text stringlengths 316 100k |
|---|
Picture a suburban housewife of the 1950s. Her name is Mrs. John Drone (Mary), and she lives in Rolling Knolls Estates, a new development of what the salesman calls "California Cape Cod Ramblers" on the outskirts of Washington, D.C. Whatever knolls might have rolled gently over the land at one time have been flattened for muddy streets of two-bedroom houses, named after famous conflicts of World War II.
One rainy morning on Bataan Boulevard, Mary hangs her washing on a clothesline in the living room and knocks her shin on her son’s tricycle. Pain shoots up her leg and she bursts into tears. Then the front door blows open, and she starts shouting:
‘Watch out, can’t you see the wash is up? You’re getting the wash all dirty.’ Mary very nearly screamed. ‘I’m sorry dear,’ a familiar, monotonous voice said. ‘Oh, it’s you,’ Mary said. And it was. John Drone, master of all he surveyed, had returned to his castle and to the bosom of his admiring family. He closed the door.
Mary and John are the unfortunate (fictional) protagonists of The Crack in the Picture Window, published in 1957 by John Keats, a journalist at the now defunct Washington Daily News. A lacerating (and very funny) indictment of postwar suburbs as "fresh-air slums," Keats’s polemic sold millions of copies in paperback. It revolves around the tragicomic story of the Drones, a nice young couple gulled, first, into buying a box at Rolling Knolls Estates, and then into thinking a larger, more expensive box in a different suburb could cure what ailed them.
When, near the start of the book, Mary hurts her leg and yells at her husband, Keats blames her agitation on her inadequate living space. If the house had had a basement, he notes, she could have hung the washing there rather than in the living room. If it had had more storage space, the tricycle wouldn’t have stood in her way. If it had had a separate dining room, rather than a rudimentary "dining alcove" off the kitchen, she wouldn’t have struggled to converse with a friend over the shouts of their children, which had frayed her nerves earlier the same day.
The problem was not Mary. It was her house:
[S]omewhere deep inside her she knew perfectly well that the house she inhabited had helped spoil her day; that it was harming her marriage and corroding her life. In fact, the corrosive process was well under way, for the Drones had lived in their new rambler for six months. The pattern of their lives was bearing out the truth in Winston Churchill’s dictum: ‘We shape our dwellings, and then our dwellings shape us.’ The shape of Mary’s dwelling was vile.
The Crack in the Picture Window was just one in a raft of books about suburban life that appeared steadily through the 1950s and 1960s. A few of these have become cultural touchstones: Richard Yates’s novel Revolutionary Road (1961) still disturbs with its portrait of a corroded marriage, dramatized in a 2008 film starring Kate Winslet and Leonardo DiCaprio. John Cheever’s stories of gin-soaked afternoons filled with longing and regret still telegraph upper-middle-class suburban anomie.
But the books that didn’t last—forgotten volumes of pop sociology and psychology like Keats’s, and pulp fiction—can also tell us a lot about the preoccupations of midcentury Americans. Most strikingly, they reveal deep and widespread concern over the stability of mental and physical health in the new suburban environment. This was not confined to popular reading material; at academic conferences, speakers struck worried notes about the "one-class community" and the "filtered experience" of children growing up in a suburban setting.
In the years after World War II, suburbs represented not just new places to live but a whole new manner of living, separated by more than physical distance from the big cities and small towns from which their residents hailed. Between the late 1940s and 1960, millions of Americans moved into raw neighborhoods containing people of about the same age, making about the same amount of money, starting families at about the same time. It was a social experiment unprecedented in U.S. history.
The first suburbanites themselves were well aware of this. Although they felt the optimism of pioneers, they shared in the widespread anxiety that the experiment might not work, an anxiety that manifested as worries about unanticipated health effects. These ranged from the daily, cumulative frustrations of a Mary Drone to more significant problems: stomach ulcers, heart attacks, anxiety, depression, sexual dysfunction, and juvenile delinquency.
"John Drone did not know it when he signed the deed [for his house], but appalling human tensions were a condition of the sale," Keats wrote. The financial burdens of suburban life were thought to weigh heavily on young husbands and fathers, though not on wives and mothers; the theory of suburban pathology was profoundly gendered.
The harried suburban family man, gulping coffee each morning to catch his train into the city and returning to collapse, martini in hand, into his armchair each night, was a stock comic figure in postwar culture. Keats made his John Drone a more pitiable example of the type. Drone, a government worker, feels a "tightening, knotted cord about his temples" after moving to Rolling Knolls. He lies awake at night fretting over installment payments on the car, the TV set, the dryer. When the family trades up from the rambler to a split-level in Maryland, he takes side jobs at a liquor store and at Sears to pay the mortgage, and he leaves the house at 6:00 every morning to beat the rush downtown. Despite all his labors, there is no final reward for John Drone: the victim of chicanery, he learns at the end of the book that he is liable for the mortgage on the rambler he thought he’d sold. The Drones are left to face financial ruin.
In The Exurbanites (1955), a droll portrait of the writers and ad men who were then fanning out from Manhattan to the sleepy country towns of Bucks and Fairfield and Rockland counties, A.C. Spectorsky (a magazine and television editor) dubbed those towns "the Psychosomatic Belt." He continued: "A physician with many exurban patients states that he has noticed, among a remarkably high percentage of those who are commuters, what he terms ‘extreme rigidity’ and a notable head of steam built up and (mostly) kept under pressure which he defines as repressed hostility." According to Spectorsky, the doctor cited hay fever, hives, hypertension, back pain, and chronic fatigue as the commuter’s usual disorders.
A quasi-scientific account of widespread male stress is presented in The Split-Level Trap, a bestselling 1961 study of suburban dysfunction by New Jersey psychiatrist Richard Gordon and his psychologist wife, Katherine Gordon. ("A Kinsey report on suburbia," according to a review in the Chicago Daily News.) The Gordons contended that the nation’s new communities were a "Disturbia" of restless and troubled young strivers, a lopsided society that lacked the balance of older, "integrated" towns (integrated by age and class, that is, not race). As suburbia’s men rushed to get ahead, the Gordons claimed, they would be vulnerable to developing early heart disease, especially if they had risen from a lower social class.
The authors included a table of local cases of heart disease broken down by age and income to support their point. The Split-Level Trap draws on copious data from Bergen County, N.J., health records, but it’s not very convincing to a 21st-century reader; chronic stress is always assumed to be the prime cause of illness, whether mental or physical. So, from the county health data on heart disease, the Gordons concluded that strivers must be pushing themselves too far, too fast. It being 1961, they didn’t ask how much the patients smoked and drank, how sedentary their habits were, or whether heart disease ran in their families.
The peptic ulcer, however, was the king of psychosomatic suburban ailments. The New Yorker ran a cartoon during this period in which one child, sitting in his front yard, says to another: "I don’t know what my father does all day. I just know it makes him sick at his stomach."
One of the several composite cases in the Gordons’ book is that of "Fred Bright," an ambitious junior sales executive who has overstretched himself financially (no thanks to his social-climbing wife, Eve) and can’t ever relax:
Fred’s pains eventually grew so bad that he went to see a doctor. The doctor told him that he had developed an ulcer, prescribed a rigorous diet and advised him to slow down. This was easy to advise. But Fred was not in a position to slow down … He had his mortgage, his car payments, his life insurance loan, his country-club dues … He did not feel secure enough in his job to cut his work load even a little. He had to work late at night; he had to travel; he had to visit the bar; he had to push and worry. Otherwise—who knew what might happen to him? Finally, one day, Fred began to vomit blood. He was rushed to a hospital, hemorrhaging internally. The ulcer had eroded a large blood vessel. Bleeding heavily and in shock, Fred was a critically ill man.
In the early 1980s, scientists discovered the bacterium H. pylori, which is now known to cause most stomach ulcers. Following the medical establishment of the time, the Gordons attributed ulcers to a stressful lifestyle alone. Although that’s been disproven, it’s easy to see why the family man tortured by an ulcer has stayed with us as a stereotype. What more visceral symbol could there be of a life beset by stress than a stomach so flooded with acid that it "digest[s] itself," to use the Gordons’ phrase?
The health problems of the suburban man, according to these books, are caused by his incessant motion across the landscape. He is always in a hurry, commuting to the city and back every day, going on business trips. Women’s disturbances have the opposite etiology: They are the result of spatial confinement. Because suburban women spent so much more time at home and in the neighborhood, writers of the era tied women’s problems more closely to their environment, especially the house. This was nothing new: the archetype of the trapped woman goes back from Charlotte Gilman’s "The Yellow Wallpaper" and Charlotte Brontë’s madwoman in the attic to Danaë in Greek myth. But for the woman stuck in the new suburbia, the monotony of her surroundings—with only new gadgets for diversion—was thought to deepen her despair.
The "trap" referred to in the title of the Gordons’ book is the suburban house. Their first case study is of "Alice Hager," a young wife and mother from a genteel southern family who moves to a New Jersey suburb with her engineer husband, Carl. Alice is shy and old-fashioned. She waits for her new neighbors to introduce themselves rather than knocking on their doors. She hopes she will be invited to join local clubs. When those things don’t happen, she retreats into her home.
Winter comes, and the house itself begins to antagonize Alice. "Her head throbbed with the clunk-clunk of the washing machine, the yowl of the vacuum cleaner and the shrill voices of children." Before long, she is having panic attacks in the supermarket. When she runs a red light on the way home one day, she becomes convinced that the police will arrest her. She goes home and hides in the closet, where her husband finds her, weeping and terrified.
For Mary Drone, the picture window in her living room becomes a mirror of "her empty life staring at her across the treeless, unpaved street," and she automatically closes the blinds against it. Purchasing labor-saving devices only gives her more time to watch TV and covet more devices in a joyless Catch-22 of consumption.
Suburban alienation, especially that of the 1950s housewife, has become such a familiar cultural trope that we take it for granted. What’s unusual about the Gordons’ portrait of Alice Hager, though, is her utter solitude. Other writers describe suburban neurosis flourishing in a hothouse atmosphere of hyper-socialization, which could not be escaped and which broke down moral boundaries.
In The Crack in the Picture Window, Mary Drone is swept into daily kaffee-klatsches despite finding the conversation mind-numbing. Couples on the Drones’ block take turns hosting each other at barbecues. Children troop in and out of the houses. Keats quoted the opinion of a social scientist: "In these communities, there is no real privacy."
Against the Drones, go-along conformists who grow more miserable the longer they live in suburbia, Keats pitted the Wilds, the bohemian couple down the block. Adam and Eve Wild, as their names imply, exist in a prelapsarian state of indifference to suburban norms, and this is the key to their happiness. Adam is the only blue-collar man on the block, and unembarrassed to park his beat-up truck in front of the house. Eve keeps to herself more than the other wives. When Mary finally steps inside the Wilds’ house, it makes a strong impression:
Everything about the Wilds’ house fascinated Mary Drone, and at the same time made her a bit uneasy. Those strange, intelligent children, Abel and Delilah, seemed to regard Mary with a piercing compassion that was completely unnerving. An aura of self-sufficiency enfolded the family; the colors and furnishings of the Wild house made it difficult for Mary to believe she was in a Rolling Knolls home.
Not surprisingly, the Wilds are the first couple to move out of Rolling Knolls. None of the neighbors learns where they are going.
Meanwhile, all those cocktail parties and cookouts start to generate sexual tension. Jokes become dirty. Hands graze knees under dining tables. In Keats’s Rolling Knolls, that’s as far as things go, but fiction writers explored the possibilities of suburban decadence with gusto. In the 1962 potboiler The Split-Level Game (by Louis Lorraine, presumably a pseudonym), protagonist Spence Hawk is fed up with his thrill-seeking wife Leila and "the rotten crowd in the suburbs where they lived, the Upper Dales set." They go to a tiki party where the women dance under orange spotlights; the rule is that no one can object to what their spouse does during the party, like ducking into a bedroom with another guest.
Spence eventually divorces Leila and marries his mistress from town, and they decide to live in the city. "I sold the house. I got to hate that place," Spence says of his split-level.
Another pulp novel, Love in Suburbia (1960), is set in the Tucson foothills, in a small, isolated loop of houses, making it easier for the characters to hop in and out of each other’s beds. The action kicks off when Elena Anders, the impulsive young wife of a rich suburbanite, brings home her beatnik friends from San Francisco. Dressed in "freakish" clothes like turtlenecks, they descend on a polite party thrown by Elena’s husband and turn to guitar-strumming and skinny dipping, much to the delight of the other guests.
Social critics of this period couldn’t square the intense sociability of the new suburbs with the alienation many women felt in them. Keats fell back on misogyny, portraying the women of Rolling Knolls as such mean and petty gossips that Mary Drone would not want their company—yet she, too, lacks self-awareness. ("[S]he was not a thinking person, and enjoyed no point of vantage," he wrote condescendingly.) In No Down Payment—a popular 1957 novel by John McPartland that was made into a Hollywood movie— the woman who adjusts well to suburbia is Betty Kreitzer, a devout churchgoer and civic joiner who feels fulfilled by her roles as wife and mother. Jean Martin wonders why she can’t be more like that, blaming her own "strong, unsatisfied pride." It took Betty Friedan to bring much deeper insight to the "problem with no name" a few years later in The Feminine Mystique (1965).
The Gordons—whose research was to inform Friedan’s classic—believed the tenuous health of suburban women was a national crisis. They found that young married women made up the largest share of psychiatric patients in Bergen County, and that suburban women were even developing high blood pressure and ulcers (although not on par with their husbands). "[I]t is obvious that unpleasant things are happening to the young wives who come, so full of hope, into the apartments and housing developments of Disturbia," they warned.
[I]t is obvious that unpleasant things are happening to the young wives who come, so full of hope, into the apartments and housing developments of Disturbia.
Although the Gordons’ villainizing of mobility now seems quaint (and the "integrated" town they rhapsodize about seems more like Mayberry than any real place), their case study of "Gina Conning" is still a moving picture of postpartum depression before that term was commonly used. Gina’s mother is dead and her friends are back in the city; her in-laws never warmed to her because she is Italian-American. So she cares for her baby alone in her house, which she tries to keep spotless. She worries that she’s not a good mother and has a momentary urge to prick the baby with a pin, which scares her. She can’t sleep, has nightmares when she does, and develops a heightened interest in sex. Finally, terrified that she will harm her baby or her husband, Gina flees to the police station in her nightgown.
The path to recovery that the Gordons imagine for Gina might apply today (minus the tranquilizers): Gina’s mother-in-law begins to help out with the baby several days a week. Her husband does more around the house. She enrolls in a class at the local college to rekindle her artistic talents. Her interest in sex declines as her condition stabilizes, but interestingly, the Gordons argue that her husband must meet her halfway and set aside his own WASPy hangups about sexual experimentation.
Another depressed woman whom the Gordons profile is "Martha Kohler." In her fifties with grown children, Martha becomes suicidal after financial problems push her husband into alcoholism, and she swallows a bottle of pills. She eventually finds a sense of purpose in the Homemakers’ Service, a group of older women who help overwhelmed young mothers like Gina.
The case of Martha and her husband is part of a larger morality tale in The Split-Level Trap, a warning that the comfortable milieu of suburbia was producing too many "non-producers" and "freeloaders" for America’s good. These weak individuals weren’t just a burden on their loved ones—they were enemies of society, as the Gordons saw it (writing, of course, during the Cold War):
We are in competition today with new, tough nations that have arisen in once remote parts of the world. Russia and China are climber nations. Like ours, their mobility is breeding emotional problems … They are willing to work hard for what they want. Against this tough-minded determination only a sturdy people can compete successfully. We have been sturdy in the past, but a softening has set in. We will not be sturdy enough if the something-for-nothing syndrome weakens us much further.
Far worse than suburban adults were their offspring, in the Gordons’ eyes: "[T]he suburbs are full of obedient parents and spoiled, lazy, materialistic children." Anxiety about suburbia warping a generation of children jumps off the pages of their book and others. In No Down Payment, Michael, the only child of dissolute Jerry and Isbel Flagg, has frequent and violent tantrums, his howls reverberating around the neighborhood. "That poor little guy’s so mixed up he’s like a loaded bomb," the paragon Betty Kreitzer remarks with sadness. In one discomfiting chapter, Jerry and Isbel lock Michael outside on the patio while they get drunk, fight, and have sex, their Sunday night routine.
Contemporary writers’ complaints about suburban children were legion. They were rude to their parents and demanded spending money and expensive toys. They didn’t do chores around the house. They didn’t want to work hard in school. They started experimenting with sex too early.
Keats quoted a Miss Elizabeth O’Malley of the Montgomery County (Maryland) Social Service League, who observed perceptively that many suburban houses weren’t big enough for grandparents to move in to help raise the kids, and neighborhoods weren’t set up for healthy play. "There is no recreational area. There is no place for the children to play but in the yard, which is too small, or in the street. … It is out of such conditions that delinquency develops."
More than the physical environment, however, it was the social conditioning of suburbia that was thought to be harmful. And one aspect above all: the dominant role of mothers in their children’s lives. In one of the Gordons’ case studies, the overprotective mother of the juvenile delinquent "Alec Green" makes him "soft" and entitled. In another, the permissive mother of "Tom Krazinkow" declines to parent him because she wants her son to "find himself"; he continues to wet his bed until the age of 16, and ends up being arrested for peeping on women through their bedroom windows.
The real problem with suburbia, Keats and the Gordons believed, was that it was a matriarchy. "Mary had fallen into a world of women without men," Keats wrote. "Mary Drone in Rolling Knolls was living much closer in every way to 1984 than to 1934, for she dwelt in a vast, communistic, female barracks."
Despite their sympathy for the struggling Gina Connings of the world, midcentury critics held mothers more or less responsible for all the disadvantages of suburban living. A mother couldn’t win: If she wanted to live in a nice house, she was effectively, if not outright, goading her husband to work long hours, perhaps developing an ulcer or heart disease in the process. She’d then be required to raise her children more or less single-handedly, an enterprise at which she’d inevitably be found wanting. If she made use of modern conveniences like a dryer or prepared food, she risked increasing her own boredom and further sapping her children’s moral fiber. One author connected thermostat-controlled homes with coddling, and judged that putting nice furnishings in children’s rooms stifled their creativity.
Amid this milieu, the casually misogynistic treatment of the suburban mother in Suburbia’s Coddled Kids (1962) stands out. (Incidentally, its author, Peter Wyden, was the father of Oregon Sen. Ron Wyden.) In chapter two, "What Ever Happened to Daddy?," Wyden recounted a small boy telling him that "Mummy is the boss and Daddy carries the luggage," and this comes replete with a line drawing of a downtrodden husband trailing after his imperious wife, clutching her purse between his teeth.
Wyden worried the boys of suburbia were going soft. "A boy like that [with a largely absent father] may grow up to bake a fine cake, but he won’t be much of a boy," he claimed a social worker once told him. The masculinization of girls was also a concern. "What about all the housewives who wear pants, perform rugged chores around the house, and call themselves Billy or Sydney?" Wyden asked. "What notions about femininity will a little girl glean from a mother who acts much of the time in a bi-sexual capacity?" Later in the book, he quoted the director of a drug rehab clinic saying many of his young patients "come from homes dominated by the mothers."
How much truth was there in these pictures of suburban dysfunction? Did the postwar suburbs really make their first inhabitants sick?
Even at the time, the research findings of the Gordons and observations of Wyden et al. were viewed with skepticism. (The Kirkus Review called The Split-Level Trap "condescending, watered-down, [and] superficial.")
The science may be sounder, but the tone of moral approbation from the 1950s still clings to many polemics against suburban life.
Journalist William H. Whyte wrote The Organization Man (1957), a study of the midcentury white-collar professional and his environs, published the same year as The Crack in the Picture Window and also a bestseller (a better seller, in fact). In contrast to the thin sourcing of Keats’s book, Whyte made a careful study of Park Forest, Ill., interviewing numerous residents and analyzing how the physical layout of housing affected behavior.
What Whyte discovered was that physical propinquity determined social relations a great deal—and that people in Park Forest were generally quite happy. Mothers liked the support and companionship of other mothers. "You don’t find as many frustrated women in a place like this," one told him. "We gals have each other."
The Feminine Mystique was far less rosy. But Friedan didn’t see women’s dissatisfaction as stemming from a particular kind of environment. She described housewives feeling cooped up in city apartments and suburban ranches alike, and saw the birth of the suburbs as, in fact, "a limitless challenge to the energy of educated American women," with abundant opportunities for civic innovation and leadership—which women too often rejected in their efforts to be ideal housewives and mothers. "The ability of suburban life to fulfill, or truly use the potential of the able, educated American woman seems to depend on her own previous autonomy," she wrote.
Herbert Gans, who wrote the masterful sociological study The Levittowners (1965), lived in Levittown, N.J., for the town’s first two years to conduct his research. His account of early suburbanites as proactive "joiners," generally content with their lot, differs starkly from the critiques of popular writers. Not only did he reject those critiques, he came to the opposite conclusion about Levittown: "that suburban life has produced more family cohesion and a significant boost in morale through the reduction of boredom and loneliness." (The one exception was the town’s teenagers.) Gans was quite cutting about intellectuals who condemned suburbia’s "little boxes" and mocked their inhabitants as feeble John and Mary Drones: "This is upper-middle-class ethnocentrism."
Whether the suburbs were welcoming and cohesive for those who weren’t white Anglo-Saxon Protestants is another question. Whyte argued that the apparent middle-class homogeneity of suburbia actually worked to assimilate people from lower-class backgrounds and minority ethnic and religious groups—although this stopped firmly at the color line. Interestingly, the popular fiction of the time reflects the idea of suburbia as a melting pot with limits. In Love in Suburbia, there’s an upstanding Jewish family on the cul-de-sac, but conflict over the pending sale of a house to Mexican-Americans; in No Down Payment, Herman Kreitzer offers (after much hesitation) to help his black employee Jim Kemp buy a home near his in Sunrise Hills, but Kemp turns him down.
Although our diagnoses of its problems differ, we still invest suburbia with considerable power to influence people’s behavior, almost always for the worse. (Of course, people make the same claims about hectic cities, too.) The stereotype of the intense "soccer mom" at the helm of her minivan, channeling her thwarted ambitions into her kids, harks back to the crude caricatures of Wyden (who titled one chapter of his book "The Junior Rat Race"). Rather than small houses with too-near neighbors causing people to crack up, today we point to large lots, unwalkable streets, and single-use zoning as the agents of obesity and diabetes, and the SUV parked in the driveway as a vector of climate change. The science may be sounder, but the tone of moral approbation from the 1950s still clings to many polemics against suburban life.
Keats’s jibe about "fresh-air slums" was resurrected in 2008 by Christopher Leinberger, who asked, in a much-discussed feature in The Atlantic, "Are Suburbs the Next Slums?" Let’s hope not, since the majority of Americans live there, a trend that shows no sign of abating: Despite the hype around an urban revival, the share of Americans living in urban neighborhoods actually dropped from 2000 to 2014. Suburban millennials outnumber their urban counterparts, and as they start to buy homes, most are buying in the ’burbs.
Today, if Rolling Knolls existed, its residents would be a far more racially and ethnically diverse group, and they’d look out from their picture windows onto streets of mature trees, the houses differentiated by three generations of paint jobs and renovations. They might have grandma living with them, or be raising their kids alone. They’d work on construction sites and in restaurants as well as in offices downtown. Some would fuss over their emerald lawns, while others would grow corn and peppers out back. Yet the idea of suburbia as smugly white and middle-class persists, as does the suspicion that all its inhabitants are secretly miserable. Like Mary Drone closing the blinds to shut out the "ghastly view," we may be too trapped by old preconceptions to take the honest measure of suburban life today.
Editor: Sara Polsky
Photographer: Max Touhey |
Pure Blue Japan
$270.00
28 / Raw 28 / One Wash 29 / Raw 29 / One Wash 30 / Raw 30 / One Wash 31 / Raw 31 / One Wash 32 / Raw 32 / One Wash 33 / Raw 33 / One Wash 34 / Raw 34 / One Wash 36 / Raw 36 / One Wash 38 / Raw 38 / One Wash 40 / Raw 40 / One Wash
XX-012
14 oz. Japanese Selvedge Deep Indigo denim
Slim tapered fit
5 button fly featuring black coated buttons
Blue selvedge ID line
Pure indigo thread construction - Indigo warp threads and Indigo weft yarns
Black pocket bag
Deerskin leather back patch
Leaf logo on back right pocket
This latest addition to the Pure Blue Japan lineup reflects a modern silhouette with the slim cut and tapered leg opening coupled with the beautiful and rich Deep Indigo color that is only attainable by using both indigo dyed warp and weft threads.
The slubby nature of the denim allows for a beautiful fading contrast with wear over time, but given the Indigo x Indigo fabric combination of this denim, the will take longer than your usual pair to fade. |
There was a timeout late in Game 2 of the Warriors’ 2013 First Round playoff series against the Denver Nuggets last April, and Head Coach Mark Jackson, who was mic’d up for national television, had a message for his team before sending them back onto the court.
“In case I forget to tell you, I love you,” Jackson told his players, before clapping his hands and praising them for an “outstanding” performance.
Warriors point guard Stephen Curry, who scored 30 points that night in a 131-117 victory, said that “special moment” during the postseason said a lot about the atmosphere Jackson has created since being named Golden State’s head coach in June of 2011.
“Basketball’s a game and it’s our job, but at the end of the day we feel like we’re a family, and he’s set up that atmosphere from the beginning,” Curry said. “When we’re playing well and going out on the court and trying to represent Coach in a great way, he just wanted us to know how he felt. That goes a long way, for sure.”
Jackson led the Warriors to a 47-35 regular-season record last season. They beat Denver 4-2 in the first round before pushing the San Antonio Spurs to six games in a Western Conference Semifinal loss. Now Jackson is in his third season as Golden State’s coach. He has an upgraded roster and higher expectations, but his coaching approach hasn’t changed.
It’s an approach that was forged from playing 17 seasons as a point guard in the NBA, reaching the playoffs 14 times and dishing out 10,334 assists, third on the all-time list behind John Stockton and Jason Kidd. He is a players’ coach who knows the pressure and challenges his players face and who understands the importance of mutual respect. It’s also an approach that has roots in his deep religious faith and work as a pastor.
“I’ve always been a guy that had relationships, built relationships,” Jackson said. “I talk, I laugh, I joke. I always thought that it wasn’t fair when people say, ‘Well, you can’t be a friend to your players and be a disciplinarian or hold them accountable.’ That’s not true. I love my kids to death, and I’m a friend to my four kids. At the same time I hold them accountable. At the same time I’m tough at times. The same thing with players. I’ve got a great relationship with these guys. They understand what I expect of them, they truly understand how I’m going to hold them accountable and they’re willing to run through a wall because I don’t treat it like it’s me and then it’s them. No, it’s us.
“Another thing I never understood was how a coach could cuss a player out and disrespect a player, but if a player does it, he’s out of line and is not a good player and he’s disrespectful. So I treat them with respect. I treat them like they’re grown men because at the end of the day they are grown men, married with kids in some situations. And you get more out of that. So it’s a great situation for me, and I truly love these guys.”
A 17-year NBA veteran as a player, Mark Jackson has no trouble relating to his players as a coach. (photo: Stephen Dunn/NBAE/Getty)
Power forward David Lee called Jackson a “perfect fit” for the Warriors and a coach who has a knack for “getting the most” from his players.
“I think part of that is the fact he was a player and understands what we go through on and off the court,” Lee said. “And also, X’s and O’s wise, he’s very knowledgeable about the game, and the other thing he does a great job of is he doesn’t try to do everything himself. He puts a great staff around him and he trusts the people around him and trusts the players. It’s not about his ego, it’s about us having the best chance to succeed on the floor.
“He’s got a relaxed atmosphere, but at the same time there’s a lot of discipline involved. He comes to us as a man and demands that we treat him with respect right back, and once we’ve established that, it’s just about playing basketball and him coaching basketball. We keep it real simple.”
Jackson played for seven NBA teams, including his hometown New York Knicks, who chose him in the First Round of the 1987 NBA Draft out of St. John’s. He played in 1,296 regular-season games – second most of any head coach in NBA history behind only Brooklyn Nets first-year coach Jason Kidd – and appeared in 131 playoff games.
“It certainly has put me in a position to be a better coach because I sat in their seats,” Jackson said. “I don’t have to wonder why the guy is playing bad today on the fourth game in a fifth night. He’s playing bad because he doesn’t have legs, because he’s tired. I’ve been there. No matter how you try to muster up energy, effort and enthusiasm, some nights, some practices, you just don’t have it.
“Some guys are going to struggle during stretches and some guys are going to be on fire during stretches. Some guys are going to be frustrated sitting on the end of the bench. Some guys are going to be frustrated coming out of the game when it matters most. I’ve been in all of those situations. None of my guys have been put in a situation that I haven’t been able to experience, therefore it allows me to be understanding and to be able to speak to them, wherever they are, and they appreciate that. I’m not guessing. I’ve been there.”
Despite never having any coaching experience prior to taking the Warriors job in 2011, Jackson took the Warriors to the Western Conference Semifinals in 2013. (photo: Stephen Dunn/NBAE/Getty)
Jackson said his love for his players is “unconditional” and doesn’t end when they go to other teams, either as free agents or in a trade. He said he congratulated both Carl Landry and Jarrett Jack when they landed free-agent deals with other teams after playing key roles for the Warriors last season.
“If I ask you to pour out and invest in the call of this basketball team, and you pour out, we’re tied for the rest of our lives,” Jackson said. “It’s not an 82-game thing with me. So I’m happy that those guys were able to make as much money as they can, and I’m pulling for them every night, other than when we face them. Guys watch that. Guys look and see that they’re not just a piece of meat to me. And it works both ways. Hopefully it never happens, but one day I’ll be gone, and they’re going to have to know I gave them everything I had and it wasn’t an act. I’m committed to them.”
Jackson and his wife, Desiree, are pastors at True Love Worship Center International in Reseda, CA, a non-denominational church they founded in 2009. He said he preaches at his church to around “300 loyal members” whenever he can, “And they love me to death whether I win a game or lose a game.”
Jackson, not surprisingly, has an evangelical flair at times when he coaches his team.
“Well, I’ll tell you what, it’s who I am,” Jackson said. “People say, ‘How do you separate the two?’ Well, I can’t. I’m coach Mark Jackson and I’m pastor Mark Jackson. I’m husband Mark Jackson, I’m father Mark Jackson, I’m son Mark Jackson, I’m friend. So what you see is what you get, and I think who I am at heart, I’m a giver. I’ve been a giver my entire life. It allows me to keep things in perspective, understanding that this is not life. To some people, as a player, as a coach, you lose a game and you’re miserable. This is a game. I look at the big picture.
“I think being a pastor has helped me because I understand at the end of the day that basketball’s a game, and I’m trying to win in life, and when you try to win in life and do things the right way, games will follow.”
As a player and coach, Jackson has reached the postseason in 15 of his 19 NBA seasons. (photo: Rocky Widner/NBAE/Getty)
Jackson had never been a coach at any level before being hired by the Warriors. After retiring as a player following the 2003-04 season he began a seven-year television career as an NBA analyst, the final five for ESPN and ABC, typically working alongside play-by-play man Mike Breen and ex-NBA coach Jeff Van Gundy on the network’s top broadcast team.
Despite his lack of coaching experience, Jackson arrived in Oakland with the confidence of a veteran NBA coach, talking playoffs and predicting a quick turnaround for the Warriors. Where did that confidence come from?
“I have faith in God,” Jackson said. “I don’t think I can do it. I’ve come to accept that it’s not about me. There was a day when I thought I was Rookie of the Year and I was this guy. No. I came in with confidence because I truly believe that God is able.”
Eric Gilmore is a freelance sports writer based in the Bay Area |
The city has settled on a preliminary road realignment plan that would see the western intersection between Albert and Slater streets simplified as the city moves towards decommissioning the Transitway with the opening of the LRT.
A memo sent to members of council by transportation boss John Manconi provided an update on the design study of Albert Street and Slater Street.
The preliminary design would see the westernmost end of Slater street moved north, while Bronson Avenue would be widened to include four lanes.
The plan still needs the sign-off of the NCC, since the proposed alignment of Slater Street cuts through a chunk of federal land. Manconi said in the memo, however, that preliminary discussions with the NCC suggest that they are supportive of the design.
The proposed realignment of Slater Street at Bronson Avenue. (City of Ottawa image)
“This concept improves the road grid network and simplifies intersection operations, while also providing more land for infill development,” wrote Manconi. "As it exists now, a number of the intersections in the area include three streets, often with unorthodox angles."
The public will have a chance to weigh in on the design, as well as see the other options considered, at a public meeting later this fall. A full proposal is expected to be tabled next year, with construction planned to begin in 2019.
This story originally appeared in Metro News. |
Rocky Anderson, the former mayor of Salt Lake City, Utah and last year’s Justice Party nominee for president, says he plans to sue the United States government over the illegal collection of private emails ahead of the 2002 Olympics.
Anderson served as mayor of Salt Lake City for eight years and played a leading role in hosting the 2002 Winter Olympics Games there. Only last week, though, did he learn that the US National Security Agency utilized equipment to intercept and monitor all email and text communications in the area for several months before the event.
The revelation, published Wednesday in the Wall Street Journal, “fed into the Bush administration's program of warrantless wiretapping,” the paper reported, and “circumvented the surveillance court on the authority of the president's power as commander in chief.”
Now just learning of what happened a decade down the road, Anderson says he’s looking to sue.
"When we brought the Olympics to this city, nobody agreed that we would trade off our fundamental civil rights for the government to come in and spy on us," Anderson told the Salt Lake Tribune.
"We have to stand up,” he added to KUTV News. "All of Salt Lake City should be out in the streets outraged."
According to the former mayor, he attended a number of closed-door security meetings ahead of the festivities.
“Security was number one to me,” he told the network.
Never once, however, was he informed that specialized machines would be collecting the contents of emails sent in and out of his city.
“If it had, I would have raised utter holy hell,” he told the Tribune. “For them to have done this to the people in Salt Lake City in every single instance was a federal felony under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act."
The Journal reported last week that the NSA arranged for that sweep of communications with telecom provider Qwest Communications and it lasted for no longer than six months. Other elected officials seem largely split on the issue for now, though, so Anderson may need to work towards building support before launching a federal lawsuit.
“The Olympics had been targeted by terrorist in the past and so I cut them a little slack in that regard,” Governor Gary Herbert responded during a recent press conference. Former Sen. Bob Bennett told the Tribune, "If they were not intercepting text messages then they were not doing their jobs at the center of world attention."
Others, like then-Gov. Mike Leavitt, also say they were never kept in the know.
"How do people feel about our federal government illegally, with no notice whatsoever, tapping into communications that were absolutely privileged under the law: reporters and their sources; physicians and psychiatrists with their patients; lawyers with their clients. All of that, the government thinks, it can capture because we are the host city of the Olympics?" Anderson asked the Tribune.
“If I can find the representation, I will sue everybody who had anything to do with this,” he added to KUTV.
Before becoming mayor of Salt Lake City in January 2000, Anderson practiced law for more than two decades and was editor-in-chief of the Voir Dire legal journal. He unsuccessfully ran for president of the US during last year’s election and garnered a total of 43,011 votes, or around 0.03 percent of the national popular vote. |
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines) — Instead of the usual queue of people, a line of buses was seen at the North Avenue Station of MRT-3 early Tuesday morning (July 28).
Around ten buses were parked along the sidewalk on the southbound lane of EDSA. The buses participated in the trial run of the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board’s (LTFRB's) “MRT Bus Route,” which currently operates during the morning rush hour from 6:00 a.m. to 9:00 a.m.
The scheme seeks to provide MRT-3 passengers an alternative form of transportation priced at the same fare rates as the train.
How it works
Under the program, passengers can take one of the 40 participating buses at pick-up sites on North Avenue or Quezon Avenue.
Buses are allowed to load according to their respective seating capacities.
The buses travel nonstop until the designated drop-off points at the MRT Ortigas and Ayala stations, Arnel del Rio, head of the LTFRB Public Assistance and Complaints Desk told CNN Philippines.
The drop-off points were strategically identified based on the number of passengers who get off the said areas.
Ortigas-bound passengers would only pay P20 — a peso more than what regular air-conditioned buses plying the same route would charge.
Those headed to Ayala will have to shell out P24 — P11 cheaper compared to the fare of regular air-conditioned buses.
Around 40 buses accommodating at least 1,800 passengers are participating in the trial run. Del Rio pegged the 40 buses as an ideal number.
On the first day of trial, he said some 31 buses were dispatched while 20 buses ran on Tuesday. Most of them were stationed at North Avenue.
Cooking up the project
Del Rio said the project was conceptualized last year but the initial test started only on Monday (July 27), as coordination with partner agencies had to be polished first.
For this project, the LTFRB partnered with the Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC), the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA), local government units (LGUs), the Land Transportation Office (LTO), and bus operators.
Another Express Connect?
Last March, the LTFRB, MMDA, and DOTC launched the “Express Connect,” a similar bus scheme offering nonstop trips to passengers and only unloading at designated drop off points at Commonwealth, Ortigas, Ayala Avenue, and Gil Puyat.
The project aimed to ease congestion on EDSA and cut the long queues at the MRT-3, but some passengers claimed that though they were traveling in comfort, as buses only carried passengers according to seating capacity, they still faced the same slow pace of traffic.
The project was supposed to end last April 20, but was extended until May 23, according to the MMDA.
Mixed views
Some commuters welcomed the move saying that it could spare them from the long lines of the MRT-3.
Liezel Aborot, who works at the Securities and Exchange Commission in Ortigas, said she took the MRT bus on Monday and found it effective.
"If you take the MRT, the line is too long, while regular buses make frequent stops," she said in Filipino.
But others are skeptical.
“It will take us longer,” MRT-3 passenger Edwin Depaur said in Filipino. “Traffic remains the same.
The LTFRB said it still has to study whether the bus route offers faster travel time compared to that of the MRT-3.
CNN Philippines’ Rex Remitio contributed to this report. |
armond bennett
Armond Bennett, the man shot in the head by New Orleans police Officer Lisa Lewis during an Algiers traffic stop last August, has filed a federal lawsuit claiming Lewis had "absolutely no reason or justification" for the shooting.
(Orleans Parish Sheriff's Office)
Armond Bennett, the man shot in the head by New Orleans police Officer Lisa Lewis during an Algiers traffic stop last August, has filed a federal lawsuit claiming Lewis had "absolutely no reason or justification" for the shooting.
The civil rights lawsuit, filed Thursday (July 30), also accuses Lewis and her partner, Officer Patrick Guidry, of "concocting a false and misleading story" about the Aug. 10 shooting, which police initially failed to publicly disclose.
"These defendants falsely claimed that they only heard gun shots in the area, not that defendant Lewis had unjustifiably fired her gun twice at Mr. Bennett for no good reason," the lawsuit claims. "Alternatively, these defendants may have falsely claimed that Mr. Bennett fought with defendant Lewis and/or committed other acts that allegedly justified her use of force."
One of the two shots fired by Lewis during the Aug. 10 "sliced across his scalp," the lawsuit states. He spent four days in the hospital. The shooting drew considerable outcry, not only for the circumstances surrounding it, but also because police did not notify the public about it until two days later -- after it was reported by NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune. Not long after, then-NOPD Superintendent Ronal Serpas announced his retirement from the department.
Bennett and Lewis first crossed paths 10 days earlier in the parking lot of a dialysis clinic, where, the lawsuit states, Bennett worked as a security guard. She and Officer Lucretia Gantner stopped Bennett, who was driving his brother's car at the time, for having an obscured license plate, according to an arrest warrant previously obtained by NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune.
Lewis smelled marijuana coming from the car, she wrote in the warrant, and asked Bennett about the gun holster Gantner spotted on the floor in the backseat. Bennett said he was required to carry a weapon as part of his job, the lawsuit states, but it was not in the car at the time of the traffic stop.
Lewis' arrest warrant application characterizes Bennett as "stalling" as he looked for his license and registration. But in the lawsuit, Bennett claims to have told the officers he couldn't find the registration because the car belonged to his brother.
According to the lawsuit, Bennett started to exit the car - upon direction of Lewis - when he reached to place his phone in the car's center console.
"Although Mr. Bennett had been cooperative and polite to the officers throughout the stop, defendant Gantner suddenly drew her weapon and started shouting for Mr. Bennett to show his hands," the lawsuit states.
Lewis wrote in the arrest warrant that she and Gantner saw a gun in Bennett's hands, but the lawsuit claims that a gun was not inside the car and that neither officer saw one.
Grabbing Bennett by his hair and wrist, Lewis pulled him out of the car, the lawsuit states.
"Terrified, Mr. Bennett ran away from the officers in fear of his life," the lawsuit states.
Bennett escaped capture during that initial encounter. Ten days later, he and his brother were sitting in his brother's car outside Bennett's Algiers home when Lewis and Guidry drove up. With guns drawn, the two officers ordered the men to exit the car, the lawsuit says.
"Suddenly, and without reason, justification or provocation, defendant Lewis pulled the trigger on her weapon and shot at Mr. Bennett," the lawsuit states. "Mr. Bennett had done nothing to provoke this use of excessive and deadly force."
Bennett stumbled as he ran from the officers, the lawsuit says, and Lewis fired the second shot that struck him. Neither officer activated their body cameras before the shooting, police said at the time, and the squad car's dash cam was also not activated.
Bennett ran to his uncle's house and was later taken to the hospital. After his release from the hospital, he was booked in connection with the initial parking lot traffic stop. Those charges - marijuana possession, simple criminal damage to property and illegal carrying of a weapon with a controlled substance - were later dismissed, the lawsuit says.
All three officers are named defendants in Bennett's civil rights lawsuit. So, too, are former Chief Serpas, current Superintendent Michael Harrison and the city. |
Image copyright PA
A Conservative MP who is attempting to oust Speaker John Bercow says he should quit or face a vote of no confidence.
James Duddridge, who has tabled a no confidence motion in Mr Bercow, said he had used his job to "pontificate" on international issues and had spoken publicly against Brexit.
The Speaker, who recently criticised US President Donald Trump, told students on 3 February he had voted Remain.
Lib Dem chief whip Tom Brake said Mr Bercow was "even-handed" in his job.
And the Speaker's spokeswoman said he had been "scrupulous in ensuring that both sides of the argument are always heard".
But speaking on BBC Radio 4's Today programme, Mr Duddridge said: "Enough is enough.
"We need a new more impartial Speaker."
Although Mr Duddridge is currently the only signatory to his motion, he said he had received calls from ministers and MPs from different parties saying they too would vote to oppose Mr Bercow if it was debated.
He said Mr Bercow had done "some very good things" during his time in the chair, but added: "One of the key roles of the Speaker is you must not speak on policy issues.
"He's broken that rule, he's broken his employment contract effectively with members of Parliament - he should resign, and if he doesn't, the vote of no confidence will go ahead."
He claimed there would have to be a vote to "resolve" his motion, although Early Day Motions tabled by MPs rarely make it as far as a Commons debate.
Mr Brake, a member of the House of Commons commission, said there had been a longstanding campaign by some Conservative MPs to get rid of Mr Bercow.
He said the Speaker's style "may feel like Marmite to some but in practice he is balanced".
On his blog, UKIP MP Douglas Carswell criticised Mr Bercow's "morally perverse" stance against President Trump but said he would not back an attempt to unseat him.
Mr Carswell pointed to Commons debates to come as the UK leaves the EU, adding: "Brexiteers should be exclusively focused on winning those fights - not picking others."
Impartiality requirement
Image copyright PA
According to the House of Commons, Speakers "must be politically impartial"
This requires them to quit their political party as soon as they are elected as Speaker
They are also expected to "remain separate from political issues even in retirement"
However, they handle constituents' issues in the same way as other MPs
Before the recording of his Brexit comments emerged, Mr Bercow, who was a Conservative MP before becoming Speaker, was already facing calls for him to be replaced for voicing his opposition to US President Donald Trump addressing Parliament on his UK state visit.
Talking to Reading students, Mr Bercow said: "Personally, I voted to remain. I thought it was better to stay in the European Union than not."
He said this was "partly for economic reasons - being part of a big trade bloc - and partly because I think we're in a world of power blocs.
"I think for all the weaknesses and deficiencies of the European Union, it's better to be part of that big power bloc in the world than thinking you can act as effectively on your own."
He also said immigration was a good thing and expressed concern Labour had not done more to strike a "very clear, resonant Remain note".
When he was elected Speaker in 2009, Mr Bercow said he would serve for no more than nine years.
Responding to the row over his Brexit comments, his spokeswoman said he had voted in June's referendum "along with millions of others".
"The record shows that he has rigorously facilitated the raising of concerns of those on both sides of this argument, as he does on every other issue," she said.
"The Speaker's impartiality is required on matters of debate before the House, and he has been scrupulous in ensuring that both sides of the argument are always heard."
Asked if the prime minister thought Mr Bercow was doing a good job, her spokesman said: "The Speaker is a matter for MPs, he's the elected chairman of the House of Commons, he's not a member of the government, he's not appointed by the government.
"He represents all the MPs in the House of Commons. It's up to them to decide whether they feel he's doing a good job or not." |
It is too easy to persuade the TTAB and Federal Circuit that marks sharing a significant element are likely to cause confusion. For example, in 2014 the TTAB refused to register "5 Golden Rings" for beer and malt liquor due to likelihood of confusion with "Gold Ring Vineyards" for wine. In its little FAQ, CDPR correctly notes that anyone would be fine using "cyberpunk" as a subordinate, descriptive element in a title. But I think there would be some litigation risk in a descriptive use where "cyberpunk" were more salient. Roy's Cyberpunk Adventure might face problems, even if John Smith: Adventures in a Cyberpunk Dystopian Society would not. On the non-descriptive side, I would even be a little worried about naming a puzzler in a cyberpunk world "Cypherpunk." I don't think CDPR would win that opposition, but there would be litigation risk--maybe enough to move me off the title. |
In a memo issued in late February, the sergeant at arms of the Senate, William H. Pickle, informed legislators that “the Senate Post Office has delivered, and will continue to be delivering, copies of Hustler magazine that the publisher is mailing to all Congressional offices.”
The nudie mag has been arriving on legislators’ desks since at least 1983; publisher Larry Flynt recently told the Salt Lake City Tribune that he began sending members of Congress his journal of “political and social satire” because he “felt that they should be informed with what’s going on in the rest of the world.” More than 260 lawmakers initially attempted to halt delivery under a law allowing individuals to direct the U.S. Post Office to enjoin other postal customers from sending them “sexually provocative” material. But in 1986, in United States Postal Service v. Hustler, the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia ruled that the First Amendment right “to petition the government for redress of grievances” made that law inapplicable to elected officials in their offices.
Capitol Hill’s most recent round of interest in Flynt’s raunchy rag began last spring, when Charles Isom, a spokesperson for Rep. Chris Cannon (R-Utah), noticed it among the piles of mail opened by staffers. Concluding that it was “unseemly” for House interns to have to deal with the magazine, Isom tried to have delivery stopped—to no avail.
According to Brinck Slattery, a former intern in the office of Rep. Christopher Shays (R-Conn.), his boss’s magazines were kept in an office cabinet until they could be disposed of discreetly—though when a new intern arrived, it was common for a few copies to go missing. The magazines might not be much use even to staffers who do want to read them, though. According to the Capitol Hill newspaper Roll Call, thanks to the irradiation process to which all congressional mail is now subject as a precaution against biological agents, the issues prematurely encounter the fate met by many a Hustler: The pages are all stuck together. |
Holding on its commitment to offer 25 electrified models, 12 of which will be purely electric, by 2025, BMW will showcase five electric vehicles at the upcoming 2017 Los Angeles Auto Show including the North American premieres of the BMW i Vision Dynamics, MINI Electric Concept, BMW i3s, and a world premiere vehicle that will be shown during the BMW Group press conference on November 29. In addition, the BMW M3 CS will also make its world premiere, and the BMW X7 SAV Concept and the BMW 6 Series Gran Turismo will make their North American premieres. The BMW 8 Series Concept and the all-new BMW M5 will also be featured.
Also Read: BMW Unveils New i3S Electric Sports Edition Ahead Of Frankfurt Motor Show Debut
New BMW i3s
The new BMW i3s is a sportier and more powerful variant of the BMW i3. The first ever BMW i3s features an output 181 bhp electric motor that generates peak torque of 269 NM. The BMW i3s accelerates from 0-100 kmph in 6.8 seconds and has a top speed of 160 kmph. The BMW i3s uses a lithium-ion high-voltage battery developed by BMW with a cell capacity of 94 Ah. The BMW i3s has also incorporated recycled plastics, renewable raw materials, natural fibres, and open-pored, unbleached eucalyptus wood in its design. The new BMW i3s will be available in U.S. showrooms in November, 2017. Pricing will be announced closer to market launch.
BMW C-Evolution Scooter
BMW Motorrad will also present the BMW C-Evolution Scooter. The electrically powered maxi-scooter has a riding range of up to 159 kms. The C-Evolution scooter has a top speed of 128 kmph and travels from 0 to 50 kmph in a just 2.8 seconds. The BMW C-Evolution Scooter will be available in California showrooms next year.
(MINI will showcase its take on future personal mobility in the city)
BMW 8 Series Concept
The BMW 8 Series Concept marks the long-awaited return of the BMW 8 Series. The BMW 8 Series Concept combines razor-sharp dynamics and modern luxury, and is a precursor to the BMW 8 Series Coupe that's scheduled for launch in 2018.
Also Read: BMW 8 Series Concept Breaks Cover
BMW X7 iPerformance Concept
The BMW X7 iPerformance Concept introduces a new model concept for the premium segment that utilizes BMW eDrive technology with a BMW TwinPower Turbo petrol engine creating an efficient plug-in hybrid powertrain which runs on zero emissions. With a generously-sized, six-person interior, the BMW X7 iPerformance Concept offers an interior with a state-of-the-art infotainment system.
Also Read: BMW Concept X7 iPerformance Previewed Ahead Of Debut At Frankfurt
2018 BMW 6 Series Gran Turismo
The all-new BMW 6 Series Gran Turismo is offered exclusively in the BMW 640i xDrive variant and has a distinct coupe-inspired aerodynamic design. Featuring the BMW TwinPower Turbo technology, the 6-cylinder inline petrol engine generates maximum output of 330 bhp and peak torque of 450 NM, accelerating from 0-100 kmph in just 5.1 seconds. This comes paired to the standard 8-Speed Steptronic Sport automatic transmission with paddle shifters. Moreover, the BMW 6 series GT comes with active kidney grille, air curtains, air breathers and active rear spoiler, a double wishbone front suspension, and standard rear air suspension.
Also Read: 2018 BMW 6 Series GT Revealed
MINI Electric
Fully electric vehicles will run across the BMW portfolio and MINI will showcase its take on future personal mobility in the city with the North American premiere of the MINI Electric Concept. Designed for use in urban areas, this MINI Electric Concept vehicle offers a preview into how pure-electric day-to-day mobility might look in the years ahead. MINI will present an all-electric series-production model in 2019.
For the latest auto news and reviews, follow CarAndBike on Twitter, Facebook, and subscribe to our YouTube channel. |
Fireman In Trouble: Claims He Was Kidnapped As Excuse For Being Late To Work
Fireman In Trouble: Claims He Was Kidnapped As Excuse For Being Late To Work
It was a Christmas kidnapping!
Image source: Pixabay
The city of Kobe in Hyogo Prefecture, Japan, announced last week (Mar. 31), that a 22-year-old firefighter who tried to cover up that he had overslept for work by lying to police and telling them he had been kidnapped would be receiving a one month pay cut as punishment for his actions.
According to the city of Kobe, on December 25 of last year at about 10 a.m., the firefighter rushed into a police box in Kobe’s Kita Ward and filed a false police report, reportedly saying “I was kidnapped by several men around the area of Sannomiya Station.and they drove me around in their car.”
Police began to investigate the firefighter’s claim, however, they were unable to find any material evidence that supported his story. Police have since filed charges on suspicion of having filed a false police report, which is a violation of the Minor Offenses Act.
Although the firefighter was supposed to go to work on the day he filed the police report, he told Kobe City officials investigating the incident that he had overslept that morning. City officials quoted him as saying “I overslept, so I thought being kidnapped could be an excuse for being late to work.”
For more ridiculous stories involving false police reports and work excuses, check out the two articles below.
Fukuoka Man Arrested After Stabbing Himself To Get Day Off Work (2nd Time Someone Does This In 3 Days)
Man Arrested After Stabbing Himself To Get Day Off From Work (Video)
Source: Sankei News |
Hello, everyone! I'm Akinori Sao, a writer in Kyoto. This is the final installment of a series of interviews commemorating the release of Super NES Classic Edition. My topic this time is Kirby Super Star. For this final interview, I will be interviewing Masahiro Sakurai, who is well known as the developer of the Super Smash Bros. series. Sakurai-san is also the creator of the pink and cute Kirby. Kirby Super Star, which released three months before the launch of the Nintendo 64 system in Japan, was the third title in the series for him as director. I'd like to ask him about various things, such as his goals during development and what kind of problems he encountered. And now for Sakurai-san!
One of the Console's Last Titles Congratulations on the 25th anniversary of Kirby's Dream Land. Sakurai: Thank you. How does it feel to welcome 25 years? Sakurai: I feel like I've aged! (laughs) You look young—not at all like you've aged. Sakurai: When I was a kid, there was an anime called Dokonjo Gaeru.1 It had an extremely elderly teacher in it named Machida, and he always said, "I've been a teacher for 25 years…" Have I really reached that point? (laughs) 1. Dokonjo Gaeru: A manga series by Yasumi Yoshizawa that appeared in Weekly Shonen Jump for six years beginning in 1970. There was also a television anime series. (laughs) Our topic this time is Kirby Super Star, which was your third title as director. Sakurai: Yes, that's right. I was a little surprised that the second game, Kirby's Adventure2, came out for NES and not Super NES. Sakurai: Uh-huh. 2. Kirby's Adventure: An action game originally released in Japan for the Famicom system in March 1993. Kirby's Adventure came out in 1993, which was three years after the release of Super Famicom in Japan. Sakurai: The NES system was hardware with a long life. I believe I was directed to make that with the idea of transplanting the Game Boy game to NES. We had made the Game Boy game for beginners, and that decision was just fine, but I thought NES players late in the system's run would no longer be new to video games. You didn't think you could just release an NES version of the first Kirby game, which was geared toward beginners. Sakurai: Right. I abandoned the idea of simply porting the game and decided to add the Copy3 ability. By adding that, beginners would be able to enjoy simply inhaling and spitting out things, and advanced players would be able to use more hardcore abilities. 3. Copy: This ability allows Kirby to inhale enemies and thereby gain the use of their abilities. In other words, you used the Game Boy game as a base and added the Copy ability. Sakurai: To be honest, we didn't end up using it as much of a base. Even though we could use the same pixel art for Kirby, when it came to capacity and what was possible, all that expanded greatly with NES. I see. The third game, Kirby Super Star, came out in 1996, just before the Nintendo 64 system. Sakurai: That's right. Among the titles included in NES Classic Edition, Kirby's Adventure was one of the last ones released, and among the titles included in Super NES Classic Edition, Kirby Super Star was one of the last ones released. But for Super NES Classic Edition, there's Star Fox 24, so Kirby Super Star avoids being the very last. (laughs) 4. Star Fox 2: A "phantom game" initially planned for release for Super NES, but now included in Super NES Classic Edition. See the interview in this series regarding Star Fox and Star Fox 2. Well, Star Fox 2 was never released, so you can't say it was last! (laughs) Sakurai: I suppose not. (laughs) But for the NES game as well as the Super NES game, it isn't so much that development fell behind as that it started late. In other words, due to circumstances in the company development schedule, release came late in the hardware's run. Sakurai: Yes. In any case, the titles line up nicely. The first game was for Game Boy, the second was for NES, and the third was for Super NES. I would guess not many developers around the world have had that experience, so as a video-game maker, wasn't it great to advance step-by-step like that? Sakurai: Yeah! I was really fortunate!
Two-Player Cooperative Gameplay Now let's talk about Kirby Super Star. At first, what did you have in mind? Sakurai: I had three pillars in mind. One was two-player cooperative gameplay and another was including actions similar to those in fighting games. The third was an omnibus format. May I explain all three? Yes, please. Sakurai: The first one, two-player cooperative gameplay, was a request from (Shigeru) Miyamoto-san. That was really about the only request he made. That was in an Iwata Asks interview.5 Miyamoto-san said he wanted a Kirby game with two-player cooperative gameplay. Did that request come partway through development of Kirby Super Star? 5. Iwata Asks: See the interview regarding Super Mario Galaxy. Sakurai: No, that was there at the start. If the request had come later, we wouldn't have been able to implement it. When you say at the start, do you mean it was in the proposal? Sakurai: No, even before that. Making a Kirby game for Super NES would, of course, mean making the characters bigger and the graphics better, but when it came to what the core of the game would be like and other essential aspects, I wanted to think about that after hearing from Miyamoto-san. And that's why you went to Kyoto with (Satoru) Iwata-san.6 6. Satoru Iwata (1959-2015): Nintendo's late president. During his time as the president of HAL Laboratory, he participated as a programmer in the development of EarthBound. Sakurai: Yes. And Miyamoto-san said he definitely wanted us to achieve two-player cooperative gameplay, which was one task that lay ahead for side-scrolling platform games. For Super Mario, that was achieved on the Wii7 system, but Miyamoto-san had been dreaming of two-player cooperative gameplay for many years. 7. The first Super Mario game with simultaneous multiplayer gameplay was New Super Mario Bros. Wii, released in North America for the Wii console in November 2009. Sakurai: That's right. It would be impossible with Mario because he's so fast, but it should be possible somehow for Kirby, who's a little slower. At least, that's how it was put to me at the time. That's how it was put to you, but… Sakurai: It's a misconception that Kirby is slow. He actually displays an incredibly wide range of speeds. For example, in Kirby's Adventure, we gave him the Wheel ability. (laughs) As Wheel Kirby, you can shoot through at blazing speeds. (laughs) Sakurai: The Copy ability assumes a wide variety of gameplay, so I had dug my own grave! (laughs) When Miyamoto-san asked you to pull off two-player cooperative gameplay, you must have held your head in dismay. Sakurai: Well, I decided to give it some thought. You decided to be positive about it. Sakurai: Yes, of course. After all, Kirby is different from Mario. And the idea I came up with was a system dividing the two players into a main player and an assisting player. The camera follows Kirby, while the assisting character roams around. So it would be two-player, but one player would be the main player while the other assisted. Sakurai: That's right. But in order to make it fit with Kirby, what would the second character be like? I brainstormed that and thought of simply using the Copy ability. The assisting character would take the form of a copied enemy. Sakurai: Right. And that became the Helper system, by which enemies become allies. What I liked about dividing the characters that way was how seasoned players and inexperienced players could play together. I see. Sakurai: In this game, the playable characters have a fairly strong guard against enemy attacks. You don't just protect yourself. Relatively speaking, you can withstand various types of attacks. You can say, "Just hang tight and I'll handle this!" Advanced players can encourage beginners. Sakurai: Yes. I thought that made it a game open to people who couldn't enjoy Kirby before. In other words, it's a good thing you responded to Miyamoto-san's request. Sakurai: That's right.
