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US President Barack Obama along with Vice-President Joe Biden and several of their government officials are all set for a high-level engagement with the Indian leadership in a series of meetings later this month. This would be the highest level of engagement between the two countries after Obama's trip to New Delhi in January to attend the Republic Day parade as the chief guest of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Obama and Modi are expected to meet in New York on September 28. While no official announcement has been made yet, the proposed meeting itself is a reflection of the seriousness and commitment of the two leaders to this bilateral relationship.
On a day, which is said to be one of the busiest days for the US President given his address to the UN General Assembly on the first day of the annual session, Obama's schedulers had a tough time finding a slot for his meeting with Modi.
Modi, on the other hand, is likely to take an overnight flight to New York in his Air India One from Silicon Valley on September 27 after addressing the Indian-Americans in San Jose for his likely meeting with Obama.
Notably, in their joint statement in January, the two leaders had committed themselves for a more regular meeting. The Modi-Obama meeting in New York would cap more than a week of high-level India-US engagement, most of which would be held in capital Washington DC.
It is learnt that Vice-President Biden is himself keen to be part of this highest level of India-US engagement. It was Biden who, during his visit to India a few years ago, had set the ambitious goal of increasing the bilateral trade from the current USD 100 billion to USD 500 billion per annum.
It is in this backdrop that Biden has been seen taking a lead once again when it comes to the economic dimension of the India US relationship. Several cabinet ranking officials along with corporate leaders from both the countries are expected to be present at the 40th Anniversary Leadership Summit of the US-India Business Council (USIBC) on September 21.
Among others, it would be attended by Energy Minister Piyush Goyal and Commerce Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and US Commerce Secretary Penny Pritzeker along with who's who of corporate leaders from the two countries. The next day, TERI North America would host the 6th India-US Energy Partnership Summit.
However, it is the first ever India-US Strategic and Economic Dialogue to be hosted by Secretary of State John Kerry that will be the center of attraction when Modi is in the US. While the dates of this dialogue has not been announced yet, it is most likely to be held on September 22. The decision to expand India-US Strategic Dialogue to Commercial one was taken during Obama's January visit to India.
Kerry along with Pritzeker would lead the US delegation, while the Indian delegation would be led by External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and Sitharaman. Foreign Secretary S Jaishankar will also expected to be part of the Indian delegation. Indian Ambassador to the US Arun K Singh and his American counterpart in India Richard Verma would also be part of their respective terms. |
Ethereum for web developers
Mahesh Murthy Blocked Unblock Follow Following Jan 2, 2017
I have been learning about Ethereum blockchain platform for some time and the more I learn, the more exciting it looks. There are lots of resources (articles, videos, platform documentation) about Ethereum, it’s easy to get overwhelmed. But, many of them are outdated understandably because the platform is still evolving at a rapid pace. It took me some time to piece together and get a complete picture of what Ethereum is and how it works. Talking to developers in meetup groups and other online communities, it feels like there are many people who would like to get their hands dirty with this new technology but have the same issue. This article is my attempt at explaining Ethereum from a web developer’s point of view.
If you are a web developer, you know how a webapp with it’s client server architecture works at a very high level.
You have your web application hosted on a hosting provider like AWS, Heroku or a VPS. All the clients interact with this one central application. Clients can be a browser, another api consuming your service etc. When a client makes a request to the server, the server does it’s magic, talks to the database and/or cache, reads/writes/updates the database and serves the client.
This architecture works very well most of the times. However, there are certain applications where it would be really helpful if that database was publicly and securely accessible by everyone and you don’t have to rely on this webapp owner for your data.
For example, let’s look at eBay. If you are a power seller who has earned hundreds of good reviews and for some reason eBay suspends your account. That would be very bad and could severely impact your business. What would be really nice is the ability for you take all your reviews and ratings and move to another platform (say eBay Competitor). eBay does provide a service by being the trusted third party between buyers and sellers. But then, they also take a commission off each sale. What if there was a way to eliminate eBay altogether from the transaction between buyer and seller so you save on commission and also you have access to all your data? This is where decentralized applications come in to picture. Ethereum makes it very easy to build Dapps (decentralized applications).
This is how an Ethereum Dapp looks at a high level:
If you notice, every client (browser) communicates with it’s own instance of the application. There is no central server to which all clients connect to. This means, every person who wants to interact with a dapp (Decentralized Application) will need a full copy of the blockchain running on their computer/phone etc. That means, before you can use an application, you have to download the entire blockchain and then start using the application. This might sound ridiculous at first but it has the advantage of not relying on a single central server which might disappear tomorrow.
In reality, you don’t need to spend lot of your hard disk and RAM downloading the entire blockchain. There are a few workarounds/optimizations to keep the application decentralized yet make the interaction quick and easy.
Now, what exactly is this blockchain? It has:
Database: Every few transactions that occur in the Ethereum network are packaged in to blocks and each block is linked to the next block. This linked series of blocks which holds all the transaction data is the blockchain. If we go back to the eBay example, every transaction between buyers and sellers, whether it is a sale, refund or dispute would all be recorded on the blockchain and is available for everyone to see. To make sure all the nodes in the network have same copy of the data and to insure no invalid data gets written to this database, Ethereum uses an algorithm called Proof of Work (http://ethereum.stackexchange.com/questions/14/what-proof-of-work-function-does-ethereum-use) Code: The database aspect of blockchain just stores the data. But where is all the logic to buy, sell, cancel, refund etc. In Ethereum world, you write the application code (called contract) in a language called Solidity. You then use the solidity compiler to compile it to Ethereum Byte Code and then deploy that byte code to the blockchain. There are few other alternates to Solidity but Solidity is by far the most popular language for contract development.
So basically, the blockchain stores your data, stores the code and also runs the code in the EVM (Ethereum Virtual Machine).
To build web based dapps, Ethereum comes with a handy javascript library called web3.js which connects to your blockchain node. So you can just include this library in your famous js framework like reactjs, angularjs etc and start building.
Another big and most important feature is the financial capabilities of the platform. What if I tell you, as soon as you start using a dapp, you get an in built bank account? Actually, not one bank account, but you can create as many bank accounts as you like in a fraction of second? These bank accounts are called wallets where you store money (Ether - the currency used in the Ethereum ecosystem) and transact.
There are lot of details about the inner workings of the blockchain I left out deliberately because I wanted to concentrate on mostly comparing the blockchain based Dapp with a centalized webapp. Hope this post accomplishes that and gives a good high level idea of what Ethereum is and how it can be used to build decentralized applications.
I plan on writing more posts/tutorials on dapp development this year. If you would like to get notified, you can subscribe here!
[I have written a 3 part guided tutorial on building a full stack dapp here: Part1, Part2, Part3]
I have also created a more complex course to build a decentralized eBay on Ethereum & IPFS.
Further Reading:
For in depth details on how Ethereum works you can read the Ethereum white paper.
More about the solidity language Solidity Language
For all questions, of course you have Ethereum Stack Exchange
Super helpful community at gitter: https://gitter.im/ethereum/solidity and https://gitter.im/ethereum/web3.js
Thanks @raineorshine, @alwaysbcoding, @kinjalmurthy for feedback on the article. |
Qatar are set to offer £175m each to entice sides like United and Chelsea to play in the DFL
According to reports in a national newspaper, Qatari organisers want four Premier League outfits to take part in their 'Dream Football League' in the summer of 2015.
Bankrolled by the Qatari Royal Family - who are set to announce plans for the Dream Football League (DFL) next month - United, City, Chelsea and Arsenal are amongst the world's top sides set to be invited to compete.
Qatar is set to host the World Cup in 2022, and wants to raise the profile of the country as one of the globe's leading footballing powers.
Qatar is set to host the World Cup in 2022, and wants to raise the profile of the country as one of the globe's leading footballing powers
Each club is reported to be offered £175m just for taking part in the competition, which is set to involve 24 teams and take place in the summer every two years either side of international tournaments.
The DFL poses a direct threat to the Champions League, which paid out less than £50m in total last season to winners Chelsea.
Set to be played in Qatar and its nearby Gulf states, the plan would see 16 permanent members of the DFL supplemented with a further eight clubs from around the world handed invitations to each event.
The idea is for 24 of the world's top sides, like Real and Madrid, to compete against one another
None of football's major governing bodies have yet responded to the proposals, including the Premier League.
If the suggestions are to be believed, English top-flight sides such as Tottenham, Liverpool, Everton and Newcastle are likely to lead the charge against the tournament.
And despite the incredible sums of money on offer, it would require some careful negotiation from Qatari diplomats to convince FIFA or UEFA to agree to its plans.
Paris Saint-Germain are said to be backing the plans, due to their Qatar-based ownership |
Four suspects terrorized a northwest Harris County family on Monday, not only burglarizing their home but also shooting and killing one of the family's dogs."If they can do that to a dog, then they can do anything to a human being," said homeowner Patricia.Patricia said the break-in happened around 1 p.m. on Monday. The family's home surveillance video shows four men breaking into the home. The video shows them hopping over the fence and then gaining access to the home through a back window.Once they were inside, the suspects filled up suitcases full of everything from video game consoles to shoes. Patricia believes their dog, 6-month-old Lady, was trying to protect their home when the intruders shot her."They have no heart. They're just horrible people," she said.The thieves kept going. They made a number of trips in and out, throwing things everywhere in every room."They threw flour all over the kitchen. I had some cake for Mother's Day, they ate that," said Patricia.The family now hopes the surveillance images that show the suspects' faces help in catching them. While they can't bring Lady back, they're hoping to at least get justice.The family is offering a $5,000 reward in the case. HCSO said Crime Stoppers is also offering a reward, bringing the total reward to $10,000. |
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a: This is why I will never ever go to the UK. (February 14, 2009, 6:52 pm)
God: Oh crap. Another year, same flash. (February 15, 2009, 4:07 pm)
Ololo: Horrible, but... WTF?! LMAO!!!!:-P (February 17, 2009, 8:32 pm)
Blank: This is so old, why'd you have you upload it again? (February 21, 2009, 12:02 am)
:3: didn't see that coming.. (February 24, 2009, 8:30 pm)
mikesta: u British r weird.... but then again my friends call me disturbed so dont have much room 2 talk (seriously) (February 28, 2009, 6:59 am)
backl: Yearly dose. (May 3, 2009, 12:48 pm)
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Clinical-stage drug company Cempra Inc. CEMP, +0.15% said Thursday it has received a complete response letter from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration regarding its new drug applications (NDAs) for solithromycin, a treatment for community-acquired bacterial pneumonia. The letter says that the FDA cannot approve the NDAs in their current form and says the company must provide additional safety data and resolve unspecified issues with its manufacturing facility. "Based on their review of the NDAs, the CRL stated that the FDA determined the risk of hepatotoxicity had not been adequately characterized," the company said in a statement. The FDA said the size of the safety database -- 920 patients -- is too small to measure adverse effects, and is recommending a study of about 9,000 patients. The company said it will seek a meeting with the FDA to discuss the issues raised in the letter. "With more than $225 million of cash on hand, patent protection for solithromycin through 2032 and a pipeline that includes fusidic acid and other potential programs for solithromycin, including an ophthalmic formulation, we have flexibility to determine the best course forward for solithromycin and Cempra," Chief Executive David Zaccardelli said in the statement. Shares tumbled 28% premarket and are down 80% for the year through Wednesday, while the S&P 500 SPX, -0.08% has gained about 10%.
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Bananas have been part of our diet for thousands of years, and written references date back to around 500BC. Today, they are the most popular fruit in the world: in fact, over 100 billion bananas are eaten around the world every year, and around 51% of these are eaten at breakfast time.
Some horticulturists believe that bananas were the first fruit on earth. Their origin is placed in Southeast Asia, in the jungles of Malaysis. Indonesia or the Philippines. where many varieties of wild bananas still grow today. Africans are credited to have given the present name, since the word banana would be derived from the Arab for 'finger'. They started to be traded internationally by the end of the fourteenth century. The development of railroads and technological advances in refrigerated maritime transport subsequently enable bananas to become the most traded fruit in the world.
Bananas are grown in more than 150 countries, and 105 million tonnes of fruit are produced each year. Bananas which are grown for local consumption are generally grown in traditional, extensive systems. The Dessert banana, like the Cavendish variety, are of huge economic importance to many countries in the Global South, and thye account for 43 million tonnes. and the Plantain account for 45 million tonnes. Locally consumed bananas are a staple food in many tropical countries and play a major role in terms of food security.
People often assume that the banana fruit grows on trees, however, the banana is a high herb which can grow up to 15 metres. There are over 1000 different varieties of bananas growing around the world, subdivided into 50 groups. Some are sweet, like the Cavendish variety, which is the most common and most widely exported. It is named after Musa Cavendishii and was first grown at Chatsworth House in the UK in 1830. This variety of banana is currently under threat from a disease called Sigatoka, which has reduced banana yields by 40% every year.
Banana facts
On average each person in the UK eats 10kg bananas a year – about 100 bananas!
In Britain, we eat over five billion bananas every year
The scientific name for banana is 'musa sapientum' which translates as 'fruit of the wise man'
The word banana comes from the Arabic word "banan", meaning finger
The banana plant is not a tree, it is the world's largest herb
The "trunk" of a banana plant is not made of wood, it is made of tightly overlapping leaves
Bananas could help you to feel happier, as they contain tryptophan, a type of protein that the body converts into serotonin, known to promote relaxation and improve mood
The inside of a banana skin can be used to calm an itchy mosquito bite - many people find that rubbing the bite with the skin helps to reduce irritation
A medium-sized banana contains only 95 calories, and provides a quick-but-sustained energy boost in a natural, nutritious and easily digestible form with no fat, cholesterol or sodium
British Banana supplier, Fyffes, received its first consignment of bananas 124 years ago, in September 1888
A stem of bananas consists of “hands”, which consist of 10 to 20 bananas. When a hand is split, the bananas become “clusters”, which generally consist of between three to eight bananas
The inside of a banana skin can be used to polish shoes!
Recent news:
There are only a few places where organic bananas can be grown
Banana Link featured in the fight to save the Cavendish banana |
As expected, Microsoft’s follow-up to the Surface Pro 4 tablet is just called… the Surface Pro.
The new model looks nearly identical to its predecessor, but instead of 6th-gen Intel Core Skylake processors, the new model is powered by 7th-gen Intel Core Kaby Lake chips.
Microsoft unveiled the new Surface Pro at an event in Shanghai today.
The new model also supports an updated Surface Pen with 4096 levels of pressure sensitivity, tilt detection, and reduced latency… but the new pen is sold separately, rather than bundled with the tablet.
The new Surface Pro also has an improved kickstand, which supports wider angles, including a “studio mode” which has the tablet lying at a slight angle designed to make writing or drawing more comfortable.
It’s basically a smaller version of the kickstand used in the Surface Studio, Microsoft’s premium all-in-one desktop aimed at artists, and designers and Microsoft showed off the Surface Pro working with Surface Studio accessories including the Surface Dial.
Microsoft says the new Surface Pro supports up to 13.5 hours of battery life. Oh, and the model with a Core i5 processor is fanless: previously you had to opt for a Core M3 chip if you wanted a fanless Surface Pro.
If you’re wondering why models with a Core i7 chip aren’t fanless, it’s not just the CPU that gets an upgrade: that model also has Intel Iris Plus graphics.
The company says the 12.3 inch tablet features and “enhanced color” PixelSense display, but it has the same 2736 x 1824 resolution as the Surface Pro 4.
Another thing that hasn’t changed? The ports: there’s a USB Type-A port, a mini DisplayPort, and a 3.5mm headphone jack, but no USB Type-C port.
The company also introduced new Surface Pro Type Cover accessories which will work with the 5th-gen Surface Pro tablet, but also with the Surface Pro 3 or Surface Pro 4. The key difference between this year the company’s Alcantara fabric-covered Type Cover is available in 4 colors (grey, teal, gold, and burgandy).
The new 5th-gen Surface Pro will be available with a choice of Core M3-7Y30, Core i5-7300U, and Core i7-7660U processors, 128GB to 1TB of solid state storage, and 4GB to 16GB of LPDDR3-1866 RAM. There’s also optional support for 4G LTE.
Microsoft’s new tablet measures 11.5″ x 7.9″ x 0.33″ and weighs about 1.7 pounds.
The Surface Pro is launching on June 15th in 26 countries including the US, Canada, the UK, and China. Pre-orders open today for $799 and up.
And when I say up, I mean way up for the higher-end models: you’ll have to shell out $2699 to get a new Surface Pro with a Core i7 CPU, 16GB of RAM, and 1TB of storage. And don’t forget, the keyboard is sold separately. At least the pen is included.
At today’s launch event, Microsoft also announced that the Surface Studio is coming to China, as is the recently announced Surface Laptop. And the HoloLens Development Edition is also now available in China. |
In Hollywood, both the Creative Artists Agency and United Talent Agency ban BlackBerry use at meetings. Tom Golisano , a billionaire and power broker in New York State politics, said last week that he pushed to remove Malcolm A. Smith as the State Senate majority leader after the senator met with him on budget matters in April and spent the time reading e-mail on his BlackBerry.
The phone use has become routine in the corporate and political worlds — and grating to many. A third of more than 5,300 workers polled in May by Yahoo HotJobs, a career research and job listings Web site, said they frequently checked e-mail in meetings. Nearly 20 percent said they had been castigated for poor manners regarding wireless devices.
Despite resistance, the etiquette debate seems to be tilting in the favor of smartphone use, many executives said. Managing directors do it. Summer associates do it. It spans gender and generation, private and public sectors.
A few years ago, only “the investment banker types” would use BlackBerrys in meetings, said Frank Kneller, the chief executive of a company in Elk Grove Village, Ill., that makes water-treatment systems. “Now it’s everybody.” He said that if he spotted 6 of 10 colleagues tapping away, he knew he had to speed up his presentation.
It is routine for Washington officials to bow heads silently around a conference table — not praying — while others are speaking, said Philippe Reines, a senior adviser to Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton . Although BlackBerrys are banned in certain areas of the State Department headquarters for security reasons, their use is epidemic where they are allowed.
“You’ll have half the participants BlackBerrying each other as a submeeting, with a running commentary on the primary meeting,” Mr. Reines said. “BlackBerrys have become like cartoon thought bubbles.”
Photo
Some professionals admitted that they occasionally sent mocking commentary about the proceedings, but most insisted that they used smartphones for legitimate reasons: responding to deadline requests, plumbing the Web for data to illuminate an issue under discussion or simply taking notes.
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Still, the practice retains the potential to annoy. Joel I. Klein , the New York City schools chancellor, has gained such a reputation for checking his BlackBerry during public meetings that some parents joke that they might as well send him an e-mail message. Few companies have formal policies about smartphone use in meetings, according to Nancy Flynn, the executive director of the ePolicy Institute, a consulting group in Columbus , Ohio . Ms. Flynn tells clients to encourage employees to turn off all devices.
“People mistakenly think that tapping is not as distracting as talking,” she said. “In fact, it can be every bit as much if not more distracting. And it’s pretty insulting to the speaker.”
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Still, business can be won or lost, executives say, depending on how responsive you are to an e-mail message. “Clients assume they can get you anytime, anywhere,” said David Brotherton, a media consultant in Seattle . “Consultants who aren’t readily available 24/7 tend to languish.”
Playful electronic bantering can stimulate creativity in meetings, in the view of Josh Rabinowitz, the director of music at Grey Group in New York, an advertising agency. In pitch meetings, Mr. Rabinowitz said, he often traded messages on his Palm Treo — jokes, ideas, questions — with colleagues, “things that you might not say out loud.”
The chatter tends to loosen the proceedings. “It just seems to add to the productive energy,” he said.
But business relationships can be jeopardized. Lori Levine, the founder of Flying Television, a talent-booking agency in Manhattan, said that in an effort to be environmentally sensitive she instructed employees to take notes on BlackBerrys instead of paper during client meetings.
“Then I got a call from a client screaming that our vice president spent an hour on his BlackBerry during a huge meeting,” Ms. Levine recalled. To soothe the client, Ms. Levine read aloud the notes the vice president had taken.
In Dallas , a college student sunk his chance to have an internship at a hedge fund last summer when he pulled out a BlackBerry to look up a fact to help him make a point during his interview, then lingered — momentarily, but perceptibly — to check a text message a friend had sent, said Trevor Hanger, the head of equity trading at the hedge fund, who was helping conduct the interview.
Very few companies have policies on smartphone use in meetings, which leaves it up to employees to feel their way across uncertain terrain.
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To Jason Chan, a digital-strategy consultant in Manhattan, different rules apply for in-house meetings (where checking BlackBerrys seems an expression of informal collegiality) and those with clients, where the habit is likely to offend. There is safety in numbers, he added in an e-mail message: “The acceptability of checking devices is proportional to the number of people attending the meeting. The more people there are, the less noticeable your typing will be.”
Beyond practical considerations, there is also the issue of image. In many professional circles, where connections are power, making a show of reaching out to those connections even as co-workers are presenting a spreadsheet presentation seems to have become a kind of workplace boast.
Mr. Brotherton, the consultant, wrote in an e-mail message that it was customary now for professionals to lay BlackBerrys or iPhones on a conference table before a meeting — like gunfighters placing their Colt revolvers on the card tables in a saloon. “It’s a not-so-subtle way of signaling ‘I’m connected. I’m busy. I’m important. And if this meeting doesn’t hold my interest, I’ve got 10 other things I can do instead.’ ” |
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Pontypridd overcame the elements and a determined Merthyr side to advance to the semi-finals of the Swalec Cup, running out 6-5 winners at Sardis Road.
The hosts enjoyed the first real attack of the game when they were held up over the Merthyr tryline during the opening exchanges.
A driving maul close to the line was halted by the visitors and Ponty scrum half Lloyd Williams darted towards the line before being dragged down just short by Osian Davies.
The forwards carried it on and powered over the line but referee Craig Evans couldn't see a grounding with bodies everywhere.
Both teams struggled to get a foothold in the game with the rain lashing down, before the kicking game of Merthyr fly-half Dean Gunter began causing problems for the Pontypridd back three.
Watch: The awful conditions during Pontypridd v Merthyr
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Recap:
Merthyr enjoyed plenty of territory with their Premiership side persistently infringing and the visitors were soon in front.
With the half hour mark approaching, a powerful driving maul charged through the Pontypridd defence and Osian Davies was the man with the ball in his hands at the bottom of the pile.
The hosts responded with a penalty from Ceri Sweeney with six minutes remaining in the half, but it was the Championship side who went in leading at the break.
A change of kit was required for the hosts at half time with both sets of players trudging off caked in mud.
Referee Evans must have been considering whether or not the game could continue with standing water all over the field.
But out they came for the second 40 and captain Dafydd Lockyer soon had the home support cheering.
(Image: Huw Evans Agency)
More:
His scything break was eventually ushered into touch but the hosts would go on to enjoy a sustained spell of possession in the Merthyr half.
After missing an earlier shot at goal, Sweeney sorted his radar out to boot the hosts into the lead midway through the second half after former Pontypridd second row Craig Locke was pinged for going offside.
The visitors missed a big opportunity in the final 10 minutes when Pontypridd coughed the ball up in attack.
The ball was hacked through and Merthyr winger Terri Gee was racing after it, but he couldn't control it and the chance went begging.
Former Pontypridd fly-half Dean Gunter had a kick to win it late on, but struggled to get any purchase on it, kicking out of a puddle.
The visitors didn't go down without a fight and, but for a handful of missed penalties, they would have come away with the win.
But, in the final play, they coughed the ball up deep in the Pontypridd 22 and that was it.
Pontypridd advance in the cup, but only just.
Attendance: 4,800
Pontypridd
Tries:
Cons
Penalties: Ceri Sweeney (2)
Matthew Nuthall; Chris Clayton, Geraint Walsh, Dafydd Lockyer, Alex Webber; Ceri Sweeney, Lloyd Williams; Chris Phillips, Huw Dowden, Keiron Assiratti; Hemi Barnes, Owen Sheppeard; Jake Thomas, Rhys Shellard, Dan Godfrey
Replacement: Joel Raikes, Lewis K Williams, Bradley Coombes, Ashleigh James, Wayne O'Connor, Shaun O'Rourke, Jordan Grass, Corey Domachowski.
Merthyr
Tries: Osian Davies (27)
Cons:
Penalties:
Matthew Jarvis; Dan Parry, Tom Hiscock, David Bishop, Terri Gee; Dean Gunter, Rhys Downes; James Howe, Rhys Williams, Gary Powell; Craig Locke, Miles Normandale; Tom Daley, Osian Davies, Phil Rees
Replacements: Rhys James, Meurig Davies, Gary Way, Ben Murphy, Andy Powell, Martin Luckwell, Cameron Gardner, Adam Hoskins |
The Lich King commands you
Looking to start collecting the new Heroes of the Storm action figures? Well, look no further!
Here’s all of the information we currently have on this exciting new figure line.
Why should you care?
Well let’s see here.. BECAUSE THIS IS A BLIZZARD FAN’S DREAM COME TRUE! Aside from the World of Warcraft toy line manufactured by DC Unlimited (and since ended in 2012) there really aren’t many good Blizzard figures out there. Good luck finding the original StarCraft figures.
Heroes of the Storm (the game) is Blizzard's take on the "MOBA" (Multiplayer Online Battle Arena) or "Hero Brawler" genre. You can think of it like Blizzard’s All-Stars. The game takes all of Blizzard’s best characters from all of their best properties (Starcraft, Warcraft, Diablo) and brings them together with a unified design aesthetic. The in-game characters feel like awesome action figures and now they have become awesome action figures!
Manufacturer:
NECA
Who is NECA?
NECA is an American manufacturer of licensed action figures and collectibles. They have built a reputation on having highly detailed figure work at consumer-friendly price points. Their ongoing Predator line is insane. You can check out their current offerings at necaonline.com
What figures are out now?
Series 1, Wave 1 (released September 2015)
Nova Terra
Illidan Stormrage
Series 1, Wave 2 (released December 2015)
Arthas
Tyrael
Series 1 Deluxe (released December 2015)
Stitches
Upcoming Figures
Series 2, Wave 1 and 2 (sometime in 2016)
Thrall
Jim Raynor
Sylvanas
Murky
Brightwing
Series 2 Deluxe (sometime in 2016)
Series Two Deluxe - Diablo Classic (2016)
The Future
Aside from the confirmed Series 2 characters, there is no further confirmation of future figures. Video game website Kotaku had reported that NECA planned to make all 36+ figures but I have not found a source on that. When I asked NECA on twitter how early sales were going the response was “well” so feel free to read into that how you will.
Where to Buy:
All of the regular-class figures are currently available for $21.99 USD on the official Blizzard gear store. Stitches is considered a deluxe-class figure and is selling for $49.99 USD.
Outside of the official store there are number of brick-and-mortar/online sellers. Supply of Wave 1 (Illidan, Nova) seems to be dwindling and may have finished production/shipping.
Don't Sleep on These
NECA figures are known to command high after-market prices once they finish their production run. If you're a true Blizzard fan I recommend getting these figures ASAP. Plus we need to show NECA and Blizzard the demand for these so they have incentive to finish the rest!
Seriously, look at these photos of my Arthas :)
Anyone else have these figures? Please share your thoughts in the comments below! |
When New York University freshmen start class Tuesday, among their course selections will be, “Guitar Heroes (and Heroines): Music, Video Games and the Nature of Human Cognition.” It’s a freshman honors seminar about how video games help us learn.
Dr. Gary Marcus, renowned expert on childhood learning and the instructor of the course, told the New York Post, “Video games are an understudied area. People dismiss them unfairly, but Guitar Hero is a good tool for teaching and I’m interested in the nature of learning.” No word on what it is that Guitar Hero teaches.
Regardless of any merits the course may have, some parents are scandalized. “I just wrote a big check here,” Glen Jackson, father of an incoming freshman, grumbled to the Post. “I’m not paying for him to study video games.” Well, there’s always a one-in-a-million shot that Guitar Hero expertise could lead to gainful employment: a North Carolina 16 year-old dropped out of school last year to play the game professionally.
Among the questions the course will consider is, “why are human beings so passionate about music and so easily sucked in by video games?” The goals of the Freshman Honors Seminars Program are “to introduce [students] to important subjects [and] to challenge them intellectually through rigorous standards of analysis and oral and written argumentation.”
For the more traditional honors freshman, there are also seminars on Galileo, Hobbes and de Tocqueville. Other NYU course choices this fall include “The Poetics of Television” and an undergraduate science class, “Can Exercise Change Your Brain?” which begins each class session with an hour-long aerobic workout. |
Las Vegas (CNN) Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders have been circling each other on electability for days, knocking one another from afar over which candidate stands a better chance to beat Republicans in November's general.
On Wednesday night in Las Vegas, they made their cases with the other candidate mere feet away.
"I am proud to be running in a Democratic primary with my opponents. They have a lot of good ideas and we share a lot of the same values," Clinton said with Sanders sitting at a dinner table nearby. "But your choice in the caucus really matters. On February 20th you will begin the process of choosing a president who has what it takes to stand up to the Republicans, to make a real difference for American families."
She then added, digging her critique a little deeper, "A president who can get the job done and not just on a few issue, but on all the complex challenges we face."
The comment was not taken kindly by Sanders supporters, many of whom booed the former secretary of state at points during her speech.
Sanders, speaking after Clinton at the dinner, responded in kind, teeing up his comment on electability by saying he wanted to be "clear" and "a little bit political" in his comments.
"All of us want to make sure that we defeat right wing extremism, that we make certain that no Republicans become president of the United States, all of us are united that we are going to take back the Senate and that we are going to do well all over this country," Sanders said. "But let me be very clear: That result will not happen with establishment politics and establishment economics. The only way that Democrats win elections, is when we have a large voter turnout."
Sanders supporters - keyed into the back and forth on electability - jumped to their feet at this comment. Clinton supporters did not, in part because many of them left after their candidate had finished speaking.
Clinton and Sanders were the main events at the dinner, but all three Democratic candidates - including former Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley - tried to court their party's faithful at the Nevada Democrats "Battle Born/Battleground" First in the West Caucus Dinner.
But O'Malley, despite a more polished speech than past Democratic events, was largely an afterthought. While Clinton and Sanders supporters sat on opposing sides of the room, challenging each other to who could chant louder, O'Malley didn't have a noticeable cheering section.
Photos: Who's running for president? Ted Cruz, Donald Trump, John Kasich, Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders, Hide Caption 1 of 6 Photos: Who's running for president?
"So, ladies and gentlemen, I am officially running for president of the United States, and we are going to make our country great again," Trump told the crowd at his announcement. Businessman Donald Trump announced June 16 at his Trump Tower in New York City that he is seeking the Republican presidential nomination. This ends more than two decades of flirting with the idea of running for the White House."So, ladies and gentlemen, I am officially running for president of the United States, and we are going to make our country great again," Trump told the crowd at his announcement. Hide Caption 2 of 6 Photos: Who's running for president?
"These are all of our stories," Cruz told the audience at Liberty University in Virginia. "These are who we are as Americans. And yet for so many Americans, the promise of America seems more and more distant." Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas has made a name for himself in the Senate, solidifying his brand as a conservative firebrand willing to take on the GOP's establishment. He announced he was seeking the Republican presidential nomination in a speech on March 23."These are all of our stories," Cruz told the audience at Liberty University in Virginia. "These are who we are as Americans. And yet for so many Americans, the promise of America seems more and more distant." Hide Caption 3 of 6 Photos: Who's running for president? Ohio Gov. John Kasich joined the Republican field July 21 as he formally announced his White House bid.
"I am here to ask you for your prayers, for your support ... because I have decided to run for president of the United States," Kasich told his kickoff rally at the Ohio State University. Hide Caption 4 of 6 Photos: Who's running for president?
"Everyday Americans need a champion, and I want to be that champion -- so you can do more than just get by -- you can get ahead. And stay ahead," she said in her announcement video. "Because when families are strong, America is strong. So I'm hitting the road to earn your vote, because it's your time. And I hope you'll join me on this journey." Hillary Clinton launched her presidential bid on April 12 through a video message on social media. The former first lady, senator and secretary of state is considered the front-runner among possible Democratic candidates."Everyday Americans need a champion, and I want to be that champion -- so you can do more than just get by -- you can get ahead. And stay ahead," she said in her announcement video. "Because when families are strong, America is strong. So I'm hitting the road to earn your vote, because it's your time. And I hope you'll join me on this journey." Hide Caption 5 of 6 Photos: Who's running for president?
"This great nation and its government belong to all of the people and not to a handful of billionaires, their super PACs and their lobbyists," Sanders said at a rally in Vermont on May 26. Sen. Bernie Sanders , an independent from Vermont who caucuses with Democrats, announced his run in an email to supporters on April 30. He has said the United States needs a "political revolution" of working-class Americans to take back control of the government from billionaires."This great nation and its government belong to all of the people and not to a handful of billionaires, their super PACs and their lobbyists," Sanders said at a rally in Vermont on May 26. Hide Caption 6 of 6
Divided into camps
The audience was largely made up of decided voters. Campaigns gave supporters tickets to to the event and supplied them with different cheering paraphernalia. Clinton's supporters waved their now-common blue glow sticks, while Sanders' backers blew air-horns and hummed into vuvuzelas, the horns that became known for their annoying buzz during the 2010 World Cup.
"That music is really beautiful," Sanders said sarcastically to his supporters, before motioning for them to tone it down.
The argument over whether Clinton or Sanders is most electable has been playing out for the last three days on the Democratic side of the presidential campaign.
Touring through New Hampshire and Iowa, Clinton stressed her experience and her ability to hit the ground running if she were to win in November. She also urged her supporters to think about what a Republican presidency would be like, and cast her self as the best Democrat to stop that possibility.
"Let me ask you all to think hard about this job that you are interviewing for," Clinton said Tuesday night in Council Bluffs. "Think hard about the people who are presenting themselves to you, their experience, their qualifications, their positions, but particularly for those of us who are Democrats, their electability."
This comments annoyed Sanders aides - and the candidate.
Michael Briggs, Sanders' spokesman, quickly issued a statement in response to Clinton that questioned her ability to generate enough excitement to beat someone like Republican frontrunner Donald Trump.
And when asked by CNN on Wednesday - before his dinner speech - whether he is more electable than Clinton, the senator bluntly said, "Yes," before explaining how he polls better than Clinton in certain head to head polls.
And the candidate's supporters have taken note, too.
When asked, a handful of Sanders supporters almost unanimously said they were confident in their candidate's electability, even if it wasn't a reason they were backing the Vermont senator.
"I doesn't concern me at all," Sean Dolstad, a graphic designed from Las Vegas, said bluntly, reflecting what many of his Sanders supporting brethren said on Wednesday.
Clinton supporters, on the other hand, said their candidate's electability was a top reason they were supporting her, especially given the state of the Republican field.
"It matters tremendously," said Linda Overbey, a union member from Las Vegas. "I want to win, because for me, Donald Trump is a moron." |
The day we’ve all been waiting for has arrived—Wilson’s Heart is officially here! Drawing equal parts inspiration from classic monster movie horror and Twilight Zone bizarre, this narrative-driven first-person adventure lets you star in your own psychological thriller. Thanks to neo-noir cinematic flair and a cast of voice actors including Peter Weller, Rosario Dawson, Michael B. Jordan, and Alfred Molina, combined with the immersive power of VR, you can step inside a mystery like never before.
We’re taking a break from speedruns and exploratory playthroughs to celebrate with a new installment in our Touch Tuesdays series. Today’s in-depth Q&A features Twisted Pixel Games CEO Bill Muehl and Chief Creative Officer Josh Bear.
What motivated you to bring your character-driven approach to narrative games into VR?
Josh Bear: We’ve always enjoyed making character interactions feel engaging and responsive—bringing that approach into VR expanded what we could do narratively, especially from the first-person perspective. As an example, when we were prototyping Wilson’s Heart, we quickly found that the immersion of VR let us influence players’ moods and reactions through the placement of NPCs relative to the players’ personal space. That unique ability to affect the player through character interactions, paired with the natural controls that Touch provides, opened up a lot of narrative opportunities that couldn’t have been done outside of VR.
What’s your favorite part about designing for Touch?
Bill Muehl:As a studio, we’ve always loved finding ways to be creative with new technology. Touch is such a big leap forward in terms of natural interactions, we feel fortunate to have had such early access to the prototypes so we could design Wilson’s Heart to take advantage of the new interface. We’ve really enjoyed the way Touch let us design the game so that people who would normally be intimidated by a traditional controller with tons of buttons can instead put their attention toward exploring the environments, solving puzzles, and advancing the narrative in an intuitive way.
Did you encounter any obstacles while designing for VR?
BM: A big challenge was the fact that we had to give up camera control to the player, but that’s something all developers face as they make the transition to VR. We saw right away that we’d need to put a lot of attention into our sound design and subtle visual cues to guide the player without breaking immersion.
JB: There was also the challenge of locomotion in VR. We decided early on to commit to a solution that fit our gameplay and narrative design, and the natural use of Touch controllers helped a lot toward solving that. Our node-based teleportation has the added benefit of ensuring that Wilson’s Heart is comfortable experience.
How do you think VR will continue to impact the way we play and tell stories moving forward?
BM: This is clearly just the beginning of an entirely new way to experience alternate and enhanced worlds, characters, and social interactions, and we’re excited to be part of the whole movement. As the hardware and platforms evolve, we’re looking forward to even more ambitious ways to create interactive narratives.
What’s the craziest reaction you’ve seen while demoing the game?
JB: We often get a great reaction to the mirror sequence near the beginning of the game—a mix of shock and amazement as players come face-to-face with their virtual self, Robert Wilson, who’s a man in his mid-60s.
BM: It’s also great to witness the moments when players have to do something that would normally be pretty gross like reaching into a bathtub full of nasty, sludgy water, or something very painful like reaching down to pull their heart out of their own chest. Scenarios like those often create a really visceral reaction in the player.
Any particular Easter eggs we should be on the lookout for?
JB: We hope players feel like the narrative and puzzle designs provide a bunch of unexpected twists and turns, but the game also includes variety of side areas for players who want to explore deeper context of both the story and characters. Some of these include interactive comic books, newspapers, photos, and radios with plays and period music. Also, try tuning the station dial on the radios—you may get more than you bargained for.
Thanks for the eerie insights, Bill and Josh—we can’t wait for everyone to tap into the supernatural chills of WIlson’s Heart.
And NVIDIA has a surprise to make launch day even more exciting! Now through June 13, you can score Wilson’s Heart, SUPERHOT VR, and The Unspoken for free with the purchase of Rift and Touch plus any GeForce GTX 1080, 1070, or 1060 graphics card, system, or laptop. Please visit Amazon or Newegg for more information. Prices may vary, so check with your local retailer for details.
Already have your rig set up? Get Wilson’s Heart today on the Oculus Store and unravel its unsettling mysteries.
— The Oculus Team |
If you have found the love of your life, you might be in love with the way that person makes you feel and you will not get enough of it. That one person will always bring out the best in you and if you have not found that person yet, you will feel empty and hollow. Love is something that we all crave for and when you have a person to share all your emotions with, cry, and laugh and simply share life with; your life will be made much easier. If you have not found that one person yet or if you have tried and failed, you should not lose hope but you should work your way to find that person. Yes, the journey to that person will not be easy but when you find the treasure in the map of life, you will never feel any better. If you think that it is the time that you share your life with another person who is special to you, here are some of the things that you need to do to find the love of your life:
The right apps and the websites
You should not let your life get wasted away looking for love in all the wrong places. Nowadays, the best place to look for love with the guarantee of finding it is to use a dating app iPhone. In this app, you will be able to find people who are looking for a relationship and there will be loads of people who share the same interests as you do that will be the perfect match for you. Therefore, this the perfect start that you can set to finding that person to share the rest of your life with. You might have had enough being single and you should always make sure that you do not commit unless you find that one person. To find that one person is what will bother you but if you simply get involved in a single dating site, you can simply find that one person who is meant to be yours and share the good and the bad together.
Follow your heart
It is important that you let your heart flow when it comes to love. The more you get to know a person, the more you will realise if you are into that person or not. If you are interested, you should get to know them and spend quality time so you will find that person who you will fall love with and you will not have any problem creating mutual understanding. |
Marshall Lytle's '40s Epiphone B-5
there's one thing we have in abundance around here, it's reverence for the tools of rock 'n' roll. Guitars, drums, basses; we think all that stuff is great. Every once in a while, though, we come across an instrument that's so historic, so iconic, and so badass, that it truly blows us away. This is one of those pieces. It's a late '40s Epiphone B-5 upright bass that belonged to Marshall Lytle. Marshall was the bass player for Bill Haley and His Comets during their 1950s heyday, and he used this bass to record such classics as "Rock Around the Clock", "Shake", "Rattle and Roll", and "Rock the Joint". Think about that for a second. Those three songs were the beginning of a cultural earthquake whose aftershocks are still rumbling in the 21st century. The lexicon of early rock bass playing was written by Marshall on this very instrument. It's currently on display at the Hard Rock Cafe in Orlando, Florida. |
Brazil's Amazon rainforests — the largest in the world, get smaller each year. A report based on satellite data from July 2014 to August 2015, showed deforestation of over 5,831 sq km. Taken aback by the 16% increase in deforestation in just one year, Brazil's Environment Minister Izabella Teixeira has called a meeting of governors of the states affected the most to discuss the situation. "Pressure for more logging is again strong and coming from agriculture and livestock activities," Teixeira said.
The report released by Brazil's environment ministry comes at a sensitive time — days before the UN Climate Change Conference in Paris where representatives from across the globe will work on hammering out a new global climate agreement.
The Amazon is a treasure trove of biodiversity, representing over half of the planet's rainforests, with the largest collection of varied species of plants and animals. With demand for land constantly mounting, vast stretches of the forest have been razed, destroying numerous ecosystems and displacing animals. A study published by the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) in October estimated that over half the species of trees in the Amazon are on the verge of extinction.
"Forests in the Amazon have been declining since the 1950s, but (until now) there was a poor understanding of how this has affected populations of individual species," said Carlos Peres at the University of East Anglia, one of the 158 scientists from 21 countries who worked on the study.
The research predicted that "At least 36% and up to 57% of all Amazonian tree species are likely to qualify as globally threatened under International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List criteria. If confirmed, these results would increase the number of threatened plant species on Earth by 22%."
Even though deforestation of the Brazilian Amazon has increased, it still remains lower than what it was a decade ago after the government introduced tougher measures. In 2004, almost 30,000 sq km was lost to deforestation.
Brazil has 60% of the rainforest area, but Amazonia extends into other countries like Peru with 13% and Colombia with 10% along with minor stretches in Venezuela, Ecuador, Bolivia, Guyana, Suriname and French Guiana which have witnessed relentless deforestation.
While reporting on the projected forest loss, the AAAS study said: "The business-as-usual (BAU) scenario model estimates that, by 2050, 40% of the original Amazon forest will be destroyed if proper regulations are not put in place to preserve it." |
Flickr/Abode of Chaos. Some rights reserved.
There is a Chinese proverb: “May you live in interesting times.” And by God we Germans are. We get to decide who benefits from our prosperity and who simply gets a mini-job or a television to keep them occupied. We get to reclaim our privacy rights and understand the Neuland that is the Internet. We get to set up windmills and thousands of kilometres of energy grids to ensure our independence or to save polar bears from drowning. We can afford to empathise with the Greek shop-owner and make up for our harsh and misguided austerity policies.
Despite all of this, the German election campaign has been vague and terminally, terminally boring. This is no accident. Rather, it’s the tactical brilliance of Angela Merkel, who will win the 22 September election by default provided she ensures that visions and policy issues have no place in this campaign.
In her eight years as Chancellor, Ms. Merkel has created a political culture that leaves no room for criticism or political debate. She does this by presenting all major decisions as being involuntary acts of necessity. Whether she is creating Europe’s largest renewable energy market or signing guarantees on Greek debt, Ms. Merkel has depicted herself as a curator, not an agent.
Caught up in Merkel’s game
If it weren’t for Fukushima, we would still have nuclear energy. If it weren’t for the mistakes of the SPD, Greece would not be in the Eurozone, and she wouldn’t have to impose austerity on its people. Since she governs without personality or conviction, her choices are characterised as necessities and her mistakes are easily rebranded as systemic problems rather than failures of judgement. In summary, she is an anti-visionary and, in this respect, an anti-leader. Her electoral campaign leaves no room for policy choices about Germany’s future. If you accept her terms, there is no room for meaningful opposition either… and it is almost impossible for the leader of the opposition to portray himself as the “anti-Merkel”.
This doesn’t, of course, remove all blame from her opponent Peer Steinbrück. Nothing stood in the way of him swamping this campaign with personality, vision and a grand political alternative to the current state of affairs except his lack of personality, vision and a grand political alternative. Any great opposition leader with political convictions of his own, strategists and a desire to win might have caught up with Merkel’s game. But only a brave opposition can profit in such circumstances: the seats for the party that rises from the grave merely to scratch at the surface of the issues have already been reserved for Merkel’s liberal coalition partner, the FDP.
The real tragedy of this campaign is that it de-politicises the German people and robs the electorate of their democratic agency. Voters are not being given the opportunity to participate in a process that could bring about change and have been given no material by which to pass value judgements. Of course, as a voter, you have the right not to hold an opinion on political issues that do not concern you directly.
But this negative democratic freedom is one afforded to voters, not their leaders! The function of an election is the crystallization of issues – no matter how complex they may appear – into the policies and principles that underlie them, allowing voters to make value judgments on competing visions, and so to decide on their future.
No vision, No future
Whilst the next Chancellor, or let’s be honest, Ms. Merkel, inherits the good fortune of economic growth, making domestic affairs and social policies easier to deal with, the greatest and historic challenge lies in addressing the question of Europe. Germany’s approach is still grossly insufficient. Perhaps Ms Merkel would not have let the entire southern periphery into the Eurozone. Perhaps she would have never signed the Maastricht Treaty either or turned the EEC into the EU. Who knows? But it does not follow that she has no agency in any of the decisions she has made since then or that her actions have no political consequences. Equally feeble is the opposition leader’s grand counter-narrative: “Eurobonds! Eurobonds!” Whatever that means.
German voters are not being provided with enough information, or any vision of what the future might look like. This applies to every aspect of this election. Leaders that are willing to govern without the involvement of their people, leaders that have no time for debates or new ideas, have failed their electorate.
This article has previously been published by our partner The European. Thanks go to the editors for allowing us to republish it here. |
A woman who shouted threats against the prime minister during question time has been escorted from parliament’s lower house.
Jan Olson was removed from the public gallery by security guards after shouting “and we’re coming after you!” in the chamber.
Ms Olson was later met by a group of Australian Federal Police officers outside.
She told AAP her threat was centred on Tony Abbott and related to documents she was denied under Freedom of Information about his birth certificate and legitimacy as prime minister.
The disturbance did not disrupt proceedings but comes amid heightened security at parliament house in response to the terror threat level.
US president Barack Obama faced the same birth conspiracies with rumours circulating during his presidency campaign that he was not a US citizen.
Theories allege that Obama’s published birth certificate is a forgery and that his actual birthplace is not Hawaii but Kenya according to Wikipedia. Other theories allege that Obama became a citizen of Indonesia in childhood, thereby losing his US citizenship. Others allege that Obama is not a natural-born U.S. citizen because he was born a dual citizen (British and American).
However many have called these theories racist and Obama has never succumbed to pressure to show his birth certificate. |
beyond markdown
bowerbird Blocked Unblock Follow Following Oct 2, 2014
— part 5
shining a spotlight on sections and headers
this is part 5 of an ongoing series. you can find
a list of links at the bottom of the article which
will direct you to the other parts of the series…
***
ok, this piece got a lot longer than i intended,
so let me give you a “tl;dr” option on this one.
the topic is headers, .html tags “h1" through “h6".
markdown’s example of headers goes like so:
markdown header input:
http://zenmagiclove.com/simple/markdown-input-headers.png
i’ll ignore the other ways markdown can do headers,
underlying with equal-signs and dashes. too obtrusive.
markdown header input and output from the dingus:
http://zenmagiclove.com/simple/markdown-dingus-headers.png
***
pretty hard to beat that for input simplicity, right?
just start a line with some hashmarks. that’s easy.
and you get “headers”, big and bold, as expected.
and sure enough, put the same text in z.m.l. and
you will get back similar “headers”, big and bold.
markdown headers take 1 minute to learn because
they are 1 minute deep. and z.m.l. headers can be
1 minute deep, if you want. or they can go deeper.
so if you want the 1-minute version, there you go.
we’ll consider the two to be “the same”. for now.
so, if you’re too busy for the whole story, which is
quite a bit more complicated, and more interesting,
you can leave now. ok, so much for the tl;dr version.
***
ok, demo examples are often “unrealistic”, so
this wouldn’t necessarily be a criticism per se,
but surely we agree this one _is_ “unrealistic”;
you don’t often see a set of 3 headers in a row,
each one containing no content underneath it.
(some cheat-sheets actually list all _6_ levels!,
in a very compelling example of input/output
that you will never ever see in the real world.)
what you usually see is a header announcing a
section of some type, with its content below;
a header without any section below it is weird.
what i am driving at is this: if your idea of what
defines a “header” is “a line that’s big and bold”
— via having the requested markup of h1 to h6,
while having no regard for the section below —
then know that z.m.l. offers you the same thing.
and you can also stop reading shortly after this.
but if that’s really what your idea of a “header” is,
then maybe you should just stay with markdown.
because headers — or, more precisely, sections —
are one of the most important concepts in z.m.l.
zen markup language is not a mindless converter
changing shorthand to .html in a reductionist way.
it’s a document-processor that encapsulates a text
in a holistic sum-is-greater-than-the-parts manner.
so, my friends, if your idea of a “header” involves
something more “semantic” than “big bold line”,
more like labeling the meaning and/or the content
of a section in a document, then you might wanna
settle in and read this entire piece at your leisure.
***
which, aside, reminds me that i really appreciate
the great response you’ve shown for this series!
lots of you are viewing it, and even reading the
entire pieces, at least according to medium.com.
even “part 4" — which weighed in at 18 minutes!
and let’s face the facts, folks, you’re essentially
reading the _manual_ for zen markup language,
and we all know how rare it is to read a manual.
(most of all, we few who typically actually _do_!)
i know that i didn’t really expect you to read it.
first, it’s kind of boring, and second, i’m really
terrible at writing this type of stuff, so sorry.
explaining stuff brings out my over-explainer,
and he can bore anybody, most especially me.
i was just writing this up so i could point to it,
if people ever started asking me any questions.
the old “i’m-not-your-mama, r.t.f.m.” brush-off.
i didn’t expect people to show any real interest
until i gave you all a real z.m.l. authoring-tool,
so you could fiddle around with it and see that,
hey, it really is very simple, and it really works,
and it really could be something that replaces
inconsistent markdown with a reliable format,
and it really does give writers a real advantage,
and i’m gonna start using it and telling people.
really.
and i still expect that all of that _will_ happen,
when i give you the authoring-tools — soon! —
but i’m pleasantly surprised at the interest that
you have _already_ shown, so thank you kindly.
oh, and in case you’re wondering, most of the
tools that i offer will be absolutely free of cost.
those tools run the full range, web and native,
cross-platform, and ported to many languages.
(so coders, resist the urge, because you’ll just
be reinventing the wheel now, when later you
can help make the wheels work even better.)
i might have to charge a small amount to offer
stuff out of the apple stores, because you must
pay apple their fee to be “an official developer”,
but in general i pledge most of this will be free.
ok, now “part 5". i know you’re so excited! ;+)
***
the series is discussing “zen markup language”
— “z.m.l.” — which is a light-markup solution.
it is thus very similar to “markdown”. however,
z.m.l. was designed independently of markdown
(and i started it several years before markdown,
even before “textile”, markdown’s inspiration),
so z.m.l. avoids some of the flaws in markdown
— ergo the “beyond markdown” series title —
although you might find they are more similar
than dissimilar; but one of the features where
they diverge in important ways is _“headers”._
headers, of course, are extremely important,
as they cordon off _sections_ in the document,
such as the _chapters_ of a novel, for instance,
individual _pieces_ in an anthology, and so on.
and because z.m.l. goes the most simple route,
it considers the _header_ for any section to be
the first chunk which is found in that section.
or, to say it another way, the first chunk found
in a section is ruled to be that section’s header.
so how does z.m.l. decide it has “a new section”?
well, easy.
just like one blank line signals “a new chunk”,
whether that chunk is a “paragraph” or a “block”,
a set of 5 blank lines signals “a new section”…
just like one blank line
signals “a new chunk”,
a set of 5 blank lines
signals “a new section”
and, since i have just said that the first chunk
in a section is defined as that section’s header,
we come to the startling realization that there
is actually no need to even _mark_ that header,
because the 5-blank-line sequence already did!
but now i’m getting way ahead of myself…
so let’s reel it back in, to start at the beginning.
and when we talk about sections, and headers,
then we should begin with the table of contents.
