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First of all we would like to thank everyone who donated to our first kickstarter earlier this year. The funds raised from that kickstarter, in addition to material and monetary donations from local businesses have led to much progress on our project.
Take a look at our first kickstarter page.
The purpose of this kickstarter is to provide us with the necessary funds to finish our project. We knew the initial $10,000 would not be enough to complete the project, but that successful campaign has led to much progress. Please take a look at how we spent our money and the photos below to see what we have been up to. There are links to our generous donors below and in the photo captions.
A Brief History
On September 14, 2008 rain poured down on the Fox River valley in Plano, IL, causing the river to spill its banks and flood Mies van der Rohe’s Farnsworth House. The flood damaged the house and the furniture within, specifically a large wardrobe that was added to the house at the request of Mies’s client Edith Farnsworth. Unlike the other, smaller pieces of furniture in the house, the 12’ x 6’ x 2’ wardrobe is too large to be removed from the house in case of another flood. With the existing visitor center not able to accommodate this large piece of furniture a need exists for additional exhibition space to temporarily display this historic piece of furniture until a mitigation plan can be implemented that offers permanent protection for the house and its contents. Whitney French, director of the Farnsworth House sought the help of a design-build professor at Mies’s own Illinois Institute of Technology. Professor Frank Flury has led many successful design-build studios at IIT including the recent AIA award-winning Field Chapel in Boedigheim, Germany. Professor Flury presented the project to his students and over the past three semesters the team has designed an adaptable exhibition space that solves the Farnsworth House’s need to display the wardrobe and can also be used for events such as lectures and exhibitions.
Early concepts for the design were rectilinear and simple, drawing on the Farnsworth House for their inspiration. After many iterations, critiques from their professor, and advice from practicing architects and engineers, the team decided it would be more appropriate to design in the local vernacular, something more similar to the farm buildings that are scattered over the landscape. Since the new exhibition space is situated about a half-mile from the Farnsworth House, adjacent to the visitor center and visible from the road, a farm building seemed appropriate. Another problem the design team looked to solve was how to provide handicap accessibility to the Farnsworth House. In the end the studio designed a contemporary round barn with a new gently sloping path circling the “Barnsworth” on its way to the Farnsworth House. The design is simple and compact; the round floor plan creates a natural exhibition space. The interior walls are segmented while the exterior walls feature vertical board and batten siding to create a continuous curve. The walls are free from openings providing extensive display space while a simple and elegant lantern sits atop the space to allow the penetration of natural light.
A look at how we acquired our construction materials :
Donors:
Kickstarter Backers
Garcia Consulting Engineers
Bulley & Andrews
Maxx Contractors
Kendall County Concrete
Lee Lumber
Sarnafil
Hunter Panels
We would also like to thank:
Michael Glynn for his many contacts in the construction industry and help securing materials.
Hank Artlip for his HVAC expertise.
Brian Holdiman with Kendall county Building, Planning and Zoning
Brian and Russ, for their help raising our walls and installing the roof.
Jim Juers for his glazing expertise.
Chris Rockey, for help with all of our structural engineering.
Brett Balogh, for his IT and technical knowledge.
Berglund Construction, for kindly bringing us all of their construction "leftovers" (brooms, sawhorses, scaffolding) from their project at the Farnsworth House
Rick Nelson, for his donations of labor and recycled materials.
Our Progress
Delivery of donated material. Thank you Bulley Andrews
Stephen and William precisely cutting the angled 2x4s for the concrete formwork.
Stephen nailng a formwork segment
Assemby of the concrete formwork in our shop.
Getting all of the materials ready for the premanufacturing of the walls.
(clockwise) Marina, Will, Stevie, Matt and William after assembly of wall segments in shop.
Our friend Rick arrives with his Bobcat
Rick, Matt, and Willaim take care of the excavation. Thanks to Garcia Consulting Engineers for the survey that helped us site our building.
Formwork for the thickened slab.
Thickened footing and preparation for slab.
The Spring Studio, ready for the slab pour
Teddy, waiting for the concrete truck.
Pouring the slab.
Will, Stephen, Matt and William install the formwork for the concrete walls.
Well braced formwork, Thanks to Bulley Andrews for the wedges!
Pouring the concrete walls. Matt, Stephen, Will, and our friend, Mr. Anderson from Kendall County Concrete
The concrete walls
Floor Framing installed
Lee Lumber ships our walls from our shop to Plano.
Raising the walls.
The walls are up.
All of the walls are up, thanks Russ and Brian!
How you will view the building from the new path.
Roof framing
The Summer Studio installs Tyvek
Gutter and substructure for the sloped roof. Thanks to Sarnafil for donating our roof membrane, gutter and substructure. |
Ms Earl has spent the past five years of her life living and breathing onions - she says she is "passionate about the industry" - but she's never seen anything like the level of interest in the slightly smelly vegetable since Mr Abbott's fateful bite.
"I was genuinely surprised but thrilled that Mr Abbott decided to bite into a whole, unpeeled, good quality onion. More people should do it," she said, hastily adding that "personally, I would take the skin off".
"Onions Australia's phone has been running hot since the Prime Minister was seen eating a raw onion. We are more than willing to talk to anyone who wants to talk to us about the health benefits of our onions."
"People are interested, asking if they can be eaten whole and people are also querying why the Prime Minister left the skin on - which I put down to personal choice. There has been national and international media interest too. |
Billy Slater has no plans to follow Cooper Cronk into representative retirement, pledging to squeeze one final State of Origin series out of his rejuvenated body as Queensland brace themselves for a playmaking overhaul in 2018.
Melbourne's Big Three won't play together again after Cronk called time on his Australian and Maroons career in the wake of the Kangaroos' gripping World Cup triumph over England on Saturday night.
Slater, Cronk and Cameron Smith will share a field next year, but Cronk will be wearing the tricolours of the Roosters when they take on premiers Melbourne after his high-profile switch to Sydney.
But while Slater conceded it would most likely be his last game in green and gold – Australia has only one end-of-season Test planned against New Zealand next year – he will be back to inflict more pain on Brad Fittler's Blues next year. |
You can already pre order this book that promises to be as beautiful and collectible as the other two “The Wes Anderson Collection” books. Tip: BookDepository.uk is my favorite page to buy books because they are not expensive and the worldwide delivery is free.
This book collects the best artwork from the first five years of “Bad Dads,” an annual exhibition of art inspired by the films of Wes Anderson. Curated by Spoke Art Gallery in San Francisco, “Bad Dads” has continued to grow and progress and has featured work from more than four hundred artists. From paintings to sculptures to limited-edition screen prints, the artworks vary greatly in style, but share the imagery and beloved characters from the mind of one of Hollywood’s most noteworthy and imaginative filmmakers. The book features an original cover by graphic artist Max Dalton, a foreword by writer and director Wes Anderson himself, and an introduction by TV and movie critic Matt Zoller Seitz, author of the bestselling Wes Anderson Collection books. |
Introduction Andrew: Good to know Chick is still putting together tracts, even though he is approximately as old as the earth. I don't know why he decided to suddenly do an AIDS tract now, considering that AIDS has been a scourge for almost three decades- but, what do you expect, it's Chick. The tract's conception of AIDS and homosexuality is also badly dated. Let's see what Jack Chick has to offer those suffering and dying of AIDS-related illnesses.
Jessica: Finally, we have a tract that is going to familiarize and help us cope with the ever growing threat of the Heartless. Chick is finally doing a public service. ...wait. That isn't what this is about? Shit. I was getting my hopes up too.
Andrew: It took me a while to figure out what the heck the title was referring to, actually. The patients? The nurse? The AIDS virus? It seems to refer to the demons. I can't believe I just typed that.
Jessica: This doesn't really look like a hospital. Is this like a convalescent or a hospice home or something?
Andrew: In addition to his physical health problems, our friend here is obviously dealing with some mental issues, leading him to talk to himself.
Jessica: I have a fun game you can play here. Pretend for the next four or five panels that the book Nurse Clara has been reading is actually Stephanie Meyer's Twilight. It makes the first part of this comic just a little less tragic. If only for a moment.
Andrew: Well, if you simply replace every iteration of "demons" with "sparkly vampires", it makes it even more apparent how ridiculous this comic is. On the other hand, when you consider that Chick believes vampires are real, it sucks some of the fun out of it.
Jessica: I really don't think human heads are supposed to look like that.
Andrew: I don't know why Jack Chick still relies on his own drawing skills, which were never too solid in the first place, and have only gotten shakier over time, especially since the stroke. He's used other artists from time to time (Like Fred Carter), and the results are usually much better.
Jessica: Actually, yes, unnamed banana-nosed person. Someone who holds such virulent beliefs about disease should in fact NOT be in a job caring for people suffering from such diseases. This is just like those pharmacists who refuse to sell confused teenage girls the "morning after" pill because it interferes with their "religious convictions." Dealing with assholes interferes with my religious beliefs, but I highly doubt my boss would be very understanding about my needs in this area. P.S. I want you to examine the appearances of these four characters and start taking bets on which one is going to get saved. Ten-to-one odds.
Jessica: She has the pain pills! The ONLY PAIN PILLS!!! And if we have her fired for her inappropriate proselytizing then we won't be able to get our pain medication because she'll take it with her!!! Does Chick even read his dialog?
Andrew: "Oh no, we offended Clara! She'll take away her magical ice cream truck full of goodies!"
Jessica: "She's an enemy!" No, she's an irritating Bible-thumper who doesn't understand the boundaries she should respect at work. Let's not blow things out of proportion here.
Andrew: Oh that Clara's a tough old broad, isn't she. Dispensing earthy advice with a few quips to teach them white folk how to be funky and free. To be played by Whoopie Goldberg in the feature film adaptation of this tract.
Jessica: Yeah! I may think you're horribly confused sinners who indulged in a filthy and degenerate lifestyle and who deserve to die for having the ABSOLUTE GALL to not suppress who you really are, it doesn't mean I don't love you! I clean your bed-pans. Now shut your queer pie-holes! Screw this lady.
Jessica: These comics always operate from a position that non-Christians give half a rat's ass what Christians think of them and where they'll go when they die. What she's saying is insensitive and hostile, but it's more of the "Sin gave you AIDS" rather than the "You aren't children of God" that they should be getting in a knot over.
Andrew: Each one of them knows what they did! "I got AIDS from a dirty needle stick." "I got it from my wife, who used to have a drug problem." In Chick-land it's still 1986, and the only way to get AIDS is to be gay, and all gay people WILL get AIDS.
Jessica: Oh, no you don't! She's a health care provider dealing with terminally ill patients. If she's upsetting them by saying they're the ones to blame for being sick and they're going to Hell then she probably shouldn't be working there.
Andrew: Well... her story is tragic and all, but what does it have to do with condemning the AIDS patients to hell?
Jessica: OK, woah, woah, woah. Time out. Full stop. Hold the presses. If I understand this correctly she's basically implying that one catches "Teh Ghey" from be being raped in the same manner one would catch food poisoning from eating some expired chicken. Like you get molested and BAM! You've got the queer. I hope I don't have to actually explain how ludicrous that idea is.
Andrew: Apparently homosexuality is an STD. And the only cure is more cowbell Jesus! Good thing that church was there, otherwise she might have involuntarily become a lesbian! This makes it seem that all these gay characters were just a church visit away from becoming upstanding, moral, generously tithing heterosexuals. I wonder if Chick even realizes he's trying to replace "I was born this way and had no choice" with "I was made this way, and had no choice." After all, if it's the demons, then whatchagonnado?
Jessica: Is that thing on the left supposed to be a lady? Egads. It looks a bit like Tom from Green Angels.
Andrew: It's just that easy, huh?
Jessica: Oh for fu- Yeah, Jack. Yeah. You've got everything all figured out. Molestation = Teh Ghey. Up your ass with broken glass. BTW... here's that article he's referenced. What is says is that it is possible, though somewhat difficult for lesbians to get AIDS from other women. What that has to do with anything, I'm not entirely sure.
Andrew: Yeah, lesbians can get AIDs, and so can straight people. I remember Dan Savage had a quip that went something like "It's not like gay people are two sticks rubbing together and AIDS is fire."
Jessica: So if I understand the time line correctly here, a person gets molested or raped. They immediately catch the homo even though they were straight before. They then make up lies to justify why they are gay. I... don't really understand.
Andrew: It's the devil's fault! But it's also your fault too. Chick has a sort of uneasy regard for free will, doesn't he?
Jessica: I like this subtle jab at the Catholics that Chick is wont to do from time to time. You know altar boys just have huge bulls-eye targets painted on the seats of their pants.
Andrew: This is one of the problems with using a religious tract to prove a factual point. Jack Chick believes molestation makes you gay. Lo and behold, all the gay characters were molested. Q.E.D.? The problem is that the author has his thumb on the scale. Of course the gay characters were molested- they were written that way.
Jessica: I would wager a guess that they do not, in fact, remember how they changed after that seeing as how they just said they were born that way.
Andrew: I... there's just not much to say about this page.
Jessica: The demon on the left looks extraordinarily bored. Or sad. Maybe the dead guy was a friend of his. I want to give him a flower or something.
Andrew: "You know, it's tough being a demon. I worked like 20 years to get this guy, and now he's gone, just like that. I mean, I know that's my job, but it makes me a little sad. All that work."
Jessica: I know these people use the term "strange flesh" to mean same-sex attraction, but I prefer to think they really are talking about STRANGE flesh. Like the backs of your knees. Or that dimpled area right above your buttocks. Or the insides of your toes. Yeah... now THAT'S HAWT!!!
Jessica: The guy in the foreground seems slightly off-put or disgusted by the flames engulfing is left hand. It's like he's saying in his best Winnie The Pooh voice "Oh, bother. My hand seems to have caught fire. Whatever shall I do now?"
Andrew: "People thought they could get away with it" but the demons made them do it. Punish 'em anyway!
Jessica: Jack seems to think that all people with HIV develop Kaposi's Sarcoma without exception. I don't think that's exactly the case but it seems Chick, and people like him, seem to enjoy using it as a visual short-hand for "This character has AIDS." P.S. That Wikipedia article has finally given me a name for my new grunge metal band - "Malignant Neoplasm"
Andrew: Yes, according to this, "no unsaved man or woman stands a chance against his powers." So how, in Chickverse, is it your fault if the devil makes you do something? I just don't get it.
Jessica: Here we go again. It's like evil spirits are real and you can catch them from toilet seat or something.
Jessica: Jesus predicted wars and natural disasters, and I'll be damned! There are wars and natural disasters now! He must be coming back, like, yesterday! Look busy guys! Jesus is coming!!!
Andrew: I know Chick and company think "the world" is just horribly wicked and getting worse all the time, but compared to, oh, say the entire 20th century, things actually aren't that bad right now.
Jessica: Is there a reason Jesus couldn't use all of Noah's name there? Does he have some sort of bone disease that causes him to drop certain syllables from certain words or something?
Andrew: Oddly enough, when I use the ol' bible passage locator, it's got the full name. That's KJV, too, so I don't know what Chick is using. The Wycliffe Translation has "Noe", but I didn't think we were supposed to use anything other than KJV.
Jessica: John 3:16... blah, blah, blah.
Andrew: And once again, we know this happened because... it says so in a book. We trust the book because it was written by God. We know it was written by God because the book says so, and obviously you have to trust the book. Does this cause anybody else concern?
Jessica: Believe on Jesus? That doesn't sound exactly right.
Andrew: First "Noe" and now "believe on Jesus". Our terminology is just all screwed up today.
Jessica: This is completely arbitrary. Two yay's and two nay's. I also like the completely non-sequitur anger "I hate your Jesus!" apropos of nothing at all. How about "I still don't believe your Jesus exists." Not everyone who isn't a Christian hates Jesus. Most just think the whole idea is laughable and stupid.
Jessica: Horray! Jesus kicked out the spirit monster and cured Bobby of The Gay! Too bad he didn't cure him of AIDS while he was at it. Thanks, Jesus. Whenever someone who is terminally ill gets saved in the Chickverse they suddenly can't wait to die. "I just got saved! Awesome! Someone get me a gun, I'm going to see Jesus RIGHT NOW!!!"
Andrew: "Oh, what, you expected me to save you from your disease? Like I used to cure lepers and stuff? Eh... I don't do that one anymore, actually. Union regulations- you understand." Chick imagines this world where gay people chose to be gay, then go on around strong-arming other people into joining them, as though being gay was a religion or a social movement. He never seems to ask why anyone would chose to be gay, and deal with the difficulties- condemnation from moral leaders, difficulties with parents and family, the need to seek out companionship in dangerous places- that have tended to follow for most of human history. Being normal is far easier.
Jessica: I don't know what that is supposed to be in the first panel. Is it like a comet, or a shitty pizza flavored ice cream cone?
Andrew: I think we're being extremely literal about "one- third of our planet". It's like a pie-chart, with one-third being devoted to hail and fire. Unfortunately, Chick doesn't have the sharpest grasp of geometry, or realize that a sphere and a circle have different surface areas.
Jessica: As a place name, shouldn't "Hell" be capitalized?
Andrew: We've just got weird typological stuff and terminology all over the place this time.
Jessica: Miss going to hell by doing this... performing the Salah. That's what you meant, right?
Conclusion Andrew: Like some other tracts, this is a grade-A example of bait and switch. This one's about AIDS! Read it and learn! But really, it's not about AIDS per se, it's about demons. Yup, invisible spirits, like its 1690's Salem. In this tract, AIDS is nothing more than the final coup de grace for gays, God's punishment for sin in viral form. And since in Chickverse, gay people just get AIDS as a matter of course, all our characters are gay AIDS patients, because there are no other kinds. Gotta love the Chick logic. Molestation -> evil spirits -> gay -> AIDS. There's no ifs, ands, or buts about it. I doubt Chick has ever talked to a real gay person, other than those poor "ex-gay" suckers. |
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But wait a minute. What if someone told you that within 10 minutes, the number of people who remember what seems to you like the worst moment of your high school life is going to be approximately one, and that one person is going to be you? Because someone is telling you that, and that someone is science.
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"You can trust us. We have lab coats."
Back in 2000, researchers conducted a series of experiments to determine to what degree people thought their behavior was noticed by others. The research consisted of forcing test subjects to wear Barry Manilow T-shirts in front of observers (because science is a cruel motherfucker sometimes), then state how many of the observers they thought had noticed it, as well as putting them into a group of people tasked with making a decision and having them report on how they thought the others would rate their contributions.
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The results were fairly conclusive: When made to wear an embarrassing T-shirt, test subjects predicted that twice as many observers had noticed the shirt than actually had. When put into a group brainstorm, subjects believed that others would judge them more critically and rate them as making more speech errors and offensive comments than they actually had. Paradoxically, subjects also believed that they had spoken more often than they did, and that they would be rated higher by the others on the general awesomeness of their contributions.
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"And what do you think, guy in the stupid shirt who we'll all laugh at forever?"
In short, people thought their mistakes pretty much defined them in the eyes of others, when in fact everyone else cared very little about whether they wore a bad shirt or made a shitty suggestion. Scientists called this the "spotlight effect," referencing how a typical person believes they're always in the spotlight, when in fact everyone else in the room is far too busy being aware of their own imaginary spotlight to give any fucks about what's going on under yours.
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While this unfortunately means that others are probably going to forget about your positive contributions almost as soon as you make them, it also means they'll forget about your colossal fuck-ups just as quickly. And let's face it, your average teenager is probably less concerned about being remembered for correctly answering that one teacher's bonus question than for the Gym Shorts Incident.
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Unless it makes it to YouTube. In which case, good luck finding a new school in another country. On another planet.
So add up all of this and it becomes clear that adolescence is just the pile of shit and friendship bracelets you're required to spin your tires in for a while before they let you out onto the open road that is the rest of your life. If you spend your time there trying to succeed at being a teenager, you may never get around to succeeding at being a human being.
Andrew occasionally writes stuff. He has neither a blog nor a Twitter because he's still living in the '90s.
For more life advice, check out 5 Reasons Life Actually Does Get Better and 6 Harsh Truths That Will Make You a Better Person.
If you're pressed for time and just looking for a quick fix, then check out The Hilarious Story of American Football Abroad. |
CLOSE In police shooting investigations, the Riverside County DA's Office will now release "determination letters" instead of case files. Check out this video to understand why that matters to you.
Buy Photo These files, which cover a 2012 police shooting in meticulous detail, were released by the DA’s Office in February. Under the DA’s new policy, documents like this will no longer be made public. (Photo11: The Desert Sun)Buy Photo Story Highlights Police shooting case files will no longer be released to the public.
District Attorney says new policy is "more transparent."
Expert says DA is bucking a national trend of releasing more info, not less.
The Riverside County District Attorney’s Office will no longer release documents from the case files of police shootings, ending a unique policy that allowed a rare, detailed view into the investigations of deaths at the hands of law enforcement officers.
In place of a trove of documents that were previously released, the DA’s Office will now begin publicly commenting on police shootings. Under a new policy, whenever an officer is cleared of criminal wrongdoing in a shooting investigation, prosecutors will issue a “determination letter” explaining their decision not to file charges.
The policy shift will fundamentally change what the public learns about police shootings in Riverside County. Hefty binders filled with files will be replaced by shorter, to-the-point statements. The decisions of local prosecutors will be easier to understand, but at a time when nationwide outrage over some shootings have increased calls for transparency, the public will ultimately get less information about each shooting in the county.
Buy Photo Mike Hestrin (Photo11: The Desert Sun)
“In my mind, this is a better policy,” said District Attorney Mike Hestrin, who initiated the change. “It’s more transparent, because it puts our reasons down on paper in a way that is readily available for the public and the media ... Our analysis will be out there, as opposed to shoving a 1,500 page book at someone and saying ‘have at it.’”
Transparency advocates say the DA’s office should do both — explain its decisions and keep the files open. A policing expert added the new policy is bucking a trend amongst law enforcement, many of whom are now releasing more information about police shootings, not less.
Chris Burbank, a former Salt Lake City police chief who now works with UCLA’s Center of Policing Equity, said that since the shooting of Mike Brown in Ferguson one year ago, the erosion of public trust in police has spurred many law enforcement agencies to start releasing documents, photos, audio recordings and video footage.
The local DA’s office chose an odd time to go against the flow, Burbank said.
“This sounds very unusual in comparison to where the nation is going,” Burbank said. “Most agencies, most cities and most district attorneys are moving towards a more robust release policy.”
Hestrin’s changes bring an end to the DA’s longstanding policy, which was unique among Southern California prosecutors and likely beyond. That policy was created to reassure the public that officers were not above the law after the controversial death of Tyisha Miller, a Rubidoux woman who was shot by Riverside police in 1998.
Under this policy, when an officer was cleared in a shooting investigation, the DA’s office would confirm the decision but make no other comment. The office would then give journalists and the general public a one-year window to review case files from the shooting investigation. These files — which spanned hundreds of pages — included interviews with officers, witness statements, shooting diagrams, autopsy results and sometimes photos.
This photograph shows the scene of a police shooting that killed Cpl. Allan DeVillena II in 2012 in Palm Springs. The photo was released by the DA’s office in February, but under a new policy, photos like these will no longer be made public. (Photo11: Courtesy of the Riverside County District Attorney’s Office)
The policy was so unusual because many of the documents were exempt from open government law but were released anyway. In the absence of a future lawsuit, most of these documents could not be obtained anywhere else.
This year, the Desert Sun used the DA’s detail-rich case file to scrutinize shootings in two investigative articles.
In February, the Sun reviewed more than 1,000 pages from the shooting of Marine Cpl. Allan DeVillena, a drunk driver who was shot to death by police in Palm Springs in 2012. The story revealed that the tactics used by Officer Chad Nordman left his partner with "no choice" but to pull the trigger, escalating a confrontation with DeVillena.
In June, the newspaper reviewed more than 500 pages from the shooting of Alejandro Rendon, an Indio man who was killed while fleeing by Indio Police Officer Alex Franco in 2013. The documents showed Franco had attended the funeral of a murdered officer one day beforehand, and was still in grief when he shot Rendon.
In both of these stories, the revelations came directly from transcripts of interviews with police officers. Although they were made public under the old transparency policy, these transcripts will no longer be released under the new policy.
The new policy was approved on June 23, less than a week after the story on the Indio shooting published.
Hestrin said the policy change was motivated, at least in part, by complaints from other media organizations, who claimed the DA’s Office was “burying” answers by releasing case files instead of answering questions.
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“Why not do both?” urged Peter Scheer, a transparency expert. “Ideally, you want an explanation, but you also want the opportunity to dig into the documentation using that explanation as a road map. I think everybody is better off if you have both.”
Scheer is the executive director of the First Amendment Coalition, a California-based nonprofit dedicated to free speech and open government. When told about the policy change at the DA’s office, Scheer commended the office for releasing so many documents under its old policy, but said the new policy would ultimately be less transparent.
“I believe the more transparency there is about these decisions, the more credibility the criminal justice system has in its decisions not to prosecute,” Scheer said.
Burbank, the former Salt Lake City police chief, agrees.
“I would always advise you release as much as you can,” Burbank added. “It puts you in a position of trust.”
Buy Photo (Photo11: Jay Calderon/The Desert Sun)
Although the new DA’s policy will halt the release of case files in most police shootings, Hestrin said he retained the authority to “open the book” in the case of an extremely controversial shooting. These requests will be considered on a case-by-case basis.
The DA’s Office did not release a copy of the new policy. Hestrin said the new transparency guidelines are part of a larger policy that deals with police shootings in general, and portions of that policy were still being finalized and not yet ready for release.
On Friday afternoon, the Riverside County Sheriff’s Association released a statement praising the DA’s Office for the policy shift. The union said the new detirmination letters would end unexplained decisions about police shootings, which sometimes seeded public doubt.
“An unexplained decision by the District Attorney to decline to pursue charges in a police shooting case leaves a vacuum that all too often is filled by distrust, suspicion, speculation and innuendo, the union statement said. “A fully articulated and supported decision by the District Attorney will go a long way to restoring public and officer confidence and transparency in these volatile circumstances.”
Reporter Brett Kelman can be reached by phone at (760) 778-4642, by email at brett.kelman@desertsun.com, or on Twitter @TDSbrettkelman.
Read or Share this story: http://desert.sn/1TQaVL1 |
Ryan Richter is a bit more familiar with Wilmington than the rest of his Toronto FC teammates.
Richter, a 25-year-old right back, played the Hammerheads in 2012 when he was a member of the Charleston Battery. Richter made 24 appearances for the Battery, which beat Wilmington 1-0 in the USL Pro championship game. Richter signed with Toronto the following spring and has played in 13 games
“I knew when I was in that position it meant a lot to play MLS competition,” Richter said ahead of tonight’s friendly between the Hammers and TFC. “It’s kind of what everyone wants to do in their career is move u p. That was always the case for me.”
Richter was selected by the Philadelphia Union in the 2011 MLS Supplemental Draft. He didn’t play a game for the Union and was sent on loan to Harrisburg of USL Pro for one game before signing with Charleston in 2012. Richter, a childhood friend of Hammerheads midfielder Steven Miller, said he would have benefited from the type of partnership between MLS and USL Pro that exists now.
“If I had that my first year it could have maybe helped me progress in my career a little faster than I did,” Richter said. “There’s definitely guys who are good enough to be on MLS rosters in USL, so having these affiliations kind of puts you on the radar of certain teams where you might not have the option otherwise.”
Still, Richter is an example of using the lower-tier American soccer leagues to make MLS. It’s also a route taken by Dwayne De Rosario, one of Toronto’s most decorated and well-known players.
The 36-year-old De Rosario was still a teenager when he returned from a two-year stint playing in Germany from 1997-99. He called it a bad experience and wanted to eventually get to MLS. He started working out with the Richmond Kickers, they signed him, and he played two years for the club before signing with the San Jose Earthquakes.
“I was kind of in limbo a little bit,” De Rosario said. “I got a call from Richmond and first, I was just going there to train and to keep my fitness level up. They offered me a contract, and it was decent, so I thought maybe I could use this as a stepping stone to get into (MLS). Thankfully, it worked out.”
De Rosario has been in MLS for 14 seasons and was league MVP in 2011. He’s also the all-time leading goal scorer for the Canadian national team.
With Toronto in town for tonight’s exhibition match, it’s a reminder to the current Hammerheads that USL Pro can lead to MLS. There’s always some luck involved, as Hammerheads coach David Irving pointed out, but it’s always nice to see examples of working up the ladder.
“There’s always a chance,” Irving said. “Somewhere if you look along most players’ career, they’ve had a little luck. They’ve had a break somewhere. Now even more so (having an MLS partnership). It’s developing. It’s opportunities. It opens up a whole other door.” |
As Firefighters you are well aware that there is significant unrest in our Country due to the election results. While you may have thought the protests may or may not impact us-it did tonight.
Tonight, due to the huge protests in Los Angeles, a MAJOR fire service event that supports YOU had to be cancelled for the safety of those attending.
Tonight WAS the annual gala fund raiser for the Firefighter Cancer Support Network. Now I really don’t care how right, middle or left you are, who you voted for or whatever-the fact is that the most MAJOR FIRE FIGHTER CANCER SUPPORT organization in North America was sucker punched and had it’s wind knocked out this evening-and this impacts every one of us.
OUR REQUEST IS that you take 5 minutes and make a donation so we can help them make this huge loss up thru donations.
PLEASE GO TO: https://firefightercancersupport.org/ and click on top, the blue button marked DONATE.
If that link fails, click here: https://interland3.donorperfect.net/weblink/WebLink.aspx?name=E201016&id=1
So please-
If you voted for TRUMP-PLEASE DONATE
If you voted for CLINTON-PLEASE DONATE
If you voted for anyone else-PLEASE DONATE
if you support the protesters-PLEASE DONATE
If you don’t support the protesters-PLEASE DONATE
If you appreciate the time we put into THE SECRET LIST-PLEASE DONATE
If you belong to IAFF, IAFC, NVFC. ISFSI, NFPA-They all support the FCSN…SO PLEASE DONATE
Quite frankly, if you have a pulse-PLEASE DONATE
$10.00 $25.00 $50.00 $100.00 or more…whatever you can do. PLEASE. If your Union local can-please donate. if your Volunteer association can-please donate.
MAYBE once a year we identify an “EMERGENCY” where all of your help is needed-and this would be it. The FIREFIGHTER CANCER SUPPORT NETWORK is a NON-profit with only TWO paid staffers-the rest are VOLUNTEERS supporting EVERY firefighter and their family dealing with cancer-and all the prevention work that goes along with it.
PLEASE GO TO: https://firefightercancersupport.org/ and click on top, the blue button marked DONATE.
Your help is more than just sincerely appreciated. It is urgently needed as this was their only annual fundraiser. And now it has been shut down for the safety of those attending due to the protesters. |
Thursday, January 19, 2012
The day after several major websites staged a mass blackout over proposed United States anti piracy legislation, namely the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and the PROTECT IP Act (PIPA) proposals, members of online activist group Anonymous have knocked US Justice Department, Federal Bureau of Investigation's (FBI), Recording Industry Association of America's (RIAA) and Universal Music (UMG)'s websites offline in apparently coordinated web attacks. Several other websites such as BMI.com were also taken offline.
At about 4:15 p.m. EST both www.justice.gov, www.fbi.gov, and www.universalmusic.com went offline. Shortly after 5:00 p.m. the RIAA's website also went dark. At the time of this report, all three websites are still offline. Just after 6:00 p.m., Universal Music Group shut down their website for "maintenance." In postings to Twitter, members of Anonymous claim responsibility, saying the attacks are a response to the FBI's seizure and shutdown of file-sharing website Megaupload, and in protest against the American anti-piracy laws. The group calls this "the largest attack ever by Anonymous" with over 5,600 people participating in the attack.
"The government takes down Megaupload? 15 minutes later Anonymous takes down government & record label sites. Expect us," stated a message from 'YourAnonNews' on Twitter. Another member of Anonymous told RT News that there are more attacks to come.
Megaupload was a file-sharing website boasting over 50 million visits per day. On Thursday the FBI seized and shutdown the website, arresting its founder and three other people. A total of seven people connected to the website were arrested and indicted on charges that include copyright infringement, racketeering, and conspiracy to commit money laundering. Authorities say Megaupload allowed individuals to download movies "often before their theatrical release, music, television programs, electronic books, and business and entertainment software on a massive scale." They also claim the website was costing entertainment industry copyright-holders "well in excess of US$500 million" in damages.
Related news
"Wikipedia, Reddit in 'blackout' against SOPA, PROTECT IP laws" — Wikinews, January 17, 2012
Sources |
BATON ROUGE — It’s 6:19 a.m. on the last Monday in January — or more specifically, 47 hours and 41 minutes until the official start of National Signing Day — and the LSU Football Operations Center is already buzzing. Surrounded by a three-story floor-to-ceiling display of trophies and pictures, a giant video board plays LSU football highlights non-stop. The halls on the first floor used to be covered with pictures of former Tigers in the NFL, but as soon as Ed Orgeron was named the interim head coach after Les Miles was canned in late September, he replaced them with team photos of every LSU conference and national championship team in the school’s rich history. Some inside the LSU program believe that Miles didn’t want these old championship photos up because a few of them contained his predecessor, Nick Saban, who has since turned Alabama into the sport’s resident super power.
“Ed doesn’t worry about any of that B.S.,” says one of the staffers. “It’s all about having the right mindset.” As in “one team, one heartbeat” — Orgeron’s mantra.
Orgeron wasn’t the first one in the building this morning. Derek Ponamsky arrived 45 minutes earlier to get a quick workout in. Truth is, the real sweating for Ponamsky and his colleagues is just about to begin. Over the next three days, in the wake of a coaching transition, they’ll try and close on a recruiting class. Ponamsky’s title is Special Assistant to the Head Coach. He’s been on the job for about four months. The 43-year-old, a.k.a. “The Prince,” was a Baton Rouge radio host when Orgeron invited him to his first team meeting and announced him as his new assistant. The two grew close in the year Orgeron was out of work in 2014 — after his 6-2 stint as USC’s interim head coach in 2013 and before he was hired by Miles as the Tigers defensive line coach. Orgeron was a weekly guest on the Culotta & The Prince show.
Article continues below ...
LSU’s football operations building, in the early morning hours Chris Parent/LSU Athletics
A barrel-chested, 6-foot, 240-pound whirlwind with a gravelly voice that booms throughout the Tiger football complex, Orgeron pops into Ponamsky’s office to go over the morning agenda so they can be ready for an 8 a.m. staff meeting. The Tigers have 19 commitments. They might sign as many as eight more, but there are few certainties. Word is Devonta Smith, a touted in-state wideout, took an unofficial visit to Alabama over the weekend, contrary to what some folks close to the speedy 158-pounder have told Orgeron. Getting good intel and deciphering messages while sifting through a torrent of rumors is critical as big-time college programs finalize their classes, especially now that the SEC prohibits schools from sending out unlimited scholarship papers. The days of oversigning with 38-man recruiting classes are over.
The Tigers entered the week No. 6 in the national recruiting rankings. LSU, like most FBS programs, has whittled its recruiting board from the 1,000 or so prospects that have been evaluated at some point over the past 12 months. Among the top guys on their entire board: Myles Brennan, a poised, strong-armed 6-4 QB; JaCoby Stevens, a rangy 6-2 safety; Tyler Shelvin, a 6-2, 370-pound defensive tackle the staff IDed as the top in-state player; K’Lavon Chaisson, the guy they believe is the nation’s top edge rusher — and a slighter version of their current All-American, Arden Key; and Marvin Wilson, a 6-4, 330-pound defense tackle whose freakish short area quickness reminds Orgeron of one of his protégés, Cortez Kennedy.
The first three, they think, are essential locks for LSU. The latter two, a pair of Texans from Houston, are going to have the Tigers on edge for much of the two and a half days.
*****
Ed Orgeron, in his office Chris Parent/LSU Athletics
Several Tigers assistants are already in their offices, working phones and trying to get the latest info about their targets in preparation for the 8 a.m. meeting. Orgeron heads into his office. When he was named the interim head coach at USC, with eight games remaining on the regular-season schedule, he didn’t move into the big office. His boss, athletic director Pat Haden, didn’t want him to. At LSU, it’s all his.
Even though Orgeron’s been in this office for four months, it’s still sparsely decorated. There are big binders full of scouting reports and game plans for various opponents; a portrait of Orgeron, his wife Kelly and their three boys; and a refrigerator case stocked with bottled waters, Diet Cokes and cans of Monster Energy drink. On the wall facing his desk is a framed American flag. Next to it is a small glass case in the corner with assorted LSU items. Above it is a picture of one of his old USC recruits, Leonard Williams, as he poses for a picture with NFL commissioner Roger Goodell at the 2014 draft. Across it Williams has signed “TO COACH O THANKS FOR EVERYTHING!!” Resting next to that frame is a wooden plaque that was given to him by a fan he’d never met before. In all caps it says “NEVER NEVER NEVER NEVER NEVER QUIT!” It reminds him of the biggest lesson his late father taught him.
Orgeron’s favorite part of the office is the small balcony to his left that overlooks LSU’s four practice fields. Around this time every day he says his prayers about how thankful he is to be living his dream. It still feels surreal to the Louisiana native even almost two months after being named the permanent head coach at LSU, especially after how heartbreaking it was to turn the USC team around only to be informed by Haden that they were hiring somebody else instead.
“One of my worst days turned out to be my best day,” he says now, knowing that if he had gotten the USC job, he wouldn’t have gotten LSU. On his flight home to Louisiana after getting snubbed by Haden, Orgeron told his wife that aside from the day he buried his daddy, this was the worst day of his life.
“No, it’s not,” she told him. “God has a bigger plan.”
Orgeron, leading the Tigers out to the field before a 2016 game
“Yeah, right,” a skeptical Orgeron thought. And yet, here he is now fully aware of so many quirky things that needed to happen for him to be in this position. If his old boss Lane Kiffin didn’t get fired as early in the season as he did at USC, would Orgeron have had enough time to show people he’d made significant changes from his three chaotic seasons as head coach at Ole Miss, where his teams went just 10-25? Or what if Miles didn’t get ousted early enough in the 2016 season to afford Orgeron the opportunity to prove to LSU brass that he was right to take over? Or, how about the fact that Miles was rescued from the hot seat late in the 2015 season by his players too? If LSU had dumped Miles then, Orgeron would’ve had no shot. And, if Orgeron didn’t fail as spectacularly as he did back at Ole Miss, he probably wouldn’t have been as open to making the big changes he did in his own style to become the type of coach he is now, which is much the same guy the recruits have seen for years — intense but upbeat, and one that understands his own strengths and weaknesses.
On his balcony, Orgeron visualizes Tiger greats Charles Alexander, A.J. Duhe and Kevin Faulk, among others, running across these fields in their heyday. Orgeron can see himself back in his late teens out there too, doing drills right by All-SEC nose guard Ramsey Dardar. Orgeron only lasted about two weeks there as an LSU freshman before he quit and moved back home. Ever since, he’s regretted that decision with everything in his soul. He was given the number 54 at LSU, and sees it as sweet irony that he was 54 when he got his dream job as the Tigers head coach.
His office opens up to LSU’s war room, where he spends most of his day. In the center is a long rectangular table surrounded by two dozen chairs. The walls are covered with dozens of magnetized player profiles arranged by position and class. On the wall behind Orgeron’s chair is the “Boys from the Boot” board that has all of their in-state prospects. On the wall to his left is the “National Board” that has everyone else. On the other side is a large day calendar detailing the next three months as well as a breakdown of when each recruit took their official visits. Orgeron is manic about organization. Some staff holdovers say it is a big change from the Miles era, where they didn’t put the same emphasis on junior recruiting.
Seated immediately to Orgeron’s right is 31-year-old Austin Thomas, LSU’s general manager. Thomas grew up a recruiting junkie, getting trouble in school on National Signing Day two straight years for spending so much time in the library trying to get online updates on recruits, he says. “From that point on, we always looked at (Signing Day) as a ‘sick’ day, and I knew what I wanted to do. I didn’t want to coach. I always wanted to do personnel and was fascinated by putting things together.”
Austin Thomas Chris Parent/LSU Athletics
Unlike almost everyone else in the war room, Thomas didn’t play college football. He got a master’s in sports management from Tennessee and broke in at UT as a recruiting intern in 2008 and then earned much more responsibility when Lane Kiffin took over the Vols program in 2009. Monte Kiffin, who had come from the NFL to join his son’s staff, offered Thomas a job as a quality control assistant with the defense. Thomas was 23, working up scouting reports, writing practice scripts and sitting next to the coaching legend in the box on game day. The Kiffins only stayed at Tennessee one season before Lane bolted for the USC job. Orgeron followed, as did Thomas. He worked his way up at USC to assistant director of recruiting while the Trojans program coped with hefty NCAA sanctions and scholarship hits. Then in 2013, another Orgeron protege, Frank Wilson, then LSU’s running backs coach, recruited Thomas to join the LSU staff. Thomas helped the Tigers land the nation’s No. 2 class in 2014. However when USC offered an assistant AD job with the title of Director of Player Personnel, Thomas went back west, but he only was there 10 weeks before LSU offered the same role and he returned.
“When Austin left, this place went to chaos,” Orgeron says. “It was crazy.”
Thomas also has proven to be quite the recruiter for LSU. He reeled in Stevens, the five-star safety from his home turf in Tennessee, and played a key role in helping flip Jacob Phillips, a heady 230-pounder from Tennessee ranked by some sites as the nation’s top middle linebacker. Phillips had been committed to Oklahoma since October but announced he was going to LSU last week after taking an unofficial visit to Baton Rouge. Once Phillips got to LSU and hunkered down in the film room with Dave Aranda, regarded by many as the nation’s top defensive coordinator, the kid was hooked.
At 7:10 a.m., LSU gets a jolt of good news. Dennis “Meatball” Johnson, the Tigers’ young outside linebackers coach, tells Orgeron he just got a text from Chaisson. “He said, ‘I’m coming. No doubt.’”
“WOOHOOOO!” Orgeron shouts as his face lights up before giving Johnson a big fist bump.
“WAY TO GO, MEATBALL!”
*****
Dave Aranda Chris Parent/LSU Athletics
The 8 a.m. meeting focuses on watching as much film as humanly possible of the top 2018 and 2019 prospects, both in Louisiana and around the country. Orgeron loves being the first one to offer a prospect. He trusts his ability to evaluate, something he honed in his time working for Jimmy Johnson and Pete Carroll. Plus he knows that affords him the opportunity to play the loyalty card with a kid, since he was the first college coach to believe in them. (The staff estimates LSU was the first offer for half of their recruiting class.) He also prods his assistants to connect with high school coaches and get him on the phone with their players. Before that, though, priority one is the “Hotlist” — an update on where they stand with each undecided 2017 recruit.
Orgeron moves 10 nameplates over to the white board next to him. Chaisson; Phidarian Mathis, an in-state defensive lineman; Todd Harris, an in-state safety; Marvin Wilson; Tyler Taylor, a middle linebacker from Georgia; Markaviest “Big Cat” Bryant, an edge rusher from Georgia; Ellis Brooks, a linebacker from Virginia; Neil Farrell, a defensive lineman from Alabama; Willie Gay, a linebacker from Mississippi; and Devonta Smith. Much of the 15-minute discussion surrounds how to best handle the next two days with each prospect, but in the case of two linebackers, the intel does not bode well for LSU. Like when Aranda tells Orgeron he thinks Brooks is going to go to Penn State, or when offensive line coach Jeff Grimes mentions that a Tiger commit sent him a text earlier in the morning that Gay said he sounded like he wasn’t coming, telling the fellow recruit, “I don’t think I can do this.”
Linebacker is the biggest need LSU has for the class of 2017. Orgeron says Aranda pointed out to him that LSU has more kickers on scholarship than linebackers, “and we’ve got to get that fixed.”
LSU has taken a nice step towards doing that already in gaining solid commitments from Phillips and Patrick Queen, an in-state kid who clocked a 4.49 40 at their summer camp.
A third inside linebacker also may be headed to Baton Rouge. Orgeron tells his staff that he and Taylor, a consensus four-star middle linebacker, had a good conversation last night. Aranda: “I feel good about him. Let’s give him some space.”
