = Equifax, OU = Equifax Secure Certificate


Prompt: It’s back to work day for Castle star Stana Katic, who today begins filming Season 8 of the popular ABC series. It was a busy three-month hiatus for Katic, during which she shot two indie movies, The Rendezvous and Sister Cities, and got married. In addition to playing the female lead opposite Nathan Fillion, Katic has added a new role on Castle as part of her new contract: a producer. In her first interview since signing on for Season 8, Katic talks about the decision to return, provides a glimpse at next season that promises to shake things up under

new showrunners Alexi Hawley and Terence Paul Winter, addresses her future on the show and what she would like to do next. It was a nail-biting few weeks for Castle fans last spring when the contracts of both Fillion and Katic expired. By mid-April, Fillion, who plays Rick Castle, had agreed to a new deal, but Katic’s new pact did not close until hours before ABC was to announce its 2015-2016 schedule in May. Behind the scenes, things weren’t as dramatic, Katic says. “For me it wasn’t necessarily down to the wire,” she says. “I didn’t really start speaking about that until after we had wrapped the (7th) season. A lot of the discussions were happening while I was filming The Rendezvous, so I let my reps handle. It went rather quickly in the end.” For Katic, signing on for Season 8 was way more than a business decision. “Part of my thought process making the decision whether to do another season was creatively, what would that would look like,” she said. Factoring into the consideration was the fact that Castle creator Andrew Marlowe was leaving the series after Season 7. “He was part of making this character (Kate Beckett) what she’s become, and he has been part of this dialogue about how to create a strong female heroine,” Katic said. When Hawley and Winter — both experienced Castle writer-producers — were named as new showrunners, “I started to feel the character would be safe in the next chapter of Castle. I felt confident that they knew the story, the character — Terence has been on the show since Day 1, and some of the most interesting episodes for my character were penned by Alexi — and while they are eager to shake things up and aim at telling challenging


Prompt: When members of the opposition are trying to outflank Netanyahu on the right, even the IDF seems like a saner alternative to Israeli politicians. By Yoni Mendel “A nation in uniform,” “an army that has a state,” “a democracy of army bases.” In academic research of the critical kind, Israel is understood as a militaristic state. This, among other things, is what the sociologist Baruch Kimmerling meant when he said, “whether we want it or not — we are a clearly militaristic society, and this militarism is also a central principle around which Israeli society is organized.” Uri Ben Eliezer

wrote about Israel as a “nation in uniform,” researching the military characteristics of Israeli society. Oren Barak analyzed the development of “Israeli security networks” and their social and political role in the country. In other words, much academic research has been dedicated to the topic. It is not difficult to find quotes from Israeli policymakers, most of them (unsurprisingly) Jewish men who served in high-ranking positions in the IDF — men who straddle the line between military and civil society in Israel. This begins with IDF Chief of Staff Yigal Yadin’s declaration in the 1940s that “the Israeli civilian is a soldier with 11 months leave” and continues with Prime Minister Netanyahu’s remarks that Israel must “forever live by the sword.” Lapid vs. Abbas and the security establishment On the backdrop of Israel’s militarism, it is important to say a few things about the security establishment. This past month has seen a great number of examples that show how this establishment, and specifically the IDF, has begun to be viewed by the Israeli leadership — both by the government as well as by both the coalition and what, for some reason, is deemed the “opposition” in the Knesset — as outdated, irrelevant, ignorant, and deceitful. This began with the violence and stabbings in October 2015. The propagandists of the Israeli government announced openly that Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’ incitement was behind the uprising. The demagoguery quickly became the prominent message, with the media quickly adopting the words “incitement” and “Abbas” as inseparable. Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Tzipi Hotovely went as far as to organize a training for senior members of the ministry focusing on “incitement,” which included talks by researchers who support her worldview. The same happened with Culture Minister Miri Regev, Energy and Water Resources Yuval Steinitz, Justice


Prompt: Story highlights David Frum: Hundreds of thousands of Americans lost power in snowstorms this week He says this happens regularly in U.S., but not in Germany, where power lines are buried Some say it would be too costly to bury power lines; he says cost creates benefits Frum: It's a project that would benefit many, create jobs; our grandchildren will thank us Congratulations: If you're reading this, there's a good chance you still have electricity. Unfortunately, hundreds of thousands of Americans hit by winter weather in the South this week couldn't join you. And ice and storms making their way

north threaten loss of power stretching to Vermont. Why do Americans tolerate such outages? They are not inevitable. The German power grid has outages at an average rate of 21 minutes per year. The winds may howl. The trees may fall. But in Germany, the lights stay on. David Frum There's no Teutonic engineering magic to this impressive record. It's achieved by a very simple decision: Germany buries almost all of its low-voltage and medium-voltage power lines, the lines that serve individual homes and apartments. Americans could do the same. They have chosen not to. The choice has been made for reasons of cost. The industry rule of thumb is that it costs about 10 times as much to bury wire as to string wire overhead: up to $1 million per mile, industry representatives claim. Since American cities are much less dense than European ones, there would be a lot more wire to string to serve a U.S. population than a European one. Cost matters. But now reflect: 1. There's reason to think that industry estimates of the cost of burying wires are inflated. While the U.S. industry guesstimates costs, a large-scale study of the problem conducted recently in the United Kingdom estimated the cost premium at 4.5 to 5.5 times the cost of overhead wire, not 10 times. JUST WATCHED Atlantans stocks up for winter storm Replay More Videos ... MUST WATCH Atlantans stocks up for winter storm 01:16 JUST WATCHED Atlanta ready for second ice blast? Replay More Videos ... MUST WATCH Atlanta ready for second ice blast? 01:31 2. U.S. cost figures are a moving target. American cities are becoming denser as the baby boomers age and opt for central-city living . Denser cities require fewer miles of wire to serve their populations. 3. Costs can only


Prompt: Vermont Beer Makers Bring Back Old-Time Maple Sap Brews Enlarge this image toggle caption Robert F. Sisson/National Geographic/Getty Images Robert F. Sisson/National Geographic/Getty Images In Vermont, the last sap in the spring maple sugaring season isn't considered good for much. It's too dark and strong to use for commercial maple syrup — people tend to like the light and clear stuff. But long ago, that late season sap was used in a potent dark beer that offered some cool relief to farmers when the hay was cut in the heat of summer. Now some local microbreweries are bringing the historic

drink back from extinction. In the 1970s Vermont musician John Cassel recorded a popular local song about sap beer. But you would have been hard pressed to find any sap beer to drink at the time. The traditional making of sap beer had already gone the way of obsolete farm traditions — like hand milking — a couple of generations earlier. Folklorist Greg Sharrow says sap beer represents a time when farm families made just about everything they needed from their own land. In a 1992 interview with the Vermont Folklife Center, the late Edgar Dodge described how sap beer was made on the Vermont farm where he grew up in the Depression Era. It sounds more like fun than work. "You'd take the last run of the sugaring operation, you know what I'm talking about? Get down to where you can taste the leaves in it, that sort of thing," he said. Enlarge this image toggle caption Vermont Folklife Center Vermont Folklife Center Dodge said that leafy-tasting sap would be boiled down, about halfway to syrup. Farmers added hops, yeast, a little sugar or maybe some raisins and put it up in a barrel in the cellar. A glass of sap beer was cool relief after a day of hot farm work. As Dodge remembered, it was brought out of the cellar just about the time the first hay was cut. "And this would be fit to drink about the first of haying, which in those days was the fourth of July. You'd start haying about the fourth of July," he told the Folklife Center. (Hear The Whole Interview) Now, any amateur brewer knows there's some guesswork and mystery involved in beer making, and that applied in spades to sap beer back then. Dodge said you couldn't be sure


Prompt: Most of the couples who turn up in my office asking to be married in the Catholic Church are already living together. A large number of Catholics who come to Mass are in second or third marriages. Some of them have received nullity decrees, many have not. Soon same sex couples will come to Catholic churches and schools expecting full membership. Some who attend Mass are living openly with another man or woman with no intention of seeking marriage. Others are promiscuous yet exercise full membership in the Church. To put it bluntly, our marriage and family discipline in the

church is all over the place. The situation is complicated in that our marriage disciplines, while derived from natural law and the Sacred Scriptures, have also been understood within the social context (for most people) of a supportive small local community which was comprised of a few extended families. That kind of community has its own bedroom police. For the most part everybody knew what everybody else was up to. If Johnny started having sex with Ginny, Ginny’s dad and brothers would go around to pay Johnny and his folks a visit. If a girl was “loose” her reputation would be spoiled and she wouldn’t get a good husband. Taboos were in place which helped form adolescents in a Christian morality. The Church was the centerpiece of such local communities and Christian teaching from the Church, supported by the extended family and without the ease of artificial contraception, kept sexuality within acceptable boundaries. Sure people misbehaved. All the old sins that break marriage were available, but there was condemnation, exclusion and punishment by society for sexual wrongdoing. I’m not suggesting we go back to those days because we can’t. However, I can express my frustration as a Catholic priest in trying to grapple with the laws of the Church on marriage and the reality of modern day society. In the area of sexual behavior so many are so far from the Catholic ideal, and so far from even understanding the Catholic ideal that I feel like I am paddling upstream all the time. I am therefore hopeful that the bishops’ synod on the family may help us find some way through the morass–maybe they’ll establish C.L.A.S.P–Catholic Liason and Sex Police….squads of former nuns in jackboots who respond at a moment’s notice and invade divorced people’s homes to make sure they’re