***
bow down to the table of contents
z.m.l. has a focus on long-form documents, like books,
reports, journal articles, etc. — documents of substance.
these types of documents usually make a large webpage,
or even a whole set of united webpages across a website.
markdown, on the other hand, is often used on things
such as blog comments (or the blog article itself), and
particularly user-generated content, where that text is
a little part of a webpage, or a relatively small webpage.
indeed, markdown is usually converted as a “snippet”;
you _add_ the .html elements, .css, etc., if you need ‘em.
not so with zen markup language.
z.m.l. always gets converted as a full webpage, or even a
set of related webpages, and you are expected to _delete_
the stuff that you don’t need for your specific use-case.
the .css, for instance, is provided, although you can also
tell the converter that you want it to bring in your own.
either way, what you receive is something fully functional
and entirely stand-alone. it’s explicitly not just a snippet.
this difference in focus is a very important distinction,
like the difference between a blog comment and a book.
a concentration on long-form material means _sections_
are a crucial organizing principle of the z.m.l. framework.
in fact, it’s not unreasonable, as a general rule of thumb,
to think that you should stick with markdown if you are
using it to create relatively small pieces of content, like
one-at-a-time blog articles just a couple paragraphs long.
but if you are writing pieces that have multiple sections,
you’ll find that z.m.l. probably meets your needs better.
if your documents are long enough that they can benefit
by having a table of contents, you are writing long-form,
and you need a light-markup system geared to that goal.
and when you are offering a reader a document that big,
the skeleton organization of the document is something
that needs to be made clear to the reader, and the vehicle
which provides that vital clarity is your table of contents.
thus it is very important just from that single perspective.
let me stress that. you _want_ your readers to see and use
your table of contents, just as soon as they start reading,
because it helps them wrap their mind around the piece,
and frames their approach, especially if they’re reading it
in an electronic-form, on a screen, where it’s amorphous.
that reader-orientation to the article can be so important.
moreover, the table of contents helps you, as the writer.
it is the guide that organizes your thoughts, and ensures
that your piece embodies an “arc” that makes it cohere.
it’s the “outline” your teachers told you to start out with.
although, truth be told, a good one is always evolving, so
the important thing is to stay current with it as it does,
so you’re aware where the path is, and where it is going.
i apologize for this wee excursion in a writerly direction,
but it’s not off-topic, because it is this focus on _writing_
which serves as the very bedrock of the z.m.l. philosophy.
z.m.l. is not merely a format to make .html for webpages.
one big goal of z.m.l. is to help writers do better writing.
***
so, because of its importance, to both writer and readers,
the table of contents occupies a “place of honor” as the
second section of z.m.l. documents, so everybody knows
where it is, and everybody knows that everybody knows.
the first section, of course, is the cover/title section, but
it’s very good to know that you can count on the fact that
the table of contents is at the top too, just underneath it,
especially since many viewer-apps can jump to the top,
thereby making your table of contents quite convenient.
furthermore…
z.m.l. makes it very easy to maintain a table of contents.
because, if you think about it, you want your headers to
be in two places. one is obviously where they already are
— situated atop their respective sections, naturally —
but the second place would be in your table of contents.
so, during conversion of your z.m.l. text-file to output,
your text is scanned to ascertain its header-structure,
thereby automatically generating a table of contents.
if your table of contents section is the word “autotoc”
— just that simple string of letters, by itself on a line —
the auto-generated contents is spliced into the output.
so, with “autotoc” in your z.m.l. input file, this might be
an example of what would get spliced into your output:
further, if you make a change to the text of a header,
it is displayed immediately, in the on-the-fly preview.
so the table of contents stays in sync with the headers.
so, if we were to leave the “autotoc” line just as it was,
but edit the old-fashioned non-useful roman numbers
— the ones on those actual headers, in the text itself —
the auto-generated version will come to look like this:
(and yes, in z.m.l., we include the title — and even the
“table of contents” header — _in_ the table of contents,
even though some people might consider it redundant,
because we might want to copy this section out to the
digital equivalent of a “card catalog” for our cyberlibrary.
so we really need that listing to be full-and-complete.)
z.m.l. makes it very easy to
maintain a table of contents.
or, if you prefer it the other way around, you can put in
the table of contents that you want, and the converter
will compare the actual structure of your actual headers
against the structure you listed in the table of contents,
and alert you to any discrepancies between those two,
so that you can edit the errors, wherever they might be.
consider this as the kind of alert you might get:
http://zenmagiclove.com/simple/alice-toc-check-alert.png
or, for instance, say the auto-generated table of contents
looked like this graphic below. how do you analyze this?
http://zenmagiclove.com/simple/alice-autotoc-improper-levels.png
well, the auto-generator pays attention to the _levels_
of your headers, and indents them appropriately, so
— compared to the “h2" for all the other headers —
this indicates that chapter 5 is mislabeled as an “h3"
and chapter 9 has been mislabeled as an “h4" header,
so we’ll need to edit those two to be the correct level.
so you can either use the auto-generation approach
all of the time and assume your headers are correct.
or you can create your “ideal” table of contents and
then be alerted if the actual headers diverge from it.
or you can combine both those approaches, so start
with the auto-generation, and then — once you have
satisfied yourself that it is correct as you intended —
include a copy explicitly, so if you accidentally make
a change to your header-structure, you’ll be alerted.
or, if you intentionally change your header-structure,
you will be alerted so you edit your table of contents.
this auto-generation is one way z.m.l. helps you out,
when it comes to the matter of the table of contents.
but it doesn’t stop there.
the converter routine goes on to link every item in the
table of contents to its respective section in the output.
because today’s readers have a right to expect such links.
and you don’t need to do a single thing to get the links,
which is exactly what you should expect from the tool.
because the converter is fully capable of creating them.
finally, because these links are in every z.m.l. document,
readers will expect them, with no need for you to explain.
and yes, since you likely know how internal links work,
z.m.l. does indeed assign an .html “id” to every header.
and it’s not some randomly-assigned nonsense, either.
it’s an i.d. that directly parallels the header itself, so you
can confidently predict what it is by knowing the header,
without any need to go “view source” to learn what it is.
> Chapter 10 -- The Lobster Quadrille
> #chapter_10_—-_the_lobster_quadrille
...or this works too...
> #chapter_10
...or this works too...
> #the_lobster_quadrille
***
but wait. there’s more…
each header is also linked _back_ to the table of contents,
so your readers have awesome navigational functionality.
(which you can also use, while you are writing the piece,
since all of the links are fully functional in your preview;
good navigation is needed when you’re writing long-form.)
the table of contents, with great navigational functionality,
is a true asset to the power and simplicity of z.m.l. output.
and it’s largely automatic, because of the long-form focus.
now that we’ve grounded ourselves in the mechanisms of
the table of contents, we can discuss sections and headers.
***
headers and sections
and gourds, oh my!
in z.m.l., the “technical” term we use for a “section”
is “gourd”. thus, “chunks” accumulate into “gourds”,
just as paragraphs accumulate into chapters in a novel.
but no, i’m not going to use the “gourd” term here;
i just thought you should be told its “official” name,
so if/when we use it later, you’ll know what it means.
now, to repeat something we said earlier,
the first chunk in each section is its header.
the first chunk
in each section
is its header
the next chunk or two can be headers too,
or subheaders, which is a technicality, but
the first chunk is _always_ a header, by rule.
and, just so you know, the requirement that
a header must be _followed_ by 2 blank lines
is so z.m.l. knows where the header-chunk
and all its possible subheader-chunks end.
next of all, remember that the “h1" header
is reserved for the title of your document,
which must be the first “chunk” in your file,
so there is no need (or ability) to assign “h1".
so we are essentially talking about levels of
headers “h2" to “h6”, if you need that many.
(quite often, you only need one level, “h2".)
so this means that headers in your document
will need to be identified, for z.m.l. to handle.
more precisely, _sections_ in your document
will need to be identified, for z.m.l. to handle.
the rule for sections in z.m.l. is clear and simple:
every z.m.l. section must be preceded by
at least 5 blank lines (or more), and
its header-chunk(s) must be followed by
exactly 2 blank lines.
——————————————————————-
every z.m.l. section
must be preceded by
at least 5 blank lines (or more),
and its header-chunk(s)
must be followed by
exactly 2 blank lines.
——————————————————————
this arrangement of blank lines tells z.m.l.
exactly where the sections break, as well as
where each header begins and where it ends.
so any time there is a 5-blank-line sequence,
the chunk that follows it becomes the header
for that new section. so, if you don’t want to,
there’s not even any need to label the header!
just put a space in column 1, to identify that
chunk as a “block”, and then type the header.
(to be honest, you don’t even need the space.)
got that? there’s no need to mark the header!
this is a good example of where the “zen” in
“zen markup language” comes in the picture!
if you wonder, this 5-blank-line rule is based
on the one used for project gutenberg e-texts.
the project gutenberg corpus was the model for
the plain-text conventions i wanted to emulate.
http://www.gutenberg.org/wiki/Gutenberg:Volunteers%27_FAQ#V.111._How_should_I_handle_chapter_and_section_headings.3F
project gutenberg requires 4 blank lines, but for
a programming reason, i’ve changed that to _5_.
(hey, since you’re here reading a fucking manual,
you probably _wonder_ about what the reason is,
so i’ll tell you. to split a z.m.l. text into “chunks”,
we just split it by “
” — a pair of linebreaks —
which is how a blank line in a file expresses itself.
so when we require 5 blank lines before a section,
that translates to 6 successive linebreaks, meaning
2 successive empty chunks indicate a new section,
and we don’t have to do another split for sections.)
***
you can witness this in the project gutenberg e-text
for “alice’s adventures in wonderland”, which was
what i used above for the sample table of contents.
> http://www.gutenberg.org/files/11/11.txt
…or…
> http://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/11/pg11.txt
as you scroll through the e-text, you’ll notice that
the chapter-headers stand out nicely, due to that
relatively large amount of whitespace above them.
and there’s another appealing thing about this rule,
for me anyway, because i admire print-book design.
see this?
> http://zenmagiclove.com/simple/alice-header-midpage.jpg
> https://archive.org/stream/alicesadventures00carr3#page/30/mode/2up
that’s an image of a real hard-copy page from “alice”.
notice how the header is offset from the top the page?
that, of course, is something very common in books.
for me, the 5-blank-lines-above rule reconstrues this,
conjures in my mind a picture of this kind of design.
***
so, did you look at that project gutenberg “alice” file?
if so, did you notice the headers did _not_ have the
required 2-blank-lines below each chapter-header?
except chapter 12? unfortunately, project gutenberg
has always done a lousy job of “enforcing” its rules,
fearful that doing so would chase off its volunteers,
so its e-texts are rife with inconsistency issues. sad.
***
ok, so we know now that, in terms of marking the
existence of a new section, 5 blank lines will do it.
and that, given that, we don’t even need to mark
the header for it, since it’s always the first chunk.
and as long as we’re happy having all our headers
at the same level, then we can be “officially done”.
but we often do want a document-structure that
includes headers with a variety of different levels.
so how do we set the levels of these various headers?
***
setting the header levels
if your document has headers of different levels,
you’ll indicate the level of a specific header using
either of 2 different methods, the choice is yours.
set header level — method 1 —
setting the level via blank lines
you must have at least 5 blank lines preceding
each header, but that will only give that header
the “basic” level in that particular document.
for instance, if all the headers have 5 blank lines,
they will all be assigned the “h2" .html header.
however, if you vary the number of blank lines,
the assigned levels of the headers will vary too.
so let’s say you want “h2" and “h3" .html headers;
you could put 5 blank lines before the “h3" headers,
and (let’s say) 6 blank lines before the “h2" headers.
more blank lines indicate a higher-priority header;
you can remember this using the “offset” graphic,
because more blank lines will create a bigger gap.
so whichever headers have the most blank lines,
those are the ones that will get the “h2" markup.
the ones with the next most get “h3", and so on.
so let’s say you want to use all 6 levels of headers.
you might use 6 blank lines before the h6 headers,
8 before the h5 headers, 10 before the h4 headers,
12 before h3 headers, and 14 before h2 headers.
(read that last paragraph in the opposite order
if doing so will help you understand it better.)
i can hear your skepticism about this arrangement,
probably because i’ve heard it so often in the past,
something about not wanting to count blank lines.
i can tell you that, once you get used to this method,
it works very well, and you will come to embrace it.
all of the volunteers at project gutenberg learned it,
and i’ve used it too, quite nicely, for many years now.
“counting lines” isn’t all that hard to do. in fact, i find
that it is rather fulfilling to do it, knowing i’m starting
a new section, which means my writing is proceeding.
and remember, if you get the number of lines wrong,
the auto-generated table of contents will look weird.
here, let me show you that graphic again:
see? it’s very obvious what needs fixing there.
alas, i can still hear your skepticism.
you probably still don’t believe me.
so i’ll give you a second method that’s more explicit.
but you have to promise me you’ll actually _try_ to
use the blank-lines method, because it really works,
and if you just try it out, you’ll see that it’s very nice.
but ok, here’s that other method, which will look
familiar to you, because it’s the old hashmark one.
***
set header level — method 2 —
setting level via explicit hashmarks
you can set the level via the “hashmark” method instead.
each header still needs to be preceded by 5 blank lines,
and followed by 2 blank lines. but the header’s _level_
is indicated explicitly with the familiar “ ## ” markup.
specifically, an h2 header is marked with “ ## ” at its start.
an h3 header is marked with “ ### ”, h4 with “ #### ”, etc.
notice the “ ## ” marks must have a space in column 1, and
there must be at least one space before the header begins.
(and, once again, perhaps you can actually skip the spaces,
but i might “fix” that in future versions of the converter.)
to repeat: note that the “ ## ” marks are _not_ locating the
start of the section — the 5-blank-line sequence does that —
but rather merely the _level_ of the header. be clear on that.
you can put in all the “ ## ” marks you want, but that won’t
signal the beginning of a new section to the z.m.l. converter.
if your “header” is not preceded by the set of 5-blank-lines,
yes, it’ll get an .html “hx” tag, and be displayed big and bold,
but it _won’t_ be considered to be a section-header, meaning
it will not go in the auto-generated table of contents, nor will
it be assigned an .html “id” automatically, nor get any links.
but if you _do_ precede your hashmark-header properly, with
a set of 5-blank-lines, it’ll be considered a full-fledged header,
with its level explicitly set by the number of hashmarks it has,
and _not_ by the number of blank lines which it has above it.
***
and with that, we have finally finished up with headers. yay!
thank you for being patient with the awful length of this thing.
like i said, once my over-explainer comes out, even i get bored. ;+)
i promise the remaining parts of this series will be much shorter.
and even better news is that there aren’t too many of them left!
so if you’ve come this far, make sure and stay for the whole ride.
because even before the series ends, authoring-tools will emerge.
and that’s when the _real_ fun will begin!
***
here are the articles in this series:
beyond markdown — part 1 — it’s time for the next step https://medium.com/@bbirdiman/beyond-markdown-part-1-2300665659f7
beyond markdown — part 2 — z.m.l. was built to be easy to understand https://medium.com/@bbirdiman/beyond-markdown-part-2-b3527d2b9dcf
beyond markdown — part 3 — two types of chunks — paragraphs and blocks https://medium.com/@bbirdiman/beyond-markdown-part-3-eed9bebea0da
beyond markdown — part 4 — how to “tag” a block for formatting https://medium.com/@bbirdiman/beyond-markdown-part-4-9b4dc6841d7e
beyond markdown — part 5 — shining a spotlight on sections and headers
https://medium.com/@bbirdiman/beyond-markdown-part-5-4902097723b0
beyond markdown — part 6 — notes on a few types of “special” paragraphs
https://medium.com/@bbirdiman/beyond-markdown-part-6-8056eee5b783
beyond markdown — part 7 — text styling and typographic niceties
https://medium.com/@bbirdiman/beyond-markdown-part-7-3158e23f22bf
beyond markdown — part 8 — alignment, horizontal rules, and breaks
https://medium.com/@bbirdiman/beyond-markdown-part-8-1a082d7f1f6d
beyond markdown — part 9 — pulling outside resources into your document
https://medium.com/@bbirdiman/beyond-markdown-part-9-be74bbbed369
beyond markdown — part 10 — special sections in your document
https://medium.com/@bbirdiman/beyond-markdown-part-10-3ca0c08e5641
***
and, for reference, as an extra bonus:
markdown considered harmful — or perhaps a loved but irritating old uncle
https://medium.com/@bbirdiman/markdown-considered-harmful-495ccfe24a52 |
October 16, 2013 — A news analysis in The New York Times this month neatly summed up the conventional wisdom that drives the proposals and rhetoric of a broad political spectrum from Tea Party Republicans to Democratic centrists, wins grudging acceptance even among some elements of the center-left, and is constantly reinforced in the media: “the United States must confront the rising costs of the benefit programs, especially Medicare and Medicaid but also Social Security.”
Savings for old-age health costs are estimated to account for a full 11 percent of the country’s private wealth.
But the “unsustainability” argument — presented by the reporter as an unchallengeable fact — ignores completely another perspective: that a focus on reducing financial insecurity instead of reducing benefits would likely yield not only important psychological benefits to millions of senior citizens but also important gains for both national and local economies in the medium and short term.
For example, a growing body of economic research shows that the risk of high medical and long-term care expenses makes retirees in the U.S. uncommonly unwilling to spend such retirement savings as they have. With greater financial security, seniors would be less likely to deprive themselves of enjoyable activities or to defer needed medical care.
Moreover, if retirees were freed from their concerns about health-related expenses, they would likely spend far more of what turns out to be, in the aggregate, trillions of dollars in untapped capital. This change in habit would represent a great economic boon to the U.S. and to the localities where retirees live.
The implications work both ways: if the safety net is restricted further, seniors will be even more compelled to hang on to their money, and the communities that rely on their spending will suffer as a result.
Yet these considerations and others like them are absent when there is talk in Washington about the need to be “realistic.” The AARP Public Policy Institute, for instance, recently released a report tracking the effects of Social Security spending throughout the nation, finding that every dollar generates two in economic output for an added total of $1.4 trillion. But Gary Koenig, the Institute study’s principal author, said it’s difficult to get a word in edgewise in a budget-obsessed debate.
“It seems to me that we’re in a world right now where spending is characterized as bad, and high taxes are characterized as bad, and both are characterized as disastrous to the economy,” Koenig said. “And that leads you to one conclusion, which is that we need to achieve fiscal balance in our budget only through spending cuts.”
“It’s a very narrow, limited focus,” Koenig added. “I think it misses the bigger picture.”
You Can’t Take it With You
American retirees are notoriously thrifty. Data from the University of Michigan’s Health and Retirement Study on median household net worth illustrate the point. As of 2006, heads of household aged 90 had a median household net worth of about $75,000. This is higher, as a proportion of net worth at age 65, than in most other industrialized countries. Among economists who study patterns of saving and spending across lifetimes, this has always been something of a puzzle. If, as the saying goes, there are no pockets in a shroud, then why do the elderly hold on to their money instead of spending it?
The desire to leave an inheritance is one explanation, though it has been found to be a relatively minor concern among households that aren’t very wealthy. Instead, a number of recent studies have found that a more significant factor is the potential of having to pay large sums out of pocket for medical and long-term care, the fear of which compels retirees to leave their nest eggs undisturbed.
The countries with higher retiree spending rates were those where public insurance programs reduced or eliminated the risk of health-related expenses.
In a working paper funded by the Retirement Research Consortium, Irina A. Telyukova and Makoto Nakajima, economists at the University of California, San Diego and the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia, respectively, compared the spending rates of American retirees to those of several other countries, mostly European. Focusing on relatively liquid financial wealth (rather than housing assets), they found that, consistently, the countries with higher retiree spending rates were those where public insurance programs reduced or eliminated the risk of health-related expenses.
Telyukova and Nakajima zeroed in on a comparison between the U.S. and Sweden in part because the retirement picture in the two countries is similar: ratios of savings to income upon retirement, homeownership rates, and so forth. They key difference is in social programs. While Swedish retirees, regardless of income, have free access to medical and long-term care, Americans have only limited medical insurance through Medicare and, except for Medicaid assistance to the very poor, no public coverage of long-term care.
Telyukova and Nakajima found that, by the time they’re pushing 90, American households have spent down only about one third of their financial assets, while Swedes have spent nearly three quarters. They found, moreover, that the majority of this difference — around 70 percent — can be accounted for by the disparities in the countries’ healthcare safety nets. |
HOLY WELLS, bridges, milestones, vernacular buildings, lime kilns and other industrial sites that post-date 1700 will be “left without any protection” following moves to “delist” them, the Institute of Archaeologists of Ireland has claimed.
In what it described as a “very worrying proposal”, the Department of Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht is seeking to exclude all post-1700 archaeological and historical structures and sites from the national Record of Monuments and Places (RMP).
Finola O’Carroll, the institute’s chairwoman, said this arose from “a perverse Civil Service sense of fair play” because of discrepancies between counties, with Cork having a “very comprehensive record” of monuments and others having little or none at all.
“Instead of seeking to apply the Cork standard across the board, they are instead opposing to level out the playing field by delisting the lot,” she said. “We are very concerned because this would not be regarded as best practice [in archaeology].”
The department said its review aimed for “a standard approach nationally that will ensure that all elements of the built heritage continue to be adequately protected” and there was “no question of any change to current arrangements” before it was completed.
However, the institute’s board believes that any delisting post-1700 would be “to the detriment of the country’s archaeological resource” and is now seeking the views of members with a view to putting “creative solutions” to Minister for Heritage Jimmy Deenihan.
The Archaeological Survey of Ireland (ASI) has been recording archaeological monuments for several decades, and “significant numbers of post-1700 monuments have been included in the RMPs for Cork, Galway and Dublin”, according to the institute.
It says the ASI is obliged under a 2005 policy document to ensure consistency. “Primarily due to limited resources as well as a backlog in processing the previously collected datasets, the ASI is proposing that any post-1700 monuments . . . should be delisted.” But it maintains that this cut-off date “has no basis in legislation” and points to a 1999 statement by Dóchas, the heritage service, that “any material remains which can contribute to understanding past societies may be considered to have an element of archaeological significance.”
By contrast to the ASI’s proposed delisting of post-1700 monuments, the institute notes that the Northern Ireland Environment Agency already lists more than 16,000 features and a second survey of historic buildings there is currently under way. “Projects such as the Industrial Heritage Survey of Fingalled by Mary McMahon are systematically examining the documentary and cartographic sources and have uncovered hundreds of new sites . . . It is ridiculous to believe these sites would have no legal protection.” |
NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden appeared via video link from Moscow at the CeBIT IT trade conference in Hanover, Germany. He warned IT specialists they are the target of government surveillance.
“They are looking for the people who are in this room right now. You are their target, not because you’re a terrorist, but because you have access to systems. You have access to the private records of people’s private lives and these are the things they want,” he warned.
Since leaking documents revealing the size and scope of the NSA and US allies’ worldwide spying program, Snowden has been living in Moscow, Russia. He is a wanted man in his native America.
But the IT expert turned whistleblower, who was once contracted to the NSA, maintained that he wanted to return home to the US and face the courts.
“I want to tell the jury why I did it. I want to tell the court what these programs are. I want the jury to decide whether it was right or wrong that our rights and or Constitution were being violated in secret,” he told the audience.
But he was also pessimistic about receiving a fair trial in the US. If convicted he would face up to 30 years in jail. Former army intelligence officer turned whistleblower Bradley Manning was sentenced to 35 years in prison for leaking documents about the conduct of the US military in Afghanistan and Iraq.
"In the United States, under the current law right now, it's not even possible for me to enjoy a fair trial,” said Snowden.
Snowden is popular in Germany, which has a more negative view of government surveillance because of its history under the Nazis and the East German Stasi secret police.
READ MORE:German spy agency collects 220 million phone records a day - report
Although German citizens may be against mass surveillance, there are few signs that much has changed in the corridors of Germany’s spy agencies post Snowden.
It was reported in Zeit, a German weekly newspaper, earlier this year that the BND, Germany’s foreign intelligence agency, gathers 220 million pieces of metadata from phone calls and text messages each day. Zeit also revealed that BND agents are instructed to be as elusive as possible when being questioned by politicians from the Oversight Committee.
“The countries such as Germany that have benefitted the most from the risks that he [Snowden] took are the same ones that have most shamefully turned their backs on him,” Glenn Greenwald told the conference.
READ MORE: Snowden ‘changed nothing’ says Norway’s top spy, ‘business as usual’
Snowden remained more upbeat and told the conference that next year he hoped to attend in person, but would make sure he asked Chancellor Merkel first.
The US director of Citizen Four, the academy award winning documentary, which tells the story of Snowden’s revelations and how he went into exile has said she lives and works in Berlin because she believes her material would be taken by the US government if she moved home.
Internet security was one of the biggest issues at CeBIT 2015 with many startups developing new security systems of their own.
A study published recently by the international auditors KPMG showed that security awareness is becoming an increasingly high priority for German businesses.
It also showed a huge jump in cybercrime up from 26 percent of businesses saying they were affected in 2013 to 40 percent in 2014.
Financial services were the most common targets, but cybercriminals often target small and medium size companies as they have weaker security systems in place. |
NEW DELHI (Reuters) - In a glow of bonhomie, U.S. President Barack Obama and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi unveiled plans to unlock billions of dollars in nuclear trade and to deepen defence ties, steps they hope will establish an enduring strategic partnership.
The two countries reached an understanding on two issues that, despite a groundbreaking 2006 agreement, had stopped U.S. companies from setting up reactors in India and had become one of the major irritants in bilateral relations.
“We are committed to moving towards full implementation,” Obama told a joint news conference with Modi. “This is an important step that shows how we can work together to elevate our relationship.”
The new deal resolved differences over the liability of suppliers to India in the event of a nuclear accident and U.S. demands on tracking the whereabouts of material supplied to the country, U.S. ambassador to India Richard Verma told reporters.
“Ultimately it’s up to the companies to go forward, but the two governments came to an understanding,” he added.
Signalling warmth and determination to take ties to a higher level, Modi broke with protocol to meet and bear-hug Obama as he landed in New Delhi, then referred to him as Barack. It was a remarkable spectacle, given that a year ago Modi was persona non grata in Washington and was denied a visa to the United States.
Between a working lunch that included kebabs made with lotus stem, figs and spices and an evening banquet where Obama spoke a smattering of Hindi, the two leaders got down to talks.
They emerged with a 10-year framework for defence ties and deals on cooperation that included the joint production of drone aircraft and equipment for Lockheed Martin Corp’s C-130 military transport plane.
Other deals ranged from an Obama-Modi hotline — India’s first at a leadership level — to financing initiatives aimed at helping India use renewable energy to lower carbon intensity.
But Modi cautioned that work was still needed to create a solid partnership between the world’s two largest democracies.
“We have to convert a good start into lasting progress. This requires translating our vision into sustained action and concrete achievements,” he said, standing next to Obama.
On Monday, Obama will be the first U.S. president to attend India’s Republic Day parade, an annual show of military might long associated with the anti-Americanism of the Cold War. He will also host a radio show with Modi.
His presence at the parade at Modi’s personal invitation marks the latest upturn in a roller-coaster bilateral relationship that just a year ago was in tatters.
Up to 40,000 security personnel have been deployed for the visit and 15,000 new closed-circuit surveillance cameras have been installed in the capital, according to media reports.
NEW VITALITY
The United States views India as a vast market and potential counterweight in Asia to a more assertive China, but has frequently been frustrated with the slow pace of New Delhi’s economic reforms and unwillingness to side with Washington in international affairs.
Elected last May, Modi has injected a new vitality into the economy and foreign relations and, to Washington’s delight, has begun pushing back against China across Asia.
In a veiled reference to China, the leaders reiterated the “importance of safeguarding maritime security and ensuring freedom of navigation and overflight throughout the region, especially in the South China Sea”. They also called for the peaceful resolution of territorial conflicts.
Obama will depart slightly early from India to travel to Saudi Arabia following the death of King Abdullah, skipping a planned visit to the Taj Mahal.
Like Obama, Modi rose from modest origins to break into a political elite dominated by powerful families. Aides say the two men bonded in Washington in September when Obama took Modi to the memorial of Martin Luther King, whose rights struggle was inspired by India’s Mahatma Gandhi.
On Sunday, the two leaders talked outside over tea in an elegant garden. Modi, who sold tea on a railway platform as a child, poured a cup for Obama.
The “chemistry” they describe is striking because Modi’s politics is considerably to the right of Obama’s and because he was banned from visiting the United States for nearly a decade after deadly Hindu-Muslim riots in a state he governed.
U.S. President Barack Obama hugs India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi as he arrives at Air Force Station Palam in New Delhi January 25, 2015. REUTERS/Jim Bourg
Obama, the first sitting U.S. president to visit India twice, also enjoyed a close friendship with Modi’s predecessor Manmohan Singh, who staked his premiership on the controversial nuclear deal that made India the sixth “legitimate” atomic power and marked a high point in Indo-U.S. relations.
The deal failed to deliver on a promise of business for U.S. companies because of India’s reluctance to shield suppliers from liability, a deviation from international norms that reflects the memory of the Bhopal industrial disaster. |
Three of the man's victims on Tuesday said they wanted his name made public, saying they believed more victims could come forward if they knew he was behind bars. But Fairfax Media is unable to name the paedophile due to a request from the County Court. The man was a police officer between 1967 and 1979, when he resigned from the force after the mother of one of his victims reported the abuse to his colleagues. On Tuesday, County Court Judge John Carmody said the day after the woman reported the abuse, "a number of police" came to the family home and questioned the boy about what had happened. While the woman said she didn't want to take the matter any further, the officers told her that the man"wouldn't be in the police force any more and would be moved away". The court was told on Friday that after Victoria Police failed to act on the complaint, the man went on to sexually assault and rape children for at least another four years.
He formally pleaded guilty on Friday to 18 offences against nine victims. "The offending in this case is of the most serious nature," Judge Carmody said. "You were in breach of trust in relation to all the complainants." This, he said, was aggravated by the fact the man was a local policeman when he brutalised the children, who were all aged between five and 10 when he first began to abuse them. On Friday, Crown Prosecutor Nanette Rogers told the court that the police officer had asked one boy, who was between six and 10 when he was raped, whether he wanted to see the police station.
When the boy said yes, the officer took the boy to a room in the station where there was a bed, and raped him. Dr Rogers said in another episode, a girl went to the police station for help after losing her mother at a nearby festival. After telling the child, "I'll look after you", the officer took her into the back of a police divisional van and forced her to perform oral sex on him. In harrowing testimony one of the victims, now 45, told the man she hoped he rotted in hell for what he had done to her, including holding a police-issue revolver to her head as he raped her. She wept as she described how she had hoped he would pull the trigger and put her out of her misery.
Instead, he forced her to suffer through years of "hell and his sick games". Judge Carmody said that by pleading guilty to the offences, the man had "demonstrated some limited remorse" for his actions. But, Judge Carmody said, he was concerned by a pre-sentence report that described the man as being at high risk of re-offending. He was also concerned that the man had a "simplistic and under-developed" understanding of the impact of his offending on his victims; one of whom had tried to take his own life three times after suffering a lifetime of trauma from his childhood abuse. "Your prospects of rehabilitation are, in my opinion, low," Judge Carmody said.
This, he said, was aggravated by the fact that the former officer did not use any protection when he raped the children, exposing them to the risk of sexually-transmitted disease. The man was arrested in 2012, and jailed in NSW in 2014 for separate offences of a "similar" nature, committed between 2005 and 2012. For those offences he was sentenced to 17 years, with a non-parole period of 12 years. When the two sentences are combined, and taking into account time served, he will serve a total 26 years, with a non-parole period of 19 years, for all the offences. The man did not react as he was led away.
Outside court, one of his victims told Fairfax that "justice is served". "I'm glad to see that justice is served, but I'm just relieved that it's all done," she said. "It's been a long time coming." |
— A federal judge handed down a six-year prison sentence Thursday to a man who portrayed himself as a member of a wealthy Pakistani family while running a multimillion-dollar investment scam involving three former Miami Heat players and the team itself.
Judge Edmund Sargus also ordered Haider Zafar to pay $15.7 million in restitution to his victims and three years supervision after his release. Zafar, 36, a legal U.S. resident, could face deportation to his native Pakistan after leaving prison.
Zafar defrauded players Mike Miller, James Jones and Rashard Lewis in 2013 by promising to invest millions of dollars in various business opportunities, according to the government. He also received a $1 million, three-season Heat ticket package he never paid for, the government said.
Zafar pleaded guilty last year in federal court in Columbus to five wire fraud charges that each carry maximum 20-year prison sentences. That case was consolidated with another against Zafar, in which the defendant previously pleaded guilty to swindling a Washington, D.C., businessman out of $10 million between 2008 and 2010.
Zafar apologized for his actions and attempted to defend some of what happened involving the Washington businessman.
Andrew Fine, a lawyer representing the businessman and the former Heat players, argued for a longer sentence in a Tuesday letter sent to Sargus.
Zafar was an "inveterate" criminal who thumbed his nose at the government even when he was under investigation, Fine wrote.
"Despite knowledge that his fraud had been discovered in one jurisdiction, he continued to perpetuate a similar fraud in another jurisdiction," the letter said.
Zafar's attorney Sam Shamansky argued for a sentence closer to four years, saying Zafar had overcome tremendous personal obstacles - including being left penniless by family members - when he emigrated to the U.S. as a young man. He also said Zafar had struggled with addictions to painkillers after an accident.
Nevertheless, Zafar overcame such struggles and has "done well for himself, but for these two unfortunate incidents," Shamansky said.
Zafar got his hand caught in the till after preying on wealthy people, Tracey Warren, special agent in charge for the IRS criminal division in Cincinnati, said after the hearing.
Testimony by an FBI agent portrayed Zafar as a man who talked big as he persuaded the Heat players to give him millions of dollars for investments that never materialized.
Zafar boasted of $35 million in a Swiss bank account and luxury residences in New York City and Miami and was often seen being chauffeured in a yellow Ferrari, a white Bentley and a black Escalade, FBI agent David Fine testified last year.
Zafar persuaded the Miami Heat's vice president of sales to sell him a premium three-season ticket package for $1 million after explaining about his "family history and influence," including ownership of hotels, companies and other business ventures, Fine said.
Zafar convinced Miller to give him $2.6 million, Lewis to give him $4 million and Jones to give him $1.5 million, all for an investment opportunity that Zafar said would "quickly obtain a significant return." But rather than reimburse the Miami Heat or three individuals, Zafar used the money "for his personal use and benefit," Fine said. |
This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form.
JUAN GONZALEZ: We turn now to a scathing report issued last week by the Justice Department that accuses prominent Arizona sheriff Joe Arpaio, self-proclaimed the toughest sheriff in America, quote, of a “wide-ranging discrimination against Latinos.” On the basis of a detailed review of documents, federal investigators found that Latino drivers in Phoenix’s Maricopa County were four to nine times more likely to be stopped by Sheriff Arpaio’s deputies than similarly situated non-Latino drivers. They found that a fifth of such stops were unjustified, in violation of the constitutional protection against unreasonable searches and seizures. And they found that the sheriff’s office routinely responded to intelligence from citizens who reported gatherings of dark-skinned or Spanish-speaking individuals. The findings could subject Arpaio to court-ordered reforms. The sheriff has denied the allegations.
SHERIFF JOE ARPAIO: The work we have done to fight illegal immigration, we have been responsible for finding and identifying 25 percent of the nation’s illegal alien criminal offenders in our jails. Sadly, much of that work will no longer be permitted by the Obama administration.
JUAN GONZALEZ: Following the release of the Justice Department’s report, federal authorities announced they would suspend Arpaio’s access to programs under which undocumented immigrants are handed over from his jail for deportation. On Wednesday, dozens of his jail officers lined up at a press conference and ceremoniously handed in their federal credentials. Immigration officials say federal monitors will now verify the immigration status of inmates. Here again is Sheriff Arpaio.
SHERIFF JOE ARPAIO: We’re probably the most trained law enforcement agency in the United States. Who else goes through five weeks of training by Homeland Security? And yet, they’re saying we don’t know what we are doing. What is the rush? Common sense and good management would be, “OK, Sheriff, we’re going to take away your authority, but please keep doing it ’til we can get our 50 officers to take over.” No, they kicked us out, putting public safety at risk.
AMY GOODMAN: The Department of Justice’s damning report on Sheriff Arpaio comes at a time when he has faced growing calls to resign, following mounting evidence his police department failed to properly investigate more than 400 sex crime cases.
Meanwhile, Monday, a woman arrested for using false documents to obtain work sued Arpaio for cruel and unusual punishment. The woman, who gave birth in police custody, said she was shackled to her hospital bed before and after delivering her child by Caesarean section.
And earlier this week, a Latino Army veteran found unresponsive in his Maricopa County jail cell died on Tuesday. The family of 44-year-old Ernest Atencio said he had taser marks on his body.
Despite all of this, Sheriff Arpaio has vowed not to resign and says he plans to run for re-election next year.
Well, for more, we’re joined from Phoenix by Randy Parraz, president of Citizens for a Better Arizona. The group led a successful recall effort against State Senator Russell Pearce, the leading lawmaker behind the anti-immigrant bill, SB 1070. Now they’re focusing on Sheriff Arpaio.
We’re also joined by Stephen Lemons, longtime reporter with the Phoenix New Times, who has closely followed Arpaio’s enforcement practices. He’s joining us from Raleigh, North Carolina, where he’s on holiday.
We welcome you both to Democracy Now! Steve Lemons, talk about the latest Justice Department report, as well as the latest lawsuit by the woman shackled as she’s giving birth and the sheriff’s deputies handing in their credentials.
STEPHEN LEMONS: Well, the Justice Department report was three years in coming. The civil investigation by the Justice Department has been ongoing since early in 2008, so it’s over three years. The findings—it was in the form of a letter of findings to the county attorney. And the findings were, as you’ve already mentioned, very damning. It accused and found that Arpaio has engaged in discriminatory police practices. They also found that Arpaio had retaliated against his enemies. And, you know, there are other misdeeds as far as mistreatment, systemic mistreatment, of Latinos in his jails.
This comes as no surprise to anyone who’s reported Arpaio for any length of time. In fact, I would say that even though the current report deals with the MCSO’s relationship to the Latino community and how they mistreat Latinos in their custody and Latinos they’re stopping, nevertheless, you know, Arpaio has been in power for almost—going on 20 years now. And he’s maintained a culture of cruelty which touches all races. The case you cite, as far as the lady who was shackled before and after her Caesarian section, is a case in point. You know, the MCSO doesn’t just shackle Latinos who are pregnant; it shackles all women who are pregnant and about to give birth. And there are other examples of this in the history of, you know, Arpaio’s reign.
So, as far as the fallout from the Justice Department’s report—I mean, it’s a very positive thing, in some regards, to those who have been critical of Arpaio. It validates a lot of what’s been said and already been reported. They use a lot of information that has already been in the press, that is familiar to people in Maricopa County, but perhaps not out of Maricopa County.
The immediate fallout from it was the Immigration and Customs Enforcement jerking Arpaio’s 287(g) agreement in the jails, which allowed some of his officers to act as, you know, junior ICE agents, and they had federal authority. The screening of inmates in the jails is supposed to continue, but with ICE agents instead of Arpaio’s men and women. He had already been restricted in the use of his 287(g) authority back in 2009. The 287(g) authority extends to 2007, and what’s interesting about that is that the federal government was using Arpaio as sort of a showcase, a model for its 287(g) program, in allowing local law enforcement to enforce federal immigration laws, supposedly under the aegis of the—or watch of the federal government. But it failed miserably. Arpaio used that authority to begin sweeps of Latino communities and almost instantly turned his law enforcement agency into a mini version of ICE, but with ill effect and terrorizing large segments of Maricopa County. So, they had—they took away his field authority for 287(g) in 2009. And so, now they’ve finally taken away his 287(g) authority in the jails. However, it’s interesting to note that they were complicit in many of the human rights abuses that are documented in the Civil Rights Division’s report. So, where the rubber meets the road is the taking away of that 287(g) authority. There could be further fallout if Arpaio does not cooperate with the Justice Department in some sort of consent decree monitored by a federal judge. They’ve given him 60 days to cooperate, essentially.
And Arpaio, you know, this is sort of a two-edged sword, in some ways. Arpaio loves this sort of thing. He loves going up against the Obama administration. He loves going up against the federal government. He uses these sorts of conflicts with the federal government to raise money for his campaign kitty, which at last count was about $3 million. He boasts he has over $6 million now in his campaign re-election fund. And as you’ve noted, he’s going to be running for re-election in 2012. This is also, unfortunately, very popular in Maricopa County, at least with a majority of the population who, you know, may have problems with some of what Arpaio does, his misspending of funds and so forth, but when it comes to discriminating against brown people, unfortunately, that is popular with some segments of Maricopa County.
JUAN GONZALEZ: I’d like to bring in Randy Parraz—
STEPHEN LEMONS: So, he’s going—he may use—go ahead.
JUAN GONZALEZ: —if I could, Steve. Randy, one of the—one of the parts of the Justice Department report talks about how Sheriff Arpaio targeted his political enemies to use his law enforcement powers against, and you were specifically mentioned in the report. Could you talk about what happened to you and your reaction to the Justice Department report?
RANDY PARRAZ: Yes. Well, thank you. I was part of a group in 2008 called Maricopa Citizens for Safety and Accountability. It was a grassroots effort by citizens who wanted to come before the board of supervisors, because they’re the ones that have the budgetary control over Sheriff Arpaio and the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office. So we were there to raise issues about, you know, uninvestigated sex crimes back then. A report had just came out from the East Valley Tribune, where they were talking about over $40 million in legal lawsuits that he was responsible for, delayed emergency response times, racial profiling. And as we were doing that, we kept going back, month after month.
And finally, in September of 2008, I was asked to leave a meeting. I was outside in front of the public—board of supervisors building, outside, and I was approached by numerous deputies. They came up on me. And after a short period of time, within a short conversation, I was ordered to be arrested by the Chief Deputy Trombi and from Sheriff Arpaio. I was arrested, booked, handcuffed. Once I got down there, they leg-shackled me, walked me to my cell, kept me in solitary confinement all day, took me to the judge, charged me with criminal trespass and in the afternoon charged me again with disorderly conduct. Eleven months later, both those charges were thrown out of court. They had so limited evidence to even make those cases—make the cases that I didn’t have to even put up a defense. So these were some of the things.
In addition to my arrest, shortly thereafter, at a subsequent meeting, other people were arrested for clapping inside. While their names were being called to come forward, the sheriff deputies arrested individuals there. Four other women were arrested on the 10th floor of the board of supervisors building when they were sitting in a chair waiting to speak to the chairman, Andrew Kunasek. The sheriff deputies intervened there and then again arrested those women. And all of these charges were dismissed. None of these charges were proved. And not only that, I think those cases of some of these arrests resulted in close to $500,000 in settlements, because people’s constitutional rights were violated.
So, this is a sheriff right now who is in denial. This is a sheriff who is out of control, who has violated the First Amendment of the Constitution, of our right to freedom of speech, our right to assemble, and our right to petition our government. It’s a sad day—it’s a very sad day here in Maricopa County, where this sheriff has been allowed to go untouched by any other power and authority. And so, we’re very grateful that, finally, the Department of Justice has come in, after a very thorough and extensive and, I would say, non-political investigation. These are professionals who have been there. These are lawyers. These are investigative authorities, who came in over a three-year period, after over 400 interviews, reached some serious conclusion about what’s taken place here in Maricopa County.
AMY GOODMAN: Randy, could you talk about the more than 400 sex crimes cases that Arpaio refused to investigate?
RANDY PARRAZ: Yeah, I just want to point out, when this was first brought out back in 2008 by a series called “Reasonable Doubt” by the East Valley Tribune reporters, Sheriff Arpaio stated that this was a bunch of trash. He referred to it as trash, this news coverage. That series is now a Pulitzer Prize-winning series. It was a series, when these things were investigated—people reported it, cases were opened, but there was no follow-up. These were victims as young as two years old, to young women and girls, were violated, were raped or molested, and those cases were not followed up. In some instances, they even had the name of the perpetrator. They just—cases were just not—were actually said to be cleared or were closed. And so, this was done.
And then this is the type of—just of lack of accountability, lack of concern Sheriff Arpaio and his deputies have to those instances. One of the reasons we believe is that most of those victims were either undocumented or were for children of undocumented parents, so it was not a priority on there, in terms of the sheriff’s office. So, again, this is about misplaced priorities. During this whole process the last three years, where the whole issue of immigration became politicized, the special victims unit was actually reduced so that he could have a—he could enlarge and expand his smuggling unit, his human smuggling unit. So, again, we believe right now that those values are not consistent with most Arizonans citizens believe, with most citizens here in Maricopa believe. And we believe this is the beginning of the end of Sheriff Arpaio, and he will not last ’til the next election. He will be forced to resign.
JUAN GONZALEZ: Well, Randy, I wanted to ask you about that. Why, given this long history and the notoriety of this sheriff, why has he continued to remain in office?
RANDY PARRAZ: Well, he’s had—we call it a triangle of corruption. Prior to us getting involved in 2008, he had the board of supervisors—he had four of the five votes in his pocket. They were all—they would blanket check, give him whatever he wanted. His budget ballooned over $300 million, the largest budget in Maricopa County. In addition to that, the county attorney at the time, Andrew Thomas, was also complicit and worked in cooperation with Sheriff Arpaio, and he’s soon to be disbarred this year based on his practices. So there’s no checks and balances on the system, in terms of those who prosecute the crimes and those who enforce the law and those who hold him accountable when it comes to budgetary authority, which is the board of supervisors.
Even now, we’re having difficulty at the board of supervisors to get this issue, which is the Department of Justice report, and the uninvestigated sex crimes on the formal agenda. They’re even trying to stop us from doing that, because they don’t want to have this type of public airing of these types of opinions and views, because they were part of the problem. They sat there and stayed quiet while this was all going on. They sat there and stayed quiet when the most egregious cases of racial profiling taking place in recent memory and throughout the country was taking place on Latinos, because they were—because of either their language or how they looked, and that took place under their watch, and they continued to fund those practices.
JUAN GONZALEZ: And Randy, also there were—several of his top deputies were implicated in wrongdoing and forced to resign recently. Could you talk about that, as well?
RANDY PARRAZ: Absolutely. Chief Deputy David Hendershott, this was his choice. This was his person to enforce and carry out all of Sheriff Arpaio’s policies. He was the one that helped set up the culture of intimidation, the culture of corruption, the abuse of power. For Sheriff Arpaio to be able to just fire him and stay in place, there’s no way these types of recommendations can go anywhere. This man needs to be removed. There is a wall of distrust. He has helped create that culture. He’s been there 20 years. So, for us to have serious traction and serious movement to really see serious change take place, he needs to leave. He needs to move on, for the sake and betterment of the Maricopa County. You have a situation now where the top elected law enforcement officer has violated the law, in terms—and has done so knowingly and intentionally. He needs to move on.
AMY GOODMAN: I wanted to go back to Steve Lemons to talk about, well, a couple things. One is the past behavior of how Arpaio held prisoners, the pink underwear, serving them green meat, instead of putting immigrants in buses that he detained, marching them in striped uniforms down the streets of Phoenix. Can you talk about this, the tent cities?
STEPHEN LEMONS: Well, yeah. I mean, Arpaio is not known for his love of civil liberties. And the culture of cruelty that he’s maintained over—you know, now going on two decades has been part and parcel why he’s been re-elected so many times. Unfortunately, that kind of sadism that you’re describing has been popular. He’s bragged about feeding his inmates for pennies on the dollar. You know, there have been notorious deaths in the jail, such as Scott Norberg, who was killed there. And the settlement payouts for that particular case was over $8 million. Overall, I think that payouts—you know, payouts, civil payouts, are up to $50 million on wrongful death cases. Lawyers make a bank off of Joe Arpaio’s mistreatment of his prisoners. But, you know, that is—
AMY GOODMAN: And then you have the connections to the federal government. I mean, Janet Napolitano not making a major deal of Arpaio, wanting his support when she ran for governor of Arizona, now, significantly, she’s head of Homeland Security, has been working with Arpaio back in her home state of Arizona.
STEPHEN LEMONS: It’s a very good point. They were always allies, to some degree, even though they’re in different parties. Napolitano is a conservative Democrat and, you know, partnered with Arpaio to some to degree. Arpaio endorsed her run for governor the first time around. And they’ve been, you know, tacit allies. The Republican Party even accused Arpaio of getting Napolitano elected to governor, because he did a campaign commercial on her behalf, first time around. She helped him get the 287(g) agreement. She was instrumental in that. As far as the—you know, in finally removing the 287(g) from the jails, I believe that ICE was—I don’t know that they were necessarily in the loop as far as what the DOJ’s Civil Rights Division was going to do. They—
AMY GOODMAN: We only have 20 seconds. Juan?
JUAN GONZALEZ: Yeah, no, I just would like to ask Randy Parraz about this latest death of the former soldier who was—who died in jail after being tasered.
AMY GOODMAN: And we just have 10 seconds.
RANDY PARRAZ: Yeah, I think it’s shameful. I think it shows, again, people are literally dying because of the culture of intimidation, harassment and discrimination taking place in those jails. We need a change it now. I think what’s even more shameful is this culture of silence by Republican leaders, from the governor on down, who refuse to take a stand, and basically saying Latinos do not matter in the state of Arizona.
AMY GOODMAN: Randy Parraz, we want to thank you for being with us, president of Citizens for a Better Arizona. Steve Lemons with the Phoenix New Times, thanks so much. |
Judging by the comments section, Mac DeMarco’s Salad Days was the most controversial omission from our 50 Best Albums Of 2014 So Far list. An artist of the people, he is! So much so that DeMarco is asking the people — i.e. you — to submit a portrait of him that might end up on the cover of one of 7-inch club singles. Captured Tracks explains it like so:
Create a portrait of Mac and he will choose his two favorites to be on the covers of two of his 7″ Club releases.
Prize: Your art featured on a 7″ Mac jacket. PLUS a full subscription to the 7″ Club: 10 x exclusive 7″s and a bunch of goodies! Value +$100! Check out what’s been released as part of the club so far here.
Rules:
1. Must be original art and you must be sole owner of copyright.
2. Must fit 7×7? dimensions.
3. Must be an Instragram follower of @capturedtracks and submit to @capturedtracks with #sketchymac
4. Must transfer copyright to Mac for potential future reproductions
5. Must be submitted before the 27th of June 2014.
How many people do you think will just submit humongous drawings of crooked teeth? |
I am teaching a technical course on the popular and ubiquitous version control system, Subversion, this Monday. I thought it might be fun to give my class a little “extra credit” reading from the O’Reilly book, Beautiful Code. In it, one of the original authors of Subversion, Karl Fogel, shares what he considers to be the most beautiful internal design within the codebase: the SVN delta editor. Though this API is not directly used in doing Subversion development, I thought it might be cool for students to have a deeper understanding of the thought that went into SVN’s codebase. But when trying to print up some copies of the chapter for the class, I got more than I bargained for…
I highly recommend the entire book. It is not so much a book about beautiful code as about passionate and opinionated programmers and their tastes. But this is a good thing. It was one of the few books about software that I have read in the last decade or so that actually gave me entirely positive feelings about my profession. There is so much raw creativity and thought captured in these few essays. What Brian Kernighan finds beautiful is entirely different from what Matz or simonpj find beautiful. And that’s the thing about a fundamentally creative craft like software. You put five software engineers in a room with a piece of code, and you’re lucky if you come out with only six different opinions about it. It’s like art, or writing. Taste matters.
