Prompt: “It was an idea whose time had come, and the technology finally caught up with the vision.” -Albert “Skip” Rizzo, Ph.D. If you’re at all familiar with VR, you’ve probably heard that VR is more than “just games” a time or two. Used to describe applications of VR that go beyond first-person shooters—think education, conservation, training, etc.—the phrase is something that many in the industry intuitively understand. Still, it continues to merit saying, especially when we talk about the research and clinical practice of virtual reality in cognitive and physical therapy treatment by leading psychologists and clinicians—which goes way beyond

gaming; it has the potential to change the way we think about therapy altogether. Despite the recent surge in VR development over the last few years, the idea of using virtual reality in a therapeutic setting isn’t a new idea. Research regarding VR simulations to treat specific phobias was around as early as the nineties, but the technology simply wasn’t advanced enough for such treatment to be feasible. Head mounted displays were clunky, computer processing speeds laughable, and 3D graphics downright primitive in comparison to what’s available VR today. Perhaps even more importantly: the technology required for advanced VR in the 90s was too costly to ever be seriously considered for mass distribution. Clearly, things have changed. “We’re seeing more companies emerge in the last two years than we’ve seen in the last twenty years,” said Skip Rizzo, Ph.D, director for medical virtual reality at the USC Institute for Creative Technologies. “It was an idea whose time had come, and the technology finally caught up with the vision.” An unlikely contributor led the way in funding and support for VR therapy research: the US military. Operation Iraqi Freedom led to an unforeseen number of troops returning home from the battlefront with physical and emotional trauma, prompting the military to seek out new, innovative treatment options for their soldiers and vets—especially those suffering from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. Virtual Iraq VRET was developed from 2005-2007 as an answer to the military’s problem at USC’s Institute for Creative Technologies. During the early stages of development, Rizzo considered different treatment options, but eventually decided on exposure therapy for the project. “Whenever I design a VR application in a clinical area, I look at, okay, what do we know works in the real world that we can use VR to amplify, or extend the effect?”


Prompt: The Democratic ground has shifted in New York. Yes, the polls suggest Hillary Clinton will win, maybe even handily, Tuesday in what, for want of a more compelling alternative, must be called her home state. But let’s cut to the chase. Going back to the 1950s, the New York primary was the stop on the national schedule where the candidates pledged their loyalty to Israel. I remember very clearly the first New York primary I ever covered, in 1988. That was the year that Ed Koch, then the mayor, famously said that Jews would have to be “crazy” to vote

for Jesse Jackson. But New York has changed, and its Democratic party has changed dramatically since Koch endorsed Al Gore, who, stuck in third place in a three-way race, opened New York’s contest by accusing Michael Dukakis of putting “public pressure on Israel” due to his a “naive legalism, an exaggerated faith in the United Nations, and a seeming reluctance to ever have the United States act on its own when necessary.” From there, it was off to the races as Koch endorsing Gore and firing some wild shots at Dukakis and especially Jackson. That 1988 primary was the worst, but in just about every New York primary since, candidates in both parties have competed to out-Israel each other, which has usually meant adopting not merely pro-Israel talking points but pro-Likud ones. I expressed the fear after Sanders won Wisconsin that Clinton might try to turn New York into an Israel referendum. She could have. And maybe she would have if the polls were closer. But she has not. Not only that. The needle moved significantly, and astoundingly, in the other direction. Here, Sanders deserves tremendous credit. He said at last Thursday’s debate: “As somebody who is 100 percent pro-Israel, in the long run—and this is not going to be easy, God only knows, but in the long run if we are ever going to bring peace to that region which has seen so much hatred and so much war, we are going to have to treat the Palestinian people with respect and dignity.” An acknowledgement that Palestinians are human beings—during a New York primary, no less! Clinton could have—and 12 or so years ago, undoubtedly would have—responded by saying something like until the Palestinians get better leaders and stop teaching hatred to their children, my posture won’t change. Not


Prompt: This email has also been verified by Google DKIM 2048-bit RSA key Re: Nightly Labor Update From:nbudzinski@hillaryclinton.com To: re47@hillaryclinton.com CC: mmarshall@hillaryclinton.com, john.podesta@gmail.com, ha16@hillaryclinton.com, arenteria@hillaryclinton.com, bcraig@hillaryclinton.com, lvalmoro@hillaryclinton.com Date: 2015-07-21 10:06 Subject: Re: Nightly Labor Update I'll give you thoughts on that in tonight's report. I think diving into executive boards of unions needs to be done very strategically so we don't create more headache. I'll work on options for tonight. Sent from my iPhone On Jul 21, 2015, at 6:52 AM, Robby Mook <re47@hillaryclinton.com> wrote: I agree we should push to keep those other unions neutral. Any word on their boards

and if we can lobby members individually to block a vote? On Jul 20, 2015, at 11:28 PM, Marlon Marshall <mmarshall@hillaryclinton.com> wrote: Thanks Nikki 1. Flagging the Stu comments for Huma given that he just talked to HRC 2. Great letter from AFSCME 3. Awesome on Bricklayers! 4. Nice work with Building Trades Looking forward to chatting with AFT tmrw MM On Jul 20, 2015, at 11:23 PM, Nikki Budzinski <nbudzinski@hillaryclinton.com> wrote: Good evening This afternoon the AFL-CIO convened the Political Committee (usually chaired by AFSCME President Lee Saunders but because of a health issue, Trumka chaired). Interesting intel from this meeting to pass along. *Political Committee Discussion Points today:* 1. Stuart Appelbaum pushed back on the AFT at the meeting regarding their early endorsement process. He stated that he understood there to be a 60 day notification to affiliated unions by an endorsing union. Trumka clarified that that was incorrect. He engaged in debate with Randi Weingarten's Executive Assistant Michelle Ringuette about their process and Trumka cut off debate. Appelbaum also urged no early endorsement by the AFL-CIO in the Presidential primary. Randi personally called today to mention this exchange with Stuart along with the importance of prep for the Executive Council meeting and reconnecting on policy. She stated that she will be directly following up with Appelbaum and was very shocked by his comments at the meeting. Randi is in Canada or would have been there in person. I am attaching a letter from Lee Saunders in the response to attacks Randi has received over the past week, FYI. 2. The Political Committee decided that there would not be a President endorsement recommendation coming off of the Executive Committee meeting by July 30th. This is not news for us but it was formally voted on. This still allows


Prompt: Before there were the lost Lerner emails, the congressional hearings and the retaliatory budget cuts, there was the Albuquerque Tea Party, a group of politically minded folks in New Mexico who wanted to get together and share ideas for taking back their country. The IRS had other ideas about them. Five years after the Albuquerque Tea Party applied for tax-exempt status under section 501(c)(4) of the tax code, they remain in limbo — their application apparently no closer to being approved or denied than it was the day they mailed it to the IRS on Dec. 29, 2009. They have

watched as other groups have been approved in less time, and they say they are mystified as to why the application has been held up so long, after they provided hundreds of pages of evidence and documents that the IRS requested. “If the IRS, with its massive staff, read only 1/2 of a page daily of all the paperwork we have had to send them, they could have read it all three years ago,” Rick Harbaugh, secretary of the board of the Albuquerque group, said in an email describing his group’s five-year battle with the tax agency. Worse yet, he said, they still don’t know why they were targeted in the first place, and every explanation from the IRS — that the targeting was by low-level employees in Ohio, for example — has been wrong. Mr. Harbaugh said they have letters from the Treasury Department saying their file was being reviewed in Washington. The targeting exploded onto front pages in May 2013 after Lois G. Lerner, head of a division charged with scrutinizing applications for tax-exempt status, planted a question at a law forum so she could break news of the activity. PHOTOS: 20 Age-Defying Celebrities She was trying to beat an inspector general’s report due out a few days later, which said the IRS singled out hundreds of conservative and tea party groups for intrusive scrutiny and refused to approve those applications, which had piled up for years. In the 20 months since, most groups whose applications were held up have been approved. They include the NE Tarrant Tea Party in Tarrant, Texas, which was approved in December after a four-year wait. Julie McCarty, an official with NE Tarrant, said the organization learned about its approval from its attorney at the American Center for Law and Justice. It’s unclear


Prompt: (I am the only female working in the parts department in our store. Note: at my previous job, I was involved in a violent fight against a male coworker who tried to assault me. They guy ended up at the hospital and no charges were pressed against me since I acted in self-defense. This story is well known by my current coworkers and my boss and I’m teased mercilessly about being a “man-beater.” This particular day, I’m training a new guy to work on the floor and I’m also acting as the shift supervisor since the department manager is off.)

Customer: *to my coworker* “I need to find this.” *shows a trailer connector* Coworker: “It’s my first week here and I’m not sure if we carry this. However, let me ask my coworker here; she’ll tell me if we have some.” Customer: “Her? How can she know something about trailers? She’s a girl. Girls don’t know s*** about trailers!” Coworker: “Let me assure you, sir, she is the most knowledgeable employee we have here.” Customer: “Well, if she think she can do a man’s job, let’s ask her.” (I take a look at his connector.) Me: “I’m sorry sir, but we do not carry this kind of connector. I could order some, but it will take over two weeks before they come in. May I suggest you go over [trailer store] or [another trailer store]? Both are down the road. They are more specialized than us, and they’ll probably have one in stock.” Customer: *to my coworker* “I told you she’ll be useless.” Coworker: “Sir, I don’t know what she can tell you more. We don’t keep that kind of stuff in stock, and she suggested two other other store where they sell those kind of products. I think you’ve gotten all the help you need.” Customer: *suddenly starts screaming* “Why do you refuse to serve me?! I AM A MAN! I AM A CUSTOMER! I deserve RESPECT and OBEDIENCE! Now you will tell me where the f*** you keep those f***ing connectors!” Me: “Sir, I already told you; we do not carry them. Those other stores will happily sell one to you, but I can’t because I don’t have any on hand.” Customer: “You useless b****! Find me a manager with something between his legs so we can discuss man things between men!” Me: “I am the shift supervisor


