Prompt: Control of Palestinian movement has been a feature of Israel's occupation of the Palestinian territory since its inception in 1967. However, over the last 14 years the draconian system of movement controls used by Israel in the occupied Palestinian territory has become increasingly institutionalized and restrictive. The permit system put in place in the early 1990s which requires that all Palestinians obtain military issued permits to move between the West Bank, Gaza, and East Jerusalem or to travel abroad is now complemented by a permanent system of roadblocks, gates, checkpoints, the Wall and other obstacles to movement in the West

Bank (including East Jerusalem) and the Gaza blockade. Taken together all of these factors contribute to forced displacement, severely limit Palestinian access to basic resources including land and water and basic services including health care and education, and perpetuate a system of segregation and legal and structural inequality between Palestinians and Israelis. Understanding how Palestinian’s freedom of movement is restricted is important to understanding the severe impact of Israel’s occupation on average Palestinians. This paper provides background information on how Israel has restricted Palestinian movement and the impact that these restrictions have on Palestinians lives. When did Israel first begin restricting Palestinian movement? Control over Palestinian movement has been a feature of the conflict since 1948. Following the 1948 War Israel incorporated into its own laws the Defense (Emergency) Regulations imposed by the British Mandate Authorities in 1945.[i] These regulations were used to restrict the rights of Palestinians inside post 1948 Israel, most notably their freedom of movement which was controlled by permit requirements and curfews. In 1966 most of the restrictions imposed by Israel over Palestinian citizens of Israel under these regulations were lifted, but the regulations themselves remained in place. After the occupation of the West Bank and Gaza in 1967 the Defense (Emergency) Regulations were incorporated into the military laws used by Israel to administer the occupied Palestinian territory. From 1967 to 1972 the occupied Palestinian territory was declared a closed military area by the Israeli military and many freedoms including the freedom of movement by residents were severely limited. In 1972 the Israeli military issued a general exit order which allowed Palestinian to enter Israel from the West Bank and Gaza during daylight hours with few limitations. During this period Palestinians could also travel with relative freedom between the West Bank and Gaza. Some limits were


Prompt: Trading standards are investigating after a couple who stayed at a hotel claimed to have been “fined” £100 by a hotel which they described as a “rotten stinking hovel” on TripAdvisor. Tony and Jan Jenkinson, from Whitehaven in Cumbria, posted a review on the website after staying at the Broadway Hotel in Blackpool. However, the couple later found that £100 charged to their credit card, which the BBC reported was the result of a hotel policy in the case of “bad” reviews. The manager of the hotel was not available for comment last night. The Jenkinsons, who were on the

way to Oxford and had decided to stay overnight in Blackpool, were said to have been shown terms and conditions on their booking form, which stated: “Despite the fact that repeat customers and couples love our hotel, your friends and family may not. For every bad review left on any website, the group organiser will be charged a maximum £100 per review.” The review, posted on 30 August by Tony Jenkinson, said that the couple could not believe the state of their room, claiming that the hot tap and kettle wasn’t working and that the front part of a chest of drawers fell off then they opened it. It added: “There were instructions on how to make a phone call, we would have had a job as there was no phone!! The wallpaper was peeling off the walls, the carpet was thin, dirty and stained. The bed was something else, it must have come out of the ark, the base was all scuffed and dirty and the springs in the mattress attacked you in the night.” After describing the breakfast as a “joke”, he concluded: “This place should be shut down, I don’t know if they are ever inspected, but if so, I don’t know how this place has passed!! If you are offered this place to stay for a fortnight for 10p, you are being robbed!! STAY AWAY!!!” A description of the hotel on Booking.com described it as having “cosy bedrooms” which were traditionally decorated. On the LateRooms website, the hotel was said to be “famous for live entertainment and excellent cuisine.” It added: “We are located on the edge of Blackpool’s newly developed South beach Promenade. Perfectly situated for the Pleasure Beach, Sandcastle Water Park, the Grosvenor Casino and just a short walk away from the center of


Prompt: NOTE: this website was build using Miraj. The source code is available at: miraj-project/homepage . Many other simple examples with commented code are available at miraj-project/demos/hello-world Components can also be easily defined as one-off elements for use in a single page. Both page and components can be defined in the same project. Miraj also makes it very easy to define and share component libraries. Multiple components may be defined across multiple namespaces; a deflibrary macro then assembles any combination of components into a library namespace, which is independent of the defining namespaces. Miraj can automatically generate a demo page for

previewing/testing components under development. Things get a little more complicated when you add web components. Miraj allows the programmer to define and use Polymer-based components in idiomatic Clojure, without having to worry about the directory structures, file names, and href values required to make the generated HTML, Javascript and CSS files work together. Providing Clojure functions for HTML elements is relatively trivial. Miraj also provides macros that make page and component definitions look similar to the deftype and defrecord constructions of Clojure. Clojurescript already eliminates the need to program in Javascript; Miraj does the same for HTML. (A genuine Clojure face for CSS programming remains a future project). Miraj eliminates mixed-language programming, allowing the programmer to define pages and components in Clojure. Miraj compiles this Clojure code into HTML, Javascript, and CSS. An HTML page is analogous to a Clojure program of one function, main. In particular, the <link> and <script> elements in the <head> element are analogous to the :require and :import directives of Clojure's ns macro: they tell the runtime to find, fetch, and load the referenced resources. The goal of the Miraj Project is to create a pure Clojure, 100% functional programming model for web application development, including first-class support for defining and using Web Components ( Polymer only for this version). Pass HTML metadata as a Clojure map; Miraj will validate the map against Clojure.spec specifications (which may be found in miraj_spec.clj and miraj/x/ , and then transform it into the appropriate elements in <head>. BigInt and BigDecimal end up looking like Int and Decimal: With a few exceptions, clojure attribute values go through normal Clojure evaluation and then are serialized as strings. You can use expressions as attribute values: Use the Unicode character \uFEFF, 'ZERO WIDTH NO-BREAK SPACE', to force display of the delimiters without


Prompt: Gregory Campbell is ready to move on. The Boston Bruins center told reporters following practice at TD Garden that it's a "realistic possibility" he could play in Thursday's preaseason game against the Detroit Red Wings. Campbell is recovering from a broken right leg, which he suffered while blocking an Evgeni Malkin slapshot in Game 3 of the Eastern Conference finals. He's been dealing with minor discomfort due to a surgically inserted screw in his right foot. Trainers have to stuff the right amount of foam into Campbell's skate to alleviate it. Him and center Patrice Bergeron have been doing one-on-one

battle drills while the rest of the team is doing their own drills at the other end of the ice. Bergeron is progressing as well from his slew of injuries suffered during the Stanley Cup Final. They included a broken rib, torn cartilage, separated shoulder and punctured lung. The 28-year-old remains optimistic that he'll see game action before the start of the regular season. Bergeron, Campbell and defenseman Zdeno Chara are the only players who have been sidelined for preaseason games. JERSEY TUCK FORBIDDEN: The NHL has implemented a new rule, which forbids players from tucking in their jersey into the back of their pants. Rule 9.5 states that "players are not permitted to tuck their jersey into their pants in such a manner where the top padding of the pant and/or additional body protection (affixed to the pant or affixed to the Player's body) is exposed outside the jersey. The back uniform number must not be covered or obstructed in any fashion by protruding pads or other protective padding." Players are going to have to get used to it too. A warning is issued for the first offense. If the player doesn't comply, a minor penalty will be assessed. Bergeron, who naturally tucks in his jersey, doesn't understand the new rule. "I don't see how that really affects other players," Bergeron told CSNNE.com. "But I'm just going to have to go with it, I guess." SVEDBERG STRONG: Bruins goalie Niklas Svedberg had a strong showing in his preseason debut Tuesday night in a 3-2 shootout win over the Washington Capitals at Baltimore Arena. Svedberg split time with Tuukka Rask and stopped 12 of 13 shots he faced during regulation and overtime. He was 6 for 8 in the shootout to help the Bruins improve their preseason mark to 2-0.


Prompt: Because of its status as a major theater for proxy conflicts during the cold war, Latin America has a long history of leftist insurgencies. Over the past two decades, however, these left wing groups largely abandoned armed struggle as a means of gaining power, turning instead to peaceful electoral politics. In some countries they have been immensely successful. Indeed, the current ruling parties of Nicaragua, El Salvador, Brazil, and Uruguay can all trace their roots -- at least in part -- back to guerrilla insurgencies of the 1970s and 80s. Nevertheless, a handful of guerrilla movements persist in the region.