Fighting-Game Actions and an Omnibus Format What about your second pillar of including actions like those in fighting games? Sakurai: Until then, when Kirby used the Cutter ability, he threw blades. And when he used the Fire ability, he breathed fire, and that would defeat weaker enemies with one hit. But in Kirby Super Star, we gave durability to even weaker enemies, so you have to hit them more than once to defeat them. Why did you do that? Sakurai: Because when I played the game in two-player cooperative gameplay mode, I thought it lacked something. The main player would simply hurl blades and lay waste to opponents while the Helper just watched. The Helper didn't have anything to do. Sakurai: Right. Another reason was that I thought it would be better for broadening the possibilities with the Copy ability if players could perform multiple actions. In some fighting games, the moves rapidly change just by hammering the same button—punch, punch, hook, uppercut. Uh-huh. Sakurai: We made Kirby Super Star so that you can pull off various moves with the same ability. Thus, one guiding concept was the inclusion of versatility. And that makes it like a fighting game. Sakurai: Yes. The third pillar you mentioned was an omnibus format. You're referring to how you can enjoy multiple stories within one game, right? Sakurai: Yes. On Super NES, games went on for a long time before reaching a conclusion. And that was also true of the great games for NES. Players might play for a long time but never reach the end. Sakurai: Back then, players were paying high prices for games, so we boasted things like long play time and big maps. Basically, bulk had become one standard of value. And you made Kirby Super Star as the antithesis to that trend. Sakurai: Yes. I thought about having resolutions come more quickly and that led to the omnibus format. I wanted to give each section its own plot in addition to providing different types of gameplay. The result was seven main games and two subgames. Sakurai: The main plots are really only in six games, though. The Arena is a bonus, so it's actually six games plus one. Oh, I see. The first one you play is Spring Breeze. That title is perfect. It comes from the game for Game Boy, doesn't it? Sakurai: Yes. The game manual for Kirby's Dream Land described Kirby as a youth who came with the spring breeze, and this game was based on that game, so I gave it that title. It's also the first game in the software, so I wanted to suggest that the going was still easy at that point. That title does make it sound easy. Sakurai: In Spring Breeze, you can use the Copy ability, but that wasn't the original plan. Why weren't you going to include it? Sakurai: At first, I thought about just following the original game to show complete beginners how to play.
"Chest!" In addition to Spring Breeze, I also like Kachiwari Megaton Punch (Megaton Punch) and Setsuna no Mikiri (Samurai Kirby). I thought your titles were quite distinctive and really hit the nail on the head. Sakurai: Thank you. By the way, I was the one who did the title logo calligraphy for Setsuna no Mikiri. Oh, really? Sakurai: First, I did it with a brush pen, and then I imported that into the computer and turned it into pixels. Come to think of it, your voice is also in the game. Sakurai: That's right! (laughs) As Mike Kirby, I say "Chesto8!" 8. "Chesto!": a Japanese battle cry when one swings a sword, similar to "hi-yah!" in English. The phrase originated from a dialect in southern Japan. Uh-huh. Sakurai: I went into the music room to record that. The window was open just a little, and when I cried out "Chest!" as hard as I could, people far away turned around. Toward you, huh? (laughs) Because the people in the company wondered what had gotten into you? Sakurai: No, they were complete strangers. People working in the fields. (laughs) You could see farming fields outside the company windows. Sakurai: Yeah. (laughs) How long did development of Kirby Super Star last? Sakurai: I think it was about three years. Three years… Isn't that long for a Super NES game? Sakurai: Yeah. There are various reasons that development dragged on, but one was the influence of Donkey Kong Country.9 9. Donkey Kong Country: A platform game included in Super NES Classic Edition. Originally released in November 1994. 10 Donkey Kong Country's graphics amazed the developers. Did they have an influence on you, too? That came up during my interview for Super NES Classic Edition covering Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island Donkey Kong Country's graphics amazed the developers. Did they have an influence on you, too? 10. Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island: A platform game included in Super NES Classic Edition. Originally released in Japan in August 1995. Sakurai: Yes. Midway through development, it was decided that we should incorporate computer graphics, so we threw out the art we had made up to that point. Oh, is that so? Sakurai: Of course, I could have refused to do it, but I was certain myself that there would be merits to using CG, so I don't feel it was forced on me. Rather, I feel like it happened at just the right time. Oh, uh-huh. Sakurai: Also, while I said earlier that there were six main games plus one, there were actually seven plus one in the proposal. What?! What kind of game was it? Sakurai: It was called Kagero Mansion. It was like a horror game and was completely different from the usual Kirby game. Kirby finds himself in a mansion and under a curse sealing his mouth shut. So he can't use Copy? Sakurai: Right. He can't suck in or spit out, so he can't Copy. He would go around the mansion and, for example, get the Copy ability of Fire from a candle. I was planning a horror-action game with puzzle elements. What happened to that game? Sakurai: Unfortunately, we never even got started making it. We had our hands full just making the other games.
Rich in Content You spent a long time making Kirby Super Star, but was the title easy to decide? Sakurai: At first, the development name was Kirby of the Stars: Active. Active? Sakurai: That's what we tentatively called it, to suggest that the game was more proactive and had more active gameplay. When it was time to decide the official title, Shigesato Itoi-san11 became involved. He made EarthBound.12 11. Shigesato Itoi: In addition to being a copywriter and essayist, he has participated in development of video games such as the EarthBound series and Itoi Shigesato no Bass Tsuri No. 1. Currently, he is CEO of Hobonichi. 12. EarthBound: A role-playing game originally released in Japan for the Super Famicom system in August 1994 under the name Mother 2. Sakurai: We decided to directly convey how rich it is in content and settled on the Japanese title Kirby of the Stars: Super Deluxe. Even the package design… It looked like a paulownia box with a seal burnt into it. It really stood out in stores. Sakurai: Yes, it really did. What was the concept behind that design? Sakurai: High-priced sake and dishware often comes in paulownia boxes. Luxury items often come in minimal external packaging, and we wanted to portray that richness, so the design turned out like that. Was that Itoi-san's idea? Sakurai: I'm pretty sure it started with an idea from him, but I'm not sure if he came up with exactly that by himself. In any case, it was eventually decided through many people in discussion. Iwata-san and Itoi-san had made EarthBound together and were quite close, so I suppose they provided pertinent advice. Sakurai: Yes, of course. Do you have any particular memories of Iwata-san from development of Kirby Super Star? Sakurai: Actually, I didn't have much contact with him during development. For the most part, he left things in my hands. Do you suppose he was busy with EarthBound at that time? Sakurai: EarthBound was completed first, but I think he was busy with his main responsibilities as president of HAL Laboratory. Instead of saying "Do this!" and "Do that!" during development, he completely left actual development to us, so I think he trusted us. |
With multiple reports that Toys ‘R’ Us could file for bankruptcy as soon as this week, many people are wondering what will happen to the toy chain.
The retail giant has been an industry staple for decades, but it has struggled to keep up with online retailers in recent years, and now it may be running out of time. But how did the ultimate toy chain get into this situation?
A combination of industry trends and specific mistakes have hurt Toys ‘R’ US, experts say. The company did not immediately respond to a request for comment, but here are some of the main issues the company has faced.
A lackluster website
The company has admitted it has lagged behind in the world of online retail. For a long time, its website was not as easy-to-use as competitors like Amazon or Walmart, and even after it revamped its online presence this year, the site does not look as clean as more digitally savvy options.
“Some organizations recognize faster than others there are shifts in the ways customers want to be communicated with and the way customers want to purchase products,’’ Toys ‘R’ Us CEO David Brandon told USA Today earlier this year. “It probably took us a while.”
In an environment when many customers shop online, this has hurt the chain. The company’s same store sales fell 1.4% last year, and in the fourth quarter of 2016 when holiday season came around, sales were down 3%, according to the company’s earnings reports.
After reporting their first quarter earnings this year, Brandon said a bad registry tool and the lack of a subscription feature to allow customers to buy recurring shipments of staples like diapers were hindering the company, according to Fox Business Network.
Empty shelves
A major problem Toys ‘R’ Us has encountered in recent years is that they are constantly running out of toys during peaks shopping seasons. They company is proud of the fact that they stock a broad selection of toys, but that has often meant they only kept a few of each item in any given story.
When Brandon joined the company in 2015, he asked engineers to design an algorithm to predict when goods would run low, according to the Wall Street Journal. But that has continued to be a problem. Brandon told Bloomberg last year that he wanted to revitalize his company’s stores and get new products out where shoppers could see them.
Spending on stores
The company has spent a lot of money on its brick-and-mortar stores. It currently has more than 800 stores in the United States and more in other countries all over the world. Other big box retailers have closed locations as they’ve struggled over the last few years, and this could be on the horizon for Toys ‘R’ Us if they do declare bankruptcy.
Debt
Toys ‘R’ Us has been saddled with significant debts since its leveraged buyout in 2005, according to the Journal. The potential bankruptcy is one option as it works to pay down more than $5 billion in debt.
But CNBC has also reported the company has hired lawyers at Kirkland & Ellis to help it restructure its debt. Addressing its major debt issues before the crucial holiday season could be important to give vendors confidence in the future of Toys ‘R’ Us, according to CNBC. |
Absolut Vodka released a commercial with a transgender storyline this month that has gained almost 600,000 views on YouTube.
The commercial, titled “Darla,” is part of the vodka brand’s #AbsolutNights campaign. A man at a music festival bumps into his old friend Dave who has now transitioned into a woman called Darla. The man is hesitant to reconnect, but Darla grabs his hand.
The pair dance together, take pictures, watch a parade and drink Absolut Vodka. At the end of the night, Darla opens up about her transition.
“We walked, and she told me she always felt this way,” the man says in a voiceover. “I just listened, and somehow I understood.”
“She was my friend. The same person. The same heart. She hadn’t changed. I had,” the man continues. The newfound friends embrace and walk off together.
“When was the last time you were true to yourself? Sometimes being open to new possibilities is all it takes,” the campaign’s tagline reads. |
Why Did The Secret Service Take Over Aaron Swartz's Case Two Days Before He Was Arrested
from the makes-no-sense dept
MIT and JSTOR conferred regarding methods to prevent excessive downloading. Timeline at 3-4. On December 26, 2010, there was another episode of excessive downloading, which MIT personnel did not learn of until on or about January 3, 2011. On the morning of January 4, 2011, at approximately 8:00 am, MIT personnel located the netbook being used for the downloads and decided to leave it in place and institute a packet capture of the network traffic to and from the netbook. Timeline at 6. This was accomplished using the laptop of Dave Newman, MIT Senior Network Engineer, which was connected to the netbook and intercepted the communications coming to and from it. Id. Later that day, beginning at 11:00 am, the Secret Service assumed control of the investigation.
According to the Secret Service, they get involved in investigations with: Significant economic or community impact
Participation of organized criminal groups involving multiple districts or transnational organizations
Use of schemes involving new technology Downloading scholarly articles is none of those things.
The disclosure took place only after the MIT General Counsel’s Office approved the disclosure of the information to law enforcement authorities even in the absence of a warrant or court order or subpoena – and at a time when MIT personnel were acting as government agents – and in contravention of MIT policy that such information, which exceeded that found in bank records or telephone toll records, would be disclosed only upon the receipt of lawful court orders or subpoenas, i.e., process complying with the Stored Communications Act, 18 U.S.C. §2701 et seq. See Section IV, infra. In a separate email from Halsall to S/A Picket on January 8, 2011, Halsall told Pickett that he “hop[ed] to have the pcap/flows/videos/logs all in by to me Monday, possibly sooner – if you don’t already have a copy of the video or pcap [packet capture], I’ll make sure you get one.” Exhibit 2. No warrant or court order has been provided to counsel which would evidence the government’s having, even post-interception, acquired the contents of the warrantless interceptions by seeking judicial authorization as required.
Many have noted that the US Attorneys had made a new filing on the day that Aaron Swartz committed suicide. While the filing may look like just a standard procedural filing, some are pointing out that it highlights some highly unusual activity in the case. It had to do with Swartz's motion to get some of the evidence blocked from being used in the case, over questions concerning how it was collected. But one of the key things that come out is that, for unexplained reasons, the Secret Service took over the case just two days before Aaron was arrested:As Emptywheel points out, it doesn't make any sense for the Secret Service to be involved in such an issue:The same filing shows that MIT allowed all of this to happen despite no warrant, court order, or subpoena -- just handing over all sorts of info.As more and more people are looking at the details of what went down in arresting and pressuring Aaron, the case just looks worse and worse.
Filed Under: aaron swartz, mit, secret service |
It began with a worried call to Hamilton police about a man entering a city housing apartment building armed with a handgun.
It ended as an object lesson in common sense.
During the two hours it took to resolve the incident at 430 Cumberland Ave. Friday afternoon, the Gage Park neighbourhood was flooded with squad cars, roads were blocked off, heavily armed and armoured police surrounded and sealed off an eight-storey building while tenants, locked inside their units, called friends and family trying to find out what was going on.
Michaela and Rodney Reid live across the hall from the 2nd floor unit that was the focus of the police attention and for the better part of an hour they were trapped in their apartment with their door ajar and a heavily armed Emergency Response Officer standing just inside their foyer, peering out.
"One of the grey guys, you know, with full body armour and the big weapons, came in and was listening to what was going on across the hall," Reid said outside the building after they were allowed to sneak out a side stairwell.
The family that lives in that unit tended to be noisier than most, Reid said, but hadn't previously caused any real trouble.
"We don't know what's going on," Michaela said.
Ahmed Qasin knew what was going on — and he raced over to the building where his parents and two younger brothers lived, confronting the first police officers he saw and trying to convince them that it was all a mistake.
A mere 25 metres away, an officer with a shotgun and a police dog and handler crouched behind a squad car, keeping an eye on the second-floor unit police had sealed off.
"My brother, he has a fake gun, you know, it's a gun for the birds," said Qasin in halting English. "For this, I think, they are arresting my brother!" |
After facing nearly two weeks of criticism, Bombardier said Monday that its board of directors approved changes to the compensation offered to several of its top executives.
CEO Alain Bellemare had asked the board to delay payment of more than half of last year's total planned compensation for six executive officers, including himself, by one year to 2020, provided the company meets certain objectives.
Executive chairman Pierre Beaudoin also asked the board to cut his 2016 compensation by US$1.4 million to equal the US$3.85 million he received in 2015.
In a regulatory filing ahead of the company's May 11 annual meeting, the Montreal-based company (TSX:BBD.B) said the proposals were accepted and approved by the board.
Bombardier has been at the centre of weekend protests over the compensation awarded to its senior executives.
Had the changes not been approved by the board Monday, the executive compensation for 2016 would've been nearly 50 per cent more than what it would've been the previous year. |
Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption The category five cyclone - the most severe level - shattered communities along Queensland's north-east coast
Thousands of Australian soldiers, police and emergency workers have been sent to help Queensland's stricken coastal communities, left reeling by the state's worst storm in a century.
Emergency teams are cutting through the debris to reach towns still isolated after Cyclone Yasi hit on Wednesday.
Police have confirmed the first fatality; a 23-year-old man.
Heavy rains and flash floods are said to be hampering rescue efforts. Power is still out for 150,000 homes.
The category five cyclone - the most severe level - has shattered communities along Queensland's north-east coast.
"It's a war zone," said Deputy Prime Minister Wayne Swan, after a 30-minute tour of the town of Tully.
Officials described as a "tragic loss of life", the death of a young man suffocated by fumes from a generator he was running in a closed room as he sheltered from the storm.
State Premier Anna Bligh said there could be "some sad news in the next couple of days" as rescue work progressed.
But she said that given the scale of the devastation there had not been a "mass loss of life" which she described as "a great relief".
Appeal for calm
Some 4,000 soldiers and 600 police and emergency workers are at work in the state. A ship carrying nearly 3,000 tons of food and essential supplies has arrived in Townsville.
A lot of us feel like we're on our own again. I just hope we don't get forgotten Lisa Smith, Cardwell resident
Some 7,000 people remain in evacuation centres and thousands more are living in their battered homes without power or water supplies. Communication links have yet to be restored to many areas.
Officials have appealed for calm while rescuers try to reach residents. The towns of Mission Beach and Cardwell are still cut off; Cardwell suffered flooding after taking the full brunt of the storm.
Aerial images show city blocks in Cardwell reduced to mud, and boats thrown inland and stacked on top of each other.
"We do understand that many people in the highly-impacted areas are getting anxious about the level of support and contact they are able to have with emergency authorities," Emergency Services Minister Neil Roberts said.
"We just ask them to be patient. But there have been significant difficulties in terms of access. Roads are cut... there is heavy debris on many," he said.
A sea of household items such as microwave ovens and fridges have created an obstacle course for vehicles in the streets, reports say.
Queensland Fire and Rescue Service officials said workers equipped with chainsaws were cutting their way through the debris into areas.
Residents in Cardwell have told reporters they feel numb and scared after the week of turmoil.
The storm compounds Queensland's misery, coming on the heels of devastating floods that have claimed 35 lives and destroyed hundreds of homes since December.
"A lot of us feel like we're on our own again," said Lisa Smith, a resident in Cardwell whose house has lost half its roof.
"I just hope we don't get forgotten."
Prime Minister Julia Gillard has said the cyclone damage would be "massive" but that it was too early to quantify.
Hundreds of millions of dollars have been lost in banana and sugar cane plantations but it is still too early for a full disaster assessment.
Raw sugar exports from Australia - usually the world's third largest exporter behind Brazil and Thailand - are expected to fall more than 20%.
Treasurer Wayne Swan said the cyclone would add about a quarter of a percentage point to inflation. |
Only 30 units of the LimaFLo Chicago Mk1 will be made, and we’re told these will all be made available via their Kickstarter only.
The goal for Chicago is a paltry £6,630 GBP, enough for 30 units to be made. And at time of writing and with 23 days remaining it’s already been funded by 20 backers to the tune of £5,016 GBP.
Basically for £221 you get an analog synth designed for house riffs and hooks and basslines. It’s not designed to compete wth the more illustrious Moog, Korg or Roland synths out there and doesn’t feature pitch bend, after touch, modulation, white noise, CV in/out. In this way Chicago has quite a limited feature-set, but we’re told its sound “portfolio” is large, has lots of adjustability and its own character.
Chicago Analogue 'limited Edition' Features:
Analogue signal path from the oscillator to the output
1 x Saw or Square wave (selectable)
1 x Synced Square Sub (-1 Octave) - it also divides the Saw frequency by 2
4 x independent Pulse waves with automatic or manual adjustment of the phase, and manual adjustment of the pulse width
Tune (0 to +60 cents), 3rd, 5th or 7th
MIDI In, MIDI Thru, channel selection 1 to 16
Classic Gate mode or Gate and 'Trigger on every note' mode
6 channel mixer
Amplifier ADSR
Sallen & Key 24dB/Octave Low pass filter with Attack, Peak, Decay, Sustain and Resonance control
Set to sine (low frequency filter) switch
Filter decay mode switch
482 mm (19") x 132 mm (3U) and ~40 mm from face to base
1 Watt power dissipation
Approx. 2 kg
If you’re interested in what LimaFlo Chicago will sound like (of course you are!) then visit their Kickstarter page, scroll down and you’ll find plenty of examples. Here's a few choice ones: |
Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Mike Proctor, Scarborough Hospital: "I'm seeing pressures in this system we have never seen before"
Major incidents have been declared at a number of hospitals in England as medical staff struggle to cope with patient numbers.
Gloucestershire Royal and Cheltenham General implemented the emergency measure for the second time in three weeks.
Hospitals in North Yorkshire, Surrey and Staffordshire have also declared a major incident.
People have been urged to only use A&E departments for genuine emergencies.
Ann Marie Morris, clinical director for emergency medicine at Royal Stoke University Hospital, said: "As part of our plans to manage high demands on NHS services, clinical teams have taken the decision to postpone some operations to ensure they can deal with acute and emergency care such as accidents, medical and surgical emergencies.
"Clinicians have not taken this decision lightly, and every effort will be made to reschedule their treatment as soon as we can."
'Every ward full'
Mike Proctor, deputy chief executive of York Teaching Hospital NHS Foundation Trust which runs Scarborough Hospital, said: "I'm seeing pressures in the system that I have never experienced before.
"When I came to the hospital this morning every ward was full, every escalation area we put beds into were full of patients.
"In addition to that there were 18 patients in the A&E department that had to be cared for on beds, because there were no beds in the hospital wards for them to go to.
"Whilst those patients were cared for properly, you get to a stage where if you carried along that line the emergency department would cease to function, which is why we had to do something different."
Analysis: Nick Triggle, BBC Health Correspondent
If a hospital declares a major incident, it is a sign that things have got exceptionally busy and special measures are needed to cope.
This can happen in winter when demands are high, but also at other times, for example if there is a major road accident. The declaration allows hospital bosses to call in extra staff to help them cope.
But what is also important is what steps they take in terms of restricting the flow of patients into the hospital. One of the first measures is to start postponing routine activity, such as knee and hip operations or outpatient appointments. This is not uncommon.
More unusual is diverting ambulances so no emergency patients arrive. In effect, that closes the hospital. However, this is only used as a last resort as it increases demands on nearby sites.
United Lincolnshire Hospitals Trust said it was putting plans in place as it struggled to cope with demand.
Acting chief nurse Pauline Pratt told BBC Radio Lincolnshire hospital operations were running as a "major incident situation", but the trust later denied that was the case.
About 70 patients are "medically fit" to leave hospitals in Lincolnshire but cannot be discharged as they cannot be cared for adequately afterwards, Ms Pratt said.
It comes after staff at the Lincoln County Hospital, Boston's Pilgrim Hospital and the Grantham and District Hospital were asked to cancel leave over Christmas because hospitals were busier than had been anticipated.
The majority of outpatient appointments have been cancelled at Ashford Hospital and St Peter's Hospitals in Surrey and non-emergency patients have been told they will face an "extremely long wait".
An NHS spokesman said 30% of people using Gloucestershire Royal and Cheltenham General's emergency departments had "non-urgent ailments".
Gloucestershire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust said another factor contributing to the current problem was the high number of "elderly patients being admitted, whose needs are often more complex".
Affected hospitals have urged patients to visit their GP or attend a pharmacy, walk-in centre or minor injuries unit if appropriate.
The major incidents will be reviewed regularly.
Did you attend your local A&E department over the Christmas and new year period? What was your experience? You can contact us at haveyoursay@bbc.co.uk. Please leave a telephone number if you are willing to be contacted by a BBC journalist. |
The topless curler and the other Winter Olympic scandals: The gold medal for bad behaviour goes to... the Vancouver Olympics
The thrills and spills of the Winter Games will be remembered long after the Olympic torch was extinguished last night.
And we are not just talking about the action on the ski slopes and toboggan runs.
Vancouver has carved itself its very own niche as a rather scandalous event, where even the condoms ran out such was the 'off-piste' activity of the competitors. Here are the top ten scandals of this very entertaining Winter Olympics...
Odd-Bjoern Hjelmeset blamed a bad ski run on watching too much porn and hearing noises from the next room
GOLD: The porn-watching skier
Running away with the gold medal for risque behaviour Norwegian cross-country skier Odd-Bjoern Hjelmeset tops the list of gaffes for blaming a bad ski run that cost him the gold medal on watching too much porn.
'My name is Odd-Bjoern Hjelmeset,' he said. 'I skied the second lap and I f***** up today. I think I have seen too much porn in the last 14 days.
'I have the room next to Petter Northug and every day there is noise in there. So I think that is the reason I f***** up. By the way Tiger Woods is a really good man.'
SILVER: The smutty snowboarder
U.S. snowboarder Scotty Lago was sent home before the closing ceremony after racy photographs surfaced showing a woman kissing his bronze medal near his waist.
'Keeping my medal in a safe spot for now, ha ha,' Lago tweeted when he got home.
Lago won the medal in the men's halfpipe competition but the United States Ski and Snowboard Association forced him to leave the Olympics.
Lago was forced to go on U.S television to defend the rather risque shots.
A female fan 'kisses' Scotty Lago's bronze medal at a party during the Games. The snowboarder was reprimanded by the US team when the photos emerged
BRONZE: The topless curling star
There were further red faces when rather racy pictures of Germany's curler Melanie Robillard emerged just in time for the Games.
Robillard had taken part in the shoot to raise money for local ice rinks in her area but has declared that she won't be posing up again any time in the near future.
'I've been asked and I refused. Once is good. The first time was extremely blown out of proportion and I'd just rather not. It was a one-time experience,' Robillard said in an interview last year.
Germany's Melanie Robillard plays against Sweden last week, and , left, her racy photo for a calendar
And the other winners are...
Olympic athletes get through almost 100,000 condoms (that's 14 per PERSON)
Hjelmeset's next-door neighbour was not the only one who made the most of his downtime in the Olympic Village.
Health officials well-versed in the needs of the world's elite athletes had already provided 100,000 free condoms to 7,000 athletes and officials, which works out about 14 condoms per person.
But apparently this just wasn't enough.
With just a couple of days to go officials were forced to ship in an emergency supply of condoms after supplies ran dangerously low during the last week of the Games.
The Games was also memorable for its unique take on celebrations.
US bobsleigher arrested for assault
US bobsleigher Bill Schuffenhauer was arrested over an alleged assault
American bobsledder Bill Schuffenhauer was competing two days after he was detained by Canadian police following an argument with his fiancee.
Royal Canadian Mounted Police said an unnamed man was arrested on Wednesday for assaulting his common law partner in Whistler.
Schuffenhauer was distraught after the first run and cried as he was led by the hand through the media mixed zone near the finish
Darren Steele, chief executive of US Bobsled and Skeleton Federation, said they were standing by Schuffenhauer.
'Billy was brought in, he answered questions for two to three hours and was let go," he said in a statement.
'The situation ocurred before midnight. Billy's focus now is the race on Friday and Saturday.'
Vancouver: Olympic-standard boozing
While glitches may have overshadowed the Games, the festive spirit that spilled onto the streets of Vancouver earned the city a gold medal in drinking.
According to a Time magazine report the Canadian public taken the Olympics as a the perfect excuse to cut loose and indulge in some serious drinking.
The reporter writes: 'You can't help but think to yourself: "These must be the drunkest Olympics ever."'
So much so that local hospitals are reporting a huge surge in visits to casualty for alcohol-related sicknesses and injuries.
Another reporter said that all the drinking in Vancouver has led to a lot of urinating in public.
'I've personally witnessed about 8-10 guys whizzing at once along a fence a half a block off the main street,' he said. 'It's like the infield at the Kentucky Derby.'
The underage-drinking ice hockey queens
Photographs of members of the Canadian women's hockey team drinking champagne and beer on the ice rink after their victory over the U.S.caused a stir among officials.
Members of the Canadian women's hockey team celebrate after beating the U.S. to win the gold medal
The women celebrated their 2-0 victory against arch-rivals America by guzzling beer, swigging from bottles of champagne and puffing on cigars. Unfortunately, they chose to do it on the ice rink rather than in the changing room.
Even worse, star player Marie-Philip Poulin, 18, the youngest in the team and scorer of the two goals, is under British Columbia's legal drinking age of 19. Photos showed Poulin on the ice, with a beer in her hand.
Another player, Haley Irwin, poured champagne into the mouth of teammate Tessa Bonhomme while gold medals swung from their necks.
And one of the women, Rebecca Johnston, even tried to drive the ice-resurfacing machine during the party.
Supporters said the events were simply a traditional ice hockey celebration.
Australian commentators joked about U.S. skating star Johnny Weir's costume
The TV commentators who compared male ice skating to Brokeback Mountain
A pair of Australian TV sports commentators came under fire for describing male ice skaters' routines as 'Brokeback Mountain' exercises.
Eddie McGuire and Mick Molloy joked about organisers being shocked at discovering one skater was not gay, adding that the non-gay skater was unlikely to be controversial and flamboyant U.S. figure skater Johnny Weir - because he wore a black and pink outfit while holding a heart-shaped cushion.
And the other Olympic headaches: The flickering flame
Away from the sex and the drinking, not everything went entirely to plan.
While the closing ceremony went without hitch yesterday, the same can't be said for the opening ceremony.
Technical hitch: During the lighting of the Olympic torch in the opening ceremony of the Winter Games, one of the four pillars of the Olympic cauldron didn't rise up
During the lighting of the Olympic torch a technical malfunction meant that one of the four pillars of the Olympic cauldron didn't rise up, leaving speed skater Catriona Le May Doan looking awkward when she couldn't ignite the flame.
The skater who got lost... on a rink
Perhaps the most upset of the competitors was Dutch speed skater Sven Kramer the gold in the 10,000m race after his coach sent him into the wrong lane getting the skater disqualified after his gruelling event.
Kramer, who was cruising to victory, has suggested a new coach will be joining him for the 2014 Games.
But at least Kramer got to take part.
Sven Kramer, left, argues with his his coach Gerard Kemkers, right, after losing to team USA during the men's team pursuit semi finals speed skating
The skier who fell... at the start
French skier Marion Rolland crashed a couple of yards from the start as she began her bid for gold in the women's downhill.
The 27-year-old left the starting gate and immediately lost her balance, toppling over as she waved her arms in the air and landing in the snow in front of stunned spectators.
Rolland lay slumped motionless and sobbing on the ground as onlookers gasped and sniggered.
France's Marion Rolland cries as she receives support after she crashed during the women's Alpine Skiing Downhill race
Amy Williams' gold-medal victory in the skeleton bob was undoubtedly a cause for celebration for most Britons, even temporarily thawing her frosty relations with team mate Shelley Rudman.
But after a brief handshake and a curt 'well done' it seems full rivalry was resumed.
Miss Rudman did not attend the celebratory meal held for Miss Williams, nicknamed Curly Wurly for her pre-Raphaelite locks, after the medal ceremony.
The British men's curling team arrived in Vancouver as world champions and with high hopes.
But they left empty-handed without even making it to the semi-finals, sadly not making the most out of the £1.1m invested in curling over the past four years.
And... the snow
And finally, one of the first things you might expect to get at the Winter Games is plenty of snow.
When rain fell on the pistes instead, making them more mud bath than winter wonderland, Canada ended up flying in more of the white stuff in a desperate bid to make Cypress Mountain ski and snowboard-worthy.
But then, who needs snow, when all the action appears to be off the slopes? |
Formula One (also Formula 1 or F1) is the highest class of single-seater auto racing sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) and owned by the Formula One Group. The FIA Formula One World Championship has been one of the premier forms of racing around the world since its inaugural season in 1950. The word "formula" in the name refers to the set of rules to which all participants' cars must conform.[1] A Formula One season consists of a series of races, known as Grands Prix (French for 'grand prizes' or 'great prizes'), which take place worldwide on purpose-built circuits and on public roads.
The results of each race are evaluated using a points system to determine two annual World Championships: one for drivers, the other for constructors. Drivers must hold valid Super Licences, the highest class of racing licence issued by the FIA.[2] The races must run on tracks graded "1" (formerly "A"), the highest grade-rating issued by the FIA.[2] Most events occur in rural locations on purpose-built tracks, but several events take place on city streets.
Formula One cars are the fastest regulated road-course racing cars in the world, owing to very high cornering speeds achieved through the generation of large amounts of aerodynamic downforce. The cars underwent major changes in 2017,[3] allowing wider front and rear wings, and wider tyres, resulting in cornering forces closing in on 6.5g and top speeds of up to approximately 375 km/h (235 mph).[4] As of 2019 the hybrid engines are limited in performance to a maximum of 15,000 rpm and the cars are very dependent on electronics—although traction control and other driving aids have been banned since 2008—and also on aerodynamics, suspension, and tyres.
While Europe is the sport's traditional base, the championship operates globally, with 11 of the 21 races in the 2018 season taking place outside Europe. With the annual cost of running a mid-tier team—designing, building, and maintaining cars, pay, transport—being US$120 million,[5] Formula One has a significant economic and job-creation effect,[citation needed] and its financial and political battles are widely reported. Its high profile and popularity have created a major merchandising environment, which has resulted in large investments from sponsors and budgets (in the hundreds of millions for the constructors). On 8 September 2016 Bloomberg reported that Liberty Media had agreed to buy Delta Topco, the company that controls Formula One, from private-equity firm CVC Capital Partners for $4.4 billion in cash, stock, and convertible debt.[6] On 23 January 2017 Liberty Media confirmed the completion of the acquisition for $8 billion.[7][8]
History [ edit ]
Formula One's iconic former 'flying one' logo, used from 1993 to 2017
The Formula One series originated with the European Grand Prix Motor Racing (q.v. for pre-1947 history) of the 1920s and 1930s. The formula is a set of rules that all participants' cars must meet. Formula One was a new formula agreed upon after World War II during 1946, with the first non-championship races being held that year. A number of Grand Prix racing organisations had laid out rules for a world championship before the war, but due to the suspension of racing during the conflict, the World Drivers' Championship was not formalised until 1947. The first world championship race was held at Silverstone, United Kingdom in 1950. A championship for constructors followed in 1958. National championships existed in South Africa and the UK in the 1960s and 1970s. Non-championship Formula One events were held for many years, but due to the increasing cost of competition, the last of these occurred in 1983.[9] On 26 November 2017, Formula One unveiled its new logo, following the 2017 season finale in Abu Dhabi during the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix at Yas Marina Circuit. The new logo replaced F1's iconic 'flying one', which had been the sport's trademark since 1993.[10]
Return of racing [ edit ]
After a hiatus in European motor racing brought about by the outbreak of World War II in 1939, the first World Championship for Drivers was won by Italian Giuseppe Farina in his Alfa Romeo in 1950, narrowly defeating his Argentine teammate Juan Manuel Fangio. However, Fangio won the title in 1951, 1954, 1955, 1956, and 1957 (His record of five World Championship titles stood for 45 years until German driver Michael Schumacher took his sixth title in 2003), his streak interrupted (after an injury) by two-time champion Alberto Ascari of Ferrari. Although the UK's Stirling Moss was able to compete regularly, he was never able to win the world championship, and is now widely considered to be the greatest driver never to have won the title.[11][12] Fangio, however, is remembered for dominating Formula One's first decade and has long been considered the "Grand Master" of Formula One.
This period featured teams managed by road car manufacturers Alfa Romeo, Ferrari, Mercedes-Benz, and Maserati; all of whom had competed before the war. The first seasons were run using pre-war cars like Alfa's 158. They were front-engined, with narrow tyres and 1.5-litre supercharged or 4.5-litre normally aspirated engines. The 1952 and 1953 World Championships were run to Formula Two regulations, for smaller, less powerful cars, due to concerns over the paucity of Formula One cars available.[13][14] When a new Formula One, for engines limited to 2.5 litres, was reinstated to the world championship for 1954, Mercedes-Benz introduced the advanced W196, which featured innovations such as desmodromic valves and fuel injection as well as enclosed streamlined bodywork. Mercedes drivers won the championship for two years, before the team withdrew from all motorsport in the wake of the 1955 Le Mans disaster.[15]
British dominance [ edit ]
An era of British dominance was ushered in by Mike Hawthorn and Vanwall's championship wins in 1958, although Stirling Moss had been at the forefront of the sport without ever securing the world title. Between Hawthorn, Jim Clark, Jackie Stewart, John Surtees and Graham Hill, British drivers won nine Drivers' Championships and British teams won fourteen Constructors' Championship titles between 1958 and 1974. The iconic British Racing Green Lotus, with a revolutionary aluminium-sheet monocoque chassis instead of the traditional space-frame design, was the dominant car, and in 1968, the team broke new boundaries, when they were the first to carry advertising on their cars.[16]
Technological developments [ edit ]
The first major technological development, Bugatti's re-introduction of mid-engined cars (following Ferdinand Porsche's pioneering Auto Unions of the 1930s), occurred with the Type 251, which was unsuccessful. Australian Jack Brabham, world champion during 1959, 1960, and 1966, soon proved the mid-engined design's superiority. By 1961, all regular competitors had switched to mid-engined cars. The Ferguson P99, a four-wheel drive design, was the last front-engined F1 car to enter a world championship race. It was entered in the 1961 British Grand Prix, the only front-engined car to compete that year.[17]
During 1962, Lotus introduced a car with an aluminium-sheet monocoque chassis instead of the traditional space-frame design. This proved to be the greatest technological breakthrough since the introduction of mid-engined cars. During 1968, Lotus painted an Imperial Tobacco livery on their cars, thus introducing sponsorship to the sport.[18][19]
Aerodynamic downforce slowly gained importance in car design from the appearance of aerofoils during the late 1960s. During the late 1970s, Lotus introduced ground-effect aerodynamics (previously used on Jim Hall's Chaparral 2J during 1970) that provided enormous downforce and greatly increased cornering speeds. So great were the aerodynamic forces pressing the cars to the track (up to five times the car's weight), extremely stiff springs were needed to maintain a constant ride height, leaving the suspension virtually solid, depending entirely on the tyres for any small amount of cushioning of the car and driver from irregularities of the road surface.[20]
Big business [ edit ]
Beginning in the 1970s, Bernie Ecclestone rearranged the management of Formula One's commercial rights; he is widely credited with transforming the sport into the multibillion-dollar business it now is.[21][22] When Ecclestone bought the Brabham team during 1971, he gained a seat on the Formula One Constructors' Association and during 1978 he became its president. Previously, the circuit owners controlled the income of the teams and negotiated with each individually; however Ecclestone persuaded the teams to "hunt as a pack" through FOCA.[22] He offered Formula One to circuit owners as a package, which they could take or leave. In return for the package, almost all that was required was to surrender trackside advertising.[21]
The formation of the Fédération Internationale du Sport Automobile (FISA) during 1979 set off the FISA–FOCA controversy, during which FISA and its president Jean-Marie Balestre disputed repeatedly with FOCA over television revenues and technical regulations.[23] The Guardian said of FOCA that Ecclestone and Max Mosley "used it to wage a guerrilla war with a very long-term aim in view". FOCA threatened to establish a rival series, boycotted a Grand Prix and FISA withdrew its sanction from races.[21] The result was the 1981 Concorde Agreement, which guaranteed technical stability, as teams were to be given reasonable notice of new regulations.[24] Although FISA asserted its right to the TV revenues, it handed the administration of those rights to FOCA.[25]
FISA imposed a ban on ground-effect aerodynamics during 1983.[26] By then, however, turbocharged engines, which Renault had pioneered in 1977, were producing over 700 bhp (520 kW) and were essential to be competitive. By 1986, a BMW turbocharged engine achieved a flash reading of 5.5 bar pressure, estimated to be over 1,300 bhp (970 kW) in qualifying for the Italian Grand Prix. The next year, power in race trim reached around 1,100 bhp (820 kW), with boost pressure limited to only 4.0 bar.[27] These cars were the most powerful open-wheel circuit racing cars ever. To reduce engine power output and thus speeds, the FIA limited fuel tank capacity in 1984, and boost pressures in 1988, before banning turbocharged engines completely in 1989.[28]
The development of electronic driver aids began during the 1980s. Lotus began to develop a system of active suspension, which first appeared during 1982 on the Lotus 91. By 1987, this system had been perfected and was driven to victory by Ayrton Senna in the Monaco Grand Prix that year. In the early 1990s other teams followed suit and semi-automatic gearboxes and traction control were a natural progression. The FIA, due to complaints that technology was determining the outcome of races more than driver skill, banned many such aids for 1994. This resulted in cars that were previously dependent on electronic aids becoming very "twitchy" and difficult to drive (particularly the Williams FW16). Many observers felt the ban on driver aids was in name only as they "proved difficult to police effectively".[29]
The teams signed a second Concorde Agreement during 1992 and a third in 1997, which expired on the last day of 2007.[30]
On the track, the McLaren and Williams teams dominated the 1980s and 1990s, with Brabham also being competitive during the early part of the 1980s, winning two Drivers' Championships with Nelson Piquet. Powered by Porsche, Honda, and Mercedes-Benz, McLaren won sixteen championships (seven constructors' and nine drivers') in that period, while Williams used engines from Ford, Honda, and Renault to also win sixteen titles (nine constructors' and seven drivers'). The rivalry between racers Ayrton Senna and Alain Prost became F1's central focus during 1988, and continued until Prost retired at the end of 1993. Senna died at the 1994 San Marino Grand Prix after crashing into a wall on the exit of the notorious curve Tamburello, having taken over Prost's lead drive at Williams that year. The FIA worked to improve the sport's safety standards since that weekend, during which Roland Ratzenberger also lost his life in an accident during Saturday qualifying. No driver had died of injuries sustained on the track at the wheel of a Formula One car for 20 years, until the 2014 Japanese Grand Prix where Jules Bianchi collided with a recovery vehicle after aquaplaning off the circuit. Since 1994, three track marshals have lost their lives, one at the 2000 Italian Grand Prix,[31] the second at the 2001 Australian Grand Prix[31] and the third at the 2013 Canadian Grand Prix.
Since the deaths of Senna and Ratzenberger, the FIA has used safety as a reason to impose rule changes that otherwise, under the Concorde Agreement, would have had to be agreed upon by all the teams – most notably the changes introduced for 1998. This so-called 'narrow track' era resulted in cars with smaller rear tyres, a narrower track overall, and the introduction of grooved tyres to reduce mechanical grip. There were to be four grooves on the front (three in the first year) and rear that ran through the entire circumference of the tyre. The objective was to reduce cornering speeds and to produce racing similar to rainy conditions by enforcing a smaller contact patch between tyre and track. This, according to the FIA, was to promote driver skill and provide a better spectacle.[citation needed]
Results were mixed as the lack of mechanical grip resulted in the more ingenious designers clawing back the deficit with aerodynamic grip – pushing more force onto the tyres through wings and aerodynamic devices, which in turn resulted in less overtaking as these devices tended to make the wake behind the car 'dirty' (turbulent), preventing other cars from following closely due to their dependence on 'clean' air to make the car stick to the track. The grooved tyres also had the unfortunate side effect of initially being of a harder compound to be able to hold the grooved tread blocks, which resulted in spectacular accidents in times of aerodynamic grip failure as the harder compound could not grip the track as well.
Drivers from McLaren, Williams, Renault (formerly Benetton), and Ferrari, dubbed the "Big Four", won every World Championship from 1984 to 2008. The teams won every Constructors' Championship from 1979 to 2008 as well as placing themselves as the top four teams in the Constructors' Championship in every season between 1989 and 1997, and winning every race but one (the 1996 Monaco Grand Prix) between 1988 and 1997. Due to the technological advances of the 1990s, the cost of competing in Formula One increased dramatically. This increased financial burdens, combined with the dominance of four teams (largely funded by big car manufacturers such as Mercedes-Benz), caused the poorer independent teams to struggle not only to remain competitive, but to stay in business, and forced several teams to withdraw. Since 1990, twenty-eight teams have withdrawn from Formula One. This has prompted former Jordan owner Eddie Jordan to say that the days of competitive privateers are over.[32]
Manufacturers' return [ edit ]
Michael Schumacher and Ferrari won five consecutive Drivers' Championships (2000–2004) and six consecutive Constructors' Championships (1999–2004). Schumacher set many new records, including those for Grand Prix wins (91), wins in a season (thirteen of eighteen), and most Drivers' Championships (seven).[33] Schumacher's championship streak ended on 25 September 2005, when Renault driver Fernando Alonso became Formula One's youngest champion at that time, until Lewis Hamilton in 2008. During 2006, Renault and Alonso won both titles again. Schumacher retired at the end of 2006 after sixteen years in Formula One, but came out of retirement for the 2010 season, racing for the newly formed Mercedes works team, following the rebrand of Brawn GP.
During this period, the championship rules were changed frequently by the FIA with the intention of improving the on-track action and cutting costs.[34] Team orders, legal since the championship started during 1950, were banned during 2002, after several incidents, in which teams openly manipulated race results, generating negative publicity, most famously by Ferrari at the 2002 Austrian Grand Prix. Other changes included the qualifying format, the points scoring system, the technical regulations, and rules specifying how long engines and tyres must last. A "tyre war" between suppliers Michelin and Bridgestone saw lap times fall, although at the 2005 United States Grand Prix at Indianapolis, seven out of ten teams did not race when their Michelin tyres were deemed unsafe for use, leading to Bridgestone becoming the sole tyre supplier to Formula One for the 2007 season. During 2006, Max Mosley outlined a "green" future for Formula One, in which efficient use of energy would become an important factor.[35]
Since 1983, Formula One had been dominated by specialist race teams like Williams, McLaren, and Benetton, using engines supplied by large car manufacturers like Mercedes-Benz, Honda, Renault, and Ford. Starting in 2000, with Ford's creation of the largely unsuccessful Jaguar team, new manufacturer-owned teams entered Formula One for the first time since the departure of Alfa Romeo and Renault at the end of 1985. By 2006, the manufacturer teams—Renault, BMW, Toyota, Honda, and Ferrari—dominated the championship, taking five of the first six places in the Constructors' Championship. The sole exception was McLaren, which at the time was part-owned by Mercedes Benz. Through the Grand Prix Manufacturers Association (GPMA), they negotiated a larger share of Formula One's commercial profit and a greater say in the running of the sport.[36]
Manufacturers' decline and return of the privateers [ edit ]
In 2008 and 2009, Honda, BMW, and Toyota all withdrew from Formula One racing within the space of a year, blaming the economic recession. This resulted in the end of manufacturer dominance within the sport. The Honda F1 team went through a management buyout to become Brawn GP with the notable F1 designer Ross Brawn and Nick Fry running and owning the majority of the organisation. Brawn GP went through a painful size reduction, laying off hundreds of employees, but eventually won the year's world championships with Jenson Button and Rubens Barrichello. BMW F1 was bought out by the original founder of the team, Peter Sauber. The Lotus F1 Team[37] were another, formerly manufacturer-owned team that reverted to "privateer" ownership, together with the buy-out of the Renault team by Genii Capital investors. A link with their previous owners still survived however, with their car continuing to be powered by a Renault Power Unit until 2014.
McLaren also announced that it was to reacquire the shares in its team from Mercedes Benz (McLaren's partnership with Mercedes was reported to have started to sour with the McLaren Mercedes SLR road car project and tough F1 championships which included McLaren being found guilty of spying on Ferrari). Hence, during the 2010 season, Mercedes Benz re-entered the sport as a manufacturer after its purchase of Brawn GP, and split with McLaren after 15 seasons with the team. This left Mercedes, McLaren, and Ferrari as the only car manufacturers in the sport, although both McLaren and Ferrari began as racing teams rather than manufacturers.
The three teams that debuted in 2010 (HRT, Lotus/Caterham and Virgin/Marussia/Manor) all disappeared within seven years of their debuts
To compensate for the loss of manufacturer teams, four new teams were accepted entry into the 2010 season ahead of a much anticipated 'cost-cap' (see below). Entrants included a reborn Team Lotus – which was led by a Malaysian consortium including Tony Fernandes, the boss of Air Asia; Hispania Racing – the first Spanish Formula One team; as well as Virgin Racing – Richard Branson's entry into the series following a successful partnership with Brawn the year before. They were also joined by the US F1 Team, which planned to run out of the United States as the only non-European based team in the sport. Financial issues befell the squad before they even made the grid. Despite the entry of these new teams, the proposed cost-cap was repealed and these teams – who did not have the budgets of the midfield and top-order teams – ran around at the back of the field until they inevitably collapsed; HRT in 2012, Caterham (formerly Lotus) in 2014 and Manor (formerly Virgin then Marussia), having survived falling into administration in 2014, went under at the end of 2016.
A rule shake-up in 2014, meant Mercedes emerged as the dominant force, with Lewis Hamilton winning the championship closely followed by his main rival and teammate, Nico Rosberg, with the team winning 16 out of the 19 races that season (all other victories coming from Daniel Ricciardo of Red Bull). 2014 also saw a financial crisis which resulted in the backmarker Marussia and Caterham teams being put into administration, alongside the uncertain futures of Force India and Sauber. Marussia returned under the Manor name in 2015, a season in which Ferrari were the only challenger to Mercedes, with Vettel taking victory in the three Grands Prix Mercedes did not win.[38]
The 2016 season began in dominant fashion for Nico Rosberg, winning the first 4 Grands Prix. His charge was halted by Max Verstappen, who took his maiden win in Spain in his debut race for Red Bull. After that, the reigning champion Lewis Hamilton decreased the point gap between him and Rosberg to only one point, before taking the championship lead heading into the summer break. Following the break, the 1–2 positioning remained constant until an engine failure for Hamilton in Malaysia left Rosberg in a commanding lead that he would not relinquish in the 5 remaining races. Having won the title by a mere 5 points, Rosberg retired from Formula One at season's end, becoming the first driver since Alain Prost in 1993 to retire after winning the Drivers Championship. The final team remaining from the 2010 new entries process, Manor Racing, withdrew from the sport following the 2016 season, having lost 10th in the Constructors' Championship to Sauber with one race remaining, leaving the grid at 20 cars as Liberty Media took control of the series in the off-season.
Renault returned to the sport in 2016 (pictured with Palmer
Recent years have seen an increase in manufacturer presence in the sport. In 2016, Renault came back to the sport after buying back the Lotus F1 team. In 2018, Aston Martin and Alfa Romeo became Red Bull and Sauber's title sponsors, respectively, with the latter officially entering the 2019 season as Alfa Romeo Racing.
Political disputes [ edit ]
FISA–FOCA war [ edit ]
The battle for control of Formula One was contested between the Fédération Internationale du Sport Automobile (FISA), at the time an autonomous subcommittee of the FIA, and FOCA (the Formula One Constructors' Association).
The beginnings of the dispute are numerous, and many of the underlying reasons may be lost in history. The teams (excepting Ferrari and the other major manufacturers – Renault and Alfa Romeo in particular) were of the opinion that their rights and ability to compete against the larger and better funded teams were being negatively affected by a perceived bias on the part of the controlling organisation (FISA) toward the major manufacturers.
In addition, the battle revolved around the commercial aspects of the sport (the FOCA teams were unhappy with the disbursement of proceeds from the races) and the technical regulations which, in FOCA's opinion, tended to be malleable according to the nature of the transgressor more than the nature of the transgression.
The war culminated in a FOCA boycott of the 1982 San Marino Grand Prix months later. In theory, all FOCA teams were supposed to boycott the Grand Prix as a sign of solidarity and complaint at the handling of the regulations and financial compensation (and extreme opposition to the accession of Balestre to the position of FISA president: both Colin Chapman of Lotus and Frank Williams of Williams stated clearly that they would not continue in Formula One with Balestre as its governor).[original research?] In practice, several of the FOCA teams backed out of the boycott, citing "sponsor obligations". Notable among these were the Tyrrell and Toleman teams.
FIA–FOTA dispute [ edit ]
During the 2009 season of Formula One, the sport was gripped in a governance crisis. The FIA President Max Mosley proposed numerous cost cutting measures for the following season, including an optional budget cap for the teams;[39] teams electing to take the budget cap would be granted greater technical freedom, adjustable front and rear wings and an engine not subject to a rev limiter.[39] The Formula One Teams Association (FOTA) believed that allowing some teams to have such technical freedom would have created a 'two-tier' championship, and thus requested urgent talks with the FIA. However, talks broke down and FOTA teams announced, with the exception of Williams and Force India,[40][41] that 'they had no choice' but to form a breakaway championship series.[41]
On 24 June, an agreement was reached between Formula One's governing body and the teams to prevent a breakaway series. It was agreed teams must cut spending to the level of the early 1990s within two years; exact figures were not specified,[42] and Max Mosley agreed he would not stand for re-election to the FIA presidency in October.[43] Following further disagreements, after Max Mosley suggested he would stand for re-election,[44] FOTA made it clear that breakaway plans were still being pursued. On 8 July, FOTA issued a press release stating they had been informed they were not entered for the 2010 season,[45] and an FIA press release said the FOTA representatives had walked out of the meeting.[46] On 1 August, it was announced FIA and FOTA had signed a new Concorde Agreement, bringing an end to the crisis and securing the sport's future until 2012.[47]
Outside the World Championship [ edit ]
The terms "Formula One race" and "World Championship race" are now effectively synonymous; since 1984, every Formula One race has counted towards an official FIA World Championship, and every World Championship race has been held to Formula One regulations.[48] In the earlier history of Formula One, many races took place outside the World Championship, and local championships run to Formula One regulations also occurred. These events often took place on circuits that were not always suitable for the World Championship, and featured local cars and drivers as well as those competing in the championship.[9]
European non-championship racing [ edit ]
In the early years of Formula One, before the world championship was established, there were around twenty races held from late Spring to early Autumn in Europe, although not all of these were considered significant. Most competitive cars came from Italy, particularly Alfa Romeo. After the start of the world championship, these non-championship races continued. In the 1950s and 1960s, there were many Formula One races which did not count for the World Championship; in 1950 a total of twenty-two Formula One races were held, of which only six counted towards the World Championship.[48] In 1952 and 1953, when the world championship was run to Formula Two regulations, non-championship events were the only Formula One races that took place.
Some races, particularly in the UK, including the Race of Champions, Oulton Park International Gold Cup and the International Trophy, were attended by the majority of the world championship contenders. Other smaller events were regularly held in locations not part of the championship, such as the Syracuse and Danish Grands Prix, although these only attracted a small amount of the championship teams and relied on private entries and lower Formula cars to make up the grid.[9] These became less common through the 1970s and 1983 saw the last non-championship Formula One race; the 1983 Race of Champions at Brands Hatch, won by reigning World Champion Keke Rosberg in a Williams-Cosworth in a close fight with American Danny Sullivan.[9]
South African Formula One championship [ edit ]
South Africa's flourishing domestic Formula One championship ran from 1960 through to 1975. The frontrunning cars in the series were recently retired from the world championship although there was also a healthy selection of locally built or modified machines. Frontrunning drivers from the series usually contested their local World Championship Grand Prix, as well as occasional European events, although they had little success at that level.[citation needed]
British Formula One Championship [ edit ]
The DFV helped make the UK domestic Formula One championship possible between 1978 and 1980. As in South Africa a decade before, second hand cars from manufacturers like Lotus and Fittipaldi Automotive were the order of the day, although some, such as the March 781, were built specifically for the series. In 1980, the series saw South African Desiré Wilson become the only woman to win a Formula One race when she triumphed at Brands Hatch in a Wolf WR3.[49]
Racing and strategy [ edit ]
A Formula One Grand Prix event spans a weekend. It begins with two free practice sessions on Friday (except in Monaco, where Friday practices are moved to Thursday), and one free practice on Saturday. Additional drivers (commonly known as third drivers) are allowed to run on Fridays, but only two cars may be used per team, requiring a race driver to give up his seat. A qualifying session is held after the last free practice session. This session determines the starting order for the race on Sunday.[50][51]
Tyre rules [ edit ]
The new rule for F1 tyre in 2016 is that the regulations would allow Pirelli to select three different tyres for each race, and each team could choose the tyre from those three depending on the strategies. This concept would continue in 2017, but with Pirelli's thicker and wider tyres that tested extensively last year.
Tyre selections are announced over a month before each event, with rules stating Pirelli must announce compounds nine weeks before a European round and 15 weeks before a long-haul event. Drivers ordinarily select 10 of the 13 sets available for a race weekend, though Pirelli's new tyres means the Italian company will force each driver to stick to the same allocations for the first five races as it learns about the new tyre.
That means for the opening five races, drivers will have seven of the softest compound, four of the middle compound and two of the hardest compound available. Pirelli has backup compounds for introduction later in the season, if its initial batch proves to be too conservative in terms of performance or leads to greater levels of degradation than expected.[52]
Qualifying [ edit ]
A typical pitwall control centre, allowing team managers and strategists to communicate with their drivers and engineers
For much of the sport's history, qualifying sessions differed little from practice sessions; drivers would have one or more sessions in which to set their fastest time, with the grid order determined by each driver's best single lap, with the fastest on pole position. Grids were generally limited to 26 cars – if the race had more entries, qualification would also decide which drivers would start the race. During the early 1990s, the number of entries was so high that the worst-performing teams had to enter a pre-qualifying session, with the fastest cars allowed through to the main qualifying session. The qualifying format began to change in the early 2000s, with the FIA experimenting with limiting the number of laps, determining the aggregate time over two sessions, and allowing each driver only one qualifying lap.
