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An American inventor based in the UK has won an international design competition. Michael Chen, 28, won a £6,000 prize for his Reactiv cycle jacket, which changes colour as the cyclist brakes. The inspiration for the jacket came from wanting to feel safer when cycling the streets of London. Chen said: "I cycled round London in the dark wearing my first prototype. It was a £10 waterproof jacket with LEDs stuck on by gaffer tape." He continued: "For the first time, I noticed that cars passed me more slowly, gave me more room, and that the drivers and passengers were even making eye contact." How it works The jacket uses an accelerometer to sense movement, changing the colour of LEDs on the back from green when accelerating, then to red when braking. A tilt switch in the jacket also makes LEDs in the arm flash amber when the wearer lifts their arm to indicate a turn. There were entries from 14 countries in the James Dyson international design awards in New York. They included a tangle-proof sailing rope, underwear which can correct posture and a toilet which analyses waste. Michael Chen will get a cash prize of £5,000 with the other £1,000 going to his former university in London.
GeneratePress was one of the first themes to embrace Elementor and recommend it to its users, just days after we launched, so I personally love it and appreciate it. After we released the review of Bluchic themes last week, we got a lot of requests to make the next review on GeneratePress. That’s not why we have created this tutorial, though. GeneratePress is the first choice for a free and well crafted WordPress theme. GeneratePress and Elementor are the perfect pair if you’re looking for a fast & intuitive combination of page builder + WordPress theme. In this tutorial, we look into how to create a premium looking homepage, and make it perfect responsive using Elementor’s Mobile Editing toolset. We will also customize another page design, so it fits GeneratePress’s color palette.
Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Key moments from Viktor Yanukovych's news conference Viktor Yanukovych has vowed to fight for Ukraine, in his first public appearance since being ousted as president last week. Speaking in Russia, he said he was "not overthrown" but was compelled to leave Ukraine after threats to his life. In the latest flare-up, Ukraine accused Russian troops of seizing two airports in Crimea - charges denied by Moscow. Russian President Vladimir Putin has called for a rapid return to normality in Ukraine. Mr Putin spoke to Western leaders to emphasise "the extreme importance of not allowing a further escalation of violence", the Kremlin said. However, Ukraine's foreign ministry has sent a protest note to Moscow citing a violation of airspace and provisions of the treaty regulating the Russian presence in Crimea. The note does not give details, but follows unconfirmed reports of Russian planes landing at Simferopol - allegedly with hundreds of Russian troops on board. Analysis The picture being presented from Moscow is that events in Crimea are spontaneous - the natural response of local Russian speakers who felt threatened by the new Kiev government. How far the Kremlin is pulling the strings behind the scenes is hard to know. Certainly it is not being admitted openly. But there are signs the Russian government is hardening its stance. The question for President Putin is how far he can push it without risking a full scale confrontation with the West. Maybe he thinks he can have it both ways - encourage more Crimean autonomy but stop short of secession; criticise the new Kiev government but avoid a full break in relations; and try to unnerve Ukraine's young government by heavy-handed manoeuvres on the border without actually invading. But it is a dangerous game. If tensions escalate further, a full scale crisis between East and West may be impossible to avoid. Analysis: Russian shadow boxing In other developments: Swiss and Austrian authorities block the assets of Viktor Yanukovych and his associates, and launch a corruption probe Russian MPs propose new laws that would make it easier for Russia to incorporate parts of Ukraine Amid fears of hyperinflation, Ukraine's central bank has put a 15,000 hryvnia (1,000 euro; £820) limit on daily cash withdrawals The UN Security Council is set to hold private discussions on the crisis later on Friday 'Bandit coup' "I intend to continue to struggle for the future of Ukraine, against terror and fear," Mr Yanukovych told the news conference in the southern Russian city of Rostov-on-Don. "What's going on now is lawlessness, lack of authority, and terror. Decisions in parliament were taken under duress." He apologised to the Ukrainian people for not having "enough strength to keep stability" and described his usurpers as "young, neo-fascists". He insisted he did not "flee anywhere", explaining that his car was shot at as he left Kiev and he was forced to move around Ukraine amid fears for the safety of himself and his family. He said he arrived in Russia "thanks to a patriotically-minded young officer" and was given refuge in Rostov by an old friend. Speaking in Russian, Mr Yanukovych said he would return to Ukraine "as soon as there are guarantees for my security and that of my family". But he ruled out taking part in elections planned for 25 May, describing them as "illegal". Later Ukrainian authorities said they had started moves to have him extradited to Kiev where he is wanted on charges of mass murder. Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Christian Fraser says barriers and armed men are blocking Sevastopol airport And he said the only way out of the crisis is to implement an EU-backed compromise agreement he signed with opposition leaders last week before he was deposed. The current turmoil in Crimea was "an absolutely natural reaction to the bandit coup that occurred in Kiev", he said, adding that he was surprised by the restraint shown by Russian President Vladimir Putin so far. But he stressed that "military action in this situation is unacceptable" and said he wanted Crimea to remain part of Ukraine. 'Armed invasion' Armed men took over Sevastopol and Simferopol airports in the early hours of Friday. Acting national security chief Andriy Parubiy said the airports were back in the control of the Ukrainian authorities, but the men were now manning checkpoints on the surrounding roads. Image copyright Reuters Image caption Armed men carrying Russian navy flags arrived at Simferopol airport in several trucks Image copyright Getty Images Image caption They have declined to say who they are, and are wearing no identifying insignia Image copyright AFP Image caption Men whom Ukraine says are Russian naval troops have also blocked roads to Sevastopol airport Image copyright AFP Image caption Meanwhile people are still reeling from the violence in Kiev, which led to the ousting of Mr Yanukovych. Witnesses also reported seeing Russian army trucks and helicopters in and around the regional capital Simferopol and Sevastopol, where Russia's Black Sea Fleet is based. The move on the airports prompted Ukrainian Interior Minister Arsen Avakov to accuse Russia of carrying out an "armed invasion" of Crimea. Crimea's airports Simferopol is the main international terminal, serving the regional capital Sevastopol, home to Russia's Black Sea Fleet, has a Soviet-era military airport (Belbek) which was also used for civilian flights until some years ago. Ukrainian air force jets are stationed there The Russian Black Sea Fleet has aircraft stationed at other air bases in Crimea (Gvardeyskaya and Kacha) In pictures: Crimea tension Russia denied any involvement with the takeover at the airport, but confirmed its armoured vehicles had been on the move around Crimea for "security" reasons. On Thursday, a group of unidentified armed men entered Crimea's parliament building by force, and hoisted a Russian flag on the roof. They were still in the building when the Crimean parliament later announced it would hold a referendum on expanding the region's autonomy from Ukraine on 25 May. Crimea is becoming the lynchpin of a struggle between Ukraine's new leaders and those loyal to Russia, the BBC's diplomatic correspondent Bridget Kendall says. The majority of people in Crimea are ethnic Russians, but ethnic Ukrainians loyal to Kiev and Muslim Tatars - whose animosity towards Russia stretches back to Stalin's deportations during World War Two - have formed an alliance to oppose any move back towards Moscow.
AREZZO, Italy (AFP) — Having nabbed two stage victories and worn the race leader’s pink jersey, German sprint star Marcel Kittel quit the Giro d’Italia following Saturday’s eighth stage. The 28-year-old won on back-to-back days in the Netherlands, where the race started just over a week ago. “I’m sad to leave the Giro. I really like the atmosphere I have found here in Italy and I love the support of the Italian fans, but now I feel like I need to recover after a long first part of the season,” he said in a statement released by his Etixx – Quick-Step team. “This year I kicked-off my campaign very early in order to come back after a very difficult 2015 and the season will be even longer than usual for me because of the worlds in Qatar. “It’s not every year that the sprinters get such an opportunity. “Considering from where I came it’s very important for me to pay attention to my fitness level. The Giro has been a tough and demanding race so far, even in the stages bookmarked for the sprinters. Now I feel that I need to rest before the future goals of the season.” Kittel has won more races than anyone else this season following a dismal injury and illness-ridden 2015. He won the second and third stages of the Giro in Nijmegen and Arnhem in only his second participation in the race. He also won two stages in 2014. He wore the race leader’s pink jersey for a day after his second stage win this year.
Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Professor Mark Post: "The basic problem with current meat production is that it's inefficient" Mark Post has been given €300,000 to make a hamburger, in one year. Easy money, you might think, but try doing that without using meat that has come from an animal. Professor Post is one of the few people on the planet who can. As head of the department of vascular physiology at Maastricht University in the Netherlands, he is in the vanguard of a new wave of research to create a way of producing meat that cuts out the need for animal husbandry altogether. Instead of getting meat from animals raised in pastures, he wants to grow steaks in lab conditions, directly from muscle stem cells. If successful, the technology will transform the way we produce food. "We want to turn meat production from a farming process to a factory process," he explained. Prof Post is not the first to dream this dream. In the mid 20th Century, Dutchman Willem van Eelen - back then a budding medical student - dreamt of creating meat without killing animals, by using stem cells. A stem cell is a special type of cell capable of replicating itself many many times and differentiating into specialised cell types, such as muscle cells. Dr van Eelen pursued his dream for decades, but made little progress. Then in 1999 he was granted a patent on the idea and slowly the world started to take notice. In 2002, NASA took a passing interest in the idea and funded Morris Benjaminson at Touro College, New York, to investigate making meat from muscle cells as a way to feed astronauts on deep space journeys. Dr Benjaminson removed a sample of cells from the muscle of a goldfish and managed to grow it outside the fish's body. The fillet was marinated in garlic, lemon, pepper and olive oil and deep-fried. A panel of testers inspected the fillet and said it smelt and looked just like the real thing, but they weren't allowed to eat it because of US laws prohibiting consumption of experimental products. Unfortunately, NASA decided there were easier and cheaper ways to feed astronauts, and stopped funding Dr Benjaminson. In 2005 Dr van Eelen finally convinced the Dutch government to support research into test tube meat to the tune of €2 million. A series of projects were set up. One explored how embryonic stem cells could be coaxed to become muscle cells, a second study investigated how muscle might be made to grow larger, and a third investigated what sort of growth medium would be optimal for creating steaks in the lab. That money recently ran out and the projects were scaled down. Then, earlier this year, an anonymous philanthropist got in touch with Prof Post, who for a while worked with Dr van Eelen's colleagues, and offered to pay him to make a hamburger out of Petri-dish pork. "It is likely the most expensive hamburger that we will ever see on this planet," said Prof Post. Cost of farming Why go to all that trouble? Take a look at the carbon footprint of meat production, and the justification is clear: livestock farming accounts for around 18% of all man-made greenhouse gas emissions - greater than emissions due to transport. Image caption Breeding animals for meat is considered inefficient and damaging to the environment The UN forecasts that world demand for meat will double by 2050, making that problem much worse. On top of this, around 80 per cent of all farmland is devoted to meat production, and cattle consume around 10 per cent of the world's fresh water supplies. Farming for meat is a very costly process. Then there is the animal welfare argument. Prof Post thinks that, deep down, most people feel the way we farm meat these days is less than satisfactory: "I think everybody knows subconsciously that the way we produce meat is not sustainable and isn't friendly to animals." Echoing this sentiment, the animal rights organisation People for the Ethical Treatment of Animal (PETA) has announced a $1 million prize for the first company to bring synthetic meat to shops in at least six US states by 2016. Harvest time So how exactly is in vitro meat made? First stem cells have to be harvested from an animal. Researchers have suggested many different approaches, including enticing embryonic stem cells - the most versatile and potent of all stem cells, harvested from embryos - to differentiate into muscle cells. "I think everybody knows subconsciously that the way we produce meat is not sustainable and isn't friendly to animals Prof Mark Post, Maastricht University This approach has the greatest potential, because one embryonic stem cell, correctly controlled, could potentially produce many tonnes of meat. But Prof Post believes that controlling the differentiation of embryonic stem cells is too tricky. While we have figured out how to guide embryonic stem cell development in human, rat, mouse and rhesus monkey cells, controlling the embryonic stem cells from cows and pigs has proved much more difficult. "For some reason, we can't do it and we don't know why," he said. Instead, Prof Post is using cells called myosatellites - a form of muscle stem cell that is normally used by the body to repair damaged muscle. Myosatellite cells can be extracted from a mature animal without killing it and have numerous advantages. Firstly, they are "one way" cells, in the sense that they can only become muscle cells. Secondly, as the muscle cells proliferate they have an innate tendency to organise into muscle fibres. All that Prof Post has to do to form a strip of muscle is provide anchor points for the fibres to grow around, and the muscle forms by itself. "It's a bit like magic," he said. Exercising meat For muscle to develop properly, it has to be exercised regularly. This is why people who are bed-ridden for anything more than a few days start losing muscle bulk. Image caption Meat stem cells replicate themselves and can even be made to exercise Some researchers have experimented with giving the growing muscle tiny electric shocks to stimulate growth. Prof Post explained that this only improves growth by about 10%, and the energy needed would be too expensive to make meat produced in this way commercially viable. Instead, he relies on the innate properties of muscle cells to exercise themselves. The anchor points - which in his current experiments are small pieces of Velcro stuck to the petri dish - provide tension in the muscle strip. Because muscle cells naturally try to contract, the anchor points provide resistance which in turn causes the muscle to put on bulk in an attempt to increase the force of contraction. After a few weeks, the muscle cells grow into strips a couple of millimetres thick and 2-3 centimetres long. At present they cannot grow any thicker because there is no way to get oxygen and nutrients into the the cells in the centre of the strip. If the strip was to get any thicker, those central cells would die out due to lack of oxygen and nutrients. Long term, Prof Post plans to develop an intricate meshwork through which nutrients and oxygen can travel into the centre of the strip, allowing it to grow thicker, raising the possibility of producing a strip of muscle thick enough to be prepared like a steak. "In principle we could use any animal as a source for our meat. We could use pig meat, fish, chicken, game, any animal that has myosatellite cells in its muscles." Now serving For his first burger, Prof Post intends to harvest a number of these thin strips, mince them up with onion and spices, and then get a celebrity chef to cook up the hamburger. "It would be great if someone like Jamie Oliver agreed to cook it for us, and a famous actress ate it." Image caption Prof Post hopes that celebrity chef Jamie Oliver will cook the first burger Prof Post thinks a high profile publicity stunt is needed to change the image of in vitro meat. There's been a mixed reception to the idea so far. He wants to show the public that it is safe and fundamentally no different to eating meat from animals. "Some people think it's the same as genetically modified food, but it's not. We use exactly the same process that happens in nature." He points out that until a couple of decades ago we bought cheese from farm houses, and yet today virtually all cheese is made in factories. "Why should meat be any different?" Killing animals for meat may become a thing of the past, but producing meat in this way will still require some animals. "We will still have farms because we need small donor herds to provide stem cells. So there will be a low level of livestock breeding and keeping. But it will be a tiny fraction of what it is today." Perhaps one of the trickiest hurdles that Prof Post and his colleagues are yet to overcome is the taste of in vitro meat. "We don't really know where the taste of meat comes from," he said. "We assume it comes from fat, but there may be other components, most of them are unknown so it's a bit of a mystery how the conditions we use during the culturing of the meat will affect the taste." The only person known to have tasted in vitro meat was a Russian TV journalist who visited the lab last year. "He just grabbed it out of the dish and stuffed it into his mouth before I could say anything," said Post. The taste? "He said it was chewy and tasteless."
After each round of Premier League fixtures, ESPN FC brings you its Team of the Weekend. Our panel of experts carefully selects 11 star performers, along with a manager. Do you agree or disagree? You can have your say on those picked or overlooked in the comments section at the foot of the article or on Twitter using the hashtag #TOTW. Plus, tune in to Monday's ESPN FC show (5:30 p.m. ET, ESPN2) for further reaction. ESPN FC's Team of the Weekend. Goalkeeper: Shay Given, Stoke City He might be 40 and when Jack Butland regains fitness he probably won't be Stoke's first-choice keeper, but for now Shay Given is enjoying a pleasant renaissance in the latter days of his career. The Potters may have lost 1-0 to Everton, but if it wasn't for the efforts of their Irish keeper, it might have been much worse. Our panel was suitably impressed, with Steve Nicol remarking that he "rolled back the years" and Paul Mariner suggesting that Stoke "would have been buried" were it not for Given's efforts. Right-back: Mason Holgate, Everton At their other end of the scale, Holgate's career is only just starting. When Given made his Premier League debut at the end of 1996, Holgate was just two months old, but this weekend they were on the same pitch and the Everton youngster was mightily impressive. He certainly caught the eye of the third member of our Team of the Weekend panel, Gab Marcotti, who says of the teenager: "Equally adept in a three and a four, showed his worth going forward as well. Still just 19, he's a 'keeper' and not in the sense that he plays in goal." Ronald Koeman already seems to have tightened up the Everton defence, and a big part of that is down to the performances of players like Holgate. Centre-back: Curtis Davies, Hull City Hull's hugely unlikely start to the season continues. Mike Phelan's men came within seconds of claiming a superb draw with Manchester United and a large part of that was their superb defensive showing. Jake Livermore was impressive playing out of position at the back but our panel gives the nod to the man guiding him through this nascent season at the back, Curtis Davies. "For most of the game, Manchester United huff and puff but can't blow down Mike Phelan's house of cards," says Marcotti, "largely because of Davies, a calm port in the Hull thunderstorm." The Hull skipper was a unanimous choice by our panel, with Nicol praising his consistency and Mariner noting that he is excelling in "organising a makeshift defence." Centre-back: John Stones, Manchester City Depending on whom you spoke to, Manchester City signing John Stones would either be the making of the young and hugely talented defender or would simply encourage, and even apologise for, his main weaknesses. He looked rather at home on Sunday though, in their win over West Ham, despite having to go off around the hour mark after catching a nasty blow to the eye. He perhaps got away with a couple of his more risky passes out of defence, but probably wasn't a coincidence that City looked much more nervous after he went off. "Looked the part with and without the ball," says Nicol. Danny Rose has become one of the league's best two-way defenders under Mauricio Pochettino. Left-back: Danny Rose, Tottenham Over the past year or so, Danny Rose has graduated into not just one of the best left-backs available to England but one of the best defenders in the Premier League. He displayed that again this weekend against Liverpool, excelling both in defence and going forwards while also securing a point for Tottenham with a smart finish late on. "Takes the goal well and contains Sadio Mane about as well as Mane can be contained," is Marcotti's assessment as he joins Nicol and Mariner in selecting the Tottenham man. Midfield: Danny Drinkwater, Leicester City Without his mate N'Golo Kante next to him, it's going to be an interesting season for Danny Drinkwater to see if he can perform to anywhere near the standards of the past campaign. He showed glimpses of that this weekend, though, as he orchestrated Leicester's win over Swansea, setting up Jamie Vardy's goal with a perfect pass. These two players know each other's game so well that you wonder if they'd be a success anywhere else: Indeed, their past careers suggest they might not be. "A man in total control," is Nicol's view. It's impossible to disagree. Midfield: Harry Arter, Bournemouth Plenty of people have been impressed with the transfer business done by Bournemouth this summer, but it was one of their pre-existing players who was the star man as they narrowly missed a win against Crystal Palace. Harry Arter probably owed his side one after getting sent off against West Ham, but he performed superbly this weekend, setting up Joshua King's goal with a sweeping pass. "Continues to be the pacesetter in the middle of the park," says Marcotti of the Irish international. Attacking midfield: Eden Hazard, Chelsea "He's back," says Nicol of another unanimous selection for our team, and it does very much look like the Belgian attacker has returned to something like his top form. He showed glimpses of his finest toward the end of last season and while some thought he might not respond well to Antonio Conte's relentless managerial style, it seems to be working so far. "Burnley aren't particularly good," muses Marcotti, "but he still monster-stomps them with an array of quality they simply can't match." Mariner called his first goal "a classic," which seems to sum it up nicely. Eden Hazard was poor last season but has rediscovered his best form with Chelsea so far this season. Attacking midfield: Raheem Sterling, Manchester City Another player who seems to be back. The abuse and criticism that Sterling has received ever since joining Manchester City has been ludicrous and hugely unfair, but it's pointless denying that he struggled last season. However, now under Pep Guardiola, he looks a man reborn and was City's best player as they beat West Ham 3-1 Sunday, scoring twice with neat finishes -- the second in particular was a beautiful example of a measured effort from a tight angle. "He actually looks like a £50m player," says Marcotti. Attacking midfield: Jason Puncheon, Crystal Palace With Yannick Bolasie gone and Wilfried Zaha keen on leaving too, Jason Puncheon might have a lot more on his plate for Crystal Palace this season, but if his performance against Bournemouth is anything to go by, he'll be well up for the challenge. Palace boss Alan Pardew described their second half performance as perhaps the best of his time at Selhurst Park and that was capped by a terrific Scott Dann equaliser, set up by a splendid Puncheon cross. "Up and down all day long," says Marcotti of Puncheon. If he continues like this, the loss of their other two attackers might not be quite so keenly felt. Forward: Alexis Sanchez, Arsenal Most players involved in summer tournaments have returned to the Premier League looking a little sluggish, but Alexis Sanchez, who won the Copa America with Chile, seems to have hit the ground running -- and running rather quickly, too. The Arsenal man scored one and set up another in Arsenal's 3-1 win over Watford on Saturday, buzzing around in that enjoyably relentless way of his. Playing up front does not generally make the most of his talents, but he nonetheless "put in a shift" according to Mariner, while Nicol notes that he "did it all" for the Gunners. Manager: Jose Mourinho, Manchester United Last season at Chelsea suggested that Mourinho's best days are behind him but the way he has started at Manchester United doesn't indicate a manager on a downward career trajectory. Three wins from three games and three very different wins too, as a late, late goal from Marcus Rashford secured the three points against Hull. According to our panel, it was his moves that made the victory, with Mariner saying his "tactical changes made the difference." He looks right at home. Nick Miller is a writer for ESPN FC, covering Premier League and European football. Follow him on Twitter @NickMiller79.
This past week has seen some truly terrible and bizarre events rattle the consciousness of Canadians. Firstly, we witnessed not one, but two attacks — in Montreal and Ottawa. And over the weekend we were lambasted with reports that a CBC radio host was fired for unknown reasons and then he himself spoke to sexual allegations on Facebook. Wow. It seems strange to couple these events together. The ones in Montreal and Ottawa resulted in the death of innocent people while the firing of JianGhomeshi is odd and certainly shocking and alarming, if the allegations of abuse are true. But they are all similar in respect to the conversations, speculation, assumptions, and baseless judgments made. These events have Canadians creating arguments around water coolers, at pubs, and even within the media without evidence and reason. I have the great pleasure of facilitating a learning community comprised of 30 amazing teachers from all over Manitoba. One Saturday a month we gather at the University of Winnipeg in an attempt to enter into a dialogue about teaching, learning, and the notion of global citizenship. This past Saturday, our discussion focused heavily on what we call critical thinking, Socratic reasoning, and ethical thinking. We read a lot, talked a lot, argued a lot, and shared a great deal about our experience as educators. Much of our conversation focused on ideas of self-examination, the search for meaning, argumentation, and our desire for our students to become curious and dig deep. We were influenced by Nussbaum, Appiah, Hardt, West, and the like. Chicken fingers and sound reasoning One of the analogies that seemed to resurface was how and why we think when purchasing something as benign as chicken fingers (work with me here). One of our debates investigated the example of someone purchasing chicken fingers at the U of W's Ridell Hall cafeteria. Someone asked, "can we not simply buy the chicken fingers and eat them? Do we have to look any further than the experience?" As such, do we need to search for meaning through a simple act like purchasing food? Others, however, argued that even with such a small act, as critical thinkers and global citizens, we need to ask where these chicken fingers come from, what land was exploited or stolen to raise the chickens, which workers were exploited, what was the ecological footprint of the food, how were the chickens raised, etc. Once you have all the facts, then you can make a reasoned decision with logic and evidence. The debates I have witnessed related to the attack in Ottawa and with Mr. Ghomeshi have demonstrated a real lack of critical reasoning from all walks of life. Several media outlets, politicians, and members of the public have suggested that the attacks in Ottawa have, as one MP proclaimed, "changed everything." Others have linked the attacks on Parliament to acts of international terrorism when we simply do not have the evidence. Similarly, when the preliminary news of Ghomeshi's firing was revealed, many Canadians jumped on social media and began demonstrating their support for the radio host. Following the Toronto Star comments by the editorial staff, Ghomeshi was judged as a criminal despite the fact that we simply do not have all the facts. Pros and Cons Club Feeling somewhat annoyed and disheartened on Sunday, I received a text from wife urging me to tune into CBC Radio 1. On air was Rewind with Michael Enright. The program was broadcasting episodes of a program entitled the Pros and Cons Club. Rewind with Michael Enright I tuned into a specific episode from 1940 from Winnipeg where young people were debating the pros and cons of exams. I was really excited about the topic, for sure, and I was also overjoyed by the discussion these youths were having. They were trying to create sound arguments with reason. Their peers were attempting to dislodge this logic and create propositions for themselves. Next up was a wonderful episode where adult debaters were discussing whether or not Canadians are too polite. I felt an overwhelming urge to smile and leap across my living room. Here we had Canadians, only a short 70 years ago, having meaningful debates about relevant issues. They were trying to formulate complex arguments in a rigorous environment without the distractions of organized competitive school debates. I dare say that we need to bring such programming back; not only to the radio, but within our schools, pubs, and media outlets. We need a citizenry of critical thinkers if we are to meet the challenges of impending ecological and economic crises. A society comprised of individuals who come to snap judgments has produced these crises. Here's to a new age of reason and a return of the Pros and Cons Club. Matt Henderson is a teacher at St. John's-Ravenscourt School in Winnipeg. You can find him on Twitter: @henderson204
Edit: Added review for Jamaican-brasied Beef to La Isla Fresca, updated photos for China’s Gaoli Beef Slider and Strawberries, and added pictures and a review of China’s Dragon Pearl. We pick up coverage of the 2016 Epcot Flower and Garden and Food and Wine Festival with reviews of the various items available at the Outdoor Kitchens that circle World Showcase. La Isla Fresca We begin at the first booth as you take a left towards the Mexico Pavilion. Up first is La Isla Fresca, which is all-new this year. As in past years, all food items and non-alcoholic beverages count as a snack credit on the Disney Dining Plan. Those with amassed credits can do some real damage here as items cost an average of around $5 each. The only exception is the Spicy Hot Dog at Pineapple Promenade, which costs $7 and is not eligible on the Dining Plan. Here we have one each of the four food items and the $10.25 Frozen Simply Tropical Juice Drink Served with Cruzan (pronounced croosh-in) Mango Rum. First up with the good news. This is the $5.25 Jerk-spice Chicken with Mango Salsa, Chayote and Green Papaya Slaw with Lime-Cilantro Vinaigrette. This is (unfortunately, perhaps) one of the bigger portions for the money at this year’s Festival and the flavor is on point. The chicken has a nice spice to it thanks to the rub, which is heavy on the pepper and creates sort of a crispy exterior that gives way to the juicy chicken. The fresh mango salsa provides not only a burst of color to the dish, but the fruitiness offers a nice contrast to the spice of the chicken coupled with the vinegar in the dressing and acidity of the onions in the slaw underneath. The chayote, which is a variety of gourd or squash, doesn’t have much flavor on its own and instead serves to soak up the best flavors of what’s placed on top of it. Overall, this is some of the best of what the Festival has to offer with many interesting flavors combining into a dish that ends up being more unique than you might expect. Taste: 8/10 Value: 9/10 As always, taste and value are compared to other items at the Festival. The dish is also available with grouper instead of chicken for the same money. The portion on this one is almost laughably disappointing. Now, grouper is three or four times more expensive than chicken on a pound-for-pound basis, so it potentially makes sense that the amount you would receive for the same money would be less, but the fish here amounts to two bites at best. And you don’t get anywhere close to the same amount of anything else, either. With the chicken, you could count 20 or more pieces of mango. With the fish, you’ve got maybe seven. It’s unfortunate because what you do get arguably tastes better than the chicken with the firm, mild fish pairing nicely with the citrus and parsley notes from the lime-cilantro vinaigrette. Maybe…maybe if you have a snack credit to spare you might consider this. But at three bucks a bite, I can’t recommend it. Taste: 9/10 Value: 2/10 The $5.75 Jamaican-braised Beef served with Pigeon Pea Rice and Micro Cilantro is my favorite beef dish of the Festival. One only has to poke the beef once before it falls apart – that’s how tender it is and the flavorful sauce that’s spooned over the top is packed with a variety of spices. Very good and in the grand scheme of things, a decent value. Taste: 9/10 Value: 6/10 Like most of the Outdoor Kitchens that follow, the menu offers two savory items followed by a dessert-y dish, this time in the form of the $3.75 Tres Leches with Guava Purée. This was almost terrific and I assume it will be in the near future. Sometimes on the first day you find some items with iffy execution. Our three milks bread was a little on the soggy side, thanks to the fact that it’s traditionally soaked in three different kinds of milk, though the flavor was excellent. The tropical guava combined nicely with the creamy vanilla frosting topped with toasted coconut over the moist sponge cake underneath. It’s a pretty big portion too. Nobody had any apprehension about going in for a second bite. Taste: 8/10 Value: 8/10 ABV: 4.7%. Value: Very poor. Red Stripe is brewed by Desnoes & Geddes, which was for a time controlled by Guinness, which became Diageo, and is now distributed by Heineken. And least that’s true for the international markets. The U.S. supply is brewed in Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, not unlike Presidente or Kingfisher. The flavor profile is a rather basic, sweet malty cereal with a light body. It’s not terrible by any means, but you’ll find it at most grocery stores in a 12-pack for around $11 and it’s not even on draft here. Very skippable. The Frozen Simply Tropical Juice Drink is available non-alcoholic for $4.25 or with a drop of mango rum on the bottom for a $5 upcharge. I think without any exceptions all of the various cocktails are just the regular non-alcoholic version on top of an often unenthusiastic pour that is more like a shrug than Tom Cruise in Cocktail. Anyway, this is a pretty decent frozen drink made of Simply Tropical, which is pure filtered water, pineapple juice, cane sugar, mango puree, and lemon juice. It has a nice natural sweetness to it and the consistency is even and balanced. Very refreshing. As usual, there’s typically very little alcohol in any of the drinks. Those looking to get their money’s worth should stick to some of the better beers. Jardin de Fiestas Mexico’s Outdoor Kitchen actually moved to the other side of La Cantina, which should help alleviate some of the congestion often found in that corridor. It’s usually a toss up between Mexico and Italy over which booth I’m looking to spend $25 at least. Both are operated by third parties, which often leads to high price points, small portions, and questionable quality as the operators have to kick back a percentage of their revenue to the Mouse. A shrimp taco of some variety has been a staple here for years. This is the Food and Wine Festival version of the same name, here with battered shrimp, pico de gallo, pickled onions, and chipotle mayonnaise. Here we have the $5.75 Tacos de Camarón: Tempura Shrimp served with Hibiscus Flower, Caramelized Onions and Habanero Sauce. The portion size on this is incredibly small – the tortilla is perhaps three inches across and the shrimp are about a third as big as what we’ll see from the similarly priced and far superior Shrimp and Grits at Florida Fresh. The flavor is better than most of Mexico’s previous entries on the shrimp taco front. The sauce has a zesty, peppery spice to it and the caramelized onions in the viscous sauce help bring that out even more. The subtle, berry-sweet flavor of the hibiscus flower is probably overpowered by everything else, but it does provide a nice punch of color on top. Overall, even for the Festival, this is easily $1.25 overpriced. At $4.50 I’d say go ahead and order one. It’s up to you whether you want to ignore that it costs $1.25 more than that. Taste: 8/10 Value: 3/10 Here’s this year’s $5.50 Corn Tortilla Quesadilla served with Roasted Mushrooms and Zucchini Blossom topped with Green Tomatillo Sauce. We saw basically the same item served last year. At the time, I said that entry “might be the worst value at any booth.” This year, I’m willing to go on the record and say it’s absolutely the worst value at any booth. The price is outrageous and insulting for what you receive. This is maybe, maybe three inches long by two inches wide and it’s filled with maybe 12 cents worth of mushroom and zucchini specks. A fair Festival price for this would be $2.50. It’s complete nonsense. Otherwise, there is a very surprising spiciness to it that overwhelms any possible flavors from the vegetables. Whoever is in charge of this booth should be arrested for theft. Taste: 2/10 Value: 0/10 The first time any dish has been awarded a zero in 5+ years. Mexico typically does a nice job with its perennial flan, this time with the $4.20 Flan de Rosas served with Hibiscus Reduction. The custard is rich and creamy and the hibiscus adds a subtle sort of tart, sort of sweet component once the caramelized sugar is broken apart. Very good and not a bad value at all. Taste: 8/10 Value: 7/10 ABV: 3.7%. Value: Poor. Oh man, 3.7% is almost in Schofferhofer-why-am-I-bothering-to-put-forth-the-effort-to-even-swallow-this territory. This is produced by the same brewery that brings us Dos Equis and Sol, among others. Allow me to cut the snobbery for a moment and say that this isn’t a bad light macro with the usual sweet grainy corn flavor, perhaps watered down a bit more than usual with the low alcohol content. It’s certainly a light option for those that don’t want to fill up on the (superior) beer ahead in Germany. On the value front, it’s a little better than the Red Stripe – more expensive in stores and it’s on draft here. $9 buys you the very pink Rosa Margarita filled to the brim with ice and then dispensed from a vat that La Cava would probably like to get their hands on after the Festival concludes. On the mixed drink front, it’s not terrible compared to what you’ll find elsewhere and you can actually taste the (extremely cheap) tequila at the front of each sip before it’s washed away with the cloyingly sweet syrup. Not good, but nothing else is going to be either. $8.75 buys you a glass of “Elderflower Watermelon Sangria,” which I’m 97% sure uses boxed Beso Del Sol White Sangria as a base. Otherwise, the sangria is a refreshing, light, fruity drink that’s tempered only slightly by the earthy citrus of the elderflower liqueur. It’s much easier to consume than the margarita, though the alcohol content is likely less. You can otherwise buy three liters of the sangria in a box at the store for $19. Lotus House Lotus House returns in front of the China Pavilion. Two food items return in addition to the $5.75 Gaoli Beef Bun, which is a cross between the Gaoli Beef Slider and Beijing Roasted Duck from this past year’s Food and Wine Festival. This is basically mildly spicy Mongolian beef inside of a chewy steamed bun topped with a bit of red onion. During Food and Wine coverage, I mentioned that a bun like this would make a lot more sense than the dense poppy seed roll that they used in the fall and apparently somebody agreed. This suffers from a similar fate as Mexico’s taco – it’s not bad by any means, but the serving size is awfully small for the money and doesn’t really present much value. The beef is cheap, chewy, and fatty and the glaze doesn’t taste any better than your neighborhood haunt. $4 would be a far more reasonable price. Taste: 5/10 Value: 3/10 The $4.95 Beijing-style Candied Strawberries are a returning cult favorite. They are extremely sweet with the hardened sugar glaze giving way to the (hopefully) juicy fruit encased inside. Watch your teef on the candy shell – one only needs to stand around for a minute or two before hearing someone yell out an enthusiastic “owwwwwww.” I think there’s still some sugar stuck in my teeth somewhere from last year’s Festival. Value and taste are hard to quantify on this one. You either love them or hate them and you’re literally buying three strawberries and seven cents worth of sugar for five bucks. They are easily shareable. Taste: ?/10 Value: ?/10 Last year, this was listed as “Vegetable Spring Roll,” which is not particularly descriptive. This year, it’s “Vegetable Spring Roll with Orange Dipping Sauce,” which I guess at a minimum identifies the color of the accompanying sauce, even if it doesn’t offer any more details beyond that. $4.50 otherwise buys you two flaky spring rolls that have a nice crunch to them coupled with the crispy vegetables inside. They are not at all greasy, which is nice. Unfortunately, they have almost no flavor whatsoever outside of what’s provided by the dollop of spicy sauce. These are a decent vegetarian option and provide a decent number of bites for the money, but they’re only a slight improvement from the Costco freezer aisle. Taste: 4/10 Value: 5/10 The $6.50 Peach Oolong Tea with popping bubbles is non-alcoholic and while expensive, is incredibly refreshing on hot days. It’s about $2 more than most of the frozen drinks, but the portion is significantly larger and the flavors more unique. Pour quality varies a bit from cast member to cast member, but China often does an admirable job of hooking you up and I would visit this booth over any of the others for their Kung Fu Punch, which is an ice cold, sweet, light mango and orange juice drink topped with Smirnoff and triple sec. You might eyeball the drink window and see what the pours are looking like before committing. It should be just one cast member doing the honors. The $8.50 Dragon Pearl: Beer, Honey, Cream and Tapioca Pearls is easily the most interesting cocktail offered at this year’s Festival. It has never occurred to me to pour honey and cream into my beer before. The taste profile on this one, especially upon the first sip, is very strange and I heard several people around me make that same comment. After the initial shock, I think the flavor starts to grow on you, though the bitterness of the beer never really fully meshes with the sweet flavors of the honey/cream. You sort of get the thinner taste of the beer up front before it’s washed away by the thicker cream and honey. People were typically nursing these as they walked around World Showcase. It’s not a quick drink at all, particularly with the heaviness of the cream. Unfortunately, the tapioca pearls are not pictured here because I didn’t receive any in my drink. I think the cast member was confused because the woman behind me didn’t want any in hers. Occasionally the cast members you encounter are particularly authentic and in China’s case, sometimes difficult to understand. I was a little disappointed as trying to suck up all the little balls is 90% of the fun. Don’t let them hand you one without. I think it’s worth trying, though it’s hard to say just how unhealthy it is. You probably want to start with one and pick up a second if it wows you. At least somebody in your group probably isn’t going to like it. The $8.50 Honey Mango Wine Cooler is on the right and is a much less boozy, sweeter, lighter version of the Kung Fu Punch. It has a natural sweetness to it from the honey and is altogether very pleasing to the palate, though it’s quite expensive for what you get. Hard to say what the alcohol content is, but you’d think it would be in the very low single digits. I thought it would be served from a bottle or something, but it comes out of a beverage dispenser like the Punch. $5 is a pretty hefty price to pay for about an ounce and a half of unnamed plum wine, which typically come in around 18% ABV and is available all year at the Joy of Tea stand. The flavor is otherwise sweet with a lot of alcohol at the front of each sip. ABV: 4.8%. Value: Not great Bob. Tsingtao is a fairly ubiquitous American adjunct lager, similar to Corona Extra or Budweiser. Some may deem it thin and watery, while others will respect its light mouthfeel and slight sweetness. I fall on the thin/watery side, but it is refreshing in the (potential) spring heat. It’s always available throughout the Pavilion. Maybe Disney’s entry into Shanghai will bring some more interesting options from the likes of Boxing Cat or Great Leap. Not that their foray in Hong Kong has produced much fruit on that front. Bauernmarkt Bauernmarkt, a name I spell correctly approximately zero percent of the time, has moved across from the model train set on the Italy side of the Germany Pavilion. The German entry into the Festival would ordinarily be situated here to the left of where Snow White ordinarily meets, but some sort of permanent-looking installation is going in. Perhaps a permanent home for Snow White. The Outdoor Kitchen returns after a hiatus that lasted a couple of years – it was one of the originals from 2013 before glowing away in 2014 and 2k15. $4.50 buys you the Chicken Fricassee with Green Asparagus and Peas served with Uncle Ben’s Rice Pilaf. Because nothing says Oma’s cooking from the motherland like Uncle Ben’s microwavable rice cups. I always say. Anyway, the portion size is pretty decent for the money, relatively speaking. You’ve got several hearty pieces of chicken hiding underneath the peas, asparagus, and onion with a solid base of rice. Unfortunately, I thought the chicken was grossly under-seasoned and the sauce only offered a bland creaminess on top of what are likely frozen vegetables. Not great, but more filling for the money than most of what we’ve seen so far. Taste: 4/10 Value: 5/10 This is the $5 Currywurst with Paprika Chips: Roasted Bratwurst with Curry Ketchup and Paprika-spiced Chips. It’s a heaping portion for the money with something like ten slices of sausage and a generous handful of paprika chips. Longtime readers may remember that for a short time back in 2013, Sommerfest, the quick service in Germany, was serving a very similar tray of Currywurst as pictured above for $9. The Flower and Garden version is nearly identical in size and vastly improved on flavor. The pork sausage is tender with a little snap in each bite from the casing. On the downside, the cast member in charge of ketchup poured way too much on the dish, covering the currywurst and causing the paprika chips, which probably shouldn’t really come into contact with the ketchup at all, to be extremely soggy. So if you do order this, you may want to refuse the first one they offer you and ask for the ketchup to be more on the side of the sausage. Otherwise, as it stands, this is probably the best food value at the Festival. You also get that cute little green Epcot swizzle stick poked into one of the pieces. Taste: 7/10 Value: 10/10 The $3.75 “Arme Ritter” – Egg Battered Toast with Cherry Compote and Powdered Sugar is probably on the receiving end of prettiest looking, most vibrant dish. Literally translating to “poor knights” and something we would both probably call “French toast,” the arme ritter consists of a couple bites of fluffy bread that soaks up the generous, heaping portion of mostly tart cherries that are then sweetened up with the powdered sugar. I thought the bread itself could have used some cinnamon or nutmeg or something to make it taste a little more lively. Almost all of the flavor here is coming from the cherries. Still, this is a relatively “light” dessert and is fabulous after enjoying the other more savory dishes here. Good for the money and hopefully you’ll do better on the bread itself. Taste: 6/10 Value: 7/10 Since I’m already 3,000 words into this review, I’ll spare you the retread of the gory details of beers I’ve reviewd in the past and are otherwise available throughout the Germany Pavilion. The two exceptions are the Paulaner, a very good hefeweizen that I reviewed very favorably also on draft at Jock Lindsey’s, and the Shwarzbier. I don’t personally have any use for the 2.5% Schofferhofer, a beer that’s available all over WDW. But if you “don’t like beer,” it might be a good choice as it’s more of a grapefruit shandy not unlike a Leinenkugel shandy. The Dunkel here is only okay, though it’s a very fun word to say. The beer pictured above is one that I hadn’t tried before and as far as I know, hasn’t appeared on property yet. It’s the Köstritzer Schwarzbier, which is an excellent 4.8% ABV black lager served on draft. It’s very smooth with the usual coffee, caramel, and roasty malts present. It’s lighter and crisper than a lot of similarly tasting beers that would fall closer to the porter or stout varieties. It’s definitely the most interesting of the bunch. A 6-pack at Total Wine would set you back $11, so it’s a better value proposition than the other beers available too. I should be back on Monday with the next four booths – Primavera Kitchen, Smokehouse, Hanami, and Taste of Marrakesh. We should have a moment to pop into Animal Kingdom in the meantime.
0 SHARES Facebook Twitter Google Whatsapp Pinterest Print Mail Flipboard What better way for Republicans to honor our country’s independence than to berate some of its most vulnerable people? In the news this past week was a story out of Murrieta, California. Murrieta is a conservative town in Riverside County, roughly halfway between Los Angeles and San Diego. Buses from Texas carrying 140 undocumented children and their families were stopped on their way into the city by nearly 300 protesters blocking the road, causing the buses to turn around and be rerouted to a detention facility in San Diego. The children were being sent to the Murrieta detention facility due to overcrowding in Texas, which has recently experienced a surge in child migrants from Central America, especially from the nations of El Salvador and Honduras. This was not a spontaneous protest. It was not only inspired but was also encouraged by Republican mayor Alan Long who was concerned that Murrieta was one of the California towns designated to receive the undocumented children. Due to the overcrowding in Texas, California towns such as Murrieta and El Centro were scheduled to receive these children over the coming weeks where they would be processed before being placed under the supervision of ICE agents and would be required to report back to them within 15 days of their release. Long, in a press conference said, “Murrieta expects our government to enforce our laws, including the deportation of illegal immigrants caught crossing our borders, not disperse them into our local communities.” His call to action was joined by people from all over the region and was met by counter-protesters. Tensions were high, and there was even a reported incident of one man spitting on the face of another who opposed him. This is just the latest incident in a series of ongoing questions over immigration reform at the federal level. With President Barack Obama now intent to use executive action to act due to Republican intransigence and John Boehner now threatening a lawsuit against the President, emotions are running high on both sides of the aisle on a run-up to this November’s midterm elections. Republicans have continued their age-old lies regarding undocumented immigrants in an effort to dehumanize them and fire up their xenophobic base. Despite the fact that Latinos makeup a powerful up-and-coming voting bloc, the Republican Party has refused to accept them as a viable and important part of a multi-ethnic America in the 21st century. The problem for Republicans is that they can throw hissy fit after hissy fit all they want, but the fact is that the majority of Americans support comprehensive immigration reform and don’t see undocumented immigrants as a massive drain on our economy. Heck, they don’t even see the ‘drug mules’ with “calves the sizes of cantaloupes” as Iowa Republican Congressman Steve King would have us believe. As bad as Mitt Romney’s 2012 presidential run was, his self-deportation stance might very well have been his second biggest blunder of the entire campaign, after his infamous 47% recording. Even RNC chairman Reince Priebus acknowledged that it was a “horrific” comment to make, and it very well might have been the turning point for Romney to be even somewhat competitive for the Latino vote in this country. In addition to the self-deportation fiasco, Republicans still can’t seem to fathom American support for immigration reform, more specifically, the treatment of the DREAMers. The DREAMers are the group of children who were brought here at a young age and have grown up doing everything a “typical American” would do. The vast majority of them know nothing of their home countries and there even exists a percentage of them who have no idea that they are undocumented. The DREAM Act has been a piece of legislation that has been floated since 2001 which would give these undocumented students a chance to eventually become citizens as long as they could meet the following criteria: Having entered the US before age 16, to have lived in the US for at least five consecutive years, for males to have registered with the Selective Service, to have graduated from high school or attained a GED, and to be of good moral character. The bill was even passed by Congress in 2010 with a 216-198 vote. However, Senate Republicans refused to get on board the bill and without any Senate Republican support the bill was unable to attain the 60 votes needed to head to the president’s desk to get signed into law. As Republicans to continue to attack our nation’s immigrants, especially our child immigrants, they have failed to realize that their hard-line anti-immigration stance is not appealing to the average independent voter. The average independent voter recognizes that immigrants have played a valuable part in our nation’s history and that there needs to be something done for the eleven million undocumented immigrants already living here, especially the children. Openly advocating for policies like self-deportation or protesting against young children is not doing the Republican Party any favors and has even caused people like Bill O’Reilly to call out pundits like Laura Ingraham for having a “draconian” view on the topic. What Ingraham and today’s Republican Party don’t realize is that we are a nation of immigrants, we always have been, and we will continue to be. As the demographics continue to change and America continues to get less and less White, Republicans will have to realize that their anti-immigration stance is an electoral loser at the polls. If they don’t realize this, the White House will stay blue for generations to come.