The most well-known examples are in Colombia, which is home to the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) and the National Army of Liberation (ELN). In Peru, two factions of the Shining Path still carry out deadly attacks on security forces, though the group is not the threat that it was at its peak in the early 1990s. These three are generally cited as the most relevant insurgent groups in Latin America, and they have worked hard to maintain this status. All three have adopted illicit means of obtaining funding, including drug trafficking, bank robbery, kidnapping, and extortion. In this context, the high profile of Mexico’s largely indigenous Zapatista Army of National Liberation (EZLN) is incongruous. Although much of the organization’s social and political work is supported by international and domestic NGOs, the full nature of its funding is unclear. What is clear is that despite rising up in arms in the southern state of Chiapas in 1994 and having since declared sizable parts of southern Mexico autonomous from the government, the EZLN has largely managed to refrain from criminal activity to support itself. When criminal allegations have been leveled against them, such as when the group was suspected of carrying out the kidnapping of Mexican politician Diego Fernandez de Cevallos last year, the Zapatistas have vehemently denied them, and a congressional commission even acknowledged that the kidnapping didn’t fit the Zapatistas’ profile. Their eschewal of crime is due largely to the fact that the EZLN is not a traditional guerrilla army. After their initial uprising in 1994, and the resulting San Andres peace accords in 1996, the group has largely refrained from illegal activity. Instead, they have become more of a grassroots social movement, establishing EZLN-affiliated autonomous communities in Chiapas and attempting to link far-left community organizations throughout the


Prompt: Last month, we discussed a government report which showed that, much to the chagrin of a few billionaires and a long line of retail investors who bought the proverbial dip, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac may be destined, by design, by decades of reckless behavior, and by Treasury decree, to be insolvent most of the time. Today, we learned that when it comes to accountability for the executives who helped put the companies in a position whereby receivership became necessary in mid-2008, we can forget about it. In what was billed as a “high profile” case, the SEC had sought

financial and other penalties against three former Freddie Mac executives who allegedly “misled” investors in 2006 by understating the amount of subprime exposure the GSE had on its books while it was simultaneously still sucking up and packaging bad loans. If the SEC allegations are indeed accurate, it’s probably safe to say that using the term “understated” to describe the executives’ misrepresentations is, well, an understatement, because it appears they may have lowballed the figure by a factor of 28. Here’s AP: According to the SEC, Fannie and Freddie misrepresented their exposure to mortgages for borrowers with weak credit in reports, speeches and congressional testimony. The SEC said Freddie told investors in late 2006 that it held between $2 billion and $6 billion of subprime mortgages on its books — but its actual subprime holdings were actually closer to $141 billion, or 10 percent of its portfolio in 2006, and $244 billion, or 14 percent, by 2008. But all’s well that ends in a catastrophic housing market meltdown apparently because as WSJ notes, everyone seems to have gotten a pretty good deal considering their actions may have contributed mightily to the worst financial crisis since The Great Depression: The civil case, filed in 2011, had alleged that three Freddie executives, including former Chief Executive Officer Richard Syron, knowingly misled investors about the volume of risky mortgages the company purchased as the housing boom came to an end. The SEC had sought financial penalties against the executives and an order barring them from serving as officers and directors at other companies. Instead, the executives agreed for a limited time not to sign certain reports required by chief executives or finance chiefs and to pay a total of $310,000 to a fund meant to compensate defrauded investors. The breakdown of the fees


Prompt: Excavations being conducted at the ancient city of Göbeklitepe in Turkey have uncovered an ancient pictograph on an obelisk which researchers say could be the earliest known pictograph ever discovered. A pictograph is an image that conveys meaning through its resemblance to a physical object. Such images are most commonly found in pictographic writing, such as hieroglyphics or other characters used by ancient Sumerian and Chinese civilizations. Some non-literate cultures in parts of Africa, South America and Oceania still use them. “The scene on the obelisk unearthed in Göbeklitepe could be construed as the first pictograph because it depicts an

event thematically” explained Director of the Şanlıurfa Museum, Müslüm Ercan, to the Hurriyet Daily News . Ercan is leading the excavation at Göbeklitepe. “It depicts a human head in the wing of a vulture and a headless human body under the stela. There are various figures like cranes and scorpions around this figure. This is the portrayal of a moment; it could be the first example of pictograph. They are not random figures. We see this type of thing portrayal on the walls in 6,000-5,000 B.C. in Çatalhöyük [in modern-day western Turkey].” The ‘Vulture-Stone’. Credit: Alistair Coombs The artifacts discovered in the ancient city have provided information about ancient burial traditions in the area in which bodies were left in the open for raptors such as vultures to consume. According to Mr Ercan, this enabled the soul of the deceased to be carried into the sky. It was called “burial in the sky” and was depicted on the obelisks in Göbeklitepe. Such rituals were conducted in and around the city around 12,000 years ago. Many of the items discovered on the site have not been seen before anywhere else in the world and thus are the first of their kind to be discovered. Göbeklitepe is situated on the top of a hill about 15 kilometres away from Sanliurfa in South-eastern Turkey. The city can be dated back to 10,000 BC and consists of a series of circular and oval shaped structures that were first excavated by Professor Klaus Schmidt supported by the German Archaeological Institute. Schmidt travelled to the site having heard about it from accounts of other previous visits by anthropologists from the University of Chicago and Istanbul University in the 1960’s. Both institutions ignored the site, believing it to be nothing more than a medieval graveyard. Artifacts found


Prompt: Lenin and the Muslims Most leftists have no idea what to do with Muslims. Should we be empowered as a disenfranchised minority? Should we be forced to adopt “European values”? It’s complicated, but interestingly, the early Soviet Union was remarkably intelligent about this. Just after the Bolshevik revolution, the state used innovative policies to approach the Russian Empire’s brutally oppressed Muslim minorities. Dave Crouch’s The Bolsheviks and Islam is an excellent primer for understanding Moscow’s “Muslim policy” before the rise of Stalin. For all of Lenin’s failings, he appears to have gotten this right. Rather than acting like Islam needed

to be crushed, the Bolsheviks recognized the social and economic realities affecting Muslims, and attempted to tailor socialist policy towards those realities. As far back as 1909, Lenin was opposed to separating any member of the working-class from their religion, calling leftists who called for such an abolition “infant school materialists.” He personally thought that it was political suicide to ask deeply religious people to abandon those beliefs before joining a revolutionary organization such as his own. This later translated into Soviet policy. The Bolsheviks understood that Islam functioned as a national identity for many Soviet Muslims, and that as a result, it was worthy of its right to self-determination. National autonomy was declared, sacred monuments were returned, and Friday was declared the legal day of rest throughout Central Asia. Amazingly, the Bolsheviks even took measures to meet local demands for a Shariah court system. As the Russian Civil War drew to a close in 1922, Islamic courts were opened, and operated alongside Soviet legal institutions. The Soviet Legal Commissariat came to include a Shariah Commission to supervise the dual system, and a number of smaller commissions were also set up to figure out how to make Shariah work alongside the Soviet codes. The balance was uneasy, owing to historical context. Extreme sentences like the removal of limbs were cut out, and “vices” such as alcohol consumption were a bit of a grey area at times. However, the Bolsheviks got the core idea right: Muslims would have the option of a more relevant and culturally accessible legal system, so long as it adapted to the state’s core principles. Similar policies were implemented when it came to education. These experiments basically ended with Stalin. Stalinists began vicious campaigns against Islam, targeting “crimes against custom,” and veiling in particular. Forced unveiling began


Prompt: Illustrations by Ben Passmore You probably aren't getting into heaven if you enjoy watching New Japan Pro Wrestling. You are, at some level, sick. That's okay; we live in a sick civilization. I'm sick too. I love watching dudes hurt each other. Let's watch New Japan on AXS TV together. You don't mind if I get comfortable, right? Is it weird that part of why I'm addicted to NJPW is that I barely ever know what's going on? Fat yellow letters fill the screen's bottom third: IWGP JR. TAG CHAMPIONSHIP TIME SPLITTERS BECOME 38th CHAMPION. "This match," the announcer says,

"is the latest in the interminable battle between Chaos and the Sakuraba Gund." Duly noted. The bouts on a given episode come from different years; they're highlights cherry-picked from intricately bracketed Cups and Tournaments, the structures of which remain obscure. And now, a commercial break. "I'm... Gregg Allman." Gregg Allman says, in a tone that suggests he might not have been yesterday, "and you're watching (pause) AXS TV." Read More: In Search of My Childhood Wrestling Heroes We're back! Cheesy computer-smoke blows in from both sides behind the NJPW logo and triumphant electric guitar fades into driving synth. A battered wrestler peers into the camera through a sunset of facial bruises; his upper and bottom lips are both split. "I will never let anyone speak lightly of Super Junior," he assures us via subtitle. Is that a division, then? Not a person, tag team or faction? Who fucking cares? After no more than thirty seconds of elliptical promo, we're in the ring, inside "Bodymaker Colosseum, formerly known as Osaka Prefectural Gymnasium," to watch a wrestler named Vampire Chicken get massacred. Some in the audience are wearing surgical masks. There is a shirtless man pacing ringside, presumably invested in the match's outcome, though his presence is not remarked upon. He's wearing a gigantic headpiece reminiscent of Sauron's battle helmet. It looks like a haunted castle is growing out of his shoulders. The outlook is grim for haggard old Vampire Chicken. He is facing a pretty boy hero wrestler with Masters of the Universe musculature, blonde-streaked boy-band hair, and a surgically idealized face. Above a lantern jaw, the hero's cheeks are round as a Cabbage Patch Kid's. His artificially plumped cherry-red cupid's bow lips smile, revealing luminous teeth. His face is uncannily ageless. Without changing expression, he kicks Vampire Chicken in the


Prompt: God is in the details. So they say. Words I tend to live by. My next two posts will be a reflection on exactly that. I have talked before about my biggest struggle in doing a show like this, where the Costume team has an opportunity to create such elaborate, detailed pieces, is hearing viewers say, “when do we see that costume?”. WE SAW IT!!!! Three episodes ago! But you actually didn’t. The actor never got up from the table, we never saw them from the back, there was never a head to toe shot (almost never), it is too

dark to see it if they did, etc. I often threaten to abandon the details. “What is the point? ” I ask. “Why should my team bleed over these costumes for months, if we are never going to see them?!?! Don’t we want the audience to SEE this alien world??” But I do get it. The show cannot add hours to loving close ups on buttons or pocket details. There is an awful lot of story to get into a 13 hours of television and every minute is precious. I also believe that even if we don’t see the details, we feel them. They are their subliminally (is that a word?), they help the audience to believe that the world is real, and they absolutely help the actor to feel the character. God IS in the details. But I am a mere human, and I struggle. So I created my own art gallery, to celebrate the details. My work, the work of my team. I am an atheist, after all. Let’s start with one of my favourite costumes this season. Annalise at Versailles. I love this costume. It is as close a reproduction as I could make of this costume. I try to pepper the show with reproductions. Not only does it add authenticity, but it validates various choices. this particular costume is about detail, but very importantly about color. This supports our choice to use a different palette in S2 than everyone expects. These are not the pastel, bon bon colours that come later in the 18th century. The colors of the mid 18th are much deeper and richer. Our story is just one King before the ears of Marie Antoinette that everyone associates with the 18th century. This is a Casaquain from the Palais Galliera, musée de la