I don’t recommend people read Beautiful Code to try to imitate some of the code described therein. Instead, I recommend you read it as a sociological or psychological study of what makes proud and bright software engineers tick. For example, for Kernighan it is the simplicity and minimalism that is embodied in UNIX. For Matz, it is the notion that the programming language should be as syntactically flexible as our real languages are. For simonpj, it’s that complicated can be made easy, given the right abstractions. And for Jon Bentley, in one of the more thought-provoking essays in the book, beauty and elegance was only perceived as the size of his code shrank.
The essay about the SVN Delta Editor not only illuminates the internals of SVN, but also illustrates the social dimension to software engineering and design. It is a story about programmers, debating an API, producing it, and then putting it into practice. It is about give and take, and an unteachable skill in problem size and complexity reduction. All this in C! There was a period of time in university where I actually programmed in C full-time, so I have a lot of respect for the elegance with which they crafted this powerful API. C gives you few tools (like OO or explicit interfaces) for doing this kind of work; they had to work in spite of the language’s features and plan carefully.
I have about twenty students in my class, so I was going to print up one copy and get it copied and stapled at a local print shop. (See note on copyright below.) I opened up my ebook PDF of Beautiful Code with acroread on UNIX. I navigated to the right chapter and realized that I wanted to print just that single chapter. I always remember being annoyed whenever I had to do this, for a number of reasons.
PDF ebooks sometimes lack the proper “bookmark” information to navigate to the right section to print Since ebooks were once print copies, they tend to have page numbers at the bottom of each page. But since the ebook itself has a different page numbering scheme, all sorts of psychic dissonance occurs. You navigate to page 30 (in the print copy) but have to note that it’s actually page 42 in the ebook. You then navigate to page 45 (in the print copy) but have to note that it’s actually 57 in the ebook. OK, now I know what I need to print… I think. So now I have to enter one of those print ranges in the “Print” dialog. Is it 30-42? No, wait, it’s 42-45… I mean, 42-57 — that’s it! Is that inclusive or exclusive? 🙂 Oh, my…
It’s really not that bad, and it’s only an occasional annoyance, but it’s always there. I’m sure you know what I’m talking about.
I had recently upgraded to acroread and noticed that the UI was all spiffed up. And I noticed that this ebook had the right metadata for the bookmarks. I thought to myself, “Wouldn’t it be nice if acroread supported printing a chapter?” I right-clicked on the first entry in the chapter bookmark and was astonished. Lo and behold, my feature existed! (See the image to the right.) I clicked the “Print Pages…” button with a bit of discomfort. I don’t trust software too often, and am always suspicious when I find a feature I didn’t expect to be there. It’s like my inner programmer is saying, “Yea, right — too good to be true.”
A few minutes later, my chapter was printed. I looked it over, and brought it with my other materials to the local print shop. One hour later, I picked up my copies and brought them home to look them over.
I noticed something very strange. Instead of my copies containing pages 42-57, they contained pages 42, 43, 46, 51, 55, and 57. Damn it. There didn’t seem to be much of a rhyme or reason to the pages that were selected. What kind of sequence was this? I felt that there must be some pattern, some fibonacci-like, non-obvious sequence that applied to these pages. I suspected the first, and obvious, culprit: that the printer had made a mistake. Maybe it’s a human error. But then I looked over my original and indeed, the original only had those pages. Not a human error. I thought to myself, “How is this possible?”
Of course, I’ve probably given you enough information that you’ve already figured it out. Especially if you’re a programmer. We’re just wired to think this way. But in case you haven’t figured it out, I’ll indulge you.
When I went back into acroread, tracing back my steps, I noticed something about that menu item I clicked. It didn’t say Print chapter. Instead, it said, Print pages. Now, conceptually that seems like a small distinction, but I picked up on it.
I started to think like a programmer, rather than a user. This function with a for loop emerged from the program and hovered above it, almost magically. It said:
def print_pages ( self , selected ) : to_print = [ ] for bookmark in selected. self_and_bookmarked_children ( ) : to_print. append ( bookmark. page ( ) ) PrintSubsystem. queue_job ( to_print ) def print_pages(self, selected): to_print = [] for bookmark in selected.self_and_bookmarked_children(): to_print.append(bookmark.page()) PrintSubsystem.queue_job(to_print)
Then I realized the pattern in the pages it picked. There was no pattern. This was a beautiful little bug. A butterfly.
You see, within the narrow world of this Print Pages function, the “feature” works as expected. But from a user’s perspective, it makes absolutely no sense. Rather than printing everything from that bookmark to the next bookmark at the same level (that is, rather than printing a chapter), it printed each individual page that happened to be physically bookmarked (or ‘sub-bookmarked’) in the PDF, at or below that level. This resulted in a bunch of pages being printed that happened to be the pages on which subsections began. But this left out most of the chapter, somewhat randomly.
The worst traits of our profession come out when it is at its least social. I have no doubt that this function that prints these pages was written by a single programmer in a windowless room, without any peer review, pair programming, or other check on his logic. I am sure that he was given the narrow and ill-defined requirement to enable an action to “print bookmark pages”. He needed to think, but instead, he decided to code. And coding got “it” done, for some very weird value of “it”. He was probably under time pressure. But one thing is certain to me: he was alone. No two programmers, debating the design and implementation of this feature, would let each other make this mistake.
The behavior it exhibited truly caught me by surprise. Strange as it sounds, I admired how easily I had been duped by this feature. The human error — the anti-social error — made by that programmer exhibited an odd and enigmatic computer behavior. A human inelegance created a strange sort of cruel machine elegance.
I found it ironic that in trying to print a chapter about beautiful design from a book called Beautiful Code, I came across this beautiful bug. I call the bug beautiful because it managed to fool me, to get me to suffer its wrath while thinking I was getting some convenience. It exhibited behavior that challenged me to identify a pattern, where there was none. It was so clever, it even cost me money (the printing charges). And even though I was a discerning programmer — skeptical of the feature, and so unsure of the software’s operation that I checked the output, albeit too briefly — this little bug managed to outsmart me.
My students will have to live without the chapter, or read it online on their own. I’m not upset about it. There can be beauty, even in failure. |
These are the notes for the Struts 2.3.16 distribution.
For prior notes in this release series, see Version Notes 2.3.15.3
If you are a Maven user, you might want to get started using the Maven Archetype.
Another quick-start entry point is the blank application. Rename and deploy the WAR as a starting point for your own development.
Maven Dependency <dependency> <groupId>org.apache.struts</groupId> <artifactId>struts2-core</artifactId> <version>2.3.16</version> </dependency>
You can also use Struts Archetype Catalog like below
Struts Archetype Catalog mvn archetype:generate -DarchetypeCatalog=http://struts.apache.org/
Staging Repository <repositories> <repository> <id>apache.nexus</id> <name>ASF Nexus Staging</name> <url>https://repository.apache.org/content/groups/staging/</url> </repository> </repositories>
Internal Changes
Merged security fix from version 2.3.15.1, 2.3.15.2 and 2.3.15.3
Merged security fix from version 2.3.15.1, 2.3.15.2 and 2.3.15.3 Defined new factory interfaces to simplify extending ObjectFactory, see WW-4158
New interface ParamNameAwareResult was defined, see WW-4144
was defined, see WW-4144 Solved problem with global "error" result in the Convention Plugin, see WW-4100
Solved problem with global "error" result in the Convention Plugin, see WW-4100 RolesInterceptor was extended to allow check defined roles and also precedent was changed that disallowedRoles are examined in the first place, see WW-4118
are examined in the first place, see WW-4118 New parameter was added to <s:param/> tag to allow suppress empty parameters, see WW-4088
tag to allow suppress empty parameters, see WW-4088 During devMode user can explicit disable XML reloading, I18N reloading and any other, see devMode page
user can explicit disable XML reloading, I18N reloading and any other, see devMode page The action: and method: prefixes are be by default excluded and changed order to first check excludeParams and then acceptedParams in ParametersInterceptor, see WW-4023
The and prefixes are be by default excluded and changed order to first check and then in ParametersInterceptor, see WW-4023 Restored previous behaviour where both ParamatersInterceptor AND ParameterNameAware must accept parameter - there is no more precedence
Restored previous behaviour where both AND must accept parameter - there is no more precedence Added proper support for multiple ActionMapper 's used with PrefixBasedActionMapper , see PrefixBasedActionMapper and WW-4131
Added proper support for multiple 's used with , see PrefixBasedActionMapper and WW-4131 New DeprecationInterceptor was added, to warn users about unknown/deprecated options, see WW-4232
<s:debug/> tag was improved and now works properly under Jetty, see WW-4223
tag was improved and now works properly under Jetty, see WW-4223 New PostbackResult was defined, see WW-4229
Improved extending theme mechanism to allow override single template in parent theme, see WW-4145 and Extending Themes
Solved problem with creating empty map entries via Ognl, see WW-3603
Solved problem with creating empty map entries via Ognl, see WW-3603 org.apache.struts2.views.TagLibrary was split into two separated interfaces to allow moving Velocity support into plugin, see was split into two separated interfaces to allow moving Velocity support into plugin, see WW-4243
and other small improvements
Issue Detail
Issue List
Other resources |
One recent Saturday morning inside a small storefront classroom in Long Beach, preschoolers, toddlers and their parents bounced along to a Spanish-language song. Afterward, they talked amongst themselves in Spanish – some with more difficulty than others.
The place is called The Family Nest, a part-time Spanish immersion school for young children. The parents that come here are mostly Latino. But many aren't immigrants – or, for that matter, great Spanish speakers.
Some have had to work at it - and still are, along with their kids.
“It’s challenging, because I’ve spoken English for 30 years of my life," said Mariela Salgado, who attends classes there with her two young daughters. "I've been in American schools all my life. I have an MBA. I worked in corporate America. So English has been my primary language."
Salgado arrived with her family from Mexico when she was three. She grew up in Culver City and went to school in Brentwood. Later, she attended Pepperdine University, and assimilated - just as her parents had hoped.
Then she got married, and had kids. That got Salgado and her husband thinking about the cultural legacy they'd leave their children.
"For me, tradition will be passed down with Spanish," Salgado said. "So it's important that both my girls learn Spanish."
The challenge?
"Because I speak English so much better at this point, I don’t speak enough Spanish to them." Salgado said.
Welcome to the future of Spanish in America.
According to the Pew Research Center, by now more than half the nation's adult Latino population is U.S.-born. Meanwhile, fewer immigrants are arriving from Latin America.
What this means is that gradually, the U.S. is seeing a shrinking number of Spanish-speaking households. It’s expected that by 2020, only two-thirds of U.S. Latino households will speak Spanish.
“The Census Bureau projects that in just a few years, we are going to reach about one-third of Hispanic young people living in a household where only English is spoken," said Mark Hugo Lopez. director of Hispanic research with the Pew Research Center.
More of these young people are intermarrying – at least a quarter have non-Latino partners, Lopez said. Throw in busy lives, with work, school, and other obligations, and teaching Spanish to one's kids isn’t easy.
Now here's where I take this story into the first-person: I'm one of those parents.
My parents brought me to the U.S. from Cuba when I was three. Today, I'm raising a nine-year-old daughter, Lucia. And teaching her Spanish has been, well, challenging. Like the time I spent taking her to weekend Spanish immersion classes when she was younger.
“I thought that the weekend Spanish school for me, when I was about 5 to 6, I hated it!" Lucia said when I asked her about it the other day. "My teacher only spoke Spanish and didn’t translate.”
After more tantrums than I care to remember, I gave it a rest. We tried applying out-of-district to dual-immersion public school, but didn't get in. These days, I try my best to pepper our daily routine with Spanish, but it isn't much.
Lucia understands more Spanish than she lets on, but she's reluctant to speak it. Asked a question in Spanish, she replies in English.
On weekends when we visit my parents, my mother, Haydee, drills Lucia on her Spanish vocabulary. She wishes I were trying harder.
"It's a shame, a little bit of a shame, that she doesn't speak more Spanish," my mother said. "She could be more fluent by now."
After all, I'm bilingual - thanks largely to my parents' insistence when I was growing up that I always speak Spanish at home. But I had to brush up, too. I took Spanish in high school and in college. Even so, English is my daily default.
Parents like these often wind up The Family Nest with their kids, said owner Maria Palazzolo. It's one of a handful of private, part-time Spanish bilingual education schools in the Los Angeles area for young children. On Saturday mornings, families are invited to join in and socialize together with their kids.
Palazzolo said in some ways it's part school, part support group.
“More than anything I have found that a lot of the moms that come here feel supported," Palazzolo said. "They are like, whew, I am not the only one! There are other people going through the same thing.”
This includes Palazzolo - formerly Trujillo - whose background is in early childhood education. She’s Mexican American, raised in Long Beach. Her husband is Italian and Filipino. She didn’t speak any Spanish at home until her son, Massimo, was born three years ago.
“Once I started talking to him in Spanish, I realized, wow, this is harder than I thought!" Palazzolo said. "I needed to brush up on my Spanish a little bit more. That’s when I decided to have a program that will support that.”
She started meet-ups for moms who could brush up on their Spanish together, while their little ones learned, too. She opened the storefront classroom last spring.
Like many of her clients, Palazzolo would like to enter her son in dual-immersion classes, in which native-speaker kids learn along with non-native speakers. But these can be hard to get into, Palazzolo said. Some school districts don't have them. In the end, much is up to the parents.
Both Palazzolo and Salgado have tried to brush up on their Spanish with a number of tools: Apps, dictionaries, Google Translate, trying to muddle their way through Spanish-language media. Even relatives have been enlisted to help.
"I do make an effort on a daily basis," Salgado said, "looking up words on Google or online to remember what they sound like. Even with my mother. I actually have conversations in Spanish with my mother. I didn’t for a long time. I always used to talk to her in English."
Salgado said she grew up in the 1980s in a household where assimilation was stressed; her father insisted she perfect her English to get ahead.
Pew's Mark Hugo Lopez says this isn't uncommon - and that some of these same people are the ones rediscovering Spanish.
"Back in the fifties, sixties, even in the seventies, depending on the part of the country, (people) were really being told that they should be speaking English, and be American," Lopez said. "But today, for young Latinos, it's rather more a story of 'speak Spanish and be proud of your heritage.'"
Lopez said these days, it's not uncommon to see young, English-dependent Latinos signing up for college Spanish courses.
Carol Venegas-Schuster, another Family Nest mom, said she came close to losing her Spanish at one point. She eventually took Spanish classes as an adult.
It helps these days that her husband is from Spain - but so does attending mommy-and-me classes with her toddler. She says her Salvadoran immigrant parents are impressed.
"They are very happy that my Spanish sounds better, because I can express myself better," Venegas-Schuster said. "Before they would correct me all the time, or my dad would say, 'You can't speak Spanglish!'"
Salgado said she wants to pass much more than a language along to her children.
"For us, it is not about that second language necessarily, it’s about that identity for ourselves, who we are, what piece of us to pass on to our kids," Salgado said.
For Palazzolo, it's also passing on a sense of respect for "how much my parents struggled to be here, and how much they had to go through."
My mother describes it like this: "We are passing traditions," she said, "and lots of things that we were taught by our parents and our grandparents – and the love of family.”
So what happens if we try and fail? Not all is lost, according to Nina Hyams, a linguistics professor at UCLA.
"There has been some interesting research that shows that even children who don’t actively speak the language themselves as children, if they are exposed to it, at least in the home setting, then later in life, say when they are in college and they want to actually learn their heritage language...they have an advantage," Hyams said.
These Spanish learners won't necessarily have an advantage when it comes to learning grammar, Hyams said, but they'll have an easier time with pronunciation, and acquiring a native-like accent.
It's a ray of hope, at least. The other day, after school, my daughter Lucia told me she’d learned the name of the Spanish priest who founded the first California missions.
“My teacher was pronouncing it Joo-ni-pero Serra," she complained.
Then she said it in perfect Spanish: Junípero Serra. Accent and all. |
AGRA: The curse of untouchability still have deep roots in the country, a truth which can be gauged from the fact, that an entire family of a dalit was beaten with sticks and kicked just because one of the family members accidentally touched the hands of a Brahmin man.The incident was reported in the remote village of Kyuri village of Pinhat area on Friday afternoon, when a Valmiki family was engaged in a marriage ceremony.According to Vineeta, a victim of the incident said, “My younger son Sonu had gone to a sweet shop owned by a Brahmin man named Anil Sharma. While giving the payment for the sweets, Sonu accidently touched the hand of Sharma, on which he got infuriated and thrashed my son.”“When Sonu returned home with bruises, he narrated the entire event after which I along with group of women went to sweet shop to protest against the cruelty on mere touching the hand. Later, Anil along with some few more men came to our house and attacked us with wooden sticks. They didn’t spare even a pregnant women, who had come to attend marriage ceremony,” she claimed. “They kicked her womb after which our family members took her to hospital,” she alleged.As per sources, in the incident, Rekha the pregnant woman, Sonu and his father Hotilal were injured.As per block in-charge of the area, Sugreev Singh Chauhan said, “I was attending a meeting with Bah MLA Raja Mahendra Aridaman Singh, when I got a distress call of Brahmin men attacking a family of Valmiki’s. I immediately rushed to the spot and brought them to MLA.”When TOI, contacted Samajwadi Party MLA Raja Mahendra Aridaman Singh, he claimed, “I don’t know exactly what happened among the two communities, but a family of Valmiki said that they were attacked by upper caste people, after which I called local police station in-charge to arrest the culprits and take stringent action against them.” “I was later informed by police, that accused were arrested,” he added.Talking to TOI, station officer of Pinhat Satyendar Singh said, “No one has been arrested in the matter. It was simple brawl between drunk Valmiki’s who were attending a marriage party. One of the drunk allegedly misbehaved with a Brahmin man after which a scuffle took place.” |
Performing better (while older or younger)
Date: 29th May 2013
This spring I’ve put a fair number of days into sport climbing, and it has paid off. I’m climbing close–but not there yet–as hard on rock as I was in my mid-20s, even though I’m now 46. Yeah, that’s a dire number, I don’t know how I managed to live this long. It wasn’t planned. In any case, I’ve been thinking a lot about training, aging and life. In no particular order:
The first key to staying fit for climbing–or any sport–as you age is to goddamn well stay fit. This means not ever turning into a desk-jocky office sloth any more than is necessary to make a living. Move. Even if I’m not climbing I’m paddling, hiking, skiing, mountain biking, lifting weights, swimming, whatever, doing something, pretty much every day. I sometimes shudder when I see some of my friends who I haven’t seen in years; a few pounds is OK as we age and fighting that probably isn’t worth the effort, but for god’s sake it’s not OK to be the stoop-shouldered shuffling smoked husk of a human body that I see so often in North America. Gain 40 pounds, sit around, you can just see the toll it takes on a body and mind…
Eat well. The heaviest I’ve ever been was 185 pounds. To reach this weight I did a lot of Crossfit and not much other activity while eating a ton of meat and basic foods; my bodyfat was probably still under ten or 12 percent, but definitely higher than it normally is. The lightest I’ve been as an adult was 145, and I was, let’s face it, an anorexic stick boy at sub-4 percent or less body fat. That sucked. My best climbing weight when climbing “fit” is about 155 (best in terms of performance, the only “weight” that counts). I’m now about 160. Good enough given that I’m 20 years older, although I suspect my weight will drift toward 155 as I climb. I eat well enough, exercise enough, and don’t let some neurotic diet interfere with actually performing well at my sport, which right now is rock climbing but in general is life. I’ll get heavier during paddling season, lighter during climbing season, and lightest of all if I’m doing a ton of aerobic mountain sports where I lose muscle and burn fat for energy every day.
Attack your weaknesses. As I’ve aged my “natural” power has gone down. I have to work at this more. My endurance is as good as it ever was. I boulder more, do some fingerboard workouts, and rest adequately. If you don’t know your weaknesses then that’s your weakness. Most of the “general” workouts on the web and in print are for someone else’s weaknesses, not yours.
Be ruthless about distractions: You can’t climb hard and do Crossfit and ride your mountain bike and go to barbecues every night and have a family and a job and a new car and a perfect lawn and and. Ya gotta decide what’s important, and then do that. I coach athletes and often hear, “I’m too busy to do more.” Probably 30 percent or more of what we do in any given day is nonsensical BS. Cut the TV, internet, weight workouts, yoga, brunch, whatever, do your sport and what’s actually important in life. Yes, there are exceptions, but everyone seems to think their exceptions are relevant. Most aren’t. Doing your sport and what you really feel is important in life is what counts. Reading your kids books counts; keeping current on internet memes is not.
Avoid “performance boosters!” If anyone mentions “The Force,” homeopathy, magnets, “The Secret” or any of this sort of head-in-ass dreck avoid them and their products. They are idiots, and so are you if you buy into their snake-oil. There are a few supplements that demonstrably do something positive for our bodies and performance. Most of them are illegal, and I’ve yet to find one that is worth taking day in and day out other than my daily Red Bull or coffee prior to training. If the claims sound ridiculous or have no plausible (I’m not talking peer-reviewed double blind studies, let’s just start with plausible) explanation then in all likelihood the product or system is bogus.
Avoid any book with “Diet” on the front cover. It doesn’t work. That’s why there are thousands of diet books. If any one of them actually worked there would only need to be one. Eat basic unprocessed foods mostly, exercise lots, the rest is marketing hype.
Hang out with people who do what you want to do, are stoked, and are better at it than you (but chose fun over talent if it comes down to that). If your friends are really stoked on barbecues and brunch then you’re not going to be any good at anything but barbecues and brunch. Hang out with people who are psyched to do fun things regularly and you will be too. Avoid negative time-sucking people, they are evil and if life were fair would be struck down by lightning. All of my best sports performances have a psyched training partner in common.
And do ten sets of ten of exercise X… Or go do your sport with love, intensity and meaning, track your progress carefully and ruthlessly edit your training to get results. My goal for this spring is to rock climb as well as I did when I was 26. Right now I’m onsighting 12c/7b+ with about 50 percent consistency. I’d like to onsight some more 13a/7c+ routes this summer. Let’s see how that goes. Progress reports here. I like getting older so this isn’t about turning back the clock, this is about climbing hard routes without falling off. Game on.
Posted in: Blog
Comments |
Well, one of the new wrinkles was some variations on the bubble screen concept which has been one of the staples of Chip Kelly's offense. He showed a couple of new wrinkles on this.
Fresh off a bye week, I am sure I was not the only one thinking Chip might use the extra week to break out some new wrinkles on offense. Despite that, what we saw yesterday was much of the same on offense with some interesting personnel changes as highlighted on the last post where we used Desean Jackson on a wheel route .
Check out this odd-looking trip-like formation. I am sure there is a name for it, and I am sure one of my commenters will let me know. On this formation, the receivers will run a bubble screen with Riley the intended reciever with 2 big TEs in Celek and Ertz leading the way:
Not surprisingly, this bubble screen has a read-option component to it. Here Foles is reading the DE:
McCoy gets a nice hole and runs for a nice gain. We actually ran this same play and formation 2 times in a row in the 1st quarter.
We went back to it in the 2nd quarter. Celek and Ertz blocking, but this time Desean Jackson instead of Cooper:
based on the numbers we get, there is no read and Foles quickly gets it to Desean. Might to Chip's delight, you can already see the sidewalk forming for Desean between the numbers and the hash:
Good blocking and an explosive play for Desean Jackson.
***
Here's another look, that Moose Johnston pointed out. We've seen Lane Johnson lined up really wide in our double stack formation. This time, we line him up in the slot. This is a creative playcall on 4th and 2. The Eagles spread 4 players to the top of the screen, helping to lighten the box:
Again, the read-option is built-in...and check out the 2 defenders in red focused on Foles:
The result is a light box, good blocking and a 4th down conversion for McCoy:
Here it is again on the bottom of the screen. Desean motioning down, Johnson in the slot.
The read-option and it appears Nick is reading Daryl Washington who drifts out of the box. Since he is defending the bubble, Lesean has a light box and Nick hands off:
One more time, we see it here with Cooper at the bottom of the screen. This time the DB very aggressively sprints to cut off the bubble option.
Without that option, the only other play Nick has is to keep and run. Unfortunately, Nick doesn't get much room to run (queue the Mike Vick chants and hwo Chip Kelly needs a mobile QB). |
More from Andrew Mitrovica available More fromavailable here
Like most teenagers, journalists believe they are invincible.
This is, of course, a dangerous delusion. To date, perhaps as many as nine journalists have been killed while telling the world the ugly truth about what is happening to the children, women and men enduring the daily, relentless shelling in Gaza.
Rami Rayan, a young Palestinian photojournalist, was the latest reporter to be killed. He was among at least 16 people reportedly killed after an Israeli air strike on a crowded market Wednesday during a supposed four-hour “truce.”
Like many of the pictures coming out of Gaza these days, photos of the 23-year-old photographer’s body on a stretcher are graphic and disturbing. What they make clear, however, is at the time of his death, Rayan was wearing a helmet and vest clearly marked “PRESS.” His camera – the tool of his profession – appears to have gone astray.
I have written a lot lately about the failure of Canada’s major political leaders to condemn the killing of civilians — so many of them children — in Gaza. Well, many Canadian journalists and the organizations that purport to represent them have been slow, or have failed, to utter a word of condemnation of the killing of journalists in Gaza.
The Canadian Association of Journalists (CAJ), which claims to be “the national voice of Canadian journalists”, has been noticeably silent. If you check the CAJ’s website you won’t find so much as a perfunctory statement denouncing the killing of their colleagues in Gaza. Instead, the top item on its website is a story written by members of the association’s ‘ethics’ committee about that old saw: reporters getting too close to their sources.
The story, the CAJ says, was penned with the help of its “friends” at the Canadian Journalism Project, more popularly known as J Source.
J Source’s goal is to “promote national discussion about journalism as well as providing a source for news, research, commentary … for industry professionals, scholars and students.”
There isn’t a word of news or commentary about the killing of journalists in Gaza on J Source’s website. The big news at J Source.ca is the appointment of the Toronto Star’s new tablet editor. As for commentary, J Source has posted an old piece by the Star’s public editor about whether a local politician is “playing politics with the truth.”
PEN Canada hasn’t devoted so much as a syllable to the killing of journalists in Gaza. And it took until July 31 for the Canadian Journalists for Free Expression (CJFE) to stir from its apparent somnolence to send a letter to Israel’s ambassador.
PEN Canada hasn’t sounded the alarm either. Its raison d’être “envisions a world where writers are free to write, readers are free to read and freedom of expression prevails.” It’s also important to note that PEN Canada’s advisory board includes prominent journalists Naomi Klein and Charles Foran.
Still, just like the CAJ and J Source, PEN Canada hasn’t devoted so much as a syllable to the killing of journalists in Gaza. Perhaps Pen Canada’s aversion to speaking out on Gaza is connected to the odd decision by Revenue Canada to take a close look at its books. The Harper government’s push to audit charities’ political outreach may be having the intended chilling effect.
And it took until July 31 for the Canadian Journalists for Free Expression (CJFE) to stir from its apparent somnolence to send this letter to Israel’s ambassador to Canada denouncing the killing of journalists in Gaza.
In his sharp letter to Ambassador Rafael Barak, CJFE president Arnold Amber writes that the “CJFE condemns the killing of journalists and media workers by Israeli security forces in Gaza … (and urges) that Israel avoid targeting known media outlet locations. CJFE also calls on the Israeli government to respect its responsibilities and obligations under international law with regards to the protection of journalists.”
Amber also makes pointed reference to the recent attack on Al Jazeera’s offices in Gaza. “Israel Defense Forces (IDF) fired at Al Jazeera offices in Gaza, forcing media workers within to flee the complex. This attack came soon after the pejorative remarks made by Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman demonizing the media network.”
The assault on Al Jazeera was an attack on all journalists, but until yesterday it didn’t trigger much, if any, reaction among Canadian journalists and news organizations.
Indeed, to my knowledge the editorial boards of Canada’s major newspapers have been rather quiet about both the bombardment of the Al Jazeera office and the journalists who died doing their jobs in Gaza.
It’s a far cry from recent expressions by Canadian and international media of solidarity with three other Al Jazeera journalists — including Egyptian-Canadian Mohamed Fahmy — who were jailed in Egypt for allegedly aiding the Muslim Brotherhood in their reporting.
The long sentences handed down against the three journalists prompted Toronto Star and CBC journalists, among many others, to duct-tape their mouths while holding a piece of white paper with the hashtag #freeAJstaff in silent protest. It was a laudable display of support for their imprisoned brethren.
The least Canadian journalists could do is to reach for the duct tape again to show their respect and admiration for their fellow journalists in Gaza who are being killed on the job.
Andrew Mitrovica is a writer and journalism instructor. For much of his career, Andrew was an investigative reporter for a variety of news organizations and publications including the CBC’s fifth estate, CTV’s W5, CTV National News — where he was the network’s chief investigative producer — the Walrus magazine and the Globe and Mail, where he was a member of the newspaper’s investigative unit. During the course of his 23-year career, Andrew has won numerous national and international awards for his investigative work.
The views, opinions and positions expressed by all iPolitics columnists and contributors are the author’s alone. They do not inherently or expressly reflect the views, opinions and/or positions of iPolitics. |
So we are inviting everyone to have a go with a competition! The best story submitted will win a prize of £100 to spend at our site!
With all the current zeitgeist for erotic fiction on the back of 50 shades of Grey, more and more people are starting to have a go at writing short stories themselves. An old girlfriend and I used to write half a story each and text it to each other to finish off, it certainly made getting home lots of fun. Whilst sitting poolside on our holiday, she picked up a book from the book exchange. She had been reading erotica all holiday and had run out so picked up one that somebody had left behind. I’m not sure of the author but in comparison to what she had just read this wasn’t hitting the same spot.
As I was happily reading my book she kept interrupting me with giggles reading out various passages to me. What was making us laugh so much was the language used. Some of the words just didn’t sound erotic or you just wouldn’t use in everyday talk and therefore sounded alien when read from the page.
There was one sentence that was describing a blow job that went something like this :- I gripped his **** in my hand stroking the shaft from tip to base in long deliberate motions, I stopped to sensuously lick the pre cum that glistened on his glans and my sex ached for him.
It was the use of the words ‘my sex’ and ‘glans’ that made it sound unrealistic and made us laugh but then I wondered if other words would put other people off? Words that don’t do it for me are his or her sex, Mons, glans, penis and vagina seem too medical others just silly.
Sylvia Day uses a liberal peppering of the words c*nt and c*ck which personally I like but I know the ‘c’ word is still taboo for many, I used to work with a girl for whom the words ‘moist gusset’ was as bad as swearing. Even panties is weird for some people and lingerie can sound too pretentious.
So what words do it for you? How do you want it laid out for you? Do you want Mills and Boon style euphemisms such as ‘ I felt his passion’ or ‘my heat’ do you want scientific words such as vagina, penis, glans etc or like me would you prefer more honest words such as pussy, clit, c*ck etc?
I guess as always whatever floats your boat is different for each person….
If you would like to enter you need to:-
First register on the main site here (So if you win we can add your credit)
Then use the contact form below to send over your story (email a copy to [email protected])
We will set a minimum of 500 words as a requirement and a maximum of 5000 (not including titles headers and spaces etc)
Don’t be shy and feel free to write in whatever style you like about whatever you like as long as it is not illegal. All entries will be posted on our blog (once we have read them!)
Some brief rules:-
Minimum 500 words Maximum 5000 (does not include titles, spaces etc
The story can be in any style and on any subject as long as it contains some erotic content
Nothing illegal will be considered and will be disqualified
You can write as an individual or as a team with a maximum of 3 writers per team (only one prize will be issued to a team)
The work remains your own but by submitting it you give us the right to post it on our site and affiliated sites
Entries will be posted under the competition tab and we encourage you to read and comment on each others. Please keep it supportive though. All comments will be vetted first and any comments deemed to be abusive or unfairly negative will not be posted
The closing date for entries is the 18 th of April 2014 and the winner will be announced by the 25 th of April 2014. The prize will be immediately available from that date
of April 2014 and the winner will be announced by the 25 of April 2014. The prize will be immediately available from that date Full T’s and C’s here
Let those creative juices flow!
Want to read the entries so far Click Here |
NEW DELHI — As expected, Russia and India, longtime allies, signed a raft of agreements at their leaders’ annual summit meeting on Thursday, expanding their usual set of projects to an ambitious agenda that includes the joint manufacture of military helicopters and production of nuclear reactors.
But the most intriguing event of the day occurred across town in a private dining room at a luxury hotel, where Sergei Aksyonov — the barrel-chested prime minister of Crimea, the Ukrainian territory annexed by Russia — signed a memorandum of understanding with a group of Indian businessmen who call themselves the Indo-Crimean Partnership.
The symbolic show of support put India in the middle of one of the most bitter disputes between Moscow and the West.
Mr. Aksyonov organized a paramilitary force on the Crimean Peninsula early this year as pro-Western protests rose in Kiev, the Ukrainian capital, and he was one of the first people to be singled out by the United States for sanctions. He traveled to India on a plane with Russian officials attending the meeting, and was flanked by Russian diplomats, whom he credited with arranging the event. Interfax, the Russian news agency, said it was Mr. Aksyonov’s “first international visit.” |
The Chicago Blackhawks have a 3-0 series lead on the Minnesota Wild in the Western Conference semifinals, thanks in large part to right wing Patrick Kane. Kane has dominated the Wild, scoring five goals in just three games, including the lone tally in Chicago's 1-0 victory in Game 3.
Figuratively, one might say Kane currently "owns" the Wild. But an intrepid Wikipedia editor decided to formalize Kane's ownership of the Wild franchise.
To be clear, Patrick Kane does not actually own the Wild. A man named Craig Leipold owns the Wild. But Leipold has not scored five goals in this series, or ever.
Looks like Patrick Kane is the owner of the Wild according to Wikipedia! @WaddleandSilvy @TWaddle87 pic.twitter.com/uOTjjHzShL — Danny Turano (@Turano007) May 7, 2015
• 2015 NHL playoffs: Complete schedule and results
The only question is whether Kane would be the only current NHL owner to rock a mullet.
- Stanley Kay |
One of Spain's most high-profile financiers, Rodrigo Rato, has resigned as head of Bankia just hours after prime minister Mariano Rajoy announced a major shake-up of the troubled banking sector.
Rato's surprise departure on Monday was seen as proof that ailing Bankia, which holds 10% of the country's deposits, was about to be rescued by the Spanish government.
Bankia now looks likely be the centrepiece of a fresh round of financial-sector reforms as Rajoy tries to boost confidence in a country that lies at the heart of the eurozone crisis.
Rajoy looked ready to backtrack on pledges not to use more public money on banks. "The last thing I would do would be to inject or lend public money, but if it is necessary I would not hesitate to do it, just as other European countries have done," Rajoy told a radio interviewer.
He was speaking as the financial markets attempted to digest the implications of the election of the Socialist François Hollande as president in France and the outcome of the Greek elections, where the formation of a government looked unlikely.
Rajoy said details of the shake-up in Spain would come after Friday's cabinet meeting, but there were rumours that a Bankia announcement would come sooner.
Bankia is at the centre of worries about the impact on Spanish banks of toxic real estate assets left over from a residential housing bubble that burst in 2008.
It is reported to need up to €10bn, which could come via Spain's own bank restructuring fund.
Bankia is reportedly going to borrow at 8% interest through a form of debt known as contingent capital, which turns into equity in times of stress – effectively becoming a part-nationalisation.
Rato had consistently maintained Bankia could continue as an independent bank and had no solvency or liquidity problems.
The creation of a "bad bank" for toxic real estate assets is another option being explored by the government, though Rajoy said on Monday that he did not like the idea.
There have also been rumours that the European Financial Stability Facility rescue fund could be used to prop up Spain's more troubled banks – which do not include the biggest two, Santander and BBVA.
Spanish banks escaped the subprime crisis after the central bank banned them from getting involved in riskier derivatives.
But they have largely rolled over the huge loans they themselves handed out to Spanish speculators, developers and construction companies in the boom years before 2008.
With land values plummeting and house prices also dropping dramatically, many developers have gone bust and banks have been caught out.
Rather than pull the plug on building projects, however, they have often encouraged companies to finish off residential projects in a country where some 700,000 new homes are estimated to remain unsold.
The finished homes have been taken by the banks in place of unpaid loans, but analysts worry they have not owned up to the full drop in value of this vast stock of housing and often worthless building land.
Banks have some €320bn of property, with half labelled as problematic by the country's central bank. Some €32bn of those toxic assets belong to the Bankia group, which had recognised €12bn of losses on them.
Bankia is the result of the merger of seven regional savings banks, which were the most reckless lenders during the housing boom.
The government has already spent €18bn cleaning up the country's financial sector. Dozens of savings banks have been forced into mergers and banks have been told to recognise more than €50bn in losses on property loans and assets.
But a February bank reform failed to convince markets that Spain, which has slumped back into recession and is suffering 24% unemployment, had solved the problem.
Spain's banks as a whole have until 31 May to say if they need to merge with other entities under the February reform plan.
Austerity measures aimed at slashing the government deficit from 8.5% to 3% of GDP over two years have helped tip Spain into recession – increasing the likelihood of banks also having to deal with a flood of mortgage defaults. |
Anyone in England and Wales with a dog out of control can now be jailed for six months. If the dog causes injury, the maximum term is to be two years. I have no sympathy for such people. Keeping these beasts is weird, and those who do it probably need treatment. But the Defra minister, Lord Taylor of Holbeach, complained in May that fewer than 20 people were in jail for dangerous dog offences. The sentencing council has duly told courts to raise the threshold to two years, "to send a message".
The same sentiment a year ago motivated magistrates to play to the gallery by jailing 1,292 people for stealing bottles of water or trainers or sending idiot incitements during the dispersed rampage dubbed "urban riots". Hysterical ministers raced home from holiday to tell judges to send messages. Judges duly ruined the lives of hundreds of young people, at great public expense and to no advantage to their victims. I have no sympathy for these people either, but again the politicised response to crime was disproportionate.
A month before, a London court jailed a stoned Charlie Gilmour after he swung on a union flag from the Cenotaph and tossed a bin at a police car, thus causing widespread outrage in the offices of the Daily Telegraph and Daily Mail. The judge sent him down for 18 months to send a message carefully designed to wreck his university career. Yet again we need have no sympathy for Gilmour. But there is no such thing as a rap over the knuckles in jail. Judges know that any term in prison is a sentence for life.
How can British politicians, whose statements clearly seek to influence pliable judges, criticise other sovereign states for doing likewise? Last week the Foreign Office professed itself "deeply concerned" at the fate of Russia's Pussy Riot three, jailed for two years for "hooliganism" in Moscow's Christ the Saviour Cathedral. They had staged what, by all accounts, was an obscene publicity stunt, videoing an anti-Putin song defamatory of the Virgin Mary in front of pious worshippers.
Good for free speech, we might all say. That the act outraged public decency is an understatement. In a Levada poll of Russian public opinion, just 5% thought the girls should go unpunished and 65% wanted them in prison, 29% with hard labour. Artists round the globe may plead free speech, but to treat the Pussy Riot gesture as a glorious stand for artistic liberty is like praising Johnny Rotten, who did similar things, as the Voltaire of our day. There can be disproportionate apologias as well as disproportionate sentences.
Artists can look after their own. For the British and US governments to get on high horses about Russian sentencing is hypocrisy. America and Britain damned the "disproportionate" Pussy Riot terms. In America's case this was from a nation that jails drug offenders for 20, 30 or 40 years, holds terrorism "suspects" incommunicado indefinitely and imprisons for life even trivial "three strikes" offenders. Last week alone a US military court declared that reporting the Guantánamo Bay trial of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed would be censored. Any mention of his torture in prison was banned as "reasonably expected to damage national security". This has no apparent connection to proportionate punishment or freedom of speech.
The British security establishment during the Tony Blair-Gordon Brown regime tried to censor history books for possible "terrorist" incitement. It introduced control orders, restricted courts and long-period detention without trial. It made unlicensed demonstrating an offence and has since sought prosecution of Twitter and Facebook abuse. British ministers and courts are craven to what passes for public opinion. The idea that, whenever a crime or antisocial action hits the headlines, "the courts must send a message" is politicised justice. At times, especially in tragic cases involving children, it gets near to a lynch mob. Again the only message sent is to the media. If Britain's draconian sentencing were effective, British jails would not be bursting at the seams.
There is of course a difference between the liberties enjoyed in most western democracies and the cruder jurisprudence of modern Russia, China and much of the Muslim world. It would be silly to pretend otherwise. But the difference is not so great as to merit the barrage of megaphone comment from west to east. Pussy Riot may have attacked no one physically, but no society, certainly not Britain, legislates on the basis that "words can never hurt". If a rock group invaded Westminster Abbey and gravely insulted a religious or ethnic minority before the high altar, we all know that ministers would howl for "exemplary punishment" and judges would oblige.
Commenting on the social mores of other countries may offer an offshore outlet for the righteous indignation of politicians and editorialists. It has no noticeable effect. Western comments on the treatment of women in Muslim states, dissidents in China or drug offenders in south-east Asia are dismissed as imperial interference. But then how would we feel if Moscow or Singapore or Tehran condemned the treatment of Cenotaph protesters?
British courts jail at the drop of a headline. One of the few cabinet ministers in recent years to show a sincere desire to relate punishment to crime and imprisonment to consequence is the justice secretary, Kenneth Clarke. He is now being bad-mouthed out of his job by Downing Street's dark arts, frightened not of Clarke but of the rightwing press. Clarke is, with Iain Duncan Smith, a rare minister intellectually engaged with his job and eager courageously to see it through. Why are the Lib Dems not defending him? For David Cameron to sack Clarke would indeed send a message. Of the worst sort. |
Ubasute no tsuki (The Moon of Ubasute), by (The Moon of Ubasute), by Yoshitoshi
Ubasute (姥捨て, "abandoning an old woman", also called obasute and sometimes oyasute 親捨て "abandoning a parent") is the mythical practice of senicide in Japan, whereby an infirm or elderly relative was carried to a mountain, or some other remote, desolate place, and left there to die.[1] According to the Kodansha Illustrated Encyclopedia of Japan, ubasute "is the subject of legend, but [...] does not seem ever to have been a common custom".[2]
Folklore [ edit ]
Ubasute has left its mark on Japanese folklore, where it forms the basis of many legends, poems, and koans. In one Buddhist allegory, a son carries his mother up a mountain on his back. During the journey, she stretches out her arms, catching the twigs and scattering them in their wake, so that her son will be able to find the way home.
A poem commemorates the story:
In the depths of the mountains,
Whom was it for the aged mother snapped
One twig after another?
Heedless of herself
She did so
For the sake of her son
In popular culture [ edit ]
Places [ edit ]
Ubasute Mountain
Ubasute Mountain
Similar practice in other cultures [ edit ]
References [ edit ]
Further reading [ edit ]
Japan, An Illustrated Encyclopedia, Kodansha Ltd., Tokyo, 1993, p. 1121
Coordinates: |
Jonah, I agree with you on the general tin-ear of Romney. He’s extremely un-nimble on the stump, which means that Republicans will be gambling that he can be sufficiently insulated and managed across the finish line without offering up any campaign-detonating hostage to fortune.
But, beyond that, I’m less sanguine about the underlying worldview that “I’m not concerned about the very poor” betrays. Romney:
We will hear from the Democrat party, “the plight of the poor,” and there’s no question, it’s not good being poor. . . . We have a very ample safety net and we can talk about whether it needs to be strengthened or whether there are holes in it, but we have food stamps, we have Medicaid, we have housing vouchers, we have programs to help the poor.
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The Pundette responds:
I know Romney gives generously to charity but what a cold fish he is… A conservative candidate would talk about increasing opportunity for the very poor, about lessening the need for food stamps and housing vouchers by reducing government and invigorating the economy, rather than touting the awesomeness of our massive, dependency-inducing welfare state and suggesting it might need some beefing up.
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Romney’s is a benevolent patrician’s view of society: The poor are incorrigible, but let’s add a couple more groats to their food stamps and housing vouchers, and they’ll stay quiet. Aside from the fact that that kind of thinking has led the western world to near terminal insolvency, for a candidate whose platitudinous balderdash of a stump speech purports to believe in the most Americanly American America that any American has ever Americanized over, it’s as dismal a vision of permanent trans-generational poverty as any Marxist community organizer with a cozy sinecure on the Acorn board would come up with.
After half-a-century of evidence, what sort of “conservative” offers the poor the Even Greater Society? I don’t know how “electable” Mitt is, but, even if he is, the greater danger, given the emptiness of his campaign to date, is that he’ll be elected with no real mandate for the course correction the Brokest Nation in History urgently needs. In last Monday’s debate, Newt said he wasn’t interested in going to Washington to “manage the decline”. Mitt’s just told us that he’s happy to “manage the decline” for the poor – but who knows who else? |
It had been a difficult summer for Darian (not his real name). The 14-year-old had recently lost his father to a homicide. He had grown sullen and prone to angry outbursts and had recently texted to a friend, "You say that to me again and I'm going to kill you," in response to a taunt.
Darian had no history of violent behavior, but the family had grown concerned about his emotional health, according to his grandmother Eunice Haigler. In a phone conversation, she tells me they hoped once Darian started school again in the fall, he would have access to a school counselor who would be able to help him with his emotions.
But on the first day of the new school year, what Darian encountered instead of a counselor was a cop. Municipal police took Darian into custody, charged him with making threats via an electronic device and saddled him with a criminal record. The involvement of police in school-related incidents like Darian's alarms Haigler. Not only are city police more involved, she observes, but uniformed police in schools, typically called school resource officers or SROs, are an ever-present chance of students getting entangled with law enforcement.*
"Since SROs got involved in schools," Haigler says, "our kids are getting arrested for issues that used to be taken care of with a trip to the principal's office." Having police in schools, she maintains, "takes issues out of the school. [The SROs] treat kids as little criminals."
Another student, Denise (also not her real name) displayed behavior problems and impulsivity in elementary school and eventually was diagnosed ADHD with depression and provided an Individual Education Plan (IEP) to ensure her teachers were aware of and responsive to her needs.
Her mother, Tyran Green, tells me in a phone conversation that the system was working well for Denise until her school district changed to a zero tolerance discipline policy, and suddenly every small act of impulsivity Denise committed was resulting in an out-of-school suspension. After her last suspension, during her sophomore year of high school, Denise grew completely despondent and attempted suicide.
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Green, a single mother of five children, has had to deal with out-of-school suspensions with four of her children.
"Zero tolerance policies make things worse," says Green. "Many parents complain about these policies but have a hard time voicing those complaints because they have to work two jobs and are too busy or they think it’s a lost cause."
These personal accounts bring to mind disturbing videos that recently went viral, showing an SRO at a South Carolina high school flipping a student out of her chair and a school cop in Texas body-slamming a 12-year-old girl to the ground.
The presence of SROs in schools and the frequent use of out-of-school suspensions both tend to correlate with higher numbers of children and teens being pushed into the criminal justice system. For this reason, these approaches to disciple are often associated with what has become known as the school-to-prison pipeline.
Recent declarations from civil rights groups and policy statements from government officials have called for changes in discipline codes, new guidelines for SROs, and an end to the school-to-prison pipeline. But nothing will likely change for students like Darian and Denise until parents, educators and education justice advocates mobilize on the ground to demand positive changes.
A National Problem
Studies showing the high correlation of out-of-school suspensions to eventual involvement in the criminal justice system are well known among policy circles. A 2011 study by the Council of State Governments Justice Center found that being suspended or expelled from school made a student nearly three times more likely to come into contact with the juvenile justice system within the next year.
A 2015 report from the UCLA Civil Rights Project found that out-of school suspensions are disproportionally used on students of color and students with disabilities. In the most recent year with available data, 16 percent of black students and 7 percent of Latino students were suspended, while the rate for white students was 5 percent. Students with disabilities had suspension rates that were two to three times their peers.
The presence of SROs in school often makes matters worse. A recent study by the American Bar Association found, "A police officer’s regular presence at a school significantly increases the odds that school officials will refer students to law enforcement for various offenses, including these lower-level offenses that should be addressed using more pedagogically-sound methods."
As law enforcement officers in school proliferate, counselors and other support staff have become scarcer. According to a recent study from the Center for American Progress, nearly 35 million children in the U.S. live with emotional and psychological trauma, yet "only a fraction of these students—approximately 8 million of them—have access to a school psychologist. Even fewer students have access to a social worker. Across the nation, only 63 percent of public schools even offer all students a counselor."
Darian and Denise attend schools in Virginia—Spotsylvania and Portsmouth, respectively—where problems associated with overly harsh school discipline policies are worse than in virtually any other state.
Virginia, Nation's Worst
According to data obtained from the U.S. Department of Education in 2015, "Virginia schools in a single year referred students to law enforcement agencies at a rate nearly three times the national rate," according to a report from the Center for Public Integrity.
CPI found that referrals "turned into thousands of complaints filed in courts, many of them against preteens. The most frequent complaints are for disorderly behavior."
Among the individual cases CPI examined was a 12-year-old girl who was charged with four misdemeanors, including obstruction of justice for “clenching her fist” at a school cop. In another case, an 11-year-old boy, diagnosed as autistic, kicked a trashcan during a tantrum and was charged with disorderly conduct by the SRO who witnessed the event.
Haigler knows of similar incidents at the schools her grandchildren attend, including a young boy charged with damaging property for knocking over a potted plant and an elementary student who was suspended for wanting to go to the bathroom.
Out-of-school suspensions and encounters with law enforcement during teen and preteen years can have lifelong consequences for students. As the authors of the UCLA study cited above write, "The damage wrought by this 'pipeline' does not end with prison; it goes on to cause voter disenfranchisement, degradation of health and culture, and a shorter life expectancy."
The alarming data related to school suspensions, SROs, and their impacts have started to influence policy makers and the advocacy work of national organizations.
Getting Attention At The Top
Faced with the scathing revelations of Virginia's top rank in the school to prison pipeline, Governor Terry McAuliffe announced in 2015 "a new initiative aimed at decreasing student suspensions, expulsions and referrals to law enforcement," according to local news sources.
The initiative was spearheaded by Anne Holton, who was Virginia's Secretary of Education at the time. (Holton is the wife of Tim Kaine, the vice-presidential candidate for the Democratic Party.) The initiative called for "joint training for school administrators and school police officers so both groups are aware of the dangers of criminalizing kids," according to a report by CPI.
The Obama administration has taken similar action. Recently, "the Department of Education and Department of Justice," according to U.S. News & World Report, "sent letters to states and school districts emphasizing the importance of well-designed training programs for school resource officers."
National civil rights groups urge stronger action. As Education Week reports, Dignity in Schools, a coalition of over 100 organizations promoting alternatives to zero-tolerance discipline policies, recently called for the removal of law enforcement from schools and for new forms of discipline and student supports.
Pronouncements from government officials and national advocacy groups are helpful. But local advocacy is as important, if not more so.
Action Needed on the Ground
In Virginia, despite the initiative being put into place by the governor and his education chief, incidents of overly harsh discipline and problems related to the presence of SROs persist.
As the Washington Post reports, a 15-year-old student recently went on trial in a Prince William County courthouse for stealing a 65-cent carton of milk in the school cafeteria. In Richmond, high suspension rates have prompted black students to file a civil rights complaint against their school district, alleging that discipline practices in their schools are unfair.
In Spotsylvania, Portsmouth and other communities, the grassroots advocacy group Virginia Organizing is mobilizing parents and education justice advocates to demand alternatives to suspensions and more restrictions on SROs. VO is an affiliate of People's Action, a nationwide network of 29 advocacy groups and some 600 organizers.
In Spotsylvania, VO activists have attended school board meetings to call for alternatives to out-of-school suspensions, according to the organization's website. They've also demanded the school district follow guidelines issued by Governor McAuliffe governing the placement and duties of SROs.