A History Of Violence With A History Of Violence, Tom Breihan picks the most important action movie of every year, starting with the genre’s birth and moving right up to whatever Vin Diesel’s doing this very minute. The Fast And The Furious (2001) Wheels within wheels within wheels: The surprise hit of summer 2001 was The Fast And The Furious, a goofy low-stakes B-movie with a not-huge budget and no stars. The movie told the story of a team of mysterious truck hijackers coming from L.A.’s street-racing community and about the undercover cop tasked with taking them down. It was inspired by a Vibe article about the New York street-racing scene, and its title came from a 1955 Roger Corman B-movie. (Universal licensed the title from Corman, paying him in discarded stock footage.) But the real source material for The Fast And The Furious was obvious to anyone who’d been watching action movies for long enough. Advertisement The Fast And The Furious was practically a beat-for-beat remake of Point Break, Kathryn Bigelow’s near-perfect 1991 surfing-bank-robber movie. The similarities went right down to the dazed, Keanu-esque look in perma-chill undercover cop Paul Walker’s dreamy, ice-blue eyes. But on that seemingly flimsy foundation, a whole empire was built. The Fast And The Furious would spawn its own immediate rip-offs, movies like Torque and Biker Boyz, as well as its own string of ever-bigger, ever-more-ridiculous sequels. Seven movies later, the ongoing Fast And The Furious saga is now the most consistent, lovable, and bankable summer blockbuster franchise that we’ve got going right now (even if the movies don’t always open in the summer). And when the inevitable Point Break remake came along in 2015, the new movie came out as a rip-off of the Fast And The Furious series. The biter had become the bitten. Everything about The Fast And The Furious was unlikely. Vin Diesel had only just come off of his first action-star role, in the low-budget Aliens bite Pitch Black, and while he certainly had a forbidding charisma, there was no guarantee that he would be anything. Paul Walker, like Point Break-era Keanu Reeves, had only just stopped playing high schoolers, and he seemed hopelessly bland and wooden except in this one role, where he found a weird way to turn that blandness and woodenness into zen thrill-seeker cool. Director Rob Cohen was the veteran schlockmeister who’d made Dragonheart and Daylight and The Skulls and who would go on to make Stealth and Alex Cross and The Boy Next Door; nothing in his filmography, before or since, suggests that he could pull off a scene as cool and visceral as the climactic Fast truck heist. But he pulled it off. They all pulled it off. But if the movie’s success was unlikely in 2001, its staying power is downright astonishing. So much of the movie seems absolutely trapped in its moment, from the goofy CGI shot where the camera disappears into the car’s engine to the sight of Ja Rule, hair in cornrows, yelling about ménages. The soundtrack is full of replacement-level rap and rap-metal, the sort of stuff that shows up in straight-to-DVD movies because it’s cheap to license, but every once in a while, you’ll hear a few seconds of the déjà-vu-inducing likes of Limp Bizkit’s “Rollin’” or Ludacris’ “Area Codes.” The squelching, hammering score comes from BT, the dance DJ who produced ’N Sync’s “Pop” and then pretty much disappeared from the face of the Earth. Also, apparently nobody thought it would be a bad idea to use the name Race Wars for the big street-racer party in the desert. None of this was built to last. And the characters themselves had some evolving to do. These days, the organic diversity of Dom Toretto’s crew is a huge part of what’s given the series iconic status. But though the characters all live in the diverse L.A. street-racing circuit, alongside Asian and Latino gangs, the original crew was just Diesel, Walker, Michelle Rodriguez, and three generic white guys who had made tragic decisions about tattoos, facial hair, and chipped nail polish. (Thanks to real death, character death, the shifting sands of time, and the fact that nobody ever cared about walking goatee Leon, Diesel and Rodriguez are now the only original members who are still in the band.) And while Diesel does finally peel off in his father’s old muscle car at the end of the movie, he and his team spend most of the film charging around in souped-up imports with glowing neon lights underneath; the Dom Toretto of today would rather race in a falling-apart Cuban relic. Advertisement These days, we’re used to seeing Dom Toretto as a superhero, as the guy who jumps the experimental sports-car prototype from one Abu Dhabi tower to the next. But the Dom Toretto of that first movie was a bit of a fuckup. He made bad decisions, trusted the wrong people, failed to protect the most fragile member of his crew, and nearly killed himself when he smashed his father’s car to smithereens after driving it for, like, five minutes. He spent the whole movie planning to steal DVD players from a truck, and he ultimately couldn’t even pull that off; in the climactic scene, the faceless trucker got away unscathed. Still, Diesel’s growly, glowering presence is what makes the movie and what set the stage for the sequels (even if Diesel himself wouldn’t fully return until movie four). Diesel is, to put things lightly, a limited actor, but in Dom Toretto, he found his perfect role. He’s the guy who runs the L.A. underground through pure skill and charisma, muttering racer aphorisms and pledging eternal fealty to his makeshift family. Before the role went to Diesel, Timothy Olyphant reportedly turned it down. And while Olyphant is probably a better actor than Diesel—and while he’s brought great badass charisma of his own to TV shows like Deadwood and Justified—there’s just no way Olyphant would’ve been as good as Diesel. The movie would’ve turned him into one more white guy with shitty tattoos and a goatee. Diesel luxuriated in that character. He didn’t just inhabit Dom Toretto. He made Dom Toretto real. The scene where Diesel presides over a down-home barbeque has become a series mainstay for a reason: It’s the most resonant thing in that first movie. The Fast And The Furious is nowhere near as good a movie as Point Break, a true classic of early-’90s action cinema, but the chemistry between Diesel and Walker was just as strong, from the beginning, as the bond between Keanu Reeves and Patrick Swayze. Diesel didn’t even start talking about family in that first movie, but that family element was still there. (Walker’s commanding officer is the one who memorably says the word: “There’s all kinds of family, Brian. That’s a choice you’re going to have to make.” Watching him make that choice for the first time is one of the movie’s great joys.) And as a pure action movie, The Fast And The Furious delivers. For most of its running time, it’s a hangout movie. It lets us get attached to these characters, no matter how thinly drawn they might be. (Diesel and Rodriguez, then fresh off of her debut in the impressive boxing indie Girlfight, seem to barely know each other, though their relationship now feels like the realest thing about the series.) But the movie’s action scenes are full of real stunts and real explosions—notable things at the time when CGI was coming into omnipresence. And that final heist truck scene is just great car-chase filmmaking; the image of hulking Matt Schulze hanging off of the truck’s hood, ducking the driver’s shotgun, could’ve come straight out of The Road Warrior. Advertisement So that first Fast And The Furious movie has aged in some strange ways, but it still holds up. And if you watch it now, you can bring to it an affection for the whole series and for the characters who have endured to populate a whole series. It’s a minor miracle that The Fast And The Furious made any money or spawned any sequels. But it hasn’t just done that; it’s gone on to absolutely lap classier franchises like Bond and Bourne. Think of all the movies that never got that chance. Try to imagine Point Break becoming a long-running ’90s franchise, one where Bodhi and Johnny Utah travel the world, engaging in surfing-based superheroics with Rowdy Roddy Piper and Q-Tip and Montell Jordan. We didn’t get that, sadly. But we did get the Fast And The Furious series, and that is a glorious thing. Other notable 2001 action movies: Antoine Fuqua’s Training Day, the movie that finally won Denzel Washington his Best Actor Oscar, is more of a corrupt-cop thriller than a straight-up action movie. But if you just watch it as an action movie, it’s a motherfucker. Its gunfights are tense and grisly and expertly staged, and the ratcheting-tension scenes that come before the gunfights are even better. So I say Training Day counts, and I say it gets runner-up honors for 2001. As in almost every other year this century, many of 2001’s most interesting action movies don’t come from Hollywood. Brotherhood Of The Wolf, from France, is a beautifully insane hybrid of bodice-ripping romance, creature-feature monster movie, and paranoid conspiracy thriller, and it’s also got Hawaiian martial artist Mark Dacascos as a Native American who beats a whole lot of motherfuckers up. Johnnie To’s Fulltime Killer, from Hong Kong, is a gleefully silly shoot-’em-up melodrama about two feuding hitmen, one of whom is unhealthily obsessed with action movies. (Hong Kong also gave us the reliably fun Jackie Chan vehicle The Accidental Spy.) Musa, from South Korea, is a sweeping historical epic about Korean diplomats fighting their way across Mongol-controlled China. And then there are the movies that may or may not count as action cinema—like Wasabi, the French action-comedy where Jean Reno plays a cop looking for revenge in Tokyo, or Ichi The Killer, the Japanese gore-fest where director Takashi Miike somehow topped all the nonsensical sick shit he’d done in the Dead Or Alive movies. Advertisement Hollywood was still full of Hong Kong legends, some of whom were getting chances to do good work. Rush Hour 2 continued Jackie Chan’s winning streak, bringing Chan and Chris Tucker to Hong Kong and roping in Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon star Zhang Ziyi. Jet Li got to make the first real Matrix rip-off, fighting an alternate-universe version of himself in the truly goofy parallel-worlds sci-fi head-scratcher The One. (That one also had Jason Statham, but directors hadn’t quite figured out how good he was at kicking people yet.) Li also teamed up with Bridget Fonda in the relatively forgettable Kiss Of The Dragon. And Ringo Lam once again directed Jean-Claude Van Damme in Replicant, as Van Damme, like Li in The One, fought another version of himself. (This time, it’s a clone, not an interdimensional traveler.) But otherwise, Hollywood just didn’t have that much going on. With Ghosts Of Mars, John Carpenter attempted to re-stage Assault On Precinct 13 in space, which was not a good idea. The movie tried to make action stars out of Ice Cube and Natasha Henstridge, and it failed. Meanwhile, with Lara Croft: Tomb Raider, Simon West translated a video game into a CGI-heavy Raiders Of The Lost Ark pastiche. That one tried to make an action star out of Angelina Jolie, and, at least by computer-blockbuster standards, it succeeded. And while Steven Seagal staged a brief comeback in Andrzej Bartkowiak’s flashy, dumber-than-fuck Exit Wounds, the real story of that movie is that it tried and, however briefly, succeeded in making an action star out of DMX, who just blew the not-really-trying-anymore Seagal off the screen. Spy Game was generic action-thriller stuff with Brad Pitt and Robert Redford, and it was an early sign that the once-great Tony Scott was losing his fastball. Swordfish was a techno-thriller with Matrix-esque overtones and a topless Halle Berry scene that easily overshadowed any action that might’ve been taking place. The Mummy Returns was a piece of shit that’s only really worth mentioning for one reason: It marked the big-screen debut of transcendent pro-wrestling star Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, who would make his own impact on action movies soon enough. And I suppose I should mention The Lord Of The Rings: The Fellowship Of The Ring, which fit more into the special-effects blockbuster category than into the history of action movies but which really did have some great action scenes. Advertisement Next time: With The Bourne Identity, Hollywood action flicks make the transition to a post-9/11 moment when everything we knew started to feel like a lie.
In January 2015, the Pacific Crest Trail Association received a letter from the owner of a 402-acre plot of land near Stevens Pass, roughly 75 miles east of Seattle. The landowner, a family trust, held one of the few remaining privately held patches of the Pacific Crest Trail—a parcel that thousands of Washingtonians use each year to reach alpine wilderness areas and thru-hikers traverse on their way up to the northern terminus at Manning Park. The family trust, the letter said, wanted to sell. It was good news for the PCTA, a nonprofit that’s been laboring to preserve and protect the 10 percent of the long-distance trail that, surprisingly, still sits in private hands. But the landowner, who remains anonymous, wanted to play hardball. The trust had divvied up the plot, which lies near the popular Stevens Pass ski area, into 16 different parcels, and according to a memo put together by the trust’s real estate adviser, the zoning meant a prospective buyer could build up to 748 dwellings in the pristine Cascade wilderness along the trail. Even more worrying, the letter made clear that the trust was willing to erect a fence across the section of the PCT that crossed its property, bisecting the trail 150 miles short of the border. “For us, not only was it a big threat they could close the trail,” says Megan Wargo, director of land protection at the PCTA, “but we had done some fieldwork to look at what it would take to reroute the trail. It wasn’t just a simple loop around; it would have taken an extensive reroute to get around some serious topography. It would have had a significant impact on people’s ability to do a thru-hike.” Wargo estimates it would have taken a year to reroute the trail. The PCT gets severed all the time, usually due to wildfires or the occasional newly discovered endangered species ecosystem on the route. But the threat to the Stevens Pass section of the trail underscores the little-known threat from private developers faced by the PCT and other long-distance trails. While Congress designated the PCT as a national trail back in 1968, Wargo says, the feds, startlingly, still don’t own the whole route, despite years of programs aimed at purchasing and protecting private segments. In most cases, the government has made easement deals with the landowners, which grant hikers the right to tramp through the private lands on a small corridor of trail. But in the case of Stevens Pass and a few other areas, no such agreement had ever been inked. “This was certainly one of the biggest threats to the trail in Washington, in terms of closure,” Wargo says. Luckily for Wargo and the PCTA, the Forest Service has a special program funded by the leases on offshore oil wells that is designed to purchase and protect wilderness. The PCTA worked with the landowner and the Forest Service to broker a plan to sell the land to the feds and make the parcel part of the nearby national forest. The purchase price: $1.6 million. Unluckily for the PCTA, 2017 was a particularly bad year for wildfires, and the money the Forest Service had agreed to spend on the trail was diverted to the expensive business of putting out hundreds of thousands of acres of fire. The landowner didn’t want to wait, Wargo says, and wasn’t willing to agree to an easement deal that would allow hikers to pass through the property. “The landowner told us we couldn’t get an extension,” Wargo recalls. “We had until November 15 to close.” At the last minute, the PCTA scraped together $400,000 from donors and the nonprofit Conservation Fund agreed to a $1.2 million loan. Last week, the PCTA finalized the deal and is now the proud owner of 402 acres of Washington wilderness. The group will hand the tract of land over to the Forest Service once the federal conservation funds become available again—something the service has assured the PCTA will happen. “I’m incredibly grateful for the partnership,” Wargo says. Still, the victory ensures that just one chunk of the remaining privately held portions of the PCT will be protected. No law bars private property owners from developing land right up against the trail. In Southern California, Wargo says, that’s a real possibility. In 2014, the Trust for Public Land and the USFS purchased 808 acres of the San Bernardino National Forest to protect the areas immediately surrounding the trail and to ensure that no development came within view of the trail. Today, Wargo says, several privately held portions of the trail are still tempting developers. “I think California is certainly an area where the PCT is racing against time before properties are developed,” she says. The PCT is not the only national trail that needs protecting. The Conservation Fund, for its part, has also provided loans to protect trails and adjoining wilderness along the Appalachian Trail, the Ice Age National Scenic Trail in Wisconsin, Overmountain Victory National Historic Trail in the Southeast, the North Country Scenic Trail in the Northeast, and more. “Something I’ve learned in this work: All of the places that I love and visit and recreate on, people worked hard to protect those. Someone had to protect them. People before us had to preserve that land. And folks like the PCTA and us still are,” says Caitlin Guthrie of the Conservation Fund. Whether negotiating with landowners who threaten to shut down the trail will convince other private owners to take up the same bare-knuckle tactics is a moot point for Wargo and the PCTA. They aim to work with any landowner willing to sell their property. That’s why the group has chosen to keep the family trust in the Stevens Pass deal anonymous—to avoid poisoning the well for any future deals. The PCTA, Wargo says, is willing to play the long game. “This trail is here for now and future generations,” she says.
Will the BoE cut rates for the first time since 2009? 2:14 AM ET Thu, 14 July 2016 \| 02:31 The Bank of England may cut interest rates on Thursday after more than seven years on hold, due to the economic and financial fallout from the Brexit vote. The bank's Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) met on Wednesday for the first time since the U.K. voted to leave the European Union in a referendum last month. Many in the market see it deciding to slash its benchmark interest rate by 25 basis points (bps) to 0.25 percent. This would be the bank's first move since cutting rates to 0.5 percent from 1.0 percent in March 2009. One week after the vote, Bank of England Governor Mark Carney issued guidance that hinted at policy changes to come. "The economic outlook has deteriorated and some monetary policy easing will likely be required over the summer," he said in a speech on June 30 at the Bank of England in London.
The FT says this is worse than feared, and I say it is just what I was expecting (see here, I do hope that doesn’t make me one of those “visionaries” you are all so busy talking about). Germanyâ€™s economic slump in the final quarter of 2008 proved worse than feared, official figures showed on Friday, with the country posting the sharpest fall in gross domestic product since the country was reunified in 1990.The larger-than-expected 2.1 per cent plunge in GDP in the final three months of the year showed Europeâ€™s largest economy contracting at a faster pace than the UK in the same period and threatening to drag down the performance of the 16-country eurozone. A 2.1% quarterly contraction, for those who are confused by the way we economists do things is equivalent to an 8.4% annualised rate of contraction, which is quite something (although in fairness some of this comes from Q3 when there was a big build up in inventories, which has now unwound). But the real question, when all the dust settles, is going to be why it is that economies like those in Germany and Japan are so incredibly export dependent (remember, all those “decoupling” arguments which were so in fashion not so long ago). My view is “its the demography silly”, but then we can’t go back 30 years and change all that with the wave of a wand, so we really don need some out of the box thinking on the global imbalances soon (see Claus’s arguments in his last post). Meantime the EU are working furiously away on the next “top secret” European bank bailout proposal (does this have anything to do with the unexpected rapid departure of Michael Glos last weekend? – all of this was most strange, see here). Details are sof the coming bank bailout proposals are still scarce at this point, but the excitable Telegraph do come up with a very hair-raising number (16.3 trillion pounds, see here). As I have been arguing, far from Germany subsidising the rest of the EU, Germany may well be at the heart of the bailout, needing support from the rest of us, which is why we need EU bonds, and we need them now. United we stand, divided we go down the plughole! And if you have any doubt about the export connection, just look at the chart below, not an exact fit, but an obvious close correlation. Germany needs a demographic fix, simply going for longer shopping hours (and the like) won’t work in a case like this. And as for labour market reforms, just look how many jobs Germany created this time round.
Media playback is not supported on this device MOTD's Gary Lineker on pants and Paul Pogba Will Gary Lineker keep his promise and present Match of the Day in his underpants when the show returns to BBC One on Saturday evening? The new Premier League season starts this weekend and former England captain Lineker is rueing a rash tweet from back in December. He had so little faith in Leicester - his former team, who he scored 95 goals for in 194 appearances - holding on to their lead in the Premier League that he pledged to "do the first MOTD of next season in just my undies" if they won the championship. The Foxes went on to win their first top-flight title by 10 points. So, will he go ahead with it live on BBC One at 22:30 BST? "I am doing my best to pluck up the courage to go there with just my undies on, as I said I would," Lineker told BBC Sport. "When I tweeted that silly bet back in December, I categorically knew there was zero chance of Leicester winning the league. Zero chance. It happened but it was magical, it was great. "It is a one off and a sporting miracle that has landed me in my underwear." Judging by this Instagram post, it hasn't escaped Lineker's mind... Even Leicester manager Claudio Ranieri is keen to see what happens. There have been messages of support - or concern - from fellow ex-professionals. We expect Ian Wright and Alan Shearer will have some words of encouragement in the studio. But the man himself is keeping his cards close to his chest - for now. And just in case you miss it, don't worry. There will be a second chance. This season you will be able to watch Match of the Day on the BBC iPlayer from midnight on Sunday - and Match of the Day 2 from midnight on Monday.
Tim Keller has strong words for people who do not care about the poor: "All I know is, if I don't care about the poor, if my church doesn't care about the poor, that's evil." The head pastor of Redeemer Presbyterian Church and author of Generous Justice: How God's Grace Makes Us Just (Dutton) spoke with New York-based writer Kristen Scharold about why helping the least of these should be every Christian's mission. Why do you think generosity is crucial to biblical justice? I used the term "generous justice" because many people make a distinction between justice and charity. They say that if we give to the poor voluntarily, it's just compassion and charity. But Job says that if I'm not generous with my money, I'm offending God, which means it's not an option and it is unjust by definition to not share with the poor. It's biblical that we owe the poor as much of our money as we can possibly give away. What do you hope readers will learn about the relationship between God's grace and justice? Cause and effect: God's grace makes you just. The gospel is such that even though you're not saved by good works, you are saved by grace and faith—and it will change your life and lead to good works. According to the Bible, if you really have been changed by the grace of God, it will move you toward the poor. Many Christians hear "justice" and think about issues like sex trafficking, HIV/AIDS, and so on. Would you include those in your definition? My definition of justice is giving humans their due as people in the image of God. We all agree that everyone deserves not to be enslaved, beaten, raped, or killed. We are not just talking about ... 1
On November 8, 2013 by Jason Rechtman Nintendo has put itself out there in some very elaborate ways over the past year. The company set up Wii U mall kiosks shaped like the system’s logo, stuffed living rooms inside giant cubes, and attended countless conventions all in the name of hands-on time with the Wii U and 3DS. The latest in this series of events was a new mall tour that just wrapped up in sunny Southern California. Sharing the same name as June’s E3 events at Best Buy, the Nintendo Experience tour brought Wii U and 3DS demos to twelve different malls across the country, but without the glitz and glamor of the other events. We recently took a trip to the final stop in Torrance, CA to see what Nintendo had on hand and to bring you photos of the event. By far the smallest of Nintendo’s recent event onslaught, the Nintendo Experience tour was confined to a simple rectangular booth with four Wii U kiosks and six 3DS demo units. Since the tour only lasted from September through this past week, Nintendo chose to use it as an opportunity to highlight its Fall releases instead of upcoming holiday titles. This meant that while there were no Super Mario 3D World or The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between World sightings, there were plenty of just-released games on hand. Specifically, Nintendo used its four Wii U kiosks to show off The Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker HD, Pikmin 3, and The Wonderful 101 (the latter of which had the privilege of being playable on two kiosks). On its six 3DS units, Nintendo only demoed Pokemon X & Y and Mario & Luigi: Dream Team. Of note, however, was the inclusion of two 2DS units. The new 3DS family member received by far the most attention at the booth, as it provided the first opportunity for many people (ourselves included) to go hands-on with the slate-like device. Some stops of the tour also included a special Animal Crossing: New Leaf lounge, but the one we attended unfortunately did not. Even with its limited size and selection, the booth still accomplished what Nintendo wanted: it got people playing Wii U and 3DS. Nintendo knows that it takes events of any sort, be it flashy or not, to help grow mindshare of the Wii U and to end any lingering misunderstandings about it being a new console. This is likely why we have seen the number of events greatly increase throughout year. We expect Nintendo to continue into the holiday season with even more events, which we will cover as well. Until then, get a taste of the Nintendo Experience tour via our photo gallery.
The government maintains this will happen, but experts doubt it’s possible without more money, as the original plans didn’t factor in the cost of seven-day services. It also needs the NHS to meet ambitious savings targets. “The money we have given the NHS to fund its own plan for the future - £10 billion more a year by 2020, and £4 billion just this year – covers our promise to ensure that standards of urgent and emergency care are the same across 7 days.” Department of Health, 11 September 2016 The government has said it plans to spend £10 billion a year more on NHS England by 2020. It claims this will pay for new "seven-day NHS" services, as well as giving the NHS the money it needs in order to maintain existing services in the face of rising demand, provided it implements its own efficiency savings. Experts doubt this is possible, saying that the NHS will struggle to maintain existing services under current funding plans, let alone expand seven-day services. Seven-day services weren’t factored in when the NHS originally calculated it may need this money. Where £10 billion comes from The story starts in 2013, when NHS England said it faced a funding gap of £30 billion by the end of the decade, even if government spending kept up in line with inflation. So it needed that much more, above inflation, to deliver care to a growing and ageing population, assuming it made no efficiency savings itself. It was clear at the time this money was about “continuing with the current model of care”. A year later the NHS laid out plans for how it might handle this gap. One ambitious option was the NHS itself would find £22 billion in savings, leaving the other £8 billion to be filled by the government. The plans did mention a seven-day NHS, but this particular sum of money didn’t factor that in. The Conservatives said in their 2015 election manifesto they would provide that £8 billion in government, and expect the other £22 billion in savings from the NHS. The Nuffield Trust, writing in our election report, said this still left unanswered questions on funding: “£8bn is the bare minimum to maintain existing standards of care for a growing and ageing population … “improving productivity on this scale [£22 billion] would be unprecedented” The new Conservative government followed through on the commitment and started claiming it was giving £10 billion, giving the NHS what it asked for, and more. Actually it's not as generous as it sounds, as the £10 billion counted the last year of the previous parliament, which wasn’t covered by the NHS’s spending options anyway. The NHS was still set to get £8 billion over the course of this parliament. It’s also not all of what the NHS asked for. The NHS said that for the £8 billion to be sufficient, it needs to see “continuing access to social care” and “enhanced effort on prevention and public health”. The government’s £8 billion commitment refers specifically to the NHS England budget. It excludes areas outside of NHS England, such as public health and social care, where spending is expected to fall overall. That means total health spending in England—including areas such as public health and social care as well as NHS England—will only rise by £4.5 billion over the same period, according to healthcare think tanks the Nuffield Trust, the Health Foundation, and The King’s Fund. There are doubts over whether this will be enough The government says that the £10 billion—or £8 billion—will also cover delivering new seven-day NHS services. But the Department of Health confirmed to us that it’s the same pot of money as was suggested in NHS England’s plans to cover its funding gap. Funding expanded seven-day services with this money as well isn’t going to be easy. Early evidence suggests that seven-day NHS services will come at a cost to hospitals, although the NHS says we need to treat these figures with caution as they’re based on estimates from a small number of hospitals. The Nuffield Trust, Health Foundation and King’s Fund all said in response to the government announcement that under these plans the NHS will “struggle to maintain services, let alone invest in new models of care and implement seven day services”. Update 4 October 2016 We added in the paragraphs explaining that the government's £8 billion commitment was not all of what the NHS asked for.
NEW DELHI: Vedanta Group's USD 10-billion LCD screen plant, which is billed as the country's first, will start production in 2018, Chairman Anil Agarwal has said."Panel FAB is expected to begin by 2018 with full production over the next 10 years subject to external environment," Agarwal told PTI in an interview.This will be the largest investment made in setting up of an electronics plant in India.It will be operated by Twinstar Display Technologies and will not fall under any of the Vedanta group companies' current business ambit.Twinstar Display Technologies and will not fall under any of the Vedanta group companies' current business ambit."The proposed LCD manufacturing unit, the first of its kind in India, will be operated by Twinstar Display Technologies. It is promoted by Volcan Investments Ltd, whose other investments include Vedanta Resources and Sterlite Technologies," he said.Agarwal along with his family holds majority stake in Volcan Investments."We endeavour to make India a significant export hub of display units with the setting up of Panel FAB," he said.At present, all LCD displays used in mobile phones, TV screens and computers are imported."India is one of the fastest growing markets for LCD panel based products such as TV, smartphones, tablets, desktops and laptops."By 2020, India's LCD panel import bill is expected to touch USD 10 billion (about Rs 68,000). Panel FAB will not only significantly reduce this but also earn foreign exchange through exports," Agarwal said.Vedanta had made commitment to set-up LCD plant at the first Digital India week inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in July last year."We have made good of the promise we made to the nation during Digital India. We are happy to participate in two of the government's key initiatives - the 'Make in India' campaign as well as 'Net Zero Electronics import by 2020'," Agarwal said.At the event, industry had committed to invest Rs 4.5 lakh crore with a potential to generate 18 lakh jobs.Agarwal-promoted LCD firm had signed an agreement with Maharashtra government for the plant."Twinstar will invest USD 10 billion spread across five phases. The unit will be operated by Twinstar and not Vedanta. The project requires about 300 acres of and and two locations have been shortlisted so far," he said.Sterlite Technologies, one of Volcan's investments, already has optical fibre manufacturing unit in Aurangabad, Maharashtra."Upon completion, the LCD project will provide direct and indirect employment to over 30,000 people, and contribute 7-10 per cent to Maharashtra's Industrial Gross Domestic Product," he added.While demand for electronic products has been rising in the country, the government's push for local manufacturing has also increased.The total import of electronics goods during 2012-13, 2013-14 and 2014-15 (estimated) as per figures of Directorate General of Commercial Intelligence and Statistics (DGCIS) were Rs 1.79 lakh crore, Rs 1.95 lakh crore and Rs 2.25 lakh crore, respectively.The total production of electronic goods based on figures (estimated) provided by electronics industry associations were Rs 1.64 lakh crore, Rs 1.8 lakh crore and Rs 1.9 lakh crore for 2012-13, 2013-14 and 2014-15, respectively.
Netflix Original Series The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance Announces Stellar Voice Cast The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance Rediscover the age of wonder inspired by Jim Henson’s groundbreaking vision. The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance is coming to Netflix. A beloved classic from the 80s marks its return as Netflix, the world’s leading internet entertainment network, will bring The Jim Henson Company’s The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance exclusively to members around the world. The 10-episode fantasy adventure series is a prequel to the groundbreaking 1982 fan favorite The Dark Crystal, and takes place many years before the events of the film. The series will be shot in the U.K., and will star an ensemble of fantastical, state-of-the-art creatures created by Jim Henson’s Creature Shop™ and Brian Froud, the original feature’s conceptual designer. The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance returns to the world of Thra with an all new adventure. When three Gelfling discover the horrifying secret behind the Skeksis’ power, they set out on an epic journey to ignite the fires of rebellion and save their world.
Ralph Nader, who many believe handed the 2000 election to George W. Bush, said third-party candidates are crippled by the media, the voters, the other candidates and even our language. Is this the year for a third-party candidate? No, says the ultimate third-party candidate, Ralph Nader. Sure, this election season has made a lot of Americans angry — and when you’re angry, you tend to look for someone to blame. And when you need someone to tell you who to blame, there’s only one person to call: Ralph Nader. But the lovable angry old man — you know, the one blamed for supposedly siphoning votes from Al Gore and handing George W. Bush the election of 2000 — cautioned that Libertarian candidate Gary Johnson or the Green Party’s presumptive candidate Jill Stein are not going to move into the White House on Jan. 20. Green Party candidate slams Obama, Trump and Clinton “This is going to be a better year for third parties, but all that means is about 3%,” said Nader, who got 2.74% of the popular vote against Bush and Gore. Three percent seems low given that Johnson and Stein are polling at 9% and 3% respectively — but Nader is nothing if not a bucket of cold water on America’s collective fever dream. “Polls for third-party candidates are always higher before Labor Day and then decline,” he said. “People get cold feet in the voting booth. I was polling at 5% the day before Election Day.” Which segued to the ultimate question to the ultimate bomb-thrower: So who can we blame? Let the barrage begin! Green Party candidate Jill Stein (l.) and Libertarian Gary Johnson are the leading third-party candidates. Image by: AP First of all, blame the voters! “People who are flirting with a third-party candidate start getting in line with either one of the major parties because they subscribe to the ‘Least-Worst Theory,’” Nader said. “They think, ‘Oh, I’d like to vote for Jill Stein, but I don’t want Trump to become President, so I’ll vote for Hillary because she’s less worse.’” Nader hates that kind of thing. If you like a candidate, vote for that candidate. You know what he hates more? People who actually vote for a candidate who is likely to win because they want to vote for a winner. “That’s the worst reason to vote for someone,” Nader said. Second of all, blame the media! “The mass media doesn’t give any attention to the third-party candidates,” Nader said (admitting that he missed my award-nominated story on Jill Stein from May). Nader said that without media exposure, a third-party candidate can’t generate any traction. “Eighty percent of the voters didn’t even know I was running because the media blacked us out,” Nader said. “I got five minutes of national media exposure between Labor Day and Election Day.” OK, so he’s right: On Google news, Donald Trump has been mentioned in 54,700,000 links vs. Hillary Clinton’s 29,700,000. By comparison, Stein has been written about just 320,000 times and Johnson has been mentioned 204,000 times. These two largely hated figures (the Republican on the left, the Democrat on the right) are all the major parties had to offer this year. Buddha help us all, says our columnist. Image by: REUTERS; AP This year, it’ll be especially hard for a third-party candidate to break through the noise, given that so much of it is coming from the ultimate fringe candidate who happens to be the GOP nominee (it’s hard to compete with, “Hey, Russia, can you hack our email, please?”). Third, blame the debate commission! Look, you can dismiss Nader about a lot of things, but he’s obviously right that the Commission on Presidential Debates is no friend of third-party candidates. “It’s funded by private corporations and run by the two parties,” he said. “And a candidate needs 15% in national polls. But no candidate can get that without exposure. “No other country in the world plays these kinds of games,” he said. “There are debates with multiple parties.” Fourth, blame language itself! Nader is particularly sensitive to the idea that he was a “spoiler” who earned just enough votes in Florida — 97,488, in fact — to give Bush his 537-vote “victory” in the Sunshine State. “The media always says a third-party candidate is a ‘spoiler,’” he said. “But no one calls a Republican or a Democrat a ‘spoiler.’ But didn’t Bush take votes away from Gore? About 250,000 Florida Democrats voted for Bush in 2000? How come Bush wasn’t called a ‘spoiler’? Because no one blames the major parties even though all candidates have an equal right to run.” In fact, the so-called third-party candidates have some very popular positions that no one learns about, Nader added. Ralph Nader in his auto industry activist days. Image by: ASSOCIATED PRESS “Look at Gary Johnson on civil liberties and endless wars overseas. Look at Jill Stein on campaign finance reform. These are majoritarian positions. But the press is so distracted with the supine monetized elections to cover it,” Nader said, referring back to blame target number two above. Fifth, blame the candidates themselves! “I can’t support either of the two major-party candidates,” he said. “Hillary is a hawk and a corporate toady and she scares the generals. Trump is too unstable mentally and his egocentricity is shocking. He goes nuts if someone criticizes him.” Even worse than the candidates is the way they are running. “Trump dubs people with nicknames like ‘Crooked Hillary’ and none of her surrogates fire back,” he said. “He’s ‘Cheating Donald’ — and the facts back it up: His bankruptcies, his marriages, his failure to pay workers. Yet the Democrats are inept at making that charge. Hillary has to both rise above him and go down in the gutter with him at the same time, but she won’t.” And, finally, no matter what happens, don’t blame Nader! “If Hillary loses, it is because her voters stayed home,” he said. “In 2000, a Florida exit poll showed that 25% of my voters would have gone for Bush and 39% would have voted for Gore. But that still leaves 36% who said they would have stayed home. “That’s the danger for Hillary: voters staying home,” he said. “Trump doesn’t have that problem: He’s banking on bringing in angry new voters — the Rush Limbaugh listeners who typically don’t vote.” About the only thing Nader wouldn’t say in our 10-minute chat is the candidate who’ll get his No. 2 pencil mark. “Sorry, I don’t talk about that,” he said. Of all the things!
Ultraviolet Beauties I’m sure many of us are guilty of heading out in the sun without protection, but with this summer set to be the hottest yet in the UK should be starting to think more about the unseen damage the sun is doing to our skin? Brooklyn based Cara Philips shows us why we should. Cara Philips first became involved in the beauty industry as a child model for Ford Models before working as a make-up artist at a department store. Later she returned to study and graduated from Sarah Lawrence College in 2007 having studied photography. Other recent works include “On Beauty” and “Singular Beauty”. Beauty At A Cost Inspired by dermatological offices, Philips uses UV lights in her series Ultraviolet Beauties to demonstrate the unseen damage the sun can do. In an interview with the Huffington Post Philips describes the pictures as anti portraits, saying they focus on the imperfections rather than the traditional flawless portraits. Whatever the focus on flaws, the portraits remain beautiful and intimate, Philips says. Here Comes The Sun Sun damage is caused by over exposure to the sun’s harmful UV rays. Melanin, a pigment found on the surface of the skin, is caused to clump together when exposed to harmful rays. The result of this is seen as freckles, sun spots and other brown spots on the skin. The best way to avoid the damage is to stay out of the sun, particularly at the hottest time of the day, which is midday to 3pm. Failing this, avoiding sunbeds is advisable, and wearing sun cream with a minimum SPF of 15 every day. For more about Cara Philips and to see the 'Ultraviolet' series in all it's equal splendor and horror please visit her website for the complete collection.
It’s Hillary Clinton’s convention, and it was Mr. Sanders’s big night. But the unquestioned star of the program on Monday was Mrs. Obama, who used her prime-time speech to describe an optimistic, confident view of American social progress, and to embrace Mrs. Clinton as the natural heir to the Obama presidency. She praised Mrs. Clinton as a big-hearted public servant and as a political survivor, and rebuked Donald J. Trump as a bully without mentioning his name. Most important, Mrs. Obama wrapped her speech in a sunny narrative about what the country has accomplished during her husband’s presidency, celebrating the image of a black family in the White House and casting Mrs. Clinton’s election as a similar milestone. “Don’t let anyone ever tell you that this country isn’t great,” Mrs. Obama said. “This, right now, is the greatest country on earth.” It was a strikingly positive speech in a bitter election season, and a vivid rendition of the political worldview that lifted the Obamas to the top of the party in the first place. The powerful response Mrs. Obama drew from the crowd showed just how formidable she is likely to be on the campaign trail.
Marathon Oil Corp said on Thursday it has already captured $225 million in savings, citing streamlined shale drilling processes and lower prices from oilfield service providers. "With margins compressed by lower commodity prices it's incumbent upon us to be aggressive in pushing those service costs and tangible costs down," Lance Robertson, vice president for North American Operations told investors on a conference call. The company is also in the midst of eliminating 350 to 400 positions in response to the collapse in crude oil prices , said Chief Executive Officer Lee Tillman . Reporting by Anna Driver Oil Edges Up Despite Trump's OPEC Pressure U.S. crude inventories seen up for sixth week; prices helped by OPEC cuts, U.S. sanctions.Brent oil edged up to $65 a barrel… Trump Warns Saudi Arabia on Oil Prices U.S. President Donald Trump has warned OPEC not to tighten the oil market too much and risk another spike in prices that… Maersk Drilling Mulls Listing in Recovering Market Drilling rig contractor Maersk Drilling, which will soon list on the Copenhagen stock exchange, said the offshore drilling… Adnoc Signs USD4bln Pipeline Deal Abu Dhabi State-Owned Oil Company Adnoc has sealed a $4 billion midstream pipeline infrastructure deal with BlackRock, the… Former Enron CEO Jeffrey Skilling Released Jeffrey Skilling, the onetime chief of Enron Corp who was sentenced to 24 years in prison for his conviction on charges stemming… Repsol Unveils Big Gas Discovery in Indonesia Spanish energy giant Repsol has made a substantial natural gas discovery in Indonesia along with its partners, Malaysia's… Elengy's Fos Tonkin LNG Capacity for Sale French liquified natural gas (LNG) terminal operator Elengy, a unit of the energy giant Engie, is preparing the sale of access… Oil Rises on Market Rebalance, Trade Deal Hopes Trump open to extending March 1 deadline for China trade talks.Crude prices rose nearly 2 percent on Wednesday, with Brent… Repsol Makes Huge Find in Indonesia A consortium led by Repsol has found new gas resources in Indonesia estimated at at least 2 trillion cubic feet, the Spanish… Glencore's 2018 Oil Trade Volume dips 17 pct Glencore's overall traded oil volumes fell 17 percent year-on-year in 2018 to 4.66 million barrels per day (bpd), according… Top Citgo Executives Removed as PDVSA Chaos Continues Citgo Petroleum Corp has removed at least three top executives close to Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, people familiar… Noble Energy Q4 Disappoints, Lower CapEx Coming Noble Energy posted quarterly profit on Tuesday that fell short of analysts' estimates, and forecast lower capital expenditure…
3rd April 2013 \| International Solidarity Movement, Occupied Palestine Demonstrations have been held today in several cities across the West Bank to protest the death of prisoner Maysara Abu Hamdiyeh. A strike has also been held in Nablus, Hebron and East Jerusalem, amongst other cities. In Nablus, over three hundred Palestinians, together with international activists, participated today in the demonstration to protest the death of Maysara Abu Hamdiyeh. The demonstration was first held at Shuhada Square, where protesters were holding banners and chanting emotional songs in support of Palestinian prisoners. After an hour, the crowd marched towards Huwwara Checkpoint, passing through Balata refugee camp. As demonstrators arrived at the junction next to the checkpoint, they built several barricades along the road, where Israeli soldiers were already located. Palestinian youths threw some stones at the jeeps and Israeli soldiers threw tear gas canisters at the crowd. Shortly after that, two jeeps drove by the road parallel to the main one where protesters were and started shooting more tear gas canisters. As demonstrators ran back to get closer to the jeeps clashes continued for several hours more. In Hebron, clashes were particularly intense, with several demonstrators wounded as Palestinians persisted in their fight against Israeli guns with nothing but stones. The sound of tear gas canisters, stun grenades and rubber-coated steel bullets have become a prominent fixture of the last few days in central Hebron. As the nation mourns, we can only hope that international action is taken to prevent the continuous maltreatment of Palestinians in Israeli cutody. The death of Maysara Abu Hamdiyeh has brought up many questions about the treatment of Palestinians in Israeli jails, with the PA minister for prisoners claiming Palestine must join the International Criminal Court to stop the disrespect of prisoners rights. Abu Hamdiyeh is the 207th Palestinian to die in Israeli custody.