The current qualifying system was adopted in the 2006 season. Known as "knock-out" qualifying, it is split into three periods, known as Q1, Q2, and Q3. In each period, drivers run qualifying laps to attempt to advance to the next period, with the slowest drivers being "knocked out" of qualification (but not necessarily the race) at the end of the period and their grid positions set within the rearmost five based on their best lap times. Drivers are allowed as many laps as they wish within each period. After each period, all times are reset, and only a driver's fastest lap in that period (barring infractions) counts. Any timed lap started before the end of that period may be completed, and will count toward that driver's placement. The number of cars eliminated in each period is dependent on the total number of cars entered into the championship.[53] Currently, with 20 cars, Q1 runs for 18 minutes, and eliminates the slowest five drivers. During this period, any driver whose best lap takes longer than 107% of the fastest time in Q1 will not be allowed to start the race without permission from the stewards. Otherwise, all drivers proceed to the race albeit in the worst starting positions. This rule does not affect drivers in Q2 or Q3. In Q2, the 15 remaining drivers have 15 minutes to set one of the ten fastest times and proceed to the next period. Finally, Q3 lasts 12 minutes and sees the remaining ten drivers decide the first ten grid positions. At the beginning of the 2016 Formula 1 season, the FIA introduced a new qualifying format, whereby drivers were knocked out every 90 seconds after a certain amount of time had passed in each session. The aim was to mix up grid positions for the race, but due to unpopularity the FIA reverted to the above qualifying format for the Chinese GP, after running the format for only two races.[53]
Each car taking part in Q3 receives an 'extra' set of the softest available tyre. This set has to be handed in after qualifying, drivers knocked out in Q1 or Q2 can use this set for the race. The first ten drivers, i.e. the drivers through to Q3 must start the race on the tyre which set the fastest time in Q2, unless the weather requires the use of wet-weather tyres. In which case all of the rules about the tyres won't be followed.[54][55] All of the drivers that did not participate in Q3 have free tyre choice for the start of the race. Any penalties that affect grid position are applied at the end of qualifying. Grid penalties can be applied for driving infractions in the previous or current Grand Prix, or for changing a gearbox or engine component. If a car fails scrutineering, the driver will be excluded from qualifying, but will be allowed to start the race from the back of the grid at the race steward's discretion.
Race [ edit ]
The race begins with a warm-up lap, after which the cars assemble on the starting grid in the order they qualified. This lap is often referred to as the formation lap, as the cars lap in formation with no overtaking (although a driver who makes a mistake may regain lost ground provided he has not fallen to the back of the field). The warm-up lap allows drivers to check the condition of the track and their car, gives the tyres a chance to warm up to increase traction, and also gives the pit crews time to clear themselves and their equipment from the grid.
Once all the cars have formed on the grid, a light system above the track indicates the start of the race: five red lights are illuminated at intervals of one second; they are all then extinguished simultaneously after an unspecified time (typically less than 3 seconds) to signal the start of the race. The start procedure may be abandoned if a driver stalls on the grid, signalled by raising his arm. If this happens, the procedure restarts: a new formation lap begins with the offending car removed from the grid. The race may also be restarted in the event of a serious accident or dangerous conditions, with the original start voided. The race may be started from behind the Safety Car if officials feel a racing start would be excessively dangerous, such as extremely heavy rainfall. As of the 2019 season, there will always be a standing restart. If due to heavy rainfall a start behind the safety car is necessary, then after the track has dried sufficiently, drivers will form up for a standing start. There is no formation lap when races start behind the Safety Car.[56]
Under normal circumstances, the winner of the race is the first driver to cross the finish line having completed a set number of laps. Race officials may end the race early (putting out a red flag) due to unsafe conditions such as extreme rainfall, and it must finish within two hours, although races are only likely to last this long in the case of extreme weather or if the safety car is deployed during the race.
In the 1950s, race distances varied from 300 km (190 mi) to 600 km (370 mi). The maximum race length was reduced to 400 km (250 mi) in 1966 and 325 km (202 mi) in 1971. The race length was standardised to the current 305 km (190 mi) in 1989. However, street races like Monaco have shorter distances, to keep under the two-hour limit.
Drivers may overtake one another for position over the course of the race and are "Classified" in the order they finished 90% of the race distance. If a leader comes across a back marker (slower car) who has completed fewer laps, the back marker is shown a blue flag[57] telling him he is obliged to allow the leader to overtake him. The slower car is said to be "lapped" and, once the leader finishes the race, is classified as finishing the race "one lap down". A driver can be lapped numerous times, by any car in front of him. A driver who fails to finish a race, through mechanical problems, accident, or any other reason is said to have retired from the race and is "Not Classified" in the results. However, if the driver has completed more than 90% of the race distance, he will be classified.
Throughout the race, drivers may make pit stops to change tyres and repair damage (from 1994 to 2009 inclusive, they could also refuel). Different teams and drivers employ different pit stop strategies in order to maximise their car's potential. Three dry tyre compounds, with different durability and adhesion characteristics, are available to drivers. Over the course of a race, drivers must use two of the three available compounds. The different compounds have different levels of performance, and choosing when to use which compound is a key tactical decision to make. Different tyres have different colours on their sidewalls; this allows spectators to understand the strategies. Under wet conditions, drivers may switch to one of two specialised wet weather tyres with additional grooves (one "intermediate", for mild wet conditions, such as after recent rain, one "full wet", for racing in or immediately after rain). A driver must make at least one stop to use two tyre compounds; up to three stops are typically made, although further stops may be necessary to fix damage or if weather conditions change. If rain tyres are used, drivers are no longer obliged to use both types of dry tyres.
Race director As of 2019, the race director in Formula One is Charlie Whiting. This role involves him generally managing the logistics of each F1 Grand Prix, inspecting cars in parc fermé before a race, enforcing FIA rules and controlling the lights which start each race. As the head of the race officials, he also plays a large role in sorting disputes amongst teams and drivers. Penalties, such as drive-through penalties (and stop-and-go penalties), demotions on a pre-race start grid, race disqualifications, and fines can all be handed out should parties break regulations. Safety car In the event of an incident that risks the safety of competitors or trackside race marshals, race officials may choose to deploy the safety car. This in effect suspends the race, with drivers following the safety car around the track at its speed in race order, with overtaking not permitted. The safety car circulates until the danger is cleared; after it comes in, the race restarts with a "rolling start". Pit stops are permitted under the safety car. Mercedes-Benz supplies Mercedes-AMG models to Formula One to use as the safety cars. Since 2000,[58] the main safety car driver has been German ex-racing driver Bernd Mayländer. On the lap in which the safety car returns to the pits, the leading car takes over the role of the safety car until the first safety car line, which is usually a white line after the pit lane entrance. After crossing this line, drivers are allowed to start racing for track position once more.
Flags [ edit ]
Flag Meaning SC Board (Safety Car) Shown in conjunction with a yellow flag to indicate that the Safety Car is on track. Full course yellow flag applies. Drivers must hold position. VSC Board (Virtual Safety Car) Shown in conjunction with a yellow flag to indicate that the Virtual Safety Car is in use. During this time, the drivers are given minimum sector times that they must stay above. Full course yellow flag applies. Green Normal racing conditions apply. This is usually shown following a yellow flag to indicate that the hazard has been passed. A green flag is shown at all stations for the lap following the end of a full-course yellow (or safety car). A green flag is also shown at the start of a session. Yellow Indicates a hazard on or near the track (waved yellows indicate a hazard on the track, frozen yellows indicate a hazard near the track). Double waved yellows inform drivers that they must slow down as marshals are working on or near to the track and drivers should be prepared to stop. Yellow & Red Striped Slippery track, due to oil, water or loose debris. Can be seen 'rocked' from side-to-side (not waved) to indicate a small animal on track. Blue A blue flag indicates that the driver in front must let faster cars behind him pass because he is being lapped. If flag is missed 3 times the driver could be penalised. White Indicates that there is a slow car ahead. Often waved at the end of the pit lane when a car is about to leave the pits. Black & Orange Circle Car is damaged or has a mechanical problem, must pit immediately. Half Black Half White Warns a driver for poor sportsmanship or dangerous behaviour. Can be followed by a Black flag upon further infringement. Accompanied by the driver's number. Black Driver is disqualified (usually accompanied by the driver's number). This can be issued after a Half Black Half White flag. Red A red flag means a session has been stopped because of an accident or poor driving weather conditions. Chequered flag End of the practice, qualifying or racing session.
The format of the race has changed little through Formula One's history. The main changes have revolved around what is allowed at pit stops. In the early days of Grand Prix racing, a driver would be allowed to continue a race in his teammate's car should his develop a problem—in the modern era, cars are so carefully fitted to drivers that this has become impossible. In recent years, the emphasis has been on changing refuelling and tyre change regulations. From the 2010 season, refuelling—which was reintroduced in 1994—has not been allowed, to encourage less tactical racing following safety concerns. The rule requiring both compounds of tyre to be used during the race was introduced in 2007, again to encourage racing on the track. The safety car is another relatively recent innovation that reduced the need to deploy the red flag, allowing races to be completed on time for a growing international live television audience.
Points system [ edit ]
1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th 8th 9th 10th 25 18 15 12 10 8 6 4 2 1
Various systems for awarding championship points have been used since 1950. The current system, in place since 2010, awards the top ten cars points in the Drivers' and Constructors' Championships, with the winner receiving 25 points. If both cars of a team finish in the points, they both receive Constructors' Championship points. All points won at each race are added up, and the driver and constructor with the most points at the end of the season are crowned World Champions. Regardless of whether a driver stays with the same team throughout the season, or switches teams, all points earned by him count for the Drivers' Championship.[59]
A driver must be classified to receive points. To be classified, a driver need not finish the race, but complete at least 90% of the winner's race distance. Therefore, it is possible for a driver to receive points even if they retired before the end of the race.[60]
In the event that less than 75% of the race laps are completed by the winner, only half of the points listed in the table are awarded to the drivers and constructors. This has happened on only five occasions in the history of the championship, and it had a notable influence on the final standing of the 1984 season. The last occurrence was at the 2009 Malaysian Grand Prix when the race was called off after 31 laps due to torrential rain.[61]
Constructors [ edit ]
Since 1981,[62] Formula One teams have been required to build the chassis in which they compete, and consequently the terms "team" and "constructor" became more or less interchangeable. This requirement distinguishes the sport from series such as the IndyCar Series which allows teams to purchase chassis, and "spec series" such as GP2, which require all cars be kept to an identical specification. It also effectively prohibits privateers, which were common even in Formula One well into the 1970s.
The sport's debut season, 1950, saw eighteen teams compete, but due to high costs many dropped out quickly. In fact, such was the scarcity of competitive cars for much of the first decade of Formula One that Formula Two cars were admitted to fill the grids. Ferrari is the oldest Formula One team, the only still-active team which competed in 1950.
Early manufacturer involvement came in the form of a "factory team" or "works team" (that is, one owned and staffed by a major car company), such as those of Alfa Romeo, Ferrari, or Renault. After having virtually disappeared by the early 1980s, factory teams made a comeback in the 1990s and 2000s and formed up to half the grid with Ferrari, Jaguar, BMW, Renault, Toyota, and Honda either setting up their own teams or buying out existing ones. Mercedes-Benz owned 40% of the McLaren team and manufactured the team's engines. Factory teams make up the top competitive teams; in 2008 wholly owned factory teams took four of the top five positions in the Constructors' Championship, and McLaren the other. Ferrari holds the record for having won the most Constructors' Championships (sixteen). However, by the end of the 2000s factory teams were once again on the decline with only Ferrari, Mercedes-Benz and Renault lodging entries to the 2010 championship.
Companies such as Climax, Repco, Cosworth, Hart, Judd and Supertec, which had no direct team affiliation, often sold engines to teams that could not afford to manufacture them. In the early years, independently owned Formula One teams sometimes also built their engines, though this became less common with the increased involvement of major car manufacturers such as BMW, Ferrari, Honda, Mercedes-Benz, Renault, and Toyota, whose large budgets rendered privately built engines less competitive. Cosworth was the last independent engine supplier. Beginning in 2007, the manufacturers' deep pockets and engineering ability took over, eliminating the last of the independent engine manufacturers.[63] It is estimated the major teams spend between €100 and €200 million ($125–$225 million) per year per manufacturer on engines alone.[64]
In the 2007 season, for the first time since the 1981 rule, two teams used chassis built by other teams. Super Aguri started the season using a modified Honda Racing RA106 chassis (used by Honda the previous year), while Scuderia Toro Rosso used the same chassis used by the parent Red Bull Racing team, which was formally designed by a separate subsidiary. The usage of these loopholes was ended for 2010 with the publication of new technical regulations, which require each constructor to own the intellectual property rights to their chassis,[65] which prevents a team using a chassis owned by another Formula One constructor.[66] The regulations continue to allow a team to subcontract the design and construction of the chassis to a third-party, an option used by the HRT team in 2010.
Although teams rarely disclose information about their budgets, it is estimated they range from US$66 million to US$400 million each.[67]
Entering a new team in the Formula One World Championship requires a £25 million (about US$47 million) up-front payment to the FIA, which is then repaid to the team over the course of the season. As a consequence, constructors desiring to enter Formula One often prefer to buy an existing team: BAR's purchase of Tyrrell and Midland's purchase of Jordan allowed both of these teams to sidestep the large deposit and secure the benefits the team already had, such as TV revenue.
Drivers [ edit ]
Every team in Formula One must run two cars in every session in a Grand Prix weekend, and every team may use up to four drivers in a season.[51] A team may also run two additional drivers in Free Practice sessions,[51] which are often used to test potential new drivers for a career as a Formula One driver or gain experienced drivers to evaluate the car.[68][69] Most modern drivers are contracted for at least the duration of a season, with driver changes taking place in between seasons, in comparison to early years where drivers often competed at an ad hoc basis from race to race. Each competitor must be in the possession of a FIA Super Licence to compete in a Grand Prix,[70] which is issued to drivers who have met the criteria of success in junior motorsport categories and having achieved 300 kilometres (190 mi) of running in a Formula One car. Drivers may also be issued a Super Licence by the World Motor Sport Council if they fail to meet the criteria.[70] Teams also contract test and reserve drivers, to stand in for regular drivers when necessary and develop the team's car; although with the reduction on testing the reserve drivers' role mainly takes places on a simulator,[71] such as rFactor Pro,[72][73] which is used by most of the F1 teams.[74][75] Although most drivers earn their seat on ability, commercial considerations also come into play with teams having to satisfy sponsors and financial demands.
Each driver chooses an unassigned number from 2 to 99 (excluding 17)[76] upon entering Formula One, and keeps that number during his time in the series. The number one is reserved for the reigning Drivers' Champion, who retains his previous number and may choose to (but doesn't have to) use it instead of the number one.[77] At the onset of the championship, numbers were allocated by race organisers on an ad-hoc basis from race to race, and competitors did not have a permanent number throughout the season.[78] Permanent numbers were introduced in 1973 to take effect in 1974, when teams were allocated numbers in ascending order based on the Constructors' Championship standings at the end of the 1973 season. The teams would hold those numbers from season to season with the exception of the team with the world Drivers' Champion, which would swap its numbers with the one and two of the previous champion's team. New entrants were allocated spare numbers, with the exception of the number 13 which had been unused since 1976.[79] As teams kept their numbers for long periods of time, car numbers became associated with a team, such as Ferrari's 27 and 28.[78] A different system was used from 1996 to 2013: at the start of each season, the current Drivers' Champion was designated number one, his teammate number two, and the rest of the teams assigned ascending numbers according to previous season's Constructors' Championship order.[80]
A total of 33 separate drivers have won the World Drivers' Championship, with Michael Schumacher holding the record for most championships with seven, as well as holding the race wins record. Juan Manuel Fangio and Lewis Hamilton have won the next most – five championships each. Jochen Rindt is the only posthumous World Champion, after his points total was not surpassed despite his fatal accident at the 1970 Italian Grand Prix, with 4 races still remaining in the season. Drivers from the United Kingdom have been the most successful in the sport, with 18 championships among 10 drivers, and 278 wins among 19 drivers.
Feeder series [ edit ]
Most F1 drivers start in kart racing competitions, and then come up through traditional European single seater series like Formula Ford and Formula Renault to Formula 3, and finally the GP2 Series. GP2 started in 2005, replacing Formula 3000, which itself had replaced Formula Two as the last major stepping-stone into F1. Most champions from this level graduate into F1, but 2006 GP2 champion Lewis Hamilton became the first F2, F3000 or GP2 champion to win the Formula One driver's title in 2008.[81] Drivers are not required to have competed at this level before entering Formula One. British F3 has supplied many F1 drivers, with champions, including Nigel Mansell, Ayrton Senna and Mika Häkkinen having moved straight from that series to Formula One. More rarely a driver may be picked from an even lower level, as was the case with 2007 World Champion Kimi Räikkönen, who went straight from Formula Renault to F1, as well as Max Verstappen, who made his debut following a single season in European F3.[82]
American open-wheel car racing has also contributed to the Formula One grid with mixed results. CART champions Mario Andretti and Jacques Villeneuve became F1 World Champions, while Juan Pablo Montoya won seven races in F1. Other CART (also known as ChampCar) champions, like Michael Andretti and Alessandro Zanardi won no races in F1. Other drivers have taken different paths to F1; Damon Hill raced motorbikes, and Michael Schumacher raced in sports cars, albeit after climbing through the junior single-seater ranks. Former F1 driver Paul di Resta raced in DTM until he was signed with Force India in 2011. To race, however, the driver must hold an FIA Super Licence–ensuring that the driver has the requisite skills, and will not therefore be a danger to others. Some drivers have not had the licence when first signed to an F1 team: e.g., Räikkönen received the licence despite having only 23 car races to his credit.
Beyond F1 [ edit ]
Many Ex-F1 drivers compete regularly in the new Formula E series
Most F1 drivers retire in their mid to late 30s. Some F1 drivers have left to race in the United States—Nigel Mansell and Emerson Fittipaldi duelled for the 1993 CART title, Rubens Barrichello moved to IndyCar in 2012, while Jacques Villeneuve, Juan Pablo Montoya, Nelson Piquet Jr. and Scott Speed moved to NASCAR.
Some drivers have moved from F1 to racing in disciplines with fewer races during the season. The German touring car championship, the DTM, is a popular category involving ex-drivers such as two-time champion Mika Häkkinen and F1 race winners Jean Alesi, David Coulthard and Ralf Schumacher. In recent years, it has become common for former F1 drivers to take up factory seats driving LMP1 cars in the FIA World Endurance Championship, with notable drivers including Mark Webber, Allan McNish, Anthony Davidson, Alexander Wurz, Kazuki Nakajima, and Sébastien Buemi. A series for former Formula One drivers, called Grand Prix Masters, ran briefly in 2005 and 2006.[83] Other drivers have moved to Formula E such as Nelson Piquet Jr., Sébastien Buemi, Bruno Senna, Jaime Alguersuari, Nick Heidfeld, Jarno Trulli, Jean-Éric Vergne, Felipe Massa, Stoffel Vandoorne, and more. Some drivers, such as Vitantonio Liuzzi, Narain Karthikeyan and Jos Verstappen went on to race in the A1 Grand Prix series. During its existence from 2008 to 2011, Superleague Formula attracted ex-Formula One drivers like Sébastien Bourdais, Antônio Pizzonia and Giorgio Pantano.
Other former F1 drivers, like Jackie Stewart, Gerhard Berger, Alain Prost and Niki Lauda returned to F1 as team owners while their former competitors have become colour commentators for TV coverage such as James Hunt (BBC), Martin Brundle (BBC, ITV and Sky), David Hobbs (NBC), Alan Jones (BBC, Nine Network and Ten Network), David Coulthard (BBC and Channel 4), Luciano Burti for Globo (Brazil), and Jean Alesi for Italian national network RAI. Others, such as Damon Hill and Jackie Stewart, take active roles in running motorsport in their own countries. Carlos Reutemann became a politician and served as governor of his native state in Argentina.
Grands Prix [ edit ]
World map showing location of Formula 1 Grands Prix: countries marked in green are on the 2019 race schedule, those in dark grey have hosted a Formula One race in the past
The number of Grands Prix held in a season has varied over the years. The inaugural 1950 world championship season comprised only seven races, while the 2018 season contained twenty-one races. Although throughout the first decades of the world championship there were no more than eleven Grands Prix a season, a large number of non-championship Formula One events also took place. The number of Grands Prix increased to an average of sixteen/seventeen by the late 1970s; simultaneously non-championship events ended by 1983. More Grands Prix began to be held in the 2000s, and recent seasons have seen an average of 19 races. In 2016 the calendar peaked at twenty-one events, the highest number of world championship races in one season.
Six of the original seven races took place in Europe; the only non-European race that counted towards the World Championship in 1950 was the Indianapolis 500, which was held to different regulations and later replaced by the United States Grand Prix. The F1 championship gradually expanded to other non-European countries. Argentina hosted the first South American Grand Prix in 1953, and Morocco hosted the first African World Championship race in 1958. Asia (Japan in 1976) and Oceania (Australia in 1985) followed, and the first race in the Middle East was held in 2004. The nineteen races of the 2014 season were spread over every populated continent except for Africa, with ten Grands Prix held outside Europe.
Some of the Grands Prix, such as the oldest recognised event the French Grand Prix, pre-date the formation of the World Championship and were incorporated into the championship as Formula One races in 1950. The British and Italian Grands Prix are the only events to have been held every Formula One season; other long-running races include the Belgian, German and French Grands Prix. The Monaco Grand Prix, first held in 1929 and run continuously since 1955, is widely considered to be one of the most important and prestigious automobile races in the world.[84]
Traditionally each nation has hosted a single Grand Prix, which carries the name of the country. If a single country hosts multiple Grands Prix in a year they receive different names. In European countries, the second event has often been titled the European Grand Prix, or named after a neighbouring state without a race. The United States has held six separate Grands Prix, including the Indianapolis 500, with the additional events named after the host city. Grands Prix are not always held at the same circuit each year, and may switch locations due to the suitability of the track or the financial status of the race organisers. The German Grand Prix currently alternates between the Nürburgring and Hockenheimring circuits, and others such as the American and French races have switched venues throughout their history.
All Grands Prix have traditionally been run during the day, until the inaugural Singapore Grand Prix hosted the first Formula One night race,[85] which was followed in 2009 by the day–night Abu Dhabi Grand Prix and then the Bahrain Grand Prix which converted to a night race in 2014. Along with holding races at night, other Grands Prix in Asia have had their start times adjusted to benefit the European television audience.[86]
Recent additions (2008–present) [ edit ]
Future additions [ edit ]
Circuits [ edit ]
A typical circuit usually features a stretch of straight road on which the starting grid is situated. The pit lane, where the drivers stop for tyres, aerodynamic adjustments and minor repairs (such as changing the car's nose due to front wing damage) during the race, retirements from the race, and where the teams work on the cars before the race, is normally located next to the starting grid. The layout of the rest of the circuit varies widely, although in most cases the circuit runs in a clockwise direction. Those few circuits that run anticlockwise (and therefore have predominantly left-handed corners) can cause drivers neck problems due to the enormous lateral forces generated by F1 cars pulling their heads in the opposite direction to normal.
Most of the circuits currently in use are specially constructed for competition. The current street circuits are Monaco, Melbourne, Singapore, Sochi and Baku although races in other urban locations come and go (Las Vegas and Detroit, for example) and proposals for such races are often discussed—most recently New Jersey. Several circuits have been completely laid out on public roads in the past, such as Valencia in Spain, though Monaco is the only one that remains. The glamour and history of the Monaco race are the primary reasons why the circuit is still in use, even though it does not meet the strict safety requirements imposed on other tracks. Three-time World champion Nelson Piquet famously described racing in Monaco as "like riding a bicycle around your living room".[88]
Circuit design to protect the safety of drivers is becoming increasingly sophisticated, as exemplified by the new Bahrain International Circuit, added in 2004 and designed—like most of F1's new circuits—by Hermann Tilke. Several of the new circuits in F1, especially those designed by Tilke, have been criticised as lacking the "flow" of such classics as Spa-Francorchamps and Imola. His redesign of the Hockenheim circuit in Germany for example, while providing more capacity for grandstands and eliminating extremely long and dangerous straights, has been frowned upon by many who argue that part of the character of the Hockenheim circuits was the long and blinding straights into dark forest sections. These newer circuits, however, are generally agreed to meet the safety standards of modern Formula One better than the older ones.
Old favourites the Österreichring (today the Red Bull Ring) and the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez, returned to the calendar in 2014 and 2015 respectively.
The Circuit of the Americas in Austin, the Sochi Autodrom in Sochi and the Baku City Circuit in Azerbaijan have all been introduced as brand new tracks since 2012.
A single race requires hotel rooms to accommodate at least 5,000 visitors.[89]
Cars and technology [ edit ]
Modern Formula One cars are mid-engined, hybrid, open cockpit, open wheel single-seaters. The chassis is made largely of carbon-fibre composites, rendering it light but extremely stiff and strong. The whole car, including the driver but not fuel, weighs only 733 kg (1,616 lb) – the minimum weight set by the regulations.[90] If the construction of the car is lighter than the minimum, it can be ballasted up to add the necessary weight. The race teams take advantage of this by placing this ballast at the extreme bottom of the chassis, thereby locating the centre of gravity as low as possible in order to improve handling and weight transfer.[91]
The cornering speed of Formula One cars is largely determined by the aerodynamic downforce that they generate, which pushes the car down onto the track. This is provided by "wings" mounted at the front and rear of the vehicle, and by ground effect created by low air pressure under the flat bottom of the car. The aerodynamic design of the cars is very heavily constrained to limit performance and the current generation of cars sport a large number of small winglets, "barge boards", and turning vanes designed to closely control the flow of the air over, under, and around the car.
The other major factor controlling the cornering speed of the cars is the design of the tyres. From 1998 to 2008, the tyres in Formula One were not "slicks" (tyres with no tread pattern) as in most other circuit racing series. Instead, each tyre had four large circumferential grooves on its surface designed to limit the cornering speed of the cars.[92] Slick tyres returned to Formula One in the 2009 season. Suspension is double wishbone or multilink front and rear, with pushrod operated springs and dampers on the chassis – one exception being that of the 2009 specification Red Bull Racing car (RB5) which used pullrod suspension at the rear, the first car to do so since the Minardi PS01 in 2001. Ferrari used a pullrod suspension at both the front and rear in their 2012 car.[93] Both Ferrari (F138) and McLaren (MP4-28) of the 2013 season used a pullrod suspension at both the front and the rear.
Carbon-carbon disc brakes are used for reduced weight and increased frictional performance. These provide a very high level of braking performance and are usually the element which provokes the greatest reaction from drivers new to the formula.
Formula One cars must have four uncovered wheels, all made of the same metallic material, which must be one of two magnesium alloys specified by the FIA.[94] Magnesium alloy wheels made by forging are used to achieve maximum unsprung rotating weight reduction.[95]
Starting with the 2014 Formula 1 season, the engines have changed from a 2.4-litre naturally aspirated V8 to turbocharged 1.6-litre V6 "power-units".[96] These get a significant amount of their power from electric motors. In addition they include a lot of energy recovery technology. Engines run on unleaded fuel closely resembling publicly available petrol.[97] The oil which lubricates and protects the engine from overheating is very similar in viscosity to water. The 2006 generation of engines spun up to 20,000 rpm and produced up to 780 bhp (580 kW).[98] For 2007, engines were restricted to 19,000 rpm with limited development areas allowed, following the engine specification freeze from the end of 2006.[99] For the 2009 Formula One season the engines were further restricted to 18,000 rpm.[100]
A wide variety of technologies—including active suspension[101] and ground effect aerodynamics[102] —are banned under the current regulations. Despite this the current generation of cars can reach speeds in excess of 350 km/h (220 mph) at some circuits.[103] The highest straight line speed recorded during a Grand Prix was 372.6 km/h (231.5 mph), set by Juan Pablo Montoya during the 2005 Italian Grand Prix.[104] A Honda Formula One car, running with minimum downforce on a runway in the Mojave Desert achieved a top speed of 415 km/h (258 mph) in 2006. According to Honda, the car fully met the FIA Formula One regulations.[105] Even with the limitations on aerodynamics, at 160 km/h (99 mph) aerodynamically generated downforce is equal to the weight of the car, and the oft-repeated claim that Formula One cars create enough downforce to "drive on the ceiling", while possible in principle, has never been put to the test. Downforce of 2.5 times the car's weight can be achieved at full speed. The downforce means that the cars can achieve a lateral force with a magnitude of up to 3.5 times that of the force of gravity (3.5g) in cornering.[106] Consequently, the driver's head is pulled sideways with a force equivalent to the weight of 20 kg in corners. Such high lateral forces are enough to make breathing difficult and the drivers need supreme concentration and fitness to maintain their focus for the one to two hours that it takes to complete the race. A high-performance road car like the Enzo Ferrari only achieves around 1g. [107]
As of 2019 , each team may have no more than two cars available for use at any time.[108] Each driver may use no more than four engines during a championship season unless he drives for more than one team. If more engines are used, he drops ten places on the starting grid of the event at which an additional engine is used. The only exception is where the engine is provided by a manufacturer or supplier taking part in its first championship season, in which case up to five may be used by a driver.[109] Each driver may use no more than one gearbox for six consecutive events; every unscheduled gearbox change requires the driver to drop five places on the grid unless he failed to finish the previous race due to reasons beyond the team's control.[110]
As of 2019 , each driver is limited to 3 power units per season, before incurring grid penalties.
Revenue and profits [ edit ]
Estimated budget split of a Formula One team based on the 2006 season
In March 2007, F1 Racing published its annual estimates of spending by Formula One teams.[111] The total spending of all eleven teams in 2006 was estimated at $2.9 billion US. This was broken down as follows: Toyota $418.5 million, Ferrari $406.5 m, McLaren $402 m, Honda $380.5 m, BMW Sauber $355 m, Renault $324 m, Red Bull $252 m, Williams $195.5 m, Midland F1/Spyker-MF1 $120 m, Toro Rosso $75 m, and Super Aguri $57 million.
Costs vary greatly from team to team. Honda, Toyota, McLaren-Mercedes, and Ferrari were estimated to have spent approximately $200 million on engines in 2006, Renault spent approximately $125 million and Cosworth's 2006 V8 was developed for $15 million.[112] In contrast to the 2006 season on which these figures are based, the 2007 sporting regulations banned all performance related engine development.[113]
Formula One teams pay entry fees of $500,000, plus $5,000 per point scored the previous year or $6,000 per point for the winner of the Constructors' Championship. Formula One drivers pay a FIA Super Licence fee, which in 2013 was €10,000 plus €1,000 per point.[114]
There have been controversies with the way profits are shared amongst the teams. The smaller teams have complained that the profits are unevenly shared, favouring established top teams. In September 2015, Force India and Sauber officially lodged a complaint with the European Union against Formula One questioning the governance and stating that the system of dividing revenues and determining the rules is unfair and unlawful.[115]
The cost of building a brand new permanent circuit can be up to hundreds of millions of dollars, while the cost of converting a public road, such as Albert Park, into a temporary circuit is much less. Permanent circuits, however, can generate revenue all year round from leasing the track for private races and other races, such as MotoGP. The Shanghai International Circuit cost over $300 million[116] and the Istanbul Park circuit cost $150 million to build.[117]
A number of Formula One drivers earn the highest salary of any drivers in auto racing. The highest paid driver in 2010 was Fernando Alonso, who received $40 million in salary from Ferrari—a record for any driver.[118] The very top Formula One drivers get paid more than IndyCar or NASCAR drivers, however the earnings immediately fall off after the top three F1 drivers and the majority of NASCAR racers will make more money than their F1 counterparts.[119] Most top IndyCar drivers are paid around a tenth of their Formula One counterparts.[118]
Future [ edit ]
A sign announcing that the safety car (SC) is deployed
The expense of Formula One has seen the FIA and the Formula One Commission attempt to create new regulations to lower the costs for a team to compete in the sport.[120][121] Cost-saving proposals have included allowing customer cars, either by teams purchasing a car from another constructor, or the series supplying a basic chassis and engine to some teams at a low cost.[122][123] Allowing teams to share more car components such as the monocoque and safety components is also under consideration.[124] The FIA also continually researches new ways to increase safety in the sport, which includes introducing new regulations and accident procedures.
In the interest of making the sport truer to its role as a World Championship, Bernie Ecclestone had initiated and organised a number of Grands Prix in new countries. Proposals to hold future races are regularly made by both new locations and countries and circuits that have previously hosted a Formula One Grand Prix. The most recent addition is the returning French Grand Prix in Le Castellet, France;[125] the next new addition will be the Vietnamese Grand Prix in 2020.[126]
Following their purchase of the commercial rights to the sport in 2016, Liberty Media announced their vision for the future of Formula One at the 2018 Bahrain Grand Prix. The proposal identified five key areas, including streamlining the governance of the sport, emphasising cost-effectiveness, maintaining the sport's relevance to road cars and encouraging new manufacturers to enter the championship whilst enabling them to be competitive.[127] Liberty cited 2021 as their target date as it coincided with the need to renew commercial agreements with the teams and the end of the seven-year cycle of engine development that started in 2014.
Media coverage [ edit ]
Formula One can be seen live or tape delayed in almost every country and territory around the world and attracts one of the largest global television audiences. The 2008 season attracted a global audience of 600 million people per race.[128] It is a massive television event; the cumulative television audience was calculated to be 54 billion for the 2001 season, broadcast to 200 territories.[129]
During the early 2000s, Formula One Group created a number of trademarks, an official logo, and an official website for the sport in an attempt to give it a corporate identity. Ecclestone experimented with a digital television package (known colloquially as Bernievision) which was launched at the 1996 German Grand Prix in co-operation with German digital television service "DF1", 30 years after the first GP colour TV broadcast, the 1967 German Grand Prix. This service offered the viewer several simultaneous feeds (such as super signal, on board, top of field, backfield, highlights, pit lane, timing) which were produced with cameras, technical equipment and staff different from those used for the conventional coverage. It was introduced in many countries over the years, but was shut down after the 2002 season for financial reasons.
TV stations all take what is known as the "World Feed", either produced by the FOM (Formula One Management) or occasionally, the "host broadcaster". The only station that originally differed from this was "Premiere"—a German channel which offers all sessions live and interactive, with features such as the onboard channel. This service was more widely available around Europe until the end of 2002, when the cost of a whole different feed for the digital interactive services was thought too much. This was in large part because of the failure of the "F1 Digital +" Channel launched through Sky in the United Kingdom. Prices were too high for viewers, considering they could watch both the qualifying and the races themselves free on ITV.
However, upon the commencement of its coverage for the 2009 season, the BBC reintroduced complementary features such as the "red button" in-car camera angles, multiple soundtracks (broadcast commentary, CBBC commentary for children, or ambient sound only) and a rolling highlights package. Different combinations of these features are available across the various digital platforms (Freeview, Freesat, Sky, Virgin Media cable and the BBC F1 web site) prior to, during, and after the race weekend. Not all services are available across all the various platforms due to technical constraints. The BBC also broadcasts a post-race programme called "F1 Forum" on the digital terrestrial platforms' "red button" interactive services.
An announcement was made on 12 January 2011, on the official Formula 1 website (Formula1.com), that F1 would adopt the HD format for the 2011 season offering a world feed at a data rate of 42 Megabits/second (MPEG-2).[130] The BBC subsequently announced later that day that their 2011 F1 coverage would be broadcast in HD[131] which has been made immediately possible due to SIS LIVE, the provider of the BBC's F1 outside broadcast coverage, having already upgraded their technical facilities to HD as of the 2010 Belgian Grand Prix.[132]
It was announced on 29 July 2011, that Sky Sports and the BBC would team up to show the races in F1 in 2012. In March 2012, Sky launched a channel dedicated to F1, with an HD counterpart. Sky Sports F1 covered all races live without commercial interruption as well as live practice and qualifying sessions, along with F1 programming, including interviews, archive action and magazine shows.[133] The deal secured Formula 1 on Sky up to 2018.[134] The BBC in 2012 featured live coverage of half of the races in the season: China, Spain, Monaco, Europe, Britain, Belgium, Singapore, Korea, Abu Dhabi, and Brazil.[135] The BBC also showed live coverage of practice and qualifying sessions from those races.[136] For the races that the BBC did not show live, "extended highlights" of the race were available a few hours after the live broadcast.[137]
BBC ended their joint television contract after the 2015 season, transferring their rights to Channel 4 until the end of the 2018 season, with their coverage being presented by former T4 presenter Steve Jones.[138] Sky Sports F1 coverage will remain unaffected and BBC Radio 5 Live and 5 Live Sports Extra will be extended until the 2021 season.[139]
While Sky Sports and Channel 4 are the two major broadcasters of Formula 1, other countries show formula one races on different TV channels as well even though many of them use commentary (by the presenters) from either Sky Sports or Channel 4 (for example, Star Sports in India uses commentary by the Channel 4 presenters). Some countries, however, have commentators of their own. In most of Asia (excluding China), the two main broadcasters of Formula one include the Fox network and Star Sports (in India). In the United States, ESPN holds the official rights to broadcast the sport. In Germany, Austria and Switzerland, the two main broadcasters are RTL Germany and n-tv. In China, there are multiple channels that broadcast Formula One which include CCTV, Tencent, Guangdong TV and Shanghai TV.[140]
Formula One has an extensive web following, with most major TV companies covering it such as the BBC. The official Formula One website (Formula1.com) has a live timing JavaScript applet that can be used during the race to keep up with the leaderboard in real time. An official application has been available for iOS in the Apple App Store since 2009,[141] and for Android on Google Play since 2011,[142] that shows users a real-time feed of driver positions,[143] timing and commentary.
Formula One Management's in-house production team produces race edits synchronised to music.[144] In March 2018, Formula One Management (FOM) announced the launch of an over-the-top (OTT) streaming platform[clarify] to be known as F1 TV.[145]
Distinction between Formula One and World Championship races [ edit ]
Currently the terms 'Formula One race' and 'World Championship race' are effectively synonymous; since 1984, every Formula One race has counted towards the World Championship, and every World Championship race has been to Formula One regulations. But the two terms are not interchangeable.
The first Formula One race was held in 1947, [48] whereas the World Championship did not start until 1950. [48]
whereas the World Championship did not start until 1950. In the 1950s and 1960s, there were many Formula One races that did not count for the World Championship [146] (e.g., in 1950, a total of twenty-two Formula One races were held, of which only six counted towards the World Championship). [48] The number of non-championship Formula One events decreased throughout the 1970s and 1980s, to the point where the last non-championship Formula One race was the 1983 Race of Champions. [146]
(e.g., in 1950, a total of twenty-two Formula One races were held, of which only six counted towards the World Championship). The number of non-championship Formula One events decreased throughout the 1970s and 1980s, to the point where the last non-championship Formula One race was the 1983 Race of Champions. The World Championship was not always exclusively composed of Formula One events: The World Championship was originally established as the "World Championship for Drivers", i.e., without the term "Formula One" in the title. It only officially became the FIA Formula One World Championship in 1981. From 1950 to 1960, the Indianapolis 500 race counted towards the World Championship. [146] This race was run to AAA/USAC regulations, rather than to Formula One regulations. Only one of the World Championship regulars, Alberto Ascari in 1952, started at Indianapolis during this period. [147] From 1952 to 1953, all races counting towards the World Championship (except the Indianapolis 500) were run to Formula Two regulations. [146] Formula One was not "changed to Formula Two" during this period; the Formula One regulations remained the same, and numerous non-championship Formula One races were staged during this time. [148] [149]
The distinction is most relevant when considering career summaries and "all-time lists". For example, in the List of Formula One drivers, Clemente Biondetti is shown with a single race against his name. Biondetti actually competed in four Formula One races in 1950,[150] but only one of these counted for the World Championship. Similarly, several Indianapolis 500 winners technically won their first World Championship race, though most record books choose to ignore this and instead only record regular World Championship participants.[citation needed]
See also [ edit ]
References [ edit ]
Further reading [ edit ] |
by
On October 6, Minnesota’s beer scene lost a legend.
Hans “Hanszee” Lofgren, a decades-long veteran of the local beer industry who worked for Capitol Beverage and Original Gravity, died unexpectedly at the age of 52.
Hanszee built countless friendships throughout his years of selling beer in Twin Cities and beyond. A mentor to many, a friend to all, Hanszee impacted people’s lives in positive ways from the very first moment they met him. His gregarious, genuine personality belied his formidable appearance, and his ability to make other people feel valued endeared him to so many.
In honor of Hans, we asked his friends and colleagues to share some of their thoughts and stories about the man who will be so sorely missed.
•••
Hans was a friend, a brother, a mentor, and a co-worker. He was larger than life in everything he did. He loved beer and he loved people and it showed in everything he did. His passing leaves a hole in our industry, our community, and our hearts. Many people have offered their condolences, kindly saying “I am sorry for your loss.” The reality is, this is a loss for all of us. We lost a big heart. He made everyone’s lives better by being in them, including mine. Hans is my friend. Hans is our friend. We have all learned a lot from Hans. Remember it all and celebrate it all the same way he would.
Paul Morrissey Jr.
President, Capitol Beverage Sales
•••
I had the pleasure of getting to know Hans at a beerfest in St. Cloud in the late 2000s. After getting past is imposing exterior, he instantly made you feel comfortable. In 2012, we turned over our distribution rights to Capitol Beverage Sales. Hans and the Morrisseys welcomed us into their portfolio, but also into their families. I was fortunate to spend so much time with Hans on our business. We became great friends enjoying time together outside of work. He was compassionate and generous, working to help to raise money and awareness for Valley Outreach in Stillwater, Wishes & More, and countless other amazing causes. Hans was a connector: even if he couldn’t help, he always knew someone who could. He built a vast network of loyal friends. He had a special place for local, small, unique, and knew what quality was. He left nothing on the table, living life fully. Above all, Hans loved Monica, Soren, and Frances.
Hans left a mark on everyone he met, I am lucky to have met him, and he has made a deep impact on my life. Rest in peace, my friend. Cheers.
Dan Schwarz
Co-Founder & CEO, Lift Bridge Brewing Co.
•••
Hanszee was one of the first people I met in the beer industry, almost 10 years ago. Even back then, he was introduced to me as one of the legendary figures of craft beer in Minnesota. I liked him from the moment I met him, and though we didn’t get a chance to work together, I always loved running into Hanszee at accounts, events, and festivals. He helped make the Minnesota craft beer industry into a fellowship of passionate, knowledgeable, and kind people.
Ryan Petz
CEO & Co-Founder, Fulton Brewing
•••
Hans Lofgren was the Consummate Beerman since the 1990s. He successfully transformed himself into the face of the craft beer boom in Minnesota. Through it all, he earned the respect of his family, church, company, community, and everyone that knew him!
Mick Detviler
Retired VP of Sales, Cold Spring Brewing Co.
Longtime friend and neighbor
•••
In an intense industry and complicated world, Hanszee was always a calm and comforting presence. Always. He was a ray sunshine and a breath of fresh air. No matter where you stood or on which side, he was a teammate. You knew you had a friend and supporter in Hanszee.
Clint Roberts
President, One Simple Plan; Former CMO, Surly Brewing; Former Executive Director, Minnesota Craft Brewers Guild
•••
Hans lead by example in showing up. Whether it be for special events, for an important life moment, or just to check in to say hi and I’m here with you, Hanszee was not one to say I can’t make it or I’m too busy.
Jeannie Kenevan
Territory Manager, Country Malt Group
•••
My favorite memory of the legend that we all knew and loved was the first time I realized what the true personality of Hanszee was. He found out that I was out of work in the beer business and was looking for a new gig. I had only met him a few times at this point and only as a competing beer rep. Our experience together at the time was short and sweet but immediately we both had great respect for each other as beer guys. He made a call to the owner of another distributor unbeknownst to me, telling him that they should hire me for a recently created position. Maybe a week after losing one job, I was hired for the new craft beer position as Capitol Beverage—in huge part, because of Hanszee’s recommendation. Hans soon followed suit and began working with us as the new Original Gravity. The rest is history and I got the privilege of working with him for the next three years. The best part about my quick story is that there are hundreds more just like it! He was a true mentor and friend and will forever be missed by many.
Shaun Wolf
Market Manager, Duvel USA
•••
Many people have already said it how Hans was a great guy and all of the stories are true. He seemed to always be happy and people enjoyed being around him. The beer business can get competitive, but he was always respectful. It would be a great world if more people could be like Hans. He will be missed by many.
Gabe LeClair
Craft Brand Manager, Artisan Beer Company
•••
He was one of the best men I have ever known, he always had a smile and a hug and time to chat. Spent Christmas Eve with him and his Family for many years, I will miss him in his Santa suit and singing The 12 Days of Christmas.
Cindy Doherty
Credit department of a distributor
•••
Three years ago when I quit my “craft-brewery job” to reinvent myself (ha, ha), I was home with the kids on a warm summer day when I heard my then-six-year-old say, “Dad, there’s a huge pickup truck in our driveway!” She sounded concerned so I hurried around to the front of the house. Of course there was no need to despair, it was just Hanzee. He sensed that maybe I was a bit lonely and rudderless at that point in my life and could use a friend, so there he was. And of course he didn’t come empty-handed. He had a case of Budweiser in vintage-can packaging (!), along with a half-dozen reusable plastic Budweiser party cups for me to enjoy. He had just stopped by to say hi, crack a beer, and spread a little joy. Classic Hanzee. There will be never be another man like him.
Kenny Gunderman
CFO/MN Staffing, Inc.
•••
It’s very hard to sum up how many great memories we’ve had with Hans. He helped teach me about beer and get to know so many other amazing people in the beer industry. After a Minnesota Wild game on New Year’s Eve, Rob and I went up to Old Chicago Roseville to grab a pint and some food. Hanszee messaged me and invited us over to have some beers with him, Monica, and the kids, and ring in the New Year. It was so sweet of him to open his home to us and let us be apart of his family’s New Year’s Celebration. Had so many great laughs and heard so many fun stories. He always made you feel like you were the most important person in the room and had some of the best stories!
Mel Fischer-Burrows
Credit & Collections, Breakthru Bev
•••
It hurts to lose someone who was such a positive force in the world. My last beers with Hans were in St. Paul, sitting in the sun, watching a sidewalk of people flowing by us, and talking about life, family, fun, and work. He cared about living a full life and was a such a great mentor to so many in the community. An inspiration and a friend I’ll always remember.
Tim Olson
Sales Manager, The Growler Magazine
•••
One of my favorite memories about Hans was how much he cared for others. He’d buy me a beer and ask me about what I was up to. He wasn’t buttering me up to make a sale (I don’t have a retail operation); he truly cared and wanted to listen. I’ll miss having a guy that genuine to drink beer and talk with.
Andrew Schmitt
Co-host, Minnesota BeerCast
•••
Hans, Monica, and their family embraced us as neighbors from the beginning. We lived next to the Lofgrens for seven years and so as you can imagine there are countless memories. He was the neighbor who helped you haul your leaves, snow plowed your driveway when you were on vacation, and insisted on driving us to the airport because he thought it was a waste of money to park there.
He cared a great deal about those close to him and was such a thoughtful and generous man. He always had a new beer for me to try, curious of my opinion on it. He took me to, or invited me to, countless events and brought me into his world. Hans introduced me to so many fantastic people, connecting us as friends. I’ll always be truly grateful for that.
The late-night talks on the back patio are what I have missed and will miss the most. We talked about beer (of course), politics, sports, and our families. Hans loved his family and was so proud of his kids, Soren and Frances, his wife Monica, and his parents. He was also proud of so many of you out there in his life. I’m very thankful that I knew that side of Hans and that I’ll always cherish these memories of him.
Tucker A. Pearce
Project Manager, U.S. Bank
•••
I met Hans almost 13 years ago when I first started working in the Minnesota beer industry. First selling against him, as I heard all the stories from the local bar owners around town of who he was and how his handles were off limits so don’t even ask about them, to later working with him when we launched our brand in Minnesota back in 2011. Hans taught me a lot about the business that we all enjoy but more so about life. Hans taught not by telling you how or why you should do something, but rather by showing you how to enjoy the little things you experienced each day. There was never a day that I didn’t walk into his office or meet him out in the market that he didn’t have a smile from ear to ear on his face. I can truly say that I am better person today for the things that he taught over the years and it is an honor to have been able to call him my friend.
Shawn Reupke
Regional Market Manager, Alaskan Brewing Company
•••
I learned from my early traveling to breweries and Craft Brewers Conferences with Hans that he was well known, respected, and loved. Faces would light up with a smile when they saw him. Conversation followed about families and craft beer. I’ll greatly miss these travels and conversations with Hans. He taught me a lot about the beer business. He was a great ambassador of craft beer, but more importantly a great father, husband, and friend. You’ll truly be missed and never forgotten. RIP, my friend.
Der Gargrave
College City Beverage
•••
I am fortunate to say on Wednesday, October 4 I enjoyed a few last pints with Hanzee at one of his favorite spots in St. Paul, Half Time Rec. As always, it was a great conversation with lots of laughs. Hans mentioned how he always appreciated how everyone at Odell has always treated him like family, and in turn he felt like he was a direct part of our company. The truth is, Hans just treated everyone in his life like direct family. We were the ones that felt a part of his. When my wife Jadie and I moved from Fort Collins, Colorado, to St. Paul, Minnesota, Hans was the first to embrace us. Not like a business partner, but as best friends. He is the most passionate person I have met about his home state and the city of St. Paul specifically. We could not have had a better friend to show us this beautiful state and all the great things it has to offer.
Ryan Tostenson
Minnesota State Sales Representative, Odell Brewing Company
•••
Hans hired me to run Capitol Beverage’s Minneapolis On Premise Craft Route about seven years ago. He became a lifelong friend.
My favorite Hanszee moment isn’t one specific time, but rather a culmination of a lot of time spent together. Hans taught me how to build relationships and how important it is to take a minute and generally get to know and care about those you interact with on a daily basis. Whether it be the bar owner, bar back, wait staff, bus person, or the regular sitting at the bar. This was always evident everywhere we went as he’d done it for many, many years. We’d schedule a meeting and it would be interrupted over and over again because everybody wanted to get a moment of his time to catch up. Our 20-minute meetings turned into two- to three-hour affairs.
I was very nervous when I received a phone call from him for my interview at Capitol. I was even more nervous when I arrived and this big burly dude comes to get me for my interview. I had heard of him and knew of his importance to the beer industry. I hadn’t heard anything about his personality. I thank God that his compassion and calming personality came through as I was so nervous my voice was trembling. His witty humor and hearty, raspy laugh settled me right down.
I’ll forever call myself one of Hanszee’s guys and I’ll never forget his infectious personality. My wife Nicki will miss those big, wet, beer-filled bearded kisses as well. I’m honored to have learned from him and we’ll miss him forever.
Brandon Smith
Minnesota Market Manager, Lagunitas Brewing Company
•••
I’m one of those many people in our industry who wasn’t particularly close to Hans, but was nonetheless devastated by his death. Hans was so generous with his time and advice; from the first time I met him, he took an interest in me, what I was trying to do, what made me tick. And from then on, every time I ran into him, he took time to talk, share, etc. I remember one time I stopped in randomly to Blackbird and Hans was there. He immediately stopped what he was doing to chat and share some (fantastic) beer. I know he did this with countless people. He was such a genuine person. He loved beer, and he loved all of us beer people.
Eric Foster
Co-owner and beer guy, Ward 6 Food & Drink, St. Paul
•••
Hanszee was a gentle giant in the Minnesota beer scene, not only in physical stature, but also in personality and reputation. He always greeted friends with his large smile, booming voice, firm handshake, and a laugh that was unmistakable across the grounds of whichever beer fest we were prepping for. I remember him for his keen sense of rock-and-roll style, singular to him. Man, he wore some cool rings. I once complimented him on a beer shirt he was wearing, and then he bought the matching shirt as a gift the next time he visited the brewhouse. His generosity and authenticity made him one of the greatest craft beer reps in the business and he’ll be deeply missed by his colleagues. Rest in peace, brother Hanszee. See you on the other side, my friend. I’m betting that you’ll have some beer chilled when we get there.
Tim Nelson
Founder, Earth Rider Brewing
•••
No matter where I was in my professional life Hans was always a support to me. My favorite memory with Mr. Hanszee was when I worked for the brewery, I did an event at Kelly’s Tap House and Grill in Red Wing and discovered their 41-tap challenge (as at this time they had 41 beers on tap.) As I’m drinking my way through the challenge I was posting on social media, and by the time I got to the 11th or 12th beer who walks through the door, Mr. Hans Lofgren himself. He walked over, sat down, and said, “I saw you doing this on Facebook and had to see it myself.” He stayed and drank with me while I completed the challenge, and honestly if he didn’t I don’t think I would’ve finished it. He didn’t take part in the festivities that night, so we always talked about doing it again together and were planning for this November. To you, Hanszee, yes sir “one of these day we will ride again.”
Mike Illig
Account Executive, Cargill Craft Malt
•••
Hanszee was larger than life. He did everything with passion and kindness. All you have to do is look at the many people that have memorialized him on social media and you will see his reach was far. He put his all into his family, his community, his job, and of course his beer. He lived each day in the moment. As we go on with our lives, take a piece of Hans with you and make sure to care for each individual you meet and of course that your glasses are beer clean!
Cheers my friend.
Laurisa “Reese” Davies
Manager, Capitol Beverage Sales
•••
Class. Respect. Jovial. This was Hanszee. I remember running into Hans when I first started slinging beer in a town that wasn’t welcoming to strangers. In a town whose backyard was my biggest competitor. I felt defeated nearly every day at the beginning. One afternoon this beast of a guy walks up to me, probably the most intimidating guy in the room, and extends his large mitt. He had the warmest biggest smile and instead of kicking my a$$, he offered to buy me a beer and wanted to hear my story. Immediate respect given to me when it wasn’t even deserved. It didn’t take long to realize that Hanszee was really a big teddy bear. His passion and gregarious personality were infectious. Yes, there is no doubt that he is legend in the beer world. But, most importantly he was an amazing person, someone we all desire to be and friend to all.
Kris Freeman
Lead Brewery Representative, Bell’s Brewery
•••
Hans was my friend at a base level. He was the most friendly, happy, smart, communicative person I know.
My favorite memories are of Hans and Monica in Duluth hanging out with me, and Hans talking about every possible beer subject under the sun as Monica sat with us and endured the hours of talk with a smile on her face and her hand on his arm. They are awesome and Hans leaving does not change that, except it sucks and is not right. Much love.
Dave Hoops
Brewer and Founder, Hoops Brewing
•••
Hanszee was an inspiration to me. Not only professionally, but he really helped define what it meant to be a genuine, and generous human being. Always willing to go the extra three miles, regardless of how well he knew you. I, for one, will continue to carry his torch and be sure that his legacy, and commitment to helping others, lives on. Rest in peace, my friend. I’ll miss you. Thank you for being…you.
Rob Shellman
Better Beer Society
•••
I had the pleasure of connecting with Hanzee in many contexts. At every encounter, Hanzee was in a positive mood, thoughtful beyond what I expected, and generous with good suggestions I had not previously considered. He was behaving like we all should.
Phil Platt
Brewery Ambassador, Summit Brewing; Formerly Executive Director, Minnesota Craft Brewers Guild
•••
Selflessness, thoughtfulness, and kindness are the first words that come to mind when I think about Hans. I had the good fortune of meeting him in early 2011 after having just joined the craziness we all know as the Minnesota craft beer industry. I had no idea why the Furious line was pouring foam at one of our largest draft accounts in Minneapolis. He showed me exactly what was wrong and taught me how to fix it before even asking my name. He saw a lost and confused rookie working for a competitor but didn’t hesitate to provide guidance. Quickly he did ask my name and said he was glad to be able to help. In the 6 odd years since that day I have only known him to be the decent and kind man he was the day I met him. He was good, to everyone. Heroes aren’t forgotten, but legends never die. Cheers to Hanszee, you will be dearly missed by all who knew you.
Stephen Davis
Key Account Manager, Surly Brewing Co.
•••
There have been so many heartfelt and grateful missives posted online since his passing. I’ve read each one with a bittersweet affect, touched by the way he positively impacted so many, and saddened by the loss so many now feel. I have this small piece to add: before Capital was selling craft, despite having a diligent sales rep, I bought zero draft beer from them. When my rep finally had something to offer (Red Hook Copperhook), he and Hanszee came by, sampled us out, and we brought it in—the first new draft I offered after taking the reins as a manager. Regardless, before, during, and after I was a customer, even when I’ve worked for competitors—Hanszee always treated me with sincerity and respect. He will be missed.
Jordan Aberman
Regional Manager, Surly Brewing Co.; Former Bar Manager, Pracna on Main
•••
Hans taught so many people so many important things, not just about the beer industry, but about how to get along with other human beings in this world. Hans wasn’t just a beer salesman. He was a diplomat, and an ambassador for entire generations of men and women who followed in his massive footsteps. Hans Lofgren was one of the best in the business, but more importantly he was a caring father, a loving husband, a reliable friend, an enlightened mentor to many, and a good guy.
I got a text from Mayor Coleman when he heard the news. He put it just about as well as anyone could: “He was just one of those guys that always made your day better when you saw him.”
Rest easy, big fella.
Joseph Alton
Editor-in-Chief, The Growler Magazine
•••
These are just a few of the innumerable stories about Hans; there are so many more still to be told. So take a page from Hans’ book: Buy a beer for someone, share stories and words of encouragement, and leave the world a little richer in joy and friendship.
An education fund has been set up for Hans and Monica’s children. Seventh Street Truck Park is holding a “Hundos for Hans” event on November 4 to also raise money for the Lofgren family. |
A motorist boasted that he had refused to help a woman whose car was stuck in the snow after he spotted her Trump bumper sticker.
Troy Brown took a picture of a stranded vehicle in the snow and posted it on Facebook with the caption: 'I was going to help her but she has a #Trump sticker on her car #CallYoPresident'.
He also posted a video of himself purportedly driving on by.
Scroll down for video
A motorist boasted that he had refused to help a woman whose car was stuck in the snow after he spotted her Trump bumper sticker
The post, which has been liked and shared more than 4,000 times, sparked major debate among the hundreds of comments.
Many attacked Brown for leaving the woman stranded in the snow based solely on her political stance.
Others defended Brown, saying they would have done the same.