Before film starts, Orgeron wants to get an update on what is going on with the top 2018 and 2019 prospects in-state. The staff actually has already scouted — and offered — many of the players ranked on the 247Sports Louisiana database that’s projected onto a screen, but since the coaches have been on the road for the past few weeks, there’s new info to be sorted out. The No. 1-ranked recruit on 247’s list, cornerback Kelvin Joseph, is committed to LSU. The Tigers have commitments from three of the top nine players listed. Trying to lock up the best local players is always pivotal when you’re the only Power 5 program in a talent-rich state, but it’s become a source of frustration for Tiger faithful. They haven’t beat Alabama on the field since 2011, and they’ve lost some key players to Saban too, starting with No. 1 player Landon Collins in 2012. Tim Williams, the No. 3 player from right in Baton Rouge, was next to bolt the following year. Cam Robinson, the No. 2 player, headed to Alabama the year after that. There is no recruit in the 2017 class in Louisiana that is as highly regarded as those guys were, but Orgeron is determined his staff must do a better job in-state.
“Call these coaches. Text these guys. I wanna talk to ‘em,” Orgeron says.
*****
Ed Orgeron and defensive backs coach Corey Raymond Chris Parent/LSU Athletics
Running back is the biggest priority for the 2018 class. Orgeron plans on signing two. LSU is losing junior Leonard Fournette to the NFL this spring and Heisman contender Derrius Guice, the SEC’s leading rusher, is likely to jump after next season. LSU was very high on Cam Akers, but he’s headed to Florida State. They also missed out on a four-star in-state running back Travis Etienne, who’s going to Clemson.
Four of 247’s top nine running backs for 2018 have already committed. The top-ranked back, Zamir White from North Carolina, has not, but in a recent interview, he didn’t mention LSU among his favorites. The staff’s reaction to each of the running backs’ film sometimes doesn’t align with the rankings. One back’s first play on the tape has Orgeron sold. The kid, a smaller back, displays dazzling change-of-direction skills and balance in wriggling himself out of trouble after being surrounded by tacklers.
Much of the fodder as the staff pours through film is about whether good players could be special ones. Trying to decipher just how big and how fast a guy plays is vital, as is getting a read on the caliber of the competition. Verified track times help if the staff can find them. Responding to Orgeron’s prodding, his staff seems to bring him their cell phones every three minutes with a different high school coach or player on the other end. “I want you to holler at Coach O…”
“WHADDAYASAY!”
Orgeron is good at small talk. Usually it’s about food, often gumbo. His recall of their film, or coaches or past players from that area is uncanny. Any way to make an instant connection is invaluable at fostering a relationship and standing out from the herd. It also doesn’t hurt that he has personally recruited or developed 14 defensive linemen who have gone on to become first-round picks.
Dennis “Meatball” Johnson Chris Parent/LSU Athletics
The 2018 recruiting also serves as a way to not get so consumed with the impending decisions that they’ll find out about on Wednesday. A steady flow of staffers enters and exits with their cells pressed against their ears. Sometimes they’re waiting three deep with a recruit on the line for Orgeron to finish chatting up another prospect.
Meatball is going through his first Signing Day as a full-time coach. The 28-year-old, a former reserve defensive lineman for LSU from Mississippi, was promoted by Orgeron from graduate assistant about four months ago. For much of his time as a GA, Johnson didn’t even have a car. He usually walked two miles each way to the office, rain or shine. Johnson’s helped recruit some of the biggest names left on LSU’s board — Chaisson, Mathis, Big Cat Bryant and Wilson, the highest-rated uncommitted prospect in the entire country. Orgeron and Meatball both feel like they’ve developed strong relationships with Wilson’s mother and brother. They also felt very good about a 5 a.m. visit they had with Chaisson and his grandparents where the LSU coaches hustled to see him at home and then followed him to the airport and spent another 40 minutes with the pass rusher right up to the security checkpoint before he flew to Florida for an official visit last weekend.
At 3:45 p.m. Monday, Meatball gets more encouraging news. Chaisson’s grandmother texts the young coach to say she brought some LSU sweatshirts.
Thirty-nine minutes later, Thomas, the Tigers’ general manager, re-enters the war room with some potential bad news involving Mathis, a 290-pound defensive lineman from north Louisiana that LSU is battling for with Alabama. Every year, something seems to unfold that you’ve never seen before around Signing Day. This year, it’s Phidarian Mathis announcing his college choice from the gravesite of a friend, Tyrell Cameron, who was killed after a collision on the field in September 2015. Cameron, Thomas has heard from someone close to Mathis, was a big Alabama fan.
Derek Ponamsky Chris Parent/LSU Athletics
If it’s a sign that Mathis plans to pick Alabama, it conflicts with what Orgeron and Meatball have been hearing from the player’s family. But Ponamsky said he’s heard the same thing as Thomas has, and they were told that by two different people.
By late afternoon Monday, Meatball has his head in his hand with his cellphone in front of him on the table.
“These waves are crushing me,” he says. “This is gonna be the craziest two days of my life. At (FCS) Northwestern State, it wasn’t like this.”
“I need Dramamine just to come to work,” cracks Ponamsky, another Signing Day newbie. He says he’s also hearing Marvin Wilson is set to go with Florida State.
Orgeron doesn’t seem fazed. By 7 p.m. Monday, the LSU coaching office is empty. It’s another sign of how much he’s changed. At Ole Miss, he’d have demanded his staff stay and try and contact every recruit they’d offered that year, just in case they were having second thoughts.
Then again, it’s doubtful that Ole Miss team would have gotten visits from even a third of the guys they already have committed here now.
The biggest development on Tuesday happens at a gravesite in northeast Louisiana, where Mathis honors his late friend and does in fact announce he’s going to Alabama. Later in the day, Orgeron gets a text from defensive lineman Neil Farrell (down to FSU and LSU) that says “Go Tigers.” He’s coming. Truth be told, 24 hours earlier they figured they’d land one of these two linemen, but it wasn’t the one they’re ending up with. Orgeron also gets a text from Willie Gay, saying he’s staying at home to play at Mississippi State.
In his days as Pete Carroll’s recruiting coordinator at USC, Orgeron and the staff slept in the Trojans football office on the eve of Signing Day. Instead, he’ll get a few hours of sleep at a hotel on campus before coming back around 4 a.m.
*****
Forty minutes before the first National Signing Day signee will be official, Meatball delivers more good news from Chaisson: “K’Lavon’s grandmother bought $300 worth of LSU stuff and a Tiger statue.”
The official word that Chaisson’s a Tiger comes two hours later, at 7:20 a.m., when his high school coach sends in a screen shot of his signed National Letter of Intent, even though LSU won’t publicize it for almost another four hours since that’s when the high school is doing its announcements.
“I can finally breathe,” Meatball says, re-entering the room after getting a call from Chaisson.
“You just got the best pass rusher in the country!” Orgeron says. “A week ago, he was committed to Texas and you set up that 5 a.m. visit with him and you stayed with it.”
The head coach leads the staff into chants of “MEATBALL! MEATBALL!”
Chaisson becomes LSU’s fifth signee from Texas in the 2017 class and the third of the state’s top six prospects, Ponamsky notes. Of course, the biggest one — Wilson — still has yet to announce.
For most of the day, the projector screen in the front of the war room is showing ESPN’s Signing Day coverage. One of the first players to announce on the show is four-star safety Todd Harris, who as LSU expected, picks the Tigers over Alabama. A recruiting analyst on TV points out that it’s a five-minute bike ride from Harris’ school in Plaquemine over to the LSU campus. Ponamsky shakes his head and smiles.
“I told him, it’s five minutes as the crow flies! I didn’t say ride your bike across the river!”
Thomas surfs over to a stream of an Atlanta news station airing recruiting announcements from the College Football Hall of Fame in time for linebacker Tyler Taylor to say he’s going to become an LSU Tiger. Orgeron stands with fists raised in the air. “There he is, the next Kendell Beckwith,” he says. “I never thought we could get that kid out of Georgia. Dave (Aranda) did a tremendous job.”
But the Tigers soon get some bad news from Georgia. Big Cat Bryant, who they heard was coming to LSU, instead has signed with Auburn. Two other recruits that LSU didn’t feel optimistic about — receivers Devonta Smith and Nico Collins — also are going elsewhere.
“This is like giving birth while having open heart surgery,” Ponamsky says, as ESPNU teases the Marvin Wilson announcement for what seems like the 20th time.
*****
Ed Orgeron speaks to the crowd at the Bayou Bash Chris Parent/LSU Athletics
Wilson is expected to announce his decision at 3:30. By 3:25, the war room is packed again. A few early-enrolled freshmen file in along with an upperclass defensive back and Verge Ausberry, LSU’s deputy AD. “Hollywood Marv” is picking between four schools — LSU, Florida State, Ohio State and Oklahoma, but by this time of day the latter two know they’re out of it. According to ESPN, the Buckeyes staff has already closed up shop for the day. Former Texas coach-turned-TV analyst Mack Brown says the school that is going to get Wilson probably already knows.
“They usually call you right before he goes up,” Brown says. “If you haven’t heard much today, you’re pretty sure you’re out. And if you think you’re out, you’re usually out.”
Brown’s comments sink in for Orgeron, who hasn’t heard from Wilson in days. The cameras cut to Wilson in Houston, who grabs a bag and announces that he’s going to Tallahassee.
Inside the LSU war room, there is silence, aside from Wilson’s comments on the TV screen, for over a minute.
Finally.
“Hey, guys, great job,” Orgeron says. “Turn that off, OK? Great job. Great job. Great recruiting class. I’ll see y’all at the Bash.”
The Bash is the Bayou Bash, a fan event down at a local casino where Orgeron will talk recruiting and introduce his staff. Before that, though, he has to do a press conference. The timing’s rough. LSU just signed the nation’s No. 7 class, which is higher ranked than any coach taking over in a transition has ever achieved. It’s also 29 spots higher than the average of all of the other active SEC coaches did in their debut recruiting class, but the sting of the Wilson announcement has zapped most of the energy from the building.
The crowd at the Bayou Bash Chris Parent/LSU Athletics
The tone of the presser is still very upbeat, heavy on filling the needs at linebacker, quarterback and replacing all-everything defensive backs Jamal Adams and Tre’Davious White. In reality, Orgeron’s biggest commitments of all this winter were locking up Aranda as his defensive coordinator and Matt Canada to take over the offense. Of the 20 questions he fields, one is most pressing — about Orgeron’s pledge to put a fence around the state of Louisiana but still having a few get away this year. Once again, Nick Saban’s Alabama was a thorn in LSU’s side, getting three of the top five recruits from the state. LSU got the other two — Tyler Shelvin and Todd Harris.
“We have work to do,” Orgeron replies. “I said we’re going to get the best players in the state of Louisiana to come here. We missed out on some guys and obviously we have work to do, and that’s in our primary area. Those are some of the things we need to get fixed.”
Those fixes are why Orgeron, Thomas and Ponamsky were in the office by 7:45 a.m. Thursday morning. They have a meeting with AD Joe Alleva. More staff changes are in the works. Orgeron is going to try and hire his old pal from his USC days, Tommie Robinson, as LSU’s new running backs coach and recruiting coordinator. He also feels the Tigers need to get stronger in New Orleans.
Robinson, an Alabama native, was ranked by 247Sports as the nation’s No. 2 recruiter for the 2017 class. LSU only has one recruiter crack the Top 50. It’s Austin Thomas, who comes in at No. 11. “That’s cause I got Coach O,” Thomas says.
Just in the previous three days, Orgeron was on the phone with close to 100 recruits for the 2018 class. By the time the staff is back in the war room, the following Monday, LSU will have lined up its new receivers coach, Mickey Joseph, a former New Orleans area high school star who came from Louisiana Tech and has recruited the city for almost 20 years.
Orgeron knows he doesn’t have much time to waste. On Feb. 18, LSU hosts its big Boys From The Boot event for the best juniors in the state of Louisiana. After all, recruiting never stops. |
The Michelangelo virus is a computer virus first discovered on 4 February 1991 in Australia.[1] The virus was designed to infect DOS systems, but did not engage the operating system or make any OS calls. Michelangelo, like all boot sector viruses, basically operated at the BIOS level. Each year, the virus remained dormant until March 6, the birthday of Renaissance artist Michelangelo. There is no reference to the artist in the virus, and it is doubtful that the virus writer intended Michelangelo to be referenced to the virus. The name was chosen by researchers who noticed the coincidence of the activation date. The actual significance of the date to the author is unknown. Michelangelo is a variant of the already endemic Stoned virus.[citation needed]
On March 6, if the PC is an AT or a PS/2, the virus overwrites the first one hundred sectors of the hard disk with nulls. The virus assumes a geometry of 256 cylinders, 4 heads, 17 sectors per track. Although all the user's data would still be on the hard disk, it would be irretrievable for the average user.[citation needed]
On hard disks, the virus moves the original master boot record to cylinder 0, head 0, sector 7.
On floppy disks, if the disk is 360 KB, the virus moves the original boot sector to cylinder 0, head 1, sector 3.
On other disks, the virus moves the original boot sector to cylinder 0, head 1, sector 14.
This is the last directory of the 1.2 MB disks.
This is the second-to-last directory of the 1.44 MB disks.
The directory does not exist on 720 KB disks.
Although designed to infect DOS systems, the virus can easily disrupt other operating systems installed on the system since, like many viruses of its era, the Michelangelo infects the master boot record of a hard drive. Once a system became infected, any floppy disk inserted into the system (and written to; in 1992 a PC system could not detect that a floppy had been inserted, so the virus could not infect the floppy until some access to the disk is made) becomes immediately infected as well. And because the virus spends most of its time dormant, activating only on March 6, it is conceivable that an infected computer could go for years without detection — as long as it wasn't booted on that date, while infected.
The virus first came to widespread international attention in January 1992, when it was revealed that a few computer and software manufacturers had accidentally shipped products, for example Intel's LANSpool print server, infected with the virus. Although the infected machines numbered only in the hundreds, the resulting publicity spiraled into "expert" claims, partially led by anti-virus company founder John McAfee,[2][3] of thousands or even millions of computers infected by Michelangelo. However, on March 6, 1992, only 10,000 to 20,000 cases of data loss were reported.[citation needed]
In subsequent years, users were advised not to run PCs on March 6, waiting until March 7, or else reset the PC date to March 7 at some time on March 5 (to skip March 6). Eventually, the news media lost interest, and the virus was quickly forgotten. Despite the scenario given above, in which an infected computer could evade detection for years, by 1997 no cases were being reported in the wild.[citation needed]
See also [ edit ] |
Everyone knows that the “genuine designer handbag” going for $20 from a street vendor is neither genuine nor designer, and indeed may not even hold up as a bag. But when you go to a reputable retailer and spend what it costs to replace the tires on your car, you expect to get what the real goods. Alas, Consumer Reports has found: just because there’s a brand name you know on the outside of a tire, doesn’t mean you’re getting what you should be.
Consumer Reports (our parent organization) discovered the counterfeit tires while conducting otherwise routine tire performance tests. One tire brand, American Pacific Industries’ Pegasus Advanta for SUVs, performed very poorly in the tests and received a low rating.
The company then contacted Consumer Reports to ask about the way the tires were tested and to ask which batch CR had used.
That’s when the story gets interesting. It turned out that the tires being sold under API’s Pegasus brand were not what they appeared to be. The legally required date codes stamped into the tires indicated they had been made for API in a specific Chinese factory in August and December 2012.
To which API replied: “American Pacific Industries’ relationship with this factory ended in 2011 [and] our records indicate the last shipment of these tires in the SUV pattern was in December of 2011.”
Further, API said, the factory had been destroyed after that contract concluded, and many of their molds went missing. “We have no idea who may have made these tires nor what they put in them,” the company’s COO told Consumer Reports.
Counterfeit tires pose two big challenges for consumers. One is that their quality may be lacking — as these were — and consumers aren’t getting what they paid for. And the other challenge is that in the event of a safety defect or a recall, consumers don’t really have any recourse.
Ordinarily, if there is a safety complaint about tires the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration issues a recall and the manufacturer has to replace the item. But if the problem with the item is that the manufacturer did not in fact actually manufacture them… then who would be responsible for a recall? It’s not an action that NHTSA could actually take.
But there are federal actions available. It turns out that counterfeited imported goods fall under the purview of Immigration and Customs Enforcement. An ICE official told Consumer Reports, that if counterfeit tires are being made and smuggled, “We would investigate and try to mount an interdiction and seize the tires. We would work with our Customs and Border Protection partners to seize future imports at the port. We would bring evidence to prosecutors at the Department of Justice or to a local District Attorney, and there could be criminal charges. The U.S. Attorney would be the one to decide whether to bring [federal] criminal charges.”
In the meantime, though, a consumer with a bad set of wheels is up a dirt road without a tire, so to speak. Consumer Reports followed up with the retailer they’d bought the tires from, who in turn led them to the importer he’d bought them from. And that’s where the trail went cold, when the importer stopped returning CR’s calls.
So what can a consumer do? Try not to get taken in the first place, at least as best you can. If a price seems too good to be true, Consumer Reports reminds us, it probably is.
‘Counterfeit’ tires pose consumer risk [Consumer Reports] |
From the Austin Monitor:
Austinites who have spotted Google’s self-driving Lexus in the past couple of months will have a new rarity to keep an eye out for in the next week or so – the company’s “prototype” autonomous vehicle. Built for the task from the ground up, it sports a futuristic, if unusual, look.
Following Saturday’s announcement, Jennifer Haroon, Google’s head of business operations, explained to the City Council Mobility Committee on Wednesday why Google is rolling out the new vehicle.
“There are a couple of reasons for this,” Haroon said. “One was to think about design choices for a fully self-driving car. For instance, how might we place the sensors so that they have the best field of view possible? Another was, if a vehicle can fully self-drive, then you don’t need manual controls, like a steering wheel or pedals.
“The second reason was that this vehicle is clearly a self-driving vehicle, it looks quite different from most other vehicles on the road,” Haroon continued. “And so, we want to hear from people about how they’re interacting with self-driving vehicles on the road, how they want to use them.”
Google first launched its Austin self-driving vehicle testing program in July. Haroon said that the company initially started with one car – a Lexus sports utility vehicle outfitted with cameras, sensors, computing technology and more – and now has six of them on the road.
Anyone who has encountered any of the vehicles can submit feedback to Google online.
A recent Google press release states that the prototypes will be driving in “a small area north and northeast of downtown” – the same space as the current vehicles.
The new cars will feature a removable steering wheel, brakes and accelerator as well as – like the Lexus – human test drivers to use them, if necessary. They will use the same software as the current vehicles but will be smaller and sleeker, more closely resembling Smart cars than sport utility vehicles, and their components will be more integrated.
Haroon said that speeds will be capped at 25 miles per hour, and the vehicles will act in a “conservative” manner. “Some of the safety features we’ve built in, for instance, are at a traffic stop, when the light turns red to green, the car pauses for one to two seconds before proceeding, because intersections and when lights turn are a place where accidents tend to happen,” she said.
Haroon told the Austin Monitor that she is unable to provide an exact date for the new vehicle rollout, nor is she able to provide the specific testing locations or times. “We definitely don’t want people out there trying too hard to spot them or interact with them in an unsafe way,” she said.
As far as further steps for self-driving cars in Austin, Haroon said it’s too early to say. “I think we really need to build this experience of driving here and of hearing from folks,” she said. “We’ll continue to meet with community members – that’s been a really important part of what we’re doing.”
Another issue that will likely come up as self-driving cars move closer to coming on the market is regulation.
Marissa Monroy, a spokesperson for Austin’s Transportation Department, told the Monitor that there are no state regulations for autonomous vehicles at the moment and that staff has not developed any recommendations for regulating the vehicles.
Efforts to regulate and encourage the use of autonomous vehicles failed in the recent 84th Texas Legislative Session. Since then, Austin has become the first place in Texas for Google to test out its vehicles.
Supporters hope that autonomous vehicles will eventually help Austin overcome some of its traffic woes, particularly those related to accidents and fatalities caused by distracted or intoxicated drivers. First, however, Google and other companies must learn more about how these vehicles interact with human drivers, cyclists and pedestrians. |
House Speaker Paul Ryan of Wis. speaks during a news conference on Capitol Hill in Washington, Thursday, May 25, 2017. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)
WASHINGTON (AP) — House Speaker Paul Ryan is assuring investors that Congress will meet a new deadline to increase the government’s borrowing authority and avert an economy-quaking default on U.S. obligations.
Ryan said Thursday that “the debt ceiling issue will get resolved.” He spoke a day after Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin warned lawmakers that Congress needs to vote to increase the almost $20 trillion borrowing cap before taking its annual August vacation.
It had been previously assumed that lawmakers wouldn’t have to vote on the debt limit until sometime this fall.
“The timing is what I think is the newsworthy thing here,” Ryan said. “Receipts aren’t quite what people thought they were and that’s why Secretary Mnuchin is moving the timetable up. So we’re looking at that new timetable.”
Conservatives are pressing to include spending cuts in any debt legislation as a condition of voting for a debt hike. Former Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, succeeded in imposing spending cuts upon former President Barack Obama in a major debt limit battle in 2011, but Obama rejected the idea in subsequent debt deals — which cleared Congress with bipartisan support.
Mnuchin, a former Goldman Sachs executive, is following in the footsteps of previous Treasury heads by requesting that the debt measure move as quickly as possible, with its path kept free of controversial add-ons.
But Mnuchin’s request for a “clean” debt bill has been rejected by, among other GOP factions, the hard-right Freedom Caucus.
“We demand that any increase of the debt ceiling be paired with policy that addresses Washington’s unsustainable spending,” the Freedom Caucus said in a statement on Wednesday.
“A clean debt ceiling is not something that’s been met with broad approval by the (GOP) conference in the past,” said veteran GOP Rep. Greg Walden of Oregon. “I have no reason to believe that sentiment would change here.”
But such cuts would likely drive away potential Democratic support, and many if not most lawmakers believe Republicans simply lack the ability to pass the politically difficult measure without help from Democrats. Ryan on Thursday didn’t address the idea of adding cuts demanded by conservatives.
“They’re going to have to come hat in hand to us, anyways,” said the senior Budget Committee Democrat, Rep. John Yarmouth of Kentucky. “I can’t imagine any scenario in which they don’t have to have Democratic votes.” |
Hey everyone,
Following is the p5p (Perl 5 Porters) mailing list summary for the past week and a half. Enjoy!
July 13th-22nd
News and updates
Perl 5.25.3 is now available!
Perl 5.24.1-RC1 is now available!
Perl 5.22.3-RC1 is now available!
This month Steve Hay is in charge of several releases: 5.22.3, 5.24.1, and 5.25.3. The first two requiring several Release Candidates each. Thanks, Steve!
Over the past week and a half, Dan Collins kept reducing the number of open tickets by checking, verifying, and possibly rejecting or providing patches for some. This is wonderful work which allows us to prune and clean up the ticket queue and be able to focus on the greater issues. While he's at it, Dan also opened a bunch of new tickets. Big thanks to Dan for all the work.
Father Chrysostomos handled various tickets that came up from bits of cleaning up. He submitted some patches to CPAN modules as well.
Father Chrysostomos also merged a branch to allow escaping on right hand side of my . Effectively, this allows my \$x as the equivalent to \my $x , which allows you to write my \$x = \$y in conjunction with refaliasing. For some background on this, this ([Perl #127531] permit \escape on right hand side of my) thread.
Matthew Horsfall suggests documenting Devel::PPPort in core to resolve Perl #54952 (Need place for "how to build old versions of perl on new platform versions"). If you are looking to do something simple in core, here's your chance!
An update from Unicode: Unicode Version 9.0 - Complete Text of the Core Specification Published.
Dave Mitchell fixed "blead fails to compile on Win32 with Bison 3".
Grant reports
Tony Cook provides his grant reports: #13 (TONYC TPF Grant 7 report 13) and #14 (TONYC TPF Grant 7 report 14).
In total, over 36 hours spent and approximately 19 tickets were reviewed or worked on, and 4 patches were applied.
Issues
New issues
Dan Collins notes that Perl #45265 (stacked declarators (my/our/state) shouldn't be legal) is now again working.
Dan opened Perl #128644 to collect portability issues directly relating to MinGW.org compilers.
Dan also opened Perl #128666 to collect problems with line number reporting.
A. Sinan Unur notes that testing Config::General consumes a lot of memory, leading to out of memory error.
Resolved issues
Rejected issues
Proposed patches
Dan Collins provided another patch for Perl #128574 (Some tests call fresh_perl* incorrectly).
Father Chrysostomos provided a patch to XML::DOM::XPath to support the change to disable ${^ENCODING} .
B::Hook::Parser and Devel::Declare both have chunks of toke.c copied, which was changed, and subsequently broke them. A patch was provided by Father Chrysostomos at Perl #128621 (Bleadperl v5.25.2-122-g3a69dad breaks ETHER/B-Hooks-Parser-0.16.tar.gz).
Father Chrysostomos also provided a patch for Time::Verbal which fixes a breakage noted in Perl #128623 (Bleadperl around v5.25.2-124-g370579b breaks GUGOD/Time-Verbal-1.0.0.tar.gz).
Father Chrysostomos provided a patch for Perl #126041 (miniperl PP glob/Perl_start_glob() wipes all of %ENV and perlglob.exe proc can't start on VC 2005/WinXP).
Achim Gratz provided a patch for Perl #128358 (Cygwin: nm detects memmem , but headers don't expose it, leading to tests crashing).
Karl Williamson provided patch for Perl #128629 ( locale.t on Win32 failing "Verify that strings with embedded NUL collate" and "Verify that strings with embedded NUL and extra trailing NUL collate").
Dan Collins provided a patch for Perl #67424 (missing / incorrect overflow check when indexing arrays), currently being discussed with Zefram and Tony Cook.
Tony Cook provided a patch for Perl #128685 (Repeated installs broken in blead).
Discussion
There is a conversation going on around Perl #128438 ([Win32] 5.25.2 fails to build in ListUtil.xs) and the possible solutions to it.
Various functions in embed.fnc are marked with an a flag, which is used by GCC to optimize. However, as Dave Mitchell notes ('a' (malloc) flag in embed.fnc misused?), we're probably misusing the flag on some functions because they might return pointers to allocated memory which might then contain pointers in turn - a situation to which the flag does not apply. Dave would like to clean up the flagging.
There is an interesting discussion around Perl #128598: (Quadmath builds fail porting/libperl.t ), regarding a conflict between optimized code and a test of an unsafe function. Will the optimizer keep using a safe version of an unsafe function? Should we make sure we allow a level of optimizer to optimize this? Should we just avoid the function to avoid thinking of whether it will be optimized correctly?
Dave Mitchell asks (64-bit array subscript warning test failing) whether we should skip a test on platforms where the sizeof result of SSize_t type is smaller than the size of IV . Father Chrysostomos introduces a commit that skips it.
In a thread I had a hard time following, Father Chrysostomos and Zefram discuss how to handle a stack-not-refcounted behavior. It touches on how difficult compatibility can be.
Father Chrysostomos comments on a branch Dave Mitchell is working on, suggesting a different naming convention for the ops.
Vincent Pit took a stab (Re: Confused by eval behavior) at solving at a breakage a commit (which is temporarily reverted) introduced in Variable::Magic. So far no success.
Dan Collins asks (Broken library functions, especially on windows) about a situation with failures due to broken math functions in MinGW, asking how to solve this.
Autovivification rises (Hash key creation for non-lvalue use) again in discussions as confusing behavior. |
ST. PAUL, Minn. - A St. Paul public charter school will be developing and revising several gender inclusion guidelines as part of a complaint settlement.
Before the 2015-2016 school year started at Nova Classical Academy, David and Hannah Edwards say they informed the school that their kindergartener was gender non-conforming. They also offered to work with the school on gender inclusivity policies and asked that Nova protect their child from gender-based harassment.
In November 2015, the Edwards formally requested that the school adopt a gender inclusion policy.
In January 2016, the Edwards reported their child was being bullied for wearing pink shoes and choosing to wear the school's girl uniform. That month, the school board agreed that there was a need for a policy and then created a task force to recommend one for board approval.
The Edwards filed a charge of discrimination with the city of St. Paul. In June, the St. Paul Department of Human Rights and Equal Economic Opportunity found probable cause that the school violated the city’s human-rights ordinance.
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RELATED: Gender policy under protest at St. Paul charter
Gender Justice, one of the handful of organizations supporting the Edwards family and their fight for non-gender conforming people, announced Monday a settlement had been reached.
“This is one of the most important trans rights cases so far in Minnesota,” David Edwards told Gender Justice. “Our experience shows – from start to finish – what can happen if a school caters more to the parent community than to a child’s human rights. It’s easier and safer to have policies in place from the beginning than to adopt policies in the midst of an individual situation like Nova did, inviting publicity and controversy that led to harm to the community, to our family, and to their school.”
According to the terms of the agreement reached during a confidential mediation process, Nova Classical Academy will:
Grant "access to ... that align with the student's gender identity."
Not adopt any gender policy that allows parents to opt out of the requirements in the Gender Inclusion Policy based on religious or conscience objections.
Direct students to use a student's chosen pronoun and name.
Provide professional development for all staff on supporting gender diverse students.
Not call parents' or guardians' attention to the policy or law allowing them to opt out of specific instruction regarding gender inclusion.
Set clear expectations for respectful, non-discriminatory dialogue in Board meetings among other items.
Remove gender categorization of clothing options to school uniform policy.
“These non-monetary victories are so important,” says Hannah Edwards told Gender Justice. “There were a lot of holes that needed to be filled. It feels good.”
The Edwards will receive $120,000. They also agree not to file a lawsuit against Nova.
The child, now seven years old and living as a transgender girl, attends a different school. |
The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday declined to hear another challenge to the Affordable Care Act, Reuters reported.
The court dismissed a suit challenging central provisions of the law including the requirement that individuals obtain health insurance, according to Reuters. The petition was brought by Virginia’s Liberty University, the Christian college founded by evangelist Jerry Falwell, and two other individuals.
The justices’ decision upholds the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals’ May ruling in the case, which dismissed as invalid Liberty’s argument that the law violated the Constitution in requiring employers to offer health insurance.
The high court previously upheld the constitutionality of the health care law’s insurance mandate in a landmark 2012 decision.
The Supreme Court announced Tuesday that it would hear two cases challenging the health care law’s birth control mandate on religious grounds, Hobby Lobby Stores, Inc. v. Sebelius and Conestoga Wood Specialties Corp. v. Sebelius. Those cases are slated to be heard next spring. |
When Windows 95 was being developed, executives commissioned music legend Brian Eno to develop a "piece of music" to play when the operating system started up. This music would become known as "The Windows Sound." Eno is probably most renowned* for his ambient music -- long tracks with deep sound beds and drifting melodies. But this track had to be a little shorter. Eno related the story:
The thing from the agency said, "We want a piece of music that is inspiring, universal, blah-blah, da-da-da, optimistic, futuristic, sentimental, emotional," this whole list of adjectives, and then at the bottom it said "and it must be 3.25 seconds long."
And, of course, Eno solved the problem, creating a supremely iconic sound. But when you take his micro-music and stretch it out to two and a half minutes, it becomes suspiciously like the music we hear on his ambient albums -- slow, ethereal, moody, beautiful in a very different way. So listen to it (this is a Windows 95 ad that an enterprising YouTuber slowed way down):
(You can also listen to the normal-speed version for context.)
The shortened Eno quote above isn't the full story, though. Here's the full context from an interview -- and also keep in mind that Eno composed the sound on a Mac, saying "I've never used a PC in my life; I don't like them."
The idea came up at the time when I was completely bereft of ideas. I'd been working on my own music for a while and was quite lost, actually. And I really appreciated someone coming along and saying, "Here's a specific problem — solve it." The thing from the agency said, "We want a piece of music that is inspiring, universal, blah-blah, da-da-da, optimistic, futuristic, sentimental, emotional," this whole list of adjectives, and then at the bottom it said "and it must be 3.25 seconds long." I thought this was so funny and an amazing thought to actually try to make a little piece of music. It's like making a tiny little jewel. In fact, I made 84 pieces. I got completely into this world of tiny, tiny little pieces of music. I was so sensitive to microseconds at the end of this that it really broke a logjam in my own work. Then when I'd finished that and I went back to working with pieces that were like three minutes long, it seemed like oceans of time.
* = Yes, Eno is also very well known for his work as a producer with Talking Heads, U2, David Bowie, Coldplay, you name it, as well as a brief stint with Roxy Music. But in my world, his Ambient 1: Music for Airports record is the touchstone of his music career. |
Voice actor Randy Schell, the man behind promos for AMC's hit series "Fear the Walking Dead," was killed Saturday in a skydiving accident in Houston.
Schell, a licensed and experienced skydiver, collided with a second jumper in mid-air after both deployed their parachutes at Skydive Spaceland Houston, KHOU reported, leaving Schell's parachute collapsed. The second jumper was treated for a leg injury.
Both jumpers had reportedly completed a successful dive earlier in the day.
Randy Schell lent his voice to hundreds of commercials and television promos, like AMC’s “The Walking Dead.” Image by: Facebook
‘Walking Dead's’ Josh McDermitt quits social media over threats
Though his face might not be instantly recognizable, Schell's distinct voice sure is, as he leaves behind a lengthy resume that includes voice work for hundreds of commercials.
Schell provided the voice for promos for “The Walking Dead.” Image by: Gene Page/AMC
In addition to promos for "Fear the Walking Dead," Schell lent his voice to spots for brands like Coca-Cola, 20th Century Fox, Geico, McDonald's, Nike and more, according to his website.
He also narrated nearly 500 episodes of “Judge Alex,” a syndicated reality court show.
Driver dies after slamming into Kosciuszko Bridge entrance
Schell was an experienced skydiver who had completed a different jump earlier in the day. Image by: Facebook
Schell’s agent, Jenny Bosby, told KHOU that her client was "a great friend” and “a great man” who will be missed by many.
"He had a golden voice, he knew what to do with it," she said. "He was a constant professional. Everyone loved working with him. He was also a brilliant producer and engineer."
Schell was passionate about skydiving, and liked several pages about the sport on his Facebook page, including Skydive Spaceland Houston.
His page also featured several photos of previous skydiving excursions. In June 2015, he commented on one of the photos to a friend that it was "REALLY good to be in the air again!" |
The European Union’s (EU) support for Libya’s Coast Guard which has resulted in thousands of migrants being detained in “horrific” conditions inside Libya is “inhuman,” the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), Zeid Ra’ad, said yesterday.
“The suffering of migrants detained in Libya is an outrage to the conscience of humanity,” Ra’ad, added in a statement.
“The European Union’s policy of assisting the Libyan coastguard to intercept and return migrants in the Mediterranean [is] inhuman,” he noted.
Ra’ad stressed that “the international community cannot continue to turn a blind eye to the unimaginable horrors endured by migrants in Libya, and pretend that the situation can be remedied only by improving conditions in detention.”
“The increasing interventions of the EU and its member states have done nothing so far to reduce the level of abuses suffered by migrants,” he pointed out, adding that instead, there appeared to be a “fast deterioration in their situation in Libya”.
Read More: Libya’s Haftar in the UAE for Dubai Airshow
From 1 to 6 November, Ra’ad added, UN human rights monitors visited four Department of Combating Illegal Migration (DCIM) facilities in Tripoli, where they interviewed detainees who have fled conflict, persecution and extreme poverty from States across Africa and Asia.
“Monitors were shocked by what they witnessed: thousands of emaciated and traumatized men, women and children piled on top of one another, locked up in hangars with no access to the most basic necessities, and stripped of their human dignity,” the UN official said.
Libya has long been a major transit hub for people trying to reach Europe. Many have fallen prey to serious abuse in the country at the hands of traffickers and others. Some 20,000 people were being held in facilities under the Libya authorities control in early November, up from about 7,000 in mid-September.
The increase came after authorities detained thousands of people previously held by smugglers in Libya’s trafficking hub Sabratha, west of Tripoli.
The European Union is providing assistance to the Libyan Coast Guard to intercept migrant boats in the Mediterranean. This includes in international waters, despite the concerns which was raised by various rights groups that this would condemn more migrants to arbitrary and indefinite detention and expose them to forced labour or extortion.
“We cannot be a silent witness to modern-day slavery, rape and other sexual violence, and unlawful killings, in the name of managing migration and preventing desperate and traumatised people from reaching Europe’s shores,” Ra’ad reiterated. |
SYDNEY (Reuters) - The United States has indicated it is open to a free trade agreement (FTA) with New Zealand, New Zealand’s trade minister said on Sunday.
FILE PHOTO: New Zealand's Trade Minister Todd McClay speaks with media during the 3rd Intersessional Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) Ministerial Meeting in Hanoi, Vietnam May 22, 2017. REUTERS/Kham
Todd McClay visited Washington for high-level trade talks with the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump this week, meeting with Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross, newly appointed U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and other advisors to the president.
“I’ve welcomed their interest in an FTA as a demonstration of the good shape our trading relationship is in,” McClay said in a statement.
McClay said his center right government wants free-trade agreements to cover 90 percent of goods exported by 2030, up from just over half currently, and the U.S. will be an important part of achieving that.
Two-way trade between the two countries reached $16 billion in 2016, making the United States New Zealand’s third-largest individual trading partner, according to New Zealand’s ministry of foreign affairs and trade.
New Zealand’s $180 billion economy depends on exports, and the country lobbied hard in favor of the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal.
Alongside Japan and Australia, New Zealand is trying to negotiate a deal with the 11 remaining countries of the TPP after the United States withdrew.
Trump dumped membership of the TPP as one of his first acts in an “America First” policy aiming at bringing manufacturing jobs back to the United States.
He said he would seek one-on-one trade deals with countries that would allow the United States to quickly terminate them in 30 days “if somebody misbehaves.”
McClay said he had a constructive meeting with Lighthizer and said Ross indicated he saw no major impediments to a trade deal with his country. |
Jon Bon Jovi's Daughter Arrested After Suspected Heroin Overdose
Jon Bon Jovi's Daughter Stephanie -- Arrested After Suspected Heroin Overdose
EXCLUSIVE
's 19-year-old daughterwas arrested at her college in Upstate New York early this morning after allegedly overdosing on heroin ... TMZ has learned.According to the Town of Kirkland Police Department, cops responded to a dorm room at Hamilton College after someone reported that Stephanie had allegedly overdosed on heroin and was unresponsive.Along with police, emergency medical personnel also responded to the scene and found Stephanie alive.Cops say a drug task force searched the scene and found a "small quantity" of heroin ... along with marijuana and drug paraphernalia.Stephanie was arrested for possession of a controlled substance, possession of marijuana and criminally using drug paraphernalia -- all misdemeanors.Stephanie was eventually released from custody -- and ordered to appear in court at a later date.Another student was also arrested -- a 21-year-old male -- who was also charged with drug possession.Stephanie is Jon's only daughter -- and the oldest of his 4 children with wife Dorothea Hurley. |
Not to be confused with Ethnos
Ethos ( or US: ) is a Greek word meaning "character" that is used to describe the guiding beliefs or ideals that characterize a community, nation, or ideology. The Greeks also used this word to refer to the power of music to influence emotions, behaviours, and even morals.[1] Early Greek stories of Orpheus exhibit this idea in a compelling way. The word's use in rhetoric is closely based on the Greek terminology used by Aristotle in his concept of the three artistic proofs or modes of persuasion.
Etymology and origin [ edit ]
Ethos (ἦθος, ἔθος; plurals: ethe, ἤθη; ethea, ἤθεα) is a Greek word originally meaning "accustomed place" (as in ἤθεα ἵππων "the habitats of horses", Iliad 6.511, 15.268),[2] "custom, habit", equivalent to Latin mores.
Ethos forms the root of ethikos (ἠθικός), meaning "moral, showing moral character".[3] As an adjective in the neuter plural form ta ethika (τὰ ἠθικά), used for the study of morals, it is the origin of the modern English word ethics.
Current usage [ edit ]
In modern usage, ethos denotes the disposition, character, or fundamental values particular to a specific person, people, corporation, culture, or movement. For example, the poet and critic T. S. Eliot wrote in 1940 that "the general ethos of the people they have to govern determines the behaviour of politicians".[4] Similarly the historian Orlando Figes wrote in 1996 that in Soviet Russia of the 1920s "the ethos of the Communist party dominated every aspect of public life".[5]
Ethos may change in response to new ideas or forces. For example, according to the Jewish historian Afrie Krampf, ideas of economic modernization which were imported into Palestine in the 1930s brought about "the abandonment of the agrarian ethos and the reception of...the ethos of rapid development".[6]
Rhetoric [ edit ]
In rhetoric, ethos is one of the three artistic proofs (pistis, πίστις) or modes of persuasion (other principles being logos and pathos) discussed by Aristotle in 'Rhetoric' as a component of argument. Speakers must establish ethos from the start. This can involve "moral competence" only; Aristotle however broadens the concept to include expertise and knowledge.[7][8] Ethos is limited, in his view, by what the speaker says. Others however contend that a speaker's ethos extends to and is shaped by the overall moral character and history of the speaker—that is, what people think of his or her character before the speech has even begun (cf Isocrates).
According to Aristotle, there are three categories of ethos:
phronesis – useful skills & wisdom
– useful skills & wisdom arete – virtue, goodwill
– virtue, goodwill eunoia – goodwill towards the audience
In a sense, ethos does not belong to the speaker but to the audience. Thus, it is the audience that determines whether a speaker is a high- or a low-ethos speaker. Violations of ethos include:
The speaker has a direct interest in the outcome of the debate (e.g. a person pleading innocence of a crime);
The speaker has a vested interest or ulterior motive in the outcome of the debate;
The speaker has no expertise (e.g. a lawyer giving a speech on space flight is less convincing than an astronaut giving the same speech).
Completely dismissing an argument based on any of the above violations of ethos is an informal fallacy (Appeal to motive). The argument may indeed be suspect; but is not, in itself, invalid.
Modern interpretations [ edit ]
For Aristotle, a speaker's ethos was a rhetorical strategy employed by an orator whose purpose was to "inspire trust in his audience" (Rhetorica 1380). Ethos was therefore achieved through the orator's "good sense, good moral character, and goodwill", and central to Aristotelian virtue ethics was the notion that this "good moral character" was increased in virtuous degree by habit (Rhetorica 1380). Aristotle links virtue, habituation, and ethos most succinctly in Book II of Nichomachean Ethics: "Virtue, then, being of two kinds, intellectual and moral, intellectual virtue in the main owes both its birth and its growth to teaching [...] while moral virtue comes about as a result of habit, whence also its name ethike is one that is formed by a slight variation from the word ethos (habit)" (952). Discussing women and rhetoric, scholar Karlyn Kohrs Campbell notes that entering the public sphere was considered an act of moral transgression for females of the nineteenth century: "Women who formed moral reform and abolitionist societies, and who made speeches, held conventions, and published newspapers, entered the public sphere and thereby lost their claims to purity and piety" (13).[9] Crafting an ethos within such restrictive moral codes, therefore, meant adhering to membership of what Nancy Fraser and Michael Warner have theorized as counterpublics. While Warner contends that members of counterpublics are afforded little opportunity to join the dominant public and therefore exert true agency, Nancy Fraser has problematized Habermas's conception of the public sphere as a dominant "social totality"[10] by theorizing "subaltern counterpublics", which function as alternative publics that represent "parallel discursive arenas where members of subordinated social groups invent and circulate counterdiscourses, which in turn permit them to formulate oppositional interpretations of their identities, interests, and needs" (67).[11]
Though feminist rhetorical theorists have begun to offer more nuanced ways to conceive of ethos, they remain cognizant of how these classical associations have shaped and still do shape women's use of the rhetorical tool. Johanna Schmertz draws on Aristotelian ethos to reinterpret the term alongside feminist theories of subjectivity, writing that, "Instead of following a tradition that, it seems to me, reads ethos somewhat in the manner of an Aristotelian quality proper to the speaker's identity, a quality capable of being deployed as needed to fit a rhetorical situation, I will ask how ethos may be dislodged from identity and read in such a way as to multiply the positions from which women may speak" (83).[12] Rhetorical scholar and professor Kate Ronald's claim that "ethos is the appeal residing in the tension between the speaker's private and public self", (39)[13] also presents a more postmodern view of ethos that links credibility and identity. Similarly, Nedra Reynolds and Susan Jarratt echo this view of ethos as a fluid and dynamic set of identifications, arguing that "these split selves are guises, but they are not distortions or lies in the philosopher's sense. Rather they are 'deceptions' in the sophistic sense: recognitions of the ways one is positioned multiply differently" (56).[14]
Rhetorical scholar Michael Halloran has argued that the classical understanding of ethos "emphasizes the conventional rather than the idiosyncratic, the public rather than the private" (60). Commenting further on the classical etymology and understanding of ethos, Halloran illuminates the interdependence between ethos and cultural context by arguing that "To have ethos is to manifest the virtues most valued by the culture to and for which one speaks" (60).[15] While scholars do not all agree on the dominant sphere in which ethos may be crafted, some agree that ethos is formed through the negotiation between private experience and the public, rhetorical act of self-expression. Karen Burke LeFevre's argument in Invention as Social Act situates this negotiation between the private and the public, writing that ethos "appears in that socially created space, in the 'between', the point of intersection between speaker or writer and listener or reader" (45-46).[16]
According to Nedra Reynolds, "ethos, like postmodern subjectivity, shifts and changes over time, across texts, and around competing spaces" (336). However, Reynolds additionally discusses how one might clarify the meaning of ethos within rhetoric as expressing inherently communal roots. This stands in direct opposition to what she describes as the claim "that ethos can be faked or 'manipulated'" because individuals would be formed by the values of their culture and not the other way around (336). Rhetorical scholar John Oddo also suggests that ethos is negotiated across a community, and not simply a manifestation of the self (47). In the era of mass-mediated communication, Oddo contends, one's ethos is often created by journalists and dispersed over multiple news texts. With this in mind, Oddo coins the term intertextual ethos, the notion that a public figure's "ethos is constituted within and across a range of mass media voices" (48).