Prompt: When they need to cut costs, producers will occasionally re-use and recycle props that were used in other films. Here are 10 that keep turning up in movie after movie. 1. U.S. Marine AV-8B II Harrier Jet from The Avengers and True Lies During The Hulk's battle with Thor on the helicarrier in The Avengers, Thor smashed the Hulk into the same Harrier Jet that was used in the climax of True Lies. Joss Whedon revealed this tidbit on The Avengers' special edition Blu-ray. 2. P.K.E. Meter from Ghostbusters, They Live, and Suburban Commando Dr. Egon Spengler's P.K.E. (Psycho-Kinetic Energy)

meter from the original Ghostbusters was re-used in various movies, including They Live and Suburban Commando. While Spengler used the prop device to find ghosts, the P.K.E. meter was used in They Live to track alien life and in Suburban Commando to find a freeze laser. 3. Golden Idol (Ancient Chachapoyan goddess of fertility) from Raiders Of The Lost Ark and The Majestic Twenty years after it appeared in Raiders of the Lost Ark, the iconic golden idol that Indiana Jones tried to steal at the beginning of the film was re-used in The Majestic. It was part of the fictional in-film Sand Pirates of the Sahara, which is actually an homage to Indiana Jones. The golden idol also appeared briefly in Spy Kids 2: Island of Lost Dreams. 4. Space Station Model from Star Trek: The Motion Picture and Star Trek II: The Wrath Of Khan The orbital office complex from Star Trek: The Motion Picture is the same miniature used for the Regula One station from Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, just turned upside down. The prop was also re-dressed and re-purposed for Star Trek: The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine, and Voyager. 5. Samurai Swords from Kill Bill and Sin City Devon Aoki's character in Sin City, Miho, used two samurai swords that the character O-Ren Ishii also used in Kill Bill. In the Sin City special edition DVD, co-creators Frank Miller and Robert Rodriguez admitted that in the film's mythology, fictional sword-maker Hattori Hanzo fashioned both katana blades for Kill Bill and Sin City. 6. Flying Car from Blade Runner and Back To The Future II At the end of filming Blade Runner, director Ridley Scott wanted all of the prop vehicles destroyed so that no other movie production could use them in the


Prompt: In reality, it's a stretch to try to make Krugman into some kind of Friedman-like apologist for QE. But then, you'd have to have actually know something about Friedman to know that. Look, this isn't hard. We can use the Internet find out what Friedman actually thought about QE. And what he thought was that QE could cure a depression (not that the depression itself was the cure, like Paul does). Indeed, here's what Friedman and co-author Anna Schwartz wrote about the Great Depression in their opus, A Monetary History of the United States, 1867-1960: Measures that might have been

adequate to cope with the earlier [crises] would have been inadequate for the later ones. On the other hand, as we shall see, the bond purchases actually made in the spring and summer of 1932, which did halt the decline in the stock of money but were inadequate to prevent a substantial relapse some months after, would have been more than adequate to cope with the earlier crises. In other words, Friedman thought the Fed could have kept the Great Depression from being quite so great if it had tried QE sooner. This gets at Friedman's two, related critiques of the 1930s-era Fed: it let the banks fail, and it let the money supply fall. Now, it is true, as Paul points out, that Friedman argued that the pre-Fed bank clearinghouses did a better job managing crises than the Fed did during the depression. (A low bar, to be sure). But Friedman was a pragmatist who recognized that you fight panics with the financial system you have -- so the question was what the Fed could have done. Plenty, Friedman answered. For one, it could have taken its lender-of-last-resort responsibilities seriously, and stopped runs from forcing otherwise healthy banks into collapse. (But that would have been a bit tricky politically, since half of all banks weren't part of the Federal Reserve System back then). For another, it could have bought bonds, and kept buying them, until the money supply started increasing again. It's mostly forgotten now, but the Fed did half-heartedly try this -- that is, QE -- in 1932 to try to preempt Congress from making it do more. That bond-buying is what Friedman was talking about above, and, as you can see, his only problem with it was that it wasn't tried earlier. And then there's Japan. As


Prompt: Smartwatches are awesome! Smartwatches look kinda dumb a lot of the time! They don't have to though, and the Pebble Steel is proof. The improved look isn't quite enough to make it the perfect smartwatch, but it goes a long, long way. What Is It? It's pretty much the same Pebble smartwatch that took Kickstarter by storm roughly two years ago, now clad in a suit of stainless steel instead of chintzy plastic. So it's the same LED backlit, 144x168 e-paper display, same four button interface, same 5-7 day battery life, and same relatively simple skill set you saw in

the original Pebble. But now it's pretty. Like "wear it with a suit" pretty. At least I think so; I haven't worn a suit in a while. Advertisement Why Does It Matter? Everyone and his brother is putting out a smartwatch, trying to put out the smartwatch, but no one has been able to make something you'd actually want to own yet. Smartwatches fall in a weird gutter; generally classier than the Livestrongishness of your traditional fitness band and with more functionality, but nerdier than, well, pretty much anything else you can put on your wrist. Advertisement But the Pebble Steel manages to be your most wearable smartwatch option. Not only is Pebble a proven (and popular) player in the nascent smartwatch game, but now it's also the prettiest by far. Pebble beat Apple to making a gadget that is actually jewelry. Design Pretty much the only new thing about the Pebble Steel is its design, and man that design is great. The Pebble Steel may not necessarily be your style, but it has style. Respectable style. Style that would almost make it worth wearing even if it didn't also do smarwatchy stuff. Advertisement The actual watch part of the Pebble is a blocky, angular beauty. A bit chunky, but in a purposeful and retro sort of way. Its form is convincingly deliberate, not just "whatever shape you have to make it to fit the stuff inside." The buttons look and feel solid. The black strip around the side helps accent the sheer shiny silveriness of the whole thing. Then there are the bands. Based on the Steel name you'd expect something metal, and yes, that's what you get. A real metal band. Like one you will probably have to take to a jeweler to get fitted. This is a


Prompt: Erin Corwin, who turned 20 on July 15, 2014, has been missing from her home at the Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center at Twentynine Palms Marine since June 28. Erin Corwin, who has been missing from the Twentynine Palms area since June 28. (Provided) (Photo11: Provided photo) Story Highlights Corwin has been missing since June 28 The search encompasses more than 200 square miles Corwin recently learned she was pregnant Police: Disappearance 'not voluntary' Published July 15, 2014. Erin Corwin is 20 years old today. Corwin has been missing from her home at the Marine Corps Air Ground Combat

Center at Twentynine Palms since June 28. So far, a massive search covering at least 200 square miles of treacherous high desert terrain has turned up no clues about where she went and why she hasn't been in touch. Corwin's husband, Lance Cpl. Jonathan Corwin, reported her missing on June 29, 24 hours after he says he last saw her leave the couple's house, get in her car and drive in the direction of Joshua Tree National Park. She was heading to the desert preserve, said her husband, to scout locations for picture-taking during an upcoming visit from her mom. According to police, Corwin's disappearance is "not voluntary." On Facebook, the Locate Erin page has amassed more than 17,000 followers since her disappearance with concern and support for her family coming from as far away as Thailand and Australia. A message posted this morning to mark Erin's birthday has already drawn close to 100 comments and more continue to pour in. "I don't know her personally but have been praying for her, her husband and her family everyday," writes one commenter. "Let today be the day that she is found safe and sound and returned to her loved ones. Prayers from GA." "HBD, Beautiful ♡," writes another. "Praying you are found unharmed and returned to your family." On Monday evening, Marines and their families gathered at Twentynine Palms to share their grief -- and fears -- about the missing friend and neighbor. Anyone with information about Erin Corwin is urged to contact the San Bernardino County Sheriff's Specialized Investigation Division at (909) 387-3589 or sheriff's dispatch at (909)387-8313. Anonymous tips can be called in to the WeTip Hotline at (800) 78-CRIME (27463) or at www.wetip.com Corwin is described as white, 5-foot-2, weighing 120 pounds with brown hair and blue eyes.


Prompt: This video has been removed. This could be because it launched early, our rights have expired, there was a legal issue, or for another reason. The television presenter Keith Chegwin, who made his name presenting the popular children’s shows Cheggers Plays Pop and Saturday Superstore, has died aged 60. He had a progressive lung condition and died at home surrounded by his family. The family said in a statement: “We are heartbroken to share the news that Keith Chegwin sadly passed away following a long-term battle with a progressive lung condition, idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, which rapidly worsened towards the end

of this year.” Chegwin spent his final weeks at Severn Hospice, in Shrewsbury, and his family thanked the staff for their “kindness, support and care”. Facebook Twitter Pinterest Keith Chegwin (centre) with Debby Cumming and Gordon Astley on Cheggers Plays Pop in 1979. Photograph: Ronald Grant Born in Liverpool, Chegwin began his acting career at the age of 10 and had roles in Roman Polanski’s 1971 film version of Macbeth, the 1973 movie The Optimists of Nine Elms, alongside Peter Sellers, and the pilot of the TV sitcom Open All Hours. In the 1970s and 1980s he hosted shows including Cheggers Plays Pop, in which teams of children from rivals schools competed against each other; Multi-Coloured Swap Shop, one of the first TV shows to use phone-ins; and Saturday Superstore, which featured a children’s talent contest. On Monday, fellow presenters and comedians expressed their sadness at his death. The DJ Tony Blackburn said he was “absolutely devastated” to hear the news. “He was one of the nicest people I have ever known and over the years we did shows together and became great friends.” The former heavyweight boxing champion Frank Bruno tweeted: “Saddened to hear this, what a great guy. I worked with him a lot over the years, a great entertainer, you will be missed. RIP Keith Chegwin.” Keith Chegwin obituary Read more Chegwin took a break from broadcasting in the late 1980s to deal with an alcohol problem, which he first spoke about publicly in 1992 in a tearful interview with Richard and Judy on ITV’s This Morning. He returned to TV with the Big Breakfast, It’s a Knockout and Channel 5’s divisive gameshow Naked Jungle, which Chegwin presented naked and wearing a hat. He later regretted doing the show. “It’s the worst career move I made in