For many years Rum has struggled with something of an image problem. Still seen by many as a cheap drink to be taken mixed and in excess by teenagers in search of a good time. Attempts to “Premiumise” rum have done little to convince those outside rum circles that Killdevil is a legitimate alternative to classic spirits such as Whisk(e)y and Gin. In many ways the “Premiumisation” of Rum has actually done it’s image more harm than good. The issue with a lot of the “Premiumisation”, over the past 20 to 30 years in particular, has not been as much about how rum has been marketed and packaged but actually what has went into the bottle. Until very recently little information was available and anyone with suspicions that they were drinking anything other than Premium Aged Rum were swept under the carpet, dismissed as nonsense or ridiculed. Global Brands and Rum Ambassadors held court over the legitimacy of their rums and any objections were swiftly and robustly dealt with. Whilst a few remained vocal about their suspicions, they were largely seen as troublemakers, conspiracy theorists and quacks (to be fair some were/are). The Rum industry was still brazen and arrogant enough to send its representatives out with cock and bull stories that many were only to glad to swallow. In many ways it was easier than swallowing their own pride and just admitting that all was not as it seemed. Over the past 5 or so years, in particular, more and more information has become available. This information has not come from the Global Brands or the various Brand/Rum Ambassadors Simple Hydrometer Tests as drawn up by Johnny Drejer have allowed curious amateurs to test their own rum collections. Many rum producers have fell deathly silent with regard the issue. No longer are quite so many stories being trotted out about the wonders of barrel ageing, adding sugared sweetness to the distillate. Slowly but surely producers are beginning to admit to “flavour enhancers” and “secret family recipes”. A few such as Plantation have even admitted they add what they call “dosage” to their rums. Plantation have even offered rhyme and reason to their use of added sugar (in line with Cognac production) and went head to head with none other than Richard Seale of Foursquare Distillery in a couple of particularly interesting articles over at The Floating Rum Shack in June last year. For many this has led to Plantation being held up as the Poster Boys of adultered rum. Along with Diplomatico (in particular their Reserva Exclusiva), Ron Zacapa, Zaya and to the disappointment of many El Dorado. It’s always disappointing when your heroes let you down. In the case of El Dorado, the reality that a respected and much championed rum producer was adding sugar to their rum was too much to take. Since those revelations many have discarded the brand. Admittedly, many more have continued to buy the brand – its hardly struggling. A 6 strong Limited Edition release of its 15 Year Old rum is testament to the brands ongoing popularity. The wine cask finishes are further evidence that the preference towards sweet rum remains for the El Dorado fanbase. So where does that leave your disenchanted El Dorado lover? Where could the consumer turn to in search of pure and unadultered “Premium” Demerara rum? The answer for many has been with Independent bottlers. In Europe you are far better served than the US or indeed the rest of the world. For many the pinnacle of unadultered Premium Demerara rum comes in the form of Single Cask/Barrel offerings from the likes of Velier, Silver Seal and Samaroli. It is fair to say that these rums offer a very different proposition, especially when compared to El Dorado 12 for example. Many will not fully appreciate such rums, nor will they appreciate the price tags! The Independent bottling scene is not a cheap area to to start a rum journey in. Prices frequently hit £100 and above. The re-sale value of now unavailable or scarce bottlings by the likes of Velier, can hit up to 10 times their original retail price once they have sold out from official channels. The Italian version of Ebay is perhaps the best place to see these auctions taking place. Whilst the latest “Premium” offering from the likes of Olivier & Olivier, Diageo or our good friends over at Bacardi (the group offers a lot more than just rum) continue to be trotted out at break neck speed, the Independents are also growing. Albeit it at a much slower rate. Brands such as Mezan, The Rum Swedes and Compagnie Des Indes have emerged on the scene. Often these newer less established bottlers, offer rum at prices lower than the more established ones. However, it is not to say that Independent bottlings are always 100% pure and unadulterated. It is not completely unheard of for some £100 plus rums from Independent bottlers to also have the “devil” of added sugar. Despite the amount of coverage given to added sugar in rum, it can be easy to forget that many of the Caribbean’s more longstanding producers such as Foursquare, Appleton and particularly those from the French Speaking Islands such as Guadeloupe and Martinique still produce a pure product and can be relied on (most of the time). These can still offer some truly outstanding unadulterated rums, often at much cheaper prices than the Independent bottlers. So where are we at the present time? In this piece I touched upon the contents of the bottle being more of an issue with rum than the actual marketing. Multi million pound marketing from the likes of Diageo and Bacardi mean they continue to dominate the entry level, Spiced and Flavoured market in particular. New brands of rum from the likes of Oliver & Oliver seem to pop up almost every other week and I can think of many press releases from the likes of Papar’s Pilar, Tiburon Rum and Deadhead Rum promising new and exciting well aged “Premium” rums. Attractive bottles and schmaltzy marketing all thrown in with the price! Don Pancho Fernandez seems to have new blend of rum with a different marketing story for sale just about every other week! Marketing does still work to a degree but there are more and more rum enthusiasts who are turning their backs on such shenanigans. To be honest for anyone willing to take a little time out and truly explore the rum market it is possible to ensure you are getting an unadultered product. You can carry out Hydrometer tests yourself and lo and behold……you can drink rum minus any additives. Except that isn’t the case. Whether the ease to which sugar can be tested has led Rum Producers to seek alternatives methods of enhancing their product is unclear. In many cases they have probably been adding all kinds of things for many, many years. It is perhaps unsurprising to learn that more sophisticated laboratory tests are not only uncovering added sugar in rum but also other forms of sweetener. Artificial sweeteners can impart much more flavour in very concentrated doses and this can deceived the hydrometer. Likewise Glycerin can be added in such small amounts that it can sweeten and smooth out the rough edges and still leave the amateur Hydrometer Tester to believe that the 2/3 g/L of added sugar may be due to extracts from the barrel etc. Adding wine and other spirits to rum also adds sweetness. Casks and barrels can even be supplied still “wet” ie with wine or spirit still in them. If they aren’t then emptied that can impart extra flavour and sweetness to the rum. Macerated fruit and other additives have also been noted as part of “Secret or Family Recipes”. The view of many is that I am some kind of anti added sugar warrior. The very fact I conduct Hydrometer Tests means I am out to “get” the rum companies. For anyone who has took the time to read my introduction on the Hydrometer Test page, this is not the case at all. Personally, I like to have the information on whether a rum has added sugar for my own curiosity and also to inform readers with my reviews etc. I wouldn’t directly say I would score down a rum for adding sugar but it does often disappoint me to find that older rums have been sugared. Again personally I would have liked to have tried them as they were minus the sugar. If the rum is old (I’m talking double digit) should it need to be sugared? I’m less critical of younger rums as they are less expensive and as a result I don’t feel like I’m being cheated so much. I also have to take into account my relatively rudimentary understanding of distilling and blending rum, I’ve never done it myself so I cannot really appreciate the skill or complexity which goes into producing a great rum and a variety of rum. The main reason I haven’t went down the anti added sugar path is partly due to information which I have acquired over the past couple of years. This information means that to call out those rum companies such as Plantation as being the biggest “villains” in rum is extremely unfair. There are worse culprits who have yet to be charged…… There are still some companies who are advising their marketing people that the product is unaltered when in fact they are employing tactics which deceive Hydrometers (which only tests the density of the distillate) and can also make rum seem smoother than it actually is. One of the big problems with “Premium” Rum is the belief that ageing can create super smooth and super sweet rum. You have to remember you are drinking hard liquor distilled to a minimum of 37.5% – you’re going to get some burn its not Cherry Coke! So where does this leave rum? Well as far as I’m concerned the Laboratory Tests which reveal additives in rum cannot be published soon enough. We already have tests being carried out by the Finnish (ALKO) and Swedish (Systembolaget) Government’s “alcohol control boards”. I have been assured that many other tests have been commissioned from within the industry this time. Hopefully they will be released soon. I’m not one for Conspiracy Theories so I won’t buy into trying to name and shame companies until I have seen the actual results published. However, I’m sure like me many of you probably have a few bottles of rum which are “unadultered” but you have your own suspicions. I hope these results (and more) are released soon.
At the block party (for 250,000 people) thrown by one of the most notorious crime syndicates in Karachi. I am not a criminal, extortionist or terrorist,” Uzair Jan Baloch declares. The police files on him tell a different story: as the alleged head of a vast criminal enterprise, Uzair is implicated in attacking cops, running an extortion racket, damaging property and torturing or even murdering rivals. But on this Saturday night in early March, the heads of the neighborhood police stations are partying with Uzair, along with a smattering of prominent politicians and up to 250,000 residents of Lyari, a district near the port in Karachi that has gained a reputation, unfair or not, for organized crime. Tonight, however, Lyari is not presenting itself as a gangster’s paradise. It is a stronghold of the Baloch ethnic group, and everyone has gathered here for the mashup of fireworks, camels and free food that is the three-year-old Baloch Culture Day festival. Photo courtesy of Uzair Jan Baloch The event isn’t organized by ordinary Baloch people, however. Rather, it’s put on by Lyari’s most prominent criminal syndicate, the Peoples Amn Committee (People’s Peace Committee).Uzair, who like many Baloch has taken the ethnic group’s name as his own last name, presides as host for the party that starts at 7 pm and continues till the sun rises. The event packs into one of Lyari’s biggest football stadiums and is officially credited to the ‘Lyari Resource Centre’, the Amn Committee’s cultural and charity wing. Even though the Baloch, who originally hail from the sprawling Balochistan province that borders Iran and Afghanistan, have lived in Karachi for generations, their sense of identity has remained strong. So for the Baloch Culture Day, the entire district gets into party mode: there are children dressed in intricately beaded traditional Baloch garb, a man perched atop a camel, and politicians being outfitted with turbans. At the gate for women, a fight breaks out, and excitedly chattering women—their make-up, jewelry and clothes glimmering from a distance—squeeze past a burqa-clad woman pummeling a child and another woman. Gun-toting young men are in charge of security, armed with walkie-talkies to update the crew about arrivals and the movement of cars. The police posted officers around the entire neighborhood, but civilian Baloch men—and some wizened old women—were really in charge of policing. In its third year, the syndicate’s party is more over-the-top than ever: musicians, a bedecked camel and horses, a confetti machine, and a fireworks display that cost over $2,000. Lyari Resource Centre members claim the event cost anywhere from $300,000 to $800,000. Some of those who shoulder the costs are ‘donors’ who have been forced into contributing resources, according to sources close to the festival. Volunteers walk around the stands, offering guests free food: tea in paper cups and boxes of biscuits and burgers. In the parking lot, someone has tossed away an empty carton of the Pakistani brewed Murree Beer and vendors outside do a brisk trade of selling plates of spiced potatoes. This kind of co-opting of Baloch culture by the crime syndicate is a fairly recent innovation. The group always focused on its ethnic identity, long claiming they were only stereotyped as violent criminals because of who they were, not what they did. But in its brief lifespan, the Baloch Culture Day has gained an added political element, asserting the syndicate as the only legitimate political voice of the Baloch people. In 2012, the syndicate was defiant at the party after the late Benazir Bhutto’s Pakistan Peoples Party publicly disassociated itself from the syndicate after decades of patronage and support (the PPP had previously leaned on the Peoples Amn Committee for votes and, the Amn Committee alleges, a cut of the profits from the smuggling trade). This year, it is celebrating its public kiss-and-make-up session with the PPP through a song composed for the occasion declaring how the spirit of the Bhuttos was well and alive, as is Uzair’s leadership. Lyari is one of Karachi’s oldest districts. It was inhabited by the descendants of African slaves far before the city was even called Karachi. In the modern era of the city, Lyari’s proximity to the ports made it a waystation for illegal weapons and drugs. Small time dealers and gangs proliferated since Pakistan’s independence, often patronized by influential political families that rely on votes and a share of the profits from smuggling. One of these families belonged to Rehman Dakait, a charismatic gang leader turned savior for the impoverished area, who built schools, started handing out cash to the poor and renamed his group the Peoples Amn Committee. But this battle for leadership of Lyari wasn’t easy. Until he was shot dead by the police in 2009, Rehman Dakait and his gang had fought with rival groups—and an ineffectual police force—for the better part of the decade. Bolstered by his support from the Pakistan Peoples Party, Rehman saw the Amn Committee as a way to legitimize his power base. And even though Lyari has become ethnically divided, it is still controlled by the Baloch-led committee. Not that the syndicate’s power or coziness with politicians has helped the district much: it remains underdeveloped, in large part because politicians have only ever needed the support of the syndicate, not of voters who would benefit from more services. Under pressure from opposition parties, the PPP government under Pakistan’s president Asif Ali Zardari banned the Amn Committee in 2011. And so, according to Uzair, the group no longer exists. But if you believe the syndicate’s critics, court dockets and police charge sheets, the syndicate is still responsible for everything from killing opponents in rival gangs and political parties to extorting money from traders. And it still has a hold on the popular imagination in Lyari, where Rehman is still considered a martyr four years after his death, with posters of him everywhere in the district. “So handsome, such swagger,” recalls one resident. “Uzair doesn’t have that.” It’s true: Uzair has little charisma and looks ill at ease when making speeches. But he’s mastered the art of the sound byte; perhaps in part to the dozens of interviews he has given to foreign correspondents that flock to him, at least one of whom could only venture into Lyari in a bullet proof car. Uzair’s second-in-command Noor Mohammad, whose nom de guerre is Baba Laadla (The Favored Man) and who reportedly handles the syndicate’s street fighters, is short and unassuming. He does not talk to reporters, and isn’t on stage or mingling with the politicians. A colleague and I had asked which person was Baba Laadla, and were a little surprised when we were brought to him: it was the same man we had seen and even met at other events, but we never knew that he was Baba Laadla. He provides short, clipped answers to our questions about the event, all the while typing away on a cheap Nokia cell phone. His basic explanation for what he’s doing at the event is “handling security.” Uzair may lack charm, but he has what Rehman never did: a shot at political legitimacy. His Facebook community page (Tagline: “The New Lyari Hero”), with 1,747 likes, is filed under Elections and includes polls about whether he should run for office (resounding verdict: YES). At the Baloch Culture Day festivities, he surrounds himself with high profile political guests, as TV crews eagerly record his diatribes against the Muttahida Qaumi Movement, a critic of the syndicate whose own members routinely face off against Baloch’s men. The Muttahida Qaumi Movement is one of Karachi’s dominant political parties, but it has a sordid history of battling rival groups and the state and is still allegedly implicated in crime itself. Uzair’s criticism of them resonates with many in Karachi, especially in his districts. When I ask Uzair later how he has measured up to Rehman’s legacy, he dismisses the question, saying, “that was the past… the story has changed now.” Despite the portraits of Rehman that are strung up around the event— this is clearly a very well-attended changing of the guard ceremony. Is Baloch Culture Day meant to whitewash the Peoples Amn Committee’s alleged crimes? “Which ethnic group does not have criminals in its midst?” counters Zafar Baloch, Uzair’s deputy for political affairs, as he rests his arm on the cane he has been using since he survived an assassination attempt in 2010. “We have been branded a group of barbaric, bloodthirsty predators,” Zafar says. “We are an ancestral group; our city was built by Lyari’s fishermen and laborers. This event is to showcase our culture.” “If we were criminals, would elected officials be here?” Uzair asks. All of this celebration comes despite the fact that Balochistan, whose borders starts around 30 km from Lyari, is currently in the grips of ongoing military campaigns, terror attacks and unexplained disappearances. But if a lavish celebration during such sorrowful times is in poor taste, Lyari’s Baloch residents don’t seem to mind. No one has forced them to come celebrate. And it’s not just the free food that draws them; it’s the opportunity to show their pride in their beleaguered district, to sing anthems of the Baloch people. And for many, the Peoples Amn Committee represents the only hope for proper political representation and development funding. It is certainly the only group willing to defy the government and political parties that believe Lyari needs to be “cleaned out” of criminals (that’s the belligerent phrasing of government officials like PPP legislator Nabeel Gabol). When Uzair haltingly promises that Lyari will one day lead the way for peace in Karachi, the gathered crowd applauds. Forget crime or punishment. Lyari’s Baloch people have been let down by political parties far too often. Uzair is their only bet.
Toni Braxton said she believes God’s payback for her previous abortion was to give her son autism. In the singer’s new book she opens up about an abortion she had before in 2001 before she was married. Braxton said the abortion has haunted her through the years and caused her to wonder if her second son’s autism diagnosis was her punishment for the procedure. More than anything, Toni says, she is ashamed of herself for going through with the procedure. Braxton was raised in a very religious household that impressed upon her that God rules with an iron fist and judges people for sins they commit. The songstress describes her childhood as being reared in a very strict household. Braxton says she could not wear pants and during Lent season she was forced to fast for two weeks. The church her family attended forced students to memorize at least 25 Bible scriptures each week; many times she had to neglect doing her homework in order to accomplish this mandate. In her new book entitled, Unbreak My Heart, Braxton explores many of these issues. She deals with her belief that God may also be punishing her by her parents’ divorce as well as her own lupus diagnosis. Toni, who has experienced a lot of suffering lately, recently lost the rights to many of her songs after declaring bankruptcy twice. She maintained the rights to Unbreak My Heart, which is why she chose to title her autobiography after this song Braxton wonders if this is just a coincidence but noted her strict and religious upbringing has left a huge impact on her and she no longer wants to suppress what she feels. The motto of her household while growing up was, “Shut your mouth and suppress your feelings and opinions.” The sad reality for Braxton, just like so many others, is she relates God to a hard taskmaster as opposed to a loving father who wants the best for his children. Toni is one of many with the belief that God is cold and distant; only dealing with his creation by rules and logistics. There is a scripture in the Bible, Deuteronomy 23, which states when a child was born a bastard under the law he (or she) could not go into the “House of the Lord” because they were not connected to a father. The theory at that time was a disconnected child would never really understand who God is because they had no knowledge of a father’s love. There are a lot of people who know God as a higher power but not a loving parent. Braxton is the perfect example of so many Christians who have failed to recognize that God is not some judge waiting to sentence his creation instead he is a father who loves and embraces his children. These believers carry the ideal if they mess up God will get mad at them, and in some form, curse them. A true father does not love because of what his child does; he simply loves because they are his children. When a child falls and gets dirty their parent does not stop loving them, instead they pick them up while they are still dirty and immediately tries to ease their discomfort. This is the mark of a loving father and sadly far too many people, like Toni, do not know God as such; they think God acts like the people in their circle of “love.” When they mess up they believe God turns his back on them and replaces his love with judgment. There is another verse in the Bible which reads, “While we were still in sin, Christ died for the ungodly.” This seems to describe a God who does not love people more because they are “saved” or because they attend church. He loves all his children. Jesus also addressed this topic very directly in the ninth chapter of John when he and his disciples come across a blind man. His disciples asked him, Rabbi who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind? Neither this man nor his parents sinned, said Jesus, but this happened so that the works of God might be displayed in his life (John 9:2–3). This seems to speak loud and clear – something else was going on in this man’s suffering other than retributive exchange. The man’s affliction was not evidence of a curse or punishment. Life happens and it is never void of purpose. The side effect of this “judgmental” type of belief is it implies if a person experiences suffering in some way, it is a result of some hidden sin. Toni Braxton said she believes God is somehow using her son’s autism as payback for an abortion she had is 2001. The singer said the abortion has haunted her for a long time and caused her to wonder if she was being punished for her sin. The truth is grace fundamentally rejects this theory. Opinion by: Cherese Jackson (Virginia) Source: Christian Post
Rights groups have been taking Macedonian authorities to task for their apparent dilatory response to violence that marred the country's first-ever Gay Pride Week last month.The landmark event, which was meant to raise awareness about lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) issues, was severely disrupted by an audacious attack on an LGBT center in the capital, Skopje.As the center was screening some gay-themed short films on June 22, a rabble of around 30 youths launched an assault on the building. They began by shouting homophobic chants and slogans before throwing rocks, bottles, and bricks, causing substantial damage and injuring one policeman who was hit by an object while trying to disperse the mob.Despite the fact that the attack took place inand was recorded on CCTV, the police have failed to apprehend any perpetrators even though more than a month has elapsed since the incident. This has prompted some activists to suggest that they may not be looking too hard to find the culprits."This attitude of the police leaves an impression that violence is being legitimized and that anyone who opts for LGBT rights can be attacked," the head of the Macedonian Helsinki Committee, Uranija Pirovska, told"How can the police not find them when there is footage in existence?” she asked.The Helsinki Committee has now published a video of the incident on YouTube as well as footage of a subsequent attack on the center, which took place when it was closed, in the hope that it might help catch the culprits.Human Rights Watch has alsoto homophobic incidents, saying that the authorities have been turning "a blind eye" to several anti-LGBT attacks in recent months."Of great concern to Human Rights Watch is the fact that neither you nor anyone else from your government condemned these attacks publicly or urged Macedonian society to refrain from discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity," the organization said in ato Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski earlier this month.The letter goes on to say that the "lack of a government response adds to the vulnerability of [LGBT] people in Macedonia and brings into question your government’s commitment to the principles of nondiscrimination and equality."In 2011, the International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association rated Macedonia as thein the Balkans, a region widely seen as aNeighboring Montenegro's ownwas rocked by violence on July 24 when police clashed with antigay protesters trying to disrupt the procession.Late last year, a scheduled gay-pride march in Belgrade wasto prevent possible violence and public disorder.-- Coilin O'Connor
Gov. Bob McDonnell shifted from his usual response when questioned about a potential vice presidential bid while speaking on WTOP's "Ask the Governor." He had previously indicated he was not actively seeking the position, but that he might consider it if asked. Paul D. Shinkman, wtop.com Tw: @ShinkmanWTOP WASHINGTON – The Virginia governor indicated on Tuesday the Mitt Romney camp might be considering him for vice president. Gov. Bob McDonnell shifted from his usual response when questioned about a potential vice presidential bid while speaking on WTOP’s “Ask the Governor.” He had previously indicated he was not actively seeking the position, but might consider it if asked. On Tuesday, he told WTOP he would not comment now that Romney is openly vetting candidates, such as Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., a Tea Party favorite. “I’m not discussing the vice presidential vetting process,” said McDonnell, the governor of the nation’s top state for business, according to a 2011 study. “You can address those questions to the Romney campaign.” The change in tone indicates he might soon become one of the other public figures Romney is now openly vetting for the position. In April, McDonnell told WTOP he would be open to accepting the position of running mate, if asked. “If the nominee comes, of course you consider it,” McDonnell said, adding he is not proactively “looking for” or “asking for” the position. In May, McDonnell told WTOP he was planning to finish out his term as governor, suggesting he would not leave before finishing his term in 2012 to campaign as a member of Romney’s ticket. He also said categorically he was not being vetted by the campaign at that time. WTOP’s Mark Segraves contributed to this report. Follow Paul and WTOP on Twitter. (Copyright 2012 by WTOP. All Rights Reserved.)
Life is like a box of running shoes. You have to take the shoes out of the box to experience them. I’ve shared a few blog posts with you about my past, present and future with running. I touched on my youth when my family went through the “Will Run For T-Shirts” phase that had us scrambling early Saturday mornings to get to such famous races as the Windsor Zucchini Festival Fun Run. I’ve reflected on the lesson on pace that I learned during my first childhood race… and I’ve mentioned this Saturday’s 5K that’s being hosted by Mickey Mouse Incorporated. However, I’ve been using the word “running” in the loosest sense. For a man dancing around the 250 pound mark, running isn’t the same as it was when I was a kid. Back then a pair of Converse All-Star High Tops (with or without socks) was all that I needed to sprint gazelle-like through the crowds of old people. Imagine my surprise when I tried to run like I used to as a kid. At some point I’d changed from sleek gazelle into a water buffalo- sloth hybrid. For the last couple months I have been slowly ramping up my gazelleness. It started with walking. Then I added some walking. Then, just to mix things up a little so I wouldn’t get bored, I added some walking. After a while I started adding short little, 20 yard shuffle-trots that looked less like running and more like an injured zombie. To complete the image, I’d complain and moan: “Straaaaiiins… Paaaiiins…” Over time the 20 yard jogs hidden in the middle of the walks became longer and longer. I would jog until I couldn’t give my body the oxygen it needed to stay upright. Then I would slow to a walk and try not to seem too much like a panting dog in August. When the tunnel vision subsided and my lungs were capable of breathing again I would try to jog a bit more. Shannon has been on this adventure with me from the beginning. When we started our 5K walks there was very little clock watching going on. It took us just under an hour to walk-shuffle that far, but it hardly mattered since the exercise was the only goal. After signing up for the Disney 5K and learning about their 16 minute per mile pace minimum, we started caring a lot more about how much time it took to cover 3.1 miles. No matter how fast we walked (and mini-jogged) we seemed stuck in the 50+ minute range. Slowly over the last few weeks we’ve seen the minutes slip off of our time and the jogging portions of our run elongate. Then we reached a tipping point and everything seemed to click into place. Now I’m pleased to say that the constant shuffling has really paid off. Just this week I completed my first 5K run without walking any of it. I jogged the entire way- like a boss. It wasn’t fast, but it was more than a shuffle. I kept waiting for the tunnel vision and oxygen deprivation to remind me it was time to walk for a while, but it never reared its ugly head. And the time… 39 minutes, 30 seconds. I was amazed. Pride, joy, accomplishment- these mere words can not do justice to the elation I felt. Granted, I was on the verge of collapse by the end and my runners high may have influenced my mood but even now I’m rather amazed by the accomplishment. With the Disney 5K less than 48 hours away, I am confident that I will not need to get on the pace bus that picks up the stragglers not keeping pace. This type of stress made the race seem less fun when I first learned about it, but I’m not sure if I would have accomplished this amazing reacquisition of running without the carrot and stick system offered by Mickey Mouse. I am proud and still a little surprised that I can actually call myself a runner again.
I recently came across an interesting link on the popular social news site Reddit about a B-movie that was filmed in Wichita. Having been a fan of low-budget gems since childhood, I was instantly intrigued. The film is titled The Beast from The Beginning of Time. According to a retrospective look by Richard Chamberlain, it was filmed in Wichita in 1965 by a group of local personalities that worked for KSN-TV, known back then as KARD. The plot involves an unearthed caveman who goes on a murderous rampage when he hears the sound of thunder. Directed by local television host Tom Leahy, the film stars longtime Wichita State University theater director Dick Welsbacher and local Santa Clause legend Henry Harvey. You can view the film on Youtube as part one, part two, and the climactic part three: According to the film's assistant director, Don Golledge, it was made for only $8,000. The movie's cast and crew members each pitched in $98 to help fund the film. It was shot at Lake Afton, parts of west Wichita, the Wichita Municipal Airport and KSN studios in the middle of the night to help accommodate for the crew's regular work schedule. With the exception of a cast party screening, the film sat on the shelf for the next 15 years until it was broadcasted as a Halloween special in 1980. "It was a blast and I'm glad we did it," says Golledge. " It was one of the worst movies ever made, but it was a great time." Another B-movie that was filmed in Wichita is King Kung Fu. Directed by Lance Hayes, the plot involves a martial arts-trained gorilla from China being set loose in Kansas. Similar to Beast, the film stars Leahy and includes KMUW's own Pat Hayes and Jim Erickson. According to the film's director, Lance Hayes, the budget of the film was $100,000, but costs grew when prints of the film needed to be made for screenings. With production beginning in 1974, the film took nine months to shoot, but almost three years to finish special effects, which included stop motion and editing. Shot all over Wichita, you can catch local landmarks like Lawrence-Dumont Stadium, Century II and the Garvey Center. The film first screened more than a decade later in 1987 for a two-week run at the Crest Theater. Shortly afterward, it was aired on KAKE-TV. The movie has since played at the historic Orpheum Theater for a couple of benefit showings. King Kung Fu eventually saw a DVD release in 2007. "It certainly had its problems, but I would view it as an accomplishment," says Lance Hayes. "Besides, how many people can say they got to make a movie in Wichita, Kansas?" Other B-movies that have filmed in Wichita include Darkness, which is celebrating its 20th anniversary with a screening at this year's Tallgrass Film Festival, and The Dead Can't Dance, which you can catch at the Palace later this month as part of the theater's October cult film series. While the city may have a relatively short history with B-movies, it might have a bright future with the film industry as a whole. According to the website Moviemaker, the Wichita film community was listed in the “On The Rise” category because of its ongoing transformation into a cultural and entertainment center. The city provides perks for the average filmmakers that include a 30 percent tax credit and no state filming permit requirement or hotel occupancy taxes for anybody staying over 28 days. With these incentives to film in Wichita, maybe filmmakers, both local and abroad, will produce more films here...even if they are deliciously bad.
It turns out we were too hard on Bloody Disgusting last year when the website stuck to its proton packs and maintained that Slimer would be in the new Ghostbusters movie despite director Paul Feig’s refusal on the matter. (Though we did point out that Feig never actually denied the Slimer rumor, just a potentially falsified IMDB listing. Please still trust us!) As it turns out, actor Michael K. Williams (The Wire, Boardwalk Empire) told Entertainment Weekly in a recent interview that his character, an FBI agent, shares a scene with Slimer. I’m not going to lie, working with Melissa, and Kristen, and Kate was really dope. But I got to work with Slimer, dude. Like, Slimer!!! I’m in a scene with Slimer! I’m a huge Ghostbusters fan, and it was a dream come true. Advertisement He’s probably thankful that he didn’t have to share a scene with Library Ghost Woman, who is still one of the scariest things that’s ever happened. Williams also had some nice things to say about the cast: That was a dream job. They’re at the top of their game, man. I had the pleasure of working with Kristen Wiig and Kate McKinnon on a show on IFC called Spoils Before Dying. So, I had a relationship with them already. Leslie Jones, you meet her once, you feel you’ve known her your whole life. She penetrates any walls or any barriers you may have, she goes right through that, right to your heart chakra. And Melissa [McCarthy], she’s just a gem. I have so much respect for these ladies. Advertisement The internet can now commence celebrating that Slimer is in the movie and continue caterwauling about how these women are ruining the franchise or something.
ryanp Jun 2012 San Mateo, CA 24×32 Posts RSA-210 factored RSA-210 has been factored by GNFS. The 210-digit composite Code: N = 245246644900278211976517663573088018467026787678332759743414451715061600830038587216952208399332071549103626827191679864079776723243005600592035631246561218465817904100131859299619933817012149335034875870551067 Code: Thu Sep 26 07:17:57 2013 prp105 factor: 435958568325940791799951965387214406385470910265220196318705482144524085345275999740244625255428455944579 Thu Sep 26 07:17:57 2013 prp105 factor: 562545761726884103756277007304447481743876944007510545104946851094548396577479473472146228550799322939273 Code: Mon Sep 23 11:09:41 2013 commencing Lanczos iteration (32 threads) Mon Sep 23 11:09:41 2013 memory use: 26956.9 MB Mon Sep 23 11:10:27 2013 restarting at iteration 1026631 (dim = 64920012) Mon Sep 23 11:13:33 2013 linear algebra at 99.3%, ETA 15h43m Mon Sep 23 11:14:32 2013 checkpointing every 30000 dimensions Tue Sep 24 02:21:56 2013 lanczos halted after 1033963 iterations (dim = 65383602) Tue Sep 24 02:24:01 2013 recovered 22 nontrivial dependencies Tue Sep 24 02:24:17 2013 BLanczosTime: 55712 Tue Sep 24 02:24:17 2013 elapsed time 15:28:33 Tue Sep 24 03:21:13 2013 Tue Sep 24 03:21:13 2013 Tue Sep 24 03:21:13 2013 Msieve v. 1.52 (SVN 936M) Tue Sep 24 03:21:13 2013 random seeds: 6af9ef2b 972abb4d Tue Sep 24 03:21:13 2013 factoring 245246644900278211976517663573088018467026787678332759743414451715061600830038587216952208399332071549103626827191679864079776723243005600592035631246561218465817904100131859299619933817012149335034875870551067 (210 digits) Tue Sep 24 03:21:14 2013 no P-1/P+1/ECM available, skipping Tue Sep 24 03:21:14 2013 commencing number field sieve (210-digit input) Tue Sep 24 03:21:14 2013 R0: -8311128239923121259046301811046853 Tue Sep 24 03:21:14 2013 R1: 63190692009226810471 Tue Sep 24 03:21:14 2013 A0: -46373978032319633360321876974395396247530766893600 Tue Sep 24 03:21:14 2013 A1: 4926444336634688706035599320492329943566740 Tue Sep 24 03:21:14 2013 A2: 415031002380786834672968277117654072 Tue Sep 24 03:21:14 2013 A3: -35317070927593920606305065701 Tue Sep 24 03:21:14 2013 A4: -1333072472407237353592 Tue Sep 24 03:21:14 2013 A5: 44263602924186 Tue Sep 24 03:21:14 2013 A6: 744120 Tue Sep 24 03:21:14 2013 skew 21829368.04, size 3.501e-15, alpha -11.183, combined = 1.204e-15 rroots = 6 Tue Sep 24 03:21:14 2013 Tue Sep 24 03:21:14 2013 commencing square root phase Tue Sep 24 03:21:14 2013 reading relations for dependency 1 Tue Sep 24 03:21:25 2013 read 32695123 cycles Tue Sep 24 03:22:39 2013 cycles contain 106934058 unique relations Tue Sep 24 05:32:17 2013 read 106934058 relations Tue Sep 24 05:44:28 2013 multiplying 106934058 relations Tue Sep 24 11:02:59 2013 multiply complete, coefficients have about 6529.43 million bits Tue Sep 24 11:03:59 2013 initial square root is modulo 21002549 Tue Sep 24 16:02:07 2013 GCD is 1, no factor found Tue Sep 24 16:02:07 2013 reading relations for dependency 2 Tue Sep 24 16:03:51 2013 read 32693851 cycles Tue Sep 24 16:05:11 2013 cycles contain 106953756 unique relations Tue Sep 24 18:27:03 2013 read 106953756 relations Tue Sep 24 18:40:10 2013 multiplying 106953756 relations Wed Sep 25 00:19:45 2013 multiply complete, coefficients have about 6530.65 million bits Wed Sep 25 00:20:52 2013 initial square root is modulo 21068617 Wed Sep 25 05:22:23 2013 GCD is N, no factor found Wed Sep 25 05:22:23 2013 reading relations for dependency 3 Wed Sep 25 05:22:52 2013 read 32688271 cycles Wed Sep 25 05:24:16 2013 cycles contain 106919358 unique relations Wed Sep 25 07:44:54 2013 read 106919358 relations Wed Sep 25 07:58:11 2013 multiplying 106919358 relations Wed Sep 25 13:29:11 2013 multiply complete, coefficients have about 6528.53 million bits Wed Sep 25 13:30:14 2013 initial square root is modulo 20953879 Wed Sep 25 18:25:01 2013 GCD is N, no factor found Wed Sep 25 18:25:01 2013 reading relations for dependency 4 Wed Sep 25 18:26:40 2013 read 32684333 cycles Wed Sep 25 18:27:56 2013 cycles contain 106923636 unique relations Wed Sep 25 20:42:16 2013 read 106923636 relations Wed Sep 25 20:53:54 2013 multiplying 106923636 relations Thu Sep 26 02:18:38 2013 multiply complete, coefficients have about 6528.80 million bits Thu Sep 26 02:19:46 2013 initial square root is modulo 20968403 Thu Sep 26 07:17:57 2013 sqrtTime: 187003 Thu Sep 26 07:17:57 2013 prp105 factor: 435958568325940791799951965387214406385470910265220196318705482144524085345275999740244625255428455944579 Thu Sep 26 07:17:57 2013 prp105 factor: 562545761726884103756277007304447481743876944007510545104946851094548396577479473472146228550799322939273 Thu Sep 26 07:17:57 2013 elapsed time 51:56:44 Hello all,RSA-210 has been factored by GNFS. The 210-digit compositeis the product of two 105-primes:I'll write a more thorough report when I get some free time, but for now here's a portion of the msieve log showing at least the poly used, as well as some stats about the linear algebra and square root phases.Thanks to the authors of msieve and GGNFS for helping make this factorization possible!
Most people focus on the wrong things when they apply to graduate programs. They usually focus on the location (e.g., close to home, nice weather) and prestige of the program. This is NOT what you should focus on! Rather, I was told that the three most important things to focus on in applying to graduate were 1. Mentor, 2. Mentor, and 3. Mentor. This is SO true. In my post “ 5 Truths About Graduate School That Nobody Tells You ” I pointed out that above all else, graduate school is an apprenticeship. You want the chance to learn how to produce the best research on a topic you are passionate about from the best possible teacher. That is your dream program. Why should you listen to me? I got accepted into and received full-tuition scholarships and paid assistantships/fellowships at all seven programs I applied to. I calculated the value of my offer from one program and found it was worth over $500,000. So how do you set yourself up for finding and then getting into your dream program? Here are 7 things you should know and do to prepare for acceptance to your dream grad program. #1 Find Out What Really Interests You Finding the right graduate school is about finding a good match. Before you start looking, you’ve got to know what you would be passionate about studying for the next 8-10 years. It may be something you study for the rest of your life! On Thursday I will devote an entire post why it’s important to choose something you feel passion for and how to choose such a topic, so stay tuned. Only when you know what are some things you would to do research on can you really begin the process of discovering what your dream grad program is. #2 Get Research Experience Getting research experience is SO important for preparing for your dream graduate program for a number of reasons: 1. It is a good test to see if you would actually really like doing research and whether you belong in graduate school to begin with. 2. It can help you figure out what you are most interested in studying (or it can eliminate some topics) by exposing you to the actual research process on potential topics. 3. It will set your application apart from the rest because you will have real world experience in doing research and as a result you are a step ahead of most applicants on what matters most to the professors who will hire you as their apprentice. To find a research opportunity keep your ear open, check bulletin boards, ask department secretaries, and talk to fellow students. Look up all the professors in your department and seeing who is doing research you may be interested in. Email the professor and let her know how interested you are in her topic. Volunteer your time to help in any way on any of her projects that she could use help with. Also, suggest that if she isn’t taking students, you would love to know if she is aware of any other professor who might be looking for some extra help because you are interested in getting experience for graduate school. When you get a research position, make sure that you do a rocking so that you can learn everything you can and so that you can get a killer recommendation from the professor. #3 Select Classes that Will Best Prepare You It’s sometimes easy to focus on classes you may have heard are easy, but select your undergrad classes with graduate school in mind and don’t just take the easy route. Take the classes that could help you learn about what is your passion, but also make sure to take as many of the research methods and statistics type of classes as you can as these will be the best preparation for graduate school you could get. #4 Keep your Grades Strong When selecting research assistants, I’ve found that grades are the most important predictor of a good research assistant. I think this is because grades are the mark of not only having a high degree of , but of being responsible and dependable. You may want to retake classes you did poorly in and definitely make the extra effort to get your GPA as high as possible, because this will be a huge factor in whether you get admitted to your dream program. If you had some hiccups along the way, you can briefly explain this in the cover letter of your application. If you think research methods/stats classes aren’t your best subject and could hurt your GPA, you could also consider taking them the semester after your applications have been submitted when your grades no longer really matter. #5 Rock the GRE (Or Major Test in Your Field) Like research experience and GPA, GRE (or the equivalent in your field) is taken very seriously. Invest the time and money to get books, classes, or materials to ensure you do very well. Not finishing is actually what hurts the scores of a lot of people, so make sure to do PLENTY of practice tests. #6 Find Someone with a Current Track Record of Now that you know what you are interested in and have prepared yourself for success, it's time to find someone good who matches your research interests. If you were a carpenter looking for someone to teach you how to build good tables, would you choose someone who was constantly building several good tables all the time or someone who hadn’t really built many tables at all? OK, so that’s a stupid, obvious , right? This is why it’s crucial to examine the curriculum vitae (that includes a list of publications and most always can be found online) of potential graduate advisors. Some professors may have previously been productive but are now coasting, sailing off into the sunset as it were, and not doing much research anymore. You don’t want to work with these people, so their recent record should be the most important to you. If you want to be productive, you need to learn from someone who is productive. #7 Contact the Professor & Talk to His Students I’ll admit that this is the step that I messed up on and it cost me dearly. I went to a program in which I had 4-5 people that I thought I could work well with. I thought it would all work out, but as it turns out none of those people were taking students that year so I was put with someone whose research interests I did not share and I eventually had to switch programs. I wish now that I had emailed these professors to find out whether they were taking students and whether they were interested in me. Making this contact is important, because if they are taking students and are interested in you, they will go to bat for you to get you into the program and this could make all the difference for you. If you are finding a potential match, I would contact some of his students to find out what it is like to work for him. Getting an inside scoop can be very helpful in making your final decision. I give many more details about finding good research experience, important suggestions about figuring out who would be a good research match and contacting this professor, and other things to consider in deciding on a graduate program in my book Publish and Prosper, check it out. Also, to receive regular updates from this blog, please like my Facebook page. Take Action! I encourage you to take action to prepare for your dream grad program now by completing some "Wrap Up Exercises" that will help you apply the important principles I've discussed here. Simply go to my website and then click on "Book Exercise Downloads" and then click on the free download of "Chapter 13 Wrap up Exercises." This will be very helpful for you to begin to actually take the needed steps to accomplish your dream! On Thursday I will blog about some ideas for finding a topic that you feel passionate about. Until then, happy writing!
With the sense that Valve will never continue the Half-Life 2 story, the modding community has picked up where the developer left off. We've prepared a roundup of some of those attempts. Posted by ModDB.Editorial on Nov 15th, 2017 It’s been just over ten years since Half-Life 2: Episode Two released, and the sense that its cliffhanger ending will be resolved with the release Episode Three – or even a full-fledged Half-Life 3 – is close to zero. However, that hasn’t stopped enterprising mod teams from filling the previous decade with their own attempts at providing closure to the Half-Life 2 story with a plethora of Source mods that provide their own interpretations of what Episode Three could be. Although those mod teams have been working away separately for years, the recent departure of Half-Life series writer Marc Laidlaw from Valve and his cheeky leak of the official Half-Life 2: Episode Three plot has prompted a resurgence of interest in the Half-Life story. A game jam themed around this leak, the Epistle 3 Game Jam, was recently held – resulting in over 30 new continuations of the Half-Life story; some comedic, some dramatic, and many in between. Consider this a collection of all the available directions that the community has taken the Half-Life story. These efforts are spurred by a strange combination of Valve fostering a dedicated community of modders with strong tools and assets, as well as by Valve’s own lack of motivation to continue the series of games itself. Half Life 2: Episode 3 may never come out. And now, with these mods and game jam entries, there is no one single version of the story’s continuation. The game will remain an abstract possibility, and if it continues to sprout creative works such as these, that might not be such a bad thing after all. This mod pulls together content that was previously leaked in 2007. This includes multiple Valve-created levels that were used as testbeds for new gameplay ideas, new weapons, a few new enemies, and more. It’s not an entire story continuation, but it’s a glimpse at what Valve actually had in the works for Half-Life 2: Episode 3. Though no playable releases exist yet, this Russian-created mod attempts to recreate the snow-covered areas and enemies that were hinted at being included in Half-Life 2: Episode 3 One of the most complete attempts at recreating Half-Life 2: Episode 3 so far, The Closure plays it straight down the middle and attempts to stick to Half-Life 2’s tone and world, despite some inconsistencies with the established story methods – such as seeing Gordon Freeman in cutscenes. Though this mod gives just a taste of the arctic locations from Half-Life 2: Episode 3, it features exploration and scripted sequences that continue the Half-Life vibe and hint at the kind of action that would take place when exploring the locations around the Borealis. With easily the most authentic Half-Life style intro yet, which sees Alyx and Gordon’s helicopter crash into the snow as the G-Man appears, Half-Life: Interlude already features some high quality environmental design and scripting. Continue the incredible Half-Life 2 Storyline somewhere in the antarctic through ice landscapes and underground bases inspired by Half-Life and conspiracy theories like the "Dulce Underground Bases" and the "Nightmare Hall" all in the comfort of a new MKVII HEV Suit. It remains to be seen if Half-Life 3 will see the light of day, but no doubt the modding community will continue to work on filling the gaps...
Obama to visit Mexico and Costa Rica in May President Obama (Photo11: Pablo Martinez Monsivais, AP) Immigration and economic development will be major topics when President Obama visits Mexico and Costa Rica on May 2-4. Obama told the Univision television network Wednesday that increasing trade and economic cooperation in Mexico and Central America will help address other problems. "A lot of what drives both illegal immigration to the United States -- but also what drives a lot of the violence in these countries -- is a lack of opportunity," Obama said. He added: "If we can help them to grow, that could be good for the United States, that could be good for those countries as well." From the White House announcement of the trip: "In Mexico, the president looks forward to meeting with President Pena Nieto. ... The president welcomes the opportunity to discuss ways to deepen our economic and commercial partnership and further our engagement on the broad array of bilateral, regional, and global issues that connect our two countries. "In Costa Rica, the president looks forward to the opportunity to meet with President Chinchilla as well as heads of state of the other Central American countries and the Dominican Republic, whom President Chinchilla has graciously offered to host. "The trip will be an important chance to discuss our collective efforts to promote economic growth and development in Central America and our ongoing collaboration on citizen security." Read or Share this story: http://usat.ly/10gntKi
The 35-year-old challenges a couple of strangers to a match when she sees them playing during a late-night walk Published 6:29 PM, March 01, 2017 MANILA, Philippines – Serena Williams is never too legendary for a random pickup tennis match. The 35-year-old challenged a couple of strangers to a match when she saw them playing during a late-night walk, reportedly in San Francisco. The 2017 Australian Open champion documented it on Snapchat. SB Nation put together the videos and posted it on Twitter. Williams is seen in the video surprising the two players who were stunned to see the 23-time Grand Slam champion. .@SerenaWilliams surprised two random fans by playing them in tennis and put it on Snapchat! pic.twitter.com/Jo9i83icqR — SB Nation (@SBNation) February 27, 2017 – Rappler.com
Image copyright AFP Image caption An Iranian man pictured at the gallows, shortly before his victim's mother chose to pardon him and spare his life Iran's justice minister is looking for an "effective punishment" for criminals instead of execution, according to local media. Mostafa Pourmohammadi said he thought the number of capital crimes should be revised, the Tasnim News Agency said. "In fact we want to find the most effective kind of punishment so that we are able to consider replacing execution," Mr Pourmohammadi said. The minister said the death penalty should be kept for "corrupt people". Fears over Iran woman's execution Journalist sues Iran over 'torture' 'Disturbing rise' in global executions "Of course, maintaining execution as a punishment is still on the agenda, but not in the numbers implemented today," Mr Pourmohammadi said. "The punishment of execution cannot be rejected, as there are some corrupt people in the country and there is no way for them but execution," he added. Image copyright AFP Image caption Iran's Justice Minister Mostafa Pourmohammadi is considering alternatives to capital punishment However, the minister observed that executions seemed to have had no deterrent effect over the past years. Iran executed at least 977 people in 2015 - the vast majority for drug-related crimes - compared with 743 the year before, according to Amnesty International. BBC Persian sources said that executing people for drug offences has recently sparked a debate in Iran. Users caught with small amounts of drugs intended for personal use are being sentenced to death, which some believe is excessive. Iran's justice system is based on Sharia law, which does not make capital punishment obligatory for drug crimes. Amnesty figures released in April stated that Iran, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia are responsible for 89% of the world's judicial executions. However, this does not take account of China, where thousands are believed to be killed and the records kept secret.