Prompt: Ever want to put your old clothes to use, but are sick of just dropping off piles and piles of fabric to Goodwill and calling it a day, not knowing where any of it is actually going? Enter Cotton Incorporated's Blue Jeans Go Green Program, which has fulfilled its goal of gathering 10,000 denim items and using it all as insulation for 10 homes that were put up in the New Orleans Area Habitat For Humanity. I've got to say — it's probably one of the trendiest initiatives. To start off, AnnaSophia Robb was one of the volunteers at the

Habitat For Humanity Build-a-Thon in May in the New Orleans area. Robb herself gave Karen Walter a key to her new home. Robb worked with over 600 other AmeriCorps and various other volunteers from May 20 to May 30, according to WWD. As if it couldn't get cooler, most of the denim pieces were collected in bins located in Madewell stores. People all over the U.S. dropped their items off at store locations, as well as mailed them in. After collected, the denim pieces were converted into "UltraTouch Denim Insulation" by Bonded Logic Inc., their manufacturing partner. Pretty cool. Reminiscent of Pharrell's partnership with G-Star Raw called "Raw for the Oceans" that focused on turning plastic caught in the ocean into fiber, and then using that fiber to make clothing. Another win that Cotton Inc. mentioned was that over the past 40 years, pesticide applications have reduced by 50 percent by cotton growers, according to WWD. Which has also meant a reduction in irrigation water applications. This wonderful movement "brings the environmental gains cotton growers have made in the field and takes them full circle by diverting textiles from landfills and helping to rebuild communities," says WWD. The program, alive since 2006, has produced a significant amount of insulation for Habitat for Humanity affiliates. Since its conception, the movement has collected more than one million pieces of denim from landfills and has created approximately two million square feet of insulation, according to WWD. Andrea Samber, co-director of Strategic Alliances at Cotton Inc. told WWD, “The average consumer owns seven pairs of jeans. Giving just one of them to the recycling drive can make a big difference in a family’s life.” Next time you go through your closet, consider donating to this initiative, cause it's a pretty sweet one. Donate a


Prompt: Dutch prime minister Mark Rutte has described as ‘disgusting’ pictures of Ukraine rebels digging through the possessions of people killed in the Malaysia plane crash disaster. In a short news conference, Rutte said he had just had a ‘very intense’ phone call with Russian president Vladimir Putin. ‘I told him “time is running out for you to show the world that you have good intentions, that you will take responsibility”,’ Rutte said. Putin now ‘has to show that he will do what is expected of him and will exert his influence,’ the Dutch prime minister said. ‘It is 35 degrees

there. The bodies need to be recovered now. I want to see results, unhindered access and the repatriation of the victims.’ Personal The phone conversation with Putin was ‘very personal’, the Dutch prime minister said. ‘I think the entire Dutch population knows people who directly or indirectly know someone who was on board. There were 80 people under the age of 18, of whom 23 were under the age of 12 and three were babies. It is too terrible for words.’ Images of rebels holding up children’s toys were ‘too disgusting for words’, Rutte said. Such action is also hindering the investigation into the crash, he said. Investigators Earlier on Saturday, Dutch foreign minister Frans Timmermans met Ukrainian president Petro Poroshenko in Kiev and told him the Netherlands was ‘angry, furious’ at the news that bodies were being dragged around the crash site, Reuters said. ‘Once we have the proof, we will not stop before the people are brought to justice. Not just the people who pulled the trigger but also those who made it possible. I think the international community needs to step up its efforts in this respect,’ Reuters quoted Timmermans as saying. According to Dutch broadcaster Nos, Poroschenko in turn told Timmermans it is unacceptable that international experts are being denied access to the disaster zone. ‘We will not tolerate interference with the work of the commission and that those representatives of other countries do not have the possibility of conducting an objective investigation,’ Poroshenko is quoted as saying. Denials However, the separatists deny interfering, Nos television reports. It quotes ‘one of their commanders’ as saying they have promised the OSCE that they will not touch bodies or the remains of the plane. As well as the Dutch, Malaysian and Ukrainian researchers have arrived in the region


Prompt: According to droid-life, Verizon will begin throttling 4G LTE customers on unlimited data plans starting on October 1, 2014. Before this change, Verizon only throttled 3G connections of those with unlimited data plans. Verizon likes to dress up this as “Network Optimization” which according to them means that a customer will only be throttled if: Top 5% of data users (you use 4.7GB of data per month or more) Enrolled on an unlimited data plan or feature Have fulfilled their minimum contract term Are attempting to use data on a cell site that is experiencing high demand As droid-life points

out, as of March 2014, you are in the top 5% if you use 4.7GB of data per month. Not to worry though as Verizon is willing to help those in this top 5%. Just move to their MORE Everything plans! Or stop using the Verizon service and switch to Wi-fi. Droid-Life Verizon is therefore making another push to get users off unlimited data plans and onto usage-based pricing plans. Verizon makes more money when a customer is on their MORE Everything plans. Verizon pretty much says that in the FAQ by giving customers the option to move to usage plans with no throttling. Additionally, Verizon is admitting that unlimited data plans include magic data. If you are on an unlimited data plan and use 10GB, you will be throttled at the halfway point. But, if you are on a MORE Everything plan with 10GB of data, you can use 10GB without any throttling whatsoever. Magic! Although Verizon would respond to this by claiming that a customer in the top 5% must be by a congested node, there are already a number of people who question whether Verizon is properly throttling people JUST in congested node areas. Also, will Verizon ever let the public in on how many of its cell sites it deems as “congested” and at what times that congestion is most likely to occur? Dating back to 2010, Verizon has made it clear that they want the ability to find the heaviest users (‘abusers’ as they call them) so that they can throttle them and charge them even more. Will Verizon ever actually show when a certain amount of data slows down their network? Of course not. Remember, data on unlimited plans slow down the network while data on tiered plans have no effect on the network.


Prompt: Abstract Objectives. To determine the spectrum of personality and psychopathology features of patients with primary SS (pSS) and explore whether they are linked to disease characteristics as well as the presence of autoantibodies (autoAbs) against neuropeptides. Methods. Personality and psychopathological variables were determined in 103 pSS patients and 110 healthy controls (HCs). AutoAbs against hypothalamic and pituitary neuropeptides were measured by ELISA in 25 pSS patients and 25 HCs. Data analysis was performed by univariate and multivariate logistic regression models and by comparison with regression models. Results. A higher number of pSS patients reported distinct personality traits (neuroticism, psychoticism and

obsessiveness) and psychological distress compared with HCs. After adjustment for personality characteristics and demographics, only hypochondriasis was the main psychopathology feature associated with pSS, suggesting that psychopathological manifestations in the setting of pSS are primarily dependent on premorbid personality characteristics. Although no differences were detected between serum levels of neuropeptide autoAbs in pSS cases and controls, levels of autoAbs against α-melanocyte-stimulating hormone (α-MSH) correlated with anxiety scores in both groups examined but with higher intercept in pSS subjects. Significant correlations between anxiety score and autoAbs directed against oxytocin and vasopressin were also detected in the pSS patients. Conclusions. pSS patients exhibit a distinct pattern of personality traits and high levels of psychological distress compared with HCs, which seems to be determined by premorbid personality characteristics. Correlations between anxiety and α-MSH autoAbs suggest their potential involvement in anxiety development in both pSS and HCs. Introduction SS is a chronic autoimmune disorder characterized by lymphocytic infiltration of salivary and lacrimal glands, leading to oral and ocular dryness. SS can occur either alone [primary SS (pSS)] or in the context of an underlying CTD (secondary SS). Although the exact pathogenesis of the disease remains largely unknown, genetic, viral, hormonal and environmental factors have been so far implicated. SS is characterized either by local (glandular) or systemic involvement manifested among others with pulmonary, renal and neuropsychiatric features [1]. Psychiatric involvement in pSS is well recognized. Atypical depression, anxiety disorders and psychotic features have been previously reported [2–10]. The chronic nature of the disorder as well as the risk of lymphoma development in a subset of these patients [11] might represent important risk factors for psychopathological complications. Our previous work has demonstrated a dysfunctional stress-coping style in pSS patients, as well as a possible implication of stressful life events as a trigger for disease onset


Prompt: Emperor Konoe (近衛天皇, Konoe-tennō, June 16, 1139 – August 22, 1155) was the 76th emperor of Japan,[1] according to the traditional order of succession.[2] Konoe's reign spanned the years from 1142 through 1155.[3] Genealogy [ edit ] Before his ascension to the Chrysanthemum Throne, his personal name (his imina)[4] was Narihito-shinnō (体仁親王).[5] He was also known as Tosihito-shinnō.[6] Emperor Konoe was the eighth son of Emperor Toba.[6] His mother was Fujiwara no Nariko (1117–1160), the wife of Emperor Toba. [7] Chūgū: Fujiwara no Shimeko (藤原呈子) later Kujō-in (九条院), Fujiwara no Koremichi’s daughter and Fujiwara no Tadamichi’s adopted daughter. Events of

Konoe's life [ edit ] Konoe was named heir shortly after he was born in 1139; and he was proclaimed emperor at the age of 3. Eiji 1 , in the 3rd month (1141): The former emperor Toba accepted the tonsure and became a Buddhist monk at the age of 39 years. [8] , in the 3rd month (1141): The former emperor Toba accepted the tonsure and became a Buddhist monk at the age of 39 years. Eiji 1, on the 7th day of the 12th month (永治元年; 1141): In the 18th year of Sutoku-tennō's reign (崇徳天皇十八年), the emperor abdicated; and the succession (senso) was received by a younger brother, the 8th son of former Emperor Toba. Shortly thereafter, Emperor Konoe is said to have acceded to the throne (sokui).[9] At that time, the Kampaku Fujiwara-no Tadamichi became Sesshō or regent. The Cloistered Emperor Toba continued to direct all the affairs of government, while the retired Emperor Sutoku had no powers. This conflict resulted in many controversies during Konoe's reign.[6] Kōji 2 , in the 1st month (1143): Cloistered Emperor Toba-in, now known by the title Daijō Hōō or Hōō (太上法皇), visited his mother. [6] , in the 1st month (1143): Cloistered Emperor Toba-in, now known by the title or (太上法皇), visited his mother. Kōji 2 , in the 5th month (1143): Konoe passed his days praying at Tōdai-ji and also at the temples on Mount Hiei. [6] , in the 5th month (1143): Konoe passed his days praying at Tōdai-ji and also at the temples on Mount Hiei. Ten'yō gannen or Ten'yō 1 , in the 7th month (1145): A comet was sighted in the sky; and for this reason, the name of the nengō was changed to Kyūan . [6] or , in the 7th month (1145): A