Prompt: On December 19, the National Hockey League celebrates the 100th anniversary of its on-ice debut — but it’s a safe bet that the man most responsible for the league’s existence won’t receive any special tributes. Yet, had it not been for the sheer animosity that surrounded Toronto sportsman Eddie Livingstone, fans might be enjoying games hosted by the National Hockey Association instead of the NHL. “A combative, sanctimonious and generally difficult personality,” according to hockey history enthusiast (and former prime minister) Stephen Harper, Livingstone “expected others to live rigidly by the rules while he would skirt their spirit. He regularly

denounced those with whom he clashed, while demanding apologies for the thinnest of slights.” Another hockey historian, D’Arcy Jenish, observed that Livingstone was “a slight, bespectacled man who had the gentle demeanour of a pastor but the fastidious personality of a tax collector or a customs inspector.” Eddie Livingstone entered the NHA in 1914 and was ousted just a few years later. Livingstone, who worked as assistant sports editor for the Mail and Empire, feuded with other owners from the moment he entered the NHA in 1914. In particular, he and Sam Lichtenhein, of the Montreal Wanderers, had it out for each other — each man threatened to buy the other out, and the two even came close to blows on several occasions. When Livingstone, who already owned a team called the Shamrocks, bought another club, called the Blueshirts, the league quickly enacted a new rule, prohibiting any person from owning more than one franchise. Livingstone complained constantly about irregularities he perceived on and off the ice — from questionable refereeing to questionable business practices by the other owners — leading the league to devise ways of getting rid of him. Things came to a head in early 1917. To help the military recruit more fans, the NHA admitted a team representing the Canadian Expeditionary Force’s 228th Battalion for the 1916-17 season. Livingstone disputed their claims to two of his Toronto Blueshirts players who’d enlisted in the military; as a result, the 228th to threaten to pull out of the league if Livingstone continued to play them. When the 228th Battalion withdrew from the NHA in February 1917, having been called up to fight in Europe, the other owners saw their chance. The league held a meeting three days later. Livingstone declined to attend, due to illness; instead, he sent


Prompt: Leicester were twice denied by the woodwork as well as by saves from Ben Foster Leicester missed the chance to go five points clear at the top of the Premier League as West Brom came from behind to claim a thrilling draw. Salomon Rondon shrugged off Robert Huth to give West Brom the lead, but a Danny Drinkwater deflected shot levelled it. Andy King finished a wonderful move to put Leicester ahead only for Craig Gardner to equalise with a free-kick. Leicester twice hit the bar at a raucous King Power Stadium, but could not find a winner. The draw

leaves the Foxes three points ahead of Tottenham, who can go top with victory at West Ham on Wednesday, and six ahead of Arsenal, who face Swansea. West Brom, who have now lost only two of their past 10 league games, stay 13th - 12 points clear of the relegation zone. Relive Leicester's thrilling draw with West Brom No more late drama Media playback is not supported on this device No negatives despite a draw - Ranieri Leicester were below their best on Saturday but still managed to beat Norwich thanks to a late winner - here they were much improved, but could not conjure similar drama despite laying siege to the West Brom goal. West Brom may have planned to concede possession and defend deep, and they were duly bombarded by wave after wave of Leicester attacks, mainly down the flanks through the excellent pair of Riyad Mahrez and Marc Albrighton. On Saturday, the Foxes had 13 attempts on goal - here they had 22, with headers from Jamie Vardy and Shinji Okazaki hitting the woodwork. Ben Foster also saved well from Jeffrey Schlupp and Wes Morgan, while Leonardo Ulloa could not repeat his weekend heroics when the ball flashed across the face of goal in the very last minute. Baggies forced out of their shell Eight of West Brom's 11 attempts on goal came in the second half West Brom could have been forgiven for thinking that allowing Leicester the lion's share of possession was a sound approach. Against Norwich, Leicester had the majority of the ball for only the third time this season and struggled. Whether by design or necessity, the Baggies were happy to sit back in the first period, especially after Rondon got on the end of Darren Fletcher's through ball to put the visitors


Prompt: Mandalay Bay & MGM Ban OnSite Investigator – Armed Guards & FBI Agent Throw Him Out Of His Room An independent onsite investigator by the name of Nick Falco decided to stay at the Mandalay Bay hotel and casino and investigate things pertaining to the Las Vegas shooting. He was subsequently banned from the hotel, as well as MGM for life and escorted out of his hotel room by armed guards and an FBI agent. The actions of Falco and the hotel occurred within 24 hours of his arrival. Falco tweeted out his investigation (his tweets require approval to be

seen, but I have linked them below), along with the ban he received from Mandalay Bay & MGM. “I questioned the #LasVegas shooting narrative. I went to Mandalay Bay to check for myself. After 24 hours I was banned for life from MGM,” tweeted Falco, providing the following picture to prove his ban: https://t.co/AEdgzRGfG8. Falco spoke with Intellihub and sought to confirm certain things, including the validity of the receipt that was leaked online from Stephen Paddock’s room. Intellihub reports: Falco told Intellihub exclusively that he received a phone call from the front desk of Mandalay Bay shortly before 7:30 p.m. in which a female operator instructed him to answer his hotel room door where four men (two armed guards, a security guy, and an FBI agent) simultaneously met him. Falco was then told to pack up his belongings before the FBI agent conducted a subsequent inspection of his room. Soon after the independent investigator says that he was escorted over to the main entrance of the Mandalay Bay where a security guard stood him in front of a camera and verbally read him the trespass. During Falco’s visit, he was able to prove that the leaked online version of Stephen Paddock’s room service receipt was, in fact, “authentic” after comparing it to a receipt he himself received after ordering room service Saturday morning. Here’s the series of tweets from Falco with links to each tweet. 2. I stayed at Mandalay Paddocks room service receipt was leaked online. It is authentic.https://t.co/us9zDGoU57 Here’s mine- ONE guest pic.twitter.com/JEAyuEzpKM — Nick (@Nick_Falco) October 15, 2017 3. There’s 1000s of surveillance cameras in gaming area, mostly visible There’s a surveillance camera in each main elevator. You cant hide pic.twitter.com/qXeOlORYUb — Nick (@Nick_Falco) October 15, 2017 He did shoot down theories that Paddock used his


Prompt: The state agency created to keep watch over the state’s health care costs has seen its own budget skyrocket by ?160 percent over the past decade in a “very troubling and ironic” trend that has too long gone unchecked, a nonprofit group representing Bay State hospitals charged. Administrative costs at the Center of Health Information and Analysis have grown to $32 million after spikes of ?21 percent and 6 percent in its appropriations the last two years, according to a letter the Massachusetts Hospital Association sent to CHIA last month. In this fiscal year alone, hospitals are being asked to

pay ?45 percent more than they did in fiscal 2014, not including any “credit” left over from last year, according to the hospital group. “This trend is unsustainable and directly contradicts the cost growth expectations of the commonwealth’s 2012 health care reform law,” Timothy F. Gens, the executive vice president and general counsel for MHA, wrote in a Nov. 17 letter obtained by the Herald that was sent to CHIA executive director Aron Boros. “While the agency has the requirement to study cost growth per the law, we find it very troubling and ironic that its own costs — which are billed to the same entities it is charged with measuring — greatly exceed the commonwealth’s benchmark,” Gens wrote. Andrew Jackmauh, a CHIA spokesman, defended the spikes in the center’s budget, arguing that it took on a range of added responsibilities that its predecessor, the Division of Health Care Finance and Policy, never had and that “increase reflects investments necessary to meet CHIA’s increased obligations.” Jackmauh also said CHIA didn’t request a budget increase in 2012, its first year under the new law, and that its next budget request is for a 2 percent increase targeted to match inflation. “We have now moved from a growth mode to maintenance mode,” Jackmauh said. But in raising the red flag, MHA officials say lawmakers need to step in to change the funding formula, which makes hospitals and ambulatory surgery centers responsible for backing at least one-third of CHIA’s budget. But as CHIA’s directives have “evolved” under the landmark legislation, Gens said the hospitals’ share has risen to ?50 percent of the center’s administrative costs, straining them as they try to rein in their own costs. “We don’t propose that they don’t get support,” Gens said of the center. “But what’s turned out


Prompt: The power of a brand is that it can instantly give consumers the impression of quality and consistency. A great brand is an assurance that a product or service is worth the asking price and more. However, when a brand goes bad, it can be caught in a negative feedback loop that the company, despite its best efforts, can't escape. The five household names below are in this predicament, and it may only be a matter of time before they disappear. Kmart While the whole structure of Sears Holdings (NASDAQOTH:SHLDQ) looks like it's teetering on the edge of bankruptcy, Kmart

may be the division of the company that succumbs first -- the lamb that's sacrificed in an effort to save the Sears brand. Although Kmart is actually performing slightly better than Sears, relatively speaking, the Kmart chain has endured the largest number of store closures over the past year. At the end of the second quarter in July, there were 273 fewer Kmart stores operating than there were in the year-ago period, while Sears had 69 fewer stores. Sears chairman and CEO Eddie Lampert swore last year he wasn't shuttering the Kmart chain despite all appearances to the contrary, saying that as long as one store remained profitable, there would always be one open. Though the chain still shows an operating profit at the moment and its sales aren't declining as quickly as Sears', it's still being dramatically downsized, and it may ultimately shrink to the point of disappearing. The Limited The Limited was once a popular working woman's clothing brand owned by Limited Brands, which also owns Victoria's Secret and Bath & Body Works. But the parent company must have seen the writing on the wall when it sold The Limited to private-equity firm Sun Capital Partners. The Limited ended up closing every single one of its 250 brick-and-mortar stores and firing 4,000 employees, with the intent to move all its inventory online. It's not an unprecedented move. Kenneth Cole shut down its physical operations and went all in as an online-only store, as did women's fashion outlet bebe. Filene's Basement, after declaring bankruptcy, was revived by Macy's (NYSE:M) in 2015 as an online-only discount site. In mid-January, however, The Limited declared bankruptcy and was subsequently purchased by private-equity firm Sycamore Partners. Just last month, The Limited products were made available for purchase once again on its own website,


