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It was just another California fire, terrible but much the same as all the others. Then celebrities were involved and it became a huge story. "I was watching the football game with my son, and my wife called and said, 'Montecito's on fire -- get out!'," actor Rob Lowe told Oprah Winfrey, his Montecito neighbor. “We got in the car, pulled out of the driveway and the entire mountain behind us was flames, 200 feet high shooting up into the air." Oprah’s $50 million spread escaped the blaze, but her tony neighbors took the full blast. One photograph shows a burned out Porsche left in the driveway of an absent homeowner. The winds are expected to pick up Saturday and burn more homes in the hills near Santa Barbara.
Are You Too Stoned To Drive? New Phone Games Could Help You Decide.
Many of PolitiFact California's most popular fact checks of 2018 had to do with the state's marijuana policy.
As Californians take advantage of newly legal recreational pot, scientists are teaming up with app developers to solve some very tricky problems: how to identify weed impairment on the road, and how to stop people from driving high in the first place.
A state law effective Jan.1 bans smoking or ingesting any cannabis product, including edibles, while behind the wheel. California Highway Patrol said officers are trained to detect impaired drivers, including those using marijuana, and that DUI penalties apply whether you’re smoking, eating or drinking.
But there are additional challenges with weed. For one, experts say more people are comfortable driving high than driving drunk. A survey from the Colorado Department of Transportation found that 55 percent of marijuana users believed it was safe to drive under the influence and had driven high in the past 30 days.
Plus, there isn’t a legal limit for THC, the psychoactive ingredient in pot, that officers can reliably test for with a breathalyzer or a mouth swab. And basic alcohol assessments like walking in a line or following someone’s finger don’t necessarily hold for weed, said Elisa Pabon, a doctoral neurobiology student at the University of Chicago. She said there’s a huge gap in scientific research on how to properly assess marijuana impairment.
Pabon and her team are using funding from the National Institutes of Health to develop a mobile app they call, “Am I Stoned?”. It could eventually lead to an official field sobriety test for marijuana. Or it could just help at-home users figure out how high they are.
The app, which is still in the testing phase, would include a series of five to seven minute games to assess impairment. One is a finger tapping exercise, one checks for reaction time, and another asks users to remember and repeat a pattern.
She isn’t the only one looking into this. Researchers at UC San Diego are currently looking at an assessment tool for the iPad. And there are already a few apps on the market for this purpose, though they weren’t funded with scientific research dollars.
A professor of psychology at the University of Massachusetts developed a mobile app called Druid, which tests for both weed and alcohol impairment. A similar app called MyCanary hit the market in 2015 and has already drawn tens of thousands of users, according to its developer. It involves a balance test, a reaction time assessment and a memory challenge.
Paul Armentano, deputy director of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws and a consultant on the MyCanary app, said it was developed in preparation for mass legalization. There are now 29 states that have legalized recreational or medical pot.
Dance up a storm. For ages 1-5 with a caregiver. 585-247-6446 or gateslibrary.org.
On first glance, my drawings are clearly narrative. What is often and easily missed is the very specific platform on which all of them are made. The drawings originate on vintage ‘doodle pad’ sheets from 20th century.
I collect and utilize these somewhat risqué novelty drawing pads. These mass-produced pads of paper feature incompletely drawn women (and occasionally men) with instructions to complete- or doodle in- the missing parts. And that’s what I do. As a lifelong fan of the art and craft of illustration, representational drawing, comics, and cartooning, I use pen and ink to complete the incomplete images to make them my own.
The practice of ‘repurposing’ items from the past is quite popular. We’ve all seen the cable TV shows and passed by boutiques that take old antique doors and turn them into coffee tables, or crafters who take old military artifacts and turns them into lamps. Giving new life to objects left for dead is fun, quirky, and often times environmentally considerate.
What I’m doing with these old sheets of paper is ‘purposing’ them. I’m doing exactly what the printers had in mind when they originally produced and distributed them. I like the idea that I’m doing this decades after they were made, after they’ve been sitting in drawers until someone decided to post them for sale on eBay or Etsy. Perhaps ‘retro-purposed’ would be a more appropriate term for what I’m doing with these old doodle pads.
Regardless of they’re called or how they originate, I’ve found them to be ideal for my creative process. When artist’s face a complete blank canvas or paper, they face that paradoxical problem of endless possibilities. Too many options can often be constraining.
