Prompt: Photo by: Heather Coit/The News-Gazette Illinois students come out in force to vote at polling locations, like McKinley Presbyterian Church & Foundation, seen here, across UI campus in Champaign on Tuesday, March 15, 2016. We've known all along that college-age voters love Bernie Sanders, and last Tuesday's voting in Champaign-Urbana confirmed it. But it wasn't as well known that they — or at least the students at the University of Illinois — don't seem to think much of Donald Trump. In last week's voting in the nine student-dominated precincts in Champaign-Urbana, Sanders got 4,065 votes to 463 for Hillary Clinton.

Clinton's numbers were pretty good compared with those going to the four Republicans who were still campaigning at the time of Tuesday's voting (Marco Rubio dropped out of the race that evening): 294 for John Kasich, 250 for Rubio, 233 for Ted Cruz and 194 for Trump. Other nuggets from primary election voting in Champaign-Urbana: — More Democratic ballots were drawn in every one of Urbana's 23 precincts and in all but two of Champaign's 39 precincts. City of Champaign 32 (which votes at the Free Methodist Church on South Mattis Avenue) had one more GOP than Democratic ballot, and City of Champaign 33 (which votes at the Meadowbrook Community Church on Duncan Road) had 23 more Republican ballots. Ted Cruz won both precincts. — Sanders won 22 of 23 precincts in Urbana and 34 of 39 precincts in Champaign. Among Republicans in Urbana, Kasich and Cruz each won nine precincts, Rubio took two, Trump won one, and Trump and Cruz tied in two. Among Republicans in Champaign, Cruz won 18 precincts, Kasich took 13, Trump won four, Rubio won one, and Trump and Cruz tied in three. — Sanders was a huge winner overall, not just in the student precincts. He got 15,831 votes (9,412 in Champaign and 6,419 in Urbana) to 6,064 for Clinton (3,702 in Champaign and 2,362 in Urbana). Cruz was the top vote-getter among Republicans with 3,223 (2,407 in Champaign and 816 in Urbana), followed by Kasich (1,839 Champaign and 612 Urbana), then Trump (1,794 Champaign and 602 Urbana) and Rubio (1,046 Champaign and 382 Urbana). — The biggest voter turnout was in Cunningham 10 (which votes at the Urbana Free Library and is generally the Carle Park neighborhood) with a spectacular 72.21 percent turnout. There Democrats outnumbered Republicans more than 9-to-1. Four years ago


Prompt: About Hi! My name is Sandy Clifton. I am an artist, self employed web and graphic designer in Colorado, just south of Denver. Although, I would consider myself a novice painter I am captivated with the allure and essence of a being, and the need to creatively capture it. Sandy I want to bring out the darkness/light hidden within us, the seductiveness, and one's innermost desires. I want to achieve a mix of hyperrealism and creativeness with a stroke of a brush. Even though I am fairly new at oil paints and portraits I have fallen in love which has

awoken an unquenched passion within me. About this project: “Paint Till It Bleeds” is a project where I paint up to 25 new oil paintings to try to achieve a mix of hyperrealism and creativeness with the use of color. (Depending on the size I use may be less than 25. Paintings will be mostly of portraits and of wildlife animals.) The work I have been doing recently My Goal: I want to take my painting skills to the next level and along the way develop my style and skill, and dive even further into ones true essence through paint. My goal is to create up to 25 new oil paintings that range in size from small to large in the next 10 months. A painting can take me anywhere from 20-40 hours depending on the size. I want you to be a part of this project. I want to paint you too! Each painting created during this project will have a time lapse movie created right along with it that can be seen on YouTube or Vimeo. Help me keep this dream of mastering oils by purchasing a painting. What I need? Several Boxes of Oil Primed Linen 11 x 14 - 18 x 24 and up Paint and lots of (200 ml sizes) Brushes Liquin Paint Thinner Ink for reference photos Kickstarter fees Printing costs Shipping supplies Shipping Costs Any amount raised above (fingers crossed) the goal will go towards photographing and documenting the project, paying dues to be accepted on an official art collaborative website to help me get that exposure (It is $400 a year), additional art materials/supplies/storage, unforeseen expenses (bills), and possibly getting Electricity/light installed in my art space. So I can see my work! By choosing to be a subject for my paintings you


Prompt: Eminem is still angry with President Donald Trump, but this time, it’s personal. In an interview on Shade45, the rapper says he anticipated an angry response the president to his freestyle cypher “The Storm,” but nothing has happened yet. Eminem delivered an angry verse about the president on October 6 at the BET Hip Hop Awards, calling him a “racist grandpa”. Though the video went viral, racking up 34 million views as of this writing, the president never responded to Eminem, a fact that seems to have angered him more. Trending: Student Accused Of Snatching MAGA Hat From Trump Supporter

May Face Year In Jail "I was and still am extremely angry,” Eminem said on his XM radio station. “I can’t stand that motherf**ker. I feel like he’s not paying attention to me. I was kind of waiting for him to say something and for some reason, he didn’t say anything.” Trump tends to tweet angrily after watching Fox News programs including Fox & Friends, specifically about any subjects the talk show hosts bring up. He has also attacked several late night talk show hosts for criticizing him, a fact which has excited The Late Show ’s Stephen Colbert. For whatever reason, it appears the president was not watching the BET Hip Hop Awards. eminem More Getty Images Don't miss: Donald Trump Promotes His Own Black Friday 'Make America Great Again' Merchandise Deal On Facebook If the president does decide to watch Eminem’s freestyle, he’ll be treated to lyrics like “Racism's the only thing he's fantastic for” and “This is for Colin [Kaepernick], ball up a fist! / And keep that s**t balled like Donald the b**ch!” Eminem has begun chants at his live performances insulting the president, in the weeks since October 6, as BET reports. But these, too, have fallen on deaf ears. Fox News is, unsurprisingly, less surprised that Trump hasn’t responded to the video it calls a “five-minute freestyle rap bashing.” Eminem actually shares a geographical fanbase with the president. Both of their most devoted fans tend to live “in whiter and more rural places: West Virginia; southern Ohio; eastern Kentucky; deep north Maine; the Ozarks in Missouri; across the Great Plains,” The New York Times pointed out in October. That means Eminem’s anti-Trump verse probably caused the most controversy in those states. Although Eminem’s anger at the president is probably authentic, it’s worth pointing out


Prompt: LAS VEGAS – Ford wants to make AppLink the Android of automotive app architectures. In an unprecedented move for the auto industry, Ford is giving the system underpinning its Sync AppLink to any automaker who wants it, at no cost and with no restrictions on what they do with it. That would help automakers quickly and easily advance their infotainment systems, bring countless new developers into the automotive sector and provide consumers with more apps and options. Ford’s motives aren’t entirely altruistic. It wants to dominate the emerging infotainment space by leveraging the success of AppLink and Sync, much like

Google used Android in the smartphone sector. "We want to create the highest-volume architecture in the industry," Doug VanDagens, Ford’s director of connected services, told Wired. "The ease at which [developers] can develop is important to them, and we believe we’re leading in tools and implementation." Automotive app developers find themselves in much the same position smartphone developers did a few years ago. Not long ago, Apple’s iOS was the top priority, Android was just coming to the fore and everyone else was an afterthought because it was simply too big a hassle to develop a product for every OS. The automotive app space is following a similar pattern. Every automaker features a different consumer-facing platform, so developers must work with a variety of APIs and SDKs. It's annoying but doable for a massive outfit like Pandora, but damn near impossible for small developers. That’s where AppLink comes in. By offering AppLink to any automaker or Tier 1 supplier (the folks who build the hardware) and providing a universal API and SDK, Ford expands an app’s footprint across the industry and brings more developers into the Ford fold. "It’s a bold move by Ford, which may lead to faster industry adoption of in-vehicle applications," said Thilo Koslowski, an auto industry analyst at Gartner. "But it also underlines the challenge for automakers to attract application developers. No developer can afford to do custom work for every automaker." The fly in the ointment is the fact many automakers have invested great time and money developing their own app platforms. They want to control and maintain their own ecosystem, just like Google, Apple and Microsoft. A General Motors exec, requesting anonymity to speak frankly about Ford’s plan, said adopting AppLink would be immensely risky because of the resulting loss of control. "Will we


Prompt: A/N: Two posts this week! Because if I ever want to finish this generation before college starts up next fall, I have to start posting more. But hey, at least I’m out of school now! Hopefully that means I can keep the posts coming. Enjoy 🙂 I just wanted to go home. And in the heat of the moment, that was the first place my mind turned to. But it wasn’t a bad place to go. Dad and Mackenzie were here, and so were the unicorns. They could heal us. With a flash of light, Vox and I appeared in

the corner of the living room. He appeared to have lost consciousness again during the teleport. Either that or he was… “Dad! Come here!” I whipped my head around and found Mackenzie standing in the doorway. “Mac!” I squealed. Carefully setting Vox aside, I jumped up and ran to hug her. “I missed you.” “Is this real life right now?” she laughed. “I can’t believe you’re actually back – wait, who’s he?” We broke apart as she stared at Vox. Her expression wasn’t exactly approving. “There’s a lot to explain,” I said truthfully. More than you could ever imagine… “What is it, honey?” A tired voice spoke from the door. Dad. Stubble covered his face now and black rings surrounded his eyes. His clothes, though dressy, were wrinkled and a small red stain sat on his left sleeve. His gaze skimmed over the room and finally rested on Vox. He silently thought-spoke to the unicorns, then said to Mackenzie, “Get him in a bed so the unicorns can take a look.” And then he noticed me. “Karissa?” he gasped hoarsely. “Where have you been? I-” He glanced back at Vox, looking thoroughly perplexed. “Long story, dad.” As I spoke, the click of heels against the wood floor alerted me to Lily’s presence. I heard her stop short and gasp, then smiled as she yanked me and dad into a group hug. “I told you not to give up hope,” she chided. “I knew Karissa would come back to us safe and sound.” “Hmph,” dad grunted. He rested his head on top of mine, and I had the sneaking suspicion he was grinning. After promising at least a million times that I would explain everything after dinner and a quick change of clothes, I headed upstairs to check on Vox. As