Prompt: James Comey hopes Cleveland’s consent decree can be a model for reforming policing in US cities with large minority populations and increasing violence Divide between police and minorities must be addressed, FBI director says The FBI director, James Comey, said on Thursday there is a crisis in big cities across the country as the divide between law enforcement officers and minority communities widens while violent crime and murder spike upward. FBI chief: 'unacceptable' that Guardian has better data on police violence Read more Comey made his remarks during a forum at a community college in Cleveland, where the relationship between

police and the majority black community has been especially troublesome the last several years because of highly publicized police custody deaths and fatal shootings, such as that of Tamir Rice, a 12-year-old black boy who was holding a pellet gun. Cleveland is in the early stages of implementing a federal court-monitored agreement that the city and the US Department of Justice reached after the DoJ concluded last year that city police officers too often used excessive force and violated people’s rights and that the problem primarily affects the black community. The people who are dying as the result of violent crime in American cities are typically young men of color, Comey said. “It’s a problem the rest of the country could easily drive around because it’s happening to those people in those neighborhoods,” he said. “We can’t allow that to happen.” Comey called Cleveland a “place of great pain” that is an example of the divide that exists. Without referring to the agreement, called a consent decree, he added that leadership in Cleveland makes him hopeful the city can show the rest of the country how to narrow the gap. The ultimate answer, he said, is “unscientific”. “It’s simply understanding that it’s hard to hate up close,” he said. “We must see each other more clearly.” One of the key provisions in Cleveland’s consent decree is to train officers about how to engage the community in bias-free policing and to create systems to make the police department accountable for doing its job without regard for race, gender or sexual identity. Law enforcement officers must “own our history” about how minorities have been treated by police, Comey said at the question-and-answer forum. “Because people we serve and protect don’t forget,” he said. “That’s part of their inheritance as well.” While law


Prompt: Bisexuality is the tendency to be sexually attracted to both men and women. To some, this may sound like a superpower doubling one's romantic options (and odds). But in real life, bisexuality can be an awkward to have, creating a challenge truly fitting in with either the “straight" or LGBT communities. But most important, bisexuality tends to be quite misunderstood. Myths and stereotypes about bisexuality abound, some even contradicting one another. Straight and LGBT people alike can hold such stereotypes, compounding the difficulties bisexual people can have fitting in. Luckily, an increasing number of researchers have been producing research improving

our of bisexuality. Here are three examples of how science has worked to combat misconceptions about bisexuality: Myth 1: "There's no such thing as bisexuality." This is especially laughable. How can you tell a group of individuals that they don’t exist? But the idea that all people have to be either straight or gay is pervasive and persistent, especially when it comes to men. Frustratingly, even within the most LGBT-friendly circles, you encounter the idea that “there’s no such thing as a bisexual man.” Researchers have quite clearly laid this myth to rest with a study recently published in the Archives of Sexual Behavior(1). Researchers recruited straight, gay, and bisexual men, and exposed them to a variety of erotic film clips. Not only were participants asked to rate their subjective feelings of arousal in response to the clips, they were also connected to physiological equipment that measured changes in genital arousal. As would be expected, heterosexual men responded with much more subjective and genital arousal to films containing women rather than men, and vice versa for gay men. However, bisexual men were aroused relatively similarly by videos of both men and women. They were also more aroused by bisexual clips—for example, two men and one woman—than were the other two groups. Importantly, these differences were in both their reported arousal and the objective measurement of their genital arousal. It is clear from this study that these individuals were not “pretending” to be bisexual. Myth 2: "Bisexuality is just a phase." With this myth, bisexuality is represented as a state of experimentation or confusion—stereotypically experienced during the college years—that occurs before a person settles on their “true” identity. Lisa Diamond has conducted some very sophisticated work on this topic, in which she examined the sexual identities of women over long periods


Prompt: MINGORA: The second-century double-dome vihara, a Buddhist monastery, at Balokaley in Kandak valley, Barikot, is attracting a large number of tourists, architecture students and archaeology researches. Located 8.1km from Barikot, the archaeological site, a masterpiece of ancient architecture, is located high on the mountain and is visible from a long distance. According to archaeologists, the site was first visited by a Hungarian-British archeologist, Sir Aurel Stein, in 1926 and then hastily excavated by Burger and Wright in 1938. Now protected, the site has been looted by vandals and smugglers for almost a century. Restored and partially excavated, the site, which

was acquired by the KP government of late, provides visitors with a clear understanding of the original layout featuring a tripartite monumental terrace with the shrine flanked by two stupas in ruins, supported by a walled terrace as well with the amazing hospitality of local community. “The site is featured by the landmark monument of the Great Shrine, the oldest example of double-dome Gandharan architecture. Chronology of the site is supported by radiocarbon dating one wooden beam of the shrine (palosa wood or acacia modesta) back to the end of first century or the middle of second century CE). The shrine with its cella, corridor and double dome is astonishingly well preserved for the standards of Gandharan architecture,” said Dr Luca Maria Olivieri, head of the visiting Italian Archaeological Mission. He added that it was the only double-dome structure of the ancient Buddhist era left in South Asia. Carla Biagioli, an Italian architect and heritage specialist, who visited Balokaley Gumbat of late, said she was happy to see the site well preserved and protected. “Protection and conservation of the monuments is a very important step to promote the cultural values. The restoration of Balokaley Buddhist shrine has demonstrated the potentiality of attractiveness of the area from cultural and natural point of view,” she told Dawn. She said the venue of the Buddhist shrine was really amazing and scenic, while the area presented a specific living cultural landscape including traditional settlements and typical wood-stone-mud habitat, botanic interests and rock art elements. “The eye-catching site having rich culture and religious heritage is attractive for international tourists if durable peace prevailed in the area,” she said. Tourists and architecture students visit the site not only to have a look at the architectural landmark but also to enjoy the breathtaking view of the monument.


Prompt: I'd like to picture Scott Boras in a room with the shutters drawn, staring at an old rotary phone. Just staring. Projecting his dark energy into the phone, down into the wires, and out into the world. Maybe he focuses on a specific name; maybe the energy just knows where to go. And while Dan Duquette or Peter Angelos are sitting down for breakfast, they suddenly spit out their scone and say aloud, "By Jove, why aren't we in on this Prince Fielder action?" The hardest part for Boras is acting surprised when he gets the phone call. That's not

how it happens, though. If the Orioles really are interested in Prince Fielder, it's a strategy that's been debated and discussed, reviewed and ruminated on. Of course, this is the Orioles we're talking about, so that doesn't mean that the right decision will be reached, but it's not like Angelos had a a vision that Fielder came unto them on a flaming pie and then ordered the Orioles to pursue the slugger suddenly. Which brings us to the question posed in the headline: What in the heck do the Orioles want with Prince Fielder? The answer, and I'm just spitballing here: Probably to get better. Wait, wait. Hear me out. Fielder takes a lot of guff for being shaped like something out of the Disney Alice in Wonderland cartoon, and it's a legitimate concern. He's … fluffy, to put it diplomatically. There should be concerns over his durability. It's hard to imagine a 40-year-old Fielder scampering out to first base, fit as a fiddle. But there's a difference between a "legitimate concern" and something that should completely obscure Prince Fielder's long-term potential. He's still just 27 -- because he had immediate success as a young major leaguer, it's easy to forget just how young he is. If Fielder gets a seven-year deal, he'd be 34 by the end of it. When is he supposed to turn into a fiery mess of bone, cartilage, and blubber? When he's 30? 31? 32? Even Mo Vaughn made it to 32, and he didn't necessarily crumble because of his girth -- a rogue dugout was the culprit there. It's completely reasonable to think that Fielder is the kind of free agent that is good for any team. Win now? Of course Fielder helps. He'd help every team. Win later? The ultimate example of a