Haigler, whose grandson Darian's criminal charges took nearly two years to resolve, is part of the effort to insist the district review the memorandum of understanding governing SROs and ensure that officers' duties are confined to safety and restricted from getting involved in student behavior matters.
"I've worked very well with educators," she says, "but SROs haven’t been trained in cultural competency … and make the mistake of treating kids like little adults."
In Portsmouth, where schools issued more than 2,200 suspensions in the 2014-2015 school year, VO has helped organize a group of parents, educators, and local activists, called Community Advocates for Portsmouth Students (CAPS), to "raise awareness of the problem, create solutions, and work with the school board to reduce the numbers."
According to the article, Green, a CAPS member, is helping to get parents more involved in the advocacy effort. In my interview with her, she tells me the first duty of all parents is to get informed and get involved.
"Teachers aren't the problem," she says. More often than not, they are overworked and under-supported by the school administration. So parents have to be their children's best advocates.
To prove her point: her four older children graduated high school, despite three of them having to deal with school suspensions, and eventually became college graduates as well. She is anticipating that Denise, now a senior in high school, will eventually be a college graduate too. She is a straight-A student. The school suspension that drove her to attempt suicide almost robbed her of that bright future.
*Correction: This article was amended to clarify the type of officer who arrested Darian. He was arrested by a municipal police officer, not an SRO, as previously stated. |
PCHR Weekly Report: One civilian killed by right-wing Israelis; 6 wounded by Israeli troops
9:33 PM
In its Weekly Report On Israeli Human Rights Violations in the Occupied Palestinian Territories for the week of 10 – 16 February 2011, the Palestinian Center for Human Rights (PCHR) found that a Palestinian civilian was killed by a gang of Jewish Israeli youth in Jerusalem. 4 Palestinian workers, including a child, were wounded by Israeli forces targeting Palestinian workers, farmers and fishermen in border areas in the Gaza Strip. Two Palestinian civilians, including a child, were wounded by Israeli forces who used force against peaceful protests in the West Bank.On Friday morning, 11 December 2011, Hussam Hussein al-Rwaidhi, 24, from Jerusalem, was killed by a number of Jewish young men, when he was on his way home from work in West Jerusalem. While he was walking with his friend, Khader al-Joulani, on a street in West Jerusalem, a Jewish young man stabbed him in the face. Soon after, other Jewish young men gathered and violently beat him. He died of his injuries a few hours later.
In his testimony to PCHR, Khader al-Joulani stated: ‘When we left our work, we were surprised by two Jewish young men. They provoked and insulted us. One of them then took out a knife and hits Hussam on his face. More Jewish young men gathered and violently beat him and me. I was injured in the neck. When the attackers fled, I asked for help from a nearby restaurant, but the staff refused to help us. I called the police. An ambulance arrived then and evacuated Hussam to the hospital, but he died a few hours later.’
Israeli forces kept al-Rwaidhi’s body in the Israeli forensic medicine institute. The Israeli police called the victim’s father and informed him that they would deliver the body at Qalandya checkpoint at night. They also ordered him to bury the victim’s body with the presence of 10 relatives only. Israeli forces delivered the victim’s body to the family on Wednesday morning, 16 February 2011, and the body was buried at 04:30 on the same day.
Israeli attacks in the West Bank:
Israeli forces conducted 47 incursions into Palestinian communities in the West Bank and a limited one into the Gaza Strip, during which they abducted 19 Palestinian civilians, including 4 children and one woman.
In one example of the week’s 47 incursions, on Thursday, 10 December 2011, at approximately 06:30, Israeli forces moved into Beit Dajan village, east of Nablus. They patrolled in the streets and photographed a number of old homes, the building of the local council and the old mosque of the village. They withdrew later and no arrests were reported. On the same day, at approximately 18:00, Israeli forces moved into Beit Liqya village, west of Ramallah, and patrolled in the streets. A number of Palestinian children gathered and threw stones at Israeli military vehicles. Immediately, Israeli soldiers fired rubber-coated metal bullets , sound bombs and tear gas canisters at them. As a result, a number of Palestinian civilians suffered from tear gas inhalation. Israeli forces withdrew later and no arrests were reported.
There are approximately 585 permanent roadblocks, and manned and unmanned checkpoints across the West Bank. At least 65% of the main roads that lead to 18 Palestinian communities in the West Bank are closed or fully controlled by Israeli forces. There are approximately 500 kilometers of restricted roads across the West Bank. In addition, approximately one third of the West Bank, including occupied East Jerusalem, is inaccessible to Palestinians without a permit issued by the Israeli forces. These permits are extremely difficult to obtain.
Israeli attacks in the Gaza Strip:
On Saturday 12 February, at approximately 12:15, Israeli soldiers stationed on observation towers on the border between the Gaza Strip and Israel to the north west of Beit Lahia town fired at a number of Palestinian workers who were collecting scraps of construction materials from a site where the evacuated Israeli settlement of ‘Elli Sinai’ used to stand. As a result, Mahran Rezeq Tanboura, 25, from Beit Lahia, was wounded by a bullet to the left knee, when he was nearly 200 meters away from the border. At approximately 13:00, Israeli soldiers fired at the workers again. As a result, ‘Aashour Mohammed Shkhaidem, 29, from Beit Lahia, was wounded by a bullet to the left knee, when he was nearly 200 meters away from the border.
In the evening of the same day, Israeli soldiers positioned at the border between the Gaza Strip and Israel to the east of Gaza City fired at a number of Palestinian workers who were collecting scraps of construction materials in the east of al-Shuja’iya neighborhood east of Gaza City. As a result, Mohammed Sa’id Eshtaiwi, 16, from al-Zaytoun neighborhood in Gaza City, was wounded by a bullet to the right leg, when he was nearly 800 meters away from the border.
On Monday, the 14th of February, at approximately 09:50, Israeli soldiers stationed on observation towers on the border between the Gaza Strip and Israel to the north west of Beit Lahia town fired at a number of Palestinian workers who were collecting scraps of construction materials from a site where the evacuated Israeli settlement of ‘Elli Sinai’ used to stand. As a result, Suleiman Salem Abu Rkab, 20, from Beit Lahia, was wounded by a bullet to the left leg, when he was nearly 200 meters away from the border.
Israeli Settlement Activities:
Israel has continued its settlement activities in the West Bank in violation of international humanitarian law, and Israeli settlers have continued to attack Palestinian civilians and property.
On 13 February 2011, a number of Israeli settlers from ‘Bat Ain’ settlement to the north of Beit Ummar village, north of Hebron, uprooted 250 olive seedlings from lands belonging to ‘Aadi and Ekhlil families in the nearby Safa village.
On 14 February 2011, Israeli forces razed a one-donum area of land belonging to Nasser Khalil Abu Ta’a in Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood in East Jerusalem. At least 40 olive, almond and apricot trees, 7 grape trees and 20 cypress ones were uprooted. According to Abu Ta’a, Israeli police officers violently beat his son, 16-year-old Hamza, and cut his identity card. Israeli forces did not present a judicial order to raze the land, and claimed that the land leveling was for security considerations.
Also on 14 February 2011, Israeli forces handed notices to a number of Palestinian civilians ordering the evacuation of 20 donums of agricultural land near the annexation wall in Kharas village, northwest of Hebron, claiming that they are state property. These areas of land, which are planted with olives and almonds, are located nearly 300 meters away from the annexation wall.
On the same day, 14 February 2011, a number of Israeli settlers from ‘Halmish’ settlement, northwest of Ramallah, uprooted 12 olive seedlings in Wad Raya area in Nabi Saleh village. Israeli forces then moved into the area and evacuated the settlers.
Israeli Annexation Wall:
Construction on the Wall continued this week. When complete, the illegal Annexation Wall will stretch for 724 kilometers around the West Bank, further isolating the entire population. 350 kilometers of the Wall have already been constructed. Approximately 99% of the Wall has been constructed inside the West Bank itself, further confiscating Palestinian land.
During the reporting period, Israeli forces used excessive force to disperse peaceful demonstrations organized in protest to Israeli settlement activities and the construction of the annexation wall in the West Bank. As a result, two Palestinian civilians, including a child, were wounded, and dozens of Palestinian civilians and international human rights defenders suffered from tear gas inhalation or sustained bruises. Additionally, Israeli forces abducted 3 Palestinian civilians.
Following the Friday Prayer on 11 February 2011, dozens of Palestinian civilians and international and Israeli human rights defenders organized a peaceful demonstration in Bil’in village, west of Ramallah, in protest to the construction of the annexation wall. Israeli soldiers stationed in the area fired rubber-coated metal bullets, sound bombs and tear gas canisters at the demonstrators. As a result, two Palestinian civilians, including a child, were wounded. Additionally, a number of demonstrators suffered from tear gas inhalation.
Also following the Friday Prayer on 11 January 2011, dozens of Palestinian civilians and international and human rights defenders organized a peaceful demonstration in Ne’lin village, west of Ramallah, in protest against the construction of the annexation wall. They clashed with Israeli troops positioned near the Wall. Israeli troops fired rubber-coated metal bullets, sound bombs and tear gas canisters at demonstrators. As a result, a Palestinian civilian, who has not been identified, was hit by a tear gas canister to the right foot. Additionally, a number of demonstrators suffered from tear gas inhalation.
Also following the Friday Prayer on 11 February 2011, dozens of Palestinian civilians and international and Israeli human rights defenders organized a peaceful demonstration in Beit Reema village, northwest of Ramallah, in protest against land confiscations in the Wad al-Raya area between the villages of Nabi Saleh and Deir Nizam. When the demonstrators attempted to reach areas of land seized by Israeli settlers near ‘Halmish’ settlement, Israeli troops fired rubber-coated metal bullets, sound bombs and tear gas canisters at them. As a result, a number of demonstrators suffered from tear gas inhalation. Israeli forces also abducted 3 Palestinian civilians:
Recommendations to the international community:
Due to the number and severity of Israeli human rights violations this week, the PCHR made a number of recommendations to the international community. Among these were a recommendation that the Advisory Opinion issued by the International Court of Justice, which considers the construction of the Annexation Wall inside the West Bank illegal, be implemented by international enforcement bodies.
In addition, the PCHR recommends that international civil society organizations, including human rights organizations, bar associations and NGOs, participate in the process of exposing those accused of grave breaches of international law and urge their governments to bring the perpetrators to justice.
For the full text of the report, click on the link below: |
Springboks coach Heyneke Meyer and All Blacks boss Steve Hansen after last year's test at Ellis Park. The pair had dinner in Johannesburg this week.
Steve Hansen had a dinner date in Johannesburg this week.
Hansen, as has been his habit in recent times, met with Springboks counterpart Heyneke Meyer - or "H" as he likes to call him - to have a quiet graze and discuss life inside and outside the rugby bubble.
In a bygone era the concept of dining with an opposition coach before a test at Ellis Park would have untenable. Not under Hansen.
He says that is what sport is about; enjoying your mate's company, trying to out-wit him for 80 minutes and then shaking his mitt, grabbing a club sandwich and uncapping a beer with him afterwards.
Which brings us to the debate about which coach should be avoided if there's a dispute about who picks up the restaurant tab.
TV footage of Meyer's mad excitement in the coach's box suggests he could blow-up if he feels he is being ripped-off. Hansen, too, can be a strong-willed chap. Don't expect him to roll over if a freeloader tanks-up on expensive wine and then tries to slip out the back door.
Former Blues coach Sir John Kirwan's halftime explosions have earned him a reputation and Black Ferns coach Greg Smith could be a bit excitable, given recent reports about him erupting at a club match in the Waikato. You could rattle out a long list of Frenchies, but let's not bother.
Our vote goes to the Wallabies' fiery Michael Cheika. Few can kick-off like the volatile Sydneysider. When he goes off, it's TNT time.
***
Meyer has had a funny old week.
During a press conference to reveal Schalk Burger as his new captain the power went out. The next day, when he was discussing the selections of his side in the garden of his team's hotel, an advertising screen toppled over in the wind and fell on his head. He copped it sweet and uttered something along the lines of "I hope someone's not trying to tell me something".
Well, it wasn't Heinrich Brussow. At last, after almost four years of being ignored by Meyer, he has been selected to start against the All Blacks. And he has a perfect record; four wins from four outings against the boys in black.
***
Talking of hotels, the Springboks' digs at the Montecasino "leisure and entertainment centre" in Jo'burg were a beaut. Montecasino, which covers 26 hectares and is designed to replicate an ancient Italian village, is where those with a disposable income come to gamble, eat well and stare at the expensive European cars in front of the expensive hotels.
The Boks' hotel, which looked had been transported straight out of a Tuscan setting, was surrounded by manicured hedges, lawns and a pool with massive carp swimming inside it. As their forwards practiced their lineout moves, pink flamingos strutted around in the background and water fountains tinkled quietly.
Gone are the days when touring teams would find a quiet section of the car park, sweep aside the cigarette butts and wolf whistle at the paint job of a fancy Holden HQ haphazardly parked in front of the local lounge bar.
***
Dane Coles rolls casually and we like it. With his patchy stubble and close-cropped haircut you could imagine him swapping jokes with the boys at the local trucking firm or on a building site. No cliches with the good-natured Coles, who tells it as he sees it and with a smile on his mug.
He also gave South African media plenty to hoot about when he mistakenly called Eben Etzebeth "Elizabeth".
Rather than get all precious, Coles could laugh at himself. No blushes or staring silently at the ceiling with this joker.
And then he tried to throw his good mate James Broadhurst under the bus. He intimated that if Etzebeth takes offence by his error he can take his frustrations out on the test debutant Broadhurst. |
There is one encouraging element from the Steelers’ AFC Wild Card win over the Cincinnati Bengals Saturday night that did not involve the impulse control problems of Vontaze Burfict or Adam Jones, the health of Ben Roethlisberger’s shoulder or the fuzziness inside Antonio Brown’s head.
It’s an element that helped them throughout the game, long before that chaotic, epic period between when Burfict sacked Roethlisberger — causing him to leave the game with an injured shoulder — and when A.J. McCarron’s final desperation heave fell to the turf at Paul Brown Stadium.
It’s the same element that might give the Steelers a fighting chance next Sunday in Denver against the Broncos. And it’s the same element they lacked last season when they lost a home playoff game to the Baltimore Ravens.
Hold on, let me rephrase. Technically, they are two elements that when combined prove to be pretty explosive: running backs Fitzgerald Touissant and Jordan Todman, a.k.a. “TNT.”
Say what you want about Mike Tomlin’s decision-making throughout this season. Despite having three different quarterbacks drop back to pass, four kickers teeing up, four kick returners fielding balls in the end zone and five different running backs taking carries, at least with the latter of those ongoing changes he learned not to make the same mistake twice.
He could’ve done the same thing he did after Le’Veon Bell went down during the regular season finale last year against those same Bengals. He could’ve went for another free agent re-tread off the street and given him just a week to learn the playbook, memorize the protections and hope for the best like he did with Ben Tate.
But instead he put his faith in two backs who have combined for only 22 carries this season, but have at least been with the team all season. Todman was signed as a free agent to provide depth should this very situation arise. Toussaint was a practice squad player who eventually rose to the active roster and unseated Isaiah Pead.
There are a few reasons why Mike Tomlin’s players love playing for him. He goes out of his way to avoid blasting them publicly (even though sometimes it is the necessary thing to do). He keeps the details of his personal conversations with individual players regarding discipline issues confidential, completely eschewing public criticism from media and fans alike.
And when the time comes for a reserve to step into a starting role, he publicly puts his trust in that newly-made starter and works to build their confidence, whether they need it or not.
This time he put that faith in two men pressed into that position, and it paid off with 32 combined touches for 183 yards and one play of 20-plus yards apiece from each back for good measure.
Touissant’s ability to gain tough yards between the tackles, assist in pass protection and catch passes out of the backfield blended with Todman’s speed, shiftiness and patience. If one weren’t too careful, they might’ve looked into the backfield and seen 26 or 34 on those jerseys instead of 33 and 30.
Believe it or not, turning the reps over to an inexperienced running back during a playoff run isn’t a totally unfamiliar concept. The Green Bay Packers turned to rookie James Starks, only 29 carries young in his professional career, as their feature back during their playoff run as the no. 6 seed in the NFC in 2010.
Starks answered the call with 315 yards on 88 carries and a touchdown in the four games the Packers played on the way to a Super Bowl XLV victory over… *cough* …the Pittsburgh Steelers. He wasn’t great, but he was good enough to help Green Bay win three of those four games by a touchdown or less.
The Steelers’ running backs don’t have to be great to stay on the road to Levi’s Stadium for Super Bowl 50. But last Saturday night they were good enough to win. And next Sunday night in Denver, they’ll get another chance to do it again.
And in this particular case, maybe two backs are better than one. |
The clock is ticking for a controversial surveillance provision, which is is set to expire at midnight at the end of the year.
But the Trump administration has signaled that it will support its clean reauthorization. Passing a clean version of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, or FISA, is "necessary to protect the security of the nation," according to a White House official speaking to Reuters.
Already, bipartisan lawmakers in Congress are gearing up for a fight -- ready to oppose the law's reauthorization of the provision without some level of significant reform.
FISA, initially signed in 1978 and amended in 2008 following a vast expansion of domestic surveillance under the Bush administration, was back in the spotlight in 2013 after details of National Security Agency surveillance programs it authorized were leaked by Edward Snowden.
One particular element of the law, dubbed Section 702, has faced intense criticism from privacy advocates and lawmakers alike.
The provision permitted surveillance operations such as the PRISM program, which collected private data from customers of Apple, Google, Facebook, Microsoft and others. The provision also permitted "upstream" collection from the backbone fiber connections of the internet.
And though FISA is designed to target foreign nationals, an unknown amount of Americans' data is also collected in the process.
That's one of the main reasons why numerous Democratic and Republican legislators have argued reforms to Section 702 are necessary to ensure that Americans' constitutionally-guaranteed privacy rights are not violated.
But a key question remains unanswered: exactly how many Americans were caught up in the NSA's surveillance dragnet as a result of surveillance authorized under Section 702?
Since the Snowden disclosures during Obama's second term, nobody has been willing to put a number on it.
This week, Dan Coats, the administration's pick for director of national intelligence, who called the provision the "crown jewels" of the intelligence agency's surveillance programs, said that the program is "designed to go after foreign bad guys."
But the nominee fell short of promising to disclose how many Americans were caught up in the domestic surveillance dragnet.
That isn't exactly sitting well with a number of privacy-minded lawmakers, who largely stand in a minority in Congress.
Rep. John Conyers (D-MI), who said Monday at a House Judiciary Committee hearing that the idea of "using this authority to collect large amounts of information about US citizens without a warrant or individualized suspicious... is, in a word, wrong."
Other lawmakers have too called for changes to surveillance laws.
Reps. Thomas Massie and Ted Lieu have both called for reforms. Intelligence committee member Sen. Ron Wyden has been a strong advocate of reforms to Section 702. And, Zoe Lofgren, a lawmaker with a constituency in the heart of Silicon Valley, has previously warned of the dangers to domestic surveillance under Section 702, and co-sponsored a bill to change the law.
House lawmakers made it clear Monday that knowing the number of Americans caught up in Section 702 searches is paramount, and they likely aren't going to waver any time soon.
And whatever that number is -- whether it's a handful or a few million -- will play a central role in determining if the surveillance statute gets reauthorized.
In any case, there will be a small army of lawmakers ready to challenge it. |
This article is Day #5 in a series called the 31 Days of Mango.
Today, we are going to talk about a new sensor available to us, the Gyroscope. This sensor is only available in phones that were released after the Mango launch, and even then, not all phones will have a Gyroscope. However, it’s a powerful tool that we should take advantage of when its available, and this article will show you how.
If you have a device that contains a gyroscope sensor, you can download the application from this article from the Windows Phone Marketplace.
What is a Gyroscope?
According to Wikipedia, “a gyroscope is a device for measuring or maintaining orientation.” Many of you probably have seen an example of a gyroscope before, but here’s an illustration of a physical gyroscope (courtesy of Wikipedia):
As you can see, it has the ability to spin on three axes, the X, Y, and Z axis (much like the Accelerometer, which we covered in Day #11 of the 31 Days of Windows Phone). While the Accelerometer measures acceleration, the Gyroscope measures rotational velocity.
Having said that, however, there is not a device in your phone that looks like the one pictured above. Instead, mobile phones use a MEMS gyroscope, which often use vibrations or resonance to determine their data.
Using the Gyroscope In Your App
The Gyroscope sensor is as easy to use as the Accelerometer, but we don’t yet have the benefit of the additional tools in the emulator. The data you receive measures the rotational velocity of the device in radians per second.
This means that you can more accurately and smoothly measure the current orientation of the device. This will become especially handy when you build applications that perform augmented reality. In most cases, however, you’re probably not going to be accessing the Gyroscope by itself. There are a couple of reasons for this:
Not all Windows Phones will have a Gyroscope. In fact, only phones that come out after the Mango release will be capable of having a Gyroscope, and it is still an optional piece of hardware.
Microsoft has created a Motion class that combines the data from the Accelerometer, the Compass, and the Gyroscope into one class that we can use more effectively (we will cover this in tomorrow’s article). If you’re interested in the attitude of the device (pitch, yaw, roll), you’re going to want to focus on the Motion class.
However, in the case that you do need to use the gyroscope independent of the Motion class, it should always be wrapped by a check to determine that the user’s device supports the gyroscope sensor. To do this, we need two specific pieces of code. This first is a using statement for the Microsoft.Phone.Sensors namespace. The second is an IF statement that checks the Gyroscope.IsSupported value. In this simple state, your code-behind file would look like this:
using System;
using Microsoft.Phone.Controls;
using Microsoft.Devices.Sensors;
using Microsoft.Xna.Framework; System;Microsoft.Phone.Controls;Microsoft.Devices.Sensors;Microsoft.Xna.Framework; namespace Day5_Gyroscope
{
public partial class MainPage : PhoneApplicationPage
{
public MainPage()
{
InitializeComponent(); if (Gyroscope.IsSupported)
{
// DO SOMETHING
}
}
}
}
Now we just need to fill in that “DO SOMETHING” comment. In order to do this, let’s start with a user interface that will shows our Gyroscope data.
In the UI above, we have three TextBoxes to show the raw data, and three lines to reflect the degree of each value. To recreate this interface, use the following XAML as your page:
< Grid x : Name ="LayoutRoot" Background ="Transparent">
< Grid.RowDefinitions >
< RowDefinition Height ="Auto"/>
< RowDefinition Height ="*"/>
</ Grid.RowDefinitions > <!–TitlePanel contains the name of the application and page title–>
<StackPanel x:Name="TitlePanel" Grid.Row="0" Margin="12,17,0,28">
<TextBlock x:Name="ApplicationTitle" Text="31 DAYS OF MANGO" Style="{StaticResource PhoneTextNormalStyle}"/>
<TextBlock x:Name="PageTitle" Text="gyroscope" Margin="9,-7,0,0" Style="{StaticResource PhoneTextTitle1Style}"/>
</StackPanel> <!–ContentPanel – place additional content here–>
<Grid x:Name="ContentPanel" Grid.Row="1" Margin="12,0,12,0">
<TextBlock Height="30" HorizontalAlignment="Left" Margin="20,100,0,0" Name="xTextBlock" Text="X: 1.0" VerticalAlignment="Top" Foreground="Red" FontSize="28" FontWeight="Bold"/>
<TextBlock Height="30" HorizontalAlignment="Center" Margin="0,100,0,0" Name="yTextBlock" Text="Y: 1.0" VerticalAlignment="Top" Foreground="Yellow" FontSize="28" FontWeight="Bold"/>
<TextBlock Height="30" HorizontalAlignment="Right" Margin="0,100,20,0" Name="zTextBlock" Text="Z: 1.0" VerticalAlignment="Top" Foreground="Blue" FontSize="28" FontWeight="Bold"/>
<Line x:Name="xLine" X1="240" Y1="350" X2="340" Y2="350" Stroke="Red" StrokeThickness="4"></Line>
<Line x:Name="yLine" X1="240" Y1="350" X2="240" Y2="270" Stroke="Yellow" StrokeThickness="4"></Line>
<Line x:Name="zLine" X1="240" Y1="350" X2="190" Y2="400" Stroke="Blue" StrokeThickness="4"></Line>
<TextBlock Height="30" HorizontalAlignment="Center" Margin="6,571,6,0" Name="statusTextBlock" Text="" VerticalAlignment="Top" Width="444" />
</Grid>
</Grid>
In the code example below, we create a new Gyroscope object, and after checking to make sure that the Gyroscope is supported with the Gyroscope.IsSupported boolean value, we create an event handler for CurrentValueChanged.
using System;
using Microsoft.Phone.Controls;
using Microsoft.Devices.Sensors;
using Microsoft.Xna.Framework; System;Microsoft.Phone.Controls;Microsoft.Devices.Sensors;Microsoft.Xna.Framework; namespace Day5_Gyroscope
{
public partial class MainPage : PhoneApplicationPage
{
Gyroscope g;
public MainPage()
{
InitializeComponent(); if (Gyroscope.IsSupported)
{
g = new Gyroscope();
g.TimeBetweenUpdates = TimeSpan.FromMilliseconds(20);
g.CurrentValueChanged += new EventHandler<SensorReadingEventArgs<GyroscopeReading>>(g_CurrentValueChanged);
g.Start();
}
else statusTextBlock.Text = "gyroscope not supported";
} void g_CurrentValueChanged(object sender, SensorReadingEventArgs<GyroscopeReading> e)
{
Dispatcher.BeginInvoke(() => UpdateUI(e.SensorReading));
} private void UpdateUI(GyroscopeReading gyroscopeReading)
{
statusTextBlock.Text = "getting data";
Vector3 rotationReading = gyroscopeReading.RotationRate; xTextBlock.Text = "X " + rotationReading.X.ToString("0.00");
yTextBlock.Text = "Y " + rotationReading.Y.ToString("0.00");
zTextBlock.Text = "Z " + rotationReading.Z.ToString("0.00"); xLine.X2 = xLine.X1 + rotationReading.X * 200;
yLine.Y2 = yLine.Y1 – rotationReading.Y * 200;
zLine.X2 = zLine.X1 – rotationReading.Z * 100;
zLine.Y2 = zLine.Y1 + rotationReading.Z * 100;
}
}
}
The Gyroscope, like the Compass, allows our event handler method to fire every time the Gyroscope detects a new value after waiting the duration that the TimeBetweenUpdates property specifies. In our example, we will get updates no faster than every 20 milliseconds.
You should notice a possibly unfamiliar bit of code in our g_CurrentValueChanged method:
Dispatcher.BeginInvoke(() => UpdateUI(e.SensorReading));
The reason we use this is because we want to move the reading of our sensor to a separate processing thread. Without it, we would be trying to use the UI thread to access the Gyroscope, which will always throw an error. In Windows Phone, we are not allowed to lock up the UI thread, and so for many examples like this one, we will want to pitch our process to a separate thread.
We still pass the entire GyroscopeReading object to our new thread-safe method, UpdateUI, which allows us to gather each of the X, Y, and Z values from the Vector3 value RotationRate. We are displaying the data values in TextBlocks, but the cool data visualization is in those Line elements we created in our XAML.
If you imagine each line segment to represent a different data point (the red horizontal line is X, the yellow vertical line is Y, and the blue diagonal line is the Z axis. You could then manipulate the lengths of these lines to represent the rotational velocity of the device. Each of these calculations will extend the length of their respective lines, giving you a very illustrative example of what types of rotation your device is experiencing.
Remember, the code sample covered in this article will only work on devices that have a Gyroscope available. The emulator, as well as all original Windows Phone 7 devices do not have this sensor. Here’s a quick video of what this application looks like running on a device with a gyroscope:
Summary
The Gyroscope is a handy little sensor. It lets us get a very accurate picture of the device’s movement in space, which is especially useful when creating applications that use augmented reality. To download the sample application that this article discussed, click the Download Code button below:
Microsoft also created a new class in Windows Phone 7.5 called Motion, which combines the data from the Gyroscope, Accelerometer, and Compass to give us an amazing amount of accuracy. This Motion class is the topic of tomorrow’s article, and we will cover it in detail, including how to determine the “attitude” of a device, which includes pitch, yaw, and roll. See you then! |
According to the Firefox 2012 roadmap, Mozilla plans to introduce some major changes and new features this year, including a new default theme called Australis:
Firefox - default GNOME 3 theme
Firefox - Ubuntu (Ambiance theme)
Firefox - OSX
Firefox - Windows 7
As you can see in the images above, Firefox will use Chrome-like curved tabs on all platforms, the bookmarks star will be separated from the locationBar and merged with the bookmarks menu and apparently, the menu will be moved next to the locationBar. Further more, a new built-in download panel should finally replace the separate Firefox download window. There's already a Unfortunately, there are still no plans to support tabs in the titlebar for Linux (because of GTK limitations), but most other UI changes should be available for Linux too.As you can see in the images above, Firefox will use Chrome-like curved tabs on all platforms, the bookmarks star will be separated from the locationBar and merged with the bookmarks menu and apparently, the menu will be moved next to the locationBar. Further more, a new built-in download panel should finally replace the separate Firefox download window. There's already a custom Firefox build that comes with an initial version of the new download panel:
If you want to try the new theme, there's an unofficial Australis theme HERE (but it needs some work, at least under Linux). (but it needs some work, at least under Linux).
Besides the changes mentioned above, there are many other new features that should land in Firefox this year:
a new tab page (an initial version is already available in the latest Firefox Aurora builds - screenshot above) powered by the Awesomebar, with a new "speed dial" and new home tab which lets you access the Firefox preferences, etc.
Chrome migration
Web Apps (-webapp mode) and WebApps Marketplace integration
reworked session restore and a new Firefox restore which lets you restore bookmarks, passwords, etc.
Firefox Share: share links / update status across social networks
Firefox Login: user-centric site logins - one login for all the websites you us
in-line Preferences Manager
seamless plug-in install and update experience
built-in PDF viewer
more!
For more info, visit the Firefox roadmap page. |
No matter how many superhero comics you read, there's one thing we all take for granted: Superheroes wear costumes. Superman has his blue leotard and (sometimes) red underwear, Batman has his cowl, every superhero has something. It's what separates the superhero from the alter ego. It's what keeps people from figuring out that Clark Kent isn't the awkward, clumsy Kansas boy he appears to be.
Now, DC revealed one of their superheroes isn't wearing a costume, Comic Book reports.
In "Justice League #35," Wonder Woman revealed to the world what she wears isn't a costume, uniform or super suit. It's a religious garment.
After the previous issue saw a nun killed by a terrorist wielding Wonder Woman's sword, Diana is called in for questioning. The interrogating officer refers to Wonder Woman's iconic outfit as a costume. She cuts him off to correct him.
(Photo: DC Entertainment)
"It's a habit," she says. "A religious garment. I do not wear a costume." The officer also calls her Diana Prince, and she corrects him once again. Her name is " Diana of Themyscira. Daughter of Hippolyta." |
— 30 April, 2014
So you know how to build a status bar to get informations about your computer? That's cute. How about bringing it to the next level?
Let's go through another way to display informations from your lovely computer: popup notifications !
What's that ?
Popup notifications (I'll call them "popup" from now) are a tiny window that will appear on your screen with an informative text on it, and then disappear after a certain amount of time, or a user interaction.
The important part is that the popups show up when an event occur, not upon user request (well, if the user request a popup, it can still appear, obviously).
Usefulness
Well, most of the popup we have to deal with are annoying most of the time (except those that notify me that I won an IPad by being the visitor number 1 000 000, it's nice to tell me!). But if you choose wisely the content and the event to pop it, it can become really useful, and help you to unclutter your desktop by removing useless informations.
Do you really need to know that your laptop battery is at 78% ? NO Do you really need to know that you have 0 new mails ? NO
This can apply to many other informations (RAM, CPU, current workspace,..). You don't need the information to be displayed all the time. You just need it when it's relevant, like battery under 10%, or new mail incoming.
But if you just LIKE to have it displayed all the time (Sometime, I enjoy a nice status bar with the fine infos in it), then it's okay! Remember that you can have both anyway ;)
Moreover, you can use popups to notify you when a task running in the background has finished, or that a torrent has finished downloading, or whatever weird usage you can find!
Existing software
There are in fact, many notification systems that you can use: libnotify, notify-osd, twmn, etc...
These are fine. But as always, it's just funnier to build your own! And in order to do so, we will need an important program: bar! (note that you can use dzen too)
I love this one, because it's really light and simple to use. Moreover, I contributed to it to complete the geometry setting. You can now create a window of any size and place it wherever you want!
Popup itself
This part is the most simple in fact. bar will do anything for us.
All you have to do is to create a script that will take a serie of argument and put them in a resized bar on your screen.
The simplest script I can think of is:
#!/bin/sh Create the popup and make it live for 3 seconds (echo " $@"; sleep 3) | bar -g 120x20+20+20
And it's working, already! After that, you can style it to make it look like you want:
#!/bin/sh # how long should the popup remain? duration=3 # define geometry barx=10 bary=10 barw=120 barh=20 # colors bar_bg='#ff333333' bar_fg='#ffffffff' # white is default # font used bar_font='-*-gohufont-medium-*-*--11-*-*-*-*-*-iso10646-1' # compute all this baropt='-g ${barw}x${barh}+${barx}+${bary} -B${bar_bg} -f ${bar_font}' Create the popup and make it live for 3 seconds (echo " $@"; sleep ${duration}) | bar ${baropt}
Obviously, that's not an informative popup at all (is it?). All you need now is to write some simple script to grab the informations you will need to display in your popup. I'll not develop it here, as I already wrote a not-so-tiny section on a subjet in my previous post.
You could then just pop notifications using:
popup $(~/bin/volume)
Automate the popups
The best thing about popups is that they spawn when it's relevent, eg: when a new mail arrived, volume is changing or battery is low.
To catch those event there are many way. We will run through three of them:
infinite loop
inotify event
key presses
infinite loop
This one is easy. We just check whatever we want at regular interval, and depending on some conditions, we raise a notification. That's what I use for my battery:
#!/bin/sh # # z3bra - (c) wtfpl 2014 # check battery level, and raise a notification if the capacity is # under a defined level LEVL=7 BATC=$(sed 's/%//' /sys/class/power_supply/BAT0/capacity) test ${BATC} -le ${LEVL} && popup battery level: ${BATC}
Then run this every 2 minutes or so, and it will notify you when your battery is running low. You can put it in your .xinitrc or as a cron job:
# .xinitrc while :; do ~/bin/battery_check; sleep 120; done & # crontab */2 * * * * DISPLAY=0 ~/bin/battery_check
inotify event
Inotify (inode notify) is a Linux kernel subsystem that acts to extend filesystems to notice changes to the filesystem. That strange sentence means that you can catch an event when a node (file, socket, fifo, directory, ...) is modified. There are many events like modification, access to a node, node moved, etc...
To catch those event, there are really few tools.. I wrote mine, wendy, but there are other. Just take a look at this reddit thread to find out more.
So let's define the environnment. There is that directory:
$ ls ~/var/mail/INBOX cur/ new/ tmp/
I use fdm (see this blog post to retrieve my mails from my POP3 server. Each new mail creates a file in ~/var/mail/INBOX/new , so we will just need to watch file creation in that folder, and pop a notification at each new mail. It's done like this in my ~/.xinitrc
# .xinitrc # note that $MAIL is set to my inbox through my ~/.profile wendy -m 256 -q -f ${MAIL}/new -e popup 'new mail(s)!' &
And there we go. each time fdm will fetch mails to your inbox, a wild popup will appear!
key presses
The last type of popup I use is those that occur when a key is pressed. The best exemple for that are the volume keys. I don't know how you handle this, but personnally, I use xbindkeys for that. It's a software that let the user map commands to hotkeys, which is totally useful for everything. I know some people ( bspwm users, mostly) use baskerville's sxhkd to do so. I have nothing against this soft, but it will just not cut it here. For further explanations, see this comment @nixers.net. (/u/jumpwah pointed that sxhkd can run multiple commands using a single keybind, as show in examples/sxhkdrc ).
So, if you already use xbindkeys to change your volume level, probably already know what to do.
I personally have a script to manage my volume level:
#!/bin/sh # # z3bra - (c) wtfpl 2014 # Manage ALSA Master channel test "$1" = "-h" && echo "usage `basename $0` [+|-|!]" && exit 0 level() { amixer get Master | sed -n 's/^.*\[\([0-9]\+%\).*$/\1/p' | uniq } state() { amixer get Master | sed -n 's/^.*\[\(o[nf]\+\)]$/\1/p' | uniq } test $# -eq 0 && echo "`level` `state`" && exit 0 case $1 in +) amixer set Master 5%+ >/dev/null;; -) amixer set Master 5%- >/dev/null;; !) amixer set Master toggle >/dev/null;; state|level) $1;; *) amixer set Master $1 >/dev/null;; esac
It's quite simple. volume +|- will raise|lower volume, volume ! will toggle on/off, volume level|state will output the level or state, and volume whatever will execute whatever through amixer (exemple: volume on|off ).
Back to the topic. Here is my .xbindkeysrc
"~/bin/volume +" XF86AudioRaiseVolume "~/bin/volume -" XF86AudioLowerVolume "~/bin/volume !" XF86AudioMute "~/bin/popup volume: $(~/bin/volume level)" XF86AudioRaiseVolume "~/bin/popup volume: $(~/bin/volume level)" XF86AudioLowerVolume "~/bin/popup volume: $(~/bin/volume level)" XF86AudioMute
There, simple. The popup command is bound to my volume keys, so each time I press them, the notification comes up! It's quite simple.
Improvements
This system is not perfect at all, because popup overlap, the width and timing is fixed, ... But it's also a bare simple system, easily hackable. You could use it to build a more complex system on top of that. For example, you can easily write a simple daemon that will read messages from a fifo and stack popups together:
#!/bin/sh # # z3bra - (c) wtfpl 2014 # Popup wrapper used to stack notifications together # fifo that we'll use to feed the popups test -p /tmp/popup.fifo || mkfifo /tmp/popup.fifo # popup definition w=150 h=20 x=1930 y=10 # popup counter (starts at -1 so that the first popup has no offset n=-1 # get messages from the fifo tail -f /tmp/popup.fifo | while IFS= read -r message; do # increment the counter n=$((n + 1)) { # display the popup under the others ~/bin/popup -g ${w}x${h}+${x}+$((y + (h+y) * n)) $n ${message} # decrement the counter n=$((n - 1)) } & done
Then, write your messages to /tmp/popup.fifo to see your popup stacking together ( echo shblah > /tmp/popup.fifo ). It will probably require improvements, but it's a good starting point!
Here are a few other ideas I had (but did not bother trying :P):
Using txtw to change width dynamically
Make use of the clickable area of bar to get rid of the popup
to get rid of the popup Make long notifications scroll using skroll
shampoo / soap
4 apples
some fresh meat Ah, wrong list...
Ah, wrong list... ...
Be creative, as usual!
Good bye
I hope this will be helpful to someone. It's not meant to make you throw your status bar away, or switch from libnotify and such. It's just a bare simple alternative to those, as I like to have :)
Enjoy! |
large, arid region in the northwestern part of the Indian subcontinent
The Thar Desert, also known as the Great Indian Desert, is a large arid region in the northwestern part of the Indian subcontinent that covers an area of 200,000 km2 (77,000 sq mi) and forms a natural boundary between India and Pakistan. It is the world's 17th largest desert, and the world's 9th largest subtropical desert.
About 85% of the Thar Desert is located within India, with the remaining 15% in Pakistan.[1] In India, it covers about 170,000 km2 (66,000 sq mi), and the remaining 30,000 km2 (12,000 sq mi) of the desert is within Pakistan. The Thar desert forms approximately 5%(~4.56%) of the total geographic area of India. More than 60% of the desert lies in the state of Rajasthan, and extends into Gujarat, Punjab, and Haryana.[2] The desert comprises a very dry part, the Marusthali region in the west, and a semidesert region in the east with fewer sand dunes and slightly more precipitation.[3]
Geography [ edit ]
View of the Thar desert
The Thar Desert extends between the Aravalli Hills in the north-east,[1] the Great Rann of Kutch along the coast and the alluvial plains of the Indus River in the west and north-west. Most of the desert is covered by huge shifting sand dunes that receive sediments from the alluvial plains and the coast. The sand is highly mobile due to strong winds occurring before the onset of the monsoon. The Luni River is the only river integrated into the desert.[4] Rainfall is limited to 100–500 mm (3.9–19.7 in) per year, mostly falling from July to September.[1]
Salt water lakes within the Thar Desert include the Sambhar, Kuchaman, Didwana, Pachpadra and Phalodi in Rajasthan and Kharaghoda in Gujarat. These lakes receive and collect rain water during monsoon and evaporate during the dry season. The salt is derived by the weathering of rocks in the region.[5]
Lithic tools belonging to the prehistoric Aterian culture of the Maghreb have been discovered in Middle Paleolithic deposits in the Thar Desert.[6]
Desertification control [ edit ]
Acacia tortilis near Checking of shifting sand dunes through plantations ofnear Laxmangarh town
The soil of the Thar Desert remains dry for much of the year and is prone to wind erosion. High velocity winds blow soil from the desert, depositing some on neighboring fertile lands, and causing shifting sand dunes within the desert. Sand dunes are stabilised by erecting micro-windbreak barriers with scrub material and subsequent afforestation of the treated dunes with seedlings of shrubs such as phog, senna, castor oil plant and trees such as gum acacia, Prosopis juliflora and lebbek tree. The 649 km (403 mi) long Indira Gandhi Canal brings fresh water to the Thar Desert.[1] It was conceived to halt spreading of the desert to fertile areas.
There are few local tree species suitable for planting in the desert, which are slow growing. Therefore, exotic tree species were introduced for plantation. Many species of Eucalyptus, Acacia, Cassia and other genera from Israel, Australia, US, Russia, Zimbabwe, Chile, Peru and Sudan have been tried in Thar Desert. Acacia tortilis has proved to be the most promising species for desert afforestation and the jojoba is another promising species of economic value found suitable for planting in these areas.[1]
Protected areas [ edit ]
There are several protected areas in the Thar Desert.
Biodiversity [ edit ]
Blackbuck male and female
Chinkara or 'Indian Gazelle' is found across Thar desert
Fauna [ edit ]
Stretches of sand in the desert are interspersed by hillocks and sandy and gravel plains. Due to the diversified habitat and ecosystem, the vegetation, human culture and animal life in this arid region is very rich in contrast to the other deserts of the world. About 23 species of lizard and 25 species of snakes are found here and several of them are endemic to the region.
Some wildlife species, which are fast vanishing in other parts of India, are found in the desert in large numbers such as the blackbuck (Antilope cervicapra), chinkara (Gazella bennettii) and Indian wild ass (Equus hemionus khur) in the Rann of Kutch. They have evolved excellent survival strategies, their size is smaller than other similar animals living in different conditions, and they are mainly nocturnal. There are certain other factors responsible for the survival of these animals in the desert. Due to the lack of water in this region, transformation of the grasslands into cropland has been very slow. The protection provided to them by a local community, the Bishnois, is also a factor. Other mammals of the Thar Desert include a subspecies of red fox (Vulpes vulpes pusilla) and the caracal.
The region is a haven for 141 species of migratory and resident birds of the desert. One can see eagles, harriers, falcons, buzzards, kestrel and vultures. There are short-toed eagles (Circaetus gallicus), tawny eagles (Aquila rapax), greater spotted eagles (Aquila clanga), laggar falcons (Falco jugger) and kestrels. There are also a number of reptiles.
The Indian peafowl is a resident breeder in the Thar region. The peacock is designated as the national bird of India and the provincial bird of the Punjab (Pakistan). It can be seen sitting on khejri or pipal trees in villages or Deblina.Bishnois Dharmaguru Jambeshwar was an ecologist.
Flora [ edit ]
The natural vegetation of this dry area is classed as Northwestern thorn scrub forest occurring in small clumps scattered more or less openly.[11][12] Density and size of patches increase from west to east following the increase in rainfall. The natural vegetation of the Thar Desert is composed of the following tree, shrub and herb species:[13]
The endemic floral species include Calligonum polygonoides, Prosopis cineraria, Acacia nilotica, Tamarix aphylla, Cenchrus biflorus.[14]
People [ edit ]
Huts in the Thar desert
A girl from the Gadia Lohars nomadic tribe of Marwar , cooking her food
The Thar Desert is the most widely populated desert in the world, with a population density of 83 people per km2.[8] In India, the inhabitants comprise Hindus, Muslims, and Sikhs. In Pakistan, inhabitants also include both Muslims and Hindus.[15]
About 40% of the total population of Rajasthan live in the Thar Desert.[16] The main occupation of the people is agriculture and animal husbandry. A colourful culture rich in tradition prevails in this desert. The people have a great passion for folk music and folk poetry.
Jodhpur, the largest city in the region, lies in the scrub forest zone. Bikaner and Jaisalmer are located in the desert proper. A large irrigation and power project has reclaimed areas of the northern and western desert for agriculture. The small population is mostly pastoral, and hide and wool industries are prominent.
The desert's part in Pakistan also has a rich multifaceted culture, heritage, traditions, folk tales, dances and music due to its inhabitants who belong to different religions, sects and castes.
In the years 1965 and 1971, population exchanges took place in the Thar between India and Pakistan. 3,500 Muslim families shifted from the Indian section of the Thar to Pakistani Thar whilst thousands of Hindus also migrated from Pakistani Thar to the Indian section of the Thar.[17][18][19]
Thar in ancient literature [ edit ]
Course of Sarasvati river through Thar desert
The Sarasvati River is one of the chief Rigvedic rivers mentioned in ancient Hindu texts. The Nadistuti hymn in the Rigveda mentions the Sarasvati between the Yamuna in the east and the Sutlej in the west, and later Vedic texts like Tandya and Jaiminiya Brahmanas as well as the Mahabharata mention that the Sarasvati dried up in a desert.
Most scholars agree that at least some of the references to the Sarasvati in the Rigveda refer to the Ghaggar-Hakra River.
There is also a small present-day Sarasvati River (Sarsuti) that joins the Ghaggar.
The epic Mahabharata mentions the Kamyaka Forest situated on the western boundary of the Kuru Kingdom (Kuru Proper and Kurujangala), on the banks of the Sarasvati River to the west of the Kurukshetra plain, which contained a lake known as Kamyaka. The Kamyaka forest is mentioned as being situated at the head of the Thar desert,[16] near Lake Trinavindu. The Pandavas, on their way to exile in the woods, left Pramanakoti on the banks of the Ganges and went towards Kurukshetra, travelling in a western direction and crossing the Yamuna and Drishadvati rivers. They finally reached the banks of the Sarasvati River where they saw the forest of Kamyaka, the favourite haunt of ascetics, situated on a level and wild plain on the banks of the Sarasvati abounding in birds and deer. There the Pandavas lived in an ascetic asylum. It took three days for Pandavas to reach the Kamyaka forest, setting out from Hastinapura, on their chariots.
In the Rigveda there is also mention of a river named Aśvanvatī along with the river Drishadvati.[20] Some scholars consider both the Sarasvati and Aśvanvatī to be the same river.[16]
Human habitations on the banks of Sarasvati and Drishadvati had shifted to the east and south directions prior to the Mahabharata period. At that time the present day Bikaner and Jodhpur areas were known as Kurujangala and Madrajangala provinces.[16]
The Desert National Park in Jaisalmer district has a collection of animal fossils and plants 180 million years old.
Desert eco-system [ edit ]
Pakistan. Due to severe weather conditions, there are few highways in the Thar desert. Shown here is a road in Tharparkar District of Sindh
Agriculture [ edit ]
The Thar is one of the most heavily populated desert areas in the world with the main occupations of its inhabitants agriculture and animal husbandry. Agriculture is not a dependable proposition in this area because after the rainy season, at least one third of crops fail. Animal husbandry, trees and grasses, intercropped with vegetables or fruit trees, is the most viable model for arid, drought-prone regions. The region faces frequent droughts. Overgrazing due to high animal populations, wind and water erosion, mining and other industries have resulted in serious land degradation.
Mustard fields in a village of Shri Ganganagar district (Rajasthan, India).
Agricultural production is mainly from kharif crops, which are grown in the summer season and seeded in June and July. These are then harvested in September and October and include bajra, pulses such as guar, jowar (Sorghum vulgare), maize (zea mays), sesame and groundnuts. Over the past few decades[when?] the development of irrigation features including canals and tube wells have changed the crop pattern with desert districts in Rajasthan now producing rabi crops including wheat, mustard and cumin seed along with cash crops.[16]
The Thar region of Rajasthan is a major opium production and consumption area.[citation needed] The Indira Gandhi Canal irrigates northwestern Rajasthan while the Government of India has started a centrally sponsored Desert Development Program based on watershed management with the objective of preventing the spread of desert and improving the living conditions of people in the desert.[16]
Livestock [ edit ]
Camel ride in the Thar desert near Jaisalmer, India.
Cows in Thar Desert
In the last 15–20 years, the Rajasthan desert has seen many changes, including a manifold increase of both the human and animal population. Animal husbandry has become popular due to the difficult farming conditions. At present, there are ten times more animals per person in Rajasthan than the national average, and overgrazing is also a factor affecting climatic and drought conditions.
A large number of farmers in Thar desert depend on animal husbandry for their livelihood. Cows, buffalos, sheep, goats, camels, and oxen consists of major cattle population. Barmer district has the highest cattle population out of which sheep and goats are in majority. Some of the best breeds of bullocks such as Kankrej (Sanchori) and Nagauri are from desert region.
Thar region of Rajasthan is the biggest wool-producing area in India. Chokla, Marwari, Jaisalmeri, Magra, Malpuri, Sonadi, Nali and Pungal breeds of sheep are found in the region. Of the total wool production in India, 40-50% comes from Rajasthan. The sheep-wool from Rajasthan is considered best for carpet making industry in the world. The wool of Chokla breed of sheep is considered of superior quality. The breeding centres have been developed for Karakul and Merino sheep at Suratgarh, Jaitsar and Bikaner. Some important mills for making Woolen thread established in desert area are: Jodhpur Woolen Mill, Jodhpur; Rajasthan Woolen Mill, Bikaner and India Woolen Mill, Bikaner. Bikaner is the biggest mandi (market place) of wool in Asia.[16]
The live stock depends for grazing on common lands in villages. During famine years in the desert the nomadic rebari people move with large herds of sheep and camel to the forested areas of south Rajasthan or nearby states like Madhya Pradesh for grazing the cattle.
The importance of animal husbandry can be understood from the organization of large number of cattle fairs in the region. Cattle fairs are normally named after the folk-deities. Some of major cattle fairs held are Ramdevji cattle fair at Manasar in Nagaur district, Tejaji cattle fair at Parbatsar in Nagaur district, Baldeo cattle fair at Merta city in Nagaur district, Mallinath cattle fair at Tilwara in barmer district. Live stock is very important to the Thar desert people.
Agroforestry [ edit ]
Lopping of Khejri tree for fodder and fuel in Harsawa village
Forestry has an important part to play in the amelioration of the conditions in semi-arid and arid lands. If properly planned, forestry can make an important contribution to the general welfare of the people living in desert areas. The living standard of the people in the desert is low. They can not afford other fuels like gas, kerosene etc. Fire wood is their main fuel, of the total consumption of wood about 75 percent is firewood. The forest cover in desert is low. Rajasthan has a forest area of 31150 km2. which is about 9% of the geographical area. The forest area is mainly in southern districts of Rajasthan like Udaipur and Chittorgarh. The minimum forest area is in Churu district only 80 km2. Thus the forest is insufficient to fulfill the needs of firewood and grazing in desert districts. This diverts the much needed cattledung from the field to the hearth. This in turn results into the decrease in agricultural production. Agroforestry model is best suited to the people of desert. Some Institutes have done good work in Agroforestry.