I sidestep this with the help of my muse. I simply access that part of the brain that we use when we play the game of charades. “What could she be doing.” my mind asks. Ideas then flow. I mentally sift through them and make loose sketches to narrow down the options. Which would make a drawing that I’d want to make? What haven’t I done before? Maybe something funny, maybe macabre, or maybe I feel like challenging myself with some complex perspective angle. I get to draw it all..foliage, animals, technology, different eras of human history. That’s half the fun. It’s always the same challenge and always new and different.
A Robb Report list reveals 100 great getaways for the 1%, but these stand out even from that select crowd.
BOSTON (MainStreet) -- The world's finest vacation resorts offer it all -- exotic locations, first-class service, comfy accommodations and yummy meals.
"It's really a combination of everything -- the setting, the ambiance, the services and all of the extras," says Bruce Wallin of luxury lifestyles magazine The Robb Report, which recently compiled its first Robb Report 100 List of the poshest resorts around the globe.
Some two dozen Robb Report writers and editors teamed up with industry experts to pick the greatest vacation spots available to the price-is-no-object crowd.
"Really what we were looking for is the kind of place that would be the ultimate experience for Robb Report readers -- very exclusive properties, places like private islands that you might not find on other top 100 lists," Wallin says.
Of course, a vacation at one of the world's 100 best resorts doesn't come cheap.
Prices at properties that made the list range from $250 a night off-season at Canada's Four Seasons Whistler resort to as much as $51,000 a night (breakfast included) at Italy's Villa d'Este.
"The properties on our list succeed on all fronts -- and their prices reflect that," Wallin says. "Some of the properties in Mexico, South America and parts of Southeast Asia and India might offer lower prices, but it's very rare that you're going to find a top 100 resort at a bargain price."
Here's a look, in order of price, at five of Wallin's personal favorites from among Robb Report 100 winners. Unless otherwise noted, prices are for two adults and include all meals, soft drinks and alcoholic beverages.
An exclusive resort owned by celebrity magician David Copperfield, Musha Cay consists of five super luxury guesthouses across 11 private islands some 85 miles from the Bahamas.
You rent the entire resort at once for $37,500 and up per night, with a four-night minimum.
For that lofty price, you and your guests will enjoy four dining areas, an outdoor movie theater, more than 40 private beaches and a game room that includes a billiards table that once belonged to legendary magician Harry Houdini.
But what really sets Musha Cay apart are the optional "adventures" Copperfield's staff -- and sometimes the magician himself -- provide.
For an extra fee, they'll use the islands as the backdrop for a giant treasure hunt or a "spy game" for your guests, complete with real helicopters, laser beams and special-effect explosions.
"It's a Caribbean paradise with everything you would expect -- great beaches and beautiful foliage -- but because it's David Copperfield's property, they put on all of these elaborate events," Wallin says. "There's really nothing else like it on Earth."
Check out all of the details here.
The one-time private estate of late swashbuckling magazine publisher Malcolm Forbes (whose ashes are interred there), Laucala Island is now an exclusive resort owned by Red Bull magnate Dietrich Mateschitz.
The South Pacific island hosts just 25 luxury villas spread out over 12 square kilometers, so you'll enjoy the ultimate in vacation privacy.
But the resort also has plenty of great shared facilities, from a hilltop spa to an 18-hole championship golf course built by legendary designer David McLay Kidd. Guests can also choose from five dining areas -- or enjoy a private meal in one of the island's secluded beach coves.
"Laucala Island is just an amazing, extravagant, no-expense-spared resort," Wallin says.
See the resort's website for information.
The King Pacific Lodge is a floating resort built on a barge its operators tow onto the shores of Princess Royal Island along northern British Columbia's Pacific coast every summer.
Located some 300 miles north of Vancouver and accessible only by seaplane (included in your hotel room's price), the resort offers incredible boating, fishing, whalewatching and sightseeing in the middle of the Great Bear Rain Forest.
"The King Pacific Lodge is perhaps the closest you can get to an upscale African safari lodge experience in North America," Wallin says. "There are no roads for almost 100 miles in any direction, but you're surrounded by bald eagles, bears and humpback whales."
The lodge has just 17 rooms, but guests enjoy king-sized beds, sunken tubs, an elaborate spa and an upscale restaurant that uses locally produced ingredients.
"The King Pacific Lodge isn't the most luxurious resort in the world, but the food and the service are what you'd expect in any five-star city hotel," Wallin says. "It's got this implausible combination -- a wilderness setting, plus service that makes its mark among the best hotels in the world."
These two lodges on private land within South Africa's Kruger National Park offer the chance to go on incredible wildlife safaris during the day, then enjoy five-star accommodations at night.
Located near the South Africa/Mozambique border, the resorts mix traditional African furnishings with upscale amenities such as Murano glass chandeliers.