In "Black Women Writers and the Trouble with Ethos", scholar Coretta Pittman notes that race has been generally absent from theories of ethos construction, and that this concept is troubling for black women. Pittman writes, "Unfortunately, in the history of race relations in America, black Americans' ethos ranks low among other racial and ethnic groups in the United States. More often than not, their moral characters have been associated with a criminalized and sexualized ethos in visual and print culture" (43).[17]
Character in Greek tragedy [ edit ]
The ways in which characters were constructed is important when considering ethos, or character, in Greek tragedy.[18] Augustus Taber Murray explains that the depiction of a character was limited by the circumstances under which Greek tragedies were presented. These include the single unchanging scene, necessary use of the chorus, small number of characters limiting interaction, large outdoor theatres, and the use of masks, which all influenced characters to be more formal and simple.[19] Murray also declares that the inherent characteristics of Greek tragedies are important in the makeup of the characters. One of these is the fact that tragedy characters were nearly always mythical characters. This limited the character, as well as the plot, to the already well-known myth from which the material of the play was taken. The other characteristic is the relatively short length of most Greek plays.[20] This limited the scope of the play and characterization, so that the characters were defined by one overriding motivation toward a certain objective from the beginning of the play.[21]
However, Murray clarifies that strict constancy is not always the rule in Greek tragedy characters. To support this, he points out the example of Antigone who, even though she strongly defies Creon in the beginning of the play, begins to doubt her cause and plead for mercy as she is led to her execution.[22]
Several other aspects of the character element in ancient Greek tragedy are worth noting.[23] One of these, which C. Garton discusses, is the fact that either because of contradictory action or incomplete description, the character cannot be viewed as an individual, or the reader is left confused about the character.[24] One method of reconciling this would be to consider these characters to be flat, or type-caste, instead of round. This would mean that most of the information about the character centers around one main quality or viewpoint.[25] Comparable to the flat character option, the reader could also view the character as a symbol. Examples of this might be the Eumenides as vengeance, or Clytemnestra as symbolizing ancestral curse.[26] Yet another means of looking at character, according to Tycho von Wilamowitz and Howald, is the idea that characterisation is not important. This idea is maintained by the theory that the play is meant to affect the viewer or reader scene by scene, with attention being only focused on the section at hand. This point of view also holds that the different figures in a play are only characterised by the situation surrounding them, and only enough so that their actions can be understood.[27]
Garet makes three more observations about character in Greek tragedy. The first is an abundant variety of types of characters in Greek tragedy. His second observation is that the reader or viewer's need for characters to display a unified identity that is similar to human nature is usually fulfilled. Thirdly, characters in tragedies include incongruities and idiosyncrasies.[28]
Another aspect stated by Garet is that tragedy plays are composed of language, character, and action, and the interactions of these three components; these are fused together throughout the play. He explains that action normally determines the major means of characterisation. Another principle he states is the importance of these three components' effect on each other; the important repercussion of this being character's impact on action.[29]
Augustus Taber Murray also examines the importance and degree of interaction between plot and character. He does this by discussing Aristotle's statements about plot and character in his Poetics: that plot can exist without character, but character cannot exist without plot, and so character is secondary to plot. Murray maintains that Aristotle did not mean that complicated plot should hold the highest place in a tragedy play. This is because the plot was, more often than not, simple and therefore not a major point of tragic interest. Murray conjectures that people today do not accept Aristotle's statement about character and plot because to modern people, the most memorable things about tragedy plays are often the characters.[30] However, Murray does concede that Aristotle is correct in that "[t]here can be no portrayal of character [...] without at least a skeleton outline of plot".[31]
Character, or ethos, in pictorial narrative [ edit ]
Ethos, or character, also appears in the visual art of famous or mythological ancient Greek events in murals, on pottery, and sculpture, referred to generally as pictorial narrative. Aristotle even praised the ancient Greek painter Polygnotos because his paintings included characterization. The way in which the subject and his actions are portrayed in visual art can convey the subject's ethical character and through this the work's overall theme, just as effectively as poetry or drama can.[32] This characterisation portrayed men as they ought to be, which is the same as Aristotle's idea of what ethos or character should be in tragedy. (Stansbury-O'Donnell, p. 178) Professor Mark D. Stansbury-O'Donnell states that pictorial narratives often had ethos as its focus, and was therefore concerned with showing the character's moral choices. (Stansbury-O'Donnell, p. 175) David Castriota, agreeing with Stansbury-O'Donnell's statement, says that the main way Aristotle considered poetry and visual arts to be on equal levels was in character representation and its effect on action.[33] However, Castriota also maintains about Aristotle's opinion that "his interest has to do with the influence that such ethical representation may exert upon the public". Castriota also explains that according to Aristotle, "[t]he activity of these artists is to be judged worthy and useful above all because exposure of their work is beneficial to the polis".[33] Accordingly, this was the reason for the representation of character, or ethos, in public paintings and sculptures. In order to portray the character's choice, the pictorial narrative often shows an earlier scene than when the action was committed. Stansbury-O'Donnell gives an example of this in the form of a picture by the ancient Greek artist Exekia which shows the Greek hero Ajax planting his sword in the ground in preparation to commit suicide, instead of the actual suicide scene. (Stansbury-O'Donnell, p. 177.) Additionally, Castriota explains that ancient Greek art expresses the idea that character was the major factor influencing the outcome of the Greeks' conflicts against their enemies. Because of this, "ethos was the essential variable in the equation or analogy between myth and actuality".[34]
See also [ edit ]
References [ edit ]
^ Weiss, Piero and Taruskin, Richard, "Music in the Western World: A History in Documents" (1984) p. 1 ^ Proscurcin Jr., Der Begriff Ethos bei Homer. (2014) pp. 162–63 ^ Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics, Book 2 (1103a17) ^ T. S. Eliot, The idea of a Christian society (1940) p. 25 ^ A people's tragedy: the Russian Revolution, 1891–1924 (1996) p. 682 Orlando Figes,(1996) p. 682 ^ Afrie Krampf, "Reception of the Developmental Approach in the Jewish Economic Discourse of Mandatory Palestine, 1934–1938," Israel Studies, Summer 2010, Vol. 15#2, pp. 80–103 ^ Smith, Ethos Dwells Pervasively In: The Ethos of Rhetoric. (2004) pp. 2–5 ^ Woerther, L'èthos aristotélicien. (2007) p. 21 ^ Campbell, Karlyn Kohrs (1989). Man Cannot Speak for Her: Volume I; A Critical Study of Early Feminist Rhetoric. Praeger. p. 13. ^ Warner, Michael (2002). "Publics and Counterpublics". Public Culture. ^ Fraser, Nancy (1990). "Rethinking the Public Sphere: A Contribution to the Critique of the Actually Existing Democracy". Social Text. ^ Schmertz, Johanna (1999). "Constructing Essences: Ethos and the Postmodern Subject of Feminism". Rhetoric Review. ^ Ronald, Kate (1990). "A Reexamination of Personal and Public Discourse in Classical Rhetoric". Rhetoric Review. ^ Susan, Jarratt; Reynolds, Nedra (1994). Ethos: New Essays in Rhetorical and Critical Theory. Dallas: Southern Methodist University Press. pp. 37–69. ^ Halloran, Michael (1982). "Aristotle's Concept of Ethos, or if not His, Someone Else's". Rhetoric Review. ^ LeFevre, K. B. (1987). Invention as a Social Act. Southern Illinois University Press. ^ Pittman, Corretta (2007). "Black Women Writers and the Trouble with Ethos: Harriet Jacobs, Billie Holiday, and Sister Souljah". Rhetoric Society Quarterly. ^ Halliwell, Aristotle's Poetics. (1998) pp. 138–39 ^ Murray (1916), pp. 53–54. ^ Martin, Ancient Theater and Performance Culture In: The Cambridge Companion to Greek and Roman Theater. (2007) pp. 36 ff. ^ Murray (1916), pp. 54–56. ^ Murray (1916), p. 59. ^ Rapp, Aristoteles über das Wesen und die Wirkung der Tragödie (Kap. 6) In: Aristoteles. Poetik. (2009) pp. 87 ff. ^ Garton (1957), p. 247. ^ Garton (1957), pp. 247–48. ^ Garton (1957), p. 248. ^ Garton (1957), pp. 248–49. ^ Garton (1957), p. 250. ^ Garton (1957), pp. 250–51. ^ Murray (1916), p. 52. ^ Murray (1916), p. 53. ^ Castriota (1992), p. 11. a b Castriota (1992), p. 10. ^ Castriota (1992), p. 12.
Further reading [ edit ] |
Federal Appeals Court Blocks Implementation Of Oklahoma Sharia Law Ban
Doug Mataconis · · 14 comments
In 2010, Oklahoma voters passed a referendum blocking state judges from considering Islamic or any other form of international law when rendering decisions in Oklahoma courts. Despite widespread criticism, the referendum passed by a wide margin in what was widely attributed to the same kind of hysteria over Islam that we had seen the previous summer during furor over the so-called “Ground Zero” mosque. Almost immediately, legal scholars noted that the law had serious legal flaws and it wasn’t long before a lawsuit was filed. Munweer Awad, a Muslim-American resident of Oklahoma filed a federal lawsuit alleging that the law violated his religious liberty in that it prevented him from abiding by Muslim principles in matters such as property distribution at death. The U.S. District Court blocked the law from being implemented, in a ruling that accepting the majority of Awad’s argument. Today, the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals upheld that decision:
The 10th Circuit Court of Appeals today upheld a ruling that blocked the implementation of an Oklahoma initiative barring judges there from considering Islamic law in court decisions. The Denver-based appellate court, one rung below the U.S. Supreme Court, said it is likely the initiative will be found unconstitutional because it singles out Islam for discrimination. The court said Oklahoma hasn’t shown any reason for the need to specifically ban Islamic law. “Given the lack of evidence of any concrete problem, any harm seek to remedy with the proposed amendment is speculative at best,” 10th Circuit Judge Scott Matheson, writing for a three-judge panel of the court, concluded. Oklahoma voters overwhelmingly approved the initiative in 2010. The measure prevents judges from basing rulings on international law and then mentions Islamic law — known as Shariah — specifically. After the election, Muneer Awad, the executive director for the Oklahoma chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, sued. Awad argued that the initiative stigmatizes Islam and also denies him rights that are available to people of other religions. For instance, Awad said his will instructs a judge to look to Islamic precepts in situations where Awad’s wishes aren’t clear. The initiative, Awad said, would prevent a judge from doing that, even though the judge could do that for people who are Christian or Jewish. “This is an important reminder,” Awad said today in a statement, “that the Constitution is the last line of defense against a rising tide of anti-Muslim bigotry in our society.” A federal judge in Oklahoma granted a preliminary injunction last year that blocked the initiative from being certified. The state appealed that decision to the 10th Circuit. Today’s ruling means the injunction will stay in place while Awad’s lawsuit goes forward.
In it’s ruling, which dealt principally with whether the injunction issued by the District Court should remain in effect, the 10th Circuit held that the state of Oklahoma had not demonstrated any compelling state interest for the law:
Appellants provided only one sentence on compelling interest. They simply assert that “Oklahoma certainly has a compelling interest in determining what law is applied in Oklahoma courts.” Aplt. Supp. Br. at 16. Oklahoma’s asserted interest is a valid state concern. But this general statementalone is not sufficient to establish a compelling interest for purposes of this case. Appellants do not identify any actual problem the challenged amendment seeks to solve. Indeed, they admitted at the preliminary injunction hearing that they did not know of even a single instance where an Oklahoma court had applied Sharia law or used the legal precepts of other nations or cultures, let alone that such applications or uses had resulted in concrete problems in Oklahoma. See Awad, 754 F. Supp. 2d at 1308; Aplt. App. Vol. 1 at 67-68. Given the lack of evidence of any concrete problem, any harm Appellants seek to remedy with the proposed amendment is speculative at best and cannot support compelling interest.15 “To sacrifice First Amendment protections for so speculative a gain is not warranted . . . .” Columbia Broad. Sys., Inc. v. Democratic Nat’l Co., 412 U.S. 94, 127 (1973). Because Appellants have failed to assert a compelling interest, they have failed to satisfy strict scrutiny. Mr. Awad has therefore made a strong showing that he is likely to prevail in a trial on the merits.
Additionally, as I noted shortly after the law was passed, the ban covered far more than Sharia Law and threatened to harm the interests of more than just the 10,000 or so Muslims who live in Oklahoma:
Native American tribes based in Oklahoma have already expressed concerns that the law will limit their ability to enforce tribal law on their reservations, for example. Additionally, business contracts have traditionally included what are called “Choice of Law” provisions which require that the law of a particular state would be applicable in interpreting it’s provisions. In an increasingly international business world, those provisions have expanded to include laws of other countries. If , for example, an Oklahoma company seeks to enforce the terms of a contract that provide that Canadian (or Mexican) law would apply, then this law would make it illegal for a Court to abide by the terms of the contract.
Clearly, though, it was Islam that was the primary target of the law and paranoia over the non-existent threat of Sharia Law that was used to stoke voter fear on this issue. Additionally, ignorance about Muslims and plain old bigotry surely played a role in this mess.
The Court concluded:
As the Ninth Circuit explained, when a law that voters have approved “affronts the federal Constitution—the Constitution which the people of the United States themselves ordained and established—the court merely reminds the people that they must govern themselves in accordance with the principles of their choosing.” Id.; see also Williams v. Rhodes, 393 U.S. 23, 29 (1968) (“[T]he Constitution is filled with provisions that grant Congress or the States specific power to legislate in certain areas; these granted powers are always subject to the limitation that they may not be exercised in a way that violates other specific provisions of the Constitution.”). Appellants admitted at the preliminary injunction hearing that they did not know of any instance where an Oklahoma court had applied Sharia law or used the legal precepts of other nations or cultures. See Awad, 754 F. Supp. 2d at 1308; Aplt. App. 157-58. Delayed implementation of a measure that does not appear to address any immediate problem will generally not cause material harm, even if the measure were eventually found to be constitutional and enforceable.
This isn’t over yet, of course. Upholding the injunction merely means that the case returns to the District Court for a trial on the merits, unless the State of Oklahoma decides to appeal this to the Supreme Court that is. While nothing is guaranteed, though, it seems fairly apparent that it will be next to impossible for the state to win this case at trial. Which is exactly as it should be.
Here’s the opinion:
Munweer Awad v. Paul Ziriax et al |
LOS ANGELES – Henry Nicholas III had the makings of a real-life “Iron Man.”
He was a 6-foot-6 genius billionaire with a chiseled frame, physical endurance and a taste for fast cars and gadgets.
He even had a secret cave.
And like the best-drawn comic-book heroes, the founder of chip-making firm Broadcom was haunted by demons: His sister was brutally murdered in 1984, and his father abandoned the family when Nicholas was 4.
But the Southern California tech whiz’s larger-than-life pedigree didn’t lead to a crime-fighting alter ego. Rather, it allegedly spurred marathon drug-fueled orgies inside his very own Xanadu, a suite in a warehouse in Laguna Niguel, Calif.
In an Oriental-themed, tricked-out parlor, Nicholas, his friends and a bevy of prostitutes would party and have sex for days – abusing cocaine, laughing gas and other drugs, as music from such chart-toppers as Led Zeppelin and Phil Collins played, according to court papers and a former employee.
The worker said the parlor had six couches. The main room was fashioned in a Far East motif and adorned in rugs and statues, including a four-foot stone figure of Medusa. There was a Jacuzzi for six. A bedroom in the back was used for sex and sleeping, the worker said.
“The Ponderosa,” or “The Pond,” was also fitted with an $18,000 wooden bar. The parties always had a bartender, including one who was a former construction worker at Nicholas’ estate. The billionaire paid for him to attend bartending school to learn how to make cocktails, including Nicholas’ favorite, the grasshopper, a sweetly potent mix of creme de menthe and cocoa.
A black box filled with cocaine and a grinder for crushing nearly pure coke rocks into powder would be on top of the bar, the former worker said. There would also be “whippets” – small metal canisters of nitrous oxide that, when inhaled through the mouth, produce an intense but short-lived high. But the party guests complained of how cold the cylinders were, so they were replaced by a tank of laughing gas, the worker said.
“The parties would last for 24 hours straight, sometimes longer,” the worker told The Post last week.
But the high times came crashing down for Nicholas, 48, during the past year as court documents filed by former employees seeking back pay painted the billionaire as prone to making death threats against workers.
In another suit seeking unpaid wages, Kenji Kato, a former personal assistant, said he was forced to act as a drug courier, conceal Nicholas’ illegal activities from family members and entertain clients with prostitutes.
But the feds fired off the most serious accusations, charging him with securities and wire fraud, filing false statements to the Securities and Exchange Commission and conspiracy to distribute illegal drugs, according to indictments unsealed on June 4. The government alleges that Nicholas handed out cocaine, ecstasy and nitrous oxide.
It also said he spiked the drinks of high-tech execs and representatives of Broadcom customers with ecstasy.
While he is out on $3.3 million bail, Nicholas is being electronically monitored and has been holed up since April at a $66,000-a-month rehab facility in Malibu.
His lawyers have denied the charges and declined to be interviewed for this story.
As recently as last summer, however, Nicholas was making light of the allegations that he provided prostitutes to clients.
“We started out as Broads.com, but there was a typo,” he joked to The Orange County Register.
The wanton wunderkind’s meteoric rise to wealth and fame began during the frenzied days of the dot-com boom in the 1990s, when he founded Broadcom with friend and business associate Henry Samueli.
Armed with a Ph.D. in engineering, an encyclopedic mind and a legendary work ethic, Nicholas, as CEO, helped his company develop computer chips that made communication between machines faster.
Wired like the Energizer Bunny, the boy wonder of Orange County regularly worked 20-hour days, often subsisting on MET-Rx nutrition bars. Shortly after dawn, he would already be overseeing research, making business deals and adhering to an exercise regimen that would make a Navy SEAL buckle.
Family was an afterthought to work. His wife, Stacey, would reportedly have to come to Broadcom’s offices in Irvine to see her husband during the day. In 1998, pregnant with their third child, Stacey reportedly scheduled childbirth around her husband’s business schedule. She filed for divorce in 2002.
Known as a bellicose boss, Nicholas exacted the same dedication from his employees, who often bore the brunt of expletive-riddled tirades when projects fell behind schedule or problems arose, according to newspaper accounts.
Meanwhile, hundreds of employees became millionaires when the company went public in April 1998. Nicholas and Samueli’s wealth ballooned as the stock price doubled to $53 per share.
By 2000, Forbes estimated the partners’ net worth at $10 billion each. That number has dropped significantly as the company’s stock has depreciated. Nicholas is now estimated to have $2 billion.
With his spoils, Nicholas went on lavish spending sprees and donated millions to philanthropies and causes close to his heart.
He donated $2.5 million to build a crime-victims memorial in Sacramento last year. And in 2004, he spent $3.5 million to defeat an initiative that would weaken the “three strikes” law in California.
The reasons were personal. Nicholas’ younger sister, Marsalee, was killed by a drug-dealing ex-boyfriend when she was 22. “I’d say I have a moral vendetta against drug dealers because one killed my sister,” Nicholas told The Register.
Most of his newfound fortune went to a vast array of homes, vehicles and gadgets. He owns a fleet of sports cars, including Lamborghinis and Ferraris. He also purchased a charter-airline company, whose fleet included three private jets and a helicopter.
Then there’s his Laguna Hills estate, offering a panoramic view of sun-drenched Orange County. The 15,000-square-foot castle is wired with more than $1 million worth of computers. Its most peculiar claim to fame is secret passages that lead to an expansive tunnel system and an underground sports bar, gym and recording studio.
The underground bunker also showed his penchant for wild sex parties and his manic side. In August 2000, he hired contractors to build a second secret underground lair to which he could bring prostitutes and illegal drugs, according to a draft complaint in another lawsuit filed by the former contractors.
Nicholas demanded work be completed in a week while he whisked his wife to Hawaii for a vacation. He even threatened to kill a contractor after he complained to the billionaire of past-due wages, the complaint says. Reports say the lair was accessible by a door hidden on a paneled wall in the mansion’s library and could be opened only by remote control.
According to court documents, the secrecy of the parties was shattered in May 2002, when his wife found him at the sex den after she flew home from vacation and found him high on drugs and having sex with a prostitute.
“When Stacey found out, she was very sad,” the former worker said. “She didn’t want to see him anymore.”
She filed for divorce in the fall of that year, and Nicholas stepped down as Broadcom’s chief executive in January 2003 to make his family his first priority.
Nicholas is due to be arraigned on the federal charges tomorrow.
jfanelli@nypost.com |
Last Saturday’s win over Real Monarchs propelled Sacramento Republic FC into fifth place in the USL Western Conference with at least one game in hand over most of the teams directly above or below them. However, the win did more than put the Republic in a good position in the league table, it gave us some things to think about going forward.
Here are some things we learned after the Republic’s second half comeback against the Monarchs in Reno.
The Republic don’t really do first half goals
Sometimes it gets hard to even believe they exist at all. The Republic have scored a first half goal in just two of their twelve games this season. Of the twelve goals the team has scored this season, all but two have ended up coming in the second half.
When asked about this tendency after the match in Reno, Head Coach Paul Buckle chose instead to focus on the defensive strength the team has displayed in the first 45 minutes of their matches.
I’d like to say how many times we’ve gone in without conceding, really. It took a very good goal to beat us tonight and we were able come back, and if you’re able to come back it shows that you have increadible character.
While Buckle’s response didn’t really offer any insight into why the team can’t seem to get the ball in the net in the first half, he does have a point in that the Republic has largely done well with shutting down opposition attacks in the first half. Of the seven goals the team has conceded this season, only two have come in the first half.
Republic fullbacks >>> your fullbacks.
James Kiffe and Emrah Klimenta have long been regarded as fan favorites in Sacramento, and for good reason. Both are exciting, attacking fullbacks that are given liscense to push forward and make things happen offensively. Both Kiffe and Klimenta have been having good seasons so far this year and seem to be heating up over the last couple games.
The two fullbacks have combined for five of the Republic seven assists this year, Kiffe with three and Klimenta with two. Kiffe’s haul has already doubled his total assists to six, while Klimenta’s total has also been brought up to six. With such good numbers after only 40% of the season gone, it seems likely that both Kiffe and Klimenta are on track for career-best years.
Buckle attributes much of this productivity to the hard work that the pair have put in working on sending in crosses from wide areas.
Well, when I came to the club, James and Emrah were high up the field, they’re attacking fullbacks. It’s no good being up there if you can’t deliver the ball, if you can’t deliver the ball in a good area. We've worked tirelessly with the pair of them. Tirelessly. And it hasn’t come straight away, it’s come over time. It’s come over by being consistent when we've lost games, when we haven’t delivered good balls. There was a time Emrah was hitting them out of the back and James was nailing them and putting them in great areas. That’s the key. That’s the benefit of working on the training field day in, day out, keep doing the right things. And all of a sudden now they’re putting in glorious balls. I mean, they are top balls.
Octavio Guzman should have his name written in pen in the starting XI.
While Guzman has not been a stranger to the Republic starting XI, going in and out of the starting spot since 2014, he has shown recently that he absolutely deserves to be a starter this year. After being released by Paul Buckle to push forward more often, Guzman has consistently done well to move the ball forward either through helping to circulate the ball or through his increasingly memorable solo runs through midfield.
Guzman was particularly effective against Real Monarchs last week. On Wednesday his most memorable moment came way late in the match when he took the ball to the corner flag and nearly single-handedly killed about a minute off the clock, showing impressive strength and scintilating skill to hold off and dance around increasingly physical challenges from Monarchs players. Unfortunately there is no gif of that particular piece of brilliance.
However, some of Guzman’s highlights from last Saturday’s match have been immporalized in gif form.
Although he may have had this sort of skill in the past, this year’s Guzman has been given more freedom to try clever and eye-catching things like this. I’m into it.
Though this is less flashy, notice that Guzman was an important part of the buildup for both Republic goals last Saturday, playing the middle man in the one-two passes that led to both the equalizer and game winner.
Reno away games are going to be amazing.
This just goes without saying, really. Last Saturday’s match in Reno had around 100 Tower Bridge Battallion members in attendance and an overall crowd of 5182. And that was just for a match between the Republic and the Monarchs. A match between the Republic and Reno 1868 should get even more fans for an ever more entertaining game.
Huge crowds, local rivalries, fireworks, and casinos interesting local amenities? Sounds like a great time to me.
What do you think we learned from the Republic’s win over Real Monarchs? Sound off in the comments below. |
U.S. President Donald Trump’s election has generated a groundswell of interest in running for committeeperson from political neophytes. In turn, that’s spurred a fresh round of headlines about how millennials are going to run for office and revolutionize Philadelphia.
As in 2014, the inspiration for change seems to be mostly political. Advocates talk about removing “rotten ward leaders” and building a bench of new candidates. But in the aftermath of such an unprecedented — by so many accounts — presidential election, what if, this time, in Philadelphia too, things are different?
“There should be a mythology around this position. Instead it’s covered in dirt or muck, because it’s seen as something so narrow and connected to the party,” says Omar Woodard, 33-year-old executive director of anti-poverty nonprofit GreenLight Fund (and a man who’s constantly asked when he’ll run for office). “If [committeepeople] were used for the right purpose, the infrastructure would create tremendous civic outcomes.” It’s true. A committeeperson has the potential to be the connective tissue tying together the city’s social and political spheres, a conduit between the eminently powerful (but not popularly elected) ward leaders and constituents on the block.
Getting there won’t be easy. But the idea of invigorating the committeeperson job with fresh civic purpose could do more than just kickstart a resurgence of grassroots energy in local politics. Numbers alone give the City of Brotherly Love an advantage in youthful passion: The city outpaced all others in the U.S. from 2007 to 2015 when it came to attracting millennials, with a 32 percent increase, according to census data analysis by real estate firm JLL in December. If enough of these relative newcomers buy in, the impact could ripple — and give more millennials something tangible and worthwhile to cling onto in Philadelphia politics.
The Takeaway WARD SYSTEM 101: Think about Philadelphia’s ward system like an office tower run by the Democratic Party. (There’s an identical tower run by the Republican Party, but for the sake of explanation, let’s focus on the Dems.) In 2018, all registered Democrats will be able to enter the lobby of the tower and cast their ballots for individuals who get to take the elevator up to the second floor. These are committeepeople. On the second floor, out of view from voters, groups of committeepeople — generally between 20 and 100 per ward — vote for 69 ward leaders across the city. Those ward leaders head to the third floor and meet to select the leader of the local Democratic Party.
Aside from the committeepeople, the rest of the party’s power structure isn’t elected by voters, who only get to enter the lobby once every four years. And in a one-party town, that’s significant. For proponents of the system, its structure breeds stability. For detractors, its insularity has spawned corruption (more than 30 Philly politicians have been investigated for ethical quandaries since 2000). Despite calls to reform Philadelphia’s ward system — even former Governor and Philadelphia Mayor Ed Rendell recently called for reducing the power of ward leaders — change is elusive. The ward largely functions on its own. A machine.
Why should Philadelphians care? The power of the ward system can’t be understated. In citywide races, an endorsement from the local Democratic Party can make a candidate an instant odds-on favorite to win a seat. In special elections, ward leaders get to decide who the party’s candidate will be, often making them kingmakers for vacated seats — even ones in the state capital of Harrisburg.
Searching for the Next Generation of Political Leaders
On a Tuesday night in February, at a chic co-working space in downtown Philadelphia, about 100 people watched a presentation on how to run for elected offices, especially committeeperson. There was craft beer and pizza, and the ticketed event was titled “Get Mad, Then Get Elected.” It was the sequel to a November session, both organized by Philadelphia 3.0, a two-year-old political action committee that supports candidates trying to upend incumbents.
Less than 30 days into the Trump presidency, there was optimism in the room. Wide-eyed professionals thinking about career changes — into nonprofits or politics, and away from the private sector —soaked in advice from current committeepeople who made the jobs seem reachable: Collect 10 signatures, spend three hours knocking on doors, and voila, you’re on the ballot. Nuggets of insider information were shared (beware of frozen ink in your pens when you’re out gathering signatures) and warnings laid down (terms for committeeperson are four years — longer than U.S. Congress or City Council members). Everyone was enthused, though the next election isn’t until 2018.
“People came to us because they were upset with an election at literally the highest level, and we’re saying the best way to have an impact is to get involved at the lowest level,” says Ali Perelman, executive director of Philadelphia 3.0. In a proverbial “one-party” town, where registered Democrats outnumber registered Republicans 7 to 1, there’s only one locus to make a difference in politics, says Perelman. “In Philadelphia, if you want to have an impact, you have to be a partisan — in a moment when being a partisan just isn’t cool.” Still, hundreds of people have turned out for 3.0’s events.
They’re not the only ones on the scene. The first how-to-run seminar held by the Philadelphia Democratic Progressive Committee (the newest org to have the PDPC acronym), a nascent political action committee, drew more than 400 people, two-thirds of them millennials. In an effort to do outreach beyond downtown, PDPC has been hosting training sessions across the city: On a Monday evening in February, more than a hundred people sat in metal folding chairs in the basement of Mount Carmel Baptist Church in West Philadelphia. “Something different is happening all over,” Dennis Lee, a former deputy city commissioner and member of PDPC, told the audience.
They aren’t the first groups with this idea of course. Well before Trump’s victory activated regular protests across U.S. cities, the committeeperson seat has been eyed by those looking for change — and those who believe a better-informed public is the key to bringing fresh blood into the elected sphere. As far back as the early 1970s, progressives in Philadelphia have ruminated over these oft-vacant posts. In 2014, the National Organization of Women (NOW) tapped a few Philadelphians to run nonpartisan how-to symposiums on the ins and outs of ward politics. Their efforts were duplicated by local civic-minded groups like Marzano’s YIP and the Philadelphia Democratic Progressive Caucus (the old PDPC), which published a map of how many people had registered for committeeperson in each of Philadelphia’s 1,686 voting divisions, and identified ones ripe for write-in candidates.
And with anger now directed at Washington, focusing people on local offices can be tough. “Frankly, it’s a different avenue than most people are taking, protesting in the streets,” says Joe Driscoll, one of the organizers behind the Philadelphia Democratic Progressive Committee. But he argues, the neighborhood-level seats, are something concrete. Committeepeople are not just about becoming a representative of the party; they’re about representing your neighborhood to the party. At a time when registered independents are rising in Philadelphia, Driscoll believes that a wave of people running for committeeperson is a way to reverse the waning confidence in the party writ large. “In 2014, more people ran for committeeperson than ever — according to historical records we have access to,” he says. “What we’re looking at is an upward trajectory of people smarting up and saying, look, I have to get involved if I want change.”
Revitalizing an Office, Revitalizing a Neighborhood?
Marzano has a few words of advice for any first-timers looking to run for committeeperson: “It’s not all about infiltration and blowing up the machine.”
Put another way, the momentum to get fresh faces in these seats has the potential to be about so much more than just politics. Indeed, an influx of people elected to the seats could revolutionize the position itself.
In theory, committeepeople are not just foot soldiers for Philadelphia’s 69 ward leaders. But their abundance — there are 6,744 committeeperson positions in all — exists in relative obscurity, out of sight from public scrutiny. You’d be hard-pressed to find a Philadelphian who can identify what they actually do. Many committeepersons aren’t involved in their neighborhood at all. Some allegedly don’t even live in their voting divisions anymore, which is supposed to result in a vacancy that’s then filled by the ward leader but, when terms are four years long, who exactly is combing the list of committeepeople to check regularly? Some hang onto the position as a political favor to the ward leader, voting in his or her favor every four years but otherwise remaining invisible.
In her book, “The Green Shoots of Democracy in the Philadelphia Democratic Party,” Karen Bojar suggests the role of committeeperson has devolved into perpetuating the status-quo power structure of Philadelphia’s one-party dominance:
The closed, top-down wards associated with big city political machines have sometimes been defended in terms of their historical role providing services for the poor and acculturating recent immigrants. But if the top-down undemocratic machine did at one point serve this purpose, that time is long gone. Now we have the top-down undemocratic machine with no redeeming social purpose.
If reaching back to the 19th century for examples of more holistic committeepersons might seem like a futile exercise — well, that Romantic ideal isn’t even as sweet as it sounds. While committeepersons of yesteryear may have been more socially charged and visible in their neighborhoods, they were still very much part of the machine, Bojar warns. “Yes, they would hand out some favors and do a few good things, but overall, I’m not so sure that they advanced the cause of the people,” she tells me.
In other words, the job has always primarily been a function of political power. Mayor Richard Daley in Chicago enlisted committeepersons for machine-style, get-out-the-vote efforts, for example. But that’s not to say being a committeeperson couldn’t be something more.
“You can make it as big as you want to. If you want to become a community ombudsman you can,” says Bojar, who’s held a seat in Philadelphia’s Ninth Ward for 31 years.
Demonstrators march in Philadelphia during a visit by President Donald Trump in January. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)
Getting civically engaged Philadelphians to fill these positions would naturally expand their capacity for improving their neighborhoods. Running for committeeperson doesn’t have to be a steppingstone to higher office. It can be an open door into your community, says Anton Moore, a 31-year-old committeeperson and anti-violence activist.
“Committeeperson is only a title,” Moore says, “It doesn’t hold any real weight. It doesn’t have any real influence, unless you’ve got people who are really sincere about wanting to see their community do better.”
Fostering a new-look committeeperson would seem to be well-suited for the tastes of millennials. After all, people who’ve studied the generation have found millennials to be more community-oriented and service-oriented, conceptually speaking. Committeeperson is a fundamentally volunteer and self-starter role. For Bojar, the ultimate goal is to get young people to stop thinking about politics as a dirty business. Despite the so-so returns on the revolution of 2014, she’s hopeful that this moment beckons the promise of change. “When I wrote the book, I was very hopeful about the green shoots of democracy and now I’m certain something is going to happen.”
Building a Movement to Last
While how-to-run-for-committeeperson training sessions that’ve taken place since November, all across Philadelphia — from Center City co-working spaces to West Philadelphia church basements — have been well-attended, it will be years before we understand if this moment marks a local political movement or whether it’s just an outlet for ephemeral anger and anxiety.
“I’m skeptical it will lead to more candidates,” Woodard says. While he strongly touts the belief that in order “to fundamentally change Philadelphia, it has to occur at the block level,” he has also seen similar moments come and go in this city before. Groups like the Center for Progressive Leadership, YoungPhillyPolitics.com and the Philadelphia Democratic Progressive Caucus all had their 15 minutes of fame as the group that would galvanize young Philadelphians to run for office. In 2017, they’re all in various stages of defunctness.
But if the committeeperson role could be infused with greater social responsibility, it’s hard not to imagine a trickle-down — or maybe, trickle-up — effect. “You can start there [with the committeeperson job] and model up what it means to be doing public service on the ground,” says Woodard. “You’ll have people seeing what real engagement — between people and political parties — looks like. If it’s not modeled well there, then it won’t be modeled well anywhere else.”
That’s not to say Philadelphia needs to drain the swamp of all its committeepeople. It’s not even to say that most of them are doing a poor job. But the decidedly older demographic occupying the seats means that change is, imminently, on the way. “The whole system is breaking down, because so many of the committee people are in their 60s, 70s and 80s,” says Bojar. Are young people ready to quit bowling alone and finally participate in local politics at the level of, say, committeeperson? Beyond local precedent, there’s an abundance of headwinds working against the idea. Marzano’s case is telling. When he was elected in the Second Ward, he was a renter, meaning his year-to-year residence was at the mercy of so many factors (namely, affordability). Once he left, the ward leader got to appoint whoever he wanted to replace Marzano, and good-government progressives have to wait until 2018 to try again.
Lauren Vidas (Photo by Joshua Scott Albert)
Mobility is the downfall of so many bushy-tailed committeepersons.We have a ton of vacancies right now because people have moved,” says Lauren Vidas, another first-time committeeperson elected in 2014. “One of the things that I hear from folks who’ve been committeeperson for years and years, is that they get a new committeeperson who has new ideas and their response is, ‘you’re going to move out of the city in four years anyways, so why should I be listening to you?’”
There are more positive signs. In its first three months of existence, RunForSomething — a brand-new group that sprung up in January with the goal of training more millennials to run for offices at the state and local level across the U.S. — received 5,000 registrants and oodles of press. In Philadelphia, when YIP held a “Born to Run” event a week before Thanksgiving, 275 people attended. Before November 9, only 30 registrants had signed up.
And even if this doesn’t turn out to be a political moment, that doesn’t mean it can’t yield another kind of positive change either. “If [millennials are] encouraged to take positions like [committeeperson], they’re going to stick around a little bit longer,” says Lauren Hansen-Flaschen, 35. She, too, ran for committeeperson in 2014, and lost (despite garnering 42 votes), but has since become vice president of her local civic association in West Philadelphia. “They’re going to be a little more invested in the city and care about what’s happening now or in the near future.” |
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You know the Environmental Working Group‘s super-helpful list of the most-pesticide-laden fruits and veggies? Well, there’s a Big Ag lobby group called the Alliance for Food and Farming that’s trying to debunk it. And the USDA just gave the lobbyists $180,000 to aid their smear campaign, The Atlantic reports.
So exactly who’s behind the Alliance for Food and Farming? According to SourceWatch, its board of directors includes honchos from the California Strawberry Commission, the California Tomato Farmers, the Produce Marketing Association, and the California Association of Pest Control Advisors, among other industry groups. The AFF’s main argument: “Promotion of the ‘Dirty Dozen’ list actually makes the work of improving the diets of Americans more difficult because it scares consumers away from the affordable fruits and vegetables that they enjoy.”
Riiiight. Considering that the EPA freely admits that pesticides can cause “birth defects, nerve damage, cancer, and other effects,” it’s totally boneheaded to suggest that raising consumer awareness about pesticides is making Americans less healthy. What’s more, it’s not like the Environmental Working Group is suggesting you give up on produce entirely and stock your fridge with Mountain Dew instead. In fact, EWG explicitly states that the list isn’t meant to discourage people from eating their veggies. From the FAQ:
Do all these pesticides mean I shouldn’t eat fruits and vegetables? No, eat your fruits and vegetables! The health benefits of a diet rich in fruits and vegetables outweigh the risks of pesticide exposure. Use EWG’s Shopper’s Guide to reduce your exposures as much as possible, but eating conventionally grown produce is far better than not eating fruits and vegetables at all.
The bottom line: The more you know about your food, the better. Period.
Here’s a refresher on the EWG’s “Dirty Dozen” and “Clean 15”:
Got a burning eco-quandary? Submit it to econundrums@motherjones.com. Get all your green questions answered by visiting Econundrums on Facebook here. |
1.
Whether we gain or not by this habit of profuse communication it is not for us to say.
—Virginia Woolf, Jacob’s Room (1922)
Every technological revolution coincides with changes in what it means to be a human being, in the kinds of psychological borders that divide the inner life from the world outside. Those changes in sensibility and consciousness never correspond exactly with changes in technology, and many aspects of today’s digital world were already taking shape before the age of the personal computer and the smartphone. But the digital revolution suddenly increased the rate and scale of change in almost everyone’s lives. Elizabeth Eisenstein’s exhilaratingly ambitious historical study The Printing Press as an Agent of Change (1979) may overstate its argument that the press was the initiating cause of the great changes in culture in the early sixteenth century, but her book pointed to the many ways in which new means of communication can amplify slow, preexisting changes into an overwhelming, transforming wave.
In The Changing Nature of Man (1956), the Dutch psychiatrist J.H. van den Berg described four centuries of Western life, from Montaigne to Freud, as a long inward journey. The inner meanings of thought and actions became increasingly significant, while many outward acts became understood as symptoms of inner neuroses rooted in everyone’s distant childhood past; a cigar was no longer merely a cigar. A half-century later, at the start of the digital era in the late twentieth century, these changes reversed direction, and life became increasingly public, open, external, immediate, and exposed.
Virginia Woolf’s serious joke that “on or about December 1910 human character changed” was a hundred years premature. Human character changed on or about December 2010, when everyone, it seemed, started carrying a smartphone. For the first time, practically anyone could be found and intruded upon, not only at some fixed address at home or at work, but everywhere and at all times. Before this, everyone could expect, in the ordinary course of the day, some time at least in which to be left alone, unobserved, unsustained and unburdened by public or familial roles. That era now came to an end.
Many probing and intelligent books have recently helped to make sense of psychological life in the digital age. Some of these analyze the unprecedented levels of surveillance of ordinary citizens, others the unprecedented collective choice of those citizens, especially younger ones, to expose their lives on social media; some explore the moods and emotions performed and observed on social networks, or celebrate the Internet as a vast aesthetic and commercial spectacle, even as a focus of spiritual awe, or… |
Atlas Obscura on Slate is a blog about the world's hidden wonders. Like us on Facebook, Tumblr, or follow us on Twitter @atlasobscura.
In the climactic scene of True Detective's season finale, Messrs. Cohle and Hart storm Carcosa, a creeptastically dilapidated lair perfectly suited for a serial killer.
In the realm of reality, Carcosa is better known as Fort Macomb, a 19th-century brick fortress that once guarded the waters of Chef Menteur Pass in New Orleans. Fort Macomb, originally known as Fort Chef Menteur, then Fort Wood, was completed in 1822. (The Americans had just fended off the British in the Battle of New Orleans and figured a few extra forts around the place couldn't hurt.)
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Fort Macomb saw some action during the Civil War — Confederate soldiers camped there until the Union captured New Orleans and took the fort for themselves. In 1871, Fort Macomb was decommissioned and has sat idle ever since. Crumbling, overgrown, and battered by Hurricanes Katrina, Rita, and Gustav, it is too hazardous for the public to visit. But just hazardous enough for Matthew McConaughey.
If you squint and employ your imagination, you can get the Carcosa experience at nearby Fort Pike. Built to the same design as Fort Macomb, it's in much better condition and welcomes even non-celebrity visitors.
All sorts of forts: |
The real mystery of our age is this: why do all the media warmongers still have jobs, after the way they goaded us into the epic disaster we’ve found ourselves in? Back in 2001, when a panicked America foolishly handed the steering wheel to pundits like Max Boot, America was at the height of its economic and geopolitical power. What happened next was a lot like that rent-a-car prank in the first Jackass film: decades of America’s accumulated wealth and geopolitical power trashed overnight in a reckless neocon joyride. The warmongers pulled out of the lot in a mint-condition, gas-guzzling boat, cheerfully assuring America that everything would turn out fine. Cut to the slapstick punch line: Boot pushing the remains of the totaled car back onto the lot. Only instead of apologizing like the Jackass pranksters, Boot cheerfully tells America, “You see, I told you it would turn out great! Now give me your next-best car; I’d like to take it out for a spin…”
That’s the most incredible thing: how warmongers like Boot are still gainfully employed, even as news media are shedding jobs and space. And he’s using his platforms to try to goad the new administration down the same catastrophic path as the previous one. The disastrous war in Afghanistan is what Obama has claimed as his showcase, and Boot is ready to provide the solution. Never mind that the current Afghanistan debacle was caused in no small part by the bizarre armchair-conquistador ideas that Boot and his comrades successfully advocated into policy during the first few years of the Bush administration. For Boot, the solution to all of America’s geopolitical problems is simple: behave like imperial Britain. He doesn’t mean that metaphorically, but literally, right down to the tropical colonial headgear, as you’ll see.