Prompt: Anyone who has ever been near a dairy knows that cows can be smelly beasts: they fart and poop constantly, filling the air for miles with the acrid scent of their bowels. For anyone who may find that aroma repulsive, California is on the case. California Gov. Jerry Brown this week signed into law a bill that would place limitations on emissions of greenhouse gasses like methane and black carbon. Those types of gasses, known collectively as super pollutants, have some of the biggest impacts on global warming but remain in the atmosphere for a much shorter period of time

than carbon-dioxide (CO2). The new California law requires the state to approve and begin implementing a strategy to cut super pollutant emissions from dairy, livestock, organic waste and landfills. They must reach a goal that includes a cut of methane emissions by 40 percent, hydrofluorocarbon gases by 40 percent and anthropogenic black carbon by 50 percent below 2013 levels by 2020. Cow farts, for their part, are rich in methane. “Cutting black carbon and other super pollutants is the critical next step in our program to combat climate change,” Brown said Monday in a statement after signing the law. “This bill curbs these dangerous pollutants and thereby protects public health and slows climate change.” Hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) are used in refrigeration and air conditioning and began being used to replace ozone destroying chlorofluorocarbons. Black carbon is created when fossil fuels aren’t burnt completely — it's basically soot. Methane comes from a variety of organic sources, including living animals and landfills. The three gasses have varying levels of potency and lifespans. Methane is roughly 30 times better at trapping heat than CO2 and stays in the atmosphere for an average of roughly 20 years. HFCs are 3,830 times more potent than CO2 and have a 14 year lifetime. Black carbon stays in the atmosphere for just weeks and is very potent, though it has a variable potency. Removing just one ton of diesel black carbon from the atmosphere, Brown’s office said, is equivalent to taking out 1,000 to 2,000 tons of CO2. “The policies that California is implementing, if achieved worldwide, would cut the expected rate of global warming in half by 2050, save millions of lives, avoid millions of tons of crop losses per year and slow dangerous climate feedbacks such as melting ice caps and rising sea levels," Dr. Veerabhadran


Prompt: The principal of St Hilda's High School (a school affiliated with the Anglican Church) revoked the appointment of its head girl. The reason given is that the student is a Jehovah's Witness, and based on her religious beliefs, she would be unwilling to fulfil the responsibilities required by a head girl. This Christian denomination believes that world power and political parties are the unwitting allies of Satan. They refuse to salute flags of nations and perform military service. The head girl would be in breach of her religion if she participated in any civic duties required by the school. Would

she forsake her religion? Highly unlikely. Jehovah's Witnesses don't take kindly to apostates. If she refuses, the school has every right to rescind her appointment. This is not religious discrimination. It is simply the school's rational attempt to appoint someone best equipped and qualified to fulfil the normal functions of a head girl. If the religion of the appointee prohibits these functions, the appointee automatically disqualifies herself. serious questions Shouldn't children have the right to choose their own religion, or not choosing a religion? Are children indoctrinated by their parents or society, or even victimised by their ignorance? Children of Jehovah's Witness parents, or any other faith or denomination, never volunteered to be of that faith. They were born into it. They had no choice. Furthermore, is the faith of their birth, the one true faith, all the others being false, or was it an accident of birth? Shouldn't they decide if they wish to revoke all religious faiths? Tragically, religion and, particularly, the Jehovah's Witness, may close the door to future opportunities, not only for self improvement of the believer, but also to make valuable contributions to other people's lives. The Jehovah's Witness prohibits blood transfusions. How would you feel if your loved one might possibly be alive had a blood transfusion been given? Which brings me to the subject of religious upbringing and education of young children. Parents do have the right to raise their children the way they see fit. That's the core of family values. At the same time, parents don't literally own their children (like slave owners once owned slaves), but are more like their guardians and ought to be held accountable by outsiders. Outsiders have a right to interfere if the parents do harm to their children. Similarly, some might say no prospective parent


Prompt: From nowhere, they appear as a sudden surge of power in the radio spectrum. Then, a few milliseconds later, they're gone—and as far as we could tell, they never come back. They've picked up the name "fast radio bursts," but nobody's entirely sure of what produces them. Follow-up observations have generally failed to find anything interesting in their direction, and the bursts didn't seem to repeat, leaving everyone who cares about these sorts of things a bit mystified. One possible explanation for their one-time-only appearance would be that they're the product of a process that destroys the object that creates

them. Thus, if they were produced by the collapse of a neutron star into a black hole (to give just one example), there'd be no way for that to happen twice. But a new study suggests that at least one of them has repeated, which would take cataclysmic explanations off the table. There are enough differences between this burst and previously observed ones, however, to raise the question of whether there might be several processes producing similar surges in radio emissions. The burst in question (which goes by FRB 121102) was identified using the Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico. There was nothing especially unusual about it, but the authors scheduled it for follow-up observations. Some of these turned up nothing. But others turned up several bursts, sometimes within hours of each other. All told, they saw 10 additional bursts (FRB 121102 goes to 11!) over the course of two months. These had different brightnesses, and different intensity peaks showed up at different wavelengths, suggesting a somewhat chaotic process. Looking through the timing data, the authors found no indication of a periodic process, which makes some sort of orbital behavior unlikely; the quick repetition in some cases also makes an orbital phenomenon unlikely. And, as the authors put it, "Repeat bursts rule out models involving cataclysmic events." So what is still on the table? Neutron stars with intense magnetic fields, called magnetars, can create giant flares. But none of the ones we know about have produced more than a single flare. The authors suspect it might be a pulsar—a rapidly rotating neutron star—where sporadically, one of the normal pulses is greatly amplified. This sort of behavior has been seen in at least some neutron stars in our galaxy. Confusing matters further is the question of whether FRB 121102 is a typical


Prompt: VR took another big Jump forward (sorry, had to) with their announcement at Google IO yesterday. The Jump platform promises to completely reshape the VR content production landscape, from capture to display. Understanding how and why requires really grokking Jump itself. So based on screenshots and published specs, we’ll do our best. First, Jump is a physical platform. It’s a GoPro array, like you might get from 360 Heroes or any one of a dozen other GoPro-holder companies. Google VP of Product Management and head of VR/AR Clay Bavor claimed the rig works with ‘off the shelf cameras,’ and the

presentation implied it was camera agnostic, but practically speaking it’s a GoPro rig. Google isn’t selling it, but they are releasing the CAD drawings so anyone can manufacture them. Here’s a rendering, but they also had photos, so this isn’t vaporware: And yes, they even made one out of cardboard ($8,000 worth of camera and 8 cents worth of cardboard, like a Ferrari engine in, well, a car like mine). But before you go start a company manufacturing these things, know that GoPro is also going to sell this Jump array, supposedly by ‘this summer.’ GoPro has been pretty good at hitting published delivery dates, if not speculated ones, so this is probably accurate. But you can still make your own if you want it in a different color, say, or a different material. I can almost guarantee there will be a half-dozen carbon fiber versions available right away, for example, and plastic ones will be on Alibaba pretty much instantly. Just keep in mind: any rig probably has to be built to tight tolerances, because the camera positions are important. See below, where we discuss ‘calibrated camera arrays.’ At first glance, the rig is a little bigger than equivalent GoPro holders. It holds 16 cameras, and there are no up-facing or down-facing cameras at all. Based on the GoPro 4 Black’s specs, the rig captures a full 360 laterally, but just over 120 degrees vertically. So it will be missing about 30 degrees around each pole, directly above your head and at your feet. (Probably not a big deal, I think — but maybe a small differentiator for one of the existing companies? Like Mao’s Great Leap, Google’s is going to create a few casualties.) Also, Jump is arranged like a mono rig, where each camera is pointed in


Prompt: Abstract Early warning signals of the coronary heart disease (CHD) risk of sugar (sucrose) emerged in the 1950s. We examined Sugar Research Foundation (SRF) internal documents, historical reports, and statements relevant to early debates about the dietary causes of CHD and assembled findings chronologically into a narrative case study. The SRF sponsored its first CHD research project in 1965, a literature review published in the New England Journal of Medicine, which singled out fat and cholesterol as the dietary causes of CHD and downplayed evidence that sucrose consumption was also a risk factor. The SRF set the review’s objective, contributed

articles for inclusion, and received drafts. The SRF’s funding and role was not disclosed. Together with other recent analyses of sugar industry documents, our findings suggest the industry sponsored a research program in the 1960s and 1970s that successfully cast doubt about the hazards of sucrose while promoting fat as the dietary culprit in CHD. Policymaking committees should consider giving less weight to food industry–funded studies and include mechanistic and animal studies as well as studies appraising the effect of added sugars on multiple CHD biomarkers and disease development. Introduction In the 1950s, disproportionately high rates of coronary heart disease (CHD) mortality in American men led to studies of the role of dietary factors, including cholesterol, phytosterols, excessive calories, amino acids, fats, carbohydrates, vitamins, and minerals in influencing CHD risk.1 By the 1960s, 2 prominent physiologists were championing divergent causal hypotheses of CHD2,3: John Yudkin identified added sugars as the primary agent, while Ancel Keys identified total fat, saturated fat, and dietary cholesterol. However, by the 1980s, few scientists believed that added sugars played a significant role in CHD, and the first 1980 Dietary Guidelines for Americans4 focused on reducing total fat, saturated fat, and dietary cholesterol for CHD prevention. Although the contribution of dietary sugars to CHD is still debated, what is clear is that the sugar industry, led by the Sugar Association, the sucrose industry’s Washington, DC–based trade association,5 steadfastly denies that there is a relationship between added sugar consumption and CVD risk.6,7 This Special Communication uses internal sugar industry documents to describe how the industry sought to influence the scientific debate over the dietary causes of CHD in the 1950s and 1960s, a debate still reverberating in 2016. Methods The Sugar Association evolved from the Sugar Research Foundation (SRF), founded in 1943.8 We located correspondence between the


Prompt: Bills coach Rex Ryan joins NFL Insiders and praises the character of DE Mario Williams, stating that he would like to have him back in Buffalo next season. (0:51) After questioning in December the logic of taking a pay cut from his $19.9 million cap number next season, defensive end Mario Williams has changed his tone on the issue. On Wednesday, he told ESPN NFL Insider Josina Anderson that "it's bigger than just the numbers" and he would be open to listening to the Buffalo Bills about reducing his pay. The Bills have the NFL's tightest salary-cap situation this offseason.