The exclusive properties have just 21 suites between them, but guests can enjoy guided safaris from early morning until late at night. That gives you plenty of chances to check out some of the park's more than 800 species of wildlife, from crocodiles to African elephants.
"You're staying some place as nice as any hotel in New York or Paris, but are in the middle of the African bush and able to go out with experienced guides every day on safari," Wallin says. "It's really an ultimate experience."
See Singiti's website for information.
An Irish baronial estate originally built in the 1820s, Ballyfin reopened as a five-star boutique hotel last year after some $50 million of renovations.
Located some 60 miles southwest of Dublin, the 600-acre property has just 15 guest rooms.
The site combines 19th century charm with 21st century amenities such as a spa, an indoor pool and flat-screen TVs that are subtly worked into the furnishings.
"You feel like you're staying in an Irish nobleman's quarters, but everything is brand new or perfectly refurbished," Wallin says. "It's kind of the best of both worlds -- a classical feel, but completely updated for the modern traveler."
The heavily wooded estate features horseback riding, hiking, falconry, clay-pigeon shooting and a 28-acre lake for boating and fishing.
Two-star Michelin chef Fred Cordonnier will cook your catch for you -- or make you a meal featuring vegetables, eggs, honey and other products raised on-site.
Damning evidence led this week in the Labour Court in Durban has lifted the lid on “bribe clauses” in contracts and the reckless spending and alleged cowboy approach to dispensing tenders for kickbacks at KwaZulu-Natal’s health department which contributed to the department, in one year, overspending its budget by an estimated R1.5-billion.
Testimony by the health department’s former general manager for legal services, Prenitha Kantha Padayachee, has also reinforced the suspicions about why charges of fraud, corruption and racketeering against the department’s former political head, then provincial health MEC, Peggy Nkonyeni, were dropped last year. Nkonyeni is known to be closely aligned with President Jacob Zuma.
She is the treasurer of the ANC in the province, and the speaker in the provincial legislature.
On Tuesday, Padayachee revealed that at a meeting in December 2007, when the department signed off on a deal with Intaka Technology for it to provide oxygen generating machines, Nkonyeni, who had been installed as provincial treasurer the previous year, had indicated to her that she was “under pressure to conclude” the deal to facilitate a “donation” from the company to the party.
Intaka is owned by Uruguayan businessman Gaston Savoi, who is charged with bribing officials in KwaZulu-Natal and the Northern Cape for tenders worth more than R86-million.
In an interview with the Mail & Guardian in 2011, he said that he had donated about R3.6-million in separate payments to the ANC, including an amount of R1-million in 2007 into the party’s KwaZulu-Natal coffers. According to Savoi, the payment was made to a Durban law firm at the request of Sipho Shabalala, then boss of the provincial treasury.
Shabalala remains in the dock with Savoi, but the Democratic Alliance is seeking reasons from the National Prosecuting Authority for its decision to withdraw charges against Nkonyeni and her predecessor in the ANC, current provincial economic development MEC Mike Mabuyakhulu, through the courts.
Nkonyeni, who was political head of the department when it overspent its budget by R1.5-billion in 2008, denied Padayachee’s claims in a press statement released this week.
In a November 2007 memo to Victor Ntshangase, the department’s general manager for supply chain management, Padayachee raised several queries about a proposed contract with Intaka for onsite oxygen supply for patients, including a “bribe clause” that stated that no money had exchanged hands between the company and department officials in the securing of the contract.
Her memo also noted that there was “noncompliance with the bid specifications” of the tender in the proposed contract with Intaka as it did not include maintenance of the equipment or a warranty, and the department had to install the machines itself.
She also noted that while the Medical Control Council required the makers of medical oxygen to register with it – which Intaka had failed to do – the company had advised health officials that it was not a legal requirement.
Padayachee had also red-flagged an earlier deal between Intaka and the health department to provide water purification plants for two rural hospitals in the province.
She told the court that when approached in 2006 by then health department head Busi Nyembezi, who is also facing charges of fraud corruption and racketeering alongside Savoi, in 2006 to draw up contracts for the deal, she had “expressed concern” about the cost of the almost R10-million deal.
She told the court that the contract “should have gone the route of open tender, but did not” and that the three quotes obtained “indicated to me that the department had already decided to purchase”.
Padayachee’s submissions in the labour court, where she is fighting a three-year battle against misconduct and racism charges which she claims are trumped up because of her whistle-blowing, also appear to show how the alleged malfeasance has had a direct impact on hospitals.
Padayachee raised concerns about various other contracts entered into by the department, including the “verbal appointment” in 2009 of auditing firm Ernst & Young to investigate eight cases of alleged financial misconduct at Addington, Vryheid and Ngwelezane hospitals.