Prompt: The last week brought about some cooler temperatures to South Florida and believe me that is quite a relief! This delightfully cool weather inspired me to make one of my favorite Cuban potajes (stew) ... Potaje de Garbanzo. I think of a potaje (poe-tah-hey) as not quite a soup, not quite a stew and not quite a porridge. It's a hearty chickpeas (garbanzo), simmered with Spanish chorizo, ham, smoked pork shank, Cuban calabaza and potatoes. The taste takes me back to the days of sitting in my mom's kitchen, talking and watching her prepare this divine "potaje". It's funny how

so many of the memories of my mom, that mean so much to me and that I hold dear, took place in her kitchen. A little choked up and a big sigh inserted here! Anyway, back to the "potaje". To me, the perfect spoonful has a piece of chorizo, calabaza, and chickpea swimming in the smokey, paprika infused tomato-y broth. Add your favorite bread to dunk in the savory broth or white rice and your meal has just graduated to a traditional Cuban meal. This is nothing short of absolutely, positively delicious! I am pretty certain that my favorite Potaje de Garbanzo may become one your favorites too!1 tablespoon olive oil1 large vidalia onion, chopped3-4 garlic cloves, chopped1 large bell pepper chopped4 small dried and cured Spanish chorizo* links, sliced on the diagonal1 tablespoon sweet, smoked Spanish paprika1 tablespoon granulated garlic powder1 laurel bay leaf1 8 oz can tomato sauce4 cups chicken stock1 1/2 dry white wine1 pounds of garbanzo beans1 1/2 pounds of smoked pork shank8 oz ham steak cubed1/2 Cuban calabaza squash (or butternut squash), peeled and diced into large pieces1 - 2 large red potatoes, peeled, diced1/2 teaspoon salt Soak the beans 24 hours ahead of cooking time, change water whenever possible. Place the rinse beans and place in a pot with enough water to go about 2 inches above beans. Bring to a rolling boil and cook for 5 minutes on high. Cover and turn off heat. Leave in water for 1 hour. Remove and rinse beans set aside. Throw out water.Heat a deep, heavy bottomed dutch oven over medium heat. Add olive oil, onions, pepper and garlic. Saute for 5-7 minutes or until vegetables are tender, add sliced chorizo, paprika, bay leaf and garlic powder stir well to incorporate. Cook, stirring often, for 5 minutes,


Prompt: [This is a chapter from my latest novel, a sequel to The Fall of Doc Future and Skybreaker’s Call. The start is here, and links to my other work here. It can be read on its own, but contains spoilers for those two books. I post new chapters about every two weeks, and the next chapter is planned for around November 24th.] Previous: Chapter 13 The silence was oppressive. Flicker’s hearing was quite acute. Her power and reaction time let her start damping the effect of loud noises while they were still in her outer ears, and she created her

own shockwaves so often it had long ago become second nature. So she never suffered the gradual, subtle hearing deterioration most people did from loud music and environmental noise. But there was no sound. No people besides Journeyman and her, no traffic, no running machinery, no birds, no insects, no running water. Not even any wind at the moment. The faint rustle of Journeyman’s trenchcoat seemed loud. There wasn’t all that much to see, either–a large, shallow pothole in the dark. It was about twenty feet wide and maybe three deep. It was filled with a mixture of dead weeds, mud, and ice. “There’s nothing here,” she said, after shining her flashlight around. “Not now,” said Journeyman. "But a Siberian elm grew there, until a few years ago. The one I brought Sylvi to.“ They were near the outskirts of Pripyat, in the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone. Flicker was back in her costume, and she checked the radioactivity again–not life threatening, but enough to keep most people away. There were a few hotter spots at the bottom of the hole. Most of it was from cesium-137–the shorter lived isotopes had decayed, in the quarter-century since the disaster. "What happened?” Flicker turned the flashlight off, and let her eyes start adjusting to the night again. “I don’t know.” He didn’t continue right away, and the silence was back. “Do you want to go somewhere else to talk?” she asked after a while. “We probably should. I had a lot to drink, and this place gets to me. It sure got to her. That was the problem.” He sighed. "But this was the last place I saw her, and I wanted you to see it, since I’ve been telling you the story.“ "Thank you for trusting me.” “This part… isn’t so much about


Prompt: Advertisement It's an airport that's been frozen in time, with bold architecture that must have seemed space age at the time. These photographs, which originally appeared in Curbed, of the TWA Terminal at JFK offer a glimpse of the golden age of travel, transporting guests back to what travellers would have experienced in 1962. Photographer Max Touhey was granted access to capture the closed-to-the-public building just ahead of its transformation into a boutique hotel. Scroll down for video The lid has been temporarily lifted on the preserved TWA Terminal at JFK, with fascinating images by photographer Max Touhey transporting you

back to what travellers would have experienced in 1962, as reported by Curbed Touhey captured a round capsule departures board at the TWA terminal, as reported by Curbed The flight centre was the last project of architect Eero Saarinen, the Finnish-American designer known for his love of curves, and was completed posthumously in 1962, for the now defunct Trans World Airlines (TWA). The futuristic building was designed to replicate a bird's spread wings mid flight in reflection of the company's directive, which they stated was to 'capture the spirit of flight.' Construction on the airport hub lasted six years starting in 1956, and upon completion it was celebrated as an architectural masterpiece that represented a shift in air travel in which middle-class Americans could now afford to fly. 'We wanted passengers passing through the building to experience a fully-designed environment in which each part arises from another and everything belongs to the same formal world,' Mr Saarinen had said about his philosophy behind the design. The terminal design reflects a bird's spread wings mid flight in reflection of the TWA company's directive, which they stated was to 'capture the spirit of flight' as captured by Max Touhey for Curbed The flight centre was the last project of architect Eero Saarinen, the Finnish-American designer known for his love of curves. The photograph, by Max Touhey, first appeared in Curbed Plans for the hotel are well underway, with a team preparing a digital 3D model of the airport having taken extensive measurements in June. Photograph courtesy of Max Touhey and Curbed High-flying: Airline hostesses for TWA are pictured welcoming people aboard a flight back in 1966 Flashback: Two first class seats aboard a TWA jet from London to Washington in the 1960s. One occupied by a caesium beam timepiece accurate to one-millioneth


Prompt: The actor, currently playing Shakespeare’s villainous king, says Brexit has brought the play a pertinence that is not lost on audiences It is a story of vaulting ambition and ruthless scheming which takes a nation very quickly from stability to chaos. Sound familiar? Richard III review – Ralph Fiennes gets to grips with Shakespeare's ruthless ruler Read more The parallels between Shakespeare’s Richard III and British politics this summer are striking and it is not being lost on audiences, the actor Ralph Fiennes said on Tuesday. Fiennes is playing the villainous king at the Almeida theatre in north London, a

production that will be filmed and broadcast to cinemas around the world on Thursday. “Most Shakespeare plays that deal with power, whether they are the history plays or the Roman plays, you can always broadly speaking find a parallel somewhere in the world to what’s going on,” Fiennes said. “It’s quite rare that you actually are close to a political crisis, political uncertainty. We went into this not knowing what the referendum result was going to be, so when it was as divisive as it was and we saw all these political figures making a play for leadership, Boris Johnson, Michael Gove ... the audience suddenly, it changed. “Not through our doing but just because of events happening around us. Suddenly it became full of a pertinence that perhaps it hadn’t had before.” Many people are seeing parallels between the character of Richard III, his brilliant scheming and then apparent reluctance to take the throne, and Tory politicians. “Michael Gove is closest,” said Fiennes. “Because all those protestations about ‘I could never lead, it’s not in my DNA to lead’ – that’s classic Richard.” Milibands as princes in the tower The play is directed by the Almeida’s artistic director, Rupert Goold, who said he originally – in 2012 – planned to do a Richard III that riffed on the character of Johnson. “I thought Boris is this figure who is physically strange and yet sexually predatory and potent, inherently comic, outside the rules, of questionable motives, ultimately ambitious. It was going to be very crude ... Milibands as princes in the tower.” Those ideas were abandoned, particularly when Fiennes became part of the project. But Goold added: “What’s potent about the play is that people are able to read all those parallels without us banging them over the head.” While