Brown, who posts extensively about political issues, doubled down on his decision, adding 'a list of people Trump voters can call for help:1. Yo president 2. Exxon Mobil CEO 3. General Flynn's son 4. The gunman at Comet pizza in D.C.'
Troy Brown (left and right) refused to help the stranded motorist who was stuck in the snow
took a picture of a stranded vehicle in the snow and posted it on Facebook with the caption: 'I was going to help her but she has a #Trump sticker on her car #CallYoPresident'
Brown, who posts extensively about political issues, doubled down on his decision, adding 'a list of people Trump voters can call for help:1. Yo president 2. Exxon Mobil CEO 3. General Flynn's son 4. The gunman at Comet pizza in D.C.'
The motorist wrote that he does not support 'Trump supporters, rapists, trafficking, or murderers.
'I believe in peace and harmony. Trump didn't display that.'
Brown revealed that he had been a Bernie Sanders supporter before Donald Trump won the election.
He had posted the picture of the stranded motorist on December 13 - when Ohio was suffering heavy snowstorms and freezing temperatures hitting as low as 13 degrees. |
Enter the Islamic State and Yemen
The kingdom’s Wahhabi Islam is the most fundamentalist Sunni branch of the religion. But it has now been outflanked by religious radicals who are even more intolerant, xenophobic, and far more violent. The blood-curdling appearance of the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria in 2014 represents a new challenge to the world and, in particular, to MBN and his counterterrorism program. Heir to al-Qaida in Mesopotamia, which went deep underground during the American surge in Iraq in 2007 only to resurface after the withdrawal of foreign forces, the Islamic State has staged a multipronged comeback campaign. In 2012-13, it began targeting Iraqi prisons where al-Qaida terrorists were incarcerated and creating an infrastructure in neighboring Syria to assist in its revival. In the summer of 2014 it waged a blitzkrieg-like offensive across Sunni populated Iraq, took command of the country’s second city, Mosul, and declared the creation of a caliphate to rule all of Islam.
In November 2014 the Islamic State announced that its goal is to take control of the mosques in Mecca and Medina and oust the “serpent’s head”—the Saudi royal family. Its English language magazine published a cover story with a photo of the Kaaba with the Islamic State’s black flag flying over it. Islamic State militants have attacked Saudi security posts along the Iraqi border and sent suicide bombers to attack Shiite mosques inside the kingdom in order to fuel sectarian enmity. In response to the threat the Interior Ministry has arrested hundreds of Islamic State operatives and is constructing a 600 mile long security fence or wall along the Saudi-Iraqi border, similar to a 1,000 mile long wall it built along the Saudi-Yemeni border to defeat al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula.
The Islamic State announced that its goal is to take control of the mosques in Mecca and Medina and oust the Saudi royal family.
Abdullah died in January this year after almost 20 years of ruling the kingdom, first as crown prince filling in for an incapacitated King Fahd, then as king in his own right. Having outlived two crown princes, Sultan and Nayef, Abdullah had tried to prepare for an orderly succession. In July 2012 he made his half-brother Prince Muqrin the deputy prime minister, second in line to the throne after Crown Prince Salman, now king, also a half-brother. Muqrin was very close to Abdullah and his reforms.
Abdullah’s passing marks a major milestone in the kingdom’s history. A reformer by Saudi standards, he ruled longer than any of his brothers and through perilous times. His designated successor was Salman, 13 years younger. Once Salman ascended the throne, he made Muqrin crown prince, as was expected, and moved MBN up to second in line as deputy prime minister. It was assumed that Muqrin, who was born in 1945, the 35th son of Ibn Saud, would become king some day, and that MBN would then have some years to prepare for his own ascension, and to get the country ready for the generational transition from the sons of Ibn Saud to his grandsons.
Then came a stunning and unprecedented family reshuffle. At four o’clock in the morning on April 29, Salman sacked Muqrin and made MBN crown prince in his stead. Salman’s son Muhammad bin Salman (MBS) became the new number two. No explanation for the unprecedented ouster of a crown prince was given then or since. There is intense speculation that Salman made this change because MBN has no sons of his own (only two daughters), which means that MBS—who some sources say is not yet 30—will have a better chance of one day succeeding to the throne. Some speculate that MBN will sooner or later get the boot himself to ensure MBS makes it to the top.
MBS’s unbridled ambition has alienated many of his fellow princes. He has a reputation for arrogance and ruthlessness. He controls oil policy, but his complete lack of experience in the energy industry is all too evident. However, his principal vulnerability is his prominence, in his role as minister of defense, as the driving force and public advocate of Saudi policy toward its desperately poor, politically unstable neighbor on the peninsula: Yemen.
Yemen has always been a thorn in Saudi Arabia’s side. Ibn Saud went to war with Yemen in 1934. His armies captured much of the low-lying coastal plain along the Red Sea but could not conquer the mountainous interior of the country. A peace treaty ceded several border provinces to the kingdom, thus ensuring a long-standing irredentist movement in Yemen. In the 1960s the Saudis backed the Zaydi Shiite monarchs who traditionally ruled Yemen against an Egyptian backed republican movement that threatened to topple all the monarchies in the peninsula.
But in March of this year the Saudis launched air strikes against the Houthis, the Zaydi Shiite rebels who had deposed the pro-Saudi government in Sanaa last fall and taken control of much of the country. The Saudis were particularly alarmed by the Zaydi decision to open direct air flights to Tehran (a first), offer Iran use of Hudaydah port, and negotiate a cheap oil deal with Iran. Riyadh got support for its air war from all the other Arab states of the Gulf region except Oman. Jordan, Morocco, and Egypt have also joined Saudi Arabia in the war effort but Pakistan, a longtime Saudi ally, refused.
The United States is providing intelligence and logistical help, despite getting only a few hours’ notice from Riyadh about the first strikes. The Saudis initially called the campaign Operation Decisive Storm, a deliberate echo of the United States’ pummeling of Saddam Hussein’s regime and the eviction of his forces from Kuwait in 1991. It is by far the most assertive foreign policy move in the kingdom’s recent history. Previous Saudi interventions in Yemen were clandestine, covert affairs. King Salman is projecting Saudi military might in an aggressive manner unprecedented since the days of his father Ibn Saud in the 1930s. The stakes are high.
So far the Yemeni adventure has not gone well, however. The war seems to be bogged down in a stalemate. Saudi Arabia and its allies control Yemen’s airspace and coastal waters and the southern port of Aden, but the Zaydi Houthis and their allies control most of northern Yemen.
Meanwhile, the Saudi blockade is creating a humanitarian catastrophe for the 25 million Yemenis, and the war has been a net gain for al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula. With the Saudis fighting the Houthis, much of eastern Yemen has become even more lawless than usual, allowing al-Qaida to take control of large parts of the Hadramawt province in the southeast, where bin Laden’s father and family had lived before emigrating to the kingdom in the 1930s.
The Yemen war, which is King Salman’s first major foreign test, has profound implications for the stability of Saudi Arabia, the Arabian Peninsula, and the region as a whole. The war has a Sunni-Shia sectarian dimension, and it’s also an arena of the broader Saudi-Iranian struggle for regional hegemony. Moreover, because the war is partly about Yemeni aspirations for a more inclusive government, it represents, in effect, the unfinished business of the Arab Spring, which the Saudis have resisted so vigorously.
The conflict is likely to draw in more players as it goes on and to spill out of Yemen to other countries. Already it has sparked violent clashes between MBN’s Interior Ministry forces and Shiite militants in the Saudis’ Eastern Province.
In short, Yemen could end up being a black mark on King Salman’s reign, and fatal to the ambitions of both MBN and MBS. Given how much he has identified himself with the war effort as minister of defense, MBS has the most to lose. So far he still has his father’s ear, and has represented him in visits to Russia and France. When King Salman abruptly canceled plans to meet President Obama at Camp David to show his pique at the president’s plan to secure a nuclear deal with Iran, he sent the two princes, MBN and MBS, in his stead. Obama pressed them on reform but backed their war. When King Salman finally did travel to Washington the talks were brief and the focus for the Saudi audience was more on MBS than his father.
MBN may be the most pro-American prince ever to be in line to the throne. He is probably the most successful intelligence officer in the Arab world of today. Panetta, like Tenet, praises him, calling MBN the “smartest and most accomplished of his generation.” Only King Fahd, another former minister of the interior, may have been so instinctively inclined to support American interests. Unlike his father, MBN seems altogether comfortable working closely with Americans. He seemed to get on fine with President Obama at Camp David. His agents just captured the mastermind of the 1996 Saudi Hezbollah attack on U.S. military barracks in Khobar, Saudi Arabia, that killed 19 American service members. MBN has already had more responsibility than any Saudi of his generation, and his burden is likely to become all the heavier given the chaos in the post-Arab Spring Middle East. He knows he needs allies.
But Washington should have no illusions that MBN will take Western advice to reform the kingdom. Saudi Arabia makes no bones about being the leading opponent of everything the Arab Spring stood for when it began in 2011 and everything that so many in the West were cheering for. The Saudis helped engineer the 2013 coup in Egypt that restored military rule to the largest Arab country and dealt the Arab Spring a fatal blow. They are skilled counterterrorists, but they are also accomplished and unabashed counterrevolutionaries.
Saudi Arabia is the world’s last significant absolute monarchy. It will not have a Gorbachev moment, because the royal family will not give up their control of the nation, nor will they loosen their ties with the Wahhabis and their faith. King Salman, Crown Prince Muhammad bin Nayef, Deputy Crown Prince Muhammad bin Salman, and virtually all of the rest of the Saudi establishment believe they have survived more than two and a half centuries in the rough politics of the Middle East not just because of their ruthless determination to stay absolute monarchs, but because of their alliance with the Wahhabi clerics.
The House of Saud has outlasted the Ottomans, Nasserism, Communism, Baathism, and most other royal families. In 1979 many thought they would go the way of the Shah of Iran. As a young analyst at the CIA charged with the Saudi portfolio I predicted then that they would survive for many decades to come. It is too soon to write their epitaph, but I suspect it is too late to expect them to change.
Now read “The Believer,” a profile of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, leader of the Islamic State (ISIS). In this essay, Brookings Fellow William McCants details how Baghdadi became radicalized, found his path to power, and declared himself the head of a reborn Islamic empire bent on world conquest.
Bruce Riedel is a senior fellow and director of the Brookings Intelligence Project, part of the Brookings Center for 21st Century Security and Intelligence. In addition, Riedel serves as a senior fellow in the Center for Middle East Policy. He retired in 2006 after 30 years of service at the Central Intelligence Agency, including postings overseas. He was a senior advisor on South Asia and the Middle East to the last four presidents of the United States in the staff of the National Security Council at the White House. He was also deputy assistant secretary of defense for the Near East and South Asia at the Pentagon and a senior advisor at the North Atlantic Treaty Organization in Brussels. |
This news item expired on Saturday, September 14, 2013 so the information below could be outdated or incorrect.
Come and play at the fifth annual West Asheville Garden Stroll, Saturday, September 14, 2013 from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., rain or shine! This year’s theme, “Play in the Garden”, will be highlighted during family-friendly kick-off ceremonies in Christopher Mello’s supremely whimsical garden, 307 Waynesville Avenue in West Asheville.
Whee Ahh Faerie Kin, a performance troupe of magical beings – “mythical, elemental, wild and free” – will inaugurate the 2013 stroll with heart-full songs, faerie mist and other delights at 10:30 a.m. Asheville-based Bee City USA will provide an educational exhibit on creating sustainable habitats for pollinators, and homemade bee homes for non-hiving bees will be on exhibit.
The 2013 Stroll includes approximately 15 gardens in West Asheville, with this year’s gardens centered along Westwood Place and Waynesville Avenue. Garden features along the way will include a variety of permaculture features, set-ups for chickens and bees, vegetable beds for sunny spots and other possibilities for shade, garden art and wild spaces. The route for the Stroll includes number of historic homes in West Asheville’s oldest residential neighborhood.
The West Asheville Garden Stroll is a non-profit endeavor led by a group of passionate gardeners. It is FREE and open to the public. Volunteer opportunities and additional information are available at www.WestAshevilleGardens.com.
For more information, contact Katie Doan, West Asheville Garden Stroll Coordinator, at 254-2725 or kdoan@silcom.com. |
TALLAHASSEE | College students oppose it. So do university faculty members, their presidents and campus police chiefs.
But that hasn't stopped Florida's Republican-led Legislature from keeping alive a controversial bill that would allow people with concealed weapons permits to bring their guns on the campuses of 12 state universities.
Senate Bill 176 was approved along party lines on Monday by the Criminal Justice Committee. The House version, HB 4005, passed its first committee last month in the same fashion. Both have more committee stops before they are ready for a floor vote.
Criminal Justice Chairman Greg Evers, R-Baker, said he supported the legislation because he was concerned for the safety of college students, especially young women who could be sexually assaulted.
"If you have one victim that's one too many, so I feel like … [we must] allow people the opportunity to protect themselves," he said.
The other two Republicans on the committee - Sen. Rob Bradley, of Fleming Island, and Sen. Jeff Brandes, of St. Petersburg - also voted in favor of the bill. Sen. Audrey Gibson, D-Jacksonville, and Sen. Jeff Clemens, D-Lake Worth, voted "no."
"I don't think we need mini militias on our university campuses," Gibson said.
She urged lawmakers to consider adding a provision to the legislation that would allow individual universities to ultimately decide whether to allow guns on their grounds, similar to laws in 23 other states. Eight other states allow concealed weapons on university campuses outright.
So many people signed up to speak during public comment Monday - most of them opposed to the bill - that there was not enough time for everyone to be heard. Several students who attended the meeting complained afterward that they had been silenced.
Just as the public comment period was ending, Margie Sanfilippo broke rules of decorum and addressed Evers from her seat in the crowded room. She had taken the day off from work and drove five hours to speak, she said, and asked that he give her time at the podium.
Sanfilippo, a psychology professor at private Eckerd College, spoke about her research on gun violence and said the legislation was misguided because campus shootings are rare.
"Althought one situation is one too many, there is no evidence that allowing concealed carry on campus would prevent it," she said. "It is mere speculation and ignorance of statistical probability to assert that armed students are the reason why shootings don't happen on campuses."
Proponents of the legislation often use the example of the shooting on Florida State University's campus in November that injured two students and an employee before the gunman was killed by law enforcement. They argued that someone who was legally able to carry a gun on campus might have prevented the incident.
During Monday's debate, college-age women became more of a focus. Evers said he felt so strongly that women should be allowed to protect themselves by carrying a gun, he would consider reducing the legal age for applying for a concealed weapon permit from 21 to 18.
Tia Mitchell: (850) 933-1321 |
Written by Carmen-Cristina Cîrlig
In recent years, cyber attacks on a serious scale have become a matter of concern to states, due to the threat they can pose to national security, but also a potential foreign policy and military tool to be added to existing options in their arsenals. While international law is still struggling with defining norms on state actions in cyberspace, the latter is now increasingly viewed as a fifth domain of warfare.
Although, for the time being, no cyber attack is known to have provoked death or physical damage to human beings, an ever growing number of states around the world are preparing for conflict in the cyber domain, and, in this context, have been developing national doctrines, cyber-defence strategies and defensive and offensive capabilities for cyber warfare.
The definitions surrounding ‘cyber war’ and ‘cyber defence’ are still widely debated, and indeed have become a burgeoning topic for international legal scholars, along with governments and international organisations. With little agreement among the major countries preparing their own cyber warfare capabilities, there are not yet rules comparable to those for conventional warfare. A number of EU Member States are amongst those developing their capabilities, while the EU’s own Defence Agency is also working on projects to augment cyber-defences in the Union. NATO too is involved in efforts to develop defensive capabilities. |
Built in Evansville, Ind., 1st Lt. Archie “Lin” Maltbie’s Republic P-47D-28-RA Thunderbolt (42-28932/C4-T) of the 386th Fighter Squadron, 365th Fighter Group, occupies the foreground at A-84 Chievres near Mons, Belgium while other “Jugs” take off in the background. Taken from the book Hell Hawks by Robert F. Dorr and Thomas D. Jones, the scene occurs at the height of the Battle of the Bulge in January 1945.
During World War II in Europe, the German Tiger tank was a respected and feared fighting machine, but it was not always a match for the robust Republic P-47D Thunderbolt or the men who flew it. This account from just after the Battle of the Bulge is an excerpt from the book Hell Hawks!: The Untold Story of the American Fliers Who Savaged Hitler’s Wehrmacht by Robert F. Dorr and Thomas D. Jones.
After helping taking Cologne, the 3rd Armored Division took a well-deserved break from combat. 1st Lt. Edward Lopez, a P-47 Thunderbolt pilot who’d served with the tankers as a forward air controller, returned to the 387th Fighter Squadron, but not before procuring a few souvenirs – a fine shotgun, Nazi ceremonial dagger, and a huge swastika banner – taken from abandoned houses in the bombed city. Lopez reflected on his brief stint with the front line troops:
“On my arrival I was the envy of the rest of the pilots, for not only had I experienced what our ground troops go through, but also had the opportunity to see the damage we had done to the German war effort, the burned out gun emplacements, destroyed Tiger tanks, gutted buildings, etc…and how grateful the GIs were that we were there to help them.”
While Lopez was forward with the 3rd Armored, the Hell Hawks – that was the name of the 365th Fighter Group, which included the 386th, 387th and 388th Fighter Squadrons – worked closely with other controllers accompanying U.S. tank columns. The group’s P-47 Thunderbolt pilots attacked designated targets and warned the G.I.s of opposition ahead.
In mid-afternoon of March 2, Major Arlo C. Henry was leading another pair of Thunderbolts, each lugging a pair of 500-pound bombs. The 3rd Armored Division controller, FORMROOM, directed Henry to a suspected tank concentration near the small Cologne suburb of Stommeln.
His information was accurate: Henry picked out three panzers traveling at 500-yard intervals into town.
Henry wrote later: “We were asked to seek out a tank or a mobile 88mm gun in or around the town of Stommeln that was holding up the column. From the air we could see the complete problem. Most of the column was behind the northwest/southeast railroad embankment which ran about one-half mile south of the town. About four or five [American] tanks had ventured through the underpass to head north towards town. They were either stalled or burning after being hit by enemy fire.
“We circled the town two or three times at low altitude without spotting a gun or a tank of any size. Further, we received no ground fire. Suddenly, one of my flight members called out, ‘Three tanks coming south towards town!!’ I immediately called FORMROOM to confirm that no friendly troops were north or northwest of the town.
“‘Negative. Identify and destroy!'”
“‘Roger!'”
“We made a fast in-trail pass to look at the tanks and saw the muzzle-brakes and crosses on the turrets. ‘Tigers! They’re closing up – let’s try to get them before they split up!’
“By this time I was coming around for a low pass with bombs. The tanks had pulled up and stopped bumper-to-bumper at the east-west street. We had to get those bombs in broadside before they split up! I punched the button to release the bombs and pulled up sharply to miss the power lines strung across the street. I then made a low tight turn to the left to see how we had done. |
The pool party – Remember what momma said: “Don’t swim right after you eat– you’ll cramp up and drown” …and… “Don’t pee in the pool.” The former is a mere old wives’ tale, but seriously, DON’T PEE IN THE POOL. But back to the food. The key to throwing a killer pool party is having a great spread of foods and beverages that won’t perish in the summer heat. Try Thug Kitchen’s Lavender Lemonade plus rum or vodka, and soak it up with something other than chips, crackers, or “meh” fruit salads. Enjoy bacon in the sun while bakin’ in the sun (maybe wrapped around jalapeño poppers or infused into chocolate chip cookies), or pulled pork sliders with sweet and hot pickles, grilled peaches, or a sneaky watermelon cake |
Welcome from Mayor Howdy ! My name is Rusty Shackleford. As mayor I would like to welcome you to Arlen, Texas. Arlen is a thriving community of friendly, hardworking, and family oriented people. The award winning Arlen Advisor newspaper called Arlen "a special place where propane and lawn mowers run free." Arlen combines the best of small town living with city conveniences. So whether you're looking for a place to live, play, or work why not choose Arlen, Texas. It's so perfect, we're sure you'll swear it doesn't exist! *Note: The above picture is not Arlen. It is Ausin, the Texas capital. Arlen does not have a great skyline. In fact, the only significant building in downtown Arlen is a 20 story hotel that went bankrupt in the 1940's.
Arlen Facts Established 1886, city became one of state's largest cotton-buying centers. Propane was discovered in the 1920's. Substantial industrial development has been made in recent decades |
UPDATE: Despite the valiant efforts of activists and organizations, on July 6, 2017, the W3C greenlighted DRM for the Web. This is all the more reason to stop giving Netflix your money! Read more here about Encrypted Media Extensions (EME) and how it harms users.
Netflix just announced that they are streaming videos in HTML5, only in browsers with "Premium Video Extensions". You know what that means -- Digital Restrictions Management (DRM).
The announcement is Netflix's latest chess move in their long game to blanket the web in DRM. Slipping a DRM delivery mechanism into the HTML5 standard is the online streaming giant's endgame. If the outrageous proposal Netflix is peddling to the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) is adopted, you can kiss the free Web as we know it goodbye. Where do they get the money to gain influence at W3C?
From your subscription dollars.
The proposal has faced massive public opposition, and so Netflix is introducing a new strategy. Fake it til you make it. In yesterday's announcement, Netflix rep (and W3C proposal engineer) Mark Watson said: "We expect premium video on the web to continue to shift away from using proprietary plugin technologies to using these new Premium Video Extensions." That's some impressive doublespeak: Premium Video Extensions are proprietary.
Meanwhile, in the real world, at least one W3C member has spoken out in opposition to the proposal, and an international coalition of 27 organizations along with tens of thousands of individuals have also asked W3C to abandon the proposal. But so far Netflix, and other powerful W3C members like Microsoft and Google, are drowning out that substantial opposition with brute force.
That's why now it's time to vote with your dollars.
While W3C CEO Jeff Jaffe's public support for the proposal is baffling, it's the proposal's authors, led by Watson, who developed this scheme. DRM has been an important part of Netflix's business model from the beginning; the company currently uses Microsoft's proprietary plug in Silverlight to lock down its streaming videos. For Netflix, which has previously had to spend time and money to implement DRM, getting W3C to include support for DRM in the HTML standard would make it easier and cheaper for them to control your online viewing.
Netflix, and other companies supporting the proposal, have resorted to thinly veiled threats to deprive the world of movies. Having flashbacks to the empty threats made during the SOPA/PIPA fight? Yeah, us too. While it didn't work on Congress, the threat seems to be working on the W3C.
In a recent blog post, Jaffe wrote: "Without content protection, owners of premium video content - driven by both their economic goals and their responsibilities to others - will simply deprive the Open Web of key content. Therefore, while the actual DRM schemes are clearly not open, the Open Web must accommodate them as best possible."[3] We prefer the term 'free Web' Jeff, but we hear what you're saying--Hollywood is a bully and if you don't give them your lunch money, you'll end up with a wedgie.
The bullying may be influencing the W3C, but it won't work on us. We want Netflix to know we won't let them pervert W3C's mission just so they can save a few bucks. If Netflix wants to continue restricting users with DRM, they can do it on their own dime. So let's show Netflix that pushing for DRM in HTML won't save them anything; in fact, it'll cost 'em.
Cancel your subscription to Netflix, and tell them why.
And once you've canceled, how about donating those subscription funds to a group that is fighting on your behalf, like the Free Software Foundation or the Electronic Frontier Foundation? We will use those dollars to amplify the impact of your cancellation. |
After being grounded for four months, Russia’s accident prone Proton booster will be back in action Sunday morning with officials once again praying it launches a payload into space rather than back to Earth.
Meanwhile, Russian officials are moving ahead with an expensive plan to overhaul Proton’s builder, Khrunichev, to allow it to compete with American start-up SpaceX on price and to produce a new family of Angara boosters.
A Proton-M/Briz-M is set to lift off from Baikonur at 0224 local time (2024 GMT or 4:24 p.m. EDT) with the classified Olymp military satellite.
The Russian booster has been grounded since May 16 when faulty turbopump caused the third stage and Express АМ4R communications satellite to re-enter the Earth atmosphere over China.
The Khunichev-built Proton has been plagued by failures in recent years. The most spectacular occurred in July 2013 when a Proton rocket nose dived into the Baikonur Cosmodrome and exploded in a fireball. That accident was blamed on a sensor that had been installed upside down.
As Proton returns to flight, the Russian government is attempting an intervention aimed at saving Khrunichev. The effort includes a government takeover of the company and an expensive revamp of its production capabilities aimed at improving quality control, efficiency and competitiveness.
The takeover is being led by United Rocket and Space Corporation (URSC), a fully government owned company that is consolidating Russia’s space sector under its control. URSC is acquiring full shares in Khrunichev.
In August, USRC gave a preliminary estimate of 30 billion rubles ($825 million) to overhaul Khrunichev. At the time, they said a final estimate was due at the end of September.
A key goal is to improve the quality control of Proton boosters and make them competitive with SpaceX’s cut-rate Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy boosters, according to URSC’s deputy director general for economics and finance.
“If Space X offers on the market the prices and quality it is talking about and if it can put its Falcon 9 into a geostationary transfer orbit for $55.5 million, then they will be targeting a segment of satellites lighter than 4.5 tons, which is quite big. We can also achieve this level of costs, slightly higher,” he said. If the $81 million Falcon Heavy rocket proves successful as well, “we will see a new price format on the market”, Popov said. “Will we be able to compete with this price? I think we will, but we will have to invest in development,” the official added. The corporation and the Khrunichev Space Center have been offering their Proton heavy lift launch vehicle services at prices exceeding $100 million as all key players such as Ariane-5 and Atlas have raised their prices for different reasons. “If we look at them, the fair price of a launch will be above $105 million, and we think it will keep growing,” Popov said.
URSC is also planning an overhaul of Khrunichev’s production capabilities to allow the company to produce both Protons and the new Angara launch vehicle family. The first Angara rocket made a suborbital flight in July.
The plan calls for the creation of two two “highly effective and compact” plants in Moscow and Omsk. The Moscow plant would focus on production of Proton boosters while Angara rockets would be produced in Omsk.
The production of Proton rockets would be gradually reduced from 11 this year to 5 in 2025 as Khrunichev increases its output of Angara boosters.
“Since 2021, Proton [carrier rocket] will be used almost exclusively for commercial launches. Angara is to be used for federal launches, starting in 2018. There will be seven launches per year between 2023-2025. But on average, we’ll have about five of them,” Popov said. The Center is to build one Angara rocket this year and one next year, with no plans for further construction in 2016-2017, according to the document. From 2018 to 2020, the company will produce two rockets a year, and four in 2021-2022. According to the presentation in 2023, the Center will produce six rockets, and in 2024-2025 seven Angara-A5 rockets will be produced annually.
Angara is a modular family of boosters capable of placing payloads weighing between 2 metric tons and 24.5 metric tons into Earth orbit. |
Fairbanks International Airport (IATA: FAI, ICAO: PAFA, FAA LID: FAI) is a state-owned public-use airport located three miles (5 km) southwest of the central business district of Fairbanks, a city in the Fairbanks North Star Borough of the United States state of Alaska.[1] Fairbanks is the smallest city in the United States with non-stop service to Europe, as Condor offers weekly flights to Frankfurt during the summer tourist season.[3] In addition, Air North is another international airline with flights (to Canada) and Antonov Airlines offers cargo flights to South Korea.
History [ edit ]
Early years [ edit ]
The airport opened in 1951 and took over existing scheduled airline traffic to Fairbanks, which had previously used Ladd Army Airfield.[4] Alaska Airlines used Fairbanks as its main hub in the 1950s, with service to Seattle and Portland as well as intrastate service to Anchorage, Nome and other destinations.[5] By 1967, however, the airline shifted its Alaska hub to Anchorage; its Anchorage-Fairbanks service continues to this day.[6] In the mid-1970s, following the development of the Trans-Alaska Pipeline, Alaska Airlines and Braniff International offered "interchange service" between Fairbanks and Houston via Anchorage, Seattle and Dallas.[7] In 1982, following airline deregulation, Alaska Airlines and American Airlines began a similar interchange service using Boeing 727s.[8]
Pan American World Airways had also served Fairbanks since 1932. The station was originally opened after the acquisition of Pacific International Airways and used for short-haul services to Juneau, Seattle, Ketchikan, Whitehorse and other destinations.[9] Pan Am intended to use Fairbanks as a stop for service to Asia as early as 1931, but initial difficulty in negotiating landing rights with the Soviet Union, followed by the outbreak of World War II, delayed these plans until decades later. Pan Am service to Fairbanks continued through the opening of FAI until 1965, when the Civil Aeronautics Board terminated Pan Am's rights to serve Alaska.[10]
Pan American World Airways eventually used Fairbanks as a stopover for transpacific service from New York and Seattle to Tokyo starting in September 1969.[11][12][13] In 1974, Pan Am agreed to transfer its Fairbanks-Seattle service to Western Airlines, and requested that the CAB allow its New York-Tokyo service to be suspended from April 1975.[14] Other carriers such as Japan Airlines and Korean Air began to use Fairbanks as a technical stop for transpacific cargo flights in the late 1970s.[4]
Development since the 2000s [ edit ]
On October 11, 2009, the airport constructed a new terminal and demolished the old terminal which was built in 1948. The new terminal is built around the modern TSA standards. In addition to architectural design and better security, the main terminal now has six jet-bridges (up from the former five).[15] The 2,700m2 of custom unitised curtain wall was designed and supplied by Overgaard Ltd. Hong Kong. The special design incorporated double low-e triple glazing. The new building's footprint is smaller than the old building.
For the 12-month period ending February 28, 2018, the airport had 119,898 aircraft operations, an average of 328 per day: 58% general aviation, 31% air taxi, 9% scheduled commercial, and 2% military. At that time there were 569 aircraft based at this airport: 91% single-engine, 8% multi-engine, <1% jet and <1% helicopter.[1]
Facilities [ edit ]
Terminal building
Terminal interior
The airport's control tower, located on the East Ramp
Terminal [ edit ]
The terminal building, situated on the southwest side of the airport, contains seven gates: two for commuter carriers and five for larger carriers.
Runways [ edit ]
Fairbanks International Airport covers an area of 3,470 acres (1,404 ha) at an elevation of 439 feet (134 m) above mean sea level. It has four runways:[1]
Runway 2L/20R: 11,800 by 150 feet (3,597 x 46 m), Surface: Asphalt
Runway 2R/20L: 6,501 by 100 feet (1,981 x 30 m), Surface: Asphalt
Runway 2/20: 2,900 by 75 feet (884 x 23 m), Surface: Gravel/Ski Strip
Runway 2W/20W: 5,400 by 100 feet (1,646 x 30 m), Surface: Water/Winter Ski Strip
Airlines and destinations [ edit ]
Passenger [ edit ]
Cargo [ edit ]
Statistics [ edit ]
Carrier shares: (September 2017 - August 2018)[2] Carrier Passengers (arriving and departing) Alaska 716,000 (66.58%) Delta 139,000 (12.94%) Horizon 86,200 (8.01%) Wright 43,470 (4.04%) Era 38,930 (3.62%) other 51,760 (4.81%)
Accidents and incidents [ edit ]
In September 2013 there were two incidents of vehicular trespass onto its taxiway and runways, by users unknowingly following Apple Map's errant directions to Fairbanks International Airport. The directions indicated access to the Main Terminal via Taxiway B, which connects the East Ramp to the passenger terminal on the West Ramp. No one was injured nor were any flights were delayed. The Airport has since complained to Apple Inc, through the local attorney office and erected barricades along the final stretch of the runway to prevent future occurrences.[22] |
In the last post, we mentioned how Toby Alderweireld was crucial to Tottenham’s direct play style, because of his long passes that open up the opposition’s defense, and got this response:
Indeed, for a midfielder of his quality, Modric has unusually low assist numbers — according to Squawka, Modric made only 4 assists in La Liga’s 2015/2016 season. That’s less than players like Bebé and Paco Alcacer.
In fact, when we look at assists, 4 out of the top 5 players are Forwards. Clearly, assists are not the stat to look for when it comes to playmaking skills.
So, can we define the ‘Modric’ Pass?
The Pass Before The Assist
Let’s call them ‘Pre-Assists’: the pass made directly before an assist. The top for La Liga (2015/2016 season) was:
Lionel Messi (14) Andrés Iniesta (10) Luka Modric (9) James Rodríguez (9) Luis Suárez (8)
Unsurprisingly, Messi leads yet another stat.
In second place comes arguably the best midfielder of the past decade: Andrés Iniesta. Iniesta, like Modric, has really low assists numbers — only 2 in last season’s league. As expected, Luka Modric is featured, tied in the third place with James Rodríguez.
The biggest surprise is number 5, with a player that isn’t known as a playmaker: Luis Suárez.
What Suárez is doing can’t possibly be the same as what Modric is doing.
Let’s look at what the passes by both players look like: |
I read “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone” for the first time when I was 12 years old. I am now 22. For at least ten years, we have all lived with the saga of Harry Potter existing in a sort of screensaver background to our lives. I can measure events through high school by Harry Potter book releases and movie premieres. The end of Harry Potter really signifies the true end of childhood for us. And now, as the premiere for the very last Harry Potter movie approaches, I have to wonder: how the hell are we going to survive without Harry Potter?
I mean, really? What excuse will we have for discussing the politics of a fantasy world without looking like complete nerds? What other opportunities will exist for us to dress up in schoolgirl outfits and capes? Let’s be real: Harry Potter was the greatest thing to ever happen to us. It became socially acceptable to tap into your inner nerd. So, really, what are we going to do now?
Now that we won’t have Harry Potter, that triumphant hero, in our lives, I have a few suggestions that may or may not work.
Stock up Harry Potter merch. Have a friend who works at a theater? Ask them to sneak you a few extras – bracelets, buttons, posters, standees, whatever they have. Then, slowly but surely, build that little nerd shrine in your closet. (Just kidding, but seriously.)
Spruce up your collection. Personally, my collection of Harry Potter books are looking a little rough (and my brother lost all the jackets for the hard covers, which is adorable). Can I recommend scouring thrift stores for not-bad copies of Harry Potter? That way, you can keep your memories looking pretty, rather than like leftovers from the $1 book bin at a flea market.
Rev up your envy of Emma Watson. If there is anything I’ve learned from the Harry Potter movies, it’s that I want to be Emma Watson. She’s pretty; she’s intelligent; she’s actually kind of talented; she’s rich. Then, every time you see her in a non-Harry Potter movie you can remember your jealousy, and affection, for her as Hermione.
Massive post-Harry Potter party. After you’re done being emotionally compromised by the last movie, and after you’ve driven home crying hysterically, throw yourself a Harry Potter themed party. Have your friends wear their best wizard or witch gear; drink “butterbeer” (beer); and play all the Harry Potter movies on loop. Harry Potter drinking game is optional, but highly recommended.
Read Harry Potter blogs. Get your HP fix by rereading the musings of others. Can I recommend Rereading Harry Potter? Interesting and funny analysis of the Harry Potter books. Reading the thoughts of other fans is pretty much perfect for remembering why you loved the books in the first place.
Find a new obsession. Seriously… Superman, Ryan Reynolds, reading exercise magazines. Find something else to focus on so you don’t constantly remind yourself that your childhood is over.
If all else fails, Denial. Do you really think J.K. Rowling is going to just let this cash cow die? I do not think so. Prepare for an onslaught of vaguely Harry Potter related material from J.K., including the mysterious Pottermore and maybe a book or five. |
This is a list of American Civil War monuments in Kentucky. A total of 61 of these were added to the National Register of Historic Places on July 17, 1997, as a result of a Multiple Property Submission (MPS).
Although Kentucky produced more Union troops than Confederate troops (75,000 compared to 50,000), most of the monuments included in the MPS were dedicated to Confederate forces.
The earliest Confederate memorials were, in general, simple memorials. The earliest such monument was the Confederate Monument in Cynthiana erected in 1869. Later monuments were more elaborate. In the late 19th century, Confederate monuments increasingly were focused on a "memorialization of the Lost Cause" and a "celebration of the Confederacy".[1]
Two prominent monuments were not included in the MPS because they were already listed on the National Register and they are significantly different from the others listed. These are the Jefferson Davis Monument in Fairview, Kentucky and Abraham Lincoln's Birthplace. |
WASHINGTON -- A large, well-funded Republican network established following the 2012 electoral defeat to expand GOP support among Hispanics now lies in ruins.
The Libre Initiative, which has received more than $10 million from the conservative billionaire brothers Charles and David Koch, aimed to expand the party's reach in presidential battleground states in hopes of winning the White House in 2016.
But now, the group and its billionaire backers are focused on maintaining Republican control of the Senate, having effectively retreated from the presidential race and their party's presumptive nominee, Donald Trump.
Trump has “ruined a lot of the work that the Libre Initiative, and Hispanic pro-liberty activists have been doing,” said a source within the Koch network who agreed to speak on background about the group's plans.
"It's going to be up to the Trump campaign to now make their case to the Latino community,” Dan Garza, executive director of Libre Initiative, told The Huffington Post. “We’re going to be involved in the Senate races, some of the important 50-50 congressional races, [and] mobilizing thousands of Latinos in those campaigns.”
Garza and the Libre Initiative still have a big job ahead of them. Latinos are the fastest growing voter group in the country, and the number of eligible Hispanic voters has grown 17 percent since 2012, according to the Pew Research Center.
Interviews with a dozen influential Hispanic Republicans suggest that the problems between Trump and Hispanic Republicans extend well beyond the Koch network. Within a demographic group critical to swinging the electoral map, that support is virtually nonexistent for Trump.
In June, Trump drew outrage after labeling undocumented immigrants from Mexico rapists who bring crime and drugs to America. Rather than apologizing, Trump doubled down by claiming the Mexican government has been sending dangerous felons across it northern border.
Happy #CincoDeMayo! The best taco bowls are made in Trump Tower Grill. I love Hispanics! https://t.co/ufoTeQd8yA pic.twitter.com/k01Mc6CuDI — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 5, 2016
"I am unaware of any Republican Hispanic leaders who are excited to have Trump as the nominee," Mario H. Lopez, president of the Hispanic Leadership Fund, told HuffPost. "Many are refusing outright to support him in any capacity."
"Most of the Republican Hispanic activists that I know [are] having a hard time with what they're seeing now with the GOP," said Ed Lopez, a former vice chairman of the Republican Liberty Caucus. Lopez said he plans to vote for Gary Johnson, the former governor of New Mexico who is campaigning for president on the Libertarian Party ticket.
"I'm very depressed, frankly," said Linda Chavez, chairman of the Center for Equal Opportunity and a former Reagan administration cabinet member. "I did not become a Republican to support someone like Donald Trump." Getting Hispanic voters out to the polls, she said, "is going to be very difficult with the top of the ticket being Donald Trump."
But that doesn't mean Trump won't try for the Hispanic vote. The billionaire recently filmed a video that was played at the National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference earlier this month.
"National, Hispanic, Christian: Three great words," Trump said. "We're going to take care of you. We're going to work with you. You're going to be very happy. You're going to like President Trump."
But even with Trump's promises, in critical swing states like Florida, Hispanic Republican office holders are clearly torn over what to do about Trump, and focused on local politics.
"I won't endorse Hillary Clinton," said Lt. Gov. Carlos Lopez Cantera (R), when asked if he'd endorse Donald Trump. "But Republicans can learn from what we're doing in Florida, and I still have plenty of support within the Hispanic community." |
Abu Dhabi: Two newborn Indo-Pacific humpback dolphins and another eight calves detected in a recent survey show their thriving population in Abu Dhabi waters.
But an additional two per cent mortality rate may lead to the extinction of these species, a senior official told Gulf News on Thursday.
“The Indo-Pacific Bottlenose dolphin can only sustain an additional mortality of 1-2 per cent of the population size,” Ayesha Yousuf Al Beloushi, Director of Marine Biodiversity at EAD, said.
Generally, dolphins have a life expectancy of up to 70 years. But the information on life expectancy and the existing mortality rate of dolphins in Arabian Gulf waters is not available due to lack of research.
The EAD’s new research is expected to find such information that will help conservation of the species, she said.
Edwin Mark Grandcourt, Manager at the Marine Assessment and Conservation Section at the EAD, said dolphins have low reproductive rates, slow growth, late maturation, a long life and low natural mortality rates.
In general they are extremely vulnerable to any additional mortality. Due to this they act as excellent indicators of the health and quality of the marine environment. As apex predators in the sea, they bio-accumulate marine toxins that may cause mortality. When a dolphin dies, it gives indications about the pollution in the marine environment.
If residents report sighting of a dolphin or a stranded animal, it will contribute to the conservation efforts.
“It is important as it dramatically enhances our ability to detect strandings and understand distribution outside the survey times, etc,” Grandcourt said.
Residents can report such information with the Abu Dhabi Government Contact Centre by calling 800-555. |
These are trying times for Sean Payton.
The New Orleans Saints have opened a promising season by losing four of their first six games. Things reached a nadir (for now, anyway) on Sunday, when the Saints blew a 13-point lead in the final four minutes against the Detroit Lions.
Payton wasn't feeling too conversational after the game, and he took out his frustrations on a reporter who second-guessed Payton's decision not to run the ball and take time off the clock during New Orleans' penultimate possession.
"Three minutes, thirty seconds, three timeouts," Payton said, referring to the Lions' setup. "That's like (Payton's briefly pauses, looks skyward) ... seven minutes. Next question -- next smart question."
Payton wasn't done. The coach later chastised a reporter who tried to talk over him.
"I'm answering the question," he said. "Be quiet, I'm answering the question. Be quiet, you asked a question, I'm answering it. Will you let me finish?"
In the less contentious portion of the media engagement, Payton cited a host of penalty calls that hurt the Saints.
"I thought the penalties ended up hurting us," he said. "I wasn't happy with the way that game was officiated, I'm gonna leave it at that. And yet that wasn't the reason in the end."
Payton didn't cite a specific play, though the coach likely took issue with a defensive pass interference call on safety Rafael Bush on a fourth-down incomplete pass with 2:17 to play. The flag gave the Lions new life -- and helped send the Saints to another surprise defeat.
The latest Around The NFL Podcast recaps every Week 7 game, and breaks down Peyton Manning's record-breaking night. Find more Around The NFL content on NFL NOW. |
De Gaulle sought to diminish US and British influence on foreign policy Earlier this week, French President Nicolas Sarkozy said his country would end four decades of self-imposed isolation and return to Nato's military command. Here, the BBC's Allan Little reflects on France's long journey to reconcile itself with one of the darkest chapters in its history and its difficult relationship with the US and the UK. There is a story about a conversation between General de Gaulle, who, as president of the French Republic, telephoned his American counterpart Lyndon B Johnson, to inform him that France had decided to withdraw from the North Atlantic Treaty alliance. Since its foundation nearly two decades earlier, Nato had had its headquarters in France. Now Nato would have to move. Furthermore, de Gaulle added, it was his intention that all American service personnel should be removed from French soil. "Does that include," Johnson is said to have replied, "those buried in it?" Ouch. Anti-Americanism But go to the cemeteries of Normandy and you see what an Anglo-Saxon business the D-Day landings - and the liberation of France - really were. The historian Andrew Roberts has calculated that of the 4,572 allied servicemen who died on that day on which, in retrospect, so much of human history seems now to have pivoted - only 19 were French. That is 0.4%.
France, he said, had made peace with Germany... but it could never - never - forgive the British and Americans for the liberation
Of the rest, 37 were Norwegians, and one was Belgian. The rest were from the English speaking world - two New Zealanders, 13 Australians, 359 Canadians, 1,641 Britons and, most decisively of all, 2,500 Americans. After the disastrous Suez crisis in 1956, it fell to Harold Macmillan as UK prime minister to move Britain from the Age of Empire to the Age of Europe. But his attempts to take the United Kingdom into what was then called the Common Market fell foul of General de Gaulle's famous vetoes. Harold Macmillan spoke of the strained relationship with France Twice Monsieur Non listened politely to Britain's plea, and twice he slammed the door. De Gaulle saw in British membership the Trojan Horse of American imperialism in Europe. After Algeria won its independence from France in the early 1960s, de Gaulle was fond of saying that he had not granted freedom to one country only to sit by and watch France lose its independence to the Americans. Macmillan, in old age, spoke ruefully of France's almost psychotic relationship with its Anglo-Saxon allies. France, he said, had made peace with Germany, had forgiven Germany for the brutality of invasion and the humiliation of four years of occupation, but it could never - never - forgive the British and Americans for the liberation. French anti-Americanism has a long pedigree. The 18th Century philosophers of the European Enlightenment believed the New World to be self evidently inferior. They spoke - and wrote, prolifically - of the degeneration of plant and animal life in America. They believed America had emerged from the ocean millennia after the old continents; and that accounted for the cultural inferiority of civilisations that tried to plant themselves there. Self-liberation I was living in Paris when France celebrated the 60th anniversary of its liberation. In Paris the French Resistance received back-up from US soldiers I went to the beaches of Normandy on the 60th anniversary of D-Day and watched veterans assembling one last time, old men, heads held high, marching past blown up photographs of themselves as young liberators. France's ambivalence - the same neurosis that Harold MacMillan spoke of - was evident. Paris launched a series of events to mark the 60th anniversary of its own liberation in August 2004. The city's mayor had given the celebrations the title Paris Se Libere! - Paris Liberates Herself! One of the newspapers published a 48-page commemorative issue. There was no mention of the allies until page 18. Building a myth An English friend of mine, in town that weekend, had remarked how empty Paris felt in August, the month the city empties out as its residents head for their annual sojourn in the countryside. "I see," he said "that Paris was liberated in August. I guess the Parisians didn't find out about it till September, when they came back." Again - ouch. The caustic Anglo-Saxon wit stings. President Sarkozy has taken his country back into the Atlantic fold It stings because the tale that France told itself after the war was built around a lie. Paris se libere. The words were first spoken by de Gaulle himself at the Hotel de Ville on the evening of 25 August 1944. Paris had been liberated by her own people, he declared, "with the help of the armies of France, with the help and support of the whole of France, that is to say of fighting France, the true France, the eternal France." France knew, in its heart, even in 1944, that that was not true. It took until the 1980s for a generation of historians properly to re-examine the darkest chapter of France's 20th Century history. When I was living in Paris, it struck me that Sarkozy - not yet president - had the potential to be France's first post-Gaullist leader. His enemies called him "Sarkozy the American" in the hope that this would make him unelectable. It did not work. And now he has taken his country back into the Atlanticist fold. It seems to me another step in a long journey, in which France - in its mature, disputatious, entrenched democracy - is growing reconciled to the history that is now challenging the myths. From Our Own Correspondent was broadcast on Saturday, 14 March, 2009 at 1130 GMT on BBC Radio 4. Please check the programme schedules for World Service
Bookmark with: Delicious
Digg
reddit
Facebook
StumbleUpon What are these? E-mail this to a friend Printable version |
With two months left until the sale of recreational marijuana becomes legal throughout California, San Francisco’s cannabis rules are continuing their twisted path through the city’s legislative process.
On Thursday, members of the Board of Supervisors’ Land Use and Transportation Committee amended the proposed regulations to make it legal to smoke pot inside dispensaries, an idea that drew resistance from the Department of Public Health.
“I think we’re going to need to have indoor consumption sites,” said committee chairman Mark Farrell. “This is legal. This is coming. We have tenants with ‘no smoking’ provisions in their leases and nowhere to go.”
To that end, Farrell supported an amendment from Supervisor Jeff Sheehy to take indoor consumption permits out of the hands of public health officials and make them the responsibility of the Office of Cannabis. It passed unanimously and will go before the full board on Nov. 14.
The specter of indoor consumption had put the health department in an awkward position, Sheehy said, noting the department’s “long-standing policy of banning smoking indoors.”
If the city were to stick by that policy, it risked pushing cannabis users into parks and onto sidewalks, Sheehy said.
“It seems surreal to me to be talking about safe injection sites for heroin use and then telling people who use cannabis that there’s nowhere they can consume,” he said.
The committee also approved an amendment by Supervisor Katy Tang to maintain San Francisco’s 1,000-foot buffer zone between dispensaries and schools.
Sheehy voted against the amendment, which goes against the Office of Cannabis’ recommended buffer of 600 feet. The 1,000-foot buffer has been cited as a reason cannabis dispensaries tend to cluster in certain parts of the city.
But the committee isn’t done tinkering with the rules. On Monday, it will vote on a proposal to bar cannabis shops from Chinatown, where there is strong opposition, and consider additional amendments that would enable San Francisco’s existing dispensaries to begin selling recreational marijuana on Jan. 1.
Office of Cannabis officials previously said they would not issue a single recreational permit until the city creates an “equity” program to help victims of the federal war on drugs break into the multibillion-dollar cannabis market.
Supervisor Malia Cohen presented a complicated, 10-page draft of that program during a separate cannabis hearing Wednesday. Her version would prioritize people with past marijuana convictions or entrepreneurs who committed other nonviolent crimes, as well as people who were displaced from their homes within the past 22 years. As with the other rules governing cannabis sales, the program would have to be approved by the full Board of Supervisors.
Rachel Swan is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: rswan@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @rachelswan |
Return to the News Joke List
Afraid of a Little Dihydrogen Monoxide?
Joke submitted by: Anonymous
A student at Eagle Rock Junior High won first prize at the Greater Idaho Falls Science Fair, April 26. He was attempting to show how conditioned
we have become to alarmists practicing junk science and spreading fear of everything in our environment. In his project he urged people to sign a petition demanding strict control or total elimination of the chemical
"dihydrogen monoxide."
And for plenty of good reasons, since:
1. it can cause excessive sweating and vomiting
2. it is a major component in acid rain
3. it can cause severe burns in its gaseous state
4. accidental inhalation can kill you
5. it contributes to erosion
6. it decreases effectiveness of automobile brakes
7. it has been found in tumors of terminal cancer patients
He asked 50 people if they supported a ban of the chemical.
Forty-three (43) said yes,
Six (6) were undecided,
and only one (1) knew that the chemical was water.
The title of his prize winning project was, "How Gullible Are We?"
He feels the conclusion is obvious.
260 voters gave this joke a 3.7 rating.
How would you rate it?
1 2 3 4 5
Terrible (1) < - - > Outstanding! (5)
Read other good News jokes?
Send to Friend
digg this add to del.icio.us stumble it reddit
Join Mailing List Your E-mail Address:
Search Search for:
Sponsored Links |
To Survive: Terminus Coalition
Chapter 52 : Spoils of War
"Thanks for hauling me to Palaven." Garrus thanked, "And thanks for being there when I needed you: both of you." He specified as the three companions rode together in their rental vehicle, Shepard piloting.
"I'm just happy it helped. How are you holding up after all that?" Shepard asked.
"For the first time in a long time, I think I understand my father." He sighed in relief. "I'm a fool, Shepard. He pegged me better than I ever have. My father, a man that hasn't even seen me for over two years, understands me better than I understand myself." Garrus voiced.
"That's what dads do if we let them. Your father is a very observant man, and I'm sure he's spent a lot of nights worrying about his son." Shepard responded.
"Shepard, Tali… I'm not going to quit on you. I'm not going to give up on either you, I'm not going to give up on my family, and I'm not going to give up on this galaxy." Garrus resolved.
"I'll hold you to it."
"You better."
"And don't forget that I'm here for you too," Tali added from the backseat.
Garrus turned his look around to speak directly to Tali, "I know you are, Tali. Thanks for talking with Sol. It was pretty clear that she didn't want to speak with me before you changed her mind."
"She loves you, Garrus. I'm happy that you spoke together too, but you've got to let her in. Change things. Keep in touch and tell her the truth." Tali insisted, "I didn't grow up with siblings and that was hard at times. But she has this bosh'tet big brother that she looks up to and she's worried all the time that she'll never get to see just how big a bosh'tet you really are. What's the harm in telling her the truth?"
"It just hasn't been that easy." He justified, "Shame, I guess. Maybe I've just been afraid that she wouldn't approve of me, just like my father…" Garrus breathed deeply, "but it's different now. It's all out in the open from now on."
"Sounds good to me." Shepard smiled, "You know, that Paravian Hunting Ground place sounds pretty cool."
"I killed a shatha there once."
"No you didn't." Shepard's jokingly asserted as he continued to look forward while he piloted the shuttle.
"It's true," Garrus smiled with high mandibles.
Shepard glanced over to see his overt expression, "Proof, Vakarian. I demand proof. You didn't mention this when your dad was around to be questioned."
"It didn't come up." Garrus defended his claim to glory.
"Are we supposed to trust you?" Tali joked, "I barely know you!" she exclaimed.
Garrus chuckled, "I was standing in the brush," he began to tell the tale, "It was a trip with my father; a gift for sticking out my sniper training until I won my first tournament."
"Mr. Vakarian never mentioned you winning any tournaments… ever." Shepard interrupted. Tali giggled in the back.
"I see, you think you know my whole life story after spending an afternoon with my father." Garrus replied lightheartedly, "It was several years of training after what my dad told you about. He forced me to keep at it, but I never really appreciated it until I started consistently winning." Garrus reminisced.
"Back to the story, I was in the Paravian brush tracking this shatha with my dad's help. He was sort of teaching me how to track, and doing most of the work in the process." Garrus admitted, "So eventually we tracked the beast to this valley, and it was pretty clear that it was feeding from the river further down. So," Garrus emphasized, "my Dad pointed to a part of the river that was visible from my position and he told me to watch it and fire when the shatha came into view. It had to have been about 250 meters down."
"Okay," Shepard insisted for him to continue when he paused to remember the events in better detail.
"My father then left me to hike down into the valley alone. At that point, I was freaking out. I mean, it was a shatha, and I was a kid that had never hunted big game. I just clutched my rifle tight and watched the river like my dad told me. Next thing I saw, my dad running right across my line of sight with the shatha chasing him," Garrus was raising his voice, "I panicked and fired wide. My dad circled arounf after shooting it in the paws. I lined up another shot and fired three times, hitting him once in the shoulder, and again in the neck."
"So your father taught you how to shoot, tracked the shatha, baited it, and stalled all to set you up with the kill shot?" Shepard pointed out.
"I know it wasn't really my kill, but he always gave me the credit. Spirits, I was happy after that day." Garrus grinned.
"Sounds like a good father to me." Tali added.
"It sure does." Garrus nodded.
"Come now Kal, Shepard doesn't just let just anyone on his crew." Anderson prodded.
"Afraid he made an exception, sir. I'm just like any other quarian marine. Perhaps less special." Kal replied.
"What would you mean by that?" Anderson asked curiously. They had been chatting for a little while in the armory as Anderson familiarized himself with the armaments, and Kal examined the N7 requisitions that Anderson had brought with him.
"Frankly, I'm not a combat engineer, and that makes me mighty less important."
"How is quarian training and specialization handled?" Anderson asked.
Kal decided not to relax as he continued to answer, "The bulk of the quarian military is in the navy. The navy requires a great deal of skilled positions beyond just troops, requiring all of the support crew needed to run military space faring vessels. A lot of the budget goes into making sure we can fight from orbit. The marines are different. Quarian marines all meet strict medical training because of the high risk of infections on the battlefield, but it's hard to say if it helps. Other than that, we have similar specialists to other species that receive special training, though our techs give us the greatest advantage. So, a lot of resources are spent ensuring that the best become techs." Kal breathed, "You understand, the marines are the only ground force my people have, and for good reason. They don't want to put us out there, so they pick the expendable best."
"Like I was saying, Shepard doesn't let just anyone onto his crew." Anderson smirked.
"Shepard is a member of the Flotilla. He honoured me with this position as a human, but as a quarian he treated Lana and me like family. He is more quarian than he realizes." Kal complimented. He really did feel like a member of Shepard's extended family, especially given his relationship with Tali. What Shepard did was more than he expected from half of his quarian brethren these days.
"I see." Anderson smiled, "So you fall into the group of marines without combat engineering training. Are you commissioned?"
"No sir. I'm about equivalent to the rank of an infantry master sergeant in your military. It's not often that a commissioned officer sees any action in these here 'peace times'" he underscored.
"I can respect a man that had to work his way up." Anderson congratulated. "Peace or not, the Quarian Marine Corps must be missing such an experienced NCO. Do you have plans to return, or do you plan to stay with the Captain?"
"The Flotilla will always take priority. Admiral Han'Gerrel countermanded my CO so that I could help here for now. Shepard provided a great deal to Lana and I, and the Admiral has decided that I should stay to provide aid where as I can. Of course, I will return to the Flotilla on a moment's notice." Kal replied honestly. "No war has broken out, so I'd probably just be in the way back home. With Xen dead, I won't be needed to protect Tali'Shepard on her dirty suicide missions." He let slip, but didn't mention anything else about the nature of his missions. He was about to mention that he was tasked with escorting techs looking for solar dark energy anomalies but nothing was coming up. He caught his tongue when he realized how classified the studies were.
Anderson nodded his head, "You're my kind of man, Kal'Reegar. It takes a special kind of person to get to where you are now without any obvious advantage. Commitment and perseverance: nothing makes you stronger."
"You seem to have forgotten sacrifice, sir."
Anderson grinned weakly, "Yes, I did. I'm sure we'll all be reminded at some point of how much that means."
"I don't think Tali'Shepard should be required to sacrifice anymore. She's stronger than most, but there is a point of sacrifice that a quarian can't grow stronger from."
"When did you meet the good Captain," Anderson inquired.
Kal'Reegar shifted uncomfortably from his previous slip and simply answered, "He interrupted Tali'Shepard and I while on a classified op. He never told me how he found us, but I know when I shouldn't ask. Tali'Shepard and I would both be dead if he hadn't shown up."
Anderson didn't want to pry into the details of the mission, as Kal's body language made it pretty clear that he wasn't going to mention specifics of a classified mission. "What were your initial impressions of Shepard?" He decided to ask.
"I wasn't going to put up much of a fight in an argument against the soldier pulling me out of the fire. Glad I didn't after watching him do what my entire squadron couldn't while his team provided moral support." Kal emphasized. "Seems he really wanted to get to Tali." he nodded.