"I would love to have him back, but we'll see how realistic that is," coach Rex Ryan said Wednesday. The Associated Press reported in December, citing a person with direct knowledge of discussions, that the Bills would release Williams this offseason. The Bills can save $12.9 million by releasing him. "Yeah, I mean, it all depends on what is happening," Williams told Anderson. "My thing is this: Obviously, I've had big contracts, but once you get on a team and you get around the guys, it becomes family. The guys on defense, we laugh and talk about anything. We do a bunch of stuff together, and off the field, obviously. It's bigger than just numbers. "But at the same time, as far as what you said about [a pay cut] being feasible, a [salary-cap] crunch is a crunch. Obviously there's two great players on the other side of the ball [pending free-agent left tackle Cordy Glenn and left guard Richie Incognito] that need to be back. Like you said, I'm not an accountant, either. I don't even know how you can go about making it where it makes at least some type of sense. "That's not what I do, so that's why I don't even worry about it." Mario Williams says he's willing to listen to the Bills about taking a pay cut to stay and is willing to meeting coaches halfway about his role in the defense. Stephen Pond/Getty Images Williams, who is entering the fifth year of a six-year, $100 million deal he signed in 2012, has the second-highest cap number of any NFL defensive player next season. While the NFL has yet to determine its 2016 salary cap, ESPN Stats & Information projects the Bills to be about $1 million over their projected salary cap, making them


Prompt: From WikiFur, the furry encyclopedia. Foxy Flavored Cookie Author(s) Thomas Evans Website Update schedule Updates Mondays and Fridays Launch date June 6, 2010 End Date Ongoing Genre Comedy, Adventure, Romance Rating(s) Foxy Flavored Cookie is a webcomic created by Thomas Evans (alternatively known as The Baker). The series centers around Pucho, a boy who was turned into an anthromorphic culpeo fox and lost his memory. All strips are drawn using PaintTool SAI. Because of this, all strips that are drawn are of high quality, clear, and easy to read. The comic is hosted by Comic Fury. Synopsis [ edit ]

Foxy Flavored Cookie centers around a boy who is bitten by a pure lycan, causing him to become two-thirds lycan, and lose his memory. He is then found by a land scout, by the name Hos (pervy) and an insect biologist named Pituka. However, Pervy forgets to ask his name, so they name him after a box of cigarettes found in his pocket- Pucho. They take Pucho to an underground city named Paws Den, where he has to adapt to his new life. Cast [ edit ] Main characters [ edit ] Pucho: a rather clumsy, but good-natured and outgoing character. He once had a life as a gypsy traveling in a caravan. He is rather talented at playing the violin, and exceptionally good at cooking. These are two skills that transfered over after he lost his memory. Every once in a while, when the need arises, he can spontainously, and impulsively, summon supernatural strength and powers. This is demonstrated in many areas, but it is implied that he has no control over this abillity. Pucho Shows romantic interest in Pituka. Pituka: Pituka is not far from a female Pucho counterpart. She is rather smart, as she is an insect biologist, however she is just as good-natured and outgoing as Pucho. Her home is filled with many kinds of insects, with her favorite being Huggie, a lycan sized spider. She shows romantic interest in Pucho. Pervy: Pervy is a lycan that fits his name. He is very risque, but can be very comical at times. His biggest romantic interest is Nelly. Pervy often tries to perve (not intended) on Nelly, but this usually doesn't end well for him. Most of the time, he ends up getting hit with a wrench, thrown out windows, and everything in between. Nelly: Nelly is


Prompt: Each Monday, Chris Livingston visits an early access game and reports back with stories about whatever he finds inside. This week, space station simulation in Spacebase DF-9. It’s been a rough week for my little space station. We were boarded by a squad of Kill Bots who, as you might expect, tried to kill all non-bots. A massive fire in the life support chamber nearly knocked out the oxygen supply. Now, an alien parasite has appeared, and even though my security chief easily killed it, I’m left to wonder how the bug even got aboard. Perhaps it burrowed in through

that hole in the hull? The one my security chief was just sucked out of to his death? That’s probably how. In Spacebase DF-9, the early-access space station simulation from Double Fine Productions, your first task is to select which portion of the galaxy you’d like your spacemen to die horribly in. A spot near a Warpgate sounds ideal, because you’ll have more visitors, but visitors are often hostile. A spot with a lot of asteroids means you can do a lot of mining, but also means frequent meteor strikes. There are benefits to living in an area with a high frequency of derelict spaceships, but there is also a downside, as anyone who has seen a few sci-fi movies can tell you. After a few hundred thousand years of travel, my pod arrives in my chosen sector and my three astronauts set to work building their new home. I’m not much of a designer, so I just build a giant room and throw some oxygen machines in the corner, figuring I’ll just line the walls with whatever else I need. I soon learn, however, that each room needs to be dedicated to a single purpose: beds can only go in residence rooms, oxygen recyclers can only go in life support rooms, and so forth. Even worse, my room is so large I’ve used almost all the materials on hand to build it. Right off the bat, my little astronauts have exhausted their supplies. I quickly realize I’ve created a major problem for myself. I’ve been mining a nearby asteroid for building materials, but I need a refiner to convert the asteroid hunks into matter to build with. I don’t have enough matter to build the refiner itself, which means I’ll need to cannibalize something I’ve already built and use


Prompt: The mother of Hugh Grant's daughter received a barrage of threatening phone calls while the actor was appearing on Question Time to talk about the closure of the News of the World, the lawyer acting for victims of alleged press intrusion has claimed at the Leveson inquiry. David Sherborne, who represents the woman as well as speaking on behalf of 51 alleged victims of press intrusion at the Leveson inquiry, told the high court she was too stressed at the time to call the police. Sherborne said that "Whilst Mr Grant was appearing on Question Time, discussing the closure of

the NoW, Rupert Murdoch and press standards generally, she received a barrage of telephone calls from a withheld number from someone who managed to get it from somewhere, and when they finally answered she was threatened in the most menacing terms, which should reverberate around this inquiry: 'Tell Hugh Grant he must shut the fuck up'. Unsurprisingly she was too stressed to call the police." The barrister also claimed that Tinglan Hong's mother was almost run over by paparazzi in the weeks after Grant became one of the most prominent critics of News International. He told Lord Justice Leveson that the incidents had been reported to the Metropolitan police on the third day of the judicial inquiry into phone hacking and media standards on Wednesday. Near the end of a lengthy diatribe against tabloid press ethics and behaviour, the lawyer said he had secured an emergency injunction on behalf of the mother of Hugh Grant's child. Sherborne claimed the real reason for her injunction is that she has received threats because the father of child has spoken out against the press. Grant appeared on Question Time on 7 July to discuss phone hacking. On the same day News International announced the closure the News of the World following the revelation that the paper had accessed the voicemail of murdered teenager Milly Dowler. Leveson told Sherborne he had presented one side of alleged press intrusion "very graphically" and he wanted to be satisfied he has a full picture of the incidents the QC made claims about. Sherborne also told the inquiry that the parents of Madeleine McCann "begged for restraint" from blatant intrusion into their private lives by the News of the World. He claimed that the now-defunct tabloid newspaper published Kate McCann's private letters to her missing daughter without consent


Prompt: By modeling a circuit board on the human brain, Stanford bioengineers have developed microchips that are 9,000 times faster than a typical PC. Called Neurogrid, these energy-efficient circuits could eventually power autonomous robots and advanced prosthetic limbs. Bioengineers are smart to take inspiration from the human brain. It's a highly efficient information processor capable of crunching 100 million instructions per second (MIPS). Astoundingly, it only uses about 20 watts to power its 100 billion neurons. Today, our best supercomputers require a million watts to simulate a million neurons in real time (measured in terraflops). A standard desktop computer requires about

40,000 times more power to run and operates about 9,000 times slower. Advertisement The goal, therefore, is to produce information technologies with the power of the human brain. There are several initiatives underway that are working to achieve this goal, including IBM's neurosynaptic chips (and accompanying programming language), the University of Heidelberg's HICANN Chip, and brain-mapping initiatives like the European Human Brain Project. We can now add another project to the list: Stanford's Neurogrid. But unlike other current efforts, this "neuromorphic" system boasts some incredible energy-saving features. An Analog State of Mind The new circuit board, developed by Kwabena Boahen and his colleagues at Stanford, consists of 16 custom-designed "Neurocore" chips working in a tree network configuration. Each of the 16 Neurocores supports 65,536 neurons. Together, these chips can simulate one million neurons and billions of synaptic connections. And incredibly, Neurocore needs just three watts of power to get the job done. The designers used traditional transistors, but instead of using digital logic, they used them as analog circuits. To mimic the functions of the human brain (albeit on a drastically reduced scale), the researchers emulated all neural elements (except the soma) with shared electronic circuits — a design decision that maximized the number of synaptic connections. To maximize energy efficiency, the researchers used analog circuits. And to maximize throughput, they interconnected the neural arrays in a tree network. Advertisement It's considered the most cost-effective way to simulate neurons. But at $40,000 a piece, the researchers are going to have to figure out a way to drive the costs down. Miniaturization, Autonomy, Power Ramped-up and refined versions of this technology could be put to good use. In addition to improving our understanding of how the human brain works, it could be used to interpret signals from the brain and, in