Prompt: Silence on human rights encourages despots, discourages activists. President Trump and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi on April 3, 2017. (Photo11: Brendan Smialowski, AFP/Getty Images) To the extent that the Trump administration's foreign policy has started to take shape — and it seems to be a work in progress — advocacy of human rights and democracy doesn't seem to be very high on the agenda. If anything, Trump's "America First" foreign policy is looking more like a sort of realpolitik, where ethical and moral considerations are shed in favor of achieving transactional "wins" on jobs and security. The president seems

drawn to autocrats and cynical about promoting cherished American ideals. Asked in February about Russian President Vladimir Putin's reputation for ordering political killings, Trump didn't miss a beat: "Do you think our country is so innocent?" Last month, the administration lifted human rights conditions on the sale of F-16 fighters to Bahrain, where political dissidents are locked up without due process. And the annual State Department report on global human rights was issued without fanfare or the usual news conference. This week, Trump gushed about Egyptian strongman Abdel Fattah al-Sisi when the two met at the White House. Sisi overthrew his democratically elected predecessor in 2013 and has brutally cracked down on political dissent, a sure route to fomenting more violent extremism. "He's done a fantastic job in a very difficult situation," Trump said, vigorously shaking Sisi's hand, something he didn't do with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, a staunch ally, two weeks earlier. It's true, as the foreign policy realists like to point out, that America can't right every wrong in the world. Trump needn't go as far as President George W. Bush, whose grandiose vision of bringing democracy to the Middle East, by military invasion if necessary, led to the fiasco in Iraq. Or even as far as President Carter, who made human rights a cornerstone of his foreign policy. But there’s nothing wrong with private nudges, public rhetoric and material incentives to make clear America stands for basic freedoms. There’s no reason to cede the moral high ground and every reason to try to hold it. Silence on human rights discourages the pro-democracy activists who put their lives on the line for the rights Americans take for granted — and encourages the bad actors such as Putin and Syrian President Bashar Assad. As Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., said


Prompt: Uber is having a hard time finding enough people with cars willing to work for them. To solve that problem, the company has raised $1 billion to start Xchange Leasing, a sub-prime lender with the sole purpose of getting poor people into new cars so they can drive for the ride-hailing service. If you've got a license and are willing to drive, Uber will hook you up with a new car, no matter how bad your credit. To make sure you make your payments, though, Uber will automatically deduct them weekly from what you earn as a driver. If you

don't drive enough, or you fail to make your lease payment, Xchange has folks to take the car back. As for the terms, well, here's what Mark Williams, a lecturer at Boston University's business school told Bloomberg News: "The terms, the way they're proposed, are predatory and are very much driven toward profiting off drivers." Uber, which is now valued at $62.5 billion, can only make money if tens of thousands of people sign up as drivers. That's because 50 percent of Uber drivers quit after just six months. Xchange wants to address that by striking deals with automakers and Wall Street backers to lease 100,000 cars to new Uber drivers. Uber says they are providing a pathway for poor people to buy a new car. Unfortunately, Xchange Leasing sounds more like a payday-loan racket built into a company store. The lease increases the company's control over the driver, who Uber still insists is nothing more than an "independent" contractor. How is someone independent when Uber controls access to customers, sets the billing rates, demands a minimum number of hours and owns the car and the predatory lease on it? Some amoral, Ayn Rand-loving sociopaths in Silicon Valley will insist that drivers should know what they are doing when they sign up. After all, the terms of service are sufficiently explanatory. But here's the truth about human beings: not all of us are equally-well educated, and not everyone understands lease terms. We know from exploitative lending practices throughout history that poor people are the most likely to be suckered, often because they are so desperate to escape poverty that they will try almost anything. Uber initially claimed to be part of the "sharing" economy, a marketing term that masks the unsavory nature of these exploitative business plans. But as we


Prompt: The family of Egyptian business tycoon Salah Diab used a corporate network made of Egyptian and offshore companies to sign agreements and strike deals with the Egyptian government, according to the second wave of Panama Papers released worldwide on Monday. Asawatmasriya joins international media platforms publishing this second wave of The Panama Papers which is an unprecedented investigation that reveals the offshore links of some of the globe’s most prominent figures. The second wave focuses on uncovering Africa offshore empires. The International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ), together with the German newspaper Suddeutsche Zeitung and more than 100 other media

partners, spent a year sifting through 11.5 million leaked files to expose the offshore holdings of world political leaders, links to global scandals, and details of the hidden financial dealings of fraudsters, drug traffickers, billionaires, celebrities, sports stars and more. The trove of documents is likely the biggest leak of inside information in history. It includes nearly 40 years of data from a little-known but powerful law firm based in Panama. That firm, Mossack Fonseca, has offices in more than 35 locations around the globe, and is one of the world’s top creators of shell companies, corporate structures that can be used to hide ownership of assets. Leaked data obtained by ICIJ reveal agreements involving the petroleum sector in Egypt. One of the agreements between Pico International Petroleum a subsidiary of Egypt’s Pico Group, and the Egyptian government concerned millions in development costs for the lucrative Al-Amal Petroleum Field located in the Gulf of Suez. Tawifk Diab. Photo from his official Facebook account Several partners were part of this deal: the national oil company Egyptian General Petroleum Company (EGPC), Greystone and Pico International. Both Greystone and Pico Group are owned by the Diab family. Greystone is registered in the British Virgin Islands (BVI) while Pico is registered as an Egyptian company. The project involves the expansion and the development of an onshore processing plant. Certificate of incorporation of Greystone Petroleum (Egypt) Limited. The Egyptian government claimed to be unaware of the offshore activities involved in the agreement. When asked about these deals and the related documents, Tarek Al Hadidy, EGPC’s head said: “We have a concession agreement with them and they are committed to it. We don't know anything about the offshore activities of Pico International Petroleum & Greystone. My company [EGPC] is paying the taxes for Al-Amal field and


Prompt: Is Vincent Gray going to run for D.C. mayor? Should he run? If he does, can he win? As to the first question, only Gray knows. Early signs suggest he would like to make a bid for the job he lost April 1, 2014, when now-Mayor Muriel E. Bowser defeated him in the Democratic primary. This much is known: Gray has been taking soundings around town, testing the mood of the city, gauging voter interest. Gray, who represents Ward 7 on the D.C. Council, reportedly has already assembled a skeletal crew that is poised to blossom into full election- campaign

mode if he gives a green light. It's a tossup at this point. Look for a decision at the beginning of the year, six months before the June 19 primary election. "Should he run?" calls for an entirely different assessment. Gray, 75, is still smarting from the voters' rejection of his reelection bid. He lays his loss at the feet of Bowser and then-U.S. Attorney Ronald C. Machen Jr., who, with much fanfare, launched a corruption probe into Gray's 2010 mayoral election campaign. Two years before the April 2014 election, then-Ward 4 council member Bowser was one of three lawmakers to call for Gray to resign because of Machen's probe. The investigation dragged on for three years. The political roof fell in on Gray when D.C. businessman Jeffrey E. Thompson entered federal court on March 10, 2014, and pleaded guilty to illegally giving more than $2 million to Gray's 2010 campaign. Thompson said Gray knew about that "shadow campaign." The media took it from there. A March 10 Post headline screamed: "Gray knew of 'shadow campaign,' Thompson prosecutors say; mayor says it's all a lie." Other news organizations followed suit with headlines and extended coverage of their own. That same month, Bowser said at a debate, "I found out that [Gray] didn't actually win the Democratic primary [in 2010 against Mayor Adrian M. Fenty] fair and square, so . . . I could not support somebody who would be almost indicted." There stood Gray, three weeks before the April 1 primary: uncharged, but publicly accused of involvement in unlawful behavior, with no opportunity to confront his accusers or review the evidence against him in a court of law. Instead, he found himself in the court of public opinion. It was no contest on primary Election Day 2014. A year later,


Prompt: Here is more Prizes: Potential winners will be chosen by Car From Japan and contacted personally via email on December, 2015. Winners of 1st & 2nd prizes will be given 1 car each, delivered at their selected port. Winners of 3rd and 4th prizes will receive coupons (valid for 6 months); that can be used to buy any car from the available stocks. If the vehicle chosen has less value than the prize, winner can use the balance winning amount in his/ her next purchase (balance valid for 6 months). If the total invoiced price of the vehicle chosen is

higher than the prize received, the winner needs to make the balance payment. Please note that we have all sorts of cars. We have cars, priced lower than USD 500 & also New Land Cruisers in our stock. So, most certainly you will be able to find the car you want. Details: Potential winners will be chosen and contacted via email by Car From Japan with instructions on how to choose & receive their prize. If the winner disagrees to receive the prize or does not co-operate or respond within 3 days after he/ she is contacted, such winner might be disqualified. In such case, another eligible entrant maybe selected by Car From Japan. Car From Japan will send emails calls to contact the winners. Car From Japan will not be responsible if the winner do not respond timely & gets disqualified as a result of failed contact attempts. Further details for receiving the prize will be provided to winners directly by Car From Japan. Winner will select the delivery port & Car From Japan will arrange the delivery of the prize at Car From Japan's sole discretion. The winner is solely responsible for all expenses after the car reaches the selected port (for example: applicable tax, clearing services, car insurance, licensing, registration, title and other fees associated with receiving the prize). Further details for receiving the prize will be provided to winners directly by Car From Japan. Submission Rules: One entry per person. False entries are not accepted. False names, addresses, and other falsified information will result in disqualifications. We request you to provide true information only, due to strict documentation requirements for the importing/exporting of vehicles. Please note that this contest is void where prohibited by law. This promotion is in no way sponsored, endorsed, administered by, or