Ethics for Programmers: Primum non Nocere I've been mulling over these ideas for quite a while, and I think I may still have more thinking to do, but recent events have gotten me thinking again about the increasing urgency of the need for a professional code of conduct for computer programmers. I posit that, in no uncertain terms, it is a strong ethical obligation on the part of the programmer to make sure that programs do, always, and only, what the user asks them to. "The user" may in some cases be an ambiguous term, such as on a web-based system where customers interact with a system owned by someone else, and in these cases the programmer should strive to balance those concerns as exactly as possible: the administrator of the system should have no unnecessary access to the user's personal information, and the user should have no unnecessary control over the system's operation. All interactions with the system should faithfully represent both the intent and authority of the operator. Participants in the DRM debate implicitly hold the view that the ownership of your operating system, your personal information, and your media is a complex, joint relationship between you, your operating system vendor, the authors of the applications you run, and the owners of any media that pass through that application. Prevailing wisdom is that the way any given software behaves should be jointly determined by all these parties, factoring in all their interests, and that the argument is simply a matter of degree: who should be given how much control, and by what mechanism. I don't like to think of myself as an extremist, but on this issue, I can find no other position to take. When I hear lawmakers, commercial software developers, and even other open source programmers, asking questions like, "how much control should we afford to content producers in media playback programs?", I cannot help but think of Charles Babbage. On two occasions I have been asked [by members of Parliament!], 'Pray, Mr. Babbage, if you put into the machine wrong figures, will the right answers come out?' I am not able rightly to apprehend the kind of confusion of ideas that could provoke such a question. The "you don't own your computer" paradigm is not merely wrong. It is violently, disastrously wrong, and the consequences of this error are likely to be felt for generations to come, unless steps are taken to prevent it. Computer programmers need a socially, and legally recognized code of professional ethics, to which we can be held accountable. There have been some efforts in this direction, the most widely-known one being the Although there are many different codes of ethics for medical doctors, a principle which echoes through them all is one which was formulated in ancient history, originally by The idea is that, if you are going to be someone's doctor, you have to help them, or at least, you shouldn't ever harm them. Doctors generally regard this as a sacred responsibility. This basic tenet of the doctor-patient relationship typically overrides all other considerations: the doctor's payment, the good or harm that the patient has done or may do, and the advancement of medical science all take a back seat to the welfare of the patient. In this modern day and age, where doctors often perform general anesthesia on their patients to prepare them for surgery, this understanding is critical to the credibility of the medical profession as it stands. Who would knowingly submit themselves to a doctor, knowing that they might give you a secondary, curable disease, just to ensure they got paid? Lawyers have a similar, although slightly more nuanced, principle. Anybody who has watched a few episodes of Law and Order knows about it. A slightly more authoritative source than NBC, though, is the American Bar Association, who in their The professional judgement of a lawyer should be exercised, within the bounds of the law, solely for the benefit of his client and free of compromising influences and loyalties. Neither his personal interests, nor the interests of other clients, nor the desires of third persons should be permitted to dilute his loyalty to his client. (emphasis mine) For criminal defense lawyers, these "compromising influences and loyalties" may include a basic committment to the public good. A lawyer who represents a serial murderer who privately admits to having committed heinous crimes must, to the best of their ability, represent the sociopath's interests and try to get them exonerated, or, failing that, the lightest sentence possible. Low as we as a society might consider a lawyer who defends rapists and murderers, we would think even more poorly of one who gave intentionally bad advice to people who he personally didn't like, or sold out his client's interests to the highest bidder. A doctor's responsibility is somewhat the same. If a doctor is treating a deeply evil person, they are still obligated by the aforementioned sacred patient/doctor pact to honestly treat that person, not use their position as a doctor to proclaim a death sentence, or cripple them. They are obligated to treat that person equitably, even if that person's evil extends to not paying their medical bills. This pattern isn't confined to professional trades. Catholic priests have the concept of the "any circumstances, regardless of the possible harm to others. A priest certainly shouldn't threaten their flock with knowledge of their confessed sins to increase contributions to the donation plate, even if one of them has confessed a murder. In each case, society calls upon a specialist for navigating a system too complex for laymen to understand: the body, the law, and the soul. In each case, both society at large and individuals privately put their trust completely into someone allegedly capable of navigating that system. Finally, in each case, the trust of that relationship is considered paramount, above the practitioner's idea of the public good, above the practitioner's (and other's) financial considerations. There is a good reason for these restrictions. Society has systems in place to make these judgements. Criminal defense lawyers are not allowed to judge their clients because that's the judge's job. Doctors aren't allowed to pass sentences on their clients because that's the legal system's job. Catholic priests don't judge their confessors because that's God's job. More importantly, each of these functions may only be performed with the trust of the "client" - and it is important for the client to know that their trust will not be abused, even for an otherwise laudable goal, such as social welfare, because notions of social welfare differ. I believe that computer programmers are a fourth such function. Global telecommunications and digital recording are new enough that I think this is likely to be considered a radical idea. However, think of the importance of computer systems in our society today. Critical functions such as banking, mass transit, law enforcement, and commerce would not be able to take place on the scale they do today without the help of computer systems. Apropos of my prior descriptions, every lawyer and doctor's office has a computer, and they rely on the information provided by their computer systems to do their jobs. More importantly, computers increasingly handle a central role in our individual lives. Many of us pay our bills on a computer, do our taxes on a computer, do our school work or our jobs on computers. Sometimes all of these things even happen on one computer. Today, in 2005, most of those tasks can be accomplished without a computer (with the exception, for those of us with technical professions, of our jobs) but as the public systems we need to interact with are increasingly computerized, it may not reasonable to expect that it will be possible to lead an average modern life in 100 years without the aid of a personal computing device of some kind. If that sounds like an extreme time frame, consider the relative importance of the automobile, or the telephone, in today's society versus 1905. It's not simply a matter of convenience. Today it is considered a basic right today for accused criminals to make a phone call. Where was that right when there were no telephones? Another way to think of this relationship with technology is not that we do a lot of things with computers, but that our computers do a lot of things on our behalf. They buy things. They play movies. They make legal claims about our incomes to the federal government. Most protocol specifications refer to a program which acts on your behalf (such as a web browser) as a user agent to reflect this responsibility. You are not buying a book on Amazon with your computer; you click on some links, you enter some information, and you trust that your computer has taken this information and performed a purchase on your behalf. Your computer could do this without your help, if someone has installed a malicious program on it. It could also pretend to have made a purchase, but actually do nothing at all. Here is where we approach the intersection between programming and ethical obligation. Every time a user sits down to perform a task with a computer, they are, indirectly, trusting the programmers who wrote the code they will be using to accomplish that task. Users give not only the responsibility of performing a specific task, they trust those programs (and thereby their programmers) with intensely personal information: usernames, passwords, social security numbers, credit card numbers - the list goes on and on. There may be a technological solution to this problem, a way to limit the amount of information that each proram needs, and provide users with more control over what different programs can say to each other on their own computer. Some very smart people are working on this, and you can read about some of that work on , but the real problem is that it's the top of a very long, very slippery slope. Its advocates point at the top of that slope and say "See, it's not so bad!" - but where will it end? While I am annoyed, I'm not really that concerned with the use of this kind of technology to prevent copyright violations. It's when we start using it to prevent other sorts of crimes that the real fear sets in. Today, it's considered almost (but not quite) acceptable that Sony installs the digital equivalent of a car-bomb on my computer to prevent me from copying music. As I said at the beginning of this article - they don't think that the practice is inherently wrong, simply that there are some flaws in its implmentation. Where will this stop? Assuming they can perfect the technology, and given that my computer has all the information necessary to do it, will future versions of Sony's music player simply install themselves and lie in wait, monitoring every download, and automatically billing you for anything that looks unauthorized, not telling me about it until I get my credit card statement? Whether unauthorized copying should be a crime or not, preventing it by these means is blatantly wrong. Let me be blunt here. It is simply using a technique to wring more money out of users because the technique is there. Much like the doctor who cuts off your nose and won't reattach it until he gets paid for his other (completely legitimate) services, this is an abuse of trust of the worst order. It doesn't matter how much money you actually owe the doctor, or Sony: in any case, they don't have the right to do violence to you or to your computer because of it. What of "terrorism"? Will mandatory anti-terrorism software, provided to Microsoft by the federal government, monitor and report my computerized activities to the Department of Homeland Security for review? From here, I'll let you fill in the rest of the paranoid ravings. I don't see this particular outcome happening soon, but the concern is real. There is no system in place to prevent such an occurance, no legal or ethical restriction encumbent upon software developers which would prevent it. This social dilemma is the reason I termed the IEEE/ACM ethics code "sophomoric". With the directionless enthusiasm of a college freshman majoring in philosophy, it commands "software engineers" to "Moderate the interests of [themselves], the employer, the client and the users with the public good.", to "Disclose to appropriate persons or authorities any actual or potential danger to the user, the public, or the environment", to "Obey all laws governing their work, unless, in exceptional circumstances, such compliance is inconsistent with the public interest." These are all things that a good person should do, surely, but they are almost vague enough to be completely meaningless. These tenets also have effectively nothing to do with software in specific, let alone software engineering. They are in fact opposed to certain things that software should do, if it's written properly. If the government needs to get information about me, they need a warrant, and that's for good reason. I don't want them taking it off my computer without even asking a judge first, simply because a helpful software engineer thought it might be a "potential danger to the public". Software developers should start considering that accurately reflecting the user's desires is not just a good design principle, it is a sacred duty. Much as it is not the criminal defense lawyer's place to judge their client regardless of how guilty they are, it is not the doctor's place to force experimental treatment upon a patient regardless of how badly the research is needed, and it is not the priest's place to pass worldly judgement on their flock, it is not the programmer's place to try and decide whether the user is using the software in a "good" way or not. I fear that we will proceed down this slippery slope for many years yet. I imagine that a highly public event will happen at some point, a hundred times worse than this minor scandal with Sony BMG, and users the world over will angrily demand change. Even then, there will need to be a movement from within the industry to provide some direction for that change, and some sense of responsibility for the future of software. I hope that some of these ideas can provide direction for those people, when the world is ready, but personally I already write my code this way. I've written about this So, like I said, this post isn't about Divmod - exactly - but when we say "your data is your data"... we mean it. This post isn't about Divmod, exactly.I've been mulling over these ideas for quite a while, and I think I may still have more thinking to do, but recent events have gotten me thinking again about the increasing urgency of the need for a professional code of conduct for computer programmers. Mark Russinovich reported on Sony BMG's criminal contempt for the integrity of their customer's computers , and some days later CNET reported on Sony BMG's halfhearted, temporary retraction of their crime . A day later, CNet's front page has news of Apple trying to institutionalize, as well as patent, a similar technique . While the debate over DRM continues to rage, there are larger issues and principles at stake here that it doesn't seem like anyone is talking about: when you run a program on your computer, who is really in charge?I posit that, in no uncertain terms, it is a strong ethical obligation on the part of the programmer to make sure that programs do,, and, what the user asks them to. "The user" may in some cases be an ambiguous term, such as on a web-based system where customers interact with a system owned by someone else, and in these cases the programmer should strive to balance those concerns as exactly as possible: the administrator of the system should have no unnecessary access to the user's personal information, and the user should have no unnecessary control over the system's operation. All interactions with the system should faithfully represent both the intent and authority of the operator.Participants in the DRM debate implicitly hold the view that the ownership of your operating system, your personal information, and your media is a complex, joint relationship between you, your operating system vendor, the authors of the applications you run, and the owners of any media that pass through that application. Prevailing wisdom is that the way any given software behaves should be jointly determined by all these parties, factoring in all their interests, and that the argument is simply a matter of degree: who should be given how much control, and by what mechanism.I don't like to think of myself as an extremist, but on this issue, I can find no other position to take. When I hear lawmakers, commercial software developers, and even other open source programmers, asking questions like, "how much control should we afford to content producers in media playback programs?", I cannot help but think of Charles Babbage.The "you don't own your computer" paradigm is not merely wrong. It is violently,wrong, and the consequences of this error are likely to be felt for generations to come, unless steps are taken to prevent it.Computer programmers need a socially, and legally recognized code of professional ethics, to which we can be held accountable. There have been some efforts in this direction, the most widely-known one being the Software Engineering Code of Ethics and Professional Practice . As long as I'm being extreme: this code of conduct is completely inadequate. It's sophomoric. It's confused about its own purpose. It sounds like it was written by a committee more interested in promoting "software engineering" techniques, as defined by the ACM, than in ethics. I'll write a bit about exactly what's wrong with it after I describe some similarities in existing professional codes of conduct which themselves have legal ramifications.Although there are many different codes of ethics for medical doctors, a principle which echoes through them all is one which was formulated in ancient history, originally by Hippocrates but distilled into a catch-phrase by Galen : "First, do no harm."The idea is that, if you are going to be someone's doctor, you have to help them, or at least, you shouldn't ever harm them. Doctors generally regard this as a sacred responsibility. This basic tenet of the doctor-patient relationship typically overrides all other considerations: the doctor's payment, the good or harm that the patient has done or may do, and the advancement of medical science all take a back seat to the welfare of the patient.In this modern day and age, where doctors often perform general anesthesia on their patients to prepare them for surgery, this understanding isto the credibility of the medical profession as it stands. Who would knowingly submit themselves to a doctor, knowing that they might give you a secondary, curable disease, just to ensure they got paid?Lawyers have a similar, although slightly more nuanced, principle. Anybody who has watched a few episodes ofknows about it. A slightly more authoritative source than NBC, though, is the American Bar Association, who in their Model Code of Professional Responsibility (the basis for the professional responsibility codes of most states' Bar associations in the United States) declare:For criminal defense lawyers, these "compromising influences and loyalties" may include a basic committment to the public good. A lawyer who represents a serial murderer who privately admits to having committed heinous crimes, to the best of their ability, represent the sociopath's interests and try to get them exonerated, or, failing that, the lightest sentence possible. Low as we as a society might consider a lawyer who defends rapists and murderers, we would think even more poorly of one who gave intentionally bad advice to people who he personally didn't like, or sold out his client's interests to the highest bidder.A doctor's responsibility is somewhat the same. If a doctor is treating a deeply evil person, they are still obligated by the aforementioned sacred patient/doctor pact totreat that person, not use their position as a doctor to proclaim a death sentence, or cripple them. They are obligated to treat that person equitably, even if that person's evil extends to not paying their medical bills.This pattern isn't confined to professional trades. Catholic priests have the concept of the " seal of confession ". If you confess your sins to a catholic priest, they are not to reveal those sins undercircumstances, regardless of the possible harm to others. A priestshouldn't threaten their flock with knowledge of their confessed sins to increase contributions to the donation plate, even if one of them has confessed a murder.In each case, society calls upon a specialist for navigating a system too complex for laymen to understand: the body, the law, and the soul. In each case, both society at large and individuals privately put their trust completely into someone allegedly capable of navigating that system. Finally, in each case, the trust of that relationship is considered paramount, above the practitioner's idea of the public good, above the practitioner's (and other's) financial considerations.There is a good reason for these restrictions. Society has systems in place to make these judgements. Criminal defense lawyers are not allowed to judge their clients because that's the judge's job. Doctors aren't allowed to pass sentences on their clients because that's the legal system's job. Catholic priests don't judge their confessors because that's God's job. More importantly, each of these functions may only be performed with the trust of the "client" - and it is important for the client to know that their trust will not be abused,, such as social welfare, because notions of social welfare differ.I believe that computer programmers are a fourth such function.Global telecommunications and digital recording are new enough that I think this is likely to be considered a radical idea. However, think of the importance of computer systems in our society today. Critical functions such as banking, mass transit, law enforcement, and commerce would not be able to take place on the scale they do today without the help of computer systems. Apropos of my prior descriptions, every lawyer and doctor's office has a computer, and they rely on the information provided by their computer systems to do their jobs.More importantly, computers increasingly handle a central role in our individual lives. Many of us pay our bills on a computer, do our taxes on a computer, do our school work or our jobs on computers. Sometimes all of these things even happen oncomputer. Today, in 2005, most of those tasks can be accomplished without a computer (with the exception, for those of us with technical professions, of our jobs) but as the public systems we need to interact with are increasingly computerized, it may not reasonable to expect that it will be possible to lead an average modern life in 100 years without the aid of a personal computing device of some kind.If that sounds like an extreme time frame, consider the relative importance of the automobile, or the telephone, in today's society versus 1905. It's not simply a matter of convenience. Today it is considered atoday for accused criminals to make a phone call. Where was that right when there were no telephones?Another way to think of this relationship with technology is not that we do a lot of things with computers, but that our computers do a lot of things on our behalf. They buy things. They play movies. They make legal claims about our incomes to the federal government. Most protocol specifications refer to a program which acts on your behalf (such as a web browser) as ato reflect this responsibility. You are not buying a book on Amazon with your computer; you click on some links, you enter some information, and youthat your computer has taken this information and performed a purchase on your behalf. Your computer could do this without your help, if someone has installed a malicious program on it. It could also pretend to have made a purchase, but actually do nothing at all.Here is where we approach the intersection between programming and ethical obligation. Every time a user sits down to perform a task with a computer, they are, indirectly, trusting the programmers who wrote the code they will be using to accomplish that task. Users give not only the responsibility of performing a specific task, they trust those programs (and thereby their programmers) with intensely personal information: usernames, passwords, social security numbers, credit card numbers - the list goes on and on.There may be a technological solution to this problem, a way to limit the amount of information that each proram needs, and provide users with more control over what different programs can say to each other on their own computer. Some very smart people are working on this, and you can read about some of that work on Ka-Ping Yee's "Usable Security" blog . Still, one of the experts there contemplates that perhaps, given the abysmal state of software today, perhaps the general public shouldn't even use the internet DRM is definitely a problem , but the real problem is that it's the top of a very long, very slippery slope. Its advocates point at the top of that slope and say "See, it's not so bad!" - but where will it end? While I am annoyed, I'm not really that concerned with the use of this kind of technology to prevent copyright violations. It's when we start using it to preventsorts of crimes that the real fear sets in.Today, it's considered(but not quite) acceptable that Sony installs the digital equivalent of a car-bomb on my computer to prevent me from copying music. As I said at the beginning of this article - they don't think that the practice is inherently wrong, simply that there are some flaws in its implmentation. Where will this stop? Assuming they can perfect the technology, and given that my computer has all the information necessary to do it, will future versions of Sony's music player simply install themselves and lie in wait, monitoring every download, and automatically billing you for anything that looks unauthorized, not telling me about it until I get my credit card statement?Whether unauthorized copying should be a crime or not, preventing it by these means is blatantly wrong. Let me be blunt here. It is simply using a technique to wring more money out of users because the technique is there. Much like the doctor who cuts off your nose and won't reattach it until he gets paid for his other (completely legitimate) services, this is an abuse of trust of the worst order. It doesn't matter how much money you actually owe the doctor, or Sony: in any case, they don't have the right to do violence to you or to your computer because of it.What of "terrorism"? Will mandatory anti-terrorism software, provided to Microsoft by the federal government, monitor and report my computerized activities to the Department of Homeland Security for review? From here, I'll let you fill in the rest of the paranoid ravings. I don't see this particular outcome happening soon, but the concern is real. There is no system in place to prevent such an occurance, no legal or ethical restriction encumbent upon software developers which would prevent it.This social dilemma is the reason I termed the IEEE/ACM ethics code "sophomoric". With the directionless enthusiasm of a college freshman majoring in philosophy, it commands "software engineers" to "Moderate the interests of [themselves], the employer, the client and the users with the public good.", to "Disclose to appropriate persons or authorities any actual or potential danger to the user, the public, or the environment", to "Obey all laws governing their work, unless, in exceptional circumstances, such compliance is inconsistent with the public interest." These are all things that a good person should do, surely, but they are almost vague enough to be completely meaningless. These tenets also have effectively nothing to do with software in specific, let alone software engineering. They are in fact opposed to certain things that software should do, if it's written properly. If the government needs to get information about me, they need a, and that's for good reason. I don't want them taking it off my computer without even asking a judge first, simply because a helpful software engineer thought it might be a "potential danger to the public".Software developers should start considering that accurately reflecting the user's desires is not just a good design principle, it is a. Much as it is not the criminal defense lawyer's place to judge their client regardless of how guilty they are, it is not the doctor's place to force experimental treatment upon a patient regardless of how badly the research is needed, and it is not the priest's place to pass worldly judgement on their flock, it is not the programmer's place to try and decide whether the user is using the software in a "good" way or not.I fear that we will proceed down this slippery slope for many years yet. I imagine that a highly public event will happen at some point, a hundred times worse than this minor scandal with Sony BMG, and users the world over will angrily demand change. Even then, there will need to be a movement from within the industry to provide some direction for that change, and some sense of responsibility for the future of software.I hope that some of these ideas can provide direction for those people, when the world is ready, but personally I already write my code this way.I've written about this a couple of years ago , and I think there's more to the issue, but I feel like this key point of accurately relaying the user's intent is the first step to anything more interesting. I don't really know if a large group of people even agree on that yet.So, like I said, this post isn't about Divmod - exactly - but when we say "your data is your data"... we mean it. Tags: code, drm, essay, ethics Current Mood: quixotic
Unless we Europeans take our security seriously, North Americans will rightly ask why they should. Unless we recommit to our own defense, we risk seeing America disengage — and Europe and America drift apart. BRUSSELS — NATO called on European Union leaders Thursday to work on improving their defense cooperation in the face of dwindling military budgets or face American disengagement. British Prime Minister David Cameron came straight from World War I's battlefields in western Belgium to tell a summit of the 28 EU leaders to stand together to meet new defense challenges, even as he rejected pooling resources under a common EU flag. At the same time, French President Francois Hollande used his country's military actions in the Central African Republic to underscore the need for common EU funding to back up the costly military operations of a single member state. Despite those differences, Cameron said "we are making good progress" on closer alignment at the summit. Still, NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen told the leaders to move swiftly since the United States might be inclined to weaken its military relationship, which dates back almost a century to World War I. "Unless we Europeans take our security seriously, North Americans will rightly ask why they should," Rasmussen said. "Unless we recommit to our own defense, we risk seeing America disengage — and Europe and America drift apart." For decades, NATO member states have paid lip service to joint projects and closer cooperation of their defense industries, but in the high-technology and high-investment age of drone incursions and cyber warfare, the EU still struggles to find synergies between its member states. "We allow ourselves the luxury of maintaining 16 large shipyards which build warships — the USA has two," EU parliament President Martin Schulz told the leaders during the opening session of their two-day summit. "We have 19 different types of armored personnel carrier and 14 types of battle tanks — the USA has one of each," Schulz said. Hollande acknowledged that it was a key point the EU needed to address. "Today we want to have a certain number of results, especially on the defense industry, which has to increase its cooperation on equipment," he said. France has always been at the heart of drawing the EU nations together into an ever-closer union, so it came as little surprise that Hollande, faced with the mounting cost of military action in Africa, sought troop, equipment and financial input from partner nations. "I have received a lot of support from European governments, from almost all of them. So financing also has to follow that political support," Hollande said. Britain, ever wary when it comes to closer integration, sought to draw a line on how far European military cooperation should go. Cooperation, yes, said Cameron, but "it is not right for the EU to have capabilities, armies, air forces and the rest of it and we need to get that demarcation correct." Failing to get that balance right has cost the EU in duplication even as defense budgets suffer from the economic crisis. "In 2001, the EU member states were still spending 251 billion euros ($343 billion) on defense, whereas in 2012 the corresponding figure was 190 billion euros ($260 billion)," Schulz told the EU leaders. "In many cases, we would be quite incapable of carrying out a military operation without the support of the United States," Schulz said.
Maintenance men were left stunned when they found a toilet in the sewers of Oxford city centre. Thames Water technicians were clearing a blockage on Saturday when they discovered that an entire toilet had somehow made its way into the sewage system. The company warned people not to turn the city's sewers into an "abyss for household rubbish" after the shocking find. Thames Water spokesman Stuart White said: "It never ceases to amaze us what we find in our sewers, but this toilet really pushes the boundaries. "Our message is simple, if it's not poo, pee or toilet paper please 'Bin it - don't block it'. "The sewers are not an abyss for household rubbish and things like wet wipes, cotton buds, nappies, and crazy things like concrete and now toilets, should never end up down there." The blockage could have caused homes to be flooded with raw sewage.
When it comes to web development, AJAX didn't change everythingit just seems like it did. By delivering to users the responsiveness of native applications and providing developers with a better UI and standardized data retrieval, AJAX ushered in a more interactive and rich web experience. And in the spirit of imitation being the sincerest form of flattery, the word around the lunchtable at this year's RailsConf conferenceproving once again that software developers can talk and chew sandwiches at the same timewas that Microsoft will be rolling out a Ruby-based AJAX look-alike called "ARAX" (short for "Asynchronous Ruby and XML") and the Python based "APAX" (short for "Asynchronous Python with XML". With ARAX and APAX, developers who prefer Ruby or Python can build AJAX-like applications without having to deal with JavaScript. Of course, ARAX and APAX aren't Microsoft's first foray into the world of little dynamic languages that do things at runtime other languages do during compilation. IronRuby (www.ironruby.net) and IronPython (www.ironpython.net) are .NET implementations of Ruby and Python, respectively, that leverage Microsoft's Dynamic Language Runtime (DLR), a subset of .NET's Common Language Runtime (CLR) that provides shared language services, such as frameworks, libraries, and tool integration. However, the DLR adds features to the CLR that specifically address the needs of dynamic languagesa shared dynamic type system, a standard hosting model, support to generating fast dynamic code. In the process, dynamic languages like Ruby and Python (among others) can freely share code with each other, as well as with static languages like VB.NET and C#. IronRuby is designed for building server-based applications that run on top of ASP.NET or ASP.NET MVC, as well as building client applications that run on top of WPF or Silverlight. You can also run Ruby code inside your web browser and have it interact with Ruby code that's on your web server. That's pretty cool. Microsoft isn't the only outfit fooling around with dynamic languages like Ruby. As it turns out, Yahoo! provides a Ruby interpreter in its BrowserPlus software (browserplus.yahoo.com). According to Yahoo!, BrowserPlus is "software that extends the capabilities of your web browser to make richer web experiences possible." (Hmmm, sounds familiar.) "Different websites can use BrowserPlus to support things like drag and drop from the desktop, easier file uploads, more efficient and secure acquisition of feeds and information, and native desktop notifications...so that developers can build more exciting web applications and so end-users can get more done inside their web browser." Actually, this does sound interesting. (And no, Microsoft couldn't possibly have wanted Yahoo! for BrowserPlus-like technology alone. No, no way...) Not to be outdone, Sun Microsystems is also in the dynamic language fray with its NetBeans Ruby plug-ins (wiki.netbeans.org/Ruby) that provide an IDE for building, running, testing, and debugging Ruby and Ruby on Rails applications. You can download a Ruby-only version of the NetBeans IDE 6.0 or add Ruby support to a NetBeans IDE 6.0 download. Of course, one place you'd expect to see Ruby pop up is in the world of web servicesand you won't be disappointed. Amazon Web Services (developer.amazonwebservices.com), for example, has embraced the language by supporting Ruby interfaces from RightScale to Amazon Web Services (AWS) such as Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2), Amazon Simple Storage Service (S3), and Amazon Simple Queue Service (SQS), among others. And then there's Ruby/AWS (www.caliban.org/ruby/ruby-aws), a Ruby language library written by Ian Macdonald for access to Amazon sites via the AWS API. But little languages like Ruby, Python, Lua, REBOL, and others have things in common other than they're dynamic. Almost all of them spring forth from the genius of a single individual (or two)Ruby from Yukihiro Matsumoto, Python from Guido van Rossum, Lua from Roberto Ierusalimschy, Luiz Henrique de Figueiredo, and Waldemar Celes. And I'd bet that David Betz has cranked out a dynamic little language or two. Another thing these dynamic languages have in common is that their adoption by large organizations have been from the bottom-up, not top-down. For instance, it was Nokia developersnot managementwho pushed Python into the official toolchain, while over at Microsoft, John Lam has almost single-handedly brought Ruby to Redmond. The bottom line is that it is people, not products, and individuals, not corporations, who are changing the face of software development. Give a smart person a little leeway, and you'll be amazed at the results. Jonathan Erickson Editor-in-Chief [email protected]
The latest issue (Picture: AP) The latest issue of Charlie Hebdo shows a decapitated Theresa May carrying her own head. Captioned ‘English multiculturalism,’ the prime minister proclaims ‘Too much is too much’ in what seems a reference to her ‘Enough is enough’ speech. The ‘horrific’ magazine also mocks the victims of the London Bridge terror attacks, with many readers saying the satirical publication went too far with both drawings and their message. ‘Slimming advice from Isis,’ the caption reads alongside a picture of people running with Big Ben in the background, one of them still carrying his pint of beer. https://twitter.com/LiamC0nnell/status/872773363017674753 Whoa, just saw that horrific Charlie Hebdo cover of PM May… I won't put that on my timeline but really, was that even funny or necessary? — Mike Machado (@mmachado__) June 8, 2017 MORE: Theresa May’s gamble ends in hung parliament as no party can now get majority Advertisement Advertisement ‘I remember supporting Charlie Hebdo during their attacks, only to be mocked by them for ours,’ Liam Connell wrote on Twitter. The drawing of Theresa May was finished on the eve of the election, before the damaging result for the prime minister was known. Charlie Hebdo has become notorious for posting racist and inflammatory cartoons, including one mocking the image of drowned Alan Kurdi. It asked if he would have become a ‘groper’ if he had lived. Disgusting cartoon in Charlie Hebdo ("what would've become of Aylan had he grown up? A groper") via @faizaz pic.twitter.com/iB4myFb1ke — Sunny Hundal (@sunny_hundal) January 13, 2016 Screw you Charlie Hebdo 😡 https://t.co/KWOAgPz5YX — Sarah R (@SarahEllen75) June 9, 2017 @Charlie_Hebdo_ disgusting cartoon of Theresa May and Londoners. All sympathy for you is eroded. Stay safe — Dutchmasterz (@mashupz) June 9, 2017 Many people were appalled by the drawings with one saying: ‘All sympathy for you is eroded.’ However, others defended the magazine saying that their aim was to exercise free speech even at its most offensive. Girl, 6, begged babysitter to ask her pedophile husband to stop kissing her ‘In fairness, they mocked their own slaughter too,’ one user said. In January 2015, jihadist brothers Saïd and Chérif Kouachi forced their way into the magazine’s offices armed with assault rifles and shot dead as many employees they could after taking offence that they published an image of the prophet Mohammed. Twelve people were killed and 11 others injured in the atrocity. The magazine, targeted because it had printed an image of Mohammed, pictured the prophet again in the first issue after the attack.
The technology was developed at WPI by a team led by Ali Rangwala, professor of fire protection engineering, as an outgrowth of research funded by the U.S. Department of the Interior aimed at assessing the feasibility of using in-situ burns to clean up oil spills in remote locations in the Arctic, where harsh weather can make it difficult to quickly mobilize clean-up equipment and crews. When laboratory tests identified the challenges of igniting and sustaining oil fires on ice and in cold water, Rangwala and his team began exploring methods for making the oil easier to burn by transmitting heat from the flames to the oil. The Flame Refluxer is the product of that exploration. “The technology is so simple, it has no moving parts, it’s inexpensive, and it significantly enhances the burning rate of oil. The tests we are doing at this unique facility will allow us to advance the technology closer to actual deployment” said Rangwala. Prototypes of the technology were tested in the state-of-the-art Fire Protection Engineering Laboratory at WPI. This week’s tests at the Joint Maritime Test Facility used a larger prototype, a circular blanket nearly 1.5 meters (four feet, eight inches) across with up to 48 metal coils attached. The blanket was immersed in a layer of crude oil floating on water. Oil was pumped to the test apparatus to maintain the oil layer at about one centimeter (0.4 inches) throughout each 10-20 minute test burn. (Previous research has shown that crude oil burns most effectively when the oil layer that is maintained between one and four centimeters). During test burns conducted with and without the Flame Refluxer, the researchers measured a number of parameters, including temperatures above the oil fire and the flow rate of oil delivered to the test apparatus, in order to determine how effectively the Flame Refluxer conveyed heat from the flames to the oil (a process known as heat flux) and how it changed the oil burning rate. An air sampling station collected emissions produced by the fire and continuously measured several combustion byproducts: carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, nitrogen dioxide, sulfur dioxide, and particulate matter (PM2.5 and PM10). The copper blanket was weighed before and after each test to see how effectively it trapped residue from the oil fires. While it will take time to analyze the large volume of data collected during the test burns and report official results, Rangwala said the research team made several observations that suggested that the Flame Refluxer technology performed as expected. “Where we observed thick black smoke during a baseline test, where we burned crude oil without the blanket and coils, when the Refluxer was in use, the smoke was thinner and grey, even though more oil was being combusted. In fact, our measurements show that between four and five times as much oil was burned per minute with the Flame Refluxer in place. Finally, we observed that virtually no residue was left over after our burns with the Refluxer, an indication that it promotes more complete combustion of the oil.”
This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form. NERMEEN SHAIKH: A federal appeals court has ruled the government can continue to keep secret its efforts to pursue the private information of Internet users without a warrant as part of its probe into the whistleblowing website WikiLeaks. The case involved three people connected to WikiLeaks whose Twitter and email records were sought by the government, including computer security researcher Jacob Appelbaum and Icelandic parliamentarian Birgitta Jónsdóttir . AMY GOODMAN: The ACLU and the Electronic Frontier Foundation, which represented the account holders, argued that the subpoena violated their privacy rights, and they should know why the government wanted their information. However, late last month, the court rejected a request to unseal all orders relating to the three individuals that may have been sent to companies other than Twitter. For more, we’re joined by Jacob Appelbaum himself. He’s a developer and advocate for the Tor Project, system enabling its users to communicate anonymously on the Internet. Jacob Appelbaum, welcome to Democracy Now! I’m glad we didn’t have to subpoena you to get you here. JACOB APPELBAUM: Well, I imagine I would have to know about it in order to show up, so… AMY GOODMAN: Well, talk about this federal court ruling that came down two Fridays ago. JACOB APPELBAUM: Essentially, we—we lost, actually, quite some time ago about the data being revealed to the U.S. government—that is, metadata. And the government essentially argues that metadata is not the same as content, therefore they can issue an administrative subpoena, a so-called 2703(d) order, and this administrative subpoena has a much lower bar than, let’s say, a search warrant. And it can also have a gag. In fact, most of them seem to have a gag. Twitter was able to unseal this so that we could begin to fight it. We lost. And it’s quite sad. They received the data. But we appealed again about secrecy of docketing. That is to say that we believe that courts should have to keep accurate records of this type of an order and other orders like it. And we were hoping that we would be able to learn that there were other companies out there and that we would be able to challenge this fishing expedition. AMY GOODMAN: Explain what happened to you. Why did they get your account, all your information in Twitter? JACOB APPELBAUM: Well, I mean, many people from the government have said, during detainments and other times in which they have confronted me, that I should understand why this is happening. But the reality is that I don’t understand why it’s happening, in a legal sense—at least until now. Now the government argues that I should understand that this is the case, and it’s this case because it’s as secret as a grand jury proceeding. And there is, in fact, a WikiLeaks grand jury, where they have been pressuring people. In some cases, people have been threatened with, effectively, indefinite detention, if they don’t comply, that, you know, they let people know there’s really not— AMY GOODMAN: What does it mean to comply? JACOB APPELBAUM: Well, if they ask them a question, they’ll either forcibly immunize them or they will—maybe they’ll, you know, threaten them with just detaining them without really explaining what will happen. There’s a lot of pressure coming from a lot of different angles. So, what the government is effectively saying with this ruling is that they want to have not just secret laws and secret interpretations, but no accountability. And this is something which I think is pretty scary, and I think we should have public laws, public interpretations and public accountability. And this is—what we see is more of the same. I mean, we see this with the targeted assassination, the indefinite detention in NDAA. And this is just the Internet version of that, where they’ve decided they don’t even have to get a search warrant, and I have no right to resist it. NERMEEN SHAIKH: So what do you think—what are the implications of this ruling for government surveillance, and what the limits are on government surveillance, if any? JACOB APPELBAUM: Well, I think in the United States the gloves are off. And when I was here with Bill Binney last, I think he pretty much explained that this is the case. AMY GOODMAN: The former NSA, National Security Agency— JACOB APPELBAUM: Yeah, I mean, the secret interpretation of Section 215 of the PATRIOT Act seems to be that anything that the government wants is fair game without a warrant. And that’s terrifying. And this seems to be the tip of the iceberg. You know, as we know from that video with the FBI woman that I met, she seemed to indicate that there was a national security letter. So I think these 2703(d) orders, they’re important to be considered as the tip of an iceberg of an investigation, so there are probably other types of legal orders. And so, I think it’s important to stress: Metadata in aggregate is content. AMY GOODMAN: If people are having trouble understanding you, metadata in aggregate is content. JACOB APPELBAUM: It’s—yeah, absolutely. What that means is that if you look at one event, that I talk to you via email, in theory, that we talked is a piece of metadata. The content—that is, what I wrote in the email—that is, in theory, protected, and you need a search warrant for it. But if they know that I talk to you every single morning, that tells a story, maybe even, you know, a really important story. And maybe if they see that I talk to Dan or they see that I talk to other people, that also tells a story that is equal to content when it’s viewed in an aggregate. And that’s something that’s quite terrifying, because the court doesn’t seem to recognize that, nor do they recognize the location privacy issues with the Internet. And that is to say, they watch and see every place that I’ve been. They get this data, and then they have a tracking device, effectively. Now, in my case, I use the Tor network in order to protect my location anonymity needs, but most people don’t, and they expect the rule of law to do that for them. So imagine their surprise when it doesn’t. NERMEEN SHAIKH: Well, WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange was awarded the Yoko Ono Lennon Courage Award for the Arts in absentia this weekend. Assange remains holed up in the Ecuadorean embassy in London, fighting extradition to Sweden. In a ceremony at the Museum of Modern Art, artist and activist Yoko Ono paid tribute to Assange. YOKO ONO: This 2013 Courage Award for the Arts is presented to Julian Assange. With your courage, the truth was revealed to us—thank you—and gave us wisdom and power to heal the world. On behalf of the suffering world, I thank you. Yoko Ono Lennon. Thank you. NERMEEN SHAIKH: That was Yoko Ono giving an award to Julian Assange in absentia. Jacob Appelbaum, could you comment— AMY GOODMAN: You were there. NERMEEN SHAIKH: —on Assange’s case? You were there. JACOB APPELBAUM: Yeah, I think Julian Assange is a—he’s a hero. And, you know, he’s a personal friend of mine, and I think that people should support him. And I believe that that award from Yoko Ono is quite an honor, and I’m really happy to see so many people supporting Julian. And I hope that the British government will grant him safe passage to Ecuador, as he is effectively a political prisoner in Her Majesty’s surveillance state. AMY GOODMAN: In fact, at the Museum of Modern Art, the Ecuadorean foreign minister was also there to honor Julian Assange, as was Dan Ellsberg, who is sitting in our studio, as well.
It is often said that the problem with modern academy players is that they lack the street wisdom and rough edges of schoolboy footballers. Everton’s latest graduate, Tom Davies, endearingly blends the progressive and retro – his old-school, low-worn socks prompting nostalgic references to his uncle, Alan Whittle. This is a teenager who outplayed one of the most expensive, lauded midfields in world football and celebrated by heading out for a curry with family and friends a few hours later. Those describing the 18-year-old as a ‘throwback’ need not reserve their reminiscing for the 1970s, however. Davies emerged from the fields of the Liverpool suburb of West Derby during a period when some academies were discouraging their emerging talent from participating in schoolboy football. A Merseyside schools system that produced Wayne Rooney, Robbie Fowler, Steven Gerrard and Jamie Carragher often felt sidelined and alienated. Some academies in England still warn youngsters about playing for school teams. Faced with the choice of turning his back on representing Liverpool Schoolboys and focusing entirely on academy training, the 12-year-old Davies insisted on doing both. To their credit, Everton did not stand in his way, despite the talent being so prodigious that the Merseyside club had paid a nominal fee to Tranmere Rovers to secure his services when he was just 10.