Prompt: There is a thought I have been mulling over about romantic relationships as well as what sort of audience I would like to reach with this site. How can we create the relationships we desire? We all know people in clearly unhealthy and dysfunctional relationships, what are the things they are doing that make them dysfunctional? And conversely when we look at an example of a healthy relationship, what are they doing to continue their success? I believe the secret to successful interpersonal relationships has to do with actively creating the interaction together. In this article I would like to

take you on an adventure of consciousness, and give you some activities to try with your partner. These do not have to be done with a romantic partner by any means. Anyone who is willing to take a moment to practice raising their awareness in their interaction with you is a perfect participant for these exercises. Often people express their displeasure with their relationships to me. And I notice a few recurring themes: Boredom, resentment, distrust, immature communication. incongruities in the verbal vs. behavior and jealousy, to name a few. I find that often people are not mindful of the types of interactions they want to have with others, and have a laissez faire sort of approach to the relationships that are formed. And while spontaneous connections with incredible people who mirror your goals and values do happen I find people surround themselves with people they are close to in proximity more than similar interests or ideals. I theorize that the trouble begins at the inception of an interaction, this sort of falling into the company of whatever rift raft happens to be around. An example being those who take people home from the bar and then seem shocked that the person drinks heavily and enjoys an active social life picking up people in bars. That would be akin to bringing an opossum home and lamenting that he does not act like a cat. It is ludicrous to ask an opossum to behave like a cat, he cannot be other than what he is. By and large people seem to like those who express interest in them, and begin spending large amounts of time with the interested parties because “Why not?” This is a very passive way to interact I believe, and I think will often lead to incongruity in


Prompt: With the news of longtime Springfield music store, CD Warehouse, we got to thinking about the other closed businesses in town that we miss. There are so many great Springfield businesses that were important to the people who live here, just like CD Warehouse was to lots of music lovers in town. It’s been a fun trip down memory lane to recall the places we used to hang out, shop, do business and enjoy in the Queen City. Here are 50 businesses we really miss. Please let us know which business you miss most in the comments on Facebook! Note:

A huge shoutout to the folks in the Love My Ozarks Facebook group for providing so many great ideas for this article! Red’s was a staple of Route 66 for many years. It’s also credited as being the first drive-through restaurant in the United States. It was a little before our time as a company, but we still wish it were still around! It looked so cool and we’ve heard the food was great. Dillon’s In 2014, Dillon’s announced the closing of all of its Springfield stores. The grocery chain was a long time provider of foodstuffs to Springfield residents. Most of the Dillon’s location were purchased by Price Cutter after the closing. Cowboys 2000 This night club was the home to many a honky tonks throughout the 1990s and into the 21st century as well. Lots of big name performers came through town to play at this club. It closed its doors for good in 2007, but people associated with the club have opened a new country-themed spot called Club Rodeo on Bennett. Merle’s Downtown Hotdoggery Merle’s Hot Dog Emporium was a favorite spot of downtowners for many years. It was located on Walnut Street between the Mudlounge and what is now the Hotel Vandivort. Merle’s was known for its speedy and friendly service and its tasty hotdogs and hamburgers. The Ozark Mountain Ducks Baseball Team From 1998 to 2003, the Ozark Mountain Ducks played in the Central Baseball league from their stadium in Ozark, Price Cutter Park. The Central Baseball league shut down in 2005, but the Ducks left in 2003 to join the Frontier League. Once the Springfield Cardinals came to town the next year, the team folded. TAG SGF This magazine/radio/podcast/website was a great celebration of Springfield’s culture for a five year stretch, ending in 2014.


Prompt: NUSA DUA, Indonesia, Dec. 15 -- Organizers of the international climate conference here presented an open-ended compromise proposal to delegates from 190 nations early Saturday in hopes of bridging disagreements over how to begin negotiating a new treaty to combat global warming. The compromise was unveiled after nearly all-night negotiations over the stubborn differences between the United States and much of the world and between industrialized and developing nations. In an effort to break the deadlock, U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono urged delegates to come to a resolution quickly. "Frankly, I am disappointed with

the lack of progress, Ban told the delegates. "Seize the moment, this moment, for the good of all humanity." Both men received a standing ovation. In a bid to address U.S. objections to setting specific targets for reducing greenhouse gas emissions in the treaty talks, the compromise proposal referred only in a footnote to the short-term emissions cuts European leaders had demanded. In addition, the compromise framework would call on developing countries to take verifiable steps in their own countries to reduce global warming pollution, but would not compel them to join a mandatory international agreement that would take effect in 2012, as some industrialized countries had wanted. David Doniger, climate policy director for the advocacy group Natural Resources Defense Council, said that if the delegates approved the deal Saturday as expected, it would be "the start of the world's last chance to pull off a treaty to stave off the worst effects of global warming." For the past week, the United States and the European Union had faced off over whether industrialized countries should pledge to cut their emissions 25 to 40 percent by 2020, with European leaders threatening to boycott the parallel climate negotiations that President Bush launched in Washington unless the United States acquiesced. In order to break the impasse, the document referred to that goal, which is outlined in this year's reports by the U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, only in a footnote that speaks to the "urgency" of addressing climate change. "It's a weakened document, you cannot deny that," said Hans Verolme, who directs the climate change program for the World Wildlife Fund, a conservation group. "I don't know how you can footnote the Nobel Prize-winning IPCC. We were stunned by that," he added, referring to the U.N. panel that, along with former vice


Prompt: As federal authorities continue to investigate Anthony Weiner's sexually charged online chats with an underage girl, DailyMail.com has learned that a grand jury could hear the case against the ex-congressman as soon as the end of the month. The FBI, the New York Police Department, and US attorneys in New York and North Carolina opened investigations into Weiner's conduct in late September, after DailyMail.com reported that the former politician carried on a months-long online relationship with a 15-year-old high school girl. Weiner has already been hit with a federal subpoena for his cell phone, CNN reported last month. The feds

are apparently looking to move quickly - a federal grand jury is expected to hear allegations against Weiner in the next few weeks, sources tell DailyMail.com. A federal grand jury is expected to hear allegations against disgraced Anthony Weiner in the next few weeks, sources tell DailyMail.com The DailyMail.com first reported on Weiner's conversations with the 15-year-old girl (pictured), who he traded photos and sexy messages with for several months starting in January In the messages, which were obtained by the Dailymail.com, Weiner repeatedly complimented the girl's body, told her that she made him 'hard' The timing of the potential hearing - shortly before the US presidential election - could cause a political headache for Hillary Clinton, whose top aide Huma Abedin is still officially married to Weiner, 52. Abedin announced in August that she was separating from Weiner, after he was caught sending a suggestive photo of himself to another woman with his four-year-old son in the background. Abedin and Weiner continue to share an apartment, and Clinton's political opponents have sought to tie the presidential candidate to the scandal-plagued former congressman. After DailyMail.com reported on Weiner's conversations with the 15-year-old girl, Donald Trump called on Clinton to return any campaign donations from Weiner. Legal experts say there are several possible avenues prosecutors might pursue if they are looking to build a case against Weiner under either New York State or federal laws. Celebrity lawyer Joe Tacopina told DailyMail.com that Weiner could potentially face a misdemeanour of endangering the welfare of a child, which could carry up to a year in jail. Hillary Clinton's top aide, Huma Abedin (pictured on October 15 with her son), is still officially married to Weiner, 52 Abedin announced in August that she was separating from Weiner, though they continue to share an apartment


Prompt: Both top brass and regular servicemembers express opposition to US involvement Paul Joseph Watson Infowars.com September 2, 2013 The military revolt against the Obama administration’s plan to launch a potentially disastrous attack on Syria is gathering pace, with both top brass and regular servicemembers expressing their vehement opposition to the United States becoming entangled in the conflict. The backlash began to spread on social media yesterday with numerous members of the military posting photos of themselves holding up signs stating that they would refuse to fight on the same side as Al-Qaeda in Syria. The photos went viral, with one

post alone generating over 16,000 shares on Facebook. Others have posted their photos on Twitter alongside the hashtag #IdidntJoin. As the Obama administration prepares to present a draft resolution to lawmakers that is by no means “limited” in its scope and would in fact grease the skids for an open ended war, John Kerry and other State Department officials have signaled that Obama will simply ignore Congress if they vote no and launch the assault anyway. This will do little to reassure a growing number of influential figures in the US military who are becoming increasingly recalcitrant about the United States becoming embroiled in yet another war in the Middle East. The Washington Post reports that, “The Obama administration’s plan to launch a military strike against Syria is being received with serious reservations by many in the U.S. military, which is coping with the scars of two lengthy wars and a rapidly contracting budget, according to current and former officers.” Republican Congressman Justin Amash also took to Twitter to state, “I’ve been hearing a lot from members of our Armed Forces. The message I consistently hear: Please vote no on military action against Syria.” Amash’s statement was followed by a series of tweets from military veterans who also expressed their opposition to the attack. Business Insider’s Paul Szoldra also spoke to “sources who are either veterans or currently on active duty in the military,” and asked them if they supported military escalation in Syria. “Most have responded with a resounding no,” writes Szoldra. He quotes an active duty First Class Sergeant who states, “We are stretched thin, tired, and broke,” adding that the United States “(does not) need to be World Police.” “Our involvement in Syria is so dangerous on so many levels, and the 21st century American vet is