Prompt: BOSTON – The Boston Celtics have compiled a 4-1 record to begin the month of March, helping them crawl up standings to the sixth seed in the East. Those five games have featured some great, some mediocre, and some not-so-great performances by the team. The same can be said for Boston’s individual players, who have had varying levels of effectiveness during this recent hot streak. We take a look today at the players who have been at both ends of the Hot-or-Not spectrum during March’s five games. Each player’s averages and shot chart below are for the five games he

has participated in this month. 20.8 7.6 5.6 Paul Pierce PPG RPG APG HOT - Paul Pierce Save for LeBron James and Kobe Bryant, who are currently playing at otherworldly levels, Paul Pierce might be the hottest basketball player on Earth. Pierce is having his best offensive month of the season, and it’s not even close. Boston’s captain is putting up 20.8 points per game this month thanks to some phenomenal shooting numbers. Pierce has hit 51.5 percent of his shots and 52.2 percent of his 3-pointers in March. How great are those numbers? His previous top overall shooting month this season was December, when he hit 44.1 percent of his shots. His previous top 3-point shooting month was February, when he hit 40 percent of his treys. As you can see in the image to the right, Pierce is excelling from the wings and from beyond the arc. He has hit 11 of his 20 3-pointers from the wings this month. Pierce is also getting to the basket with ease, as 35.3 percent of his shots have been taken around the basket. On top of the efficient and abundant scoring, Pierce is also hauling in 7.6 rebounds per game and dishing out 5.6 assists per game. Yeah, his turnovers may be up a bit to 4.0 per game, but that’s because the ball is in his hands more often than not. 12.8 3.0 4.0 Avery Bradley PPG RPG APG HOT – Avery Bradley Avery Bradley’s defense made an immediate impact when he returned to the lineup in early January following double-shoulder surgery last summer. A couple of months later, his offense is beginning to make an impact, too. Bradley is scoring 12.0 PPG this month and is on pace to become the sixth Celtics player this season to average


Prompt: Encoding Statistical Independence, Statically Jared Tobin Blocked Unblock Follow Following Feb 15, 2016 Applicative functors are useful for encoding context-free effects. This typically gets put to work around things like parsing or validation, but if you have a statistical bent then an applicative structure will be familiar to you as an encoder of independence. In this article I’ll give a whirlwind tour of probability monads and algebraic freeness, and demonstrate that applicative functors can be used to represent independence between probability distributions in a way that can be verified statically. I’ll use the following preamble for the code in the

rest of this article. You’ll need the free and mwc-probability libraries if you’re following along at home: {-# LANGUAGE DeriveFunctor #-} {-# LANGUAGE LambdaCase #-} import Control.Applicative import Control.Applicative.Free import Control.Monad import Control.Monad.Free import Control.Monad.Primitive import System.Random.MWC.Probability (Prob) import qualified System.Random.MWC.Probability as MWC Probability Distributions and Algebraic Freeness Many functional programmers (though fewer statisticians) know that probability has a monadic structure. This can be expressed in multiple ways; the discrete probability distribution type found in things like the PFP framework, the sampling function representation used in the lambda-naught paper (and implemented here, for example), and even an obscure measure-based representation that doesn’t have a ton of practical use. The monadic structure of probability allows one to sequence distributions together. That is: if some distribution ‘foo’ has a parameter which itself has the probability distribution ‘bar’ attached to it, the compound distribution can be expressed by the monadic expression ‘bar >>= foo’. At a larger scale, monadic programs like this correspond exactly to what you’d typically see in a run-of-the-mill visualization of a probabilistic model: Graphical notation for simple Gaussian mixture model. In this classical kind of visualization the nodes represent probability distributions and the arrows describe the dependence structure. Translating it to a monadic program is mechanical: the nodes become monadic expressions and the arrows become binds (I’ll provide a simple example in a moment). The monadic structure of probability implies that it also has a functorial structure. Mapping a function over some probability distrubution will transform its support while leaving its probability density structure invariant in some sense. If the function ‘uniform’ defines a uniform probability distribution over the interval (0, 1), then the function ‘fmap (+ 1) uniform’ will define a probability distribution over the interval (1, 2). I’ll come back to probability shortly, but the point is


Prompt: Pilot: Drone operator has no 'skin' in the collision avoidance game To the Editor: The Post-Standard editorial for May 11 cheerleading the rapid phase-in of commercial drones was myopic. The editors focused exclusively on positive aspects that would benefit news coverage. In the mid-80s I accumulated about 900 hours as a single engine flight instructor and about 500 hours flying twin turbine commuter aircraft. With manned aircraft, the rule is "see and be seen." Most drones would be hard for a pilot to see. The drone operator would likely not be constantly sweeping the sky from left to right as

pilots are trained to do. An operator safely on the ground would have no skin in the collision avoidance game. What about loss of propeller power or total loss of control of a drone? What might it hit or where may it fall? Should there be weight, speed and altitude limits? I watched a BBC news clip where a reporter tried to fly a small drone. He lost control and crashed it. Many drones have unguarded propellors which could cut up a person. Should they be flown over crowds, school yards or residential neighborhoods? What kind of training might be required for drone operators? Who will conduct it? Who will certify that operators are competent, as pilots are certified? It is no stretch to see that there will be some who fly drones without training or certification. Who will police the use of drones and what might be the penalties? Since they are controlled by digital radio signal, there will be folks who for fun or profit will hack into drone control systems to try to take them over. What kinds of weapons might be delivered by a non-military drone? Toxins or a bomb? What operating range will drones have? What will they do if they fly out of operator control range? Autonomous drones would not have the sensibility of a pilot for constantly varying flight situations. Captain Sullenberger quickly decided the best option was to ditch his powerless jetliner in the Hudson River. And, what about noise and privacy issues? There should be no rush to get commercial and privately owned drones into the air. Garry Nichols Manlius Editorial failed to address privacy and civil liberties issues To the Editor: It is readily understandable that news corporations would want to use drones to record and report news. The imaging


Prompt: Public universities must tolerate students’ off-campus speech even when it offends some, or most, of the student body. Recent incidents at Old Dominion University (ODU) and The Ohio State University (OSU) serve as reminders that this is not always what happens. At both universities, students adorned their off-campus residences with signs offering a less than wholesome welcome to new and returning students. The banners at ODU read, “Rowdy and fun – Hope your baby girl is ready for a good time,” “Freshman daughter drop off,” and “Go ahead and drop mom off too.” Signs at an OSU apartment, which were

taken down after move-in day, read, “Dads, we’ll take it from here,” and “Daughter daycare 2.0.” The offending students at ODU have also removed their banners after being contacted by their administration, and may face repercussions from their fraternity, Sigma Nu. While these incidents may mark the first time in the new academic year that students at ODU and OSU encounter speech they find offensive or insulting, they will undoubtedly not be the last. As Tyler Kingkade shows in The Huffington Post today, suggestive signs like these are hardly uncommon in the university setting. In a worrying response to the banners, the ODU administration published a statement warning students that “[m]essages like the ones displayed yesterday by a few students on the balcony of their private residence are not and will not be tolerated” and that “[a]ny student found to have violated the code of conduct will be subject to disciplinary action.” An OSU spokesperson made a similar threat, claiming that “student code violations go with a student regardless of whether it is on or off campus.” These statements are troubling. ODU and OSU are welcome to take part in the marketplace of ideas and to criticize the messages on these banners, but they must do so without threatening the students with punishment for protected speech. ODU and OSU, like all public universities, are not the arbiters of what students can and cannot say off campus. They can’t even ban crude speech on campus. If students are found to be in violation of student codes of conduct solely for the content of these banners, ODU and OSU will have run afoul of the constitution. In Papish v. Board of Curators of the University of Missouri (1973), the Supreme Court held that students cannot be punished simply because their speech contradicts


Prompt: SPRINGFIELD - It is the issue that has long frustrated many homeowners and city officials - the hundreds of applications for new sidewalks in Springfield that have languished on a waiting list for years. "There are more applications every day," Public Works Director Christopher Cignoli said this week. "It's extremely disheartening when we tell residents that it could be five years (or longer)." Some sidewalk requests from homeowners date back more than a decade, and funding for the work has been very limited over the years, Cignoli said. The current backlog of requests is about 600 sidewalk locations reflecting just

applications from homeowners, he said. "We know there is probably five times more," Cignoli said. Mayor Domenic J. Sarno and the City Council approved approximately $600,000 for sidewalk construction this year, as part of a city-funded bond for road and sidewalk construction that will help, Cignoli said. That may allow the city to complete about 100 sidewalk locations, he said. "I wish I had more, I really do," Cignoli said. "I am glad the backlog is getting smaller. We are chipping away, but still have a ton of area." Sarno said he shares the residents' concerns about the sidewalk work needed, and is making a "good faith effort" to address the backlog. The new concrete sidewalks are one component that helps to address and improve quality of life issues in neighborhoods, he said. "Quite simply put, the sidewalk program has always been a challenge for so many, many years before my time (as mayor)," Sarno said. The city budget has not allocated funds for sidewalk repairs for many years, outside of this year's bond order. However, the city does receive some federal grant funds for sidewalks, primarily approximately $300,000 in federal Community Development Block Grant funds. The total waiting list could be worth $3 million to $4 million, Cignoli said. Sidewalks in business districts are treated as priorities, to promote economic development, and the city generally seeks to then address the longest-delayed residential applications, Cignoli said. The city targets sidewalks citywide, but the federal grant program is confined to approximately 65 percent of the city, generally low and moderate income areas, under program guidelines. At-large Councilor Kateri B. Walsh said many residents are upset by the long waits for new sidewalks and there is also anger when temporary repairs sometimes occur with black asphalt, while waiting for the new concrete