Two things have surrounded saxophonist Donald Harrison, Jr. throughout his life—jazz and the Mardi Gras Indian tradition. The son of the Guardians of the Flames’ Big Chief Donald Harrison, Sr., who was also a knowledgeable jazz fan, he grew up with jazz music and Black Indian rhythms in the air. Harrison reigns supreme in both of these worlds. The saxophonist stands as a world-renowned jazz musician, recording artist and the “King of Nouveau Swing.” In New Orleans’ Black Indian Nation, he’s the Big Chief of the Congo Square Nation Afro-New Orleans Cultural Group. “They inform each other,” says Harrison, who adds that the feeling he gets when he steps out onto streets in his beautiful feathered and beaded suit on Carnival Day is comparable to when he blows his horn. “It’s a metamorphosis into a transcendental state,” he explains of masking and being involved in the culture. “It’s the same thing when you’re playing jazz—it’s transcendental; it takes you away.” It’s important to note that Harrison doesn’t use the common terms Mardi Gras Indian or Black Indian when referring to his organization. “I have a lot of respect for the guys who consider themselves to be Mardi Gras Indians, but I moved into describing what I do culturally in New Orleans to be Afro-New Orleans music from traveling all over the world,” he explains. “Going to places like Cuba and Brazil, they always put Afro in front of things that are from their country but are a derivative of African culture. For instance, [keyboard great] Eddie Palmieri always says Afro-Caribbean when describing his music.” “From understanding our history and coming from inside the culture, I decided that Congo Square needed to be represented in the culture,” Harrison continues. “And, of course, there were African people who were in Congo Square. [The Black Indian culture] isn’t straight African but a new entity that was born wholly here in America.” Similarly, he doesn’t use the word gang but rather cultural group when speaking of the Congo Square Nation. “I’m not happy about the term gang, not because of the word but because of the implications,” he explains. “When you put the term on certain people, everything becomes negative in the eyes of certain segments of the world. I have a problem putting myself in an area where I know someone will think of me negatively. So I’m trying to help them along,” he adds with a laugh. Harrison successfully marries old-school traditions with forward-thinking creativity in both his approach to jazz and in his position as the chief of the Congo Square Nation. That vision certainly can be traced to his greatest mentors: his father and drum legend Art Blakey, with whom Harrison performed and recorded in the early ’80s. Throughout any conversation with the saxophonist, he quotes them both. A lot. “Art Blakey was one of the most logical people in terms of life. My father was very logical. My mother is very logical. My father called me a pragmatist but maybe he didn’t realize I got this way from him,” says Harrison, again with a laugh. Harrison, 53, first masked Indian when he was two years old. He held the position of Little Chief of the Creole Wild West, the tribe that, in 1963, was led by his father, Chief Donald Harrison, Sr. “It’s a cloudy memory in the back of my head but I can definitely see it,” Harrison recalls as he sits in the museum on North Johnson Street that is dedicated to his father and located next to the family home. “I certainly remember guys moving fast and feathers and singing.” Harrison’s aim in building his suits and creating the look, feel and sound of the Congo Square Nation is to incorporate some of the style and innovations that his father brought forth and to add, with the help of collaborator Nelson Thompson, new elements of his own. “My father was groomed by Robbe [Robert “Big Chief Robbe” Lee] and [Big Chief Lawrence] Fletcher and Robbe came through the tutelage of [Big Chief] Brother Tillman,” says Harrison. “That’s the line of chiefs that I come from and they have a specific way of enunciating the words and a specific meaning of the words that are not like the other groups. I only know the way that they taught me but I know it well. So I can tell right away if you came from that line by the way you pronounce words and the way you move.” Harrison, like his father and the aforementioned chiefs, continues to sing the classic version of “Two-Way-Pocky-Way” rather than the popular adaptation, “Hey Pockaway,” as made famous by the Neville Brothers. Likewise, according to these chiefs, the old-school pronunciation to another standard was “Hu-Ta-Nay” that is now most often sung, “Un Na Nay.” Big Chief Donald Jr. also pays homage to the past by including in his repertoire “Chong Chong” which is considered, by some, to be the oldest song on the streets. “I have heard [Big Chief] Tootie Montana speak of it also,” says Harrison. Several of these songs, as well as one of Donald Sr.’s favorites, “Shallow Water”—“he was called the Shallow Water man,” says his son—are heard on the saxophonist’s, innovative album, 1991’s Indian Blues, that features Big Chief Donald Harrison, Sr. on vocals and his tribe, the Guardians of the Flame. One day, he says, the connection between jazz and the Indians just came to him. He suddenly heard Art Blakey swinging the beats of the song “Shallow Water.” He describes the combination, one that he never planned, as swinging on one side of the beat while echoing the rhythms of Congo Square on the other. Having graduated from the New Orleans Center for the Creative Arts (NOCCA), Harrison headed to the East Coast to attend the Berklee School of Music and pursue his career on a path that included years with Blakey, teaming up with trumpeter Terence Blanchard, and stepping out as leader. Desiring to be more engaged to his roots, the saxophonist started coming back to his hometown in 1989 and masked for the first time as an adult with his father and the Guardians of the Flame. The culmination was Indian Blues, which linked Harrison’s two passions together and he continues the journey performing with his stage group, Donald Harrison & the Congo Square Nation. Currently, this ensemble is in particular demand among Harrison’s many projects—a popularity that the saxophonist believes could be due to the depiction of the Black Indians in the HBO series Treme. “I think it peaked the interest [in the culture] of people and maybe because of Treme people caught on,” says Harrison, who acted, performed and was a consultant for the series. “We played in Europe recently and it was like a spiritual revival. I’ve never seen that at a jazz concert. They wouldn’t let us off the stage.” Musically, Chief Donald, Jr. also paid attention to his father’s innovations when envisioning the style of the Congo Square Nation Cultural Group. He credits his father for being one of the first men to add African percussion to an Indian tribe. Drummer Luther Gray, leader of the group Bamboula 2000 and a Congo Square preservationist, regularly paraded with the Guardians of the Flame. “My father didn’t like the bass drum [in the Black Indian sound] but loved African percussion. He brought African percussion to the forefront. I’d say that he brought it back into the mix if you relate it to Congo Square, where, of course they had African drums. It depends on how you relate it back. One thing about culture and art is that everyone has the right to do it from their own perspective. It’s not totalitarian.” Thus, Donald, Jr. follows in his father’s footsteps by the Congo Square Nation’s use of tambourines, cowbells, and a Brazilian drum and by adding a bamboula drum for Carnival 2014. The percussionists will include jazz musicians Joe Dyson and Max Moran, the drummer and bass player in the Donald Harrison Quintet, plus Darin James. Unusual for a tribe’s rhythm section, they will wear beaded attire all of the same color. For his suits, Harrison incorporates some of the stylistic decorations that his father used such as the grouping of feathers on the back called a “cabbage.” He also often chooses some multi-faceted Swarovski crystals—“they shine like diamonds”—and high-grade Czechoslovakian stones. “I was the first guy that started using them again after he brought them back.” “My innovation was to put 20 to 30 different kinds of feathers on my suits,” Harrison adds while pointing to a spectacular outfit displayed in the museum that he wore several years ago. The extravagant suit, with its leopard print body with fox fur trim and pheasant feathers, includes a beading portrait of Big Chief Donald Harrison, Sr. that was sewn by his widow, Herreast Harrison. The crown also included a Masai-type mask. “That was to honor my father, who moved back to a lot of African work in his suits,” he explains. “I’m good at making big, gigantic suits that don’t come apart—which is key. Nelson and I did it together. He’s been around, once masked with [Big Chief] Bo Dollis and does a lot of stuff with the second-line clubs. He’s an integral part of New Orleans culture because he helps so many people. He’s a guy behind the scenes and you might see a parade and he made everything in the parade.” Often on the road heading one of his many jazz groups—the Acoustic Quintet, Donald Harrison & the Congo Square Nation, the Donald Harrison Electric Group—as well as performing with Palmieri, the Headhunters, organist Dr. Lonnie Smith and all-star ensemble the Cookers, Harrison says he does a lot of his sewing in hotel rooms. “It’s quieter and I can moderate what’s going on all by myself,” he says, adding that he does sew at home too. Harrison very well might have ended up being a drummer except at age 10 his father bought him a saxophone. “I always loved drumming,” says Harrison, who has on occasion been heard behind a drum set and plays congas with some of his bands. “My mother said I played drums on my crib and I always drummed on the wall. I think they should have bought me a drum.” The sax lived in the closet for several years before Harrison finally warmed up to the instrument at age 16. The saxophonist is a bebopper to the bone who is ultimately progressive and throughout his career has sometimes challenged folks as to what jazz is and who he is. While Harrison’s Indian Blues was well-received, he took some flack for ’94’s Power of Cool from both jazz purists and the smooth-jazz world. It was labeled smooth jazz, though Harrison stated, “This is not jazz, and I come from jazz so I think I know.” He prefers the definition “contemporary instrumental music” that New Orleans’ electric violinist Michael Ward offers. “I play music that people can relate to,” defends Harrison, who has also delved, with the help of his friend, Notorious B.I.G., into the hip-hop world. “Even if you don’t like jazz, a lot of time you can [still] feel what I’m doing. Maybe it’s because I have a respect because I came from a people-oriented culture. You can be ostracized when you have your own ideas about what you should be playing. Art Blakey said that in his generation when someone found something musically they would let them have it and push them forward. Some critics jumped on the nouveau swing thing too. I was just adding the sounds that were natural to me. I think I’m getting better at doing it and I believe it’s created a quiet movement. Harrison particularly credits the young musicians who have been a part of his band or bands for many years now—Dyson, Moran and pianist Conun Pappas—for the wider acceptance of nouveau swing. They also support the new sound in their own group, the Bridge Trio. All three are also heard on the saxophonist’s extraordinary 2012 release Quantum Leap, which has unanimously been heralded as a brilliant piece of work. It finds the saxophonist in top form, expressing the range of his knowledge as he soars on super speed runs before he jumps back into a beboppin’ swing. “I met Joe Dyson when he was eight years old at the Tipitina’s Foundation program. He had a natural affinity for the drums and a natural technical ability. All he needed was the experience. All the old school drummers in New York, they call him “the one” and he’s getting calls. If the older guys aren’t calling you, then maybe you better go and find out why. Because if you get it, they’re looking for you. They’re looking for guys for the continuum. I always say if the older musicians don’t like you then there’s a disconnect.” The musician who has enjoyed the longest stay in Harrison’s quintet, some 10 years, is pianist Zaccai Curtis, a talented player who resides in New York. On first meeting, Harrison encouraged him to check out some bebop from the likes of Thelonious Monk and Bud Powell. “Everything I do is rooted in bebop,” declares Harrison, whose advice was heeded by Curtis. “He had to understand that music to be in a band with me.” New Orleans pianist Conun Pappas often plays Harrison’s local dates as well as being on call for other gigs. “He understands different types of music,” he says of Pappas, who is also a member of the Bridge Trio. Of bassist Max Moran, who is the cousin of highly regarded pianist Jason Moran, Harrison says, “He’s just a solid and steady guy—diligent. When you put a challenge in front of him, he’s going to be effective.” Like Blakey, Harrison primarily surrounds himself with young guys—Dyson, Moran, Pappas and Curtis are all in their 20s and 30s. The exception is guitarist/banjoist Detroit Brooks, a veteran on the scene who the saxophonist hooked up with while both musicians were in Baton Rouge following Katrina. “I noticed that he had a soulful attitude in his guitar and it lent to the sound of the music,” Harrison says. “All of us are always pushing each other. I send them music and videos and we discuss them. We talk about how to learn from what other people do and make it your own.” As Harrison quotes Blakey, it’s highly probable that the saxophonist’s own words of wisdom are being played back by his students and young bandmates. Harrison, who is presently an artist in residency at Tulane University where he also helps out with the Trombone Shorty Academy, and the Artistic Director of Tipitina’s Internship Program, got his first taste of teaching at the New School of Music in New York City. He was encouraged to take on the task by Blakey and bassist Reggie Workman. “They said try your hand at this and see what happens. I was too young, in my early 20s, and the students didn’t want to listen to me,” Harrison admits. “Later, they wanted lessons.” His next venture into the educational field occurred when Bill Taylor approached Harrison to say that Tipitina’s was establishing a foundation and asked him to be involved. “I said I’d like to share with young people the information I got playing with a lot of different musicians and give them a heads up,” Harrison recalls. Every Monday night, Harrison heads to the Foundation’s studio on Tulane Avenue in the former Fountainbleu Hotel to offer instruction and professional training to students ages 13 to 21. “It makes me happy to think when I see students out there in the music business that maybe I had a little part of it. Art Blakey said that he learned as much from us as we learned from him. The students keep me abreast of the latest developments of these times. I never had a plan [to teach]—whatever’s happened to me comes naturally. When I told my father I wanted to play music, he simply asked, ‘Do you love it?’ He could cut to the chase.” Harrison also taught at a summer program at Newman School, where his nephew, trumpeter Christian Scott, who played in the saxophonist’s band for some 10 years, acted as assistant director. Dyson also taught there, particularly when Harrison was working out of town. The saxophonist is enthused about the invitation to join the Cookers, a jazz supergroup that boasts notable veterans including drummer Billy Hart, pianist George Cables, bassist Cecil McBee, saxophonist Billy Harper and trumpeter David Weiss. “For me, it’s necessary to play with great musicians like that,” Harrison says. “These are the guys that truly picked up on the legacy of people like John Coltrane and Miles Davis and some of them played in their bands. They play at such a high level.” Though Donald Harrison, Sr. didn’t mask Indian for some 20 years until establishing the Guardians of the Flame, he was continually involved in the culture. “I was always around it—we would go to the Creole Wild West practices and he would always go up and sing with them. He came back [to masking] to make sure people knew about the old-time ways. He made sure I got an understanding of a lot of the old-time ways—the words, movements. I was one of the ones who listened to him, who thought it was important to listen to him, naturally because he was my father. Two things my father always said was to start early in the morning and never take your crown off—make it so you never have to take it off.” Heeding his father’s words, Big Chief Donald Harrison, Jr., wearing a suit of an undisclosed color, and the Congo Square Nation will leave his home at 4427 Walmsey Avenue at 7 a.m. on Mardi Gras Day. After roaming around Uptown for an hour or so, the group will head by vehicle to Treme and, as history dictates, eventually head to the corner of Orleans and North Claiborne avenues. “Anything that can take you away from some of the bad things that happen every day and put you into a beautiful state, it’s a great thing to me,” Harrison declares with heartfelt emotion. For Donald Harrison, Jr. those great things are jazz and the Afro-New Orleans culture.
Rendlesham: Ministry of Defence officer reveals all about UFO claims UFO expert and former Ministry of Defence investigator, Nick Pope Archant Never mind ‘Britain’s Roswell’, the mystery that unfolded in a forest clearing near the Suffolk coast in late December 1980 has become the most significant UFO case in history, according to a former government investigator. Share Email this article to a friend To send a link to this page you must be logged in. Jim Penniston's police notebook sketch Jim Penniston's police notebook sketch Nick Pope spent three years as the Ministry of Defence’s UFO desk officer between 1991 and 1994. Since then, one series of events has remained for him a constant source of intrigue, resulting in the publication of a new book Encounter in Rendlesham Forest - written with US airmen John Burroughs and Jim Penniston. Now an author and UFO commentator, Mr Pope contends that what the two servicemen witnessed at the East Gate of RAF Woodbridge was a controlled landing and take-off, “not just lights in the sky”. He also ridicules popular claims that the apparition was caused by the glow of Orfordness Lighthouse, and disagrees with speculation of a nuclear mishap which was covered up. Despite a classified UK intelligence study revealing “several observers were probably exposed to UAP (Unidentified Aerial Phenomena) radiation”, Mr Pope says the US government will not acknowledge that the incident occurred. Now based in California, he said: “When I joined the MoD’s UFO project, it soon became clear that Rendlesham was the single case that was still generating not just public interest, but also interest from the media, and indeed Parliament. “I went through all the theories in great detail. I have no agenda in writing this book, except for trying to help John (Burroughs) and Jim (Penniston) unlock their medical records, which they have faced trouble obtaining. These two main witnesses have health issues which they attribute to radiation from the UFO. “If British intelligence suggest they were irradiated, maybe there is something to say what kind of radiation. “We have determined that John and Jim’s military medical records are locked in a closed section of the Department of Veterans Affairs - somewhere normally reserved for the records of intelligence agents. “I think Jim and John have been vindicated by some of the things we have turned up. They feel very bruised by how they have been treated over the years.” Mr Pope thinks that the key to solving the mystery may lie in what he believes was vital evidence removed from the airbase and flown to Germany by a USAF general. The material in the book is largely based on government documents obtained under the US Freedom of Information Act, or released as part of the UK government’s declassification of UFO files. But Mr Pope says that some UK intelligence files relating to the incident were “inadvertently destroyed”, but added: “Maybe there is someone out there with a smoking gun and maybe it will turn up. “The book does not conclude it was extra terrestrial or that it was time travellers. We drew no definitive conclusion. It would have been dishonest to push our own theory. Previous authors had an answer before they had an investigation. We had no such approach. “However, we are able to eliminate theories like the lighthouse or a nuclear accident cover story. “In a sense it’s frustrating that we went through all the theories - sceptical and exotic - and can’t accurately say what it was. It’s still a mystery. “I think this case is better than Roswell. It’s crazy for the UFO community to say Roswell is its flagship case. Rendlesham has displaced it.” Nick Pope on Orfordness Lighthouse: “I have been to the forest half a dozen times and satisfied myself that, from the places witnesses saw the UFO, it’s clear the lighthouse is not visible. “More generally, it simply doesn’t fit from the description - particularly from the testimony of Colonel Halt (a witness who gave taped evidence following the second night of sightings) - that one of the ways they estimated the position of the UFO was by taking a bearing off the lighthouse. “One of the most compelling things - and a factor which comes up in other UFO incidents - is the narrow beam of light was directed at the feet of the deputy base commander and his team, and into the weapons storage area.” Nick Pope on ‘Missing evidence’: “In 1967, defence ministers made a decision that all UFO files be made public - but we found that some files at the MoD were “inadvertently destroyed”. Worse than that, the destruction slip, which would have explained why they were destroyed, was itself destroyed. “A key document that did survive, dated February 16, 1981, revealed that immediately after the incident, a senior USAF general flew into Bentwaters, was briefed on the incident and took items relating to the investigation back to his headquarters in Germany. The significance of this seems to have been lost over the years. “The American government’s public position is that they haven’t investigated UFOs since 1969, when Project Blue Book was terminated. If that’s the case, why on earth did this happen? “I think the missing link could be the file that must have been drawn up by General Gabriel, who flew back from having been briefed about the incident. “We know he took various documents and the audio recording known as the Halt Tape. We know defence intelligence staff assessed radiation levels as significantly higher than background levels. We spoke to the disaster preparedness officer who went back to the clearing and discovered that the trees facing the landing site were scorched. That physical evidence must have gone back with the General.” Nick Pope on the Cold War contention: “Another idea we looked at was this being some sort of exotic test of guard force response. More extreme theories include the existence of holographic technology that can project anything from an alien invasion to the second coming - arguably an extremely useful weapon to cause a base to lay down its weapons and flee. “As I’m still bound by the Official Secrets Act, and Jim and John are bound by a secrecy oath. Ours is the only book that required security clearance from the British and American government. Both governments are still, of course, extremely sensitive over the nuclear issue. The US stance is to neither confirm nor deny the presence of nuclear weapons. “Some historians think we came closer to World War Three in December 1980 than perhaps has been acknowledged. The Rendlesham Incident played out over this period of great uncertainty.”
Jetpack is a WordPress plugin that helps you optimise your site on various fronts: traffic, development and user experience amongst others. There is one feature however which I feel is critical: Jetpack Monitor. Simply put, Jetpack Monitor keeps tabs on your site and alerts you the moment that downtime is detected. Like a lot of people who work in web, before I joined the Jetpack team I did quite a bit of client work: both freelance and at agencies. For me the absolute worst thing in this business is receiving a call from a client, most likely while you’re relaxing on a beach or just waking up, desperately asking you to fix her site because she’s losing money, clients or brand value while her site is down. Jetpack Monitor might not do away with the frantic scrabbling you’ll need to do to fix the site but it will put you back in the driving seat. Because you get notified first you can turn the tables around and call your client yourself, calmly saying “Hey, as I’ve been keeping tabs on your site I noticed it just went down 10 seconds ago. Don’t panic, I’m on it.” At times the problem might even be a trivial one meaning that you can actually call your client and say that its already sorted! Of course the same applies if you maintain your own site. You’ll get notified by us rather than by one of readers (or customers) making it more likely you can fix the problem before it affects too many of your users. That’s it. With Jetpack Monitor, if your site goes down, you’ll hear it from us first. Its entirely likely, indeed desirable, that you will turn this feature on when you install Jetpack and then never think about it again. But if, for whatever reason, your site or your client’s site does go down you will be thanking your lucky stars this feature is enabled. Try Jetpack for yourself by connecting it to your site or by downloading the plugin files directly if you prefer that route. Oh, and do let us know in the comments if you have any questions or suggestions. Explore the benefits of Jetpack plans Compare plans in detail to see how Jetpack can help you design, market, and secure your WordPress site. Compare plans
Image copyright PAcemaker Image caption A police vehicle was stationed outside the flat complex on Thursday morning The body of a woman who is believed to have been murdered may have lain undiscovered for more than two years, police have said. Marie Conlon, 68, was discovered dead in bed in a flat at Larkspur Rise in west Belfast last Friday. A 23-year-old man was arrested on Wednesday and remains in custody. Detectives have established that the last known sighting of Ms Conlon was in January 2015. "It is our belief, supported by the medical evidence, that her death may have occurred at around this time," said Ch Insp Alan Dickson. "We have launched a murder investigation and a 23-year-old man has been arrested on suspicion of a number of offences including murder. "He was detained in the west Belfast area yesterday and remains in custody." Image caption Police forced their way into the flat and found the woman's body in a bed Ch Insp Dickson said authorities were alerted on Friday after concerns were raised about Ms Conlon's welfare. "Officers forced entry to her Larkspur Rise home and discovered her deceased in bed," he said. "It was apparent that she had lain undiscovered for some time." Results from a post-mortem examination suggest the death may have been suspicious, said Ch Insp Dickson, adding that further tests were due to take place. Family statement Marie Conlon's family issued a statement on Thursday night, it said: "We are shocked and heartbroken to learn about the loss of our beloved sister. "The tragic circumstances of her death make it all the more difficult to comprehend and accept. "Marie was very much loved by her family and will be mourned greatly. She was a very independent person. "Numerous attempts had been made to contact her in person, and by other means, over the course of the past two years but at no point were suspicions raised that she had been deceased. "It is only with hindsight that the unimaginable now seems possible," the statement added. 'Tragic episode' Sinn Féin councillor Séanna Walsh said: "One of the tragedies, I suppose, of modern living is that in areas like this you don't have the same sense of connectedness that you would have had if she had have lived in a house further into the estate." "This type of accommodation is very transitory, there's people coming and going all the time. I just find it tragic, the whole episode." Image caption Sinn Féin councillor Seanna Walsh said the incident was tragic SDLP councillor Brian Heading said it was concerning that someone could have lain undiscovered for so long. "This is something that people need to think about, that if you don't see your neighbour knock on the door," he said. "We don't know all the circumstances yet, but by keeping in communication with someone there could have been a different outcome in this case."
A Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader was arrested on Friday after at least 200 cows died allegedly of starvation and lack of medicines at his cow shelter in Rajpur village of Chhattisgarh’s Durg district. The officials have, so far, confirmed 30 starvation-related deaths. Villagers, however, alleged that the number of deaths would be 200 and most of them have been buried near the shelter. Several carcasses, other than those buried, were found in the vicinity, they alleged. The BJP leader, Harish Verma, who is also the vice president of Jamul Nagar Nigam, has been running the shelter for last seven years. “He was arrested on Friday evening after being charged under sections 4 and 6 of Chhattisgarh Agricultural Cattle Preservation act -2004, Section 11 of Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act 1960 and Section 409 of Indian Penal Code (IPC),” police said. “We noticed JCB machines operating near the cow shelter two days ago and we informed some media persons. When we reached here, we found that many trenches were being dug to bury the dead cows lying on the ground. They were at least 200 in number,” said Seva Ram Sahu, the Rajpur Sarpanch’s husband. According to the doctors present at the spot, cows died due to “starvation and lack of medicines”. However, the BJP leader, Harish Verma attributed the deaths to collapsing of a wall two days ago. “At this stage, the reason behind the cow deaths seems to be lack of fodder. The post mortem of 27 cows have been done in last two days, “ said MK Chawala , deputy director , veterinary department of Durg district. “The cows buried near the shelter are yet to be exhumed,” he said. Another 50 cows, said to be critical, are being treated. “The number of deaths may rise ,” the doctor added. A local sub-divisional magistrate (SDM) , Rajesh Ratre, claimed the exact death figures are yet to ascertained and investigation were on. “Villagers claimed that more than 200 cows died in last few days because of lack of fodder, which seems to be true . We will submit a detailed report to the district magistrate and action would be taken accordingly,” Patre said. Verma alleged that the state government did not provide the money for the shelter which he has been demanding for 2 years. “My gaushala (cow shelter) is overcrowded . There are more than 650 cows against the capacity of 220. I have intimated the government many times that I am not able feed them, but in vain. More than Rs 10 lakh meant for the gaushala is pending with the government but they have not granted till now. I am not guilty for the deaths,” added Harish Verma. Police are waiting for a formal complaint to initiate action against the BJP leader. “The Gau Seva Ayog intends to register a case of breach of trust and negligence. We will register an FIR against the leader once the complaint is registered,” said Deepanshu Kabra, IG Durg. AK Panigrahi, secretary, Gau Seva Ayog, Chhattisgarh said, “We have found irregularities in the functioning of the Gauhala and thus the grants were suspended. But government grant is not the only source of income for running a shelter.” There are 115 gaushalas in Chhattisgarh having 26,000 bovines. First Published: Aug 18, 2017 16:30 IST
Great news for all you Muppets fans out there! Kermit the Frog, Miss Piggy, Fozzie Bear and The Great Gonzo arrive at Magic Kingdom Park on October 2 for the opening of their all-new, live show “The Muppets Present… Great Moments in American History.” Hosted by James “J.J.” Jefferson, town crier of Liberty Square, and Sam Eagle, the fiercely patriotic American eagle who is forever trying to set a high moral standard for the Muppets, this wacky new show is set to take place several times daily, just outside The Hall of Presidents. Throughout the day, J.J. and the Muppets share their own unique take on the founding fathers as they recount the tale of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, complete with an original song and plenty of humor. At other times, you may catch the Muppets’ version of the midnight ride of Paul Revere, presented in hysterical fashion as only they can. If you like some hijinks with your history, be sure to check out “The Muppets Present… Great Moments in American History” this fall at Walt Disney World Resort!
Eileen Park and KOIN 6 News Staff - PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) --- Cadmium and arsenic, two metals found in the air in Southeast Portland, are common metals used in the glass industry. The metals found are coming from Bullseye Glass, which has since stopped using the metals. But the shop was using the metals for 42 years, ever since Bullseye Glass first opened. A similar company, Uroboros, located in Northeast Portland, has been using cadmium for 35 years. Now the question is, how long have the toxins been in the air? The Oregon Department of Environmental Quality monitors pollutants in the air. But there are no records for the neighborhood near Bullseye Glass. Copyright by KOIN - All rights reserved Marcia Danab with the Oregon DEQ, Feb. 10, 2016 (KOIN) Copyright by KOIN - All rights reserved Marcia Danab with the Oregon DEQ, Feb. 10, 2016 (KOIN) "We have one toxins monitor in Portland. And that's in North Portland. It's expensive. We have to get funding," says Marcia Danab with DEQ. She spoke to KOIN 6 News at a community meeting Tuesday night. In recent findings, DEQ found arsenic levels around 150 times the state's healthy benchmark for ambient air. Cadmium levels were 50 times the legal limit. While that is concerning, it is not illegal, according to Geoffrey Donovan with the US Forest Service. "No, there was no law broken, which is, I'm not a lawyer, but that strikes me as a peculiar situation let's just say that." Copyright by KOIN - All rights reserved Geoffrey Donovan with the US Forest Service, Feb. 10, 2016 (KOIN) Copyright by KOIN - All rights reserved Geoffrey Donovan with the US Forest Service, Feb. 10, 2016 (KOIN) Donovan was a member of the team that discovered the high levels of arsenic and cadmium. What worries him is the potential impact on a child's health. "Their whole trajectory in life could be changed by their exposure to a chemical that they had no control over," Donovan tells KOIN 6 News.
Jeff Keele, CTV Winnipeg Flames tore through a steel plant in Transcona, forcing workers out of the factory and out of a job. The blaze began just before midnight Friday morning at Griffin Wheel Works in a second-storey storage room. Flames shot through the roof of the plant and explosions could be heard inside. Luckily, the 30 to 40 people on shift escaped unharmed. Because of the damage, the plant has been temporarily shut down. A total of 172 workers could be laid off until things are up and running again. It might be a while before the plant is fully operational. Fire officials said the east third of the factory, which made steel wheels for rail cars, is destroyed. Workers came to the plant in the aftermath, looking for any indication of when they might be able to return. “We need money to survive, right?” said employee Jamie Blandford. “We could be up and running on Monday or it could be a week or two weeks or two months. Nobody knows right now.” Cause and damage estimates are not yet known.
Two men pleaded guilty to a scam that lowered the bills of 5,790 Comcast customers in Pennsylvania by a total of $2.4 million. They now face prison time and will have to pay their ill-gotten wealth back to Comcast. 30-year-old Richard Justin Spraggins of Philadelphia pleaded guilty in February and was "ordered to make $66,825 in restitution and serve an 11- to 23-month sentence," the Times-Herald of Norristown wrote at the time. Scaggins was described as the second-in-command of the operation. The accused ringleader, 30-year-old Alston Buchanan, pleaded guilty last week. "Buchanan faces up to 57½ to 115 years in prison, although Buchanan will likely serve a lesser sentence than the maximum," the newspaper wrote. There is no agreed-upon sentence—the judge will decide how long Buchanan will spend in prison and how much he'll have to pay back. “Comcast lost $2.4 million and it will be up to the judge to see how much the defendant will be required to pay back," prosecutor Jeremy Lupo said. Comcast customers saved an average of $414 in exchange for paying the defendants $75 to $150. "According to the affidavit of probable cause, Buchanan bought the login identification from a Comcast employee and was able to login to the system remotely and change the accounts to lower monthly bills," the Times-Herald wrote. According to another Times-Herald article, Buchanan "worked as a dispatcher for Comcast in from May 2007 to March 2008 and was familiar with the company’s billing system." Tipped off by a suspicious customer, Comcast reported the scam to police in April 2012 after it had been going on for a year. "Investigators were able to make contact with someone known as 'Nick' who told them to deposit money into a bank account. The bank account was Buchanan’s," the newspaper wrote. Police searched Buchanan's apartment and found ledgers filled with customer information, along with $100,000 in cash. UPDATE: In response to questions from Ars, Comcast said that it has "enhanced our audit/review process to help identify and prevent this type of activity in the future." Customers were not charged retroactively for the discounted amounts, but their bills were "corrected on a moving-forward basis." Lupo said in a court hearing last year that "all customers ended up having to pay more money to make up for the loss."
Caribbean! — Update notes (February 27) Hi everyone, The first post-release update for ‘Caribbean!’ is coming today. A little clarification: right now we’re focusing on things the community considered the most critical for our game. Update notes: – The classic M&B troop control system was combined with our new order system. You can either control troop types with hotkeys or give out orders for selected troops with the mouse. – Returned old loot system. Loot won’t be accessible in as large amounts as before, but players will be able to lay their hands on a set of old boots and hats from defeated bandits. – Changed player icon on the tactical map, now the player is marked as an arrow which depends on player’s view direction. – Dramatically decreased ramming damage which previously could cause flagship’s sinking upon boarding. – Added new siege location. – Added quick-access button for player’s ‘Storage’ in a town if he has any property there. – Bartender in the tavern now gives a hint on where you can find companions. – Removed additional damage to player’s crew during boarding which could lead to illogical loss of sailors. – Fixed a bug which caused loss in boarding if the player had low HP even after he won the fight. – Fixed a bug which caused ‘NO_STRING’ messages to appear in the shipwright’s menu if a shipyard didn’t have ships for sale. We’ll keep working on two directions: fixing the most unpleasant bugs and filling the game with new content as well as more diverse gameplay.
1 Clean Episode 57 - Captain Spirit Join us on our awesome adventure as we talk about… Free View in iTunes 2 Clean Episode 56 - Caleb Thomas Interview In this episode of Blackwell Podcast, we talk to … Free View in iTunes 3 Clean Episode 55 - Mental Health Since May is Mental Health Awareness Month, the t… Free View in iTunes 4 Clean Episode 54 - Brave New World In this episode of Blackwell Podcast, the team di… Free View in iTunes 5 Clean Episode 53 - Ashly Burch Interview In this week’s addition of the podcast, the team … Free View in iTunes 6 Clean Episode 52 - Hannah Telle Farewell Interview Blackwell Podcast is back! After a brief hiatus,… Free View in iTunes 7 Clean Episode 51 - Dillon Winfrey Interview In this episode of the Blackwell Podcast, Jamie, … Free View in iTunes 8 Clean Episode 50 - Hailey Hayes Interview In the 50th episode of Blackwell Podcast, Jamie, … Free View in iTunes 9 Clean Episode 49 - Rhianna DeVries interview In this episode of Blackwell Podcast, we intervie… Free View in iTunes 10 Clean Episode 48 - Kiki's Cosplay Service In this episode of the podcast, the team discusse… Free View in iTunes 11 Clean Episode 47 - Katy Bentz In this episode of the Blackwell Podcast, the tea… Free View in iTunes 12 Clean Episode 46 - Kylie Brown Interview In this instalment of the Blackwell Podcast, the … Free View in iTunes 13 Clean Episode 44 - Awake pt. 2 Episode 44 - Awake pt. 2 by Blackwell Podcast Free View in iTunes 14 Clean Blackwell Podcast Episode 44 - Awake pt. 1 Blackwell Podcast Episode 44 - Awake pt. 1 by Bla… Free View in iTunes 15 Clean Episode 45 - LGBTQ+ Representation In this installment of the Blackwell Podcast, the… Free View in iTunes 16 Clean Episode 43 - Time Travel In this installment of the podcast, Jamie, Joey a… Free View in iTunes 17 Clean Episode 42 - Victoria Chase In this episode of the Blackwell Podcast, the tea… Free View in iTunes 18 Clean Episode 41 - Before The Storm After the big announcement at E3, the podcast tea… Free View in iTunes 19 Clean Episode 40 - Warren Graham Join us as we go ape in our redux of our episode … Free View in iTunes 20 Clean Ep 39 - Blackwell Podcast 2.0 Join us as we set sail on Blackwell Podcast 2.0's… Free View in iTunes 21 Clean Ep 38.5 - If You Want to Call it That This week isn't so much of an episode, maybe a ha… Free View in iTunes 22 Clean Ep 38 - Bae vs Bay We've asked all of our guests the big question: B… Free View in iTunes 23 Clean Ep 37 - Interview with Alyzian In this episode, we interview Alyzian, staff conc… Free View in iTunes 24 Clean Ep 35 - Soundtrack The podcast team sit down and discuss the acclaim… Free View in iTunes 25 Clean Episode 34 - End of Year Special 2016: what a crazy year it has been. For us, for … Free View in iTunes 26 Clean Episode 33 - Polarized (redux) With just a little over a year after the final ep… Free View in iTunes 27 Clean Episode 32 - Team Polarized In this episode of Blackwell Podcast, we talk to … Free View in iTunes 28 Clean Episode 30 - One Year Anniversary On the 30th of August, Blackwell Podcast turned o… Free View in iTunes 29 Clean Episode 29 - Dark Room After one month of absence, we find ourselves in … Free View in iTunes 30 Clean Episode 28 - Chaos Theory Any slight variation in condition may lead to ext… Free View in iTunes 31 Clean Episode 27 - Out of Time After a hiatus, we have returned with a belated e… Free View in iTunes 32 Clean Episode 26 - Toby Palm In this episode of Blackwell Podcast we are joine… Free View in iTunes 33 Clean Episode 25 - LifeisStrangeFans.com In episode 25 of Blackwell Podcast, we have the p… Free View in iTunes 34 Clean Episode 24 - Nik Shriner In this episode of Blackwell Podcast, we don't g… Free View in iTunes 35 Clean Episode 23 - theawakened_ In this episode of Blackwell Podcast, we had the … Free View in iTunes 36 Clean Episode 22 - Cissy Jones In episode 21 of Blackwell Podcast, we had the ex… Free View in iTunes 37 Clean Episode 21 - Koethe Interview In this episode we are excited to interview the s… Free View in iTunes 38 Clean Episode 19 - Scott Blows Interview In this very special episode of Blackwell Podcast… Free View in iTunes 39 Clean Episode 20 - Ashly Burch Interview We are absolutely elated to present you with this… Free View in iTunes 40 Clean Episode 18 - Amethyst Leon If Chloe Price were a real person, she'd be cospl… Free View in iTunes 41 Clean Episode 17 - Vortex Club We managed to get ourselves on the VIP list this … Free View in iTunes 42 Clean Episode 16 - Community Guest Tayla Chan Unfortunately we have some audio quality issues t… Free View in iTunes 43 Clean Episode 15 - Christian Divine In this very special episode we had the pleasure … Free View in iTunes 44 Clean Episode 14 - Warren Graham Episode 14 of Blackwell Podcast, a fan-made Life … Free View in iTunes 45 Clean Episode 13 - Alejandro Arque Interview In this special episode we interview Alejandro Ar… Free View in iTunes 46 Clean Episode 1 - Pilot Our very first episode of Blackwell Podcast! 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Three Islamic State fighters were mauled to death by a pack of wild boar, reports U.K.'s The Times. Another 5 militants were also injured in the attack. The men were said to be taking cover in a field as they set up an ambush for local tribesmen, local leaders said. "It is likely their movement disturbed a herd of wild pigs, which inhabit the area as well as the nearby cornfields," Sheikh Anwar al-Assi, a chief of the local Ubaid tribe and supervisor of anti-ISIS forces, told the Times. "The area is dense with reeds, which are good for hiding in." The incident occurred after Islamic State fighters executed 25 people in the town of Hawija, one of three Islamic State complete-control strongholds in Iraq. The executions were ordered after several people tried to escape the town, according to local leaders. "We know that a massacre took place in Hawija district through our sources," al-Assi said. "This will not be ISIS's last massacre against citizens."
Few who follow the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and the history of its efforts to enshrine network neutrality rules into law were surprised yesterday when Chairman Ajit Pai announced that he would make public a proposal to deregulate broadband Internet access by “reclassifying” it as an information service under the Communications Act of 1934. But many expected the Chairman to at least propose retaining some of the rules that protect consumers and competition online, like a prohibition against broadband providers blocking or throttling online content and services. After all, since 2002 FCC chairs of both parties believed that at a minimum, FCC policy should ensure that consumers are able to access the content, applications, and services of their choosing without interference by gatekeeping broadband providers. Not Pai. In doing away with the 2015 rules that prohibit broadband providers from discriminating against or favoring certain content, applications and services (that is, no blocking, no throttling, no fast lanes and a general rule against discrimination), Pai has radically departed from bipartisan FCC precedent. This opens the door for companies like Comcast, AT&T, Verizon, and Charter to pick winners and losers on the Internet by controlling which online companies get faster and better quality of service and at what price. Sounds bad, right? Believe it or not, the proposed order is worse than that. The proposed order would leave broadband providers largely if not completely free of oversight While there’s a lot of focus on repeal of the rules, even more damaging is the proposal to reverse the FCC’s decision under Tom Wheeler to classify broadband Internet access as an essential “telecommunications service” subject to Title II of the Communications Act. Without such a ruling, the 2015 rules would not have been possible in the first place. Reversing that classification would do more than invalidate the rules. It would also remove the FCC’s ability to protect consumers and competition in the broadband market. Among other things, Title II gives the FCC the legal power to protect consumers from fraudulent billing, price gouging, anticompetitive behavior, data breaches, and other practices that violate users’ privacy. Chairman Pai’s answer is that the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) “will once again be able to police ISPs, protect consumers, and promote competition, just as it did before 2015.” What he doesn’t say is that the FTC, unlike the FCC, doesn’t have the power to make rules that protect consumers and innovators before they are harmed. Nor does he say that the FTC’s authority wouldn’t prohibit fast lanes, blocking or throttling so long as the broadband provider tells you it’s engaging in those practices. Finally, there’s nothing the FTC can do if one day your broadband provider decides to double its prices. As FTC Commissioner Terrell McSweeny testified earlier this month: “[i]t is wrong to assume that a framework that relies solely on backward-looking consumer protection and antitrust enforcement can provide the same assurances to innovators and consumers as the forward-looking rules contained in the FCC’s Open Internet Order.” Moreover, it’s unclear whether the FTC will be able to police some broadband providers at all. Still pending in the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals is a case that holds that if a broadband provider also provides a service regulated under Title II (for example, landline and mobile phone service), then the FTC has no legal authority to oversee its practices. Should that case stand, broadband providers, nearly all which provide some Title II services, would be entirely free of oversight from both the FCC and FTC. The proposed order would prohibit states and localities from protecting their citizens Not content to repeal the pro-consumer net neutrality rules and neuter his agency, Pai is also proposing to prohibit states and localities from adopting their own broadband consumer protection laws, including laws that protect consumer privacy. In some circumstances, a federal agency like the FCC can “preempt” state and local laws and rules when they are inconsistent with federal laws and rules. Comcast and Verizon asked for this preemption after Congress repealed the FCC’s strong broadband privacy rules and some 16 states introduced laws that would protect users’ privacy. As usual, Pai gave these powerful companies exactly what they asked for. The hypocrisy is staggering. When the FCC in 2015 voted to help consumers by pre-empting the laws of two states that prohibit communities from expanding and building their own broadband networks, Pai dissented vociferously. In this case, where the FCC is removing pro-consumer protections, Pai is delighted to preempt the states from ensuring that their citizens are protected from anti-consumer and anti-competitive practices of broadband companies. The result? Broadband providers win and you lose. What’s next? Pai’s proposed order is now “circulating” among the other four Commissioners, some of whom may offer edits to the document. For the next two weeks, the FCC will take public comment on the proposal and then one week before the FCC’s December 14 meeting, it will go into its “Sunshine” period, in which comment from the public is prohibited. Pai made clear that he doesn’t value public comments, so the best thing for you to do is to contact your representatives in Congress. Now. Just yesterday, some 175,000 calls opposing the proposal went to members of Congress. The goal is to get Republicans to urge Pai not to proceed once they recognize that repeal of the net neutrality rules, like repeal of the broadband privacy rules before it, is extremely unpopular and will hurt them at the ballot box in 2018. If that doesn’t happen, the FCC will vote on Pai’s proposed order on December 14, where it is expected to pass. After that, get ready for a bunch of lawsuits and at least an 18-month to two-year wait for a court to decide the fate of the rules and the FCC’s ability to protect consumers and competition. Gigi Sohn is a Fellow with Georgetown Law’s Institute for Technology Law & Policy, the Open Society Foundations and Mozilla. She served as Counselor to former FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler from November 2013-December 2016.
No matter how much exploration you have done for designing your home or revamping it, mistakes are bound to occur. So, it’s a better option to hire an interior designer and give your house the finest look that you have always desired. An interior designer will work far more efficiently than you would. Find key points to think about while hiring an interior designer. 1. Budget This is the foremost thing to be thought. You should have a price range decided, before hiring an interior designer which also covers his or her fees to be paid to get the most out of his services. 2. Time Period Decide when you require this project to be executed; keeping in mind best timelines like Christmas, Diwali or summer vacations when your family is away on a holiday and you would like the work done while you are out of town. 3. Location Which rooms or spaces will they be assisting you with? Decide on the spaces that are linked through an open plan like kitchen opening to the dining room might be healthier option to be designed jointly. Keep in mind the needed materials involved with a choice in the different rooms of your home. 4. Expectations Be open and connect with your interior designer as a friend with all the honest expectations you have from him and the newly designed home. This would be the most decent possible option to deal with a professional you are paying to assist you with something as important as your home. 5. Accommodations Consider that your living room and kitchen are being entirely redone, so where will you live. Can you live without them for some weeks? It is not recommend living in a house while renovations, and if you can stay with a friend or family or somewhere on rent, it will definitely be better for that time period. 6. Combined Decision Making You should consider and take inputs from your kids or elder ones on the project. Ensure everyone essential is in attendance during the important meetings done with your Interior Designer. 7. Personal involvement Decision regarding your personal involvement is important to be taken in the initial period of the project. If you are extremely busy, the complete project can be done off your plate and you can prefer the designer taking care of the whole thing. However, if you are a creative person, you can involve in the selection of your furniture or purchasing materials with the designer. Make your experience as best as possible, having a wonderful time while hiring an interior designer and throughout the further work process. About the Author:- Amanda Heynen - Professional Interior Designer Adelaide has worked in the Interior Design & Decoration industry for the past 13 years. She established White Oyster Interiors & Styling in 2010.
The European Union is providing urgent assistance to Serbia and to Bosnia and Herzegovina, the two Western Balkan countries being hit by the worst floods in the last 120 years. In addition, Serbia, in its capacity as an EU candidate country, qualifies for financial assistance, Humanitarian Aid Commissioner Kristalina Georgieva said. Bosnia said yesterday (19 May) that more than a quarter of its 4 million people had been affected by the worst floods to hit the Balkans in living memory, comparing the “terrifying” destruction to that of the country’s 1992-95 war. The extent of the devastation became apparent in Serbia too, as waters receded in some of the worst-hit areas. Since May 14, Serbia has been fighting catastrophic floods that have endangered a large number of inhabitants, damaged houses, road and energy infrastructure, and destroyed livestock and crops, primarily in the west of the country. The regional death toll reached more than 40, after the heaviest rainfall since records began 120 years ago caused rivers to burst their banks and triggered hundreds of landslides. So far, 20 of those deaths have been recorded in Serbia. The governments of the Federation of Bosnia-Herzegovina, and Serbia, decided to proclaim 20 May a day of mourning, for those who lost their lives in the flooding. “The consequences … are terrifying,” Bosnian Foreign Minister Zlatko Lagumdžija told a news conference. “The physical destruction is not less than the destruction caused by the war.” Lagumdzija said more than 100,000 houses and other buildings in Bosnia were no longer fit to use and that over a million people had been cut off from clean water supplies. “During the war, many people lost everything,” he said. “Today, again they have nothing.” His remarks threw into sharp relief the extent of the challenge now facing the cash-strapped governments of both Bosnia and Serbia. Serbian Prime Minister Aleksandar Vu?i? said the cost in Serbia would run to hundreds of millions of euros. President Tomislav Nikoli? appealed for outside aid. “We expect huge support, because not many countries have experienced such a catastrophe,” he said. Even as the crisis eased in some areas, a new flood wave from the swollen Sava threatened others, notably Serbia’s largest power plant, the Nikola Tesla complex, 30 km southwest of the Serbian capital, Belgrade. In Bosnia, Assistant Security Minister Samir Agic told Reuters that up to 35,000 people had been evacuated by helicopter, boat and truck. As many as 500,000 had left their homes of their own accord, he said, in the kind of human displacement not seen since more than a million were driven out by ethnic cleansing in the Bosnian war two decades ago. In Croatia, which is also struggling with unprecedented floods, 2 people have lost their lives, and several villages and towns along the Sava have been evacuated. Georgieva stated in Brussels on 19 May that Croatia and Serbia can use up to 1 billion Euros from the EU Solidarity Fund, to help recover from the flooding. She explained that discussions were being held as to the possibility of including Bosnia-Herzegovina, within the broader framework of EU aid. Georgieva will arrive in Belgrade on the evening of 20 May, while Serbian Foreign Minister Ivica Da?i? will meet with the European commissioner for regional policy, Johannes Hahn, who is charge of the solidarity fund, in Brussels, on 21 May. Power plant At least 25,000 people have been evacuated in Serbia, but many more are believed to have fled the flooding. Hundreds of volunteers in the Serbian capital filled sandbags and stacked them along the banks of the Sava. Police issued an appeal for more bags. Soldiers and energy workers toiled through the night to build barriers of sandbags to keep the water back from the Nikola Tesla complex and from the coal-fired Kostolac power plant, east of Belgrade. The plant provides roughly half of Serbia’s electricity. Parts of it had already been shut down as a precaution, but it would have to be powered down completely if the waters breached the defenses. Flooding had already caused considerable damage, estimated by the government at over €100 million, to the Kolubara coal mine that supplies the plant. Landmines Authorities in Bosnia issued a fresh warning about the danger of landmines left over from the war and now dislodged by the flooding. In the north Bosnian region of Maglaj, barely a single house was left untouched by the waters, which receded to leave a tide of mud and debris. In the village of Donja Polja, where Muslim Bosniaks returned in 1995 to homes burned or shelled during the war, Hatidza Muhic swept the mud from the hallway of her house. Dark lines on the walls indicated the water had reached some 3 meters high. Half of the EU already helping Speaking to the press yesterday, Georgieva said the EU was providing coordinated assistance through the EU Civil Protection Mechanism which was activated at the request of Serbia, and Bosnia and Herzegovina. Georgieva said that Serbia’s urgent request for high capacity water pumps and operational teams has been chanelled through the European Commission’s Emergency Response Coordination Centre (ERCC) and was answered positively within a matter of hours by Bulgaria, Germany, Slovenia and Austria. Thirty six hours after the Serbian request was made, the number of member states offering assistance reached ten, with the Czech Republic, France, Croatia, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia joining the relief efforts. Arrangements are currently underway for the deployment of rescue boats, high capacity pumps and operational teams in Serbia. Most of the aid will have arrived by tomorrow. So far, Slovenia, Austria, Luxembourg, the United Kingdom, Slovakia, Belgium and Germany have responded through the EU Civil Protection Mechanism to the request of Bosnia and Herzegovina, offering helicopters and motor boats to support the evacuation of residents and transportation of water, medicines and food. The assistance is underway and transportation costs are being co-financed by the European Commission. A seven-member EU Civil Protection Team is being deployed to Serbia today to liaise with national authorities and the EU Delegation in the country and to facilitate the delivery of the incoming assistance. An EU team of civil protection experts will be deployed to Bosnia & Herzegovina tomorrow.