Prompt: Just over a decade ago, the state of California faced serious concerns about whether its utilities could generate and/or buy enough power to assure that the world's seventh-largest economy could keep the lights on. The infamous California energy crisis, which affected several other western states as well, was a complex tangle of poorly structured deregulation, significant market manipulation (remember Enron?), and other causes. Along with rolling blackouts, California endured an official state of emergency that lasted 34 months, led to the recall and replacement of Gov. Gray Davis, and cost the state and its ratepayers billions of dollars - a

cautionary tale for all states of electricity supply unable to meet demand. Fast-forward to the early spring of 2014. The California Independent System Operator (CAISO), due in part to an unexpected abundance of solar generation in what was supposed to be the rainy season, had to institute curtailments of wind and solar power coming into the grid on four separate occasions. In one instance, more than a gigawatt of combined wind and solar power was curtailed, a condition that the grid operator calls over-generation or "overgen." "In the past, who would have even thought of the concept of overgen?" says Tom Doughty, CAISO's director of regulatory strategy. "But it's a harbinger of what's to come." Without changes in planning and technology, Doughty says, CAISO's current projections note that a 40 percent share of the state's power from renewables in 2024 (on the way to Gov. Jerry Brown's stated goal of 50 percent by 2030) would necessitate more than 800 curtailments a year. "We have clean energy sources producing a lot of megawatts," adds Doughty. "We need somewhere to put it." Welcome to what could be the new normal -- and the cusp of a new energy future. "Too much electricity" from renewables is obviously not a widespread phenomenon (yet), but it has happened with wind power in the Pacific Northwest and Texas, causing big headaches for power marketers and grid operators. A regional reality check, however: seven U.S. states (all south of the Mason-Dixon Line) had no statistically significant generation from clean sources (excluding hydro) in 2014, and eight more had less than one percent. But let's look a little more closely at two states, California and New York, where the energy future is taking shape -- two states that are home to some 58 million people, or about 18


Prompt: It feels like NeNe Leakes is constantly responding to rumors about a possible return to Real Housewives of Atlanta. No matter what else she gets involved in, NeNe will always be associated with the show and since she pops in now and then, it makes sense that people are wondering. There were also rumors that Kim Zolciak might step back in as a cast member, but I don’t get why she would do that. Don’t Be Tardy seems like a way easier show to do. Unless of course, the money was better. And then there’s other original RHOA cast member

Sheree Whitfield. She did return last season as a part time cast member, but that was not enough for me. I need the original ladies back on my show, but is it going to happen? NeNe shared the latest with her followers on Twitter. CLICK “CONTINUE READING” FOR MORE! NeNe shut down the rumors that she was returning as a Housewife when she responded to a fan on Twitter and wrote, “I wasn’t asked 2 b a full time housewife or part time but they got Sheree & I think Kim Z.” I didn’t think that NeNe would want to be a full time cast member. She had a way better deal last season: popping in whenever she wanted, throwing some funny shade, and peacing out before she was really affected by the drama. I can see her doing something similar next season. Because, why not? She gets the best of both worlds if she takes that route! RELATED: Kroy Biermann Cut By The Buffalo Bills My interest is also piqued by the last part of the tweet when she mentioned Sheree and Kim. I’m not at all surprised by Sheree getting the promotion to a full time cast member since she did put in that time as a recurring cast member last season. The Kim part throws me off though. Her spin off show seems to be doing pretty well and it seems way less stressful than arguing with Housewives so it’s weird that she would want to leave. According to Hip Hollywood, NeNe made it clear that she is happy for Kim and Sheree (if the gossip ends up being true) since she reportedly tweeted, “Never bitter! Please support them.” I could not find the tweet myself, but NeNe seems to be cool with both Sheree and Kim


Prompt: The Retirement Commissioner says the superannuation age needs to rise from 65 to 67. Diane Maxwell says the country can’t afford not to make the change, calling it a "no-brainer." "The number of 65-plus will double in the next 25 years, the cost of super will triple in the next 20 years," she says. "Our dependency ratio — the number of people of working age to retirees — will go from 4.4 to 2.4 [per working person]. We can't pretend this isn't happening." But Commerce Minister Paul Goldsmith disagrees, saying economic growth will cover the cost of keeping super eligibility

at 65. Mr Goldsmith says the government currently spends around 5% of GDP on super. "The projections are in 2045, 30 years from now, that will increase to 7% of GDP. The world's not going to come to an end. We can afford that," he says. Prime Minister John Key says he would resign before he lifted the retirement age, in part because he says it would be tough on many blue collar workers. A recent survey by the Retirement Commission found two-thirds of Kiwis want it kept at 65. "I'm hoping to change the voters' minds," says Ms Maxwell. "If I can change the voters' minds, I can change [Mr Key's] mind." The Retirement Commissioner also says immigrants should not be eligible for super until they have lived in New Zealand for 25 years, in line with the average of 26 years. Currently, the wait is 10 years. But Mr Goldsmith says we’ve always been a generous country. She says now the government has such a large surplus it should resume payments into the Super Fund. RAW DATA: Lisa Owen interviews Retirement Commissioner Diane Maxwell and Commerce Minister Paul Goldsmith Lisa Owen: Well, this is a political hot potato that no party wants to handle – superannuation. But now the Retirement Commissioner, Diane Maxwell, is wading in. Her report on New Zealand’s retirement policy is due shortly, and she joins me now in the studio. Diane Maxwell: Good morning. Good morning. What are your key recommendations going to be? So super as it stands is a fantastic thing. We’re very proud of it, but it’s not sustainable in the long term unless we make some changes. So the changes that we’re looking at, you’ve either got to say how do you work on the eligibility criteria or the absolute


Prompt: We need your help to build wheelchair costumes for kids in walkers and wheelchairs in time for Halloween 2015! So please pledge and spread the word. The more money we raise, the more children we can build for in the future! Our goal is 5 costumes, but we’d love to make more with more donations. What is Walkin’ & Rollin’ Costumes? Walkin’ & Rollin’ Costumes is a nonprofit organization that turns kids’ walkers and wheelchairs into the best Halloween costume ever! Lon & Anita Davis are the parents of 2 boys, 1 of whom, Reese, was diagnosed with Neuroblastoma (a

childhood cancer) at the age of 2 months old. The tumor was on his spine and ended up crushing his spinal cord preventing him the full use of his legs and trunk muscles. Together, with the help of now 10-year-old Reese, the family launched Walkin’ & Rollin’ Costumes with this simple goal in mind: “To provide any child with special needs equipment a unique and custom built costume for them, free of charge to the family.” How it all started. When Reese received his first wheelchair around the age of 3, he was really into the movie, “Wall-E.” So for Halloween he wanted to be the title character. We knew there wasn’t a way to purchase a costume that would work for him, so we decided to build it from scratch. The end result featured mechanical arms that Reese could control from within the body and large track treads on the side of his wheelchair. The costume blew people away and it even ended up in the Kansas City Star newspaper. The first costume built by the Walkin' & Rollin' Costumes team. Each year following, Reese would come up with creative ideas for his costume, and Dad would have to figure out a way to make them work. Year two, Reese wanted to be Buzz Lightyear and wanted his wheelchair to be the Claw Machine from the first “Toy Story” movie. That costume ended up coming in 2nd place for a city wide costume contest and was featured on the home page of the Kansas City Star website. Buzz Lightyear in the Claw Machine Fast forward to 2015. We have numerous costumes under our belt, each being more elaborate than the last. We were even featured on the evening news for our Comic Con costume in 2015 when we introduced


Prompt: Transgender prisoner Jade Follett has been approved to move to a women's prison. The Department of Corrections has agreed to shift a transgender prisoner to a women's facility. It came as the prisoner's lawyer has questioned why a person who identified as a woman and was undergoing hormone therapy was put in a men's prison in the first place. On Thursday Rimutaka Prison director Chris Burns confirmed the request by transgender prisoner Jade Follett had been approved. Supplied Members of the group No Pride in Prison. "Corrections has a duty of care to all prisoners. We are very much aware

and sympathetic to the particular needs of transgender prisoners including the issues surrounding their placement and safety." Follett's transfer will be the fifth since the transgender and intersex prisoner policy took effect in February 2014. On Wednesday transgender activists threatened to go on hunger strike unless Corrections moved Follett from Rimutaka Prison to a women's facility. READ MORE: * Transgender activists threaten hunger strike over treatment of trans woman prisoner It comes after reports the prisoner, "a strong woman", had to front up to threats in the men's prison. About 10 members of the No Pride in Prisons group launched the hunger strike on Karangahape Rd in Auckland on Thursday, spokeswoman Jennifer Shields said. She said the group had been on the hunger strike for about five hours before hearing that Follett's transfer had been approved. The group was pleased the request was approved, but it was "only the start", she said. "Jade shouldn't have been put in a prison in the first place, their policy isn't working. There would be a system at the start that assessed who they are, their gender, their risk, and put them in the right facility right away." Previously Shields said Follett had requested the move about two months ago but had not heard back from Corrections. On Wednesday, Burns said Corrections received a request over the weekend from a transgender prisoner to be moved to a prison that accommodated prisoners of their identified gender. "No other transfer requests of this nature have been made this year." Burns said Corrections would treat the request "with urgency". Shields said Follett was a strong woman but had been threatened several times in the prison. "But people have backed down once she stood up for herself." She said people who thought Follett should be in a men's


Prompt: Two years ago, researchers at Moscow-based Kaspersky Lab discovered their corporate network was infected with malware that was unlike anything they had ever seen . Virtually all of the malware resided solely in the memory of the compromised computers, a feat that had allowed the infection to remain undetected for six months or more. Kaspersky eventually unearthed evidence that Duqu 2.0, as the never-before-seen malware was dubbed, was derived from Stuxnet, the highly sophisticated computer worm reportedly created by the US and Israel to sabotage Iran’s nuclear program. Now, fileless malware is going mainstream, as financially motivated criminal hackers mimic

their nation-sponsored counterparts. According to research Kaspersky Lab plans to publish Wednesday, networks belonging to at least 140 banks and other enterprises have been infected by malware that relies on the same in-memory design to remain nearly invisible. Because infections are so hard to spot, the actual number is likely much higher. Another trait that makes the infections hard to detect is the use of legitimate and widely used system administrative and security tools—including PowerShell, Metasploit, and Mimikatz—to inject the malware into computer memory. "What's interesting here is that these attacks are ongoing globally against banks themselves," Kaspersky Lab expert Kurt Baumgartner told Ars. "The banks have not been adequately prepared in many cases to deal with this." He went on to say that people behind the attacks are "pushing money out of the banks from within the banks," by targeting computers that run automatic teller machines. The 140 unnamed organizations that have been infected reside in 40 different countries, with the US, France, Ecuador, Kenya, and the UK being the top five most affected nations. The Kaspersky Lab researchers still don't know if a single group of individuals is behind the attacks, or if they're being carried out by competing hacker gangs. The use of the fileless malware and command-server domains that aren't associated with any whois data makes the already difficult task of attribution almost impossible. Password harvesting The researchers first discovered the malware late last year, when a bank's security team found a copy of Meterpreter—an in-memory component of Metasploit—residing inside the physical memory of a Microsoft domain controller. After conducting a forensic analysis, the researchers found that the Meterpreter code was downloaded and injected into memory using PowerShell commands. The infected machine also used Microsoft's NETSH networking tool to transport data to attacker-controlled servers. To obtain