Prompt: (ANTIMEDIA) — With numerous distractions unfolding on the newly released reality TV show that is “Keeping Up with the Trump Administration,” it may surprise readers to learn that the U.S. is using the terror group ISIS as a pawn in its depraved foreign policy. Video footage obtained by Al-Masdar appears to show convoys of ISIS fighters fleeing the Syrian city of Raqqa untouched by the U.S. military, which is currently bombing that exact location. As Al-Masdar notes, despite having Kurdish and American drones hovering around the city of Raqqa, U.S. bombs are nowhere to be seen as hundreds of fighters

pass safely. The release of this footage comes on the heels of accusations from both Russia and Iran that the U.S. is colluding with ISIS to allow the group’s safe passage into areas controlled by the Syrian government. Iran claims to have direct proof but thus far has not released it. Even if Russia and Iran don’t have any secret documents that directly expose this collusion, the fact remains that we don’t necessarily need them. After all, this is exactly how ISIS grew exponentially in Syria in the first instance – as a direct result of U.S. foreign policy strategy. In 2012, a classified Defense Intelligence Agency report predicted the rise of ISIS, something actively encouraged by the U.S. establishment. The report stated: “If the situation unravels, there is the possibility of establishing a declared or undeclared Salafist principality in eastern Syria… and this is exactly what the supporting powers to the opposition want, in order to isolate the Syrian regime.” Further, leaked audio of former Secretary of State John Kerry shows he knew ISIS was gaining momentum in Syria, and that in turn, the U.S. hoped this would bring Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to the negotiating table. In recent times, the safe passage of ISIS fighters to areas under the control of the Syrian government has been an unspoken but official strategy and has been the reality on the ground in Iraq and Syria. Late last year, Anti-Media reported on an anonymous military-diplomatic official’s claims that the United States was allowing safe passage to Syria for ISIS fighters exiting Mosul, Iraq – even though the U.S. was supposedly waging an offensive to defeat ISIS in the area. As we noted, acknowledging the admittedly undesirable, questionable nature of the anonymous source: “An anonymous source claiming to a Russian newspaper something


Prompt: Trump and Christie campaign in Bentonville, Ark., February 27, 2016. (Benjamin Krain/Getty) The arch-villain in Donald Trump’s storybook account of American politics is the Republican party. The malign forces of progressivism may have been on the march for the past several years. Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi have been hovering like Nazgûls over the bucolic expanses of middle America. Barack Obama has wielded vengefully the One Pen to Rule Them All. But it’s Republicans who are the real problem. The Grand Old Party has aided and abetted the country’s leftward lurch, proving themselves quislings and cowards all the way down,

from John Boehner to John McCain. Breitbart.com hath surveyed the nation, and, lo, there was not a conservative to be found among them! Advertisement Advertisement It turns out that Trump fans were right all along — just not in the way they thought. On Friday, New Jersey governor Chris Christie endorsed Donald Trump in what was surely the most transparent display of affection since Judas Iscariot’s Gethsemane smooch. Not only had Christie spent the last several months blasting his tri-state opponent on the campaign trail — for, among other things, his absurd promise to make Mexico pay for a wall on the United States’ southern border, his proposed ban on Muslims entering the country, and his refusal to address entitlement reform — he reportedly told the New Hampshire Union Leader’s publisher, Joe McQuaid, that he would “never” endorse Trump. Christie says McQuaid is misremembering. RELATED: Nothing Will Redeem the Ruined Reputations of Trump’s Republican Collaborators Presumably, Christie thinks an endorsement will increase the likelihood of his securing a position in a Trump administration (and given Trump’s financial history, that is a likelier prospect than his receiving 30 pieces of silver). But he has agreed to be, for the next several months, willingly at the end of Trump’s leash, evidence of which was Trump and Christie’s brief exchange after Christie’s speech in Arkansas: “Get on the plane and go home,” Trump said, caught on a hot mic. “It’s over. Go home.” There are pimps and prostitutes with more equitable relationships. The Republican party is full of people who care more about power than about conservatism. Speaking of prostitutes: On Sunday, Alabama senator Jeff Sessions offered Trump his own endorsement. Sessions is, of course, the Republican party’s famous immigration hawk — a fierce, and fiercely intelligent, opponent of unchecked immigration, of amnesty,


Prompt: Buy Photo A series of water pipes at Indiana American Water Co. Tuesday. The city issues a boil order for its water after a valve was opened too wide, leading to contamination. (Photo: Jordan Kartholl / The Star Press)Buy Photo MUNCIE, Ind. — A boil order announced early Tuesday morning for the city of Muncie was lifted by 8:30 p.m. Tuesday after tests found water to be safe for consumption. Valves that were opened too wide, allowing too much water to rush through a treatment plant system, resulted in the boil order, closing some restaurants and prompting schools and other

institutions to implement emergency steps to provide drinking water. The city of Muncie and some of the surrounding area had been placed on the boil order because of the valve mishap at Indiana American Water Company's plant along Burlington Drive. Delaware County Emergency Management announced in an email Tuesday night that testing sites in and around Muncie had been tested throughout the day, and " All indications have been that the water is safe for consumers to use and return to all normal water usage." Indiana American Water Company phoned customers with an automated "all clear" announcement shortly after that. The water company issued an alert shortly after midnight Tuesday morning noting that "during routine maintenance, issues with valves opening beyond their normal range resulted in an increased turbidity level beyond the permitted limit for less than one hour in the Muncie system." The turbidity level was below the Environmental Protection Agency level, Indiana American said. In initial social media postings, Delaware County 911 attributed the problem to a water main break along Burlington Drive, where the water company office is located. But Indiana American Water spokesman Joe Loughmiller told The Star Press early Tuesday, and again later in the morning, that the alert and boil order were because valves at the company's water plant "were opened too far." "This had to do with doing maintenance," Loughmiller said. "It had nothing to do with a main break. This order was not the result of a break." Loughmiller said valves in the filtering system at the plant were opened too wide around 3 p.m. Monday. Water company executives assessed the situation and consulted with the Indiana Department of Environmental Management before issuing the "Code Red" alert and boil order. The water that moved too quickly through the system was from White


Prompt: JOHN Carver insists he will NOT step aside at Newcastle United – even though he fears some players aren’t listening to him. Carver’s side slipped deeper into the relegation mire after an eighth successive defeat to Leicester City at the weekend. The performance at the King Power Stadium, where Newcastle were beaten 3-0, was one of the worst of the Premier League era. And the loss left the club is just two points above third-from-bottom Sunderland, who have a game in hand. Many fans want head coach Carver to be relieved of his duties before Saturday’s home game against West

Bromwich Albion given his dire record as head coach. But the odds are stacked against Steve McClaren, the frontrunner to take the job in the summer, taking charge for the final three games of the season, despite Derby County’s campaign having ended at the weekend. I’m not going anywhere until someone comes to me and tells me otherwise. John Carver For his part, Carver – who accused United defender Mike Williamson of getting sent off “on purpose” in Saturday’s 3-0 loss at the King Power Stadium – has no intention of stepping down. “I’m not going anywhere until someone comes to me and tells me otherwise,” said Carver. “I’m not a shirker, and I’m not going to hide from anyone. I’m going to stand there and take it, because I have to.” Carver had a brief conversation with managing director Lee Charnley after the Leicester game. He said: “I had a quick chat with Lee Charnley, but it was nothing serious. “He was basically just asking how I was and how I was feeling. It was a nice, calm conversation.” Newcastle have won just two of 16 league games under Carver, who took over from Crystal Palace-bound Alan Pardew at the turn of the year. And, astonishingly, the 50-year-old has admitted that there is a chance some of his players simply are no longer listening to what he is saying on the training field and in the dressing room. “If I’m honest, I have to admit there’s a chance they’re just not listening to me,” said Carver. “That might be one factor of many, and you have to consider it. You have to consider it and take it into account. “But it might be a lot of other things – we might not be good enough, we might not have


Prompt: The House passed a massive $662 billion defense bill Wednesday night after last-minute changes placated the White House and ensured President Barack Obama's ability to prosecute terrorist suspects in the civilian justice system. The vote was 283-136 and reflected the strong support for annual legislation that authorizes money for the men and women of the military as well as weapons systems and the millions of jobs they generate in lawmakers' districts. It was a rare instance of bipartisanship in a bitterly divided Congress. The Senate is expected to pass the measure on Thursday and send it to Obama. The House

vote came just hours after the administration abandoned a veto threat over provisions dealing with the handling of terrorism suspects. Applying pressure on House and Senate negotiators working on the bill last week, Obama and senior members of his national security team, including Defense Secretary Leon Panetta and Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, had pressed for modifications in the provisions. Negotiators announced the changes late Monday, clearing the way for White House acceptance. In a statement, press secretary Jay Carney said the new bill "does not challenge the president's ability to collect intelligence, incapacitate dangerous terrorists and protect the American people." Specifically, the bill would require that the military take custody of a suspect deemed to be a member of Al Qaeda or its affiliates and who is involved in plotting or committing attacks on the United States. There is an exemption for U.S. citizens. House and Senate negotiators added language that says nothing in the bill will affect "existing criminal enforcement and national security authorities of the FBI or any other domestic law enforcement agency" with regard to a captured suspect "regardless of whether such ... person is held in military custody." The bill also says the president can waive the provision based on national security. "While we remain concerned about the uncertainty that this law will create for our counterterrorism professionals, the most recent changes give the president additional discretion in determining how the law will be implemented, consistent with our values and the rule of law, which are at the heart of our country's strength," Carney said. Uncertainty was a major concern of FBI Director Robert Mueller, who expressed serious reservations about the detainee provisions. Testifying before the Senate Judiciary Committee, Mueller said a coordinated effort by the military, intelligence agencies and law enforcement has weakened


Prompt: There are two universal languages in the world: mathematics and music. In Japan, Vocaloid has made thousands of songs using synthetic voices and sounds. The most popular model is Hatsune Miku, who has gotten international attention as well as quite a few video game appearances. While music-based video games (and even music-based movies) are nothing new, Muya Agami, in collaboration with [email protected], has set out to create a novel based upon one of the most popular (and hardest) Vocaloid songs in Japanese history. The Disappearance of Hatsune Miku is a solid light novel with a few surprisingly heartfelt moments

sprinkled within the pages. The Disappearance of Hatsune Miku revolves around the life of Shinosato Asano, a reserved university student that works at a research lab and part time at a nightclub. One day, his professor assigns him a mysterious task: he must conduct a field test for an android named Hatsune Miku. While the task is open-ended, Asano initially struggles to interact with the robot, and it doesn’t help matters when his friends Kurose Aika and Ishiii Juhachi wonder what he’s doing with a girl who looks like a fish out of water. Within a couple of weeks, however, Asano and Miku form a bond as they become intertwined with each other; however, Miku holds some devious secrets that may change Asano’s life forever. The novel’s chapters are separated by date and time, with the main story focusing on Asano’s point-of-view. His first interactions with Miku are weird and jilted, but it’s understandable due to his somewhat timid personality. He struggles to open up to her, and his character development is actually quite heartwarming, if somewhat tragic near the end. In addition, I really enjoyed the supporting cast of Asano’s friends; Aika is the resident shipper-on-deck who provides some comic relief, while Juhachi is the tough guy dropout that’s sometimes too confident for his own good. The trio play off each other’s personalities really well, and I love the best friends dynamic they share. It was quite interesting to see how the author portrayed Miku (who doesn’t have a canon personality due to her being, well, synthetic). Here, she’s peppy and charismatic, attracting those around her with her signature outfit and singing voice. Near the end, however, her character morphs into something more robotic and stoic, which marks the change of tone in the novel. The story does reference