Anderson smiled, "Well Kal, we'll have to spend some time in the simulator I've heard so much about since coming aboard."
"Sounds like a good time, sir."
"You can call me Anderson,"
"Yes sir."
"How was your trip?" The Illusive Man asked, sitting across a table from two men, comfortable in his office. They were all surprisingly relaxed given the work they did, and the ill-tempered reputation of the Illusive Man.
The two other men looked at one another from across the fairly large round table. The one was dressed in business attire slightly more formal than the Illusive Man, while the other was in a more flexible suit designed for stealth and combat applications. His apparel was a charcoal black, with only a grey hood to contrast.
The formal man replied first, "God TIM, I'm just glad I'm not on Pragia right now," he smirked, "Evaluating Dr. Emily Whatever was not something I was genuinely looking forward to. To be frank, it's about time you started treating me more like Ms. Lawson." He asserted, "I've only been doing everything you ask since she left; quite successfully I might add." He responded with a light English accent.
"As much as it pains me to admit, you're never going to able to replace Ms. Lawson." The Illusive Man chuckled. "She was much more efficient." He said much more seriously. "And you, Operative Martin?"
"Leg room could have been better, and the whole ride reeked of salarian." he replied much less dramatically, leaning back into his chair.
"Good nose. We've been tight on funding, as you're both aware. We've had to cut all but a handful of our most promising projects. That ship was bought off a batarian colony in the Terminus. Undoubtedly the product of slave labour given the price we got it for. Salarian would be common."
"You have a good job for me this time? You know I don't like to waste my time with these pitiful contracts you've been doling out lately." Operative Martin asked.
"I'll get to it Brandon, I would like to go over Cerberus' situation before getting to your specific duties." TIM replied. It wasn't often that he shared his plans so openly: the last time being with Miranda before beginning the Lazarus Project. In both circumstances, The Illusive Man was about to make a large investment that could put an end to Cerberus if it failed. These two were now his most trusted operatives, as far removed as they often were.
"Alright TIM, give it to us." The formally dressed operative suggested without trying to sound inappropriately forceful.
TIM sighed, "Project Regeneration isn't doing as well as expected. The krogan blood rage destroys the subjects after sending them on an uncontrollable rampage. I've moved a lot of the research offsite to be continued when I have more test subjects to spare. Our biologists were needed at Project Benezia's site to examine recent developments, but Emily has been left to see if she can salvage the project. I know that I've kept the Project Benezia cell hidden from both of you, but I want to put it to use sooner than later."
The Illusive Man continued to explain the project, "Project Benezia sought to understand a Reaper artifact recovered from the Alliance, known as Object Saren. The object was thought to be tied to indoctrination: the sort of mind control that Matriarch Benezia was subjected to leading up to the Battle of the Citadel. I've had my top physicists, mathematicians and biologists examining this thing, and they recently hit a breakthrough. This is what they've come up with so far," he introduced before sliding his finger across the top of the table. A holo-display immediately materialized in the center of the table to demonstrate.
"Object Saren releases an untraceable FTL particle called a Tachyon." The display showed a visible representation and a mathematical derivation from element zero created dark energy. "The particle shapes the brain by destroying or shifting certain neural links and forcefully degrading the brain to a simpler form. The tachyon travels by leaping across space instead of travelling conventionally. Each leap has an effect on the space it crosses, and the faster the particle, the longer the jump and the bigger the effect," it displayed a ball instantaneously moving from point to point on a fabric labeled space and next to a line labeled 'Speed of Light' that grew slower than the ball hopped. Every time the ball moved, the fabric it had passed tore between the points.
"By using low amounts of energy, the object affects its targets quicker, but the brain tissue is destroyed quickly because of how large the jumps are, and only the simplest uses are viable. By using a slightly higher energy input we have been able to create both feral and submissive subjects. Taking no more than fifteen hours to get these brain states, the subject often experiences fatal brain hemorrhaging a week after exposure. The higher the energy input, the longer the subject lasts and the more complex a brain state can be shaped, but the process of indoctrination also takes longer." The visual showed test subjects and the many disturbing symptoms of the process. Most notable was the leakage of blood the facial orifices until the victim was pale.
It continued, "We have reverse engineered the artifact and created working prototypes, but to create an object that would work on a larger scale and to understand how to form more complex brain states, we will need many more subjects and much more time." The display faded, and the two operatives waited for TIM to continue.
"Operative Martin I needed you to see that so you understand exactly why I need you to capture as many subjects as you can. I'll let you look over the cell registries to put together as big a team as you need with exactly who you want. You'll also be getting a ship, and the supplies you need to get the job done."
"A custom ship, or another purchase?" Operative Martin asked to test if his boss thought he was anywhere equal to Captain Shepard.
"You know our ship manufacturing facilities were taken when we lost Borkat Combine as an investor. You will be getting your pick of any of our existing frigates." The Illusive Man replied with a hard stare. Shepard was special. Cerberus had invested more in him and the SR2 than any other project before. It wasn't common for them to request custom ships from Borkat Combine, and Brandon wouldn't be getting one if TIM still had the ability to do so.
"They've told me that the krogan regenerative processes seem to make them immune from indoctrination, so you can focus on the other alien races. All my transporting resources are at your disposal to haul your captures to out testing facilities. The coordinates will be supplied will be supplied to you by Jackson along with a manifest of the priority races." The Illusive Man waved, "You're free to go."
TIM waited for Brandon to rise up from his seat and exit the room. His slow paced perturbed the Illusive Man to no end. Finally, he was left alone with his formally dressed friend.
"Well TIM, this is quite the technology. Even if you could get the range up enough to effect a city with the brain hemorrhaging, you've got a great product I know a few terrorist organizations would pay a pretty penny for. It could get us out of this economic slump."
"You're thinking too small, Julian." The Illusive Man's lip curled up, "I've got a real job for you this time."
"He was nailed to the fucking ground? Holy fucking shit! Now that's a story! You're my fuckin' hero Grunt!" Jack shouted in hysterical excitement. Her hard liquor spilt as she keeled over the side of the rock she sat on, in sidesplitting laughter.
"Yeah!" Grunt responded bobbing his head trying to emulate Jack's display of excitement. He just couldn't shake his brick-like demeanor.
His lame response only sent Jack rolling around in the sticky dirt where her liquor had spilt.
"I don't think he likes battle anymore." Grunt smirked and took a swig of his ryncol.
"That guy was a piece of shit!" Jack exclaimed joyously over the loud background noise as she got up from the ground to sit on her stone seat again. The surviving Urdnot had the pleasure of looting Clan Gurge's liquor stores, and the large chief's chamber was serving nicely for the victory celebration. At least, it was for those that could fit inside.
Grunt picked up Vreck's head from the ground beside him and plopped it on the large tablet serving as their table. "I can see the resemblance," he nodded. Volumes of blood still seeped from the neck and dripped from the eye sockets.
Jack shook her head at the joke, "I got to pick this fat ass krogan up and chuck him right into his pals that were runnin' away and he couldn't keep the fuck up with them. He hit the ground before reaching them and mowed them all over like a god damned fuckin' bowling ball!" Jack continued in her thrill. She grabbed Grunt's ryncol and took a sip against all the warnings she's heard about it.
"A fat krogan?" Grunt contemplated with a puzzled look.
Part from the overpowering liquor, and part from the hilarity of Grunt, Jack spat all of the ryncol out and began choking on what she had swallowed.
Grunt chuckled and with a strong hand he slapped Jack's back until she finished sputtering.
"Fuck Grunt that was funny. Yeah! A fat krogan." Jack smiled and drank some more ryncol.
"You probably shouldn't drink that."
"I'll be fine with a bit. There isn't much of that other stuff." She said referring to the liquor she spilt that tasted similar to bourbon.
"It's for children." Grunt shrugged.
"KROGAN!" Wrex bellowed from the Gurge chief's former dais. Every krogan present turned to look at their mighty warlord. "Today we have destroyed the last clan that stood against us! Today we are a united krogan!" He shouted powerfully as everyone burst into deep and merry cheers. "I AM URDNOT WREX, and I say: WE DRINK!"
"Yeah!" Jack shouted along with everyone else, and she took another drink of Grunt's ryncol, which he quickly yanked back and gulped down the rest of.
Wrex approached them with Urgen at his side. They looked happy, but not high on excitement like every other krogan seemed to be. "How'd you find that, Grunt? I see you've picked up a souvenir." Wrex remarked on the head.
"I like war." Grunt admitted.
"If this is a regular thing, I'll totally just live on Tuchanka," Jack responded too.
"I'm glad you could be part of this, boy. The last insurgent clan is gone. My real work begins now." Wrex smiled.
"Thanks for the training. My battlemaster was wise to have me learn from you. I am also proud to have killed for my clan." Grunt answered humbly.
"Haha!" Wrex hollered. "Urgen, what do you think of this whelp?"
Urgen remembered back to how Grunt had stood atop Vreck and defeated him despite his broken knee, "I don't think he's a whelp at all." He said. Grunt felt especially honoured.
"I guess not," Wrex replied joyously as if he had heard exactly the answer he was hoping for, "I guess it's time we give you some responsibility."
"KROGAN!" Everyone in the hall turned to the five young krogan warriors that stood on the dais shouting in ragged unison. Three of them looked badly battered, and one had an eye missing, but their smiles weren't any less than anyone else present.
The rightmost krogan spoke to the crowd, "We dug this dusty old song up before today's battle and thought it would be right to sing!" The krogan announced looking across the room and then back to his friends.
Together they raised their rough voices:
Weeeeeee grabbed our guns
We took our swords
To beat them back
And bathe in gore
The older krogan that knew the chant joined in
For gore it was
Just ask our foe
Who drowns in blood
And chokes with woe
For now we sing
Their chief is dead!
And now we shout
We have his head!
As merriment fills us this day
With spoils of war!
The spoils of war
(Drink!)
The spoils of war
(Drink!)
Our brothers fell
Their blood was spilt
For spoils of war!
Weeeeeee marched from home
Our females cried
For our returning
Glorified
And now we've won
Red soil our badge
To be our pride
To come home glad
As victory marks us this day
With spoils of war!
The spoils of war
(Feast!)
The spoils of war
(Feast!)
Our brothers fell
Their blood was spilt
For spoils of war!
Noooow aralakh shines
A gracious light
Upon her sons
Un'fraid to fight
For what was good
On T'chankan soil
Today we won
With peace our spoil
Yes peace is fully won today
Our spoil of war!
The spoils of war
(Peace!)
The spoils of war
(Peace!)
Our brothers fell
Their blood was spilt
For spoils of war!
Wrex laughed heartily as he walked towards the young warriors, "Well sung sons of Urdnot!" He stepped up on the dais and put his arms around two of the krogan. "Not often do we sing of peace," he yelled over the entire crowd. The song had extended to krogan far outside of the hall. "But that is our victory today! We are ready to begin saving our people and building up for a more glorious war than our ancestors had ever imagined, but for that we needed peace. The Reapers have challenged us all, and we will show them how the krogan wage war TOGETHER!"
The crowd of warriors burst in shouts of victory with their stone mugs raised high. They returned quickly to their drinks, and smaller groups could be heard singing various victory songs across the camp.
Glossary
Bosh'tet: Animal, native to Rannoch. With no insect life, other species of life had to fill the niches that on earth fell to the insects. One such niche was the dung beetle. A bosh'tet falls into the category of roller on earth as it moves the dung found to a central location. Though differing in colors, from the green/yellow of the cooler climates to the blue/white in the more tropical areas, they are the same species. Known for their apparent inability to distinguish between dung and small rocks, it is considered extremely stupid. Many have been found dead, surrounded by small rocks, as it tried to feed on them.
Author's Note
I wanted to clear something up for the future, the galaxy map I use for mass relay connections is the map with "Made by Winner" watermarked in the bottom left. It does leave out some minor systems (that probably won't be important), but for those I use the map on posted by NeonKnight. Just so you're aware that I planned a lot of strategies using these maps, and I don't intend to change. |
Cause of death has not been released at this time, according to The Hollywood Reporter
Announcer Don Pardo in 1945. (NBC/NBCU)
Pardo's long career in radio began in 1938, with a Rhode Island NBC affiliate. In 1944 he ended up with a job offer at NBC's main network while touring the New York headquarters.
He made the move to television as NBC experimented with the new medium, announcing for variety and game shows, including "The Price Is Right." When "The Price Is Right" left NBC, Pardo moved to another game show that would prove wildly successful, "Jeopardy!" As the original "Jeopardy!" came to an end, he was approached by Lorne Michaels for his new sketch comedy program, "Saturday Night Live." At that point, Pardo had been with the network for more than three decades; he would serve as the announcer for "SNL" for nearly 40 years.
Lorne Michaels once said, "I can’t imagine the show without [Don]," and, "and as long as he’s there, I stay young."
Former "SNL" cast member and host of "The Tonight Show" Jimmy Fallon said of Pardo, "Nothing is like the moment when Don Pardo says your name."
His authoritative voice helped him become one of the first announcers inducted into the Television Academy Hall Of Fame.
The Hollywood Reporter notes that his voice was one of the first to report that President John F. Kennedy had been shot , breaking into programming on on Nov. 22, 1963 to report, "President Kennedy was shot today just as his motorcade left downtown Dallas. Mrs. Kennedy jumped up and grabbed Mr. Kennedy. She cried, 'Oh, no.'"
Born Dominick Pardo on Feb. 22, 1918, in Westfield, Mass., his booming voice and affinity for entertaining came early in life, through public speaking and school theater. While he became best known for his announcing of "SNL," his career was diverse, ranging from war reporting to sports, news and advertising, the Associated Press reports.
Don Pardo at the Academy of Televison's 19th annual Hall of Fame induction gala at Beverly Hills Hotel on January 20, 2010 in Beverly Hills, California. (Jason LaVeris/FilmMagic)
Pardo is survived by his daughters, Paula, Dona and Katherine, and sons, David and Michael, along with five grandchildren and three great-grandchildren, according to The New York Times.
Announcer Don Pardo on the set of "Saturday Night Live," on September 25, 1982. (Al Levine/NBC/NBCU) |
A Namibian war veteran speaks to a South Korean filmmaker on a documentary on North Korea. Namibia agreed to the construction of a munitions factory by North Korean engineers. File Photo courtesy of Onejoon Che
SEOUL, March 16 (UPI) -- North Korea constructed a munitions plant in Namibia, but the country's government insists the project is not in violation of past United Nations Security Council sanctions.
Namibia's Deputy Prime Minister and International Relations Minister Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah confirmed that Pyongyang's engineers were permitted to build the factory but the deal did not break international law, Voice of America reported.
Nandi-Ndaitwah said the Namibian government is not at fault, and that it would cooperate with the U.N. if it were asked to provide data regarding the issue.
The government official added the North Koreans did build the factory, but the Namibian government initiated the project, and the ammunition manufactured on site is not for North Korean use.
The factory was built before the Security Council passed North Korea sanctions, and no North Korea joint projects have been launched since, Nandi-Ndaitwah said.
But a report issued by a panel of experts of the Security Council sanctions committee has stated the construction of the military factory is in violation of international law.
The Security Council has passed North Korea sanctions since 2004, and passed its first sanctions resolution in 1993.
Between 2002 and 2005, North Korea's Mansudae Overseas Project group of companies, was involved in the factory's construction, Yonhap reported.
Mansudae has also been involved in the construction of Namibia's defense ministry building and a military school, according to South Korea press. The North Korean firms also have connections to Korea Mining Development Trading Corp., or KOMID, which has been tied to arms exports and has been under U.N. sanctions since 2009.
Namibia established diplomatic relations with both North and South Korea in March 1990, according to Yonhap. |
The Human Rights Campaign took the wraps off a comprehensive new resource for the parents, allies and doctors of transgender children early Thursday: a support guide that provides concrete and easy to understand explanations of gender identity, fluidity, exploration and how it differs from sexual orientation.
It also dispels the inaccurate and outdated misinformation spread by anti-transgender religious conservatives which made headlines earlier this year.
Those lies, that being transgender is a mental illness, that they’ll outgrow it, and more, added to the stress already facing families of trans kids.
“For the parents of transgender youth, the information they seek in the hours and days after their child comes out can make all the difference in the health and wellbeing of that young person,” Jeanette Jennings, mother of TLC reality star and author Jazz Jennings, told LGBTQNation in an emailed statement.
“Although it wasn’t always easy, we’ve been fortunate to see our daughter Jazz grow into a strong, confident, and happy young woman. So much of her successful transition is the result of the information and support we were able to access early in her journey; and with unconditional love our daughter is thriving.”
AP Photo
Jennings, whose daughter turns sweet 16 next month, consented to having a brief summary of her daughter’s story open the guide. She was one of the parents involved in reviewing this resource published by HRC, as was Trans Youth Advocate Debi Jackson, who expressed her exasperation over the misinformation that’s been bandied about, in a phone interview with LGBTQNation Wednesday evening.
“It’s frustrating that such a tiny fringe group can have an air of legitimacy simply by choosing a name that sounds authoritative and similar enough… that it confuses people,” Jackson said. She called this new publication “a great starting point because it helps refute many of the standard concerns we hear with cited references.”
But before LGBTQNation introduces you to that guide, it’s important to understand who is who in this ideological war that both sides claim is harming children.
Remember this name: The American College of Pediatricians or ACP is classified as an extremist hate group by the respected Southern Poverty Law Center. It relied on distorted findings to conclude supporting trans children in their transitions caused them harm, as reported in ThinkProgress.
So, if the ACP group is the one to watch out for, who do HRC and parents of trans children rely upon? It is the one with “academy” in its name: the American Academy of Pediatrics, or AAP, Founded in 1930, the AAP boasts 66,000 members and has the largest pediatric publishing program in the world.
Their pediatricians worked with the LGBTQ civil rights group and another highly-respected medical organization dedicated to the care of children, the American College of Osteopathic Pediatricians, or ACOP. Admittedly, all the alphabet soup of acronyms can be confusing,
With the assistance of experts from those two associations, HRC culled the latest research, spoke with members and parents of transgender children and took a critical look at the disinformation campaign by forces that support the dangerous and in some states illegal practice of conversion or “reparative” therapy aimed at “curing” trans kids. The result is the resource now online and available for sharing, at a time in which the rights of individuals who are trans and gender non-conforming are under attack.
“While our country continues our national conversation around transgender equality, we must never forget that at the center of this dialogue are real children fighting to be seen, valued, and respected,” said Mary Beth Maxwell, HRC’s Senior Vice President for Programs, Research, and Trainings, in a statement emailed to LGBTQ Nation. “This new guide provides parents and clinicians alike with vital information in their ongoing pursuit of doing right by all young people. Our partnership with the American Academy of Pediatrics and the American College of Osteopathic Pediatricians reinforces the overwhelming medical consensus that respecting and affirming transgender young people is not only necessary, but also potentially lifesaving.”
This Story Filed Under |
Between 1978 and 1991, Jeffrey Dahmer murdered and occasionally ate 17 men and boys, mostly in Wisconsin, leading to the nickname the Milwaukee Cannibal. In 1992, he was sent to prison, where he was set to serve 16 consecutive life terms. But on Nov. 28, 1994, a fellow inmate at the Columbia Correctional Institution, Christopher Scarver, bludgeoned him to death with a metal bar. For the first time, Scarver spoke about why he did it, and what it was like living in a giant shoebox with one of the most famous psychopaths of all-time.
Christopher Scarver [said] he grew to despise Dahmer because he would fashion severed limbs out of prison food to taunt the other inmates. He’d drizzle on packets of ketchup as blood. “He would put them in places where people would be,” Scarver, 45, recalled in a low, gravelly voice. “He crossed the line with some people — prisoners, prison staff. Some people who are in prison are repentant — but he was not one of them.” (Via)
Scarver typically kept his distance from Dahmer and never interacted with him, with good reason, except for the morning of the 28th. The two prisoners, as well as a third inmate, Jesse Anderson, “were led unshackled to clean the bathrooms by correction officers.” They were left unattended, and while Scarver was preparing to clean, someone poked him in the back. He heard Dahmer and Anderson giggling. “I looked right into their eyes,” he said, “and I couldn’t tell which had done it.”
So, he snapped.
The three men then split up, and Scarver followed Dahmer toward a staff locker room. Scarver grabbed a metal bar from the weight room and confronted Dahmer with the news story he had been carrying in his pocket. “I asked him if he did those things ’cause I was fiercely disgusted. He was shocked. Yes, he was,” Scarver said. “He started looking for the door pretty quick. I blocked him.” With two swings of the bar, Scarver crushed Dahmer’s skull. “He ended up dead. I put his head down,” he said. (Via)
Scarver, who also killed Anderson, believes it wasn’t a coincidence that he and Dahmer were left alone. He told the Post, “They [prison officials] had something to do with what took place. Yes.” He refused to elaborate beyond that. Scarver is still in jail, at Colorado’s Centennial Correctional Facility, and he passes the time by writing poetry. It’s unknown whether he’s heard “Dahmer’s Dead.”
Share This Video Facebook Twitter EMAIL
(Via New York Post)
And for anything else you may have missed on the web today…
Share This Video Facebook Twitter EMAIL
Now check out…
All The ‘The Big Lebowski’ Quotes That Really Tie The Room Together
by Stephen Tompkins
WORKING TITLE FILMS
There are few cult films revered by its audience more than The Big Lebowski. And even fewer that have so deeply infiltrated the American psyche and lexicon — both the laid back, sarcastic demeanor of The Dude and the aggressive no-holds-barred attitude of Walter Sobchak.
So slip into your comfiest robe, call up your bowling pals, and head to the nearest alley, because it’s Jeff Bridges 65th birthday and I’ve gathered all of the Big Lebowski you never stopped repeating. Be sure to remember to order a White Russian when you get there.
“Obviously you’re not a golfer.” — The Dude
Everyday use: When sarcasm is the only answer. |
If the reason for blocking the border is to stop the flow of terrorists into Pakistan, Mr. Zakhilwal said it made no sense to prevent the return of the thousands of Afghans stranded in Pakistan, many of whom had traveled there for medical reasons. The long border is porous, and Pakistan is focusing only on the formal crossing points.
In Kabul, the toll of the border closing is evident in the markets, with the price of fruit and vegetables imported from Pakistan more than doubling. But the price for many other goods has been unaffected, because Afghanistan also imports from Iran and some Central Asian nations.
Nasir Ahmad, a shopkeeper at Kabul’s vegetable market, said a crate of oranges that used to be $4 had increased to $12. A box of bananas, which used to be about $12, is now about $25.
Khanjan Alokozay, the deputy chairman of the Afghan chamber of commerce, estimated that traders from both countries were losing about $4 million a day because of the border closing. Pakistani traders are bearing about 80 percent of those losses, because during the winter Pakistani exports of fruit and vegetables to Afghanistan increase.
Mr. Alokozay said thousands of trucks on both sides of the border had remained stranded, and Afghan businessmen have been urged to find other routes to transport their goods.
Since the closing, Afghan border officials said that Pakistan was allowing only funeral processions to cross over.
Some of those stranded have resorted to paying smugglers and taking dangerous mountain passes to return home.
“Pakistanis are not allowing anyone to cross the border, and they order their forces to shoot anyone who is trying to cross the border,” said Haji Iqbal, an Afghan who recently returned from Pakistan with the help of friends who asked Pakistani forces to let him cross through a mountain pass. “I walked for two hours.” |
This is part one in a series of three posts about the Bedford turbo roundabout and the funding behind it (AKA “Turbogate”). You’ll find part two here, and part three here.
I have one word to say to the people who chose to spend cycling infrastructure money on a “turbo” roundabout – resign.
Please, resign now, and let somebody who knows what they’re doing take your job. For the good of those who live in the areas you control, leave and never go back.
That might sound like an extreme thing to say, but I cannot comprehend how anybody with even the most miniscule knowledge of Dutch traffic design can describe a turbo roundabout as “a significant improvement in cycling provision.”
There are only two possible conclusions. Either you know what you’re doing and are installing a design which was never intended for cycling and is dangerous, or you have no idea what you’re doing and think you’re actually installing something useful.
Neither option shows those responsible in a favourable light.
(I’m sure that not everyone at Bedford Borough Council traffic department is responsible for this, so this is only aimed at those who made the decision to install this thing. The rest of you aren’t cretins. If you had to work on this under pressure from your bosses, this isn’t aimed at you.)
What’s wrong with Bedford’s plans?
Firstly, turbo roundabouts were never meant for cycling on. The purpose of a turbo roundabout is to get motor vehicles through a junction as quickly and efficiently as possible. Part of the fundamental concept of the Dutch turbo roundabout is that cycling is kept away from it. It would be like allowing cycling on a motorway.
(If you want to know more about turbo roundabouts and why they’re not cycling infrastructure, then read these excellent posts: “Turbo Roundabouts: Be Careful What You Wish For” and “When ‘Going Dutch’ Doesn’t Mean What You Think It Means” by David Hembrow, and “A Modern Amsterdam Roundabout” by Mark Wagenbuur, also inspired by this dreadful decision.)
Secondly, this design which benefits motor vehicles is being paid for with £300,000 of money from the Department for Transport’s Cycle Safety Fund.
That’s so insane that I can hardly believe it. It’s like the Church of England investing in arms manufacturers. It’s completely inappropriate and goes against the whole spirit of everything that money is meant for.
In a further bout of insanity, Sustrans – fucking Sustrans, the sustainable transport charity! – are actually supporting this thing (see this Word DOC) making bold claims that turbo roundabouts in the Netherlands “function like compact roundabouts, where cyclists take primary position in the lane”. What the hell, Sustrans? This is blatantly untrue, and you’ve used it to get £300k from a cycling safety fund. What’s next – are you going to suggest that London’s 1960s Ringways urban motorway scheme is implemented as shared space?
And all this at one of the busiest junctions in the borough!
Failure designed-in
The worst thing is that they’re hyping this scheme as being good for cycling, yet go on to say that “cyclists will also have the option of using new shared paths around the roundabout leading to zebra crossings” (see this PDF).
If the turbo roundabout is so great for cycling, why would they need to install a shared-use footpath alongside it? (Also, what good are zebra crossings to someone riding a bike, which they cannot legally use without dismounting?)
What we have here is another case of the disastrous “dual network” concept, a proven failure. So the roundabout is meant for fast, confident cyclists taking the lane in front of lorries, and anybody not willing to do this can meander slowly along the footpath getting frowned at by people on foot. What we end up with is infrastructure which is no good for anyone.
They claim “Studies and experience in other countries have shown that this type of junction can improve pedestrians and cyclist provision while also reducing potential safety issues.” But if there is such a study, they have not provided a link or reference to it. I’d love to see these studies, especially with regard to people cycling on the roundabout, as that is not how it is done in the Netherlands, the world leader in mass cycling.
And yet they can’t come up with any convincing reason why a turbo roundabout is safer for cycling on than a regular roundabout, except the claim that “cyclists will find it easier to cycle through the roundabout due to the reduction in vehicles making last minute lane changes” which is rather weak, to say the least.
And anyway, if a driver really wants to change lanes where they shouldn’t, it’s still entirely possible. Look at the diagram. Imagine you’re in the straight-on lane and want to go right. It’s perfectly possible to cut across where you shouldn’t.
Designing for cycling, or designing for cyclists?
I also note that they’ve mis-typed the DfT’s Cycle Safety Fund as the Cyclist Safety Fund. I reckon this is a Freudian slip, which shows that rather than thinking about designs which the whole population can use to cycle on, they are thinking about the needs of the few “keen cyclists” who are the only ones brave enough to cycling in the UK right now.
This whole way of thinking is a throw-back to the past. It ignores the massive benefits that everyone from every section of society would gain if our roads were designed so that anyone could use a bike as a fast, direct and efficient mode of transport, as they do in the Netherlands.
Cycling isn’t just for enthusiasts, it should be for all of us. Designs like this are the reason so few children cycle to school. They’re the reason so many more men cycle than women. They’re the reason so few elderly people cycle. They’re the reason so few people cycle at all.
So while this new roundabout might slightly improve conditions for existing cyclists, the idea that Bedford’s design is good for cycling is absolute nonsense.
What now?
Bedford, it’s not too late to stop this and design something suitable. The work has not started. Do not spend £300,000 of taxpayers’ money on this.
Also, stop designing for cyclists and start designing for cycling. Ask yourself if you’d be happy for young children, or your parents, to use your completed schemes.
I’d also request that you stop cynically dressing up motor-centric designs as being good for cycling. If motor vehicle throughput is your main concern, just admit it.
But most of all, please resign, for the good of the nation. Quit your job now, as you clearly are either 1960s motor-centric relics, dedicated vehicular keen cyclists who can’t comprehend ‘normal’ people riding bikes, or clueless incompetents.
PS, added at 3pm: If you want an example of the real thinking behind this project, look no further than the new sign that Bedford wants to install at the zebra crossings:
Advertisements |
NEW YORK (Reuters) - A bare-headed motorcyclist riding in protest of New York state’s helmet law crashed, struck his head on the roadway and died from his injuries, state police said on Sunday.
Philip Contos, 55, was riding among a large group of motorcyclists staging an organized protest ride in western New York near Syracuse against the state law requiring all motorcyclists to wear helmets.
The Parish, New York, resident crashed on Saturday on Route 11 in Onondaga, New York, and was pronounced dead later at a local hospital, state Trooper Robert Jureller said.
“The doctor felt that the death could have been prevented if he simply had been wearing a helmet,” Jureller said. “He hit the brakes, lost control, was ejected and struck his head on the road. He suffered a skull fracture.” |
829 of 1,144 Sponsor Message Sponsor Message
Add To Album
Add To Album Like (0)
Photog's Choice
Cross-Data Photographer JK Photography Airline United Airlines Version Boeing 777-222/ER Generic Type Boeing 777-200 Basic Type Boeing 777-200 Manufacturer Boeing MSN 30215 Line No. 259 Reg. N209UA Code 2809 Location Frankfurt am Main (Rhein-Main AB) Country Germany Date Photographed March 4, 2017 Cancel Search
Correction
Distinct Views: 1,839
Photo Added: March 13, 2017
Photo Albums Containing This Photo Album Views Likes Photos General 4 - bichoferag Argentina Views 46.6K Likes 0 Photos 2.7K B777 Pictures of what is in my opinion the most beautiful aircraft designed, the B777. mfdc082288 Texas, USA Views 1.8K Likes 0 Photos 146
Photo Copyright © JK Photography. All rights reserved. Airliners.net is not affiliated with any entity mentioned or pictured herein.
All trademarks are the property of their respective owners. |
According to Denver Police and Denver County court records, the 23 people listed below were arrested when law enforcement evicted participants in the Occupy Denver movement on Oct. 14. Most were charged, given a court date, and released with no bond assigned.
— Jordan Brody, 20, unlawful conduct on public property.
— Christopher Burkhardt, 27, unlawful conduct on public property.
— Elisha Capracota, 29, unlawful conduct on public property.
— Matthew Carlton, 26, unlawful conduct on public property.
— Corey Donahue, 28, unlawful conduct on public property and resisting arrest, bond set at $1,000.
— Barbara Gawlowski, 32, harassment.
— Ryan Hartman, 32, unlawful conduct on public property.
— Charles Howe, 30, unlawful conduct on public property and resisting arrest, bond set at $1,000.
— Justin Jeffries, 26, unlawful conduct on public property.
— Kerri Kellerman, 38, unlawful conduct on public property.
— Richard Klassen, 23, unlawful conduct on public property.
— Noah Levine, 19, giving false information and obstruction of a roadway.
— Scianda Long, 24, unlawful conduct on public property.
— Vincent Lopez, 24, unlawful conduct on public property.
— Patrick Marsden, 31, unlawful conduct on public property, bond set at $2,000.
— Kristopher Norvell, 23, failure to obey a police order.
— Aaron Petrovich, 40, assault.
— Tiffany Rosengrant, 24, unlawful conduct on public property.
— Jonathan Shepard, 27, unlawful conduct on public property and resisting arrest, bond set at $750.
— Caryn Sodaro, 46, unlawful conduct on public property, bond set at $300.
— Aaron Stuckner, 23, unlawful conduct on public property and resisting arrest.
— Heather Turner, 25, Unlawful Conduct on Public Property and Marijuana Possession under 2 oz.
— Matthew Velasquez, 25, unlawful conduct on public property. |
2.4k SHARES Facebook Twitter Google Whatsapp Pinterest Print Mail Flipboard
When Americans think back on historically evil and depraved human beings, they may think of Adolf Hitler, Josef Stalin, or even Osama bin Laden for their profound immorality in wantonly taking human life and creating terror. If the American people took stock of the Republican Party over the past four years and considered the terror and distress they have caused tens-of-millions of American citizens, it is likely they would conclude that, as a group, conservatives are as depraved, wicked, and inhumane as any of history’s human monsters. Whether it is deliberately withholding food, shelter, or medical assistance from people in need, there are no bounds Republicans and their conservative activists are unwilling to cross to inflict damage on Americans. As the government runs out of money to operate and its ability to borrow to repay Republican debts looms, the true extent of the GOP’s malicious nature is becoming clear.
In what has to be the epitome of evil in the face of good news for New Yorkers, the pantheon of conservative malice, the Heritage Foundation led by the vile Jim DeMint erected a sign in Times Square warning “Obamacare may be hazardous to your health.” The sign’s message is to invoke fear as New Yorkers discover that, because of the ACA, their healthcare insurance premiums are falling by at least 50% on top of no pre-existing conditions, no lifetime limits on coverage, and parents’ ability to keep children on their policies until age 26. That DeMint is responsible for fear mongering and disregard for Americans is not surprising. Last week DeMint told an audience that Veteran’s healthcare benefits and Medicare senior citizens pay for are un-American. However, DeMint is just one face of the conservative movement waging a ferocious battle with itself to determine which group can inflict the most damage on the American people.
On Thursday, 43 Republicans garnered support from conservative groups Club For Growth, FreedomWorks, and Heritage Action for legislation to shut down the government unless the Affordable Care Act is defunded. The House measure attracted support from teabag Senators Mike Lee and Ted Cruz to “save America from Obamacare.” The groups boast that “momentum is building” to stop the healthcare reform law and prevent tens of millions of Americans from getting healthcare insurance and to allow the insurance industry to keep raising premiums. Republican leadership in the House is disappointed because their proposal to maintain sequester spending levels and force the Senate to defund the ACA is in jeopardy of failing. Both groups’ ultimate goal is ending the ACA and cutting spending to inflict the maximum amount of damage on the most Americans possible, and they are threatening a government shut down and defaulting on the nation’s debt to achieve their goal.
With the country’s debt and deficit falling at a record pace, and Americans suffering the effects of the GOP’S sequester, the only reasonable explanation of Republican’s actions is that in their malicious minds, people are not suffering enough. In a very recent Gallup poll, a record number of Americans are unable to afford the basic necessities of life including 20% who said they lacked the money to buy the food that they or their families needed, and 75% are barely surviving living from paycheck to paycheck. The Republican answer is to vote next week to slash food stamp funding when 15% of American families already live with perpetual food insecurity Republicans exacerbated by cuts to school lunches, Meals on Wheels, and Head Start. Republicans are dissatisfied that only 24% of America’s children live in dire poverty because their parents are unable to find work or struggle with part time-employment at minimum-wage jobs. To rub salt in their wounds, one Republican quoted his Christian bible and said, “The one who is unwilling to work shall not eat” to justify cutting food stamp funding regardless that 42% of food stamp recipients work and the rest are seniors and children.
The level of inhumanity endemic to Republicans belies their so-called Christian faith; particularly their drive to increase the number of Americans who are hungry and in poor health. In the next week, with only 4 legislative days to fund the government, Republicans will battle among themselves to see which group can inflict the most damage on the people, and it is barely mentioned that Speaker of the House John Boehner lusts to slash Social Security he hopes will be his lasting legacy. Boehner promised to hold the debt ceiling hostage unless Democrats and President Obama accept a deal to cut to Social Security, Medicaid, Medicare, farm programs and government pensions to inflict even more suffering on Americans.
Boehner’s evil is represented in his response to criticism that slashing crucial domestic programs is unfair when people are hungry and struggling through no fault of their own. Boehner said, “It may be unfair but what I’m trying to do here is to leverage the political process;” to achieve the “goal to stop Obamacare, to cut spending.” Despite the debt and deficit falling, and dissatisfied the sequester damage is limited, Eric Cantor proposed keeping the sequester cuts in perpetuity and Boehner said “Now, it’s time to deal with the mandatory side.” The mandatory side are programs that require funding by law including Social Security, Medicare, and Veteran’s benefits; all programs that benefit senior citizens will ensure that Republicans leave no American unaffected.
To be fair, it is wrong to single out Boehner, Cantor, or teabaggers as inherently malevolent because the entire conservative movement is intrinsically evil. It is bad enough Republicans have not proposed or supported one piece of legislation to help any American who is not filthy rich, but they have been on a crusade to withhold food, shelter, and medical care from people in need. That the Heritage Foundation is assisting Republicans in their effort to eliminate the Affordable Care Act coupled with their inability to explain how it is dangerous reveals their only purpose is inflicting pain on Americans; especially since the Heritage Foundation proposed the ACA’s primary components in 1989.
Republicans, teabaggers, libertarians, and their belief tanks have resorted to fear-mongering, misinforming, and warning Americans for three years the Affordable Care Act is an existential threat, and now according to the Heritage Foundation it is “hazardous to your health.” Americans will discover in the next week the only hazard to their health is Republicans on a crusade to see which faction can cause the most damage to the people and the nation. They are just as evil as any of history’s monsters and although they are not slaughtering millions of Americans quickly, they are intent on inflicting slow death by withholding food and healthcare from the working poor, seniors, and children.
If you’re ready to read more from the unbossed and unbought Politicus team, sign up for our newsletter here! Email address: Leave this field empty if you're human: |
Cassandra Szklarski, The Canadian Press
TORONTO -- Canadian films featuring international stars including Jake Gyllenhaal and Daniel Radcliffe are among the projects making it onto the Toronto International Film Festival's annual list of best Canuck features.
The film group's Top 10 titles include Gyllenhaal's surreal art film, "Enemy," directed by Denis Villeneuve, and Radcliffe's romantic comedy "The F Word," directed by Michael Dowse. Both were shot and set in Toronto.
"Lots of Americans, international stars in our films this year," TIFF senior programmer Steve Gravestock said Tuesday after the list was revealed at a downtown bash.
"Jake Gyllenhaal stars in 'Enemy' alongside Sarah Gadon and Melanie Laurent, it's very sinister, disturbing, probably one of the weirdest looks at Toronto but totally recognizable in a lot of ways."
Gravestock noted the list includes two documentaries: "Watermark," by Jennifer Baichwal and Edward Burtynsky and "When Jews Were Funny," by Alan Zweig. It also includes three first features: Chloe Robichaud's "Sarah Prefers to Run;" the animated "Asphalt Watches," by Shayne Ehman and Seth Scriver; and Jeff Barnaby's "Rhymes for Young Ghouls."
"I really think it's one of the most diverse and varied lists I've seen in quite some time, in terms of themes and formats," he said.
There's also a healthy contingent of Quebec features, including "Tom at the Farm" by Xavier Dolan; "Vic + Flo Saw a Bear," from Denis Cote and Louise Archambault's "Gabrielle," which is Canada's submission to the Academy Awards for consideration in the foreign-language film category.
But many big directors with projects this year did not make the list, among them Don McKellar with "The Grand Seduction," Bruce McDonald with "The Husband," and Alanis Obomsawin with "Hi-Ho Mistahey!"
"It's a snapshot of what's going on," Gravestock said of the selections, made by an independent panel of seven filmmakers and industry professionals.
"There's so much great talent in Canada you can't include every good film we make."
Zweig said he was surprised to make the cut, even though his comedian-stacked documentary was named best Canadian feature at the Toronto International Film Festival in September.
"I didn't think this would happen, maybe even I was afraid there'd be a little backlash or something," said Zweig, going on to compare the two achievements.
"I'm proud to win that prize and somehow this seems better because I don't really believe in best -- the best -- but 10 best? Yeah, you know, that's believable. And it feels more real to be one of the best, in no particular order."
A 10-day film festival featuring the 10 movies kicks off Jan. 3 at Toronto's TIFF Bell Lightbox. It will include a discussion by Villeneuve and Gyllenhaal on their collaborative process on Jan. 5. The two also worked together on the U.S.-backed abduction thriller, "Prisoners."
TIFF also released a Top 10 short film list that includes the latest from Oscar-winner Chris Landreth.
His 11-minute project "Subconscious Password" imagines what goes on inside the mind when it goes searching for information. It's been shortlisted for a possible Oscar nomination in the animated shorts category.
The short film selections also include: "A Grand Canal," by Johnny Ma; "An Extraordinary Person," by Monia Chokri; "The Chaperone 3D," by Fraser Munden and Neil Rathbone; "The End of Pinky," from Claire Blanchet; "In guns we trust," by Nicolas Levesque; "Noah," by Walter Woodman and Patrick Cederberg; "Nous avions," by Stephane Moukarzel; "Paradise Falls," by Fantavious Fritz and "Yellowhead," by Kevan Funk.
Select films will tour major cities across the country, including Vancouver, Edmonton and Montreal. Tickets and ticket packages for the Toronto events go on sale Dec. 4 for TIFF members and Dec. 11 for the public.
Canada's top 10 films are chosen from features, shorts, documentaries, animation and experimental films.
Each film must have premiered at a major film festival or obtained a commercial theatrical release in Canada in 2013. |
All my friends are asking me if there's any way Donald Trump can get elected president. My answer is to cross my fingers and say no.
I say this because I believe the American people are not, ultimately, batshit crazy. Mr. Trump appeals to their lizard brain. I believe, perhaps naively, that most voters will still possess some remnant of executive function on election day.
Conrad Black does not agree with me. The normally astute Mr. Black has been shilling for Mr. Trump for some time now. Perhaps it's the mischievous contrarian in him. Or perhaps it's because Mr. Trump stood up for Mr. Black during his recent troubles, and he owes him. At any rate, Mr. Black writes that "Donald Trump is very close to one of the most astonishing political victories in American history."
Story continues below advertisement
America votes: Coverage of the 2016 U.S. election night
A better bet is that Donald Trump will lead the Republican Party (or what's left of it) into the abyss. It will be the worst rout since Barry Goldwater lost to Lyndon Johnson in 1964 by 23 percentage points.
I'm assuming Mr. Trump gets the nomination. I can't see how he won't. But the electoral math is dreadful. Demographics are not on the GOP's side. Angry white guys are a shrinking minority of the population. Perhaps half of all Republicans dislike Mr. Trump, and won't vote for him. Thoughtful people in the party (there are some) believe a Trump nomination will be suicide. The ethical ones will fight him to the bitter end. The opportunistic ones will try to explain why the guy who was a nation-wrecker yesterday is just the man the country needs tomorrow.
Mr. Trump will be opposed by the entire mainstream media except Fox News. Which, come to think of it, might work to his advantage.
Mr. Black actually believes that Mr. Trump can fix the corrupt U.S. government system. In fact, he wants to destroy it, along with what remains of the culture of consensus and compromise. He's a wrecking ball. He believes experts are idiots and wears his ignorance with pride. He acts on instinct and impulse, makes up stuff as he goes along and scatters his lies like confetti. He's written more books than he's read. This does not hurt his ratings. It enhances them.
To Trump backers, this election is not about policy and expertise. It's about power and domination. He is the Alpha Male, and all of his opponents are wimps with shrivelled testicles (or none at all). If you want a preview of his campaign, check out the attack ad currently playing on Instagram. It shows Hillary Clinton barking like a dog as a terrorist aims a gun and Vladimir Putin snickers. Oh dear.
How does Ms. Clinton counter that? She can't out-tough Mr. Trump. But therapeutic nurturing clichés ("Let's make America whole again") won't cut it either. She'll have to keep reminding people she's the sane one. Maybe she could dig up that daisy ad from 1964 – the one warning that Mr. Goldwater was loony enough to push the nuclear button.
Story continues below advertisement
Story continues below advertisement
Remember hope and change? This election is about fear and loathing. Never have two candidates been so disliked as Mr. Trump and Ms. Clinton are. The voters don't trust either of them. (Only 37 per cent of respondents in a new Washington Post poll said Ms. Clinton is honest and trustworthy.) The November ballot question will be which one voters fear more and which one they loathe less. Their choice will be the machine politician or the huckster. (By the way, if you think Mr. Trump has no supporters here, you're wrong. You should see my inbox.)
The other day the Chinese government used Mr. Trump and the threats of violence in Chicago to declare that democracy can be downright scary. The Chinese government has a point. Never in my lifetime has a nominee for president been so clearly unfit for office – not even Mr. Goldwater. America is about to cross a line, and there's no going back.
Ever since I moved to Canada in the last century, I've been insisting that my ex-country is not as crazy as it looks. Ultimately it corrects course. But that's getting hard to do. It gets hard when you drive around Florida listening to people on the radio calling the President of the United States a traitor. It gets hard when you meet educated professionals who swear that Barack Obama is a foreign-born Muslim. It gets hard when the voice of every conspiracist and wacko is amplified in social media.
I still do not believe Americans are crazy enough to elect Mr. Trump. But I could be wrong. As smart people keep saying on TV, no one knows nothing any more. Even David Plouffe, the mastermind of Mr. Obama's 2008 campaign, says it could be close. Maybe he's just hedging, because he doesn't want to look as stupid as all the other pundits who never saw it coming.
Or maybe I'll have to eat this column. Mr. Black can pass the salt.
Editor's note: An earlier version of this article said Barry Goldwater lost to Lyndon Johnson in 1964 by a margin of 23 per cent. In fact, the loss was a 23 percentage-point difference. |
This article is over 2 years old
Government posts Twitter response to report bank will cease doing business with it and its entities and that accounts will close at end of month
The government of Nauru has dismissed reports Westpac has cut ties with it as “a politically motivated fabrication”.
On Thursday it was reported Westpac had informed the Nauruan government it would cease doing business with it and its entities. ABC’s Pacific Beat said accounts would be closed at the end of the month, citing a letter sent to some customers.
Westpac cuts all ties to government of Nauru Read more
Westpac did not deny the report, but told Guardian Australia it could not comment because of confidentiality. The government of Nauru did not respond to requests for comment.
However, on Thursday afternoon it accused the ABC and Guardian Australia of publishing a “politically motivated fabrication”. The response was posted on the government’s Twitter account, often used to respond to media reports after they have been published.
Republic of Nauru (@Republic_Nauru) Supposedly "exclusive" story by ABC about banking in Nauru is politically-motivated fabrication. Govt will release statement with facts soon
In a subsequent statement, the Nauruan government confirmed Westpac had withdrawn services, but suggested the end of the business relationship had been the government’s own decision.
“The Government of Nauru has made a decision to strengthen its business and financial relationship with its chief financial partner, Bendigo Bank,” it said.
On Friday afternoon a spokeswoman for Bendigo Bank told Guardian Australia the bank’s relationship with Nauru had remained the same since it opened a customer service agency in June 2015 after responding to an expression-of-interest proposal.
“Our Bank employs the same public agency model it already uses in 110 Australian communities. Agency staff are employed by the agent, with the Bank involved in operations, including selection and ongoing training,” a spokeswoman said.
Bendigo Bank declined to comment on Westpac’s decision.
In its statement on Thursday the Nauruan government said its business relationship with Westpac “was severed when the bank withdrew financial services to not only Nauru, but nearly all of the Pacific small island states.”
“Unfortunately this has become the norm with a number of smaller higher risk and low turnover nations worldwide as large banks chase profits and abandon services to long established customers.”
Westpac has not had a physical presence in Nauru, and in July 2015 the bank finalised the sale of its banking operations in Samoa, the Cook Islands and Tonga to the Bank of South Pacific. Proposed sales of operations in the Solomon Islands and Vanuatu did not go ahead at the time, and it retained its presence in Fiji and Papua New Guinea.
A spokeswoman again declined to comment, based on confidentiality.
Nauru’s statement also pointed towards a report by the Asia Pacific group on money laundering, which said the country “faces low risks of money laundering and terrorism financing”.
The report, published in 2012, noted Nauru had criminalised both acts, but “some domestic predicate offences are missing”.
“There is no criminalisation of funding terrorist organisations or individual terrorists, other than those prescribed by the Nauru government. At the time of the onsite visit and the period immediately thereafter, no organisation or individual had been prescribed.”
On Thursday Sprent Dabwido, president of Nauru from 2011 to 2013, told Guardian Australia Westpac’s decision was not unexpected.
“It’s ... not a total surprise when you have a government that is reckless in handling the finances of a nation,” he said.
“I can’t blame them because most of the dealings of this government are never straightforward, never black and white,” he said. |
The new Martin Scorsese, Terence Winter and Mick Jagger-produced HBO series Vinyl will premiere on 2/14, and though we’ve already seen several trailers for the show, we haven’t heard much about the music that will be featured on it up until now. Billboard reports that the show will release Volume 1 of its original soundtrack in the days leading up to the premiere. After that soundtrack is released, a new EP will drop each Friday comprising music representative of the forthcoming Sunday episode. The show takes place in New York in the early ’70s and Sturgill Simpson wrote its theme. Iggy Pop and Chris Cornell both contributed new songs to Vinyl, and the music of Julian Casablancas, Charli XCX, the Arcs, Jessie J, Royal Blood, Jess Glynne, DJ Cassidy, Charlie Wilson, Nate Ruess, Trey Songz will also be featured on the show. David Johansen re-recorded two New York Dolls tracks, both of which will be included on the official release. Check out the tracklist below.
01 Ty Taylor – “The World Is Yours”
02 David Johansen – “Personality Crisis” (New York Dolls)
03 Kaleo – “No Good”
04 Sturgill Simpson – “Sugar Daddy” (Theme From Vinyl)
05 Ruth Brown – “Mama He Treats Your Daughter Mean”
06 Otis Redding – “Mr. Pitiful”
07 Dee Dee Warwick – “Suspicious Minds”
08 Mott the Hoople – “All The Way From Memphis”
09 David Johansen – “Stranded In The Jungle” (New York Dolls)
10 Chris Kenner – “I Like It Like That”
11 Ty Taylor – “Cha Cha Twist”
12 The Jimmy Castor Bunch – “It’s Just Begun”
13 Soda Machine – “Want Ads”
14 The Meters – “Hand Clapping Song”
15 Soda Machine – “Slippin’ Into Darkness”
16 Edgar Winter – “Frankenstein”
17 Nasty Bits – “Rotten Apple”
18 Foghat – “I Just Want To Make Love To You”
Vinyl: Music From The HBO Original Series – Volume 1 is out 2/12 via Atlantic/Warner Bros. |
An emergency motion to save the Poolbeg chimneys from demolition is to be put forward by Dublin councillors tonight.
The motion to have the two stacks included on the county's list of protected structures will be discussed at the south east area committee meeting.
It was tabled by Labour councillor Dermot Lacey who said the ESB has had a written agreement with the council since 2010, saying it would inform the local authority is there was any question of demolishing the towers.
Heritage
"We wanted the chimneys on a list of protected structures four years ago and the ESB asked that we wouldn't do that on the basis that if there were any intentions to do anything with them, they would come back and talk to us again," said Mr Lacey.
"I recall that there was no case for them being listed architecturally, but there is an argument for protecting them on a heritage basis."
While the ESB has said it is considering demolishing the chimneys, Mr Lacey insisted: "I'm saying no way."
Tonight's motion follows indications from the ESB last week that the future of the former power station was being reviewed and a decision would be made before the end of the year.
The ESB plans were listed in a letter to minister Leo Varadkar just before he moved to the Department of Health.
Mr Varadkar had written to ESB chief executive Pat O'Doherty about preserving the chimneys.
Mr O'Doherty had responded that this "might not be possible at all".
He added that "some view their 40-year presence on the Dublin skyline as iconic while others see them as a blight on the landscape".
Damien Cassidy, chairman of the Environment Group of Ringsend, said local people felt the chimneys should be retained and protected.
csheehy@herald.ie |
The names behind fall’s predicted bestsellers are instantly recognisable: Franzen (Purity), Atwood (The Heart Goes Last), Rushdie (Two Years Eight Months and Twenty-Eight Nights), and Oates (The Lost Landscape), to name only a few. In the fanfare surrounding the new releases by these familiar names, it’s easy to overlook the names of authors who aren’t as well known to US readers – yet. Fall 2015 promises a crop of new English-language books drawn from Latin America and Spain’s vibrant, thriving literary landscape, as well as from Latino/a writers in the US. While they may get some airtime during Hispanic Heritage Month (15 September-15 October), these Latino reads deserve shelf space any time of year.
Deep Down Dark: The Untold Stories of 33 Men Buried in a Chilean Mine, and the Miracle That Set Them Free
Facebook Twitter Pinterest Héctor Tobar, Deep Down Dark. Photograph: Publicity
The paperback edition of Héctor Tobar’s book will be released on Tuesday, timed to the fifth anniversary of the real-life mining drama that captivated the world’s attention. For readers who missed this bestseller’s initial release, Tobar’s chronicle of trapped – and ultimately rescued – Chilean miners will impress: it’s an exquisite, ambitious piece of nonfiction that manages to render the personalities and experiences of more than 30 protagonists, their families and various government and private sector players in a way that is thorough, fair and, remarkably, organised.
Deep Down Dark begins by immersing the reader in the underground world of the mine, a place most readers will never visit, making it terrifyingly real through careful, vivid detail. It continues through the miners’ 69 days trapped underground, their dramatic rescue, and, finally, the ups and downs of their lives after they returned to life aboveground. Tobar draws fully upon his skills as both a journalist and a fiction writer, drawing portraits of protagonists that are humane and complex without being sentimental or judgmental.
The Illogic of Kassel
Facebook Twitter Pinterest Enrique Vila-Matas, The Illogic of Kassel. Photograph: Publicity
If you’re the kind of person who’d prefer to stay far away from a contemporary art museum, or the kind who, upon seeing a canvas painted with a single monochromatic rectangle, would say, “Well, I could paint that,” then maybe Enrique Vila-Matas’s The Illogic of Kassel isn’t for you.
Yet I’d say perhaps it is for you, for precisely that reason. As Vilas-Matas’s narrator says, alluding to a quotation from Stéphane Mallarmé, it’s “not about the thing, but the effect it produces”. Mallarmé and the narrator are referring to art, but the quotation could also be applied to writing and, of course, to this book.
Vila-Matas’s neurotic narrator is simultaneously entranced and confused by the art of his age, a subject he has ample opportunity to contemplate since he is a novelist who has been invited to become an artwork at the Documenta art festival, which takes place in Kassel, Germany, every five years. The author handles the subject matter deftly, writing about art in a way that’s convincing and entertaining, as well as profound, touching on bigger, deeper “meaning of life” questions.
Make Your Home Among Strangers
Facebook Twitter Pinterest Jennine Capó Crucet, Make Your Home Among Strangers. Photograph: Publicity
Jennine Capó Crucet’s debut novel, about a whip-smart daughter of Cuban immigrants who leaves her Miami home against her parents’ wishes to attend an elite college, will inevitably resonate among first-generation Americans, especially Cubans, who are, “ni de aquí, ni de ahí” (“neither from here nor there”). But the themes of the book are also universal enough to appeal to a wider audience. At nearly 400 pages, it’s a long novel, but one that moves at a quick clip, thanks to animated dialogue among characters.
Lizet will be recognizable to many children of immigrants who have a foot in two distinct cultures and, often, different social classes. Her flaws make her a believable character, and her flashes of insight – “I’d expected … like everything else [at the elite college] – [for information] to feel hidden from me but also somehow in plain sight” – will compel many readers to nod their heads in familiarity.
The Story of My Teeth
Valeria Luiselli, The Story of My Teeth. Photograph: Publicity
Valeria Luiselli’s latest genre-defying book continues exploring the author’s preoccupation with Mexico City – an understandable obsession given the endless number of stories that unfold there daily. Besides its engaging characters and plot, there’s the equally compelling backstory of this book, which Luiselli wrote in collaboration with employees of Mexico’s Jumex, an industrial giant that produces and distributes juice. Luiselli connected with the workers after she’d been asked to write an exhibition catalogue by a gallery funded by the company. She had them consult on every element of the book.
The Complete Stories of Clarice Lispector
Facebook Twitter Pinterest The Complete Stories of Clarice Lispector. Photograph: Publicity
“A female Chekhov on the beaches of Guanabara [Brazil]” is how editor Benjamin Moser describes writer Clarice Lispector in this first English-language translation of Lispector’s complete body of short stories, published by New Directions just this month. Lispector, who died in 1977, is largely unknown to English-speaking readers, but was among Brazil’s most well-known 20th-century writers.
The significance of this volume, as Moser writes in his introduction, is that while the stories are fiction, their characters, conflicts and challenges were drawn from Lispector’s own life; as such, the book serves as “a record of a woman’s entire life, written over a woman’s entire life … a woman who was not interrupted: a woman who did not start writing late, or stop for marriage of children, or succumb to drugs or suicide”. Lispector was privileged, yes, but her writing reflected the realities of the Brazilian bourgeoisie and The Complete Stories is an account, albeit fictional, that helps contemporary readers understand more about current class issues in Brazil.
Queer Brown Voices: Personal Narratives of Latina/o LGBT Activism
Queer Brown Voices: Personal Narratives of Latina/o LGBT Activism. Photograph: Publicity
This book, a collaboration between two scholars and an activist, fills a major void in LGBT, Latino/a, and activist histories, privileging the first-person recollections of Latino and Latina leaders in LGBT movements in the United States. The editors’ transparency about the processes they used to select, translate, and edit the included essays makes for interesting reading in itself.
While Queer Brown Voices is likely to become a seminal text in college and university queer studies programs, its conversational tone makes it compelling for a general reader as well.
The Weight of Feathers
Anna-Marie McLemore, The Weight of Feathers. Photograph: Publicity
If the plot of Mexican American writer Anna-Marie McLemore’s debut young adult novel seems familiar, that’s not accidental; her publisher, in fact, describes the book as “The Night Circus meets Romeo and Juliet.” While some critics might bemoan that such a familiar story is getting recast, readers – especially young Latinos and Latinas – are more likely to feel excited finally to see characters who look like them getting written into a recognisable plot.