Prompt: The Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, a linchpin in Western occultism, was founded in the late 1880s. Within 15 years there had been schisms dividing the Order. With the internet today, events happen much faster. Various groups claim to be “the” Golden Dawn and fight for the use of the name. New groups claim to have the “real” teachings. People get kicked out of one group or they split off from groups to form their own “real” Golden Dawn. These games don’t matter. It is the work that matters. All of these games are about ego. The Order is

about the work. When the Order was founded, they included a document that revealed the Order’s supposed history, going back before its modern founding (or re-creation). Over the years, aspects of this “History Lection” (Lection is an archaic word meaning a particular edition of a text. I always find it amusing how many occult writers think it’s necessary to use archaic or foreign words when there are perfectly acceptable modern words.) have fallen into question—appropriately so—leading not to an editing but to an abandonment. This would be like saying the novel War and Peace is no good if a period is in the wrong place. I contend it would be more appropriate to abandon anything proven wrong and keep what is accurate. Sure, that’s more work, and a lot of “authorities” don’t really like work, even if that work isn’t all that difficult. If instead of simply abandoning the entire History Lection we research each claim for its validity, we’ll soon come to the forgotten man of the Golden Dawn, Johann F. Falk. According to the Golden Dawn lectures, there was a G.D. lodge in London around 1810 which was headed by Johann F. Falk. In all of the books and research through Golden Dawn sources, it seems that nobody was interested in checking up on this. Either they simply believed or discounted the documents completely. In fact, a Rabbi de Falk, also known as Cain Chenuel Falk, was a noted cabalist and magician living in London around this time, the late 1700s. His “son,” Johann Friedrich Falk was born in Hamburg and is mentioned in the classic Royal Masonic Cyclopaedia by Kenneth R. H. Mackenzie. One Masonic historian believes they were the same person. Who was this Falk? Some time ago, while surfing the ’net, I came across an


Prompt: “Some Christians are more offended by the idea of everyone going to heaven than by the idea of everyone going to hell.” - Evolving in Monkey Town, Chapter 9 If you’ve read Evolving in Monkey Town you know that some of my most serious doubts about Christianity were triggered by questions related to religious pluralism and the destiny of the un-evangelized. After witnessing the public execution of a Muslim woman from Afghanistan on TV, I began struggling with the idea that millions upon millions of people like Zarmina had been sentenced to hell for eternity, most without ever hearing the

gospel. In Chapter 9 I write: In Sunday school, they always make hell out to be a place for people like Hitler, not a place for his victims. But if my Sunday school teachers and college professors were right, then hell will be populated not only by people like Hitler and Stalin, Hussein and Milosevic but by the people that they persecuted. If only born-again Christians go to heaven, then the piles of suitcases and bags of human hair displayed at the Holocaust Museum represent thousands upon thousands of men, women, and children suffering eternal agony and the hands of angry God. If salvation is available only to Christians, then the gospel isn’t good news at all. For most of the human race, it’s terrible news. As I’ve travelled around the country talking about my experience with doubt, I’ve been approached by many people, especially college students and young adults, who relate most to this section of the book. With tears in their eyes, they confess that they too lie awake at night wondering how a loving God could damn the majority of his creation to hell, how a God who “desires that all be saved” could leave so many without hope. In the book I explain why I think Scripture gives us reason to be optimistic about the future of humanity, but it has become increasingly clear to me over the past few months that this is a topic people desperately want to talk about. With this in mind, I recently requested an advance review copy of Rob Bell’s new book Love Wins: Heaven, Hell and the Fate of Every Person Who Has Ever Lived. I was especially intrigued by a video trailer for the book in which Bell asks the very questions I’ve been asking myself since childhood


Prompt: If you’re a fan of Flight of the Conchords or the vampire mockumentary What We Do in the Shadows then you already know Taika Waititi is aces. As a director, he’s got an impeccable ability to balance painful earnestness with biting humor. And as a comedy writer and actor, he produces jokes that land every time—even if they’re so subtle you don’t notice it at first. This has never been more true than in Hunt for the Wilderpeople, which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival and stars Sam Neill as a woodsy tough guy who ends up on the lam

in the New Zealand bush with a gangster-wannabe foster kid (Ricky, played by newcomer Julian Dennison). It’s Waititi’s best movie yet, and it bodes well for his next project: Thor: Ragnarok. Yes, after a career of making small, subtle movies like the stellar Eagle vs. Shark, Waititi’s next gig is directing the third Marvel movie about the Asgardian god. And while his skillset may not at first glance seem suited to an interstellar superhero epic, the way Waititi does it, they are. (Really, aren’t all of the Avengers movies just family misadventures?) Here’s why we should be very excited to see what Waititi does in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. He’s No Stranger to Punching Up Dark Source Material Despite the fact that it’s very much a comedy, Hunt for the Wilderpeople is actually based on a serious novel: Barry Crump’s Wild Pork and Watercress. “Nothing in the book is funny,” Waititi told WIRED at Sundance. “I brought in all that kind of stuff. The main thing taken from the book is the heart and soul of it: It’s about a young boy growing up, and having the craziest of experiences.” He’s Quick With a Pop Culture Reference One of the ways Waititi enlivened Wilderpeople was with an infusion of well-placed pop culture references. Ricky, for example, names his dog Tupac, after his favorite rapper. While hiding in the bush, the boy notes his plight is like Lord of the Rings. When Ricky tells the woman from children’s services that he is the Terminator, she replies that he’s actually Sarah Connor—from the first movie, before she could do pull-ups. And that’s just one of a few barbs the welfare agent gets in, and they didn’t all make the final cut. “I saw her character as Tommy Lee Jones from The Fugitive.


Prompt: In set theory, the cardinality of the continuum is the cardinality or "size" of the set of real numbers R {\displaystyle \mathbb {R} } , sometimes called the continuum. It is an infinite cardinal number and is denoted by | R | {\displaystyle |\mathbb {R} |} or c {\displaystyle {\mathfrak {c}}} (a lowercase fraktur script "c"). The real numbers R {\displaystyle \mathbb {R} } are more numerous than the natural numbers N {\displaystyle \mathbb {N} } . Moreover, R {\displaystyle \mathbb {R} } has the same number of elements as the power set of N {\displaystyle \mathbb {N} } .

Symbolically, if the cardinality of N {\displaystyle \mathbb {N} } is denoted as ℵ 0 {\displaystyle \aleph _{0}} , the cardinality of the continuum is c = 2 ℵ 0 > ℵ 0 . {\displaystyle {\mathfrak {c}}=2^{\aleph _{0}}>\aleph _{0}\,.} This was proven by Georg Cantor in his 1874 uncountability proof, part of his groundbreaking study of different infinities; the inequality was later stated more simply in his diagonal argument. Cantor defined cardinality in terms of bijective functions: two sets have the same cardinality if and only if there exists a bijective function between them. Between any two real numbers a < b, no matter how close they are to each other, there are always infinitely many other real numbers, and Cantor showed that they are as many as those contained in the whole set of real numbers. In other words, the open interval (a,b) is equinumerous with R . {\displaystyle \mathbb {R} .} This is also true for several other infinite sets, such as any n-dimensional Euclidean space R n {\displaystyle \mathbb {R} ^{n}} (see space filling curve). That is, | ( a , b ) | = | R | = | R n | . {\displaystyle |(a,b)|=|\mathbb {R} |=|\mathbb {R} ^{n}|.} The smallest infinite cardinal number is ℵ 0 {\displaystyle \aleph _{0}} (aleph-null). The second smallest is ℵ 1 {\displaystyle \aleph _{1}} (aleph-one). The continuum hypothesis, which asserts that there are no sets whose cardinality is strictly between ℵ 0 {\displaystyle \aleph _{0}} and c {\displaystyle {\mathfrak {c}}} , implies that c = ℵ 1 {\displaystyle {\mathfrak {c}}=\aleph _{1}} . Properties [ edit ] Uncountability [ edit ] Georg Cantor introduced the concept of cardinality to compare the sizes of infinite sets. He famously showed that the set of real numbers is uncountably infinite; i.e. c {\displaystyle {\mathfrak


Prompt: My dad went on his first American road trip to the South in 1979, from New Hampshire to Mobile, Alabama. This was his first Thanksgiving and the first time his white hosts had seen an Indian man. Before dinner, he was invited to the grocery store and his friend’s father grabbed a rifle off the shelf and placed it in the bed of his truck. This was the South, my dad was told, and others might not like him because of the color of his skin. So he went to the store and faced a few mean stares, but was

ignored. Welcome to America. Indian Americans are lucky. Police aren’t killing us in unprecedented numbers, and government policy isn’t designed to kick us out. Some of the insults hurled my way growing up—sand nigger, camel jockey, raghead—show a lack of understanding of who we are by clumping us with others who are more persecuted. Our history in this nation is not marked by civil rights milestones. Perhaps because of this, we are often seen as soft, a minority that should be pleased with its good position in America. Advertisement I thought about this a few months ago at a Donald Trump rally in Chicago. It was as advertised: a white supremacist fever dream, like a hyper-stylized cartoon version of hate. Mobs of white men and women yelled at crowds of young black and Muslim and Mexican protesters who told me they felt like caged animals on display at the zoo. To first-generation Indian Americans like me, Trump is that racist white guy: a villain in a Bollywood movie making life unsafe for those with brown skin. He’s tapped into a fear that despite growing up in this nation, we still don’t belong. And yet, in a campaign dripping with explicit xenophobia, he’s done all this while mostly ignoring us. “We are from India,” Trump said in Delaware, pretending to be a call center worker in an accent that was actually not that bad, more Amitabh Bachchan than Kwik-E-Mart. Our only other mention came earlier this year when he said that “India is doing great. Nobody talks about it.” Well, yeah. (Likely Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton was photographed carrying to-go bags of tandoori and chicken makhani, but that doesn’t count.) If you listen closely, though, Trump’s said some things. He’s proposed a ban on Muslim immigration (10% of Indian Americans are