The scientists of Central Arid Zone Research Institute (CAZRI), have successfully developed and improved dozens of traditional and non-traditional crops/fruits, such as Ber trees (like plums) that produce much larger fruits than before (lemon-size) and can thrive with minimal rainfall. These trees have become a profitable option for farmers. One example from a case study of horticulture showed that in situation of budding in 35 plants of Ber and Guar (Gola, Seb & Mundia variety developed in CAZRI), using only one hectare of land, yielded 10,000 kg. of Ber and 250 kg. of Guar, which translates into double or even triple profit.[21]
Arid Forest Research Institute, (AFRI) situated at Jodhpur is another national level institute in the region. It is one of the institutes of the Indian Council of Forestry Research and Education ( ICFRE ) working under the Ministry of Environment & Forests, Govt. of India. The Objective of the Institute is to carry out scientific research in forestry in order to provide technologies to increase the vegetative cover and to conserve the biodiversity in the hot arid and semi arid region of Rajasthan, Gujarat and Dadara & Nagar Haveli union territory.
The most important tree species in terms of providing a livelihood in Thar desert communities is Prosopis cineraria.
Prosopis cineraria provides wood of construction class. It is used for house-building, chiefly as rafters, posts scantlings, doors and windows, and for well construction water pipes, upright posts of Persian wheels, agricultural implements and shafts, spokes, fellows and yoke of carts. It can also be used for small turning work and tool-handles. Container manufacturing is another important wood-based industry, which depends heavily on desert-grown trees.
Prosopis cineraria is much valued as a fodder tree. The trees are heavily lopped particularly during winter months when no other green fodder is available in the dry tracts. There is a popular saying that death will not visit a man, even at the time of a famine, if he has a Prosopis cineraria, a goat and a camel, since the three together are some what said to sustain a man even under the most trying condition. The forage yield per tree varies a great deal. On an average, the yield of green forage from a full grown tree is expected to be about 60 kg with complete lopping having only the central leading shoot, 30 kg when the lower two third crown is lopped and 20 kg when the lower one third crown is lopped. The leaves are of high nutritive value. Feeding of the leaves during winter when no other green fodder is generally available in rain-fed areas is thus profitable. The pods have a sweetish pulp and are also used as fodder for livestock.
Prosopis cineraria is most important top feed species providing nutritious and highly palatable green as well as dry fodder, which is readily eaten by camels, cattle, sheep and goats, constituting a major feed requirement of desert livestock. Locally it is called Loong. Pods are locally called sangar or sangri. The dried pods locally called Kho-Kha are eaten. Dried pods also form rich animal feed, which is liked by all livestock. Green pods also form rich animal feed, which is liked by drying the young boiled pods. They are also used as famine food and known even to prehistoric man. Even the bark, having an astringent bitter taste, was reportedly eaten during the severe famine of 1899 and 1939. Pod yield is nearly 1.4 quintals of pods/ha with a variation of 10.7% in dry locations.
Prosopis cineraria wood is reported to contain high calorific value and provide high quality fuel wood. The lopped branches are good as fencing material. Its roots also encourage nitrogen fixation, which produces higher crop yields.
Tecomella undulata tree in the village of tree in the village of Harsawa
Tecomella undulata is one more tree species, locally known as Rohida, which is found in Thar Desert regions of northwest and western India. It is another important medium-sized tree of great use in Agroforestry, that produces quality timber and is the main source of timber amongst the indigenous tree species of desert regions. The trade name of the tree species is Desert teak or Marwar teak.
Tecomella undulata is mainly used as a source of timber. Its wood is strong, tough and durable. It takes a fine finish. Heartwood contains quinoid. The wood is excellent for firewood and charcoal. Cattle and goats eat leaves of the tree. Camels, goats and sheep consume flowers and pods.
Tecomella undulata plays an important role in the ecology. It acts as a soil-binding tree by spreading a network of lateral roots on the top surface of the soil. It also acts as a windbreak and helps in stabilizing shifting sand dunes. It is considered as the home of birds and provides shelter for other desert wildlife. Shade of tree crown is shelter for the cattle, goats and sheep during summer days.
Tecomella undulata has medicinal properties as well. The bark obtained from the stem is used as a remedy for syphilis. It is also used in curing urinary disorders, enlargement of spleen, gonorrhoea, leucoderma and liver diseases. Seeds are used against abscess.
Ecotourism [ edit ]
Sunrise in the desert
Desert safaris on camels have become increasingly popular around Jaisalmer. Domestic and international tourists frequent the desert seeking adventure on camels for anything from a day to several days. This ecotourism industry ranges from cheaper backpacker treks to plush Arabian night style campsites replete with banquets and cultural performances. During the treks tourists are able to view the fragile and beautiful ecosystem of the Thar desert. This form of tourism provides income to many operators and camel owners in Jaisalmer as well as employment for many camel trekkers in the desert villages nearby. People from various parts of the world come to see the Pushkar ka Mela (Pushkar Fair) and oases.
Industry [ edit ]
Rajasthan is pre-eminent in quarrying and mining in India. The Taj Mahal was built with white marble mined from Makrana in Nagaur district. The state is the second largest source of cement in India. It has rich salt deposits at Sambhar. Jodhpur sandstone is mostly used in monuments, important buildings, residential buildings, and such. This stone is termed "chittar patthar". Jodhpur has also got mines of red stone locally known as ghatu patthar used in construction. Sandstone is found in Jodhpur and Naguar districts. Jalore is biggest centre of granite processing units.[16]
Lignite coal deposits are there at places Giral, Kapuradi, Jalipa, Bhadka in Barmer district; Plana, Gudha, Bithnok, Barsinghpur, Mandla Charan, Raneri Hadla in Bikaner district and Kasnau, Merta, Lunsar etc., in Nagaur district. Lignite based Thermal power plant has been established at Giral in Barmer district. Jindal group is working on 1080 Megawatt power project in private sector at village Bhadaresh in Barmer district. "Neyeli Lignite Barsinghpur Project" is in progress to establish two thermal power units of capacity 125 megawatts each at Barsinghpur in Bikaner district. Reliance Energy is working on establishing power generation through underground gasification technique in Barmer district with an outlay of about 30 billion rupees.[16]
There is large storage of good quality petroleum in Jaisalmer and Barmer districts. The main places with deposits of petroleum are Baghewal, Kalrewal, and Tawariwal in Jaisalmer district and Gudha Malani area in Barmer district. Barmer district has started petroleum production on commercial scale.[16] Barmer district is in the news due to its large oil basin. The British exploration company Cairn Energy started production of oil on a large scale. Mangala, Bhagyam and Aishwariya are the major oil fields in the district. This is India's biggest oil discovery in 22 years. This promises to transform the local economy, which has long suffered from the harshness of the desert.
The Government of India initiated departmental exploration for oil in 1955-56 in the Jaisalmer area,[22] Oil India Limited's discovered natural gas in 1988 in the Jaisalmer basin.[23] Also known for their fine leather messenger bags made from wild camels native to the area.
The Thar desert seems an ideal place for generation of electricity from wind power. According to an estimate Rajasthan state has got a potential of 5500 Megawatt wind power generation as such it is in the priority of the state govt. Rajasthan State Power Corporation has established its first wind power-based power plant at Amarsagar in Jaisalmer district. Some leading companies in the field are working on establishing wind mills in Barmer, Jaisalmer and Bikaner districts. Solar energy also has a great potential in this region as most of the days during a year are cloud free. Solar energy based plant has been established at Bhaleri in Churu district to convert hard water into drinking water.[16]
Salt water lakes [ edit ]
There are a number of salt water lakes in Thar desert. These are Sambhar, Pachpadra, Tal Chhapar, Falaudi and Lunkaransar where Sodium chloride salt is produced from salt water. The Didwana lake produces Sodium Sulphate salt. Ancient Archaeological evidences of habitations have been recovered from Sambhar and Didwana lakes which shows their antiquity and historical importance.[16]
Water and housing in the desert [ edit ]
Water scarcity plays an important role in shaping life in all parts of Thar. Small, intermittent ponds, whether natural (tobas) or man-made (johads), are often the only source of water for animals and humans in the true desert areas. The lack of a constant water supply causes much of the local population to live as nomads.[citation needed] Most human settlements are found near the two seasonal streams of the Karon-Jhar hills. Potable groundwater is also rare in the Thar desert. Supplies are often sour due to dissolved minerals, and are only available deep underground. Wells that successfully bear sweet water attract nearby settlement, but are difficult to dig, possibly claiming the lives of the well-diggers.[citation needed]
Tanks for drinking water
According to 1980 housing census in Pakistan, there were 241,326 housing units of one or two very small rooms. The degree of crowding was six persons per housing unit and three persons per room. For most of the housing units (approximately 76 per cent), the main construction material of outer walls is unbaked bricks whereas wood is used in 10 per cent and baked bricks or stones with mud bonding in 8 per cent housing units. A large number of families still live in jhugis or huts which are housing units formed with straws and thin wood-sticks. These jhugis are susceptible to damage from the occasional high winds. But the poverty leaves no other option to these jhugiwalas (people living in jhugis).[citation needed]
The river Luni is the only natural water source that drains inside a lake in the desert. It originates in the Pushkar valley of the Aravalli Range, near Ajmer and ends in the marshy lands of Rann of Kutch in Gujarat, after travelling a distance of 530 km. The Luni flows through part of Ajmer, Barmer, Jalor, Jodhpur, Nagaur, Pali, and Sirohi districts and Mithavirana Vav Radhanpur region of Banaskantha North Gujarat. Its major tributaries are the Sukri, Mithri, Bandi, Khari, Jawai, Guhiya and Sagi from the left, and the Jojari River from the right.
The Ghaggar is another intermittent river in India, flowing during the monsoon rains. It originates in the Shivalik Hills of Himachal Pradesh and flows through Punjab and Haryana to Rajasthan; just southwest of Sirsa, Haryana and by the side of talwara jheel in Rajasthan, this seasonal river feeds two irrigation canals that extend into Rajasthan. It terminates in Hanumangarh district.[16]
The Rajasthan Canal system is the major irrigation scheme of the Thar Desert and is conceived to reclaim it and also to check spreading of the desert to fertile areas. It is world's largest irrigation which is being extended in an attempt to make the desert arable.[24] It runs south-southwest in Punjab and Haryana but mainly in Rajasthan for a total of 650 kilometers and ends near Jaisalmer, in Rajasthan. After the construction of the Indira Gandhi Canal, irrigation facilities were available over an area of 6770 km² in Jaisalmer district and 37 km² in Barmer district. Irrigation had already been provided in an area of 3670 km² in Jaisalmer district. The canal has transformed the barren deserts of this district into rich and lush fields. Crops of mustard, cotton, and wheat now flourish in this semi-arid western region replacing the sand there previously.
Besides providing water for agriculture, the canal will supply drinking water to hundreds of people in far-flung areas. As the second stage of work on the canal progresses rapidly, there is hope that it will enhance the living standards of the people of the state.
Recreation [ edit ]
Desert tribes near Jaisalmer, India
Thar Desert provides the recreational value in terms of desert festivals organized every year. Rajasthan desert festivals are celebrated with great zest and zeal. This festival is held once a year during winters. Dressed in brilliantly hued costumes, the people of the desert dance and sing haunting ballads of valor, romance and tragedy. The fair has snake charmers, puppeteers, acrobats and folk performers. Camels, of course, play a stellar role in this festival, where the rich and colorful folk culture of Rajasthan can be seen.
Camels are an integral part of the desert life and the camel events during the Desert Festival confirm this fact. Special efforts go into dressing the animal for entering the spectacular competition of the best-dressed camel. Other interesting competitions on the fringes are the moustache and turban tying competitions, which not only demonstrate a glorious tradition but also inspire its preservation. Both the turban and the moustache have been centuries old symbols of honor in Rajasthan.
Evenings are meant for the main shows of music and dance. Continuing till late into the night, the number of spectators swells up each night and the grand finale, on the full moon night, takes place by silvery sand dunes.
See also [ edit ]
References [ edit ]
Further reading [ edit ] |
New York Yankees star Didi Gregorius believes talented Kiwi kids should be dreaming big and aiming for a Major League Baseball career.
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Gregorius was born in Amsterdam but grew up in Curaçao, a southern Carribean island with a population of around 158,000.
1 of 6 ALDEN WILLIAMS/FAIRFAX NZ New York Yankees shortstop Didi Gregorius Didi Gregorius, who earned NZ$3.4 million with the Yankees in 2016, believes New Zealanders' softball prowess would allow them to quickly transition to baseball. 2 of 6 ALDEN WILLIAMS/FAIRFAX NZ Jai Pouaka-Grego, 8, during the baseball skills clinic lead by New York Yankees shortstop Didi Gregorius. 3 of 6 ALDEN WILLIAMS/FAIRFAX NZ Didi Gregorius chats with his young fans. 4 of 6 ALDEN WILLIAMS/FAIRFAX NZ Didi Gregorius inspects the form of one of the junior players. 5 of 6 ALDEN WILLIAMS/FAIRFAX NZ Didi Gregorius runs the juniors through a drill. 6 of 6 ALDEN WILLIAMS/FAIRFAX NZ New York Yankees shortstop Didi Gregorius.
The 1.9m tall left-handed hitter, who hit a career-best 20 home runs in 2016, said his career is proof "you can go a long way with baseball".
READ MORE: Yankees SS Gregorius to hold clinics in New Zealand
ALDEN WILLIAMS/FAIRFAX NZ New York Yankees shortstop Didi Gregorius said his career is proof "you can go a long way with baseball".
"You can get an opportunity to go to the States and go to college and play baseball and study," he said.
Gregorius, who earned NZ$3.4 million with the Yankees in 2016, believes New Zealanders' softball prowess would allow them to quickly transition to baseball.
"You're already doing the sport; the only thing's different is you're throwing under-hand [in softball], now you've got to go on top [and pitch overhand in baseball].
ALDEN WILLIAMS/FAIRFAX NZ New York Yankees shortstop Didi Gregorius coached a skills clinic with junior baseball players at Avonhead Park on Tuesday.
"There's a lot of talent here to play baseball."
Gregorius grew up playing football, basketball and baseball and was also a competitive swimmer, but he chose baseball as a pro career, "because it's in my blood".
His father Johannes Sr, brother Johannes Jr and grandfather Antonio were baseball pitchers and his mother, Sheritsa Stoop, who is in New Zealand with him, played on the Dutch national softball team.
He signed after high school for the Cincinnati Reds and first played in their farm system in 2008, working his way through the minor leagues to Major League Baseball in 2012.
Gregorius then had two seasons with the Arizona Diamondbacks but was signed by the Yankees in 2014 after legendary Yankees shortstop Derek Jeter ended a stellar 20-year career.
He will start his third season in New York in 2017 and said it was "an honour to play in the [Yankee] pinstripes."
Gregorius had a highly respectable .276 average in the 2016 season, hit 20 home runs and produced 76 RBIs (runs batted in) and is renowned for his athletic fielding.
But he said winning a World Series ring was his ultimate aim. "The ring is the thing..."
Gregorius, who is being hosted by Baseball New Zealand, enjoyed a visit to Christchurch's new Adventure Park on Tuesday. He will hold another clinic at Avonhead Park on Wednesday afternoon before moving on to Auckland and Wellington. |
Cannabis oil 'transformed life' of terminally ill brain tumour man Kieran McCrory BelfastTelegraph.co.uk A man suffering from a terminal brain tumour has told how his quality of life has been transformed since he started using cannabis oil for treatment. https://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/northern-ireland/cannabis-oil-transformed-life-of-terminally-ill-brain-tumour-man-kieran-mccrory-34453098.html https://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/northern-ireland/article34453097.ece/6cf77/AUTOCROP/h342/2016-02-15_new_16890350_I2.JPG
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A man suffering from a terminal brain tumour has told how his quality of life has been transformed since he started using cannabis oil for treatment.
Kieran McCrory (37) has been advised by doctors he has between three and five years to live.
Last week in a BBC interview Kieran claimed that since using illegal cannabis oil in his drinks and food, doctors have told him that his tumour had stopped growing.
It has not been proven whatcaused his improvement, but Kieran insists that his daily quality of life has changed radically for the better.
Research in parts of the US has supported the use of cannabis in cancer treatment, but it's still something the UK Government, and charities like Cancer Research UK, refuse to endorse.
Kieran and his wife Sylvia have said they're well aware of the risks but have spoken about how their choice has affected their life and their hopes for the future.
"I've always been open and honest to anybody who's asked me about cannabis," said Kieran.
"I've even said to my local doctor, I'll never lie to you."
"The doctors that I've been speaking to all know I'm doing it. They've said if it's working for you keep doing it. Legally that's all they can say. They're not going to say they support my approach."
Read more
A man with a terminal brain tumour says he believes cannabis oil has helped prolong his life. Even though it is illegal 38 year old Kieran McCrory says he's going to continue using it. Elaine McGee reports. Posted by BBC Newsline on Thursday, 11 February 2016
Could cannabis oil reverse the effects of cancer?
After undergoing physically exhausting radiation treatment, Kieran said that he felt so sick he accepted an offer from a friend to try cannabis oil.
"When I don't have it, I lie in bed and think I'm going to die," he explained. "Once I got CBD [the cannabis oil] I started taking it in my coffee and cooking with it."
"Within the first 24 hours my whole game just picked up, I was walking around the next day, chatting and reading books. The day before I was lying in a hospital bed."
He said his wife Sylvia "dreads the day" he can't get the oil.
"It's not easy at all to get it because it's illegal, it's very risky. It's a situation that someone like myself shouldn't be in."
"I'm not asking to hurt anybody, I'm asking for something that nature has provided and I should be entitled to use."
Kieran is now paralysed down the left side of his body, and relies on Sylvia for everyday things like cutting his food and getting dressed.
"Having this available to me gives me back the power," he said.
"It gives you this burst of energy that you just didn't have lying in hospital after brain surgery."
Kieran's wife Sylvia, originally from Australia, said the improvement in his condition has had a huge impact on her life too.
Sylvia says that since Kieran has been taking the oil they have now been able to enjoy life together again. She says the couple's dream is now to move to Australia, where she has grown-up children, and for them to start a business.
"We've got our own aspirations and dreams that we want to push for, and we feel like we've got a chance now."
Belfast Telegraph |
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David Beckham is trying to recruit Miami Heat star LeBron James as one of his investors in the Major League Soccer team he plans to launch in Miami.
“The two have had several secret meetings in the past few weeks,” a Miami source told me. “LeBron would be to the soccer team what Jay Z was to the Brooklyn Nets.”
Jay Z and Beyoncé were courtside regulars at the Barclays Center until the Brooklyn-born rapper had to sell his share in the Nets last fall when he opened his Roc Nation Sports talent agency. Fans were surprised to learn that, for all the hoopla around it, his stake was a measly 1/15 of 1 percent of the team.
Similarly, billionaire developer Steve Ross brought in Gloria Estefan, Marc Anthony, Venus Williams and Serena Williams as investors in his Miami Dolphins.
Beckham is said to have put about $100 million of his $300 million net worth into the venture.
Said my source: “Beckham doesn’t need LeBron’s money. He wants him to create excitement and buzz.”
The soccer stud could also use the talents of LeBron’s marketing partner Maverick Carter, whose LRMR firm has signed the biggest star in college football, Johnny Manziel.
In March — when Beckham announced he had landed the Miami soccer franchise with “American Idol” creator Simon Fuller and Bolivian billionaire Marcelo Claure — he admitted, “LeBron is a friend, so we speak as friends about what we’re doing, but we’re also speaking as great businessmen.” |
"Escaping the inequality trap is the 21st century’s most critical challenge," says UNDP Chief Marc Andre
ISLAMABAD: The concentration of public spending is politically driven and only restricted to a few developed districts, which is increasing inequality between the rich and poor regions of Pakistan, said the outgoing chief of United Nations Development Programme, Marc Andre, Tuesday.
“Investment (of public funds) in Lahore, the most developed district of Punjab, is six times more than the allocations of the Seraiki belt of the province,” said Andre, while speaking at a seminar organised to highlight the growing inequality in the country.
Govt’s tight pockets could hamper CPEC project
Politically driven fund allocations, absence of land reforms, anti-poor, pro-rich tax system and privatisation are said to be the key reasons for the growing inequality in Pakistan.
According to Andre, the allocation of fund is a political decision and there were structural problems in the way money was allocated in Pakistan. “A good amount of public fund is allocated to the members of assemblies under political consideration.”
The UNDP Chief’s comments highlight growing frustrations over the way federal and provincial governments have been allocating resources, which, according to experts, is becoming a cause for growing inequality among various districts of the country.
A recent UNDP-funded report revealed that Pakistan’s richest 20% now consumed seven times more than the poorest 20% population due to rising inequality.
The income share of the lowest 20% population has further shrunk to only 6.8% while that of the richest 20% increased to 48.9%.
The report states that 38.8% of Pakistan’s population lives in poverty.
A majority of the rural population (54.6%) lives in acute poverty while this ratio is only 9.4% in urban areas, emphasising the need to make rural-centric economic policies.
Overall budget up but development allocation down
“As much as 80% to 85% of total physical expenditures of the province are incurred in Lahore,” said Dr Akmal Hussain, a renowned economist and social activist.
He said in Punjab, some districts were as well off as any developed country; while some districts are at par with sub-Saharan African countries.
On the human development index (HDI) ranking, Lahore is at number 1 position compared to Rajanpur that ranks 69, Dera Ghazi Khan 64, Muzaffargarh 58 and Bhakkar 51.
Instead of channelling funds to the underdeveloped Seraiki belt districts of Punjab, funds are heavily concentrated in Lahore.
Dr Hussain said the state was becoming an ‘economic apartheid state’ due to concentration of funds in the few already developed districts. “Public policy is the source of growing inequality as it is focused on providing services to the rich.”
Meanwhile, Pakistan Poverty Alleviation Fund Head Qazi Azmat Essa suggested the Planning Commission to devise a mechanism to determine whether the new public sector spending was going to Lahore or southern-Rajanpur district, which is at the bottom of HDI.
“In case of Balochistan, excluding Quetta; the province’s best performing districts are worse than the worst performing districts of Punjab,” said Planning Commission Social Sector Member Dr Naeem-ul-Zafar.
Money sent through illegal channels cannot be traced
However, Punjab Chief Economist Dr Amanullah said that after the publication of the ‘Multidimensional Poverty’ report in June this year, the Punjab government was in the process of formulating a strategy to focus on developing the bottom 10 districts.
“Escaping the inequality trap is the 21st century’s most critical challenge,” said Marc Andre. “The governments have sufficient resources in their hands and the actual issue is proper utilisation of the allocated funds.”
Also present, the economist S Akbar Zaidi suggested the state to distribute its 2.6 million acres of land among peasants to reduce inequality in the country.
Published in The Express Tribune , August 10th, 2016.
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(Image: Earth candle via Shutterstock)Maybe you bought a hybrid automobile. Maybe you take public transportation instead of owning a car or truck. Maybe you have outfitted your home with the latest energy-saving gadgets in an effort to reduce your carbon footprint. These are laudable and effective ways to combat global climate change. And while those efforts do have an effect, there are other ways to make great strides in stemming the catastrophic effects of climate change.
In this “Truthout Interviews,” Bruce Melton and I discuss global climate change and the way in which the media tends to amplify climate change deniers out of “fairness.” We highlight a technology called “sky mining” that may be the best technological approach to making a lasting effect on reducing the amount of carbon in the atmosphere. |
Rolling blackouts across Darwin continued on Thursday night following a problem with gas supply to the Channel island Power Station, but authorities expect the power supply will gradually return to normal.
The NT Government issued a statement at about 8pm on Thursday night that said: “Eni has advised that gas flow from Blacktip has been restored and it is hoped that power will gradually return to normal across the Darwin and Katherine regions later tonight.
“This means it is business as usual from tomorrow and there will be no closures of schools or public service buildings.
“Public buses will run as usual tomorrow.
“At this stage, rolling outages are expected to run for a few more hours, with outages expected to last no longer than approximately one hour at a time in any one location.”
A widespread blackout hit parts of Palmerston and Casuarina on Thursday afternoon.
Rolling blackouts affected large parts of the Top End throughout the afternoon and evening. During the gas shortage generators at the Channel Island Power Station were run on both diesel and residual gas in the pipeline.
The Minister for Essential Services Willem Westra van Holthe said the scheduled stoppages were necessary to stretch fuel resources as far as possible and most customers were not affected for more than an hour.
“This approach meant minimal disruption to customers despite great uncertainty about when eni would be able to restore gas flow from the Blacktip Well. It was prudent to manage the response to the loss of gas in a manner that sustained generation capacity as long as possible,” he said.
He also thanked Territorians for their cooperation in dealing with the disruption to electricity supply, and Santos and Conoco Phillips for “securing additional gas supplies as part of our response to manage this failure of the eni well.”
Schools across Darwin and Katherine will be open on Friday and public servants will be working as usual.
POWER OUTAGES ON THURSDAY EVENING
The following suburbs and areas are expected to experience power outages at around 9pm:
- Nightcliff
- Bagot Road
- Rapid Creek
- Humpty Doo shops
- Howard Springs
- Coolalinga shops
- Stuart Park
- Hidden Valley
- Berrimah
- Harvey Norman area
- Farrar
- Zuccoli
- Johnston
- Mitchell Creek
The following suburbs and areas are expected to experience power outages at around 10pm:
- Pinelands
- Yarrawonga
- Ludmilla
- Coconut Grove
- Berrimah
- Stuart Hwy
- Vanderlin Dr
- Robertson Barracks
- Shoal Bay
- Gunn
- The Chase
- Farrar Medical Centre
- Moil
- Wagaman
- Yarrawonga
No further outages are expected following the 10pm shutdown to the suburbs listed above. |
Apple’s mysterious North Carolina data center may not be where the company plans to store user’s data for its soon to be unveiled iCloud service. Instead, the company might be planning to release an updated version of its Time Capsule network storage appliance to handle iCloud data storage.
Time Capsule may handle iCloud data
An anonymous source that’s apparently familiar with Apple’s Time Capsule and iCloud plans told Cult of Mac that an upgraded Time Capsule will make user’s Home folder backups available through the iCloud service, but data will be stored on the device’s own hard drive. Currently, Time Capsule offers 1TB or 2TB of storage for Time Machine backups over a local network, along with a built-in Wi-Fi router just like an AirPort Extreme Base station.
The rumored Time Capsule update will work much like the Dropbox service does, letting users store files in a centralized location that automatically pushes changes in files out to all of the devices that share the same data — which in this case will include Macs, iPhones, iPads and the iPod touch.
It will also manage photo and video syncing between devices, although it won’t store app updates for iOS devices, according to the source.
There isn’t any word on when Apple will introduce the new Time Capsule model. The company could, however, use its World Wide Developers Conference keynote event scheduled for Monday morning to show off the device and its new file storage and synchronization features.
Until Apple officially announces the new Time Capsule with iCloud features, information abou the device should be treated as rumor.
Be sure to check in with The Mac Observer for our live WWDC 2011 keynote coverage on Monday. The event is scheduled to start at 10AM pacific time, and TMO will be providing steady updates on our Web site and our MacObserverLive Twitter feed. |
The Tavern reached out to Iranian football writer & podcaster Sina Saemian for his expertise on Team Melli ahead of tomorrow’s crucial World Cup qualifier. Read on for info about what’s changed since Korea’s defeat at the Azadi Stadium in November of 2014, his thoughts about the rumoured 3-4-3 shape for Korea, and clarification on the religious situation.
Our sides last met in November 2014, when Uli Stielike wanted to test his side in Iran at the Azadi. Although Korea played quite brightly, they couldn’t find the back of the net and a controversial Sardar Azmoun header was the difference. Tempers flared and frustration abounded – yet another Iranian win. Anyway, in broad terms, how have Iran changed since then?
Well, certainly in terms of style, there hasn’t been many drastic changes in Queiroz’s philosophy. His main focus in the past two years has been to introduce many new young players and give Iran a younger look. The retirement of veteran captain and midfielder, Javad Nekounam, really symbolised the end of an era and his immediate replacement was an 18 year old midfielder in Saeed Ezatollahi.
The Koreans will most certainly recognise many names in the starting line up such as Jalal Hosseini, Ashkan Dejagah and Andranik Teymourian, but there’ll also be some new blood that will feature such as Ramin Rezaeian, Morteza Pouraligsnji and Alireza Beiranvand. However, Queiroz’s approach to this game will be very similar to past games between the two countries, with much of the focus being on the defensive phase of the game, especially with South Korea being the highest goalscorers in the final qualifying round.
For those of us not in the Iranian football loop, everything’s a bit confusing. Carlos Quieroz, your Portuguese manager, is still around! Wasn’t he on his way out? What does he bring to the team / what is his philosophy?
Where do I start with this one?! Queiroz’s tenure as manager of Iran, since 2011, has been full of controversies. There is a lot of tension between him and the Sports Ministry, due to various issues. From low quality training kits, to a lack of training camps and friendlies. He continues to engage in media war with local coaches and managers, which certainly does him no favours. In 2013, he even had his little rivalry, if you want to call it that, with Choi Kanghee who was South Korea’s manager at the time, and his infamous celebration at the end of that 1-0 victory really set the tone for future games between the two countries, including the upcoming game.
He is a character that divides opinion within Iran. He has his strong supporters who believe he is absolutely the right man to take Iran forward, but he also has some hardcore critics who believe his “negative” tactics and antiques off the pitch bring no good to Iran. On the other hand, one thing is for sure, the players absolutely love him. All the players constantly show their support for him and praise him in all their interviews. He’s certainly got the players on his side and you can see the players thoroughly enjoy playing for him in every game.
How has qualifying gone so far?
It’s been a decent start so far. I think looking at the results, we are in a comfortable situation and we’ve put ourselves in a very healthy position to qualify for the 2018 World Cup.
But putting the results aside, the performances have been very below par. A 2-0 win against Qatar at home was only obtained once the Qatari goalkeeper decided to gift us a goal in the 93rd minute, before their whole team capitulated, and a dreadful performance in China resulted in a 0-0 vs the Chinese.
The 1-0 away victory against Uzbekistan was much much better, I think partly because the nerves had settled, we passed the ball around well and created chances, the home side didn’t have a single shot on target which is further proof to Iran’s solid defence.
How confident are you and Iranian supporters about a result in this match?
I think matches vs South Korea, in any competition or even friendly games, has its own excitement for the fans. The Iranian supporters have some good memories from our matches in the last few decades, and they are hopeful and confident that this match will be yet another positive memory. 3 clean sheets in a row, a team full of confidence, and also playing at the Azadi in front of our own supporters will certainly give us the edge going into this. But the media and fans alike, are aware of the threat South Korea poses. The likes of Son Heungmin and Ki Sungturns are very familiar names to the fans and they know the quality the South Koreans have.
A starting lineup prediction and a couple key players?
Carlos Queiroz named a very surprising line up against Uzbekistan on Thursday, with many of the first team players being rested. But I think we will see him going back to his usual starting 11. Alireza Beiranvand in goal, a back four of Ramin Rezaeian, Jalal Hosseini, Morteza Pouraliganji and Ehsan Hajsafi, in midfield there’ll be a return for captain Andranik Teymourian and he’ll play alongside Saeed Ezatollahi, Alireza Jahanbakhsh, Ashkan Dejagah and Vahid Amiri, with Sardar Azmoun leading the line. In terms of key players, of course Sardar Azmoun and Alireza Jahanbakhsh will be the names to look at certainly in attack.
But in my opinion Iran’s biggest threat in big games comes from set pieces, especially corners, so look out for Morteza Pouraliganji who is a good header of the ball and he’s proven that in the past. In terms of weaknesses, if Stielike has done his homework, he will most certainly target Iran’s right side of the defence. Ramin Rezaeian, who has featured as a regular right back in the past few games, is a very offensive full back but his defensive abilities are a concern and I’m sure the South Koreans will look to take advantage of that.
Are Iran still those same old, pesky defensive stalwarts of the 2014 qualifying campaign? What will Korea have to do (in your estimation) to beat this “Azadi jinx”?
Absolutely, Iran’s priority in every game under Queiroz has been to keep a clean sheet. So this game is no different, Queiroz would not want to lose this extremely important game, especially at home, so he will set his team up to nullify South Korea’s strong attack.
I’ve heard rumours that Stielike may be trying a back 3 in this game and I can somewhat understand that. China played a back 3 against Iran a month ago and Iran really struggled to break them down, Azmoun was really Isolated and the midfielders looked invisible going forward, so maybe such a formation may pay dividends.
But putting tactics aside, I think it’s all about mentality. The South Koreans need to play without fear, I know Azadi Stadium is intimidating when the fans are in full flow, but the players need to get over the atmosphere if they want to get a result. South Korea have a very, very good team and there’s no doubt that they have more than what it takes to take something from Tehran. But for me it’s all about mentality and approaching this game in the right manner.
Are you game for a score prediction? How do you think the game will pan out?
I’ve never met anyone worse than myself when it comes to score predictions! I think it’ll be a very tight game because it’s still early in the qualifiers and I don’t think either team would want to lose at this point, so in my opinion it may very well end up at 0-0 or 1-1. If I had to pick a winner I’d probably go for a 1-0 win for Iran and the goal coming from a set piece, as it has done in the past 3 meetings between these two teams in Tehran.
Oh, and one quick bonus questions. Our readers have been quite curious about this. It appears that this game is being held on a Shia day of mourning, Tasua. The Iranian embassy has instructed Korean supporters to wear dark colours and not cheer, while the religious clerics demanded the game be forfeited. What’s going on?
This is a very complicated matter. This week is a very important week in Iran in religious terms, which is why the IFF (Iranian Football Federation) contacted AFC over 2 months ago to try to postpone this game to another day. However, the AFC did not accept.
There’s been many debates amongst Iran’s religious leaders that this game should not take place. Fortunately for us, they don’t really make the decisions, so the game will go ahead. Rumours are that players maybe advised not to celebrate any goals in respect to the mourning ceremonies, and you may see black (religious) banners and flags within the stadium and fans, which have been organised from a few days ago by government officials.
I think if it was a game of less importance, it wouldn’t have mattered that much. But, since this is a huge game and tens of millions of people will watch the game across the country, it has caused some controversy from the clerics and religious leaders in Iran. They don’t want the attention to be on a football game during this week when there are important religious matters to be attended.
Thanks for this, Sina, and best of luck to Iran!
My pleasure!
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Izvor: N1
Dragan J. Vučićević, glavni i odgovorni urednik Informera i njegova privatna kompanija koja je izdavač lista, obavezani su da Veranu Matiću, glavnom i odgovornom uredniku informativnog programa B92 plate naknadu štete u iznosu od 250 hiljada dinara sa kamatama od početka februara ove godine i troškove postupka u visini od 88 hiljada i šesto dinara.
Prvostepenom presudom Viši sud je Vučićevića obavezao i da presudu o svom trošku objavi najkasnije u drugom narednom broju Informera, kao i u elektronskom izdanju lista na internetu.
Tužba je podneta zbog serije tekstova o Veranu Matiću, objavljivanih u Informeru u periodu od avgusta 2014, do kraja januara 2015. godine, a tokom postupka raspravljalo se i o tekstovima objavljivanim u istom listu i nakon podnošenja tužbe.
Sud je utvrdio da su Vučićević i Informer prenosili neistinite informacije, što je, kako se navodi, obzirom na kontekst i odsustvo dobre namere, dovelo do ugrožavanja kredibiliteta Matića kao javne ličnosti i dugogodišnjeg novinara i urednika.
"U odnosu na deo tekstova kojima se implicira da je Matić navodno "ispod žita" pokušao da obezbedi za sebe u to vreme upražnjenu funkciju generalnog direktora RTS-a, sud je posebno ukazao da Vučićević i Informer za svoje navode, niti u tekstovima, niti kasnije tokom postupka, nisu predložili svedoke niti makar naveli na koji način, pred kim, ili u kojoj prilici je Matić, navodno, lobirao za ovu funkciju. Neistinite informacije su uporno prenosili i pored više puta ponovljenih Matićevih tvrdnji da neće da se kandiduje, da nije zainteresovan za tu funkciju i da čak i ne ispunjava zakonom propisane uslove za nju", navodi Veran Matić u saopštenju.
"Sud je našao da su novinari, pa i Dragan J. Vučićević, slobodni da iznose svoje stavove i mišljenja, ali da su kad objavljuju informacije o konkretnim pojavama, ličnostima ili događajima, obavezni da te informacije provere sa dužnom novinarskom pažnjom. Ono što je u ovoj presudi posebno značajno, to je odgovor koji ona daje na pitanje šta sud smatra dužnom novinarskom pažnjom. Ta pažnja je, kaže sud, poštovanje profesionalnih standarda novinarske struke; ta pažnja je poštovanje Kodeksa novinara Srbije. A Vučićević, u ovom slučaju, kako je našao sud, Kodeks i standarde nije poštovao", kaže advokat Kruna Savović, koja je zastupala Verana Matića.
Veran Matić navodi da je sudija veoma precizno utvrdila kako funkcioniše proces lansiranja lažne informacije, dezinformacije o nekome koga treba da diskredituju, lažno optuže, a onda se ta lažna vest ojačava dnevnim "analitičarima", dok se čestim ponavljanjem stvara nova realnost. |
A SUMMER internship to learn more about astrophysics turned into a stunning coup for Monash undergraduate Amelia Fraser-McKelvie when she helped solve one of the big mysteries of science.
Astrophysicists have long been baffled by a belief that the universe must have a greater mass than is visible in the planets, dust and stars that make up much of what can be seen. But they had no way of proving it. They estimated that about half the mass required to keep the universe functioning as it does was ''missing''.
Looking to the heavens: undergraduate Amelia Fraser-McKelvie. Credit:Wayne Taylor
Ms Fraser-McKelvie found some, and her discovery will aid the development of telescopes in Australia.
The 22-year-old aerospace engineering student, who works with Monash astrophysicists Kevin Pimbblet and Jasmina Lazendic-Galloway, explained. |
UPDATE: And the winner is...
Jennifer Baumgardner Esquire
For the past week, a field of dearly and prematurely departed television shows have faced off in an epic battle to become the series deemed most worthy of resurrection. (Yeah, we said epic. Come on: Every epic battle in history has been decided via online voting.) In the process, some very worthwhile dramas and comedies lost their dogged fights, occasionally in unexpected upsets. Party Down, Deadwood, Chappelle's Show, Freaks and Geeks: You all tried your best. We know you did. But now it's down to the finals, the championship game, the Thrilla in Cancelled Showville-a... or something.
In one corner, we have upstart seven-seed Pushing Daisies, the 2007-2009 ABC series created by premature cancellation icon Bryan Fuller and starring Lee Pace, which exploded with the colorful weirdness of a Twin Peaks, the open-heartedness of a Friday Night Lights, and all the supernaturally-tinged mystery-solving of... well, a lot of shows on TV that are/were never quite as inventive as Pushing Daisies. It's long been a niche favorite, but as more time passes, perhaps the attachment to Ned, Emerson Cod, and Olive Snook is only growing stronger. We can only assume so, since Pushing Daisies pushed its way to victory in round after round, knocking off two top seeds in Chappelle's Show and Freaks and Geeks. (Admittedly, we wildly underestimated its fandom.)
But before winning it all, the Pie Man will have to get past Firefly, an even shorter-lived drama but one created by Mr. Joss Whedon, and starring cult faves Nathan Fillion and Alan Tudyk, among others. Infused with Whedon's trademark, whip-smart dialogue, a Star Wars-esque sensibility, and more than one relationship that crackled with sexual tension, the 2002-2003 sci-fi Western has not only earned a reputation as one of the most unjustly terminated shows ever, it also inspired a movie follow-up, an untold number of crocheted Jayne hat knock-offs, and an ongoing, admirable fundraising effort for Equality Now dubbed Can't Stop the Serenity. The hardcore Firefly fans, aka Browncoats, have proven again and again that they, too, can't be stopped. So can the, um, Pie Holers (that seems like a good name for Pushing Daisies fanatics, right?) really stand in their way?
You have until 11:59 p.m. EST on Sunday, when voting ends in this final round of Esquire's TV Reboot Tournament, to decide. |
Is it safe to double atmospheric Carbon Dioxide over a 200 year period?
Posted on 24 December 2010 by fingerprinter
We are on track to double pre-industrial atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations. In assessing the risk, the above question is much more fundamental than asking how much the climate warmed over the 20th century. So what’s the answer?
Society has standard approaches for assessing risk and safety. When it comes to assessing risk for major intervention, this approach entails a null hypothesis, or base assumption, that things are unsafe until proven safe. Examples occur in medicine, engineering and just about every human activity. In medicine, a drug company can not assume that a new vaccine is safe, with the burden of proof on others to prove it is unsafe. Note that this is different to determining whether the vaccine is effective, where the null hypothesis could be that there is no association between the vaccine and immunity. Rather, the null hypothesis for the risk assessment relates to the question, can I use this vaccine for a major public vaccination program?
When it comes to carbon pollution, the normal convention for risk assessment goes right out the window. The scientific null hypothesis that there is no association between carbon dioxide and climate change is easily broken. But the public risk question really relates to doubling the atmospheric carbon dioxide concentration in 200 years. In other words, is altering atmospheric chemistry in that manner safe? In the weird world of greenhouse policy, we would like everyone to assume that putting 3.6 billion tons of carbon into the atmosphere is entirely safe, with the onus on climatologists to prove otherwise.
Taking the wrong null hypothesis has serious implications for the way the science is assessed. Going back to our medical analogy, even a relatively small amount of evidence that the vaccine is unsafe is enough to inform a risk assessment. In other words, the null hypothesis stands. You need to produce a great deal of evidence to satisfy authorities that the vaccine is safe.
In the assessment of carbon pollution, we have this the wrong way around. Small uncertainties in the conventional science are used to reinforce the notion that doubling atmospheric carbon dioxide is entirely safe. Most importantly, and somewhat amazingly when you stop to think about it, major polluters and proponents of continued carbon pollution have never proved that their product is safe. Not only that, they haven’t even been asked, by governments and the public alike, to prove that their product is safe.
This means that, to date, we have no studies demonstrating that the climate system is insensitive to such increases in carbon dioxide, and a mountain of evidence indicating that doubling atmospheric carbon dioxide will result in dramatic climate change. Yet still, we refuse to really accept the risks. One of the biggest reasons for this is that the skeptics have been successful in limiting public discussion to 20th century global mean temperature. In reality, the case against doubling atmospheric carbon dioxide is well established before we look at the 20th century climate record.
One of the most certain things in climate science is that increasing carbon dioxide warms the climate system. Doubling atmospheric concentrations is sure to cause significant warming of the climate system. And doubling a over a 200 year period represents one of the most rapid changes in atmospheric carbon dioxide in the history of the Earth.
The certainty that carbon dioxide warms the climate system does not rely on any 20th century climate observations, such as employed in fingerprinting studies. These studies seek to determine how much the 40% increase in carbon dioxide over the 20th century has already affected the climate. Rather, the evidence against increasing carbon dioxide is much more fundamental.
The first place to look is of course the paleoclimate record. Over the last several decades of research, the sensitivity of the climate system to changes in carbon dioxide has been established through ice core samples and other proxy climate indicators. In short, past climates with high atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations were very warm, unless incoming solar radiation was low. Rapid changes in carbon dioxide (such as due to planetary volcanic activity or asteroid strikes) resulted in rapid changes in the climate system. The literature on this topic remains unchallenged; in the Earth’s geological history, if carbon dioxide concentrations increased, the planet warmed.
The second and more important place to look is the fundamental physics and chemistry- using mathematical modelling. Models used in climate come in different shapes and sizes. Some of the most basic models, such as the behaviour of gases exposed to radiation of different wavelengths, are well established physical models.
Far from being controversial, numerical models are used in all modern fields of science. Mathematical models are implicit in our understanding of the universe. For example, the governing equation for the gravitational effect is also 'just a model'. In fact, it’s the very definition of a model, since we do not actually understand how gravity works. However our mathematical model of the nature of gravity has been verified through countless observations. We are quite certain that our mathematical model of gravity accurately describes the Newtonian universe. These principles are not negotiable like the tenets of social sciences or economics. They are fundamental laws. The universe doesn't fudge fundamental laws of scale.
Similarly, the mathematical model of the organisation of an atom; neutrons, protons, electrons, is just a model. We cannot actually look inside an atom. But the model has been verified and it holds as a fundamental certainty.
The mathematical model of how atoms absorb and re-emit radiation in discrete energy packets and in discrete wavelengths is also a model. It also faithfully describes the universe. A whole heap of technology is built on the certainty of this model. If these models did not work, then most of the appliances in your house would also not work, including the microwave oven and the television.
Therefore we can faithfully model how radiation passing through layers of radiative gas will be absorbed and re-emitted. There is nothing speculative about this either. This is fundamental physics and chemistry, text book material rather than brand new science.
(Image created by Robert A. Rohde / Global Warming Art)
If anyone seriously thinks that our understanding of radiation is wrong, then could they please publish that alternative theory in a proper scientific journal so we can all absorb a new reality? You will need to overturn more than 100 years of physics in the process. You will also likely win a Nobel Prize for your efforts. The incentive is there.
You see, you can't just say you don't agree with the fundamental laws of physics, or that you are not convinced by them, and leave it at that. At least, not if you want to be taken seriously in the scientific community (as opposed to simply confusing the public with red herrings). As an aside, I suspect that being taken seriously by the science community has never been a key priority for the skeptics. By publishing almost exclusively on blogs and in the opinion sections of newspapers, and eschewing peer-reviewed scientific journals, they have staked out their real audience. Contributing to science has nothing to do with it.
Now where were we? Oh yes, we understand entirely how radiative gases like carbon dioxide absorb and re-emit radiation from physics, quantum physics and chemistry. We also understand the physics of radiation (for example the Stephan Boltzmann relationship). We understand entirely that if you increase the concentrations of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, you will warm the surface of the planet. This result is repeatable (you get the same answer) using a simple model of radiation physics alone (just a couple of lines of code) or using a fully coupled atmosphere-ocean-sea-ice model with turbulent mixing. People have been trying to break this result for fifty years and have not. That’s how science works.
The sensitivity of the atmosphere to greenhouse gases can also be observed on nearby planets (Mars and Venus) and is consistent with the maths. The maths is also supported by the observed feedback mechanism between temperature and carbon dioxide in the ice-core record and other paleo indicators. If you double or even triple atmospheric carbon dioxide, which we will do sometime this century or early next, you will significantly warm the climate system. This is well above a 95% probability, and is hence a near certainty. No one has disproved any of this in the literature. No drug would make it onto the market with that kind of evidence running against it.
The climate system is complex, so the fundamental physics operates over many interacting variables. As such, many things can act to slow down the rate of warming or amplify it, such as the warming-water vapour feedback mechanism. But the system is not that complex, and is certainly far less complex than the human body. And the complexity of the system cannot change the radiative properties of carbon dioxide. Hence, over time, and given the rate of carbon dioxide increases that are proposed, warming will be set in train and is assured from the fundamental physics. Hence we are certain from all the science that the mean trajectory we are now on is a warming trajectory. Small uncertainties in the rate of future warming are irrelevant to the risk assessment. That’s like pinning the risk assessment associated with childhood exposure to UV radiation to uncertainty in the exact age that skin cancer is most likely to occur.
The climate of the deep past has shown that we are nowhere near the natural limits of warming for planet Earth. In other words, the current state of the climate has more things that can amplify warming than it does things that will keep a lid on the warming. There are mechanisms that limit warming, but we have plenty of room to warm given that the level of pre-industrial carbon dioxide was very low in relation to extremely warm climates in the distant past. This level of warming is more than enough to elevate sea level and change the predominant patterns of global climate. The uncertainties in the context of the enhanced greenhouse effect are actually more worrying than they are reassuring. This is a concept that the public does not understand very well.
Guess what? I haven’t even talked about a 20th century thermometer reading, and we already have heaps of evidence against the safety of rapidly doubling atmospheric carbon dioxide. The matching greenhouse fingerprints in the 20th century climate record are really the final nail of evidence. If there is some study that contradicts the fundamental science, then where is it? No one has managed to find an alternative solution after decades of trying. While the skeptics will throw up the occasional vaguely set-out paper from fringe (and mostly non peer-reviewed) journals, they can not produce a set of key papers which demonstrate that doubling atmospheric chemistry has no significant effect on the climate system. And that is what they wish to prove is it not? It is certainly what they should be required to do.
So people should ask the skeptics their own set of questions. Why have they never produced a repeatable formulation of the physics as they see it? Why have they never developed their own climate models, and performed their own model experiments? Why have they never produced their own paleoclimate reconstructions? Why have they never compiled their own record of surface temperature? Apparently, the lack of published research showing the inert nature of atmospheric carbon dioxide changes is the result of a long running, worldwide scientific conspiracy.
But that too doesn't stand up. With all the money supposedly at stake, the complete lack of credible research by the skeptics points to a complete inability to successfully argue their case in scientific circles. If destroying the conventional science was as easy as they suggest, the major polluters would have funded such research twenty years ago, and moved on. Again, the incentive is there, and large companies are more than capable of funding and producing credible research. But, importantly, they have not attempted to do so. |
JERUSALEM — In an extraordinarily brazen assault early Friday, three Arab citizens of Israel armed with guns and knives killed two Israeli police officers guarding an entrance to Jerusalem’s holiest site for Jews and Muslims, an emotional and volatile focal point of the Israeli-Arab conflict.
Security camera footage showed the armed assailants emerging to attack from within the sacred compound in the Old City of Jerusalem that Jews revere as the Temple Mount and Muslims as the Noble Sanctuary. Police officers pursued the assailants, who fled back inside the compound and exchanged fire; all three assailants were killed.
The police identified the slain officers as Advanced Staff Sgt. Maj. Hayil Satawi, 30, who was married with a 3-week-old son; and Advanced Staff Sgt. Maj. Kamil Shnaan, 22, the son of a former parliamentarian. Both officers were members of the country’s small Druze community and came from towns in northern Israel.
Shin Bet, the Israeli internal security service, identified the assailants as residents of Umm el-Fahm, a large Arab town in central Israel, near the border with the West Bank: Muhammad Ahmed Jabarin, 29; Muhammad Hamid Jabarin, 19; and Muhammad Ahmed Mufdal Jabarin, 19. It was not immediately known if the three were related, but their names indicated that they belonged to the same large clan. |
How the PS4 survival horror will use livestreams to heighten the tension
The meek shine of a cell phone light provides precious little comfort in the dark halls of an abandoned hospital. Its glow throws menacing shadows across every wall and beneath long-abandoned wheelchairs. Creaking steps and whispers flutter down the passage, and the promise of a scare is never far off. But Daylight, which launches on PS4 this April, offers a different take on the classic genre. And with the developers at Zombie Studios taking a keen interest in streaming tech, the horror of playing alone could actually be a shared experience.
Crafted by a small team at Zombie, Daylight follows the frightened footsteps of Sarah Gwynn as she works her way through a series of haunting environs. While many horror games rely on finely tuned scares specific to the moment, Daylight uses procedurally generated play to keep every moment fresh. Levels and scares change for each player, meaning that no two sessions will be identical. And no player will know exactly when that foreboding whisper will turn into a howling spectre hungry for Sarah’s life.
In Daylight, players have no weapons – only flares to fend off the supernatural powers at work in the hospital. Sarah’s only hope is escape. Not fighting for her life, but running for it. And Daylight involves a lot of breathless running, as players guide Sarah through the labyrinthine corridors and thick forests in hope of finding a way home. Collecting items (often in the form of creepy notes) will progress the story forward, and inch players one step closer to the end.
But the team at Zombie has other plans for Daylight. Streaming has been a huge boon to the PS4 community, and the devs want Daylight to have an involved relationship with livestreams. The hope is to allow viewers to control the actual scares in a streamer’s experience, providing a much more interactive dynamic between player and audience. This new form of communal play has been showered with attention recently thanks to the Twitch community streaming a classic RPG as a group.
With harrowing sound effects, random scares, and even 3D support (offering an incredible degree of depth), Daylight is already damn scary. And there’s nothing more horrifying than giving the internet the ability to frighten you, too. |
Comment Andy Warfield, Coho Data's cofounder and CTO, thinks Pure Storage's FlashBlade design is misconceived.