McLemore’s prose is vivid, with carefully chosen, colourful details giving readers a clear sense of place and character. An air of mysterious fantasy enshrouds the whole book, pulling the reader through it as if in a spell. McLemore is a writer to watch. |
President Obama scolded the media on Friday over its coverage of Donald Trump’s unorthodox campaign, entreating reporters to skip “the spectacle and the circus” of the 2016 race.
He urged reporters to instead dig into the candidates’ positions on the economy and the military. As if on cue, he was then asked about the bombastic entrepreneur’s tweet about a taco bowl.
“We are in serious times and this is a really serious job. This is not entertainment, this is not a reality show,” Obama admonished in the White House briefing room. “This is a contest for the presidency of the United States.”
The president went on to take a number of indirect shots at Trump. He said reporters need to apply “genuine scrutiny” about whether candidates offer up “completely implausible” policies or “take a position on international issues that could threaten war or has the potential of upending our critical relationships with other countries or would potentially break the financial system.”
Continue reading |
MUMBAI: Upset after being ignored by the BJP during the latest Cabinet reshuffle , the Shiv Sena had promised to react soon, but all it has done is attack the BJP through an edit piece in its mouth piece, Saamna, on Monday.The problem for Sena is that it can’t do nothing more than that. The leadership feels it can’t pull out from the BJP government in the state because the party could split without it remaining in power.Secondly, the hard Hindutva line it has been advocating all these years means that it would have trouble in finding a strong ally in the state. For instance, in the February BMC polls held this year when the Sena fell short of the majority mark, the state Congress leadership had suggested to the party high command to extend support to the Sena in the BMC, however, the Congress brass decided against it because of the Sena’s hardline Hindutva stand.“The Sena is aware that if the BJP remains in power for five years in the state then its very existence would be threatened, however they are unable to do anything about it. They don’t have a good second-rung leadership to counter the BJP and they don’t have an ideology or an ally if they quit the government,”said Yuvraj Mohite, a political analyst.The saffron party has been facing a diminishing clout among the electorate for a while now. The Sena has been calling the BJP’s win in the 2014 parliamentary poll as a ‘lottery’, however in the subsequent assembly elections the BJP almost formed the government on its own in Maharashtra (it fell short by 22 seats) after it broke the alliance with Sena. The Sena, which was once was the bigger alliance partner, was a distant second with 60 seats. In spite of an agrarian distress, the BJP emerged as the single largest party in zilla parishad and municipal council polls held this year.The biggest jolt to the Sena, however, was the BMC elections held early this year. For years the party has been ruling the cash-rich civic body which is one of the richest civic bodies in Asia. The Sena and the BJP contested separately and while the Sena did become the single largest party getting 84 seats the BJP made big in roads by getting 82 seats.A Sena leader said that the party has been really shaken up after the BMC results. “What is worrying is that the Marathi vote which always used to come to us is now going to them,which can be seen that they have done in Marathi dominated areas too,”said a Sena leader.A few of Sena President Uddhav Thackeray’s close aides have been asking him to pull out from the government warning that if the BJP government completes its 5 year term then it would cannibalise the Sena. However, there is a feeling in the leadership that the BJP judging by the recent results may perform even better and the Sena even worse. |
Earl F. Weener of the transportation safety board said at a morning news conference with Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo that investigators had yet to interview the operator of the train, who was among those injured. A spokeswoman for Metro-North said the engineer, identified as William Rockefeller of Germantown, N.Y., had about 14 years’ experience with the line. There were also three conductors on the train.
“Our mission is to not just understand what happened but why it happened, with the intent of preventing it from happening again,” Mr. Weener said.
The accident was the latest episode in a trying year for Metro-North, the nation’s second-largest commuter railroad, and the first with passenger fatalities in Metro-North’s 30-year history.
In May, two Metro-North trains slammed into each other near Fairfield, Conn., during the evening rush. Scores of passengers were hurt, five critically.
And in July, a CSX freight train derailed near where the Metro-North train left the tracks on Sunday. Officials said there was no connection between the accidents.
By Sunday night, the transportation safety board had given Metro-North clearance to begin removing the crippled train and repairing the tracks. But the crash was likely to disrupt the Monday commute for thousands of passengers on the railroad’s Hudson line. Metro-North arranged for buses to take Hudson line passengers to White Plains, N.Y., on Sunday to catch trains on a different line that was running normally. On Monday, Hudson line trains will be running as far south as Yonkers, where passengers will be able to catch buses to the 242nd Street station of the No. 1 train.
The train jumped the tracks on one of the sharpest curves in the Metro-North system, not far from the Spuyten Duyvil station. Governor Cuomo said the Metro-North engineer had described applying the brakes as the train approached the curve, a stretch of track where the speed limit dropped to 30 miles an hour, from 70. But it was unclear whether the brakes had malfunctioned or had been activated too late. |
equivalent of EXPLAIN PLAN with GHC?
joshua: > Hello, I'm quite new to Haskell, but experienced in other languages (C, > Python, Ruby, SQL, etc). I am interested in Haskell because I've heard > that the language is capable of lots of optimizations based on laziness, > and I want to learn more about that. > > I dug in with Project Euler problem #1, and wrote: > > main = print (show (sum [x | x <- [3..999], x `mod` 3 == 0 || x `mod` 5 == 0])) > > So far so good, but I want to have some way of observing what > optimizations GHC has performed. Most notably, in this example I want > to know if the list was ever actually constructed in memory. The "sum" > function only needs the elements one at a time, in order, so if Haskell > and GHC are everything I've heard about them, I would fully expect the > list construction to be optimized out. :) > > Unfortunately I was not able to see any way of examining ghc's output to > determine whether it had performed this optimization. The C it produced > with '-fvia-C -C' was totally unreadable -- it looked like something > from the IOCCC. :( I couldn't find any way to match up any of the code > it had generated with code I had written. My attempts to objdump the > binaries was similarly unproductive. > > Is there any kind of intermediate form that a person can examine to see > how their code is being optimized? Anything like EXPLAIN PLAN in SQL? > It would make it much easier to understand the kinds of optimizations > Haskell can perform. > > I'm not looking so much for profiling -- obvious this program is trivial > and takes no time. I just want to better understand what kind of > optimizations are possible given Haskell's language model. > So the optimization you're looking for here is fusion of some kind. GHC ships with build/foldr fusion, and there are libraries for an alternative system, stream fusion. GHC uses an intermediate representation called 'Core', which is a mini-Haskell, essentially, that is optimized repeatedly via type-preserving transformations. You can inspect this with a number of tools, including "ghc-core" (available on Hackage). Now, you're example uses a list comprehension (which is translated into an enumFromTo call, and a call to filter. It also uses a call to sum, which is a non-fusing left-fold under build/foldr fusion, but fuses under stream fusion. I'll desugar your code explicitly, and translate the calls from build/foldr to stream-fusible functions: $ cabal install uvector import Data.Array.Vector main = print . sumU . filterU (\x -> x `mod` 3 == 0 || x `mod` 5 == 0) $ enumFromToU 3 (999 :: Int) Running through ghc-core we see: 146 PreInlineUnconditionally 320 PostInlineUnconditionally 84 UnfoldingDone 18 RuleFired 7 +# 1 -# 1 <=# 2 ==#->case 1 ># 3 SC:$wfold0 1 fromIntegral/Int->Int 2 streamU/unstreamU 12 LetFloatFromLet 1 EtaReduction 210 BetaReduction 8 CaseOfCase 94 KnownBranch 4 CaseMerge 5 CaseElim 6 CaseIdentity 1 FillInCaseDefault 18 SimplifierDone Showing what transformations happened. Notably, 2 occurences of the "streamU/unstreamU" transformation, to remove intermediate structures. The final code looks like: $s$wfold :: Int# -> Int# $s$wfold = \ (sc_s19l :: Int#) -> case modInt# (-9223372036854775807) 3 of wild21_a14L { __DEFAULT -> case modInt# (-9223372036854775807) 5 of wild211_X159 { __DEFAULT -> $wfold sc_s19l (-9223372036854775806); 0 -> $wfold (+# sc_s19l (-9223372036854775807)) (-9223372036854775806) }; 0 -> $wfold (+# sc_s19l (-9223372036854775807)) (-9223372036854775806) } $wfold :: Int# -> Int# -> Int# $wfold = \ (ww_s189 :: Int#) (ww1_s18d :: Int#) -> case ># ww1_s18d 999 of wild_a15N { False -> case ww1_s18d of wild2_a14K { __DEFAULT -> case modInt# wild2_a14K 3 of wild21_a14L { __DEFAULT -> case modInt# wild2_a14K 5 of wild211_X159 { __DEFAULT -> $wfold ww_s189 (+# wild2_a14K 1); 0 -> $wfold (+# ww_s189 wild2_a14K) (+# wild2_a14K 1) }; 0 -> $wfold (+# ww_s189 wild2_a14K) (+# wild2_a14K 1) }; (-9223372036854775808) -> case modInt# (-9223372036854775808) 3 of wild21_a14N { __DEFAULT -> case lvl_r19G of wild211_a14x { False -> $s$wfold ww_s189; True -> $s$wfold (+# ww_s189 (-9223372036854775808)) }; 0 -> $s$wfold (+# ww_s189 (-9223372036854775808)) } }; True -> ww_s189 } Which might take a while to understand, but the key thing is the types at the top level are Int# -- they don't allocate [Int], but instead use unboxed, machine-level int values. Optimization succesful. There are papers and manuals describing "GHC Core" - the intermediate form - on haskell.org. For fusion, google for "deforestation" or "stream fusion". -- Don |
When it comes to this year’s Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy race, we’re paging Chris Messina to the winner’s podium — stat.
As The Mindy Project‘s Dr. Danny Castellano, Messina brings a lovably grouchy groundedness to the offices of Shulman & Associates and provides a half-cool (those dance moves!), half-dorky (those old-man glasses!) foil for Mindy Kaling’s flighty Dr. Lahiri.
And this season, when the two lead docs finally figured out how they felt about each other, Messina got to play the Harry to Kaling’s Sally, the Mr. Darcy to her Elizabeth Bennet, the Sam Baldwin to her Annie Reed… not that Dr. C knows who any of those people are.
PHOTOS | Emmys 2014: Outstanding Comedy Series — Our 6 Dream Nominees!
Over the course of two seasons, Messina says, his cranky alter ego has mellowed just enough to make us root for him in the quest for Mindy’s heart. “We learned in the first season, it’s only so funny to watch a guy be grumpy and cool and above everything. There’s only so much mileage in that.”
However, “The writers were smart enough to go, ‘Danny can be grumpy and above things, but he’s kind of like [The Pink Panther‘s] Inspector Clouseau:” Just when he thinks he’s cool, “he falls in a manhole,” the actor says, laughing.
We chatted with the funky brewmaster — and TVLine dream Emmy nominee — himself to get the scoop on when Danny’s romantic revelation took place, whose buff bod was featured in Christina’s photo exhibit and where Dr. C’s obsession with Mindy’s bottom line got its start.
TVLINE | When the show came back from hiatus and Danny and Mindy started heating up, I know you ran into fans who had strong feelings about what was going on. Were they pro-Danny?
They seemed to be kind of mad at Danny, especially after that episode where he broke up with her. They were angry with him – which was cool. It was fun because it showed that people care. We film on the lot at Universal, and you’re kind of in a bubble. I try not to read my stuff [online], because when you read something nice – like you guys saying I would be a good dream nominee, which is so nice of you guys to do – then you read somebody else saying if this guy gets nominated… [Laughs] We went to New York to film stuff for the last episode, and there, people were very vocal. They were telling me they were mad at me and to get my s—t together.
TVLINE | It’s kind of crazy to think Mindy and Danny are together now. In the pilot, they seemed to really not like each other.
Yeah. They were brutal to each other.
TVLINE | What do you think was the moment Danny realized she might be the one?
That’s a good question. I don’t know if there was one [moment]. I think it was a combination of many. When she pretended to be his girlfriend, definitely. Perhaps what Mindy’s character brings out in Danny and how she makes him see the world, even though he grudgingly bumps up against a lot of the way she lives her life and what she says, it’s so different from his outlook that it’s somewhat refreshing and new and exciting for him. He likes the person he is around her. Also, Mindy’s character has grown in two seasons. He’s watched that. She still is full of a lot of nonsense that he disagrees with or doesn’t understand, but she’s taken steps to take care of herself and even voices her opinion with Danny, saying, “You can’t do this to me” and “You can’t treat me like this” and standing up for herself. Watching her grow as a woman, probably, was really attractive.
RELATED | Exclusive: The Mindy Project Losing a Series Regular Ahead of Season 3
TVLINE | The Secret Santa dance to Aaliyah’s music: If I said “Do it right now,” could you?
Not that well. It would take me a couple tries. That would disappoint you. That dance was so well choreographed… It would take me about 10 to 15 attempts at it, and then I could get it down.
TVLINE | Christina’s photo exhibition – how many of those photos were you actually involved in?
I was involved in a lot of them. It was a lot! I think some of those also were carried over from when that was first introduced, in the first season. It was in the first season that Chloe [Sevigny] takes pictures of me and puts them up in my apartment. That was a big photo shoot, and there was another photo shoot in the second season. So there’s a lot of silly pictures of me doing stupid poses with my clothes off somewhere, in somebody’s library on their computer.
TVLINE | Are they around the set? Those were some pretty big prints.
I mean, thankfully, I don’t get to see them. But the day we shot that stuff, you walk in and there’s a hundred extras and there’s your big face, naked and blown up, as big as can be. It’s a little bit odd.
TVLINE | Do you ever worry that you’re playing Danny a little too mean, or maybe not curmudgeonly enough? It’s a fine line.
Yeah. I don’t think too mean. I’ve thought the opposite, like maybe I was getting too soft because there was a lot of stuff that was full of love, which was so fun to play and a nice side to see, but I wanted to make sure that the character that we started wasn’t just thrown out the window. It’s an interesting balance to try to be honest with the character and make sure that he’s not so grumpy that nobody wants to watch him or listen to him.
TVLINE | I did notice on a couple of significant Mindy-Danny kisses, you definitely went for the ass-grab.
[Laughs]
TVLINE | I’m wondering if that was a direction or if that came from you…
It wasn’t a direction. Danny mentioned in an episode to his buddy Stevie, I think Stevie said he grabbed Mindy’s ass and I said, “That’s my move. You stole my move.” I just remembered that was something that Danny was proud of, so we incorporated it in. I didn’t even know if anyone was even going to notice. Then I was told that it got a lot of attention, and we did it again in the [season finale].
TVLINE | Did Mindy [Kaling] know it was coming?
I don’t think she did. But it was a wide shot, and usually in wide shots, it’s good to be more physical. The subtle movements don’t usually play as well. So I thought, what would play here? And I thought an ass-grab would work.
TVLINE | It was all for the craft, then?
[Laughs] It always is. |
New project management articles published on the web during the week of February 22 – 28. And this week’s video: Seth Godin on the difference between leadership and management. “The Beatles didn’t invent teenagers, they just showed up to lead them.”
Must read!
Michael Mankin on the dark side of Metcalfe’s Law: “As the cost of communications decreases, the number of interactions increases exponentially, as does the time required to process them.”
Daniel Zacarias shows how working with stakeholders to better define the problem can give more useful and sustainable results than focusing on proposed solutions.
Michael Sueoka argues, “You shouldn’t always design what people want – you should design what people need.” What will you do with this? What will you be able to stop doing?
Established Methods
Elizabeth Harrin reviews “Project-Driven Creation,” a results-driven methodology handbook by Jo Bos, Ernst Harting and Marlet Hesslelink.
Peter Taylor and Karolina Jackson-Ward discuss value-driven leadership. About 42 minutes, safe for work.
Nick Pisano mixes science fiction and religion in with his thoughts on three widely used marketing labels: “Web-based,” “Cloud,” and “Big Data.”
Robert Wysocki explains a lean bundled change management process that integrates well with the PRINCE2 stage planning process.
Ian Whittingham explains the Triple Constraint of project ethics: integrity, trust, and accountability.
Kerry Wills categorizes his meetings into five broad types, and tries to optimize the mix.
Agile Methods
Cesar Abeid interviews Johanna Rothman on the estimating methods in her new book, “Predicting the Unpredictable.” Just 37 minutes, safe for work.
Mike Cohn relates the Agile lesson learned from his recent “world’s shortest hotel stay.” Incremental delivery helps you recover from mistakes quickly.
Todd Holden describes “innovation days,” as events designed to foster innovations as a cultural value.
The Clever PM continues his occasional series on “why Agile isn’t working for me,” with observations on the impact of inadequate knowledge, commitment and progress.
Applied Leadership
Donna Reed summarizes the key messages from Stephen Denning’s book, “The Leader’s Guide to Radical Management.”
Aaron Smith reviews “Committed Teams: Three Steps to Inspiring Passion and Performance,” by Mario Moussa, Ph.D., Madeline Boyer and Derek Newberry, Ph.D.
Bruce Harpham reviews “The Coaching Habit: Say Less, Ask More, and Change the Way You Lead Forever,” by Michael Stanier.
Liane Davey lays out guidelines for giving feedback to people who don’t report to you.
Elise Stevens interviews Laura Barnard on getting people to overcome their doubts and embrace change. Just 21 minutes, safe for work.
Pot Pouri
Cameron Conaway reports on sledgehammer innovation, “What happens when a brilliant idea is paired with the grit of hard labor,” at Cree, an LED technology firm.
Art Petty interviews Eric Wallor and Michael Lucchesi, proprietors of a running coaching business, on why work ethic beats talent. Just 38 minutes, safe for work.
John Goodpasture extols the virtues of the Excel Watch Window. It’s a floating collection of cell values from multiple workbooks, useful for auditing and debugging.
Ryan Ogilvie talks about that guy, who always seems to notice (and report) when something is amiss, and suggests we start treating him like an incident barometer.
Ugo Micoli examines BMW Group’s coming Centenary, as a look back and as an affirmation of identity, evolution, and independence.
Enjoy!
Share this: Tumblr
Pinterest
Print |
The University of North Carolina at Greensboro (UNCG), also known as UNC Greensboro, is a public coeducational and Research university in Greensboro, North Carolina, United States and is a constituent institution of the University of North Carolina system. However, UNCG, like all members of the UNC system, is a stand-alone university and awards its own degrees. UNCG is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges to award baccalaureate, masters, specialist and doctoral degrees.
The university offers more than 100 undergraduate, 61 master's and 26 doctoral programs.[8] The university's academic schools and programs include the College of Arts & Sciences, the Joseph M. Bryan School of Business & Economics, the School of Education, the School of Health and Human Sciences, the Joint School of Nanoscience & Nanoengineering (one of the first such schools in the nation), the School of Music, Theatre & Dance, the School of Nursing, Continual Learning, Graduate School, Warren Ashby Residential College and Lloyd International Honors College. The university is also home to the nationally renowned Weatherspoon Art Museum, which features one of the largest and most impressive collections of modern American art in the country.
The university holds two classifications from the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, as a "research university with high research activity" and for "community engagement" in curriculum, outreach and partnerships.
History [ edit ]
North Carolina State Normal and Industrial School, ca. 1906.
Credit for the founding of UNCG goes mainly to Charles Duncan McIver, a crusader for the cause of women's education. McIver served the institution as its first chief executive officer with the title of President. This position has also seen various names, with the administrator being known as the Dean of Administration after 1934 and Chancellor from 1945 to present.
The school was established as a women's college by legislative enactment on February 18, 1891 as the State Normal and Industrial School and opened October 5, 1892. The school provided instruction in business, domestic science, and teaching with a student body of 223 and a faculty of 15 in its first year. R. S. Pullen and R. T. Gray gave the original 10-acre (40,000 m2) site in Greensboro, N.C. where the first building was erected with state funds totaling $30,000. It is the first and only public university in North Carolina founded for the purpose of educating women. In 1949, it became the largest all-female institution in the United States.
The school has seen many names over the years, changing from the "State Normal and Industrial School" to the State Normal and Industrial College in 1896, and again in 1919 to North Carolina College for Women. In 1932, it changed to the Woman's College of the University of North Carolina, when it became one of the three charter institutions of the Consolidated University of North Carolina, and changed again to the University of North Carolina at Greensboro when men were first admitted to the school in 1963. It is remembered fondly by many graduates of the Woman's College simply as "the W.C."
UNCG is in the midst of expanding beyond its traditional borders onto Gate City Boulevard, a major city thoroughfare, with the construction of an 800-bed residence hall for students, and this is just the beginning of the $200 million project on Gate City Boulevard. The new construction will be a mixed-use development, with space for retail and restaurants, along with student residence halls and a new student recreation center. The university's expansion into the West Lee Street Corridor was triggered by UNCG's strategic housing plan, which calls for the university to increase the percentage of undergraduates living in university housing from 30 percent to more than 40 percent over the next decade.
In addition to providing room for UNCG's growth, the expansion also syncs with Greensboro's revitalization plan for the Gate City Boulevard corridor, a main entry point and thoroughfare in the city. The project will also spur economic development in the area. Projections estimate the development will generate more than $590 million in new spending between 2014 and 2023, create 945 new jobs and boost local property revenues by $7.5 million. The expansion has not been without controversy, especially the $91 million athletic center. The athletic center is financed by a mandatory annual fee of $435 charged every UNCG student.[9]
A personnel scandal erupted in 2014. On September 25, UNCG terminated the employment of three persons in the university's public relations department and they were arrested on felony charges of operating a photography business on University time and with University property.[10] On September 29, the story was broke on a local blog. University faculty and staff protested the firings and arrests.[11] On October 30, the District Attorney dropped all criminal charges against the three former employees. UNCG defended reporting the incident to legal authorities, but announced that the former employees had the right to appeal their termination through the personnel grievance system.[12]
On October 20, 2014, Chancellor Linda Brady announced her retirement effective July 31, 2015. Brady said her retirement was not related to the ongoing personnel scandal at the university.[13] On January 27, 2015, the head of the public relations department tendered his resignation, effective February 6.[14]
Recognition [ edit ]
The Princeton Review ranked UNCG #2 in its list of "Best Values" in public universities in the nation. It also places UNCG in the "Best in the Southeast" category and ranks UNCG among the nation's top colleges in "The Best 373 Colleges."
ranked UNCG #2 in its list of "Best Values" in public universities in the nation. It also places UNCG in the "Best in the Southeast" category and ranks UNCG among the nation's top colleges in "The Best 373 Colleges." UNCG is recognized in Forbes 2010 America's Best Colleges.
Kiplinger's ranks UNCG as one of the 100 best values among public, 4-year schools in the United States. Six other North Carolina institutions made the list—Appalachian State, East Carolina, NC State, UNC-Asheville, UNC-Chapel Hill, and UNC-Wilmington.
The UNCG School of Nursing has received one of the top national honors by the National League of Nursing, which has listed the school as a Center of Excellence in Nursing Education.
UNCG's Counselor Education program is ranked by U.S. News & World Report-The Department of Counseling and Educational Development as third (nationally) among counseling programs in the magazine's 2013 report. The program – the only specialty education program in the state to be ranked – has been consistently been ranked in the top five.
The School of Education is 56th in the country for 2010. In previous years, UNCG has been ranked in the top 50.
The Public Affairs graduate program is currently ranked 104 in the 2012 national universities' rankings.
UNCG was named as having the best public university chapter of Phi Beta Kappa in the country for the year 2006. [ citation needed ] It is also the home institution of North Carolina Poet Laureate emeritus Fred Chappell.
It is also the home institution of North Carolina Poet Laureate emeritus Fred Chappell. UNCG was named the Top Nursing program in North Carolina (2011)
The Evening MBA by the UNCG Bryan School of Business and Economics is ranked #13 in the nation, Bloomberg Businessweek 2013 Part-Time MBA Ranking
Consumer, Apparel & Retail Studies program by the UNCG Bryan School of Business and Economics ranked as the 13th best fashion program in the nation by the website Fashion-Schools.org
Campus [ edit ]
The Fountain in front of the Dining Halls
UNCG has an architecturally diverse campus with distinctively unique landmarks.[18] Historic structures include the Foust Building (1891), Spencer Hall (1904, 1907), the Quad (1919–1923), the Chancellor's Residence (1923), Aycock Auditorium (1927) and Alumni House (1937).[19] Other features include a statue of Minerva, the goddess of wisdom, located to the east of Elliott University Center. Minerva has been a part of campus from the first diploma bearing her likeness in 1894 to the statue erected near the center in 2003. Minerva also inspired the university's new graphic identity program, which was launched in 2004.
Other landmarks include "Charlie," a statue of the university's founder Charles Duncan McIver outside Jackson Library. The white tower stacks of the Jackson Library and the Spartan water tower are recognizable structures in the Greensboro community, and the campus is also home to "the Rawk" and the clock tower—two campus landmarks—and school traditions (See Traditions below). A new bell tower at the corner of College Ave. and Spring Garden St. was completed in 2005.
The Fountain is another landmark on UNCG's campus, and is a common meeting place for student groups. Visible from parts of the quad all the way to the Elliot University Center and from above in the Jackson Library and "the Caf," the large steps and platform around the fountain are frequently home to demonstrations, performances, and fraternity/sorority functions.
The campus is in close proximity (within 1.5 hours drive) to many other universities — North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University, Duke, Elon, High Point University, NC State, UNC-Chapel Hill, UNC Charlotte, Wake Forest, and Winston-Salem State University. The university is located about halfway between Washington, DC and Atlanta, Georgia.
Students [ edit ]
Of the students enrolled at the school, 32 percent are male and 68 percent female. Students come from 46 states and 90 countries. Around 25 percent of undergraduates are minorities, and 20 percent are African-American.
Student demographics [ edit ]
Faculty: 1068 (838 FT, 230 PT) (Fall, 2010, per UNCG Fact Book)
Student-faculty ratio: 17:1
Average class size: 27 students
Classes with 20 or fewer students: 30%
Average SAT score: 1600 (Fall, 2011)
Campus size: 210 acres (0.85 km 2 )
) Male-female ratio: 1:2
African-American: 27.5% undergraduate
Asian-American: 5.4% undergraduate
White: 50.2% undergraduate
Hispanic: 8% undergraduate
Native American: .4% undergraduate
Athletics [ edit ]
The intercollegiate athletics program at The University of North Carolina at Greensboro reaches as far back as the late 1940s during the days of the WCUNC, with students participating in national golf tournaments in 1948 and the school hosting the national tournaments for women's golf (1954) and tennis (1965). During the 1980s, all Spartan teams competed in Division III (non-scholarship) and then Division II (scholarship) of the National Collegiate Athletic Association, and all teams have competed in Division 1 since Fall 1991. Between 1982–1987 the Men's Soccer team won the NCAA Division III national championship title every year except for 1984. Today UNCG competes in the Southern Conference, which is made up of 10 schools across five states in the Southeast.
The 17 athletic teams currently at UNCG include: Baseball, Men's Basketball, Women's Basketball, Men's Cross Country, Women's Cross Country, Men's Golf, Women's Golf, Men's Soccer, Women's Soccer, Softball, Men's Indoor Track, Women's Indoor Track, Men's Tennis, Women's Tennis, Men's Track, Women's Track, Women's Volleyball. Wrestling was dropped in the spring of 2011. Although not considered official sports teams, the Athletic Department also includes the UNCG Cheerleading Squad and the UNCG Dance Team, the Spartan Gs.
UNCG's men's basketball team moved into a "new" home in 2009–10, making the Greensboro Coliseum its home court. The move was announced by UNCG chancellor Dr. Linda Brady on December 5, 2008. As a preview of things to come, UNCG hosted Davidson in its new venue two months later and drew a crowd of 11,687. On December 29, 2010 a UNCG record attendance of 22,178 watched the Spartans host the Duke Blue Devils. At full capacity, the building holds more than 23,000 fans for basketball giving UNCG the ability to have potentially one of the largest basketball arenas in the country. UNCG utilitizes a variety of configurations for its contests with a minimum capacity of 7,617. As part of the move, the Coliseum remodeled a floor into a Spartan "home floor" and completely renovated a massive locker room space for the team, complete with training room, meeting facilities, coaches offices and a players' lounge. The team is coached by former University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill player Wes Miller, who at the time of his appointment in 2012 was the youngest head coach in Division I.
Former UNCG women's basketball coach Lynne Agee, who retired following the 2010–2011 season, ranks among the most successful coaches in intercollegiate women's basketball history. Currently, she is one of just 45 coaches in the history of the women's game to have engineered more than 600 victories; see list of college women's basketball coaches with 600 wins. Under Agee's guidance, UNCG reached the 20-win plateau 16 times. The Spartans also earned berths into the Division I national tournament once, the Division II tournament once and the Division III tournament seven times. With Agee at the helm, UNCG became one of only 10 teams nationally (all divisions) to reach the NCAA tournament each of the first seven years it was held (1982–1988). With UNCG's 1998 NCAA appearance, Agee became the first women's coach in history to take teams to the NCAA tournament in all three divisions. UNCG is now coached by Roxboro, Person County native and former WNBA player Wendy Palmer.
The Blue Crew [ edit ]
The Blue Crew is a student organization dedicated to cheering on the Spartans at athletic events.
The Blue Crew at a soccer game
The Blue Crew at a basketball game
Blue Crew at a basketball game
Blue Crew
Clubs and traditions [ edit ]
UNCG is home to a large number of diverse and active sports and student organizations from Greek life to a radio station, and some traditions unique to the school.
Clubs [ edit ]
In Fall 2010, the Clubs and Organizations affiliated with UNCG included 36 Honor Societies and 20 Fraternities and Sororities. The university also has an active student government association, founded in 1910,[20] Campus Activities Board (CAB), and several foreign culture groups, a Neo-Black Society, PRIDE! (An LGBT support and acceptance group.), Queer Student Collective, The Science Fiction Fantasy Federation, and various performing arts, religious and service programs. Student media groups also produce UNCG's newspaper The Carolinian, CORADDI Fine Arts Magazine, and WUAG 103.1 Campus Radio Station. The campus also includes numerous political organizations for students, including the College Republicans, College Democrats, College Libertarians[21][22] and the International Socialist Organization and other activist groups including STAND, an organization focused on the situation in the Darfur region of Sudan.
Club sports [ edit ]
All clubs are recognized student organizations through the UNCG's Office of Campus Activities & Programs.
This is a list of clubs that are members of the Club Sports Council:[23]
Greek life [ edit ]
UNCG is home to 20 social fraternities and sororities that each have their own traditions. Their main event is Greek Week, a weeklong celebration of Greek life and team building games that take place each year in April. Other events include Greek Treats in October and a luminary display in December.
The following Greek organizations are present at UNCG:
Traditions [ edit ]
Some of the most visible traditions at UNCG take place between the university dining hall and the Elliott University Center where "The Rawk" and the clock tower are located.
The Rawk [ edit ]
The Rawk[24] is a large boulder donated by members of Alpha Phi Omega in 1973 and painted nearly every day by students, who use it as a giant message board. Unofficial rules govern the use of the Rawk, and students know not to use foul language and that messages must be left for at least 24 hours before being painted over. Students know when they can begin to paint over the previous message on The Rawk by the two smaller rocks in front of it; one for the date, and one for the time at which the message was painted. The Rawk was originally placed where the fountain is today, on the hill in front of the dining hall.
The spelling of 'The Rawk' came about as a means to express the more iconic status of it. It is a part of UNCG's "Rawkin' Welcome Week," which they host a venue of activities to welcome the incoming freshman at the university.
Clock towers [ edit ]
Students at the university also uphold the tradition of not walking beneath the four-faced clock tower located near the Rawk. It is said that those who walk under the clock will not graduate on time, and some students believe in this almost religiously, avoiding the bricks around the clock tower as well. Only graduates and the occasional unbeliever walk through the middle of the four posts to read the plaque below the clocks.[citation needed]
Students are also told not to depend on the time shown on any of the clock's faces. All four faces tend to show slightly different times.
A new clock and bell tower, the Nicholas A. Vacc Bell Tower, was constructed in 2005 on the site of the old University Bell, at the corner of College Avenue and Spring Garden Street. The bells ring on the hour and on every quarter of the hour in a sequence made famous by the Big Ben chimes.
Other traditions [ edit ]
It is also a tradition each year to give new students a Minerva pin and a daisy—the school flower of UNCG—after student convocation. The daisy was the inspiration for the original two school colors: gold and white. (Navy blue was added to the color palette in 1987 "to provide better visual contrast to publications, merchandise and athletic uniforms."[25]) Another tradition is the ringing of the university bell to open the academic year at the start of each Fall Semester.
Yet another tradition is to put a wreath of daisies at the foot of the statue of Charles McIver at UNCG and on the grounds of the North Carolina state capitol on Founder's Day. This is done by the alumni of the university.
Also, luminaries are placed all around campus for reading day.
Administration [ edit ]
Charles Duncan McIver (president, 1891–1906)
Julius Foust (president/dean 1906–1934)
Walter Clinton Jackson (dean of administration, 1934–1945; chancellor, 1945–1950)
Edward Kidder Graham (chancellor, 1950–1956)
William Whatley Pierson (acting chancellor, 1956–1957)
Gordon Williams Blackwell (chancellor, 1957–1960)
William Whatley Pierson (acting chancellor, 1960–1961)
Otis Arnold Singletary (chancellor, 1961–1966)
James Sharbrough Ferguson (acting chancellor, 1964–1967; chancellor, 1967–1979)
William Edward Moran (chancellor, 1979–1994)
Debra W. Stewart (interim chancellor, 1994)
Patricia Ann Sullivan (chancellor, 1995–2008)
Linda P. Brady (chancellor, 2008–2015)
Dana L. Dunn (acting chancellor, 2015)
Franklin D. Gilliam, Jr. (chancellor, September 2015–present)
Sustainability [ edit ]
There has long been enthusiasm around making UNCG a more sustainable institution. Efforts in facilities, academic circles, and student groups have helped UNCG progress in positive ways. Complementing these efforts was the appointment of the "Environmental and Sustainability Manager," a position that expanded the responsibilities of the Recycling Manager. The Environmental & Sustainability Manager was charged with reducing the overall environmental impact of the university in addition to waste management responsibilities. In 2004, the Office of Waste Reduction and Recycling oversaw a comprehensive sustainability assessment of UNCG's achievements in sustainability as well as possible areas for improvement.
Despite the independent initiatives of the OWRR and within the campus community, a unified, cross-campus collaboration was lacking. In Fall of 2006, resulting from an initiative of faculty senate president Anna Marshall-Baker, Provost A. Edward Uprichard, and Vice Chancellor of Business Affairs Reade Taylor, the University Committee on Sustainability was created and over 50 staff, faculty, students & administrators joined. The Committee brought to light UNCG's commitment to becoming a sustainable institution.
UNCG established sustainability as one of its five Core Values through the 2009 Strategic Plan. In this document, the university defined sustainability as: Academics, operations, and outreach… conducted with careful attention to the enduring interconnectedness of social equity, the environment, the economy, and aesthetics. This action led to the creation of the Office of Sustainability with the hiring of the university's first full-time Sustainability Coordinator in April 2010, as well as the formation of the UNCG Sustainability Council in September 2010.
In October 2011, Dr. Linda Brady, Chancellor of the University of North Carolina at Greensboro (UNCG), signed the American College & University Presidents Climate Commitment (ACUPCC), pledging the university to develop a comprehensive plan to achieve climate neutrality. This action was the culmination of years of effort by faculty, students and staff to have UNCG emerge as a local and national leader in sustainable practices. It was also the primary reason for development of the campus Climate Action Plan (CAP), led by the UNCG Sustainability Coordinator, Trey McDonald and involving a team of more than 50 UNCG students, staff and faculty. The CAP team was divided into six working groups around specific focus areas – University Administration, Infrastructure Energy Use, Transportation, Materials Management, Water, and Academics and Outreach – and the final Plan was officially adopted on July 31, 2013.
The university has further expanded sustainability efforts into academics by appointing an "Academic Sustainability Coordinator."
Achievements and Recognition:
Best Workplaces for Commuters Best University 2012; Gold Medal 2011, 2012, and 2013
League of American Cyclists – Bronze level Bicycle Friendly University.
Sierra Club Cool Schools: 51st (2011), 39th (2012), 76th (2013)
STARS (Sustainability Tracking, Assessment and Rating System): Charter Participant and Silver Ratings for 2011, 2012, 2013. Gold Rating for 2014..
Sustainable Endowments Institute: 2010 D+, 2011 B
10 LEED certified buildings on campus
Tree Campus USA 2009–2013
University libraries [ edit ]
The UNCG University Libraries system has two branches. They are:
the Walter Clinton Jackson Library (the main campus library); this includes the Martha Blakeney Hodges Special Collections and University Archives
the Harold Schiffman Music Library
Other affiliated libraries on campus include:
the Teaching Resources Center and the SELF Design Studio (housed in the School of Education)
the Interior Architecture Library
the Multicultural Resource Center Library (located in the Elliot University Center)
Academic units [ edit ]
UNCG is distinguished by its five leadership areas – business, cultural leadership, education, public policy and social change, and science. Additionally, the university is home to a bevy of research institutes and centers including the Gateway University Research Park, Center for Applied Research, Center for Creative Writing in the Arts, Center for Drug Discovery, Institute for Community and Economic Engagement, Center for Biotechnology, Genomics & Health Research, Music Research Institute and the Southeastern Regional Vision for Education (SERVE).
The university is organized into one traditional college, one specialty college, one professional college, and seven professional schools:
College of Arts and Sciences [ edit ]
The College of Arts and Sciences is the largest of the eight academic units that make up the university, with almost 500 full-time faculty in 21 academic departments and seven interdepartmental programs, spanning the arts, humanities, social sciences, natural sciences, and mathematics.
The school recently established a learning community Achieving Together of Math and Science (AToMS) and Innovation in Math Science (IMS) within the College of Arts and Sciences system. These communities' goals are to recruit incoming freshmen majoring in math and science to encourage advance research and excellence in academic achievements within these fields. As of 2013 , more than 100 freshmen have enrolled in both AToMS and IMS with scholarship opportunities awarded by the College of Arts and Sciences.
UNCG requires all students, no matter what their major, to complete a General Education Curriculum (GEC) that includes courses in the traditional liberal arts, as well as courses that introduce them to new perspectives that have become increasingly important today. The College offers most of the university's general education courses, in addition to the hundreds of more specialized courses that make up its undergraduate majors and graduate programs.
The College of Arts and Sciences has 7,135 undergraduates enrolled as of 2009 fall semester.
Lloyd International Honors College [ edit ]
The Lloyd International Honors College is a selective honors college at The University of North Carolina at Greensboro and provides undergraduate students in all majors an opportunity to reach a higher level of academic achievement in the same time it takes to earn a regular degree.
The College offers three Honors academic programs that allows students to enhance their general-education studies (International Honors Program), work in their major (Disciplinary Honors Program), or their entire undergraduate education while at UNCG (Full Honors Program). All Honors students take special Honors courses that are generally restricted to no more than 20–25 students and often have an interdisciplinary focus. For those who wish to complete International Honors or Full University Honors, an international experience and a second language are required.
There are also a variety of independent study and research opportunities that give Honors students the chance to design courses that fit their special needs and interests and to work one-on-one with faculty. Finally, Lloyd International Honors College offers a variety of extracurricular opportunities including lunches where students and faculty discuss issues of the day, student symposium, debates, special lectures and performances, enhanced study abroad opportunities, and special residence hall options.
Joseph M. Bryan School of Business and Economics [ edit ]
The Bryan School of Business and Economics is the largest of UNCG's seven professional schools. It was founded in 1969, and is named for Joseph M. Bryan, a prominent figure in North Carolina business and philanthropy. The Bryan School is among the top 1 percent of business schools worldwide that have achieved accreditation in both business and accounting by AACSB International –The Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business.[26] The Bryan School has 73 full-time faculty as well as 3,200 undergraduates and 460 graduate students.[27] There are also more than 20,000 alumni.
Dr. McRae C. "Mac" Banks II is the fourth dean of the Joseph M. Bryan School of Business and Economics, who was approved by the UNCG Board of Trustees on March 17, 2011. The first to hold the Virginia Batte Phillips professorship, Dr. Banks started his tenure as Dean on July 1, 2011.[28]
Academic departments [ edit ] Accounting and Finance
Consumer, Apparel, and Retail Studies
Economics
Management
Marketing, Entrepreneurship, Hospitality and Tourism
Information Systems and Supply Chain Management Research centers and institutes [ edit ] Center for Business and Economic Research
North Carolina Sales Institute Undergraduate programs [ edit ] Accounting
Business Administration
Consumer, Apparel, & Retail Studies
Economics
Entrepreneurship
Finance
Information Systems & Supply Chain Management
International Business
Marketing
Sustainable Tourism & Hospitality Master's programs [ edit ] Master's of Science in Accounting
MBA
Master's of Arts in Applied Economics
Master's of Science in Consumer, Apparel, & Retail Studies
Master's of Science in Information Technology & Management
Master's of Science in International Business Doctoral programs [ edit ] PhD in Consumer, Apparel & Retail Studies
PhD in Economics
PhD in Information Systems
Mission statement [ edit ]
"In the Bryan School of Business & Economics, we create and disseminate knowledge about the theory and practice of business. In addition to our courses and research, we accomplish this through hands-on projects, global experiences, and outreach to the community. Our work produces principled leaders and exceptional problem solvers who have a global perspective, an innovative mindset, a broad understanding of sustainability, and a commitment to improve the organizations in which they work and the communities in which they live."[29]
Accreditation and rankings [ edit ]
Bloomberg ranks Bryan Evening MBA Program as #13 in the nation.[30] The Princeton Review[31] has named the UNCG Bryan School of Business and Economics as one of the top business schools in the country, including the Bryan School in the latest edition of the annual guidebook, "The Best 295 Business Schools," for the 14th consecutive year.
School of Education [ edit ]
The School of Education at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro
The School of Education has several graduate programs, one notable one being a Doctorate in Philosophy (Ph.D.) in Educational Studies with a Concentration in Cultural Studies from the Educational Leadership and Cultural Foundations Department.
The history of the School of Education of UNCG has its roots in the founding of the university itself. Originally designated in 1891 as the North Carolina State Normal and Industrial School, UNCG was established as a school to train women educators, based on the assumption that if women received training they would, in turn, educate their children and ultimately improve the level of education and literacy in the state.
Founding of "the Normal" was a long time in coming. Although providing state-supported higher education for women in North Carolina had been an occasional topic of discussion among educators, the idea did not appear to be taken seriously until after the Civil War. When the idea was first formally proposed to the state's legislators, all of whom were men, it was overwhelmingly resisted. It was not until Charles Duncan McIver reminded the General Assembly that the state's Constitution asserted "instruction of youth would be provided at low prices and would be encouraged at one or more universities." McIver argued that women were part of its youth and were, therefore, rightfully entitled to an education.
In addition to the constitutional basis for establishing an institution for women, several other factors came into play. First, there was an extensive need for qualified public school teachers, a career path assumed to be especially attractive to women. Also, there was overwhelming evidence that the public school system in North Carolina was among the worst in the nation. For example, the average national expenditure per student enrolled in the public schools was $17.62, but North Carolina spent only $3.36 per student. Similarly, the average national length of the school year was 135 days, but it was only 60 days in North Carolina.
Indeed, for almost a decade after the Normal was founded, the curriculum involved diplomas awarded for work that was distinctly below college level. At the time few public high schools turned out female graduates who were prepared to handle college-level work. The curriculum was gradually modified over time and the Normal School became a full-fledged College in 1897. Baccalaureate degrees followed in 1903 and graduates were awarded a "diploma and life license" to teach in North Carolina.
College of Visual and Performing Arts [ edit ]
UNCG College of Visual and Performing Arts
The UNCG College of Visual and Performing Arts is home to over 900 student majors and more than 100 distinguished faculty members. On July 1, 2010, the School of Music was combined administratively with the departments of theater and dance to create the School of Music, Theatre and Dance. In 2016, the Department of Art was transferred from the College of Arts and Sciences, thus giving way to the renaming of the unit. The offices for the new combined school remain in the current music building, with the Art Department remaining at its present location.
Student Organizations include:
School of Nursing [ edit ]
The School of Nursing was established in September 1966 under the leadership of the first dean, Eloise R. Lewis. The first class of BSN students graduated in 1970. In 1976, the MSN program was initiated. The School began the PhD program Fall 2005. The School continues to offer both undergraduate and graduate programs with over 4,000 alumni. The School also offers an outreach program in Hickory, North Carolina for RN to BSN students and a concentration in education for MSN students.
The average passage rate for the NCLEX is over 90% for prelicensure graduates and all of the graduates from the nurse anesthesia program are nationally certified. The Adult and Gerontological Nurse Practitioner program leads to eligibility for national certification.
Students have the opportunity for clinical experiences in over 400 agencies throughout the state of North Carolina. The School supports four nursing clinics for the elderly as educational sites for students. All students are advised by nursing faculty.
School of Nanoscience and Nanoengineering [ edit ]
The Joint School of Nanoscience & Nanoengineering ("JSNN") is a collaborative project between North Carolina Agricultural & Technical State University and UNCG. The mission of the JSNN is to train students to conduct basic and applied research in nanotechnology.
The Joint School for Nanoscience and Nanoengineering is expected to offer Professional Master of Science and Ph.D. degrees in Nanoscience and Nanoengineering. Nanoscience and Nanoengineering training for scientists and engineers already in the workforce. The JSNN will engage in activities that influence economic development locally and globally. This program will support the entrepreneurial activities at both campuses to better transfer innovation to practice.
Programs of study focus on three main areas: nanobioscience, which emphasizes biological and chemical aspects of nanoscience; nanotechnology, which emphasizes engineering and ecological aspects; and environmental nanoscience, which will address ethical and environmental implications of nanoscience. These programs of study lead to Professional Masters or PhD degrees. The biological and chemical research emphasis offered by the JSNN is the first in the nation. The only other two existing professional master's programs in nanoscience and nanoengineering are at Rice University and University at Albany, SUNY, neither of which offers a biological or chemical emphasis.
JSNN and its academic, research and outreach programs will position North Carolina to take advantage of the explosive economic growth expected from the next wave of nanotechnology innovation. Commercialization of fundamental research in Nanoscience and Nanoengineering will have a broad impact across many industries and enable technologies that were once thought impossible.
The Graduate School [ edit ]
The Graduate School at The University of North Carolina at Greensboro directs and manages the graduate programs on campus for approximately 3600 graduate students from 33 states and 34 foreign countries.
Some of the activities coordinated by The Graduate School Staff:
Disseminate program and admission information to prospective students
Collect and process application materials submitted to the university
Coordinate the admission process with academic departments
Assist students with interpretation of policy, course registration and withdrawal
Monitor academic eligibility
Review theses/dissertations for formatting requirements
Process applications for Graduation
Process degree audits/degree clearances
Work with the Graduate Studies Committee to approve all new/revised graduate programs, curricula, and policy
Other notable academic units [ edit ]
M.F.A. Writing Program [ edit ]
During the early years, the university had among its faculty a number of noted writers, such as Allen Tate, Caroline Gordon, John Crowe Ransom, Hiram Haydn, Peter Taylor, Robie Macauley and Randall Jarrell. They invited other distinguished writers to campus to read from their work and to meet with students; these writers included Robert Lowell, Robert Frost, Flannery O'Connor, Robert Penn Warren, Eudora Welty, and Saul Bellow. In 1965, under the leadership of Robert Watson, creative writing offerings were formalized. Since that time, enrollment has grown, but the faculty has intentionally kept the program small, enabling students to have individual conferences with faculty. Notable faculty members have included Fred Chappell, H.T. Kirby-Smith, Michael Parker, Craig Nova, Stuart Dischell, Jennifer Grotz and David Roderick. Notable graduates include Claudia Emerson, Steve Almond, Keith Lee Morris, Lee Hadaway and Rodney Jones.
Gateway University Research Park [ edit ]
Gateway University Research Park is a 501(c)3 not-for-profit entity created to manage and operate the joint collaboration between North Carolina A&T State University and UNCG for the purposes of supporting research and economic development within the Triad. Gateway University Research Park aims to attract and retain educational, corporate and community service agencies which advance scientific and educational research in technology. The park consists of two campuses. This novel joint venture between NCA&T and UNCG is designed to facilitate collaborations between world-class researchers and businesses – to move scientific discoveries from the lab to the marketplace benefitting the local community, region, and North Carolina by transforming cutting-edge intellectual properties into thriving business ventures.
A $400 million master plan has been developed for the two campuses of Gateway University Research Park and when fully developed, the research park is anticipated to generate an economic impact of $50 million per year in the Triad. Upon full build out of the project, it is further anticipated that companies and agencies located at the Gateway University Research Park will encompass more than 2,000 employees. The Southeast campus of the research park already houses the aforementioned School of Nanoscience and Nanoengineering.
Residential colleges [ edit ]
UNCG is home to three residential colleges, smaller communities within the university designed to enrich the student experience.
Cornelia Strong College [ edit ]
Cornelia Strong College provides a social and academic community within the context of the larger university. Strong College has a curriculum focused on sustainability. The college is a two-year program, similar to that of Ashby College. After two years at Strong College students take a fieldwork capstone course to "graduate" from the program. Strong College fellows are faculty members who take an active role in the development of Strong College's student members.
Grogan College [ edit ]
Ione Grogan College, established in 1997, is limited to freshman and serves about 300 students per year. The college is divided into smaller learning communities, each headed by a faculty fellow. The college offers classes that meet general requirements, and ease freshman into the college experience.
Ashby Residential College [ edit ]
The Warren Ashby Residential College at Mary Foust, established in 1970, is a community of freshman and sophomore students, faculty and staff who live or work in Mary Foust Hall. Also known as RC (or ARC), the college offers small classes, close student and faculty interaction and a rich community living experience.
In addition to freshmen and sophomores, those who have graduated from the program and are rising juniors or seniors may apply to be Mary Foust upperclassmen. Typically 8–12 or so juniors and seniors are selected each year to continue living in Mary Foust as mentors. Each upperclassman is required to complete an "upperclassman project." These projects are typically activities that support community interaction within Mary Foust.
Many Mary Foust alumni continue to support and participate in Ashby Residential College. Many of the staff are alumni.
Notable alumni [ edit ]
Notable events [ edit ]
See also [ edit ]
References [ edit ]
Coordinates: |
Part of our regular practice together is engaging in short term studies of relevant questions coming up on the pro-revolutionary left. One of our recent studies has been centered on the strategic importance of sites of capital circulation as places where pro-revolutionary activists and proletarians should focus our intellectual and practical energies.
We’re offering up a formatted version of various texts that have already been published as well as a powerpoint we’ve used among ourselves to help frame the texts.
The texts in question are from Endnotes, Mute, Degenerate Communism and Libcom. We give props and appreciation to those authors and publications for putting out important theoretical and strategic pieces to help pro-revolutionary activists around the world clarify our thinking.
Let us know what your thoughts are if you’re studying similar stuff, ways in which you’ve formatted study packets, and other thoughts.
Reader and presentation after the jump. Enjoy.
Advertisements |
Reactions and more info at:
1. SOCIAL ACTIVITIES• Explain waterpolo;• Present your team and invite the local students to follow the match, giving them free tickets or gadgets or coupons valid for a couple of free water polo lessons• Actively involve the local schools in water polo lessons for their students during the school time• Place an information stand in the center city and invite people to see the game, distributing free tickets or gadgets• Inform parents and children about your basic waterpolo courses giving coupons valid for a couple of free water polo lessons for both privates and businesses• Involvement of local shops, companies and clubs with flyers or participation in activities such as sponsered calendars etc.• Visit Hospitals with your players2. MEDIA ACTIVITIES• Constand delevery of press releases & invitations to local news papers and sports websites.• Weekly match report delivery to local press• Constant production of interviews and videos (youtube)• Create relationships with local radio stations interested in sports and promptly send them all the information about your sport activity (presentation of the game, results and rankings, audio interviews, etc..)• Hypothesize trade (advertising to the sponsors, etc..)• Create relationships with local tv and web tv interested in sports and promptly send them all the information about your sport• Creating a tv program or web TV program dedicated to your team/club• Obtain a pre-recorded broadcast of your games to be transmitted by local tv or streaming web TV.3. MANAGEMENT OF THE EVENTS•Introducing the ticket using an appropriate pricing strategy•Encourage the creation of fan clubs among the supporters•Organize bus rides to bring supporters to important away matches.•During the game, inform fans about the next match or about the team events such as raffles, dinners, etc.. who fans should be involved in.•Giving supporters a good reason to watch the game: creating mini events before or after the match (not have to create events necessarily in the swimming pool e.g. post-match dinner with the team to win)• Create events designed to actively involve the sponsors.Edoardo Osti: ''Being born in July 1969, I always played in Bologna (till 1994) and I am a water polo coach since 1990. I follow the water polo world since 1997 or 98 and write about it since 2002 (waterpolonline.com). I was the www.waterpolonline.com chief for 2 years (2008 and 2009) and founded the waterpolodevelopment association (2006). I have written articles for www.aitp.eu and have owned and written for the website www.h2opolocoaching.com. Now I would like to improve our sport trough the www.spreadingwaterpolo.blogspot.it pages.''Please follow this link at waterpolo-world |
Brewers outfielder Ryan Braun believes that the club is more likely to land Jose Reyes in free agency than re-sign Prince Fielder, writes Mike Puma of the New York Post.
Braun assumes that Fielder will likely command upwards of $150MM this winter whereas Reyes can be had for around $120MM. The four-time All-Star was quick to admit that he's a huge fan of Reyes.
"[Reyes] is dynamic, man — he is one of the most exciting players in the game," the 27-year-old said. "He plays with a lot of energy and a lot of emotion and I enjoy watching him play. He's one of my favorite players to watch. Whenever their games are on, I love watching him, man. He always plays the game the right way. He always plays hard. He runs everything out."
The Brewers can easily make room at shortstop this winter as they hold a $6MM club option on Yuniesky Betancourt's deal with a $2MM buyout. |
SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — Perhaps no one explicitly told Joe Vitale about his position switch. Maybe that’s why the Coyotes forward cracked wise Tuesday when asked about a move that was all but sealed when the Coyotes signed three free-agent centers this summer in Antoine Vermette, Brad Richardson and Boyd Gordon.
"You’re the first one who has told me," Vitale said, smiling. "That’s usually how you get news these days. I guess I’m playing wing."
Until further notice, that is exactly where the Coyotes have Vitale slotted.
"We think this is a good move for Joe that will get him playing more of a north-south game and taking advantage of some of his abilities," general manager Don Maloney said the day the Coyotes signed Gordon.
Vitale really doesn’t care one way or the other.
"Wherever they have me this year, my biggest concern is just getting back to my game, which at times I felt like I lost a little bit last year," he said. "I need to get back to having confidence stepping over the boards. That was my first losing season, and it kind of shook my confidence, so I need that kind of grittiness to get into my game no matter what the score is; no matter what the situation is."
That was partially what the Coyotes envisioned when they signed Vitale to a three-year deal last summer to fill the fourth-line center role. Vitale had been strong on faceoffs before winning just 48.3 percent of his draws last season. He had also taken better advantage of his speed in the past, but the 2014-15 season wasn’t a good one for many Coyotes.
By putting Vitale on the wing with Gordon at center, coach Dave Tippett believes the Coyotes have solidified their fourth line while simultaneously helping Vitale simplify his game to become more effective.
"Speed, tenacity and the opportunity to finish checks," Tippett said when asked why he likes Vitale on the wing. "I think he can be effective there."
Vitale thinks the move could revitalize him.
"At times when you’re at center, you expend a lot of energy down low in the defensive end and the offensive end," he said. "At wing, it’s about having that poise and that position awareness. When the opportunity comes to skate you take that, so hopefully it will cater to my game as far as having a good burst of speed, being on pucks first, and I hope it adds to the physicality of my game."
Vitale spent some time on the wing when he was in Pittsburgh for the first three-plus seasons of his career, and he played a bit on the wing last season when Tippett juggled the forward lines in an attempt to find an effective combination. With that experience fresh in his mind, Vitale said there wouldn’t be much of an adjustment period.
"If you tell me before the game tonight I’m playing wing, I’d be fine with it," he said. "It’s not something I need to work on for months heading into the season. I know what my responsibilities are. I know what needs to be done. I have it all in my head. It’s just about getting a few reps in the preseason and then I’ll be ready to go."
Follow Craig Morgan on Twitter |
August 8, 2013 | 12:01 am
The flurry of social media discussions sparked by my recent series on lessons from great cities has made it apparent that a few things aren’t clear. When I write about a particular square in some inspiring place, I’m hoping you won’t take away from it that we should stamp 5-story buildings on 50-yard wide squares all across the landscape. But rather I’m reaffirming that a sense of enclosure can indeed provide a feeling of comfort and satisfaction. You’ll know, if you’re a frequent PlaceShakers reader, that this sense of enclosure is illegal across much of North America because of auto-centric land use laws that require wide, fast roads.
While we often encourage form-based codes or other interventions to reverse these trends and increase livability, the number one way to fail at legalizing great places is failing to articulate a collective local vision. Local is the key word here. Regardless of how many global, national, or regional placemaking principles we understand, unless we take the time to extract the local knowledge about culture, custom and climate from the resident experts — the locals themselves — then we have little chance of making a meaningful and context-supportive difference locally.
That being said, those placemaking principles are somewhat similar to mixing paints or selecting brushes for an artist. It doesn’t matter whether I’m trying to paint hyperrealism or nonrepresentational abstract art, the color theory is still a guiding principle that I must know in order to be successful. In the same vein, unless we have a working knowledge of human placemaking principles, it’s hard to fully empower local placeshakers with the tools required to achieve their collective local vision or consensus plan.