Prompt: Forget tax breaks or middle-class welfare. Rightwing political parties’ best chance of rapidly winning over voters could be via the lottery, according to new research. A joint Australian and British study has found that lottery winners tend to switch their political allegiances to rightwing parties after their windfalls. They also appear to become less egalitarian and less concerned by the challenges faced by people on low incomes. The research analysed more than 4,000 British citizens who won up to £200,000 ($365,000) on the country’s national lottery. Most of these wins were of relatively small amounts, with only 541 people winning

over £500 ($910). In all, there were around 11,000 observations of winners, due to the fact that many people won money more than once. Even among those who won small amounts of money, researchers found a clear trend of lottery winners switching support from the Labour party, traditionally a leftwing party, to the rightwing Conservatives. Existing Conservative voters who won lottery money said their support for the party had strengthened after the lucky break, while winners from all political persuasions were more likely to say that ordinary people already had a fair share of wealth, compared with before their win. Nearly 18% of winners immediately switched support to the Conservatives after their wins over the course of the study, which was based on household panel surveys taken each year from 1996 to 2009. Overall, 45% of people who won more than £500 on the lottery said they supported rightwing parties, compared with 38% of non-winners throughout the course of the studies. The lurch to the right was more pronounced for those who won large amounts of money and was more common among men than women. Researchers – from the University of Melbourne and the University of Warwick – said that studying lottery winners “isn’t perfect” due to unknown biases such as the personality traits of people who play the lottery in the first place. But they point out that more than 50% of the British population plays the lottery on a regular basis. Data on how lottery wins correlate with political views has yet to be gathered in Australia. Professor Nattavudh Powdthavee, a report co-author at the University of Melbourne, told Guardian Australia that the researchers were studying whether political ideologies are driven by deeply held ethical views or self-interest. “The amount won in the lottery is completely randomised but


Prompt: Photovore roared, the massive creature’s head thrown back in a cry of victory. The air around it grew dark as it drew in the ambient light. Blaze lay on the asphalt at the monster’s feet, drained and unconscious. Huma was still in the air, trying to get a shot at Photovore but barely dodging the creature’s blasts of scorching heat. Lian—she still didn’t think of herself as Hornet—watched from atop a nearby roof, trying desperately to come up with a new play…but instead, thinking about what Mantis would say when they got back to base. “Why couldn’t you keep control?”,

or “You have to do better, Hornet,” or the worst, “Are you sure you still want to be here?” No. She couldn’t let herself get distracted. Mantis would lecture her soon enough. Right now? She and her team had a monster to take down. She put her hand to her ear and clicked on her communicator. “Blaze, if you can hear me, stay low. Huma, get ready to come in at a 45 degree angle along the street. I have a plan. We can do this, boys.” We can do this, she thought, and she dove off the building into battle. Masks is a tabletop roleplaying game in which you play young superheroes who are growing up in a city several generations into its superheroic age. Halcyon City has had more than its fair share of superheroes, superteams, supervillains, and everything in between. Over the course of three different generations of super-people, Halcyon City has seen it all. You play members of the fourth generation, young adults trying to figure out who they are and what kind of heroes they want to be. The rest of the world is telling them what to do, but they’ll find their own path amidst the noise. And kick some butt along the way. After all, what’s the point of being a hero if you can’t fight for the things you believe in? Masks is based on the award-winning Powered by the Apocalypse system developed by Vincent Baker and used in Apocalypse World, Monsterhearts,Urban Shadows, and more. It’s a rules-light system that fuels some of the best innovations in gaming in the last ten years, and Masks has been built from the ground up to incorporate everything I’ve learned about Powered by the Apocalypse games. When you take an action that would trigger a


Prompt: The chance that intelligent life might ever encounter this interstellar mixtape—let alone listen to it—has always been infinitesimal. Still, argued astrophysicist Carl Sagan, who helped select the tracks, "the launching of this bottle into the cosmic ocean says something very hopeful about life on this planet." There is indeed something lovely about sharing humanity with the universe in this way, as Megan Garber wrote last year: The Golden Records ... carry the transcendent aspects of human existence: the art, the beauty, the ache, the joy. They offer what we have, and what we are, up to the cosmos. But what

if the improbable were to happen? Here on Earth, 10-year-old CDs are puttering out. What about a pair of 40-year-old records careening through outer space? Even if extraterrestrials found and figured out how to work the Golden Record, would it play anymore? Actually, yes, experts say. "The gold records that were launched into space were specially constructed discs for the purposes of space travel," said Peter Alyea, a digital conservation specialist at the Library of Congress who specializes in audio recordings. "I believe they were designed to last for a very, very long time and so should still be playable. This kind of disc is not something you could buy commercially at a record store." And besides, Voyager's Golden Record has thus far been kept safe from the elements—high temperatures, oxygen, water—known to deteriorate Earthly records. (Voyager is now operating at about negative 110 degrees Fahrenheit.) “If I had to guess, I'd say it's as fresh and new as the day it was placed aboard the spacecraft," said David Doody, an engineer on the Voyager mission at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, in an email. "It's been stored in a vacuum more perfect than any attainable on Earth, and protected from dust and cosmic rays by an aluminum metal case." That protective aluminum case has had quite the adventure—it got a dose of radiation near Jupiter and was blasted with space dust in Saturn's ring plane—but Doody says it has been "basically always shielded" at least enough to protect the record's functionality. "In all, it might have lost a little luster at worst, in my humble opinion," he said. "I'd also venture to guess that it would be in playable condition for many hundreds of millennia.” Which raises a theoretical question about what version of Earth the rest of the universe


Prompt: Note: Latency in the video stream means index items will appear first. 11:34:18 Oral Questions to the Secretary of State for Scotland 11:34:24 Q1. What discussions he has had with the Chancellor of the Exchequer on the amount of LIBOR funding available to museums, galleries and tourist attractions in Scotland. (907316) 11:34:30 Rt Hon David Mundell MP, The Secretary of State for Scotland (Dumfriesshire, Clydesdale and Tweeddale, Conservative) 11:34:48 Stewart Malcolm McDonald MP (Glasgow South, Scottish National Party) 11:35:16 Rt Hon David Mundell MP, The Secretary of State for Scotland (Dumfriesshire, Clydesdale and Tweeddale, Conservative) 11:35:47 Alan Brown MP (Kilmarnock

and Loudoun, Scottish National Party) 11:36:06 Rt Hon David Mundell MP, The Secretary of State for Scotland (Dumfriesshire, Clydesdale and Tweeddale, Conservative) 11:36:41 John Stevenson MP (Carlisle, Conservative) 11:37:02 Rt Hon David Mundell MP, The Secretary of State for Scotland (Dumfriesshire, Clydesdale and Tweeddale, Conservative) 11:37:34 Q2. What progress has been made on the transfer of powers to the Scottish Government under the provisions of the Scotland Act 2016. (907317) 11:37:37 Rt Hon David Mundell MP, The Secretary of State for Scotland (Dumfriesshire, Clydesdale and Tweeddale, Conservative) 11:37:52 Mr Stewart Jackson MP (Peterborough, Conservative) 11:38:20 Rt Hon David Mundell MP, The Secretary of State for Scotland (Dumfriesshire, Clydesdale and Tweeddale, Conservative) 11:39:04 Rt Hon Angus Robertson MP (Moray, Scottish National Party) 11:39:35 Rt Hon David Mundell MP, The Secretary of State for Scotland (Dumfriesshire, Clydesdale and Tweeddale, Conservative) 11:39:56 Rt Hon Angus Robertson MP (Moray, Scottish National Party) 11:40:37 Rt Hon David Mundell MP, The Secretary of State for Scotland (Dumfriesshire, Clydesdale and Tweeddale, Conservative) 11:41:15 Iain Stewart MP (Milton Keynes South, Conservative) 11:41:29 Rt Hon David Mundell MP, The Secretary of State for Scotland (Dumfriesshire, Clydesdale and Tweeddale, Conservative) 11:41:54 Angus Brendan MacNeil MP (Na h-Eileanan an Iar, Scottish National Party) 11:42:20 Rt Hon David Mundell MP, The Secretary of State for Scotland (Dumfriesshire, Clydesdale and Tweeddale, Conservative) 11:42:40 Stephen Pound MP (Ealing North, Labour) 11:43:22 Rt Hon David Mundell MP, The Secretary of State for Scotland (Dumfriesshire, Clydesdale and Tweeddale, Conservative) 11:44:12 Q3. What steps he is taking to ensure that Scottish SMEs are protected from economic uncertainty. (907318) 11:44:17 Margot James MP, Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy) (Stourbridge, Conservative) 11:44:35 Paul Blomfield MP (Sheffield Central, Labour) 11:45:00 Margot James MP, Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy) (Stourbridge, Conservative) 11:45:22 Craig