But first it’s important to recall his serious A-list establishment credentials: senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, columnist at the Los Angeles Times, contributing editor at Weekly Standard, regular contributor to the Wall Street Journal and New York Times, and former top adviser to John McCain’s campaign–a role that likely would have landed him a powerful position in a McCain-Palin cabinet. With the establishment’s blessing and encouragement, Boot’s ideas, no matter how insane, enter the mainstream debate, crowding out by the laws of scarcity other ideas and other thinkers who might actually help us and the world.
Ever since Bush came to power, Boot has been pimping his imperial Britain snake oil, a schtick he’s still working today. As we headed into the Christmas season, Boot was woofing in the Wall Street Journal about how America can solve two intractable problems–anarchic Somalia and nuclear Pakistan’s lawless border regions–with one magical solution:
The essential problem in both Somalia and Pakistan is a failure of governance. The question is: What if anything can outside powers do to bring the rule of law to these troubled lands? In the 19th century, the answer was simple: European imperialists would plant their flag and impose their laws at gunpoint. The territory that now comprises Pakistan was not entirely peaceful when it was under British rule. Nor was Somalia under Italian and British sovereignty. But they were considerably better off than they are today–not only from the standpoint of Western countries but also from the standpoint of their own citizens.
I find it amazing that Boot is allowed to print outrageous declarations like that in public and not be subjected to a public shaming campaign that forces him into early retirement from public service, Trent Lott-style. If Boot had written that blacks were “considerably better off under apartheid rule than they are today,” he’d be branded a racist and dropped from every newspaper in the country. And yet it’s OK to say the equivalent about subjects of the British Raj–and no one even blinks?
Indians were “considerably better off” under the British Raj, according to Boot
Let’s remind ourselves how great Boot’s fetishized British Raj was “from the standpoint of their own citizens”: their life expectancy fell 20 percent from 1872 to 1921, their incomes fell 50 percent in the last half of the nineteenth century and roughly 50 million natives died in famines overseen by the Raj’s imperial authority–famines that occurred at the same time the British were exporting grain from Raj fields and ports. The Brits allowed these Indo-Pakistani holocausts to go on under their administration on the popular theory that providing famine relief would create a bunch of welfare queens, as well as the popular belief that it was a good thing from nature’s standpoint to allow the “weak” to die off.
I have read and heard plenty of people who argued that blacks were better off under slavery or under apartheid, and they’re rightly labeled racists. So I would like to know why no one is holding Boot accountable for publishing the same argument about subjects of the British Raj, and why Boot’s editors at the Journal (or the LA Times or his peers at the Council on Foreign Relations) not only allow him to get away with this, but validate it by providing him establishment cover–is this what they mistake for “maverick” thinking?
Boot apparently isn’t interested in or bothered by the British Empire’s terrible legacy of genocide, famine or racism. In fact, he seems to relish the idea that twenty-first-century America is fighting wars today created by imperial Britain’s divide-and-rule strategy: “It is striking–and no coincidence–that America now faces the prospect of military action in many of the same lands where generations of British colonial soldiers went on campaigns,” he crowed in a 2001 Weekly Standard piece published in the wake of the September 11 attacks. |
BATTLE CREEK, MI - Police say the shooting deaths of two people early Sunday morning - one a Calhoun County Sheriff's deputy -- was an incident of murder-suicide.
Sheriff Matt Saxton identified 18-year law enforcement division veteran Mark Elferdink, 43, and his wife, Hope Elferdink, 38, as those deceased.
The Elferdinks' bodies were found in the backyard of their McAllister Road residence in Emmett Township after a concerned family member called for emergency help at about 8 a.m. Sunday.
Deputies say the shootings may have happened several hours earlier, with neighbors reporting that they heard firecracker-like sounds at about 1 a.m.
"The incident has been confirmed to be a murder-suicide and it appears that Elferdink is responsible for the death of his wife and himself," Saxton said at a Monday afternoon press conference.
Wood TV-8 reported that neighbors said the couple's two children were in the house when the shooting occurred, along with some other children who were there for a sleepover. Deputies did not say whether any of the youngsters witnessed the shooting.
"Our agency is carefully examining this tragedy with hopes of finding some closure," Saxton said. "As sheriff my heart goes out to those directly affected. And our heart aches for the children left behind of the Elferdinks. In law enforcement, we are a family and the family of our employees are family members."
Mentioning that there were more than 350 suicides among law enforcement officers in the United States last year, Saxton said, "We will continue to look closely into why this happened. We may never know the whys but we will continue to look into (it) in hopes of this type of incident not happening in the future."
He said law enforcement loses about twice as many officers to suicide each year as it does to those killed in the line of duty.
MLive writer Al Jones may be contacted at ajones5@mlive.com. Follow me on Twitter at ajones5_al |
It’s official. The 2026 FIFA World Cup joint bid was announced today by the United States, Mexico, and Canada. Now, with this bid expected to be the clear favorites to land the tournament, talk now begins on which cities and venues will be the ones to host matches. Under the proposed logistics agreed to by all 3 federations, there would be 60 of the 80 matches in the United States, with Canada and Mexico hosting 10 matches each. All matches from the quarterfinals through the final would be hosted in the United States.
So, let’s play a little game called “Where do I think the 2026 World Cup matches should be played,” shall we? I expect that it would be set up where the USMNT will play all their matches in the United States, while Canada and Mexico will stay at home to play their matches up to the quarterfinals. With the new World Cup group stage format consisting of 16 groups of 3 with the top 2 making the knockout round of 32, there is an extra match in the knockout stage. Now, to my venues:
Canada: BMO Field, Toronto (30,000, expand to 40,000); BC Place, Vancouver (54,500); Commonwealth Stadium, Edmonton (56,302)
Canada would have group stage matches in Toronto at an expanded BMO Field and then Vancouver at BC Place, which hosted the 2015 Women World Cup final. Edmonton’s Commonwealth Stadium has the capacity to host big-time matches.
Mexico: Estadio Azteca, Mexico City (87,000); Estadio Chivas, Guadalajara (45,364); Estadio BBVA Bancomer, Monterrey (53,500)
Mexico would have group stage matches in Guadalajara and Estadio Azteca, which has hosted World Cup finals in 1970 and 1986. Monterrey’s new dazzling Estadio BBVA Bancomer would also host matches.
United States: MetLife Stadium, East Rutherford, New Jersey (82,500); Lincoln Financial Field, Philadelphia (69,596); M&T Bank Stadium, Baltimore (71,008); Mercedes-Benz Stadium, Atlanta (71,000); Hard Rock Stadium, Miami Gardens, Florida (Miami) (65,326); AT&T Stadium, Arlington, Texas (Dallas) (80,000); NRG Stadium, Houston (72,220); City of Champions Stadium, Los Angeles (80,000); Levi’s Stadium, Santa Clara (68,500); Soldier Field, Chicago (61,500); University of Phoenix Stadium, Glendale, Arizona (Phoenix) (63,400)
With the U.S. hosting 60 matches, there’s still a need for 10-12 venues. Here, we have 11, with the surprise being Baltimore’s M&T Bank Stadium beating out FedEx Field in Landover, Maryland to host group stage matches. I’ll put the USMNT in Philadelphia and Baltimore for their 2 first round matches to minimize travel and maximize support. And, the smallest stadium in this group of stadiums will be Soldier Field in Chicago. In short, that’s a ton of potential fans viewing these matches.
The knockout stages will have a 2nd round of 32 teams, a new Sweet 16, the quarterfinals, semifinals, a 3rd place match and the final. There are enough venues to split it up where every available venue hosts at least one knockout stage match.
2nd Round: Edmonton, Toronto, Monterrey, Guadalajara, Chicago, Atlanta, Miami, Baltimore, Philadelphia, Phoenix, Houston
Canada and Mexico will host 2 second round matches each, while the Mid-Atlantic, South and Southwest will also host matches. This will be the last time we see Edmonton, Toronto, Monterrey and Guadalajara host matches in the tournament.
Sweet 16: Mexico City, Vancouver, Houston, Santa Clara, Dallas, New Jersey, Los Angeles, Chicago
For the Sweet 16, we are down to 8 matches, and at this point we have enough capacity to host each match at different stadiums. Estadio Azteca and BC Place will be the venues for Mexico and Canada, and the Sweet 16 is where we then see the crown jewel venues for the U.S.: MetLife Stadium in New Jersey, City of Champions Stadium in Los Angeles and AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas.
Quarterfinals: Atlanta, Philadelphia, Santa Clara, Phoenix
If the quarterfinals will all be held in the U.S., it’s simple enough to host two on the east coast and two in the west. Atlanta’s new stadium and Philadelphia’s Lincoln Financial Field would be the favorites there, while Phoenix and Santa Clara are no stranger to hosting big-time soccer matches in the Gold Cup and last year’s Copa America Centenario.
Semifinals: New Jersey, Los Angeles
Semifinals on both coasts, in the two biggest cities in the United States, makes all the sense in the world. The quarterfinals will be set up so that winners won’t have to leave the coast where they played their quarterfinal match.
3rd Place: Houston
Since the semis are played on the coasts, the 3rd place match can be played in the middle. Houston is a city that’s easy for the teams to travel to from Jersey and Los Angeles, and it’s a big stadium that is used to hosting many important sporting events.
Final: Dallas
JerryWorld is the perfect setting for the final. Right in the middle, one of the best stadiums in the world, and fitting to crown a champion. The winners from New Jersey and L.A. will meet in the middle to determine who hoists the World Cup trophy.
With this power list of venues, you have games all across North America in some of the finest stadiums in each host country. There are some travel concerns but matches can be grouped into clusters, with the knockout stage set up to minimize travel from the quarterfinals through the final. Now, let’s hand you a clean slate. What is your dream list of venues for the 2026 World Cup? |
Egyptian students opposed to the July 3 coup have clashed with police at a university campus in Cairo and set two buildings on fire, state television reported.
Two student activists have been killed, and four others were injured, during the violence on Saturday at the Al-Azhar University campus, according to the Ministry of Health.
The first student was killed after being hit in the face with a birdshot, while another succumbed to gunshot wounds.
The Ministry of Interior said 101 students were also arrested on Saturday.
State-run newspaper Al-Ahram said the clashes began when security forces fired tear gas to disperse pro-Brotherhood students who were preventing their colleagues from entering university buildings to take exams. Protesters threw rocks at the police and set tyres on fire to counter tear gas attacks.
State TV broadcast footage of black smoke billowing from the faculty of commerce building, and reported that protesters also set the agriculture faculty building on fire.
Al-Azhar, a centre of Sunni Islamic learning, has for months been the scene of protests against what the Brotherhood calls a "military coup" that deposed former President Mohamed Morsi after a year in office.
Security sources confirmed that nine Al-Azhar students have been killed in clashes with police since the start of the school year in September.
Youssof Salheen, a spokesman of the pro-Brotherhood Students Against the Coup movement, told Al Jazeera that Khaled El-Haddad, a student at Al-Azhar's School of Commerce died at campus, but did not clarify the cause of death.
The violence followed a day of clashes across the country that left five people dead.
Supporters of the Brotherhood took to the streets on Friday after the government designated the group a terrorist organisation - a move that increases the penalties for dissent against the military-led government installed after Morsi was overthrown.
On Saturday, a prosecutor ordered the continued detention of seven Al-Azhar students that were arrested during clashes on Thursday. The students are the first to be ordered detained by prosecutors on accusations of belonging to a terrorist group.
Human Rights Watch called the government's designation of the Muslim Brotherhood as a terrorist organisation "politically driven" and said it intended to expand "the crackdown on peaceful Brotherhood activities and imposing harsh sanctions on its supporters".
Morsi was the country's first elected president who took the power after the toppling of veteran leader Hosni Mubarak in 2011. |
William Owen "Buckey" O'Neill (February 2, 1860 – July 1, 1898) was a sheriff, newspaper editor, miner, politician, Georgist, gambler and lawyer, mainly in Arizona. His nickname came from his tendency to "buck the tiger" (play contrary to the odds) at faro or other card games.[1] He later became a captain in Theodore Roosevelt's Rough Riders, and died in battle.[2] Contents
Early life Edit
Prescott Edit
Rough Riders Edit
US Postage Stamp, 1948 issue, commemorating 50th anniversary of Theodore Roosevelt's Rough Riders, depicting O'Niell. In 1898, war broke out between the United States and Spain. O'Neill joined the Rough Riders and became Captain of Troop A. First Lieutenant Frank Frantz served as O'Neil's Deputy Commander. Along with Alexander Brodie and James McClintock, he tried to make an entire regiment made up of Arizona Cowboys. Eventually though, only three troops were authorized. The Rough Riders landed at Daiquirí on June 22, 1898. Two Buffalo Soldiers, of the 10th Cavalry fell overboard. Upon seeing this, O'Neill jumped into the water in full uniform and sabre. He searched for the men for two minutes, before having to come up for breath. On June 25, 1898, the Rough Riders saw their first action. O'Neill led his men at the front of the line in the Battle of Las Guasimas, capturing the Spanish flank. During the action he saw several men, who he believed were Spaniards, across the road from him, and shouted "Hostiles on our right, fire at will!" He learned after the firing ceased that the men he exchanged shots with were Cuban rebels.
Death Edit
Buckey O'Neill monument , by Solon Borglum. On July 1, 1898, at about 10am, the Rough Riders and the 10th Cavalry were stationed below Kettle Hill. The Spaniards, who were on top of the hill, poured machine gun and Mauser fire down on the Americans. Buckey O'Neill was killed in action. Theodore Roosevelt, commander of the Rough Riders, wrote about the death of O'Neill: The most serious loss that I and the regiment could have suffered befell just before we charged. O'Neill was strolling up and down in front of his men, smoking his cigarette, for he was inveterately addicted to the habit. He had a theory that an officer ought never to take cover—a theory which was, of course, wrong, though in a volunteer organization the officers should certainly expose themselves very fully, simply for the effect on the men; our regimental toast on the transport running, 'The officers; may the war last until each is killed, wounded, or promoted.' As O'Neill moved to and fro, his men begged him to lie down, and one of the sergeants said, 'Captain, a bullet is sure to hit you.' O'Neill took his cigarette out of his mouth, and blowing out a cloud of smoke laughed and said, 'Sergeant, the Spanish bullet isn't made that will kill me.' A little later he discussed for a moment with one of the regular officers the direction from which the Spanish fire was coming. As he turned on his heel a bullet struck him in the mouth and came out at the back of his head; so that even before he fell his wild and gallant soul had gone out into the darkness.[19] Before the fighting was over, O'Neill's men had buried him on the slope of San Juan Hill. After the war, his family and friends enlisted help from the War Department to find and recover his body. After six men failed to find the site, the War Department sent Henry Alfred Brown, the Rough Riders' Chaplain, to find him. Despite it being eight months since O'Neill's death, Chaplain Brown located the site within two hours after arriving in Santiago. The well preserved body was exhumed, placed in a coffin, and returned to the United States on the Army transport Crook.[20] He was reinterred in Arlington National Cemetery, Section 1, Site 294.[21] The epitaph on his gravestone reads,"Who would not die for a new star on the flag?"[22] On July 3, 1907, a monument by sculptor Solon Borglum was dedicated to O'Neill and the other Rough Riders in their memory in Prescott, Arizona.[23] Seven thousand people gathered to witness the unveiling.
Movies Edit
Bucky (sic) O'Neill is a main character in the TNT movie Rough Riders, portrayed by Sam Elliott[24]
See also Edit
Notes Edit
^ O'Neill's place of birth is subject to debate. During his life he claimed to have been born in Missouri and his widow listed "Saint Louis, Mo." as his place of birth when applying for a widow's pension. This is contradicted by his military muster-in roll which listed his place of birth as Ireland and the October 14, 1884 edition of "The Great Register of Yavapai County, Arizona Territory" which listed O'Neill as Native of Ireland and Naturalized by father's naturalization. |
Last week I posted a recipe for chorizo stuffed roasted poblano peppers which came out delicious, if I do say so! When I was tasting the chorizo mixture, I couldn’t help but think that it would be excellent stuffed into a chicken. I obsessed about it as I often will until I just had to try it.
I had frozen the leftover stuffing which is made with chorizo, cheese, pureed cauliflower, coconut flour, and a few other odds and ends. I thawed it out so I could use it as chicken stuffing but then at the last minute, rather than using an entire bird, I decided to stuff it under the skin of a couple of bone-in chicken breasts.
It’s been a long time since I cooked a chicken breast on the bone and with the skin still on. Years ago I started using the boneless breasts and never looked back. But wow, I forgot how juicy and flavorful a chicken breast cooked (correctly) on the bone is! It was awesome! Of course the spicy, rich stuffing probably didn’t hurt!
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Either way, we really enjoyed these and I’ll be making them again for sure!
Chorizo Stuffed Chicken Breasts – Low Carb & Gluten Free Author: Mellissa Sevigny
Yield: 6 stuffed breasts
Category: Entree
Cuisine: Chicken Ingredients For the stuffing:
1 cup raw cauliflower puree
1/4 cup slivered almonds, ground
2 eggs
1/3 cup coconut flour
1 tsp granulated sugar substitute
1/8 tsp salt
1/4 tsp garlic powder
1 Tbsp ground cumin
1/4 cup parmesan cheese
1 Tbsp melted butter
8 oz raw Mexican chorizo sausage
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
1/4 cup cilantro, chopped
6 bone in, skin on chicken breasts Instructions In a medium bowl, combine your raw pureed cauliflower with the almond flour or ground almonds, coconut flour, eggs, spices, parmesan cheese and butter. Stir and you should have a thick mashed potato-like puree. Set aside. Remove the chorizo from the casings and saute in a medium pan until fully cooked. Mix in the puree until well combined. Remove from the heat and add the shredded cheese and cilantro. Season your chicken breasts with salt and pepper. Loosen the skin away from the chicken breasts, being careful to leave it attached. Divide the stuffing into six equal portions and stuff under the skin of each chicken breast. Pack as much as you can into them! Once your chicken breasts are stuffed, drizzle the tops with a little oil or butter and place on a parchment or foil covered baking sheet. Bake for one hour at 350 degrees or until a meat thermometer stuck in the thickest part reads 165 degrees. Let them rest for a few minutes before serving. Garnish with half a lime (to be squeezed over the chicken) and chopped cilantro. Notes If you are cooking for just a few, freeze the unused portion of stuffing, but be sure you set it aside before you handle the chicken to avoid cross contamination. Nutrition Serving Size: 1 breast
Calories: 483
Fat: 30g
Carbohydrates: 2g net
Protein: 45g
I didn’t have any but you could also serve with sour cream and salsa – and even corn tortillas if you aren’t doing low carb. So good! Hope you like them!
As a side point, I was only able to eat half of one because they are super filling. Matt ate an entire one but he was pretty full afterward. You could also stuff an entire chicken with the stuffing and just serve it as a dressing on the side. Whatever works for you.
Next time I’m going to make a double batch of the stuffing so I’ll have it on hand whether I’m in the mood for the stuffed poblanos or the stuffed chicken – or anything else I can think of to stuff with this – maybe inside the bacon-wrapped jalapenos next time… or a hollowed out zucchini… or zucchini blossoms… baked stuffed shrimp….whole squid! The sky’s the limit!
What would you do with it? I’d love to hear your ideas because no matter what you put this stuff into, it’s going to taste great! Cross my heart! |
Many folks, in the media and throughout American society, have been speculating about whether the nation is moving toward a “constitutional crisis” in the coming months or years. Because I get a lot of questions from students, lawyers, non-law faculty members and others these days that seem to reflect a desire to locate modern times in historical constitutional context, in my column this week I thought I would share several of the questions—and the answers I am inclined to provide—for a wider audience.
What exactly is a constitutional crisis, and are we moving in that direction?
Although I aware of no consensus textbook definition, to me a constitutional crisis occurs when our constitutional framework and norms are being violated to the point that resolving disputes peacefully and conducting government business even moderately effectively is impossible. The Civil War was one such crisis. Watergate and the resignation of President Richard Nixon were not. The process there was messy, but the constitutional system worked as designed—a vigilant and constitutionally protected press along with a conscientious Congress prevented a corrupt president from continuing to flout fundamental laws. The 2000 election had the potential to be one—and many feel the Supreme Court’s intervention was inappropriate—but the relatively orderly aftermath allayed fears of a true crisis.
We are at an unusual constitutional moment to be sure—think of how long it has been since one political party had firm control of all four major organs of the federal government (the presidency, the senate, the house and the Supreme Court)—but we are not to my mind in or on the verge of a constitutional crisis. People need to pay attention to and weigh in on what is happening in government today, but they also need to be careful to focus foremost on what actions are taking place, rather than on what various people might speculate about.
What is the worst-case scenario? The president defies an unfavorable ruling from the Supreme Court? Or something else?
That is one potential crisis scenario, but remember that President Trump has not threatened to defy any court order—about immigration or emoluments or anything else—and indeed is currently rewriting executive orders to accommodate judicial rulings, even rulings with which he clearly disagrees. In theory, other crisis scenarios could include severe crackdowns on free speech—which, like an independent judiciary, is key to our constitutional structure. Or, depending on what happens in upcoming elections, an even more contentious relationship between Congress and the president than we saw during the Obama years—one in which basic tasks like filling Supreme Court vacancies go unperformed year after year. But none of that has happened. And even if it did, we’d have to evaluate the institutions and processes we built into our constitutional structure for dealing with conflicts like these before we could conclude a crisis has arisen.
You mentioned that individuals should pay attention to and weigh in on things. How can cities and states combat any overreach by the federal government that some people fear?
State and local governments can be places of political organization, opposition, and expression. States and localities can enact laws that demonstrate better policy approaches than the federal government is pursuing to win over the hearts and minds of the body politic. In many instances state and local entities can refuse to actively help in federal law implementation. And they can sometimes act as plaintiffs to file court cases challenging federal power.
But there are limits. Though they can resist improper federal commandeering, state and local government employees may not obstruct or in any way interfere with federal law enforcement activity. And their ability to bring suit to contest federal policies is confined by so-called justiciability rules. For example, one problematic aspect of the Ninth Circuit’s decision upholding the block on President Trump’s original executive order on entry into the U.S. was the determination that the state of Washington had “standing” to sue on behalf of foreigners, insofar as public universities in the state benefited from having visitors from the covered countries. But a state can’t sue merely because it is “affected” by something the feds do, just as a Middle Eastern restaurant owner in Seattle can’t sue simply because she might lose business from the immigration ban. The standing of a state to sue in this setting is much more constrained and complicated than the Ninth Circuit’s analysis would suggest. (Of course, the Ninth Circuit had limited time to issue its ruling, so it may be excused for not writing an opinion as thorough as would be generated in a normal case.)
President Trump was certainly critical of that Ninth Circuit ruling. To the extent that courts are a very important part of our system of divided powers, when a president criticizes the court system and individual judges as thoroughly as Trump has, is there a chilling effect on the judiciary?
Presidents do criticize judicial rulings. Recall President Obama’s negative description of the Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision during the 2010 State of the Union address, which led Justice Samuel Alito, who was in the audience, to mutter the words “Not true.”
I think—and said at the time—that President Obama’s remarks were not out of bounds. But what makes President Trump’s comments potentially problematic is that some of them can be construed not merely to decry the merits of particular rulings, but to delegitimize the judges themselves. For example, his tweet about “so-called judges” on the Ninth Circuit attacks not just the recent ruling, but the very authority of the judges to decide cases. So too did his campaign criticism of Judge Curiel—the federal district court judge who presided over litigation involving Trump University—whom Candidate Trump suggested could not be impartial because of his Latino origin, given Trump’s policy positions on Mexico.
To be fair, let me add that many top constitutional analysts across the ideological spectrum think at least some key judicial rulings against President Trump have been significantly flawed, even if many of these experts are muted in their defense of the Trump administration’s legal stance because they find his policies unwise or abhorrent.
I hope that no judge lets personal attacks affect a judicial decision in either direction. I will say the current Supreme Court would not be easily bullied. The justices are a confident group united in, if little else, their belief that the Court should be involved in the nation’s biggest decisions and that its rulings should be heeded.
Speaking of the Supreme Court and judicial independence, is that a topic that Supreme Court nominee Neil Gorsuch should be asked about at his upcoming confirmation hearing?
Yes, but it’s hard to imagine that he would assert anything less than a full-throated defense of complete judicial independence. The bigger question is whether fuzzy-thinking notions of independence will somehow prevent the Senate from getting Judge Gorsuch to share his views on specific cases that have come before the Court in the past. Hearing such views is indispensable to getting a meaningful sense of where he may move the nation’s jurisprudence. Platitudes about judicial philosophy mean little until you get someone to apply them to particular disputes that have divided justices in recent decades.
Many Senators may say that while they may properly ask a nominee about his general approach to judging and interpretation, they should not ask for detailed views about actual cases, because doing so might force the nominee to prejudge issues that may come before him later.
This is nonsense. Of course the nominee should not make, or be asked to make, promises about future rulings. But the disclosure of specific views about past cases does not commit the judge to rule in any particular way in the future. He remains free to change his mind if he is persuaded by sound legal arguments, the same way sitting justices are free to do so even though they have spoken publicly on these matters in deciding the earlier cases themselves. Surely no one thinks they are conflicted merely because they have opined on an issue in prior statements or decisions.
If Senators cannot unearth and examine Judge Gorsuch’s specific views about a dozen or so key cases decided over the past few generations on topics such as abortion rights, the meaning of the Second Amendment, the scope of Congressional power over voting equality, etc., we ought not waste time on any hearing. |
NYCC 2017: 'Star Trek: Discovery' Cast and Showrunners Talk About the Science Behind the Show
Fittingly, New York Comic-Con's Star Trek Discovery panel was introduced and moderated by Dr. Mae Carol Jemison, the first black woman in space. As she stepped up to the podium, the huge crowd at Madison Square Garden broke into applause. The conversation during the panel ranged from the science behind the show to the characters of Michael Burnham and Captain Lorca, but here are the highlights!
Moderator: Dr. Mae Jemison
Executive Producers:
Aaron Harberts
Gretch J. Berg
Alex Kurtzman
Heather Kadin
Akiva Goldsman
Cast:
Wilson Cruz
Anthony Rapp
Mary Wiseman
Shazad Latif
Jason Isaacs
Mary Chieffo
Doug Jpmes
Sonequa Martin-Green
When talking about the character of Michael Burnham, the showrunners said they were excited about the lead character not being a captain, and noted that "Trek has worked best when it's fresh and new." They also wanted to "[pull] the rug out from under the audience" and surprise fans by showing that Discovery was not the show they thought it was.
Martin-Green had her own thoughts about Burnham and her Vulcan upbringing: "She's been working hard to control her emotions all her life...she's had to suppress her emotional reactions so much to fit in the world around her...She's not at home in Vulcan or [on the] Shenzhou. Georgiou represents her humanity, [and tells Michael] "you can feel these things, we accept everyone here."
When asked about how his Captain Lorca differs from previous Star Trek captains, Isaacs said "I would have run in the opposite direction" if he had been asked to play a captain that was similar to those portrayed in the past. He brings up the fact that the show takes place before the Prime Directive is strongly established, and that this is war-time, meaning that Lorca is a reflection of his times.
For Isaacs, there's "not even an echo of the old captains" in Lorca—in Lorca's mind, his crew is a "bunch of idiots" and "happy clappy hippies" that are incapable of saving Earth. During an exclusive clip aired during the panel, the crew of the Discovery is shown failing a combat situation and becoming (in Lorca's words) the only Starfleet ship ever to be lost in combat. He then takes Michael into a hidden room where he keeps the "deadliest weapons in the galaxy" and tells her that her new assignment is to weaponize an alien creature that can shrug off Klingon weapons.
The Science Behind the Sci-Fi
When the conversation turned to the science behind the show, the showrunners brought up the fact that astromycology has been a major inspiration for the first season, including Paul Stamets'
The concept of a 'warp bubble' that would allow the ship to travel at high speed also came up in discussion—the phenomenon would potentially circumvent the problem of faster-than-light travel, but we may not be able to generate the kinds of energy necessary to pull it off in the real world yet.
When the conversation turned to the science behind the show, the showrunners brought up the fact that astromycology has been a major inspiration for the first season, including Paul Stamets' TED talk on how mushrooms can save the world . They pointed to the engine of the ship when demonstrating that biology and the life sciences have taken center stage in this show, and mentioned that they had contentious round-table conversations with scientists about the science behind things like the transporter: for physicists, the prospect of teleporting people around seemed technically possible, but for life scientists and neuroscientists, the question of whether the human soul can be separated from the body caused a lot of heated arguments.The concept of a 'warp bubble' that would allow the ship to travel at high speed also came up in discussion—the phenomenon would potentially circumvent the problem of faster-than-light travel, but we may not be able to generate the kinds of energy necessary to pull it off in the real world yet. |
Tweety Bird had it right. His biggest enemy was a cat, though cats are far more efficient killers than Sylvester, the cartoon "puddy tat" who made a fool of himself in his futile pursuit of one canary.
But Tweety’s instincts were spot on.
An Environment Canada study released Tuesday shows that more than 270 million birds are killed in Canada every year from human-related activity, which includes deaths caused by cats owned, or not controlled well, by humans.
Richard Elliot, director of wildlife research for Environment Canada, said in an interview the estimated figure of 270 million is out of a total of 10 billion birds. "We've got a lot of birds, and that's probably a good thing because we're killing a lot."
The report looked at wild birds and not the millions of chickens, turkeys and other birds that are raised to be slaughtered for the food industry.
Read the Environment Canada report on avian mortality (pdf)
After cats, both domestic and feral, the biggest bird-killers are collisions with tall structures and road deaths. Combined, these three causes are responsible for 95 per cent of deaths.
Somewhat surprisingly, the oil and gas industry and wind turbines, which have both been blamed for causing bird deaths, didn't make it onto the list of top killers.
Birds such as this American goldfinch are most threatened by cats or collisions with buildings. (Amy Sancetta/AP Photo) This the first study of its kind conducted in Canada, though similar studies have been done in the U.K., the U.S. and New Zealand.
Because the research is so new, and there is still uncertainty about how exactly to determine the cause of bird deaths, the numbers are estimates, though scientists at Environment Canada are confident of the range of the numbers. The study was conducted using data from numerous other studies and then applying models to those numbers based on other information such as the number of cats in Canada.
Most birds in Canada are protected by the 100-year old Migratory Bird Conventions Act, as well as the Species at Risk Act and various provincial wildlife acts that prohibit destroying nests or killing birds, but little is being done to shield them from the following top killers.
1. Domestic and feral cats: 200 million
There are about 8.5 million domestic cats in Canada, and 1.4 to 4.2 million wild or stray cats. Although feral cats are smaller in number than house cats, they're responsible for twice as many bird kills. Even so, cats by nature can be serial killers and don't just kill when they're hungry.
Elliot said kitty-cams attached to cats' collars reveal that even house cats are avid hunters. "A cat you think is just out wandering around the premises would be killing 10 or 12 birds a night."
Ian Davidson of Nature Canada said in an interview with CBC, "Our pets don't really understand the difference between an endangered bird species or not, so we strongly recommend people keep their cats indoors, especially around dawn or dusk."
2. Power lines, collisions and electrocutions: 25 million
Wind turbines accounted for only 16,700 kills. But wind power is expected to grow tenfold over the next decade.
3. Collision with houses or buildings: 25 million
Between two and five per cent of nuthatches, chickadees and pigeons may be killed after striking houses or buildings, the report estimates. Davidson suggests turning off lights in large municipal buildings, since birds are attracted to bright light, as well as muting reflections on the windows so they don't appear transparent to birds
4. Vehicle collisions: 14 million
"Striking things," Elliot said, is a huge killer of birds.
5. Game bird hunting: 5 million
The report says extensive programs are in place throughout North America that ensure that any population-level effects of hunting are sustainable in the long term.
6. Agricultural pesticides 2.7 million
Electrical power and agriculture represent the largest industrial sources of bird mortality.
7. Agricultural mowing: 2.2 million young birds, equivalent to one million adult birds
One example cited are bobolinks, a protected bird, which nest in grasses and are killed every year by the cutting or clearing of grasses.
8. Commercial forestry: 1.4 million nests, equivalent to 900,000 adult birds
Activities that alter habitat during the breeding season, such as forestry and agricultural mowing, tend to destroy nests, eggs and young birds.
9. Communications towers: 220,000
Birds killed by flying into communications towers include kinglets and warblers. |
Chelsea will resist attempts by rival clubs to secure Michy Batshuayi on loan next month as the Belgium forward prepares to make his first Premier League start for the leaders in the visit of Bournemouth to Stamford Bridge on Boxing Day.
Batshuayi, a £33.2m summer signing from Marseille, is poised to deputise for the suspended Diego Costa following the striker’s fifth caution of the season, after 11 cardless appearances, at Crystal Palace on Saturday. Antonio Conte could still opt to utilise Eden Hazard in a central role, flanked by Pedro Rodríguez and Willian but the chance to offer Batshuayi his first league start is expected to sway his decision.
The forward, prolific in Ligue 1 last season and a scorer at Watford in August, has made only 13 appearances for the London club to date this campaign, with his three starts all in the EFL Cup. He scored a double in a 3-2 win against Bristol Rovers in the second round. Yet those are his most recent goals and, with the player reduced to a bit-part role, West Ham United have indicated a desire to take the 23-year-old on a six‑month loan in January.
That inquiry will be knocked back with Conte convinced Batshuayi will benefit more from working with the Chelsea squad at Cobham and conscious that the Belgian is his only senior alternative to Costa up front. The Brazil-born Spain international has been prolific this term, his winner at Palace made him the Premier League’s top scorer with 13 goals, and has improved his on-field discipline markedly leaving Batshuayi having to stay on the sidelines.
Yet Costa was substituted at Selhurst Park complaining of tightness in his hamstring and, while that should not prevent him from featuring against Stoke City on New Year’s Eve, it was a reminder that niggling injuries may play a part in the remainder of the season. “This game was the third game in seven days, and Diego played all the games, with great intensity, passion and drive,” said Conte after the 1-0 win. “The injury is nothing important. Now he has more days to rest compared to his team-mates.”
The striker has taken advantage of the squad being granted three days off this week to return to Brazil. Hazard is still undergoing treatment on the knee injury sustained from a kick he received against West Bromwich Albion earlier this month.
While there has been frustration at limited opportunities, Batshuayi’s commitment in training has never wavered, and his attitude has impressed Conte’s coaching staff despite being restricted to occasional cameos from the bench and appearances for the club’s Under-23s, for whom he has scored twice. Chelsea consider him a key player for the future who has the pedigree to make his mark this season if required.
Batshuayi is not the only Chelsea player to have interested West Ham of late. The leaders’ back-up goalkeeper, Asmir Begovic, has been targeted and there could be a loan offer submitted for the young the midfielder Ruben Loftus-Cheek. Conte intends to hold talks to the technical director, Michael Emenalo, and the player before determining whether he should seek to gain first-team experience away from Stamford Bridge over the second half of the season. |
More details have emerged about Glenn Greenwald's new journalism venture, with Reuters reporting that Greenwald has partnered with billionaire eBay founder Pierre Omidyar for a new independently funded site. The venture will also include Laura Poitras, the documentarian who played a crucial role in the recent Snowden leaks, but not Washington Post reporter Barton Gellman, who has collaborated with Greenwald and Poitras for a number of recent NSA stories.
Omidyar declined to comment to Reuters on the nature of the project, but it's in keeping with his history of socially motivated investing through the Omidyar Network, which has seen investments in non-profits like the Sunlight Foundation and citizen media site Global Voices, as well as investigative journalism projects like Sahara Reporters. In an earlier statement, Greenwald said the new project would cover a broad range of topics, include sports and entertainment, but retain his usual focus on political news.
Update: Speaking to NYU's Jay Rosen, Pierre Omidyar has elaborated on the unnamed new project. He says the site will be based on a personal franchise model of journalism, attracting "individual journalists who have their own reputations, deep subject matter expertise, clear points of view, an independent and outsider spirit, a dedicated online following, and their own way of working." The site will be funded by Omidyar personally, not through the Omidyar Network, but is intended as a for-profit venture rather than a non-profit charity. Omidyar says the project grew out of his failed bid to purchase The Washington Post, which was subsequently purchased by Amazon's Jeff Bezos, and the same $250 million that would have gone to buying the Post will now be poured into this new venture.
Update 2: Pierre Omidyar has made a statement on the Omidyar Group site, saying, "I want to find ways to convert mainstream readers into engaged citizens. I think there’s more that can be done in this space, and I’m eager to explore the possibilities." |
The trial against the ISIS members who were arrested for preparing an attack in Dusseldorf's central square in Germany, started yesterday. Saleh A. who confessed before to be an agent of the Turkish secret service MİT, testified in front of court that he was sent to Syria for espionage.
In June, 2016 two suicide bombers of ISIS were planning to attack Dusseldorf's central Heinrich-Heine Boulevard, one to explode himself at the boulevard, and the second to kill the civilians around with arms and explosives.
However, the German police conducted an operation on the mentioned ISIS cell and detained both Syrian citizens. The third person by the name of Salah A. who turned himself in, was taken into custody in France, as part of the same investigation, and handed over to Germany.
The trial of the three members of ISIS started yesterday at the Dusseldorf State Supreme Court. Saleh A. had testified before that he worked for the Turkish intelligence MİT, and told the court yesterday only that he had gone to Syria for espionage.
Saleh A. did not answer the judge's question about which secret service he was involved in and what his mission was.
The 30 years old ISIS member stated that he joined at first the Free Syrian Army, switched then to Al-Nusra and became a member of ISIS in the end. Saleh A. stated in the court hearing that, "I am not a terrorist, because I went to Syria as an agent."
HE WAS THREATEND IN PRISON
According to the German press, Saleh A. claimed that he changed his statement because he was threatened in the prison of Wuppertal where he is held in custody, by some persons saying to him "If you leak out too much, you will never see your daughter again".
Saleh A. told the judge that he had killed a sniper of Assad's regime and defended himself with the words "He would have killed me if I hadn't killed him". Some video footage presented at court showed the presence of Saleh A. in clashes.
According to the indictment prepared by the prosecutor's office, Saleh A. was assigned with the task of carrying out a terror attack in Dusseldorf city center.
“THE INTELS I SUBMITTED ENABLED THE TURKISH POLICE TO OPERATE”
German magazine 'Der Spiegel' published in an article last month parts of Saleh A.'s first testimony, in which he said that he and his detained accomplice Hamza C. crossed from Syria into Turkey in 2014. He testified the following information to the German police as well:
"After I crossed into Turkey I started to work secretly for the Turkish Intelligence MİT. The intels which I submitted to the Turkish police enabled them to conduct operations and to detain nearly 50 ISIS members. I enabled the prevention of many planned attacks of which some were meant to target US Consulate.”
Accordingly, Salah A. later travelled to Greece with a boat as a refugee, from where he moved on to Germany and sought asylum. The investigation file on Salah A. says that he readied the cell to carry out the terror attack in Dusseldorf after his arrival in Germany. On Facebook, he wrote “Everything is ready for the action, the rest is left to Allah.”
The trial against the three ISIS members is expected to continue until the end of this year. |
Every time I want to play Mini Metro with a friend, we have to wait for our daily to refresh. When the daily is refreshed we both stream our Mini Metro to each other and play the daily. After the daily is done we can’t play the same seed anymore.
What would be a solution is a custom seed system, which is bad in my eyes. Especially with achievements in this game. Would be somehow a shame that people could get ‘good seeds’ to get achievements fast etc.
What I would suggest is a 2 player lobby, to invite each other into, maybe even hosted local or something and if you start the game, with 2 players, it will give each other the same seed and let you see each other’s score.
I saw other people their 2 player mode’s topics, but with affecting the gameplay.
This doesn’t seem to be game changing or breaking, just an addition to the game.
Any suggestions/thoughts on this one? |
17 February 2015, 12:15
Twelvetrees and Nowell to train with England this week
Tuilagi and Launchbury continue rehab at Pennyhill Park
England will retain 17 players for the remainder of the training week at Pennyhill Park.
The starting XV from the game against Italy will train on Wednesday and Thursday before re-assembling on Monday, 23 February.
In addition, Billy Twelvetrees (Gloucester Rugby) and Jack Nowell (Exeter Chiefs) will also remain in camp.
Manusamoa Tuilagi (Leicester Tigers) and Joe Launchbury (Wasps) will continue their rehabilitation with England this week.
England Head Coach Stuart Lancaster said: “We have reviewed the Italy match this morning and, while we were pleased to score six tries and win by 30 points, we all know there is plenty to work on.
“We will release some players back to their clubs this evening as it will be a good opportunity for them to play for their clubs on a big Aviva Premiership weekend before we get together ahead of the Ireland match.
“Mike Brown is in in the early days of the graduated return to play protocol and will not be training this week.”
Players retained for Wednesday and Thursday
Dave Attwood (Bath Rugby)
Mike Brown (Harlequins)
Luther Burrell (Northampton Saints)
Dan Cole (Leicester Tigers)
George Ford (Bath Rugby)
Dylan Hartley (Northampton Saints)
James Haskell (Wasps)
Jonathan Joseph (Bath Rugby)
George Kruis (Saracens)
Joe Marler (Harlequins)
Jonny May (Gloucester Rugby)
Jack Nowell (Exeter Chiefs)
Chris Robshaw (Harlequins)
Billy Twelvetrees (Gloucester Rugby)
Billy Vunipola (Saracens)
Anthony Watson (Bath Rugby)
Ben Youngs (Leicester Tigers)
Retained for rehabilitation
Joe Launchbury (Wasps)
Manusamoa Tuilagi (Leicester Tigers)
Players returning to Aviva Premiership clubs
Brad Barritt (Saracens)
Kieran Brookes (Newcastle Falcons)
Danny Cipriani (Sale Sharks)
Nick Easter (Harlequins)
Danny Care (Harlequins)
Tom Croft (Leicester Tigers)
Alex Goode (Saracens)
Courtney Lawes (Northampton Saints)
Geoff Parling (Leicester Tigers)
Mako Vunipola (Saracens)
Richard Wigglesworth (Saracens)
Tom Wood (Northampton Saints)
Tom Youngs (Leicester Tigers) |
A man descended from a Hasidic “dynasty” is transitioning into a woman — enraging members of the ultra-Orthodox Jewish community she left behind.
Srully Stein — who now goes by Abby — recently came out as a woman and said she’s finally living as her true self — something she said was impossible to do growing up in her restrictive household in Brooklyn.
“In the community that I was raised in, Trans did not exist, neither was it ever discussed,” the 24-year-old writes in her blog.
“I was therefore convinced that I have to be crazy, and that I have to get this ‘stupidity’ of feeling like a girl, out of my head.”
Stein — who some say has “royal blood” coursing through her veins because of her grandfather, the prominent Rabbi Mordechai Stein — began hormone replacement therapy Sept. 4.
The results have been “amazing,” she kvelled.
“The road is long, but with the support of some amazing friends and professionals, for the first time in my life I feel like I am getting to be my real self,” she wrote in a recent post, which received more than 20,000 hits in just a couple days.
Stein’s roots trace back to Rabbi Yisroel ben Eliezer, also referred to as Baal Shem Tov, considered the founder of Hasidic Judaism.
Her grandfather, Mordechai, was born in Fălticeni, Romania, and her father was born in Israel.
Her ancestors are part of several Hasidic sects — and her great-grandmother was a member of the Twersky family, a “very famous” old dynasty from the Ukraine, she said.
Stein recently broke the news to her father — and hasn’t heard from him since.
“I think right now it’s shock more than anything,” Stein told The Post. “He doesn’t know what to do.”
Others took to social media to spew hate-filled messages about her transition.
“And family is nothing?” one member of the Lee Avenue WhatsApp group wrote. “The lowest scum of earth live with deficiencies with lifelong pain not to hurt their family. I saw your father today in synagogue, he is going to die of the shame you have caused him.”
The person continues: “No human in the world puts his pleasure in front of the pain of his loved ones. What kind of animal are you?”
Another added, “It’s all the devil, the evil inclination that says there is such a thing a man can be born in the wrong body.”
But Stein said she’s prepared for the backlash.
“My main goal is to get people to talk about it,” she said. “I don’t care how hateful the reaction might be within the Orthodox community.”
Stein added that many of the Orthodox people she’s heard from are in “denial” about transgender people.
“For most of them, they don’t even know what this is, they have no context for it,” she said.
Stein said she hopes that will change and that her story will reach other transgender Orthodox teens who’ve been battling similar conflicts.