Prompt: In a media availability on Thursday, Texas Longhorns defensive coordinator Todd Orlando detailed the specifics of several position changes on defense that are having a big impact on the depth chart: Here are the position changes Texas defensive coordinator Todd Orlando made after watching last year's film pic.twitter.com/ymIklTpMoS — Anwar Richardson (@AnwarRichardson) March 24, 2017 And so while Orlando’s multiple 3-4 defense will typically employ a similar 3-3-5 look against spread teams as the defense run by former head coach Charlie Strong, he clearly sees different things on film and has different requirements than the previous staff. After a largely

disappointing two-year experiment with Malik Jefferson in the middle, the junior will cede the role of most important defender to fellow junior Breckyn Hager. Jefferson was the top player in the state in 2015 and the crown jewel of Strong’s recruiting class, while Hager was one of the lowest-rated players in the entire group and originally committed to Baylor. Now the roles are rather reversed — it’s Hager who will take on the role of calling the defense and utilize his trademark maniacal play back at linebacker, where he played as a freshman before switching to the hybrid Buck position last year. In discussing the role of linebacker’s in his defense, Orlando made his expectations clear for the position. He also happened to send a thinly-veiled message to Jefferson, who was benched last season for his effort level. “We're not going to go into the season with a soft middle linebacker, it's just not going to happen,” Orlando said. “So whoever ends up being the toughest kid, the kid who's going to be the most physical, play in and play out, is going to wind up there when we eventually play Maryland. That's the approach, that what always goes into what part this is. That position should be the quarterback of the defense, he should be the toughest guy, everybody should respect him, he should go extremely hard all the time and be vocal. So that's kind of the prerequisite that you look for when you're trying to fill in that spot.” In 2016, Jefferson’s play improved at the end of the season before it ended due to a concussion, but Orlando made it clear that if it flags again for whatever reason, Jefferson will find himself on the bench much more quickly than he did in the past. “It’s


Prompt: Richard Cordray has been rumored to be considering a run for governor of Ohio, but he gave no indication Wednesday of what his plans are. | Pete Marovich/Getty Images Cordray to resign from CFPB, clouding future of watchdog agency Richard Cordray, the embattled director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, will resign his post at the end of the month, giving President Donald Trump the chance to reshape an agency that has drawn relentless attacks from businesses over its aggressive enforcement. Cordray made the announcement in an email to bureau staff on Wednesday. Story Continued Below "It has been a

joy of my life to have the opportunity to serve our country as the first director of the Consumer Bureau by working alongside all of you here," he wrote. "Together we have made a real and lasting difference that has improved people's lives." Cordray has been rumored to be considering a run for governor of Ohio, but gave no indication Wednesday of his plans. Trump is likely to put the bureau under the control of Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, who can delegate day-to-day operations to an interim director, according to a White House official and others familiar with the administration’s thinking. An interim director can stay at the post indefinitely, or at least until the White House can get a nominee confirmed. Cordray's departure kicks off a high-stakes scramble to secure the future of the CFPB, a powerful Washington regulator that has cheered consumers and angered businesses as well as Republicans, who have accused it of overreaching. The independent bureau is the only bank regulator not led by a Trump appointee. The most reliable politics newsletter. Sign up for POLITICO Playbook and get the latest news, every morning — in your inbox. Email Sign Up By signing up you agree to receive email newsletters or alerts from POLITICO. You can unsubscribe at any time. "We need to appoint someone who has a proven track record of looking out for consumers," said John Taylor, president of the National Community Reinvestment Coalition. "To do anything that would weaken it by appointing someone who is less committed than Richard Cordray was would be a disservice to consumers." Trump, never a Cordray fan, has been scouting for his replacement among the ranks of Republican attorneys general. But the partisan grip squeezing Washington, and the agency’s supercharged politics, mean that anyone chosen for the job


Prompt: 1893 New York hurricane Category 3 major hurricane (SSHWS/NWS) Map of the hurricane on August 24 over New York City Formed August 15, 1893 Dissipated August 25, 1893 Highest winds 1-minute sustained: 115 mph (185 km/h) Lowest pressure 952 mbar (hPa); 28.11 inHg Fatalities At least 34 Areas affected Eastern United States Part of the 1893 Atlantic hurricane season The 1893 New York hurricane, also known as the Midnight Storm,[1] was a powerful and destructive tropical cyclone that struck the New York City area in August 1893. First identified as a tropical storm on August 15, over the central Atlantic

Ocean, the hurricane moved northwestward for most of its course, ultimately peaking with maximum sustained winds of 115 mph (185 km/h) and a minimum barometric pressure reading of 952 mbar (hPa; 28.11 inHg). It turned due northward as it approached the U.S. East Coast and struck western Long Island on August 24. It moved inland and quickly deteriorated, degenerating the next day. The storm inflicted severe damage with storm tides as high as 30 ft (9 m). Trees were brought down, houses were demolished, and Hog Island was largely washed away by the cyclone. Several areas suffered extensive effects from the hurricane, and at least 34 sailors lost their lives. The storm is regarded as one of the most severe hurricanes to strike the city. Meteorological history [ edit ] The system was first classified as a tropical storm while situated in the central Atlantic Ocean on August 15, 1893. It steadily intensified as it tracked generally toward the west and attained hurricane force. Gradually curving northwestward, the storm continued to gain power and, on August 18, it achieved wind speeds corresponding to Category 2 intensity on the modern-day Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Scale.[2] This scale was devised in 1971 to categorize tropical cyclones based on their maximum sustained winds.[3] The storm is estimated to have maintained winds of approximately 100 mph (155 km/h) for several days as it passed well to the north of the Lesser Antilles. As the hurricane turned more northerly still, approaching the United States, it strengthened to major hurricane intensity, Category 3, on August 22. At this point, it peaked in intensity with winds of 115 mph (185 km/h). The lowest known barometric pressure in relation to the storm was 952 mbar (hPa; 28.11 inHg).[2] Less than a day later, the storm deteriorated to Category 2 strength.[2]


Prompt: Scientists at NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS) say 2012 was the ninth warmest year since 1880, continuing a long-term trend of rising global temperatures. The ten warmest years in the 132-year record have all occurred since 1998. The last year that was cooler than average was 1976. The map at the top depicts temperature anomalies, or changes, by region in 2012; it does not show absolute temperature. Reds and blues show how much warmer or cooler each area was in 2012 compared to an averaged base period from 1951â€“1980. For more explanation of how the analysis works, read

World of Change: Global Temperatures. The average temperature in 2012 was about 14.6 degrees Celsius (58.3 degrees Fahrenheit), which is 0.55°C (1.0°F) warmer than the mid-20th century base period. The average global temperature has increased 0.8°C (1.4°F) since 1880, and most of that change has occurred in the past four decades. The line plot above shows yearly temperature anomalies from 1880 to 2011 as recorded by NASA GISS, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) National Climatic Data Center, the Japanese Meteorological Agency, and the Met Office Hadley Centre in the United Kingdom. All four institutions tally temperature data from stations around the world and make independent judgments about whether the year was warm or cool compared to other years. Though there are minor variations from year to year, all four records show peaks and valleys in sync with each other. All show rapid warming in the past few decades, and all show the last decade as the warmest. Scientists emphasize that weather patterns cause fluctuations in average temperatures from year to year, but the continued increase in greenhouse gas levels in the atmosphere assures that there will be a long-term rise in global temperatures. Each individual year will not necessarily be warmer than the previous year, but scientists expect each decade to be warmer than the previous decade. “One more year of numbers isn’t in itself significant,” GISS climatologist Gavin Schmidt said. “What matters is this decade is warmer than the last decade, and that decade was warmer than the decade before. The planet is warming. The reason it’s warming is because we are pumping increasing amounts of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.” Carbon dioxide traps heat and largely controls Earth’s climate. It occurs naturally but is also released by the burning of fossil fuels for energy. The level


Prompt: Jony Ive's iconic industrial designs--from the original fruit-colored iMacs to the iPhone and iPad--have redefined the look and feel of computing devices several times. That's all good. But computers and phones aren't simply designer bling, but tools that users depend upon for important work. They need to work reliably, which means investing in their underlying technologies to handle changing needs. In the last 10 years, disk capacities have grown 100x and many users have tens of thousands of multi-megabyte image, music, and video files. For example, Mac OS X is still relying on the much-patched 1980s file system technology of

HFS+--something it planned to replace years ago. Many Mac fans have discounted my concerns, but now Lloyd Chambers of diglloyd.com, a former software engineer and long-time Mac user and fan, has weighed in with a multi-page indictment of Mac core rot. What he documents are not theoretical problems, but problems he has personally experienced. Not just with HFS+, but with several other key Mac software products. The whole piece is worth a serious read, but several of his points stood out for me, and I quote his bullet points: OS X Finder — damages the system, can't copy files reliably, can't do useful things it ought to do at all, hides key files, rife with bugs Disk utility — under some conditions, destroys arbitrary numbers of volumes, no real upgrade for years, took two minor releases to fix RAID support iCloud — a organization-destroying bug-ridden unreliable disaster File system — continued use of HFS Plus instead of robust ZFS. Chambers is an exceptional and demanding user. Yet if pro users are seeing these problems today, we know that in less than five years many less-demanding users will too. The Storage Bits take I used to hang with industrial designers, and I appreciate the creativity and deep knowledge of industrial technology that the best of them have. But they aren't software engineers. Apple has plenty of money and expertise to fix these problems, but it will take sustained effort and attention from top management--including Ive--to fix these problems on OS X and iOS. Ive is particularly important because he's been given significant software responsibility by Tim Cook. I include iOS because in 10 years it too will be handling workloads 100x greater than it does today. Fix OS X and then migrate that technology to iOS as needed. Mac software engineering