Prompt: Earlier this year, Apple made several changes to the App Store to address complaints that apps with nothing other than a prurient purpose had infiltrated the App Store. Part of the problem was that kids could still access screenshots for "racy" apps. Apple also began removing a number of these apps after it received complaints from the Parents Television Council. Though the group thinks Apple has some room for improvement, it will be focusing its future efforts on other platforms that are growing in popularity, such as Android, which currently lack Parental Controls. Parents Television Council is notorious for complaining

to the FCC about the sexual or violent nature of TV shows, griping about foul-mouthed YouTube comments, and campaigning against kids being able to buy M-rated video games. The group targeted the App Store earlier this year because Apple's devices—particularly the iPod touch—are so popular with kids and teens. The watchdog group had concerns that some apps could be accessible to children, that App Store pages had Web links that led to yet more objectionable content, and that in the case where Parental Controls were activated, kids could still browse and preview these apps. Apple ultimately responded by cleaning out a number of these contentious apps and started blocking screenshots in iTunes in addition to the blocks already present in the on-device App Store app. "Whenever we receive customer complaints about objectionable content we review them," Apple spokesperson Trudy Muller told Ars at the time. "If we find these apps contain inappropriate material we remove them and request the developer make any necessary changes in order to be distributed by Apple." PTC applauded Apple's actions. "Apple has taken a positive first step towards eliminating kids' access to sexually explicit and pornographic content on its product lineup and we applaud the company’s efforts," the group's president, Tim Winter, said in a statement. PTC does think there's more that Apple could do. In particular, the group is concerned that there is no filtering options for Mobile Safari as there are for desktop browsers. This is even more important on a mobile device, PTC's national grassroots director Gavin McKiernan told Ars, because parents can't sit with the child and monitor their browsing as they could on a desktop PC. "We're not up in arms against Apple, though," McKiernan said. "We think there's room for improvement, but we are definitely pleased with their response


Prompt: Is tomorrow’s tech giant today’s microcap beverage company? Investors apparently think so, as shares of an extremely small beverage company soared on the news that it would be changing its focus to blockchain, the decentralized ledger technology that is best known as the underpinning to cryptocurrencies like bitcoin. Long Island Iced Tea Corp. US:LTEA on Thursday said it was rebranding to become Long Blockchain Corp., and that it was “shifting its primary corporate focus towards the exploration of and investment in opportunities that leverage the benefits of blockchain technology.” The stock nearly quadruped at its peak of the session. After

closing at $2.44 on Wednesday, it jumped as high as $9.49, its highest level since June 2016. It closed at $6.91, up 183% on the day. Nearly 15 million shares exchanged hands, significantly higher than its 30-day average, which is below 275,000. Before the day’s move, the stock had been down more than 40% in 2017, and as of Thursday’s close, it had a market capitalization of about $24 million. The below chart shows the company’s stock performance over the past two years. Courtesy FactSet The company did not immediately return a request for a comment. In a press release, it wrote it is “dedicated to becoming a significant participant in the evolution of blockchain technology that creates long term value for its shareholders and the global community by investing in and developing businesses that are ‘on-chain’.” It added that “blockchain technology is fundamentally changing the way people and businesses transact, and the company will strive to be at the forefront of this dynamic industry, actively pursuing opportunities.” The press release also linked to a corporate website, where the company wrote it was “already in the preliminary stages of evaluating specific opportunities involving blockchain technology,” including potential partnership, investments, or acquisitions. One of these “opportunities” involves “a London-based FCA regulated, institutional provider of FX services that is building multiple blockchain and digital crypto currency technology solutions for global financial markets.” The company added that it “does not have an agreement with any of these entities for a transaction and there is no assurance that a definitive agreement with these, or any other entity, will be entered into or ultimately consummated.” Long Island Iced Tea’s most recent investor presentation, released on Oct. 5, made no mention of blockchain or any upcoming change in focus. A five-point section on “company direction” referenced


Prompt: "California is once again the sixth-largest economy in the world. If you add the GDP’s of Washington and Oregon, California would surpass the United Kingdom to become the fifth-largest economy in the world." Antonio Villaraigosa, the former mayor of Los Angeles and 2018 Democratic candidate for California governor, recently called for the state to unite with like-minded cities and states on the West Coast to oppose "dangerous policies advanced by a Trump administration." California’s large economy, Villaraigosa said in a Dec. 8, 2016 op-ed in the Sacramento Bee, gives it leverage in any possible showdown. In making this call, Villaraigosa

repeated a favorite claim by California politicians that the state’s economy ranks as the sixth largest in the world -- a claim PolitiFact California rated Mostly True in July. He then took the economic comparison further -- all the way to the Pacific Northwest. "California is once again the sixth-largest economy in the world," Villaraigosa said. "If you add the GDP’s of Washington and Oregon, California would surpass the United Kingdom to become the fifth-largest economy in the world." "That’s power – power we must use to protect our people against any dangerous policies advanced by a Trump administration," he added. We decided to fact-check the part of Villaraigosa’s claim that if the GDPs of California, Washington and Oregon were somehow combined, they’d represent the fifth largest economy on the planet, ahead of the United Kingdom. Gross domestic product, or GDP, is used to measure the health of a country’s or state’s economy. It’s the total value of all goods and services. Our research A campaign spokeswoman for Villaraigosa pointed us to 2015 GDP figures from the International Monetary Fund. We used the same data in July to verify that California, with a GDP of nearly $2.5 trillion, had the sixth-largest economy behind the United States, China, Japan, Germany and the United Kingdom. California Gov. Jerry Brown’s administration released GDP figures in June showing the state had jumped two spots in these unique world rankings ahead of France and Brazil and into sixth place behind the United Kingdom. In our July fact check, we noted that when adjusted for California’s very high cost of living, the state’s GDP drops several places. This led us to our Mostly True rating for the claim, which we define as "accurate but needs clarification or additional information." To come up with a combined GDP


Prompt: I’m posting it here because I’ve mentioned it on Google+ for the third time, today. It all started with Zak posting about Evolution. He lists some well known role-playing games and shows that each one of them offers some sort of long-term promise of change for players. His point: every session produces “changes in that session”, but the really successful games promise “a specific kind of change will occur over the long haul.” I definitely think that the promise of ever changing game play is what makes D&D interesting. The reason this works, I think, is because the spells you

gain don’t simply scale. The game changes if you can be invisible and fly. The game changes when you can dimension door and teleport. The game changes when you can travel to the planes. Outside of the specific rules, the tradition also encourages changes to the game when you reach name level and build a stronghold, and it changes once more when you start to forge alliances with and wage wars against neighbors. I think it’s also one of the reasons that Traveller can be boring. At least it didn’t hold a long-term appeal to me when I ran it. Perhaps I should have imagined the long term changes to the game play (more and bigger ships, get involved in the war) instead of focusing on changes to the setting (in my campaign, small colonies were being resettled or exterminated by the players – at the time I felt this was already a big step up). I feel like I should give Traveller another try soon. I think Zak’s spot-on when he wonders whether campaigns using relatively simple rules have a hard time maintaining a long term appeal. For example, I claim that the long list of non-general spells with their non-linear progression of power create the long term changes over time. But what will you do in a simpler indie game? What will I do with my Solar System RPG game? Over time, I can add more gifts (feats, stunts, powers), but there’s really no promise that I will keep delivering. Plus, if I do, I’ll have to invent it all myself. This is the key part: I have to come up with it myself – and I need to foreshadow it, make sure my players know it, want it, work towards it. In D&D, it’s simple. There’s a


Prompt: When asked about the FBI investigation into her email scandal broadening to include corruption allegations, Hillary Clinton’s response was to declare the report was “absolutely not true,” an “unsourced, irresponsible claim that has no basis.” Rarely has someone whistled past a graveyard at such a high tone, so badly off-key. As many observers hastened to point out, there’s no legal way Hillary Clinton would know if the Fox News story about the widening FBI probe was true or not. The story was based on anonymous sources within the intelligence community, bolstered with accounts of FBI agents growing increasingly angry at

the prospect their meticulous investigation will be discarded by the politicized Justice Department to protect Clinton. The FBI doesn’t have to formally notify Clinton that its probe is expanding; indeed, given the case and the subject, they would be wise to hold off on letting her know for as long as possible. The Clinton machine is very, very good at getting to people who might damage the Big He and Big She. Even as Clinton was dismissing the Fox News report out of hand, former U.S. attorney Joseph DiGenova was confirming the key revelations, saying he has been told 150 FBI agents are working the Clinton corruption case, and the investigation has been in progress for months. Everything described in the Fox News piece is entirely plausible, and consistent with the events of the past year. The intelligence community does think former CIA director General David Petraeus got off light, and what Clinton did is orders of magnitude worse than his offenses – she’s up to 1,340 classified emails on the server she swore contained zero, and her effort to challenge the severe Top Secret classification for two of them failed spectacularly. Contrary to Clinton’s blithe assurances, her private server was unprecedented, and very much against both federal and State Department procedures. Questions have been swirling around her finances and the activities of the “Clinton Foundation” for a long time, and it’s long been thought one of her primary motivations for setting up a private server was to conceal correspondence that could shed unwelcome light on the intersection between her State Department job and her political and financial portfolio. To put the best possible spin on it for Clinton, even if they don’t find anything damning, one can hardly blame the FBI for wondering if there’s a fire behind all