Warfield says Coho's engineering team went down a very similar route, found it to be wrong, and refocussed elsewhere.
What happened was that, in 2013, the team thought it a good idea to build the densest network-integrated hardware platform that it could to run the software Coho was developing. They were building around PCIe flash and saw that it needed more compute and connectivity than SSDs, and the compute should be separate from the flash because falling flash prices meant you should buy it separately from your compute hardware.
In fact compute, network and storage all needed to scale well, and Coho looked to pack all three into a single hardware chassis.
Their idea was to use an Intel Seacliff Trail 10Gbit, top-of-rack switch as a blade server backplane. Half the ports would interconnect storage blades in the proposed SwitchStore system, with the other half being used for external access devices and exposed as an Ethernet switch.
The storage blades (FlashBlade precursors of this had come to fruition) would be PCIe flash cards hooked up to a server card, and then to the Seacliff Trail backplane.
But the Coho engineers decided this elegant idea was in fact a design cul de sac, because for one thing, you simply should not bet against commodity hardware as, compared to proprietary designs, it has shorter cycle times, lower costs, and smaller challenges in getting validation and QA right.
Commodity hardware benefits enormously from the sheer volume of its deployment. Warfield says: "The idea of being stuck with the delivery lifecycle of proprietary hardware scared the crap out of us."
With software-driven products, you can focus on innovation there and take advantage of fast-developing compute, storage and networking commodity hardware as they occur.
A second point counting against the SwitchStore concept was that it can feed to so many servers that network access to it could be a choke point, involving much cross-rack storage traffic.
It's better, Warfield argues, to provide top-of-rack storage and keep the bulk of storage networking traffic inside a rack. He sees FlashBlade as being so powerful in storage terms that it could seriously affect a data center's core network performance with the amount of inter-rack traffic it generates.
He thinks the scale-out storage concept should include the flexibility to adapt to emerging hardware, to buy hardware as it's needed, and to maximize hardware's efficiency in your data center. These things run counter to the complexity of traditional enterprise storage systems, and Pure's FlashBlade is not really a scale-out array in his view.
It's "an expensive, proprietary, blade chassis-based array," while also being "a really interesting, impressively complicated, proprietary piece of enterprise storage hardware."
You can read his argument in more detail on Andy Warfield's blog. ® |
With three minutes and 21 seconds to go, the leading No. 5 Toyota TS050 that was on pace to take the win came to a halt in front of the pits, ceding the 2016 24 Hours of Le Mans lead to the No. 2 Porsche 919. It’s an unbelievable end for a car that was so reliable for the other 23 hours and 50 minutes of the race.
The Toyota lost power out on track in the last 10 minutes of the race only to finally come to a halt. Everyone had been so prepared to welcome only the second Japanese manufacturer in history to win Le Mans, but then Toyota suffered a crushing failure.
The moment was absolutely heartbreaking to watch.
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Like Toyota’s No. 5 entry, Porsche’s No. 2 car was its most incident-free car, eventually winning Le Mans by turning many incident-free laps and staying out of the pits as much as possible.
Porsche’s No. 1 car had spent too much time fixing gremlins that led to a lengthy disassembly and reassembly in their own garage. Meanwhile, the No. 2 and the No. 5 swapped for the lead many times throughout the race.
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Toyota driver Kazuki Nakajima’s radio message to his team after he finally got the No. 5 started again was gut-wrenching. He—and the rest of us—just wanted to know what happened and why.
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Porsche won its 18th 24 Hours of Le Mans as a constructor today. Toyota TS050 No. 6—not No. 5—was classified as winning second place. The No. 5 was able to be restarted and crawl in, but was not officially qualified as a finisher. The final podium spot was given to the No. 8 Audi R18 instead.
No. 5 was listed in 45th place overall after getting bumped, only ahead of the other cars that retired or did not complete the final lap.
Elsewhere in Le Mans prototypes, the No. 36 Signatech Alpine claimed that number one spot in the LMP2 class once and for all. The experimental Garage 56 entry of SRT 41 by OAK Racing completed a total of 315 laps—with quadruple amputee driver Frédéric Sausset taking the checkered flag.
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[Update: We originally reported that the No. 5 TS050 was classified as finishing the race, but it was later revealed that they were not.] |
Ever get the urge to get on your bike and just ride and then ride some more and just keep going for endless miles? If you’re like me, you’ll end up so far away from home that you’re completely lost and strangers will look suspiciously at you and say: “You’re not from round here are you?”
Photo: Anne Watson
It actually took me a long time to throw caution to the wind and do this. I’d spent years finding every mundane excuse why I shouldn’t go and ride as far and as long as I possibly could until, one day, I couldn’t stand it anymore. I locked up the house, told family and friends I was going away, and I never looked back.
Over night, I changed my daily routine into getting up before the sun rose and pointing my motorcycle in whichever direction I happened to like the look of. And that’s how I ended up on a remote, empty desert highway, somewhere either in Nevada, Arizona or it may have even been Utah. I was filthy dirty. My bike was even dirtier. I was out of drinking water and also out of gas. And do you know what? It was one of the best experiences of my life.
For once, I was master of my own destiny, and was actually enjoying figuring out how I was going to find some gas in the middle of nowhere and get going again, while all the time a couple of optimistic vultures circled over my head.
Apart from my own stupidity of trusting my bike’s fuel gauge, the reason why I ended by the roadside in an empty desert was all because of a ridiculous 1970s film called Easy Rider. As a kid I had an enormous poster of a still shot from the film of Peter Fonda riding his bike with a huge, wide open desert sky behind him. I would spend ages gazing at that poster, promising myself that one day, when I was old enough, I too would get on a motorcycle and ride into small town America to discover what was really there.
It took me a long time to finally seize the moment and while it may seem like a crazy man’s dream and throwing logic and responsibility to the wind, I was a fortunate enough to find a publisher that was interested in taking my experiences and turning it all into a book that would, one day, be published.
There was one big drawback in all of this. I have an appalling sense of direction and, despite studying enormous maps of the U.S., most of the time I had absolutely no idea where I was, where I was going or what I would find. But the former was probably the best part of all. To travel on a bike not knowing what’s precisely around the next corner was and still is the motivation for me to ride.
I traveled really light with just one extra t-shirt, a small bag of tools, a toothbrush and a map that I would occasionally glance at. There were no rules except that I wanted to stay away from freeways and ride the empty roads that seem to run nowhere and pass through towns with curious and compelling names. I budgeted enough money for gas and food and to stay at the cheap motels I found along the way.
The riding was spectacular. Every single mile of it. I still remember a section in Nevada where I had a highway entirely to myself for almost two hours. I saw nobody, not a car, not a truck or a single living thing and just rode my motorcycle towards the distant horizon.
Some days I’d ride up to 400 miles, following two lane roads that snaked through mountains and dark forests and across flat empty plains that seemed to go on and on forever. I’d go from freezing, snow-covered hills to 100-degree heat in the deserts below. I got rained on and, once, was so cold that I had to get off my bike to try and warm my hands on my bike’s engine cylinders.
I saw things that I never imagined in a hundred lifetimes that I’d get to see. I met some pretty crazy people too. But you know what? I never met a single soul who wasn’t friendly or interested in what I was doing so far away from home on a motorcycle.
What I hadn’t anticipated when I set out on this odyssey was just how big America is. This country is immense. What looks like a simple couple of hours jaunt between two towns on a map often turned into a full day’s riding of more than 300 miles.
I know where I went for the most part of this long journey and the astonishing things I saw and did. But, there are some gaps in my memory as I was literally riding from dawn to dusk. Not that I am complaining. To ride a motorcycle all day on some of the greatest roads I have ever seen, with occasional breaks to fill the tank with gas and grab something to eat and drink, is something I’d happily do for the rest of my life.
In the space of six weeks I managed to traverse eight states and covered more than 8,000 miles. On occasion I took my time and slowed the pace down so I could see as much as I could in case I never came that way again.
More than anything else from this entire experience I learned how to ride a motorcycle. Before I set off I was probably a very average rider. But when you’re out on the road, thousands of miles from home, it’s down to your decision making whether you ride through a thunderstorm or opt for 50-plus miles along a dirt road. I also learned a whole lot along on the way and about my bike.
Sure there were times when I would have gladly got off my motorcycle and walked away. Baking in the desert heat on an air-cooled V-twin is no fun. Being cold, wet, tired and often completely lost played havoc with my mind.
But above all I kept reminding myself how lucky I was to be doing this on a motorcycle. Not only that, I was riding across one of the greatest nations on earth. I guess you could say by my getting on a motorcycle and riding for the love of it mile after mile, I got a true sense of what being free means.
What's the best place you've ever ended up? |
CUSTOMIZER CHALLENGE CONTEST WINNER - Artistic Category This is a 100% printed customizable music box! Only 3D printed parts are used in the design and it can be assembled and disassembled via printed snapping mechanisms. The project originated when a friend of mine said that he'd only be interested in 3D printing once he can print a music box ;) Videos http://youtu.be/LUlovenI9xQ http://youtu.be/K_c3p24RRtQ (made by banthafodder7400) http://youtu.be/exNeQDz7f3g I'll try to keep the .scad file on this page updated but to help me to manage the design and to make it easier for others to contribute: https://github.com/wizard23/ParametrizedMusicBox
Updates
2018-03-28 Updated URL to generate parameters (was offline)
2016-09-20 Spreadsheet to help you to get the parameters right: https://goo.gl/sKWWDk (created by: Ben Horner)
2013-11-24 Updated link to generator page (old webserver is offline)
2013-03-10 (V3) Added optional Name of Song on top/bottom of MusicCylinder; fixed build plate positioning of pulley that messed up smaller customized versions; cleanup and clarification of descriptions; implemented work around for customizer hickup when strings start with a '.'
2013-03-08 (V2) removed "work in progress status", fully test printed
It's very important to put the music box on a sounding box to get good sound quality. I found that large cardboard boxes and some tables make good sounding boxes. A guitar or a piano should work even better!
A complete music box consists of 6 parts:
Case: the large thin walled part that holds the vibrating teeth and holds everything together
Music Cylinder: the large cylinder with the pins (that encode the music) sticking out
Transmission gear: sits between the crank gear and the music cylinder
Crank gear: drives everything, connects to crank (insert it through the round hole in the case)
Crank: for manually driving the box, connects to crank gear and crank pulley
Pulley: for holding the crank while turning it
With the default parameters you get a complete building plate that can play one full octave range (13 half notes from C to C) in a medium footprint that should fit in most printers. You can enable each part individually to make smaller print plates.
I customized a "FrÃÂère Jacques" music cylinder that is compatible with the default parameters: http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:59242
How to adapt the snapping mechanisms
I printed this in PLA. So if you print it in ABS (or if your printer is differently calibrated than mine) you might have to adapt the snap fit:
If one of the gears are too hard to snap in you have to lower "crankAxisHolderH", "midAxisHolderH" or "musicAxisHolderH" depending on which gear causes the problem.
If one of the gears seem to sit too loose once they are snapped in you have to lower "snapAxisSlack"
Ways to get notes that you can then use in Customizer
1. Manual (read this anyway to understand how the music is encoded)
The "pins" variable contains characters that encode the pins on the music cylinder. These pins pluck long teeth that then vibrate and emit a certain note. The number of available different notes/vibrating teeth is given in "pinNrX". The number of time slots/length of the song is given by "pinNrY". For each time slot the "pins" string contains "pinNrX" many characters that determine if a pin should be generated for this specific note at this specific time slot. If the character is an 'X' there will be a pin (and the note will be played) any other character means: no pin. The actual frequency of the vibrating teeth are described in "teethNotes".
Be careful with long songs: If the pins are spaced too close together, i.e. if you try to fit a long song on a cylinder with small radius (derived from the number of teeth of the gear on the bottom of the music cylinder) then the closely spaced pins collide with the teeth and you hear a snare sound. While it's an interesting sound effect you generally want to avoid it by adapting the size of the music cylinder to the length of the song ("pinNrY"). For the default parameters I recommend at least 5mm distance from pin to pin. Tune this distance by adapting "musicCylinderTeeth".
A tip if you want to make a new Music Cylinder for an already printed music box: Don't change any other parameter except the "pins" and "pinNrY"! Well some other parameters can be changed but it's tricky...
2. JavaScript to generate the Pins-String
Stefan (the mentioned friend of mine) wrote this nice little JavaScript application for converting Tabs to the format described above. Here is an example of what I mean with tabs:
C4
C#4
C4 E4 G4
try it out (sound output quality might vary from browser to browser) at:
http://musicbox.magicshifter.net/musicbox.html
For tuning the instrument you simply cut away material from the side of the vibrating tooth. Don't cut away material from the tip since that would change the way it interaction with the pin. If you want it to get a higher frequency remove material from the side of the tip (therefore making it lighter). If you want it lower the frequency remove material from the bottom (making it more flexible).
Credits
The gears I use are adapted versions of the ones made by emmett for his Automatic Transmission Gear Model so I added this as an ancestor. I really love this sharing of ideas on thingiverse :)
For calculating the lengths of the vibrating teeth I used the formulas from this Wikipedia article: http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Durchschlagende_Zunge#Berechnung_der_Tonh.C3.B6he (sorry it's in German). I don't think I chose the right material properties for PLA. But it sounds right to me at least relatively. To get exactly the right frequencies one would have to measure the real frequencies by somehow running a fourier transformation over an recording of the picked teeth. Then one could adapt the density and modulus parameter up or down and try again. A simple test cylinder would be one that just plays some notes sequentially so that we can make a recording for comparing the modeled to the measured frequencies. So I included such a test music cylinder (defined in the "Pins" and the "TeethNotes" default parameters) which just plays each note available and some accords. |
Filmmaker Jonathan Demme, renowned for Silence of the Lambs, Stop Making Sense, and Philadelphia, has died, IndieWire reports and a representative for Demme confirms. He was 73 and died this morning from complications from esophageal cancer. Demme was best known for 1991’s The Silence of the Lambs, which earned him the Academy Award for Best Director. He also directed Talking Heads’ iconic concert film Stop Making Sense, as well as the Oscar-nominated movies Philadelphia and Rachel Getting Married. In addition, he made three documentaries for Neil Young (2006’s Neil Young: Heart of Gold, 2009’s Neil Young Trunk Show, and 2012’s Neil Young Journeys), as well as a film for Justin Timberlake—2016’s Justin Timberlake + The Tennessee Kids. As a music video director, he made visuals for Bruce Springsteen, New Order, the Feelies, and others.
Demme's family requests that in lieu of flowers, donations be made to Americans for Immigrant Justice in Miami.
“Jonathan taught us how big a heart a person can have, and how it will guide how we live and what we do for a living. He was the grandest of men,” Tom Hanks said in a statement.
Meryl Streep said of Demme: “A big-hearted, big tent, compassionate man in full embrace in his life of people in need and of the potential of art, music, poetry and film to fill that need. A big loss to the caring world.” |
PARK CITY — Park City police are joining other departments across the country as they upgrade dash cameras in police vehicles to body cameras on police officers.
This month, about 20 of the more than 30 officers with the Park City Police Department will start wearing body cameras on their person during responses and traffic stops. The cameras are about the size of a pager and, when recording, show a lime green circle around the lens.
The new equipment comes at a time when many of the department’s dash cams are in need of replacement, said Park City police Capt. Phil Kirk, which in part, motivated the switch. Each body camera cost the department $865, whereas dash cams can cost up to $5,000 and offer only a limited view of a traffic stop. The department was able to secure the funds through a grant and it continues to look into other grant opportunities to fund more cameras.
“There are some distinct advantages of having a camera mounted on the officer’s person rather than just in their vehicle,” Kirk said. “It’s a lot more versatile.”
Not only will the cameras document traffic stops, emergency responses and other evidence gathering, but the department hopes the cameras will put both the officer and the public on their best behavior during interactions, keeping both parties safer and holding each accountable.
“It’s pretty clear when you move the lens cover that the camera is on,” Kirk said. “We hope officers most of the time will tell citizens that they’re being recorded. We’re hoping that that makes it safer for everyone involved, including the officer, and that people will be totally accountable for their actions because it’s going to be recorded — similar to people in the community recording police officers and making them more accountable. … If somebody is maybe thinking of being difficult or maybe going to fight or attack the officer, maybe they will have second thoughts about it.”
The police department of Rialto, Calif., found that body-mounted cameras on its officers resulted in an 88 percent decrease in complaints filed against officers and a 60 percent decrease in officers using force, according to a study conducted by PoliceFoundation.org.
The recordings can be also utilized in training, giving trainers and trainees the officer's view of a situation.
“We can review situations, debrief on them when we actually handled a real situation,” Kirk said. “(We can) learn from that, use it as a training video to decide what went right and what didn’t go so well. Being able to see exactly what the officer saw and reviewing those tapes will be very invaluable as a training device.”
Throughout the country, as departments have started using body cameras, some have expressed concern about privacy.
Recently, the American Civil Liberties Union recommended that, “deployed within an appropriate policy framework that includes strong privacy protections for officers and the public, (body cameras) should be mandated and funded." Kirk said the department had developed special policies for the use of body cameras.
Kirk said in addition to the cameras, the department is utilizing a server the department already had to store the cameras’ recording. The memory of each device will store up to four hours of video and audio.
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Richard III may have been the King of England and the subject of a Shakespearean play, but even that couldn’t keep him safe from ending up in a hastily-dug grave that ultimately became part of a parking lot, according to a new study published in the journal Antiquity.
And while a century of peace followed his death, the late king’s body was reportedly stripped naked, despoiled and publicly displayed for three days before it was buried in what was at the time the Greyfriars monastery in Leicester.
The grave, described for the first time in an academic paper, highlights five specific points regarding the ill-fated king who died in 1485 in the Battle of Bosworth.
First of all, the grave Richard III was placed in was “badly prepared,” which, the researchers from the University of Leicester said, suggests gravediggers were in something of a rush to get the corpse underground.
Second, the king is placed in an “odd position,” with the skeleton’s torso crammed into the small space and its head propped up on one side of the grave, which (and this is the third point), is “too short at the bottom to receive the body conventionally.”
Fourth, someone apparently stood in the grave at the time the body was placed in it in order to receive it, suggested by the fact that the body is not placed centrally in the grave.
And finally, there is evidence that the man’s hands may have been tied at the time of burial.
All of this, the researchers write, is in stark contrast to the other medieval graves found in the same area, which were all standard, correct lengths and dug neatly with vertical sides.
In short, either the gravediggers were in a hurry or they had little respect for the deceased, according to the study’s authors.
Such a find is in keeping with accounts from the medieval historian Polydore Vergil, who recorded the king’s death as having been "without any pomp or solemn funeral.”
Moreover, the authors of the study argue, the skeleton itself points to the fact that the man buried in the ignominious grave discovered within the last year is in fact Richard III.
"The radiocarbon dates, evidence on the male skeleton of severe scoliosis, trauma consistent with injuries in battle and potential peri-mortem 'humiliation injuries', combined with the mtDNA match with two independent, well-verified matrilineal descendants all point clearly to the identification of this individual as King Richard III,” the researchers said in a statement. “Indeed, it is difficult to explain the combined evidence as anyone else.” |
Six years before he published his breakthrough novel, Naked Lunch (1959), William S. Burroughs broke into the literary scene with Junky (sometimes also called Junkie), a candid, semi-autobiographical account of an "unredeemed drug addict." It's safe to say that the book wouldn't have seen the light of day if Allen Ginsberg hadn't taken Burroughs under his wing and edited the manuscript. The book, originally published under the pseudonym "William Lee," was distributed by Ace Books, a publishing house that targeted New York City subway riders. You can listen to Burroughs, the famous beat writer, reading a three-hour abridged version of the text over at UBUWeb.
Junky has been added to our list of Free Audio Books. And, on a related note, Burroughs fans will want to watch The Junky's Christmas, a short claymation film written and narrated by Burroughs in 1993. Other films based on his writing appear in our collection of Free Movies Online.
H/T @maudnewton |
Honesty is Hard; Rudeness is Easy June 20, 2012
Posted by wfenza in Culture and Society
Editorial Note: This post was written by Wes Fenza, long before the falling out of our previous quint household and the subsequent illumination of his abusive behavior, sexual assault of several women, and removal from the Polyamory Leadership Network and banning from at least one conference. I have left Wes’ posts here because I don’t believe it’s meaningful to simply remove them. You cannot remove the truth by hiding it; Wes and I used to collaborate, and his thoughts will remain here, with this notice attached.
—–
Wes here.
On Sunday, I wrote about how honesty is hard in a sexual/dating context. My previous post was an attempt to address what I see as a problem, where people hide their true intent in social interactions due to politeness, social expectation, fear of punishment, or maliciousness. Today, I’d like to highlight one of the misconceptions of that post, namely, that I advocate cold-propositioning in inappropriate situations. The previous post was meant to address what happens in social interactions, which is why the focus was on dishonest behavior.
A few people have suggested to me that the arguments that I make could be used to justify things like catcalling, interrupting, and other rude/unacceptable behaviors, all in the name of “I’m just honestly communicating.” I do not feel that I made any arguments advocating in favor of such things, but if anyone disagrees, I invite reasonable, calm discussion on the topic.
The difference between what I’m advocating and something like catcalling is that catcalling is rude for reasons other than the sexual content. Yelling “nice tits” at a woman on the street is rude because (a) it interrupts whatever she is doing, and she’s given no indication that she is interested in socializing, or that she is interested in your opinion; (b) it’s not designed to start a conversation; (c) it’s clearly meant to intimidate, not actually to compliment.* This behavior is rude because it involved showing nudity to a non-consenting person, and because it violated the conference’s policy on propositioning (but not for any of the other reasons set forth in the post).
Propositioning someone for sex is rude in any case where propositioning someone for any other activity is rude. If it’s rude to ask someone if ze’d like to go ice-skating, it’s rude to ask for sex. Conversely, if it is NOT rude to ask someone to go ice-skating, then I don’t believe it’s rude to ask hir to have sex (unless of course, that person has made clear that ze wishes not to be propositioned in that manner).
What is also rude is saying “wow, that’s really interesting” when you mean “you’re really hot.” It’s rude to say “I would love to, but I have plans” when you mean “I don’t want to.” It’s rude to pretend to care about someone’s problems when you really just want to get in hir pants. In short, it’s rude to communicate things that you don’t mean and/or take active steps to hide the way you really feel/think. They key, of course, is ACTIVE steps. There’s nothing rude about seeing an attractive person and NOT telling hir that you think ze’s hot (and, depending on context, it can be very rude to just go up to someone and announce that). It’s only rude if you’re actively concealing that fact.
When a woman says things like “I would love to, but I have a conflict” or “I wish I could,” (especially to a sexual invitation) these are generally understood by all parties as clear refusals. Some people have taken this to mean that there is no miscommunication involved in such a refusal. But the fact that it’s a refusal is as far as the clarity goes. All refusals are not created equal. Saying “no, I’m not attracted to you” sends a much clearer message than “I would, but I’m very tired.” The former sends the message that sex is not an option for the foreseeable future, the latter send the message the woman in question would like to have sex under other circumstances. Both are refusals, but both contain different information in addition to the refusal.
Couching a refusal in terms of being unable to do something as opposed to being unwilling is generally seen as polite. I do not see it this way. I see it as a lie, and a very unfriendly thing to do to someone. As I said in my last post, hurting someone’s feelings by telling them the truth is a brave and awesome thing to do.
There is, of course, a grey area in between catcalling on the street and admitting your intentions once conversation has been started. It’s hard to say exactly when it’s ok to approach a person, and when reasonable boundaries are being crossed. What I propose is that sexual desires are given the same treatment as any other desire to participate in an activity with someone. I’m serious about the ice skating thing. Interrupting someone reading a book to ask if ze’d like to go rock-climbing (or bike riding, or going for a walk in the park, or playing video games, etc.) with you is rude; just as doing the same thing with an invitation to sexual activity is rude. Asking someone you just met to go rock-climbing is not rude if you’re already engaged in mutual socializing. However, asking someone if ze’d like to have sex in such a situation is often considered rude, which I don’t agree with. It’s also considered rude to see a person as merely a means to partnered rock-climbing, and not as a human with independent desires of hir own, just as the same thing is rude with sex.
I’m not advocating unbridled communication of sexual desires. I’m just saying that if you’re going to communicate, communicate honestly and bluntly. If someone is going to be creeped out by your desire, hiding your desire is not the answer. Ze should be creeped out by your desire if you have creepy desires. Masking them in subtlety and politeness might make you appear less creepy, but really you’re just hiding them.
In conclusion, I’d like to highlight this comment from Ginny:
part of approaching people respectfully is making yourself the vulnerable one. I highly advocate beginning a sexual advance with, “I’m very attracted to you,” rather than putting the other person on the spot by asking if they’re interested. Stating your own attraction puts yourself in the vulnerable position, and doesn’t instantly demand something of the other person.
Good advice! I heartily agree.
_________________________
*this is a non-exhaustive list. There are probably a lot more reasons why such behavior is rude and/or unacceptable.
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Every morning when Mark Mandica opens the door, he feels a pit in his stomach. He knows that today could be the day that he discovers the last Rabbs' Fringe-limbed tree frog has passed away. When that day comes, his species will be extinct forever - another in a long and growing list of animals that are disappearing at an alarming rate. He will close his eyes, and his kind will vanish from the face of the Earth forever. Many of these species will disappear without even a mention from the media.
"It's kind of nerve-racking taking care of him, knowing he's the last one of his kind," says Mark, the Amphibian Conservation Coordinator at the Atlanta Botanical Garden. He admits he was not much of a conservationist when he first became fascinated with amphibians. "I was more interested studying how fast their tongues move to catch prey, not much to do with conservation. Since then it has become harder and harder to find frogs and amphibians and so now I feel obligated to help conserve these amazing and vital creatures. It's sort of an 'all hands on deck' situation."
It was Mark's young son Anthony who nick-named the frog "Toughie." When asked why he picked that name, six-year-old Anthony exclaims, "Because he's the only one that made it!"
Toughie is originally from the lush rainforests of Panama, where he used to spread his large webbed hands and could glide for up to 30 feet from his home in the forest canopy above. Toughie must have felt like he was flying. But Toughie's gliding days are long gone. He will spend his last days here, in this unassuming grey shipping container called the FrogPOD, set in the back southwest corner of the Atlanta Botanical Garden. He is far from his home, and he is utterly and completely alone in this world.
The shipping container is bio-secure, protecting eleven rare species of frogs saved from Panama on the same rescue mission in which Toughie was collected. All the species are critically endangered, but none more than Toughie. After changing our shoes to slippers kept in the lab so as not to introduce any dangerous bacteria or fungus, we enter the FrogPOD. It is warm and humid, consistently kept at a temperature near 70 degrees Fahrenheit. I make a beeline straight to Toughie's small home.
As I look at this frog resting in his log, I try to imagine Toughie gliding through the air, high above the floor of the rainforest, steering his way down with outstretched arms like Superman. Now, he sits in this log perhaps wondering where his forest went, where his family is. I wonder if he can even remember. It's been almost ten years since he saw his real home.
In the wild, Toughie would have raised his own young - the males are the stay-at-home parents for these frogs - but being a father in the rainforest canopies of Panama was not in the cards for Toughie. The fate of his species was written when the last female in captivity passed away in 2009.
Toughie now sits silent in his log; he stopped calling shortly after being taken into captivity. He had already been silent for years before Mark first began caring for him in 2009. The call of the Rabbs' Fringe-limbed tree frog was lost forever when Toughie silenced his voice. Their call was never recorded, and the only people who ever heard it cannot describe or imitate it. The last time one was heard in the wild was 2007. It was a male whose calls were heard, but he was never seen. He may have been calling for a female that was never to come.
Most of Toughie's relatives were wiped out by a fungus in Panama in 2005. Researchers went in to rescue as many of the rare frogs as they could and collected a handful of adults and a handful of tadpoles. The rest have all died of natural causes, and the tadpoles never fully developed in the lab. Toughie is the only survivor. He must be the loneliest frog on Earth.
I wonder if people know that to see this small, brown frog is like seeing a unicorn - would they flock to see him? or would they react with indifference? Unlike the elephants, the polar bears, the dolphins, the whales, the tigers - there is nothing majestic about Toughie. He is just a small, brownish frog with hands that look like Gollum's. Appropriate, because he too is precious.
Toughie is now at least ten years old, quite old for a frog. His status used to be recorded three times a day, but his caretakers felt it was too intrusive for the old frog, so now they record it once per day. An old frog needs his rest. He is weighed once per week by a vet to be sure his health is steady. Mark knows the day he dreads is marching closer. There is nothing he can do to stop it. No breeding program or campaign can save this little guy or his species. It's too late for Toughie. But it's not too late for others like him.
Last week I was part of a team of activists from the Oceanic Preservation Society who lit up the United Nations in New York City to raise awareness for endangered species. It was a project we did for an upcoming documentary film called Racing Extinction, about the sixth mass extinction. There have been five major mass extinctions previously on our planet. This is the sixth, and it is called "The Anthropocene," which translates to "The Age of Man."
As images of incredible animals from the smallest bioluminescent phytoplankton to the grandest of large cats gazed hauntingly from the side of the 500-ft building, Jane Goodall's voice echoed onto the street and crowd below. "In 200 years, people will look back on this particular period and say to themselves, 'How did those people at that time just allow all these amazing creatures to vanish?'"
One of the images we projected onto the United Nations was an image of Toughie. National Geographic photographer and author Joel Sartore, who photographs endangered animals for his project Photo Ark, was there to witness it. He got misty-eyed seeing his images thirty stories high projected in front of the crowd at the United Nations.
"Seeing my photos up on the side of the UN building was overwhelming. For many of the species shown that night, being in the Photo Ark is the only chance they have to be seen and heard before they go extinct," said Joel, "With half the world's species at risk of extinction by the turn of the century, the Ark has the potential to be so much more than just a roster of what we squandered." He hopes that the public will be drawn in, learn, and be moved to save endangered species while there's still time - and not just the high-profile ones. "After all, when we save other creatures, we're actually saving ourselves. It's really how we treat the least among us that will determine our own fate as well," he added.
While majestic creatures draw more attention than this small brown frog, Toughie's story is one that is being repeated across this globe thousands of times over. Scientists estimate we are currently losing approximately 30,000 species per year. They are disappearing faster than we can record that they are here. This story is not just to shine a light on our loss of Toughie and his species, but to shine a light on the thousands of species blinking out every year without us even acknowledging their loss.
After over 300 million years on this planet - amphibians arrived before the dinosaurs - we are losing them at an alarming rate. Nearly forty percent of all amphibians are imperiled or already extinct in the wild.
"What is frightening is that we are losing them in pristine habitat, not just urban areas," said Mark. "We need to pay attention to what these amphibians are trying to tell us. I think they are telling us something bad is happening in our environment. We need to listen - if not for their sake, for ours."
It's time for us to go. I say goodbye to Toughie, quietly wishing him frog dreams that bring back his distant memories of gliding over the rainforest canopy - the tiny brown Superman sans cape. We change our shoes and leave the FrogPOD. Mark closes the door behind him. He has made it through one more day, and the Rabbs' Fringe-limbed tree frog is not extinct - not today.
The small, brown gliding frog will have peace and quiet for the remainder of his days in this shipping container. Mark will care for him until the last day when quietly, without any media hype, another species will silently disappear from our planet. His loss will go unnoticed by most, but not by Mark Mandica. |
Senate Democrats have been desperately trying to move the national conversation away from Obamacare to just about anything else before the midterm elections — “paycheck fairness,” the minimum wage, even the Koch brothers.
But President Obama’s choice of Sylvia Burwell to replace Kathleen Sebelius as secretary of Health and Human Services thrusts Obamacare right back into the national spotlight — and with it Obama’s false promise that “if you like your health-care plan, you can keep your health-care plan.”
The agency Burwell heads, the Office of Management and Budget, is responsible for the president’s budget. But OMB also has another, lesser-known responsibility: fact-checking presidential speeches. Every proposed presidential utterance is scrubbed for accuracy by OMB.
When speechwriters finish a draft presidential address, it is circulated to the White House senior staff and top cabinet officials in what is known as the “staffing process.” As part of that process, nonpartisan career policy experts at OMB review the speech and are responsible for attesting to the factual accuracy of everything the president says.
So thanks to Burwell’s nomination, Americans may finally get to the bottom of how the biggest presidential lie in recent memory made it though OMB’s fact-checking process — not once but dozens of times.
The first time the lie surfaced — when Obama told the American Medical Association on June 15, 2009, “If you like your doctor, you will be able to keep your doctor, period. If you like your health-care plan, you’ll be able to keep your health-care plan, period. No one will take it away, no matter what” — it wasn’t on Burwell’s watch.
But Burwell was OMB director when Obama declared on Sept. 26, 2013: “Now, let’s start with the fact that even before the Affordable Care Act fully takes effect, about 85 percent of Americans already have health insurance — either through their job, or through Medicare, or through the individual market. So if you’re one of these folks, it’s reasonable that you might worry whether health-care reform is going to create changes that are a problem for you — especially when you’re bombarded with all sorts of fear-mongering. So the first thing you need to know is this: If you already have health care, you don’t have to do anything.”
Burwell should explain to Congress and the American people how her office allowed blatant falsehoods to get into presidential speeches, including whether political aides overruled career policy advisers who warned that the president’s claims were untrue.
This isn’t just a rehashing of ancient history, because the worst impacts of Obama’s lie are still to come. While some 6 million Americans lost their individual market plans last fall, tens of millions of Americans will see their employer-based health plans canceled or changed dramatically when the employer mandate kicks in. Obama has delayed the mandate for a year in an effort to prevent cancellations before the midterm elections. But on Burwell’s watch, he has also falsely promised that those with employer-based plans have nothing to worry about.
In October 2013, Obama declared: “Keep in mind that the individual market accounts for 5 percent of the population. So when I said you can keep your health care, I’m looking at folks who’ve got employer-based health care.” But “folks who’ve got employer-based health care” are going to lose their coverage, too — in fact, some businesses like Target, Trader Joe’s and Home Depot are already canceling plans and scaling back health benefits before the mandate kicks in. Burwell should be forced to explain how that Obama lie made it thought the OMB fact-checking process.
If Senate Democrats are smart, they will be the ones pushing hardest for this information — especially the 12 up for reelection this year who repeated the Obama lie. Sen. Mary Landrieu (La.) pledged, “If you like the insurance that you have, you’ll be able to keep it.” Sen. Mark Pryor (Ark.) said Arkansans want to know “are we gonna be able to stick with our plan? The answer is yes.” Sen. Kay Hagan (N.C.) promised, “If you like your insurance and your doctors, you keep them.” Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (N.H.) swore, “Everyone will have the freedom to keep their health plan if they like it.” Sen. Mark Begich (Alaska) vowed, “Alaskans who have health insurance now, and are happy with it, can keep it.” Sen. Mark Warner (Va.) declared, “I’m not going to support a health-care reform plan that’s going to take away the health care you’ve got right now or a health-care plan that you like.” The rest made similar pledges.
Burwell should not be confirmed until she explains how OMB allowed the president of the United States to lie — repeatedly — to the American people. If Democrats don’t demand answers, they can be sure that Republicans will. Since avoiding the subject is not an option, her hearings will be a fascinating insight into the Democrats’ 2014 strategy on Obamacare. Vulnerable Senate Democrats have two choices: Come to Obama’s defense, or use the Burwell hearings to separate themselves from the president and blame him for misleading them like he misled the rest of America.
We’ll soon see which one they choose.
Read more from Marc Thiessen’s archive, follow him on Twitter or subscribe to his updates on Facebook. |
Artistic impression of what a psittacosauras, a 'parrot-lizard' dinosaur looked like
They also found other remains including limbs and feathering of both herbivorous dinosaurs and predators.
The trawl in a dinosaurs graveyard on the banks of the Olov River includes body parts from the smallest such creatures ever found by paleontologists.
They found tails with scales and a three fingered limb.
Top to bottom: Kulinda site, where dinosaurs remains were found, Dr. Sofya Sinitsa of Institute of Natural Resources, Ecology and Cryology, Chita, Trans-Baikal region, and Dr. Sinitsa's assistant working on the site.
The feathering discovery is seen as highly significant if confirmed as belonging to the Compsognathus, a dinosaur roughly the size of a turkey - since such feathers, though suspected, have never been unearthed before.
'We are working in this area for third year. There are really a lot of dinosaurs remains, and every year we are finding something unique,' said
Dr Sofya Sinitsa, a specialist of Geo-Mineralogical Sciences at the Chita-based Institute of Natural Resources, Ecology and Cryology of the Siberian Branch of Russian Academy of Sciences.
'We have more than ten preserved bits of skin. It remained untouched because of the volcanic ashes from eruptions 30-40 km away, which covered the skin and acted like a time capsule.
'During three seasons of our work there we have gathered a very good collection of dinosaur remains.
'Their bodies were about a metre long, they weighed from 3 to 4 kgs.'
The finds come from a lower valley in an area known as Kulinda.
Top to bottom: Joseph Oberndorfer acquired this fossil of compsognathus in Bavaria, Germany, in 1859; an artistic impression of what the dinosaur looked like and as compared with human body
'We found both herbivorous dinosaurs and predators - the smallest of all ever found by paleontologists', Dr. Sinitsa said.
'There is no information about such a dinosaurs' site anywhere else in Russia. There is a similar one in China, where scientists have been working for more than 10 years.'
Describing the finds as 'very rich', she said: 'We found a three-fingered limb, and feathering. This year we got a lot of scaled tails, as well as numerous hip and shoulder bones.
'We aim to keep working on the site', Dr. Sinitsa added. She is now seeking sponsorship for her intriguing dinosaur hunt, stressing the need for a bulldozer to dig down deeper where even more significant remains may exist.
'We are hoping to get sponsorship for next season and be back there summer 2013.'
Psittacosauras, an amasing-looking 'parrot-lizard', here given in comparison with human body
The two main dinosaur types they found remains of are the Compsognathus and the Psittacosaurus.
The lizard-eating Compsognathus lived around 150 million years ago. Previously discoveries have been made in France and Germany. It is believed to be related to various birds.
The Psittacosaurus - from the Greek for 'parrot lizard' - lived 130 to 100 million years ago and fossils have been found previously in Russia as well as China and Mongolia.
With various different species, they were 'gazelle-sized bipedal herbivores characterized by a high, powerful beak on the upper jaw', said Wikipedia.
There are many more fossils in existence than for the Compsognathus.
This year Chita regional government gave a sum of 350,000 roubles to gather the remains of Comsognathus dinosaurs. |
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L'esistenza di regole e convenzioni sociali nell'anarchia non è esclusa a priori a patto che le regole e le convenzioni vengano liberamente determinate e accettate dalla comunità interessata e non rappresentino un'imposizione derivante dal maggiore potere di alcuni rispetto agli altri.\"\n\nOsiris is an engine that makes possible to build anarchic forums and portals where members directly choose rules and conventions by themselves.\n\nOsiris portals are serverless, so they spread through the P2P network members. This allows the portals to be independent of central servers, free and indestructibles since they are supported by every portal member.\n\nMoreover, all the sent contents are anonymous, enabling a strong privacy protection and ensuring that no one can overwhelm this experiment of free thought and knowledge distribution.\n\nOsiris can also build monarchic portals for a traditional moderation.\n\nFree Download\n\nscreenshots - documentation - forums\n\nOsiris will become an open-source project\n\nWe announce that Osiris will become an open-source project, released under GPL.\n\nSources are not available yet, because we need to check them for understanding if a fork can be used to attack the system.\n\nWe are planning to release sources in few months.\n\nWe hope that this choice may help to raise the interest about our project, because we have many incompleted works without collaborators.\n\nWe are here in our forum for questions, also about technical details.\n\nOsiris 0.13\n\nThe Osiris Team is happy to announce a new version of Osiris.\n\nOsiris 0.13 gives many new improvements over every features: features, security, speed, stability.\n\nOsiris is a freeware software made to build completely shared portals through p2p ( serverless ).\n\nThe software doesn't need any other pre-installed component to work, and it is distributed as installable software or portable, it's useful for external hardware.\n\nYou can download Osiris from the download-page\n\nTo register to a portal it's needed only to click on invite-link, or copy and paste the link into the browser. It's available a dedicated forum to spread invite links, here you will find and publish link to portals made by the community.\n\nTo surf portals where you have been registered, by running Osiris, click on the right arrow-button: you will see the main page showing all your subscriptions.\n\nTo made new portals is available a Video Tutorial that shows how to made a new one, manage contempt and publish it on the dedicated forum.\n\nWe kindly ask to report any problems on the official forum.\n\nA special thanks is given ( as usual smile.gif ) to all the support team for the contribution to the release of this version, thanks!\n\nClick here for the forum discussion\n\nOsiris 0.12\n\nThe Osiris Team is happy to announce a new version of Osiris.\n\nOsiris 0.12 gives many new improvements over every features: security, speed, stability and moreover this is the first Osiris version that introduce a native support of GNU/Linux.\n\nOsiris is a freeware software made to build completely shared portals through p2p ( serverless ) and the new version 0.12 add the gateway Isis feature that gives the read-only access, to all content available on the Osiris p2p network with just a common web browser.\n\nThe software doesn't need any other pre-installed component to work, and it is distributed as installable software or portable, it's useful for external hardware.\n\nYou can download Osiris from the download-page ( eDonkey & Torrent links available )\n\nTo register to a portal it's needed only to click on invite-link, or copy and paste the link into the browser. It's available a dedicated forum to spread invite links, here you will find and publish link to portals made by the community.\n\nTo surf portals where you have been registered, by running Osiris, click on the right arrow-button: you will see the main page showing all your subscriptions.\n\nTo made new portals is available a Video Tutorial that shows how to made a new one, manage contempt and publish it on the dedicated forum.\n\nWe kindly ask to report any problems on the official forum.\n\nA special thanks is given ( as usual smile.gif ) to all the support team for the contribution to the release of this version, thanks!\n\nClick here for the forum discussion\n\nRilascio versione preliminare ai beta-testers della 0.12\n\nE' stata rilasciata la versione 0.12 ai nostri beta-testers interni. Sia la versione Windows, che la versione nativa per Linux. 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Maggiori informazioni qui.\n\nMore...\n\nIntervista a p2pforum.it\n\nOsiris 0.11\n\nPremio WWW Il Sole 24 Ore\n\nOsiris 0.10 Beta\n\nOsiris 0.9 Beta\n\nOsiris 0.8 Beta\n\nOsiris 0.7 Beta\n\nOsiris 0.6 Beta\n\n<< Start < Prev 1 2 Next > End >>\n\nResults 1 - 13 of 19\n\nTalk with us\n\nDevelopments Meter\n\n5%\n\nLastest available version:\n\n0.13 (17/03/2010)\n\nDevelopment status for next version:\n\n0.14 (5%)\n\nDiscuss in forum\n\nDonations Meter\n\n2%\n\nCosts covered: 445€\n\nCosts sustain: 19500€\n\nDonate!\n\nPromote!\n\nPromote!\n\nCommunity portals\n\nDasPorn\n\nItalian AnonymShare\n\nServerless News\n\nUnited colors of Peer to Peer\n\nThe Animated River\n\nL'isola dei torrenti\n\nEnkeywebsite\n\nLa Ciurma del Mulo\n\nPeerHarvest\n\neMule Italia\n\nLatest discussions\n\npartito operaio\n\nNuovo utente: domande\n\nLuci a San Siro\n\nparametri nell'istanza quick search\n\nRotta verso Osiris 1.0\n\n... E ora affondate questo!\n\ndiscrepanza nel mio osiris ta interfaccia e barra strumenti\n\nproposte per chiarire il funzionamento di osiris ai nuovi utenti\n\nutenti nei portali con lo stesso numero\n\nServerless Friends!\n\nImportant legal information - Other copyrights" |
Take-Two is taking its best shot at escaping a multi-million dollar lawsuit for depicting the tattoos of NBA superstars like LeBron James, Eric Bledsoe and Kenyon Martin in its NBA 2K video game franchise. On Wednesday, the publisher submitted a motion for judgment on the pleadings and argued that it has every right to showcase players as they appear in real life. The motion sets up a first-of-its-kind ruling from a New York federal judge, and Take-Two is warning of the stakes.
"In essence, Solid Oak argues that these public figures must seek its permission every time they appear in public, film or photographs and that those that create new works depicting the players as they actually appear (with their Tattoos) should be enjoined and pay damages to Solid Oak," writes Take-Two attorney Dale Cendali. "Yet, no case has interpreted copyright law as providing such a right, and doing so here would inhibit copyright’s purpose of encouraging the creation of new works. This is particularly troubling at a time when tattoos are becoming increasingly popular."
Solid Oak is the plaintiff in the case filed back in February 2016 after acquiring rights from various tattoo artists. The company, derided as an "opportunist" by Take-Two, argues that tattoo designs "easily satisfy" a standard for originality and are fixed in a tangible medium (the skin of humans).
At the moment, the copyright-ability of tattoos isn't the subject of debate.
Instead, Solid Oak and Take-Two have agreed to first put before the judge the defendant's question of whether the video game publisher's use of tattoos is either de minimis or fair use.
Take-Two's de minimis argument is rather straightforward.
"The Tattoos rarely appear in NBA 2K as they only are displayed when the players on whom they are inked are selected from the over 400 other NBA players that are available," states Take-Two's memorandum. "Even when the Tattoos appear, they are not prominent as the game camera generally uses a full-court shot with the players’ avatars appearing as small images, and the Tattoos thus appearing even smaller than they would in real life. This makes the Tattoos difficult (if not impossible) to see even when the players appear in the game."
The argument will only be a winning one if U.S. District Judge Laura Taylor Swain agrees that the qualitative or quantitative significance in the video game is what matters. Perhaps an example of the coming counter-argument comes from a decision four years ago in a case over sampling on the Beastie Boys' album, Paul's Boutique. There, a New York judge ruled that whether listeners could detect samples was irrelevant as what really mattered was the portion taken of the original. (The Beastie Boys eventually won the case anyway.)
Alternatively, Take-Two urges the judge to declare it has engaged in fair use.
The defendant goes through the four factors. For the purpose and character of the use, Cendali argues that while the tattoos were originally created to serve the NBA players' self-expression, Take-Two is using them for authenticity. To the nature of the copyrighted work, she argues that any creativity must be weighed against the fact that tattoos were copied to depict real-world subject matter realistically. Factor three measures the amount and substantiality of the portion used, and here, Cendali echoes some of the points over de minimis.
What arguably separates this case from other potential ones, possibly limiting any precedent if the judge chooses to focus on it, is the fourth factor that examines the effect of the use upon the potential market.
"Solid Oak’s license agreements with the tattooists expressly disclaim 'the right to tattoo a permanent tattoo rendering onto a person’s skin,'" states the brief. "Moreover, Solid Oak has admitted that it has never licensed to any party 'the ability to ink the Tattoos on other people.' Thus, it has no rights in or to the original market for the Tattoos (i.e., inking them on people)."
Anticipating a rebuttal over a licensing market for these tattoos, Take-Two's summary judgment motion warns the judge not to heed the theoretical and adds that Solid Oak has admitted to not obtaining the publicity or trademark rights "necessary" to depict the Tattoos on merchandise.
"Solid Oak’s lack of licenses in these overlapping intellectual property rights prevents Solid Oak from commercializing the Tattoos," states the brief.
It's an interesting argument, but also an odd one given that Take-Two itself has fought cases — like a battle with actress Lindsay Lohan — over whether publicity rights are really necessary. Other video game companies like Electronic Arts over Madden NFL have too and presumably lack such rights. Perhaps it's the word "merchandise" that leaves Take-Two some room to make some creative and commercial distinction. Nevertheless, Solid Oak appears to have eyes on licensing in the creative market.
Take-Two ends its brief with a few words that showcase why others might wish to pay attention here.
"If Take-Two’s motion is denied, Solid Oak will be able to use that decision to shakedown each of the publications and television programs in which those players have appeared, as well as any other video game publisher that depicts the Tattoos," states the brief (read in full here). "It would be illogical to allow Solid Oak to seek rents each time that a player bearing one of its tattoos commercializes his likeness, or worse, appears in public, and therefore arguably 'publicly displays' the Tattoos under copyright law. We know of no case reaching such a result. Doing so here would set a bad precedent affecting all bearers of tattoos and the companies that creatively depict them."
Solid Oak's response will be filed in court soon. |
A special “tax” for Jews.
Praise for Adolf Hitler.
References to “camps” for Jews.
And threats galore.
A time out of history, before World War II’s death and destruction rained down on Europe?
It’s all being heard today in Turkey, as anti-Semitism reaches new highs and Muslims appear to be organizing for a new caliphate, according to the Middle East Media Research Institute.
The organization reported Friday that a recent survey in Turkey found that in just 24 hours, on July 17-18, 27,309 Turkish Twitter users sent 30,926 Turkish-language tweets in support of Hitler’s genocide against the Jews.
The report said anti-Semitic “incitement” by Turkish government officials is at levels not seen in years.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan calls Israel more barbaric than Hitler, and the media, which supports his party, regularly accuse Turkey’s Jews of “treason.” Other accusations include connecting Jews with the use of Ebola as a biological weapon and a professor tweeted about sending Jews to Treblinka.
Treblinka was one of Germany’s notorious World War II death camps.
See Turkey being transformed into Hitler’s Germany in Joel Richardson’s “End Times Eyewitness.” History is repeating itself as Turkey prepares to become the center of the Islamic Caliphate once again.
Calling anti-Semitism is an accepted part of Turkish government discourse, MEMRI also noted that in protests after the May mine collapse in Soma, Erdogan scuffled with a miner, calling him “sperm of Israel.”
In September, while Erdogan was insisting to the Council on Foreign Relations that neither he nor his government was anti-Semitic, members of his party back home were tweeting praise for Hitler, and shops in Istanbul were displaying signs reading ‘No Admittance To Jewish Dogs,” MEMRI reported.
The MEMRI report cited the writings of Muslim columnist Ibrahim Tenekeci of the daily Yeni Safak, who penned “Of Men and Jews.”
Read the fascinating report by bestselling author Ray Comfort on how Hitler misused Christianity in his rise to power that allowed him to exterminate millions of Jews, in “Hitler God and the Bible.”
He cited the work of 1960s writer Nurettin Topcu, who wrote that Jews are “the eternal curse of mankind.”
“‘No doubt, Allah has created the Jewish tribe as the curse to mankind,'” Tenekeci quoted. “‘The Jewish tribe has been sent to the world in order to destroy every good thing, every strong foundation, and all liberating truths. … It is an instinct of the Jew to do evil to men and to humanity. … The Jew cannot live without evil and troublemaking.'”
MEMRI also cited the writings of Karuk Kose, whose work also appears in the Yeni Akit.
“There is no way to remedy the loss of lives [in the Gaza war], but until we arrive at the ‘great revenge time’ we must keep the pain alive in our hearts and rebuild Gaza with no delay, and remedy [the Gazans’] material losses.
“The damages total $8 billion. This is a big number for a little territory such as Gaza … and its reconstruction will take 20 years,” the commentary continued. “Naturally the money needed to rebuild Gaza will come from the world’s Muslims. … With Muslim aid, Gaza will be rebuilt – until the ‘herd of murderers’ attack once again and ruin it.
“So should we not build Gaza out of fear that it will be destroyed again, and should we allow tens of thousands of our Gazan brothers to live in the Stone Age? Of course not! However, it is time for ‘Palestine-loving Muslims’ and the ‘father of Gaza’ [i.e. Erdogan] to put an end to this vicious cycle. It is time to make the ‘culprits’ and the ‘culprits’ helpers’ pay for the damages. ”
The idea being promoted was a “Gaza Fund” tax for all Jews and non-Jewish companies doing business with Israel.
“Since it is they who destroyed, let them pay for reconstruction.”
Ali Ihsan Goker, who teaches at Bilecik University in Turkey, tweeted recently, “Treblinka will be ready soon; [we are] constructing the railway to transport Jews at the moment.”
And the report notes that Bulent Yildirim, the leader of a pro-terror organization called IHH, said it was “increasingly difficult to restrain” the young members of the group “from attacking Jews.”