The date, 19 August 1991, is etched in my mind. It’s my hane bhara (fate) that has played out for 20 years now. I have been victimised by the state for leading the police to former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi’s killers. They—then Karnataka Chief Minister S Bangarappa, actually—promised me a reward of Rs 10 lakh. I am still waiting. All that fame has gotten me nowhere. I have braved death threats and lived with police protection for many years. Only the CBI paid me Rs 60,000 as reward money. With half that money, I paid off my debts and bought more cows. I put the balance in a fixed deposit and got two of my four children married. I had dreams of owning a plot of land and building my own house with the money promised by the Chief Minister. It has remained an empty promise. Even to this day, I live in a thatched roof structure on encroached land. I can be evicted at any time. I remember the events of that time very clearly, as if it were just yesterday. An affable young man, who spoke both Tamil and Kannada, approached me while I was milking my cows and wanted to buy half a litre. Pointing to a new house across the road—the only one on a huge tract of land—he said he was moving in there with his bride. Later that evening, I saw him get off a city bus wearing a bright checked shirt. He asked if I could deliver milk to his home. A short while later, I knocked on his door. He opened it with a smile and stood while I poured the milk into a container. He went inside to get Rs 2.50. That was when I peeped inside and saw several people sleeping on bedsheets on the hall floor. I didn’t think much of it since it was common then to have little furniture in new houses. Later that night, as we were drifting off to sleep, a few policemen came around asking if we’d seen a large group of Tamil-speaking men and a woman travelling in a Gypsy—Sivarasan, Subha, the standby human bomb, and five others, as I came to know later. They were apparently looking for isolated places to hide around Bangalore. I answered in the negative. It was quite normal for the police in Konankunte, 12 km on the outskirts of the city, to look for criminals here, as the area was quite isolated. I started work the next day before dawn, herding and milking the cows. Then, I remembered the one-and-a-half litre order of the new tenant. When my five-year-old daughter Muniratna and her brother, Nagesh, woke up, I asked them to deliver the milk. The kids opened our neighbour’s gate, knocked on the door, and waited. Still milking the cows, I paused to look up at the door, which was clearly visible from where I sat. I saw a hand put out a vessel and motion the kids to pour milk into it. There seemed to be no words exchanged and the children returned. I asked them if that ‘uncle’ had said anything. They said only a vessel had been thrust out and taken in once the milk was poured. They never saw the person’s face. I thought it a bit strange, but reasoned to myself that since the couple were newly-weds, they were probably not decently dressed. A few minutes later, several men in plainclothes (cops, I soon realised) swarmed the place. Deputy Commissioner of Police Kempaiah also came there in a jeep. He asked me if I had noticed any suspicious activity. I told him about the new tenant and that morning’s incident. When I also told the police that there were other people sleeping on the floor, they were convinced these were Rajiv Gandhi’s killers. The house was put under surveillance. Kempaiah told me that if I spotted the tenant, I should inform him immediately. I nodded, a little excited at the prospect of action. As it was time to let the cows graze, I led them to a grassy knoll behind my shack, which led back to the main road. Soon, an autorickshaw halted and a passenger called out, asking what the commotion was about. Being a talkative woman, I said proudly, “Rajiv Gandhi’s killers are hiding in that house.’’ I observed that the passenger was carrying some vessels, vegetables, coffee powder and clutching on to a bag tightly. “Oh, howda (is it?),’’ he said, a little surprised, and asked the autorickshaw driver to turn around. As the vehicle struggled to make its U-turn, I realised he was wearing the same checked shirt I had seen the previous day. A closer look confirmed that he was the man the police had asked me to look out for. ‘If he was the tenant, what was he doing in an autorickshaw so early in the morning?’ I wondered. Wasn’t he supposed to have been in the house, taking milk from my kids? My mind raced back to the morning’s events, especially to the man who had put out a vessel and refused to show his face. I immediately threw the grazer’s stick to the ground and ran through the elephant grass to where Kempaiah was sitting in the jeep. “Sir,’’ I told him, breathless, “The man who asked for milk was coming here in an autorickshaw.’’ I told him about our conversation. A posse of policemen chased the auto and took Ranganathan—for that was his name—into custody. As he was bundled away, he denied that he knew anyone in the house. A day later, commandos stormed the house to find that everyone had consumed cyanide and died. Subha, though, was shot dead, presumably by Sivarasan, who later turned the gun on himself to avoid capture. Those were the only shots fired from inside the house. When he was questioned further, Ranganathan denied that he’d ever bought milk from anyone. “I have not yet shifted my house, I don’t know who they are,’’ he told the police. As the manhunt ended, a triumphant administration announced that I was instrumental in providing vital leads that helped the police close in on the killers. I gave interviews and posed with bigwigs who came to the spot for photographs. All of them promised to help me. I was taken to Chennai many times as an additional witness in the case. Though I didn’t have to identify Ranganathan in court, I have been credited with identifying the prime suspect without whose help Rajiv Gandhi’s killers would never have been traced. Meanwhile, I waited for the reward. I was hoping to buy the plot we were living on and build a concrete house. My husband, Krishnappa, to this day, works on daily wages at a nearby fruit stall. In the 20 years that have passed, my shack has been demolished and troubles have only multiplied. Last year, a local body felicitated me with a shawl and plaque for exemplary courage. The landowner who ousted us promised help too, but did nothing. The only silver lining was that I was offered a role in a film called Cyanide, based on the assassins—to play myself. My children advised me not to take it, as I was getting death threats and was under police protection. Recently, someone herded away seven of my cows. When I went to register a police complaint, they chased me away, asking me to look for them properly. There is no justice here. I am angry and hurt that Rajiv’s daughter, Priyanka, visited Nalini Sriharan (who’s serving a life sentence in Vellore Jail) and forgave her. I am told that the Gandhi family is paying for Nalini’s daughter’s education in Chennai. Look at my fate. There has not even been a word of thanks by the ruling family. As told to Anil Budur Lulla
Signup to receive a daily roundup of the top LGBT+ news stories from around the world The Nigerian Government is to investigate claims that Switzerland’s Ambassador to the country is living with his husband. Eric Mayoraz arrived in Nigeria last year and – according to local newspaper, the Daily Trust – did so with his husband, a Brazilian man known as Mr Carlos. Akinremi Bolaji, a spokesman for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said on Thursday (April 7) that the department was aware of the allegation and that it would be investigated. Mr Bolaji, said: “We are aware of the development and have started an investigation. It is either they have deceived us because we would never have allowed such a person to enter the country if we were aware before now. “We have a law, which must be obeyed by all. If we find him culpable, he will be made to face the full wrath of the law.” In 2014, Nigeria criminalised homosexuality and made some acts punishable with a life sentence. Mr Mayoraz has refused to comment on the investigation. A spokesman for the embassy, said: “We do not provide any information about the privacy of our employees.” It is unclear whether the Ambassdor would be entitled to diplomatic immunity, if the Nigerian authorities believed the allegations to be true. The newspaper reported that rumours surfaced last year when the Swiss Embassy introduced Mr Carlos as a member of the Association of Spouses of Heads of Missions (ASOHOM). Proving controversial, the embassy eventually withdrew from the group in December. Last year, Nigeria rejected calls from US President Barack Obama to repeal the anti-gay law stating, “sodomy is against the law in Nigeria, and abhorrent to our culture.”
It is widely thought in Western societies that facial scarring has a negative impact on attractiveness. However, the specific effects of non-severe facial posttraumatic scarring on third party perceptions of attractiveness are currently unknown. Here we show that non-severe facial scarring can enhance perceptions of attractiveness in men but not in women. We report the results of asking 147 female and 76 male participants to rate the attractiveness of unscarred opposite-sex faces and faces that had been manipulated to exhibit photorealistic scarring, demonstrating that scarring enhances women’s ratings of male attractiveness for short-term, but not long-term, relationships. Men’s ratings of female attractiveness were unaffected by scarring. Though the reported effect is small, our results suggest that under certain circumstances scars may advertise valued information about their bearers, and that the idea that scarring universally devalues social perceptions can no longer be assumed to be true.
With large swathes of the US either still getting now or digging out of the stuff, Nissan is teasing us all again with its Juke Nismo RSnow that has absolutely no fear of getting stuck in the inclement weather.The company first teased this custom's abilities on Twitter last week , and now it has released even more images and video of the RSnow powering through the powder. Beyond the obvious tracks, the Juke Nismo RS has remained mostly stock, though. Nissan had to trim the fascias for extra clearance, and the torque-vectoring all-wheel drive system was also reprogrammed. Otherwise, things are just like the regular version of the high-performance compact crossover , and even the CVT remains in place.The RSnow is made to support an ice-driving event in Lapland, Finland, and according to Nissan, this clip shows it at work on the Uddjaur Lake there. Traction is clearly not a concern on the ice. This is likely just the CUV many people around the Great Lakes and in the Northeast wish they could be driving right now.
On November 25th, the Ripple XRP price continued the steady climb which it has been making since mid-July, to potentially stabilize at a 0.25 cents on the dollar. Of course, the current XRP price still pales in comparison to the value of other altcoins. Considering, however, that Ripple Coin essentially slumbered from December 2016 to April 2017, at $0,006, it has to be said that the centralized digital currency has made significant headway this year. Of course, Ripple Coin itself sends shivers down the spine of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrency enthusiasts, specifically because of the word, ‘centralization.’ As it is, though, Ripple (XRP) might just be the altcoin which serious investors start to fall a little bit more in love with in 2018. Like it or not Ripple is Innovating The Ripple blockchain was created in 2012, by and for the very fiat monetary system with digital currency offerings like Bitcoin ideally wish to supersede some day. However, to go so far as to say that the likes of Bitcoin and Ripple XRP plan to go to all-out war at some point, would be something of a misnomer. At present, in fact, Ripple is simply doing a lot the same of what coins like Nem are doing in the Far East. Ripple has taken Bitcoin blockchain technology and created a Ripple blockchain which can reduce transaction infrastructure costs in traditional commerce. What is more, many big financial institutions are starting to take Ripple’s potential very seriously. Ripple Net is already being used by large UK and US banks. In like regard, November 16th of this year saw American Express and Santander team, in order to start using the Ripple blockchain to facilitate faster international transaction processing. Why Bitcoin & Other Altcoins Risk Losing Out to Ripple in the Long-Term Given the increasing interest in Ripple XRP blockchain technology by leading financial institutions, Bitcoin and other digital currency offerings might want to start asking some very serious questions. Yes, Bitcoin has made phenomenal gains this year. In reality, however, the huge gains which cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin have made, haven’t been made due to people with money to invest, embracing the philosophical ideals of Bitcoin as decentralized alternative to fiat money. When the cards are really put on the table, the majority of cryptocurrency investors don’t care about decentralization. Really they just want to put money into different digital assets, pass go at some point in the future, and collect their winnings. What is more, big money investors like those who Coinbase is currently attempting to attract with its new Custodial service, have so far avoided investing in digital assets, specifically because they are decentralized and unregulated. Why Bitcoin is Starting to Lose the Decentralization Debate It is because decentralization is so integral to the philosophy behind many digital assets, that Ripple is often looked upon disdainfully by hardcore digital currency enthusiasts. In reality, however, real cracks are starting to appear in the long-term argument for decentralization. If a leading investment bank on Wall Street suddenly lost $300 million of investor cash due to a software glitch or hack like Etherum did at the start of this month, that bank would be mandated by law to compensate people affected. In like regard, with regulatory oversight, pump and dump schemes which are becoming more frequent and making trading digital assets more volatile by the day, simply wouldn’t be possible. (Not on the same scale at least.) What Ripple XRP Offers That Other Digital Assets Don’t In short, with every pump and dump, every Ethereum ICO fraud, and every Bitcoin scaling debate, digital currency offerings actually make themselves look less attractive in the long-term to many institutional investors. Ripple, on the other hand, starts to actually buoy ever more slightly in popularity. Of course, people don’t want to invest in Ripple. People want to invest in a cryptocurrency like Bitcoin which can promise them upwards of 700% returns in as little as 12-months. The only question is, will Ripple one day welcome an exodus of big league Bitcoin investors when such huge gains start to peter out? – Much more importantly, might this be why Ripple XRP was really created in the first place? Ads by Cointraffic
We realize of course that we have been stretching it here. Supporters have backed us through the recent donation drive, as well as giving generous support to Sage Gerard and his sterling efforts with Zen Men. And yet again we have a moral imperative to seek your support again, should you be inclined. It was my desire for some time to help Dean Esmay with his dental work. With the expense of two children, including special needs, a life consumed by activism when he is not working his job, and almost squat in terms of dental coverage, his health in that area has suffered. I want to ask this community to help him, please. I will be donating the personal funds that I can, but I don’t have enough to take care of it on my own. I don’t even have enough to do what I am going to do, but I am going to do it anyway. Fact is, Dean deserves this. He deserves more, actually, but we hope to make this small thing happen for him. He works hard on behalf of people he does not and never will know, and I am hoping that our community will see this as an opportunity to help one of our own when it counts. A message from Dean’s wife, Gi, follows the video. Thanks to all in advance for having the back of a man who has yours. PE It is never comfortable to reach out for help. And it is even more awkward when being angry, but I just can’t do this without getting something off my chest first. John Hembling’s attempt to use my husband as a human shield to distract from his own perfidy will not work. I have three things to say to John, thank you very much for the $100CAN. Thank you for the “Fix your tooth, motherfucker” in the subject line of the donation email, and go fuck yourself. As for the charge that Paul doesn’t care about men in general and the people who work for him in particular: total bullshit. I support the work that Dean does at AVfM because I know how much it means to him and I recognize how needed it is. But if I believed that Paul didn’t give a shit I wouldn’t have volunteered my time and energy to help organize and run ICMI14, I wouldn’t be on the planning committee for ICMI15 and I certainly wouldn’t have traveled to Toronto for the Nathanson/Young talk. I was Agent Tungsten at that event and I was asked to go there by Paul because he wanted someone to have JTO’s back. Too bad JTO decided to slip a knife into Dean’s. Now, as to why I am here now. As anyone who is following this knows, Kevin, an attendee of ICMI14, gave Dean a check for $2,200.00 for use toward getting a tooth repaired. Dean reluctantly and gratefully accepted. When we visited the dentist we found there was substantially more work that needed to be done before he was willing to address the reason we came in the first place. We went ahead with that treatment, including the first step in the procedure for crowning his missing tooth and figured once I was working again we would finish the work. I am still unemployed and looking. That is the long and short of what happened, at least as it relates to Dean’s dental work. I want to thank everyone who has supported Dean, and who will support him in this fundraiser to help him out. He works hard every day, trying to make a difference in the lives of people he does not even know. Gigi Esmay
Many people gobble big doses of vitamin C in hopes of boosting their immune system and warding off illness. But new research shows that in people with cancer, the vitamin may do more harm than good. Researchers at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York studied the effects of vitamin C on cancer cells. As it turns out, the vitamin seems to protect not just healthy cells, but cancer cells, too. The findings were published today in the journal Cancer Research. “The use of vitamin C supplements could have the potential to reduce the ability of patients to respond to therapy,” said Dr. Mark Heaney, an associate attending physician at the cancer center, in a press release. Dr. Heaney and his colleagues tested five different chemotherapy drugs on cancer cells in the laboratory. Some of the cells were first treated with vitamin C. In every case, including a test of the powerful new cancer drug Gleevec, chemotherapy did not work as well if cells had been exposed to vitamin C. The chemotherapy agents killed 30 to 70 percent fewer cancer cells when the cells were treated with the vitamin. A second set of experiments implanted cancer cells in mice. They found that the tumors grew more rapidly in mice that were given cancer cells pretreated with vitamin C. The researchers found that just like healthy cells, cancer cells also benefit from vitamin C. The vitamin appeared to repair a cancer cell’s damaged mitochondria, the energy center of cells. When the mitochondria is injured, it sends signals that force the cell to die, but vitamin C interrupts that process. “Vitamin C appears to protect the mitochondria from extensive damage, thus saving the cell,” Dr. Heaney said. “And whether directly or not, all anticancer drugs work to disrupt the mitochondria to push cell death.” Dr. Heaney measured the buildup of vitamin C levels in cells and said that the levels of vitamin C used in the experiments were similar to those that would result if a patient took large doses of the vitamin in supplement form. Earlier research at the cancer center showed that vitamin C seems to accumulate within cancer cells more than in normal cells. Patients should eat a healthy diet that includes foods rich in vitamin C, Dr. Heaney said, but it’s the large doses of vitamin C in tablet form that are worrisome.
The GRACE mission was selected as the second mission under the NASA Earth System Science Pathfinder (ESSP) Program in May 1997. Launched in March of 2002, the GRACE mission is accurately mapping variations in Earth's gravity field. Designed for a nominal mission lifetime of five years, GRACE is currently operating in an extended mission phase, which is expected to continue through at least 2015. GRACE consists of two identical spacecraft that fly about 220 kilometers (137 miles) apart in a polar orbit 500 kilometers (310 miles) above Earth. GRACE maps Earth's gravity field by making accurate measurements of the distance between the two satellites, using GPS and a microwave ranging system. It is providing scientists from all over the world with an efficient and cost-effective way to map Earth's gravity field with unprecedented accuracy. The results from this mission are yielding crucial information about the distribution and flow of mass within Earth and its surroundings. The gravity variations studied by GRACE include: changes due to surface and deep currents in the ocean; runoff and ground water storage on land masses; exchanges between ice sheets or glaciers and the ocean; and variations of mass within Earth. Another goal of the mission is to create a better profile of Earth's atmosphere. GRACE results are making a huge contribution to the goals of NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Earth Observation System (EOS) and global climate change studies. GRACE is a joint partnership between the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) in the United States and Deutsche Forschungsanstalt für Luft und Raumfahrt (DLR) in Germany. Dr. Byron Tapley of The University of Texas Center for Space Research (UTCSR) is the Principal Investigator (PI), and Frank Flechtner of the GeoForschungsZentrum (GFZ) Potsdam is the Co-Principal Investigator (Co-PI). Project management and systems engineering activities are carried out by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
Football, with its vast fortunes and off the pitch perks, has been targeted by con men from the boardroom to the pitch since it turned professional. From the Sheffield Wednesday match fixing scandal of the 1960s to Ali Dia and his Southampton contract the sport has been plagued by people looking to swell their own bank accounts and make themselves famous. One man stands out among the pack though. Carlos Henrique, “The Kaiser”, a man who played for some of the biggest South American and French clubs all whilst doing his utmost to avoid ever having to play a professional football match in his life. Carlos had much the same dreams as anyone with a love of the game. Growing up as a football fan in the wake of Brazil’s stunning success in the 1970 World Cup, Carlos wanted to emulate his heroes on the pitch. He showed some talent and was even brought on trial by Puebla FC, a then Mexican First Division side. The only problem with Carlos’ dream was that he wasn’t good enough to make the grade and was released without ever playing a match. Determined to pursue his footballing career he returned to Rio de Janeiro and in the nightclubs of the city he befriended some of the brightest Brazilian talents of the era, among them Bebeto, Romario and Renato Gaucho. Carlos took well to the night life of a famous footballer and used his new-found contacts to further his career prospects. Enlisting the help of his friends Carlos was able to secure a three-month trial contract with Botafogo that gave them the option of playing him in league matches. He had the physique and the natural fitness of an athlete so first impressions of him were favourable. But Carlos knew that he would be required to play in a practice match soon and so came up with a simply but effective way of prolonging his Botafogo career, he feigned injury. The story goes that Carlos asked for a few weeks fitness training before playing his first match. He told the club that he was a natural striker due to his speed and so the coaches gave him some time. When the time came for a match Carlos asked for the first ball played to him to be played a number of yards ahead of him. He chased it and fell to the ground clutching his hamstring, insisting he had torn it. Medical technology being what it was in the 1980s there was no way of disproving the claim and so Carlos went to the treatment table. As a ruse it worked well. He remained a Botafogo player on their payroll and, of course, during this period Carlos would hit all the nightclubs with his teammates and enjoy the company of the many women who were looking to meet a professional footballer. He even enhanced his own reputation by pretending to speak English on his own mobile phone to admiring European clubs in front of his team-mates and the Botafogo staff. This lasted until the club doctor, fluent in English, realised the now nicknamed Kaiser wasn’t able to speak English at all. Sneaking a look at the mobile phone, the doctor realised that it was nothing more than a toy. Kaiser, like all great con men, had a knack of knowing when it was time to move on. He left Botafogo and used his footballer friends to secure him a new contract, this time at Flamengo. Using the same fitness to injury table routine he was able to gain months of employment and fame from the club before moving on again. He would repeat his trick at clubs in Brazil, Mexico, the US and France, living for years as a professional footballer without ever playing a match. Some of the stories of how he dodged line ups have become the thing of legend. At Bangu he was sent to warm up so he could be brought on as the side trailed. Instead he used the anger of Bangu’s fans to his own ends and jumped on to the cage separating them from the pitch so he could remonstrate with them. The referee sent him off for inciting the crowd but afterwards Kaiser explained his actions as being that of a son sticking up for his proud father, the club’s chairman. God gave me a father, who passed away. But He gave me another, and I’ll never allow anyone to say my father (the chairman) is a thief. But the fans were saying exactly that. That’s why I intervened. At the French side Ajaccio he was horrified to see a crowd of fans waiting to witness the first training session of their new Brazilian superstar and so took every single football on the pitch and kicked them to his adoring spectators, all whilst kissing the club’s crest and proclaiming loudly about how much he means to them. The team then could only do physical training like running as they had no footballs to kick around. Kaiser would play for Ajaccio however and would eventually retire back home in Brazil with a record of thirty games played in a career that spanned over twenty years. Popular culture is full of people who chanced their luck for fame or fortune. From movies like Pain and Gain to Catch Me If You Can everyone loves hearing about a total fraud who gets away the deception, for a short time at least. No doubt in the near future cinema will tell the story of football’s greatest fraud, Carlos Henrique Kaiser.
“Why did you write about it, then,” said the man, “if you don’t want to talk about it?” I was on holiday with my husband and we were having dinner at the house of a friend. Evidently, she had told the man something about me because he began asking questions almost as soon as we sat down to eat. When I said I was on holiday, trying to relax, and that I didn’t want to answer his questions, he grew indignant. My decision to tell my story publicly—a decision I had made fifteen years earlier—meant to him that I was public property. This is not unusual. I have grown to understand it, though I have not entirely grown used to it, just as I have grown to understand that people have their own ideas of who and what I ought to be, wounded victim or heroic survivor. At one minute past midnight on July 19, 1975, my father was hanged. For twenty-seven years, I told no one about it. Then I published a memoir. I have lived with the aftermath of that decision ever since, as does anyone who has published their own story, who has unwrapped what had previously been concealed: the skinned inner self dragged out and, shrinking in the light, placed beneath the bright hot gaze of strangers. We had kept silent about the death of my father—my brother, sister, stepmother, and I. The youngest sibling, I was eleven when it happened, and I knew from the earliest, instinctively, that our story was not something to share with strangers. In Sierra Leone, the entire country knew what had happened to us, but in Britain, where we later went to live, nobody knew. We could go incognito, and we did. All the same, we talked about it compulsively, we three siblings, whispering among ourselves. I remember once, when I was in my twenties, the three of us sitting in a fashionable London wine-bar whispering memories of our father. Why did we do that? At the time, I took it for granted that we needed to whisper, in order to keep our story private. But other, more sinister, reasons became obvious once I started to investigate the conditions of our shared childhood. Our father, Mohamed S. Forna, a Sierra Leonian medical doctor, political activist, and the most prominent opponent of the country’s rising dictator, had been under constant scrutiny: watched, followed, and spied on even by members of our own household staff. Silence was a habit I was born into. When my father spoke, he did so publicly. His judicial murder was the president’s response, his message to the nation that this was where such actions got you. He silenced my father, and in time the silence spread to every person in the country. War came, as my father had predicted it would—an implosion of rage and violence which went on for more than ten years, finally ending in 2002. Cracks had appeared in the wall of the country’s silence, but still no words were spoken. That was the year I published my memoir, The Devil That Danced on the Water, an account of my father’s life and death and of Sierra Leone’s recent history. The impact was greater than I had imagined: newspaper and radio interviews, public engagements, serialization, a TV documentary. Nowhere was the desire to hear me discuss what I had written about greater than in Sierra Leone. In a talk I gave at the university, those who could not get into the auditorium sat on the grass outside and listened through the open windows. Back then, there were not a great many memoirs on the market. The decade and a half that has passed since has seen a resurgence in the form. Today, there is no subject I can think of that has not been excavated by the modern memoir: family, relationships, childhood abuse, both physical and mental illness, sexual adventure, sexual assault, sexual identity, addiction, bereavement, divorce, childhood, coming of age, mothers and motherhood, fathers and fatherhood, siblings, home, travel, exile, war, each of the decades from the 1950s on. In the months after I published mine, people I knew seemed to look at me in a new way, as though I was totally different from the person they thought they knew—which was, in some ways, true. Others read the book and seemed promptly to forget everything they had read. Sometimes, in later and unrelated conversations, they would ask me a question to which they knew the answer because they had already read it. I have done this, too: separated the person and the author of a memoir as though they were entirely different. You must also, once your book is published, deal with the reactions of strangers. I received hundreds of letters from readers who said my book had affected them. I always wrote back, more than once I even met with a correspondent. I once had lunch with a South African woman who had written to me, whose life was shaped by the disappearance of her father. She had never shared her story because, she said, the family was ashamed. They had been wealthy; she and her mother felt that if their story became known, suspicion might somehow fall on her father’s business dealings. They relocated to Britain and told nobody. I remembered our own years of silence. One of the reasons I didn’t tell most of my friends was the worry that people would see my father as having been guilty of something. The letters, now more often emails, have never stopped. Very occasionally, I have felt daunted by the idea of dealing with another person’s loss. I try not to let it show, and I hope I am successful in this, because once you have written your story, you become seen as a “survivor” and other people will reach out for you. There were also those people who were crass, or unthinking, or downright prurient, to whom my life had become spectacle. They expected me to talk on demand about those events I had written about, as if I was on stage. I had written about events and experiences that are painful to talk about, but which I felt must nevertheless be described. That is the simplest reason people write about themselves—because talking hurts too much. “I feel like a car accident everyone is slowing down to look at,” remarked a writer who, like me, had written an account of her activist father’s assassination, which had taken place when she was a teenager. We were walking to the stage at a literary festival where I was about to interview her. “I didn’t expect the interest to be so,” she searched for the word, “pornographic.” I came to think of the small group of people I knew who had endured similar experiences as the “Murdered Parents Club.” In each other’s company, we could talk without having to explain or defend ourselves, without feeling like an exhibit in the museum of humankind. The “club” consisted of the aforementioned writer; a close friend whose activist mother disappeared on pilgrimage in India; a Colombian whose father was murdered by paramilitaries outside their family home; a Nigerian journalist whose father was executed. We could talk and even laugh among ourselves in a way that was impossible in front of others. The writer of a memoir must necessarily reveal a great deal about herself or himself, and often about other people, too. You sacrifice your own privacy, and you sacrifice the privacy of others to whom you may have given no choice. They may enjoy the attention or be enraged by it. “People either claim it or they sue you,” the head of press at my publisher told me in the weeks before my memoir was published. I knew who might sue or come after me—members of the regime that had killed my father. I comforted myself with the belief that they had for the most part been exiled or discredited, or had gone underground. The only person I allowed to read the unpublished manuscript was my stepmother, because I was concerned about her safety even more than my own. She still lived in the country, and the violence can ricochet for months after a civil war. In the final draft, I changed one name only—of the man who had betrayed my father for the promise of money, agreeing to give false testimony at his treason trial on behalf of the regime. He admitted this to me during our interview. I despised him and I knew other readers of the book would despise him, too. He had a pitch selling Lotto tickets in Freetown, a small city. Anyone could find him just by asking around, as I had done. Already, one or two one or two suspected former rebel soldiers had been lynched in the city. For this reason, I changed his name, and privately decided that I would change any other names that my stepmother wanted me to. But without saying this, I let her read the book. When she gave it back to me, she made no comment. On the final page, I found a checkmark and the words “Well done, darling!” Later, she elaborated: if we were going to do it, we would go all the way. My sister, over lunch a few months after the memoir was published, mused: “You help to kill somebody and you think you’ve got away with it, and then, twenty-five years later, the telephone rings.” It’s not hard to see why memoir is so popular. For readers in constant search of “authenticity,” the true memoir trumps the fictional novel. These people may have experienced relatively little adversity or danger in their lives. Another kind of reader who particularly values the memoir is one who has endured a fate similar to the writer’s. She or he may be the survivor of domestic abuse, perhaps, or of illness, or crime. The memoir acts for this reader as testimony; it confirms the reality of her or his own experience, and offers courage and the possibility of comfort. The question I am most frequently asked is whether I found writing the memoir therapeutic. I encounter this most commonly among Western audiences, perhaps because the culture puts the self first and foremost. When I teach classes on memoir, I begin them all in the same way: “This is not therapy. If you want therapy, go and see a therapist.” I have had one woman stand up and leave. She thanked me later. She had realized in that moment that therapy was, in fact, what she needed. The writing of a memoir can be a test in mental courage. In the long months of putting pen to paper, you must return to immerse in, and endure, the very thing that caused you the most pain. You must pick at the scabs of old wounds and pour vinegar on them. Writing can be a way of handling the experience of loss, trauma, or pain, but it comes with no guarantees. “Be careful,” said my sister when I began. “Because what you find out may be worse than we already think we know.” An early newspaper review came close to destroying my relationship with my mother. The reviewer seemed less interested in addressing the political oppression, judicial murder, and civil war that is the book’s focus, than in weighing my mother’s abilities as a parent, very unfairly in my view. My mother was working overseas at the time and her copy of the finished book hadn’t arrived when a third party alerted her to the review. It hurt her badly, and she did not speak to me for a long time. When she did attempt to re-establish contact, I’m afraid I had become angry and didn’t see her for many more months. Sometimes, not being written about is worse than being written about. I once heard Will Fiennes, the author of The Snow Geese, describe how he had left all mention of his mother out of his original manuscript (in which he describes his relationship with his father and their shared love of ornithology) because, in his view, she was a very private person. When he gave his mother a draft of it, she initially responded in a complimentary fashion, but after he pressed her, she eventually asked: “But where am I?” Fiennes told the audience that as a result there were at least three “totally gratuitous” mentions of his mother in the final version. I knew a woman who, after her husband’s untimely death, found in his diaries an account of a long affair he had been conducting, along with descriptions of his boredom with family life. She wrote a raw, furious memoir about the impact of that discovery on herself and her family. Her agent told her it was brilliant. Then she asked, “Now, do you really want to publish this?” The woman realized that in her heart she didn’t and took her manuscript back. We would all wish for a friend as decent as her agent. The judgment is a fine one. I once knew both the writer of a sex memoir and her former partner; the end of their relationship had triggered her sexual wanderings for the next year. Before the book was published, she sent him a copy. He wrote back to her, he told me: “I hope it sells by the truck load and you never regret writing it.” To be the author of a memoir is to become a confessional for other people. All over the world, people tell me their stories: the high-end male sex worker, the girl held by a rebel army for three years, the man with African-American forebears who “passed” as white, the woman with the conman father, the girl who nearly ate and drank herself to death, the woman born in a concentration camp. Sometimes, sharing their stories with me is all they want, and it is enough. Sometimes, they want a wider recognition for their stories. To them, I say this: write, but only if you are sure you want to live with the consequences every day for the rest of your life.
Your first name Many liberal reporters and commentators have dismissed or downplayed the emerging Benghazi and Internal Revenue Service scandals as non-scandals or trifling bureaucratic errors. But reports that the Justice Department has been targeting journalists, first reporters at The Associated Press and now Fox News’ James Rosen, has caused the generally Obama-admiring press to question the purity of their redeemer. Here are 10 tweets from liberal commentators and reporters expressing outrage on Monday over Rosen-gate: Unemployed liberal commentator Keith Olbermann: My experience dealing with @jamesrosenfnc was unpleasant and contentious. And I fully support him against this unwarranted act by DOJ — Keith Olbermann (@KeithOlbermann) May 20, 2013 The New Yorker’s excellent long-form writer Ryan Lizza: Case against Fox’s Rosen, in which O admin is criminalizing reporting, makes all of the other “scandals” look like giant nothing burgers. — Ryan Lizza (@RyanLizza) May 20, 2013 If James Rosen’s “clandestine communications plan” were illegal, every journalist in Washington would be locked up. Unreal. — Ryan Lizza (@RyanLizza) May 20, 2013 Huffington Post’s Howard Fineman: #Fox Rosen probe as bad/worse than #AP: in unprecedented move, govt says he “conspired” with leaker to get info; that’s what reporters do! — Howard Fineman (@howardfineman) May 20, 2013 BuzzFeed’s Michael Hastings: Hey Jay @presssec Carney. If the Bush DOJ had done this to your reporters when you were Time DC bureau chief, how would you have responded? — Michael Hastings (@mmhastings) May 15, 2013 The Guardian’s Glenn Greenwald: Accusing James Rosen of committing crimes – for basic reporting – may be the most dangerous thing the Obama DOJ has done yet — Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) May 20, 2013 WIRED’s Spencer Ackerman: LOL a “covert communications plan” between journalist & source. Like basic reportorial opsec? washingtonpost.com/local/a-rare-p… Disgusting. — Spencer Ackerman (@attackerman) May 20, 2013 Soon-to-be MSNBC.com’s Adam Serwer: If you prosecute reporters for seeking/receiving leaks and you’re basically making non-government sanctioned reporting a crime. — AdamSerwer (@AdamSerwer) May 20, 2013 Talking Point Memo’s Josh Marshall: Just This: U cross a big line when u go from investigating journos to prosecute leakers to accusing journos of commitng crimes by doing job — Josh Marshall (@joshtpm) May 20, 2013 Al Monitor’s Laura Rozen: 1st thing agree w/ Cruz on RT @juliaioffe: MT @sentedcruz: W FF & DOJ targeting press @johncornyn right—AG Holder must go — Laura Rozen (@lrozen) May 20, 2013 Slate’s Matt Yglesias: Wow. Obama-era leak crackdowns on journalists look worse and worse:m.washingtonpost.com/local/a-rare-p… — Matt Yglesias (@mattyglesias) May 20, 2013 Follow Jamie on Twitter
The Biggest Election Surprise of the Year May Actually Be in West Africa Gambian President Yahya Jammeh once vowed to rule his country for “one billion years.” He was only 999,999,978 years off. On Friday, Jammeh lost his country’s general election to opposition leader Adama Barrow after 22 years in power. The defeat comes as a huge shock — not only because an unlikely opposition leader ousted an authoritarian president with a penchant for coups, but also because the president accepted the loss. “It’s really unique that someone who has been ruling this country for so long has accepted defeat,” Gambian electoral commission chief Alieu Momar Njie told reporters. Barrow earned 45.5 percent of the vote, while Jammeh trailed with 36.7 percent, according to the BBC. The surprise win by an opposition figure — and Jammeh’s even more surprising acceptance of his loss — is a historic moment for the tiny West African nation, which hasn’t had a smooth power transfer since gaining independence in 1965. Jammeh has ruled Africa’s smallest nation with an iron fist since first wresting power in a coup in 1994. His repressive regime impoverished an already underdeveloped country; the poverty rate that has hovered around 50 percent for years, according to the World Bank. Since taking power, he’s unleashed his security forces to torture, intimidate, arrest, and suppress dissenters to keep his grip on power, according to Human Rights Watch. Instances of dictators losing their own ‘window dressing’ election are rare. But there was a perfect storm of various factors that turned the tide in Gambian opposition’s favor, said Jeff Smith, founder of Vanguard Africa. “First, the opposition was unified and energized in a way that they had never been before,” Smith told Foreign Policy. The government’s brutal crackdown on anti-government protests in April and May garnered international scrutiny and galvanized various opposition factions. “It was the longest and most defiant act of public disobedience the country witnessed since Jammeh came to power,” Smith said. Then there’s Europe’s refugee crisis. “Gambia plays an outsized role in the crisis,” Smith said. “It’s the fourth largest ‘exporter’ of refugees to Italy this year, despite being one of Africa’s smallest countries.” This raised Europe’s awareness of the plights of Gambians and ratcheted up international scrutiny on Jammeh’s regime. And then, there’s the enigmatic dictator himself. Jammeh’s brutal and bizarre antics have drawn an international media spotlight that both enraged his people and energized the opposition over the years. It starts with his public proclamations. He led state-sanctioned ‘witch hunts and threatened to personally slit the throats of gay men in a public speech. He also isolated Gambia abroad. When he won reelection in 2011 in results that many international observers questioned, he told critics to “go to hell.” In 2013, he withdrew from the Commonwealth, the 54-nation group of former British colonies, after the United Kingdom’s Foreign Office released a report charging Gambia with human rights abuses. Jammeh also pulled Gambia out of the International Criminal Court for alleged bias against African nations; one of his ministers called it the “International Caucasian Court” when explaining the government’s decision to withdraw. Suffice it to say, Gambians were clearly ready for change. And facing a wave of popular dissent and international pressures, he had to relent. “Jammeh faced such a surprising groundswell of support for the opposition that they couldn’t fudge the numbers to the point where they could make it credible that they won,” Smith said. That hasn’t stopped dictators before, but international pressure made have tipped the scale, particularly pressure from his own neighborhood of relatively successful West African democracies. “For a number of years, the regional leaders have become fed up with Jammeh,” Smith said. “He’s a black eye on a region that’s performed overwhelmingly well writ large.” The United States and European Union also made clear an intent to slap sanctions on the country if Jammeh stole the elections again, as did neighboring countries like Senegal, which surrounds the tiny sliver of land that comprises Gambia. This, coupled with a determined and unified opposition, convinced the president to accept his loss. Jammeh, to defend his dictatorial cred, did try to make things difficult for the opposition as his country headed to the polls. In a classically authoritarian move, his regime banned internet and international phone calls when the country took to the polls. He also barred EU election observers from monitoring the process. But it didn’t deter Gambians from voting him out. His successor is a relatively new and inexperienced figure in Gambian politics. Adama Barrow is a real estate manager with little government experience (though he was reportedly a former retail store security guard in London before he threw his hat into the ring of Gambian politics.) He wasn’t supposed to be the face of the opposition, but Jammeh threw many other would-be frontrunners in jail. “He was thrust into this position because the leaders of party he’s a member of, the United Democratic Party, are all in prison,” Smith said. When Barrow takes office, he has a tough road ahead. The first item on the agenda is healing a nation that has suffered a traumatic dictatorship for over two decades. And then there’s the administrative challenges. “Jammeh ran Gambia as a mafia state,” said Smith. “The state does not exist without him, so there’s a huge void that Barrow has to fill.” He said there’s little economic opportunity but Gambians are hopeful for the change new leadership could usher in. That void is a particularly deep and bizarre rabbit hole, starting quite simply with Jammeh’s resume. Officially, it painstakingly lists some 80 awards he’s received as president, ranging from the “Admiral in the Great Navy of the State of Nebraska” (yes, that one is real) to an “Honorary Degree in Herbal and Homeopathic Medicine” from Belgium’s Jean Monnet European University, to the “Most Student Loving and Innovative President in Africa” award to the “Kentucky Colonel Award” from the governor of Kentucky. Oh, and don’t forget that Jammeh can cure asthma and (at least, he claims) AIDS — but don’t think that makes him a witch. “I am not a witch doctor, and in fact you cannot have a witch doctor. You are either a witch or a doctor,” he said, when his purported medical miracles came to light. And if titles alone won elections, Jammeh would have clinched a win; his formal title is His Excellency Sheikh Professor Alhaji Doctor Yahya AJJ Jammeh Babili Mansa. (He added Babili Mansa, meaning ‘conqueror of rivers,’ to his title in 2015). A 2014 coup attempt adds another strange layer to his story. The coup ringleaders were a Texan real estate developer and a Minnesotan computer studies teacher who served 10 years in the U.S. Army. Because of course. The FBI later arrested the two men, both U.S. citizens of Gambian descent. None of Jammeh’s awards, strange antics, or his ability to dodge coup attempts, curried favor with his people, as the voters showed Friday. It’s an upset few — including Barrow himself — expected. But international scrutiny on the bizarre and brutal dictator may have been the final nail in the coffin of Jammeh’s reign. “For years, the opposition struggled and put their lives on the line without anyone taking note,” Smith said. But when international media shed light on the Gambian leader, they also brought the plight of his people to light. “The opposition wouldn’t back down,” Smith said. “This time, they knew the world was watching.” Photo credit: MARCO LONGARI/AFP/Getty Images
In the week since the election, political pundits and everyone who didn’t vote for Donald Trump have been trying to wrap their heads around how he emerged victorious as president-elect. Are the 60 million Americans who voted for Trump as ignorant, racist, and misogynistic as he proved to be during his campaign? Are they so disenchanted with the political establishment that they chose a con artist over a flawed but objectively more qualified candidate whose very name is synonymous with that establishment? Of the many complicated factors that motivated the electorate, there’s evidence that the anti-establishment movement was a big one. We knew this when Bernie Sanders, an anti-establishment politician with very little name recognition, came close to beating Hillary Clinton during the primaries. Early on, many progressive millennials admitted they preferred Sanders to Clinton. Now, that same demographic--joined by older supporters of both Sanders and Clinton—are marching to protest Trump’s election in cities across the country and calling for a political revolution. They were marching down Manhattan’s Fifth Avenue on Tuesday when Becky Bond and Zack Exley, who spearheaded the grassroots volunteering efforts that helped Sanders surge ahead in the primaries, were at Civic Hall promoting their book, Rules for Revolutionaries: How Big Organizing Can Change Everything. “We have to translate this energy into work that will actually blunt some of the worst abuses of the Trump administration, and also begin working to build the base of mass organizing that we’ll need to sweep the elections in 2018,” Bond said of the anti-Trump movement, while protesters chanted “not my president” outside. I met the authors in a conference room at Civic Hall, ahead of a Q&A with Civic Hall co-founder Micah Sifry. Bond worked for the CREDO—a mobile phone company that raised tens of millions of dollars for progressive groups—for 15 years before quitting her job to work full time for the Sanders campaign. Both authors are 46. Having worked on Howard Dean’s presidential campaign in 2003, John Kerry’s in 2004, and Obama’s in 2008, Exley parlayed his knowledge of what made a campaign successful—particularly the Obama campaign’s strategy of forming “neighborhood teams” in battleground primary states—into efforts to mobilize and organize volunteers for the Sanders campaign. Like Sanders himself, Bond and Exley aren’t interested in debating whether the Vermont senator could have beaten Trump had he been the Democratic nominee. Yet they are certain the only way to fight the Trump administration now is to galvanize volunteers through “big organizing” for a revolutionary mass movement, just as they did for the Sanders campaign, pushing revolutionary progressive agendas through tech-enabled, peer-to-peer participation in politics. Rules for Revolutionaries outlines 22 “rules” in chapters—from “The Revolution Will Not Be Staffed” to “People New to Politics Make the Best Revolutionaries”—and highlights major goals of big organizing: free public college, universal health care, an end to the drug war and the mass incarceration of racial minorities, and an anti-globalization industrial policy which, Bond and Exley argue, will create more jobs at home. Many readers will recognize these goals from the Sanders campaign, but the book stresses that mass revolutionary organizing is bigger than the 2016 election: it’s what powered “virtually every transformational movement in US history from anticolonial rebellions up through the civil rights, women’s rights, and gay rights movements,” the authors write. Indeed, the concept of big organizing isn’t new, but it’s especially appealing now to those who are fed up with establishment politics. There’s no big money in big organizing, and volunteers act as campaign staff. In Rules for Revolutionaries, Bond and Exley explain that “big organizing is what populists used to simply call organizing but with the potential for much greater scale thanks to new and accessible technology for connecting people.” Small organizing, by contrast, has risen recently with the liberal establishment’s attempts to address radical problems through incrementalist politics, putting power “in the hands of an increasingly small number of mega corporations and institutions,” they write. Clinton’s campaign relied on small organizing, which Bond and Exley say works just fine when the goal is maintaining the status quo. But it’s not big enough to challenge the establishment. “People are beginning to understand that the problems we face now, like climate change and racial injustice, are too big for incrementalist solutions,” Bond said on Tuesday. “We need to address these problems urgently and make huge changes before it’s too late.” Both Bond and Exley noted that they were working on the fringe of the Sanders campaign in its early months, and that their big organizing tactics were considered so politically unorthodox at the time that it would have been irresponsible for the campaign to invest in them. “The tragedy of these insurgent presidential campaigns is that hundreds of thousands of people want to come out and work but we don’t have the resources to put them to work,” Exley said, comparing the early grassroots movement of the Sanders campaign to a start-up with millions of customers and no product. But their movement gained momentum over time: Sanders went from having only 3 percent name recognition at the start of his campaign to capturing 46 percent of pledged delegates—many of them pulled into politics for the first time—at the Democratic National Convention. Kenneth Pennington, who was national digital director for the Sanders campaign, praised Exley and Bond’s big organizing efforts in an email to The Daily Beast. “What Becky and Zack brought to Bernie 2016 was a strategy for organizing millions of volunteers that required fewer staff and less resources,” Pennington wrote, adding that they “built a network of largely self-sufficient volunteer teams that produced invaluable work for Bernie’s campaign.” That invaluable work included 75,000 volunteer-run events around the country during the campaign, 8 million peer-to-peer text messages to supporters and voters, and 81 million phone calls to voters. “Those kind of numbers only happen when you trust volunteers as leaders like Becky and Zack did,” Pennington wrote, remarking that their distributed organizing team “set the standard for how progressives should organize for decades and revolutions to come.” Do they think their methods will be embraced in future presidential campaigns? “It depends on who’s running the campaign,” Exley said, adding that veterans from the Clinton or O’Malley campaigns, for example, probably wouldn’t adopt a grassroots big organizing strategy. “They don’t know the potential of what we’re doing, so it won’t become standard.” The key to changing the system, Exley and Bond argue, is understanding the importance of going for big goals that even progressive liberal politicians say are politically impossible. And what of the progressive economists who argued that some of Sanders’s domestic economic proposals weren’t feasible? In February, four former Democratic chairmen and chairwomen of the president’s Council of Economic Advisers wrote an excoriating letter to Sanders and Gerald Friedman, the source of the Sanders’s campaign’s numbers, calling out Friedman’s extremism and claims that “exceed even the most grandiose predictions by Republicans” and could “undermine the credibility of the progressive economic agenda.” Responding to the letter, liberal economist Paul Krugman wrote in The New York Times that the Sanders campaign’s job projections and healthcare claims “aren’t just implausible, they’re embarrassing to anyone remotely familiar with economic history.” Krugman noted that, under Sanders’s single-payer healthcare plan, health care costs would be disproportionately incurred by a small segment of the population. “Paul Krugman is not a progressive economist,” Exley countered, arguing that economists have “shifted so far to the right” that liberals like Krugman are essentially promoting Reaganomics. Bond concurred that ideology governs what people like Krugman consider feasible or possible—an odd assertion, given that Krugman and others who lambasted Sanders’s economic proposals have pushed for progressive reforms like raising the minimum wage. “I don’t think there’s a strong empirical argument against making the changes we’re asking for,” she said, “it’s just a matter of prioritization.” If the government can spend $20 trillion bailing out big banks and billions of dollars on wars in the Middle East, Exley and Bond argued, then it could certainly afford Sanders’s economic proposals. To some, the core principles of mass organizing may seem similarly idealistic or counter-intuitive, like the idea that people are more likely to step up to the plate for game-changing issues—free college tuition!—than they are for incremental plans for change. One can see how people new to politics—the best revolutionaries, according to Exley and Bond—would be more likely to rally behind those game-changing issues than more nuanced proposals. “The people who are new come in with a sense of urgency and they don’t have bad ideas left over from the way they did it last time,” Exley said. Today, many of those people are being asked by their friends on Facebook to protest Trump. How can they affect change through mass organizing now? Bond cited the Black Lives Matter movement as an example of mass organization, and suggested that we appoint black leaders to deconstruct institutional racism while fighting for issues like income equality. She also said that people need to be ready to act if, for example, President Trump mandated that all Muslims register. “We’d need to get millions of people to register as Muslims in solidarity,” she said, adding that—in the meantime—we should push for more American cities to be like San Francisco, a sanctuary city that protects immigrants from deportation. Given that progressives already support these principles, we shouldn’t be surprised if an Occupy Wall Street-style, mass-organized movement arises in response to Trump’s presidency. And if the progressive anti-establishment movement that latched onto Sanders’s campaign pulls mainstream liberal voters into its camp, then Rules for Revolutionaries might become our generation’s political manifesto.