Prompt: Buy Photo Left to right: In start 5 Cruising B Division 3 Shore Course Cruising, Knot Yours too owned by Glen Drabant of Port Huron Yacht Club, Pirate owned by Jeff Henderson of Bayview Yacht Club in Detroit and Irish Mist owned David Spiers of EBC and Deadman's Flat Yacht Club head out into the open waters of Lake Huron on their way to Mackinac Island during the 2014 Bell's Beer Bayview Mackinac Race on Saturday, July 12, 2014. (Photo: Eric Seals, Detroit Free Press)Buy Photo From a tin shanty to the Great Lakes "Shrine to Nautical Culture," a lot

of water has passed by Bayview Yacht Club on its way down the Detroit River the past 100 years. Though not the oldest yacht club in the Detroit area — the Detroit Yacht Club was founded in 1868, for example — Bayview is considered the granddaddy of pure sailing clubs in Michigan. Standing across from the eastern tip of Belle Isle, its dock entrance off 100 Clairpointe in Detroit, Bayview is celebrating a century of recreational and competitive sailing — and countless drinks at the clubhouse bar overlooking the Detroit River and Canada — this year. Bayview Yacht Club also will be hosting the 91st Bell's Beer Bayview Mackinac Race, as it has done since 1925, when only 12 boats competed in the inaugural freshwater, long-distance sailboat event from Port Huron to Mackinac Island. On Saturday, more than 100 crafts from Bayview's fleet, including "Stripes," the Great Lakes 70 yacht owned and sailed by former University of Michigan athletic director Bill Martin, will be among the fleet of more than 250 boats scheduled to leave Port Huron for the straits of Mackinac. Bayview Commodore Hanson Bratton will sail aboard the 60-foot "Eagle I," although he was to compete on his own yacht "Taz," in the double-handed crew class, until his sailing partner suffered an injured knee. "The Port Huron-Mackinac race is so very important to the club," said Bratton, 51, a self-employed engineer from Grosse Pointe Woods whose father was a Detroit cop. "But it's only part of what we do. We also compete in open-lake racing and one-design regattas and have a junior sailing program, too. We've come a long way since four gentlemen formed the Bayview Yacht Club in 1915." They were sailors E. Lloyd Kurtzwarth, P.C. Williamson, Floyd Nixon and Paul Diedrich, who chipped in $14 a


Prompt: window._taboola = window._taboola || []; _taboola.push({ mode: 'thumbnails-c', container: 'taboola-interstitial-gallery-thumbnails-5', placement: 'Interstitial Gallery Thumbnails 5', target_type: 'mix' }); window._taboola = window._taboola || []; _taboola.push({ mode: 'thumbnails-c', container: 'taboola-interstitial-gallery-thumbnails-10', placement: 'Interstitial Gallery Thumbnails 10', target_type: 'mix' }); window._taboola = window._taboola || []; _taboola.push({ mode: 'thumbnails-c', container: 'taboola-interstitial-gallery-thumbnails-12', placement: 'Interstitial Gallery Thumbnails 12', target_type: 'mix' }); Photo: Chris O\'Meara / AP Image 1 of / 13 Caption Close Image 2 of 13 9. G Joe Looney One of the last members from the supposedly failed 2011 draft, Looney is the surprise replacement to take Alex Boone’s spot in case of a extended

holdout. He graded out well last year after playing extensively against the St. Louis Rams. less 9. G Joe Looney One of the last members from the supposedly failed 2011 draft, Looney is the surprise replacement to take Alex Boone’s spot in case of a extended holdout. He graded out well ... more Photo: Lance Iversen / The Chronicle Image 3 of 13 8. DE-FB Will Tukuafu Two summers ago, Tukuafu exhibited a devastating flair as a blocker at fullback. If Tukuafu can take the next step, the team’s short-yardage issue could be over. less 8. DE-FB Will Tukuafu Two summers ago, Tukuafu exhibited a devastating flair as a blocker at fullback. If Tukuafu can take the next step, the team’s short-yardage issue could be ... more Photo: Michael Macor / The Chronicle Image 4 of 13 7. QB Kory Faulkner The small-school quarterback has learned to stand in the pocket take a hit while delivering the ball, a trait not every quarterback possesses. He has size and can run. But he’s also the fourth quarterback out of four on most depth charts. less 7. QB Kory Faulkner The small-school quarterback has learned to stand in the pocket take a hit while delivering the ball, a trait not every quarterback possesses. He has size and can run. But ... more Photo: Marcio Jose Sanchez / Associated Press Image 5 of 13 Image 6 of 13 5. DE Kaleb Ramsey The 49ers’ final draft pick this spring is immensely strong; he refused to give up despite numerous injuries in college. That combination could win him a roster spot on a stacked defensive line. less 5. DE Kaleb Ramsey The 49ers’ final draft pick this spring is immensely strong; he refused to give up despite numerous injuries in college. That combination could


Prompt: Lawyer and human rights activist Stanislav Markelov murdered in Moscow By Vladimir Volkov 23 January 2009 On January 19, Stanislav Markelov was shot in the head and killed in central Moscow by a masked man using a silencer. The assassination took place in broad daylight not far from the Kremlin. The 34-year-old lawyer and human rights activist was president of the Institute for the Supremacy of Law. Anastasia Baburova, a 25-year-old student in the journalism department at Moscow State University and correspondent for the liberal opposition newspaper Novaya Gazeta (New Gazette), tried to shield Markelov from the killer but was

also shot in the head. Later that evening, she died in the hospital. The specific reason for the murder of Markelov and who ordered it have not yet been established. But it is clear that this savage and cold-blooded killing is bound up with efforts to eliminate those who, regardless of their views and political connections, have sought to shed light on the many murky aspects of the actions of the Russian authorities in the Caucasus and in Russia itself. Both victims of this assassination were open opponents of the Russian nationalists. The attack on Markelov occurred after a press conference in which he spoke about the case of Colonel Yuri Budanov. Markelov had filed a complaint with the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation over Budanov's early release from prison. Budanov was released from prison on January 15, having served eight-and-a-half years of a ten-year sentence. His parole caused outrage in Chechnya, where the Budanov case had become a symbol of the tyranny and violence inflicted by the Russian army in the province. In March 2000, a few months after the start of the Second Chechen War, Budanov kidnapped from her home and then killed the 18-year-old Chechen girl Elsa Kungayeva. After he killed her, he ordered his subordinates to bury her body. After an autopsy was performed on the girl's corpse, it was established that she had been raped and severely tortured. As in many similar instances, Budanov would certainly have gotten away with his crime if it had not been the object of wide publicity. Nevertheless, the Russian authorities did everything possible to prevent his conviction. At first, the court exonerated him, and only under public pressure both in Chechnya and Russia did Budanov finally end up in prison. Budanov is the kind of professional killer, sadist


Prompt: Houzz, the fast-growing home-remodeling site, today announced that it has raised a $165 million Series D round led by Sequoia Capital, one of its early backers. Existing investors Oren Zeev, New Enterprise Associates, GGV Capital and Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers also participated in this massive round, as well as new investors DST Global and T. Rowe Price. As Houzz co-founder and CEO Adi Tatarko told me earlier this week, the plan is to use this new injection of funding to accelerate the company’s global expansion plans. Houzz, which launched in 2009, already has already opened offices in Berlin, London

and — most recently — Sydney. “Houzz is really meant to be a global platform,” Tatarko told me. More than a third of the company’s now 25 million monthly unique users already come from outside the U.S., she told me. As part of today’s news, the company also announced the beta launch of its newest revenue channel, the Houzz Marketplace, which will allow users to directly buy some of the products they see when they browse the site. The service currently features over one million products from a large variety of sellers. As Tatarko told me, many businesses actually came to the company to participate in this — and some of them didn’t even have an online presence before this. “But most importantly, we did this because our users really wanted this,” she noted. “They wanted to be able to complete everything on Houzz.” This is a marketplace, so while Houzz handles the payment in the background, fulfillment and customer service are handled by the sellers. In addition, the company is also using this moment to announce its redesign, which already started rolling out to some users over the last few days. The idea here is to simplify the experience and create a better flow between the three parts of the site: inspiration, finding pros and the marketplace. The redesign also features improved search with better filters, as well as new ways for its users — and especially professionals — to personalize their profiles. As for the funding round, Tatarko noted that she sees it as a huge vote of confidence in the company. “They saw that Houzz became the ultimate leader in its industry in the U.S. and wanted to support our initiative to bring it to the rest of the world, too,” she said. Sequoia partner and Houzz