“Since I’ve gone public, 17 people have reached out to me who still live within the community and struggle with similar things,” she said. “Most of them didn’t know there’s help.”
Stein said that while she felt like a woman for many years, she couldn’t even consider taking action until she left her Orthodox community.
Initially, she followed the traditional path of most in Hasidic Williamsburg. By 18, Stein was married, and soon had a son.
“I was raised in an extremely sheltered community,” she said. “No Internet, no TV and no movies — not even Jewish ones.”
“My family and community was so sheltered that up to around 14 I thought that most of the world is Jewish and most of the Jews are ultra-Orthodox,” she added.
With an intense desire to pursue a college education, Stein divorced, and ultimately left the Orthodox community about four years ago.
Being part of a famous Hasidic family made that split even more difficult, Stein said.
“My family had more restrictions than most families even in Williamsburg,” she explained. “Like men were expected to work only in Jewish scholarly jobs, not drive, and I was constantly told that we ought to be role models.”
Now Stein is a second year student at Columbia University’s School of General Studies, where she’s taking courses in political science and gender studies.
Adjusting to a secular scholar’s life wasn’t easy, but she said she’s found comfort in the campus’ strong Jewish community and trans support group.
“Culturally it took me quite a while to blend in, and until [now] there were so many basic references to popular culture that everyone ‘just knows’ and I had no idea what they are talking about,” she said.
Stein is interested in someday working in the nonprofit world, advocating for other transgender people from similar backgrounds and shaping public policy.
She’s currently raising money for her own transition on her blog.
“But my main goal is to raise awareness for trans people within the ultra-Orthodox community,” Stein said.
She added: “It’s been totally ignored until now.” |
The First Empire of Haiti (French: Empire d'Haïti; Haitian Creole: Anpi an Ayiti) was an elective monarchy in North America. Haiti was controlled by France before declaring independence on January 1, 1804. The Governor-General of Haiti, Jean-Jacques Dessalines, created the empire on September 22, 1804. Proclaiming himself Emperor Jacques I, he held his coronation ceremony on October 6. The constitution of May 20, 1805 set out the way the empire was to be governed, with the country split into six military divisions. The general of each division corresponded directly with the emperor, or the general in chief appointed by the emperor. The constitution also set out the succession to the throne, with the crown being elective and the reigning emperor having the power to appoint his successor. The constitution also banned white people, with the exception of naturalised Germans and Poles, from owning property inside the empire.[1]
Emperor Jacques I was assassinated on October 17, 1806. Two members of his administration, Alexandre Pétion and Henri Christophe, then assumed power, which led to a split in the country with Pétion leading the southern Republic of Haiti and Christophe leading the northern State of Haiti. Some 43 years later, on August 26, 1849, President Faustin Soulouque re-established an Empire in Haiti that lasted until January 15, 1859.
See also [ edit ]
Notes [ edit ]
References [ edit ] |
As previously reported in Basic Income News, Kela, the Social Insurance Institution of Finland, submitted a report on basic income experiments to the Finnish Government on March 30. Previously released to the public only in Finnish, the report is now available in English.
Kela’s report describes and analyzes several basic income models, including a “full” basic income of at least 1000 EUR per month, which would replace all existing social insurance programs, a “partial” basic income of under 800 EUR per month, and a negative income tax. It additionally examines conditional programs such as a participation income.
In the conclusion of its report, Kela advises the Finnish government to adopt a partial basic income model for its experiment.
In August, Finland’s Ministry of Social Affairs and Health drafted a bill authorizing the basic income experiment. This bill revealed that the government plans to test of a partial basic income of 560 EUR per month, distributed to a random sample of 2,000 individuals who are between the ages of 25 and 58 and currently receive unemployment assistance. The Ministry’s proposed legislation also made clear that experiment will be designed specifically to test whether a partial basic income incentivizes employment.
The English version of Kela’s 62-page report is now available as a free download from its website (see link below). This version also includes a postscript concerning the bill drafted by the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health, including a summary of criticisms of the bill and an explanation of the government’s decision to adopt the chosen experimental design.
Kansaneläkelaitos Kela; Social Insurance Institution of Finland Kela (2016) “From idea to experiment. Report on universal basic income experiment in Finland”
Link: https://helda.helsinki.fi/handle/10138/167728
Photo: CC BY-NC 2.0 Aaronigma |
Below is a handy pocket guide to the key elections taking place on Tuesday, Nov. 8, 2011. For background information on these races and more, check out these roundups by Daily Kos Elections editor Steve Singiser and diarist sapelcovits.
Note: "Party" denotes the party which currently controls the office or legislative body. ALL POLL CLOSING TIMES ARE LISTED IN EASTERN TIME.
Statewide ballot measures (complete list):
Kentucky statewide elected officials:
Office Party Democrat Republican Polls Close
(EASTERN) KY-Gov (D) Steve Beshear (inc) David Williams 6pm/7pm KY-Atty Gen. (D) Jack Conway (inc) Todd P'Pool 6pm/7pm KY-Sec. of State (D) Allison Lundergan Grimes Bill Johnson 6pm/7pm KY-Treasurer (D) Todd Hollenbach (inc) K.C. Crosbie 6pm/7pm KY-Auditor (D) Adam Edelen John Kemper 6pm/7pm KY-Ag Commish (R) Bob Farmer James Comer 6pm/7pm
Mississippi statewide elected officials:
Office Party Democrat Republican Polls Close
(EASTERN) MS-Gov (R) Johnny DuPree Phil Bryant 8pm MS-Lt. Gov. (R) Tate Reeves 8pm MS-Atty Gen. (D) Jim Hood (inc) Steve Simpson 8pm MS-Sec. of State (R) Delbert Hosemann (inc) 8pm MS-Treasurer (R) Connie Moran Lynn Fitch 8pm MS-Auditor (R) Stacey Pickering (inc) 8pm MS-Ag Commish (R) Joel Gill Cindy Hyde-Smith 8pm MS-Ins Commish (R) Louis Fondren Mike Chaney (inc) 8pm
Many more races below the fold. |
The following post is releasing experimental bits for feedback purposes.
If you’re like me, a clean development environment is crucial to being effective. I used to carry around a portable hard drive with my golden image (starting point VM) and a number of other environments I’ve had already configured for the projects I was currently working on. This could be for a number of different reasons, Development, Testing (to address side-by-side browser issues), etc.
One of the sites that helped make my environments simple was Modern.ie as they provided a series of Virtual Machine images with multiple versions of Windows with different versions of Internet Explorer installed. These images are available for users on a Mac, Linux or Windows machine by taking advantage of different virtualization technologies including Hyper-V, Parallels, Virtual Box and VMware Player/Fusion.
I’m pleased to be announcing a new way to leverage the Modern.ie VMs for your testing purposes — Vagrant. If you aren’t familiar with Vagrant, Vagrant is a handy tool for your tool belt which is used to create and configure lightweight, reproducible and portable development environments.
A special Thank You to the Modern.ie team for their hard work working on these VMs to make them available to Vagrant users. Read the License Terms which are offered in the link below which is outlined on the Modern.ie site.
The Microsoft Software License Terms for the IE VMs are included in the release notes and supersede any conflicting Windows license terms included in the VMs. By downloading and using this software, you agree to these license terms.
Known Issues Currently only the Virtual Box Provider is supported
is supported OpenSSH is not installed at this time which disables Provisioning
We would like to hear your feedback, reach out to @IEDevChat on twitter. |
Then Ms. Lysette, the actress who played Shea, told The Hollywood Reporter that Mr. Tambor had once thrust his pelvis against her hip while on set, kissed her on the lips several times and repeatedly made sexually suggestive remarks to her.
Two of Ms. Lysette’s friends — Rain Valdez, an actress who worked as a producer on “Transparent,” and Mindy Jones, a singer — said in interviews that Ms. Lysette had confided in them about Mr. Tambor’s actions at the time. Another actress, Alexandra Billings, said in a statement to The Times that she had overheard Mr. Tambor tell Ms. Lysette, “My God, Trace. I want to attack you sexually.”
In an interview with The Times, Ms. Lysette said she hoped the show would evolve to focus on transgender experiences beyond those of Mr. Tambor’s character. “Like, come on,” said Ms. Lysette, who is transgender. “We have a lot to share, and the world wants to see it, and I just think that it sucks that so much rides on these leading men.”
A third woman, a makeup artist named Tamara Delbridge, told the website Refinery29 last month that Mr. Tambor had forcibly kissed her in 2001 on the set of the film “Never Again.”
Mr. Tambor, who dedicated his best actor prize at the 2015 Golden Globes — among the first ever given for a transgender role — to the transgender community, said in his statement that he regretted “if any action of mine was ever misinterpreted by anyone as being aggressive,” but has denied the accusations.
Mr. Tambor, too, produced a supporting account. In a statement provided by the actor’s publicist, Allan Mayer, a hairstylist on the show, Terry Baliel, said that he had never witnessed the actor doing anything of an “inappropriate sexual” nature. |
Sex discrimination commissioner says lack of women in Parliament impacts on major issues facing women
Updated
Sex discrimination commissioner Elizabeth Broderick says the lack of women in Parliament has a direct impact on major issues affecting women.
Speaking on International Women's Day, Ms Broderick says she supports any measure that would boost the number of women in Parliament.
"We absolutely need power to be shared in the Parliament between men and women," she told ABC local radio.
"There is an assumption well-educated Australian women will just trickle into positions of power. We know it's not true.
"What we do still need is some active intervention."
Her comments come after Liberal Party backbencher Sharman Stone said the party should introduce mandatory quotas to boost the number of women in Parliament.
Prime Minister Tony Abbott has been criticised for only having one woman in his Cabinet, Foreign Minister Julie Bishop.
The Labor Party has long had a quota system in place but is yet to achieve its target of women in 40 per cent of seats.
Dr Stone has suggested the Liberals look to Labor for ideas about how to get women into politics.
"We've got to be, I think, much more structured about making sure women come through," Dr Stone said.
"I don't care about that 'tokenism' label; bring it on if you must."
Women should have greater role in Parliament: Broderick
According to Ms Broderick, women make up just one third of Australian parliamentarians.
"I think it's important that women's voices are heard at the highest level," she said.
She says the lack of women in Parliament has a direct impact on issues such as domestic violence, working conditions for women, their leadership roles and pay equality.
Ms Broderick is calling on men to use their power to help achieve gender equality in Australia.
She says that while progress was achieved last year in a number of areas, more men need to advocate for women's rights.
"Power in a country like Australia, in fact any country in the world, largely sits in the hands of men," she said.
"And if we want to create change, we need good, decent men taking the message of gender equality to other men.
"That's what's going to create change in countries."
Men stepping up support but more advocacy needed
The sex discrimination commissioner says men have stepped up their support in recent times but more advocacy is needed.
"I think the real shift we saw in the last year was we had more men getting on board, stepping up and being prepared to do some strong advocacy around gender equality and that's got to be a real positive," she said.
Currently, 93 per cent of chief executive officer positions in Australian corporations are held by men.
Ms Broderick says International Monetary Fund managing director Christine Lagarde, who visited Australia last week, is an impressive woman in a senior leadership role.
"Because we don't see women at senior leadership levels and in public life a lot, then we can minimise their contribution," she said.
"If we don't intentionally include women, what we do is we unintentionally exclude them - that's a really important message."
Topics: women, discrimination, australia
First posted |
Varsha Sahu's "Revolver Rani" in UP's Bundelkhand stops wedding, kidnaps groom at gunpoint.
A young woman who kidnapped a groom at gunpoint from his wedding on Tuesday night - announcing, Bollywood-style, that she would not allow her man to marry someone else - has been arrested by the police in Uttar Pradesh's Bundelkhand. She claims the groom, Ashok Yadav, went with her willingly.Varsha Sahu's "Revolver Rani" act has made waves and even impressed some in the police force, but she has disowned the most dramatic part of her wedding stunner."I did not go there with a pistol... it is all a lie," said the 25-year-old, sitting in the police station in a grey kurta-salwar.On Tuesday night, by all witness accounts, she pulled up in an SUV to the wedding venue and walked in with two men. Then she held a revolver to the groom's head and said: "This man loves me, he is betraying me by marrying someone else. I will not allow this to happen."The three led away the groom from the mandap or altar and drove off with their hostage, leaving a weeping bride and stunned guests in their wake. The bride's family later went to the police to report the kidnapping.Ashok Yadav is still missing, say the police.Varsha and Ashok reportedly met a few years ago at work and fell in love. Some allege they are secretly married. But he was allegedly being forced by his family to marry someone else.Varsha, who lives with her mother and sister, has told the police that the groom "knocked on her car and came willingly" that night."He was not happy with the marriage. He was not ready to marry that girl. The girl's family knew he was in love with someone else but said she would handle the situation," she said.The police confirmed a part of the story. "She has said they were lovers and knew each other for eight years. The boy was not happy with the marriage he was getting into," said RK Mishra, a police officer in Banda, where the incident took place. |
West End motorists: brace yourselves for four years of traffic hell.
A main access route to the airport, the West Island and the Mercier Bridge will be closed starting Saturday at 11 p.m. and replaced by a temporary road that will have just one lane in each direction until 2019.
The entrance and exit off Highway 20 and the entrance to Route 138 leading to the Mercier Bridge, at the base of Ste-Anne-de-Bellevue Blvd., will be closed permanently. For the next four years, traffic will be diverted to a temporary Angrignon Blvd. overpass over Highway 20. Once the work on the Montreal West Interchange is completed, motorists in the area heading to and from Highway 20 and Route 138 will have to drive along the new Angrignon Blvd. overpass.
Motorists in Montreal West, Notre-Dame-de-Grâce, Lachine and LaSalle are the most affected by the closures. It’s added pain for Lachine residents since an entrance to Highway 20 East at St-Pierre Ave. was closed last month as part of the project.
The closures are needed so crews can rebuild the Angrignon Blvd. overpass and move the train tracks that run underneath it, relocating them nearby.
Once the project is completed, there will be a more direct route between Ste-Anne-de-Bellevue Blvd. and Angrignon Blvd. There will also be a bicycle and walking path along the Falaise St-Jacques, to run east to the superhospital, and a cycle path to access the Lachine Canal. However, traffic planners and elected officials are expecting lots of traffic chaos until then.
“There are a lot more cars that are going to be coming down St-Jacques St. (in Montreal West), and these roads were not meant to take that volume of traffic easily,” said Montreal West Mayor Beny Masella.
Masella worries the new traffic configuration will affect his residents, as motorists travel through Montreal West and Ville St-Pierre to access westbound Highway 20. Traffic on some side streets in Montreal West has been rerouted, and traffic lights were installed at the intersection of Westminster Ave. and Avon Rd., which is the continuation of St-Jacques St.
Transport Quebec said it will also have police directing traffic in the area to improve traffic flow.
“Transport Quebec explained that their simulation showed the traffic lights will be more effective at emptying out Westminster,” Masella said. “I hope they’re right.”
However, Masella said he’s concerned the increased traffic will create backlogs at the intersection of Westminster Ave. and Sherbrooke St. W., where there is a level crossing for commuter trains on the Vaudreuil-Hudson, St-Jérôme and Candiac Lines.
While Montreal West is relatively well served by public transit with a train station and buses, Masella said he wished there were more public transit alternatives put in place before the Turcot project began.
Peter McQueen, a local councillor for N.D.G., said he’s worried that the traffic backlog will not only clog up streets around the affected area, but throughout N.D.G.
Motorists will likely look for alternatives, like taking the Décarie Expressway, or the Girouard Ave. access to Highway 20. McQueen said the streets around those areas are already clogged during rush hour.
“We can’t handle any more traffic on Sherbrooke, and we don’t want the buses on Sherbrooke slowed down in any way,” McQueen said. “We’ll have to see how this pans out next week.”
McQueen said the province should have had some new public transit project in place by the time Turcot was launched. He said residents have long demanded a train be built on dedicated tracks out to the West Island. Since that was not put in place before the Turcot project began, he’d like to see the No. 90 bus extended through the industrial park in Lachine, and toward the airport. He’d also like to see more buses along Sherbrooke St. and Monkland Ave. because those buses are already at capacity.
Lachine residents will find some solace as a new train station on the Candiac Line — called la Gare du Canal — situated at Victoria St. and St-Joseph Blvd., is due to open sometime next year in eastern Lachine.
jmagder@montrealgazette.com
Twitter.com/JasonMagder |
As we mentionned in August 2015, Chinese media claim the YJ-18 system is designed for the destruction of various surface ships from an enemy’s landing squadrons, convoys, carrier strike groups, as well as single vessels and land-based radiocontrast targets in conditions of intensive fire and electronic countermeasures.
In its surface launched variant, the vertical launch the missile’s turbojet engine is reportedly capable of flying at a cruise speed of Mach 0.8 for about 180 kilometers after that point the warhead section separates and a solid rocket engine ignites allowing a top speed of Mach 2.5-3 for about 40 kilometers. Because of these flight characteristics, some Western analysts believe the YJ-18 is based on the Russian Kalibr/Klub 3M-54E.
According to Chinese sources, the missile can maneuver at 10G acceleration to avoid enemy interception by air-to-air or surface-air missiles. |
About
Meet Evarii, a completely customizable watch, at an affordable price. Interchange four key components of the watch to make it your own.
Evarii Watches are both automatic (winds off the movement of your wrist) and quartz (battery-powered) options. We have plans for numerous other watch internals, including high end movements. Evarii Watches come with a 2 year hassle-free warranty.
Choose your Watch Components for Create Your Own or Create Your Own Basic Pledges below! You have until the End of the Kickstarter Campaign to decide on your choice of Components on your Create Your Own pledges, We will survey all Create Your Own backers immediately after the Kickstarter for your final choices!
Technical Specifications
- Mechanical movements are PTS skeleton movements
- 43mm Case size
- 3 atm water resistance
- Mineral crystal (exhibition back on all mechanical pieces)
- Case & metal bracelet material is 316L stainless steel |
1. Jameis Winson took this photo at his NFL Draft party. You might have seen it online.
Jameis celebrated being No. 1 pick with his No. 1 snack. http://t.co/5jV9MZnQgC pic.twitter.com/C0BTDDfNQI — SB Nation (@SBNation) May 1, 2015
2. A lot of people noticed, and many offered bad sports opinions about it.
What was point of Jameis Winston serving crablegs at his draft party? Thumbing his nose at laws against shoplifting? Grow up, dude. — Jeff Schultz (@JeffSchultzAJC) May 1, 2015
Say what you want about Manziel, but he just loves life. This guy here, why do I think he's a straight-up bad guy? pic.twitter.com/Lwow1tCLPH — Brian Davis (@BDavisAAS) May 1, 2015
3. Surprise! The photo disappeared from his Instagram account.
4. But there's some context missing here. This is the backstory:
If people only knew how STUPID they sound killing this kid over that picture smdh — shaun king (@realshaunking) May 1, 2015
I was seated at the table right next to jameis at the mike alstott charity auction, when captain keith asked jameis to help him auction off — shaun king (@realshaunking) May 1, 2015
This huge king crab he had flown in for the event. Captain keith is from the deadliest catch show. I wasnt sure how jameis was gonna — shaun king (@realshaunking) May 1, 2015
Handle the request, but it didnt faze the young man at all he simply said ok sure, we r here to help the alstott foundation right. — shaun king (@realshaunking) May 1, 2015
That same captain keith in a gesture of thanks sent jameis and his family 25lbs of king crabs legs for his draft event last night. — shaun king (@realshaunking) May 1, 2015
Thats the backstory behind last nights picture for those of you who need to seriously have some self evaluation done — shaun king (@realshaunking) May 1, 2015
5. Of course, context doesn't matter. You know how the story ends.
The pic of Winston Thurs wasn't taken to make light of the crab legs incident at Publix that resulted in a civil citation. However... — Rick Stroud (@NFLSTROUD) May 1, 2015
Once #Bucs became aware of the Instagram pic of Winston, they encouraged having it removed from his account. — Rick Stroud (@NFLSTROUD) May 1, 2015
Maybe just relax about the crab legs.
SB Nation presents: What kind of impact will Winston have in Tampa Bay? |
The brother of famed actress and comedienne Mindy Kaling isn’t a fan of affirmative action and said he hopes President Donald Trump will finally put an end to the “racist” practice.
Speaking with CNN’s Michael Smerconish on Saturday, Aug. 5, Vijay Chokal-Ingam shared his pro-Trump sentiments regarding affirmative action policies at colleges and universities. Ironically, Chokal-Ingam also detailed how he faked being Black in order to get accepted to medical school.
“I shaved my head, I trimmed my eyelashes and I decided to join the organization of Black students so I could apply to medical school as a Black man,” he explained. “I also used my middle name ‘JoJo’ [and] subsequently interviewed at medical schools across the country.”
Chokal-Ingam said pretending to be Black managed to get him wait-listed at Washington University and the University of Pennsylvania, and accepted into the St. Louis University School of Medicine, despite his “pitiful 3.1 GPA.” He discussed his experience in his 2015 book “Almost Black.”
He went on to argue that universities like Harvard that boast increased minority student statistics are biased because of a so-called “Pocahontas effect” and referenced the 2016 Supreme Court case Fisher v. the University of Texas, where a white woman alleged she wasn’t accepted into the University of Texas because of her race. The justices ultimately ruled to uphold the college’s affirmative action policy, and determined that the woman’s below-average grades were the reason for her rejection — not affirmative action.
“I believe that President Trump, by appointing conservative anti-affirmative action justices and using the Justice Department to go after the colleges and universities, I believe that he will end affirmative action like Lincoln ended slavery,” said Chokcal-Ingam, who is Indian-American. Doing this “could effectively force the universities to end their racist affirmative action policies by [taking away] their federal funding.” |
Besides Ziggy Ansah, Detroit Doesn’t Have Another Solid Defensive End
The defensive line is one of the many question marks heading into 2017. While the linebacker and defensive back spots are looking for some help, no part of the defense needs more help than the defensive line. The line was ranked 30th in the league in sacks, tied with Cleveland and ahead of Oakland. Beside Ziggy Ansah, Detroit didn’t have a solid pass rusher. Kerry Hyder was inconsistent, so if he can stay improve that, then 2017 should be a big year for him. For now though, we need to figure out who at the position needs to stay and who needs to go in order to help this front create pressure and help win games.
http://gty.im/631051676
Ziggy Ansah
Ziggy is coming off his worst year ever. He played in 13 games and was only able to get two sacks as he dealt with an ankle injury for majority of the season. Ziggy is up for a new contract after the 2017 season and he will be 28 at that time. When he is healthy we know how good Ansah can be, it would be a mistake to ditch him after one injury-riddled year.
Decision: Stay
http://gty.im/637312530
Devin Taylor
Time for Taylor to go. While he didn’t have his worst season ever, Taylor doesn’t seem to be the same player he was in 2015. While part of his problem was the playcalling as he would have to be a zone blitz at times and drop back in coverage, which defensive ends aren’t great, Taylor just doesn’t seem to be a fit anymore in this defense. Detroit can find a replacement for him easily with a solid draft class and plenty of free agent options.
Decision: Go
http://gty.im/618712494
Kerry Hyder
Hyder was the best defensive end we had this season, leading the team in sacks with eight. He was inconsistent in getting those sacks though, getting five of those in the first four games. Hyder is an ERFA, meaning he can only re-sign with Detroit if they give him an offer. I am sure Bob Quinn will bring Hyder back after his best season yet.
Decision: Stay
Another player that was inconsistent was Anthony Zettel. He ended up getting a sack and 10 tackles on the year and although at times he looked good, he had his spurts of getting flattened on plays. Zettel can learn from his rookie year and improve. Can’t understand why Detroit would cut a promising player after one year in limited play.
Decision: Stay
http://gty.im/605598358
Brandon Copeland
Copeland is the wildcard here. While he mostly plays special teams, he started one game at defensive end this year. He only was able to produce seven tackles and forcing one fumble, but he is a restricted free agent, which to me seems like Detroit wants to bring him back again.
Decision: Stay
Possible Defensive End Replacements
Chris Long
Jabaal Sheard
Jason Pierre-Paul
William Gholston
Derek Barnett, Tennessee
Dawuane Smoot, Illinois
Chris Wormley, Michigan
Taco Charlton, Michigan
Solomon Thomas, Stanford
DeMarcus Walker, Florida State
Takkarist McKinley, UCLA
Carl Lawson, Auburn
Thanks for reading! Don’t forget to follow me on Twitter @BKnappBlogs, find me on Reddit at /u/sportsguy4life and share your thoughts on the Detroit Lions subreddit. |
CZ/SilencerCo Summit Package
The 455 Varmint features a heavier, stiffer barrel than its predecessors making it the perfect rimfire rifle to suppress. The 17.2” long, .866” diameter cylindrical barrel gives the 455 varmint an accuracy advantage across the wide variety of rimfire loads available today.
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SPECS
(2) Two Barrels
22 lr 17.2" barrel threaded 1/2x28
17 HMR 17.2" barrel threaded 1/2x28 with matching serial numbers to receiver
Accessories
11mm scope rings
Barrel change tools
Vortex Crossfire II 2-7x32 Rimfire Optic
SilencerCo Sparrow rimfire suppressor
CZ-USA Branded soft rifle case
The Sparrow™ 22 was designed with simplicity, durability, and user serviceability as its core objectives, and has the quietest 10 round average of any silencer in its class. Patented Multi-Part Containment (MPC™) technology facilitates ease of disassembly and reassembly — an essential function of rimfire suppressors. The internal MPC construction uses two half tubes that pull away from a monolithic core, which ensures that the Sparrow 22 will remain easy to clean after extended periods of use with notoriously dirty rimfire ammunition.
Caliber
Muzzle Average
.22 LR.17 WSM.17 HMR.22 MAG.22 WMR.22 HORNET5.7 X 28Multi caliber compatibility and rated for full auto fire (.22 LR only)SKU SU75.22 LR: 112.7 dB.17 HMR: 124.5 dB5.7 X 28: 127.7 dBWeight 6.5 OZLength 5.08"Diameter 1.06"Materials Stainless SteelMSRP $539
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Magnification 2-7 xObjective Lens Diameter 32 mmEye Relief 9.45Field of View 18.3-5.2 feet/100 yardsTube Size 1"Turret Style CappedAdjustment Graduation 1/4 MOATravel per Rotation 15 MOAMax Elevation Adjustment 60 MOAMax Windage Adjustment 60 MOAParallax Setting 100 yardsLength 10.5 inchesWeight 12 oz |
Image caption Syria's government and rebels accuse each other of using chemical weapons
Russia says it has evidence showing a projectile that hit a northern Syrian village contained the nerve agent sarin and was most likely fired by rebels.
Moscow's permanent representative to the UN told reporters that the findings were the result of an independent investigation requested by Damascus.
Both sides have accused each other of attacks involving chemical weapons.
The incident in Khan al-Assal, outside Aleppo, on 19 March left at least 27 people dead and dozens injured.
Last month, the UN Human Rights Council's Independent International Commission of Inquiry said there were reasonable grounds to believe that "limited quantities of toxic chemicals" had been used at Khan al-Assal, as well as in three other attacks.
The projectile involved is not a standard one for chemical use Vitaly Churkin, Russian permanent representative to the UN
But it had "not been possible... to determine the precise chemical agents used, their delivery systems or the perpetrator", it added.
The inquiry also called on the Syrian authorities to allow a team of UN chemical weapons experts into the country - a request Damascus has so far refused because of disputes over access to areas that the UK and French governments also want investigated.
'No credible reporting'
On Monday, Russia's ambassador to the UN, Vitaly Churkin, revealed that its Syrian ally had asked Russian experts to look into the Khan al-Assal attack.
They had visited the location where the projectile landed and taken their own samples, which were then analysed at a Russian laboratory certified by the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), Mr Churkin said.
The chemical agent was carried by a "Bashair-3 unguided projectile", which was produced by the Bashair al-Nasr Brigade, a rebel group affiliated with the Free Syrian Army, he alleged.
What is sarin? One of a group of nerve agents invented by German scientists as part of Hitler's preparations for World War II
Huge secret stockpiles built up by superpowers during Cold War
20 times more deadly than cyanide: A drop the size of a pin-head can kill a person
Called "the poor man's atomic bomb" due to large number of people that can be killed by a small amount
Kills by crippling the nervous system through blocking the action of an enzyme
Can only be manufactured in a laboratory
Very dangerous to manufacture Syria chemical weapons allegations Syria's chemical weapons stockpile How to investigate chemical weapons allegations
"The results of the analysis clearly indicate that the ordnance used in Khan al-Assal was not industrially manufactured and was filled with sarin."
"The projectile involved is not a standard one for chemical use," Mr Churkin added. "Hexogen, utilised as an opening charge, is not utilised in standard ammunitions. Therefore, there is every reason to believe that it was armed opposition fighters who used the chemical weapons in Khan al-Assal."
Mr Churkin said the report had been submitted to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, whose spokesman said he took "seriously all credible allegations".
The UK and France sent letters to the secretary general in late March which reportedly detailed evidence based on witness interviews and soil samples that chemical weapons had been used on multiple occasions, including at Khan al-Assal.
In mid-June, the US said its intelligence agencies believed government forces had used chemical weapons, including sarin, "on a small scale against the opposition multiple times in the last year", resulting in an estimated 100-150 deaths.
Following Mr Churkin's announcement, a UK government spokesman told the BBC: "We will examine whatever is presented to us, but to date we have seen no credible reporting of chemical weapons use by the Syrian opposition, or that the opposition have obtained chemical weapons."
White House spokesman Jay Carney said the US had also "yet to see any evidence that backs up the assertion that anybody besides the Syrian government has the ability to use chemical weapons, [or] has used chemical weapons".
"Our ability as an international community to investigate the use of chemical weapons in Syria is hampered by Assad's refusal to allow a United Nations investigation."
Sarin is considered 20 times as deadly as cyanide and is impossible to detect due to its odourless, tasteless and colourless properties. The agent attacks the nervous system, often causing respiratory failure and can cause death within minutes of exposure. |
Roberto Agustín Miguel Santiago Samuel Perez de la Santa Concepción Trujillo Veracruz Bautista (; Spanish: [roˈβeɾto tɾuˈxiʎo]; born October 23, 1964)[2] better known as Robert Trujillo, is an American musician and songwriter. He has been the bassist of the American heavy metal band Metallica since 2003. He was also a member of crossover thrash band Suicidal Tendencies, funk metal supergroup Infectious Grooves, heavy metal band Black Label Society, and has worked with Jerry Cantrell and Ozzy Osbourne.
Life and career [ edit ]
Early life [ edit ]
Roberto Agustin Trujillo was born in Santa Monica, California. He is of Mexican descent.[3][4] He grew up in Culver City, California,[5] where his father was a teacher at Culver City High School.[1] Trujillo was first exposed to music during his childhood; his mother was a huge fan of Motown, particularly musicians like Marvin Gaye, James Brown, and Sly and the Family Stone.[5] Trujillo stated that "Jaco [Pastorius] was my hero growing up", and that the iconic jazz bassist changed his view of what the instrument could play: "Hearing him was like hearing Eddie Van Halen doing "Eruption" for the first time: You thought, 'What instrument is that?' I loved jazz fusion and branched out from there. But Jaco had an edge that far exceeded his jazz persona. He was funk, he was rock, he was soul. And his whole attitude was punk."[6] He began playing in "a lot of backyard party bands", playing music by Black Sabbath, Ozzy, Rush, and Led Zeppelin.[5] He went to jazz school when he was 19 with the intention of becoming a studio musician, however he maintained his passion for rock and metal.[5]
Career [ edit ]
Trujillo first gained prominence when he replaced Bob Heathcote as the bassist for California crossover thrash band Suicidal Tendencies. Initially billed as "Stymee" on the 1989 album Controlled by Hatred/Feel Like Shit...Déjà Vu, Trujillo remained in the band until the mid-1990s. Concurrent to his work with Suicidal Tendencies, Trujillo was also a member of the band's side project, Infectious Grooves, along with vocalist Mike Muir.
Trujillo was a member of Ozzy Osbourne's band for a number of years starting in the late 1990s. In contrast to his earlier jazz and funk inspired playing, Osbourne's band was more straightforward hard rock and metal.[7] Trujillo also co-wrote several songs on the Down to Earth album.[7] He was the subject of controversy for re-recording Bob Daisley's bass tracks for reissued versions of Osbourne's first two solo albums Blizzard of Ozz (1980) and Diary of a Madman (1981) after Daisley claimed he was not paid proper royalties.[8] During this time, Trujillo formed an experimental supergroup, Mass Mental, with then Dub War singer Benji Webbe, whose "ragga-punk-metal" outfit had just disbanded. The band released one studio album (exclusively in Japan) and one live album of their performance in Tokyo before disbanding.[9] Zakk Wylde, a personal friend and bandmate from the Ozzy days, also recruited him to play with Black Label Society for a few shows.
Trujillo began playing bass for Metallica on February 24, 2003. He had previously met and befriended his future bandmates when Suicidal Tendencies supported Metallica during the Nowhere Else to Roam tour in 1993, and again during the Shit Hits the Sheds tour one year later. Trujillo received one million dollars from the band as an advance for joining Metallica. His audition and hiring as well as his million dollar payment offer appear in the documentary film Some Kind of Monster. As the current bassist for Metallica, he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame alongside all current members of the band, as well previous bassists Jason Newsted and the late Cliff Burton.
Personal life [ edit ]
Trujillo is married and has a son, Tye, and daughter, Lulah.[2][10] In April 2017, Tye performed with Korn during their South American tour, filling in for longtime bassist Reginald Arvizu.[11] Trujillo's wife, Chloé, has also created a pyrography design of the Aztec calendar on one of his basses.[12][13][14]
Other projects [ edit ]
In 2012, Trujillo began producing a documentary about jazz bassist Jaco Pastorius entitled Jaco, directed by Stephen Kijak and Paul Marchand. The film was named Official Film of Record Store Day 2014 and was released in November 2014.[15][16][17]
Technique [ edit ]
Trujillo is primarily a finger-style player, but has been known to play with a pick. Trujillo's predecessor in Metallica, Jason Newsted, was almost exclusively a pick-style player, while Cliff Burton, Newsted's predecessor and bassist on Metallica's first three albums, played finger-style exclusively. Trujillo is known for playing "massive chords"[18] and "chord-based harmonics"[19] on the bass.
Trujillo also uses the slap bass technique, seen mostly in his work with Suicidal Tendencies and especially Infectious Grooves. At many of the shows during Metallica's 2004 Madly in Anger with the World Tour, Trujillo would often play an extended bass solo (dubbed "Jungle Essence" on recordings), which made extensive use of slap bass and other techniques and effects.
For recording purposes, Trujillo uses his own code for writing down bass arrangements. Inspired by an article by Pino Palladino, he developed this during the recording sessions for Jerry Cantrell's Degradation Trip, which, according to Trujillo, had him working from "little hoodrat demos" with nearly inaudible bass.[20]
Equipment [ edit ]
With Metallica, Trujillo is most often seen playing Fernandes Gravity 5-string bass guitars, particularly a model with a silver finish, blue flame decals, and EMG pickups.[21] He has a Warwick Signature Streamer bass guitar, both 5 and 4-strings, that was released in March 2010.[22] He also has a signature bass model, the Sonus RT, manufactured by Zon Guitars.[23] Prior to Metallica, he was most often seen playing Tobias, ESP and MusicMan bass guitars (all 5-strings), as well as a Fender Precision Bass with Black Label Society[24] and Ozzy Osbourne. Trujillo has been seen in concert playing a Yamaha TRB5-P2 5-string bass, a customized green Rickenbacker 4001/4003 4-string bass guitar fitted with EMG pickups, various Nash P-Bass Copy guitars,[25][26] and both a classic Fender Precision Bass[27] and Fender Jazz Bass.[28] For amplification, he uses Ampeg amplifiers and cabinets.[29] Trujillo recently collaborated with Jim Dunlop to create his new Icon signature bass strings – these strings are taper-core stainless steel, with a non-tapered B string in gauges 45–130 (5-string).[30]
Trujillo also owns the "Bass of Doom" – a defretted mid-1960s Fender Jazz Bass that was formerly owned by the late Jaco Pastorius and that was extensively used on his recorded works. The bass guitar had been seriously damaged, but has subsequently been restored and refinished. Trujillo acquired it from its previous owner, with the intention of having the bass remain with him, in trust for the Pastorius family. He has, however, been seen playing it onstage with Metallica. He has since, though, returned the bass to the Pastorius family.
Effects [ edit ]
Trujillo's pedal board consists of an Electro Harmonix Q-Tron, a Tech 21 SansAmp Bass Driver DI, a Tech 21 XXL, an MXR m-135 SmartGate, a Morley Mark Tremonti wah pedal, and a Boss OC-2 Octave Pedal; all powered by a Voodoo Lab Pedal Power.[31]
Discography [ edit ]
Jerry Cantrell [ edit ]
Black Label Society [ edit ]
Infectious Grooves [ edit ]
Suicidal Tendencies [ edit ]
Glenn Tipton [ edit ]
Mass Mental? [ edit ]
How To Write Love Songs (1999)
(1999) Live in Tokyo (2001)
Ozzy Osbourne [ edit ]
Metallica [ edit ]
Various artists [ edit ]
"The Blackest Box – The Ultimate Metallica Tribute" (2002)
"A Song for Chi" (2009)
A.N.I.M.A.L. - "Poder Latino" (guest in song track 6)
Videography [ edit ]
Video game appearances [ edit ]
Trujillo is a playable character in the video game Tony Hawk's Pro Skater HD via DLC.
References [ edit ]
Preceded by
Bob Rock (Sessions) Metallica bassist
2003–present Succeeded by
Current |
Hacking collective Anonymous has declared war on Islamic State terrorists following Friday’s gun and bomb attacks on the French capital which left over 130 people dead.
In a video statement posted online a French member of the group is seen shrouded in a Guy Fawkes mask whilst declaring war on the terror group.
The man says: “You should know that we will find you and we will not let you go. We will launch the biggest operation ever against you.
"Expect massive cyber attacks. War is declared. Get prepared.
"The French people are stronger than you and will come out of this atrocity even stronger."
Anonymous has gained notoriety for its targeted cyber attacks ranged against diverse targets including Scientology, the KKK and the websites of national governments.
The video has not yet been posted on the group’s YouTube channel however. |
High Court Sides With Ex-Enron CEO Skilling
Enlarge this image toggle caption David J. Phillip/AP David J. Phillip/AP
The U.S Supreme Court has severely restricted the ability of federal prosecutors to bring corruption cases against public officials and corporate executives. The court unanimously imposed stark limits on the so-called honest services law that for decades has been a key tool in prosecuting corruption cases.
The court's ruling came in the case of former Enron executive Jeffrey Skilling, convicted of engaging in a scheme to enrich himself by deceiving shareholders about his company's true financial condition. He was convicted of a variety of charges, including depriving the Enron investors of his honest services.
On Thursday, the Supreme Court ruled that the definition of honest services in federal law was so broad that, if viewed literally, it would be unconstitutionally vague, providing inadequate notice to citizens about what conduct is legal and what is not. Instead, a six-justice majority led by Ruth Bader Ginsburg declined to invalidate the law outright, but read it narrowly to cover only bribery and kickbacks.
In view of the history of the statute, she said, "there is no doubt that Congress intended [it] to reach at least bribes and kickbacks." To do more, Ginsburg added, without explicit authorization from Congress, would exceed the court's authority. Three other justices -- Antonin Scalia, Anthony Kennedy and Clarence Thomas -- would have, for all practical purposes, invalided the statute in its entirety.
Implications Of Ruling
For Skilling and many others, the court's decision may mean invalidation of some counts on which they were convicted, while leaving intact other charges that did not involve the honest services statute. The high court sent Skilling's case and a companion case involving Canadian media magnate Conrad Black back to the lower courts for further action.
Jacob Frenkel, a defense lawyer and former prosecutor, says the problem for Skilling and Black is that they were convicted of charges other than honest services fraud.
"Even if the honest services fraud counts are thrown out, they're going to continue to be guests of the United States Bureau of Prisons because the other convictions likely will continue to stand," Frenkel said.
Not everyone will stay in prison, though. Former prosecutors estimate that Thursday's decision may well invalidate hundreds of honest services convictions. Among those who are likely to challenge their convictions under the decision are two former governors, three former members of Congress and a variety of high-profile corporate executives.
'A Real Cutback'
The decision also deprives the Justice Department of one of its most widely used tools in prosecuting both public and private corruption. Already, lawyers for impeached former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich were seeking to abort his corruption trial because some of the charges against him involve the honest services law. In New York, former state Senate Republican leader Joseph Bruno, recently sentenced to two years in prison for violation of the honest services statute, is expected to seek dismissal of the charges.
"It does represent a real cutback on what the department can use in seeking conviction in some of these cases," former U.S. Attorney General Richard Thornburgh said.
Former FBI General Counsel Howard Shapiro agrees. "I suspect it will have a very significant impact," he said. "The honest services fraud has become one of the favorite arrows in the federal prosecutor's quiver. And a large number of those cases go well beyond the core area of bribery and kickback that the court limited the statute to."
What's Considered Unlawful?
John Coffee, a professor at Columbia Law School who specializes in white-collar crime, notes the decision will have a particularly dramatic impact in public corruption cases, where state and local officials will find themselves immune from federal prosecution for a wide variety of misdeeds that do not involve kickbacks or bribery.
To cite one example, says Coffee, "Suppose you're the mayor or city council president of some city, and at the public city council meeting, you award a very lucrative contract to a corporation that you fail to disclose you and your family own 50 percent of. That's not bribery. That's not a kickback. That is undisclosed self-dealing, and a month ago this would've been seen as unlawful. And after this decision it's not."
Similarly, a governor who puts no-show relatives on the payroll has accepted neither a bribe nor a kickback, and thus has not violated a federal law.
Defense lawyer and former prosecutor Robert Luskin observes that two decades ago, when the Supreme Court narrowed the meaning of the honest services statute, Congress quickly passed a new law containing very broad language -- the very language the court has now essentially tossed out as too broad.
"This time around," he says, "Congress has got to legislate with some particularity."
But this time around, Congress may be less willing to wade into these legal waters. |
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Eadeqa
Offline
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Merit: 500
Hero MemberActivity: 644Merit: 500 Re: [NEM] NEM -New Economy Movement - No Envy Movement - Updates+Discussion thread June 04, 2014, 03:47:38 AM #8845 Quote from: utopianfuture on June 04, 2014, 02:58:16 AM "all country coins would still be listed as someone (developer) owns them" ---> it should. (I should be corrected here - if the dev. are allowed to sell the premine then they are outstanding shares, otherwise they re not). CMC should not list coin that has a sign of market manipulation but it is incorrect to not count the premine.
This was the main problem that country coins exploited to get on top of the list, even though 50 to 70 percent were not tradable and were "locked" for future release to a country.
Only stakes that are available for trade on asset exchanges should be counted to calculate market cap --
coinmarketcap will not make the same mistake as they did with country coin, artificially inflating the ranking. I think he already learnt his lesson,
This was the main problem that country coins exploited to get on top of the list, even though 50 to 70 percent were not tradable and were "locked" for future release to a country.Only stakes that are available for trade on asset exchanges should be counted to calculate market cap --coinmarketcap will not make the same mistake as they did with country coin, artificially inflating the ranking. I think he already learnt his lesson,
https://nxtforum.org NXT-GZYP-FMRT-FQ9K-3YQGS
xtester
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Hero MemberActivity: 826Merit: 500Risk taker & Black Swan farmer. Re: [NEM] NEM -New Economy Movement - No Envy Movement - Updates+Discussion thread June 04, 2014, 06:09:50 AM
Last edit: June 04, 2014, 10:10:26 AM by xtester #8855 NEM's Great Equality Experiment And The Marshmallow Test
What Equality Means?
The other day I found myself reflecting on NEM, what it is and what we all want to make of it. It seems there is a great discussion going on in the world regarding inequality and so NEM equality experiment comes at the precisely right point in time. As usual I think people focus on the wrong things. We should strive to give people equal opportunities, but they are not and should not be equal in outcome. In fact, though most of us start as equal now, I have no doubt we will not end as equal. If high productivity people work and risk 10x more than the other people, it's common sense that they should also be rewarded 10x more. Indeed, I think this kind of inequality is a natural and even necessary effect of the free market. If you would want to cut this kind of inequality off, you would also have to cut startups, inventions and innovations with it, since this may be the greatest driver for that.
