Split (1)

train · 2.59M rows

text stringlengths 9 93k
The evolution of virtual rugby games has been slow and frustrating ever since Jonah Lomu Rugby arrived in 2001, where the archaic graphics were overlookable because of the fluid and challenging gameplay that enabled textbook link-up moves and thumping tackles. As an alternative to the then still dominant Fifa Football and the emerging Pro Evolution Soccer (PES), Lomu built up a cult virtual rugby fan base that has since been disappointed by a lack of quality follow-up games.
Football games have developed much faster than their rugby counterparts, with new complex physics engines to replicate independent movement of the players as separate entities to the ball and sophisticated artificial intelligence to provide tougher opponents. The latest version of PES, to be released in October, promises to take this even further by 'learning' your style of play, adapting to prevent defensive errors and building effective counter attacks against you, meaning a greater challenge and increasing the longevity of the game.
Rugby 08 hasn't quite bridged this gap and your players' interaction with the ball never quite seems in your control. Despite the significantly improved controls compared with earlier versions of EA Rugby, the game can descend into the inevitable button-bashing, which can be clumsy and unresponsive. Nevertheless, as you become more practised, the game is made hugely enjoyable by new features such as realistic set plays in both attack and defence and a mechanism for controlling rucks, mauls and scrums more effectively. You can even expect a tongue-lashing from the referee for penalties, which may well earn you a stretch in the sin bin.
One of the joys of watching live rugby is the mixing up of supporters in the stands, an experience lost on the football terraces. Amusingly, in trying to replicate this atmosphere, EA got a little carried away: the crowd appear to be in the throws of an acid-fuelled rave as they frantically jump, dance and wave. But comedy crowd aside, the graphics in Rugby 08 are smooth and detailed despite being limited to the PS2's abilities. The graphics may be sharper on PC, but both are equally adaptable with a range of views on offer to follow the action.
Ultimately, the complexity of rugby as a sport, with its bone-crunching tackles and silky passing play, lends itself well to the virtual game world. Next-generation graphics offered by PES and Fifa may currently leave rugby games trailing in their wake, but for how much longer? Rugby 08 demonstrates that with a little more time and the addition of some quality graphics, rugby games could soon hold their own against the sports-sim competition. This release doesn't quite get there - but you sense a truly groundbreaking virtual rugby game isn't far away.
Both pipelines are coated with a fusion-bonded epoxy to reduce pipe corrosion and risk of explosion. FBE degrades in sunlight, and it is chalking off the pipes and becoming progressively thinner.
Atlantic Coast Pipeline developers admit the pipes have been stored longer than the manufacturer’s recommendation. Experts advise me the pipes may be safe for up to two years, but their safety is questionable thereafter. The ACP pipes have already been stored outside for three years and counting, since the ACP is now on hold. Mountain Valley Pipeline developers testified in court that they are concerned about FBE loss as well.
There have been three catastrophic gas pipeline explosions in nearby states in the past 10 months. Landslides in steep terrain similar to that of the ACP and MVP caused two of them to explode shortly after installation.
The Material Safety Data Sheet for the 3M Scotchkote fusion-bonded epoxy 6233 used on these pipes lists carcinogenic, mutagenic and toxic properties and negative health consequences from this material.
Last summer I asked the Virginia Department of Health to address this issue. They have not told me that this product is safe, nor taken any actions to protect the public health. None of the many other experts I’ve contacted has told me that this product is safe. Nevertheless, it is escaping into our environment — and likely into our bodies — through inhalation and ingestion through drinking water.
Politics Who is Ontario Proud and why is it texting you?
Who is Ontario Proud and why is it texting you?
A conservative political advocacy group is sending out mass unsolicited texts and phone calls attempting to gauge voters’ intentions just days ahead of Thursday’s election, raising questions about privacy and access to Ontarians’ personal data.
The text messages usually begin with a greeting by “Olivia from Ontario Proud,” who then asks which party the recipient plans to vote for in the election. They can respond with the names of the major parties, “Unsure,” “NotVoting” or “?Stop?” to opt out of further messages.
Ontario Proud is a registered third-party advertiser dedicated mostly to posting anti-Liberal and anti-NDP memes on social media. The group’s 364,000 Facebook likes are more than all three main provincial parties combined.
Under Canada’s Anti-Spam Legislation, an organization must gain consent to send any commercial electronic message to a person’s electronic address. Ontario Proud founder Jeff Ballingall said the group is not breaking any laws because it is not selling anything.