An alarming rise in anti-Semitism in Turkey has been noted by the U.S. State Department’s special envoy for combating anti-Semitism, Ira Forman, the Jerusalem Post reported.
“We are concerned when civil society or political leaders call on the Jewish community to denounce Israel,” Forman said.
“And we are concerned when we hear that someone posted a sign reading ‘to be demolished’ on Istanbul’s Neve Shalom synagogue,” Forman said.
Turkey’s president, Erdogan, and his Islamic party have been in power for a decade in Turkey. Of late, he has dramatically reduced interaction with Israel, even though they were close strategic partners.
He’s also accused Israel of “murdering babies.”
Further, Haaretz.com reported over the summer that regarding Turkey, “the level of hate speech directed at Jews has hit dangerous levels.”
Commentator Louis Fishman said, “For over a decade, I have lived on-and-off in Turkey, watching Turkish society diversify along with the new freedoms it enjoyed during the first years of Erdogan’s tenure.
“However, over the years, peoples’ comments and the Islamist press reminded me of the latent anti-Semitism there.”
He said the recent eruption was “characterized by widespread praise for Hitler in the press and social media.” |
Earlier in the week we had a chance to pay UFC welterweight Mike Pierce a visit at the Affliction Gym in Seal Beach, CA. Pierce was in town to do a bit of media and upon meeting him and speaking to him, came to a strong conclusion. Mike Pierce is perhaps one of the nicest and down to earth guys we have ever met. Why you may ask? In speaking with him, Pierce acted like a normal guy and related to things off camera that any normal young adult would talk about. Yes, we used the term young adult; though Pierce is 31 he still relates to that demographic of 21-35 when it comes to subjects of sports and other types of topics.
From behind the camera, Fight Hub TV correspondent Marcos Villegas spoke to Mike in depth about his upcoming matchup with Josh Koscheck as well as share his thoughts on the UFC on FOX 2 semi-main event between his friend Chael Sonnen and Michael Bisping. Pierce puts it down very simple, if Anderson Silva could not knock out Sonnen, Michael Bisping has a slim chance in doing so himself. |
It's the key material found in superglue and airplane wings. It once coated the Apollo 8 capsule for reentry into Earth's atmosphere. And it currently insulates the electronics in your smartphone. Thermosets are the unsung heroes of materials science.
Cured thermosets are heat-resistant polymers that are often more rigid than bone and virtually impossible to break down. In your car or in your computer, an indestructible component isn't so bad. But on the manufacturing line, thermosets represent an engineer's point of no return—once you coat something in thermoset, you cannot make changes without starting over from scratch. A material that just won't melt—it decomposes long before its melting point—poses a unique problem for the recycling industry.
Researchers at IBM announced the first recyclable thermoset in a paper published in Science. Their new thermoset is just as powerful and heat-resistant as its predecessors, but its Achilles heel is acid: Dip a component into an inexpensive sulfuric acid solution, and it reverts to its original, puttylike state.
"This is the first example of a recyclable thermoset, to our knowledge," says Jeannette M. Garcia, research staff member at IBM Research and lead author on the paper. "Sulfuric acid is essentially free, and reworking thermosets is much more desirable than throwing them away. If IBM had this 15 years ago, it would have saved unbelievable amounts of money."
Of Computers and Chemistry
Garcia first stumbled across her new polymer by accident. She had been working on synthesizing a different polymer when she noticed the solution in her reaction flask unexpectedly harden. "We couldn't get it out," she says. "We had to smash the flask with a hammer, and, even then, we couldn't smash the material itself. It's one of these serendipitous discoveries."
Determined to figure out what she had made, Garcia enlisted help from the brains at IBM. "What's unique about Garcia's paper is that she used all of the computational expertise of IBM to develop new materials," says Timothy Long, a professor of chemistry at Virginia Tech, who was not involved in the research.
Garcia and her team used classic chemistry techniques, along with advanced computer models, to work backward from her final product and find the mechanism behind her surprise reaction. When she discovered that she had indeed synthesized a thermoset, Garcia used the IBM software to test whether there was an inexpensive, efficient way to recycle her new polymer.
"We were able to actually study the chemistry through our computational models, and then evaluate the final product for its reactivity," Garcia says. "We noticed that if you take the molecule and subject it to strong acid, like sulfuric acid, you would get complete chemical reversion back to the starting materials."
More Thermoset for Your Buck?
Prior attempts to synthesize a recyclable thermoset produced weaker, less heat-resistant plastics, unsuitable for industrial uses. But when Garcia and her team subjected their thermoset to a battery of lab tests, its performance was either comparable or superior to current industry standards. And, according to Garcia, her thermoset could be even less expensive than those currently on the market.
While the new thermoset's rigidity and cost may be above reproach, its heat resistance does pose a few problems. Up to 350 degrees Celsius, Garcia's thermoset performs just as well as any comparable polymer. But above that temperature it starts to break down. It's a problem, because thermosets often show up in extremely high-temperature environments. The redistribution layer of a computer chip, for example, which enables bonding between chips in an integrated circuit, can heat up to 425 C. For such applications, Hendrick acknowledges, a more heat-resistant thermoset or a blend of thermosets would undoubtedly be necessary.
"You could get around this by blending polymers," says James Hendrick, a research staff member at IBM who oversees the materials group. "But for our pure polymer, 350 degrees Celsius is the decomposition temperature."
Industrial Prejudices
IBM's new thermoset is a less expensive, recyclable alternative to many of the current market favorites. Nevertheless, manufacturers may be reluctant to adopt a new polymer on the line.
"Industry is always resistant to change," Long says. "Anytime new chemistry appears, we have to think about changing manufacturing operations."
One advantage of this new thermoset, Long notes, is that it makes use of starting materials that are already widely accepted in the industry. "That's an important element of their discovery," Long says of Garcia's team. "They try to use existing compounds and existing synthetic methods that the industry can quickly adopt."
For companies that do use Garcia's thermoset, Long notes, the advantages could be substantial. "Industries are looking for performance so, conceivably, if you're fabricating a new device and it doesn't turn out quite right, a thermoset that you can reverse would allow you to correct the problem."
And for us environmentally conscious techies, of course, a recyclable thermoset is the answer to our ever-present question of how to recycle our old hardware.
"We switch out laptops and iPhones every couple of years, and those thermosets are inherently not recyclable," Long says. "This thermoset will redesign our way of thinking about recycling." |
Charlotte power forward Mike Thorne has received a scholarship offer to play basketball for Kentucky next season, and he would be eligible immediately.
Thorne already has announced that he plans to transfer after he graduates from Charlotte next month. The 6-foot-11, 270-pound prospect averaged 10.1 points and 7.3 rebounds in 26.1 minutes a game for the 49ers this season.
Trinity Christian (N.C.) head coach Heath Vandevender told the Herald-Leader that he spoke to UK Coach John Calipari on Monday afternoon. Calipari is trying to arrange a visit with Thorne and his father in Charlotte before the player visits Lexington.
Thorne also is considering Pittsburgh, Illinois and Kansas.
He visited Pitt this past weekend and has trips to Illinois and Kansas planned for the next two weekends. A visit to UK would probably happen after that.
Vandevender said that playing time would be a major factor in Thorne’s decision, because he has only one year of eligibility remaining. UK’s losing seven players to the NBA Draft — including four in the frontcourt — should help the Wildcats’ chances. The stay-or-go decision of Kansas forward Perry Ellis also could affect Thorne’s recruitment.
Alex Poythress and Marcus Lee are expected to return to the UK frontcourt next season, and they’ll be joined by five-star 7-footer Skal Labissiere. UK also is recruiting Stephen Zimmerman, Cheick Diallo and Thon Maker for the class of 2015. |
‘Don’t mind his plámásing.’
I heard someone say this on the Promenade in Salthill recently. It means: ‘Pay no attention to his flattery.’ Don’t and mind were merged, so the phrase sounded like /do:’maɪndɪz ’plɔ:mɔ:sən/.
Plámás /’plɔ:mɔ:s/ [‘plaw-mawse’] is an Irish noun and verb used in Hiberno-English; it means empty flattery, ingratiating talk, disingenuous praise. I’ve seen it anglicised as plaumause, plamause, and plawmass, or simply by dropping the accents.
It’s a word familiar to me since childhood, but I hear it only occasionally. A plámáser or plámásaí /’plɔ:mɔ:si:/ is a person engaging in plámás, while plámásach /’plɔ:mɔ:səx/ (‘flattering’) is the adjectival form. Here are some examples of its use.
Christopher Nolan, in The Banyan Tree:
now his big plámásing smile was back on
A photo caption on a travel blog:
Eoghan plamasing the local women to get a cup of butter tea…
The Laois Nationalist:
On her re election as assistant treasurer Evelyn Dunne had words of support from her chairman Dick Miller: ‘She wont go out of her way to plaumause you or endear herself to you but I guarantee you she does the work.’
The blog Hunter S. Thompson Books:
Hunter S. Thompson a friend of the Mitchell brothers drifts in and out of this story. Reading it I can imagine him bounding around with his usual bow-legged gait, doing what he did best – plamasing everyone in sight, looking like he owned the place.
A quip on the IrishDogs community forum, in response to someone looking for a lift for a dog:
yeah plamause your way in there ;-)
A comment at the Irish Left Review:
Instead of the usual plamasach self-pitying oul’ guff which passes for analysis on the Irish Left…
A comment at Indymedia Ireland:
Concealing your argument with vague allusions and references without ever clarifying your point might impress and plaumause those already on your side, but it will only alienate everybody else.
Tom Mac Intyre in The Charollais, cited in Bernard Share’s Slanguage:
‘We are, in no sense, boasting.’ ‘Shur I know ye’re not, m’lord — I always knew ye’d go places, an’ I’m not just plawmassin’ ye now.’
The origin of plámás is unknown. One suggestion is that it’s a corrupted form of blanc-mange, but the link seems tenuous. There’s a related word plásaí /’plɔ:si:/ (plausy, plauzy, plausey, plossey), which can mean either flattery or flatterer. See the previous link for examples.
When plámás was mentioned in the London Review of Books (1999), it prompted a letter with this amusing comment:
It is a word my Irish mother often uses in a verbal mode. I’d always thought it was ‘plum-arse’, as in ‘You’d think that Tony Blair could plum-arse them all into agreement, he’s certainly got the mouth for it.’
I wonder if this line was borrowed verbatim. Plum-arse probably qualifies as an eggcorn, but it’s unlikely to gain any currency given the original term’s scarcity. Even in Ireland, plámás isn’t in common usage: an enthusiastic commenter on Boards.ie from Gorey, Co. Wexford thought plámás was a word his mother had invented.
.
(To mark long vowels in IPA, I’ve used ordinary colons instead of the standard triangular marks, because WordPress isn’t rendering the latter clearly.)
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This article is written by Matthew Austin and Anna Vella.
As stated in our recent article about the Queensland government’s proposed redesigned financial assurance framework for resource projects, the government is undertaking a broad review of mining projects to achieve a tailored solution for various types of operators within the resource sector– aimed at encouraging ‘best practice’ environmental outcomes, dealing with residual risk issues and to reduce the State’s risk in the event of environmental and rehabilitation obligations not being met.
In addition to announcing potential changes to the financial assurance framework and a broader jurisdictional review, the Queensland government has released a discussion paper which outlines a proposed new policy for mine rehabilitation in Queensland.
Existing rehabilitation issues
Mining project rehabilitation is required under the Environmental Protection Act 1994 (Qld) (EP Act). Where a proponent for a mining activity makes a variation or site-specific environmental authority (EA) application, the EP Act requires the proponent to provide details as to how the land the subject of the application will be rehabilitated after each relevant activity ceases. In approving an EA application for a mining activity, the Department of Environment and Heritage Protection (DEHP) may impose a condition which relates to rehabilitating or remediating environmental harm caused by the undertaking of that activity.
For some time, the criticism of Queensland’s mining rehabilitation requirements have been gaining momentum as, among other things:
the progressive rehabilitation obligations for a mining activity are informed by the project’s plan of operations ( PoO ), which has a limited forward planning horizon;
EA approval conditions have not provided detail as to the environmental outcomes, environmental criteria and ultimate land uses which are to be achieved on the land upon which mining activities are carried out;
the regime does not provide a meaningful financial incentive for mining proponents to undertake progressive rehabilitation;
rehabilitation commitments as stated in an environmental impact statement or a PoO are not necessarily translated into enforceable conditions or obligations; and
little guidance has been provided to mining proponents to indicate what the DEHP requires to be satisfied with rehabilitation so that it can be progressively certified (as part of an ongoing mining project) or to be accepted upon surrender of an EA for the whole or part of a project.
Rehabilitation policy and delivery elements
The rehabilitation discussion paper released by the Queensland government is a key component of an integrated mined land management framework.
At this stage, the possible rehabilitation reforms are limited to the undertaking of mining activities – but may be broadened to eventually include the undertaking of petroleum activities.
The rehabilitation policies underlying the discussion paper are that:
all mined land in Queensland should be rehabilitated so that it is able to support another land use;
mined land is to be rehabilitated progressively to minimise risks of environmental impacts and to demonstrate the success of waste and land management solutions. Central to the policy and to provide certainty about the outcomes and timing of rehabilitation, mining companies with large mines will be required to prepare a ‘life-of-mine’ plan ( LOM Plan ) which encompass all states of the mine’s life – such as development, operation, care and maintenance, decommissioning, closure and post-closure monitoring - and will include binding milestones that support transition to its future use. In circumstances where major changes need to be made to the LOM Plan over the life of the mine – the public is to have an opportunity to comment on those changes;
when preparing a LOM Plan, future land uses will be identified having regard to community views and any desired use expressed in local and regional planning strategies, but may include retaining built infrastructure that will have ongoing value for the landholder or the community;
a LOM Plan will include actions and time-based milestones for achieving rehabilitation outcomes which are intended to be enforceable and enable the regulator to act if an operator fails to meet its obligations;
mined land will be considered available for rehabilitation unless it is:
being mined; or
being used for operating mining infrastructure; or
overlays a mineral reserve that has been assessed as economically viable for extraction within 10 years;
mined land will be considered to be rehabilitated when it can be demonstrated it is safe, stable, will not cause environmental harm and is able to support the post mining land use;
regular monitoring, assessment and public reporting of progress against rehabilitation outcomes stated in the LOM Plan are proposed which may in turn replace existing reporting processes – self-assessment by the operator is to be supplemented by independent auditing every three to five years as well as regular regulator checks;
guidelines will be produced which outline standard criteria for common types of rehabilitation outcomes and the process companies must follow to develop additional completion criteria for rehabilitation outcomes that reflect site-specific characteristics. Further guidance is also to be developed as to the standard of scientific evidence required to support EA surrender application and the process for assessing final rehabilitation.
The discussion paper also contemplates that, to incentivise compliance, a risk factor based on rehabilitation performance could be built into the annual fee calculation for environmentally relevant activities and fees discounted where auditing and compliance show full compliance. Increased fees could be imposed where substantial non-compliance is identified.
Proposed transitional arrangements
At this stage, the government expects that the legislative changes required to implement the intentions of the rehabilitation discussion paper are likely to be made in mid-to-late 2018.
The new rehabilitation framework is to apply:
to all new mines in Queensland that require an EA obtained through a site-specific assessment process; and
progressively to all current operating site-specific mines – with a varying transitional arrangements depending on whether a mine is considered to be:
‘high risk’ – based on factors which may include area of disturbance, proximity to significant environmental areas and the expected remaining life of mine - which will need a LOM Plan within 1 year of the legislative provisions commencing; or for the remaining existing mines, a LOM Plan will be required within 2 years after commencement of the legislative provisions.
Conclusion
The reforms outlined in the rehabilitation discussion paper seek to achieve – among other things:
binding and enforceable rehabilitation obligations for new and existing mines which will be developed through a LOM Plan which encompass all stages of mine development;
progressive rehabilitation of mined areas over the life of a mine;
mining companies planning and committing to enforceable rehabilitation obligations;
monitoring, assessment, auditing and reporting occurring on a regular basis with the opportunity for community scrutiny and third parties being consulted if major changes are proposed to made to the LOM Plan; and
more rigour around ‘care and maintenance’ obligations for mining projects.
The overall effectiveness of this aspect of the overall reform framework will become more clear once detail as to the regulator’s final certification requirements for rehabilitation requirements is made available.
Similarly to the financial assurance discussion paper, the Queensland government is seeking feedback on the proposed rehabilitation reform package by 15 June 2017.
If you would like information about how your business may be affected please contact us.
Better Mine Rehabilitation for Queensland, Discussion Paper, Department of the Premier and Cabinet, Queensland Treasury, Department of Natural Resources and Mines and Department of Environment and Heritage Protection, released on 4 May 2017: https://www.treasury.qld.gov.au/projects-infrastructure/initiatives/improving-outcomes-resources-sector/better-mine-rehabilitation-in-qld-discussion-paper.pdf
In circumstances where an environmental impact statement is prepared under the EP Act and/or as per the requirements of section 125(1)(l)(i)(E), EP Act.
Section 207(1)(e), EP Act. Guidance is also provided by the Department of Environment and Heritage Protection’s Rehabilitation requirements for mining resource activities guideline, Version 2, 23 May 2014: https://www.ehp.qld.gov.au/assets/documents/regulation/rs-gl-rehabilitation-requirements-mining.pdf
With a view to potentially removing the need to prepare PoOs, which is likely to duplicate LOM Plan requirements.
Better Mine Rehabilitation for Queensland, Discussion Paper, op. cit, p. 26. |
Polling takes place against background of hacking that is ‘clearly an attempt at democratic destabilisation’
France goes to the polls as country decides between Macron or Le Pen
Voting is under way in the final round of France’s presidential race after a massive online dump of frontrunner Emmanuel Macron’s campaign data delivered a final dramatic twist to the country’s most bruising, divisive and significant election in decades.
The French election watchdog warned that it could be a criminal offence to publish the tens of thousands of hacked emails and other documents – some reportedly fake – amid an electioneering blackout lasting from midnight on Friday until polls close at 8pm on Sunday.
The twists and turns of France’s strangest ever presidential election Read more
The interior ministry said turnout at 5pm was 65.3%, noticeably down on 71.96% at the last election in 2012 but in line with pollsters’ projections ahead of the vote. The final abstention rate is set to be 25-27%.
The hack, on which neither Macron or his opponent, far-right leader Marine Le Pen, were allowed to comment publicly, was “clearly an attempt at democratic destabilisation, like that seen during the last presidential campaign in the US”, according to his En Marche! campaign team.
The divisive election to choose the Fifth Republic’s eighth president has turned the country’s politics upside down, with neither of the two mainstream centre-right and centre-left movements that have governed France since the second world war making it to the runoff.
Seen as potentially the most important electoral contest in many years for France and the European Union, it has pitted against each other two candidates with diametrically opposing visions for the future of their country and the continent.
Macron, a 39-year-old former banker and economy minister running as an independent centrist, is economically liberal, socially progressive, globally minded and upbeat. Le Pen is a nation-first protectionist who wants to close France’s borders and possibly leave the euro and the EU.
Macron voted in the coastal town of Le Touquet in northern France alongside his wife, Brigitte, smiling and stopping to pet a black dog as he stepped out of his holiday home in the seaside resort.
For security reasons, he was driven to his nearby polling station at Le Touquet town and shook hands with a large crowd of supporters before entering the building. Le Pen her ballot in Hénin-Beaumont, a small northern town run by her Front National.
She arrived at the polling station with the town’s mayor, Steeve Briois, who took over as the far-right party’s interim leader when she stepped aside last month to concentrate on the campaign.
Feminist activists were briefly detained a couple of hours earlier on Sunday for hanging a big anti-Le Pen banner from a church in the town.
Facebook Twitter Pinterest Marine Le Pen emerges from a pooling booth. Photograph: Pascal Rossignol/Reuters
Final polls published on Friday suggested Macron had widened his lead over Le Pen to between 22 and 23 percentage points following an ugly TV debate in which she was widely considered to have spent more time attacking her opponent than engaging with policy.
“The commission calls on everyone present on internet sites and social networks – primarily the media, but also all citizens – to show responsibility and not pass on this content so as not to distort the sincerity of the ballot,” the election commission said on Saturday.
Many television news channels opted not even to mention the hack, while Le Monde newspaper said on its website it would not publish any of the nine gigabytes of leaked data before the election – partly because there was too much, and partly because it had clearly been released with the aim of affecting the vote.
“If these documents contain revelations, Le Monde will of course publish them after having investigated them, respecting our journalistic and ethical rules, and without allowing ourselves to be exploited by the publishing calendar of anonymous actors,” the paper said.
Macron is en route to the Elysée, but may find it hard to govern Read more
The data was posted on a profile called EMLEAKS to Pastebin, a site allowing anonymous document sharing. En Marche! said it was not alarmed by the content, adding the documents “reflected the normal operations of a campaign” but had been mixed with fakes to “sow doubt and disinformation”.
Intelligence agencies in the US said in January that the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, had ordered hacking of Democratic campaign officials before last year’s presidential election in a bid to boost the chances of Republican candidate Donald Trump over Hillary Clinton.
Mainland France’s 47 million voters began casting their ballots at about 70,000 polling stations around the country at 8am (0700 BST). Usually reliable estimates of the result, based on a representative count of actual votes cast, will be released as the last stations close at 8pm (1900 BST).
Voting began in France’s overseas territories on Saturday, starting with Saint-Pierre-et-Miquelon, an archipelago near the Canadian island of Newfoundland, and continuing in other far-flung overseas territories and French embassies abroad.
Up to a quarter of the electorate is expected to abstain, with some supporters of the centre-right candidate François Fillon and the hard-left veteran Jean-Luc Mélenchon, both defeated in the first round on 23 April, saying they would not be voting for either candidate. |
This 1994 Range Rover County LWB is a well-maintained example with 55k kilometers (~34k miles) that is powered by a 4.2 liter Rover V8. The truck was sold new at Lone Star Mercedes-Benz Range Rover in Calgary, Alberta, and has been registered in Vancouver, British Columbia since 1995. The seller is the third owner and purchased the truck four months ago. He replaced the headliner, tires, and a few minor worn items, and enjoyed a 750 mile road trip through British Columbia over Labor Day weekend with no issues. Cosmetics are in good order with the paint and interior looking well-preserved, and the truck features numerous factory options like brush guards and running boards. The Rover has no modifications from stock, and the A/C system and air suspension are fully functional. The seller describes the truck as running well, but has decided to sell since he rarely drives it and is limited on space. The sale includes service records from previous owners, receipts from work done by the seller, clean Carfax and Carproof reports, and a clean British Columbia title.
The Cornish Cream paint appears glossy with no noticeable scratches or blemishes, and the truck received a nearly $1k detailing on November 3rd. There is no history of any accidents on the Carfax, though the seller reports that a small dent was recently removed. Records also show a $478 vandalism claim in November, 1996 and a $454 comprehensive claim in June, 1997. The aluminum body panels are straight, and the steel bonnet and tailgate show no signs of corrosion.
This truck was equipped with several factory options including:
Wraparound brush bar with lamp guards ($1,116)
Rear lamp guards ($456)
Fog lamp covers ($114)
Running boards ($1,058)
Loadspace protector ($384)
Rubber floormat set ($279)
Trailer hitch kit ($254)
The County LWB variant increased the wheelbase of the Range Rover to 108 inches long, which offered more legroom for rear passengers and a larger cargo area. The seller notes that the air suspension works as it should, and the front shocks were replaced at 24k miles by the previous owner. The stock 16″ wheels are in good condition and wear new Yokohama Geolandar tires that were installed on August, 25th (including spare). Exterior rubber is in good condition with no major UV damage, and all of the lights are working correctly.
The interior looks sharp with Light Stone Connolly leather upholstery and burled walnut trim. This was the last year of the classic dash for the Range Rover, with the 1995 model using a dash lifted from the Discovery.
The leather on the seats shows little wear with no cracks, creases, tears, or damage to the piping. The seller added a new headliner after purchase, and the carpets and floormats appear clean with no wrinkles.
Interior plastics have held up well, and there are no cracks on the dash. All of the gauges, lights, power accessories, sunroof, A/C system, and cruise control are said to function properly. The clock is currently not working and the seller notes that the original radio occasionally cuts out.
The 4.2 liter Rover V8 sits in a tidy engine compartment and features Lucas 14CUX electronic fuel injection. The permanent four-wheel drive truck utilizes a 4-speed ZF automatic transmission coupled to an LT230 transfer box. The engine looks clean with organized wiring, and was advertised at producing 202 horsepower and 251 lb.ft. of torque when new.
The thermostat was replaced by the previous owner less than 10k miles ago, and the seller recently replaced the radiator hose, water pump pulleys, trackrod end links, and the daytime running lights relay. The motor runs strong and provides even power through all gears, and the truck is said to offer a smooth ride with no abnormal sounds.
All of the original owner’s manuals are included, as well as a working fob, three keys, and the original off-roading instructions VHS tape. The original service booklet includes dealer stamped scheduled maintenance, service records from the previous owner, and receipts from the seller for the tires, headliner, and detail also come with the truck. |
(Reuters) - The state of California sued Morgan Stanley on Friday, accusing the bank of hiding the risks of complex mortgage debt and other securities it sold, causing big losses for the state’s public pension funds, CalPERS and CalSTRS.
The corporate logo of financial firm Morgan Stanley is pictured on the company's world headquarters in the Manhattan borough of New York City, January 20, 2015. REUTERS/Mike Segar
Kamala Harris, the state attorney general, said Morgan Stanley concealed or downplayed the risks of toxic residential mortgage-backed securities and “structured investment vehicles” it marketed from 2004 to 2007, sometimes encouraging credit rating agencies to award unjustifiably high ratings.
She said the bank’s conduct reflected “a culture of greed and deception” that fueled the 2008 financial crisis and caused the California Public Employees’ Retirement System and California State Teachers Retirement System to lose hundreds of millions of dollars.
California accused Morgan Stanley of violating the state’s False Claims Act and various state securities laws. It seeks a variety of damages plus civil fines. The lawsuit was filed in the state superior court in San Francisco.
Morgan Stanley said it believes the lawsuit has no merit.
“The securities at issue were marketed and sold to sophisticated institutional investors and their performance has been consistent with the sector as a whole,” it said. “It is also worth noting that the alleged victim in this case elected not to pursue its own lawsuit against the firm.”
CalPERS had previously recovered hundreds of millions of dollars in settlements with agencies such as McGraw Hill Financial Inc’s Standard & Poor’s and Moody’s Corp’s Moody’s Investors Service over alleged inflated ratings.
Among the securities over which CalPERS sued was Cheyne, a structured investment vehicle that failed in 2007.
A large portion of Friday’s lawsuit challenges Morgan Stanley’s conduct in marketing the Cheyne SIV.
Shares of Morgan Stanley closed up 52 cents at $25.53 in Friday trading on the New York Stock Exchange.
The case is California v. Morgan Stanley et al, Superior Court of California, San Francisco County, No. CGC16-551238. |
After being greatly missed on Game of Thrones last season, Bran Stark will make a welcome return in Season 6 — and fans got a first look at his new grown-up haircut on Monday.
Bran, played by English actor Isaac Hempstead Wright, is now a teenager as the handicapped prince learns to control his fledgling psychic powers while traveling north of the Wall.
In the new photo published by EW, Stark’s shaggy hair has been neatly cut since we last saw him meeting with the mystical Three-Eyed Raven (Max von Sydow) in the Season 4 finale.
Also Read: ‘Game of Thrones’ Is Once Again Most Pirated TV Show of the Year
“It’s going to get particularly interesting with Bran. He has some interesting visions,” 16-year-old Hempstead-Wright told the Irish Examiner earlier this year.
The return of the young Stark son could be a game-charger for loyal followers of the family, and mark a revenge plot line against the Lannisters considering that it was Jaime Lannister (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau) who crippled Bran by pushing him off a tower.
Game of Thrones Season 6 premieres on HBO in April 2016. |
The Campaign to Diminish Men’s Social Status to Slave Class in Western Culture
Author’s note: This is not intended to be an attack on women. I am friendly with women, some of whom consider themselves feminists. This is an analysis of what I and others have identified as a disturbing trend throughout society. As a career artist, teacher, and divorced father, I have always shunned New Age jargon, paranoid conspiracy theories, or any cultish group mentality. I had very little awareness of or regard for the organized Men’s Rights Movement before writing my first draft of this essay in virtual isolation. My assumption was a common one that men’s groups were comprised of a few ragtag misfits who got together in the woods to bang bongos, whine about their lives, and atone for the perceived sins of their fathers.
Since then however, I have found an impressive collection of intelligent work by some very well-informed and accomplished authors who write with great clarity and objectivity about these disturbingly overlooked men’s issues. I was pleasantly surprised to discover that I was not the only man (and even a few remarkable women) to draw similar conclusions about the organized campaign to denigrate and subjugate men in Western culture. In this piece, I touch on many facets of the subject that will be well-known to readers who are already familiar with the MRM. However, I probe a little deeper than merely identifying the symptoms into some informed speculation about the sinister origins and ultimate goals of this insidious trend.
–Gabriel Raphael, 2012
* * * * *
It’s A Man’s World?
All women’s issues are to some degree men’s issues and all men’s issues are to some degree women’s issues because when either sex wins unilaterally both sexes lose. –Warren Farrell
We have lived for so long with the cliché that it is a man’s world that we rarely question what it means. So I’m asking. Does it mean that a disproportionate majority of men enjoy freedoms, advantages and benefits that women are denied? If that’s what it means, then it is one of many absurd fallacies regarding men’s and women’s status in this day and age here in the Western world. It has been anything but a man’s world for most of my lifetime since the late 1960s and I know for most men of my generation here in America, whether or not they have the awareness or nerve to admit it. Like a hapless frog boiling to death in a slowly heated pot of water, we never saw it coming. The apparatus of feminism has seen to that. In the politically-correct-osphere, it has become taboo for anyone, male or female to even question the motives, tactics, or ultimate consequences of the feminist agenda. However, as a man to whom it would never occur to question the notion that the sexes deserve equal rights, I definitely do question the feminist agenda. In my lifetime of experience, I must objectively conclude that true gender equality and the goals of feminism as it is practiced are anything but synonymous.
My beautiful daughter attends a successfully integrated public school where we live in Northern California. She has never witnessed racial discrimination but is taught about it in school, especially around the time of MLK day. When she was only about eight, I asked her if she understood what it was all about. She innocently replied, “Yeah but it isn’t like that anymore, so why do they still have to make such a big deal about it?” Hesitantly, I answered her that some people think that it’s the only way to prevent it from happening again. And yet while offering this explanation, I had misgivings about how it felt disingenuous. Even though it was the stock answer, didn’t really make much sense to me or to my daughter. Contrary to its intended purpose of being preventative, it instead seemed more likely to perpetuate the resentment. They are teaching children about a time of hate to whom it would never otherwise occur. I’m not suggesting that we should deny historic facts either, but such sensitive subjects must be kept in proper perspective. I mention this as a parallel to what I now see happening in the so-called battle of the sexes.
With the same paradoxical logic that would put the American Cancer Society out of business if a cure for cancer were found, I submit that the apparatus of feminism actually reinforces and depends on the fallacy that it’s a man’s world in ways that actually diminish the dignity of both sexes. In science, including social science, any good theory or procedure must withstand the test of objective scrutiny. So let’s put feminism to the test. In this case, as simple thought experiment. Like most men of my generation, I can’t even imagine having the motive or power to oppress women. It is an empty accusation. And yet feminism depends on that premise. Therefore, I must conclude that feminism fails the credibility test— catastrophically. Why? Not because men are threatened by the idea of gender equality or “strong” women, a familiar accusation so often claimed by feminists. We’re not. Really. Yet most men become baffled by this accusation just long enough to lose their focus. That is a typical ad hominem logical fallacy that effectively obfuscates the real problems and usually derails any meaningful conversation before it begins.
Feminism Knows Best
It would be futile to attempt to fit women into a masculine pattern of attitudes, skills and abilities and disastrous to force them to suppress their specifically female characteristics and abilities by keeping up the pretense that there are no differences between the sexes. –Arianna Huffington
Another reason that feminism fails is because it has rampaged far beyond its alleged goal of gender equality and spawned some other very hostile and inequitable conditions for men, women and children. It has elevated women not to equal status but to special status, while promoting a universal perception of men as clueless buffoons or violent criminals by a grossly disproportionate measure. Hand in hand with the self-righteousness of “therapy culture”, feminism has diminished the quality of life for everyone by destroying the values that once sustained the stability and bonds of the American family. This is no accident or side effect, nor is it good for anyone including women. It can’t be denied that this brazenly indefensible objective is at the core of feminism’s purported nobler goals of equality. Yet radical feminists will still try to defend it with the absurdly paranoid assertion that the traditional family is nothing more than a male invention designed to oppress women. This theory is even hostile to women who find fulfillment as wives and mothers as being naively brainwashed by a tyrannical patriarchy.
If a tenet of feminism is that women have choices, then this is yet another example of hypocrisy and cognitive dissonance. What feminists are really saying is that women are free to do whatever feminism says they should do because feminism presumes to speak for all women and that it knows what’s best for them; better than they even know for themselves. Amazingly, too many Americans have already accepted such rhetoric and readily ignore the fact that the family unit is our greatest asset and source of strength as individuals and as free citizens. Without the support and strength of the intact family, we are weakened and reduced to proletariats of the state. This, I believe is no mere coincidence. Women— the so-called nurturers and caregivers have been the unwitting foot soldiers this destructive campaign; and men— the proverbial protectors and providers have passively stood by and allowed it to happen. We are all equally accountable for allowing our natural instincts as protectors and nurturers to be so easily perverted.
What began as a seemingly honorable movement to insure legal, financial, and social equality between men and women when war widows were left with no means of support, has now degenerated into a grotesque caricature that backfires far more than it accomplishes any true gains toward its presumably virtuous purpose, or as other authors have identified it: feminism’s “cover story.” A minority of angry, vocal women have hijacked and franchised the feminist movement into a disturbingly destructive force while sheltered under its original banner of righteousness. Yet we dare not question their rhetoric lest we are branded as hostile to their seemingly noble cause, so most men comply or assume the obsequious role of championing the feminist cause.
Even if some women really do have legitimate personal grievances with specific men, I would point out that these exceptions to the rule are personal and unique; and not justification for a universally hostile social trend. Thousands of people are killed in car accidents every year but we don’t outlaw cars. I love dogs even though I’ve been bitten once or twice in my life. In fact, I love women despite all of their shortcomings and ways that I have witness few of them have behave with depravity or unjustifiably extreme cruelty toward me and other men. Most young women are now systematically taught that there is a sinister conspiracy among all men against all women with nothing more than a tiny percentage of isolated transgressions to justify this claim. This is mobilizing a political agenda through fear and loathing of the proverbial boogeyman which most women have never personally experienced.
And yet despite the finger pointing, the vast majority of actual men have been anything but unsympathetic. On the contrary. Millions of men just like me have done as much or more to support and abide by the demands of feminism as the women that it is supposed to benefit. In an effort to be deemed as “acceptable” by the feminist sensibility, a whole generation of men spend most of their lives bending over backwards to suppress their better judgment and male instincts while apologizing for simply being male (which ironically further incurs women’s contempt.) It begins and ends with this militant faction and their unrelentingly vitriolic characterization of men as their oppressors or abusers. It may seem counterintuitive, but the explanation is that like so many human institutions, feminism would have no cohesion without a scapegoat. I will therefore submit that feminism’s raison d’être is a phantom— but that its effects are dreadfully tangible.
A few so-called “moderate” feminists may attempt to distance themselves from these radical extremists, but their voices are drowned out by all the noise. And even they can’t evade the truth that feminism even exists at all because of a contrived fallacy that a hegemony of men opposes their freedom. Here in America in the 21st century… really? By that definition, any feminism is akin to radical fundamentalism. Eliminate that unjustified core theory and feminism has no unifying meaning or purpose. For a little perspective, all we need to do is look at some Arab and African countries to see what it really looks like for women to be oppressed by men. Despite enjoying advantages and freedoms above almost any other class of people in the world, American women, like spoiled children, aren’t embarrassed to keep right on complaining. Yet perhaps they should complain— not for anything that they have been denied, but for the tragic consequences of what they themselves have wrought: the unmitigated betrayal of their men, their children, and ultimately, themselves.
Plunder and Slander
I remember Nazi election propaganda posters showing a hateful Jewish face with crooked nose. –Jack Steinberger
All of this may come as no surprise. Any social trend that gains enough momentum will always attract a few fanatic extremists who undermine its true spirit. They are to feminism what suicide bombers are to Islam. These “squeaky wheels” always opt for a rage-fueled tirade over logic against their manufactured adversary. Such fanatic hyperbole inevitably becomes the manifesto for the whole movement. Declare war and then justify it by accusing the identified enemy of initiating aggression for displaying the slightest hint of defense at the attack. Assassinate character instead of seeking accord. Rather than graciously recognizing the willingness of the other party to be reasonable, they default to the most adversarial position possible and employ the same strategy as price bantering in a Cairo street market: aggressively demand more than is reasonable, take as much as they can get, demand more still, give nothing back, and never apologize. This strategy may achieve some petty gains, but the net result is a severely diminished quality of life for all concerned from an increased atmosphere of antagonism and distrust between men and women. The strategy being, “screw him before he screws me.” It is the equivalent to the short-sighted greed of corporate raiders who plunder the assets of an old beloved company and lay off all of its loyal employees rather than reinvesting in its long term potential. A small minority benefits while most suffer. Starting to sound familiar?
Radio pundit bullies like Rush Limbaugh and Tom Leykis have been called out for making the regrettable comparison of feminism and Nazism: “Feminazis”. In so doing, they undermine their own credibility by stooping to the same low level of inflammatory name calling, and yet I believe the core point that they clumsily make is how feminists demonize men just as Nazis demonized Jews so as to justify their hostility. If so, then I’m afraid to say that even they got that part right. Of course, these are rare examples of the kind of man that feminists love to use as poster boys for what’s wrong with all men. They depend on each other to define themselves. Such polarization is inevitable. Like a law of physics, for every radical feminist, there must be an equal and opposite male “pig” to serve as a yardstick by which they measure their own limits. If the moniker “feminazis” is going too far, then it may not be going too far to compare feminism to McCarthyism. At least McCarthy didn’t massacre millions of people that he falsely accused of communism, but the similarity is that he did foster an unnecessarily antagonistic atmosphere for a period of this country’s history based more on a personal paranoia than on any legitimate or widespread threat.
“Displacement” is a well-recognized psychological phenomenon in which the subject redirects their rage toward any convenient target while repressing awareness of the true cause. If they can justify their antagonism by indoctrinating as many others as possible, then they feel validated in their delusion.
And so, in the last 40 years, men in America and a few other Western nations in the northern latitudes have been the target of one of the most insidious slander campaigns ever waged against any minority, and it hides in plain sight. It is not just against the tiny minority of genuinely “bad guys”, but toward all men through guilt by association and the questionably paranoid logic of always erring on the side of caution. In many cases, the easiest targets—the proverbial “nice guys” are the recipients of the most egregious injustices. Why? Because they offer the least resistance. They are the weakest link.
So, if women aren’t really oppressed by men in this country, then why all the sound and fury? All we need to do is look at the effects. Skyrocketing divorce rates, children raised in broken homes and daycare, and the “ghettoization” of the middle class. Nothing is an accident. What we may dismiss as a collection of unfortunate side effects is the purpose. Who would possibly benefit from such social devastation? I’m getting to that.
Riding the Civil Rights Bandwagon
We live in a society of victimization, where people are much more comfortable being victimized than actually standing up for themselves. –Marilyn Manson
“White guilt” became part of our vernacular since the civil rights movement as whites began to have a collective awakening of conscience about the centuries of black suffering in America. Jumping on this bandwagon, comfortable, well-educated, middle and upper class women sought to extend this sentiment to include “male guilt” by comparing their situations as wives and mothers to the conditions of black oppression. And thus began their campaign to demonize men— all men, in exaggerated ways that even exceed the animosity that blacks expressed toward whites for incomparably more legitimate reasons. Thus, the “victim culture” was born and suddenly everyone had a new tool for manipulating the system to their favor. However, unlike our new found sensitivity to racism toward ethnic minorities and sexism toward women, this reactionary form of bigotry toward men is regarded with nothing more than a chuckle during any romantic comedy or primetime sitcom.
Men are the one minority that is banned by definition from playing the “victim card”. If a man complains, then he is not a real man. However, I submit that as real men, we can set a better example for improving our station than by resorting to the same crybaby strategy so overused by other groups. No more crying wolf. You can’t get respect by whining for it. Being a man is not something that requires a feminist’s permission or approval.
The implications are much farther reaching than these venues. Substitute the word “woman” or “black” or any other minority for the word “man” or “dad” in any derogatory joke commonly made at men’s expense and then see if you still think it’s funny or inconsequential: “It’s so simple, even Dad can do it.” Harmlessly funny, right? Now try: It’s so simple, even a woman can do it.” Still laughing? We usually shrug off “male bashing” as a relatively trivial footnote in daytime talk shows and women’s studies college courses. And yet, regarding the latter, the editorial board of the Canadian newspaper National Post has argued:
The radical feminism behind these courses has done untold damage to families, our court systems, labour laws, constitutional freedoms and even the ordinary relations between men and women. Women’s Studies courses have taught that all women — or nearly all — are victims and nearly all men are victimizers. Their professors have argued, with some success, that rights should be granted not to individuals alone, but to whole classes of people, too.
Justifications for Male Discrimination
The anger that appears to be building up between the sexes becomes more virulent with every day that passes. And far from women taking the blame… the fact is that men are invariably portrayed as the bad guys. Being a good man is like being a good Nazi. –Dave Thomas
The rationale goes something like this: Men have always had all of the advantages, so now it’s OK to level the playing field by denigrating any man, anywhere, anytime, in any situation. What this logic conveniently ignores is that only a tiny percentage of men at the very top of the social pyramid have these mythical advantages. The rest of us are all in the same boat. And yet the remaining ordinary, hard-working men who do dutifully work difficult or dangerous jobs that women don’t want to do in order to support their families are vilified as oppressors, predators, or as immature buffoons, making it open season on the proverbial boogeyman. In any conflict, men are almost always seen as guilty until proven innocent, while women’s virtue is always given the benefit of the doubt, even when evidence to the contrary is irrefutable. Where exactly is the oppressive patriarchal system that I have been hearing women complain about my whole life? I don’t see it. Not here in America— at least not in my lifetime. This is the classic cognitive dissonance that many men live with every day. Is it any wonder that a few snap under the stress? How much hand wringing are we doing in the hope of understanding them compared to when a woman snaps?. Men are held 100% accountable for their actions regardless of extenuating circumstances while women are infantilized, analyzed, coddled, and excused under identical circumstances. The fact that so-called “empowered” feminists insist upon this is hypocrisy in the extreme.
It has already been demonstrated that statistics regarding earning disparity are misleading due to the failure to take into account the fact that men tend to work longer hours and more days per year at many jobs that women simply don’t want to do. And yet, feminists cherry-pick the final tally of their own choices as the prime example of discrimination against them. And we’ve been buying this nonsense for a generation now.
The news media is insidiously complicit. Every leading story on the eleven o-clock news begins with some atrocity committed by a “man”, while the feel-good human interest stories refer to men merely as “personnel”, “coalminers”, “soldiers”, or any other gender-neutral euphemism.
Others have already written at length about exaggerated or fabricated statistics on atrocities like rape and DV perpetrated by men against women. In a nutshell, the fact is that violence is initiated equally by men and women and that women abuse children (including sexually) at more than twice the numbers than men. And yet, we behave as if only men are perpetrators and only women are victims. Once again, acting as if things are the way we think they should be instead of how they really are.
All of this amounts to being the ultimate straw man fallacy, and the true cause for such widespread insistence upon it goes even deeper than almost anyone really understands.
Of course, there will always be some bad eggs among any demographic group that deserve the scrutiny that they receive, but that includes both men and women. Neither gender owns the monopoly on virtue. However, for the same reason that racism is wrong, condemning an entire category of people for the shortcomings of a few is ultimately far more damaging than the behavior that it presumes to denounce.
Propaganda
This idea that males are physically aggressive and females are not has distinct drawbacks for both sexes. –Katherine Dunn
This phenomenon has its tentacles in every important aspect of modern life including education, the job market, retirement, health care, the economy, the media, journalism, literature, the arts, law enforcement, criminal courts, dating, marriage, raising children, family courts, and divorce. In all of these arenas, there is a profound pattern of discrimination against boys and men, and preferential “kid glove” treatment or portrayal of girls and women— which is only possible because of a baseless but persistent myth that the bias favors men.
We say that women can do anything men can do, but then force men to pay alimony to women in the vast majority of cases when it is awarded in a divorce. The assumption of course, being that the poor, helpless woman can’t fend for herself without a husband to support her— even if she left him. Suddenly, pride in being a strong, independent woman is conveniently set aside. In such cases, it is presumed that life with him was so unbearable that she had to “escape”, which is something that doesn’t require any proof. She is then “owed” compensation for the excruciating ordeal of having to sleep with her husband for the years that they were married as if she were a prostitute or sexual slave with no choice in the matter. If it is an insult in the extreme to call a woman a whore, then you’d think that more of them would be embarrassed to behave in a way that invites such characterization.
In any case, the man is expected to continue supporting the woman; an outdated vestige from the time when most men worked and most women stayed home to raise the children. While feminism has ravaged that traditional model, they have staunchly defended the disproportionate alimony and child support awards in family courts that originated in a time when most women didn’t work. The legalese is: “in the lifestyle to which she has become accustomed”. In higher income cases with children, outrageous amounts of child support are granted that far exceed what is required to comfortably raise a child. As “discretionary” income, the custodial parent (the mother) is free to spend this jackpot on anything she wants. This stunning hypocrisy is still boilerplate practice in divorce courts. The spectacularly insulting double standard goes unnoticed, dismissed, or rationalized as “evening the playing field”. And yet, it can be demonstrated that we have grossly overcompensated for something that was never as far out of balance as it has now become. It happened only after the natural differences in gender temperament and predisposition became falsely branded as inequality and injustice. The implications of all this are much farther reaching than a few hurt feelings.
Boys Taught Early
The differences between the sexes are the single most important fact of human society. –George Gilder
In subtle and sometimes not so subtle ways, boys are now taught from an early age that their maleness is a flaw to be suppressed or punished. Anyone who has observed young children play can easily see the obvious natural differences in the temperaments of most children of each gender. There are always some exceptions but most boys are naturally more competitive, active, and fascinated by things that can be thrown or ridden, while girls tend to more often sit quietly and “pretend” play. These are not learned behaviors— they are instinctive. However, in many experimental new educational environments, young boys are deterred from their more naturally boisterous instincts by hyper-sensitive adults who deem boys’ natural behavior as disruptive and sometimes even going so absurdly far as to deem it oppressive of the girls’ well-being.
We’re talking about politicizing children’s natural behavior.
A whole generation of boys are now being chemically castrated with Ritalin and other drugs, presumably to curb their so-called “hyperactivity”, or what was once called, you know, “being a boy.” In some “progressive” educational environments, young boys are even directed to play quietly with dolls along with the girls. The message is that the educators are attempting to break down natural gender behavior under the insane theory that it is unnatural— before the children can possibly understand why they are being discouraged from behaving normally. This symbolic gender reassignment goes far beyond the need for a reasonable degree of discipline and order when children really do behave disruptively.
The fact that girls often enter puberty a little earlier than boys has spawned a myth that they mature intellectually sooner as well, and yet there is no evidence at all to support this belief. In fact, girls’ school performance sometimes drops sharply at the onset of puberty, with far less of this effect observed among boys. Statistically, it’s no surprise that girls’ aptitude skews a little more toward verbal and language skills while boys skew a little more toward analytical and math skills, but there is no significant difference in overall performance except when one group is favored over another, which is exactly what’s been happening in the last 30 years. Boys’ tendency to assert themselves a little more than girls has been branded as damaging to girls’ self-esteem. So, instead of dealing with each child according to their innate temperaments, boys are admonished for their natural enthusiasm. Being born male has taken the place of “original sin”, and boys learn to feel guilty just for being boys, especially when most elementary school teachers are women who consider themselves feminists.
Boys see their own fathers marginalized in their lives and fathers in media portrayed as inept buffoons instead of the stable, wise heroes that they once were. No longer is the protector, the provider, the decision maker respected or even acknowledged. In domestic disputes, the man is almost always arrested even when the woman was the aggressor, which is far more frequently than reported, for the same biased reasons. Men are blamed for all the evils of the world with a naïve dream that all problems would be solved if only women ran the world. None of these biases are absolute, but they are now commonplace enough to have a cumulatively negative effect on how boys learn to see themselves. This far exceeds the seriousness of any complaint about how women are portrayed in the media. Once again, all of this reinforces the absurd and dangerous idea that the only way to “empower” girls is to emasculate boys, even at very young ages.
In the Workplace
The sexes in each species of being… are always true equivalents – equals but not identical. –Antoinette Brown Blackwell
In the professional world, women often complain that their male colleagues don’t take them seriously. Having worked for several large companies, I have often heard the complaint but never actually witnessed the alleged cause. On the contrary, I have seen many women in positions of authority, surrounded by mild-mannered beta males who would never dare question them even if they had good reason— out of fear that any challenge whatsoever to a woman would be misinterpreted as the deadly sin of sexism. These are the young men who were raised in the generation of feminism.
Nevertheless, even if it still sometimes happens that a few old-school men don’t take their female colleagues or subordinates as seriously as they’d like, one very important reason for it is rarely acknowledged: women actually have more options than men, despite a common assumption to the contrary. Every working man knows that he has no choice. He has no safety net. He must work, period.
For men, working for a living is not a privilege, group therapy, or a liberating expression of his individuality, creativity, and freedom, as feminists have been taught to see it and envy it. For men, work is merely an inescapable and necessary burden whether he likes it or not. A man must work his whole life because he knows that no one is ever going to take care of him, and he will have to work extra hard, long hours that most women won’t if he is going to be considered successful enough to attract a woman and support a family.
A woman in the workplace on the other hand has many more choices, especially if she’s attractive. Whether we care to admit it or not, she can flirt or screw her way up the ladder if she wants. She can threaten to sue for sexual discrimination pretty much any time she is challenged for any reason by a male colleague or superior. That is not to say that every woman does these things, but some do. That is a fact, and everyone knows it. Every man in the professional world knows that even if a woman doesn’t do these things, the threat that she could always looms, while he will never have such options. It’s not difficult to see how this knowledge could influence even fair-minded men to begin seeing working women as mere career dabblers or hobbyists who are exploiting unfair advantages compared to their more serious male colleagues who have only their hard work and dedication to earn credibility.
Also, most women can still opt-out and revert to the traditional role of housewife pretty much whenever they want, if they want, unless they wait until it’s too late. There should be no shame in this option, but it is there. In such cases when they do wait too long, only then do some women begin to think that the grass is greener on the path not taken. They then long to be wives and mothers often long after the optimal time to start a family has passed. Like men, such women finally realize that being responsible for themselves is not a mere test of self-esteem to prove like a precocious child, but after a certain point, it becomes a hard, inescapable reality. Some even admit to feeling as if they had been “suckered” into pursuing careers that they only later realize that do not bring them the fulfillment that they were promised by their women’s studies professor in college. So until that day of reckoning, no matter how hard a woman works to prove herself equal to her male colleagues in a professional environment, the unspoken knowledge that she has a safety net that he lacks has an unavoidable affect on her credibility as a serious employee compared to her male colleagues.
If there is one attractive woman sitting in the boardroom at a meeting with her male colleagues, then everyone including her is acutely aware of the proverbial pink elephant in the room that no one dares to talk about. Everyone is uncomfortable and she can use that fact to her advantage. While this may not seem fair, it is foolish to pretend that it’s not true. But we do pretend. We pretend that things are the way we think they should be, instead of how they really are. This head-in-the-sand reflex does not bring about positive change. It only fosters more tension and distrust. Consequently, the workplace has become a minefield of hyper-vigilance against the slightest perception of harassment, which stems more from a fear of lawsuits than from any actual behavior that rises to a reasonable interpretation of being genuinely offensive. Talk about a hostile work environment!