Here are two quotes with which I tend to agree:
Quote Worry about skin in the game, not inequality. Worry about equality in opportunity not outcome. Worry about the powerful corporations taking over the system via lobbyists and blocking artisans. Worry about the class of privileged mandarins-WNSITG (with no skin in the game) taking over the system via "grandes ecoles"..." - Nassim Nicholas Taleb Quote
Free people are not equal, and equal people are not free. - Unknown
NEM And The Altcoin Landscape
Unfortunately the altcoin landscape is currently plagued with cheap scams and elaborate pump and dump schemes along with a horde of impulsive people enjoying playing this game. However NEM has nothing to do with this landscape. While we may well go through a cambrian crypto-explosion phase, NEM seems to be already between the fittest and is only getting stronger every passing day.
I know things are more complex but for the sake of simplicity consider the following graph:
The Altcoin Landscape
Cheap Scams Elaborate Scams Clones Low Innovation Deep Innovation
I--------------------I--------------------I--------------------I--------------------I
Approx. Time: 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month 3 - 6 Months 1 Year
Approx. Difficulty: 1/10 2/10 4/10 6/10 10/10
Approx. Value Created: 1 btc 10 btc 50 btc 100 btc 10000 btc
You must understand that while it would take 1 day to create a cheap scam, 1 month to clone a complex coin like Nxt, it would probably take at least about 1 year to invent a deeply innovative coin if you have all other necessary resources at your disposal1(Nxt would be good example of that). Indeed, it would be both stupid and frustrating to confuse deep innovation with clones or low innovation and demand otherwise. NEM aims to bring deep innovation on multiple levels, so when the alpha version along with more interesting details will be disclosed, I think a lot of people will get very excited and some will even get nervous. Indeed this could be one of the most important developments of the altcoin world in 2014. But as you might understand, until the right moment comes, most of these details need to be kept secret for obvious strategic reasons.
Anyway, starting with our extremely competent and responsible dev team, our large, talented and diverse community, our fair distribution and equality experiment, I think you can all see that with each passing day NEM is evolving to be a whole different kind of creature, unlike anything you have seen it the altcoin world until now. But in order to see that, you must get out of the noisy and impulsive crowd and focus on the signal. If you look close enough I'm sure you won't be disappointed.
The Marshmallow Test And Financial Freedom
It seems there are two major impediments on the road to financial freedom. One of them is the economic and banking system which we are trying to solve at least partially through NEM. The other one is a bit more counter-intuitive and less thought of, it's ourselves(with all the decisions and wrong moves we make). If we want to achieve something we must shift from a consumer mindset to a producer mindset, and therein lies the key.
Looking at the marshmallow experiment which emphasizes self-control and delayed gratification as a better predictor of success than IQ, I can only wonder what all those people selling NEM now will think in a couple of months.
If you would have to choose between receiving 1.5 btc for your share now or delaying gratification to receive at least 10x that amount in a couple of months, what would you choose?
If self-control and delayed gratification are a good predictor of success, it seems quite obvious to me, impulsivity may be an even better predictor of failure.
So in the end, I can only say be wise and make smart decisions because although we all start with an equal opportunity, ultimately our decisions, contributions and productivity will decide our outcome, and trust me, as it looks, there won't be any equality in that.
References
1 Through necessary resources I mean an enormous amount of brain power, time and energy to invest and conceptualize such a novel technology and an even greater amount of brainpower, time, energy and determination to transform things from the realm of ideas to reality. But it gets even more intriguing, since although these resources are necessary, in a lot of cases they may still not be sufficient.
The other day I found myself reflecting on NEM, what it is and what we all want to make of it. It seems there is a great discussion going on in the world regarding inequality and so NEM equality experiment comes at the precisely right point in time. As usual I think people focus on the wrong things. We should strive to give people equal opportunities, but they are not and should not be equal in outcome. In fact, though most of us start as equal now, I have no doubt we will not end as equal. If high productivity people work and risk 10x more than the other people, it's common sense that they should also be rewarded 10x more. Indeed, I think this kind of inequality is a natural and even necessary effect of the free market. If you would want to cut this kind of inequality off, you would also have to cut startups, inventions and innovations with it, since this may be the greatest driver for that.Here are two quotes with which I tend to agree:Unfortunately the altcoin landscape is currently plagued with cheap scams and elaborate pump and dump schemes along with a horde of impulsive people enjoying playing this game. However NEM has nothing to do with this landscape. While we may well go through a cambrian crypto-explosion phase, NEM seems to be already between the fittest and is only getting stronger every passing day.I know things are more complex but for the sake of simplicity consider the following graph:Anyway, starting with our extremely competent and responsible dev team, our large, talented and diverse community, our fair distribution and equality experiment, I think you can all see that with each passing day NEM is evolving to be a whole different kind of creature, unlike anything you have seen it the altcoin world until now. But in order to see that, you must get out of the noisy and impulsive crowd and focus on the signal. If you look close enough I'm sure you won't be disappointed.It seems there are two major impediments on the road to financial freedom. One of them is the economic and banking system which we are trying to solve at least partially through NEM. The other one is a bit more counter-intuitive and less thought of, it's ourselves(with all the decisions and wrong moves we make). If we want to achieve something we must shift from a consumer mindset to a producer mindset, and therein lies the key.Looking at the marshmallow experiment which emphasizes self-control and delayed gratification as a better predictor of success than IQ, I can only wonder what all those people selling NEM now will think in a couple of months.If you would have to choose between receiving 1.5 btc for your share now or delaying gratification to receive at least 10x that amount in a couple of months, what would you choose?If self-control and delayed gratification are a good predictor of success, it seems quite obvious to me, impulsivity may be an even better predictor of failure.So in the end, I can only say be wise and make smart decisions because although we all start with an equal opportunity, ultimately our decisions, contributions and productivity will decide our outcome, and trust me, as it looks, there won't be any equality in that.References |
On ThisisFINLAND’s Facebook, a twelve-hour livestream shows unedited real-time footage of items moving along the conveyor belt at a supermarket checkout.
Finland celebrates Independence Day on December 6. Every year on December 5, thousands of shoppers visit 24/7 supermarkets to buy last-minute treats and party supplies. On December 5, 2017, with Finland marking its 100th year of independence, we focus on one checkout line at Prisma Kaari, the largest supermarket in Helsinki, livestreaming what people are purchasing without showing the shoppers themselves.
Call it slow TV, or call it curiosity carried to the extreme, or call it by the hashtag #checkout247. There’s something spellbinding about other people’s groceries rolling past on a conveyor belt. The idea was a hit within Finland when it premiered in summer 2017.
This time it’s global.
By ThisisFINLAND staff, November 2017 |
ASSOCIATED PRESS Nate Silver sits on the stairs at Allegro hotel in downtown Chicago on Nov. 9, 2012. The statistician correctly predicted the 2012 presidential winner in all 50 states and almost all the Senate races.
During the 2012 election, Republicans who hated the daily onslaught of polling showing that Mitt Romney was headed toward a comfortable defeat turned to Dean Chambers, the man who launched the website Unskewed Polls. The poll numbers were wrong, he said, and by tweaking a few things, he could give a more accurate count. His final projection had Romney winning close to all 50 states.
Chambers has wisely abandoned the field of election forecasting, and this year says he thinks the various models predicting a Hillary Clinton victory are probably accurate. The models themselves are pretty confident. HuffPost Pollster is giving Clinton a 98 percent chance of winning, and The New York Times’ model at The Upshot puts her chances at 85 percent.
There is one outlier, however, that is causing waves of panic among Democrats around the country, and injecting Trump backers with the hope that their guy might pull this thing off after all. Nate Silver’s 538 model is giving Donald Trump a heart-stopping 35 percent chance of winning as of this weekend.
He ratcheted the panic up to 11 on Friday with his latest forecast, tweeting out, “Trump is about 3 points behind Clinton ― and 3-point polling errors happen pretty often.”
So who’s right?
The beauty here is that we won’t have to wait long to find out. But let’s lay out now why we think we’re right and 538 is wrong. Or, at least, why they’re doing it wrong.
The short version is that Silver is changing the results of polls to fit where he thinks the polls truly are, rather than simply entering the poll numbers into his model and crunching them.
Silver calls this unskewing a “trend line adjustment.” He compares a poll to previous polls conducted by the same polling firm, makes a series of assumptions, runs a regression analysis, and gets a new poll number. That’s the number he sticks in his model ― not the original number.
He may end up being right, but he’s just guessing. A “trend line adjustment” is merely political punditry dressed up as sophisticated mathematical modeling.
Guess who benefits from the unskewing?
By the time he’s done adjusting the “trend line,” Clinton has lost 0.2 points and Trump has gained 1.7 points. An adjustment of below 2 points may not seem like much, but it’s enough to throw off his entire forecast, taking a comfortable 4.6 point Clinton lead and making it look like a nail-biter.
It’s enough to close the gap between the two candidates to below 3 points, which allows Silver to say that it’s now anybody’s ballgame, because “3-point polling errors happen pretty often.”
By monkeying around with the numbers like this, Silver is making a mockery of the very forecasting industry that he popularized.
That line in itself is disingenuous, though. For the polls to be wrong, there wouldn’t need to be one single 3-point error. All of the polls ― all of them, as Brianna Keilar would put it ― would have to be off by 3 points in the same direction. That’s happened before, but in 2012 the error favored President Barack Obama. In 2014, it favored Republicans. Errors are just as likely to favor Clinton as they are to favor Trump, and they would have to favor Trump. And we still haven’t accounted for the unique fact that one campaign has a get-out-the-vote operation, while the other doesn’t.
By monkeying around with the numbers like this, Silver is making a mockery of the very forecasting industry that he popularized. “The idea that she’s a prohibitive, 95 percent-plus favorite is hard to square with polling that has frequently shown 5- or 6-point swings within the span of a couple weeks, given that she only leads by 3 points or so now,” he told Politico recently. “[E]verything depends on one’s assumptions, but I think that our assumptions ― a Clinton lead, sure, but high uncertainty ― has repeatedly been validated by the evidence we’ve seen over the course of the past several months.”
I get why Silver wants to hedge. It’s not easy to sit here and tell you that Clinton has a 98 percent chance of winning. Everything inside us screams out that life is too full of uncertainty, that being so sure is just a fantasy. But that’s what the numbers say. What is the point of all the data entry, all the math, all the modeling, if when the moment of truth comes we throw our hands up and say, hey, anything can happen. If that’s how we feel, let’s scrap the entire political forecasting industry.
Silver’s guess that the race is up for grabs might be a completely reasonable assertion ― but it’s the stuff of punditry, not mathematical forecasting.
Punditry has been Silver’s go-to move this election cycle, and it hasn’t served him well. He repeatedly pronounced that Trump had a close to 0 percent chance of winning the Republican primary, even as he led in the polls. “Trump’s chances [are] higher than 0 but (considerably) less than 20 percent,” he wrote in November.
Silver was far from alone in being wrong. I said myself, at the time, that Trump had no chance of winning the primary. But I did so as a pundit, and, as a pundit, I am endowed by my creator the inalienable right to be consistently wrong and never apologize. But our polling model always forecast a Trump win, and our polling team, led by Natalie Jackson, stuck by that prediction, because their job is to follow the numbers. They were right, while pundits like me and Silver were wrong.
MANDEL NGAN via Getty Images
Even though the HuffPost and New York Times models both have very high confidence that Clinton will win ― and The Upshot’s Nate Cohn has consistently said Clinton is the runaway favorite, even after Jim Comey’s entrance into the campaign ― we differ on how big the current gap is. Much of the disagreement comes from using a different style of regression analysis. The difference between the Upshot’s 3 percent and 538’s 3 percent is that the Upshot is using one style of regression analysis to get theirs ― whereas 538 is actually moving the polling numbers and then running its regression analysis.
The HuffPost model uses a stickier regression, which assumes that the populace does not swiftly change its mind on a dime about a candidate based on a bad news day. After all, one difference between pundits and regular people is that the former live on Twitter with cable news on in the background, while regular folks catch campaign developments in snippets, if at all. That makes it really, really hard for even the worst day to cause a real 6-point swing.
So when new polls come out showing a candidate surging, that surge has to sustain itself to register fully in our model. The Times model, which actually relies on HuffPost data, puts a bit more grease in its charts, and so the numbers can move up or down more quickly. In the last week, the model’s confidence in a Clinton win fell from 93 to 85, while HuffPost’s barely dropped.
So if Nate Cohn and Nate Silver both see a roughly 3-point race, why is one Nate confident in a Clinton win and the other sparking a collective global freakout?
Because Silver is also unskewing state polls, which explains, for instance, why 538 is predicting Trump will win Florida, even as we and others (and the early vote) see it as a comfortable Clinton lead. To see how it works in action, take the Marist College poll conducted Oct. 25-26. Silver rates Marist as an “A” pollster, and they found Clinton with a 1-point lead. Silver then “adjusted” it to make it a 3-point Trump lead. HuffPost Pollster, meanwhile, has near certainty Clinton is leading in Florida.
In response to this article, Silver tweeted:
The reason we adjust polls for the national trend is because **that's what works best emperically**. It's not a subjective assumption. — Nate Silver (@NateSilver538) November 5, 2016
“Every model makes assumptions but we actually test ours based on the evidence. Some of the other models are barley even empirical,” he said in another post.
We’ll have to wait and see what happens. Maybe Silver will be right come Election Day ― Trump will win Florida, and we’ll all be in for a very long night. Or our forecast will be right, she’ll win nationally by 5 or 6, and we can all turn in early.
If he’s right, though, it was just a good guess ― a fortunate “trend line adjustment” ― not a mathematical forecast. If you want to put your faith in the numbers, you can relax. She’s got this.
This story has been updated with a response from Nate Silver.
CORRECTION: Due to an editing error, an earlier version of this post incorrectly implied the HuffPost model had Clinton winning Florida by 5 or 6 points. The forecast shows her winning by that much nationally. |
A type of toilet that treats human excreta by a biological process called composting
Composting toilet Composting toilet at Activism Festival 2010 in the mountains outside Jerusalem Position in sanitation chain User interface, collection/treatment (on-site)[1] Application level Household, neighborhood[1] Management level Household, public, shared (most common is household level)[1] Inputs Feces, urine, organics, dry cleansing materials[1] Outputs Compost, effluent[1] Types Slow composting (or moldering) toilets, active composters (self-contained), vermifilter toilets Enviromental concerns None[1]
A composting toilet is a type of toilet that treats human excreta by a biological process called composting. This process leads to the decomposition of organic matter and turns human excreta into compost. It is carried out by microorganisms (mainly bacteria and fungi) under controlled aerobic conditions.[2] Most composting toilets use no water for flushing and are therefore "dry toilets".
In many composting toilet designs, carbon additives such as sawdust, coconut coir, or peat moss is added after each use. This practice creates air pockets in the human excreta to promote aerobic decomposition. This also improves the carbon-to-nitrogen ratio and reduces potential odor. Most composting toilet systems rely on mesophilic composting. Longer retention time in the composting chamber also facilitates pathogen die-off. The end product can also be moved to a secondary system – usually another composting step – to allow more time for mesophilic composting to further reduce pathogens.
Composting toilets, together with the secondary composting step, produce a humus-like endproduct that can be used to enrich soil if local regulations allow this. Some composting toilets have urine diversion systems in the toilet bowl to collect the urine separately and control excess moisture. A "vermifilter toilet" is a composting toilet with flushing water where earthworms are used to promote decomposition to compost.
Composting toilets do not require a connection to septic tanks or sewer systems unlike flush toilets.[2] Common applications include national parks, remote holiday cottages, ecotourism resorts, off-grid homes and rural areas in developing countries.
Terminology [ edit ]
[2] Schematic of the composting chamber which is located below the toilet seat
The term "composting toilet" is used quite loosely, and its meaning varies by country. For example, in Germany and Scandinavian countries, composting always refers to a predominantly aerobic process. This aerobic composting may take place with an increase in temperature due to microbial action, or without a temperature increase in the case of slow composting or cold composting. If earth worms are used (vermicomposting) then there is also no increase in temperature.
Composting toilets differ from pit latrines and arborloos, which use less controlled decomposition and may not protect groundwater from nutrient or pathogen contamination or provide optimal nutrient recycling. They also differ from urine-diverting dry toilets (UDDTs) where pathogen reduction is achieved through dehydration (also known by the more precise term "desiccation") and where the feces collection vault is kept as dry as possible. Composting toilets aim to have a certain degree of moisture in the composting chamber.
Composting toilets can be used to implement an ecological sanitation approach for resource recovery, and some people call their composting toilet designs "ecosan toilets" for that reason. However, this is not recommended as the two terms (i.e. composting and ecosan) are not identical.[3][4]
Composting toilets have also been called "sawdust toilets", which can be appropriate if the amount of aerobic composting taking place in the toilet's container is very limited.[5] The "Clivus multrum" is a type of composting toilet which has a large composting chamber below the toilet seat and also receives undigested organic material to increase the carbon to nitrogen ratio. Alternatives with smaller composting chambers are called "self-contained composting toilets" since the composting chamber is part of the toilet unit itself.
Applications [ edit ]
This is the pedestal for a split-system composting toilet where collection/treatment chambers are located below the bathroom floor.
Essex, Inexpensive do-it-yourself compost toilet at Dial House England , utilizing an old desk as the toilet unit.
Public composting toilet at a highway rest facility in Sweden
Composting toilets can be suitable in areas such as a rural area or a park that lacks a suitable water supply, sewers and sewage treatment. They can also help increase the resilience of existing sanitation systems in the face of possible natural disasters such as climate change, earthquakes or tsunami. Composting toilets can reduce or perhaps eliminate the need for a septic tank system to reduce environmental footprint (particularly when used in conjunction with an on-site greywater treatment system).
These types of toilets can be used for resource recovery by reusing sanitized feces and urine as fertilizer and soil conditioner for gardening or ornamental activities.
Basics [ edit ]
Components and use [ edit ]
A composting toilet consists of two elements: a place to sit or squat and a collection/composting unit.[3] The composting unit consists of four main parts:[2]
storage or composting chamber
a ventilation unit to ensure that the degradation process in the toilet is predominantly aerobic and to vent odorous gases
a leachate collection or urine diversion system to remove excess liquid
an access door for extracting the compost
Many composting toilets collect urine in the same chamber as feces, thus they do not divert urine. Adding small amounts of water that is used for anal cleansing is no problem for the composting toilet to handle.
Some composting toilets divert urine (and water used for anal washing) to prevent the creation of anaerobic conditions that can result from over saturation of the compost, which leads to odors and vector problems. This usually requires all users to use the toilet in a seated position. Offering a waterless urinal in addition to the toilet can help keep excess amounts of urine out of the composting chamber. Alternatively, in rural areas, men and boys may be encouraged just to find a tree.
Construction [ edit ]
The composting chamber can be constructed above or below ground level. It can be inside a structure or include a separate superstructure.
A drainage system removes leachate. Otherwise, excess moisture can cause anaerobic conditions and impede decomposition. Urine diversion can improve compost quality, since urine contains large amounts of ammonia that inhibits microbiological activity.[6]
Composting toilets greatly reduce human waste volumes through psychrophilic, thermophilic or mesophilic composting. Keeping the composting chamber insulated and warm protects the composting process from slowing due to low temperatures.
Odorous gases [ edit ]
The following gases may be emitted during the composting process that takes place in composting toilets: hydrogen sulfide (H 2 S), ammonia, nitrous oxide (N 2 O) and volatile organic compounds (VOCs).[7] These gases can potentially lead to complaints about odours. Some methane may also be present, but it is not odorous.
Pathogen removal [ edit ]
Excreta-derived compost recycles fecal nutrients, but it can carry and spread pathogens if the process of reuse of excreta is not done properly.
Internal pathogen destruction rates are usually low, particularly helminth eggs, such as Ascaris eggs.[5] This carries the risk of spreading disease if a proper system management is not in place. Compost from human excreta processed under only mesophilic conditions or taken directly from the compost chamber is not safe for food production.[8] High temperatures or long composting times are required to kill helminth eggs, the hardiest of all pathogens. Helminth infections are common in many developing countries.
In thermophilic composting bacteria that thrive at temperatures of 40–60 °C (104–140 °F) oxidize (break down) waste into its components, some of which are consumed in the process, reducing volume and eliminating potential pathogens. To destroy pathogens, thermophilic composting must heat the compost pile sufficiently, or enough time (1–2 years) must elapse since fresh material was added that biological activity has had the same pathogen removal effect.
One guideline claims that pathogen levels are reduced to a safe level by thermophilic composting at temperatures of 55 °C for at least two weeks or at 60 °C for one week.[3] An alternative guideline claims that complete pathogen destruction may be achieved already if the entire compost heap reaches a temperature of 62 °C (144 °F) for one hour, 50 °C (122 °F) for one day, 46 °C (115 °F) for one week or 43 °C (109 °F) for one month,[6] although others regard this as overly optimistic.[3]
Design considerations [ edit ]
Composting toilet with a seal in the lid in Germany
Environmental factors [ edit ]
Four main factors affect the decomposition process:[6]
Sufficient oxygen is necessary for aerobic composting
Moisture content from 45 to 70 percent (heuristically, "the compost should feel damp to the touch, with only a drop or two of water expelled when tightly squeezed in the hand". [3] )
) Temperature between 40 and 50 °C (achieved through proper chamber dimensioning and possibly active mixing)
Carbon-to-nitrogen ratio (C:N) of 25:1
Additives and bulking material [ edit ]
Human excreta and food waste do not provide optimum conditions for composting. Usually the water and nitrogen content is too high, particularly when urine is mixed with feces. Additives or "bulking material", such as wood chips, bark chips, sawdust, shredded dry leaves, ash and pieces of paper can absorb moisture. The additives improve pile aeration and increase the carbon to nitrogen ratio.[3] Bulking material also covers feces and reduces insect access. Absent sufficient bulking material, the material may become too compact and form impermeable layers, which leads to anaerobic conditions and odour.[3]
Leachate management [ edit ]
Leachate removal controls moisture levels, which is necessary to ensure rapid, aerobic composting. Some commercial units include a urine-separator or urine-diverting system and/or a drain at the bottom of the composter for this purpose.
Aeration and mixing [ edit ]
Microbial action also requires oxygen, typically from the air. Commercial systems provide ventilation that moves air from the bathroom, through the waste container, and out a vertical pipe, venting above the roof. This air movement (via convection or fan forced) passes carbon dioxide and odors.
Some units require manual methods for periodic aeration of the solid mass such as rotating the composting chamber or pulling an "aerator rake" through the mass.
Types [ edit ]
External composting chamber of a composting toilet at a house in France
Commercial units and construct-it-yourself systems are available.[9] Variations include number of composting vaults, removable vault, urine diversion and active mixing/aeration.[3]
Slow composting (or moldering) toilets [ edit ]
Most composting toilets use slow composting which is also called "cold composting". The compost heap is built up step by step over time.
The finished end product from "slow" composting toilets ("moldering toilets" or "moldering privies" in the US), is generally not free of pathogens. World Health Organization Guidelines from 2006 offer a framework for safe reuse of excreta, using a multiple barrier approach.[10]
Slow composting toilets employ a passive approach. Common applications involve modest and often seasonal use, such as remote trail networks. They are typically designed such that the materials deposited can be isolated from the operational part. The toilet can also be closed to allow further mesophilic composting.[11] Slow composting toilets rely on long retention times for pathogen reduction and for decomposition of excreta or on the combination of time and/or the addition of red wriggler worms for vermi-composting. Worms can be introduced to accelerate composting. Some jurisdictions of the US consider these worms as invasive species.[10]
Active composters (self-contained) [ edit ]
"Self-contained" composting toilets compost in a container within the toilet unit. They are slightly larger than a flush toilet, but use roughly the same floor space. Some units use fans for aeration, and optionally, heating elements to maintain optimum temperatures to hasten the composting process and to evaporate urine and other moisture. Operators of composting toilets commonly add a small amount of absorbent carbon material (such as untreated sawdust, coconut coir, peat moss) after each use to create air pockets to encourage aerobic processing, to absorb liquid and to create an odor barrier. This additive is sometimes referred to as "bulking agent". Some owner-operators use microbial "starter" cultures to ensure composting bacteria are in the process, although this is not critical.
Vermifilter toilet [ edit ]
A "vermifilter toilet" is a composting toilet with flushing water where earthworms are used to promote decomposition to compost. It can be connected to a low-flush or a micro-flush toilet which uses about 500 millilitres (17 US fl oz) per use. Solids accumulate on the surface of the filter bed while liquid drains through the filter medium and is discharged from the reactor. The solids (feces and toilet paper) are aerobically digested by aerobic bacteria and composting earthworms into castings (humus), thereby significantly reducing the volume of organic material.[12]
Other [ edit ]
Some units employ roll-away containers fitted with aerators, while others use sloped-bottom tanks.
Maintenance [ edit ]
Maintenance is critical to ensure proper operation, including odor prevention. Maintenance tasks include: cleaning, servicing technical components such as fans and removal of compost, leachate and urine. Urine removal is only required for those types of composting toilets using urine diversion.
Once composting is complete (or more often), the compost must be removed from the unit. How often this occurs is a function of container size, usage and composting conditions, such as temperature.[3] Active, hot composting may span months only while passive, cold composting may require years. Properly managed units yield output volumes of about 10% of inputs.
Uses of compost [ edit ]
Finished compost from a composting toilet ready for application as soil improvement in Kiel-Hassee, Germany
The material from composting toilets is a humus-like material, which can be suitable as a soil amendment for agriculture. Compost from residential composting toilets can be used in domestic gardens, and this is the main such use.
Enriching soil with compost adds substantial nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, carbon and calcium. In this regard compost is equivalent to many fertilizers and manures purchased in garden stores. Compost from composting toilets has a higher nutrient availability than the dried feces that result from a urine-diverting dry toilet.[3]
Urine is typically present, although some is lost via leaching and evaporation. Urine can contain up to 90 percent of the residual nitrogen, up to 50 percent of the phosphorus, and up to 70 percent of the potassium.[13]
Compost derived from these toilets has in principle the same uses as compost derived from other organic waste products, such as sewage sludge or municipal organic waste. However, users of excreta-derived compost must consider the risk of pathogens.
Pharmaceutical residues [ edit ]
Excreta-derived compost may contain prescription pharmaceuticals. Such residues are also present in conventional wastewater treatment effluent. This could contaminate groundwater. Among the medications that have been found in groundwater in recent years are antibiotics, antidepressants, blood thinners, ACE inhibitors, calcium-channel blockers, digoxin, estrogen, progesterone, testosterone, Ibuprofen, caffeine, carbamazepine, fibrates and cholesterol-reducing medications.[14] Between 30% and 95% of pharmaceuticals medications are excreted by the human body. Medications that are lipophilic (dissolved in fats) are more likely to reach groundwater by leaching from fecal wastes. Wastewater treatment plants remove an average of 60% of these medications.[15] The percentage of medications degraded during composting of excreta has not yet been reported.
Comparison [ edit ]
Pit latrines [ edit ]
Unlike pit latrines, composting toilets convert feces into a dry, odorless material, avoiding the issues surrounding liquid fecal sludge management (e.g. odor, insects and disposal). These toilets minimize the risk of water pollution through the safe containment of feces in above-ground vaults, which allows the toilets to be sited in locations where pit-based systems are not appropriate.
However, composting toilets face higher capital costs (although lifecycle costs might be lower) and greater complexity (for instance, adding covering materials and managing moisture content).
Flush toilets [ edit ]
Unlike flush toilets, composting toilets do not dilute excreta and create wastewater streams which must be treated before disposal. On the other hand, wastewater treatment plants can centralize waste management for an entire community, with potentially greater efficiency.
Urine-diverting dry toilets [ edit ]
Composting toilets are more difficult to maintain than other types of dry toilets, like urine-diverting dry toilets (UDDT) with which they are often confused. This is due to the need to maintain a consistent and relatively high moisture content, as well as the relatively high complexity of composting toilets compared to UDDTs. Apart from that, composting toilets are quite similar to UDDTs, sharing many of the same advantages and disadvantages.
History [ edit ]
Henry Moule 's earth closet, patented in 1873 (not a true composting toilet). Example from around 1875. Rear chamber for dispensing cover material
Dry earth toilet [ edit ]
Before the flush toilet became accepted in the late 19th century in developed countries, some inventors, scientists and public health officials supported the use of "dry earth closets", a type of dry toilet with similarities to composting toilets, but the collection vessel for the human excreta was not designed to compost. Dry earth closets were invented by English clergyman Henry Moule, who dedicated his life to improving public sanitation after witnessing the cholera epidemics of 1849 and 1854. Impressed by the insalubrity of the houses, especially during the Great Stink in the summer of 1858, he invented what he called the 'dry earth system'.
In partnership with James Bannehr, he patented his device (No. 1316, dated 28 May 1860). Among his works bearing on the subject were The Advantages of the Dry Earth System (1868), The Impossibility overcome: or the Inoffensive, Safe, and Economical Disposal of the Refuse of Towns and Villages (1870), The Dry Earth System (1871), Town Refuse, the Remedy for Local Taxation (1872), and National Health and Wealth promoted by the general adoption of the Dry Earth System (1873).
His system was adopted in private houses, in rural districts, in military camps, in many hospitals, and extensively in the British Raj. Ultimately, however, it failed to gain public support as attention turned to the water-flushed toilet connected to a sewer system.
In Germany, a similar dry toilet with a peat dispenser was marketed until after the second World War (it was called "Metroclo" and was manufactured by Gefinal, Berlin).
Society and culture [ edit ]
Regulations [ edit ]
International Organization for Standardization (ISO) [ edit ]
The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) is currently preparing a "management standard". As of 2015 this was in a draft state as ISO 24521, under the heading "Activities relating to drinking water and wastewater services — Guidelines for the management of basic onsite domestic wastewater services".[16] The standard is meant to be used in conjunction with ISO 24511.[17] It deals with toilets (including composting toilets) and toilet waste. The guidelines are applicable to basic wastewater systems and include the complete domestic wastewater cycle, such as planning, usability, operation and maintenance, disposal, reuse and health.
International Association of Plumbing and Mechanical Officials [ edit ]
The International Association of Plumbing and Mechanical Officials (IAPMO) is a plumbing and mechanical code structure adopted by many developed countries. It recently proposed an addition to its "Green Plumbing Mechanical Code Supplement" that, "...outlines performance criteria for site built composting toilets with and without urine diversion and manufactured composting toilets."[18] If adopted, this composting and urine diversion toilet code (the first of its kind in the United States) will appear in the 2015 edition of the Green Supplement to the Uniform Plumbing Code.[19][20]
United States [ edit ]
No performance standards for composting toilets are universally accepted in the US. Seven jurisdictions in North America[21] use American National Standard/NSF International Standard ANSI/NSF 41-1998: Non-Liquid Saturated Treatment Systems. An updated version was published in 2011.[22] Systems might also be listed with the Canadian Standards Association, cETL-US, and other standards programs.
Regarding byproduct regulation, several US states permit disposal of solids from composting toilets (usually a distinction between different types of dry toilets is not made) by burial, with varying or no minimum depth mandates (as little as 6 inches). For instance:
Massachusetts: "Residuals from the composting toilet system must be buried on-site and covered with a minimum of six inches of clean compacted soil. [23] Massachusetts requires that any liquids produced but, "not recycled through the toilet [itself be] either discharged through a greywater system on the property that includes a septic tank and soil absorption system, or removed by a licensed septage hauler." [23]
Massachusetts requires that any liquids produced but, "not recycled through the toilet [itself be] either discharged through a greywater system on the property that includes a septic tank and soil absorption system, or removed by a licensed septage hauler." Oregon: "Humus from composting toilets may be used around ornamental shrubs, flowers, trees, or fruit trees and shall be buried under at least twelve inches of soil cover." [24]
Rhode Island: "Solids produced by alternative toilets may be buried on site," while, "residuals shall not be applied to food crops." [25]
Virginia: "All materials removed from a composting privy shall be buried," and "compost material shall not be placed in vegetable gardens or on the ground surface." [26]
Vermont: "Byproducts may be disposed via "...shallow burial in a location approved by the Agency that meets the minimum site conditions [required for an onsite septic tank-based sanitation system]." [27]
Washington: models its extensive regulations for what it refers to as "waterless toilets" on the federal regulations that govern sewage sludge.[28]
The Environmental Protection Agency has no jurisdiction over the byproducts of a dry toilet as long as excreta are not referred to as "fertilizer" (but instead simply a material that is being disposed of). Federal rule 503, known colloquially as the "EPA Biosolids rule" or the "EPA sludge rule" applies only to fertilizer. Thus, individual states regulate composting toilets.[29][30]
Germany [ edit ]
The regulations for composting toilets and other forms of dry toilets in Germany vary from state to state and from one application to another (e.g. use in allotment gardens or use in family homes and settlements). In the different states of Germany, it is the "Landesbauordnung" (translates to "state civil engineering regulations") of the respective state that regulates the use of such alternative toilets.[31] Most of them stipulate the use of flush toilets, however there are many exceptions, for example in the states of Hamburg, Lower Saxony, Bavaria, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, Rhineland-Palatinate, Saxony-Anhalt and Thuringia.[31] These generally make exceptions for the use of composting toilets in homes provided that there are no concerns for public health.
Regulations governing the use of compost and urine from composting toilets is less clear in Germany but it seems generally allowed provided it is used on one's own property and not sold to third parties.[31]
Examples [ edit ]
Finland [ edit ]
Numerous sparsely settled villages in rural areas in Finland are not connected to municipal water supply or sewer networks, requiring homeowners to operate their own systems. Individual private wells, i.e. shallow dug wells or boreholes in the bedrock, are often used for water supply, and many homeowners have opted for composting toilets. In addition, these toilets are common at holiday homes, often located near sensitive water bodies. For these reasons, many manufacturers of composting toilets are based in Finland, including Biolan, Ekolet, Kekkilä, Pikkuvihreä and Raita Environment.[32][33]
Estimates made by leading Finnish composting toilet manufacturers and the Global Dry Toilet Association of Finland provided the following 2014 figures for composting toilet use in Finland:
About 4% of single-family homes not connected to a public sewer network are equipped with a composting toilet.
Some 200,000 manufactured composting toilets are thought to serve holiday homes, matched by the number of other dry toilets. The simplest ones are sited in an outhouse.
Germany [ edit ]
Composting container of "TerraNova" composting toilet, showing open removal chamber (town house at the ecological settlement Hamburg-Allermöhe, Germany)
Composting toilets have been successfully installed in houses with up to four floors.[3] An estimate from 2008 put the number of composting toilets in households in Germany at 500.[34] Most of these residences are also connected to a sewer system; the composting toilet was not installed due to a lack of sewer system but for other reasons, mainly because of an "ecological mindset" of the owners.
In Germany and Austria, composting toilets and other types of dry toilets have been installed in single and multi-family houses (e.g. Hamburg, Freiburg, Berlin), ecological settlements (e.g. Hamburg-Allermöhe, Hamburg-Braamwisch, Kiel-Hassee, Bielefeld-Waldquelle, Wien-Gänserndorf) and in public buildings (e.g. Ökohaus Rostock, VHS-Ökostation Stuttgart-Wartberg, public toilets in recreational areas, restaurants and huts in the Alps, house boats and forest Kindergartens).[34]
The ecological settlement in Hamburg-Allermöhe has had composting toilets since 1982. The settlement of 36 single-family houses with approximately 140 inhabitants uses composting toilets, rainwater harvesting and constructed wetlands. Composting toilets save about 40 litres of water per capita per day compared to a conventional flush toilet (10 liter per flush), which adds up to 2,044 m³ water savings per year for the whole settlement.[35]
United States [ edit ]
Slow composting toilets have been installed by the Green Mountain Club in Vermont's woodlands. They employ multiple vaults (called cribs) and a movable building. When one of the vaults fills, the building is moved over an empty vault. The full vault is left untouched for as long as possible (up to three years) before it is emptied. The large surface area and exposure to air currents can cause the pile to dry out. To counteract this, signs instruct users to urinate in the toilet.[36] The club also uses pit latrines and simple bucket toilets with woodchips and external composting and directs users to urinate in the forest to prevent odiferous anaerobic conditions.[37]
Worldwide [ edit ]
Composting toilets with a large composting container (of the type Clivus Multrum and derivations of it) are popular in US, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and Sweden. They can be bought and installed as commercial products, as designs for self builders or as "design derivatives" which are marketed under various names. It has been estimated that approximately 10,000 such toilets might be in use worldwide.[citation needed]
See also [ edit ] |
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< Back to current issue of Immigration Daily < Back to current issue of Immigrant's Weekly ERROR! Electronic Employment Verification Systems: What Will Happen When Citizens Have To Ask The Government For Permission To Work? by Immigration Policy Center Many on Capitol Hill are eyeing favorably bills that create a massive electronic employment database. While proponents of the Shuler-Tancredo "SAVE Act" (HR 4088) and the Johnson "New Employee Verification Act of 2008" (HR 5515) talk tough about cracking down on illegal immigrants, the truth is their bills nationwide mandatory electronic employment verification system require all American workers, foreign- and native-born alike, to seek the governments permission to work. If the government database isnt accurate, Americans will be denied employment and paychecks, at least temporarily, while they attempt to resolve the problem with the government agencies. The proposed bills build upon the E-Verify program, a small pilot program that taps Social Security Administration (SSA) and Department of Homeland Security (DHS) databases to make determinations about employment authorization. Here is what we know about the databases and what we can expect if these bills are passed: Errors in the database that E-Verify checks to determine work authorization status impact millions. 4.1%: error rate in the SSA database 17.8 million: number of discrepancies in the SSA database 12.7 million: number of database discrepancies pertaining to native-born U.S. citizens 1 in 25: number of new hires that would receive a tentative nonconfirmation based on error rates 55 million: approximate number of new hires per year in the U.S. 11,000: number of workers per day who would be flagged as ineligible for employment if E-Verify were mandatory for all employers 25: workers per work day per congressional district who would be flagged as ineligible for employment if the Shuler or Johnson bill passed, making E-Verify mandatory for all employers If the Shuler or Johnson bills are passed, E-Verify would have to be expanded exponentially in a short time period. 55,000: the number of employers currently enrolled in E-Verify 7 million: the approximate number of employers in the U.S. 13,000%: approximate increase from number of current users 6,500: approximate number of employers per day (including weekends and holidays) that would have to enroll in E-Verify to meet the Johnson bill requirement of enrollment of all employers within 3 years. 4,800 per day to meet the Shuler bill 4-year requirements. 50-60 million: number of queries per year E-Verify would have to respond to if the Johnson or Shuler bill were enacted 3.6 million: number of queries E-Verify received in 2007 Impact on the Social Security Administration if E-Verify were made mandatory for all employers 751,676: number of cases waiting for decisions on disability claims today 499: average number of days a person waits for a disability claim decision today 50%: percentage of calls to SSA field offices that receive a busy signal today 78 million: number of baby boomers soon to be eligible for Social Security retirement benefits 1 million: increase in the number of claims submitted to SSA per year for the next ten years due to the retirement of baby boomers 3.6 million: number of extra visits or calls to SSA field offices if the "SAVE Act" or the "New Employee Verification Act" were to make E-Verify mandatory 2,000-3,000: number of work years SSA would need to address increases in demand Employers in the voluntary pilot program misuse E-Verify. A 2007 evaluation of E-Verify commissioned by DHS found that: 47%: employers who improperly put workers through E-Verify before the employees first day of work. 22%: employers who restricted work assignments based on tentative nonconfirmations 16%: employers who delayed job training based on tentative non-confirmations Sources: Harper, Jim. "Electronic Employment Eligibility Verification: Franz Kafkas Solution to Illegal Immigration." Washington, DC: CATO Institute, March 5, 2008. http://www.cato.org/pubs/pas/pa-612.pdf Office of the Inspector General, Social Security Administration, "Accuracy of the Social Security Administrations Numident File," Congressional Response Report A-08-06-26100, December 2006, http://www.socialsecurity.gov/oig/ADOBEPDF/audittxt/A-08-06-26100.htm Westat, "Interim Findings of the Web-Based Basic Pilot Evaluation," Report submitted to U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Washington, DC, December 2006, p.III-15, http://www.uscis.gov/files/nativedocuments/WestatInterimReport.pdf O'Carroll, Jr., Patrick. Reducing the Disability Backlog at the Social Security Administration. Testimony before the U.S. House Appropriations Committee , subcommittee on labor, health, and human services, and education and related agencies February 28, 2008. http://www.ssa.gov/oig/communications/testimony_speeches/02282008testimony.htm Warsinskey, Richard. Testimony before the U.S. House Appropriations Committee, Subcommittee on Labor, Health, and Human Services, and Education and Related Agencies (National Council of Social Security Management Associations, Inc., Feb 8, 2008), http://socsecperspectives.blogspot.com/2008/02/social-security-advocacy-group-written.html. About The Author
Immigration Policy Center is the research arm of the American Immigration Law Foundation (AILF). IPC was established in 2003 with the mission to provide policymakers, academics, the media, and the general public with access to accurate information about the effects of immigration on the U.S. economy and society. This report was published by the Immigration Policy Center. For more resources on the role of immigrants and immigration policy in the U.S., visit their website at www.immigrationpolicy.org. The opinions expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect the opinion of ILW.COM. | • Immigration Daily
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NEW DELHI: Aviation regulator DGCA has taken action against 63 pilots of SpiceJet for operating flights beyond their stipulated duty hours, the government said on Thursday.Pilots who have exceeded the flight duty period more than once have been suspended for 15 days and warnings have been issued to those who have exceeded the stipulated time only once, minister of state for civil aviation Jayant Sinha told the Lok Sabha."During surveillance and subsequent scrutiny of records, it has been revealed that 63 pilots of SpiceJet had operated flights exceeding flight duty period as laid down in Civil Aviation Requirements...," he said in a written reply.However, the minister did not disclose specific details such as when these incidents happened.In a separate written reply, Sinha said the new airport at Kannur in Kerala is expected to be completed by May 31, 2017.The project is being implemented by Kannur International Airport Ltd (KIAL) through funds from equity and term loan from banks."A sum of Rs 34.06 crore was released by Kerala state government to the company during financial year 2010-11, which was converted into equity during the financial year 2014-15."As on July 31, 2016, expenditure on the project through equity and term loan funding is Rs 1,220 crore," he said. |
Billy Crystal and John Goodman voiced the lead roles in the original Monsters Inc
Pixar's 2001 film Monsters Inc - about monsters who scare kids for a living - is to have a sequel, the Disney studio has announced.
The animated follow-up will be released on 16 November 2012, Disney chairman Rich Ross revealed.
Another Pixar film, The Bear and the Bow, is to be renamed Brave and have its release put back from December 2011 to 15 June 2012.
Disney is also to make a new Muppets movie, Ross confirmed on Thursday.
The film, to be directed by Flight of the Conchords creator James Bobin, will introduce a new puppet character called Walter.
Featuring the voices of Billy Crystal and John Goodman, Monsters Inc made more than $525m (£342m) worldwide.
It is not known if its director Pete Doctor - who went on to make the Oscar-winning Up - will direct its sequel.
Featuring the voices of Reese Witherspoon and Billy Connolly, Brave tells of a Scottish princess who dreams of being an archer.
Set in 18th Century Scotland, Brenda Chapman's movie is the first Pixar feature to be directed by a woman.
Other future projects from Disney-Pixar include a retelling of the Winnie the Pooh story using hand-drawn animation and Frankenweenie, a stop-motion cartoon based on a story by Tim Burton.
Pixar release Toy Story 3 this summer, with a Cars sequel due in cinemas next year. |
But the jury of four men and eight women rejected the defense argument, finding Rockefeller guilty on two of the four counts against him: parental kidnapping and assault and battery with a dangerous weapon. He was acquitted of two lesser charges, assault and battery and providing a false name to police.
The verdict capped an extraordinary two-week trial, during which Deakin painted the defendant as a "self-centered, controlling, and manipulative" con man extraordinaire who has used a slew of aliases and bogus biographical details since coming to the United States from Bavaria in 1978. Rockefeller's two lawyers tried to cast him as a mentally disturbed man who believed in the fantasy world he had created and said he should be acquitted on grounds of insanity.
"While Reigh was gone, I faced a mother's worst nightmare: the possibility of losing a child without a trace," Boss said in a victim impact statement read by Deakin. "Since Reigh's recovery and return, I have struggled to distance us both from the events of that terrifying week, to regain the normalcy of our lives, and to restore a sense of trust and well-being in Reigh."