Prompt: A couple having sex metamorphoses into a crocodile. Fish eyes from some weird creature float on the surface of the sea, staring at me. A man is riding his own coffin. Text accompanies these surreal images, handwritten, seemingly ancient but totally unintelligible. I’ve just stepped into the bizarre universe of Codex Seraphinianus, the weirdest encyclopedia in the world. Like a guide to an alien world, Codex Seraphinianus is 300 pages of descriptions and explanations for an imaginary existence, all in its own unique (and unreadable) alphabet, complete with thousands of drawings and graphs. Issued for the first time in 1981

by publisher Franco Maria Ricci, it has been a collector’s favorite for years, before witnessing a sudden rise in popularity thanks to a growing fandom on the Internet. Now a new-and-improved edition from Italian publisher Rizzoli is about to hit bookshelves on Oct. 29, with 3,000 pre-ordered copies already sold out. The Codex attracts a new generation of fans, people who grew up surfing the net and eager to explore the exciting and relentless world outside, as bizarre as it is depicted in the book. The author, Luigi Serafini, born in Rome in 1949, is an Italian architect-turned-artist who also worked in industrial design, painting, illustration and sculpture, collaborating with some of the most prominent figures in contemporary European culture. Roland Barthes gladly accepted to write the prologue to the book, but after his sudden death the choice fell to Italo Calvino, who mentioned it in his collection of essays Collezione di sabbia. Another admirer was Italian filmmaker Federico Fellini, to whom Serafini offered a series of drawings for his very last movie La voce della Luna. Serafini’s amazing studio, a few steps from the Pantheon in the center of Rome, reveals everything about his fantasy world. Wandering around the place is like having a journey through a lysergic version of a Kubrick movie set, or a pyrotechnical staging of Alice in Wonderland. The imaginary space of the Codex spreads across the real world, a virtual-reality short-circuit even more powerful than the one created by technology itself. We sit down for an (electric) fireside chat, facing the statue of a deer that won’t stop staring at us, trying to interpret the recent online success of his bizarre work. Luigi Serafini: I see many similarities between WIRED and the Codex; they both are the product of a generation that chose to


Prompt: The Stories You Missed in 2011 India’s Military Buildup China’s new aircraft carrier — actually just a refitted Gorbachev-era Soviet model purchased for $20 million from the Russians — made international headlines when it began sea trials this year, signaling Beijing’s growing military ambitions in East Asia. But it isn’t the only Asian giant investing heavily in new military hardware. India has kept pace with its neighbor to the north and, in some areas, is actually exceeding it — a development that, though much less noted, is a sign of the growing militarization of the region as a new generation

of emerging powers with global ambitions jockeys for regional supremacy. India is now the world’s largest weapons importer, according to a 2011 report by arms watchdog SIPRI, accounting for 9 percent of the world’s international arms transfers — most from Russia — between 2006 and 2010. India will spend an estimated $80 billion on military modernization programs by 2015, according to an estimate from the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies. In particular, India is focusing on sea power, a crucial new area of competition. The country is planning to spend almost $45 billion over the next 20 years on 103 new warships, including destroyers and nuclear submarines. By comparison, China’s investment over the same period is projected to be around $25 billion for 135 vessels, according to data on both countries from maritime analysis firm AMI International. On top of long-running tensions with Pakistan and festering insurgencies by Kashmiri separatists and Maoist rebels, India’s military planners are increasingly concerned about the prospect of military hostilities with China — hence the new focus on naval power. For now, the United States seems much more comfortable with India’s military ambitions than China’s. The Pentagon’s 2010 Quadrennial Defense Review welcomed “a more influential role in global affairs” for India, including in the Indian Ocean region. But there are some troubling signs that the area might not be big enough for two rising superpowers. In August, an unidentified Chinese warship confronted an Indian amphibious assault ship near the coast of Vietnam and demanded that it explain its presence in Chinese waters (the encounter took place in a disputed part of the South China Sea claimed by Vietnam). Thankfully, the situation resulted in nothing more than some testy public statements from officials in all three countries, but it was yet another sign of


Prompt: Prelude: This piece is being started as I attended the 2016 American Open Weightlifting Championships in Orlando, FL. These are thoughts that occurred to me during that weekend and are not written as criticisms. They are merely an exercise in reflection, something that everyone should engage in with some thoughtfulness. They are also not a longing for a nostalgic past. I believe that most nostalgic moments are based on physiological responses to the events of the moment. Most people are nostalgic about events that occurred when their physiology was functioning most effectively. My hope is that these reflections will in

some way turn out to be provocative. The Viewing Experience I spent a fair amount of time at this event sitting in the audience. Except for the one session where I sat in the front row, I got to watch a bunch of torsos lifting weight. There were hundreds of spectators at many sessions and even though many of them were participating lifters and coaches, a significant proportion were probably fans, supporters, and others who were not members of the weightlifting community. All of these groups deserve a decent view of the action. USAW needs to get the sport out of hotel conference facilities. They may be the cheapest alternative, but no sport with much spectator appeal is being conducted in hotel conference rooms. They are flat and most of them have horrible acoustics, although this past weekend’s sound was acceptable. One thing that needs to be done if the hotel solution is the best is to have taller stages. The current stages are too short to allow for reasonable sightlines. Weightlifting can only be fully appreciated if the entire body of the athlete can be viewed. The organizing committee might consider the type of venue where a dance production could be presented. Dancers appreciate having people watch their feet. The USAW scoreboards are also pretty worthless as scoreboards if the audience is situated so far from them. For most spectators they are just dynamic design pieces with a moving yellow bar that indicates where the next red or blue rectangle will appear. They need larger fonts and the elimination of superfluous information like the flag of the state of the athlete’s club. Another thing that has become the new normal as the entry list has grown Is the use of 3 platforms with sessions occurring simultaneously. At times there


Prompt: SINGAPORE - Round Two of opposition party talks to discuss constituencies and how to avoid three-cornered contests appeared to fray at the start but party leaders emerged after an hour-long pow-wow with all but three constituencies now likely to see straight fights between the opposition and the ruling People's Action Party. But the prospects for a resolution did not look all that bright in the beginning as the Worker's Party (WP) was a no-show, and Reform Party (RP) chief Kenneth Jeyaretnam left just 15 minutes after the meeting started. There was no immediate word on why the WP did not

attend, but Mrs Hazel Poa, acting secretary-general of the National Solidarity Party (NSP) - which hosted the all-party talks at its Jalan Besar headquarters - told reporters that WP chairman Sylvia Lim had emailed the party earlier to say it would not be attending. In the email, Ms Lim said the WP had already made its position clear at the first round of talks on Monday. On Wednesday night, WP secretary-general Low Thia Khiang had made clear to reporters that the party will not budge from the areas where it had staked a claim, such as in Marine Parade GRC, even as it would do its best to avoid three-cornered fights. Indeed, two of the three unresolved areas from talks on Thursday night involved the WP and the NSP. As party leaders adjourned and the media was allowed in to the meeting room, a chart projected on the wall showed that the WP and NSP remain locked in their claims for Marine Parade GRC and the MacPherson single-seat ward. The other unresolved constituency involves Mr Jeyaretnam's RP and the year-old Singaporeans First (SingFirst) party led by former civil servant Tan Jee Say - who told reporters at the end of the meeting that he would work with the RP to resolve the matter. Earlier on Thursday evening, Mr Jeyaretnam left the meeting but then returned to speak to reporters to emphasise that he did not walk out - and that bilateral talks would continue. But he noted that the WP did not attend. He also said his party had shown a great deal of flexibility at the first round of the all-parties talks on Monday as the RP and NSP, for instance, resolved their claims over the Radin Mas and Pioneer single-seat wards. The NSP agreed to give up on


Prompt: Scores of women say they were sexually assaulted and mugged by groups of men largely of Arab and north African appearance German police are investigating reports that scores of women were sexually assaulted and mugged in Cologne city centre during New Year’s Eve celebrations, in what a minister called a “completely new dimension of crime”. Authorities and media were accused of a cover-up linked to initial indications that, according to the police, those allegedly responsible for the sex attacks and numerous robberies were of Arab and north African origin. Sixty complaints were filed to police, a third of which were

linked to sexual assault. Cologne’s mayor, Henriette Reker, called an emergency meeting of high-ranking security officials on Tuesday, saying her aim was to ensure the city centre did not turn into a “lawless zone”. Between 500 and 1,000 men described as drunk and aggressive are believed to have been behind the attacks on partygoers in the centre of the western German city. Whether they were working as a single group or in separate gangs remains unclear. Women reported being tightly surrounded by groups of men who harassed and mugged them. Some people threw fireworks into the crowds, adding to the chaos. “Sexual crimes took place on a huge scale,” said the police president, Wolfgang Albers. “The crimes were committed by a group of people who from appearance were largely from the north African or Arab world.” He said one of the victims had been raped. A volunteer policewoman was among those said to have been sexually assaulted. The German chancellor, Angela Merkel, called Reker to express her outrage, according to a statement from her office. She called for authorities to find the perpetrators as “quickly and comprehensively as possible and to punish them without regard to their origin or background.” Officers are working on the assumption that the men had organised their plan of attack. They said many of the perpetrators were known to them and some may have been asylum seekers, though not new arrivals to Germany. Similar attacks are believed to have taken place on a smaller scale in Hamburg’s red light district of St Pauli on New Year’s Eve, according to a police spokesman. Facebook Twitter Pinterest The Cologne mayor Henriette Reker has held crisis talks over the New Year’s Eve incidents in the city. Photograph: Wolfgang Rattay/Reuters In Cologne, police said the men appeared to have