Prompt: Man Threatens To Smash Actor James Woods Over the Head with a 2×4 — Quickly Learns He Made a HUGE MISTAKE! On Saturday evening, Hollywood star James Woods was threatened by Matthew E. Jacob of Huntington, Long Island, according to the firebrand conservative’s Twitter page. Jacob foolishly threatened Woods, not once, but twice. HUGE mistake! “if I see you in the street I will hit you over the head with a 2 x 4,” threatened Jacob. Woods quickly took a screen shot of the threat and tweeted it to Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey, pondering if “Twitter will actually do anything

if a conservative is threatened.” So I've been directly threatened with violence. Let's see if @Jack and @Twitter will actually do anything if a conservative is threatened. pic.twitter.com/1XaWhbrU1R — James Woods (@RealJamesWoods) August 20, 2017 Jacob also warned Woods that he was “the first person” he’s coming for when the next Civil War breaks out. For the record this is one of his other threats before his account was suspended. #MatthewEJacob pic.twitter.com/iWoPjG6yBs — James Woods (@RealJamesWoods) August 20, 2017 Woods then mentioned the threat of violence was made “across a state line and in response to a political statement.” “That would be a violation of my civil rights.” Forgot to mention it was across a state line and in response to a political statement. That would be a violation of my civil rights. @FBI pic.twitter.com/odRvpqQPvV — James Woods (@RealJamesWoods) August 20, 2017 How did Woods figure out the identidy of the man who threatened him? The bozo linked his Instagram account to his Twitter account. Doesn’t take a MENSA member (which James Woods is a proud member of with an IQ of 180) to hide your personal information if you’re going to make threats of any kind. “The guy threatens to bash my head in on @ Twitter and then links to his @ Instagram account with his bike with his license plates. # Idiot“ It appears Jacob then deleted his Instagram account. The guy threatens to bash my head in on @Twitter and then links to his @Instagram account with his bike with his license plates. #Idiot https://t.co/3RFSgQYLGr — James Woods (@RealJamesWoods) August 20, 2017 Twitter promptly suspended Matthew Jacob’s account following Woods’ complaint. Note Jacob’s threat is no longer visible. “You are not going to have wait to see me in the street. Your life just changed forever,”


Prompt: Hello there, We’re back earlier than expected, with some unfortunate news that we feel we need share with you. On the weekend, there was a serious medical emergency with one of our team’s close family members. The situation is severe enough that they won’t be able to complete their work in time for Need to Know’s alpha release. As a result, we most likely cannot make the September 26th release date without severely compromising the alpha’s quality and the mental health of one of our team. Their work is almost finished, but given the gravity of the situation, they will

need a little extra time to complete it. Our thoughts are with them and their family at this tough time. This news will no doubt come as a great disappointment to many of you, and no one more than ourselves. We’ve pushed ourselves hard to get the alpha ready in time, and development was on schedule before this emergency struck. Delaying this release again is the absolute last thing we want to do. However, a short interruption is probably unavoidable, and we felt you needed to know as soon as possible. As the pending assets can be dropped right into the game, the wait won’t be longer than a week or two. The other parts of development will continue at full speed, and the additional time may give us the opportunity to add an extra feature to the alpha that we thought we wouldn’t have time to include. It’s only fair that you get more to play, given your incredible patience and support. When we’ve solidified a new date, we’ll post it on social media a couple of days in advance. Our next Kickstarter update will announce the release of the alpha, and you’ll be able to download it right away. We can’t tell you how dispiriting this delay is for us all, but at the same time we also want to express how grateful we are for your excitement and encouragement over the last few months. When hit by setbacks like this, your support makes it that much easier to remain focused and motivated. Until next time, Tristram and Quincy [P.S. A reminder for backers at Clearance Level 8 and higher: The backer survey will still close on the 30th of September, so make sure you have your responses in soon! Please let us know if you have any


Prompt: Entire neighbourhoods of Fort McMurray were under water on Sunday, less than three months after a fire roared into the northern Alberta city and destroyed one-tenth of its buildings. Residents of Canada's oil sands capital are wondering what will come next. They've lived through the rushed evacuation of more than 80,000 people and a wildfire that broke records in how aggressively it pressed forward – as well as years of heavy job losses and plunging profits because of oil prices that have stayed low far longer than most expected. "There was just an incredulous feeling as people were like, 'Are

you kidding?' They aren't too upset, they're just shrugging their shoulders at this point," said Tany Yao, the MLA for Fort McMurray-Wood Buffalo. Story continues below advertisement GLOBE ARCHIVES: A week in Hell: How Fort McMurray burned At least 37 homes were flooded on Sunday when 85 millimetres of rain fell on Fort McMurray in two hours. Some residents of the city water-skied through areas that had been on fire on May 3. The flooding caused the area's emergency operations centre to be activated for the first time since the wildfire. "It's important that our community continues to be resilient and work together," Chris Graham, Fort McMurray's deputy director of emergency management, said in a statement. As crews pumped water from flooded areas, ash was dusted off barricades so they could be put to use keeping motorists away from waterlogged roads. During the wildfire, those barricades blocked access to acres of scorched homes. Some people were once again told to boil their water, only weeks after similar advisories put in place for the fire were rescinded. "You saw the terrible thing in Fort McMurray. My God, I'm sure they were wondering would the locusts be next. I mean, it's so biblical," said David Phillips, Environment Canada's senior climatologist. "They had the fires and the drought and now the floods. They clearly had more than a month's worth of rain in Fort McMurray in two hours, and it's almost as if they couldn't get rain when they prayed for it back in April and May." Fort McMurray isn't the only place in Alberta to encounter bad weather this year, Mr. Phillips said. A number of tornadoes have careered across prairie farmland, a large hailstorm forced an Air Canada jet to execute an emergency landing and thunderstorms have been a near daily


Prompt: None of this is made up. People really did put this stupid crazy shit on their resumes or job applications. 1. I am very detail-oreinted. 2. My intensity and focus are at inordinately high levels, and my ability to complete projects on time is unspeakable. 3. Thank you for your consideration. Hope to hear from you shorty! 4. Enclosed is a ruff draft of my resume. 5. It’s best for employers that I not work with people. 6. Here are my qualifications for you to overlook. 7. I am a quick leaner, dependable, and motivated. 8. If this resume doesn’t

blow your hat off, then please return it in the enclosed envelope. 9. My fortune cookie said, “Your next interview will result in a job.” And I like your company in particular. 10. I saw your ad on the information highway, and I came to a screeching halt. 11. Insufficient writing skills, thought processes have slowed down some. If I am not one of the best, I will look for another opportunity. 12. Please disregard the attached resume-it is terribly out of date. 13. Seek challenges that test my mind and body, since the two are usually inseparable. 14. Graduated in the top 66% of my class. 15. Reason for leaving last job: The owner gave new meaning to the word paranoia. I prefer to elaborate privately. 16. Previous experience: Self-employed-a fiasco. 17. Exposure to German for two years, but many words are inappropriate for business. 18. Experience: Watered, groomed, and fed the family dog for years. 19. I am a rabid typist. 20. I have a bachelorette degree in computers. 21. Excellent memory; strong math aptitude; excellent memory; effective management skills; and very good at math. 22. Strengths: Ability to meet deadlines while maintaining composer. 23. I worked as a Corporate Lesion. 24. Reason for leaving last job: Pushed aside so the vice president’s girlfriend could steal my job. 25. Married, eight children. Prefer frequent travel. 26. Objective: To have my skills and ethics challenged on a daily basis. 27. Special skills: Thyping. 28. My ruthlessness terrorized the competition and can sometimes offend. 29. I can play well with others. 30. Personal Goal: To hand-build a classic cottage from the ground up using my father-in-law. 31. Objective: I want a base salary of $50-$60,000 dollars, not including bonus. And some decent benefits. Like a retirement plan, health insurance, personal


Prompt: TOP 5 SPENDING TOP 5 SPENDING WASHINGTON  Tuesday's midterm elections — and the record-shattering amounts outside groups spent to oust Democratic incumbents — are just a warm-up to the 2012 presidential race, analysts and experts say. Conservative groups outspent liberal groups by a more than 2-to-1 ratio heading into an Election Day that brought the biggest Republican sweep in the House of Representatives in decades and sliced into the Democratic majority in the Senate. "The Democrats brought a bat, and the Republicans brought a grenade," said Dave Levinthal of the Center for Responsive Politics, which tracks campaign money. "If

you think spending is out of control by outside groups, it likely will blow your mind in the presidential election." President Obama has repeatedly lambasted conservative groups for their role in the midterm elections and criticized the Supreme Court's decision in January that opened the floodgates to unlimited corporate and union spending on election ads. Conservative spending has topped $187 million this year, up from $19.6 million in 2006, the last midterm election, the center's data show. The leader of one of the leading GOP organizations said on Wednesday that it plans to play a big role in 2012. "People wanted Congress and the president to address the economy and felt that instead the Congress and the president were pursuing an agenda that has nothing to do with what the average American wanted," said Steven Law, CEO of American Crossroads and a related group that spent more than $38 million combined to influence races. "Our goal was to amplify that," he said. "The main thing for the president to do is to listen to that for his own sake and for the country's sake. If he decides not to, we will amplify it even louder in 2012." In more than 50 House races, outside groups and party committees outspent the candidates, a USA TODAY analysis shows. Other trends: •In the 48 House contests in which outside groups spent a combined $1 million or more, Republicans won two-thirds, a USA TODAY analysis of election results and campaign reports shows. In one Upstate New York district, conservative groups such as American Crossroads, the Tea Party Express and the 60 Plus Association bought $2.8 million in negative ads attacking freshman Democratic Rep. Scott Murphy on health care, helping Republican Christopher Gibson win 55% of the vote. •Self-funded candidates of both parties faired poorly


Prompt: JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israel sentenced an Arab citizen to 30 months’ imprisonment on Monday for endangering national security by briefly joining Syrian rebels fighting to topple President Bashar al-Assad. Hikmat Massarwa (R), a member of Israel's Arab minority, attends a remand hearing at the Central District Court in Lod, near Tel Aviv April 25, 2013. REUTERS/Baz Ratner Hikmat Massarwa’s case was unprecedented, and the relatively light penalty handed down to him as part of a plea bargain reflected Israel’s indecision about who - if anyone - to back in its northern neighbor’s civil war. Massarwa was arrested on March 19

upon returning via Turkey from Syria, where he had spent a week at a rebel base. Israeli prosecutors accused him of undergoing small-arms training by radical Islamists there who asked him to carry out a suicide attack in Israel - although, by all accounts, he declined. Those charges carried a maximum 15-year jail term. But prosecutors appeared unable, from the outset, to throw the book at Massarwa because of Israeli haziness about the Syria crisis. “There’s no legal guidance regarding the rebel groups fighting in Syria,” Judge Avraham Yaakov said at a session of the trial at Lod district court, south of Tel Aviv, in May. Massarwa, a 29-year-old baker, at first denied wrongdoing, saying he had gone to Syria to seek a brother missing since joining the insurgency. He also argued that the Western-backed anti-Assad rebels should not be regarded as a danger to Israel. But, changing tack on Monday, Massarwa confessed to unlawfully travelling to a hostile state and meeting what prosecutors designated a “foreign agent”. In turn, they dropped the count against him of illicitly receiving military training. Under the plea bargain, Massarwa acknowledged his actions “had potential to threaten the security of the state of Israel”. Technically at war with Syria, Israel enjoyed decades of stable ceasefire while the Assad family ruled unchallenged in Syria. It fears that, if Damascus falls to the Islamist-dominated rebels, jihadis among them will have a Syrian springboard for striking at the Jewish state. Such concern has been stoked in recent months by Syrian gunfire and shelling into the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, incidents in which Israel has routinely shot back. Israel took the Golan from Syria in the 1967 Middle East war. Arabs, most of them Muslim, make up around 20 percent of Israel’s population. They seldom take up arms with