“Since it’s not for commercial purposes, it’s for market research, and for telling people to vote, it completely aligns with Elections Ontario and [Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission] regulations,” said Mr. Ballingall, a former political staffer and employee of the short-lived conservative Sun News Network. People who have received messages can ask to be put on Ontario Proud’s ”do not contact” list, he said.
Mr. Ballingall said Ontario Proud hires vendors to gather contact information from the Canadian Numbering Plan, the system overseen by the Canadian Numbering Administrator (CNA), an agency under CRTC oversight that assigns phone numbers to carriers.
CNA project manager Glen Brown said the administrating body provides phone numbers to official carriers only (such as Bell, Telus or Rogers) as defined by the Telecommunications Act.
An organization like Ontario Proud “would not have gotten the resources directly from us,” he said, although it could have accessed the first six digits of any Ontario phone number through the CNA website. From there, he said, it would be a matter of trial and error – or automation – to figure out which of the 10,000 combinations of the final four digits will get through to people on the other end.
The Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner of Ontario said it had not received any complaints about Ontario Proud, but referred further questions about the group to Elections Ontario or the federal privacy commissioner.
Elections Ontario declined to comment on whether it had received any complaints about the group, as it is “not mandated to oversee the content or methods political parties or third parties use to communicate with voters,” spokesperson Jessica Pellerin said.
The Information and Privacy Commissioner of Canada and the CRTC did not respond to requests for comment.
Editor’s note: An earlier version of this article incorrectly suggested an organization like Ontario Proud could have bought access to numbers from phone companies. In fact, such organizations could only legally get access to the first six digits of cell numbers through the Canadian Numbering Administrator or a similar website. From there, 10,000 potential combinations of the final four digits exist.
International negotiations that have lifted a longtime ban on tequila in China will have big implications for Mexico — and are likely to benefit fledgling producers and distributors in Texas, too.
SHANGHAI — A whiff of tequila may conjure images of blue-green agave fields in the Mexican countryside, a raucous Texas dance hall or even a college frat house after a homecoming game.
But there’s a new tequila haven emerging across the globe, and it’s the most populous city in the world — Shanghai.
China is already the largest and fastest-growing market for alcohol of all kinds, but pure tequila was banned until June, when Chinese President Xi Jinping signed a deal with Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto that reconciled a decade-long tension between the two countries. They signed several deals on trade, energy, mining, intellectual property and, of course, tequila, the latter of which opened up a promising new market.
But the negotiations also have implications for Texas and for the American market. Mexico is the United States' third-largest trading partner, with $500 billion worth of imports and exports combined in 2011, according to the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative. This makes Texas, the nation's No. 1 exporting state since 2002, a pivotal player in international business — beyond just tequila.
Since the China-Mexico negotiations, tequila has become popular in westernized cities such as Shanghai, Beijing and Hong Kong. If current trends continue, manufacturers predict China will soon become the second-largest market for tequila. Without the recent deal inked in Mexico City, though, the expected growth would be just another entrepreneurial pipe dream.
And it’s not just the Mexican companies that are benefiting from the brand new market. Dulce Vida Spirits, an Austin company founded in 2008, has recently launched its own marketing campaign in China, and has import distributors in cities like Beijing, Hong Kong and Shanghai.
“It’s truly a greenfield opportunity over there,” said Richard Sorenson, the six-year-old company’s co-founder and CEO.
With only 10 employees, Dulce Vida is the first small player — and definitely the only one from Texas — to sell Tequila in China, Sorenson said. But other small companies from Mexico and the U.S. alike are sure to follow suit.
Total alcohol consumption in China is projected to reach roughly 84.4 billion liters by 2016, reflecting an average annual growth rate of nearly 6 percent. Historically, the national spirit of choice has been a strong grain-based alcohol called baijiu. But in recent years, other beverages have caught up. In 2012, red wine and beer were the most popular alcoholic beverages — but spirits, namely tequila, are fast on their heels.
For years, the Chinese government prohibited tequila's entry on sanitary grounds, claiming that it was a risk for the public due to its high levels of methanol. All imports were limited to its cousin, mixed tequila, a fangless version of the drink made from sugar cane. But today, any tequila is fair game.
The Regulatory Tequila Council in Mexico estimates that in four years, China will become one of the world’s leading tequila consumers — ahead of Mexico and just below the U.S. Projections suggest that by 2018, tequila exports from Mexico will rise from just below $5 million in 2013 to $100 million, and Chinese consumers will drink about 10 million liters of tequila, the equivalent of five Olympic swimming pools.