Could a Trump presidency, in effect, ruin the global climate forever? The answer is yes. The global, delicate effort to mitigate climate change already faced so many challenges, took so long to build, and came into being so desperately late. Trump, who has denied climate change is real and has an energy strategy based almost entirely on fossil fuels, could derail the effort entirely if he pulls the US out. But it doesn’t have to be so—especially if key actors like China step up and take on responsibility for their actions, and for the world. China to the fore Let’s get this out of the way: China is the biggest emitter of greenhouse gases in the world. It’s responsible for about a fifth of all emissions, having taken over as the top polluter from the US in 2006. China burns so much coal that air pollution there has been estimated to kill up to 1 million people a year. And back in 2009, when the world came together in Copenhagen and reached a (non-binding) agreement on cutting emissions multilaterally, China stood out for the wrong reasons: It was uncooperative and committed to its particular brand of economic growth—which meant emissions growth. But in recent years the country has changed its stance and its ways. In 2015, China committed to cutting its emissions per unit of GDP by 60%-65% from 2005 levels. Total emissions there are still rising, but China has said it would work hard to reach peak total emissions by 2030. It hasn’t committed to cuts in absolute terms, as many countries—most of the European Union, for example—have. But it has made a massive financial commitment to clean energy, becoming the biggest builder of new renewable infrastructure in 2014. It’s also improved the efficiency with which energy is used. From 1990 to 2000, China cut its energy intensity—the energy used to produce each unit of GDP—by 5.9%, according to the International Energy Association, significantly more than the global average of 1.5%. None of this is leadership, which to date has come mainly from Europe. But there are tentative signs that is shifting, too. China’s chief climate negotiator, Xie Zhenhua, said that Trump should honor the US’s existing global commitments. Ahead of the US elections, China’s chief climate negotiator, Xie Zhenhua, took the rare step of commenting on a foreign election to say that Trump should honor the US’s existing global commitments. A “wise” politician, Xie said, was one who conformed to global trends. While that’s fairly oblique compared to many of the criticisms of Trump, it is an unusual example of China publicly weighing in on the climate policies of another country. Now that China has accepted the need for unified action, perhaps it is becoming more ready to push for it. Meanwhile, it’s becoming clear that as far as China is concerned, climate change is central to the global agenda. And that commitment isn’t likely to change. China’s leadership style may be authoritarian, but it’s good for policy continuity. America’s recently acquired mantle There are two parts to every country’s climate policy. The first is domestic: The efforts to cut emissions at home through policies like taxes on fuel and carbon or subsidies on renewable-energy infrastructure. The other part is international. This can mean showing leadership in the intricate negotiations necessary to get dozens of countries to agree to policies requiring them to work together for a common good. Negotiators need the skills to find a way forward that feels fair to actors with incredibly different needs—and, potentially, then selling the policies to the people back home. In recent years, international leadership has also meant richer nations taking responsibility for past emissions—the industrial eras that saw their economies grow vast, fast—by agreeing to essentially fund poorer nations’ transition away from fossil fuels. The US is important in both arenas. Its greenhouse-gas emissions were the highest in the world until 10 years ago and are still second highest, so cutting at home has an impact globally. And as the world’s biggest economy, it is looked to as a leader. It’s hard, though not impossible, for global policy-makers to act effectively without American buy-in. Until very recently, the US was not leading in global climate change policy. Far from it. But until very recently, the US was not leading in global climate-change policy. Far from it. Al Gore, who ran in 2000 on a platform that included very clear climate policies, could have become the first president to make a meaningful impact globally. Instead, George W. Bush won and promptly pulled America out of the Kyoto Protocol, the hard-fought agreement between nations to work multilaterally towards protecting the climate. Barack Obama was the first president to make serious efforts to tackle climate change through domestic policy. A hostile legislature derailed many of these endeavors, and Obama was criticized abroad for failing to provide more global leadership. It wasn’t until winning a second term, with less to lose domestically (US presidents can serve only two terms) and the climate menace clearer than ever, that Obama took bigger steps to make the US less dependent on oil. And it took until 2014 for him to announce a bilateral agreement with China, in which both countries agreed to cut emissions by a fixed amount for the first time. America’s ability to cut emissions has always been hampered by the need to balance a climate-friendly policy with domestic needs like cheap gasoline. It has lagged far behind countries like Germany and others in Europe, but it was beginning to shoulder responsibility, provide vision, and set an example. That might not be the case for long. What a Trump about-face could mean Trump’s energy strategy calls for lifting constraints on domestic fossil-fuel production and reintroducing coal, the most polluting fuel, into the mix. He keeps promising “clean coal” technology, which is so expensive that, despite years of intensive R&D effort, it barely exists anywhere in the world. He has also promised to cancel payment to United Nations climate programs, and use that money instead to “fix America’s water and environmental infrastructure.” Such spectacular abdication of responsibility for historical or future climate change would see the US instead focus on patching parts of a country damaged by some of the very things international climate strategy is seeking to mitigate, like pollution. Putting Myron Ebell in charge of an agency with a climate remit is more dangerous than not having such an agency at all. There is some hope Trump won’t actually enact all his campaign promises, perhaps by being persuaded out of them by the people he appoints. The likelihood of the latter is slim when it comes to climate. One of Trump’s first acts as president-elect was to appoint Myron Ebell to lead the transition team for the Environmental Protection Agency. Ebell denies that climate change is real. Putting him in charge of an agency with a climate remit is more dangerous than not having such an agency at all, as it will lend legitimacy to views that most scientists believe are laughable. The one ray of hope is that Ebell may find few allies in the House or the Senate because his views are so extreme. Trump has also said he will pull out of the climate deal signed in Paris a year ago, which came into force on Nov. 4 and which the US has already ratified. That deal is the world’s current best hope for averting catastrophic climate change and most observers agree that even it does not yet go nearly far enough. Trump’s promised policies would be a massive blow to the already-slim possibility of keeping global temperature from rising more than 2° C above pre-industrial averages—the threshold for preventing irreversible damage. It isn’t clear whether Trump truly doesn’t believe in climate change, or just doesn’t care about the future. If the latter were the case, it wouldn’t be unusual. Voters want to be happy today, and can find it hard to understand the implications of policies that won’t be felt in their lifetimes. That is the central issue to the whole history of climate change: politicians have neither the incentive to care nor, usually, a long enough mandate to make a difference. How to hope In the face of such terrifying prospects, turning to China for leadership might be a wild clutching at straws. The country has forged its own path to prosperity without much reference to the rest of the world and at massive cost to the environment. But as China and others develop and Western economies stagnate, the bulk of emissions is shifting away from the developed world to newer economies. China could be a better model than the US for a nearby country like India, which is also guilty of massive, careless, carbon-intensive growth. India can easily shirk responsibility if China is also shirking. Since the two are regional rivals, a better way to express the relationship might be not as one of leadership, but of competition: India can easily shirk responsibility if China is also shirking, but if China is going green, Indians might be more easily persuaded to as well. And in 2015, for the first time, global economic decoupled from from growing emissions. That was due, for the most part, to emissions cuts in two countries: China and the US. In short, Donald Trump is assuming a frightening degree of power at what might be a tipping point in global climate negotiation. But he’s still one man, with a finite term both in office and on earth, contending with issues that are much larger than him, and trudging head-on against the flow of scientific knowledge, popular opinion, and—as Xie noted—global political trends. Trump was elected on a platform of strength. Wisdom we might have to seek elsewhere.
At the same time the European Union bureaucrats in Brussels are trying to foist further gun controls on the continent, Europeans are exhibiting a newfound interest in acquiring the tools of self-defense. Though restricted by EU mandate and often severe national gun controls, following a series of high-profile attacks on women, Europeans are buying up whatever means of protection they can still legally obtain. The surge in interest in firearms and other self-defense products dates back several months and relates in part to European unease surrounding mass immigration from the other parts of the world. In October, Fox News and others reported a marked increase in firearm sales in Austria. In the piece, Thomas Ortner, a spokesman for Austrian gun retailers, noted, “Nearly all shotguns are sold out because you don’t need to have a firearms permit to buy them… Registration courses for pistols are usually held only every five weeks but are now held weekly.” By all accounts this trend has continued into 2016, spurred on by a scene of anarchic violence in the German city of Cologne. According to an account from the New York Times: As 2016 neared on Dec. 31, however, some 1,500 men, including some newly arrived asylum seekers and many other immigrants, had instead assembled around Cologne’s train station. Drunk and dismissive of the police, they took advantage of an overwhelmed force to sexually assault and rob hundreds of people, according to police reports, shocking Germany and stoking anxieties over absorbing refugees across Europe. As a January article from Reuters pointed out, a look at the best-selling products on the “Sport & Leisure” section of Amazon.de (the German Amazon.com) immediately following the attacks revealed brisk sales of defensive sprays. The report also noted that the president of German defensive spray manufacturer DEF-TEC told the news outlet that sales of the products had “rose seven-fold in the final three months of last year.” On January 15, NBC News reported that so far in 2016 over 300 people had applied to Cologne police for licenses to carry gas pistols and imitation firearms; while only 408 such licenses were granted in all of 2015. Further, the New York Post pointed out in an article titled “Europeans stocking up on guns after mass sex attacks,” actual firearms are also in great demand. More recently, German state news agency Deutsche Welle noted this trend. According to the article, “most customers want a pistol that can fit easily into a handbag or a small drawer in the night table.” Moreover, a “social media expert” told the news outlet, “There has been an increase of at least 1,000 percent or more in Google search queries for gun permits since January.” To their credit, rank and file German police officers appear to support the decision many Germans are taking to arm themselves. German Police Union Chief Rainer Wendt told Deutsche Welle that the police do not intend to obstruct citizens in their attempts to lawfully arm and that he does not support new laws that would make it more difficult for the public to obtain self-defense products. As we pointed out back in November and December, this all comes at a time when the EU is seeking to crack down on firearm ownership in its member states. Pursuant to the European Firearms Directive, EU nations are already required to adopt a minimum threshold of gun restrictions. However, on November 18, in the wake of terrorist shootings and bombings in Paris, the European Commission announced that it was expediting previously contemplated gun control legislation. An extensive overview of current EU firearms law can be found at Library of Congress’ website. Under EU legislative procedure, typically the transnational government’s executive branch, the European Commission, drafts and proposes legislation. The proposed legislation must then be approved by the European Parliament, which consists of members of parliament (MEPs) elected by the citizens of member states, and the European Council, which consists of the leaders of the various member states, in order to be adopted. These entities may also provide amendments to the proposed legislation. The centerpiece of the recent proposal would place semi-automatic firearms in the same category as automatic firearms, barring civilian use. Other provisions offend the privacy rights of gun owners with stricter firearm registration requirements, and “standard medical tests” for firearm licensing. Additionally, firearms licenses issued by member states could not be valid for a period longer than five years. Predictably, the gun control-crazed United Kingdom government, led by Tory Prime Minister David Cameron, offered their full-throated support of EU-wide gun control measures prior to a December 17-18 meeting of the European Council. In a December 13 press release that echoed the November 18 European Commission announcement, Cameron cited concerns over terrorism and noted, “I’ll be calling for a new EU-wide ban on all high-powered semi-automatic weapons.” However, many EU member governments and shooting organizations have made clear they have no intention of caving to Brussels’ onerous dictates. Revealing that many in the UK don’t agree with the efficacy of additional firearm restrictions, UK shooting organizations the British Association for Shooting and Conservation and Countryside Alliance have worked in concert to oppose the current EU proposal. A February 2 article from the UK’s Western Morning News noted that the groups have shared their concerns about the proposed rules with several MEPs and UK government officials. In conveying their position to the news outlet, a Countryside Alliance spokesperson explained, “We believe the current set of proposals will have a serious effect on sporting and target shooting, collectors, museums, re-enactors and the gun trade, resulting in heavy restrictions and a great deal more work for the already overburdened police force… In fact it appears that the only group that will not be affected by these proposals is terrorists.” Similarly, representatives from German shooting organizations have met with German government officials to explain their opposition to the new restrictions. A December 21 Deutsche Welle article noted that the German Interior Ministry invited the groups in for a meeting. Following the session, Director of the German Federal Association of Shooting Ranges Joachim Streitberger told the news outlet, “The proposal contains things that the [German Interior Ministry] said would be difficult for them, and where changes would be called for,” adding, “After this conversation I do not expect the draft to come into force in the present form.” Streitberger also noted, “The criminal doesn’t care one bit what is in the law. The paradox is to try to use the law to avoid disadvantaging the law-abiding, while regulating the law-breaker, and that’s a paradox that a lawmaker can’t solve. Which weapon used in Paris was legally owned?” Additionally, the article cites Germany’s Der Spiegel magazine, which reported, “confidential EU reports suggest that the German government – along with its Austrian, Czech and Finnish counterparts – is keen to put the brakes on the EU’s plans.” Der Spiegel’s contention is in line with December statements made by Finland Security Minister Petteri Orpo regarding the importance of civilian semi-auto use to their national defense, and reports that the Czech Republic has significant concerns with the proposed changes. Further, Austria, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Lithuania, Norway, Portugal, Slovakia, and Spain have all issued formal comments on the proposal. Having been adopted by the European Commission, the proposed changes to the Firearms Directive are currently under the jurisdiction of the European Parliament’s Committee on the Internal Market and Consumer Protection (IMCO), chaired by MEP Vicky Ford of the UK’s Conservative Party. IMCO has released a timetable for their work on the proposal. The next major event in the timetable is a scheduled “first exchange of views” on February 23, followed by a hearing on this matter March 14-15. It is deplorable that the EU would seek to further restrict access to firearms when so many Europeans are finding it necessary to exercise their human right to self-defense. Thankfully, diverse members of the European shooting community, including shooting and hunting organizations, members of the firearms industry, and military officials are coalescing to oppose the changes to EU firearm law. Know your gun laws. Click here to see them.
Here's the latest trade and signing buzz from around the league: Gourriel bidding war will end up in the $55-75 million range Yulieski Gourriel's workouts have gone really well, and his high-end skills are evident. When it comes to talent, most evaluators place him between Jose Abreu and Yoenis Cespedes, and they expect him to impact a pennant race starting August 1, assuming he signs during the All-Star break. Gourriel has the ability to play second, third or left field with third base being his best position. He's also special at the plate; he can hit for average and power. On defense, he has an above-average arm and glove. He has poise, composure and competitiveness qualities. It’s really difficult to get an asset like him. You either have to draft this type of talent in the top 10 or empty your farm system to trade for him. Edwin Encarnacion, Jose Bautista and perhaps Cespedes headline a thin free-agent market this offseason, which only increases Gourriel's present value. The thin inventory of third basemen makes him even more valuable.
Summary Alan Watts began his training in writing and public speaking while attending King's College School in Canterbury, with the goal of becoming an Anglican priest. His interest in Eastern mysticism and religion began early and at the age of 16 he began writing for (and eventually became editor of) The Middle Way, the journal of the Buddhist Lodge in London. In 1938, at the age of 23, Watts married and moved to the United States. He earned his Master's degree in Theology from Seabury-Western Theological Seminary in Illinois and was ordained an Episcopal priest in 1944. He was also given an honarary Doctorate of Divinity from the University of Vermont. In 1950, while a chaplain at Northwestern University, Watts was invited to join the American Academy of Asian Studies (a predecessor of CIIS). He moved to San Francisco and became a lecturer, professor and dean at the Academy. Watts wrote prolifically during the 60s and became a somewhat unintentional spokesperson for the counterculture movement. He was widely recognized for his zen writings, produced more than 25 books, and lectured extensively on individuality, self-expression, and spirituality. Alan Watts died in his sleep at his home in California in 1973 (we had previously written that he died of lung cancer. this appears to be incorrect, our apologies for the error).
The application of Dye Solar Cells (DSC's) in many technologies and new products is at least a year away, according to Dyesol, the leading company in the fast-growing DSC sector. DSC technology still has a way to go to catch up with nature. You see, DSC technology is based on the process whereby plants convert light into energy and store it. Plants that use photosynthesis operate 24/7, even when the sun is not shining. Essentially, it's working those long hours that will prove DSC energy more efficient than silicon-based solar cells. The bio-inspired DSC is more powerful in a wider range of light and temperature conditions and its material flexibility makes it easy to be incorporated into many commonly used materials from steel in the building industry to fabric in the textile industry. DSC will also be far less expensive than silicon-based solar cells and will not leave the carbon footprint that current solar plants are making. In short, the application of DSC technology to existing and new materials is going to be revolutionary, changing the way we interact with many of our environments. Dyesol, an Australian company, with an international board of directors and customer base, is creating the DSC's which will generate heat when incorporated into glass, steel, paint, nano fabrics and many other textures. DSC's are extremely flexible. Layers of dye are formed and then laid on layers of material from steel to fabric. The dyes can be colored or transparent. Dyesol is now working with the Welsh Assembly Government on a project designed to see if roofing steel can generate electricity. Additionally, the University of Rome, the Italian companies ERG Renew and Permasteelisa, and the Australian Department of Defense have contracts with Dyesol for various applications of DSC technology. DSC's, inspired by photosynthesis, will soon be coming to a roof or window or winter shirt near you. Probably not soon enough. Sources: AskNature.org, Dyesol. SmartCompany.com Plant Photo: Forest & Kim Starr
"An appeaser is one who feeds a crocodile - hoping it will eat him last," goes the famous saying attributed to Winston Churchill. Of course, quoting Churchill will get you arrested in Great Britain these days. America isn't much better, thanks to the climate of intimidation created by, among others, the Southern Poverty Law Center. The Values Voters Summit is a gathering of social conservatives in Washington DC that features leading Republican politicians, including Ted Cruz and Rand Paul. The latter is interesting because apparently Paul feels he can break from his left-libertarian following on issues like gay marriage, but not on immigration. Of course, leading social conservatives have also been aggressively pushing amnesty of late, perhaps attempting to purchase a separate peace with progressive enforcers. It doesn't seem to have worked. Along with other fundraising scams, er, "civil rights groups," the $PLC is now attacking even the RNC of minicon Reince Priebus. In an open letter published in The Washington Post and The Hill, the coalition is reminding RNC Chair Reince Priebus that 15 years ago his predecessor told GOP officials to shun the Council of Conservative Citizens because of the group’s racist views. This year’s campaign is asking the RNC to do it again. “Will the GOP condemn anti-LGBT bigotry as vigorously as it opposed racism 15 years ago?” the letter asks. [Coalition Calls on RNC to Distance Itself From Values Voter Summit, SPLC, September 24, 2014] Of course, the obvious counter is that this is precisely why the PC Cringe never actually works—it simply emboldens the enforcers to move the goalposts and create something new. If the Values Voters summit is ditched, it will just be something else, ad infinitum. There's also the deeply dishonest implication that every speaker at a summit or conference must agree with every statement every other person or group at the conference has written or said. Certainly, this never seems to apply to the Left. “White folks was [sic] in caves while we was building empires…. We taught philosophy and astrology and mathematics before Socrates and them Greek homos ever got around to it.” — Rev. Al Sharpton [Should Al Sharpton be Fired From MSNBC For Making Racist Comments, by Mike Opelka, The Blaze, November 25, 2011]
INDEPENDENCE, Ohio - LeBron James said "I didn't hold up my end of the bargain" to get the Cavaliers to the 2009 NBA Finals and thus forge a matchup against Kobe Bryant's Los Angeles Lakers that the world would've wanted to see. James let loose a bevy of insight, emotion, memories and adulation Tuesday morning, regarding Bryant's announcement that this season would be the last of his illustrious 20-year career. There were almost too many anecdotes from James about Bryant, whom now may be called an idol of James' given what the Cavs' superstar said. For Cleveland fans, though, perhaps the most poignant was James' near apology for, or at least his overt expression of regret, for the Cavs failing to reach the Finals to play Bryant's Lakers in 2009, despite winning a franchise-record 66 games during the regular season. James and the Cavs were bounced in six games by the Orlando Magic, who were in turn dismissed by Bryant's Lakers in five games. Bryant averaged 32.4 points per game en route to being named Finals MVP. Either James or Bryant have played in every Finals since 2007, but never against one another. They have five regular-season and four Finals MVPs between them. "I know the world wanted to see it," James said, following the Cavs' morning shootaround in preparation for the evening's home game against Washington. "I wanted it, we wanted it, he held up his end and I didn't hold up my end, and I hate that. I hate that that didn't happen." James answered the first question about Bryant - asked for his reaction to Bryant's retirement announcement - and spoke for four minutes without pause. He called it "kind of sad" as he began to wax poetic about Bryant's impact on his own career, recalling the Bryant posters that hung on the wall and time Bryant gave him a pair of shoes to wear in a high school tournament against Carmelo Anthony's Oak Hill Academy. Bryant, like James in 2003, entered the NBA in 1996 direct from high school. "I mean, in high school I wore a nappy-ass Afro because of Kobe Bryant, because he wore it," James said. "I wanted to be just like him, man. And I always said my inspiration came from (Michael) Jordan, but I always thought Jordan was so out of this world that I could never get there. Kobe was someone that I just always kind of wanted to be like and play like." Remember last week, when James could not (or would not) offer a single moment from Reggie Miller's Hall of Fame career that stood out to him? Bryant memories rolled off James' tongue, as he maneuvered with ease from Bryant's career-high 81-point explosion on Jan. 22, 2006 against Toronto; his 62 points in three quarters against Dallas on Dec. 20, 2005; his game-winning shot from the right elbow in overtime against Phoenix in Game 4 of a first-round series; to James' own first game against Bryant during his rookie season with the Cavs. "It was someone that I always knew I had to be in the gym," James said, attempting to put into words what Bryant meant to him once he became a pro. "I knew I had to be better because of Kobe Bryant. I knew he was in the gym and I knew he was working on his game. And I knew he was great. "So every day that I didn't want to work out or every day I felt like I couldn't give more, I always thought of Kobe. Because I knew that he was getting better and I was like, 'Man, if you take a day off, he's going to take advantage of it. You cannot take a day off. You cannot take a day off.' And I used him for my motivation throughout my career because I always knew that he was working on something." The last time James and Bryant shared the same court was Jan. 15 at the Staples Center, when James scored 36 compared to Bryant's 19 points and 17 assists in Cleveland's 109-102 win. James, who still tunes into Lakers games on his tablet and watches "Bean" (Bryant's middle name, which James often shouts while watching those games) after Cavs games are finished, said he checked the schedule for when Cleveland and the Lakers meet this season (Feb. 10 at The Q; March 10 in L.A.). "I think it'll be very emotional and very fun," James said. "Obviously I want to win and he wants to win, too. But some things about that will be much bigger than a win or a loss. "It won't really make sense next year when you see the Lakers and you don't see Kobe in a uniform. Twenty years, 13 out of my career. It's almost half of my life I've seen him in a Lakers uniform as a professional. It's going to be pretty weird." James and Bryant were teammates on two gold-medal Olympic teams. Bryant may still play for Team USA at the Rio Olympics this summer; James said Bryant's decision wouldn't affect his own on whether or not to make another run at gold. Bryant will be remembered for his ultra-competitive streak, something James said he gained extra appreciation for during their time together with Team USA. James ended his session with reporters with the following Olympic anecdotes to make his point. "I would say our Gold Medal game in '08 against Spain was probably one of the most memorable games I've ever played with him," James recalled. "That was a really tough game for our team. It was our Redeem Team and late in the game it was a very close game. Rudy Fernandez had just come down and made a really big bucket. They went zone on us and we needed to make a big bucket. We swung it around the horn, Kobe caught it on the left wing and shot a three with no thought about it. Got fouled, four-point play and we put the game away from that point on. That was pretty cool. "The other game that was very inspiring and at the same time I knew he was on another level was during our first game we played Spain in '08 in the preliminary rounds. The first play of the game he ran through the chest of Pau Gasol and got a flagrant. And Pau Gasol was his teammate with the Lakers. I was like, 'Yeah, this guy is on another level.' "Yeah. I loved it. I mean, he wasn't my teammate, but I was like, you guys can find that clip and you'll see what I'm talking about. It was one of the first plays of the game. I was like, 'This guy's all about winning and whoever he's playing for or who he's playing with at that point in time. He really forgot Pau was his teammate. Like he really forgot that he was about to see him in like three weeks in L.A. I swear. It was crazy."
This article is over 3 years old Treasurer tells National Press Club sceptics are welcome to doubt the trade benefits but the government is convinced of them The treasurer, Scott Morrison, has ruled out conducting “rear view” analysis of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) agreement, saying that the government is satisfied with its projected benefits. The only analysis done on the massive 12-country trade deal was conducted by the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade. Consumer groups such as Choice had asked for independent review to be undertaken. Trans-Pacific Partnership: four key issues to watch out for Read more When asked by reporters during an address to the National Press Club, Morrison flatly refused. “The work has been done ... in securing these agreements and the sceptics will always doubt the trade benefits of these sorts of deals,” he said. “They’re welcome to their scepticism. The government is convinced of it. “Doing rear view analysis on these things after the work has been done – that can be contemplated – but we’re a bit more focused on getting on to the next set of issues that need to be addressed. “We don’t intend to run the economy with a rear view mirror. We intend to look forward on what we have to do.” The deal was struck in November and officially signed earlier this month. The 12 signatory countries are: Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, the United States and Vietnam. TPP trade deal will expand Australia's economy by less than 1%, World Bank reveals Read more Morrison praised the trade minister, Andrew Robb, who announced his retirement last week and will hand the baton to Steve Ciobo at the swearing-in ceremony for the new ministry on Thursday. “There is the outstanding record of the trade and investment agenda we have been pursuing over the last few years,” Morrison said. “[Robb] has spearheaded that charge and delivered generations of prosperity for Australians from his great work and I want to thank Andrew on behalf of myself, and other colleagues here for the tremendous work he has done.” Robb will take on the role of special trade envoy to ease Ciobo’s transition into the role, as Australia pursues free trade deals with Singapore and India. Earlier this month, Robb rejected calls for a cost-benefit analysis of the 6,000-page deal, after it emerged that Australia’s economy would grow by just 0.7% as a result of signing the agreement. The World Bank analysis showed that Australia fared worse than all other countries except for the US from the deal.
The Stone is a forum for contemporary philosophers and other thinkers on issues both timely and timeless. Back in September, Joshua Knobe of Yale University, writing here at The Stone, outlined a new experimental approach to doing philosophy in his post, “Experiments in Philosophy.” Philosophers, he argued, have spent enough time cogitating in their armchairs. Knobe described how he and a group of like-minded colleagues in the discipline have undertaken a more engaged approach, working with cognitive scientists and designing experiments that will “test” people’s intuitions about traditional philosophic puzzlers such as the existence of God, the objectivity of ethics and the possibility of free will. The result: new, empirically-grounded insights available to philosophers and psychologists. Field philosophers leave the book-lined study to work with scientists, engineers and decision makers on specific social challenges. The experimental philosophy movement deserves praise. Anything that takes philosophy out of the study and into the world is good news. And philosophy will only be strengthened by becoming more empirically-oriented. But I wonder whether experimental philosophy really satisfies the Socratic imperative to philosophize out in the world. For the results gained are directed back to debates within the philosophic community rather than toward helping people with real life problems. Another group of philosophers, myself included, is experimenting with an approach we call “field philosophy.” Field philosophy plays on the difference between lab science and field science. Field scientists, such as geologists and anthropologists, cannot control conditions as a chemist or physicist can in the lab. Each rock outcrop or social group is radically individual in nature. Instead of making law-like generalizations, field scientists draw analogies from one site to another, with the aim of telling the geological history of a particular location or the story of a particular people. “Getting out into the field” means leaving the book-lined study to work with scientists, engineers and decision makers on specific social challenges. Rather than going into the public square in order to collect data for understanding traditional philosophic problems like the old chestnut of “free will,” as experimental philosophers do, field philosophers start out in the world. Rather than seeking to identify general philosophic principles, they begin with the problems of non-philosophers, drawing out specific, underappreciated, philosophic dimensions of societal problems. Growing numbers of philosophers are interested in this kind of philosophic practice. Some of this field work in philosophy has been going on for years, for instance within the ethics boards of hospitals. But today this approach is increasingly visible across a number of fields like environmental science and nanotechnology. Paul Thompson of Michigan State has worked with and challenged the food industry on the application of recombinant DNA techniques to agricultural crops and food animals. Rachelle Hollander, now at the National Academy of Engineering, worked for years at the National Science Foundation to integrate ethics and values concerns with the ongoing work of scientists and engineers. And at my own institution, the University of North Texas, we have worked with the U.S. Geological Survey and the small community of Silverton, Colo., on problems of water quality, the legacy of 19th- and 20th-century gold mines; helped the Great Lakes Fisheries Commission develop a management plan for the Great Lakes; and assisted the Chilean government in creating a UNESCO biosphere reserve in Cape Horn. Sometimes what is needed is not the 7000-word scholarly article but rather a three-minute brief or a one-page memo. Note further that “field” areas also include government offices in places such as Washington, DC and Brussels. So, for instance, my research group is in the midst of a three-year study funded by the National Science Foundation that is examining the process of peer review for grant proposals. Science agencies around the world are struggling to bring assessments of the larger societal impact of proposed research into the peer review process. In this study we meet regularly with the users of this research — the federal agencies themselves — to make sure that our research helps agencies better address societal needs. The “field” can even include the lab, as when Erik Fisher of Arizona State speaks of “embedded philosophers” who, like embedded journalists of recent wars, work daily alongside lab scientists and engineers. Field philosophy has two roles to play in such cases. First, it can provide an account of the generally philosophical (ethical, aesthetic, epistemological, ontological, metaphysical and theological) aspects of societal problems. Second, it can offer an overall narrative of the relations between the various disciplines (e.g., chemistry, geology, anthropology, public policy, economics) that offer insight into our problems. Such narratives can provide us with something that is sorely lacking today: a sense of the whole. Field philosophy, then, moves in a different direction than either traditional applied philosophy or the new experimental philosophy. Whereas these approaches are top-down in orientation, beginning in theory and hoping to apply a theoretical construct to a problem, field philosophy is bottom-up, beginning with the needs of stakeholders and drawing out philosophical insights after the work is completed. Being a field philosopher does have its epistemological consequences. For instance, we take seriously the temporal and financial constraints of our users. Working with government or industry means that we must often seek to provide “good-enough” philosophizing — it often lacks some footnotes, but attempts to provide much needed insights in a timely manner. The willingness to take these constraints seriously has meant that our work is sometimes dismissed by other philosophers. Across the 20th century, philosophy has embraced rigor as an absolute value. Other important values such as timeliness, relevance and cost have been sacrificed to disciplinary notions of expertise. In contrast, we see “rigor” as involving a delicate balance among these often competing values. To put it practically, field philosophers need to learn how to edit themselves: sometimes what is needed is not the 7000-word scholarly article but rather a three-minute brief or a one-page memo. Related More From The Stone Read previous contributions to this series. Make no mistake: field philosophy does not reject traditional standards of philosophic excellence. Yet in a world crying out for help on a wide range of ethical and philosophical questions, philosophers need to develop additional skills. They need to master the political arts of working on an interdisciplinary team. Graduate students need to be trained not only in the traditional skills of rigorous philosophical analysis but also in the field rigor of writing grants and framing insights for scientists, engineers and decision makers at the project level. Finally, a field approach to philosophy may also help with the challenge facing the entire academic community today. Underlying the growing popular distrust of all societal institutions lies a social demand for greater accountability for all those who work in the industry of knowledge production. This is most obvious among scientists who face increasing demands for scientific research to be socially relevant. But with budgets tightening, similar demands will soon be made on philosophy and on all the humanities — to justify our existence in terms of its positive and direct impacts on society. Field philosophy, then, serves as an example of how academics can better serve the community — which after all is said and done, pays the bills. Robert Frodeman is professor of philosophy and founding director of the Center for the Study of Interdisciplinarity at the University of North Texas. He is author of “Geo-Logic: Breaking Ground between Philosophy and the Earth Sciences (2003), co-editor of the “Encyclopedia of Environmental Ethics and Philosophy” (2008), editor of the Oxford “Handbook of Interdisciplinarity” (2010).
When Alicia Mahoney moved to the Royal City five years ago, she thought she was edging towards an empty nest. Her eldest, River, was graduating from high school and her daughter, Akaylah, was entering Grade 8. “Honestly, I was planning my adult-no-children life,” Mahoney jokingly said in an interview with the Record. article continues below But then life happened – she got pregnant. “I was a little shocked, but it turned out to be a blessing,” she said of now 17-month-old Jackson. Becoming a mother for the third time, however, made her realize New Westminster was missing something “very important” – a good quality toy store. “With teenagers, its clothes and electronics, but for the little guys, there was absolutely nothing here unless you go across the bridge to Queensborough, or out to Coquitlam to Toys R Us,” she said. That’s when she decided to open her own – Shnoo and the Pachooch – at the Quay last fall. She knew she had a niche market because the River Market’s Pedagogy Toys had shut down in 2012. Some of Mahoney’s inspiration also came from the abundance of children’s stores on Commercial Drive, the neighbourhood she used to work and shop in prior to her business venture, as well as a Facebook group called New West Moms. “A lot of moms were asking, ‘Where can I get this kind of toy? I don’t want to go to Toys R Us or Walmart,’ and they were getting sent out of the city,” Mahoney explained. After some back-and-forth discussion with the River Market team, Mahoney launched the Shnoo and the Pachooch kiosk last October. She and another artisan, who was sharing the booth at the time, were then asked to move into a 100-sq. ft. retail space next door. Mahoney started operating solo at the start of this month because her colleague’s contract expired. “The feedback’s been good,” she said. “I started out with things I would want my little guy (to have); then I thought about my niece, people I would buy for, and I just wanted quality toys.” When shopping around for inventory, Mahoney said she looks for award-winning, eco-friendly and sustainable products, ones that “you’re not going to find in big box stores.” Her shelves are home to bashful monkeys, checkout registers and peek-a-boo pandas. Besides toys, the New West resident is working on getting some locally-designed clothing into the mix; something she says is also missing on the shopping front. If mothers can’t make it to the store, located at 131-810 Quayside Drive, Mahoney has set up a website (shnoopachooch.com) to order from. “I’d like people in Canada, and even in the States, to be able to access my stuff because I know people are moving away from corporations and they’re more open to supporting small businesses,” she said. Asked about future business plans, Mahoney said she hopes to expand but stay at the Quay. “I thought about other areas in New West, and I just didn’t want to be anywhere else. It’s such a central location that kids come to,” she said. As for the name Shnoo and the Pachooch, they’re nicknames Mahoney called her kids while they were growing up.
Slow down, friend. The following content is incredibly perverted. This manga is 18+, not safe for work, and is really rather sexual. Should you be pure of heart, avert thine eyes. ORYA—!!! Ahh, MURCIÉLAGO (ムルシエラゴ, or Murcielago); a series that could perhaps be considered infamous in yuri circles. You know, I actually avoided reading it for a while. The premise seemed like something I would just hate. I assumed the worst of it and really, fans of the series in the West didn’t exactly help entice me to WANT to try reading it. I did read it, though. Why? Because of the author, Yoshimura Kana (よしむらかな); specifically his twitter account (@yoshimurakana). Yoshimura-sensei’s twitter account is the bee’s knees. I stumbled on it while looking up a relatively obscure yuri series, and noticed this account was highlighting not only yuri, but a bunch of other manga I was interested in as well (or manga I hadn’t heard of yet/that had just debuted). It also had some hot and neat opinions, then I noticed “wait isn’t this the Murcielago author’s twitter account?” I followed him and have since enjoyed the fruits of his good taste, thinking “okay, eventually I have to read Murcielago for real”. So I did. Murcielago is kinda like exploitation flick meets overt oddball comedy with lots and lots of lesbian antics. I think its best comparison series might be trash., except trash. really holds true to its title and it’s just a matter of how long you can endure it or how much the ridiculous nature of it amuses you. trash. is basically like if Murcielago had no restraint and was also just generally worse, but the idea behind both of them — insane action sequences that are executed by a strange pair of hyper competent girls with a lot of violence and humor — is about the same. trash. is also a lot more depressing about everything, while Murcielago is much more lighthearted. At any rate, despite a lot of misgivings I had going into the series, from the one shot onward I found Murcielago to be a real delight. Using the Japanese covers because the English release covers are basically the same except they don’t have kana. Koumori Kuroko is a murderer with a staggering body count. At the start of the manga, she’s been caught and is awaiting execution. However, she’s made an offer that if she becomes a government dog, she will be allowed to live. Apparently, Kuroko isn’t just a killer, but a highly skilled assassin-like one (although as far as I know, she was never actually an assassin and previously mostly killed normal people). She accepts, becoming a “National Executioner” for the police, tasked with killing the many freaks and bastards terrorizing society. Her…handler? Partner? Her cohort that lives with her and who she cooks for is a junior high school girl named Tozakura Hinako who seems to have an innate beyond-expert understanding of all vehicles, but she also seems to have the firm and strange personality of a young child; smiling innocently through many of the horrors within the series. And…yep! That’s it! The series does have an overarching plot of a sort and a kind of mystery element, as everything ends up being connected in this way and that (also individual arcs have little “can you figure it out?” parts), but the main appeal of the series is its episodic arcs. It starts off letting you know that it’s all going to be utterly absurd and not realistic at all. It also starts off letting you know that Kuroko is an incredibly lustful homosexual woman as chapter one pretty much opens with [this] (really, not safe for work). However, although Kuroko is always thinking about how she wants to fuck every girl she sees (every one, even young ones) and there are some sex scenes, most of the sex is actually confined to the omake chapters that come at the end of each volume. They can get very lewd, yes, but I honestly think the main appeal of this series is the insane action and Kuroko’s overall bizarre character. I would describe Kuroko as an impossibility. She’s an incredibly tall, incredibly thin, big-breasted and scummy woman who has no qualms killing people and can be very creepy yet somehow she causes panties to drop with but a few words. She hardly ever seems to give a shit and yet she never gets seriously hurt and always survives mortal danger. She has the CRAZY-ness of Dante from Devil May Cry and the slick acrobatic killer efficiency of Claire Stanfield from Baccano! (if you don’t know who that is and haven’t watched or read Baccano! yet, don’t spoil yourself and go watch the anime or something). While she possesses those traits, she’s undoubtedly her own character. Kuroko is Kuroko, and aside from describing her as an impossibility, I’d also describe her as smooth and infallible evil. Not only is she evil because she’s a murderer and sometimes molester who preys on innumerable women despite allegedly being in a relationship (that’s a whole other thing you could talk about, but the only thing I’ll say is that Kuroko’s girlfriend, Chiyo, is way better than she initially appears), she’s evil because she’s a corrupting force. This isn’t really obvious at first; at first, you might even mistake her for being half-decent because she only kills bad guys and all that. As time goes on we get more reason to believe she’s just awful, usually in seeing the full extent of her brutality, or worse: how she actively encourages bad actions in other people. Hence a corrupting force. Kuroko is seriously messed up and probably shouldn’t have near as much freedom as she is allowed. That said she’s pretty hilarious so it’s often easy to ignore these factors. That does remind me, though; this is probably the only exploitation fiction I’ve gone through where I actually feel bad about people dying. I also think that’s intentional. Since Kuroko works for the police, the police are a big part of this series. Think of them as the moral thread that is there to remind you that shit is fucked. They remind you that every life is precious, so when criminals and crazies show up you end up keeping in mind that every murdered civilian had a life that ended there, suddenly. They remind you that killing is a bad thing, since they don’t really ever do it and when they do they have serious moral dilemmas over it even if the person they killed was a mass murderer. They are pretty much the only characters in the series that absolutely don’t like Kuroko and wish she wasn’t “necessary” for the super-powered/skilled monsters they encounter regularly. Basically, they seem to be just about the only people in the series who are aware of how wrong things are, giving the series a surprising air of seriousness at times (there are a few others, but most of the cast is disturbingly unfeeling when it comes to matters of death). These aren’t minor characters, either; they show up often and they’re definitely major. I think that it’s an interesting choice Yoshimura-sensei made to have them be so significant, because I feel like any other trashy action series wouldn’t bother moralizing and would instead only ever delight in the wanton lusts and violence. “Turn your brain off, enjoy the ride”. There’s some of that here, but then the police show up. I like this aspect, and don’t see it getting talked about often enough. Really do note how Kuroko seriously doesn’t give a shit although a little girl could be killed, and many have died already. She’s really a bad person! However because Kuroko is so relaxed so often, I found it easier to deal with the bad things happening and didn’t exactly find them “edgy” or something. It’s a weird vibe this series has. Now then, winding down a bit… I don’t really have any complaints about this series, so I’ll just offer some more praises. Murcielago is stylish as fuark. God damn, seriously, Yoshimura-sensei just looooves playing around with weird perspectives, style choices, and absolutely insane choreography. His imagination is also wild, and there’s a lot of completely out there stuff that could never happen in reality happening in this series. Like, the stuff that happens in volume 9 for instance…aaagghhh what the HELL is that doing in this series!? But it’s awesome! Why is it here?? It’s awesome! You may have also noticed he gets fancy often about where he puts the series title and chapter name/number for each new, well, chapter. Sometimes they get mega stylish panels dedicated to them, other times the title and chapter name are incorporated into the scene itself. My favorite of these occur in volume 9 again, for chapter 57. However I can’t show it, because it’s a big ol’ spoiler. It’s very cool, though, trust me. Another cool thing about this series is Hinako in general. She’s kind of like a weird chaotic force that bounds around an arc mostly stumbling into doing something useful, but for all the wrong reasons. She’s just funny, really. Sure, she’s got a creepy vibe in that you can tell something’s…off about her (and not just because she’s childish), but she’s too funny so I mostly don’t even care. She’s often in a chibi-fied form that’s…really something, and she has a catchphrase of a sort in that she is often shouting オリャー！. So if you ever see オリャー！ know that she is yelling “ORYA—!”, often repeatedly, at the top of her lungs. She’s basically almost always hyped up, unless something has scared or upset her. Other than that, Kuroko has a cadre of allies that sometimes help her out. These two are not part of that, actually, although they work together in the series’ second arc. They also rarely show up, and only until the most latest of chapters do they seem to have a somewhat more significant role again. They’re pretty cool and amusing, though, so I look forward to seeing more of them. Conrad’s design is rad, also. That’s it. I don’t think I have anything more to say. I highly recommend this series. Go ahead and read it, mate. It reads fast, too, and the Japanese isn’t super hard to understand. On that note… If you want to go about reading it in English officially, you’ll have some but not much luck as of right now. Yen Press has licensed the series and released volumes 1 and 2 in English as of this date. There are 9 volumes out, though… So! If you want to buy the series in the original Japanese, check out CDJapan, Bookwalker (guide), honto, or ebookjapan. Mhm, I’d say it’s worth your time. Next manga up: another weird yuri series. Ciao.