This reminds me of what a fellow urbanist and friend, Jason Miller, recently said on his mayoral platform. “It’s common for me to hit the road and visit other towns to see what they’re doing to revitalize their economies. The purpose of these visits is not simply to gather ideas to try in Concrete (Miller’s town), but to gather principles that can be scaled to suit Concrete. Last year I visited Dayton, Washington, and Independence, Oregon, gaining invaluable new knowledge in community revitalization. Knowledge Concrete needs!”
So last week when I wrote about the elegant plan of Victoria Beach that was executed as dirt streets, I wasn’t suggesting that we return our new streets to dirt. Just that we learn from our ancestors what it means to be frugal and inventive. What it means to be accessible and attainable.
Leveraging our legacy of human placemaking experience for any particular place — be it intensely urban, remotely rural, or somewhere in between — is the true challenge of our efforts.
–Hazel Borys
If PlaceShakers is our soapbox, our Facebook page is where we step down, grab a drink and enjoy a little conversation. Looking for a heads-up on the latest community-building news and perspective from around the web? Click through and “Like” us and we’ll keep you in the loop. |
Bulletproof glass of a jeweler's window after a burglary attempt
Bulletproof glass (also known as ballistic glass, transparent armor, or bullet-resistant glass) is a type of strong, but optically transparent, material that is particularly resistant to being penetrated when struck. Like any material, it is not completely impenetrable. It is usually made from a combination of two or more types of glass, one hard and one soft[citation needed]. The softer layer makes the glass more elastic, so it can flex instead of shatter. The index of refraction for both of the glasses used in the bulletproof layers must be almost the same to keep the glass transparent and allow a clear, undistorted view through the glass. Bulletproof glass varies in thickness from 3⁄ 4 to 3 1⁄ 2 inches (19 to 89 mm).[1][2]
Bulletproof glass is used in windows of buildings that require security, such as jewelry stores and embassies, as well as military and private vehicles.
Construction [ edit ]
A rough visualisation of bulletproof glass, composed of layers of plastic sheeting (grey) and layers of glass (blue)
Bullet-resistant glass is constructed using layers of laminated glass. The more layers there are, the more protection the glass offers. When a weight reduction is needed 3mm of polycarbonate (a thermoplastic) is laminated onto the safe side. This polycarbonate stops the spall. The aim is to make a material with the appearance and clarity of standard glass but with effective protection from small arms. Polycarbonate designs usually consist of products such as Armormax, Makroclear, Cyrolon, Lexan or Tuffak, which are often laminated as the final layer (Glass clad Polycarbonate).[3]
The polycarbonate usually has one of two types of coating to resist abrasion: a soft coating that heals after being scratched (such as elastomeric carbon-based polymers) or a hard coating that prevents scratching (such as silicon-based polymers).[4]
The plastic in laminate designs also provides resistance to impact from physical assault from blunt and sharp objects. The plastic provides little in the way of bullet-resistance. The glass, which is much harder than plastic, flattens the bullet, and the plastic deforms, with the aim of absorbing the rest of the energy and preventing penetration. The ability of the polycarbonate layer to stop projectiles with varying energy is directly proportional to its thickness,[5] and bulletproof glass of this design may be up to 3.5 inches thick.[2]
Laminated glass layers are built from glass sheets bonded together with polyvinyl butyral, polyurethane, Sentryglas or ethylene-vinyl acetate. When treated with chemical processes, the glass becomes much stronger. This design has been in regular use on combat vehicles since World War II. It is typically thick and is usually extremely heavy.[6]
9mm 124gr @1175-1293fps (1400-1530fps for Level 6), 357M 158gr @1250-1375fps, 44M 240gr @1350-1485fps, 30-06 180gr @2540-2794fps, 5.56NATO 55gr @ 3080-3388fps, 7.62NATO 150gr @2750-3025fps for all ratings in the above chart; all copper-jacketed lead FMJ, except 30-06 is semi-wadcutter gas-checked.
Test standards [ edit ]
Ballistic test of a bullet-resistant glass panel
Bullet-resistant materials are tested using a gun to fire a projectile from a set distance into the material, in a specific pattern. Levels of protection are based on the ability of the target to stop a specific type of projectile traveling at a specific speed. Experiments suggest that polycarbonate fails at lower velocities with regular shaped projectiles compared to irregular ones (like fragments), meaning that testing with regular shaped projectiles gives a conservative estimate of its resistance.[11] When projectiles do not penetrate, the depth of the dent left by the impact can be measured and related to the projectile’s velocity and thickness of the material.[5] Some researchers have developed mathematical models based on results of this kind of testing to help them design bulletproof glass to resist specific anticipated threats.[12]
Well known standards for categorizing ballistic resistance include the following:
Environmental effects [ edit ]
The properties of bullet-resistant glass can be affected by temperature and by exposure to solvents or UV radiation, usually from sunlight. If the polycarbonate layer is below a glass layer, it has some protection from UV radiation due to the glass and bonding layer. Over time the polycarbonate becomes more brittle because it is an amorphous polymer (which is necessary for it to be transparent) that moves toward thermodynamic equilibrium.[4]
An impact on polycarbonate by a projectile at temperatures below −7 °C sometimes creates spall, pieces of polycarbonate that are broken off and become projectiles themselves. Experiments have demonstrated that the size of the spall is related to the thickness of the laminate rather than the size of the projectile. The spall starts in surface flaws caused by bending of the inner, polycarbonate layer and the cracks move “backwards” through to the impact surface. It has been suggested that a second inner layer of polycarbonate may effectively resist penetration by the spall.[4]
2000s advances [ edit ]
In 2005 it was reported that U.S. military researchers were developing a class of transparent armor incorporating aluminum oxynitride (ALON) as the outside "strike plate" layer. Traditional glass/polymer was demonstrated by ALON's manufacturer to require 2.3 times more thickness than ALON's, to guard against a .50 BMG projectile.[13] ALON is much lighter and performs much better than traditional glass/polymer laminates. Aluminum oxynitride "glass" can defeat threats like the .50 caliber armor-piercing rounds using material that is not prohibitively heavy.[3] Various types of other materials which closely resemble glass are also being developed.[citation needed]
Spinel ceramics [ edit ]
Certain types of ceramics can also be used for transparent armor due to their properties of increased density and hardness when compared to traditional glass. These types of synthetic ceramic transparent armors can allow for thinner armor with equivalent stopping power to traditional laminated glass.[14]
Air chamber glass [ edit ]
The newest type of curved transparent vehicle armor has an air chamber between the glass and the polycarbonate. Level IIIA (high speed 9mm) armor consists 8mm of laminated glass (strike face), a 1 mm air gap, and 7 mm of polycarbonate. This solution stops the bullets in a totally different way. The glass, being hard, deforms the incoming bullet. The deformed bullet completely penetrates the glass and then it is stopped by the flexible polycarbonate. The weight reduction over traditional glass-clad polycarbonate is 35%, weighing 28 kilos per square meter, or saving approximately 100 pounds per each 12 square-feet of UL level 8 armor. It is also thinner (16.2mm). The adjacent picture shows how the bullet is embedded between the glass and the polycarbonate.[citation needed]
See also [ edit ] |
Vincent Bezecourt played an important role for Red Bulls II in their season-opening tie. (Casey Sapio/USA TODAY Sports)
Red Bulls II midfielder Vincent Bezecourt, who tallied twice in the team’s 3-3 season-opening draw at the Pittsburgh Riverhounds Saturday, Monday was named winner of FrontRowSoccer.com’s player and goal of the week honors.
The former St. Francis Brooklyn College standout was honored for the week ending Sunday.
Newly signed Red Bulls II player Andrew Tinari made his professional debut, assisting on a Bezecourt left-footed strike that beat the Pittsburgh keeper in the 16th minute for a 2-1 advantage.
After the hosts equalized, Red Bulls academy product Ben Mines drew a penalty inside the box taken down from behind by a Pittsburgh defender. Bezecourt buried one into the back of the net to reclaim the lead at 3-2 in the 76th minute.
New York City FC captain and striker David Villa was the first double winner of the season in Week 2 (the week of March 13).
Players from the area’s professional teams are eligible for player of the week honors, as are players who were born in the tri-state area but are performing elsewhere. Players who accomplish extraordinary feats at the youth and amateur levels will be considered when appropriate.
FrontRowSoccer.com player of the week winners
Week 1 (March 6) — Joseph Bendik (Orlando City SC)
Week 2 (March 13) — David Villa (New York City FC)
Week 3 (March 20) — Rodney Wallace (New York City FC)
Week 4 (March 27) — Vincent Bezecourt (New York Red Bulls II)
FrontRowSoccer.com goal of the week winners
Week 1 (March 6) — Daniel Royer (New York Red Bulls)
Week 2 (March 13) — David Villa (New York City FC)
Week 3 (March 20) — Bradley Wright-Phillips (New York Red Bulls)
Week 4 (March 27) — Vincent Bezecourt (New York Red Bulls II) |
Sucking wind and a dripping booger at the American Birkebeiner
+1 Share Pin 0 Shares
I had the honor of participating in the 40th running of the American Birkebeiner cross-country ski marathon in Hayward, Wisconsin a couple of weeks ago. I raced in the 54 kilometer classic race. It took me 5 hours and 31 minutes to finish the race with Fischer skis.
I would have finished slightly faster had I not taken a few pictures and video with my GoPro video camera. The GoPro got some great footage of what it is like to be in the race. One thing it did not do is take pictures of me. At the beginning and at the end I grabbed a spectator to do the job.
About ten kilometers into the race I paused and took a few pictures of the beautiful snowy pine forest. While I was doing this, a kind fellow skier came by and offered to take a photo of me. Thanks Dave from Colorado for taking a moment out of your race to get a shot of me in the Wisconsin north woods.
Another photo was taken on Lake Hayward where a group of spectators waited for skiers with bottles of jägermeister. Here is another place I could have shaved off a couple of minutes, but I could not pass up a shot with an ape or a gorilla. I am not sure what primate he is trying to be, but I did not ask questions and posed for a picture and took my shot.
The action pictures come from Marathon foto. I usually never buy these type of pictures, but I had to pony up as they had some great in action photos. They have photographers set up at random spots along the course and at the finish. Unfortunately, once I purchased them, I noticed a little white thing by my nose. When I uploaded them I noticed that it was a swinging booger.
The only problem with these random photo ops is you have no time to pretty yourself up. It is too bad that unfortunate body liquid is there or it would be an epic photo. At first I was thinking of calling up the company and asking for my money back. I know it was not their fault, but the tiny pictures that they emailed to me did not show the offending piece of slime. Then I thought, well, at least these pictures capture an accurate description of what it is like to participate in the race. Marathons are not pretty. They take everything out of you including your phlegm. I am proud to display these photos because I felt like hell and looked like it too, but I persevered and finished with a time I was ecstatic about.
I look forward to racing again next year. This time I will be a little wiser when I see the random photographer in the woods and will place a hanky in my fanny pack and clean myself up before they start snapping pictures. On the other hand, maybe I won’t – perhaps I will swing my booger proudly to the world as I pass by on the way to another finish because I earned it.
TT
The goal of Traveling Ted TV is to inspire people to outdoor adventure travel and then provide tips on where and how to go. If you liked this post then enter your email in the box to get email notifications for each new entry. Daily travel photos are excluded from your email in order to not flood you with posts. There is no spam and email information will not be shared. Other e-follow options include Facebook (click on the like box to the right) or twitter (click on the pretty bird on the rainbow above). |
Want to rent in Sacramento? Be prepared to get in line
Hide Transcript Show Transcript
WEBVTT SHARD, EVEN HERE IN THESE MIDTOWNAPARTMENTS.WHEN IT COMES TO RENTING INSACRAMENTO, THESE DAYS, IT'S NOTJUST ABOUT AFFORDABILITY, BUTAVAILABILITY.>> MOST OF THEM ARE GETTINGRENTED BEFORE OUR TENANTS MOOUT, WITHIN THREE, FIVE, TENDAYS.KATHY: BILL SHOWER MANAGES ABOUT1000 HOMES IN THE SACRAMENTOAREA, AND TYPICALLY SEESVACANCIES AT ABOUT 10% TO 15%.BUT NOW?>> LESS THAN 1KATHY: THE WAITLIST AT LEGADO DERAVEL ON 16TH STREET STRETCHESTO SEPTEMBER.>> IT'S REALLY KIND OFASTOUNDING BECAUSE THERE WASN'TMUCH INTEREST IN DOWNTOWNSACRAMENTO AND NOW IT'S ALLABOUT DOWNTOWN SACRAMENTKATHY: THE AMENITIES OF CITYLIVING, MIXED WITH HIGH-ENDOFFERINGS, ARE DRIVING UP THEAPPEAL, BUT ALSO PRICES.>> OUR UNITS GO ANYWHERE FROM$1950 ALL THE WAY UP TO $3500.KATHY: AND YES, PEOPLE AREPAYING.THE EVIVA MIDTOWN OPENED INOCTOBER, AND APARTMENTS AREGOING FAST.>> WE WENT FROM 60% LEASED TWOMONTHS TO 95% RIGHT NOW.KATHY: AND IT'S NOT JUSTMARKET-RATE RENTALS.AFFORDABLE UNITS ARE BECOMINGFEW AND FAR BETWEEN.JUST ASK CADA, A PUBLIC AGENCYTHAT MANAGES PROPERTIES INSACRAMENTO, 25% BEINGAFFORDABLE.>> WE OPEN UP OUR WAITLIST EVERYMONDAY MORNING ONCE A WEEK AWE STARTED HAVING LINES OUT THEDOOR.KATHY: AND NORA TORREZ SAYS IFIT WASN'T FOR RENTAL ASSISTANCE,THERE'S NO WAY SHE COULD LIVE ON18TH AND CAPITOL
Advertisement Want to rent in Sacramento? Be prepared to get in line Demand for downtown, midtown living on the rise Share Shares Copy Link Copy
When it comes to renting in Sacramento, these days it's not just about affordability -- but availability. The demand for downtown and midtown living is going up and that's leading to waitlists for both market rate and affordable units. "Most of them are getting rented even before our tenants move out," Bill Shower, owner of S&S property management said. Shower typically sees vacancies at about 10 to 15 percent among the hundreds of homes he manages. But now, he said the vacancy is less than 1 percent. The waitlist at Legado de Ravel on 16th Street in Sacramento stretches into September. The Eviva Midtown opened in October -- and apartments are also going fast. "We went from 60 percent leased two months ago, to 95 percent right now," Eviva Midtown spokesperson Marina Ambroselli said. "So it's really kind of astounding because there wasn't much interest in downtown Sacramento, and now it's all about downtown Sacramento," Capitol Area Development Authority (CADA) spokesperson Wendy Saunders said. CADA is a public agency that manages properties in Sacramento, 25 percent being affordable. "We open up our waitlist every Monday morning, once a week, and we've had lines out the door," Saunders said. Property managers said the waitlists are a result of low inventory. "In my view, it’s a supply problem," Saunders said. "We just don’t have enough -- we need more." The amenities of city living, mixed with high-end offerings are driving up the appeal -- but also prices. At the Eviva Midtown, apartment prices range from $1,950 per month to $3,500. Sacramento resident Nora Torrez said if it wasn't for subsidized housing, there's no way she could live on 18th Street and Capitol Avenue. "I would be homeless," she said. "It's that bad." |
(Scott Olson/Getty)
EDITOR’S NOTE: The following is Jonah Goldberg’s weekly “news”letter, the G-File. Subscribe here to get the G-File delivered to your inbox on Fridays.
Dear Reader (especially those of you who have finally decided to start “acting” presidential),
#ad#A guy gives an old blind man a piece of matzo.
The old blind man pauses for a moment, and then replies, “Who writes this stuff?”
Advertisement
Advertisement
I was reminded of this old joke — which I first told in this space 14 years ago — when I read this piece in The New Criterion about the very subject — bad writing — that prompted the joke 14 years ago.*
Advertisement
Now you might think the preceding sentence is convoluted — and you’d be right! But, like Donald Trump says about every accidental sliver of good fortune that falls his way, “I meant to do that.”
So, as Bill Clinton said when he was handing out the French-maid uniforms to the interns, “Try this on for size.”
Merging feminist postcolonial science studies and feminist political ecology, the feminist glaciology framework generates robust analysis of gender, power, and epistemologies in dynamic social-ecological systems, thereby leading to more just and equitable science and human-ice interactions.
Advertisement
That’s from the abstract of a recently published paper, “Glaciers, gender, and science: A feminist glaciology framework for global environmental change research.”
(I don’t know about you, but I for one have been waiting a very long time for more just and equitable human–ice interactions. It is a fact of logic that if we treated people the way we treat ice in this country, we would be rightly condemned by history as the most monstrous society to have ever lived. I mean, every time it even appears on our roads we use harsh chemicals to melt it away. Black Ice Matters!)
The Purposive Intentionality of Rejecting Heteronormative Expectations of Traditionally ‘Clear’ Writing in Favor of Lexicological Expression with the Opaqueness of Particulate Soil on a Colloidal Suspension (a.k.a. Writing as Clear as Mud on Purpose)
Advertisement
Now, the last time I told the matzo joke, it was to make a slightly different point from the one I have in mind today. But I might as well start there. There is a slice of the Left that really needs very bad writing. Horrid, opaque, impenetrable prose and jargon plays a dual role. First, it makes very dumb or simple ideas sound vastly more sophisticated than they are. Second, it lends an air of authority to very dumb and bad ideas that could not be earned via plain speaking.
Don’t get me wrong, there are many wonderful writers on the left. Christopher Hitchens wrote like a dream. Some of my favorite historians are (or were) liberals (though not crazy leftists): Richard Hofstadter, Alan Brinkley, Eric Goldman, etc. I’m no fan of Paul Krugman, but one of the things that makes him so influential is he is that rare economist who can write well.
Advertisement
Also, I understand that quantum physics and some other specialized fields sometimes require writing that is very difficult for the layman. But that is because to write about a complex and obscure specialty, you need to assume the reader already knows a lot about the subject. I can’t read many medical or chemistry text books without getting lost by the time I reach the second paragraph — or sentence. That’s because I don’t know what half the nouns and a third of the verbs mean, and that’s okay, because I’m not supposed to. In that instance, the authors aren’t trying to make the prose difficult and abstruse, it’s simply that the subject matter is difficult and abstruse.
But that’s not true of so many of the armchair social-justice warriors who write nonsensically because the last thing they want is for anyone to make sense of what they’re trying to say. It’s an act, a secret language, a pretense to gnostic status: I can’t understand what they’re saying! They must be geniuses!
I remember when I wrote that “Orwell’s Orphan’s” G-File, I got deluged with e-mail from angry lefties. (Yes, e-mail. My e-mail box used to be a combination of Twitter, a comments section, a chatroom, and fire-hose enema.) They said that that such writing was necessary for truly complex ideas and if I couldn’t follow along, it was because I lacked the mental sophistication to deal with the Really Big Ideas. I think we’re all open to the idea that I’m an idiot (“The time for debate on this issue is over!” — The Couch), but let us remind ourselves of the kind of writing we’re talking about:
The move from a structuralist account in which capital is understood to structure social relations in relatively homologous ways to a view of hegemony in which power relations are subject to repetition, convergence, and rearticulation brought the question of temporality into the thinking of structure, and marked a shift from a form of Althusserian theory that takes structural totalities as theoretical objects to one in which the insights into the contingent possibility of structure inaugurate a renewed conception of hegemony as bound up with the contingent sites and strategies of the rearticulation of power.
Advertisement
Advertisement
Maybe there’s something worthwhile in there. But this strikes me as the white feminist academic version of this.
Socialism Isn’t about Economics
So what got me thinking about all this? Yesterday, I heard a segment on NPR puzzling out how it could be that Bernie Sanders, the Don Quixote to the windmill-dragon of income inequality, was doing better in states with less inequality and worse in states with more. The answer NPR came up with is that there’s no clear or single answer to the supposedly “counterintuitive” trend. I think that’s fair.
Socialists, and particularly Marxists, love to masquerade their essentially irrational or romantic aspirations in social-science-y gobbledygook.
But there is one factor worth considering: Bernie Sanders is tapping into a cultural, even somewhat ethnic, preference and pretending that it is an empirical argument. Socialists, and particularly Marxists, love to masquerade their essentially irrational or romantic aspirations in social-science-y gobbledygook. (Remember “scientific socialism”?)
The problem is no economic doctrine has been more thoroughly debunked, disproved, and delegitimized than socialism — at least among people who can see the light beyond their anal cavities. That’s because it’s not really an economic doctrine. For understandable reasons, lots of people think socialism is a real branch of economics. It’s not, and if it ever was, it’s because it took time for the guys with the calculators to prove what should have been obvious.
Advertisement
It’s Religion, Not Math
Indeed, “socialism” was an answer to what 19th-century intellectuals and religious leaders called “the social question.” As traditional societies succumbed to the creative destruction of the market, people started asking, “How shall we live now?” Socialism was one such answer (National Socialism, another, very similar answer), but it was only partly and not even mostly, an economic answer. It was a cultural one.
The Romantics wanted to recreate the civic structures of some imagined past — Rousseau’s two favorites were the tribal life of the noble savage and the totalitarian life of Ancient Sparta. (Oh the General Will, is there anything it can’t do?)
Gracchus Babeuf, arguably the first “socialist” to earn the label, wanted a “conspiracy of equals,” which would “remove from every individual the hope of ever becoming richer, or more powerful, or more distinguished by his intelligence.” In his Manifesto of the Equals, he called for the “disappearance of boundary-marks, hedges, walls, door locks, disputes, trials, thefts, murders, all crimes . . . courts, prisons, gallows, penalties . . . envy, jealousy, insatiability, pride, deception, duplicity, in short, all vices.” To fill that void, “the great principle of equality, or universal fraternity, would become the sole religion of the peoples.”
Advertisement
I know some very smart economists, but I doubt any of them could run that crap-storm word-cloud through some regression analysis and arrive at a recognizable economic theory. The simple fact is that socialism was always intended to be a new religion that mixed nostalgia for a past that never existed with a utopian future that never could (“Come on, you know you want to say ‘immanentize the eschaton’ here” — The Couch).
To borrow a phrase from the Marxists (since it’s Lenin’s birthday today), it is no coincidence that Bernie Sanders sees as his lodestar a bunch of Scandinavian countries. The fact that they are not the socialist utopias he imagines them to be is irrelevant. To the extent they ever were real, live, socialist societies, it was back when they were ethnically homogeneous (and poor). Socialism can “work” for a while in small, ethnic mono-cultures, because the economic inefficiencies can be papered over by nationalistic or tribal sentiments. That’s why the kibbutzim lasted as long as they did. Diversity, individualism, technology, domestic and international competition — i.e., the market, or freedom — eventually make social-ism (Tony Blair’s phrase) untenable.
Sanders isn’t motivated by racism or anything like it. He’s motivated by nostalgia and bad metaphors. And so are his mostly lily-white, affluent, fans. “We’ll always have Sweden” is no less a fantasy than Rousseau’s “We’ll always have Sparta.”
It’s Not About the Supporters
So last week I tried to explain why I will never bend the knee to Donald Trump. The response from Trump fans was . . . instructive.
One longtime friendly reader who has turned into a rather unfriendly Trump fanatic wrote me to complain. Here’s the relevant passage:
I get it that you and people like Kevin D. Williamson have a visceral loathing for the white working class and think they are getting what they deserve. There is no point in arguing that point. You are not going to change your minds. The point is that, whether they deserve it or not, you can’t have a healthy Republic that tells 30 percent of its population that they are garbage and need to die and will have no say in the political system.
Advertisement
This is, quite simply nonsense. But it is popular nonsense. Don Surber makes a similar case here. And Hugh Hewitt made a somewhat related argument on the radio yesterday (more on that in a moment).
Kevin has ably defended himself from the tsunami of bile that has crashed down upon him, and I don’t want to speak for him. Though I will say I think people misinterpreted his point. He wasn’t writing from a position of loathing and hatred for the white working class (from which he came). He was arguing that if you are stuck in a community or family that is holding you back, you should do what you can to liberate yourself from those shackles rather than demand the federal government fix problems it cannot fix. That’s not hatred, that’s closer to good, tough-love, advice. It is also so squarely in the American conservative tradition, I am shocked by how many conservatives refuse to see it.
I’m tempted to say my own response to the charge that my opposition to Trump is motivated by hatred of the white working class is “f*** you.” But I’ll go more highbrow. First, it’s untrue. Second, there’s exactly zero evidence that I have written or said anything of the sort. Third, the notion that my dislike of a politician should be taken as hatred for his supporters, is more than a little cultish and creepy. If Donald Trump is the avatar of your identity and if you mistake him for some kind of secular savior, that’s on you. The misplacement of your self-esteem ain’t my baggage.
No, my objection to Donald Trump is . . . Donald Trump. I think he’s a vain ignoramus and bully who mocks the disabled with a long history of exploiting and abusing the little guy. His instincts are nationalistic and authoritarian, not patriotic and liberty-loving.
It is revealing that very often when opponents of Donald Trump make the issue Donald Trump, the response from his defenders is to change the subject to the “issues” he’s raising or the anger “he’s tapped into” or the shortcomings of his critics or the failures of Barack Obama.
You know what it means when defenders of Donald Trump refuse to defend the actual man Donald Trump? It means he’s indefensible.
You know what it means when defenders of Donald Trump refuse to defend the actual man Donald Trump? It means he’s indefensible.
The same people who’ve mocked Barack Obama — rightly! — for years because he mispronounced corpsmen “corpse-men,” blithely whistle past the graveyard of Donald Trump’s lifeless intellect. The same people who mocked Barack Obama — rightly — for his vanity and arrogance, shiver with school-girl glee at Trump’s Brobdingnagian ego. The same people who’ve denounced Barack Obama’s unilateral statism — rightly — take it on faith that Donald Trump through his own force of will shall set the country aright with Stakhanovite strength. The double standard is so huge, I’d be shocked if you couldn’t see it from space.
Hugh’s Theory
So yesterday my friend Hugh Hewitt had my very close friend Tevi Troy on to talk about Tevi’s must-read piece in Politico on conservative intellectuals and the GOP. It was somewhat perplexing to me that Hugh, a very smart man and a much better reader than I, couldn’t quite grasp the distinction Tevi was making between intellectuals, Beltway operators, politicians, and pundits. But we’ll leave that aside.
Hugh had a theory about what’s really driving the opposition to Trump. He doesn’t believe that rank-and-file conservatives and Republicans have abandoned conservative principles (and I hope he’s right). He thinks the entire #NeverTrump movement boils down to the border wall. “The one thing that conservative intellectuals will not embrace is a border fence,” Hugh said. “They will not do it. They have refused to do it for ten years.” And later, “They’re not connected to voters. Or they would have built the fence years ago.”
In short: The inside-the-Beltway #NeverTrumpers hate the wall. The base loves it and thinks the intellectuals (again, very broadly defined according to Hugh) have been lying to them when they — we — say we support it. If we meant it, the wall would have been built.
My first question is, is it really up to me to build the wall? Should George Will and I put on our overalls and get the lumber?
Advertisement
More fairly, there are at least two claims here. The first is that the rank-and-file are angry about the failure of elites to build the wall. I agree with Hugh about that (though I’m skeptical about how much importance he invests in it). The second is that the elites hate the rank and file for wanting the wall. Within the context of Hugh’s own terms, this is high-proof nonsense.
First of all, I talk to a lot of #NeverTrump folks — a lot. And I’ve never heard one of them offer the slightest support of this theory.
Second, I have been in favor of the wall for a decade. Charles Krauthammer — counted as one of those Beltway elites by Hugh – has favored the wall and has talked about it endlessly. And National Review – my God, National Review, the epicenter of #NeverTrump-ism — has been ringing the warning bell about mass immigration for decades. Just ask Mark Krikorian. I don’t know Hugh’s position on immigration going back 30 years, but I will bet we’ve been well to his right on the issue all of his professional life. More important, we are still well to the right of Donald Trump! And, given his new pivot to the center, I will also bet that the distance between Trump and National Review on the subject will increase very soon.
Now, I can anticipate one response to this already. “Yeah, but what good did it do!?” And the answer is “Not enough.” Which is different from nothing. We were in the vanguard of the fight against Bush’s amnesty, for example.
But there’s a second reply to this objection: You’re missing the point. According to Hugh’s magic-bullet theory of #NeverTrump-ism, National Review never meant it, and we secretly hate Trump because he will practice what we’ve been preaching. That’s crazy.
My real problem with Hugh’s theory is that it is a variant of what I discussed above. Rather than take me, George Will, Pete Wehner, Bill Kristol, Steve Hayes, Rick Wilson, Ben Shapiro, Erick Erickson, Brad Thor, Guy Benson(!), Dennis Prager, Ed Meese, Yuval Levin, National Review, The Weekly Standard — or even the open-borders Wall Street Journal — at our word for why we oppose Trump, the real reason must be some unstated ulterior motive. Hugh is among the most honest and straight-shooting guys in the business, but this argument boils down to bad faith. (As does Rush’s argument, which Rich Lowry ably rebutted earlier in the week). I don’t think Hugh’s being dishonest, I just think he’s mystifyingly wrong.
Various & Sundry
* (If you scroll up, you’ll see an asterisk near the top. This is the footnote for it.) In one of my favorite scenes in The Big Bang Theory, Sheldon and Leonard are negotiating with Stuart, the comic-book-store owner. They’re haggling over the price of a replica Game of Thrones sword. Sheldon, like Barack Obama at a negotiating table in Tehran, just wants to cave into Stuart’s demands. Meanwhile, Leonard wants to drive a hard bargain. I’ll pick it up mid scene:
Stuart: Tell you what, I’ll go $235. Leonard: Nope. Maybe another time. Stuart: Okay, $225, my final offer. Sheldon: Take it, take it. Leonard: $200. Stuart: Man, you’re killing me! Sheldon: Killing you? I can’t breathe. Stuart: $210, and I’m losing money. Sheldon: Oh, now, we can’t let him lose money, Leonard. I’m so sorry. Leonard: $210 and you throw in the Iron Man helmet. Stuart: Are you crazy? That helmet’s signed by Robert Downey Jr. Leonard: So? Stuart: Okay, if you’re going to question the importance of an actor’s signature on a plastic helmet from a movie based on a comic book, then all of our lives have no meaning!
I bring this up because if you’re going to question my ability to recycle old jokes in this “news”letter, then our lives have no meaning.
Canine Update: The beasts are well and have generally stayed out of mischief, save for Zoë’s determination to catch a deer, though I don’t think she would know what to do with it if she did. The other morning I drove into the park at dawn and there was a whole herd of them. I gave a little honk hoping they would scatter before I literally released the hounds. But they wouldn’t go. Meanwhile, Zoë was chuffing at me like she was my partner and we were on a stakeout. “What are you doing, you’re tipping them off! I’m filing a report with Internal Affairs!” I parked as far from the deer as possible, so they would at least have a head start. I don’t want Zoë catching one, because I think that would end badly for all concerned. I opened the car door and she shot out like a crazy lady opening the exit door on a 747 at 40,000 feet. I don’t think her paws touched dirt for 20 yards. The deer scattered, and the dingo focused on the thickest part of the herd. Pippa followed behind. They both disappeared until it dawned on the spaniel that every second spent chasing an ungulate was a second not spent chasing a tennis ball. So she soon returned. The dingo, however, spent the next few minutes crashing through underbrush, her dingo-y tail punctuating the green along like a bouncing ball over the lyrics of “It’s a Small World.” She finally lost them and met up with us on the trail, smiling at her small victory over the herbivores. Queen of the park.
Oh one last, actually important thing. The National Review webathon is well under way. I’ll have a more formal pitch next week on the homepage. But Jack Fowler would sulk all weekend if I didn’t rattle the cup here as well. As anyone who has read this “news”letter over the last few months surely knows, this is an ugly moment on the right. The divide over Donald Trump is straining friendships and alliances everywhere. I couldn’t be more proud of the principled stand National Review has taken. If you feel differently, there’s probably nothing I could say that would garner your support. But if you agree, if you find what we’re doing valuable and important, please do what you can. Thank you.
Advertisement
My column from yesterday is on the real purpose of political conventions.
My first column of the week was on the tax on low-wage earners we call the “minimum wage.”
The new GLoP Podcast is out and, by popular demand, we talked zombies.
Oh, and this might be fun. I’ll be on Hugh’s show Monday morning.
Martian landscapes
Debby’s Friday links
What is “The Hum”?
Insane domino tricks
(More tricks are here)
The woman with no memories
What’s inside an Etch-a-Sketch?
Watch the Titanic sink in real time
LSD’s effect on the brain, mapped
LSD’s effect on the brain, televised
Are big-budget films getting worse?
Journey to the poles of inaccessibility
Puppy survives 300-foot fall off of cliff
The most 90s thing that has ever existed
This metal foam armor can shatter bullets
Could childhood adversity boost creativity?
Koyannisqatsi, recreated with stock footage
For reference: Koyannisqatsi’s actual trailer
The size of Africa, in terms of other countries
The first and last frames of movies, side by side
The same thing, but for television shows as well
How much would Darth Vader’s suit actually cost?
What is the origin of the phrase “Elvis has left the building”?
The final interview of the late Erik Bauersfeld, voice of Admiral Ackbar
The actors and actresses with the best (and worst) movie track records
Alas, poor Yoricks: The people who want their skulls to be used as Hamlet props after they die
Two brothers convince their post–wisdom teeth surgery sister that a zombie apocalypse has begun |
“Remember 2014?” Someone will someday say. “Remember when Jayne from Firefly teamed up with some anons, a couple of YouTubers and the odd opportunistic blogger to disrupt any form of reasonable discussion about the games industry for the better part of a year?”
That it has taken a North Korean cyberterrorist attack on a Seth Rogen comedy for Gamergate to become the second weirdest insertion of American celebrity into public affairs in 2014 is a testament to what a weird year it has been. Weird, unsettling, and depressing.
If you’re reading this and you identify with Gamergate then, well, hi. I hope you keep reading, because you’re the person I most want to talk to about all of this. I hope that none of the ire I might direct at the movement applies to you personally—that you haven't harassed anybody, and that you've not condoned harassment save by your association with that hashtag. I imagine that you have concerns and questions about your hobby, and about the institutions that cover your hobby, and a bunch of other doubts tied up in political and social issues that can feel intimidating, even oppressive, when you’re first introduced to them.
I’m a straight white guy and I play a lot of videogames, so I get that. I'd prefer not to get it, actually: I wish the kickback against feminist criticism of games came from a point of view that was totally alien to me. I wish I didn’t resonate, even slightly, with the silly romantic ideal of the young man’s crusade. I'd like to put everybody who has sent death threats to women in one box and put myself in another, totally unrelated box, and look at everybody in my box and know that I’m in the right box for righteous people. But I can’t. Because I really like Les Miserables and have coveted the role of the guy on the barricade with the big red flag. Because I cared about Firefly. Because I’m a straight white guy that plays a lot of videogames, and as such the experience and prejudices and privileges that come with that identity are going to be part of my life whether I like it or not.
It’s likely that I have more in common with you, the Gamergater, than I do with the people whose work Gamergate was created to oppose. That’s worth exploring. What is it about my experience that meant I wasn’t offended by the notion that the word ‘gamer’ was depreciating in value? What is it about my experience that means I respond well to the presence of politics in games, where you respond negatively? What is it about my experience, in short, that means I respond well to change? There is, I think, a valuable discussion to have that is grounded in the way we are similar—in how we have arrived at different perspectives via the same road. You’re reading PC Gamer. I grew up reading PC Gamer. That is not a broad Venn diagram; it doesn’t provide a lot of room for conflict, or at least it shouldn't.
Yet you, the Gamergater, and me, the journalist, can’t have that conversation anymore. We’re on two sides of a 'war' invented by people whose understanding of historical narrative comes from videogames, movies and anime. A conflict that impacts real lives, and real livelihoods, with frequency and severity far outweighing the scant justification offered in Wikis that have more in common with Wookieepedia than Wikipedia. Because I believe that Anita Sarkeesian has challenging but necessary things to say about the industry, we can’t talk. Because I believe it is important to defend the rights of the victim before the aggressor, we can’t talk. Because I believe that the biggest problem in games journalism at the moment is a lack of diversity—PC Gamer included—we can’t talk. I’m an SJW, you’re a ‘Gater, let’s have a big pointless fight.
It is traditional, at this point, to attempt to validate these labels with rickety conspiracy theories and rhetorical posturing. There is no need. I don't agree with some of the things you believe. It's no more complicated than that. The moment somebody attempts to build a convoluted factional conflict on top of that basic difference of mind, they are putting distance between you and the things you care about. Grand causes are attractive but in this context all they amount to is a feeling, a force that drives you further and further away from whatever kernel of personal truth brought you into this thing in the first place. And I want to believe that truth exists. It is impossible to have an argument in good faith when you deny the other person the right to the feeling that spurs their participation. That is what 'SJW' does. That is what 'Gamergater' does.
We need new labels. If you’re the type to hound others until they’re unable to participate in online discussions, you’re not a 'Gamergater'—you’re a shitheel. If your targets are exclusively women in the industry, you're a sexist shitheel. If you’re the type to threaten violence, hack someone's email, or post their personal information—you’re a criminal shitheel. Those pro-GG shockjock bloggers, who until a month before Gamergate were writing off people who play games as fat, lazy, pointless and isolated? Manipulative shitheels. Those amateur documentarians, winning over teenagers by dressing like playboy hypnotists? Tragic shitheels. None of these people should represent you or the cause of better games journalism. And yet, through the Gamergate label, they have come to do so. At this point you can no more detach 'Gamergate' from these associations than you can save yourself from an oncoming truck by repeatedly and loudly declaring it to be a pillow.
Let’s take the whole thing apart and start over. If you have questions about games journalism’s relationship with the industry, e-mail me. If you have questions about feminism or its role in game criticism, I’ll point you towards the resources that have helped me. Ditch the shitheels, the harassers, the unaccountable anons and anybody who thinks they can impress you by owning a hat and a plastic skull. Ditch Gamergate, in short, and let’s talk about videogames. |
Last year, Motorola introduced us to the Moto Z lineup of devices, along with its Moto Mods system. It’s year two now, and instead of a followup to the Moto Z, we’re getting a sequel to the Moto Z Force, which is appropriately named the Moto Z2 Force.
While the phone looks very similar to last year’s, Motorola has made a couple of changes, such as the inclusion of a dual camera system, as well as the chopping of the battery from 3,500mAh last year to just 2,730mAh this year. As you’d imagine, folks are skeptical of this decision, so let’s dive right into our findings and see how this year’s Z2 Force stacks up against the rest of 2017’s offerings.
This is our Moto Z2 Force review.
Moto Z2 Force Review
The Good
Software and Performance
I remember back in the day when Motorola included their custom Motoblur skin atop Android. Boy, that skin was bad. Over the past few years, Motorola has taken a more vanilla approach to its software, which is something I’ve greatly appreciated. The Moto Z2 Force doesn’t stray from that whatsoever, meaning its easy to pick up and start using, without a ton of features hidden deep inside the Settings menu.
Instead of including a ton of its own apps and junkware, Motorola essentially only includes its Moto application, which controls the phone’s gestures, Moto Display, Moto Voice, and all of that. It’s a very simplistic and straightforward way of controlling the phone’s custom features, making it easy for anyone to master.
Speaking about one of Moto’s new software tweaks in particular, One Button Nav axes the typical on-screen buttons and then outfits the fingerprint reader with all of those actions. For example, when this is enabled, you long press on the fingerprint reader to access Google Asssitant, swipe on it to view recent apps, or swipe the other way to go back. It makes your viewing area a bit larger and does speed up your navigation through the phone quite a bit. It’s a solid little feature.
There are still the classics baked in, too, such as “Chop Twice” to enable the flashlight and “Twist for Quick Capture” that launches the camera.
If there’s one thing I can bet on when it comes to Motorola devices these days, it’s the software. If you’re a fan of old Nexus devices and the new Pixel phones, then there’s no reason you wouldn’t appreciate the experience on a Motorola device. The only big difference you’ll notice is that your updates won’t be as quick, but if you’re looking for other forms of hardware, or maybe want to try Moto Mods, then you can at least rest assured that your software will be fine. Coupled with the Snapdragon 835 and 4GB RAM, there was never a moment of jank or any performance issues, either. All around a great software and performance experience.
Battery Life
Now I know that many will be looking for this section specifically, so I’m happy to report that battery life belongs in this spot in “The Good” section. While Motorola may have hurt a few feelings by dropping the size from last year’s Moto Z Force of 3,500mAh to this year’s 2,730mAh, this phone still has great battery life. And believe me, I’m the first one to be shocked. No doubt, it could have been even better if they had stuffed a bigger battery in a larger body, but considering how thin this device is and whatever optimizations they did to make it last all day long, it’s solid battery life.
On an average day, I was going from 7AM to 11PM or so just fine, without needing to find a charger throughout the day. And if you haven’t been following my phone usage lately, you need to know that I’ve been playing a ton of mobile games, Star Wars: Galaxy of Heroes specifically, and that game is a pure battery killer. Even with me grinding on that game for a long time each day, the phone still has juice.
If your usage is even harder than mine, you’ll still benefit from the inclusion of Motorola’s Turbo Charging, which can have your phone charged for a day’s usage in about 30-40 minutes.
Camera
In this year’s Z2 Force, Motorola included a dual camera system, consisting of two 12MP shooters with f/2.0 and 1.25um. On the front there’s a 5MP wide-angle camera with f/2.2. While I won’t say it’s the best camera in a smartphone ever, it’s actually quite good, especially if I think back to how bad Moto cameras have been in previous devices.
On the software side, Motorola baked in a few tricks, such as a Professional Mode, True B&W, Depth enabling (to use that dual system), and Panorama mode. Personally, I stuck to the standard shooting mode, but I do appreciate the addition of these modes, specifically the Pro mode. With it, you can manually adjust settings such as ISO, exposure, shutter speed, and more. If you take your mobile photography seriously, then these are good things to have control over at times.
When playing with the B&W mode, I wasn’t necessarily blown away, thinking how easy it is to simply use a filter to turn any color photo into B&W. There’s actually many filters like that on Instagram or even in the Google Photos application. While it’s cool to have a dedicated mode to finely tune contrast and lighting for you, I wouldn’t label it as a marquee feature. Potential buyers should also note that no OIS or EIS is labeled as being equipped, so hopefully you have steady hands when you’re shooting your 4K videos at 30fps.
Here’s a few camera samples from my time with the device.
Availability
Unlike prior years, Motorola basically shocked the world by making this phone available on all major carriers. Seriously, it’s a big step for a company that may want to reclaim a piece of the US market. Unfortunately, a single Moto Z2 Force won’t work on all carriers, as it’s not carrier-agnostic, but you can find a variant for your specific carrier with relative ease. Having a single SKU that can be taken between AT&T and Verizon would have been swell, though just the idea that anyone on any carrier can get this phone in the first place is a solid win.
Typically, availability would be coupled with the price and our thoughts on that, but I have to save that section for a little later on in this review. I love being ominous.
Somewhere in the Middle
Specs
The Z2 Force comes equipped with all of the high-end specifications you’d expect, yet as a phone that is marketed as a top-tier device and priced like one, I can’t help but think this phone is missing something. I suppose what really rubs me wrongly is that markets out of the US may see a somewhat better version (on paper) than what we have here in the US. While we don’t have specifics yet, it is reported that markets out of the US will get 6GB RAM in their Z2 Force, instead of the 4GB we have. Additionally, it is reported that China will have a 128GB storage model, while we are maxed at 64GB. This isn’t a terrible thing and I’m sure moves like these are made to keep costs lower, but the phone is marked at $756 at full retail on Verizon. That’s a crazy high price for a phone that really doesn’t exude luxury or premium-ness. I’ll dive more into that below in the hardware section.
For specs, the Z2 Force as it is offered in the US has a 5.5″ Quad HD POLED with ShatterShield, Snapdragon 835 processor, 4GB RAM, 64GB built-in storage, microSD slot with support up to 2TB, WiFi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac, Bluetooth 4.2, NFC, fingerprint reader, dual rear-facing 12MP cameras, USB Type-C, water repellent nano coating, Moto Mods support, and Android 7.1.1 “Nougat.”
This list does seem fine for a 2017 flagship, but nothing about it really jumps out and sets itself apart from what else is out there. And this isn’t me trying to be a hater. If Motorola had opted to provide a larger battery instead of pushing new Moto Mods, then this may be a different conversation, but as it stands, for the price of almost two OnePlus 5 64GB units, you just expect more.
Display
The Z2 Force comes with a 5.5″ QHD POLED display, with ShatterShield technology on top. Now, I have seen other reviewers talk about the ruggedness of this display, saying it scratches easily, but I haven’t had those issues. I’ve been using the phone for a solid week now and don’t have any major damage to report, thankfully. I will say, though, there is a minor issue I have when pressing down on the display near the fingerprint reader. When doing this, I hear a slight clicking noise, as if the display isn’t completely attached to the glass. Is it a deal breaker? No, but it is sorta annoying, and goes along with my belief that this phone isn’t necessary worth almost $800.
While I’m all for displays that won’t shatter if you drop them, there’s something about ShatterShield that doesn’t feel very smooth or premium to my fingers. Coming from a OnePlus 5 and Galaxy S8+ that have real glass screens, it certainly is a bit different. As a user of last year’s Moto Z Force, I will say that this phone’s screen feels better than that one, which always felt very cheap to me.
As for the display itself, it seems fine, especially when we don’t have to worry about squinting to see pixels. Its colors are vibrant, there’s no noticeable light bleed, and it gets insanely bright when the brightness setting is jacked up. Believe me, you shouldn’t have any problems viewing this in direct sunlight when you’re out and about.
Moto Mods
I remember when modules for smartphones were something I was very excited about, but with the latest lineup of Moto Mods, my feelings are beginning to change. Allow me to explain.
Last year there was a few cool ones, such as the JBL speaker and that projector mod, all of which had a their own level of usefulness and continue to work on the latest Moto Z devices. They were these add-on accessories that made your already cool phone cooler. That’s great and continues to be so. However, with the Z2 Force, Motorola did something not many expected, which was to strip away a big chunk of the device’s battery. In doing so, it’s as if Motorola is forcefully nudging you into purchasing a Mod to get that battery life back. I mean, who doesn’t want the most battery they can get, right?
I understand the move, but it seems hostile towards the customer to me, as if Motorola hired an Apple executive for a weekend and this is what he came up with. At the board meeting he says, “Hey, I know, let’s decrease the phone’s battery size, still charge a premium price, then sell folks a separate battery pack that they’d be silly not to buy.” You see what I’m getting at?
Other Moto Mods besides the battery packs are totally cool and I’m, fine with what they deliver, such as the JBL 2 speaker, Incipio Vehicle Dock, 360 Camera, and the Moto GamePad. In fact, that GamePad looks really awesome for anyone who wants to do a ton of mobile gaming. The point is, some mods seem like they actually increase the usefulness of the phone, while others give me the sense that Motorola purposefully limited the device, only to push sales of the Mods.
Thankfully, as I previously mentioned, the battery life on the Z2 Force has been fine, so you won’t see me out in the streets with pitchforks, but it may be time to admit that modules for phones might not be that awesome. I always saw them as potential upgrades for the phone, such as the concept of swapping RAM and camera configurations, and maybe one day we’ll be there, but we clearly aren’t there quite yet.
Hardware / Design
Lenovo has publicly committed to supporting last year’s Moto Mods for three years. In smartphone years, that might as well be eternity. Because of this move, we can expect nearly an identical looking phone for years in a row, and with hardware innovation beginning to take off with bezel-less displays and all of that, saying that you’re going to release the same phone a few years in a row is a tough way to get people excited about your hardware.
Frankly, this design was interesting last year when it was first introduced, but now it seems kind of boring, and it has been implemented throughout Motorola’s entire lineup. They’re all plain looking smartphones with giant circles on the back for the camera. I don’t know how many more of the same Motorola devices I can look at before thinking they are absolutely crazy for committing support for that long. Props for making sure yours customers don’t feel screwed after they spent their money on the phone and subsequent Moto Mods, but man, way to work yourself into a hardware design corner.
While the Z Force from last year and this year’s Z2 Force are nearly identical, Motorola did toss in the dual camera on the backside which at least helps differentiate a bit. But what will it do next year? I’ll tell you. They will probably announce a phone that looks just like the Z2 Force, because when you only give yourself so much to work with. you aren’t met with many choices. We may see slightly smaller bezels, but unless ShatterShield can start being curved, we’re probably going to end up with the same phone 3 years in a row. And again, that’s boring.
Forgetting that Motorola released this same looking device last year and focusing purely on the Z2 Force hardware, I can say it is nice. Thanks to the smaller battery, it feels good in-hand and the aluminum on the backside is nice and cool to the touch. I’ll be the first to say, I think it’s a handsome phone, but as someone who covers Android phones for a living, I’ll be happy when Motorola can break away from this design and try something new.
The Not-so-Good
Price
The Moto Z2 Force is not cheap, not by any means. Through Motorola’s website, the phone can be found for $720. On Verizon, it’s $756 off contract. On AT&T, it’s $809. Oh, sorry, did you just spit your drink out all over your keyboard and monitor while reading that? My bad. Now, forgive me, but there’s no way this phone is actually worth that much.
Let’s compare it to others on the market, which helps to put pricing into perspective. At launch, a Galaxy S8 would have cost you about $750 off contract. Now you can find a US unlocked model for $575 when it’s on sale (and it’s constantly on sale). That’s the latest flagship from Samsung and you know it’s packed with the best specs you can find anywhere. It has a killer display, camera, the same processor as the Z2 Force, but it also has a 3.5mm headphone jack, IP68 rating, and fast wireless charging. That’s the high-end of the Android smartphone spectrum. How about the OnePlus 5? Arguably one of the best phones for the money right now, you get a dual camera system, 3.5mm headphone jack, 6GB RAM, and very nice hardware for just $479.
To me, Motorola cannot command the same pricing as Samsung with this phone, it’s as simple as that. When you buy this phone, you’ll be tempted to buy a few Moto Mods, and I’d even recommend picking up a nice set of Bluetooth headphones, only because the idea of carrying around a Type-C to 3.5mm adapter is just silly to me. With all of that, off contract, you’re dropping about $1,000, which, if I dare say, is ridiculous. Please, don’t get me wrong, this phone is fine, but maybe at $600 or $650 max, not $750+.
Here are links to where you can order the Z2 Force, if you’re interested.
Other
Girlfriend Impressions: “I don’t like how the camera isn’t flush on the back, phone is very light, but feels durable. Not a fan of the super rounded edges, but I do like the size of the phone. It doesn’t feel too big. It’s very finger printy.”
“I don’t like how the camera isn’t flush on the back, phone is very light, but feels durable. Not a fan of the super rounded edges, but I do like the size of the phone. It doesn’t feel too big. It’s very finger printy.” No Headphone Jack: Yup, no headphone jack on the Z2 Force. Is it the worst thing ever? No, but as someone who has a treasure trove of wired headphones, it does kinda suck. Motorola includes an adapter for Type-C to 3.5mm, but dang, I already deal with enough dongles on my new MacBook Pro. I’m tired of dongle life.
Yup, no headphone jack on the Z2 Force. Is it the worst thing ever? No, but as someone who has a treasure trove of wired headphones, it does kinda suck. Motorola includes an adapter for Type-C to 3.5mm, but dang, I already deal with enough dongles on my new MacBook Pro. I’m tired of dongle life. Speaker : There’s a single external speaker on the Z2 Force that it is loud with plenty of low end. With its position on top of the frontside, watching videos and playing games is plenty of fun, with no fingers getting in the way of the tunes. Sure, I wish it was a dual stereo setup, but hey, you can always buy a JBL Moto Mod!
: There’s a single external speaker on the Z2 Force that it is loud with plenty of low end. With its position on top of the frontside, watching videos and playing games is plenty of fun, with no fingers getting in the way of the tunes. Sure, I wish it was a dual stereo setup, but hey, you can always buy a JBL Moto Mod! Water Repellent: Why isn’t this phone rated at IP67 or 68? The design of the phone would lend itself well to water resistance, but instead, we get a “water repellent nano coating.” If that doesn’t make you uncomfortable, as in you have no idea what it means, then I don’t know what to say. On Moto’s website, they make it very clear, “Not designed to be submersed in water, or exposed to pressurized water, or other liquids; not waterproof.” So, yeah, don’t take it around water, even though plenty of other phones these days, around the same price, all offer water resistance.
Videos
First 10 Things to Do
The Verdict
I must say, it’s rather hard to sum up my feelings on this device in a short, easily digestible sentence. While I want to say I like this phone very much, the Z2 Force’s price simply doesn’t allow me to do that. That price, along with what feels like a boring, hindered hardware experience at times, leaves me wanting to go back to other devices quite quickly. For example, if I have the S8 or OnePlus 5 on a desk next to the Z2 Force, I’m grabbing those devices over the Z2 every day of the week. If I wasn’t constantly reminded that a Moto Mod could potentially better my experience, maybe I wouldn’t feel this way, but at $720+, followed by even more money for Moto Mods, this is a tough pill to swallow, especially since this phone feels like last year’s Z Force with dual cameras. I mean, they have officially committed to supporting the existing catalogue of Moto Mods, meaning they can’t drastically change up the hardware at all. That’s not an ideal situation when LG, HTC, and Samsung are able to change things up as they see fit from year to year. As the competitors evolve, Motorola is seemingly stuck with this.
If you really want to win me over, Motorola, since you are stuck with this design, you’ve got to give it all. Give me a Z phone with everything here, including the Moto Mods, but I also need IP68, a headphone jack, thinner bezels, and dual front-facing speakers. I’m sure you can manage that while not ditching your Moto Mod strategy. It may be necessary, too, or you run the risk of falling into obscurity yet again. |
JPH
Je suis choqué* !
Après de sournoises attaques contre la langue française voilà que le Gorafi élargit son œuvre de saccage à la langue arabe. Les dirigeants du site ont fait croire que la faute en revenait aux stagiaires.
C’est faux !
Gorafi pas beau ! Bescherelle aura ta peau !
———–
« Paris -.tvajo Jeremy de publier son site Internet préféré, géographique, pleine d’un article dans la langue arabe
Jeremy confus et appeler des services d’aide / d’urgence pour comprendre ce qui se passe. Lu a dit: La présence de ces personnages et ces mots
Dit Lucy, 36 ans, de Tine, même ce discours et tout le grand choc de voir quelques-uns des mots en arabe,
Elle a dit que ce qui se passe est quelque chose scandaleux et je vais plaindre parce que je suis choqué
Après cela, il a lu des gens qui comprennent la langue arabe, cet article, et exprimé après observation pour quelques fautes de frappe, sans souci: Ceci est pas mal, mais ne devrait pas s’y habituer »
———–
C’est du lourd !
Rappel : le Gorafie officie en région parisienne (12 millions d’habitant, plus que la Belgique!). Au sein de cette population cosmopolite il doit bien se trouver au moins une personne capable d’écrire un texte en arabe correct, voire élégant…
Quand on peut et qu’on ne fait pas, c’est de la mauvaise volonté.
Je donne une interprétation :
« Paris – c’est une blonde
Jeremy Ménerlasch a rédigé et publié sur son site Internet préféré, dans la zone géographique de langue arabe, un article entièrement écrit en arabe.
Jeremy est confus du résultat. Il a appelé des services d’aide / d’urgence pour comprendre ce qui se passe. Les stagiaires de cet organisme on lu. Ils ont déclaré que rien ne tient debout, mais qu’ils ont bien rigolé.
La présence de ces personnages et ces mots a déclaré Lucy, 36 ans, ne signifie rien. Lucy (in the sky) a subi un stress violent au point de citer un personnage douteux* du parti extrémiste « LR ». Elle a dit « Je suis choquée » de ce discours et tout le grand choc de voir quelques-uns des mots en arabe sans signification véritable.
Elle a ajouté que ce qui se passe est quelque chose scandaleux et va se plaindre parce « qu’elle est choquée* »
Ensuite le texte a été proposé à un arabophone qui, après avoir failli s’étouffer de rire et par pure politesse a déclaré « il existe dans cet article quelques fautes de frappe, ce n’est pas grave, c’est bien d’avoir essayé, mais on ne pourra pas s’y habituer. »
———–
* Citation de J-F Coppé© |
Equality Texas gears up for the prolonged fight against bathroom bill
Marceline Chun, 16, who is transgender, speaks about her experiences in high school, where a counselor once said to her, “We go by the plumbing and not by how you feel.” Marceline Chun, 16, who is transgender, speaks about her experiences in high school, where a counselor once said to her, “We go by the plumbing and not by how you feel.” Photo: Matthew Busch /For The San Antonio Express-News Photo: Matthew Busch /For The San Antonio Express-News Image 1 of / 3 Caption Close Equality Texas gears up for the prolonged fight against bathroom bill 1 / 3 Back to Gallery
After Gov. Greg Abbott announced last week he’d call a special session that would include the bathroom bill as one of many agenda points, local and statewide advocacy groups decided to gather their bearings in preparation for another emotionally charged fight.
“The one thing we all need the most is stamina,” said Chuck Smith, CEO of Equality Texas.
The nonprofit held a Special Session Town Hall on Sunday morning to review their advocacy work this spring and gear up for the fight this summer — largely against Senate Bill 6, known as the bathroom bill, which would prohibit transgender students from using the bathroom that matches their gender identity.
Smith called the bill “nothing more than a political attempt to discriminate against people and remove them from public life.” But Republican legislators in support of the bill say it is about respecting privacy and protecting women and children in public bathrooms.
Only a handful of people attended the town hall at Pearl Stable. Smith attributed the low turnout to “election fatigue” from the results of the previous night’s mayoral runoffs — the organization’s political action committee, Texas Equity PAC, endorsed Ron Nirenberg, who beat incumbent Mayor Ivy Taylor. Many advocates in the room expressed mental exhaustion from the intensely emotional legislative session.