His former wife, Sandra Boss, who testified against him during the trial, was relieved when she learned of the conviction, said prosecutor David Deakin, who called her in Britain to tell her about the verdict.
According to his lawyers, Rockefeller's brother and mother in Germany and his 8-year-old daughter, Reigh, with whom he fled the city for six days, had not been in touch with him.
Once, his witty stories made him the center of attention at cocktail parties and fund-raising galas. Yesterday, not one family member or friend sat in the courtroom as a jury convicted him of parental kidnapping and assault charges in the case that has drawn widespread attention for its tales of schemes, aliases, and betrayal.
He stood stoically as the verdict was read, his body rigid and his face devoid of emotion.
As he stood in Suffolk Superior Court yesterday listening first to the jury hand down its verdict and later a judge hand out his punishment, Rockefeller, whose real name is Christian Karl Gerhartsreiter, wore a navy blue blazer and preppy red-striped tie. But his reddish hair, once tousled, hung in long, limp tendrils. His feet and wrists were shackled. His face was pale.
Yesterday, the man who calls himself Clark Rockefeller was sentenced to four to five years in state prison for his conviction in the kidnapping of his daughter last summer, ending a colorful chapter in the bizarre saga of the German national whom police call a "person of interest" in an ongoing California homicide investigation.
He came to America at 17 to strike it rich, and for most of the last three decades he succeeded, mingling with the power elite of Southern California, the Upper East Side of Manhattan, and Beacon Hill in Boston.
Rockefeller, who had been held without bail since his arrest, has already served 314 days in jail, which will be credited to his sentence.
The jurors said the only facts they weighed in their decision were the ones presented during the trial.
"Expert witness testimony figured prominently," jury foreman Michael Gregory said.
The defense presented two experts who testified that Rockefeller's mental illnesses caused him to believe in his invented lives, including that he was a member of the storied Rockefeller family.
The state's expert witness countered that Rockefeller suffers from a mental disorder but exaggerated his symptoms and was legally sane when he abducted his daughter.
"This was a complicated case and not as clear-cut as it might seem to those who have followed it only in the media," said Gregory, a Harvard lecturer on law, who read from a prepared statement. "We were very thorough in our deliberations."
Before sentencing, one of Rockefeller's lawyers, Jeffrey Denner, implored Judge Frank Gaziano to sentence his client to no more than two years, describing the defendant as a deeply troubled person who was a father "who loved his daughter too much."
Gaziano acknowledged that Rockefeller was motivated partly by the despair he felt over the minor role he would play in his daughter's life following the bitter divorce that gave Boss full custody of Reigh.
"The defendant was by all accounts a loving and devoted father to his daughter," Gaziano said. But the well-planned abduction was not the act of a desperate, impulsive man, he said.
"The defendant's conduct cannot be brushed aside as a technical violation of a custody order where a distraught parent fails to return a child over a weekend," Gaziano said. "The defendant committed this crime with complete disregard for the anguish this would cause Ms. Boss."
Denner also said that no matter what kind of sentence his client received, he would still be incarcerated for a substantial period of time. Federal immigration officials have filed a request to detain Rockefeller, which means he will go into federal custody following his sentence and could wait for at least six months for a deportation hearing.
Also looming is an ongoing investigation in California, where prosecutors are reexamining the 1985 disappearance and presumed killing of John and Linda Sohus, a San Marino couple. Rockefeller, who was the couple's tenant at the time, has been described as a "person of interest" in that case.
Steve Whitmore, a spokesman for the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department, said yesterday that investigators monitored the trial in Boston, but that the verdict is not "directly of interest to us."
"We are actively pursuing all leads with one goal in mind, and that is to solve this 24-year-old case," Whitmore said. "We encourage [Rockefeller] to talk to investigators."
The Rockefeller jury, made up mostly of people of college age, deliberated for more than four days, a tense stretch that Deakin admitted caused him to lose some sleep.
"It's clear to me that this was an extremely intelligent and attentive jury, regardless of their age or any demographics," Deakin said.
Juror Rachel Kenner told WCVB-TV: "It was very interesting to hear all the testimony. I've never served on a jury before. The process was interesting. It was a good group of people to work with."
The case drew particular attention because of the many aliases Rockefeller used to charm his way into tony circles and because of the interest California authorities have shown in him. Yesterday the courtroom was packed with local and national reporters.
Among the aliases Rockefeller used in the United States, according to testimony, was C. Mountbatten, Christopher C. Crowe, and Dr. Reiter, a cardiovascular surgeon in Las Vegas.
Even Boss, a senior partner at the consulting firm McKinsey & Co., believed his outlandish tales of an aristocratic pedigree.
Her ordeal began on July 27. Rockefeller was walking down Marlborough Street, Reigh on his shoulders. With them was Howard Yaffe, a social worker hired to supervise the visit.
A waiting sport utility vehicle driven by Rockefeller's regular livery driver pulled up, and Rockefeller suddenly shoved Yaffe to the ground and threw his daughter into the SUV driven by Darrell Hopkins.
Yaffe tried to hold onto the car but fell to the ground, bruising his chin, knee, and hip. He said he also suffered a concussion.
Six days later, police arrested Rockefeller in Baltimore, where he had bought an apartment for him and his daughter.
Asked about an appeal, Denner said that will be up to his client to decide.
Andrew Ryan and Jonathan Saltzman of the Globe staff contributed to this report. Maria Cramer can be reached at mcramer@globe.com.
© Copyright 2009 Globe Newspaper Company. |
1966 Utility Belts
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In the mid 1980's when I was a professional Batman on tour with the "original" Batmobiles, I was given access to all the original props and costumes from the show, including 8 different original utility belts that Adam used during the 3 year run of the series. Because of this, I was able to create exact duplicates from them.
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In 1989 Adam West asked me to make him a new utility belt.
He wanted a new belt that he could show during the talk show and
convention appearences he was doing at the time.
Adam wanted a screen accurate belt with wood block pouches painted
yellow like the ones he wore on the Batman tv series so I made this utility
belt for him.
I presented Adam with the belt in the parking lot of Culver Studios on a
break during a 20th Century Fox promo shoot with the original #2 Batmobile.
Burt Ward, Yvonne Craig, Julie Newmar and Van Williams were also there.
They used my Batman costume and utility belt (I was wearing at the time while
on tour) for a scene with Adam and Yvonne that they filmed in a dressing room.
It was a GREAT day! |
The British government is currently lobbying the European Commission (EC) for a legal exemption to keep a south-Wales power station open, despite the fact its nitrogen oxide (NOx) emissions exceed EU legal limits by 500 percent.
Concerns about Aberthaw Power Station’s emission levels have been compounded by an alliance of NGOs’ recent criticism of the company being one of Europe’s highest carbon-emitting plants. Both Carbon monoxide and NOx are known to cause lung disease and respiratory failures.
In October 2013, a report by the European Environment Agency (EEA) found that more than 90 percent of people living in European cities breathe dangerously noxious air. Against a backdrop of mounting concern that the continents’ air pollution levels require stringent action, the EC has initiated infraction proceedings against the British government.
The infraction proceedings were reportedly sparked by inadequate UK proposals for adhering to EU laws governing emission rates. The related government documents tendered to Brussels were riddled with inconsistencies and missing data, the Guardian has revealed. The controversial Aberthaw plant, situated on the South Wales coast , is central to these proceedings.
Aberthaw is specially designed to burn coal from the South Wales locale in which it is situated. But this fuel is particularly difficult to light and requires a special chemical compound to ensure it burns. An added chemical catalyst worsens the release of NOx in the burning process, meaning the plants emissions average at 1,000 mg/Nm3, according to the Guardian. The legal limit, as defined by the European industrial emission directive (IED), is a mere 200 mg/Nm3. Under these regulations, Aberthaw must be shut down by 2016.
In a bid to keep the coal power station open, the UK government is seeking an exemption from European law, which prohibits plants from emitting such high levels of the noxious gas. But Aberthaw already has an EC exemption, which facilitates the plants emission of as much as 1,200 mg/Nm3 of NOx.
The legislative leniency, which has allowed the plant to remain open thus far, was extended on the basis the power station was utilizing low-volatility, locally-sourced coal and helping to sustain a sizable local industry. But gas and electricity firm RWE npower, who run the 43-year-old plant, are currently mixing indigenous coal with coal sourced from regions as far flung as Russia. At present, 30 percent of the coal used in the plant is sourced outside Britain.
The current exemption stipulates the plant must use coal of less than 10 percent volatility. While the power station reportedly uses coal with a volatility rate of between six and 15 percent, the British government has failed to issue the EC with precise figures documenting an annual mean in this respect. As a result, the EC stipulates the Welsh power plant no longer meets the exemption’s requirements.
EU rules, local economy
While Defra has tendered two proposals, which outline plans to reduce emissions nationally and reference Aberthaw in this process, the EC has rejected the proposals and commenced official infraction proceedings against the UK.
Related unions are concerned the conflict could see the plant closed in less than 24 months. At present, the power station supports thousands of jobs in the local coal industry. Such a closure would severely impact “the Welsh coal industry, RWE support staff and other large industrial units” dependent on that sector, UK trade union GMB warns.
A spokesperson for the Welsh government, which is brokering negotiations concerning the fate of Aberthaw, says it hopes to reach an “acceptable resolution.” Probed on what might be deemed as acceptable in this context, the spokesperson was unwilling to clarify, but added that the UK’s Department of Environment, Farming and Rural Affairs (Defra) was actively involved in ongoing discussion.
Defra have declined to comment on the matter, saying infraction cases are bound by confidentiality. “Correspondence in infraction cases is confidential. This is necessary to enable a full discussion of the practical and legal issues and ensure compliance in the shortest possible time,” a Defra spokesperson told RT on Wednesday.
Power and influence: Corporate lobbying
Critics believe the UK government is not singlehandedly lobbying to keep Aberthaw open, emphasizing corporate lobbyists have played a role in influencing government policy.
According to academic research conducted by Tasmin Cave and Andy Rowell in 2014, corporate lobbyists infiltrate Britain’s corridors of power in myriad ways. According to their research, UK policy relating to finance, climate change, renewable and non-renewably energy, tax, health and privatization is infiltrated by lobbyists who seek to rig debate, financially eclipse their opponents, and sway prolific policymakers in multiple ways.
Energy companies are particularly politicized entities, forming part of this broader picture. Two prolific lobby groups that foster and promote the interests of non-renewable energy companies in Britain are Energy UK and the Institute for Economic Affairs. Energy UK is currently headed by Angela Knight, who was formerly chief of the British Bankers Association, while the Institute for Economic Affairs is a significant player in the field of fossil fuel-based energy lobbying and energy policy deregulation.
Many lobbyists also occupy strategic positions within the sphere of UK policy making itself.
For example, Lord Browne, the former chief executive of BP and current chairman of Cuadrilla – one of Britain’s main shale gas companies – is a policy adviser to the government on business and energy-related matters. Another example of this revolving door amidst business and politics is the British government’s system of subsidizing gas-power stations.
The architect of this program is a high-ranking ESB executive whose expertise have been sought by the government’s Department of Energy & Climate Change. Given the fact ESB is responsible for building these very gas-burning power stations, serious questions over a potential conflict of interest arise.
"When the government said it was going to take on the energy industry, we didn't realize that meant hiring their [staff] and letting them write the rules," Greenpeace UK's deputy political director, Joss Garman, told the Guardian in November.
When asked whether the Welsh and UK government’s efforts to keep Aberthaw operational was in the interest of local and national citizens, the EC declined to comment but confirmed “that the UK is indeed seeking derogation from EU law to keep this plant open.”
The health implications of the UK government’s position on this contentious power station have roused the concern of myriad environmental groups.
According to a study published by a British Medical Association journal in December 2013, pollution in the European Union is causing premature deaths even when levels meet quality guidelines. |
So I’ve been completely infuriated to see what that libreoffice’s mascot contest turned out to be. The absolute incompetence from the side of organizers has caught me by surprise (and continues to do so). I believe everyone can agree that TysonTan’s submission had all the rights to win or at least to currently be among the finalists. The audacity of organizers to dismiss a whole library of carefully crafted Libbie illustrations is insane. I really sympathize with TysonTan in this turn of events. No work of this amount and quality should go overlooked by the ones whom it was made for. At least the actual people know that he indeed made the best work out there and it’s the contest’s organizers are the only thing that leaves a lot to be desired.
Libbie, Kiki and Konqi are characters by @tysontan |
Story highlights Heavy snow starting Friday caused traffic woes in western Russia
By Sunday afternoon, backups on a major highway reportedly stretched 125 miles
Vehicles were finally moving better by the evening, though still only at 3 to 6 miles per hour
Some travelers griped about price gouging, lack of gas and the response from authorities
If you've ever griped about being mired in a traffic jam, there was proof this weekend in Russia that it could have been worse.
Much, much worse.
The backup Sunday afternoon on part of the main highway between Moscow and St. Petersburg -- the country's two most populated cities -- stretched 125 miles long, according to media reports cited by state-run RIA Novosti news.
Video showed fog, but little evident precipitation after days of heavy snow. Even so, movement along sections of the M-10 highway largely was limited to foot traffic, not vehicular traffic, as trucks and cars sat motionless.
Efforts to clear roads had some impact by early evening, by which time tie-ups were down to 34 miles along the M-10 highway, reported the State Automobile Inspectorate, a division of Russia's Interior Ministry. The length of the traffic jam was shrinking about three-fourths of a mile every hour, a spokesman for that agency told the state news outlet.
That is an improvement, but still a far cry from the "normalization" of traffic that Russia's Emergencies Ministry said would occur by 6 p.m. Sunday, according to RIA Novosti.
An Emergencies Ministry spokesman reported that, by then, one lane in each direction of the M-10 was clear of snow -- allowing trucks to creep along at 5-10 kph (3-6 mph).
Blame for the slow slog goes, at least in part, to bad weather. The traffic headaches began Friday, when heavy snow began falling in western Russia. By the time it finally tapered off, three feet had fallen.
While snow and related traffic woes are hardly unprecedented in Russia in December, drivers had other reasons to complain.
In comments on social networking and news websites, as related by RIA Novosti, stuck drivers and passengers reported cafes along the clogged roadway took advantage of them by ratcheting up prices. Others said some gas stations had run out of fuel, or grumbled that authorities weren't much help.
Video showed an inflatable tent popped up on the side of highway, with tables inside full of people filling up on food and drinks. In addition to hot food and warming stations, the RIA Novosti report noted the Emergencies Ministry was making psychological support available to those having trouble coping with the days-long traffic nightmare.
"(Emergencies Minister Vladmir Puchkov) is making sure that all necessary measures are being taken and that all vital personnel in afflicted regions have everything they need," a ministry spokesman said. |
In this article you will learn how to create great looking charts using Chart.js and Flask
Chart.js is a javascript library to create simple and clean charts. All of them are HTML5 based, responsive, modular, interactive and there are in total 6 charts.
Related course
Python Flask: Make Web Apps with Python
Creating a bar chart app with Flask
We will start by creating a web application that displays a bar chart from a Python array. Create a directory /templates/ and add the file chart.html with this content: < meta charset = "utf-8" > < title > Chart. js < /title > <! -- import plugin script -- > < script src = "static/Chart.min.js" >< /script > < h1 > Flask Chart. js < /h1 > <! -- bar chart canvas element -- >< canvas id = "chart" width = "600" height = "400" >< /canvas > < script >< br / > // bar chart data < br / > var barData = { < br / > labels : [ { % for item in labels % } < br / > "{{item}}" ,< br / > { % endfor % } ] ,< br / > datasets : [ < br / > { < br / > fillColor: "rgba(151,187,205,0.2)" ,< br / > strokeColor: "rgba(151,187,205,1)" ,< br / > pointColor: "rgba(151,187,205,1)" ,< br / > data : [ { % for item in values % } < br / > { { item } } ,< br / > { % endfor % } ] < br / > } < br / > ] < br / > } < /p > < p > // get bar chart canvas < br / > var mychart = document. getElementById ( "chart" ) . getContext ( "2d" ) ;< /p > < p > steps = 10 < br / > max = 10 < br / > // draw bar chart < br / > new Chart ( mychart ) . Bar ( barData , { < br / > scaleOverride: true ,< br / > scaleSteps: steps ,< br / > scaleStepWidth: Math. ceil ( max / steps ) ,< br / > scaleStartValue: 0 ,< br / > scaleShowVerticalLines: true ,< br / > scaleShowGridLines : true ,< br / > barShowStroke : true ,< br / > scaleShowLabels: true < br / > } ) ;< /p > < p >< /script > Create the directory /static/ and add the file Chart.min.js to it. You can get it either from the Chart.js website or use the link. Finally go into the home directory and create app.py with this contents:
from flask import Flask from flask import Markup from flask import Flask from flask import render_template app = Flask ( __name__ ) @ app. route ( "/" ) def chart ( ) : labels = [ "January" , "February" , "March" , "April" , "May" , "June" , "July" , "August" ] values = [ 10 , 9 , 8 , 7 , 6 , 4 , 7 , 8 ] return render_template ( 'chart.html' , values = values , labels = labels ) if __name__ == "__main__" : app. run ( host = '0.0.0.0' , port = 5001 ) Finally run: python app. py Open http://127.0.0.1:5001/ and you will see the array values[] plotted with the data in labels[]. We simply pass these two arrays to render_template(). This means that most of the magic occurs in the template. Chart.js is a client-side javascript library which is why our app.py is very minimal. Result:
Create a line chart with Chart.js and Flask
To create a line chart, we can simply modify the chart.html template. Change it to:
< meta charset = "utf-8" > < title > Chart. js < /title > <! -- import plugin script -- > < script src = "static/Chart.min.js" >< /script > < h1 > Flask Chart. js < /h1 > <! -- bar chart canvas element -- > < canvas id = "chart" width = "600" height = "400" >< /canvas > < script >< /p > < p > // bar chart data < br / > var barData = { < br / > labels : [ { % for item in labels % } < br / > "{{item}}" ,< br / > { % endfor % } ] ,< br / > datasets : [ < br / > { < br / > fillColor: "rgba(151,187,205,0.2)" ,< br / > strokeColor: "rgba(151,187,205,1)" ,< br / > pointColor: "rgba(151,187,205,1)" ,< br / > pointStrokeColor: "#fff" ,< br / > pointHighlightFill: "#fff" ,< br / > pointHighlightStroke: "rgba(151,187,205,1)" ,< br / > bezierCurve : false ,< br / > data : [ { % for item in values % } < br / > { { item } } ,< br / > { % endfor % } ] < br / > } ] < br / > } < /p > < p > Chart. defaults . global . animationSteps = 50 ;< br / > Chart. defaults . global . tooltipYPadding = 16 ;< br / > Chart. defaults . global . tooltipCornerRadius = 0 ;< br / > Chart. defaults . global . tooltipTitleFontStyle = "normal" ;< br / > Chart. defaults . global . tooltipFillColor = "rgba(0,0,0,0.8)" ;< br / > Chart. defaults . global . animationEasing = "easeOutBounce" ;< br / > Chart. defaults . global . responsive = false ;< br / > Chart. defaults . global . scaleLineColor = "black" ;< br / > Chart. defaults . global . scaleFontSize = 16 ;< /p > < p > // get bar chart canvas < br / > var mychart = document. getElementById ( "chart" ) . getContext ( "2d" ) ;< /p > < p > steps = 10 < br / > max = 10 < br / > // draw bar chart < br / > var LineChartDemo = new Chart ( mychart ) . Line ( barData , { < br / > scaleOverride: true ,< br / > scaleSteps: steps ,< br / > scaleStepWidth: Math. ceil ( max / steps ) ,< br / > scaleStartValue: 0 ,< br / > scaleShowVerticalLines: true ,< br / > scaleShowGridLines : true ,< br / > barShowStroke : true ,< br / > scaleShowLabels: true ,< br / > bezierCurve: false ,< /p > < p > } ) ;< /p > < p >< /script >
Output:
Creating a pie chart
To create a pie chart, we must modify the application code slightly. We need 3 arrays: values, labels and colors. Colors are defined in hexadecimal, as usual in HTML. To iterate them in one loop, we zip them.
from flask import Flask from flask import Markup from flask import Flask from flask import render_template app = Flask ( __name__ ) @ app. route ( "/" ) def chart ( ) : labels = [ "January" , "February" , "March" , "April" , "May" , "June" , "July" , "August" ] values = [ 10 , 9 , 8 , 7 , 6 , 4 , 7 , 8 ] colors = [ "#F7464A" , "#46BFBD" , "#FDB45C" , "#FEDCBA" , "#ABCDEF" , "#DDDDDD" , "#ABCABC" ] return render_template ( 'chart.html' , set = zip ( values , labels , colors ) ) if __name__ == "__main__" : app. run ( host = '0.0.0.0' , port = 5001 )
Secondly we modify the template to:
< meta charset = "utf-8" > < title > Chart. js < /title > <! -- import plugin script -- > < script src = "static/Chart.min.js" >< /script > < h1 > Flask Chart. js < /h1 > <! -- bar chart canvas element -- >< canvas id = "chart" width = "600" height = "400" >< /canvas > < script >< br / > var pieData = [ < br / > { % for item , label , colors in set % } < br / > { < br / > value: { { item } } ,< br / > label: "{{label}}" ,< br / > color : "{{colors}}" < br / > } ,< br / > { % endfor % } < /p > < p > ] ;< /p > < p > // get bar chart canvas < br / > var mychart = document. getElementById ( "chart" ) . getContext ( "2d" ) ;< /p > < p > steps = 10 < br / > max = 10 < br / > // draw pie chart < br / > new Chart ( document. getElementById ( "chart" ) . getContext ( "2d" ) ) . Pie ( pieData ) ;< /p > < p >< /script >
Result: |
The NFL and the players' union did not reach a final agreement on proposed changes to the league's drug policy by Saturday afternoon, meaning suspended players potentially eligible for reinstatement -- like Denver Broncos receiver Wes Welker -- will not play Sunday.
The NFLPA voted Friday to accept a new policy that would implement testing for human growth hormone and significantly increase the threshold for positive marijuana tests.
The NFL and NFLPA failed to finalize an agreement on a new drug policy before Saturday's roster deadline, meaning Wes Welker won't be active against the Chiefs. Matthew Emmons/USA TODAY
But despite the union's approval, the deal still had not been finalized due to "significant unresolved issues," according to NFL spokesman Greg Aiello.
"We have not yet reached an agreement with the union," Aiello said Friday. "There continue to be significant unresolved issues."
An agreement needed to be in place by Saturday's 4 p.m. ET roster deadline in order for Welker and Dallas Cowboys cornerback Orlando Scandrick, who both received four-game suspensions, to play in Week 2.
"We hope to have final agreements, including effective date for players with adjusted discipline, very soon," the NFLPA said in a statement released earlier Saturday.
Coach John Fox and quarterback Peyton Manning were among the many members of the Broncos who had hoped Welker would play in Sunday's showdown against the AFC West rival Kansas City Chiefs. Denver even left an opening on its 53-man roster for Welker, who also had been attempting to return from a concussion suffered in the preseason.
Testing for HGH was originally agreed upon in 2011, but the players have balked at the science in the testing and the appeals process for positive tests. If the proposal they voted on Friday is put into action, testing would begin for this season.
The player reps also approved an increase for the threshold for positive marijuana tests from 15 nanograms per milliliter to 35 ng/ml.
Overall changes are retroactive for players suspended under previous policies, as well as for those in the appeal process. Those players, including Welker, Scandrick and Cleveland Browns receiver Josh Gordon (suspended for the season) are subject to standards of the new policies.
Welker and Scandrick both were suspended for amphetamine use in the offseason, but punishment for that is being switched from the performance enhancers policy to the substance abuse program -- except for in-season violations. A two-game suspension would be issued for a player convicted of driving under the influence. But an NFL proposal to immediately suspend a player, owner, coach, team executive or league employee for a DUI arrest was rejected by the union.
ESPN NFL Insider Chris Mortensen and The Associated Press contributed to this report. |
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The Reluctant Taoiseach, John A. Costello by David McCullagh
Reviewer: Martin Durack*
Barrister at Law and is a lecturer in law at Athlone Institute of Technology
David Mc McCullagh reveals a silent promise made to the portrait of John A Costello in Leinster House, Dublin to write this biography. McCullagh wields his pen in a confident and sweeping style, with the self-assurance of a man who is thoroughly familiar with his subject matter.
Costello, an avid golfer, attended Portmarnock golf club as religiously as he attended church. Indeed, he complains tongue in cheek that an inconvenience of the Easter Rising was an IRA road block which prevented him from getting to the golf course. Costello did not have a war record. It was this lack of political, military baggage which made him acceptable as Taoiseach (Prime Minister) in the first Coalition government in Ireland’s history: paradoxically this background made him unsuitable as the Fine Gael nominee to run against de Valera in the presidential election of 1966.
Whilst Costello was not the leader of his own Party; a position occupied by Richard Mulcahy, he was acceptable as Taoiseach to the participants in the first Inter-party Government formed in 1948, a government which comprised five separate parties, a diverse and colourful crew, the original rainbow. It included Fine Gael, Labour, National Labour, Clann na Poblachta and Clann na Talmhan, united in their common goal of keeping de Valera out of power. He had held the office of Taoiseach for the previous sixteen years.
Costello’s obedience to the Catholic Church was total and obdurate. On the death of the first President, Douglas Hyde a Protestant, in 1949, he attended the funeral at St Patrick’s Cathedral, Dublin but neither he nor his ministers went into the Cathedral as Church policy at the time forbade Catholics from entering a Protestant Church. It should be noted that Dr. Browne, the Minister for Health, did not obey that edict and entered the Cathedral, a fact which is not referred to by the author.
The Mother and Child Scheme which provided medical care for mothers and children up to the age of sixteen, regardless of means, was a major issue for the Inter-party Government of 1948-1951. The Scheme was strenuously opposed, first by the doctors, then by the bishops, prompting Costello to tell the Dail: “Whatever about fighting the Doctors I am not going to fight the Bishops, and whatever about fighting the Bishops I am not going to fight the Bishops and the Doctors”. The scheme was opposed by the Catholic Church under the leadership of the Archbishop of Dublin, Dr.McQuaid. It was deemed to be an interference with the moral teaching of the Church and regarded as the thin end of the wedge of the dual evils of socialism and totalitarianism, with the state unduly undermining the authority of the family. When the gloves came off, Costello made his position clear and forced the resignation of the Minister for Health, Dr Noel Browne. The latter was a graduate of Trinity College Dublin, a factor which generated Catholic Church suspicion as to his bona fides. Costello did however agree to support Browne in accompanying him to Áras an Uachtaráin in 1951 when tendering his resignation to President Sean T. O’Kelly.
On a State visit to Canada in September 1948 Costello announced the decision to declare Ireland a Republic, a response to a perceived slight by his host, who had failed as agreed to toast the President of Ireland, after Costello had toasted the King in the presence of Roaring Meg on the dining table - a model of a cannon gun which had been used at the siege of Derry. Costello’s announcement of the break with the Commonwealth illustrates the character of the man. While the decision to repeal the External Relations Act had been discussed at Cabinet it had not been formally agreed. Costello’s action was triggered by his emotional response to what could be described as an unhappy dining experience.
During Costello’s second term as Taoiseach (1954-1957) the balance of payments situation posed great problems for the Government whose response was to impose austerity measure after austerity measure. The policies of Gerald Sweetman, the Minister of Finance, were depressing the Irish economy. Another major issue which faced Costello was the renewal of IRA activities, with what became known as the border campaign when the name of Sean South gained national hero status. He was killed during a raid on the RUC barracks in Brookeborough, Co. Fermanagh in January 1957. Costello was accused of soft-pedaling to some extent against the IRA, although he did deploy the army on the border and availed of the Offences against the State Act 1939.
Costello was a flamboyant character; a dapper dresser, a highly-skilled and successful barrister with great oratory and debating skills. He was described as being a barrister who could win a poor case in front of a good judge. High praise indeed. There was even a possibility that he would represent Winston Churchill in a libel action - an interesting spectacle, denied to the court-attending public because the case was settled. The poet Patrick Kavanagh was not so lucky, being subjected to some 1200 questions by Costello in the course of his libel action taken in 1954 against an article in the Leader. At this time Costello was Leader of the Opposition. The crowds queued down the quays to observe the spectacle in Dublin’s Four Courts. Kavanagh lost his case but he is reputed to have said of Costello: If that bloody fellow had been working for me, I’d have won my bloody case” (p.273). On later occasions Costello often gave Kavanagh a lift in his state car. McCullagh relates how on one such occasion the former Taoiseach was prepared to go into a public house to buy a bottle of whiskey required by his passenger but the Gárda driver obliged. “Characteristically, Kavanagh complained about the price as the whiskey was sixpence more than in other places” (p.275).
It is true that Costello had an inherent sense of decency and kindness. When in his later life he went to Cork on a visit to see his grandchildren (ten of whom entered the legal profession either as solicitors or barristers), one of them asked what would happen if she planted the lollipop which he had given to her. Costello encouraged her in her experiment: she had the exciting experience next day of discovering what appeared to be a tree weighed down with lollipops!
Costello had been Attorney General from 1926 to 1932, Taoiseach from 1948 to 1951 and from 1954 to 1957. It was he who initiated - what is now an annual event – the visit of the Taoiseach to Washington to the White House on St. Patrick’s Day. Costello brought the first bowel of shamrock to President Eisenhower on his way to address the Yale Law School
Costello’s significance as a political leader is to be found in his perception of various issues of national importance, his skill lay in his ability to articulate the implications of various actions and, where appropriate, to see the real agenda involved. His infamous speech of 1934, when he said that the Blueshirts would be victorious, must be seen in this context. De Valera had introduced a bill on banning the wearing of uniforms, thus targeting the Blueshirts - an organisation led by sacked Gárda Commissioner Eoin O’Duffy – the Blueshirts had recently merged with the Centre Party and Cumann na nGaedheal to form Fine Gael. Costello had said in the course of the Dáil debate on the bill: “It is going to set a precedent for anybody who wishes to stifle for all time…the right of freedom of speech and the right of free association (p.102). The Bill would undoubtedly limit the effectiveness of the Opposition.
The book is an enjoyable and rewarding read with copious and elegant referencing. The author confesses in the preface that he could not make eye contact with the portrait of Costello on his way to the Press Gallery in Dáil Éireann because he had failed to deliver on his private promise to complete the work. David McCullagh may now meet that gaze without hesitation and maintain eye contact; having completed his own highly readable, authoritative and public portrayal of his subject. |
Image copyright Thinkstock Image caption Domestic violence often goes unreported
The Conservatives have pledged a new crackdown on the "hidden scandal" of domestic abuse if they win power.
They plan legislation to introduce tougher sentences for cases involving children, and a new watchdog to ensure proper support for victims nationwide.
Home Secretary Amber Rudd admitted there were areas where too many cases still went unreported.
Critics say that many refuges for victims of domestic abuse have closed since the Tories took power.
The charity Women's Aid claims 17% of specialist women's refuges had closed since 2010.
Speaking on BBC Radio 4's Today, Ms Rudd said a new commissioner would be tasked with ensuring best practice on supporting victims of domestic violence was adopted across the country.
Under the Conservative proposals a new Domestic Violence and Abuse Bill would create an aggravated offence allowing harsher punishments for cases involving children.
There would also be a new statutory definition for domestic violence, which the Conservatives say would help provide clarity, and increase the chances of successful prosecution of perpetrators.
Although the number of reported cases domestic violence has fallen, estimates suggest only a fifth of victims come forward.
Ms Rudd said: "The fact is that across the country [standards] are varied, and part of [the reason for] this legislation and having a commissioner is to make sure that we raise standards everywhere, so that women get a good service, wherever they are."
Ms Rudd defended the government's record on domestic violence.
She said the Conservatives had introduced measures such as stalking protection orders, and Clare's Law, a scheme allowing police to disclose to individuals details of their partners' abusive pasts.
An extra £20m had also been made available last year to fund residential places for victims.
'Action speak louder than words'
Sarah Green, co-director of the End Violence Against Women Coalition, welcomed the Conservative plans. She told Today the law around domestic violence was unclear, and there were often cases when police dealing with assault cases missed the underlying ongoing problem of domestic violence.
"This is a massive and endemic social problem. A new law and a new commissioner is not the whole answer. What we have got persistent disbelief of domestic violence victims by a range of services... there is systemic stuff that needs to happen, not just a simple altering of the law."
"We hope for an end to women and children being forced to flee for their lives while perpetrators walk free and continue their coercive control through the family courts."
Liberal Democrat election campaign spokeswoman Jo Swinson said: "Let us be clear actions speak louder than words and Conservative cuts to local authorities have meant that funding for domestic abuse services have suffered, with some services having to refuse referrals from victims due to a lack of capacity." |
Tyke Tyke running through the streets, minutes before being shot to death Species Loxodonta africana Sex Female Born 1974
Mozambique Died August 20, 1994
Honolulu, Hawaii, United States Occupation Circus elephant Known for Rampaging through Kakaʻako, killing Allen Campbell and injuring 13 others
Tyke (1974 – August 20, 1994) was an African bush elephant from Mozambique who performed with Circus International of Honolulu, Hawaii. On August 20, 1994, during a performance at the Neal Blaisdell Center, she killed her trainer, Allen Campbell, and seriously injured her groomer, Dallas Beckwith. Tyke then bolted from the arena and ran through the streets of the Kakaʻako central business district for more than thirty minutes. Unable to calm the elephant, local police eventually opened fire on the animal, which eventually collapsed from the wounds and died. While the majority of the attack in the arena was recorded on consumer videotape by several spectators, additional professional video footage captured the attack on local publicist Steve Hirano and the shooting of Tyke herself (both of which took place outside of the building).
Background [ edit ]
According to Tyrone Taylor, Tyke's responsible trainer at the time (interviewed in documentary film), Tyke had been involved in three incidents prior to the attack of August 1994.[1][2]
April 21–22, 1993 [ edit ]
On April 21, 1993, Tyke escaped through the front doors of the Altoona, Pennsylvania Jaffa Shrine Center during a performance, remaining untethered for an hour. The rampage caused more than $14,000 in damage. An affidavit obtained from a circus worker by the USDA the following day stated that Tyke had also attacked a tiger trainer, while the circus was in Altoona.[3]
July 23, 1993 [ edit ]
On July 23, 1993, Tyke "ran amok at the North Dakota State Fair in Minot, North Dakota, trampling and injuring a handler and frightening the crowd as [she] ran uncontrolled for 25 minutes".
According to USDA and Canadian law enforcement documents, while a Hawthorn elephant named Tyke (possibly the same Tyke involved in the four aforementioned incidents), was performing with Tarzan Zerbini Circus, "The elephant handler was observed beating the single-tusk African elephant in public to the point [where] the elephant was screaming and bending down on three legs to avoid being hit. Even when the handler walked by the elephant after this, the elephant screamed and veered away, demonstrating fear from his presence."[3]
Casualties [ edit ]
External video "Tyke the Elephant's Last Day on Earth"
On August 20, 1994, during a performance at Circus International in Honolulu, Hawaii, Tyke trampled and critically injured her groomer, Dallas Beckwith, throwing him around numerous times in the process, before killing her trainer, Allen Campbell, who was knocked to the ground, dragged and crushed to death under Tyke's massive trunk after he attempted to save Beckwith from being trampled to death during the attack. She then charged out of the arena and onto the streets outside. She additionally attacked and nearly crushed publicist Steve Hirano, who tried to stop her from escaping from the circus' parking lot. A nearby police officer seeing the attack fired multiple shots in the direction of the elephant, distracting her and causing her to flee away from Hirano. After a half-hour of chasing Tyke down, local police officers fired more than 86 shots at the 8,000 pounds (3,600 kg) elephant. Tyke finally collapsed from the numerous wounds and died.[4]
Aftermath [ edit ]
Following the Hawaii accident of August 20, 1994, Tyke became symbolic of circus tragedies and a symbol for animal rights.[5] In the aftermath, lawsuits were filed against the City of Honolulu, the State of Hawaii, the circus, and Tyke's owner, John Cuneo, Jr. and his Hawthorn Corp. Honolulu lawyer William Fenton Sink sued Cuneo on behalf of numerous plaintiffs, including young children, who suffered psychological injuries after witnessing Tyke's killing. While the lawsuits were settled out of court, the details of the monetary decision was kept sealed from publication. In honor of Sink's work in the Tyke case, Animal Rights Hawaii renamed its "Order of the Innocent Award", The William Fenton Sink Award for Defense of Animals.[6]
Allen Campbell's autopsy revealed that he died from severe internal injuries, including major skull and chest fractures. It was also determined Campbell had cocaine and alcohol in his system at the time of his death.[7][8] Officials at the Denver Zoo confirmed that there were complaints of animal abuse filed against Campbell during the late 1980s, when he operated an elephant and camel ride concession in the city.[8]
The Tyke incident inspired legislation on local levels in Hawaii and abroad, while California Congressman Sam Farr introduced legislation (HR2323) into the House of Representatives in 1999 and again in 2012.[9]
In popular culture [ edit ]
Experimental hardcore punk/powerviolence band Man Is the Bastard wrote the song "Tyke", about the elephant's escape and rebellion. The song was included on their 1995 album Thoughtless....[10]
Christian thrash metal band Tourniquet, known for its stance against animal abuse, wrote the song "86 Bullets" about Tyke for their 2012 album Antiseptic Bloodbath.[11]
Author K.A. Monroe was inspired by the Tyke incident and published a popular independent children's book Tyke and the Elephant Angel.[12]
Tyke is also seen on The History Channel show Shockwave, World's Most Amazing Videos,[13] Banned from Television and Maximum Exposure.[14]
The Hawaii Five-O remake also mentions the Honolulu attack in Season 6, Episode 20 Ka Haunaele (Rampage).
See also [ edit ] |
Stay Fluffy New to drawing love to see any ones work. Story tell so much in all art. I know everyone i have met or talked to is one way or in another having a rough time.
I wish i could become rich and get magical power to help those i hold dear or miss to talk with.
But i just want all of you fluffy buddys out there.
Your are Fluffy and Loved!
There is nothing Wrong Going trough these hard times.
Just remember I am here and i'll draw ya a rainbow full of Fluffy Hugs and beasty face Licks if need be for ya.
Stay Fluffy! Stay Derpy! And i'm here for ya with a HI HI and a OwO face. Posted:
Comments: Comments (0)
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Artist Information Species : Orange Beast*Hybrid fluffy*
Age : 32
Personal quote : "WHen you can See the Story in the Art. Then You can Feel there Story Trough the art"
Music type/genre : techno
Favorite game : Final Fantasy. Lots of RPG games
Favorite game platform : Pc.
Favorite artist : All that tell a story to there work!
Favorite animal : Wolf Bear LizardFolk (all scalies) pretty much all of them.
Favorite website : Picarto.tv
Favorite food : Pizza
Shouts
Meanbeard Posted: Hehehehe..thanks for the watch back.
Scatterpaws Posted: Heh, i was wondering when you'd get around to watching my secondary account. XD
AxelTheJackal Posted: you there?
the note you replied back was blank
Meanbeard Posted: A happy birthday to you even if it is a bit early.
AxelTheJackal Posted: open for trades?
BresnanBear Posted: Hey you, thanks for the watch.
Dragonhydra Posted: O.o
AxelTheJackal Posted: thanks 4 watch!
Enskyer Posted: Thanks for the watch! :)
AxelTheJackal Posted: hey
Woopaws Posted: Thanks for watching! :b
CraftyCaliforniaCoyote Posted: One orange lupoine to another- have fun. |
ARTISTS BEHIND THE IMAGE is intended to put a name (and sometimes face) to the talented men and women who created the most iconic images to adorn horror VHS boxes and posters from ’70s, ’80s, and ’90s. Their art is vital; it’s the reason I (and many of you, certainly) fell in love with horror movies in the first place. This is not only intended as a tribute, but also a minor compendium, meant to collect their works in one single spot. Corrections, additions, or other info? Email me.
Prior to college, Robert Tanenbaum had no formal art training – but that didn’t stop him from winning first place in the portrait competition while only a freshman at Washington University. His innate talent for portraiture took off from there, and he hasn’t stopped to look back since.
Adept at watercolors, oils, and acrylics – and with a distinct style reminiscent of Norman Rockwell – Tanenbaum has been in constant demand since his career began. He’s been commissioned over 200 times to paint the portraits of various movie stars, sports figures, and even heads of corporations. He’s painted many several collections of Franklin Mint collector’s plates. He is a Signature Member of the National Watercolor Society; one of 22 members out of 1300 members to be nationally certified by The American Portrait Society; one of only 350 that has been elected as an Artist member of the California Art Club and an artist member of National Society of Painters in Casein and Acrylic. His work has been featured in numerous magazines and art shows.
Most recently, he’s settled into paintings focusing on Native Americans, settlers, and other historic imagery of the Southwest in the early 19th century. However, it’s his iconic movie poster art from the ’70s and ’80s that most of us recognize best. From horror, to exploitation, to action, to comedy, Tanenbaum has done it all. Scorsese, De Palma, Carpenter – all have had their films visually represented by Tanenbaum’s talented strokes. Below is just a tiny collection of Robert Tanenbaum’s massive portfolio. He’s still hard at work today, and can be found at his personal website.
Original Cinema 1-Sheet Poster – Movie Film Posters
Sources:
rtanenbaum.com
Mubi
Flickr
All images obtained via IMP Awards, FILM ON PAPER, and Wrong Side of Art, unless otherwise noted. |
Economists are studying Google searches of the unemployed to get more accurate metrics for the economy--and policymakers in need of better numbers are starting to take notice. (AFP PHOTO / PHILIPPE HUGUEN)
If you really want to know how the economy is doing now, just Google it.
At least that’s the goal of a growing number of researchers who are turning to big data in hopes of unlocking the secrets of the economy at the speed of the Internet. The movement — dubbed “nowcasting” — is piquing the interest of policymakers in Washington and around the world frustrated by the long lag in official government statistics as they make decisions where timing is everything.
Want to figure out where prices are headed in 86 countries on a given day? A project at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology tracks them at thousands of retailers. How many people will file for unemployment benefits in one week? Economists at the University of Michigan are tapping Twitter to estimate the number of new applicants. Are more young men finding jobs? Google suggests the incidence of searches for adult entertainment can provide a clue.
“Statistics serve us really well and are completely essential as benchmarks for where the economy is — or more precisely, has been,” said Matthew Shapiro, an economist at the U-Mich. working on the Twitter project. “But we don’t have a lot of indicators that tell us what’s happening right now, particularly when the economy is changing direction.”
In fact, there’s a running joke that economics is like driving a car by looking through the rear-view mirror. Case in point: The government announced Thursday that the economy shrank — two months ago. The first official reading of where things stand now won’t be ready until July.
The delay is a natural consequence of the government’s meticulous method of collecting data, which still relies heavily on phone conversations with families and businesses. Though its numbers are considered the gold standard, the aftermath of the Great Recession has shown the data can come too late for policymakers at crucial moments in the recovery.
The contraction at the start of the year, for example, came as lawmakers in Washington debated whether to extend benefits for the long-term unemployed. That measure languished, in part because officials believed the recovery was strengthening.
The slowdown also coincided with the phase-out of the Federal Reserve’s trillion-dollar stimulus program — a move that was supposed to signal the central bank’s confidence in the economy. Fed Chair Janet Yellen acknowledged in a recent speech that it likely “overdid the optimism” early in the year.
“You’re not just missing accuracy, but you’re missing a turning point,” said Keith Hall, a senior research fellow at the Mercatus Center at George Mason University and former head of the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
In the midst of the recession, Google’s chief economist Hal Varian released a paper showing how to use the company’s search data to measure auto sales and consumer spending, among other things. Now, researchers both inside and outside of government are using it to estimate everything from unemployment to mortgage delinquencies.
The Bank of Israel and the Bank of England incorporate Google analytics into some of their forecasts. Last month,Varian gave the keynote address at a workshop on big data convened by the European Central Bank. He also recently briefed top White House officials on how to use its data and will visit the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco in June for an event organized by an industry group.
“We don’t have any better ways to predict the future,” Google’s chief economist Hal Varian said. “What we’re working on is predicting the present.”
The models are based on connections between key search terms and related economic indicators. A spike in searches for Kelley Blue Book typically accompanies a jump in car sales, for example. But the connections aren’t always so obvious.
Google found that rising unemployment was not only linked to phrases such as “companies that are hiring.” It was also closely correlated to searches for new technology (“free apps”), entertainment (“guitar scales beginner”) and adult content (“jailbait teen”). The company said its data can improve the accuracy of standard estimates of economic data in a current month as much as 10 percent.