Earlier today a well-known community tester of USB devices reported that the 5" version of Google's Pixel phones was not able to pull more than 15 watts of power off the stock 18W USB-PD charger, despite Google's specification site for the Pixels implying heavily that both devices were capable of 18W charging. Charging USB Type-C™ 18W adaptor with USB-PD 18W charging We reached out to Google, and it turns out this was just a marketing materials mistake: the official specification page for the Pixel has been updated to correctly state that the phones support USB-PD charging from 15-18 watts, as opposed to simply 18 watts. The updated page, now live, reads: Charging USB Type-C™ 18W adaptor with USB-PD 15W - 18W charging Nathan speculates in his Google+ post that it seems Google may have reduced the maximum charging wattage on the smaller Pixel out of thermal concerns, though Google did not comment on their specific reasoning for the different charging speeds. The variance between the two devices accounts for a little over a 20% speed boost (on paper) at peak charging speeds for the XL compared to the standard 5" Pixel. However, the XL also has a battery around 20% larger, so it actually seems likely the XL probably still takes a bit longer to charge. The reason I say "on paper" and "peak" is because a smartphone will not always utilize its maximum charging speed depending on conditions of temperature, whether the display is on, and the current capacity of the battery. All phones slow down charging very considerably as their lithium batteries near capacity (probably around 80% is where things start to crawl slower and slower) simply by the nature of the limitations of the battery chemistry. As such, while "20% faster" sounds like a lot on paper for the XL, the difference in 0-100% times between the two phones is realistically not going to be affected all that much by a gap of 3W at the peak charge rate, particularly given how much smaller the Pixel's battery is than the XL's. If you want a sidebar opinion on this: my guess is that based on Nathan's post and Google's subsequent correction, the Pixel team may have adjusted the 5" model's maximum charging speed down some time late in development or right before the firmware reached final, and the marketing team just never got the memo. If you feel this was a major omission by Google, well, I'd say you at least have a reason to return your phone in principle - Google did technically falsely advertise the peak charging speed of the smaller phone. But in reality, this is a fairly minor change to the product specification, and one that Google has admitted was more of an oversight, and not some major product change they were reluctant to acknowledge. I highly doubt Google intentionally misled anyone here, and they're making the situation right, immediately confirming Nathan's findings as accurate.
In May, Bitcoin Magazine covered the spectacular launch of The DAO, a new kind of organization created and run using blockchain software rather than conventional corporate structures. The DAO ‒ an acronym for Distributed Autonomous Organization ‒ is similar to an open venture capital fund based on Ethereum smart contracts and rapidly became the world’s largest crowdfunding to date. Shortly after its launch, The DAO had an equally spectacular crash caused by poorly understood aspects of its implementation of smart contracts, which a malicious attacker was able to exploit. Emin Gun Sirer of Cornell University told The Economist, “the attacker simply read the terms and conditions more closely than anyone else.” Regardless of misfortunes and temporary setbacks that are only to be expected in the early phases of a new technology with a potentially disruptive impact, DAOs have a huge potential. According to futurist David Orban, The DAO can be a pathfinder and a model for very ambitious crowdfunded initiatives to tackle important challenges, including a new global phase of the space program. “From the $10 million order of magnitude crowdsales two years ago, to the $100 million crowdsale today, we will get to $1 billion in a couple of years, and then to $10 billion in another two-three,” he said. Now, other renowned cryptographers, technologists and economists specialized in future studies are starting to weigh in. Futurist Ralph Merkle, who is also one of the inventors of public key cryptography, the inventor of cryptographic hashing and the originator of the “Merkle Trees” used in blockchain systems including Bitcoin and Ethereum, has published a paper titled “DAOs, Democracy and Governance.” Merkle’s thesis is that DAOs and crowdsourcing could lead to a new form of democracy which is more stable, less prone to erratic behavior, better able to meet the needs of its citizens and which better uses the expertise of all its citizens to make high-quality decisions. “We call this new form of democracy a DAO Democracy,” says Merkle. “Further analysis and small-scale implementations combined with further research into their effectiveness, seem both warranted and urgently needed, given the range of problems facing humanity today and the more pressing problems anticipated in the future.” Futarchy, proposed by futurist Robin Hanson, a professor of economy at George Mason University and the author of a much discussed recent book about radically futuristic economy, is a proposal to govern by prediction markets. “The proposal seems like an excellent approach for improving upon existing democratic forms of governance,” says Merkle. Prediction markets are speculative markets created for the purpose of making predictions. The current market price for a prediction ‒ for example the election of a particular candidate ‒ can be interpreted as an aggregate, crowdsourced estimate of the probability of the prediction. Hanson, a leading prediction market researcher, was all over the news in 2003, when the Policy Analysis Market (PAM), a prediction market proposed by the United States' Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) and based on Hanson’s ideas, was canceled after a wave of accusations of incentivizing terrorism, which resulted in the resignation of John Poindexter, head of the DARPA unit responsible for developing the project. In her 2015 book “Blockchain: Blueprint for a New Economy,” dedicated to advanced future applications of distributed ledger technology beyond currency (“Blockchain 1.0”) and smart contracts (“Blockchain 2.0”), futurist Melanie Swan defines futarchy as two-step democracy with voting plus prediction markets. “The first step would be carried out by regular voting processes, the second step via prediction markets,” explains Swan. “Prediction market voting could be by different [cryptocurrencies] or other economically significant tokens. Prediction market voting is investing/speculating, taking a bet on one or the other side of a proposal, betting on the proposal that you want to win. As with random-sampling elections, blockchain technology could more efficiently implement the futarchy concept in an extremely large-scale manner (decentralized, trusted, recorded, pseudonymous.) The futarchy concept is described in shorthand as ‘vote for values, bet on beliefs,’ an idea initially proposed by economist Robin Hanson and expounded in the blockchain context by Ethereum project founder Vitalik Buterin.” According to Swan, who founded the Institute for Blockchain Studies to examine the theoretical, philosophical and societal implications of blockchain technology, blockchain-based futarchy could became a common, widespread norm and feature or mechanism for all complex multi-party human decision-making. “One effect of this could be a completely new level of coordinated human activity that would be orders of magnitude more complex than at present,” notes Swan, cautioning that, of course, any new governance structure including futarchy has ample room for abuse. “I’m encouraged that some people might actually try out versions of futarchy,” Hanson told Bitcoin Magazine. “It is perhaps unfortunate that they face especially difficult governance problems. But still, I’d love to see a head-to-head comparison with other mechanisms in most any governance context.” Hanson isn’t entirely happy with Merkle’s proposal, however. In a blog post titled “Merkle’s Futarchy,” he worries about the possibility that futarchy implementations could ignore or sidestep the cautions and safeguards that were an important part of his original proposal, and criticizes what he sees as weak points of Merkle’s proposed implementation. “I’m happy to see the new interest in futarchy, but I’m also worried that sloppy design may cause failures that are blamed on the overall concept instead of on implementation details,” notes Hanson. “As recently happened to the DAO concept.”
It is always interesting to look at the fantasy football ADP (average draft position) values after the season and identify who were the biggest bargains. Players like Cam Newton, DeAndre Hopkins, David Johnson and Allen Robinson were huge values relative to their 2015 ADP. One of the most important jobs of a fantasy football analyst is to try to find those values in this year’s draft. It requires a lot of research and a ton of gut instinct. As we start to look at fantasy football ADP more closely, let’s match up the bargains from last year and identify their corresponding player in 2016. Then we will answer the question: If this season mirrors the 2015 fantasy season, could these players be the fantasy sleepers of 2016? Fantasy Football ADP Crystal Ball: Best Buys 1) Chris Hogan (New England Patriots) 2015 Perfect Match: Allen Hurns (Jacksonville Jaguars) ADP: WR 66 Total: 161 points, WR16 Why it will happen: The New England Patriots have made a history of finding average players on other teams and turning them into solid fantasy scorers. Players like Brandon LaFell (WR24 in 2014), Wes Welker (WR11 2007, WR12 2009, WR3 2011), and Corey Dillon (RB5 in 2004) all performed well above their average annual production after they arrived in New England. Hogan fits that mold perfectly as a solid wide receiver in Buffalo who had yet to breakout. Hogan’s nickname is “7-11” because he’s “always open.” If that moniker holds true in 2016, it would make him the perfect sleeper candidate with the Patriots. Why it won’t happen: The Patriots may certainly make Hogan more productive, but it is also true that his situation is not ideal for a breakout. Jimmy Garoppolo is the starting quarterback for first four games, and there are a lot more mouths to feed than in the past, as Rob Gronkowski, Julian Edelman, Danny Amendola, Dion Lewis, and now Martellus Bennett will all warrant targets. Hogan’s situation is not quite as optimal as the players that have come to New England before him. In addition, Hurns’ 2015 year was extremely fortunate: ten touchdowns on only 105 targets. It is next to impossible to see a repeat of a 10:1 target to touchdown ratio from the #66 drafted fantasy wide receiver. Prediction: Bill Belichick didn’t spend $12 million dollars on a player he doesn’t plan on using. With his knowledge of the division and injuries to current wide receivers, Hogan could be a great value along the lines of Hurns last season. At such a low price, it is definitely worth the risk. 2) Mohammed Sanu (Atlanta Falcons) 2015 Perfect Match: Michael Floyd (Arizona Cardinals) ADP: WR 51 Total: 120 points, WR 32 Why it will happen: Floyd was injured at the start the 2015 season, and didn’t start producing until Week 6 at Pittsburgh. From that game on, he averaged 12.9 fantasy points per game in standard scoring leagues. Floyd emerged from a crowded receiving group on a great offense and subsequently helped many owners win their fantasy leagues. Sanu has changed teams from Cincinnati to Atlanta, but is the clear number two receiver behind Julio Jones. After finishing tied for first in receptions with 136, Julio will draw a lot of attention from defenses, leaving Sanu in one on one coverage. Throw in a high octane offense led by Matt Ryan, and this is a great spot for Sanu to qualify as a sleeper. Why it won’t happen: While the Falcons pass a ton (fifth in NFL in pass attempts), the majority of yardage goes to Julio Jones and Devonta Freeman. In addition, Ryan’s touchdown production has been mind-boggling poor (21st in TD passes in 2015). Last year’s Falcons offense was not kind to number two receivers; both Roddy While and Leonard Hankerson struggled with consistency. Throw in the fact that Sanu has never caught more than 56 balls in a season, and it is simply asking too much for him to repeat Floyd’s end of year explosion. Prediction: Sanu was always the third option in Cincinnati. Marvin Jones one year, then Tyler Eifert the next. This is a legit WR2 opportunity. With the year Julio Jones had last season, Sanu will absolutely get a ton of chances. Tight end Jacob Tamme is average at best, and all he has to hold off is wide receivers Justin Hardy and Eric Weems. You are getting great value with Sanu, and with the inevitable Julio one or two game foot injury looming, this looks like a perfect comparison to me. 2015 Perfect Match: Brandon Marshall (NY Jets) ADP: WR 22 Total: 230 points, WR 3 Why it will happen: While Marshall’s situation was not thought to be ideal, the Jets ran the ball so well that it gave him one on one coverage often and quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick had a very solid season. Eric Decker also provided a solid wideout on the opposite side to keep the pass defenses honest. Tate is now the best receiver in an offense that will have to throw the ball to stay competitive. Without Calvin Johnson, offensive coordinator Jim Bob Cooter has thrown out the playbook and revamped the offense completely. Look for more short passes and slants, which plays perfectly to Tate’s game. Finally, over the past two seasons, when Calvin Johnson was injured, Tate averaged 7.7 catches, 105 yards and one touchdown per game. Why it won’t happen: Brandon Marshall was already established as a top ten receiver in the NFL before last season. He had monster seasons that Tate has never had. Losing a Hall of Fame receiver in Calvin Johnson cannot possibly help the offense. Stafford has always shown a tendency to force the ball into tight coverage. This was a habit that was compensated for by the presence of Johnson. Can Tate really thrive as a number one receiver? Are we even sure he’s better than Marvin Jones on the opposite side? A tough division and schedule looms as well. Prediction: The Lions will almost certainly have trouble running the ball (last in total rushing yards in 2015). Plus, they figure to be behind in games and will need to throw the ball. Tate is the top receiver and is entering his third year in Detroit. He may not be top three, but I would be shocked if Golden Tate does not finish as a top 12 wide receiver, and therefore an official WR1 in standard scoring leagues. 2015 Perfect Match: Richard Rodgers (Green Bay Packers) ADP: TE 18 Total: 109 points, TE 8 Why it will happen: Tight end is a fantasy position that people tend to draft very early or very late. It is always smart to take a close look at tight ends on pass heavy teams, simply because of volume. In Green Bay, quarterback Aaron Rodgers has been looking for a reliable tight end his entire career. Last year, second year player Richard Rodgers produced a top ten fantasy season despite being an after thought on draft day. Rodgers finished fifth in touchdowns for tight ends, outpacing Greg Olsen and Delanie Walker. This year, Clive Walford enters his second season in a passing offense as well. The 6’5″, 250 pound target is set to get a lot more looks from Derek Carr and drastically improve on this 28 reception, three touchdown year from 2015. Passing defenses will no doubt key on wideouts Amari Cooper and Michael Crabtree, giving Walford room to roam in the middle. Why it won’t happen: To start, Derek Carr is not Aaron Rodgers. Secondly, the Raiders are not the Packers. Carr not only has the wide receivers to feed, but also a great group of pass catching running backs with Latavius Murray, Taiwan Jones, Roy Helu and Marcel Reece. Despite being much improved, Walford will not crack the top ten at the position. Too many mouths for Carr to feed in this offense. Prediction: Richard Rodgers earned his quarterback’s trust, and Walford will do the same. He will always get man to man coverage, and could easily replicate Rodgers’ eight touchdown production. Oakland has one of the best offensive lines in football, which will free up Walford to attack downfield. Out of all the “Buy” candidates listed, this is the easiest one to see happening. 2015 Perfect Match: Doug Martin (Tampa Bay Buccaneers) ADP: RB 18 Total: 199 points, RB 3 Why it will happen: When Anderson is healthy, he is a force. He came on strong with 27 fantasy points Week 12 vs. New England and then 13 and 15 standard fantasy points in Weeks 16 and 17. Anderson carried this right into the playoffs, and enters an ideal offensive situation in 2015. Gary Kubiak loves to run the ball, and will do so behind either Mark Sanchez or rookie Paxton Lynch. It will be a conservative offense, similar to the one Tampa Bay ran last year with Doug Martin. The Buccaneers didn’t want rookie quarterback Jameis Winston taking too many attempts downfield, and Martin was the beneficiary. If Anderson stays healthy, he is a lock for a top five running back finish. He can run with power, is elusive, and can catch the ball. Why it won’t happen: There are too many mouths to feed between Anderson, Hillman, rookie Devontae Booker, and Juwan Thompson. Anderson is only 25, but has yet to demonstrate an ability to stay healthy. He failed to meet the preseason expectations, and his stats were skewed by the big home game vs. New England. If you just look at the metrics for running backs, there are many other better NFL running backs, even though he is in a potentially great situation. Prediction: Kubiak is a run-first coach, and now has the security of a Super Bowl championship. Anderson is the best running back on the roster and is a solid contributor on third down as well. The key comparison is at the quarterback position. Either Paxton Lynch or Mark Sanchez will be under orders to not make mistakes. This offense will resemble the Chiefs with quarterback Alex Smith. Close one to call here, but with running back being a wide open fantasy position, I lean towards yes. You can continue on to the most overrated ADP players of 2016.
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“The Big Bang Theory” edged “This Is Us” as the top non-sports show among adults 18-49 in same-day ratings for Oct. 9-15. With three days of delayed viewing, the shows switched spots. “This Is Us'” 4.3 rating in the Live +3 chart is 0.2 better than “The Big Bang Theory’s” 4.1. “The Good Doctor” made the biggest three-day gain, rising from 2.0 to 3.6. “Big Bang” (16.82 million), “NCIS” (16.4 million) and “The Good Doctor” (16.31 million) all overtook “Sunday Night Football” in total viewers with three days of DVR and on-demand catchup. Below are the top 25 shows in Live +3 ratings; following that are the three-day numbers for the week’s other season and series premieres. Top 25 broadcast shows in Live +3 adults 18-49 for Oct. 9-15, 2017 Rank Show Net L+3 18-49 rating Gain vs. Live + SD % gain vs. Live + SD 1 SUNDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL – GIANTS/BRONCOS NBC 5.6 0.0 0% 2 THURSDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL – EAGLES/PANTHERS CBS 4.6 0.0 0% 3 THIS IS US NBC 4.3 1.5 54% 4 THE BIG BANG THEORY CBS 4.1 1.2 41% 5 THE GOOD DOCTOR ABC 3.6 1.6 80% 6 GREY’S ANATOMY ABC 3.2 1.1 52% 7 THE VOICE – MON. NBC 2.9 0.5 21% WILL & GRACE NBC 2.9 1.1 61% 9 THE VOICE – TUES. NBC 2.8 0.4 17% 10 EMPIRE FOX 2.7 0.7 35% MODERN FAMILY ABC 2.7 0.9 50% 12 60 MINUTES CBS 2.3 0.0 0% 13 SURVIVOR CBS 2.2 0.5 29% 14 THE GIFTED FOX 2.0 0.8 67% SCANDAL ABC 2.0 0.8 67% THE GOLDBERGS ABC 2.0 0.5 33% AMERICAN HOUSEWIFE ABC 2.0 0.6 43% CHICAGO PD NBC 2.0 0.8 67% 19 THE ORVILLE FOX 1.9 0.9 90% STAR FOX 1.9 0.4 27% THE MIDDLE ABC 1.9 0.5 36% NCIS CBS 1.9 0.5 36% CRIMINAL MINDS CBS 1.9 0.8 73% LAW & ORDER: SVU NBC 1.9 0.7 58% CHICAGO FIRE NBC 1.9 0.8 73% Top 25 broadcast shows in Live +3 viewers for Oct. 9-15, 2017 Rank Show Net L+3 viewers (000s) Gain vs. Live + SD (000s) % gain vs. Live + SD 1 THE BIG BANG THEORY CBS 16,822 3,682 28% 2 NCIS CBS 16,400 2,794 21% 3 THE GOOD DOCTOR ABC 16,306 5,613 52% 4 SUNDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL – GIANTS/BRONCOS NBC 16,220 59 0% 5 THIS IS US NBC 15,325 4,308 39% 6 THURSDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL – EAGLES/PANTHERS CBS 14,699 104 1% 7 BULL CBS 13,915 2,654 24% 8 60 MINUTES CBS 13,860 516 4% 9 THE VOICE – MON. NBC 12,713 1,799 16% 10 THE VOICE – TUES. NBC 12,620 1,534 14% 11 BLUE BLOODS CBS 12,470 3,489 39% 12 NCIS: NEW ORLEANS CBS 11,941 2,419 25% 13 HAWAII FIVE-0 CBS 10,904 2,389 28% 14 NCIS: LOS ANGELES CBS 10,866 2,213 26% 15 GREY’S ANATOMY ABC 10,727 2,644 33% 16 DANCING WITH THE STARS ABC 10,693 1,444 16% 17 SEAL TEAM CBS 10,442 2,421 30% 18 SURVIVOR CBS 9,710 1,685 21% 19 WILL & GRACE NBC 9,698 2,978 44% 20 WISDOM OF THE CROWD CBS 9,276 1,237 15% 21 CHICAGO FIRE NBC 9,270 3,113 51% 22 CHICAGO PD NBC 9,250 3,179 52% 23 MADAM SECRETARY CBS 8,943 2,580 41% 24 CRIMINAL MINDS CBS 8,822 2,956 50% 25 MODERN FAMILY ABC 8,583 2,310 37% Here are the Live +3 numbers for other season and series premieres from Oct. 9-15. Adults 18-49 Show Net L+3 18-49 rating Gain vs. Live + SD % gain vs. Live + SD THE FLASH CW 1.6 0.5 45% RIVERDALE CW 1.2 0.4 50% SUPERNATURAL CW 1.0 0.3 43% ARROW CW 1.0 0.4 67% LEGENDS OF TOMORROW CW 0.9 0.3 50% SUPERGIRL CW 0.9 0.4 80% JANE THE VIRGIN CW 0.5 0.2 67% DYNASTY CW 0.4 0.1 33% VALOR CW 0.3 0.0 0% CRAZY EX-GIRLFRIEND CW 0.3 0.1 50% Total viewers Show Net L+3 viewers (000s) Gain vs. Live + SD (000s) % gain vs. Live + SD THE FLASH CW 4,134 1,290 45% RIVERDALE CW 3,308 966 41% SUPERNATURAL CW 2,819 718 34% SUPERGIRL CW 2,803 936 50% LEGENDS OF TOMORROW CW 2,495 784 46% ARROW CW 2,417 895 59% DYNASTY CW 1,627 368 29% VALOR CW 1,600 402 34% JANE THE VIRGIN CW 1,228 543 79% CRAZY EX-GIRLFRIEND CW 803 178 28% Source: The Nielsen Company.
A recent randomised, double-blind, placebo controlled study conducted by our research group, provided partial support for the efficacy of supplementation with a patented curcumin extract (500 mg, twice daily) for 8 weeks in reducing depressive symptoms in people with major depressive disorder. In the present paper, a secondary, exploratory analysis of salivary, urinary and blood biomarkers collected during this study was conducted to identify potential antidepressant mechanisms of action of curcumin. Pre and post-intervention samples were provided by 50 participants diagnosed with major depressive disorder, and the Inventory of Depressive Symptomatology self-rated version (IDS-SR30) was used as the primary depression outcome measure. Compared to placebo, 8 weeks of curcumin supplementation was associated with elevations in urinary thromboxane B2 (p<0.05), and substance P (p<0.001); while placebo supplementation was associated with reductions in aldosterone (p<0.05) and cortisol (p<0.05). Higher baseline plasma endothelin-1 (rs=-0.587; p<0.01) and leptin (rs=-0.470; p<0.05) in curcumin-treated individuals was associated with greater reductions in IDS-SR30 score after 8 weeks of treatment. Our findings demonstrate that curcumin supplementation influences several biomarkers that may be associated with its antidepressant mechanisms of action. Plasma concentrations of leptin and endothelin-1 seem to have particular relevance to treatment outcome. Further investigations using larger samples sizes are required to elucidate these findings, as the multiple statistical comparisons completed in this study increased the risk of type I errors. Crown Copyright © 2014. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
Julia Marquand was shopping in downtown Seattle on Oct. 12 when a man began following her closely, then reached out and grabbed her butt. Instead of ignoring it, however, Marquand took the issue into her own hands. Thinking quickly, she snapped pictures of her attacker on her phone and reported the incident to the police, she told KING 5 News. When the cops didn't seem interested, she turned to social media and tweeted her purported offender's mug, where it went viral. I have a pic of the man who groped me & the cops don't want it. @iHollaback @seattlish @seattletimes @seattleweekly pic.twitter.com/58JHEwjZvF Her tweet also caught the attention of local media, which eventually led to the man being identified as Daryl Sharma, a "level 3" sex offender who had previously been convicted of groping another woman. Shortly thereafter, the Seattle Police Department arrested him for violating his supervision's terms. Currently, social media is too often used as a tool to shame and threaten women online. Marquand's actions turned the tables on this trend, however, empowering herself and others in the process. Indeed, her tweets jump-started a conversation about women's experiences with street harassment, highlighting just how pervasive it is through the various stories others began to share. have gotten several emails already from other women reporting similar experiences with the same groper #seattlegroper #gropergate Pic of the ass groper #YesAllWomen #streetharassment #Seattle pic.twitter.com/u30sDSVOcR Ladies, tweet me your own stories of groping and harassment - people need to realize how widespread this problem is #gropergate #yesallwomen have gotten several emails already from other women reporting similar experiences with the same groper #seattlegroper #gropergate i once witnessed a woman confront a man on the bus who had groped her in the past (on the bus), @JuliaMarquand. no one reacted at all. Ladies, tweet me your own stories of groping and harassment - people need to realize how widespread this problem is #gropergate #yesallwomen Ladies, tweet me your own stories of groping and harassment - people need to realize how widespread this problem is #gropergate #yesallwomen Ladies, tweet me your own stories of groping and harassment - people need to realize how widespread this problem is #gropergate #yesallwomen Looks like the groper is caught, but #streetharrasment still an issue. Was harassed on the way to 2 interviews today on street #gropergate Marquand is right: Street harassment is very much a serious issue, and it doesn't seem to be going away anytime soon. As Mic previously reported, "harassment in public spaces is a significant problem in the United States, with 65% of women reporting they have experienced some form of street harassment in their lifetimes. Even worse, 41% reported physically aggressive forms, including sexual touching, following, flashing and being forced to do something sexual." It can even have deadly consequences. Something so socially ubiquitous, like street harassment, demands an equally sweeping response, and Marquand is not the first victim to attempt to take justice into their own hands. Like Marquand, other women have been detailing their harassment online for months. This summer, a Minneapolis woman began recording and uploading videos of her harassers to YouTube, and a woman in New York City recorded the man she said exposed himself on the subway. Apps like Hollaback! have also made reporting harassment even easier. So, take note, harassers: Think twice before catcalling, groping or otherwise assaulting women on the street. Yours might be the next face circulating on social media.
Hi everyone! Riot Games Support has been busy the last couple months working on a new project to help players troubleshoot problems with League of Legends. Today we're happy to release our first set of help videos! This set of videos specifically focuses on one of the more prevalent causes for frustration: connection troubleshooting. Let’s be honest, wi-fi sucks, port forwarding sucks, and hell even accessing your router sucks. With these videos we hope to make complicated things easy. Our goal is for players to be able to solve a problem in an easy-to-follow and visual way, and also learn more about why problems are occurring in the first place. You can watch these videos on the new [Riot Support YouTube Channel](https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCyi6e6vg93m0VUyI05PGgow) and we'll also be embedding these videos in the [support site](https://support.riotgames.com) soon. In the near future more videos will be added to tackle a variety of problems, such as FPS optimization and crash prevention. We’re also working right now translating the videos into other languages, so that everyone can benefit from them. We’ll hang out in this thread for a while, share your thoughts and feedback. :D *P.S.* We know that not every issue is your fault, sometimes it's on Riot's end. That's why we have the [Server Status page](http://status.leagueoflegends.com). When stuff breaks on our end, we hustle to fix it as quickly as possible. For everything else we want you to have the tools and help to fix your problem as quickly and easily as possible. Title Body Cancel Save
Have you ever found yourself watching a cartoon and noticing the illustrations behind the characters? Those backgrounds can often be prettier than the action in the foreground. If only those pesky mice and long-nosed boys would get out of the way! If so, the upcoming Beverly Hills Animation Art Signature Auction is for you. On a serious note, I've always admired how classic, hand-drawn animation is born. Watching early animators flipping those cels back and forth to create the illusion of movement is amazing, and painting a detailed background for every single scene is probably one of the most important artistic tasks in the highly complex process of making an animated cartoon. Advertisement Background artists usually painted these backdrops wide and tall (depending on the camera panning), in gouache, acrylic paint, watercolor, oil paint, or even crayon. The resulting still backdrops are nothing short of art—but in the actual cartoons, we seldom get to enjoy the whole image, due to the camera movements. The following examples from the Animation Art Signature Auction on November 20 show just how beautiful these artworks can be—I know I wouldn't think twice about putting some of them on my walls. A background illustration from Two Pan Goofy. It was painted for the 1952 Walt Disney short, but wasn't actually used. Advertisement Photo: Heritage Auctions This pan background showcases the Statue of Liberty and lower Manhattan, including the World Trade Center and the Manhattan Bridge. It was painted for The Real Ghostbusters (DIC, 1986). Advertisement Photo: Heritage Auctions A great Art Deco-style production background of the Batcave from Batman the Animated Series (Warner Brothers, 1995), created by Bruce Timm. Advertisement Photo: Heritage Auctions This breathtaking pan production background of a detailed medieval staircase located within Maleficent's castle was hand-painted by Eyvind Earle, color stylist and chief background painter for Sleeping Beauty (Walt Disney, 1959). Advertisement Photo: Heritage Auctions Magnificent vertical pan production background painting for Sloppy Jalopy (UPA, 1952). Advertisement Photo: Heritage Auctions A stylized view of Las Vegas with all the famous hotel signs, for Aesop and Son in Sick Lion (Jay Ward, 1962). Advertisement Photo: Heritage Auctions A background illustration by Paul Julian for The Tell Tale Heart, a cartoon adaptation of the classic short story written by Edgar Allen Poe (UPA, 1953). Advertisement Photo: Heritage Auctions Cap'n Crunch cereal commercial production background (Jay Ward, c. 1960s) by Bill Hurtz and Pete Burness. Advertisement Photo: Heritage Auctions A beautiful landscape background from Scrambled Eggs (Walter Lantz, 1939), painted by legendary Art Nouveau illustrator Willy Pogany (1882-1955). Advertisement Photo: Heritage Auctions Belle's Magical World master background of the Beast's Castle (Walt Disney, 1998). Advertisement Photo: Heritage Auctions Dinotopia: The Mini Series background color key (Walt Disney, 2002). Advertisement Photo: Heritage Auctions A very detailed background color key of the haunted bedroom for Scooby-Doo on Zombie Island (Hanna-Barbera, 1998). Advertisement Photo: Heritage Auctions A wide angle view of the Calcutta airport for The Real Adventures of Jonny Quest (Hanna-Barbera, 1996). Advertisement Photo: Heritage Auctions The Man on the Flying Trapeze background by Paul Julian (UPA, 1954). Advertisement Photo: Heritage Auctions The Smurfs (Hanna-Barbera, 1984). Advertisement Photo: Heritage Auctions Two backgrounds from Buford and the Galloping Ghost (Hanna-Barbera, 1979). Advertisement Photo: Heritage Auctions Two SWAT Kats hand-painted background color keys (Hanna-Barbera, 1993). Advertisement Photo: Heritage Auctions A spooky view of Gotham City's imposing Arkham Asylum from The New Batman Adventures (Warner Brothers, 1997). Advertisement Photo: Heritage Auctions The Simpsons (Fox, 2002). A 12-field production background, hand-painted on celluloid, from the 13th season episode, "The Lastest Gun in the West," which was originally aired on February 24, 2002. Advertisement Photo: Heritage Auctions Two Famous Studio backgrounds from The Sixties, done by famed book illustrator and animation artist Anton Loeb. Advertisement Photo: Heritage Auctions A deserted saloon in Ghost Town (Terrytoons, 1944). Advertisement Photo: Heritage Auctions A Mighty Mouse background from the 1940s (Terrytoons). Advertisement Photo: Heritage Auctions Top image: Pinocchio production pan background (Walt Disney, 1940). This film's backgrounds were masterfully painted by Claude Coats, Merle Cox, Ed Starr, and Ray Huffine, to name a few – Heritage Auctions
Please enable Javascript to watch this video UPDATE: Van and dogs found safe. Click here for details. CHICAGO -- A van with seven dogs from a day care center was stolen at gunpoint in the River West neighborhood. Police say the carjacking happened around 3:50 p.m. Wednesday. The van was at the intersection of Chicago, Ogden and Milwaukee. Police say a driver for the doggie daycare facility Urban Outsitter was in the process of returning the dogs to their owners when the van was hijacked. P olice say two men carjacked the driver at gunpoint. The driver complied and the men fled in the van. The van hit two other cars in the process of fleeing the scene. The van is a silver Town & Country with license plate R18-8668. The men were between the ages of 18 and 25. Anyone who has any information is asked to call police.
The salt equation taught to doctors for more than 200 years is not hard to understand. The body relies on this essential mineral for a variety of functions, including blood pressure and the transmission of nerve impulses. Sodium levels in the blood must be carefully maintained. If you eat a lot of salt — sodium chloride — you will become thirsty and drink water, diluting your blood enough to maintain the proper concentration of sodium. Ultimately you will excrete much of the excess salt and water in urine. The theory is intuitive and simple. And it may be completely wrong. New studies of Russian cosmonauts, held in isolation to simulate space travel, show that eating more salt made them less thirsty but somehow hungrier. Subsequent experiments found that mice burned more calories when they got more salt, eating 25 percent more just to maintain their weight. The research, published recently in two dense papers in The Journal of Clinical Investigation, contradicts much of the conventional wisdom about how the body handles salt and suggests that high levels may play a role in weight loss.
Once Again Apple Uses Image It Didn't License: This Time Photographer Sues from the don't-they-have-lawyers? dept Lawyers for big companies tend to be notoriously careful to make sure the companies license images they use for marketing purposes, for obvious reasons. And yet... Apple seems to keep using unlicensed images. It's really quite surprising. A couple of years ago, we wrote about how the default wallpaper for the iPad was used without licensing it. In that case, the photographer, Richard Misrach, was thrilled, saying that he was sure that a contract was on the way, and whatever was in it would be fine: "I'm sure they'll send me [a contract] quickly now. But I'm very happy, I'm sure it's fine, and the terms are good." I don't know if that experience made Apple confident it could do the same sort of thing again, but Misrach's response is not quite the norm. And Apple is now discovering that as it will have to deal with a lawsuit from photographer Sabine Liewald As detailed at the Patently Apple site , Liewald has sued Apple, claiming that it used her photograph as part of the marketing around the MacBook Pro's promotion for its Retina Display.The first link above, to the MacObserver story, notes that Apple is now using a different (though similar) image of an eye. However, Liewald claims that Apple had requested Liewald's image from her Factory Downtown page , but for layout purposes only. It sounds like someone then got confused over whether or not they had actually licensed the image. Again, it's really surprising that Apple isn't a lot more careful about this kind of stuff. Liewald is apparently claiming that she's entitled to both "actual damages including defendant's profits"statutory damages. That sounds like a lawyer just trying to push the company to settle faster -- and I wouldn't be surprised if Apple cuts Liewald a decent check pretty quickly to make this go away. I can't imagine that it pays to fight this lawsuit. Filed Under: copyright, license, retina display, sabine liewald Companies: apple
This article is from the archive of our partner . Mitt Romney's debate performance pushed him into a national lead over President Obama among likely voters, Pew Research Center reports in its latest poll numbers. Romney is leading Obama 49 percent to 45 percent in a poll taken over four days after the debate last week, even though in mid-September, Obama was leading Romney by 8 percentage points. There's a ton of good news for Romney in this poll: Two-thirds of registered voters think Romney won the debate, while only a fifth think Obama did. Romney's favorable rating hit 50 percent among registered voters for the first time. Voters think Romney is the candidate of ideas by 47 percent to 40 percent. Romney and Obama are tied as to who would be a strong leader—even though Obama had a 13-point lead on that question last month. Romney has an 8-point lead on jobs. Voters still think Obama is the candidate who's more moderate, honest, and consistent. Other pollsters have found Romney crushed Obama in the debate, too -- Gallup says Romney was seen as the victor by the biggest margin in its history. But Gallup hasn't yet measured such a big swing toward Romney in national polls, showing Obama ahead 50 percent to Romney's 45 percent. This article is from the archive of our partner The Wire. We want to hear what you think about this article. Submit a letter to the editor or write to letters@theatlantic.com.
On the early sketches, the Hawks Nest bleachers were on the south end of the stadium, and the field-level end-zone suites were designed to invite Seahawks players to jump in among the fans, creating a Seattle version of the Lambeau Leap. But planners quickly decided the Hawks Nest would better frame the view of the Seattle skyline on the north. For unknown reasons, Seahawks touchdown scorers have not developed the habit of executing Hawk Hops over the short divider near the north end zone. The noise created by the 12th Man fans and captured and reflected by the stadium configuration, well, that has more than met expectations. Sign Up and Save Get six months of free digital access to The News Tribune “(Seahawks owner) Paul Allen challenged us to generate a home-field advantage,” said David Murphy, original project director on what would become CenturyLink Field, which opened in 2002. A recent test revealed a noise reading of 137.6 decibels during a Seahawks home game. That’s in the range between a pneumatic jackhammer (130 dBs) and a jet engine at 100 feet (140 dBs). Saints coach Sean Payton is well-aware of the environment, having felt the measurable seismic activity when running back Marshawn Lynch scored the touchdown that beat New Orleans in January 2011, the last time they met in Seattle in the postseason. So he is not interested in hearing about record decibel readings as his team prepares to play the Seahawks on Saturday at CenturyLink Field in an NFC divisional-playoff game. “It’s kind of like August down here in New Orleans,” Payton said this week. “At some point, it’s as hot as can be, and we don’t need to know the exact temperature.” But in the spirit of public service, Payton and the Saints should be reminded that the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health warns of exposure to noise above 115 dBs for more than 15 minutes. Welcome to an afternoon at CenturyLink Field: Home to 68,000 pneumatic jackhammers. New York Giants offensive lineman Shaun O’Hara, November 2005 O’Hara referenced the Nov. 27, 2005, game when frenzied fans discombobulated the Giants’ offense into 11 false starts and caused then-Seahawks coach Mike Holmgren to present the game ball to the 12th Man fans the next day. Re-examine the effect of those 11 false starts. The Seahawks surely needed them in a 24-21 overtime victory. A loss in that game, and they would have finished 12-4 instead of 13-3, and the Giants also would have been 12-4 with a head-to-head win over the Seahawks to own the tiebreaker for NFC home-field rights. Since 2005, Seahawks opponents in Seattle have committed a league-high 141 false starts — their faulty communication reputed to be caused by the intrusion of crowd noise. Their advantage at CenturyLink the past two seasons has led to NFL-best figures in home record (15-1), home winning margin (17 points per game), home takeaways (41) and home turnover margin (+25). Excluding Super Bowl XL, the Seahawks are 7-2 in home playoff games and 2-9 on the road. But they’ve won five in a row at home since starting their Super Bowl run in the 2005 season. Seahawks linebackers coach Ken Norton Jr. has played and coached in 20 postseason games, more than anybody on the Seahawks’ roster or staff. He is the only player in NFL history to win three consecutive Super Bowls (two with the Dallas Cowboys and one with the San Francisco 49ers). “Our 12th Man is unlike anything I’ve ever known,” Norton said when asked to compare his experience in NFL venues since the late 1980s. “There is no comparison: CenturyLink is far above and beyond anything I’ve ever experienced. Not to take away anything from Cowboys Stadium, which they’ve blown up, or Candlestick, which they’re about to blow up, but nothing’s even close to CenturyLink. “Nothing compares to that energy and excitement.” Norton cited great fans in Kansas City as well as the captured noise in some indoor arenas, but he contended the difference in Seattle is the expectation of the fans. “They come here expecting to set records,” Norton said. “They expect to have an impact on the game with the false starts and keeping quarterbacks from making their checks. They absolutely know they are a part of this team.” But, really? A part of the team? “Absolutely, that’s for real,” Norton said. “The noise factor, and how that works into our pass rush ... that’s something we work into our game plan.” David Murphy on the way the roof canopies reflect the crowd noise back to the field Then with the architectural firm Ellerbe Becket, Murphy spent his first day working on the Seahawks stadium project taking a tour of Husky Stadium. It was led by one of Allen’s Vulcan Inc. employees — former Washington quarterback Damon Huard. Allen told Murphy how much he loved the experience of football games in the open air at Husky Stadium, where the cantilevered roofs cover most of the seats and, to some extent, reverberate the crowd noise. So the visit to Husky Stadium informed Murphy. But the Kingdome, despite its flaws, also passed down influences to its SoDo successor — particularly in the way its design connected the fans to the action. “It’s a legacy that goes back to the Kingdome days,” Murphy said. “It was a loud building that had a pretty intimate seating bowl with fans right on top of the action. That played into the design of CenturyLink.” There was little choice, in fact, because CenturyLink’s urban setting mandated a smaller footprint than any other in the NFL. “We had to find ways to fit an NFL stadium in there,” Murphy said. The answer was to stack the upper deck and angle all the seats toward the field. “People wonder why a lot of domed stadiums aren’t louder. Well, they’re designed to accommodate concerts, so they have absorbent material in the roofs,” Murphy said. “But we wanted this to stay loud, so there’s no absorbent material in our roofs, and they’re positioned and oriented so it focuses the sound back at the field.” The 3,000 aluminum bleacher seats in the Hawks Nest were intentionally designed in anticipation of the effect of 6,000 stomping feet. The innovative addition of the Red Zone Suites in the north end zone, Murphy said, was the idea of executives Bob Whitsitt and Bert Kolde “to create another price point and make it unique ... we were looking for a place where fans could interact with the players.” Has anyone taken that leap? “I think the most memorable thing was Terrell Owens signing the ball,” Murphy said of the 2002 Monday night game when the San Francisco receiver autographed a touchdown ball and handed it to one of his advisers, who was occupying a suite rented by Seahawks cornerback Shawn Springs — whom he had just beaten for the score. Saints quarterback Drew Brees after New Orleans’ Dec. 2 loss at CenturyLink Some say CenturyLink’s facing canopies resemble clamshells. That’s probably from the perspective of Northwesterners with the taste for bivalve mollusks. To outsiders, it might look like a pair of jaws or a huge Venus flytrap. Teams have fretted about it for years, many practicing the weeks before Seattle games with loud sound tracks pumped into practice facilities. Most alter their game plans somewhat because of the noise, going to silent snap counts or going with quicker snaps and fewer audibles. So the effect is not just in the disruption of the false starts, but also in how teams alter their scheme and mechanics. In December, the Saints tried special ear plugs. Coach Payton recalled how well that worked, as a miscommunication on their first offensive snap caused the play to be botched and end up in a 4-yard loss. “That was not real smart of me,” Payton said this week. “You open the game with a play that should go left but might be able to go right ... it’s probably right after they just raised the 12th Man flag, so it’s as loud as the stadium can be.” The reputation of Seattle’s home-field advantage has spread beyond the players, coaches and football fans. Time magazine did a feature on it in September titled: “The Science of Sound: How Seattle Got So Darn Loud.” Well, it got so darn loud with a confluence of three factors: an exciting football team playing in front of fervent fans in a unique setting. Seahawks cornerback Richard Sherman warned visitors how difficult it is to prepare for this dangerous combination. “Some (opponents) blare the noise from speakers, and if you play it loud enough, it’ll somewhat simulate it,” Sherman said. “But to simulate the noise, and to simulate our personnel along with the noise and everything that comes along with it, well, that is pretty difficult.” It is not just the sound of CenturyLink, then, but also the fury within. HOME-FIELD ADVANTAGE Since moving to the NFC in 2002, the Seahawks have posted the second-best home record in the conference. The top five teams: TeamRecordPercentage Green Bay66-29-1.693 SEATTLE66-30.688 Atlanta60-36.625 Minnesota60-36.625 Chicago59-37.615 Dave Boling: 253-597-8440 dave.boling@ @DaveBoling
Debugging a problem over email/irc/BTS is slow, tedious, and hard. The developer needs to see the your problem to understand it. Debug-me aims to make debugging fast, fun, and easy, by letting the developer access your computer remotely, so they can immediately see and interact with the problem. Making your problem their problem gets it fixed fast. As Simon Tatham puts it, "In a nutshell, the aim of a bug report is to enable the programmer to see the program failing in front of them." debug-me does just that! A debug-me session is logged and signed with the developer's GnuPG key, producing a chain of evidence of what they saw and what they did. So the developer's good reputation is leveraged to make debug-me secure. If you trust a developer to ship software to your computer, you can trust them to debug-me. When you start debug-me without any options, it will connect to a debug-me server, and print out an url that you can give to the developer to get them connected to you. Then debug-me will show you their GnuPG key, who has signed it, and will let you know if they are a known developer of software on your computer. If the developer has a good reputation, you can proceed to let them type into your console in a debug-me session. Once the session is done, the debug-me server will email you the signed evidence of what the developer did in the session. If the developer did do something bad, you'd have proof that they cannot be trusted, which you can share with the world. Knowing that is the case will keep developers honest. Debug-me is free software, created by Joey Hess and licensed under the terms of the Gnu AGPL version 3 or greater.

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