With the approval of the Mexican government, tequila producers and their worldly distributors now tackle the daunting task of building a network of new customers in the Chinese restaurant and bar industry.
Four nights a week, Robert Hamilton and his fellow 20-something alcohol distributors hit the Shanghai party scene with strategic precision. They know what hot spots to hit, the hidden places with the best drinks and the VIP clubs popular with the in-crowds — all in the name of spreading the gospel of tequila.
Dxcel International is a distributor and intermediary for imported booze in China. It represents virtually every type of alcoholic beverage manufactured by big brands from around the world, including Stella Artois, Hoegaarden, Jim Beam, 1921 Tequila and Jose Cuervo.
“I guess you could call us the ‘Cuervo Guys,’” said Hamilton, 25, a company executive.
The Cuervo Guys — a group of slick young American, British and Chinese executives fresh out of college — have been entrusted by Dxcel and Casa Cuervo, Mexico’s biggest tequila producer, with getting a slice of the fresh, barely tapped market in the Far East.
“We go out, make connections, talk to the managers and let them know about tequila because it’s a new drink to the market. What we’re doing is educating them about a product they’re really not familiar with,” Hamilton said.
Dulce Vida’s marketing strategy in China is less glitzy, functioning on daytime hours. But it's just as tactical. The company’s distributor, Austin native Jacob Papermaster, said he has laid the groundwork for Dulce Vida's official Chinese launch in July, the month of Shanghai Tequila Week.
So far, Dulce Vida has been testing the waters with small shipments of its product. Since June, Papermaster has been fostering relationships with bar owners and mixology experts to develop tequila drinks suitable for Chinese tastes.
“We’ve been well received, to say the very least,” Sorenson said.
The first large shipment for Dulce Vida’s debut will arrive by May. Then, in August or September, a new product will be introduced — the five-year aged Añejo, a “pet project” that Sorenson anticipates will be a success in China because of the popularity of barrel-aged spirits there.
Like Hamilton, Papermaster’s base of operations is Shanghai, where restaurants with names like El Luchador, Cantina Agave, Mi Tierra and Maya have recently popped up offering Mexican cuisine — and tequila shots.
“It’s like a small but delicious conquest,” a Mexican diplomat joked in Spanish. He was involved in the long negotiations that preceded the final government approval of tequila, but declined to be named because he is not authorized to reveal trade strategies.
For Mexico, the tequila ban long meant that one of its most lucrative products was prohibited in the world's biggest alcohol sales market. At the industry’s prodding, informal talks on the subject dragged on for the past decade, even when Mexican authorities perceived China as more of a diplomatic threat than a business opportunity.
Preparations for a historic consumption spike are already underway. In Tequila, the town in western Mexico that shares a name with the drink, thousands of new acres of agave are being cultivated. It will take five to seven years for them to mature completely.
In a rare joint operation this summer, one year after the market opened, the Mexican government and the tequila industry will launch a marketing campaign designed to introduce tequila to Chinese consumers.
The campaign, titled “Tequila, Mexico’s gift to China,” already has a logo: two dragons. On the left side, it’s the Chinese variant of the mythical animal. On the right, is the Mexican equivalent — the Quetzalcoátl.
For the underdogs back in Texas, tapping into the Chinese market means relying on quality rather than name recognition and ad campaigns.
“We won’t be buying billboards and magazine ads soon, but you’ll see Dulce Vida in the lockbox behind the bar,” Sorenson said.
And its home — Austin — will be on the label.
Correction: A previous version of this story said tequila consumption in China was projected to grow to 84.4 billion liters a year. That is the number for total alcohol consumption in China. Also, Mexico is the third-largest U.S. trading partner behind China and Canada, not the largest.
This story was produced in partnership with Milenio, a daily newspaper in Mexico. Milenio reporter Victor Hugo Michel reported from Shanghai and Mexico City. Tribune reporter Cathaleen Qiao Chen reported from Austin.
It turns out Dianne Feinstein’s bark is worse than her bite.
On Thursday, the chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee ushered in a new bill for reforming the surveillance practices of the National Security Agency that retains the structure of its controversial bulk telephone metadata program while adding modest reporting and oversight requirements.
The bill, which places much lighter restrictions on the NSA compared to a rival reform effort by Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VA) and Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner (R-WI), comes just days after Feinstein sent shockwaves through the intelligence community with a public scolding of the NSA’s surveillance of foreign leaders.
"It is abundantly clear that a total review of all intelligence programs is necessary so that members of the Senate Intelligence Committee are fully informed as to what is actually being carried out by the intelligence community," Feinstein said Monday.