Prompt: Visitors to the shrine chant a prayer to the saint. Before heading back to their homes, many will give alms to the beggars who sit on the tomb’s marble steps. Mariya Karimjee In Manghopir, the shrine’s caretakers worry about the consequences for their fledgling microeconomy. Vendors struggle to sell flowers outside the shrines, the mosaic tile work at the shrine falls into disrepair as donations shrink, and the beggars who once lived off visitors’ alms have dispersed. The shrine’s caretakers are concerned that eventually there may be no crocodiles left. Currently, they say, there are an estimated 200 crocodiles at

the shrine, though the actual number appears to be smaller. “Every so often we’ll sacrifice a goat and cut it up and feed it to the crocodiles, but these animals live off the donations of shrine visitors,” says Mahmood, who has watched over the reptiles since he was a young boy. Each year since 2010, citing imminent threats by Islamic fundamentalists, the Sindh government has canceled the Sheedi Mela, an annual festival that long honored the culture of those responsible for caring for the shrine — all descendants of African slaves brought to Pakistan by Omani traders. Proceeds from the festival could often feed the crocodiles for months. Muhammad Saleem Shaikh, the public-relations manager for the province’s charitable-giving department, which oversees shrines, mosques and historic religious venues, says he saw no choice but to cancel the festival again this year. Manghopir has become one of Karachi’s no-go zones, where violence and crime are so rampant that security forces refuse to enter. These pockets of lawlessness within Pakistan’s largest city have become safe havens for the Taliban, say analysts. In early November, five tortured bodies were found in the area; police have no leads or pending investigations into the crime. Says Shaikh, “Elsewhere in Karachi, homeless men seeking refuge in various shrines are found beheaded simply for practicing their religion.” In January, at another shrine in the city, police found a scroll of paper inside the mouth of a man who had been beheaded. The note, signed by the Pakistani Taliban, said that worshipping Sufi saints was blasphemy and forbidden by Islam. Baba Mohammad, an elder patron of Manghopir’s shrine, says he believes the Taliban consider the local Sufi community a threat. The Sufi culture that thrives in Sindh is one reason the Taliban haven’t made bigger inroads in the province,


Prompt: Hulu has reached a distribution deal with Pluto TV, a startup whose service repackages online video into a TV-like programming grid, covering nearly all of Hulu’s free television and movie content. Under the pact, Pluto TV has access to everything Hulu makes available on its free, ad-supported website. That includes current-season broadcast fare from ABC, NBC and Fox such as episodes of “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon” (pictured above), “Jimmy Kimmel Live” and “Saturday Night Live”; older TV shows like “Seinfeld,” “Cheers,” “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” and “Happy Days”; and anime and cartoon shows. Just as Hulu makes free

content available only on the Web — with only subscribers to its $7.99-per-month service having access to content on other connected devices — Pluto TV will make Hulu’s free content available only via its website. Pluto TV’s other channels are available on multiple platforms, including iOS and Android mobile devices, Amazon’s Fire TV and Fire TV Stick, Android TV devices, Google’s Chromecast, to Apple TV via Apple AirPlay and Samsung Smart TVs. Terms of the deal were not disclosed, but Pluto TV CEO Tom Ryan said Hulu will be serving up the ads for the content. Related Hulu CMO Kelly Campbell Discusses Viewer Engagement Hulu Appoints Barbara Fiorentino as Head of Talent and Casting In addition to Hulu, Pluto TV has recently struck deals with a half-dozen other content partners to distribute their programming: Shout! Factory, Jukin Media, Devin SuperTramp, Multicom, Around the World in 4K and Amazing Places on Our Planet. Previously announced partners include AOL and Endemol. For Hulu and Pluto TV’s other content suppliers, the pacts promise to broaden their reach — but it’s not clear exactly by how much. Ryan declined to reveal how many people are actively using the startup’s video service, except to say that the company is delivering “millions of video views” per day. The idea behind Pluto TV, which last year launched the service with more than 100 curated channels, is to present Internet video in a menu that looks like a traditional cable TV guide. With many of its “linear” channels, Pluto strings together video segments presented in a continuous, TV-like stream — the theory being that it gives users interested, say, ’70s TV shows, latenight television or “cats 24/7” a familiar way to discover and watch new content. With Hulu, Pluto TV is launching more than a dozen dedicated channels.


Prompt: CLOSE Rural counties in western Wisconsin have become difficult to predict politically. Richland County is one of 19 counties in the U.S. to vote for every winning president since 1980. Rick Wood and Craig Gilbert / Milwaukee Journal Sentinel Dan Anderson, who runs Anderson’s Saw Shop outside Richland Center, Wis., describes himself as an independent who voted for Democrat Hillary Clinton only because of health care. (Photo11: Craig Gilbert, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel) RICHLAND CENTER, Wis. — Just over a year ago this rural battleground region swung hard for Donald Trump in a clamor for political change. But today that frustration

with politics appears undiminished and is aimed in all directions — including Trump’s. “We’re wasting so much time,” said Trump voter Robin DeFabbio, interviewed at Kelly’s Coffee House here. She would like Trump's staff to take his Twitter account away. ► Monday: Analysis: Trump is betting tax cuts will make him popular ► Nov. 7: Trump has tweeted 2,461 times since the election ► Nov. 6: Trump has changed Washington more than Washington has changed him “He’s like a very bad child that I’m glad I didn’t raise,” she said. She laments a do-little Congress, two parties that can’t work together, ceaseless division, the media circus over Trump and a swamp that hasn't been drained. “You just get disappointed on a bunch of levels, not just (with President Trump). Everything's in gridlock, nothing's moving.” Robin DeFabbio, Richland Center, Wis. “You just get disappointed on a bunch of levels, not just (with Trump). Everything's in gridlock, nothing's moving,” she said. “You can’t get anywhere like this." At taverns, churches, bowling alleys and American Legion halls, people here echo that discontent. Hillary Clinton voters are disconsolate and Trump appalls them. Trump voters who are happy with Trump are unhappy with Congress and Trump’s GOP critics. Trump voters who are critical of Trump — and they’re not too hard to find here — display everything from resignation to pique to exasperation with his behavior. Voters of all stripes complain about the political culture, including the media, the parties, and the inability to have a respectful conversation about politics with political opponents. “I am a political science major. I am starting to hate politics. Actually, not starting, I do hate politics: the vitriol and the vulgarity and the lack of willingness to talk to people,” said Kari Walker, co-owner with her husband of the


Prompt: While losses by the Dallas Cowboys and Houston Texans caused a dip in the market for Super Bowl tickets, demand and prices are still high for the big game in two weeks. On SeatGeek, the ticketing platform I co-founded, the average ticket to this year’s Super Bowl has resold for an average of $5,101 as of Sunday. If prices hold steady at this level, it will be the most in-demand Super Bowl SeatGeek has seen since it started tracking the market in the 2010 season. Prices fell quite a bit following the Cowboys defeat last weekend - as seen in

SeatGeek’s Super Bowl Ticket Tracker the average price paid for a ticket dropped by about $1,000 in the 24 hours following that game. However, over the past week prices have crept back up. This has likely been caused by the makeup of the four remaining teams. Three of them are legacy NFL franchises with rich histories along with recent successes, and the fourth has never won a Super Bowl in team history. Prior to last season SeatGeek studied how much each NFL team impacts ticket prices on the road. It may come as little surprise that the Green Bay Packers, Pittsburgh Steelers and New England Patriots were the top three teams on that list. All of these teams caused prices to basically double when they came to town, a trend that has continued for this season. In that same study, the Atlanta Falcons were shown to actually cause a decrease in prices. While that may be the case during the regular season - and when the study took place the Falcons were coming off a 6-10 season - the Super Bowl is a totally different story. Outside of Texas, where the game is taking place, Georgia has been the state with the most interested fans looking to buy Super Bowl tickets on SeatGeek in the week leading up to the conference championships. While those fans may have been getting a bit ahead of themselves at the time, the Falcons 44-21 victory over the Packers on Sunday made sure that there will be plenty of black and red in NRG Stadium come Feb. 5. All of this has led to an average resale price of more than $5,000. While some tickets can be had for around $3,500, those who want prime seats are going to spend close to $10,000 a ticket.


Prompt: The Mandelbrot set (black) within a continuously colored environment Progressive infinite iterations of the "Nautilus" section of the Mandelbrot Set rendered using webGL Mandelbrot animation based on a static number of iterations per pixel Mandelbrot set detail The Mandelbrot set is the set of complex numbers c {\displaystyle c} for which the function f c ( z ) = z 2 + c {\displaystyle f_{c}(z)=z^{2}+c} does not diverge when iterated from z = 0 {\displaystyle z=0} , i.e., for which the sequence f c ( 0 ) {\displaystyle f_{c}(0)} , f c ( f c ( 0 ) ) {\displaystyle

f_{c}(f_{c}(0))} , etc., remains bounded in absolute value. Zooming into the Mandelbrot set Its definition and name are due to Adrien Douady, in tribute to the mathematician Benoit Mandelbrot.[1] The set is connected to a Julia set, and related Julia sets produce similarly complex fractal shapes. Mandelbrot set images may be created by sampling the complex numbers and testing, for each sample point c {\displaystyle c} , whether the sequence f c ( 0 ) , f c ( f c ( 0 ) ) , … {\displaystyle f_{c}(0),f_{c}(f_{c}(0)),\dotsc } goes to infinity (in practice -- whether it leaves some predetermined bounded neighborhood of 0 after a predetermined number of iterations). Treating the real and imaginary parts of c {\displaystyle c} as image coordinates on the complex plane, pixels may then be coloured according to how soon the sequence | f c ( 0 ) | , | f c ( f c ( 0 ) ) | , … {\displaystyle |f_{c}(0)|,|f_{c}(f_{c}(0))|,\dotsc } crosses an arbitrarily chosen threshold, with a special color (usually black) used for the values of c {\displaystyle c} for which the sequence has not crossed the threshold after the predetermined number of iterations (this is necessary to clearly distinguish the Mandelbrot set image from the image of its complement). If c {\displaystyle c} is held constant and the initial value of z {\displaystyle z} —denoted by z 0 {\displaystyle z_{0}} —is variable instead, one obtains the corresponding Julia set for each point c {\displaystyle c} in the parameter space of the simple function. Images of the Mandelbrot set exhibit an elaborate and infinitely complicated boundary that reveals progressively ever-finer recursive detail at increasing magnifications. The "style" of this repeating detail depends on the region of the set being examined. The set's boundary also incorporates smaller versions