An attractive, successful business woman that I once dated told me that as an artist, I was a refreshing alternative to the stodgy men in suits that she worked with all day. She actually complained to me that they didn’t take her seriously even though she was just as competent and hard working as any of them. Without hesitation, I told her why I thought that was so, and her jaw dropped. Not in offense, but to her credit, in recognition of the truth. She replied, “Oh my god, you’re right. I never thought of it like that.” We eventually parted on good terms but I know that she will remember that conversation.
Sex and Drugs and Rock & Roll
No one will ever win the battle of the sexes; there’s too much fraternizing with the enemy. –Henry A. Kissinger
Before the 1960s, the American male archetype was admired for being strong, and stoic, with grit and moral fiber. Women chose men carefully based on these qualities— with good reason. In the time before the pill and legal abortion, unwanted pregnancy was a serious concern, so a stand-up man was valued and appreciated. Strong, smart, heroic men were a staple in literature, television and movies.
Enter: JFK’s assassination and the Viet Nam war. Suddenly, all bets were off and a new young generation dared to seriously challenge the status quo through an explosion of creativity in music, literature, film, and personal exploration of new ways of thinking and living. This posed a far more serious threat to the incumbent establishment than most people realize. In ancient Rome, the powers of the time realized that they couldn’t stop Christianity, so they co-opted it and formed the Roman Catholic Church in order to maintain power over a growing population of Christians. This is not a discourse about religion but a similar thing happened here in America in the wake of the 60s. The hippie movement was completely derailed with the pacifying temptations of sex and drugs, courtesy of your friendly CIA. Contrary to popular belief, the sexual revolution was actually part of the arsenal to sabotage a movement that could have otherwise had a real chance of overthrowing the corrupt establishment. Like giving smallpox-infected blankets to Native American tribes, hippies were given unrestricted sex and recreational drugs with the idea that these were expressions of their rebellion, when they were actually the elements of their demise. Indeed, my parents’ generation naively and eagerly partook of these temptations without having any idea of the intended consequences. An entire generation of rebels was anesthetized into docility with very little bloodshed except for isolated incidents like Kent State.
The pill was developed and Roe v. Wade legalized abortion. One of feminism’s dictates was that women should no longer be ashamed to be single mothers if they chose not to terminate their pregnancies. The lid blew off sexual restrictions. Promiscuity was no longer shameful, women no longer needed to be coy about their sexuality, and men no longer needed to be strong or responsible. The androgynous rock star replaced the chiseled leading man. We invented absurd new euphemisms like “polyamory”, to legitimize behavior that was once taboo, which of course has nothing to do with real love. Qualities like commitment, responsibility, character, and virtue became synonymous with the rigid, oppressive establishment of the previous generation. Motivated by the temptation of easy sex, most men eagerly adapted to these new mores. The American male archetype transformed from stoic and masculine to the non-threatening man-child anti-hero. As a friend suggested, men went from “pull out artists” to “pick up artists.” This may all seem like good fun, but at what cost? Skyrocketing statistics of single mothers, uninvolved fathers, broken homes, and tension between the sexes.
Like trying to live on a diet of nothing but hot fudge sundaes, all this non-committal sex eventually led to an inevitable breakdown of trust or respect between the sexes. “Free love” was anything but free. Sex as recreation demands the suppression of the natural intimacy and bonding that normally accompanies it. But suppression begets perversion, jealousy, resentment, disillusionment, and rage. By the 80’s, the AIDS epidemic struck, rehab clinics became commonplace and the party was over. Having forgotten any sense of the traditional values and respect that once existed between the sexes, it was too late to turn back. All we were left with was animosity, distrust, and a tidal wave of blame.
Fast forward to today and sexual relationships have come to resemble tense diplomatic negotiations during a temporary cease-fire between warring nations that are considering the benefit of temporarily lifting a trade embargo. People are torn between their natural instincts and the legacy of a generation of promiscuity. Confusion predominates; consumerism and convenience prevail. With absurdly oversimplified theories like “The Rules” and “Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus” gaining traction among most of the population spoon-fed on pop culture, men and women have abandoned their own common sense and decency. Instead, they have come to see each other as alien specimens to be analyzed and manipulated through a scripted and choreographed series of disingenuous interactions, or as disposable consumer products to be traded in at the first sign of boredom or imperfection. Relationships and marriage are more frequently than ever based on short-sighted whim and superficial convenience more than on genuine love, trust, respect or devotion. No commitment is deep enough to withstand the opportunity to “trade up”. The slogan “I want it all now” from Cyra McFadden’s satirical book “The Serial” has lost its irony and become the mantra for a whole generation. Scratching the surface of these trends reveals some interesting underlying causes.
We are now surrounded by overt sexual imagery everywhere in the media. Despite our professed abhorrence toward child pornography, we allow our children to become inured to sexualized imagery, attitudes, and styles at increasingly younger ages. Worldwide pornography industry revenues are now far in excess of $100 billion annually, which is more than double that of Microsoft and more than the NFL, NBA, and MLB combined. When natural sexuality becomes unavoidably confused with the caricature of pornography, it is not unusual for men to be ridiculed as pigs or perverts merely for expressing any sexual desire at all, whereas women’s sexuality is seen as almost a divine sacrament, even when it really is perverted.
The mixed messages are enough to drive anyone mad. Men are bombarded with the admonition that they are supposed to be kind, honest, chivalrous, respectful, and gentle, but men who are naturally like this find themselves rejected time and time again, only to watch women run into the arms of thugs. Why? Because most women now resent the non-committal dandy that they invented. They instinctively revert to their desire for a strong, stand-up guy, but there are very few good models for this type of man left these days. So, women settle for any superficial display of strength or power as the next best thing. Of course, attraction to wealth never went out of style, but good character is seen as weakness and usually ignored, despite protests to the contrary. Actions do indeed speak louder than words. The exceptions to this rule are the relationships comprised of a domineering woman and her male lap dog. These men either lack or have suppressed their natural male traits in order to be deemed worthy of the woman’s acceptance. These variations tend to be regional but the net effect is a profoundly diminished quality of life for all.
Parenthood
I could not point to any need in childhood as strong as that for a father’s protection. – Sigmund Freud
Loving fathers are systematically torn from their families, branded as deadbeats, and treated like criminals in family courts. We accept this as if it’s just the natural order of things. It isn’t. And yet we still hold the notion that papa was a rolling stone, when in fact a much larger percentage of women actually initiate divorce than men, forcing the fathers of their children out of his own home. In the minority of cases when men leave their marriages, we assume that he’s a jerk for abandoning his wife. When the woman leaves, we still assume that she had no choice because, once again, he must be a jerk. All of this is accepted with absolutely no evidence; just an automatic assumption that flatters women and insults men. Men are the targets of this “damned either way” bias in almost every kind of situation. Even more shockingly, more than twice as many women than men neglect, harm and even kill their own children, especially after moving in with a man other than the biological father. Yes, you read that right.
Despite these facts, we do not err on the side of caution by systematically taking children away from the majority of decent mothers. Instead, we ignore the statistics and do the reverse, because we mistakenly assume that it must be the reverse. Why? This is justified in part by a baseless theory about the breastfeeding bond between mother and child superseding any possible bond between fathers and children, even long after children have long since moved on to solid food. It is also regarded with a nod and a wink as a kind of ad hoc reparation for perceived injustices against women elsewhere in society, such as the aforementioned debatable wage discrepancies. And so children become the bargaining chip, with the insulting justification that such decisions are made in the children’s best interest. Wink, wink.
However, reverse the genders and there would be riots in the streets. Take children away from a mother simply because the father decided that he needed to leave his wife to go “find himself” along with his kids in tow? Laughable, unless the mother is caught selling crack on the schoolyard— and even then we would wring our hands trying to understand what unbearable stresses could push a poor woman to do such a terrible thing, when even a good man would receive no such consideration. Instead, decent, loving fathers are forcibly removed from their children every day without as much as a shrug, often for no better reason than the woman’s whim. Ask any man who has experienced this if it is any less heartbreaking than it would be for a woman and you are likely to see a grown man break into tears, not to mention his children. This is how callously and systematically the family court system not merely permits, but is actually geared to goad already fragile families into devastation, and is really at the heart of the whole matter.
Also, birth control options for women far outweigh the options for men. Choices in birth matters is regarded as the woman’s alone; and yet still the man’s burden depending on the choice that she makes without his wishes carrying any weight whatsoever. Yes, it is her body that will or will not be pregnant for nine months, but his desire to be a parent or not for the next eighteen years and to bear the financial burden or not is completely disregarded depending on her whim. When a sperm bank becomes an equally viable or even preferable alternative to an involved father, then clearly no one any longer takes the consequences of raising fatherless children very seriously. But the results are in and the naïve social experiment that elevated single mothers from shame to glorified sainthood can be declared an unmitigated disaster.
There was once a good reason why it was considered shameful for an unmarried woman to get “knocked up” and raise children on her own. Now, women should never feel shame for anything they do, however careless or selfish. Where single motherhood was once considered a tragedy, it is now considered a perfectly viable or even admirable choice. However, the epidemic rise of drug use, teen pregnancy, gang violence, depression and suicide all correlate precisely with the increased absence or marginalization of biological fathers from the lives of their children. Once again, this is not a coincidence or an unintended side-effect. I assert that it is undeniable case of calculated and predictable cause and effect, and raises the disturbing question of who really benefits. I’m still getting to that. In the meantime, I contend that the system is critically broken and that we can do so much better.
Rite of Passage
Ah, yes, divorce… from the Latin word meaning to rip out a man’s genitals through his wallet. –Robin Williams
As mentioned, most children are raised in broken homes because far more women than men are abandoning their marriages. I can almost hear the feminists cheer at this “victory” but, but the noble cause of equality is just a decoy and the ramifications are much farther-reaching. The devil really is in the details. Of the aforementioned majority of divorces initiated by women against their first husbands, only a very small percentage of those are for serious reasons like abuse or infidelity by the man. In most cases, “irreconcilable differences” is a meaninglessly vague euphemism for “she’s liberating herself from the institution of patriarchal oppression.” But is that really what she’s doing?
It has instead become a rite of passage for women… an initiation to womanhood. You’re not really a liberated woman until you’ve abandoned at least one devastated beta male in the dust to either “trade up” or go “find yourself”, with or without kids in the picture. Even if he was the most loving, supportive husband in the world, simply claim that he was “controlling” and that you felt “trapped”, or that he left the toilet seat up, and the sisterhood will all nod in unison, “just like a man.” I guess it just wouldn’t be as satisfying or meaningful to find herself before ruining a few other people’s lives in the process. This is accepted and even encouraged as the woman’s prerogative to change her mind without moral accountability to anyone that her almighty whim might harm. The fact that she never thought of this before willingly entering the marriage is ignored or explained away as her having been too young and naïve to know what a terrible trap she was getting herself into… you know: stuck with a hard-working man who loves her and provides for her. She can’t execute the symbolic act of liberating herself until she has first willingly entered a union that she can only then vilify as her prison. The fact that she may cause irreparable harm to others in the process is an acceptable casualty at best; or perhaps it is even a badge of honor at worst.
However, the question has never really been whether a woman has the right to choose. The real question is (or should be) how well she chooses. If women truly want to see themselves as equal to men in society (as they should), then they must be held to the same standard of accountability for the choices they make as men are held, and not expect to be forever coddled like children taking their first baby steps into the real world.
Pop Culture
All propaganda has to be popular and has to accommodate itself to the comprehension of the least intelligent of those whom it seeks to reach. –Adolf Hitler
There are countless examples of propaganda in the media that reinforce these skewed views. Despite feminists’ complaint about unrealistic images of thin, sexy women in the media, every romantic comedy is about some immature rogue who can’t commit until he meets the right woman. Every sitcom (and commercial) is about an overweight idiot married to a beautiful, mature, intelligent, sophisticated woman who treats him like a child. Practically every Disney movie since the 70s has been about a plucky, independent young heroine proving herself in some way.
Recently, the bestseller book “Eat, Drink, Pray” and subsequent 2010 film starring Julia Roberts was lauded as a landmark of feminist aspirations but what was it really all about? An attractive, successful, married, middle-aged woman abandons her perfectly decent, loving husband to go on a year long quest to “find herself”, only to ultimately learn that she has selfishly pushed away every man who ever loved her. At least she had a great time in the process while her poor ex was left in anguish— but who cares? It was her adventure and a vicarious fantasy for every married woman in the audience who ever felt a twinge of restlessness. Now, reverse the genders and make the main character the husband who does what Julia did. He would be seen as an irresponsible, selfish villain and everyone would sympathize with the ex whose part is pretty much over after the first 20 minutes.
In the blockbuster 2012, John Kusak asks his ex-wife Amanda Peet if she really loves her new husband. She answers, “I love him enough”, which clearly means that she tolerates him because he’s a better provider than the father of her children, whom she left. This is considered to be a perfectly reasonable answer. Now reverse the genders. If a man gave the same answer when asked if he loves his wife, then that would not definitely not fly with modern audiences as an acceptable reply for a likeable guy. He’d be a real jerk for admitting that he married a woman for convenience. Like so many double standards that give women a free ride that men are denied, it is accepted as a small retribution for some other contrived offenses.
These are only a couple of examples that recently caught my attention out of countless others. For anyone interested, I suggest counting how many television commercials for a wide variety of products and services follow this formula. Apart from selling products, what’s the overarching message?
The Rhetorical Trap
Anger is never without an argument, but seldom with a good one. –Indira Gandhi
Like a religious devotee suffering from a crisis of faith when exercising a bit of common sense, any man who raises these questions is immediately attacked for challenging the politically correct status quo. He is branded a chauvinist, or as a whining, humorless crybaby who can’t take a joke and doesn’t know how good he has it compared to women, or as a loser venting his sour grapes. After all, if you are presumed to have all of the advantages, then you should be able to take a few hits and have no reason to complain, or so the reasoning goes. And if you do complain, you are not being “manly”. Men should be stoic. Men should take their lumps. Men’s feelings don’t get hurt, or at least don’t matter compared to women’s feelings. Men are the oppressors, and so have no credibility to complain. There’s no vacancy in the victim hotel, and men are to blame. It is the classic ad hominem logical fallacy designed to keep men silenced about any injustices they endure.
Instead, you have the occasional hard working quiet family man who just snaps one day and shoots up the post office. Now let’s do a little soul-searching to really understand what terrible stresses could push this poor guy to the edge: Perhaps if he only had the opportunity to voice his frustrations just once in the way he heard the women around him do every single day, then such tragedies might be averted. Just a thought.
No Good Deed Goes Unpunished
All I ever seek from good deeds is a measure of respect. –Walter Annenberg
Despite being the target of all this hostility from women, most men silently nod and continue to say and do whatever it takes at all costs to appease women’s bottomless well of demands. They will go along with the common platitude that “she’s always right”, even with all the derogatory jokes about what clueless pigs men are. They will not question the notion of how much more sensitive, nurturing, intuitive, intelligent, and spiritually enlightened women are compared to men, who are always presumed to be inept, immature, knuckle-dragging goobers who lie, cheat, and need to be treated like one of the children by their flawless wives— if they are lucky enough for a woman to tolerate them at all. And so, in either ignorant bliss, the desire for acceptance, or fear of ridicule, most men play along with the burden of trying to impress women, while women maintain their posture of trying to remain unimpressed without even the courtesy of showing up on time, or at all. And which men get the shortest end of this stick? The ones who offer the least resistance… the “nice” guys who least resemble the negative stereotype.
Women often seem to do this with smug, almost perverse satisfaction as if they are cashing in their retribution chips against men— against any man, and yet for exactly what offenses, and to what end? Such small victories ring hollow. There are a lot of bitter, divorced, middle-aged women out there who have never once let down their guard to show genuine appreciation for the decent men in their lives. Let’s not underestimate how much they are suffering too— not because of how awful men are, but because of how awful they think men are. This myopic view becomes their own personal hell. Unwittingly, a woman who believes that she is justified in “getting one over” on the men in her life ends up suffering just as much, if not even more in the long run, and worse: causing her children to suffer too. No one wins. Well, almost no one.
Life Out of Balance
There is more difference within the sexes than between them. –Ivy Compton-Burnett
All of this preferential treatment toward women on the surface would seem to be with good intentions. But if you really think about it, the message actually undermines everything that feminism would logically advocate. Rather than women being able to do anything men can do, it actually reinforces the message that women are helpless victims who need to pressure men into feeling guilty so that they will grant special concessions to women— presumably because women are incapable of succeeding otherwise. The false message is that men’s power is the only power, so women should feel inferior unless they can pilfer men’s power and become more like men. This is actually the opposite of “empowerment”. It negates women’s true feminine power and natural dignity as women, as well as attacking men’s masculine power. It’s like a social short circuit.
Paradoxically, men are now also made to feel guilty and inferior for the very same traits to which women now aspire. So, the bizarre logic is that it is a virtue for women to be more like men, but it is shameful for men to be like men or like women. This is obviously no good for men, but it really doesn’t help women either. They may claim some petty victories, but this ultimately keeps women dependent, in a childlike fantasy world where they can get whatever they want (or what they think they should want) by being aggressive, whining, manipulative, or insisting on changing the rules; and it keeps men in a constant, weakened state of guilt, confusion, and contrition for their natural instincts to be manly. If women can’t compete successfully with men in arenas where men excel, then we must rig the game.
In conversation with women friends about men’s frustration about never knowing what women want, some of the more sympathetic ones have admitted to me, “I don’t blame men for being frustrated since we don’t even know what the hell we want most of the time.”
The hidden message in the jargon of “empowerment” is that you are powerless until someone else rigs the game for you. It’s like affirmative action and special Olympics for women. You’d think that any self-respecting woman would see through the insulting condescension of this, but they don’t because it offers the path of least resistance toward an artificially contrived goal, under a banner of false righteousness. It’s like the trifecta of manipulation. Madison Avenue would be proud (or should I say is proud?)
The net result of all this actually undermines both men’s and women’s dignity, strengths, self-awareness, and autonomy over their own lives to follow their true nature as long as they accept the fallacy that each gender should suppress their natural instincts and strive to be more like the other. Sure there will always be some exceptions to the majority, which is fine for them, but we now act as if the exceptions must be the rule for everyone. As far as we may think we have “evolved” intellectually or socially, we are still biological creatures operating to a great extent on instinct. This is not a bad thing. It is a supreme conceit of human ego to think that gender is an arbitrary contrivance to be methodically altered based on some passing social trend. Rather, it is our nature; it is DNA, hormones, biology, and instinct. We are suffering by attempting to suppress it based on some misguided social theory.
As Jeff Goldblum said in Jurassic Park, “Nature finds a way.”
Acknowledging Skepticism
Do not let yourself be tainted with a barren skepticism. –Louis Pasteur
So, as a man who believes that this subject is in dire need of closer examination, how can I present my case without inviting the same kind of derision directed at every man who has ever attempted to voice similar ideas? I’m not sure that I can. But I can anticipate the ridicule and point out what I believe really motivates it. This extends far beyond my personal experience with a sympathetic view toward all concerned: men, women, and children alike. My purpose is not to complain or to make an appeal for sympathy. It is to shed some light that I believe will benefit all concerned.
Why?
Why shouldn’t truth be stranger than fiction? Fiction, after all, has to make sense. –Mark Twain
If you begin to even consider the validity of this entire premise, then the next question to ask is: why would a presumably enlightened, modern society that has made such great strides against racial discrimination so systematically undermine the natural dignity and respectability that both genders once took for granted? A militant feminist will predictably assert that men have brought this upon themselves and declare that the end of the argument. Now, let’s look at it from a non-dogmatic perspective. My theory is not for the faint of heart. In fact, it is rather chilling and based on well-documented historic facts. It may seem at first like a long leap of logic, but the parallels between past and present are uncanny, so please bear with me.
Historic Precedent
Dictatorship naturally arises out of democracy, and the most aggravated form of tyranny and slavery out of the most extreme liberty. –Plato
Back in 1712, a man named William Lynch gave a seminal speech to a coalition of Southern Plantation owners on the bank of the James River. The speech was titled, “The Making of a Slave”. In it, Lynch described in explicit detail a systematic approach to psychologically “breaking” a population of people so that they will remain obedient and docile.
The simple premise was “divide and conquer” at the level of the most intimate family bonds.
The first and most important step was to weaken the strongest link. Remove the father from the family unit and brutally humiliate him in front of his woman and children. We’ve all seen “Roots”. Remember?
The next step was to give the woman more decision-making power than the man, especially regarding children, yet always under the control of the master. Children raised under these conditions were deprived of any strong male influence except the master. Women learned to despise their own men’s weakness and consequently form a stronger allegiance to their captor, the master. Sex between masters and female slaves was commonplace. Whether it was forcible or consensual was ultimately usually irrelevant under the circumstances. Much later, this phenomenon was recognized as the Stockholm syndrome in which a group of kidnapees grew to identify with their captors. The first generation of male slaves were killed or maimed beyond any ability to fight back, but the next generation of boys grew to be more compliant, usually through brutal “whippings” from their own mothers, inflicted to avert even worse beatings from the masters.
This became a mindset and a way of life so deeply instilled that it persists in black American culture today, 300 years later. How many African American women really respect African American men, even in this day and age? Very few. This is the legacy of Lynch’s system that he actually predicted. And now, this malignant mindset has spread far beyond the descendents of African slaves throughout all of society in America.
The Conspiracy
Where justice is denied, where poverty is enforced, where ignorance prevails, and where any one class is made to feel that society is an organized conspiracy to oppress, rob and degrade them, neither persons nor property will be safe. –Frederick Douglass
Fast forward to the Civil War, emancipation, and then further to the civil rights movement. Slavery is abolished. The economic system that built this nation and depended on slavery was on the verge of collapse. Bankers and wealthy land owners needed to think fast. They figured out that they could continue a form of legal economic slavery as long as they didn’t call it that. Just employ the same techniques that Lynch taught, but in more subtle ways throughout the whole society, not just against a single minority group. Open Ellis Island to the largest influx of poor, immigrant worker classes in history with the lure of a chance at a better quality of life in America. Undermine the dignity of the father in the family unit, if not through torture, then through industrial mechanization, economic oppression, and seductive propaganda. Make the ordinary man obsolete as an authority, even in his own family and useful only as an obedient worker… all legally. The dystopian visions of Orwell and Huxley were not that far off the mark. The only subtle but important difference is that we have replaced the chilling bleakness Orwell’s cautionary tales with Huxley’s placebo of banal consumer comforts and dream of a shot at the glamorous life. “You can never underestimate a population’s appetite for distraction.”
And yet the ultimate irony and insult to women is that much of the feminist agenda that they so religiously espouse is really part of a sinister plot devised by a very small group of very powerful men to control the masses by undermining the family unit. They simply planted the seed, and let it play out. Divide and conquer, just like prison guards maintaining their authority by fueling hostility among the inmates. So yes, the real oppressor probably really is male, but it is a very small, elite group of powerful men whose existence and directives are far below most people’s radar. The rest of us ordinary men in women’s lives however, are not the enemy. We’re really all in the same boat.
The Cost
It is the logic of consumerism that undermines the values of loyalty and permanence and promotes a different set of values that is destructive of family life. –Christopher Lasch
The scheme is working. A vast population of the working class is keeping the top fraction of a percent of the wealthiest elite in power, with the recent exception of the Occupy movement. We are the 99%. However, the general public is usually too docile and distracted by consumer media to recognize their own plight or to ever consider a revolt. Instead, most wave their banners in blind allegiance to the powers that be. At what cost? At the cost of the most basic and fundamental social unit upon which the pursuit of happiness depends: the intimate bonds of the intact family. The only difference now is the vast scale and that the “master” is now the faceless godlike entity of corporate capitalism and consumerism. In contrast, husbands and fathers who were once the heroes of their families are now reduced to a punch line.
We believe in things more than we believe in each other. We cheer for our sports teams, for our armies, for our movie stars, for our politics, for our religions, and for our precious cars, fashions, and gadgets— but not for each other. We are allowing our greatest asset— our families— to be sabotaged from within. This is undeniably the brave new world that we live in today. It has not always been this way, nor must it remain so.
As Krishnamurti said, “It is no measure of mental health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society.”
Conclusion and Prediction
The sexes were made for each other, and only in the wise and loving union of the two is the fullness of health and duty and happiness to be expected. –William Hall
Now, here we are in the midst of the worst economic crisis since the great depression, an epidemic of foreclosed homes, broken homes, and a general atmosphere of malaise and mistrust between the sexes. None of this is an accident. We have been led like sheep to this much weakened place. How can anyone with a merely average sense of decency look around and fail to see that something has gone seriously wrong?
Now, the question is whether it is possible for us to gain the collective awareness to recognize it, to see the bigger picture, and as a population of intelligent and decent men and women, reclaim our dignity and the family bonds that once made us strong as individuals and as a nation? The present course is clearly unsustainable. I predict that the pendulum must start swinging back. There will be a shift in coming decades back toward a healthier respect and appreciation for men’s strength, dignity, wisdom, and roles as beloved husband, father, provider, protector, wise authority, and hero, at least in some sectors. When critical mass is reached, then this reawakening will become universal.
Just like the apologetic state that men are in today, there may even come a period of female atonement in which they will express contrition for their formerly misguided hostility toward the men in their lives. Mutual empathy, compassion, and respect between men and women for our strengths as well as for our differences will become the norm and families will once again become strong and stable. This is the true source from which social and economic recovery will “trickle down.” Of course, there must always be acceptance for alternative family models including blended families, single parent families, and gay couple families. However, the standard prototype of husband, wife, and children will resume its rightful status in the pantheon of stable family models. Feminism will dissipate and be replaced by the more inclusive “humanism.”
For all the die-hard feminists who will misinterpret this as some veiled attempt of reinforcing their imagined shackles of female subservience, please. You were never a slave to men and certainly no one is forcing anything on you now. Are you so insecure as to think that any positive relations with men must be synonymous with oppression? Is that what you call empowerment? If you are really happier alone with your cats, or at least without any positive relationships with men, then that’s always your choice. But as the minority, you don’t have the right to speak or choose for all women. In your own philosophy, women more than anything else have the right to choose what’s best for them. Those many choices must include the choice to take the most natural path in the world: to become truly invested in creating a healthy, happy, strong family… to know the contentment of finding herself right there, without shame, and to stay, for better or worse.
We have mustered the collective mobility to occupy Wall Street. It is now time for the 99% to turn that collective focus back to our homes and families. |
By Unicorn Riot
In August of 2015, a group by the name of “Minnesota 10,000 for Southern Heritage”, received a permit to rally at the capitol in support of the confederate flag.
A facebook event to counter-protest the permitted confederate flag rally, named Unity Against White Supremacy & the Confederate Flag, and organized by the IWW GDC (Industrial Workers of the World | General Defense Committee), drew the RSVP of over 400 people.
On the early morning of Saturday, September 5th, 2015, the counter-protest marched to the capitol from a location close to the site of Marcus Golden’s death by the bullets of St. Paul police officers.
Before the march took off to the capitol, a speaker announced that the confederate flag rally had been cancelled and that the action was victorious in not allowing space for racists.
While reaching the Christopher Columbus statue on capitol grounds, the crowd chanted of “tear it down”, referring to the statue, which is a representation of white supremacy to many of the participants.
Speakers ranging from Black Lives Matter organizers to Native Lives Matter to IWW and others spoke about the importance of collectively combating racism while a confederate flag was torn apart and burned. |
Donald Trump Donald John TrumpHouse committee believes it has evidence Trump requested putting ally in charge of Cohen probe: report Vietnamese airline takes steps to open flights to US on sidelines of Trump-Kim summit Manafort's attorneys say he should get less than 10 years in prison MORE's campaign is encouraging its Republican Party surrogates to double down on the narrative that the presidential election is likely to be stolen by voter fraud.
While Trump now says he will accept “a clear election result,” his campaign is urging allies who defend Trump on television to sow doubts about vote counting in swing states.
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In campaign talking points sent out Wednesday and obtained by The Hill, the Trump team told Republican surrogates to cite examples of voter fraud in North Carolina, Colorado, Pennsylvania and Virginia.
Under a headline 'Must make points on rigged system,' the Trump campaign encourages surrogates to say, “We have also seen very significant recent voting irregularities across the country from Pennsylvania to Colorado and an increase in unlawful voting by illegal immigrants.”
Another Trump talking point reads: “Non-citizen votes may have been responsible for Barack Obama Barack Hussein ObamaWith low birth rate, America needs future migrants 4 ways Hillary looms over the 2020 race Obama goes viral after sporting black bomber jacket with '44' on sleeve at basketball game MORE’s narrow margin of victory in North Carolina in 2008.”
And another states: “CBS Denver affiliate found dead Coloradans were still voting. A dead World War II veteran voted in a 2006 primary election, and a woman who died in 2009 cast ballots in 2010, 2011, 2012 and 2013. Dead people were registered to vote in Virginia.”
The Trump campaign is also encouraging surrogates to invoke the threat of undocumented immigrants manipulating election results.
“More than 14 percent of non-citizens surveyed in 2008 and 2010,” one bullet point states, “said they were registered to vote.”
Multiple studies have found that cases of voter fraud are rare and unlikely to cause significant problems in national elections.
Several Republican lawmakers criticized Trump’s answer during the final debate Wednesday, when he told moderator Chris Wallace that he’d keep Americans in “suspense” about whether he’d accept the result on Election Day.
Trump has since clarified that he wants to reserve the right to contest close results; but he continues to sow broader mistrust among his supporters about the election process.
When pressed, several of Trump’s top allies, including his campaign manager, Kellyanne Conway, and vice presidential nominee Mike Pence Michael (Mike) Richard PencePence meeting with Senate GOP ahead of vote to block emergency declaration 'And the award for best political commentary by an Oscar nominee goes to...' UN nuclear watchdog: Iran maintains compliance with 2015 pact MORE, declined to endorse the theory that the election is likely to be stolen by fraud at the ballot box.
They’ve tried to shift the conversation to one exclusively concerning the “rigged” media. And, indeed, Trump’s campaign talking points also include the accusation that the “liberal media and the Clinton campaign have coordinated their personal attacks on Mr. Trump in order to rig the election on behalf of Hillary Clinton Hillary Diane Rodham ClintonSanders: 'I fully expect' fair treatment by DNC in 2020 after 'not quite even handed' 2016 primary Sanders: 'Damn right' I'll make the large corporations pay 'fair share of taxes' Former Sanders campaign spokesman: Clinton staff are 'biggest a--holes in American politics' MORE.”
A Republican source who received the Trump talking points was “puzzled” by the campaign’s decision to double down on the idea of rigged elections
“It’s unprecedented,” the source said. “Usually at this time of the year, we talk about getting our vote[ers] out and volunteers and getting lead on the target, not trying to convince people that this thing’s fixed.”
Asked about the talking points, Trump spokesman Jason Miller told The Hill: “These talking points articulate our position perfectly.
“Mr. Trump is committed to breaking up the rigged system in Washington and ensuring that the people — this grassroots movement fueling Mr. Trump's campaign — have a voice in how we govern going forward.” |
SAFETY FIRST: Ask an adult to help with tools you haven't used before.
With a tin can and paper clips, make a mini disc-golf basket. To play, toss bottle caps into the basket to score points!
WHAT YOU’LL NEED
28- to 32-ounce tin can
Can opener
Ruler
Fine-tipped marker
Tin snips
Work gloves
Drill
1⁄4″ and 1⁄16″ metal drill bits
1⁄4″ x 6″ carriage bolt
Three 1⁄4″ nuts
Adjustable wrench or pair of pliers
Utility knife
Screw-on plastic bottle cap
60 paper clips
About 12″ of small rubber tubing
Several metal bottle caps
WHAT YOU’LL DO
1. Put on your gloves and remove the lid of the can, cutting it from the side so there are no sharp edges. Empty and clean the can.
2. Measure 2″ from the bottom of the can. Draw a line around the can. Use the tin snips to cut off the bottom.
3. Drill a 1⁄4″ hole in the center of both the bottom and the lid. Drill another 1⁄4″ hole in the center of the plastic bottle cap.
Figure: 1/4″ holes drilled in the center of the bottle cap, lid and can bottom.
4. Drill 12 1⁄16″ holes around the outer edge of the lid.
Figure: 12 1/16″ holes evenly spaced and drilled into lid.
5. Push the carriage bolt up through the bottom.
Figure: Side view of inserted bolt.
6. Slide the plastic bottle cap down the carriage bolt. Screw the first nut down until it is snug against the top of the plastic bottle cap.
Figure: Side view of nut tightened on top of bottle cap.
7. Make a strand of paper clips by connecting five. Make 12 strands. Bend one paper clip into a circle that fits loosely around the carriage bolt. Attach all twelve strands to the circle.
Figure: 12 strands of five paper clips attached to the paper-clip circle.
8. Slide the circle down the carriage bolt until it rests on the plastic bottle cap.
9. Screw the second nut onto the carriage bolt until it is about 1⁄2″ down the bolt. Place the lid on the carriage bolt. Screw the third nut onto the bolt until it is flush with the top of the bolt. Screw the second nut against the bottom of the lid.
10. Connect the paper clips to the holes in the lid.
11. Cut the rubber tubing with the utility knife so you can fit it onto the top edge of the can bottom. Your bottle-cap toss game is complete!
HOW TO PLAY DISC-GOLF
Disc Golf (sometimes called Frolf or frisbee golf) is game in which individual players throw a flying disc at a goal. Like traditional golf, the object of Disc Golf is to complete a course in the fewest number of disc throws.
More about Disc Golf from the Professional Disc Golf Association |
What if the same was possible to hack computers to steal data using Sound waves?
Imagine, If a remote hacker could steal classified information from a targeted computer without having to physically and Internet access to it.
A team of security researchers has demonstrated exactly the same by developing a new hacking technique called Funtenna that uses sound and radio waves to siphon data from computers even without Internet access.
Ang Cui of Red Balloon Security, the Funtenna radio signal hack has the potential to turn Internet-connected devices (printer, washing machine and air conditioner) – popularly known as the Internet of Things – into bugs that can transmit data out of a network using sound waves that can not be heard by a human ear. According to a lead researcherof Red Balloon Security, the Funtenna radio signal hack has the potential to turn Internet-connected devices (printer, washing machine and air conditioner) – popularly known as the– into bugs that can transmit data out of a network using sound waves that can not be heard by a human ear.
How Funtenna Works?
The attacker only needs to install malware on a target's device such as a printer, office phone, or a computer.
The malware overtakes the control of the electronic circuit of the device (general-purpose input/output circuits) and vibrates them at a frequency (which transmits radio signal) of the attacker's preference.
An attacker then can pick up these signals using an AM radio antenna (Funtenna) from a short distance away.
"You have network detection, firewalls… but this transmits data in a way that none of those things are monitoring, this fundamentally challenges how certain we can be of our network security," said Cui.
Here, the hacked devices are themselves acting as transmitters. Therefore, the new Funtenna technique bypasses all conventional network security methodologies.
You can also watch a video demonstration of how Funtenna works below:
Funtenna is actually using a technique known as "Hardware Agnostic," which is generally available to operate with all modern computer systems and embedded devices.
The team showcased its new technique in action at the Black Hat security summit in Las Vegas on Wednesday. It will also release a "proof-of-concept" code for researchers and hackers. |
Dick Grayson (Nightwing/the first Robin) is also highly prepared. In the first volume of the threepart series Trinity a villain by the name of Swashbuckler steals Nightwing's mask. Which Grayson promptly has destroyed via an explosive charge set for voice activation. The command phrase was only "Autodestruct."
Batman has attempted to be prepared in case of the inevitable superhero FaceHeel Turn, most notably in two infamous incidents. In Justice League of America: Tower of Babel, it was mainly confined to the League. The second was shortly after Identity Crisis where Batman decided to secretly tab every superhero/metahuman on Earth he could, so he built the Brother Eye program to monitor them. Both blew up in his face horribly (Ra's found and used the files and Brother Eye was hijacked by Max Lord and, later, Alexander Luthor). That being said, while they did indeed blow up in his face, they did so by incapacitating every member of the League, who all needed to be saved by the backup plans to THE BACKUP PLANS! Yes, indeed; Batman is so prepared, he even prepared for his contingency plans to get stolen.
Tim Drake, Robin III, is similarly prepared. In his own comic, while fighting another vigilante, they fall through the roof into a bowling alley, with Tim landing on an enormous display bowling ball. He stands up, and uses his feet to start rolling it toward his opponent, thinking, "Believe it or not, I actually trained for this. I told Bruce it was stupid at the time. We'll have a good laugh when I get back home."
Tim defeated Lady Shiva. Lady Shiva who's the best Assassin in the world, and (aside from Bronze Tiger and Richard Dragon) probably the best martial artist in the world. You wanna know how? He had poisoned some complimentary chocolates from the hotel she was staying at, before she wrote the letter challenging him. The poison was a paralytic triggered by an increased heart rate. Like in a fight. Against Robin.
In one issue of Young Justice, the new team goes on a camping trip to get to know each other better. Around the campfire they start a game of "truth or dare," and Superboy promptly dares Robin to remove his domino mask. He does... revealing another domino mask underneath. He admits that he had put the extra mask on before they left, figuring that this game would come up. Arrowette: You were toilet trained at six months, weren't you...
In an issue of Red Robin Tim is able to drop himself Stephanie and Prudence into the hidden basement of one of his safe houses right before it's blown up by the League of Assassins because he's already installed his own explosives under the floor in sets designed to drop out a circle of the floor without blowing up whoever was standing on it.
In an issue of The Batman Adventures, a criminal "artist" named Kim escapes from Arkham and begins leaving clues at crime scenes in a manner reminiscent of the Riddler. Riddler is furious that someone is stealing his gimmick and tracks Kim down himself. As they fight, Riddler asks what all the "clues" were supposed to mean. Kim reveals that they were actually references to an art film by a foreign director, and he was merely making an artistic statement. Riddler rants about how that is completely pointless, as nobody will ever understand such a reference, and the point of leaving clues is to give your opponent a fighting chance. Whereupon Batman shows up and reveals that he understood the clues just fine. When asked why he would watch random films and memorize the biographical information of their directors, Batman replied "In case I had to."
In one issue of JLA, the Martian Manhunter has shapeshifted into a Japanese woman using the name Hino Rei. Batman recognises J'onn instantly, and mentions that "the name is a giveaway". Yes, Batman knows enough about Sailor Moon to spot the name of Sailor Mars. Amusingly, this is because the author got pranked; he asked a friend for a Japanese woman's name that would translate out to 'Poet of Mars', thus establishing Batman's linguistics genius; instead his friend deliberately gave him the secret ID of Sailor Mars, and so the author inadvertently established Batman's otaku cred.
Batman's crazy preparation is shown to an extreme in the Batman R.I.P. storyline, in which we find that in case of psychological attack , he has created a backup personality known as "The Batman of Zur-En-Arrh". Said personality might actually be crazy, making this a literal example. hypnotizing himself to essentially strip the Batman part of his identity and leave only the Bruce Wayne part, in case someone found out and he needed to take extra measures to convince them (and others) otherwise.
In Batman #666, it was shown that in a possible Bad Future, Damian Wayne would become Batman. However, since he knows he's not as skilled as his predecessors, he makes up for it by booby-trapping every major building in Gotham in case he has to fight there.
Rather infamously in JLA 59 Batman engineered the defeat of Polaris to end with the JLA victorious, Superman's healing accelerated by the hole in the ozone layer and himself standing on a teleportation disk he had hidden in the Arctic for just such an occasion. Appropriately he ends the comic with the words "always plan ahead".
In an issue of Superman/Batman, it is revealed that Batman carries around a lead-lined mirror just in case Superman ever turns evil and Batman can't avoid his heat vision. Because, you know, that situation comes up so often.
During the Hush arc of Batman, it is revealed that if he is ever knocked unconscious, his helmet will release tear gas on anyone brave enough to reach for his mask, as well as his suit tasering anyone stupid enough to touch him. The taser shows up in The Dark Knight.
Lampshaded by Jaime Reyes, the Blue Beetle, in a teamup with Batman in The Brave and the Bold. An enemy has just ambushed them by essentially spawning an arctic blizzard ramped Up to Eleven above them, causing them to get buried in a few meters of snow. After Beetle breaks out and stops the blizzard by scaring off their attacker... Blue Beetle: Batman! Hold on! I'll find you and get you out! Can you break out the Bat-Snowblower or something?
(minor explosion)
(Batman digs his way out of the hole caused by the explosion)
Blue Beetle: (in awe) Please don't tell me you actually have a Bat-Snowblower...
Batman: Heating flare capable of melting through ice in a hurry. You'd be surprised what you pack after going up against Mr. Freeze enough times.
Further demonstrated in an issue of Superman/Batman where the world is under the control of Gorilla Grodd except for Batman. Batman's arm is robotic and Superman is gone in space because the atmosphere has Kryptonite in it. By the end of some long convoluted scheme that proves enough how Crazy-Prepared Batman is, it turns out that it was just a simulation of that potential scenario just in case and Batman reveals to Alfred that he does these all the time.
There was an Elseworlds comic called JSA: The Liberty Files which had alternate reality versions of Batman, Hourman, and Dr. Mid-Nite on a train in their civilian identities. They were simply eating dinner when they were suddenly attacked by a villain. Batman, as Bruce Wayne, opens his jacket and throws two grenades. One of the heroes remarks, "You brought grenades to dinner?" to which Bruce replied, "I needed them, didn't I?".
In The Dark Knight Strikes Again, Batman is well prepared for Superman coming to pay him a visit. He has The Atom punch Superman's inner ear to keep him off balance, then has the Flash place small charges all over Supes, after which Green Arrow shoots him with a Kryptonite arrow, all before Batman then hands his ass to him with Green K gloves. And then for the clincher, Superman tells the Bat he only came to talk, to which Batman replies, 'We're done talking. Get out of my cave.'
In one issue of Gotham Adventures, Harley Quinn writes a trashy romance novel that controls the mind of whoever reads it. Tim and Barbara were controlled while Bruce wasn't. Why? He wore leather gloves while reading it.
Batman Does Not Like Guns, but he still takes his proteges to the firing range. When asked why, Batman explained that it's useful to know as much about guns as possible even if he doesn't use them.
In one The Brave and the Bold comic, Batman reveals that he keeps a one-way one-shot handheld teleporter preset to the vicinity of a black hole in his utility belt. Just in case.
Jean-Paul Valley, during his time as Batman, was certainly this. Emphasis on "Crazy": he rigged the Batmobile to self-destruct and set up lethal dart launchers in the grandfather clock entrance.
In the New 52, a plot point in Forever Evil is that Batman created contingency plans in case he ever needed to take down the Justice League. He and Catwoman end up having to recycle the plans to use them against the Crime Syndicate, the JLA's Mirror Universe counterpart.
In Batman: Endgame, Bruce finally ends up having to put his contingency plans to use when the members of the Justice League are taken over by The Joker.
In Secret Six Deadshot is speaking to a priest, trying to understand why he has recently felt such strong urges to just kill everybody he sees, and he relates the story of the first time he fought Batman. At the climax he has Batman dead to rights at point-blank range and shoots him the chest, but Batman does not die as planned and then disarms and apprehends Deadshot. The priest then asked how Batman survived the encounter. Did Deadshot miss? Did the bullets bounce off him? No, he explains that the answer is actually scarier than a person who can dodge bullets or withstand gunshots: Batman had foreseen an eventual confrontation between the two of them, gotten to his gear before the fight and replaced his bullets with blanks!
As of DC Rebirth, it's revealed that Batman has a Batcave on the moon to store particularly special equipment including the Hellbat suit he raided Apokolips with. It works out in the Kent family's favor when Lois discovers the suit and subsequently uses it to defend her son from the Eradicator. |
By Ben Cohen
For those of you still wedded to the idea that private health insurance is the best way to get people the health care they need, please take the time to watch this fascinating interview with former head of corporate communications for CIGNA Wendell Potter (h/t Chez Pazienza).
Bill Moyers talks with Potter on the structure of the industry that puts profit over people and denies sick people crucial care. Here's an interesting exchange on why the insurance industry is so opposed to a public plan:
WENDELL POTTER: Absolutely right. It's the way the American system has evolved, the political system.
But it does offend me, that the vested special interests, who are so
profitable and so powerful, are able to influence public policy in the
way that they have, and the way that they've done over the years. And
the insurance industry has been one of the most successful, in beating
back any kinds of legislation that would hinder or affect the
profitability of the companies. BILL MOYERS: Why is public insurance, a public option, so fiercely opposed by the industry? WENDELL POTTER:
The industry doesn't want to have any competitor. In fact, over the
course of the last few years, has been shrinking the number of
competitors through a lot of acquisitions and mergers. So first of all,
they don't want any more competition period. They certainly don't want
it from a government plan that might be operating more efficiently than
they are, that they operate. The Medicare program that we have here is
a government-run program that has administrative expenses that are like
three percent or so. BILL MOYERS: Compared to the industry's-- WENDELL POTTER:
They spend about 20 cents of every premium dollar on overhead, which is
administrative expense or profit. So they don't want to compete against
a more efficient competitor.
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So, the private sector is afraid of the public sector because it would be more efficient? It goes to show you how ridiculous the idea that the 'free market' works best in providing people health care. It doesn't, and the private sector knows it. That's why they're spending millions of dollars convincing everyone that it is. For more on how to help fight the corporations, go here:
Health Care For America Now |
A group of top tech and finance companies including IBM, Wells Fargo and the London Stock Exchange Group, are joining forces to develop a new open source blockchain separated from the Bitcoin blockchain, Bloomberg Business reports.
The group will work with the Linux Foundation to create a public network that lets blockchain applications built on top of it communicate with each other. The open-source software will enable others to transform the way business transactions are conducted, according to a statement released by the Linux Foundation. The statement, not yet available in the open at the time of writing, has been shared on the Pastebin social sharing site.
The group also includes Accenture, ANZ Bank, Cisco, CLS, Credits, Deutsche Börse, Digital Asset Holdings, DTCC, Fujitsu, IC3, Intel, J.P. Morgan, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group (MFUG), R3, State Street, SWIFT, VMware.
“Distributed ledgers are poised to transform a wide range of industries from banking and shipping to the Internet of Things, among others,” said Jim Zemlin, executive director at The Linux Foundation. “As with any early-stage, highly-complex technology that demonstrates the ability to change the way we live our lives and conduct business, blockchain demands a cross-industry, open source collaboration to advance the technology for all.”
Digital Asset Holdings is contributing the Hyperledger mark, which will be used as the project name, as well as enterprise grade code and developer resources. Digital Asset Holdings bought San Francisco-based Hyperledger in June. The hyperledger.com URL now redirects to blockchain.linuxfoundation.org.
“The blockchain for business is ready in 2016,” states the brand new website. “Linux Foundation has united industry leaders to advance blockchain technology with a new open ledger project to transform the way business transactions are conducted around the world.”
“We are delighted that The Linux Foundation is providing a broadly-supported vehicle through which we can contribute the Hyperledger brand and enterprise grade blockchain solutions to the open source community,” said financial superstar Blythe Masters, CEO of Digital Asset Holdings. “The resulting impetus will benefit our clients and the entire global financial services industry who are seeking to build business applications on a trusted foundation."
IBM intends to contribute tens of thousands of lines of its existing codebase and its corresponding intellectual property to the open source project. R3 intends to contribute a new financial transaction architectural framework designed to specifically meet the requirements of its global bank members and other financial institutions. “These technical contributions, among others from a variety of companies, will be reviewed in detail in the weeks ahead by the formation and Technical Steering Committees,” notes the statement.
"Deutsche Börse group sees great potential in blockchain technology, and is delighted to join this initiative,” said Jeffrey Tessler, a member of the executive board of Deutsche Börse AG. “As a market infrastructure covering the entire value chain, we believe that the true value of the blockchain will only materialise as part of industry initiatives such as Hyperledger project.”
It seems plausible that the global payments innovation initiative recently announced by the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication (SWIFT) could be related to the Hyperledger project.
“The current blockchain is a great design pattern,” said IBM Vice President Jerry Cuomo, CTO of IBM’s software group, as reported by Wired. “Now, how do we make that real for business? What are the key attributes needed to make that happen? That’s what this organization is about.”
Cuomo added that the group intends to create something that is like the blockchain but separate. “We are very excited about blockchain, less as a once-and-only-once implementation of an idea, but as an idea that can be implemented and extended in ways that are consistent but enhanced,” he said. Wired notes that, by backing a new project separated from the Bitcoin blockchain, the group can exert more control over blockchain technology. |
ANAHEIM – Karley Sweer wanted only one thing for her birthday: a “Frozen” makeover. At half past 10 on Monday, the 8-year-old from Litchfield, Ariz., got her wish when her hair was styled and sprinkled with glitter, her lips dabbed with gloss and her nails painted pale blue, all inspired by the characters of the animated blockbuster.
It was opening day for Anna & Elsa’s Boutique at Downtown Disney, the only store/salon in the world devoted to all things “Frozen.” The boutique offers beauty services including $35 packages that can turn girls into Elsa and Anna lookalikes, plus official costumes, clothes and accessories. Disney officials want to gauge consumer response before considering opening similar stores elsewhere, according to Michelle Harker, manager for merchandise marketing at Disneyland Resort.
All things “Frozen” appear to still be hot, if the line of about 50 people waiting outside the store on any given hour was an indication. “Frozen” has turned into an international juggernaut, with about 2.6 million kids planning to dress as characters from the movie for Halloween, according to a National Retail Federation survey released last week.
Kaycee Knapic, 5, of Gilbert, Ariz., was ready with her Elsa costume. After her hair was braided, tiara in place, she told her mom, “I want the Elsa power in my hands.” That’s something Disney doesn’t offer. Yet.
Contact the writer: lliddane@ocregister.com |
IC3RE has started a collaboration with the IOTA Foundation as part of the Outlier Venture research and development programme.
The College will work with the IOTA Foundation in two key ways designed to bring the IOTA protocol closer to real-world adoption and to increase the utility of this breakthrough new approach to distributed ledger technology.
The Imperial team of students and leading professors will work with the IOTA Foundation to conceptualise and build new Proof of Concepts on top of the IOTA protocol. Work will be undertaken in areas such as mobility, infrastructure and of course Internet of Things innovation.
Building on initial work by the IOTA Foundation, teams from Imperial will focus on visualising transactions occurring across the IOTA Tangle. The Tangle is the IOTA protocol’s innovative, non-linear, distributed ledger architecture. The team will focus on visualising the IOTA ‘Mainnet’, which is in live operation today as well as visualising a range of planned stress-tests focused on running thousands of transactions per second across the IOTA network.
Dr Catherine Mulligan, Co-Director for Cryptocurrency Research and Engineering at Imperial commented: "The IOTA protocol is an extremely exciting new approach to distributed ledger technology that promises huge scalability and economic improvements over traditional blockchains.
"Imperial is home to some of the brightest young minds in cryptocurrency that will relish the opportunity to help build IOTA's capabilities further."
Imperial has proven its leading massive-scale data visualisation capabilities having created a real-time data visualisation of Bitcoin, showing the global adoption and topology of Bitcoin globally as transactions occur.
Unlike traditional blockchains, transactions occurring across the Tangle network are not sequential and are not based on ‘blocks’. This is key to IOTA's ability to scale dramatically using its innovative Distributed Acyclic Graph technology to handle thousands of transactions per second, dwarfing the scalability of both the Bitcoin and Ethereum blockchains.
Today, the Bitcoin network is capable of processing circa five transactions per second and the Ethereum blockchain around 20, which is severely limiting the utility of both networks. Recently, SatoshiPay announced its intention to switch from Bitcoin to IOTA in order to handle micropayments based on a truly scalable solution.
William Knottenbelt, Professor of Applied Quantitative Analysis at Imperial College explains what this means for students: "Our students want to be working with the very latest Open Source technology to hone their skills and contribute to projects that have the potential to change the world. I’m already receiving requests to begin investigating IOTA." |
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