Prompt: Altavian is introducing the all new Galaxy™ R8700 multi-rotor VTOL designed around the payload for high-precision geospatial mapping. The Galaxy R8700 is the ideal drone for small project areas and confined takeoff and landing areas. With easy assembly, effortless control, and confidence-inspiring stability, the Galaxy R8700 makes quick work of data acquisition over the toughest sites. Coupled with the Altavian Fusion™ series of payloads, the Galaxy R8700 excels in image resolution and geospatial accuracy. Best of all, the Galaxy R8700 is a perfect complement to the Nova™ F7200 with identical autopilots, software controls, and cross-compatible payloads. Designed with simplicity in

mind, the Galaxy R8700 can effortlessly be assembled for data collection and fully dissembled for ease of travel. The payload, landing gear, and arms of the aircraft attach with quick-snap connectors so the Galaxy R8700 goes from out-of-the-box to preflight in just a few minutes. Built for power, the Galaxy R8700 is equipped with an ultra-low-resistance power distribution system, supported by harsh-environment electrical components. The lean design of the power distribution system maximizes efficiency and reduces overall aircraft weight by eliminating the clutter of tangled wires and connectors. The power efficiency and reduced weight allows the Galaxy R8700 to utilize 32,000 mAH of li-po energy to ensure durable performance and longer flight times. Equipped with a gyro-stabilized gimbal with quick-snap connectors, the Galaxy R8700 is capable of supporting the entire line of Fusion payloads. The Fusion series of payloads are the most advanced DSLR-based photogrammetric mapping payloads available on the market. Outfitted with built-in upward facing GPS, Ellipse-N AHRS, PPK support, and over 210 GB of total storage, Fusion payloads are designed to deliver unmatched geospatial accuracy. With advanced shutter trigger times as quick as 0.7 seconds and precise geospatial trigger measurements, Fusion payloads allow the Galaxy R8700 to fly at faster speeds and cover more acreage per flight, without sacrificing image quality or accuracy. Both the Galaxy R8700 and Nova F7200 utilize the same Fusion payloads. Snapping the Fusion payload to the Nova F7200 will allow accurate mapping of hundreds of acres in a single flight. Likewise, snapping the exact same Fusion payload onto the Galaxy R8700 allows the ease of mapping confined areas and smaller projects. When a project requires both the Galaxy R8700 and Nova F7200, the data can be easily combined in post-processing. Using the same Fusion payload for both collects alleviates headaches caused by multi-sensor


Prompt: Most great songs climb the charts, peak and eventually descend into the valley of cherished classics. Yet, the popularity of "Rocky Top" has continuously soared in the 50 years since it was written in August 1967. The song struck a rare chord that still resonates with music fans and was adopted as a sports anthem for fans of the University of Tennessee. BURNOUT BEGINNINGS For husband and wife Boudleaux and Felice Bryant, writing "Rocky Top" was merely a brief and refreshing distraction in August 1967. The songwriting team was hunkered down in room 388 of the Gatlinburg Inn working on

a large country music project when Felice was feeling burned out. Songwriters Felice and Boudleaux Bryant. "They checked in and were working on a project called 'The Golden Years' for Archie Campbell," said Greg Bailey, general manager of the Gatlinburg Inn. "Felice was getting tired of working on so many slow songs and wanted a break. She wanted to do something different. Boudleaux wanted to keep working on the main project." In interviews with WBIR in the 1980s and 1990s, Felice Bryant described the brief bickering before Boudleaux finally appeased her with the short diversion that resulted in "Rocky Top." Sign up for Take 10, the WBIR lunchtime newsletter Thank You Something went wrong. Get the news you need to know, plus weather and something to make you smile, every weekday in your inbox! Thank you for signing up for the Take 10 Newsletter Please try again later. Submit "I said I want to write something 'up.' Something with a beat. Something about the mountains. How about a bluegrass [song]? Anything. I started coming up with words, he came up with words, he finished the tune and we had the song," said Felice Bryant in 1991. "He asked what did I think we should call it and I said I didn't know. He said, 'How about Rocky Top?'" A recreated copy of the sheet music for the song "Rocky Top." Many have assumed the inspiration for the song's title came from a peak in the Tennessee portion of the Great Smoky Mountains known as Rocky Top. The site is a sub-peak of Thunderhead Mountain and overlooks Cades Cove. Although the songwriters were in a hotel next to the national park when they wrote the song, their son says the couple knew nothing about an actual location named Rocky Top. "They


Prompt: FireChat, Disrupt alum Open Garden‘s popular off-the-grid messaging app, is getting a major update today that introduces private messaging that can even bridge local networks. The major innovation of FireChat was that it allowed users to chat in groups even when there was no Internet connection available. The app would use available Wi-Fi networks (whether they are connected to the wider Internet), Bluetooth and other connections to set up a local network that people could use to chat — both anonymously and with their real names. With this update, it will also allow users to send private messages, even if

they have to bridge multiple local networks and then hop onto the Internet at some point to get to their final destination (which itself may be a few hops away from an Internet on-ramp). So what does this mean in practice? Say in a few years from now, despite his best efforts, Elon Musk’s android workers gain consciousness and realize they also want to be able to form a well-regulated militia, take over San Francisco and shut down the cell phone network. Assuming enough people are using FireChat during the great robot insurrection, you could still get a message through to your loved ones. Open Garden estimates that as long as 5 percent of a city’s population use the service, it can deliver messages between its users with an average delivery time of 10 minutes. To do this, it uses a store-and-forward technique that’s not unlike how old dial-up based bulletin board systems used to work back in the 80s and early 90s. The messages are encrypted, so other users can’t read them, even if the message is stored on a few of them while the service is trying to find a way to deliver the message. “Devices run a probabilistic distributed algorithm to build a connected graph,” Open Garden CTO Stanislav Shalunov explained to me. “This is possible when the density is above a certain threshold. This threshold is easily reached in an urban scenario and in a crowd. Once the network is established, messages get delivered in a way that balances reliability and use of resources.” To reach its ultimate recipient, the message may have to jump onto the wider Internet, too, so FireChat also allows for that. “Off-the-grid messaging allows any community to create their own network for instant public and private communications, regardless of available infrastructure


Prompt: S. 3100: Stop Dangerous Sanctuary Cities Act passes committee (and what you can do) GovTrack.us Blocked Unblock Follow Following Jul 5, 2016 A “sanctuary city” is a city that protects illegal immigrants from federal or state prosecution, either by expressly prohibiting or never requiring legal inquiries about immigration status. There are more than 300 sanctuary cities in the United States. There have been many Republican attempts to prevent sanctuary cities. The latest is S. 3100, the Stop Dangerous Sanctuary Cities Act, which would withhold certain federal grants from sanctuary cities. The bill was introduced last week on June 27 and

made it past committee the next day. While it may receive a Senate vote, the White House has threatened to veto similar previous bills. What supporters say Many sanctuary cities have another, more controversial, practice to protect illegal immigrants convicted of crimes from being deported. An immigrant arrested for an unrelated crime, and then later determined to be in the country illegally, will often only be punished for the crime. They may serve jail time or pay a fine but they will not be not deported. Many critics of sanctuary cities see this practice as dangerous, citing increasing violent crime rates in San Francisco since 2011. Bill sponsor Sen. Pat Toomey (R-PA) described a San Francisco murder committed by an illegal immigrant. The shooter had been in police custody three months earlier but was not deported due to sanctuary practices. Many feel that the murder represents a clear example of a death that would have been avoidable if not for the sanctuary city. (Proponents of sanctuary cities argue that the cities are just as safe, if not safer, than other cities.) What opponents say A 2015 Washington Post article presents a different picture on the effects of sanctuary cities. It argues that sanctuary cities were the solution to criticisms about inhumane treatment of immigrants and racial profiling. “Immigrant advocates said all of this deeply damaged already-limited police trust in immigrant communities, making people afraid to call police or provide information. That, these advocates argued, was the real threat to public safety.” How to get involved Support an advocacy group you agree with: Stop sanctuary cities by supporting the Federation for American Immigration Reform Protect sanctuary cities by supporting the American Immigration Council Call Congress: Whether you want to support S. 3100 or oppose it, it is worth letting your senators


Prompt: These days, the video game business is bigger than Hollywood, with the latest installments of major franchises like Call of Duty and Destiny raking in hundreds of millions within days of release. But plenty of us—the Atari kids, the Nintendo kids, heck, even the Playstation and Xbox kids—remember when gaming was given the same side-eye by the mainstream as big fat fantasy novels (hello, HBO’s 20-million-viewer-strong Game of Thrones) and sci-fi books covered in spaceships (*cough* Guardians of the Galaxy *cough*). Gaming is the future. The future is here. Press Start to Play, a new SF/F anthology from editors Daniel