Prompt: Executive summary This paper reviews the empirical literature on the employment effects of increases in the minimum wage. It organizes the most prominent studies in this literature by their use of two different empirical approaches: studies that match labor markets experiencing a minimum-wage increase with an appropriate comparison labor market, and studies that do not. A review of this literature suggests that: The studies that compare labor markets experiencing a minimum-wage increase with a carefully chosen comparison labor market tend to find that minimum-wage increases have little or no effect on employment. The studies that do not match labor markets

experiencing a minimum-wage increase with a comparison labor market tend to find that minimum-wage increases reduce employment. A better understanding of which approach is more rigorous is required to make reliable inferences about the effects of the minimum wage. This paper argues that: Labor market policy analysts strongly prefer studies that match “treatment” with “comparison” cases in a defensible way over studies that simply include controls and fixed effects in a regression model. The studies using the most rigorous research designs generally find that minimum-wage increases have little or no effect on employment. Application of these findings to any particular minimum-wage proposal requires careful consideration of whether the proposal is similar to other minimum-wage policies that have been studied. If a proposal occurs under dramatically different circumstances, the empirical literature on the minimum wage should be invoked with caution. Introduction President Harry Truman famously joked that he wanted to hire a one-armed economist because all of his staff economists would resort to “on the one hand… but on the other hand…” formulations when giving policy advice. Truman just wanted a straight answer. Today, policymakers and the public also seem to want a one-armed economist in discussions of the minimum wage. Minimum-wage policy in the United States is made at the federal, state, and local level. The federal government imposes a minimum wage nationally (currently $7.25 an hour for most workers) that Congress can raise. Many states and even local governments set minimum wages that are higher than the federal minimum. One group of well-regarded economists contends that increases in the minimum wage reduce employment by raising labor costs, while another group insists the evidence shows that minimum-wage increases do not reduce employment, likely due to factors such as reduced turnover, increased productivity, and small price increases. Responsible economists understandably mention


Prompt: The 19-year-old, the product of Mr Wright's relationship with Elizabeth Anne Mead after he divorced three earlier wives, was originally due to receive $3 million in a trust fund triggered by her 30th birthday. Mining magnate and Voyager Estate founder Michael Wright amassed a huge fortune before his death Credit:Erin Jonasson EJZ But the judgement shows that even the smaller windfall was far from guaranteed - with some stringent clauses within the trust. Mr Sanderson notes in the dossier that Ms Mead would have been deemed exempt from the funds if she "had any association or involvemnet whatsoever to illegal

drugs" was convicted of any felony within the 10 years prior to his death, of if she had "converted to Buddhism or Islam". In fact the judgment notes that not only did the fund fail to "make adequate provision" for Ms Mead but that the many clauses within the trust meant there was "a real propsect she might get nothing". It goes on to detail that a drink driving offence or possession of marijuana would exclude her from the money and noted that giving up her freedom of religion was "an extraordinary proposition" which contravened a basic human right. Contrasting with the "poor little rich girl" headlines the case has spawned, Mr Sanderson also noted Ms Mead was "in no sense ... spoilt by her father". "During her childhood the deceased provided little to the plaintiff or her mother in material support," he said. "He did pay childcare as he was obliged to do under the relevant legislation. "He paid for school fees for a private college and he provided the plaintiff with some pocket money. But really that was the extent of his largesse. "Any gifts he gave the plaintiff were of nominal value. "The deceased never purchased a home in which the plaintiff and her mother could live despite the fact they moved a number of times from one rented premises to another." Mr Sanderson said Ms Mead did not impress him as "a gold digger or in some way a narcissistic greedy individual" - despite some of the extraordinary items she was asked by lawyers and actuaries to list for her claim, specifying her likely expenditure for the rest of her life. Despite having, now infamously, drafted a wishlist that included a $2.5 million house, a $1.5 million piano, an allocation of $40,000 a year for holidays


Prompt: Oddly enough, I don't think I ever mentioned my PhD research on this blog. Part of the reason is that I easily get fascinated by technical questions, but I find it less natural to explain what I do in non-technical terms. However, I have to write the introduction to my PhD thesis, so I thought it was a nice excuse to start by summarizing here what I am doing. For readers who don't know, I'm doing my PhD in Télécom ParisTech, in the DBWeb team. Before this, I stayed for some months in Tel Aviv to work with Tova Milo,

and in Oxford to work with Michael Benedikt, which explains some of my current collaborations. The general context: Uncertain data The great success story of database research is the relational model. It is a rare example of something that is both extremely relevant in practice and nice from a theoretical perspective, with close connections to logics and finite model theory. The relational model gives an abstract model of how data should be represented and queried, which allows people to use databases as a black box, leaving fine but domain-agnostic optimisations to database engines. Relational databases, like compilers, filesystems, or virtual memory, have become an abstraction that everyone relies on. One thing that the relational model does not handle is uncertainty and incompleteness in the data. In the relational semantics, the database is perfectly accurate, and it contains all facts that may be of interest. In practice, however, this is rarely satisfactory: Some values may be missing : for instance, the user did not fill in some fields when registering, or some fields were added since they registered. : for instance, the user did not fill in some fields when registering, or some fields were added since they registered. The data may be incomplete : for instance, you are constructing your database by harvesting data from the Web, and you haven't harvested everything yet; but you still wonder whether the data that you have allows you to give a definitive answer to your query. : for instance, you are constructing your database by harvesting data from the Web, and you haven't harvested everything yet; but you still wonder whether the data that you have allows you to give a definitive answer to your query. Data may be outdated : for instance, the user moved but they did not update their address.


Prompt: When it came to choosing my first “older” Only the Music choice of 2019 it was very clear which route I’d be taking. Fresh in my memory as I type is the recent launch of Venus Unwrapped, the concert series at London’s Kings Place which will spend the next eleven months throwing a light on the achievements of women composers. That opening event saw soprano Mary Bevan and members of the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment perform the music of seventeenth century Venetian composer Barbara Strozzi, and by the time the year is out over 100 women composers will

have been represented across over sixty events. It should be fascinating, and I suspect many of us will emerge the other end having had previously-held perceptions challenged and changed. So the first track on this month’s playlist is the first movement of French composer Louise Farrenc’s 1847 Symphony No 3 in G minor, a magnificent work that represents a colossal achievement not simply for the fact that it was composed at a time when women were barred from composition classes at the Paris Conservatoire, but also because this was an era during which symphonic music in general was out of fashion on Parisian stages, audiences instead preferring grand opera. Opening with solitary oboe, before quickly and expertly building to a huge full-orchestra climax, this is a brilliantly crafted and thoroughly ear-grabbing work which thoroughly explains why Robert Schumann admired her music so much. It’s Schumann who then tops this month’s three new release choices, in the shape of cellist Gautier Capuçon’s new all-Schumann programme for Warner Classics, after which we have Early Music vocal ensemble Stile antico on Harmonia Mundi, with a programme centred around English Elizabethan composers in exile. Then to finish, a first foray into the recording studio from the young Consone Quartet that’s resulted in a programme of Mendelssohn and Haydn which I’ve no doubt I’ll still be describing in eleven months’ time as one of the most satisfying recording debuts of 2019. Schumann Years in development, Gautier Capuçon’s latest album is an all-Schumann programme of live concert recordings dating between 2009 and 2015, made with some of his longest-standing musical collaborators and champions. Its superlative curtain-raiser is the Cello Concerto (composed so the three movements flowed seamlessly into each other with no breaks, such was Schumann’s dislike of mid-work applause), recorded in 2015 in the Amsterdam


Prompt: On August 22, 2015, at approximately 07:13 a.m., the Coos Bay Police Department dispatch center received a 911 call pertaining to a reckless driver within the Empire District of the City of Coos Bay. An Oregon State Police Senior Trooper overheard the criminal call and responded to assist. The Trooper located the suspect vehicle unoccupied and parked on N. Morrison Street in the City of Coos Bay. The Trooper attempted to contact the registered owner of the vehicle at an adjacent residence to further the investigation into the Reckless Driving complaint. The Trooper attempted contact at the residence and was

unable to contact the registered owner of the vehicle in question. The Trooper walked away from the residence and was conducting further follow up investigation and documenting suspect vehicle descriptions and identifiers as the vehicle was parked on the side of N. Morrison Street. As the Trooper was conducting the follow up investigation, an adult male identified as Michael SCOTT, age 25, from North Bend, came out of the residence from which the Trooper had previously attempted to contact the registered owner. SCOTT approached the suspect vehicle and the Trooper with a digital recording device in hand. SCOTT proceeded to climb up onto the hood of the car and then sit on the roof of the car with his legs positioned over the windshield, facing the Trooper who was positioned near the front of the suspect vehicle. The Trooper disengaged contact with SCOTT and walked back towards his patrol vehicle and ultimately re-entered the patrol vehicle. SCOTT dismounted from the suspect vehicle and followed the Trooper. SCOTT continued to advance towards the police vehicle, walking in front of it, on the passenger side, across the rear and then advancing towards the driver side. The Trooper exited his vehicle as SCOTT was approaching him from the rear. The Trooper was attempting to stop SCOTT from further interfering with his investigation of the original Reckless Driving Complaint. Coos Bay Police Department responded and arrived to assist with the investigation and further continuing the investigation into the Reckless Driving Complaint. The Oregon State Police is continuing the investigation into the incident with SCOTT and will be referring the completed criminal report to the Coos County District Attorney’s Office for consideration of the charges of: Interfering with a Police Officer and Disorderly Conduct II. Other criminal charges may be considered upon the review of