Given her reputation as a staunch defender of NSA practices and the White House’s refusal to stand by collection activities targeting foreign leaders, some in the intelligence community feared a wide-ranging crackdown on the agency.
"We’re really screwed now," one NSA official told The Cable. "You know things are bad when the few friends you’ve got disappear without a trace in the dead of night and leave no forwarding address."
However, today’s bill appeared to put some of those concerns to rest by codifying many of the NSA’s most controversial policies.
Its key oversight additions include the establishment of criminal penalties of up to 10 years in prison for inappropriately accessing data acquired under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA); new requirements for yearly reports on the number of queries of the NSA’s phone metadata database; restrictions on which employees can query the call-records; and the authorization of a representative to appear before the FISA court to "provide independent perspectives" on privacy issues.
Opponents of the bill, which passed by an 11-4 vote, say it does not go far enough in curtailing the NSA’s expansive surveillance powers.
"I fought on the committee to replace this bill with real reform, and I will keep working to ensure our national security programs show the respect for the U.S. Constitution that Coloradans tell me they demand," said Sen. Mark Udall (D-CO) in a statement. "The NSA’s ongoing, invasive surveillance of Americans’ private information does not respect our constitutional values and needs fundamental reform – not incidental changes."
Defenders of the bill said it strikes the right balance between providing the NSA with the tools it needs to keep the country safe while offering privacy safeguards.
"I did vote for the bill," Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) told reporters following the vote. "I think it will strengthen oversight of our intelligence activities."
Feinstein agreed, emphasizing the reasons for not placing too many restrictions on the NSA. "Intelligence is necessary to protect our national and economic security, as well as to stop attacks against our friends and allies around the world," she said. "I believe the reforms in this bill are prudent, responsible and meaningful."
At issue, however, is the NSA’s lingering ability to collect and retain large amounts of American phone records under its current interpretation of the Patriot Act. "At its core … the bill endorses the most controversial of the NSA’s recently reported activities: the bulk collection of Americans’ domestic and international telephone call records," read a statement by the left-leaning Brennan Center for Justice.
The bill stands in stark contrast to a separate bill co-sponsored by Sensenbrenner and Leahy called the USA Freedom Act, which explicitly prohibits the bulk collection of Americans’ phone records.
"The intelligence committee bill and the USA Freedom Act present two opposing visions of the relationship between law-abiding Americans and the national security state," said Elizabeth Goitein, a co-director of the Brennan Center. "The fundamental question is: should the government have some reason to suspect wrongdoing before sweeping up Americans’ most personal information to feed into its databases? Leahy and Sensenbrenner say yes; Feinstein says no."
Others see less of a stark choice between the two bills. "There are a lot of good protections in the Senate bill," Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA), a member of the House Intelligence Committee, told The Cable. "But I would go further and call for a restructuring of the metadata program so that telecommunications providers hold onto their own data rather than the NSA retaining it. There’s no technological obstacle to retaining data this way."
Who Murdered the Metrical Muse?
Now, poet Timothy Steele has written a quiet, scholarly book that investigates the crime. Given the situation, he can afford to be sympathetic with the original killers, who were reacting to something in Victorian verse. The numbingly insistent metrical patterns are almost as boring as free verse has become in our time.
Since there is no real question of who committed the fell deed, Steele's investigation moves quickly into the larger question of why and how. The original killers, so brazen in self-advertisement, offered many excuses. As Steele shows in his first chapter, Eliot was self-serving in his claims of precedence. But while Dryden and Wordsworth were indeed reformers of diction, they both extended and refined the metrical heritage. Nobody before Eliot had attacked the iamb, which, with its systole-diastole pattern of emphasis, is literally the heartbeat of English.
Eliot, and others, got into further difficulty as they tried to defend poetry against prose by imitating it. Again, Steele is sympathetic: The Victorian novel was stronger artistically than Victorian verse. As it turned out, modern advances in poetic theory - such as the ``variable foot'' - echo the ways the ancient Greeks described their prose.
Steele's attention to detail and his concern for precedent create a rich survey of the paradoxical relations between ancient and modern ideas. He does find ambiguity in ancient formulations that made the modern misapplications almost inevitable, given the shifting passions.
Whereas Aristotle, in his rage to define, seemed to prefer ``imitation'' to meter as the unique trait of poetry, later, the neo-Platonists argued that the best poetry ``eschewed imitation and aimed at rendering the Ineffable.'' Finally, by the time of Kant and Hegel, it would be argued that God ``is alive and present in the subjective consciousness,'' and that art is pure play.