At the University of Michigan, Shapiro and his colleagues scoured more than 19 billion tweets over two years for references to unemployment, hunting for phrases such as “axed,” “pink slip” and “downsized.” They indexed the findings and compared them to the government’s weekly tally of people applying for unemployment benefits for the first time.
Their results are remarkably similar — and where they do diverge, the Twitter index may be more reliable. Computer malfunctions and the government shutdown last year distorted the official numbers, while the trends in Shapiro’s index held firm.
“If this is how people are going to communicate, it behooves us to try to figure out how to do the measurement that way,” he said.
There is also another, more mundane, reason economists are experimenting with new types of data: Federal budget cuts mean the government is producing fewer statistics.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics slashed its budget by $30 million, or 5 percent, last year in response to the across-the-board federal spending cuts known as sequestration. It no longer produces its survey of mass layoffs and may trim its quarterly census of employment and wages, which provides an important benchmark for monthly job estimates.
“The quality and quantity of some BLS data will likely be diminished, as fewer resources are available to collect and review data or to perform data analysis,” the agency said on its Web site.
Still, big data remains in its infancy. In fact, one of the main challenges of using the data is its short history: Twitter was created in 2006; the U.S. government began calculating gross domestic product during the Great Depression.
There are also concerns that people who use the Internet or social media sites do not represent the broader public, skewing the results. Though economists who work with big data say they adjust for those factors, those techniques are still a work in progress.
“More data is not always better,” said Jasper McMahon, cofounder of Now-Casting Economics, which does not use social media or search trends in its calculations. “You can be blinded by having access to masses and masses of data. But that exposes you to masses and masses of noise.”
Others have raised a more fundamental issue: Ultimately, using big data is just a faster way of calculating what the government is already doing. Some argue what’s really needed instead is an overhaul of how we measure — and judge — the world around us to include intangibles such as happiness, education and health.
“There’s not really a one-size fits all number that’s going to describe the experience of everybody or even most people,” said Zachary Karabell, an economist and author of The Leading Indicators. “I don’t think we should create that fiction.” |
Project Everest aims to build and deploy a verified HTTPS stack
We are a team of researchers and engineers from several organizations, including Microsoft Research, Carnegie Mellon University, INRIA, and the MSR-INRIA joint center.
Everest is a recursive acronym: It stands for the “Everest VERified End-to-end Secure Transport”.
The HTTPS Ecosystem
The HTTPS ecosystem (HTTPS and TLS protocols, X.509 public key infrastructure, crypto algorithms) is the foundation on which Internet security is built. Unfortunately, this ecosystem is brittle, with headline-grabbing attacks such as FREAK and LogJam http://mitls.org/pages/attacks/ and emergency patches many times a year.
Project Everest addresses this problem by constructing a high-performance, standards-compliant, formally verified implementation of components in HTTPS ecosystem, including TLS, the main protocol at the heart of HTTPS, as well as the main underlying cryptographic algorithms such as AES, SHA2 or X25519.
At the TLS level, for instance, we are developing new implementations of existing and forthcoming protocol standards and formally proving, by reduction to cryptographic assumptions on their core algorithms, that our implementations provide a secure-channel abstraction between the communicating endpoints. Implementations of the core algorithms themselves are also verified, producing performant portable C code or highly optimized assembly language.
We aim for our verified components to be drop-in replacements suitable for use in mainstream web browsers, servers, and other popular tools and are actively working with the community at large to improve the ecosystem.
A combination of several sub-projects
Project Everest is the combination of the following projects. Read below for an easy way to install all these projects together.
F*, a verification language for effectful programs
miTLS, reference implementation of the TLS protocol in F*
KreMLin, a compiler from a subset of F* to C
HACL*, a verified library of cryptographic primitives written in F*
Vale, a domain-specific language for verified cryptographic primitives in assembly
When combined together, the projects above generate a mixture of C and assembly code that implements TLS 1.3, with proofs of safety, correctness, security and various forms of side-channel resistance.
Current status
Everest is a work in progress. We generate C and assembly code for TLS-1.3, but the verification is not complete.
The TLS 1.3 handshake verification is a work in progress
We have completed verification of the TLS 1.3 record layer it currently extracts to C.
Several cryptographic assembly routines , including AES-GCM, Poly1305, AES and SHA2, are verified and extract to assembly via Vale. ( USENIX-17 , POPL-19 )
HACL* provides verified C code for multiple other primitives such as Curve25519, Chacha20, Poly1305 or HMAC.
Deployments
Everest code is deployed in several contexts.
Code from the HACL* library is deployed in Mozilla Firefox and in the Tezos Blockchain.
The miTLS protocol stack powers Microsoft’s primary implementation of the QUIC transport protocol.
Getting started with Project Everest
To make things easier for prospective users, the everest script performs high-level project management and revision tracking.
Prerequisite (Windows only). Open up a Cygwin64 terminal with a Cygwin git client. Our library is a native Windows DLL but we rely on Cygwin to provide the Unix tools that many of our projects rely on.
The first step checks out the high-level everest command.
git clone https://github.com/project-everest/everest cd everest
This will ensure that your environment is sane. On Windows, this will fetch & install a proper version of OCaml and all packages for you.
./everest check
If you just want to read the sources, then the step below is sufficient; it will fetch blessed versions of all the projects, which are known to work together.
./everest pull
Building all the projects together should work at any time, and be achieved by running
./everest make
Testing the generated binaries can be achieved by running:
./everest test
But, remember that the whole point of the Everest project is that our code is entirely verified. Verification (which can be as slow as 2 hours on recent machines) can be performed by running:
./everest verify
Finally, if you want to revert to a clean state, you can run:
./everest clean
For the lazy: Docker
Every night, we automatically build the projecteverest/everest Docker image with everything already built and verified, for you to directly pull from the Docker Hub. If you have Docker installed on your machine, then you can pull the image using the usual command:
docker pull projecteverest/everest
F* blog
See F* for the masses for news on F* and Everest!
Filing bugs
Please file bugs if something doesn’t work! |
There isn’t a newspaper in the world that hasn’t at some point printed a typo, but the Kennebec Journal‘s front-page mistake Wednesday generated a few more responses than most.
The Augusta, Maine-based paper ran an Associated Press story on President Donald Trump’s explosive warning Tuesday to North Korea. However, the Journal‘s front-page headline mistakenly added an extra letter to Trump’s missive.
Wednesday’s front page. —Kennebec Journal via Twitter
Fire and “furry”? If only.
In a statement provided Thursday, Journal city editor Susan Cover said the paper was “mortified by the error.”
“Our normally rigorous headline-proofing protocols broke down,” the statement said. “We’re reviewing them now to prevent this from happening in the future.”
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The typo, of course, was noticed by more than a few readers. On social media, the responses ranged from jokes to commentary on the state of the print media industry (particularly in the age of copy desk cutbacks).
A concise argument for copy editors. pic.twitter.com/n6yuGkIqb3 — Naomi Schalit (@Naomi_Schalit) August 9, 2017
The copy editors at the Kennebec Journal have an innovative solution to the North Korea problem. pic.twitter.com/0UN3AINSRw — Steve Robinson (@BigSteve207) August 9, 2017
If it’s any consolation to the Journal, the idea of a war being between North Korea and United States waged with furry animals — rather than nuclear weapons — is a bit more comforting. |
Commercial Linux distributor Red Hat is reaching towards its goal of hitting $1bn in sales. In the fourth quarter of fiscal 2010, the company had double digit revenue growth and posted record billings for the services backing its Enterprise Linux and related products, and it finished off the year with overall sales up 14.7 per cent, to $748.2m, and net earnings up 10.8 per cent, to $87.3m.
Not too shabby considering the global economy was melting down during the first half of Red Hat's fiscal year and is only now showing some signs of stability.
For the fiscal fourth quarter ended February 28, Red Hat had subscription sales of $169.2m, up 21.4 per cent, while training and services revenues actually declined a smidgen to $26.7m. Total sales came in at $195.9m for fiscal Q4, and despite all of its costs rising and a drop in interest income, the company nonetheless was able to boost net income in the quarter to $23.4m, up 46.3 per cent. Since last year, Red Hat has shifted more of its cash pile into debt and equity securities, but still has $970.2m in cash, equivalents, and securities in the bank. The company ended the quarter with $646m in deferred revenues, up 19 percent from a year ago.
What a contrast Red Hat makes with Novell, which might bring in more money each quarter but whose Linux business is much smaller and has just hit break-even in its fiscal 2010 first quarter ended in January. Novell has close to $1bn in the bank and has rejected what amounts to a $940m takeover deal (net of cash) from hedge fund operator Elliott Partners. Red Hat is the better buy, but with a market capitalization of $5.7bn and a multiple that probably makes it worth at least $10bn the way Wall Street thinks, Elliott doesn't have the cash to buy Red Hat. And maybe no one else does either.
In a conference call with Wall Street analysts, Jim Whitehurst, Red Hat's president and chief executive officer, said that the quarter saw the telecommunications sector pick up, with strong attach rates for maintenance tools, an increase in embedded Enterprise Linux sales, and traction gaining for the Enterprise MRG real-time and grid variant of the company's Linux distro. The JBoss middleware business picked up too, and the company closed a multi-million dollar deal for JBoss products with a big bank in the quarter.
Whitehurst said that Red Hat only renewed 24 of the top 25 deals that came up for renewal, and they renewed at 130 percent of the value of the contracts in the prior year among those 24 accounts. Comically, Red Hat was sad to lose a deal at that one big account (an unnamed technology company), but Whitehurst said that it had already signed a six-figure deal with another division of that same company. So there. With some of the major stock exchange wins in the past year - including the Tokyo Stock Exchange last week - about half of the volume of equity trading in the world now touches Red Hat Linux in some way, according to Whitehurst.
Charlie Peters, Red Hat's chief financial officer, said that the company inked 18 deals worth over $1m in the fiscal fourth quarter, and it had three deals worth more than $5m. And some 60 per cent of the top 30 deals done by Red Hat in the quarter had Enterprise Linux Advanced Platform - the more expensive version of the server Linux from Red Hat with unlimited virtualization - as a component.
In the past year, this percentage has ranged from 60 to 70 per cent. Peters said that the Red Hat direct sales force closed some big deals in Q4, which shifted the percentage of revenues coming from direct sales up to 44 per cent, compared to 38 per cent in fiscal Q3. Channel partners accounted for the remaining 56 per cent, but this has been trending up in past quarters. By geography, 59 per cent of Red Hat's revenues in Q4 came from the Americas, with 26 per cent from EMEA and 15 percent from Asia/Pacific. This is consistent with past quarters.
During the fiscal 2010 year, Red Hat bought back 10 million of its shares, and this month spent the last $10m of a $250m share repurchase authorization to get a few more. In conjunction with the earnings announcement this afternoon, Red Hat's board announced that it was allocating another $300m for the company to buy back shares, which are used to compensate employees and to prop up per-share earnings numbers.
Looking ahead to fiscal 2011, Whitehurst said that the uptake of JBoss middleware and the Linux Advanced Platform would be as important to the growth of Red Hat as improving server sales. What will also help Red Hat's commercialized KVM virtualization hypervisor is the desire to see a second alternative to VMware's ESX Server, and the company wants its Red Hat Enterprise Virtualization, which launched in November 2009, to be that alternative.
"Most customers don't want one platform," Whitehurst said, referring to virtualization platforms, not operating systems. "They want two. Frankly, we don't see Microsoft all that often. It's not that customers don't like VMware - a lot of them are high on VMware - but they don't want to get stuck with just one vendor and they want us to be the alternative."
Peters put some numbers on the future to give Red Hat something to shoot for. In the first quarter of fiscal 2011 ending in June, Red Hat expects revenues of between $202m and $204m, and non-GAAP earnings per share of between 17 and 18 cents. For the full fiscal 2011 year, Red Hat is projecting sales of between $835m and $850m, which would represent a 12 to 14 per cent increase over the year just ended, and non-GAAP EPS of between 71 and 74 cents.
That's the same or slightly less profits on a non-GAAP basis with revenue growth, which seems to imply that costs are going to rise somewhere this year. Most likely having to do with the development and marketing of the upcoming Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6, due around mid-year. ® |
The viable future of up to 10 of the 14 Institutes of Technology across Ireland is being questioned in a review by the Higher Education Authority.
A financial review of the Institutes of Technology (ITs) across Ireland has pointed to significant financial deficiencies.
It describes six of the ITs – Letterkenny, Tralee, Galway-Mayo, Waterford, Dundalk and Cork – as vulnerable.
The review also points to risks facing the ITs in Athlone, Limerick, Tallaght and Dublin, particularly in relation to financial reserves and projected deficits.
‘The increase in Ireland’s young population is the envy of other countries – new energy, new ideas and a critical mass of educated young people will give Ireland a social, cultural and competitive edge’
– DR ANNE LOONEY
Across Ireland, there are more than 87,000 students studying at the various ITs. This includes over 66,000 full-time undergraduates, 13,000 part-time undergraduates, 1,400 remote undergraduates and 3,000 full-time postgraduates.
The purpose of the review by the Higher Education Authority (HEA) was to assess the financial health of the ITs across Ireland, and involved site visits to the 14 campuses.
The HEA noted a reduction of 34pc in support for the education sector between 2008 and 2015, as well as an increase of 24pc in student numbers, which has led to an existential crisis for the educational institutes.
HEA review paints a bleak picture
The overall reserves held by the ITs fell from €132.5m to €78.7m over the period, wiping out 40pc of the finance available to underpin ongoing sustainability and future development.
The cash flow position across the sector is a major concern, with a decline in the cash balances held by ITs, from €218.1m in August 2013 to €147m in August 2016. A further fall is anticipated, to €116m by August 2017.
At an aggregate level, the sector is in deficit and this trend is projected to continue over the next five years.
Pay costs still account for between 72.5pc and 80pc of total IT expenditure, despite core staffing levels falling by 12pc between 2008 and 2014. The absence of flexibility to redeploy staff or introduce new work arrangements (for part-time or online study, for example) is a significant factor in financial performance.
The campus environment has been adversely impacted, as there has been no funding available for capital investment.
The HEA said that while growth in science and ICT education provision is encouraging, it is constrained by existing capacity. Targeted capital investment, aimed at reinforcing the technological mission of the sector, has the potential to generate a significant impact.
The remedy is in sight but needs to be acted upon
“The announcement of increased funding for higher education in Budget 2017 and a three-year commitment to further investment marks an important turning point for the sector, but this review demonstrates the scale of the challenge that remains,” said Dr Anne Looney, interim CEO of the HEA.
“We now have comprehensive evidence of the current financial challenges being faced by many ITs, and the capacity constraints which will limit their ability to meet the expected growth in student demand in coming years.
“While it is a review of the impact of past cuts, it’s a report with an eye to the future, and the provision of higher education across the country for young people still in school who will expect to go to college in the next decade.
“The increase in Ireland’s young population is the envy of other countries – new energy, new ideas and a critical mass of educated young people will give Ireland a social, cultural and competitive edge. The Institute of Technology sector has its origins in the 1962 report, Investment in Education, and since the first doors opened in 1970, [it has] been critical to Ireland’s economic and social development.
“If they are to continue to do this, we have work to do to put them on a sustainable footing.
“The HEA has set out a clear action plan to address the issues, both financial and otherwise, identified in the report, while it is also about to embark on a comprehensive review of the funding approach for higher education institutions, which will also take into account the findings,” Looney said.
LIT president urges immediate action
“It must be said that there is a stark reality at the heart of this review,” said the president of Limerick Institute of Technology (LIT), Prof Vincent Cunnane.
“It clearly demonstrates serious underfunding of higher education in Ireland, and points to a set of actions which must be undertaken to address the situation.”
Cunnane said that despite the ingenuity and commitment demonstrated by the ITs during the financial crisis that engulfed Ireland, the inescapable conclusion is that prompt action is needed if Ireland is to field the skilled graduates needed to sustain the growth in jobs recently seen in the past year.
“LIT has invested in our capital infrastructure, our stock of industry-standard equipment and facilities to ensure that our graduates have practical experience at the cutting edge,” Cunnane said.
“This was challenging in times when state investment in higher education has dried up completely.
“Nonetheless, we invested our own resources sensibly in targeted areas such as precision engineering, which will provide the optimum benefit to the economy and the optimum job prospects to our graduates.
“We have also been able to navigate many of the challenges facing higher education in Ireland by prudent management of our finances over the last number of years.
“This has meant that we are not now subject to the severe financial difficulties besetting some areas of the higher education sector in Ireland. However, the longer this funding situation remains unresolved, the less able the Irish higher education system will be to cater for the state’s needs, including the demands of our population to progress to higher education.
“The reality is that the core challenges identified in the report are the same as those identified in the Cassells report last July, among others.
“It is fair to say that the diagnosis of the issues facing higher education in Ireland is now done, and we must move without delay to implementing the remedy,” Cunnane warned.
Cork Institute of Technology. Image: Boris15/Shutterstock |
Rick Santorum sees Nazis everywhere: in the Middle East, in doctor’s offices and medical labs, in the Democratic Party, and now in the White House.
The Republican presidential candidate told a group of supporters Sunday night that this year’s election was like the time between 1940 and 1941 when Americans didn’t act against Adolf Hitler because they thought he was “a nice guy” and not “near as bad as what we think.”
“It’s going to be harder for this generation to figure this out. There’s no cataclysmic event,” he explained, but similar urgency. “Is anybody reminding us who we are, what made us great, and what these assaults are all about?”
The obvious implication — later denied by the candidate — was that Santorum is some modern-day Churchill and President Obama is der Fuhrer. It was outrageous and yet, for Santorum, routine.
Dana Milbank will live chat with readers Friday at Noon ET on this topic and more. Submit your questions, comments and opinions for him to respond to now.
Six years ago, in his losing bid for reelection to the Senate from Pennsylvania, Santorum had a remarkably similar take on the stakes. “If we are not successful here and things don’t go right in the election, there’s a good chance that the course of our country could change,” he said, according to an account in the Lebanon (Pa.) Daily News. “We are in the equivalent of the late 1930s, and this election will decide whether we are going to continue to appease or whether we will stand and fight while we have a chance to win without devastating consequences.”
His opponent, Democrat Bob Casey, won the election, and yet the country somehow did not fall to the brownshirts.
In explaining why his remark over the weekend wasn’t linking Obama to Hitler, Santorum said that “the World War II metaphor is one I’ve used a hundred times.” This is not an exaggeration — and that’s Santorum’s problem.
Nazi comparisons are the most extreme form of political speech; once one ties his political opponents to the most deplorable chapter in human history, all reasoned argument ceases.
Yet this is where Santorum exists, in a place of binary extremes of good and evil, where his political foe isn’t just wrong but adheres to a “phony theology” not found in the Bible. His frequent tendency to go from zero to Nazi over ordinary political disagreements is typical of the emotional appeal he has to conservative primary voters, but it also shows why he’s outside the bounds major political parties have applied to their past presidential nominees.
Some of Santorum’s opponents have suggested that his Hitler tic reflects his own autocratic tendencies; his opponent’s campaign manager in 2006 called Santorum “one notch below a Nazi.” But while Santorum favors more coercive government — one that could, for example, ban birth-control pills — he isn’t a Nazi. He worked against anti-Semitism in the Senate and tried to get a German physician prosecuted for Nazi war crimes. The problem is Santorum is such a stranger to democratic give-and-take that he thinks it’s okay to label everybody else as Nazis.
His most famous episode came in 2005, when Democrats criticized Senate Republicans for threatening to do away with the filibuster. “The audacity of some members to stand up and say, ‘How dare you break this rule?’ — it’s the equivalent of Adolf Hitler in 1942 saying, ‘I’m in Paris. How dare you invade me? How dare you bomb my city? It’s mine.’ ”
That same year, Santorum published a book, “It Takes a Family,” in which he tied fetal genetic testing, evolution theory and embryonic stem-cell research to Nazism. He quoted with approval the view that diagnosing and aborting fetuses with genetic malformations “can be considered an earlier phase” of the “German negative eugenics movement.”
Of the Darwinian view of a “purposeless universe,” Santorum wrote that “the Nazis built their pseudoethics with its grim logic on precisely this Nietzschean cosmological view.” Embryonic stem-cell research, he added, makes him “wonder if we have merely been momentarily delayed in our slide” toward the Nazi ethics.
In his unsuccessful 2006 campaign, he often invoked Churchill’s “gathering storm” phrase and compared Iran’s Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to Hitler. He also called for more active use of the term “Islamic fascism.” Last year, Santorum warned that if the Muslim Brotherhood prevails in Egyptian elections, it would be like the Nazis winning in 1933: “That was the last democratic election.”
When used on Ahmadinejad or the Muslim Brotherhood, the Nazi talk is provocative, but defensible. When used on an American president and a rival political party, it shows an alarming lack of perspective. |
Getting your menu pricing right is one of the most important aspects of running a successful food service business. With tight and ever fluctuating margins it’s crucial to keep on top of food and staffing costs, but also to understand how to extract the maximum value from your customers.
Menu pricing is often decided from a cost of goods point of view, deriving the price by adding a profit markup to the cost of a products’ individual ingredients. A valid strategy, but one that leaves significant potential profit on the table.
To maximise profits you should aim to understand the value your customers gain from your service, the psychology behind purchasing decisions and how presentation and formatting can determine what customers buy. This can all be achieved without even raising your prices.
Currency Symbols
If your current menu lists prices with an associated currency symbol; £s, $s, €s or otherwise, you should strongly consider removing them. Often suggested by restaurant consultants and menu engineers, the effects of removing currency symbols have been well researched. A 2009 study by Cornell University found that diners at St. Andrew’s in New York spent considerably more when prices were presented in numerical form without a $ symbol. So displaying a price of 29 for a steak would outsell the same steak listed at $29. The theory behind this is that when people see currency symbols they are made more conscious of the money they are about to spend and will subsequently be more likely to choose items based on price rather than desire.
But would 29.00 have the same effect as 29? Perhaps not, a study by the Journal of Consumer Psychology found that increasing the number of syllables in a displayed price also increased the customer’s perception of the price. Even when not spoken, prices written with commas, points and pennies will be associated with higher prices and so should be avoided when possible on menus.
To Round or not?
Whilst the origin of psychological pricing (pricing items at .99 & .97 points) is disputed, various theories have been suggested; including loss prevention required by the introduction of the cash register, accommodation by shopkeepers for newspapers priced at 1 cent and competitor price battles on commodity goods. The benefits are well documented though, customers will perceive the same product priced at £4.99 as better value than when priced at £5. Again, the reasons behind this behaviour are disputed – one theory, named the left-digit anchoring effect, suggests we place emphasis on the first digits of a number.
Whether it makes sense for you to implement psychological pricing will depend on your branding goals and customer profile; it may make sense for quick service restaurants and cafes (where customers tend to act more price sensitively), but the cheap/bargain/value nature of the pricing strategy may not fit in with higher end restaurants aiming to impress.
Presentation
Presentation can play a big role in how customers read and analyse your menu. Right-aligning your prices into a easy to read column? Customers will be tempted to compare and choose items by price, keeping your prices on the same line after the title of the item will reduce the pain of paying problem.
Emphasise your most profitable items (or “stars“) by increasing visual hierarchy with highlighted text, borders and other design patterns – see how pizza express highlights their star items in this menu.
Spend time on the copy for star items, write more and more descriptively to entice customers into choosing your most profitable items.
Taking a look at a menu in use at the excellent London restaurant, Barrafina, we can see these tactics employed perfectly. Prices, although arranged in a column, are devoid of £ symbols, written in their simplest possible form ( 3.1 rather than £3.10) and their star product, the “hand selected” Manzanilla is adorned by descriptive copy and clear visual hierarchy.
Read our post on menu design for a look at menus in a non-commercial way. |
By Idris Okuducu
ERBIL, Iraq
The Kurdish peshmerga forces don’t receive orders from the Iraqi army, the Kurdistan Region Government (KRG) has said.
In a statement released late Friday, the Ministry of Peshmerga Affairs said the Kurdish forces only receive orders from the General Command in Erbil in northern Iraq.
“The central government has neither born the responsibility of training the peshmerga forces nor provided them with weapons,” the statement said.
The statement, however, said that the peshmerga forces “have been part of Iraq’s defense system”.
The statement was released in response to statements by spokesman for the U.S. State Department, Mark Toner, in which he called for putting the peshmerga forces under the command of the Iraqi army.
The Kurdish ministry said the peshmerga forces don’t have ambitions to capture any new areas in Iraq, reiterating that the Kurdish forces were ready to cooperate with the Iraqi army to fight Daesh group.
Earlier this month, Iraqi Defense Minister Khaled al-Obeidi said there was a great cooperation between the peshmerga forces and Iraqi troops with a view to recapturing the northern city of Mosul from the Daesh group.
Iraqi forces are currently preparing to launch a major offensive to retake Mosul, the country’s second largest city, which was overran by the militant group in 2014.
Backed by U.S.-led airstrikes, Iraqi forces have managed to retake most of the territory seized by Daesh since 2014. The terrorist group, however, still controls several parts in the country. |
It’s not clear the president understands the damage his pending executive order would do to the poorer and sicker people who depend on Obamacare.
For a couple of weeks now, the president has been promising — or threatening, depending on how you look at it — to accomplish by executive order what the Republican Congress has failed to achieve this year: liberating a lot of Americans from the horrors of Obamacare, and letting them buy insurance across state lines — one of the few health-care strategies Trump has consistently supported.
Now the moment seems to be nigh, and although there are a fair number of questions we cannot answer until the executive order is formally released, the basic idea appears to be an expansion of the kinds of entities who can take advantage of so-called “association health plans” — group insurance plans normally available to trade associations and other groups of businesspeople — and then a reclassification of these plans so that they do not have to comply with Obamacare regulations. It’s sort of a Great Escape from Obamacare for small businesses and perhaps even individuals (one of those hazy details we don’t know yet).
The across-state-lines aspect of this plan — a big deal in the pre-Obamacare days when there were few if any national standards for health insurance — would not be nearly as significant as the exemption from Obamacare’s essential health benefits and preexisting-conditions requirements. And virtually everyone who has looked at the idea believes it would mostly attract younger and healthier consumers seeking cheaper and skimpier health plans, leaving older, sicker, and therefore more expensive people to sink the remaining Obamacare exchanges with their costly problems.
That would be just fine with a lot of conservatives, such as Kentucky senator Rand Paul, who not only considers Obamacare to be an abomination, but who has always been a fan of association health plans as a way for businesses and, potentially, individuals to band together and get around state health-insurance regulations. Giving the same people a way around national Obamacare regulations makes the whole idea a double treat for those who believe spreading risk among the healthy and the sick is socialism.
The idea of expanding and deregulating association health plans as a stand-alone initiative is especially dangerous when pursued separately from other conservative health-reform ideas that might help counteract some of its effects, such as subsidies for high-risk pools for “left behind” people with preexisting conditions, or more money for states to come up with their own ways of managing risk.
Depending on its scope, Trump’s plan will almost certainly attract legal challenges as an effort — which it most definitely is — to thwart a law with an executive order. But it’s still a real threat to the poorer and sicker people who rely on Obamacare.
Health-policy wonk Tim Jost said of the proposed executive order that it would “destroy the small-group market …. We’ll be back to where we were before the Affordable Care Act.” That’s sort of the big idea here, though it’s unclear if its proud author understands. |
CTV Regina
The number of Saskatchewan government employees who call in sick spikes after the holidays and during football events or the release of a popular video game.
That’s according to data on the top 25 sick days taken by provincial workers in 2013-14, which the Canadian Taxpayers Federation obtained through a freedom of information request.
“(It) definitely looks like a few of these spikes in sick days aren’t a coincidence,” the federation’s Colin Craig said in a news release Thursday.
“The government could save a healthy amount of tax dollars if it tackled high sick day usage by government employees.”
The Monday after this past New Year’s Day topped the list, with 679 government employees taking sick leave, followed by the Wednesday after Jan. 1 with 624.
The data also showed a correlation between football events and increases in sick days taken by Saskatchewan’s civil servants.
A total of 618 sick days were claimed on the day after a Saskatchewan Roughriders home game in September 2013.
And last November’s Grey Cup Parade in Regina saw 574 provincial workers call in sick on the day of the event, and 600 the following day.
Being the among the first to play a popular video game could be another excuse for staying home sick.
Just under 580 government employees told their bosses they were too sick to work during the September 2013 release of Grand Theft Auto V.
Bad weather could also be to blame for a sudden spike in sickness among Saskatchewan’s public sector employees.
Last November, 627 provincial workers called in sick during the first winter storm of the season, and 610 sick days were claimed when temperatures fell below minus 40C with the wind chill.
According to Statistics Canada, the average private sector worker in the province took 6.9 sick days in 2012, compared to 11 days for municipal, provincial and federal employees in Saskatchewan.
“Nobody is expecting government employees to come to work when they’re truly sick,” Craig said.
“But when those ‘sick days’ magically coincide with video game releases, vacations and football games, it’s clear some people should be using vacation days instead.” |
The media’s telling of the Japan story has been inexcusably bad. I can’t count the number of pieces about confinement breaches and radiation surges; where they are not information-free they are wrong, and where they are not wrong, they bypass what matters. Here are a few specifics.
The real story in Japan, by any objective measure, is the sustained post-tsunami desperation among those whose lives were swept away, and the narrative about the rescue and cleanup workers all over the Northeast. Read much of that? Me neither.
Bloggers and other flavors of lone wolf are publishing heart-wrenching photo-essays from the front line of the recovery effort. Newspapers and TV networks? They’re writing about the temperature of the water in some part (they don’t specify which) of some damaged reactor, illustrating it with video screen grabs of machinery they don’t understand enough to explain.
People across oceans from Japan should fear radiation? Um, what was the half-life of 131 I again?
One of the best sources for just-the-facts about what’s going on is in fact a journalist, Martyn Williams. Mind you, he works for tech news outfit IDG, and the best way to sample his wares is via his tweetstream. But the two deepest pieces of reporting I’ve read recently are by Randall Munroe and Charles Stross. That’s right, an Internet cartoonist and a pop-sci-fi author.
Of course, you can go get the real info from the MIT Nuclear Information Hub. Now, wouldn’t it be cool if there were a profession which went and digested the essential technical background and used it to tell us the real human story of the news in a way that’s compatible with facts? If only.
There have been many reports about the people fleeing Tokyo. None of these narratives have paused to consider whether the exodus constitutes chickenshit stupidity. I suggest it maybe does.
And right now in springtime, the New York Times is going, the mainstream media hopes, to lead them all on the path to a paywall; we’ll recognize the value they’ve been offering us and sign up for what they offer. Me, I think they picked the wrong year.
I personally think the Japanese are going to astound the world with the speed of the bounce-back. And I hope to visit Tokyo later this year. |
So hey, another week, another update to the GSB2 beta. Hurrah! When I look back at the change list there is actually a ton of cool stuff in this update. If I had the time, I’d make a video explaining it all…but I don’t so here it is in lovingly crafted text form!
The complete changelist is here
But the highlights are…
All Unlock costs are 50% higher, so you don’t ‘progress’ stupidly fast any more (hopefully!)
In some cases (the first race for now) ships come with a pre-defined ‘default’ visual appearance rather than just a blank hull, because some people were too keen to fight than design ships, and this way those ships still have decent visual appeal.
Steam workshop support, and a general implementation of mod browsing and creation and toggling is done now, although the workshop is likely inactive for everyone at the moment.
Some cool new sound effects :D.
You can now type in exact values when adjusting stuff on the ship design screen. (A feature much requested)
A better end-battle dialog to explain how honor works. (The actual dialog has the right numbers in :D)
Sub-deployments are in! (although a tad buggy). You can now save and load sub-deployments and use them in any mission, allowing you to have predefined formations of ships to use as the core of a fleet.
Obviously more patches will come, although things are likely to stall slightly for GDC and then Rezzed, but hopefully around that time I’ll get the translations done and maybe the mac/linux port, so even if the release date moves into April, it will be a decent release with lots of cool stuff. Trading card artwork is being done right now, along with extra module graphics. I’m reading all the player feedback and implementing tons of tiny fixes for stuff which people point out. In the meantime, it really helps if people up-vote any videos/articles they see about the game, all coverage is appreciated, and sharing this blog post/tweeting it is much appreciated too :D
If you are at GDC I am in two talks. And do come along and try out both GSB2 and Big Pharma at Rezzed in London if you can. |
There are different levels of rumour we run at Bleeding Cool. Take the Karen Berger story that just ran this morning. That came from informed New York publishing sources who corroborated each other independently. As rumour provenance goes, it’s as good as it gets without anyone actually confirming it. But it still could be 100% wrong.
Then there’s this story. From an e-mail source and a first time message board poster, and probably the same person. The provenance is incredibly weak, but it could be 100% golden. Just not very likely. If the Karen Berger story is an amber traffic light, then this is deepest darkest red.
So I received this email,
I’m sure this can’t be the first time someone has submitted this to you, but word got out this past weekend before the convention in New York that AXIS is Marvel’s pre-reboot event comic, featuring both Cyclops and Havok becoming full-fledged villains (Cyclops by choice, Havok via mind control) and then after Cyclops dies, the Marvel Universe is rebooted but it won’t have any mutants in it.
Well, it was the first time. It piqued my interest a little, there have been rumours that Marvel have fostered of a reboot in May (though I reckon it was just Marvel intentionally teasing the fans and in fact they’ll deliver a bait and switch). But it would also tie in with those anti-Fox licence rumours as well and Marvel’s desire to push the Inhumans as an X-Men replacement for Marvel Studios – but all a little too easily. My gut didn’t like it. Also, I didn’t know the guy from Adam. Not yet anyway,
I would have dismissed it except a prominent Marvel comic writer emailed me a link to this post on the CBR forums, headlined “Get Ready To Say Goodbye To The X-Men” asking me what was up.
Most of you reading this will initially react to what i have to say with skepticism. I’m a brand new poster with no posts. That’s understandable. But i can only assure you that what i have to say in at this time and present is 100% true and will happen. I obviously can’t release my sources but it’s actually become an open secret within the marvel offices, and many are NOT happy. There have been a few leaks by various ”in the know” people who work at marvel within the community and on personal blogs over the last few days. Don’t be surprised when other sites/blogs start to come forward with more information soon. Obviously, these leaks on personal blogs have been redacted very quickly. Onto the dire news: Marvel WILL be rebooting their entire line next summer, and they will be rebooting it without the X-Men. Without mutants at all. This includes Wolverine, Storm & Cyclops. Every mutant is gone. However, The Scarlet Witch & Quicksilver will be reintroduced as Inhumans. Although this won’t apply to any other X-Men related characters. Currently unsure what will happen with Namor. It’s currently unknown if any of the X-Men will ever return to the comics, but if they do it won’t be for quite a while. The X-Men as we know them will cease to exist by the end of Axis. Whatever this means, the end result is that the X-Men are finished. For the second time in 3 years the Avengers office will be hijacking what’s going on in the X-Books to further their own stories, and once again Cyclops, as the face of the X-Men, will be portrayed as a villain. They’re having him go full Magneto and he will die at the end of the event in shame. Bendis is NOT happy about having his stories hijacked by the higher ups, but he’s going to be documenting Cyclops decent into insanity in the post ”Will” issues of Uncanny so his characterization in Axis fits. Once Cyclops dies and with Wolverine also dead the X-Men will be reunited under Havok’s leadership for a few short weeks in real time until the reboot, where all X-Books will be cancelled. The idea is, with Cyclops dead and buried, Marvel no longer have to worry about their ”mutant problem”. I can also confirm that the Scarlet Witch is the ”hero” of Axis. I know it sounds too crazy to be true, but i assure you it all is. There are clues for those who know what to look for ”out there” already. I will update this thread as myself am updated.
Was this the same guy? [UPDATE – No.]
The post was treated with a mixture of scepticism and resignation. So I did what I could do. I asked Marvel. Whose execs told me it was nonsense. And not in a “we’ll be publishing X-Men today and in a year but won’t comment on the interim.” And I talked to some Marvel creators. Who also told me it was nonsense.
But it’s a popular story, running to over 400 posts on CBR and starting to infect other sites. So I thought I might at least try an antibiotic.
Because even though I have been told by Marvel insiders that Ike Perlmutter wants the Fantastic Four comic put on hiatus, not even he would demand the same of the X-Men.
Not yet.
UPDATE: Intriguingly, further research amongst Marvel folks does point to one thing however, Havok turning villain thing IS true… but is anything else?
About Rich Johnston Chief writer and founder of Bleeding Cool. Father of two. Comic book clairvoyant. Political cartoonist.
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I am not just a ‘Netflix and chill’ kind of girl. Not the ‘Hey babe, come over now that it’s 3AM and I’m bored and lonely.’ Not the ‘close the door and make-out with me during this entire movie.’ Not the ‘let’s sit and watch thirty-five back-to-back episodes of Orange is the New Black and share this box of pizza’ type. No.
I am the kind of girl that wants you to take me on a crazy adventure…to the backyard. Push me on the tree swing and tell me about your life, your hometown, your high school best friend. Let’s take a walk around the block. Let’s skip rocks on the pond. Let’s get in your car and go to a playground, take turns sliding down the slides. Let’s just play music and drive.
Entertain my mind. Tell me something that makes you happy, like when you hit that two-run triple that won the state championship or when you taught your little brother how to fish. Let’s build a campfire. Let’s play cards, write a bucket list, compare the size of our big toes.
Take me somewhere. On a vacation. A trip to South Beach, a flight to Miami for Ultra Music Festival, a ticket to the Minnesota State Fair. Spoil me. But not always. I’m not a needy girl.
Take me to the little hole-in-the-wall Chinese restaurant on 53rd and James. To the drive in movie theatre thirty miles out of town. I want adventures with you. I want memories. I want us to look back through albums of pictures, me on your lap, your one hand on my hip and the other pointing to the photograph of us on the ledge of the Grand Canyon, my smile stretched across my face like a little kid’s.
I don’t want your money. I really just want your time. I don’t mind cuddling on the couch for a movie. And I don’t mind pizza, especially when it’s pepperoni, sausage, and onion, but I don’t want the same routine. I don’t want the TV over the sound of your voice. I don’t want to have this meaningless connection with you, an embrace that means nothing. A night together with no promise of a future.
Some days I am content just lying next to you. Not saying anything. Just feeling your heartbeat and mine, letting my mind wander to future dates, future memories, future adventures. I don’t always want something crazy. Some nights I just want to be around you and friends, laughing and throwing back beers.
I’m not the kind of girl you can call when you’re lonely. The girl you know you can text and she’ll always pick up. The girl that you can hold until you fall asleep then do the same thing tomorrow. The girl who will just sit and watch shows with you, day after day, night after night. The girl you want to kiss, but not keep.
No, I’m not just a ‘Netflix and chill’ type of girl. I want to hear about the little things that make you, you. Your biggest regret, how dandelions make your nose itchy, that your favorite season is fall, or the time you broke your toe riding your best friend’s bicycle in fuzzy slippers.
I want you to challenge me. Change my view on politics, on religion. Teach me how to fix a flat tire, how to say ‘hello’ in six different languages, how to dribble a soccer ball.
I don’t want to be bored by you. I don’t to be just a hookup to you. I want to spend my life making adventures with you. Carving our initials into tree bark and mountain sides, buying fifty-cent post cards from every gas station in the U.S. and mailing them to ourselves, trying beer in every country, collecting sand from each beach we’ve walked on.
I want to go to bed every night exhausted. Wake up every morning renewed. I want to chase dreams with you. I want to be the reason you feel young, the reason you love life. I want to be more than just the girl you’ve seen every television episode with, or the girl you invite over when it’s night and you’re lonely.
Don’t get me wrong. I will watch movies with you, a bucket of caramel corn between us, my head snuggled against your chest, our legs intertwined. I will build forts in the living room, dress in my comfiest baggy clothes, have marathons of Breaking Bad and consume copious amounts of junk food. I will kiss you. I will talk to you until we’re both so tired we fall asleep mid-sentence. These things will make me happy, too.
But not as exciting as living our lives. Not the same as sharing memories and moments as good—even better—than what’s on the television screen. Better than a one-night stand, so meaningless, so empty.
I don’t want temporary, I want something that stays.
Marisa Donnelly is a poet and author of the book, Somewhere on a Highway, available here. |
Image copyright Tim Peake
A copy of one of the world's oldest maps has made it into space with British astronaut, Major Tim Peake.
The 700-year-old circular map shows a Medieval Christian view of the world, placing Jerusalem at the centre.
Peake tweeted a photo holding a copy of it, saying: "A copy of one of the oldest maps in Britain, now exploring the newest frontier here in space."
Hereford Cathedral, where the map is kept, said it was notified earlier this week that it may appear soon.
Spokesman Glyn Morgan said the cathedral team had been in discussion with the astronaut since 2014.
More updates on this story and Hereford and Worcester.
Image copyright Esa Image caption Tim Peake has been tweeting and giving press conference from the space station
"It's not an original - we haven't been shipping that up to the international space centre. But we let Tim have that some time ago as part of his cargo."
The map, which has been dated to about 1300AD and is made of calfskin, is kept on display at the cathedral.
It was added to the Unesco Memory of the World International Register in 2007.
Three astronauts, including Peake, took off from Baikonur, Kazakhstan, on 15 December for the space station where they will spend the next six months.
Among other possessions Peake has with him is a Stoke City FC flag, after lifelong Potters fan Andrew Rushton persuaded him to pack it.
Image caption Peake packed a Stoke City shift after a five-month campaign to "get Stoke in space"
The Mappa Mundi
Mappa Mundi means "world map" in Latin
Hereford's map shows Paradise, roughly where Japan would be, and the Garden of Eden |
(CNN) — The family of Michael Brown released a statement following St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney Robert McCulloch’s announcement that Ferguson police Officer Darren Wilson will not be charged in the teen’s death.
The statement reads:
We are profoundly disappointed that the killer of our child will not face the consequence of his actions. While we understand that many others share our pain, we ask that you channel your frustration in ways that will make a positive change. We need to work together to fix the system that allowed this to happen. Join with us in our campaign to ensure that every police officer working the streets in this country wears a body camera. We respectfully ask that you please keep your protests peaceful. Answering violence with violence is not the appropriate reaction. Let’s not just make noise, let’s make a difference.
** Follow the latest from our sister station KTVI **
After the grand jury’s decision, the family of Michael Brown asked for a four-and-a-half minute period of silence.
Supporters of Michael Brown’s family lined the streets of Ferguson Monday night in protest.
[van id=”crime/2014/11/25/ctn-cuomo-lemon-police-ferguson-gas-canisters.cnn”]
The violence that has broken out in Ferguson following the grand jury’s decision to not indict Officer Darren Wilson is not what the Brown family wanted, family attorney Benjamin Crump told CNN. “They wish that people will not be violent” but be peaceful and constructive, he said.
Click here for continuing coverage on this story. |
Welcome to Issue 22!
If you’ve been following us, you might notice certain continuities from issue to issue. Eleven Eleven is deeply invested in showcasing the literary and artistic culture of the Bay Area. In this issue, we present new translations of poems carved into the walls of Angel Island Immigration station by Chinese immigrants, portraits of Black Panthers by Duane Deterville, and poems and stories from contemporary bay area writers such as Jennifer Lewis, Anne Lesley Selcer, Lyndsey Ellis and James Cagney, among others.
We also lean internationally. Once again, we feature a selection of new translations of Burmese writing by Zaw Htein, Nge Nge, Pandora and Shin Dewi (all translated by Kenneth Wong). We’re the only journal outside of Myanmar that regularly publishes Burmese literature. This issue also includes translations of work by Jean Cocteau, Shakir Noori, Rossana Campo, Carolin Callies, Noa Sivan, Vladimir Gandelsman and Mikhail Eremin.
We love the strange and the surreal. Along with a new story by Ben Loory, there’s a sampler of prints and comic strips by early 20th century cartoonist Herbert Crowley, an excerpt from Camilla Grudova’s forthcoming short story collection, The Doll’s Alphabet, and prose by Kelly Magee and the Belgian fantasist Paul Willems (translated by Edward Gauvin).
Our cover, Ash, is the work of Ravi Zupa, a Denver, Colorado-based artist. The piece is from his latest show, Violence on Our Behalf, which concluded its run at the Matthew Namour Gallery in Montreal on December 11, 2016.
Please enjoy Issue 22, and don't forget to follow us on social media!
The Eleven Eleven Staff |
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