Prompt: The Raw Report: WWE Monday Night Raw 5-14-12 May 15, 2012 Welcome to The Raw Report. Every week I’ll be dissecting WWE’s Monday Night Raw and analyzing what worked, what didn’t work, and what left audiences thinking wtf by breaking the show down into three categories: YES!, CHANGE THE CHANNEL! or WHAT? Let’s get it on. YES! Triple H and Paul Heyman opening segment – Brilliant opener. This is how you raise the energy right from the opening of Raw. Heyman’s whiney, “what are ya’ doin?!” as Triple H grabbed him by the throat was superb acting. While I would

have certainly loved to see more back and forth between the two, I found both men to be in top form during this segment. Triple H cut a wonderful promo about Lesnar, criticizing Brock for leaving the business and offending legends such as Ric Flair and Shawn Michaels by his recent behavior. Instead of burying Lesnar, like many assumed Triple H was doing, I felt that the COO had a clear argument running throughout the promo: Lesnar is a bully who quits the second he faces strong opposition. Maybe Triple H is that one obstacle that Brock won’t be able to simply quit and avoid? Heyman, in turn, informed Triple H that Lesnar is suing the WWE, which added a bit of suspense to Brock’s relationship with the company. The WWE seems to be planting the seeds for a much longer program between not only Triple H and Lesnar, but Brock and the entire WWE infrastructure. I’m excited to see where they go next. CM Punk/Santino vs. Daniel Bryan/Cody Rhodes – Oddly enough, I found Bryan and Cody worked really well together. I’m not sure what purpose Santino served in this match, other than the WWE not being able to find a better babyface to team with Punk. Why not bring Alex Riley back up? Or maybe even Zack Ryder? Punk’s angry facials to Bryan throughout the match were superb. Seeing Bryan simply laugh in Punk’s face from across the ring only further built his heat to fans at home. I loved that fact that Bryan ended the match by staring Punk down as he walked up the ramp, smirking the entire way. It’s interesting how Bryan doesn’t take Punk seriously, yet desperately wants to win the WWE Championship. While many fans complain that there’s no build to Bryan/Punk, I


Prompt: Good grief. Help me. Help me now. This was delicious. Good steaks do not need sauce. But they’re every bit as delicious with a good sauce as they are on their own. And as much steak as we eat in our household, I like to change things up. This sauce is actually almost a “side dish”—substantial and delicious. You’ll absolutely love it. Grab a large onion. Very large. Cut it in half from root to tip… Then peel off the outer layer and make relatively thick slices. Not huge, but definitely not thin. Melt 1/2 stick (4 tablespoons) butter in

a heavy skillet over high heat. When it’s all melted… Throw in the sliced onions. Stir them around, then let them sit and cook over high heat. Stir them only occasionally; we want them to get nice and brownish/black. Meanwhile, grab a ribeye steak—whatever thickness you like. Heat up the grill outside, or be lazy like me and heat up a grill pan. Add lots of butter so it’ll get brown. Since the sauce is so flavorful, all we need to do with the meat is season it with salt and pepper. Throw it diagonally on the grill pan, and season the other side. Watch the steak and turn it as it cooks to get the nice grill marks. While the steak cooks, go ahead and make the (very easy) sauce. Turn the skillet with the onions down to low heat… Then pour in 3/4 to 1 cup heavy cream. Ask for forgiveness while you’re at it. You’re gonna need it. This is a crime. Heat it all up… And stir it gently as it cooks. Slowly the white cream will take on the color of the caramelized onions and your soul will sing. You want to cook it for 3 to 5 minutes, or until the sauce thickens and reduces by about half. If it gets too thick (it shouldn’t), you can splash in a little beef broth. Ahhh. Perfect. But I’m about to go one better. Dump in 1/2 cup crumbled blue cheese. Please do this, even if you think you don’t like blue cheese. Please? Blue cheese? Please? Now stir it around while the cheese melts and makes the sauce even more creamy than it was before. Oh my gosh. Oh my…my…gosh. To serve, make a nice, generous bed of sauce on a large plate. This dish


Prompt: Baby Boomers Approach 65 – Glumly The iconic image of the Baby Boom generation is a 1960s-era snapshot of an exuberant, long-haired, rebellious young adult. That portrait wasn’t entirely accurate even then, but it’s hopelessly out of date now. This famously huge cohort of Americans finds itself in a funk as it approaches old age. On January 1, 2011, the oldest Baby Boomers will turn 65. Every day for the next 19 years, about 10,000 more will cross that threshold. By 2030, when all Baby Boomers will have turned 65, fully 18% of the nation’s population will be at least

that age, according to Pew Research Center population projections. Today, just 13% of Americans are ages 65 and older. Perched on the front stoop of old age, Baby Boomers are more downbeat than other age groups about the trajectory of their own lives and about the direction of the nation as a whole. Some of this pessimism is related to life cycle – for most people, middle age is the most demanding and stressful time of life. Some of the gloominess, however, appears to be particular to Boomers, who bounded onto the national stage in the 1960s with high hopes for remaking society, but who’ve spent most of their adulthood trailing other age cohorts in overall life satisfaction. At the moment, the Baby Boomers are pretty glum. Fully 80% say they are dissatisfied with the way things are going in the country today, compared with 60% of those ages 18 to 29 (Millennials); 69% of those ages 30 to 45 (Generation Xers) and 76% of those 65 and older (the Silent and Greatest Generations), according to a Pew Research Center survey taken earlier this month. Boomers are also more downbeat than other adults about the long-term trajectory of their lives – and their children’s. Some 21% say their own standard of living is lower than their parents’ was at the age they are now; among all non-Boomer adults, just 14% feel this way, according to a May 2010 Pew Research survey. The same survey found that 34% of Boomers believe their own children will not enjoy as good a standard of living as they themselves have now; by contrast, just 21% of non-Boomers say the same. The 79 million member Baby Boomer generation accounts for 26% of the total U.S. population. By force of numbers alone, they almost certainly will


Prompt: LISTEN: Your browser does not support the audio element. As in the past, Seattle police anticipated the actions of self-proclaimed anarchists on May Day. But the Seattle Police Department’s incident commander for the protests said this year was notably different. “I was surprised at the numbers of people at Seattle Central (Community College) that wanted to get into a confrontation,” Captain Chris Fowler told KIRO Radio’s Jason Rantz. “I have not seen that many black bloc anarchists — people dressed up in that vein — that wanted to cause problems that early.” Related: Mayor, chief praise police response to violent

May Day protest in Seattle “I would say that it was a substantial difference between the small groups of people that wanted to commit violence from years past, or the small groups that we’ve seen glom onto peaceful protest,” Fowler said. “This was a group of people in a large group — 75, 100, 200 mixed into a crowd of much larger size — that facilitated that violence and destruction.” What is to blame for the uptick, Rantz asked. “I don’t know if it’s just levels of frustration or there was a need to make some sort of statement,” Fowler said. “Clearly, they were out to commit violence and crime. So it’s hard for me to relate to people that want to do that. It’s hard to say.” Officers confiscated a hammer, wrenches, batteries, and a machete with “death” written on it. A total of 17 arrests were made Friday night. Three officers went to the hospital for injuries. Rioters smashed over 20 cars, including a KIRO Radio truck. Photos from May Day protests As in years past, the Seattle Police Department is expected to release photos and ask people to help identify rioters for further arrest. Fowler said the department still has a lot of video and photos to look through, and that the investigation is underway. He noted that just because they arrest someone, it doesn’t mean that they will eventually be charged. That is up to prosecutors, he said. In the meantime, police are making arrests for a range of crimes from felony assault to obstructing. After the protest-turned-riot, Fowler said that he knew those crimes were likely coming as he watched the anarchist crowd gather. “When they left Seattle Central Community College and moved down Broadway, it was relatively peaceful, but we knew before they left


Prompt: Repealing the Affordable Care Act’s (ACA’s) individual mandate in the tax bill is being characterized by some Senators as a catalyst for Congress to replace the health law next year. It may be just the opposite, equivalent to crossing a bridge and burning it behind you. The individual mandate, or shared responsibility provision, gives people a choice: buy affordable coverage if you can afford it or pay a tax. It encourages people to maintain continuous coverage rather than purchase it when they get sick. ADVERTISEMENT It has contributed to an individual market that, prior to being undermined by the Trump

administration, was growing in size and stability . It contributed to the lowest uninsured rate in American history. Knocking out this incentive for coverage would make it more (and for some too) expensive to buy individual market coverage. The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimated that average premiums would increase by 10 percent, which translates into nearly $2,000 per year for a family of four. The amount would be greater for older Americans and those that live in rural areas. This premium increase, coupled with less emphasis placed on getting coverage, would result in an estimated 13 million more uninsured Americans. If the mandate repeal is signed into law with the tax bill, there is no turning back for three reasons. First, to date, no expert has identified a policy as effective as the individual mandate. For example, CBO estimated that the American Health Care Act’s proposal to maintain continuous coverage would end up causing more people to lose than to gain coverage. And proposals that incentivize private insurance won’t help the 5 million Americans who will no longer get Medicaid coverage under the tax bill. Second, even if such a policy existed, no funding would be easily found to pay for the coverage for lost under the GOP bill. Congress has yet to agree on funding for the bipartisan Children’s Health Insurance Program. The $318 billion needed to cover those uninsured because of the tax bill is 40 times higher than the $8 billion Congress has failed to find for low-income children’s coverage. Third, no trust would be left to make the system work as it did before. Democrats would be unlikely to give up parts of the ACA to make the Republican-induced problems less bad. Republicans themselves can’t agree on how to lower private insurance premiums. Ideas like reinsurance