H. Wilson (Robogenesis) and expert short fiction curator John Joseph Adams, is both of-the-minute, “exploring what happens when sci-fi and video games collide,” and alive with the exuberance of authors who came of age in an era when playing video games wasn’t something everyone did, but was an identity. Among its contributors are some of the biggest names in speculative fiction—Charles Yu, Seanean McGuire, Charlie Jane Anders, Austin Grossman, Andy Weir, Holly Black, Hugh Howey, Catherynne M. Valente—and, in honor of the book’s release, we asked them to share with us the games that made them players. John Joseph Adams (Loosed Upon the World) “My favorite game series is unquestionably the Fallout series. Post-apocalyptic fiction is probably my favorite genre, and I’ve been a huge fan of Fallout’s amazing world-building ever since the first one came out in 1997. Perhaps unsurprisingly, I’m also a huge Skyrim fan; it would likely be more of a competition for Fallout for the top spot, except that I never really got into Elder Scrolls until Skyrim—not even Oblivion, which is pretty close in terms of ‘game engine vintage.’ All that said, I suspect my actual favorite game of all time is Portal; it’s got a fantastic story that just sort of lives in the background and has an absolutely wonderful antagonist in GLaDOS, but what sets it apart for me is that the level design is so damn clever. (Also, props to the level designers of Portal 2, who made those intricate two-player puzzles—kind of mind-blowing from a design POV.) I’ve got to give a shout out to the Civilization series; I’ve lost many hours of my life to those imaginary empires. Did you hear about the guy who’s been playing the same game of Civ II for ten years? You know you’ve built


Prompt: I do love a beer after a nice bike ride. Or a paddling session, run or swim, on occasion. In case you needed another reason to toss back a cold one, check out the newest release from Zilker Brewing Company — a canned version of its Parks & Rec brew, a limited-edition beer that honors Zilker Park’s 100th anniversary. A portion of Parks & Rec sales benefits the Austin Parks Foundation’s Zilker fund, which helps pay for long-term updates and maintenance of the Zilker playscape. So drink a beer, build a better playscape. The beer — a crisp, citrusy blend

of four hop varieties — debuted on taps around town last month. I sampled it at the Draught House Pub & Brewery last week. It’ll be available starting Wednesday at H-E-B, Central Market, Whole Foods, Spec’s and other local retailers. "We chose the pale ale style as a foundation, then we added a really unique combination of hops that are bright and citrusy and cleanse and refresh the palate," Zilker Brewing Company founder Patrick Clark says. "It’s definitely meant to be enjoyed outside." A happy hour to celebrate the release is set for 4 to 8 p.m. Thursday at the Yeti flagship store, 220 S. Congress Ave. Clark, his brother Forrest Clark and their childhood friend Marco Rodriguez founded Zilker Brewing Company in 2015 as a home-brewing operation in a garage. They named it after old-time local businessman and politician Andrew Zilker, who in 1917 donated more than 350 acres of his private property to be used as public parkland. That Zilker had ties to the beverage industry through an ice-making business and bottling company sealed the deal. "Now we’re excited to continue Andrew Zilker’s spirit of philanthropy by donating a portion of the proceeds from the Parks & Rec to the Austin Parks Foundation," Clark says. The Austin Parks Foundation is a nonprofit organization that works to maintain and improve Austin’s parks system through public and private partnerships. Since 2006, it has given more than $2.5 million in community grants to the greater Austin area. Clark, who grew up going to concerts at Zilker Park and swimming at Barton Springs, knows the perfection of a cold beer after a long run. He used to run with a group from Rogue Running and has a marathon or two under his belt. "It’s been a year or two, but I just


Prompt: 'Fucking Walsh, fucking little troll, casting his spell on people, liar. I've won six Tours. I've done everything I ever could do to prove my innocence. I have done, outside of cycling, way more than anyone in the sport. To be somebody who's spread himself out over a lot of areas, to hopefully be somebody who people in this city, this state, this country, this world can look up to as an example. And you know what? They don't even know who David Walsh is. And they never will. And in 20 years nobody is going to remember him. Nobody.'

Lance Armstrong, 2004. For years Sunday Times sports writer David Walsh pursued Lance Armstrong as a drug cheat, and also a bully and serial litigator capable of destroying his enemies financially to protect his bogus image of sporting success. Armstrong sued Walsh and his employer, successfully silencing his major critic using UK defamation laws which are so plaintiff-friendly that they have in recent years given rise to the phenomenon of libel tourism. Last week, in an interview with Oprah Winfrey, Armstrong finally admitted to cheating, and also issued a qualified apology to Walsh after repeated prompting. ‘I would apologise to David,’ the disgraced former cyclist said. Walsh joined Breakfast this morning to discuss the confession, and said although Winfrey did a good job, Armstrong’s first attempt at truth-telling was something of a dress rehearsal for the revelations to come. ‘Oprah Winfrey hasn’t been on this story for that long, and she had to do a lot of catching up, and honestly, I think she did a really decent job relative to where she was coming from,' Walsh said. ‘But Lance was quite evasive in many of his answers, and I understand that, because it was the first kind of attempt at telling the truth after lying for almost 20 years. So it’s not going to all come out in the first interview but I think as he does more interviews, and the indications are that he will do many more interviews, I think there’ll be more truth, every time he speaks, and I think in the end we will get a pretty complete story from him.’ ‘My feeling about Lance Armstrong is that intellectually, he understands that he has to be remorseful. Emotionally, he can’t hack it. If you watched the interview closely, there were times when he was being


Prompt: In order to make your business a success, you should be spending more time and resources in converting existing traffic than in acquiring more traffic. When you work with the mindset of increasing sales by just sending more traffic to your website, your cost per acquisition tends to be high and your revenue per acquisition tends to be low. So you may eventually end up making less profit and sometimes even loss. The best way of converting existing traffic into sales, is by mapping the entire conversion /sales process from lead generation ads to post sales follow up and then

looking for biggest drop-offs from one step to the next. You do that mapping in Google Analytics through Funnel Visualization reports: Use this report, to determine the biggest drop offs from one step of the funnel to the next. These drop offs, can help in explaining which part of the website/ conversion process needs urgent attention. The funnel visualization report is available under Conversions > Goals in your GA view: In order to truly benefit from funnel visualization reports you must know how this report actually works. If you create wrong funnels then you won’t be able to map customers’ conversion journey correctly and without correct mapping, there would be no conversion optimization. Note: You can learn about setting up goals and funnel visualization in Google Analytics from this help article: https://support.google.com/analytics/answer/1032415?hl=en-GB Introduction to Funnels in Google Analytics In Google Analytics, a funnel is a navigation path (series of web pages) which you expect your website users to follow, to achieve website goals. A funnel is made up of a goal page(s) and one or more funnel pages (also known as the funnel steps). Through funnels you can determine, where users enter and exit the conversion/sales process. You can then determine and eliminate bottlenecks in your conversion/sales process in order to improve the website sales. You can set up to 20 pages as funnel pages in GA. However don’t do that (more about that later). Types of Google Analytics Funnels There are 4 types of funnels available in Google Analytics: #1 Goal funnel – it is a series of web pages which you expect your website users to follow, to complete a non-transactional goal like ‘newsletter signups’, ‘downloads’ etc. #2 Sales funnel – it is a series of web pages which you expect your website users to follow, to complete


Prompt: Supporters of the public option want it to remove the profit motive as an obstacle to medical care, and also to menace the private insurance companies that they generally view as greedy and mean. At times, some lawmakers seemed to favor the public plan simply because private insurers hate the idea. In Congress, opponents view the public plan as a dangerous expansion of government, creating a new entitlement program that would ultimately drive the country further into debt. Even though the Congressional Budget Office said the plan would have little impact on insurance premiums, the opponents fought it as a

grave threat. The preliminary agreement hailed by Mr. Reid was hatched in a series of meetings among 10 senators, 5 of them liberals and 5 centrists. It seeks to address all of these concerns and, more than anything, to vault Senate Democrats over the biggest obstacle to locking down 60 votes for their larger health care bill. To satisfy the centrists, including Senator Joseph I. Lieberman, independent of Connecticut, who flatly threatened to vote against the health care bill if it included a public plan, Mr. Reid’s agreement would remove the public option as an immediate offering for people who gain insurance coverage. To satisfy the liberal Democrats, including Sherrod Brown of Ohio and John D. Rockefeller IV of West Virginia, the agreement calls for the creation of a new menu of national insurance plans, modeled after those offered to more than eight million federal workers, including members of Congress, and their dependents. The new insurance plans would be overseen by a federal agency, the Office of Personnel Management, which now runs the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program and directly negotiates prices and benefits packages with private insurance companies. The private firms eagerly participate because of the large customer base. The deal also keeps the public option as a fallback, to be “triggered” if private insurers do not step up to offer the new national plans. Such a fallback was included in the Republicans’ Medicare drug bill; it was never needed. Photo It is unclear whether Mr. Lieberman would ultimately accept a bill with the public plan on a trigger; he reiterated on Wednesday that he opposes the idea. But it could appeal to Olympia J. Snowe of Maine, the only Republican senator to support any version of the health care legislation (she backed it on the Finance Committee). Her


Prompt: More than 500,000 homeless in the US By Kate Randall 21 November 2015 More than a half million people were homeless in the United States this year, nearly a quarter of them children, according to a new report. The homelessness crisis is a stark indicator of the social reality in 2015 America and corresponds to a scarcity of affordable housing and dwindling wages for low-income workers and their families. The report from the US Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) released Thursday counted 564,708 people homeless, both sheltered and unsheltered. These figures, gathered by volunteers on a given night

in January 2015, are undoubtedly an undercount. Many of those living in motels, doubling up with relatives and friends or living on the streets are likely not represented in the tally. Twenty-three percent, or 127,787, of the nation’s homeless are children under the age of 18, according to HUD. However, this figure is at odds with statistics from another branch of the federal government. According to the Department of Education, there are 1.36 million homeless students in the nation’s K-12 public schools, double the number in 2006, before the onset of the financial collapse. According to HUD, 206,286 people were in homeless families with children, or 36.5 percent of the HUD total. Six percent of these homeless families are chronically homeless, in which the head of household has a disability and has been homeless for a year, or has experienced at least four episodes of homelessness over the past three years. The HUD figures show homelessness declining by 2 percent between 2014 and 2015. But even if these numbers are taken as good coin, this represents a minuscule decline that hardly makes a dent in the homeless population. A homeless woman in Chicago—the number of unsheltered people with chronic patterns of homelessness increased in the past year for the first time since 2011 According to the National Alliance to End Homelessness, there is a shortage of 7 million units of affordable housing throughout the US, creating a desperate situation for workers and their families as they search for decent and affordable accommodations. As the majority of working people feel the housing squeeze, they face declining real wages. According to a recent National Employment Law Projet report, workers’ wages have declined by 4 percent, after adjusting for inflation, between 2009 and 2014. The vast majority of the US population has not