She told the court that the verbal appointment – which the department’s chief financial officer, Alson Buthelezi, had said he’d made “in terms of the common law” and for which he asked the legal services department to write up back-dated contracts – had led to another legal and financial nightmare.
This included an inadequate liability clause that exposed only the health department to any claims emerging from the investigation.
Padayachee told the court that she had previously renegotiated such a clause when enlisting the services of another auditing firm, PriceWaterhouseCoopers.
According to correspondence between the department and Ernst & Young, the investigation stalled over nonpayment of about R2-million owed to the auditing firm.
This led to Ernst & Young withholding documents, including order books from Addington Hospital it had seized during its investigation. This, according to an email from the hospital’s management, was causing a problem with suppliers and having an impact on service delivery.
Several other tenders and payments to companies and nongovernmental organisations appear to have been awarded without the proper supply chain management protocols being followed.
These included a tender to TecMed in 2008, the year the health department blew its budget.
According to the auditor general’s findings, a tender awarded to the company for R76.5-million had an actual value of R119-million and an additional tender of R44.4-million, “which did not appear to have been channeled through the normal supply chain management processes”, was awarded to the company.
In total, TecMed benefited to the tune of R175.3-million in that financial year from state contracts and, in some instances, “no minutes for the bid adjudication committee [were] provided” to the auditor general.
Both TecMed and Addington Hospital were in the news earlier this year when local newspapers reported that oncology and radiation equipment supplied by the company had been switched off since January.
According to reports, the health department had ceased paying the R400 000 a month maintenance bill to the company, claiming fraud, while TecMed alleged it was still owed about R80-million.
In a statement released on Wednesday, Nkonyeni said that “at no time did she ever exert any pressure on health department officials while she was the MEC for health to fast-track the awarding the contract for the supply of oxygen to the Intaka Holdings of Mr Gaston Savoi”.
Nkonyeni “categorically” denied allegations attributed to Padayachee. She said her office “will, however, watch the developments until the end of the proceedings before it makes a full statement on the allegations”.
“This case represents my belief that my role in government as a civil servant is to contribute to a better society … to tidy up the civil service and make it competent so that it benefits the public,” said Prenitha Kantha Padayachee, the suspended general manager for legal services at the KwaZulu-Natal health department during an interview with the Mail & Guardian.
The mother of two, who describes herself as an ANC member with an “activist background who is privileged to experience democracy in my life”, is facing six counts of misconduct, including racism.
Placed on suspension on January 4 2009, the day after she was interviewed by Hawks superintendent Piet du Plooy and had handed over evidence relating to tenders awarded to Intaka Technology, Padayachee is fighting charges in the labour court that she says are “trumped up” because of her whistle blowing. She told the court that Du Plooy had described her as his “star witness” during the interview.
On Thursday, she told the court that her health had suffered ever since she had been placed on suspension and that she had had to cash in four insurance policies to pay her astronomical legal bills.
Padayachee’s trial will resume on November 25.
A cartoon posted on a website of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah party depicts the Dome of the Rock calling out futilely to Arabs and Muslims for assistance as an American embassy pops up nearby.
A lot happened in Washington this past week. But through the whirlwind came a huge development: President Trump is expected to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.
It's a symbolic move for sure — the embassy will remain in Tel Aviv for the time being — but it sends a powerful message that makes achieving a lasting solution to the conflict far more likely.
This past week, we commemorated the 70th anniversary of the plan passed by the United Nations to partition what was then a British Mandate territory into two states: a Jewish and Arab state.
The Israelis, of course, accepted the plan. The Palestinians, then vassals of neighboring Arab kingdoms, rejected it and soon launched a war. That war was long and hard-fought, but Israel triumphed — at least, that's what the Israelis and the West thought.
U.S. recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel is step forward in achieving lasting peace.
For the Palestinians, it seems, that war is still being fought. And that rejection continues.
Years of concessions, of work to build the Palestinian Authority into something capable of handling the levers of power that a state must wield, have brought us no closer to peace. Shaming Israel politically for defending its own people hasn't worked either.
During the Oslo Accords, the Palestinians recognized Israel as a state, but to this day they still haven't recognized Israel's right to exist as a national homeland for the Jewish people. It may seem like a minor detail, but it's critical to understanding the only true path to resolving the longstanding conflict.
Same with another seemingly minor action: this year's Palestinian attempt to force the British government to apologize for the Balfour Declaration, the century-old document promising the Jewish people a homeland in what would become Israel. Viewed through the Palestinian lens, these are terribly important.

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