Prompt: The uncertainty over Delhi's status as a host left the travel plans of fans in limbo © BCCI Fans travelling from abroad for the World T20 in India have expressed anger and disappointment over the delay in announcing the tournament's schedule and the ambiguity surrounding the ticketing process. While the fixtures were announced on December 11 - about three months before the event - the first phase of ticket sales, for matches in Bangalore, Chennai, Dharamsala, Kolkata and Mohali, began only on February 24. The second phase of ticket sales, for matches in Mumbai, Delhi and Nagpur, had begun at

12 pm IST on February 26, less than two weeks before the tournament. Tickets for seven "high-priority" games - four India matches, the semi-finals and final - have been put up online through a lottery system, though the results of that process won't be known for a while yet. There were sharp reactions from overseas fans on social media; for many, the uncertainty over the fixtures was the starting point of a series of problems. "The fixtures were announced on December 11 but there was no lead in," Paul Smith, 58, from Weymouth in England, wrote in an email to ESPNcricinfo. "We didn't know when the fixtures would be announced so right back in September we were checking daily. [For] six months we have had to check if there have been updates or changes, our plans all in limbo." For fans like Smith, the lack of clarity in the ticketing process has hampered plans for the semi-finals and finals. "Now we know that tickets are going to be in high demand for the big seven [games], but because we didn't know what the system was going to be some have booked [flight tickets] to go to semi[finals] and final. "Obviously we have to get some kind of assurances that we can get to see the games after spending two-three thousand pounds on flights and hotels. But no one can understand why Delhi was chosen when issues [in DDCA] go back months, even years. To put such a large travelling country such as England there [England play two games], and even worse a semi-final was hard to comprehend." It wasn't until February 9 that the decks were cleared for Delhi to host matches in the World T20; the BCCI had earlier given DDCA a deadline of January 31 to get its


Prompt: DW: Mr Pöttering, you'll be leaving the European Parliament soon - after 35 consecutive years. Is Europe in a condition where you'd say "Yes, I'm happy with what I'm leaving behind?" Hans-Gert Pöttering: Politically speaking, I'd have to say, there's no finish line for Europe, but we have certainly achieved a lot. In 1979, when the European Parliament was elected the first time, Europe was divided, Germany was divided. Today, Germany is a united country. Back then, Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania formed part of the Soviet Union and today they're parts of the EU's community of values. Poland, the Czech

Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Slovenia, Bulgaria, Romania, and Croatia have gone through similar developments. That's been a wonderful evolution which we didn't necessarily foresee or dare hope for back in 1979. And it shows that the EU is more than a randomly selected geographical and political union. It's a community of values based on human dignity, human rights, freedom, peace and democracy. The European Parliament had no legislative powers whatsoever back in 1979. Today it's strong and influential. That's also a good development, but many challenges remain. Acceptance of the EU by our citizens is not on par with the EU's significance. We have to keep working on that. I'm leaving the European Parliament with a big feeling of gratitude, because it allowed me to experience all kinds of things, and above all, it allowed me to help shape and improve many things. Approval rates by European citizens for their institutions here in Brussels and in Strasbourg are at a historic low. Does that sadden you? It ought to distress us, and should serve as a clear call to keep striving for European integration. But approval rates for politics are not just low at the EU level, they're also low at national levels across EU countries. Voter turnout has been on the decline at all levels. It's a sign that we have to get even more in touch with our citizens. But citizens also have to know that the EU is a tremendous value for them. Never before have people lived with as much freedom, in such democratic systems, and above all, in as much peace as today. But the financial and economic challenges, together with the worrying level of youth unemployment in the south of Europe, have meant that people have a bad image of Europe. We have to change


Prompt: The Apple Watch is set sell millions in its first year on shelves. Already the new, quite possibly redundant, gadget has moved over 2 million in preorders alone, and analysts are betting on anywhere from 9 to 30 million sold in the first year. That's out of myriad different models ranging from just a few hundred dollars for the iPeasant version, to as much as $17,000 for the Apple Watch Edition, with the high-end settling on the customized, diamond-studded Lux Watch Omni which costs a measly $114,995. If you see someone wearing an Apple Watch that cost over $100,000...well, just

know that somewhere there's a Swiss watch-maker rolling over in their grave. The first Apple Watches are shipping out this week, but the entire roll-out of the wearable is of the "soft launch" variety, rolling out to stores later in the summer. Customers will need appointments at Apple Stores to demo and purchase the watch, because suddenly Apple doesn't like lines outside its stores. This is one silver lining, no pun intended. The Apple device lines are among the most irritating phenomena of our age. Indeed, the entire Apple hype machine ranks among the most irritating phenomena of our age. While the company has done marvelous work in the realm of marketing and product design---and I don't begrudge them one ounce of success---the willingness of the masses to simply hop aboard that train irks me to no end. I am a reverse-snob in this regard, I admit it. In one sense, it's quite remarkable that Apple Watch sales are projected to be so high, while Android smart watches have made very little of a dent in the fledgling tech genre. There's little reason to believe the Apple Watch will be such a huge step up over the competition, and Pebble still seems like the smart way to go if you want actual functionality and not just hipster-tech social signaling. Then again, as Forbes contributor Paul Lamkin notes "With the Pebble considered a smartwatch success story after around 1 million sales, and Android Wear causing only a minor blip with its estimated 1 – 1.5 million device sales across its multi-branded range in the platform’s first year of existence, the Apple Watch could be the benchmark-raising saviour of a slow-burning new tech genre." A rising tide lifts all boats or some such. It's the Starbucks effect, where the rise of the


Prompt: During Thursday's debate, Republican frontrunner Donald Trump said that the answer to America's gun problem is, well, more guns: "I am a Second Amendment person. If we had guns in California on the other side where the bullets went in the different direction, you wouldn't have 14 or 15 people dead right now. If even in Paris, if they had guns on the other side going in the opposite direction, you wouldn't have 130 people plus dead." Trump was articulating the "good guy with a gun" myth: the idea that the answer to shootings — like those in San Bernardino,

California, and Paris — is having more people with guns to stop violent perpetrators. But the research clearly shows that Trump is wrong. Time and time again, the empirical research has found that more guns lead to more gun deaths, and that the US's easy access to guns in fact contributes to gun homicides. More guns mean more gun deaths The theory behind the mantra of "a good guy with a gun" is that more people should be armed so they can be ready to defend themselves and others from an active shooter. But the research suggests that's plainly false: When there are more guns and gun owners, there are far more gun deaths. Studies have found this to be true again and again — for homicides, suicides, domestic violence, and violence against police. Here's one chart, from a 2007 study by Harvard School of Public Health researchers, showing the correlation between statewide firearm homicide victimization rates and household gun ownership after controlling for robbery rates: A more recent study from 2013, led by a Boston University School of Public Health researcher, reached similar conclusions: After controlling for multiple variables, the study found that a 1 percent increase in gun ownership correlated with a roughly 0.9 percent rise in the firearm homicide rate at the state level. This holds up around the world. As Vox's Zack Beauchamp explained, a breakthrough analysis in the 1990s by UC Berkeley's Franklin Zimring and Gordon Hawkins found that the US does not, contrary to the old conventional wisdom, have more crime in general than other Western industrial nations. Instead, the US appears to have more lethal violence — and that's driven in large part by the prevalence of guns. "A series of specific comparisons of the death rates from property crime and assault in


Prompt: CHARLOTTE, N.C. — At 6-foot-6, 318 pounds, Andrew Norwell is a difficult person to miss. And yet, that’s precisely what happened during the 2014 NFL Draft — when all 32 teams passed on the college prospect. Now, there’s absolutely no way to overlook Norwell, who emerged as a star at left guard last season for the Carolina Panthers and finished as one of the top players at his position. Norwell is also a key reason why the offensive line has the capacity to be downright good, sooner than later — something nobody would have suspected this time last year. The