Prompt: June 15, 2016 Super-resolution microscopy reveals unprecedented detail of immune cells’ surface Salk scientists show how T-cell receptors reposition during an immune response, revealing more on how the immune system is regulated June 15, 2016 LA JOLLA—When the body is fighting an invading pathogen, white blood cells—including T cells—must respond. Now, Salk Institute researchers have imaged how vital receptors on the surface of T cells bundle together when activated. This study, the first to visualize this process in lymph nodes, could help scientists better understand how to turn up or down the immune system’s activity to treat autoimmune diseases, infections

or even cancer. The results were published the week of June 13, 2016 in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. “We had seen these receptors cluster and reposition in cultured cells that were artificially stimulated in the lab, but we’ve never seen their natural arrangements in lymph nodes until now,” says senior author Björn Lillemeier, an associate professor in Salk’s Nomis Laboratories for Immunobiology and Microbial Pathogenesis, and the Waitt Advanced Biophotonics Center. T cells are activated when receptors embedded in their outer membrane bind to other immune cells that have digested an antigen, such as a virus, bacteria or cancer cell. In turn, the activated T cells switch on cellular pathways that help the body both actively seek out and destroy the antigen and remember it for the future. In the past, by looking at T-cell receptors embedded in isolated cells under the microscope, researchers discovered that the receptors are arranged in clusters—called protein islands—that merge when the cells are activated. Lillemeier wanted more detail on how the receptors are arranged in tissue and how that arrangement might change when the T cells are activated in living hosts. The team used a super-resolution microscope developed in the laboratory of co-senior author Hu Cang, assistant professor at Salk’s Waitt Advanced Biophotonics Center and holder of the Frederick B. Rentschler Developmental Chair. This microscopy approach, called light-sheet direct stochastic optical reconstruction microscopy (dSTORM), let the researchers watch T cell receptors in the membranes of T cells in mouse lymph nodes at a resolution of approximately 50 nanometers. The new imagery confirmed the previous observation that protein islands of T-cell receptors merge into larger “microclusters” when T cells are activated. But it also showed that, before cells are activated, the protein islands are already arranged in groups—dubbed “territories” by Lillemeier’s team.


Prompt: The number of multiracial Americans is growing nationwide, but in Hawaii, it’s nothing new. The Rainbow State – with its history of attracting immigrants from Asia and other parts of the world to work as farm laborers – stands far above the rest, with nearly one-in-four residents (24%) identifying as multiracial, according to a Pew Research Center analysis of Census Bureau data. The next most-multiracial states are far behind: Alaska (8%) and Oklahoma (7%). Here’s another way to look at how much Hawaii stands out: In terms of total population, Hawaii is one of the smallest (1.4 million people), ranking

40th out of 50 states. But when ranking states with the highest total multiracial population, the state ranks sixth, with more than 330,000. A new Pew Research survey found that the number of multiracial Americans may be higher than the estimates from Census, which has estimated that 3% of the overall U.S. population – and 2.1% of the adult population – is multiracial. But taking into account how adults describe their own race as well as the racial backgrounds of their parents and grandparents – which the census does not do – Pew Research estimates that 6.9% of the U.S. adult population could be considered multiracial. For this state analysis, we used Census data because the Pew Research survey did not have an adequate sample size for state-level analysis. (Delaware, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Vermont and Wyoming were not analyzed due to the small number of multiracial people interviewed in those states.) In Hawaii, the vast majority (70%) of multiracial residents say they are some combination of white, Asian and Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander. For example, the largest biracial groups in Hawaii are white and Asian (18%), Asian and Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander (18%), and white and Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander (12%). Interestingly, Hawaii is the only state to have a tri-racial group as its largest multiracial group, one that includes white, Asian and Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander (22%). There is also wide diversity within the Asian race subgroup, with people claiming roots in China, Japan and the Philippines – nations from which immigrants arrived with the growth of the sugar cane industry in the mid-1800s. Hawaii’s abundance of multiracial people with Asian and Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander heritage differs from the makeup of the nation’s overall multiracial population (including adults and children). In the U.S., the multiracial population is more evenly spread among


Prompt: Starting out as a TV show in 1995 and gaining popularity through the Rebuild film series, Evangelion has captured the hearts of countless fans. The iconic Spear of Longinus from the series is now available in tweezer form! Although tweezers are quite common and often used in everyday life, it is rather difficult to come across one of high-quality. It is an item where cost does not necessarily equate to quality. However, we were able to mass produce the Spear of Longinus in the form of high-quality tweezers with the technology the human race has built up. Plucking even the

deepest ingrown hair will become an easy task with the Tweezers of Longinus. We are confident that the Tweezers of Longinus will offer performance and quality that truly lives up to the Longinus name. ■But why tweezers?“But why make the Spear of Longinus in the form of tweezers?” This may be a question that a lot of you have in mind. The reason is simple; the Spear was the perfect shape for tweezers!Normal tweezers are only approximately 8 centimeters long, and can only be handled with your fingertips. In comparison, the Tweezers of Longinus are longer. They are approximately 11 centimeters long and will fit perfectly in your hands.■Functional designAn incredible amount of thinking and planning was put into the design of the Tweezers of Longinus.While recreating the form of the Spear of Longinus, the design prevents deformation and damage even when the tips are bent outwards.■What are they capable of?The tips of the tweezers are constructed to clamp together with precision.They can hold on tightly to normal hairs, short hairs, fine and downy hairs and thorns.■The tweezers will be shipped inside sliding cases that allow users to carry them safely and withdraw them easily for use.■High quality tweezers made in JapanThe tweezers are crafted using wire electrical discharge machining, a technique which is rarely used for mass produced items. This technique allows for precise machining in 0.001 mm intervals, which is far more precise than even the most skilled tweezer craftspeople. We were able to create an extremely precise grip using these techniques on stainless steel.The preciseness of the tweezers allows them to pick individual fibers from tissue paper (approx. 15μm). Say goodbye to dull tweezers and those that accidentally cut hairs instead of plucking them. Each piece is crafted in a small-scale workshop in Kanagawa, Japan by wire


Prompt: As the film Philomena heads into awards season, draped with nominations for Oscars and Baftas, you might think nuns are having a bad PR moment. But then over at Team Convent, Call the Midwife is the star of BBC TV's Sunday nights with a much more sympathetic crew. Both these are fictionalised versions of real stories, and they are just the tip of the iceberg: there are large numbers of nuns in books – surely higher than their incidence in the real-life population – with nearly all the descriptions coming from women authors, though there are a few good men

below. (Strangely, I made the same point about flat-sharing in books – is it something to do with women and single-sex groups?). Muriel Spark liked her nuns – one of the main characters in The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie ends up as Sister Helena, and there is a Marxist Church of England convent in Symposium: in one splendid scene the haloes on the figures in a mural are revealed as the fur hats of Lenin and friends. The Abbess of Crewe is wholly set in a convent, but is well known to be a satire on the Watergate scandal. And that demonstrates a key feature of convents, fictional or otherwise – they are not actually mysterious hotbeds of unknowable religious transcendence or wickedness. They are communities like any other, with secrets, dramas and troublesome elections. And so, ideal as a vehicle for a good story: any closed community is interesting (see also: country house party, boarding school), there is an opportunity to have good strong female characters without their being framed by their relationships with men, and there is always the underlying question: "Why did these women become nuns?" Roman Catholic women of a certain age will remember being obsessed as teenagers with Kathryn Hulme's The Nun's Story, book and film – "Is God calling me to be Audrey Hepburn?" It's still a good strong read, and even more fascinating when you know the story behind it. It is a novel, but based on the life of the author's long-term companion, a former nun. One aspect of nuns in books is that the names are confusing and you get your Sister Mary mixed up with Sister Maria – and apparently the considerable profits from The Nun's Story are languishing unclaimed because no one knows which nuns should have inherited


Prompt: Although I'm deep into the reporting of my next story about the Silicon Valley Techtopus, it’s hard for me not to get distracted by events in Ukraine and Russia. I haven’t lived in that part of the world since the Kremlin ran me out of town, so I’m not going to pretend that I know as much as those on the ground there. Still, I’ve been driven nuts by the avalanche of overconfident ignorance that stands for analysis or commentary on the wild events there. A lethal ignorance, a virtuous ignorance. Virtuous ignorance about world affairs used to be the

exclusive domain of neo-con pundits, but now it’s everywhere, especially rampant on the counter-consensus side — nominally my own side, but an increasingly shitty side to be on. Nearly everyone here in the US tries to frame and reify Ukraine’s dynamic to fit America-centric spats. As such, Ukraine’s problems are little more than a propaganda proxy war where our own political fights are transferred to Ukraine’s and Russia’s context, warping the truth to score domestic spat points. That’s nothing new, of course, but it’s still jarring to watch how the "new media" counter-consensus is warping and misrepresenting reality in Ukraine about as crudely as the neocons and neoliberals used to warp and Americanize the political realities there back when I first started my Moscow newspaper, The eXile. So, yes, I wanted to comment on a few simplifications/misconceptions about Ukraine today: 1. The protesters are not "virtuous anti-Putin freedom fighters," nor are they "Nazis and US puppets" In fact, the people who are protesting or supporting the protesters are first and foremost sick of their shitty lives in a shitty country they want to make better—a country where their fates are controlled by a tiny handful of nihilistic oligarchs and Kremlin overlords, and their political frontmen. It’s first and foremost a desire to gain some control over their fate. Anger at Kremlin power over Ukraine is not necessarily anti-Russian—although the further west you go in Ukraine, the more this does become about nationalism, and the further east you go—including Crimea and Odessa—the more the politics are a fearful reaction against west-Ukraine nationalism. This is kind of obvious to anyone who’s spent time in that part of the world. I’ll quote from Jake Rudnitsky’s great piece about the Orange Revolution published in The eXile nearly a decade ago, which aptly describes both