As Steele suggests, all this crowns poetry with liberty while painting it into a corner. If the moderns, as he shows in his last two chapters, resorted to the models of music and science to take it out of that corner, who can blame them? Steele avoids the hectoring tone. But he is concerned about simple intellectual honesty. His method begins in sympathy and gets going by making intelligent distinctions. He concludes, after discovering the origins of certain intellectual trends, that the muddle is unconscionable. Music, science, and poetry remain very different disciplines. Getting rid of meter was really a way of emptying the mind of memory, since meter is, for reasons profound and obvious, inseparable from memory, both cultural and individual.
Accepting the discipline of meter, on the other hand, requires the poet to take seriously not only the craft and the language, but also the reader and what he remembers of past poetry, what he knows in his heart, or by heart. ``Missing Measures'' is ultimately a hopeful book. Returning to Aristotle's recognition that although all metered language (verse) need not be poetry, all poetry is metered, we see that the way forward is plain. Steele ends his book by quoting a lovely poem by one of those who never joined the modern cabal, Robert Frost.
As generous as it is patient, as detailed and exacting as it is compelling, this book recalls one of Steele's own better poems, ``Summer,'' where he reveals ``slow creeks which bear flecked light through depths of trees.'' Here, iambic meter is no ``straitjacket,'' but an imitation, with carefully weighed syllables, of a vision of great beauty and truth. It could have been written by Homer.
Maryland is placing restrictions on travelers from West Africa, but isn't going as far as some states.
Travelers to Maryland from three West African countries where Ebola continues to spread could be quarantined at home or barred from public transit, depending on their risk of exposure to the deadly virus, under guidelines Gov. Martin O'Malley announced Monday.
State officials expect about 10 to 20 health care workers and others to come to Maryland each day from Liberia, Guinea or Sierra Leone, and they will closely monitor each traveler for fever and other signs of Ebola.
But officials will not require all of them to stay in quarantine — unlike their counterparts in New York and New Jersey who imposed broader restrictions on travelers, drawing rebuke from White House officials. Quarantines have raised questions about what states can do — ethically and legally — and about the strategies to guard against an outbreak.
Meanwhile, University of Maryland Medical Center officials said Monday night that a potential Ebola patient had been transferred there at the request of state health officials and was isolated. A spokeswoman would not say whether the person had recently arrived in the country, or provide more details.
O'Malley said any plan to protect the public from possible exposure to the virus must be balanced with the ability of U.S. health workers to travel to West Africa to help stem the spread of the disease.
Federal health regulators picked Johns Hopkins Medicine on Friday to lead development of a Web-based tool to train doctors, nurses and other health care workers on the protocols they should follow when treating patients with, or at risk of contracting, Ebola.
"The only way to really protect ourselves is to stop the spread of the outbreak in West Africa," O'Malley said. "Fear is not of any use to us in these kinds of circumstances."
State health officials plan to monitor travelers using a computer system that helps track a variety of infectious diseases. Anyone who enters the country from the three countries will be placed into one of three groups depending on their possible exposure to Ebola.
The high-risk group includes those who came in contact with an Ebola patient without wearing protective equipment, including health workers who reported a needle stick or other breach of equipment. They will be required to stay home and take their temperature four times a day. They must stay in close contact with health officials who may make unannounced visits.
Read Baltimore Sun coverage of the 2014 world-wide Ebola outbreak.
The group considered at "some risk" includes those who report contact with Ebola patients while using proper protective equipment. They will be asked to avoid public transportation, large gatherings and long-distance travel. They also must take their temperature four times a day and keep in contact with health officials.
These travelers will be required to sign agreements with the state health department. If they don't comply, they could be subject to a public health order requiring them to abide by the guidelines, state health Secretary Joshua Sharfstein said.
Other travelers who report no direct contact with Ebola patients will be considered at "low but not zero risk." They will be required to keep in contact with health officials and take their temperature twice daily.
Hospital officials from John Hopkins Medicine, the University of Maryland Medical System and MedStar Health appeared with O'Malley at a Monday briefing and said they support the measures.
"The need for flexibility, as this is a very dynamic situation, is imperative," said Dr. Trish Perl, senior epidemiologist for Hopkins Medicine.
New York and New Jersey officials on Friday jointly announced plans to require any health workers returning from West Africa to be quarantined in a hospital for 21 days, the maximum amount of time it can take for Ebola symptoms to develop.

Subsets and Splits

No community queries yet

The top public SQL queries from the community will appear here once available.