Ohio State product, a three-year college starter and two-time All-Big Ten first-team selection, watched seven rounds of the 2014 draft go by without hearing his name called. A few days later, Norwell signed as a free agent with the Panthers. Unbeknownst to the Panthers at the time, one post-draft phone call might have secured their future at left guard. In 2014, Norwell started at left guard in eight of his last nine games; the other outing included a start at right guard. How skilled was the free-agent rookie? Of his last six games at left guard, Norwell graded out analytically speaking as the fourth-best left guard in the NFL. For good measure, Norwell also didn’t allow a single sack and only one quarterback hit. "That surprises me, because I never read up on myself," says Norwell of his stats. "I stay away from that stuff." On the whole, the Panthers had a rough 2014 campaign along the offensive line, with the left side — namely tackle Byron Bell at tackle and guard Amini Silatolu — grading out poorly. As a unit, the O-line ranked at or near the bottom in every analytical statistical category. Then, injuries started to happen; and before he knew it, Norwell went from not dressing for games to starting against the Seahawks. "It was an amazing experience," recalls Norwell. "Playing the defending champs and it being my first start against Seattle, it was an incredible experience. And with it being a home game, my family got to come down and watch me. It was exciting. … "I was a little nervous the first series, but after that, I was like, ‘Let’s play ball.’" Norwell was a steadying force, giving the Panthers something they hadn’t had in numerous years at that position â quality starts. Though he


Prompt: Ready to fight back? Sign up for Take Action Now and get three actions in your inbox every week. You will receive occasional promotional offers for programs that support The Nation’s journalism. You can read our Privacy Policy here. Sign up for Take Action Now and get three actions in your inbox every week. Thank you for signing up. For more from The Nation, check out our latest issue Subscribe now for as little as $2 a month! Support Progressive Journalism The Nation is reader supported: Chip in $10 or more to help us continue to write about the issues

that matter. The Nation is reader supported: Chip in $10 or more to help us continue to write about the issues that matter. Fight Back! Sign up for Take Action Now and we’ll send you three meaningful actions you can take each week. You will receive occasional promotional offers for programs that support The Nation’s journalism. You can read our Privacy Policy here. Sign up for Take Action Now and we’ll send you three meaningful actions you can take each week. Thank you for signing up. For more from The Nation, check out our latest issue Travel With The Nation Be the first to hear about Nation Travels destinations, and explore the world with kindred spirits. Be the first to hear about Nation Travels destinations, and explore the world with kindred spirits. Sign up for our Wine Club today. Did you know you can support The Nation by drinking wine? This is an unusually satisfying editorial to write. Stay with me. Ad Policy When The Nation endorsed Hillary Clinton for president last month, we argued that “a substantial victory by her in November is essential to advance the progressive issues we have long championed.” Here in the magazine’s home state of New York, we have a special opportunity to cast our votes not just for a presidential candidate, but for a party. I speak, of course, of the Working Families Party. When New Yorkers vote for Secretary Clinton on the Working Families Party line (Row E), it counts the same as a vote on the Democratic line. But it also carries a little extra punch. It says that you want to elect Clinton and defeat Trump, and it also says that you support the state’s most important progressive political organization: the WFP. Since its founding in 1998, the Working Families


Prompt: The next phase of Qatari investment in the global game is coming, and television rights are the new target Why PSG and the World Cup will not be enough for football-hungry Qatar When Paris Saint-Germain defeated Chelsea at Parc de Princes on Wednesday, they did so as a club reborn. Chelsea, themselves transformed a decade ago by a cascade of cash from a then unknown overseas investor, had labelled their Champions League opponents as "dark horses" on their own website in the buildup to the quarter-final first leg. Yet that would only have been accurate if the black steed in

question was wearing a bright pink feather boa and leaving a trail of high denomination Euros in its wake. Qatar's trolley dash around world sport could not have been more eye catching, even without the controversy and turmoil that has surrounded its successful World Cup 2022 bid. The PSG purchase was just one of a number that have been marked down as an attempt to both secure the Gulf state's future beyond the point when its natural gas and oil reserves run dry, and afford it international profile. That process reached its natural conclusion with the vote in December 2010 to award the 2022 World Cup to Qatar, a decision that remains mired in controversy as Fifa and organisers grapple with the desperate plight of the 1.4m migrant workers and questions still swirling around the bidding process. Yet it goes much broader and deeper, also encompassing a hitherto largely ignored parallel network of sports TV channels, branded BeIn Sports, that also play a significant strategic role. Fans in France watched the Champions League game live on Canal Plus, but the French broadcaster now shares rights to the competition with its Qatar-owned rival. From the shirts of fellow quarter-finalists Barcelona emblazoned with Qatar Airways to the Bayern Munich side that regularly troop to Doha for their winter training breaks, and the network of Aspire Academies that criss-cross the globe, the emirate is transforming itself into a sporting superpower. Most noticeably, the trajectory blazed by PSG since the club was bought in April 2011 by Qatar Sports Investments, an arm of the $115bn Qatar Investment Authority that has stakes in a global portfolio that stretches from Credit Suisse to the owner of Heathrow airport, is even steeper than those other grand projects at Stamford Bridge and Manchester City's Etihad Stadium. The official


Prompt: Developers can use flags for many different things, but today the use-case we're going to discuss is all about protecting your data. Imagine a very real scenario in which you want to be able to protect a variable in certain situations. In this quick tutorial, we'll talk about a use-case in JavaScript where we want to retain the data inside a div that we replaced. Let's take a look. The problem Grey Elerson is working on a pretty cool project. I realize this isn't much to run on, but I don't want to give away too much more information than

that. Within this project, he has attached comments to an object and wanted to have a hover effect on each comment. But a problem came with the hover command in jQuery; the mouseenter event would fire twice before firing the exit event. His original code looked like this: $ ( ' div.comment ' ). hover ( function () { var high = $ ( this ). height (); var wide = $ ( this ). width (); comment_html = $ ( this ). html (); console.log(comment_html); var hoverstring = "

Reply

"; $(this).html(hoverstring).css("background", "#444"); console.log("mouse in"); }, function(){ $(this).css("background", "#efefef").html(comment_html); console.log("mouse out"); } ); As you can see, Grey was calling an event on hover to replace the div's contents with a "reply to this comment" message. A very simple idea, but one that was breaking. When he hovered on the item it sometimes fired the hover event twice right in a row. Since his original comment HTML was not protected, he just overwrote it with the new HTML. This meant that when he stopped hovering on the comment, the reply message still showed. In order to fix this we need to protect the original comment. The solution You can go over several solutions to this problem, but you'll quickly find that many are just complex and bloated. These might include a JSON array with the original comment HTML stored, but this involves loops and lots of data being generated. In a situation like this, you also need to decide if the solution needs to be on the server side or the client side. Thankfully, the solution we decided on addressed the initial problem (of the double-firing of the mouseenter event and no protection).


Prompt: Photo Ballots were stacked up as a statewide presidential election recount began Thursday, in Milwaukee. Credit Morry Gash/Associated Press LANSING, Mich. — Supporters of President-elect Donald J. Trump have filed legal challenges in Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Michigan in a suddenly robust effort to stop the presidential election recount efforts there. Bill Schuette, the attorney general of Michigan, said that the recount, initiated by Jill Stein, the Green Party candidate, put Michigan voters at risk of “paying millions and potentially losing their voice in the Electoral College in the process.” “This court cannot allow a dilatory and frivolous request for a

recount by an aggrieved party to silence all Michigan votes for president,” Mr. Schuette, a Republican, said in a court filing. A lawsuit against the Wisconsin Elections Commission filed in Federal District Court by the Great America PAC, the Stop Hillary PAC and Ronald R. Johnson, a Wisconsin resident, argued that the recount could “unjustifiably cast doubt” on Mr. Trump’s victory in that state. The plaintiffs argued that the recount, which began across the state’s 72 counties on Thursday morning, should be halted immediately, in part because there is a substantial chance that it cannot be accurately completed by the deadline of Dec. 12. In 2011, a statewide recount took close to a month. Advertisement Continue reading the main story In Michigan on Friday, where the recount is still pending, the Board of State Canvassers met to consider an objection to the recount by Mr. Trump. Lawyers for Mr. Trump told the canvassing board, which is made up of two Democrats and two Republicans, that it should not allow a recount to proceed, describing it as needless, too expensive and not required by Michigan law. Besides, Ms. Stein came nowhere near winning the state. “This recount petition is absolutely unprecedented in the history of Michigan election law,” said Gary Gordon, a lawyer for Mr. Trump and his campaign. A lawyer for Ms. Stein, Mark Brewer, said Mr. Trump’s campaign was making a “desperate attempt” to avoid a recount. “I would remind everybody that the original source of the allegation that this election was rigged was Mr. Trump,” Mr. Brewer told the board. The Michigan board split, 2-2, along party lines, meaning the recount objection failed. Lawyers for Mr. Trump and his allies are also seeking to halt legal proceedings by Ms. Stein to contest the statewide election results in Pennsylvania.