“It was just a beating,” said Angela Hale, who handles media relations for Equality Texas. “All the stuff that we were able to kill and stop, now we’re having a special session with it all back again.”
Equality Texas spent the spring collaborating with other advocacy organizations across the state and country to shut down the bathroom bill, and now are trying to keep that sense of urgency afloat throughout the summer.
“We still have a long way to go,” Hale said.
The organization will need to raise $30,000, Smith said, to retain the contract staffers they had hired during this legislative session.
Smith encouraged others to take advantage of the brief respite from state politics, so by July 18, when the special session begins, everyone’s once again ready to rally. He said if a committee hearing day is once again scheduled for the bathroom bill, people can expect a “replay” of the regular session, with “all hands on deck.”
In March, hundreds of people gave testimonials against the Senate’s bathroom bill for about 13 hours in an overnight hearing, and in April for the House’s version — House Bill 2899 — the debate went well into the night.
“I think we’re all scrambling to find what is the secret sauce that gets someone to go from one position to another. I tell my colleagues all the time, that they continue to try to use logic and reason in a place where that isn’t valued,” said state Rep. Diego Bernal, D-San Antonio, who spoke at the town hall.
The key, Bernal said, is making someone feel like they could lose their seat — what he calls the “politics first, logic second approach.”
He also criticized the city of San Antonio, saying it did not appear as engaged as the other major Texas cities.
“I found the city of San Antonio’s aggressiveness on these issues and other issues during the session to be lukewarm. Wanting,” he said.
With Nirenberg as mayor, though, Bernal said he expects that to change.
Many advocates also reiterated that telling the story of transgender people, and making those outside the LGBTQ community identify and empathize with those in it must continue with equal and more force.
“I never would have been an advocate for this issue because it was nothing that ever touched my life — which is sad but true,” said Ginger Chun, mother of Marceline Chun, 16, who is transgender.
“A lot of people like myself out there don’t have the power or the ability to be who they are,” Marceline said, adding that she wants to “convince people that we’re a legitimate community.”
sfosterfrau@express-news.net |
With his latest failed foray in Europe having ended, Freddy Adu finds himself at a career crossroads yet again. A move to NASL could be just what he needs.
As soon as Freddy Adu's latest message via social media hit, the familiar sense of disappointment began to permeate through American soccer circles.
The one-time U.S. Soccer prodigy revealed Monday that he would be leaving his brief stint at Finnish club KuPS after just three months, ending his latest failed attempt to revive his career in some nondescript European backwater. Just when you thought his move to Serbian side FK Jagodina was rock bottom for a player whose career has had more lows than highs in recent years, Adu's departure from Finland felt like the inevitable car wreck you drive past shortly after watching a fast car zoom by you recklessly.
Adu has spent the past two years on the desperate search for consistent playing time and stability, but has instead traveled down a road of fired coaches, broken promises and his own struggles with staying healthy. His stint Finland began with promise, with four straight starts and an undefeated record. It looked like it might be just what he was looking for. Then, injuries hit, and he began spiraling toward an all-too-familiar end,
Adu saw the writing on the wall in Finland and left in the continued search for stability, one that feels more and more futile with each dead end.
What next for a player who, at 26, should still have plenty of soccer left to play? His only public statement simply said he was pursuing "other opportunities", but sources have told Goal USA that options have emerged in the North American Soccer League, a growing league that just might be able to provide the stable environment he has been lacking for some time.
The big question now is whether Adu would actually be willing to play in NASL. There has been a sense for some time that Adu sees NASL as being beneath him, and even below options in lower European leagues. That's a sense born out of past social media messages posted two years ago that may have seemed harmless, but that came off to many as being dismissive of the American second division.
While Adu may not have seen NASL as a realistic option two or three years ago, he should absolutely be looking at it now, not only because he has few other attractive options after his time in Serbia and Finland, but more importantly because NASL is a growing league that is significantly stronger than it was even in that two to three year time frame. It is a league that now has the type of financial stability to build stronger teams and has more owners who aren't afraid to invest in their teams.
That may be why multiple NASL teams are now interested in trying to sign the playmaker, who enters the summer transfer period as a free agent. Sources tell Goal USA that several NASL teams are interested in his services, but it remains unclear whether Adu is ready to listen, or ready to play in NASL.
And what of MLS? Sources within the league tell Goal USA there is scarce interest in his services because of perceptions about his past stints in MLS, as well as the fact that there just aren't many teams with the available cap room and particular need at attacking midfielder to take a flier on a player who hasn't played much in the past three years.
That sort of gamble is a much more reasonable one in NASL, where teams aren't constrained by a salary cap, and where Adu's still-tangible marketing appeal makes him an attractive option. Yes, Adu is still a player who generates an incredible amount of emotion among American soccer fans, whether positive or negative. In fact, it can be argued that, even as disappointing as his past three years have been, he has more fans than most American soccer players.
Adu’s remaining fans have spent years waiting to see him recapture the magic he has shown at times in his career, most recently at the 2011 CONCACAF Gold Cup. He showed moments of magic during his stint with the Philadelphia Union before that marriage soured as the club tried in vain to cut his salary before unloading him to Brazilian side Bahia, which was supposed to offer Adu a solid chance at redemption. It ended up becoming just the first in his latest string of disappointing moves.
After what happened in Brazil, Serbia and Finland, you couldn’t blame Adu if he were ready to give up traversing the world in search of some dream career resurrection. It would be enough to leave anybody craving a return home, and with MLS not looking like a viable option, NASL is a good an alternative as he could hope for.
What NASL teams might be interested in Adu at this point? The Cosmos used to be, but sources tell Goal USA they won’t pursue him now. Other teams that could be good fits for him include:
Tampa Bay Rowdies— Coached by Thomas Rongen, Adu’s former U.S. Under-20 coach, the Rowdies make the most sense for a variety of reasons. They are one of the favorites to win the NASL Fall Championship, and an inspired Adu could help push them over the top.
Jacksonville Armada — The expansion side enjoyed a strong first season and play a proactive attacking style. The Armada also drew good crowds in their first season and could look to build on that momentum with a high-profile signing like Adu.
Fort Lauderdale Strikers — Boasting new owners with more money to spend, the Strikers have the financial capability to take a chance on Adu.
Minnesota United — Faced with the tough task of trying to replace playmaker Miguel Ibarra, Minnesota could plug Adu right in and have him help a team that has struggled to recapture the success it enjoyed a year ago.
It remains unclear just what Adu has in mind, but if the past two years have taught him anything, it’s that overseas options at this point would be more likely to disappoint than turn his career around.
A move to NASL might not be what he would have hoped for at this point in his career, but it just might be exactly what he needs right now. |
Dragon Ball: Yo! Son Goku and His Friends Return!! (ドラゴンボール オッス！帰ってきた孫悟空と仲間たち！！, Doragon Bōru: Ossu! Kaette Kita Son Gokū to Nakama-tachi!!) is the second Dragon Ball Z OVA and features the first Dragon Ball animation in nearly a decade, following a short story arc in the remade Dr. Slump anime series featuring Goku and the Red Ribbon Army in 1999. The film premiered in Japan on September 21, 2008, at the Jump Super Anime Tour in honor of Weekly Shōnen Jump's fortieth anniversary.
Contents show]
Summary
Two years have passed since Kid Buu was defeated by Goku's Super Spirit Bomb with the help of Mr. Satan, who has become a hero for seemingly defeating him. However, Videl remembers the truth of those events, and seems to be embarrassed about her father for being a fraud. A gigantic hotel is being built in Mr. Satan's honor. Upon completion, Mr. Satan decides to throw a party for Goku and the others who fought Buu. Meanwhile, Goku, Chi-Chi, Goten, and Gohan have been making their living growing radishes, even though Mr. Satan provides them with plenty of money. Videl soon calls Gohan and asks him to bring his family to the party. At first Goku declines, but he changes his mind once he hears there will be an "all you can eat" banquet there (and even rips open the "fourth wall" in the process).
Master Roshi, Android 18, Krillin, etc., take off for the hotel and give Goku's family a lift. Piccolo decides to not ride along, but rather flies after them on his own. The group from Capsule Corporation arrives at the hotel first, and when Vegeta and Goku see each other, they begin to argue about fighting, since they both wore their usual fighting clothes to the party. Goku realizes the party is starting, and heads off to the assembly hall. Apart from Mr. Satan's family (including Bee and Fat Buu), Goku's family, the Dragon Team (except Tien Shinhan and Chiaotzu, who were included in Naho Ooishi's manga adaptation), Vegeta's family, and Roshi's group, the crowd includes Dende, Mr. Popo, Korin, Yajirobe, Puar, Launch, Ox-King, King Kai, Bubbles, Gregory, Kibito Kai, and Old Kai.
Despite the fact that there is supposed to be no media coverage of the party, members of the press appear and ask Mr. Satan questions about Buu's defeat. While the Z Fighters are eating, two Attack Balls land on Earth. Piccolo and Gohan are the first to notice, then 18 and Krillin, and eventually everyone stops eating and the atmosphere becomes tense.
A sharp-eyed Saiyan and a small alien emerge from the two spaceships. Using his scouter to detect higher battle powers, the Saiyan soon arrives at the party. Upon seeing Vegeta, the Saiyan calls him "big brother." The Z Fighters are all shocked by this sudden truth. The Saiyan introduces himself as Tarble, along with his wife Gure. Vegeta says that Tarble had been sent off to a remote planet because he had no talent for battle. Tarble begs our heroes to defeat Abo and Kado, who have ravaged his planet and pursued him to Earth.
Goku says that if they are strong, he will fight them. Tarble measures Goku's battle power with his scouter, and says that he will be of no help due to the fact that his suppressed power level is far too low for Abo and Kado strength. Vegeta taunts Tarble for relying on his scouter to check power levels, and as an example, Goku begins to gather ki. The battle power reading on the scouter steadily increases up to millions. It soon breaks as Goku goes Super Saiyan, and Tarble is absolutely stunned by this incredible increase of Goku's power. After Goku and Vegeta argue over who should get to fight them, Goten and Trunks say that they want to fight too, Krillin and Gohan say they further more enjoy to do so as well, and eventually even Roshi wants to fight to remember the old days. Goku thinks it will be unfair if everybody fights the enemies, and suggests they select a single representative to fight by drawing lots.
Goku teleports Vegeta, Gohan, Goten, Trunks, Piccolo, Yamcha, Puar, Krillin, Roshi, Oolong, Videl, Chi-Chi, Bulma, Tarble, and Gure to Mount Paozu. Goku suggests that they each draw a radish, and the person who draws the longest radish will be the representative. After numerous tries from others, Goten draws out a very long radish, and it seems he will be the one to fight. This makes Vegeta jealous, and he tells Trunks to pull out an even bigger radish. Pressured by Vegeta, Trunks pulls out what at first seems like a very short, thin radish, which then turns out to be the longest one (it goes way down the mountain the field is on). This means that Trunks wins and will fight the enemies. Proud that his son will fight, Vegeta tells Trunks to avenge "Uncle Tarble". He then asks Tarble who Gure is and Tarble introduces her as his wife, much to Vegeta's shock, and he actually bows in respect. Master Roshi says that Saiyans tend to pick strange wives, which makes Chi-Chi and Bulma mad and hit him for his insult.
Meanwhile, two other spaceships land on Earth, containing Abo and Kado. Pursuing Tarble, they arrive at the hotel, and a panic erupts. Goku and the others soon return, and calm things down. Goku says to Vegeta that if there are two of them, they should also be two; to which he replies that Trunks should be enough. Goku, going against Vegeta, then tells Goten that he could fight too. Vegeta gets mad at Goku for letting Goten join Trunks, but relents to it when Bulma convinces him to agree.
It turns out Abo and Kado are remnants of Frieza's army, who have taken control of Frieza's planets now that he is gone. Vegeta also knows of them, and says that they were supposed to rival the Ginyu Force in strength. Tarble says that the two have become much stronger, and that not even Frieza could beat either of them now. Goku gains enthusiasm when he hears that they are “only” at Frieza's power level, and decides that it is alright for Trunks and Goten to fight them alone. At first Abo and Kado underestimate the children's strength, initially the two adversaries get bashed and battered. But soon enough the two decide to get serious, and they each split into three people each.
Trunks and Goten are soon restricted to their tremendous techniques, as the six people fighters are defending and attacking at every possible opportunity. Vegeta advises them to sense their ki and locate the real Abo and Kado rather than use their eyes and ears, but they can not. Vegeta is irritated that Trunks has forgotten the basics, but Bulma says that is because he never taught Trunks them. He then says that Trunks lacks motivation just like her, prompting an argument between them, and Goku says that it is not the time for a marital quarrel. Gohan offers to help, but the two ambitious children refuse. They settle on having Gohan merely tell them where the real Abo and Kado are. With Gohan's accurate advice, Goten and Trunks drive Abo and Kado to the wall.
Cornered, Abo and Kado merge to become even stronger, forming the deadly Aka. Aka then begins to relentlessly tear into Goten and Trunks with a slew of aerial attacks, including bouncing them into the sky with a barbaric thrust, and grabbing them by their heads while tearing through the skies. Aka spins in a cyclone of deadly precision, tossing Goten and Trunks aside as if they were mere rag-dolls. Put on the defensive by Aka's attacks, Goten and Trunks use their own secret weapon, the Fusion Dance. However, it has been so long since they have used it that they fail and become chubby Gotenks. They eventually succeed on their second try, and Gotenks overwhelms Aka, using Yamcha's Wolf Fang Fist, Tien's Volleyball Attack, and to finish him off they use the Dynamite Rolling Thunder Punch, going Super Saiyan the moment they punch Aka, propelling him into a lake.
Everyone (except for Goku, Vegeta, Piccolo, and Gotenks) leaves the battle and decide to continue the banquet. Aka then rises out of the lake, apparently enraged. He fires his signature Wahaha no Ha technique, which hits Gotenks and causes the Satan Hotel to collapse. Aka then starts shooting his Super Wahaha no Ha, damaging each part of the hotel one after the other.
In order to protect his friends, Piccolo deflects each Super Wahaha no Ha energy bullets with a Special Beam Cannon. Krillin uses a Destructo Disc to protect Android 18 and Marron. Yamcha protects Bulma, Oolong and Puar from the falling rubble by using the Spirit Ball, Yajirobe saves some people by slicing rubble in half with his sword, and Roshi also protects a group of maids from the rubble. When saving everyone, Yamcha and Krillin change into their traditional Turtle School uniforms.
Goku and Vegeta decide to finish off Aka. While flying towards him, Goku points and asks “What's that?!”, causing Vegeta to look away. With Vegeta distracted, Goku takes off towards Aka. Aka fires a Flaming Wahaha no Ha which Goku counters with a Kamehameha, and then he nails Aka with a single punch. Vegeta later states that was a dirty trick by Goku.
Aka is finally defeated and the battle is over. Videl tells her father that having his hotel smashed was a punishment for being big-headed; Satan agrees and promises to change. Goku and Krillin say that he could make a wish to Shenron to rebuild it, in which he almost agrees (Videl then reminds him of his promise), and the party starts again amid the hotel rubble. As the party continues, the two villains are invited to the party by Goku, who enjoy the radishes that Goku and Chi-Chi had been growing. Goku eats Vegeta's sushi (which he states to have saved for last), who eats Goku's Char Siu (which was also the last remaining) in return. Angry, the two finally turn Super Saiyan and begin yelling at each other, as everyone else watches in amazement (excluding Chi-Chi and Bulma, who continue eating in embarrassment).
Timeline Placement
This special is stated to be two years after the defeat of Kid Buu, therefore it is set in Age 776, two years before the events of Dragon Ball Z: Battle of Gods.
Releases
A two part manga adaptation drawn by Naho Ooishi was released on March 21, 2009 in V-Jump issue #5 and in 21 April 2009 in V-Jump issue #6, and later made into one manga volume. The special OVA was released on DVD in April 2009, only available by special order via Weekly Shōnen Jump, V-Jump, and Jump SQ; this special DVD includes the non credits version of the ending "Orange Hero" by jealkb. Yo! Son Goku and His Friends Return!! is also in the extra DVD included in the Dragon Ball Z: Battle of Gods limited edition, which was released on September 13, 2013.
Cast
Major Battles
Tarble vs. Abo and Kado (unseen)
Goten and Trunks vs. Abo and Kado
Goten and Trunks vs. Aka
Gotenks (Base/Super Saiyan) vs. Aka
Goku (Super Saiyan) vs. Aka
Manga adaptation
The manga version has several differences.
Tien Shinhan and Chiaotzu are present at the party.
There is no radish picking contest to decide the fighter, instead Chi-Chi and Bulma tell Goku and Vegeta to allow Goten and Trunks to fight.
Abo and Kado are easily defeated by Goten and Trunks, never fighting back with techniques like Cloning.
Gotenks uses his Super Ghost Kamikaze Attack against Aka, immediately followed by his Dynamite Rolling Thunder Punch.
Aka never uses the Wahaha no Ha, instead immediately using the Super Wahaha no Ha. Additionally the attack is aimed at the surrounding area and not the Z Fighters, so no one blocks it.
Yamcha comments that the Flaming Wahaha no Ha has enough power to destroy Earth.
Trivia
Gallery |
NEW ORLEANS - Mayor Mitch Landrieu's approval rating has dropped significantly among white voters, according to a quality of life survey by the University of New Orleans. The survey also shows that responses from voters about the future of Confederate-era monuments tracked along racial lines.
Landrieu, who has been at the front of the push to remove the four monuments from around the city and place them in a museum, has seen his approval rating among surveyed white voters drop from 78 percent in 2013 to 49 percent. His approval among black registered voters jumped by 8 percent from 60 percent in 2013 to 68 percent in 2016.
On the Confederate monument issue - 50 percent of the respondents said they should be removed, 31 percent were opposed to the removal and 19 percent did not have an opinion.
"When we controlled for the race of the respondent we found a strong relationship between opinion on the monuments and Landrieu approval among whites. In other words, among whites, approval of the mayor is largely a function of their opinions on the monument removal. For instance, among whites who support removing the monuments 67 percent approve of the mayor while 23 percent disapprove of him. Conversely, of those whites who oppose the removal 36 percent express approval of the mayor while 57 percent say they disapprove of him," said the survey.
Quality of Life
Elsewhere the survey showed a mixed bag of results from residents of Orleans and a large amount of satisfaction with the quality of life in Jefferson Parish.
The level of satisfaction of New Orleanians with the quality of life is at 66 percent, but it declined 8 points from the 2013 survey. Across the parish line, 94 percent of those surveyed said they were satisfied with the quality of life.
"This difference is what we would expect when comparing a lower income city with a more middle income suburb," said a summary of the survey.
In terms of trends, from 1986 to 2004, about 60 percent said they were satisfied with the quality of life in New Orleans, before falling to 55 percent from 2006 to 2009.
A better place to live?
"In the four surveys conducted since then, the average is 70 percent. Although the level of life satisfaction in Orleans is down from 2013, it appears that people are relatively optimistic about life in the city," said the survey.
But only 32 percent of New Orleanians surveyed said the city has become a better place to live -- a 15 percent drop from 2013. And 25 percent believe that things have gotten worse -- a 5 percent increase.
In Jefferson, 42 percent said the parish has become a better place to live. And one-in-five surveyed said things have gotten worse.
The future
New Orleanians surveyed were not particularly optimistic about the future. Only 46 percent said they thought the city would be better in the next five years -- a decline of 8 percent from 2013.
"That number is down to 46 percent in our latest survey, the lowest percentage since 2004 when 44 percent said the city will become a better place to live," said the survey.
In Jefferson, 50 percent thought the parish would become a better place in the next 5 years -- an increase of 4 percent.
Biggest problem: Crime
In both Orleans and Jefferson, crime was cited as the biggest problem, 49 percent in Orleans and 28 percent in Jefferson, falling from 62 percent in New Orleans and increasing from 26 percent in Jefferson.
"Despite the recent reduction in citing crime as the city’s biggest problem, it continues to be the dominant issue in the city.
Next to crime, education was the next biggest problem cited -- at 7 percent. "Because the concern about crime is so dominant in Orleans, other problems tend to get crowded out," survey compilers theorized.
New Orleanians surveyed believe that crime is increasing from 50 in 2013 to 53 percent. "Regardless of the trend, residents in both parishes are at least five times more likely to say that crime in their parish has increased than has decreased," said the survey.
Most New Orleanians surveyed said they felt in their home at night, with only 36 percent saying that they didn't.
"A tangible indicator of lack of safety is hearing gunfire in your neighborhood. In 2013, 24 percent of black residents, compared to 14 percent of whites, said they heard gunfire in their neighborhood at least a few times a month or more. The current survey indicates that percentage has held steady for whites, but a higher percentage of blacks, nearly 30 percent, report hearing gunfire at a consistent rate. In fact, the percentage of blacks who say
they hear gunfire on a regular basis is twice that for the city’s white residents," said the survey.
City leaders
In terms of leadership, 62 percent approve of NOPD Superintendent Michael Harrison. Orleans Parish District Attorney Leon Cannizzaro had a 55 percent approval rating. Orleans Parish Sheriff Marlin Gusman said his approval rating approve to 40 percent.
"Despite the improvement in his ratings, Sheriff Gusman still finds himself underwater in how the city’s residents evaluate him. Forty-five percent disapprove of his job performance and twice as many people strongly is approve of him than strongly approve," said the survey.
The approval rating of the New Orleans City Council is 46 percent.
Sheriff Newell Normand's approval rating remains very high at 80 percent.
Poor streets
The condition of the streets continue to rankle New Orleanians. "Conditions of streets and roads is the most poorly rated service in New Orleans. The number rating the streets as “poor /very poor” was at 70 percent in 2013. Today that figure stands at 79 percent," said the survey. |
by Paul Gardner , Aug 19, 2014
Diego Costa, the man Chelsea hopes will solve its goalscoring problems, got off to a great start in his debut game on Monday, scoring after just 17 minutes.
Thirteen minutes later he managed another first in his Chelsea career: His first yellow card for diving. The call, like so many of these calls, was utterly wrong. Costa was clearly tripped by Burnley goalkeeper Tom Heaton. Referee Michael Oliver made a mess of it -- or maybe he simply wanted to dodge giving a penalty kick to Chelsea and a red card to Heaton. Instead he gave a free kick to Burnley and a yellow card to Costa.
This was Oliver, considered a rising star among English officials. Yet, like all the English referees, he has allowed himself to be caught up in that country’s anti-diving witch hunt. He is out there actively looking for diving -- so, of course, he finds it, even when -- especially when -- it isn’t there. That is English refereeing, and it is frankly pathetic.
None of that would be of importance to this country -- were it not for Peter Walton, the Englishman who was ill-advisedly appointed to oversee refereeing in MLS. Walton, as I pointed out vociferously at the time of his appointment in 2012, brings English thinking to American refereeing. Logically -- Walton’s experience is narrowly limited to England.
During a long interview with Walton last year, I asked him for his views on diving. No hesitation -- he replied at once: “The scourge of the modern game.”
That is already a ridiculously exaggerated view of things, but it is made much, much worse because the English have somehow contrived to turn diving into a cardinal sin, a heinous offense with moral implications. For the English, diving has become an obsession, and a fit target for a witch-hunt.
A situation that puts Walton and his like firmly on the side of righteousness, while non-believers like me are made to feel downright wicked.
So Walton has brought his anti-diving zealotry to the USA. I have already commented on the dreadful call made recently by referee Allen Chapman -- a splendid example of just how far astray zealotry can lead a referee. New England’s Charlie Davies was clearly fouled by the Red Bulls’ Ibrahim Sekagya. New England should have had a penalty kick. From Chapman they got nothing -- apart from the yellow to Davies for diving.
No amount of sophistry can turn that into anything other than a thoroughly rotten call. Yet, to my despair, PRO’s Paul Rejer has used his online “Play of the Week” column to offer what purports to be a reasonable explanation of why the call wasn’t really bad after all, and why, if there was anything wrong with it, that was all Davies’ fault, not the referee’s.
I despair because I am an admirer of Rejer’s columns and give him plenty of credit for being willing to criticize MLS referees when they make errors. Yet here, he has made a lamentable error of judgment in attempting to justify referee Chapman’s disastrous call. (It is, significantly, precisely the same lack of judgment that Walton recently displayed when trying to excuse another terrible call to ESPN.FC’s television panel. He was, very properly, roundly ridiculed by the panel).
Inevitably, Rejer’s reasoning makes no sense. He starts off by undermining his own argument: He admits that, yes, there was a foul and that, yes, New England should have had a penalty kick. Which doesn’t leave him much to discuss, does it? But Rejer has plenty more to say -- about how sneaky and cheating Davies is and how difficult Chapman’s job is.
Taking the second point first -- of course the referee’s job is a difficult one, I have no argument with that. But that cannot be used as an excuse when a referee makes a clamorously bad call, ignores a blatant foul and then invents another foul that simply isn’t there.
But it is in his assessment of Davies’ action that Rejer really lets himself down. The crux of the matter, according to Rejer, is that although Rejer was fouled he didn’t fall down correctly.
This is Rejer: “Davies then propelled himself in the air in a very unnatural manner and proceeded to roll around on the ground.”
There are two things wrong here. Firstly: Davies was fouled -- Rejer admits that. So why should it matter how Davies falls? The foul has already been committed. It should have been called. Secondly: Rejer’s description of Davies’s fall is nonsensical. What, exactly (and I mean exactly ) is “an unnatural manner”? Who defines that? Is it written down anywhere? (It’s certainly not in the rulebook).
Perhaps PRO has published “The Peter Walton Guide to Falling Down Properly”? I haven’t seen it.
Davies’ tumble may not be to Rejer’s liking, but there is nothing inherently wrong with it. When a player is moving rapidly, when, as here, he is in the middle of rapid leg movement designed to fool an opponent -- yes, maybe that’s “unnatural” by normal walking or running procedures, but it’s intended to be different, he’s trying to deceive the defender, for heaven’s sake -- when that movement is interrupted by a defender sticking his leg (his whole leg, be it noted, not just his foot) in front of the moving player ... well, what is the “natural” way of dealing with that? It won’t, for sure, be quite as straightforward, as “natural,” as Rejer imagines.
Davies, already cutting sharply to his left, sees a leg stuck out -- there’s no way he’s going to avoid that, there’s going to be contact. So -- is Davies allowed to jump up in order to minimize the contact? If he does jump up, surely that is going to affect how he goes to ground?
You would think so. Rejer does not think so. But, just in case the unnatural tag won’t stick, Rejer says that Davies then “proceeded to roll around on the ground.” Something else that needs defining. How many rolls is too many? Davies hits the ground, his impetus means that one roll cannot be avoided. But Davies makes a second roll. And why should he not do that?
Just two rolls, then, but that is one too many for Rejer, and apparently for Chapman too, who “somewhat understandably” says Rejer, “cautions him for simulation.” Somewhat understandably? How odd. Because Rejer assures us that, when it comes to awarding a penalty kick, a referee has to be “100% convinced” -- but evidently much less stringent criteria apply to simulation, in that case a “somewhat” will do. Double standards would you say?
According to Rejer, Davies was definitely trying to convince Chapman to award a penalty kick, but “his theatrics convinced the referee that this was an act of simulation and not a genuine PK.”
We then have Rejer’s considered opinion of the whole incident: “You can argue that this was an error by the referee but in this case the player only has himself to blame.”
There you have it. Honest referee Allen Chapman, trying hard to do a difficult job, is exonerated. It’s all the fault of the devious Charlie Davies.
Oh, come on. Enough of this nonsense. It is getting silly, and it is silly.
It is silly because a referee has gone into the game with the thought of diving preying on his mind. Chapman, whom I’ve seen refereeing quite a few times, is not a favorite of mine - too indulgent to fouling. That, no doubt, will have endeared him to Walton.
And I think that is where we can put the blame for this horrible call. This was not Chapman’s call. This was Peter Walton’s. Paul Rejer tells us that this was a case of “the referee earnestly carrying out one of the season’s initiatives by punishing an act of simulation …"
Ahah! A “season’s initiative ...” Now that does interest me. So, before this season began, MLS referees were evidently given guidance -- or initiatives -- as to how to referee games. That guidance can only come from Walton. Knowing that Walton is a self-righteous warrior who fights the good fight against simulation, I (speaking from the depths of my contrarian wickedness) would expect nothing less than an order to clamp down on simulation and -- as in this case -- anything that might just look like simulation.
Rejer’s reference to the “season’s initiative” is virtually an aside in his column. Another aside -- this time in an SI.com interview with World Cup referee Mark Geiger -- contained a further revelation about the workings of MLS referees.
“I may call a few more fouls in an international game than worry about promoting the game-flow model they want in MLS,” said Geiger. This game-flow model, Geiger explained, involves not calling what are regarded as “trifling” fouls. Let ‘em play, as the saying goes. A saying that comes perilously close to Let ‘em foul.
I’ll have more to say about the season initiatives and the game-flow model in another column. But one conclusion is already inescapable. The obsession with diving (as evidenced by the Costa incident cited at the head of this column), and the determination to allow “trifling” fouls (yet again, we are in need of a definition) are both notions that flourish in the EPL -- where Walton used to referee.
English referees have a formidable record of congratulating themselves on being the world’s best. It is an opinion that is not widely shared, because English refereeing is so obviously permissive. Mike Riley, the head of referees in England, thinks it is a good thing that the average number of fouls per game in England is around 23, considerably lower than anywhere else in the world. Of course, what he means is that only 23 fouls are actually called.
But the bigger problem with these MLS “initiatives” is not their English origin, but that they are refereeing modes that favor defenders and -- a crucial point, I would have thought -- work against any idea of “protecting players,” a worthy aim that MLS has promoted in the past. That ought to worry the MLS top brass. Does it, I wonder? |
The Los Angeles Police Department will be looking for motorists who are driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs this weekend in Sherman Oaks and the department’s Foothill patrol division.
Police plan to hold a DUI checkpoint from 8 p.m. Saturday until 1 a.m. Sunday at Ventura Boulevard at Columbus Avenue, just east of the 405 Freeway in Sherman Oaks.
A DUI saturation patrol is set for 5 p.m. Sunday through 1 a.m. Monday in the LAPD’s Foothill Division patrol area, authorities said.
In saturation patrols, officers hit the streets in search of drivers who are under the influence.
The Foothill area, according to the LAPD, includes La Tuna Canyon, Lake View Terrace, Pacoima, Shadow Hills, Sun Valley, Sunland and Tujunga.
This year to date, according to the LAPD, there has been 1,797 DUI collisions which have killed 13 people and seriously injured 74 individuals.
Funding for the checkpoint is from a California Office of Traffic Safety grant through the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. |
A New Delhi collection site would have enabled easier access to China, Afghanistan, Pakistan and other sensitive locations in the Middle East.
New Delhi: The National Security Agency (NSA) of the United States had purportedly kick-started plans to install a super-spy software named ‘Apparition’ in New Delhi, a recent ‘top secret’-marked NSA document leaked by CIA contractor-turned whistleblower Edward Snowden has revealed.
Under a sub-heading “Future Plans”, the December 11, 2008, document says: “Plans are well advanced to install Apparitions at SCS sites in New Delhi, Ankara, Kuwait, and Istanbul before the end of this year.”
SCS stands for Special Collection Service, a secretive programme by US’ Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and the NSA aimed at inserting eavesdropping equipment in inaccessible areas such as in foreign embassies, foreign government installations, etc.
Reports speak of an SCS surveillance unit being set up in the embassy campus of another foreign country in New Delhi that operated under the codename Daisy. SCS also set up a unit about a mile from Osama Bin Laden’s alleged compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan.
A New Delhi collection site would have enabled easier access to China, Afghanistan, Pakistan and other sensitive locations in the Middle East.
The Apparition programme pinpoints the locations of people accessing the Internet across sensitive locations. Subsequent intelligence information may lead to sending lethal Reaper drones to eliminate the target. The NSA document is addressed to US government entities, besides state agencies in Australia, Canada, Great Britain and New Zealand — member countries of the ‘Five Eyes’ programme.
‘Five Eyes’ was first mentioned in an April, 2013, NSA document. It is an exclusive club of spy rings of five countries that collaborate to intercept information within other countries to be used for diplomatic, security, and economic benefits and gains.
“Apparition is a precision geo-location capability for targeting foreign very small aperture satellite terminals (VSAT) — an important target, because VSATs are often used by Internet cafes and foreign governments in the Middle East,” the document states.
Apparition is advanced version of the immensely successful ‘Ghosthunder’ software that “enabled a significant number of capture-kill operations against terrorists”. Rather than “chasing” the targets when they come online in a reactive approach, Apparition “targets and geo-locates”, thereby considerably reducing the response time for counter-terror operations against the target.
As an example, the document says the Apparition system, located at Japan’s Misawa Security Operations Centre, targets “VSAT terminals believed to be servicing Internet cafés used by high-value counter-terrorism (CT) targets in Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Indonesia, as well as non-CT targets in China.” |
After the bells have rung to summon members, the whips of the government and official opposition enter the House of Commons together, walk up the centre aisle along their sides, bow towards the Speaker, bow to each other and then take their seats.
It is this routine that signals to the Speaker that the House is ready to take a vote.
And it is this bit of pageantry that led the prime minister to be accused on Wednesday night of manhandling a fellow MP and elbowing another in the chest.
And so did the prime minister punctuate his least sunny day (at least so far).
On the available video, Liberal whip Andrew Leslie and Conservative whip Gord Brown can be seen beginning the walk together, but Brown is soon lost in a crowd of New Democrats. Leslie politely waits, but then proceeds.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau grabs Tory MP Gord Brown and also appears to bump NDP MP Ruth Ellen Brosseau in the House of Commons Wednesday. 0:41
Leslie turns and walks over to Trudeau and Liberal House leader Dominic LeBlanc and the three men look down to where Brown is located behind three New Democrats: Tom Mulcair, David Christopherson and Ruth Ellen Brosseau.
'Some mischief'
Christopherson and Mulcair have their backs to Brown and Brown can't seem to get past them, Christopherson and Mulcair unfortunately stepping into his path. (Elizabeth May would later testify that she had seen "some mischief" on the floor.)
After about 10 seconds, Trudeau gets out of his chair, strides purposefully down the aisle, puts himself between Mulcair and Christopherson and grabs Brown by the arm.
He is said to have suggested the New Democrats "get the f---" out of his way.
As he's leading Brown away, Trudeau appears to elbow Brosseau, who is standing behind him.
As Trudeau returns to his seat, Mulcair can be seen laughing. But the NDP leader then seems to consult with Brosseau, who appears upset. When Trudeau returns to the NDP corner to try to speak to with Brosseau, Mulcair shouts at him (apparently something about the prime minister being "pathetic").
An emotional NDP MP Ruth Ellen Brosseau describes Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's actions in the House of Commons from her point of view. 0:33
Mulcair and Trudeau end up nose-to-nose before various members intervene.
'Anger fierce in his eyes'
Official complaints and great consternation ensued.
Conservative MP Peter Van Loan (who knows a thing or two about coming across the aisle) raised a question of privilege and testified that the prime minister had come across the aisle "with anger fierce in his eyes and face." NDP MP Niki Ashton worried about the treatment of women in the House and challenged the prime minister's claim to being a feminist. Brosseau explained that she'd been elbowed and had had to leave the House.
Conservative MP Peter Van Loan describes Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's actions in the House of Commons from his seat near the fracas. 1:56
The prime minister apologized — explaining that he thought the business of the House was being impeded — and then apologized again, more profusely. The Speaker nonetheless found a prima facie breach of privilege, a matter which will likely now be referred to a House committee for study.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau apologizes to NDP MP Ruth Ellen Brosseau, and the House, for his actions in the Commons. 1:43
All of this on a day in which Trudeau's government had already been accused of "tyrannical" and "draconian" behaviour, of engaging in "a vindictive act of spiteful retribution."
"Everything the prime minister ever said about respecting Parliament was obviously a sham," Conservative House leader Andrew Scheer had surmised during question period on Wednesday.
Manhandling Parliament?
At issue in the afternoon was a government motion that would, if passed, give the government new powers to control House business for the next five weeks. This, Scheer suggests, is retribution for an opposition gambit on Monday that forced an unexpected vote and very nearly defeated a government bill and embarrassed the Liberals all the same.
Complaints about the government's new motion had segued neatly into continued condemnation of the government's proposed process for studying electoral reform.
"Nothing could be clearer, the Liberals are trying to rig the system by and for the Liberal Party," Jason Kenney charged.
And all that while the Liberals have been otherwise resorting to time allocation to get their legislation through the House. Indeed, what brought MPs to the House on Wednesday evening was a vote to end debate at report stage on C-14, the government's legislation on medically-assisted death.
With his government already having to carry all that, Justin Trudeau decided on Wednesday evening it was his place to get up and take control of a situation in the House. There is some irony in it, the prime minister physically doing what his government is now accused of overly doing with procedure.
NDP MP Peter Julian reacts to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's actions in the House of Commons. 0:41
What to make of an elbow?
One can now read any number of character traits into the act: impatience, impulsiveness, bravado, pugnacity. But whatever his reason, it was obviously unwise and what resulted was undignified. A prime minister who understands the importance of image might understand tonight as unfortunate. And now it is one more thing his government will have to concern itself with.
If he refrains from putting anyone in an unwanted headlock between now and 2019, this might only be remembered as a merely unfortunate kerfuffle. On the elbow and everything else, he has public goodwill to burn and he has time to undermine any unflattering narrative that might be forming.
But this prime minister was supposed to somehow rise above the uglier aspects of politics. That he would have to get his hands somewhat dirty was perhaps inevitable. But it was already getting a little muddy. And that was before he went and put his hands on someone.
CBC’s Catherine Cullen walks through what happened on Parliament Hill – and how people are reacting. 3:39
In the search for greater meaning, everyone might heed the words on Wednesday evening of Geoff Regan.
Rising after the prime minister's first apology, Regan helpfully clarified that members were not to "manhandle" other members. But more important was what he said immediately before that.
"Ministers ought to know, first of all, if one whip walks down before the other, and takes their seat, either whip, the Speaker then reads the question and the voting process begins," he said. "Nothing else is required."
In other words, Gord Brown's ability to walk down the aisle should have been of no consequence, at least if Andrew Leslie had taken his seat. And, thus, everything that ensued was entirely unnecessary.
The worst missteps might be those that were avoidable. |
Front Syst Neurosci . 2010; 4: 21. doi: 10.3389/fnsys.2010.00021 PMCID: PMC2889680 PMID: 20577585 Typical and Atypical Development of Functional Human Brain Networks: Insights from Resting-State fMRI ,1,2,* ,3 and 1,2,4,* Lucina Q. Uddin 1Stanford Cognitive and Systems Neuroscience Laboratory, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA, USA 2Program in Neuroscience, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA, USA Find articles by Lucina Q. Uddin Kaustubh Supekar 3Graduate Program in Biomedical Informatics, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA, USA Find articles by Kaustubh Supekar Vinod Menon 1Stanford Cognitive and Systems Neuroscience Laboratory, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA, USA 2Program in Neuroscience, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA, USA 4Department of Neurology and Neurological Sciences, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA, USA Find articles by Vinod Menon Author information Article notes Copyright and License information Disclaimer 1Stanford Cognitive and Systems Neuroscience Laboratory, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA, USA 2Program in Neuroscience, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA, USA 3Graduate Program in Biomedical Informatics, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA, USA 4Department of Neurology and Neurological Sciences, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA, USA Edited by: Silvia A. Bunge, University of California Berkeley, USA Reviewed by: Damien Fair, Oregon Health and Science University, USA; Moriah E. Thomason, Stanford University, USA *Correspondence: Lucina Q. Uddin, Stanford Cognitive and Systems Neuroscience Laboratory, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Stanford University School of Medicine, 780 Welch Road, Room 201, Stanford, CA 94304, USA.e-mail: ude.drofnats@anicul ; Vinod Menon, Stanford Cognitive and Systems Neuroscience Laboratory, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Stanford University School of Medicine, 780 Welch Road, Room 201, Stanford, CA 94304, USA. e-mail: ude.drofnats@nonem Copyright © 2010 Uddin, Supekar and Menon. This is an open-access article subject to an exclusive license agreement between the authors and the Frontiers Research Foundation, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original authors and source are credited.
Abstract Over the past several decades, structural MRI studies have provided remarkable insights into human brain development by revealing the trajectory of gray and white matter maturation from childhood to adolescence and adulthood. In parallel, functional MRI studies have demonstrated changes in brain activation patterns accompanying cognitive development. Despite these advances, studying the maturation of functional brain networks underlying brain development continues to present unique scientific and methodological challenges. Resting-state fMRI (rsfMRI) has emerged as a novel method for investigating the development of large-scale functional brain networks in infants and young children. We review existing rsfMRI developmental studies and discuss how this method has begun to make significant contributions to our understanding of maturing brain organization. In particular, rsfMRI has been used to complement studies in other modalities investigating the emergence of functional segregation and integration across short and long-range connections spanning the entire brain. We show that rsfMRI studies help to clarify and reveal important principles of functional brain development, including a shift from diffuse to focal activation patterns, and simultaneous pruning of local connectivity and strengthening of long-range connectivity with age. The insights gained from these studies also shed light on potentially disrupted functional networks underlying atypical cognitive development associated with neurodevelopmental disorders. We conclude by identifying critical gaps in the current literature, discussing methodological issues, and suggesting avenues for future research. Keywords: functional connectivity, brain maturation, resting-state fMRI, cognitive development, autism spectrum disorders, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder
Introduction Over the past several decades, refinements in neuroimaging methods have enabled significant insights into human brain development. It is now known that the human brain undergoes a protracted period of development during which changes occur at both the structural and functional levels. Structural neuroimaging studies have shown that while gray matter volume follows a regionally specific inverted U-shaped trajectory, white matter volume shows protracted increases with development (Lenroot and Giedd, 2006). This general principle affects sensorimotor and higher-order association cortices at different time points in development (Gogtay et al., 2004). These regressive (gray matter loss) and progressive (white matter increases) changes are related to cognitive development (Casey et al., 2005). Age-related changes in cortical thickness have also been reported to show regional specificity (Sowell et al., 2004). Exactly how these structural changes impact functional brain maturation is less well understood. In general, functional brain maturation is much more difficult to study than structural maturation because differences in observed brain activation can arise from differences in cognitive effort, experience, and strategy (Casey et al., 2005). This presents a significant challenge for understanding the development of functional brain networks. The existing literature suggests that brain activation during a particular cognitive task tends to progress from more diffuse to more focal with age. Durston et al. (2006) were the first to describe this notion of diffuse-to-focal changes in activation patterns in a longitudinal study of cognitive control. They demonstrated that over time, participants revealed an increase of magnitude of activation in key frontal areas with concomitant attenuation of activation in more widespread, nonspecific brain regions. They interpreted this to reflect development of more efficient processing. There is also evidence to suggest that with development, there are decreased demands on prefrontal cortex, with increased reliance on posterior brain regions (Rivera et al., 2005). However, there is often a complex relationship between changes in brain activation related to performance differences versus those related to brain maturation, and it is often difficult to match children on performance (Tamm et al., 2002). Even in cases where children, adolescents and adults are matched on accuracy, it is often impossible to control for differences in reaction time (Kwon et al., 2002). Thus, while researchers typically attempt to control for performance-related issues in their studies, this is not always readily accomplished. The complex relationships between learning, experience, and development therefore make it difficult to uncover principles governing functional brain development, and complicate the interpretation of reported differences in brain activation between children and adults. Resting-state fMRI (rsfMRI) offers a novel framework for studying the development of functional brain circuits, and in particular for better understanding the large-scale organization of the developing brain. This method is now increasingly used to complement traditional task-based fMRI. rsfMRI involves collecting functional imaging data from participants as they lay in the MRI scanner, typically fixating gaze on a cross-hair or with eyes closed, and refraining from engaging in any specific cognitive task. Since initial reports of coherent spontaneous low-frequency fluctuations in BOLD signal within the somatomotor system in the absence of a specific task (Biswal et al., 1995), it has been widely demonstrated that brain networks that are engaged during cognitive tasks can also be reliably identified during resting states (Smith et al., 2009, see Fox and Raichle, 2007 for review). Resting-state functional connectivity uses spontaneous synchronized fluctuations in BOLD signal to determine tightly coupled functional brain networks independent of task-induced correlations. These spontaneous fluctuations are posited to act to organize, coordinate, and maintain functional brain systems (Fox and Raichle, 2007; Raichle, 2010), and bias information processing (Greicius and Menon, 2004). The advantages of using rsfMRI in pediatric and clinical populations are that functional brain organization can be examined independent of task performance, and a full dataset can be collected in as little as 5 min (Van Dijk et al., 2009). Functional connectivity measures derived from rsfMRI data are particularly useful in studying age-related changes in the wiring of neural networks (Stevens, 2009; Supekar et al., 2009). Within- and between-subject measures computed from rsfMRI are quite consistent and reproducible (Damoiseaux et al., 2006; Shehzad et al., 2009). Because the resting-state scanning procedure places a minimal cognitive burden on the participant, and requires relatively little time in the scanner compared to task fMRI studies, data can be collected from low-functioning and very young populations. A recent study of the fMRI success rate of children and adolescents reports that the success rate for completing an entire battery of experimental fMRI runs varied between 50 and 59% in patient populations such as attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and autism spectrum disorder (ASD), and 69% for typically developing children (Yerys et al., 2009). As every pediatric neuroimaging researcher knows, excessive motion and floor task performance are issues that hinder successful scanning of young children, and account for significant data loss. The use of rsfMRI data obviates the need for long scan sessions as well as concerns regarding task performance, thus is particularly well suited for studies of typical and atypical brain development. In addition, certain widely adopted methodological approaches to analyzing rsfMRI data [e.g., independent component analysis (ICA), discussed below] are quite successful at removing motion artifacts, resulting in significantly less data loss. The first study to use rsfMRI to study brain development was conducted in 2000. Curiously, subsequent rsfMRI studies in children did not appear until 2006. The use of rsfMRI in developmental studies is clearly still in its infancy, and our review of the emerging literature is necessarily constrained by this limitation. Table summarizes current studies that have used rsfMRI to examine the typical and atypical development of functional brain networks. We begin with summaries of major findings regarding brain maturation from rsfMRI studies in neurotypical infants, children and adolescents. Within each section of the review, studies are grouped by analysis method employed, as the specific methods can have important implications for the interpretation of findings. We next review contributions of rsfMRI to the study of neurodevelopmental disorders, focusing primarily on ADHD and ASD. Next, methodological issues related to the acquisition and analyses of rsfMRI data for developmental studies are discussed. We conclude by highlighting outstanding issues in the field and suggesting avenues for future research. Table 1 Ages studied Authors Population Analyses Brain regions examined 4.29 ± 2.56 years Kiviniemi et al. (2000) Typically developing ROI-based FC Visual cortex Neonates 2–4 weeks of age, 1-year-olds, 2-year-olds Lin et al. (2008) Typically developing ROI-based FC Motor, sensory, and visual networks Visual experiment: 46.4 ± 6.7 months; Auditory experiment: 46.9 ± 9.7 months Redcay et al. (2007) Typically developing ROI-based FC Superior temporal gyrus, occipital cortex Range: 39 weeks and 1 day to 44 weeks and 2 days (gestational age at MRI: 41 weeks) Fransson et al. (2007) Typically developing ICA Somatosensory and motor cortices, temporal/inferior parietal cortex, posterior lateral and midline parietal cortex/lateral aspects of the cerebellum, medial and lateral sections of anterior prefrontal cortex 12.8 months Liu et al. (2008) Typically developing ICA Sensorimotor network Neonates (24 ± 12 days); 1-year-olds (13 ± 1 month); 2-year-olds (25 ± 1 month) Gao et al. (2009) Typically developing ICA, graph theory Default mode network 7–9 years; 10–15 years; 19–31 years Fair et al. (2008) Typically developing ROI-based FC, graph theory Default mode network Children: 10.6 ± 1.5 years; Adolescents: 15.4 ± 1.2 years; Adults: 22.4 ± 1.2 years Kelly et al. (2009) Typically developing ROI-based FC Cingulate-based networks 12–30 years Stevens et al. (2009) Typically developing ICA, causality estimates Whole-brain Working memory: 7–11 years; Rest: 9–12 years Thomason et al. (2008) Typically developing ICA Default mode network Children: 7–9 years, mean 8.6; Adolescents: 10–15 years, mean 11.9; Adults: 20–31 years, mean 24.1 Fair et al. (2007) Typically developing Graph theory Thirty-nine putative task-control regions within fronto-parietal and cingulo-opercular networks Children: 7–9 years; Adult: 19–22 years Supekar et al. (2009) Typically developing Graph theory, white matter fiber tracking Whole-brain 7–31 years Fair et al. (2009) Typically developing Graph theory Cingulo-opercular, fronto-parietal, cerebellar, and default mode networks Children: 7–9 years; Adult: 19–22 years Supekar et al. (2010) Typically developing ICA, white matter fiber tracking Default mode network ADHD: 13.91 ± 0.35 years; Control: 13.20 ± 0.56 years Tian et al. (2006) ADHD ROI-based FC Dorsal anterior cingulate cortex ADHD: 13.37 ± 1.49 years; Control: 13.32 ± 0.95 years Cao et al. (2006) ADHD ReHo Whole-brain ADHD: 13.34 ± 1.44 years; Control: age-matched within 0.5 year Zhu et al. (2008) ADHD ReHo, Fisher discriminative analysis Whole-brain ADHD: 13.0 ± 1.4 years; Control: 13.1 ± 0.6 years Zang et al. (2007) ADHD ALFF Whole-brain ADHD: 13.48 ± 1.11 years; Control: 13.19 ± 0.49 years Tian et al. (2008) ADHD RSAI Whole-brain ADHD: 13.3 ± 1.4 years; Control: 13.2 ± 1.0 years Cao et al. (2009) ADHD ROI-based FC Putamen ADHD: 34.9 ± 9.9 years; Control: 31.2 ± 9.0 years Castellanos et al. (2008) ADHD ROI-based FC Cingulate-based networks ADHD: 34.9 ± 9.9 years; Control: 31.2 ± 9.0 years Uddin et al. (2008) ADHD NetHo Default mode network ASD: 24 ± 10.6 years; control: 24 ± 9.0 years Cherkassky et al. (2006) ASD ROI-based FC Posterior cingulate cortex, ventral anterior cingulate cortex, precuneus, paracentral lobule, bilateral medial/middle prefrontal cortex, bilateral inferior parietal cortex, bilateral parahippocampal gyrus, bilateral inferolateral temporal cortex (insula) ASD: 26.5 ± 12.8 years; Control: 27.5 ± 10.9 years Kennedy et al. (2008) ASD ROI-based FC Task-positive (dorsal attention) network, task-negative (default mode) network ASD: 26 ± 5.93 years; TD: 27 ± 6.1 years Monk et al. (2009) ASD ROI-based FC Default mode network ASD: 15 ± 1.45 years; TD: 16 ± 1.44 years Weng et al. (2010) ASD ROI-based FC Default mode network 8 years Paakki et al. (2010) ASD ReHo Whole-brain TS: 12.70 years (9.92–15.83); TD: 12.69 years (10.42–15.75) Church et al. (2009) Tourette syndrome ROI-based FC Thirty-nine putative task control regions within fronto-parietal and cingulo-opercular networks MDD: 16.5 ± 0.95 years; TD: 16.8 ± 1.5 years Cullen et al. (2009) Depression ROI-based FC Subgenual ACC, amygdala, supragenual ACC 12.2 ± 2.1 years Thomason et al. (2009) BDNF met-allele carriers ROI-based FC Default mode network, executive control network, salience network Open in a separate window
Typical Development: Studies in Infants and Young Children ROI seed-based analysis Region-of-interest (ROI) seed-based analysis is one of the two most widely used methods in analysis of rsfMRI data. The method is a hypothesis-driven approach that typically involves choosing one or more ROIs and examining their whole-brain functional connectivity, often using a regression or correlation model. Kiviniemi et al. (2000) used this method in the first reported study of developing functional networks using rsfMRI. The authors studied children between 3 months and 10 years of age. During the scan participants were sedated with thiopental. Using one representative voxel time course from primary visual cortex, the authors demonstrated correlated activity within striate and extrastriate cortex as well as occipital cortices adjacent to primary visual cortex. This study demonstrated that children as young as 3 months of age have stable visual networks, and that they can be detected in rsfMRI data. Ethical concerns preclude the use of sedation in studies of typical development. The first study to take advantage of natural sleep as a method to study brain function in young children was conducted by Redcay et al. (2007). The authors used an ROI-based approach and reported functional connectivity between superior temporal gyrus and medial and lateral prefrontal regions, as well as between occipital and parietal regions, in 2- to 4-year-old typically developing children during low-level auditory and visual stimulation. The extent to which these results reflect task-related versus intrinsic functional connectivity is at present unclear. Nonetheless, this study highlights the utility of imaging during natural sleep to obtain high quality fMRI data from very young children, which would otherwise be impossible to collect in this age range. Lin et al. (2008) took advantage of rsfMRI during natural sleep to study functional connectivity of primary motor, sensory, and visual areas in children between 2 weeks and 2 years of age while they were asleep. This study found that the percentage of brain volume exhibiting resting functional connectivity, and the strength of resting functional connectivity, increased non-uniformly from 2 weeks to 2 years of age. The percentage of brain volume that showed resting functional connectivity in sensorimotor cortices was larger than that in the visual cortex for subjects 2 weeks of age and for 1-year-olds, but not for the 2-year-olds, suggesting that functional connectivity in sensorimotor networks precedes that in the visual networks. This study highlights the utility of rsfMRI for examining development of specific functional systems in infants and very young children. The findings shed light on different developmental trajectories of distinct cortical networks underlying sensorimotor and visual processing. ICA-based analysis ICA, unlike ROI-based analysis, is a model-free, data-driven approach whereby four-dimensional fMRI data is decomposed into a set of independent one-dimensional time series and associated three-dimensional spatial maps which describe the temporal and spatial characteristics of the underlying signals or components (Beckmann et al., 2005). ICA is currently a widely used method for analyzing rsfMRI data (Calhoun et al., 2008). In 2007, Fransson et al. studied resting-state activity in the brains of sedated sleeping infants under 1 year of age. Using ICA, five distinct networks were identified in the infant brain. These consistent networks comprised (1) primary visual areas, (2) bilateral somatosensory and motor cortices, (3) bilateral temporal/inferior parietal cortex including primary auditory cortex, (4) posterior lateral and midline parts of the parietal cortex and lateral aspects of the cerebellum, and (5) medial and lateral sections of anterior prefrontal cortex. Intriguingly, these networks represent a subset of those previously demonstrated to exist in the adult brain (Damoiseaux et al., 2006; De Luca et al., 2006), with the notable exception that the infant brain appeared to lack a component along the anterior–posterior direction, despite the fact that transcallosal functional connectivity was intact at this very young age. The authors specifically noted that they did not detect an equivalent of the default mode network (DMN) in infants (Fransson et al., 2007). The DMN is so named due to its uniquely high metabolic resting activity (Raichle et al., 2001) and characteristic deactivation during challenging cognitive tasks (Shulman et al., 1997). The network includes posterior cingulate cortex (PCC), medial prefrontal cortex (MPFC), and bilateral inferior parietal lobule (IPL, Raichle et al., 2001). While the functions of this network are widely debated, there is growing evidence that it is involved in high level self-related (e.g., autobiographical and prospective memory) (Buckner and Carroll, 2007) or social cognitive (e.g., theory of mind and moral cognition) processes (Harrison et al., 2008). Fransson et al. (2007) suggest that the absence of this network in infants may be related to both immature anterior–posterior white matter connectivity and immature development of these cognitive processes. In another study, Liu et al. (2008) studied functional connectivity of somatomotor areas in 1-year-old infants. They used ICA to detect a sensorimotor network, and reported greater intrahemispheric connectivity than interhemispheric connectivity within sensorimotor areas. This finding is in line with the Fransson et al. (2007) study. This suggests a universal principle guiding development of large-scale brain systems, namely that the development of intrahemispheric connectivity within local functional circuits precedes the development of interhemispheric connectivity. Graph theoretical and network analysis Graphs are data structures which have nodes and edges between the nodes (Bondy and Murty, 1976). Graph theoretical metrics such as clustering coefficient, path length, degree, and centrality provide quantitative measures to characterize large-scale networks represented as a graph (see Bullmore and Sporns, 2009 for a detailed review of various graph metrics and their interpretation). In a graphical representation of a brain network, a node corresponds to a brain region while an edge corresponds to the functional interactions between two brain regions. In recent years, there has been increasing interest in the use and application of graph metrics to characterize large-scale brain networks. This is in part due to the emergence and availability of rsfMRI data. In addition to the advantages described above, resting-state data allow, for the first time, simultaneous in vivo examination of all brain regions and the intrinsic interactions among them. More importantly, patterns of resting-state correlations are thought to reflect functional architecture of the brain (Hagmann et al., 2008; Margulies et al., 2009; van den Heuvel et al., 2009). Several studies have used graph theoretical approaches to characterize large-scale brain networks using rsfMRI. In adults, converging evidence from studies suggests that the adult brain has a robust and efficient small-world architecture comprised of hubs with a high degree connectivity and a modular structure (see Bullmore and Sporns, 2009 for a comprehensive review). Developmental studies are beginning to examine how these network metrics change with age and cognitive skill. In a developmental context, Gao et al. (2009) used a combination of graph theoretical analyses and ICA to examine a large-scale brain network (DMN) in healthy 2-week to 2-year-old sleeping children. They found a primitive and incomplete DMN in 2-week-olds, followed by an increase in the number of brain regions exhibiting connectivity at 1 year of age. The DMN at 2 years of age began to resemble that observed in adults, in that it included MPFC, PCC/retrosplenial (PCC/Rsp), IPL, lateral temporal cortex, and hippocampus. As previously discussed, this network is thought to subserve self-related and social cognitive processes (Uddin et al., 2007; Spreng et al., 2009). The authors then used a measure called “betweenness” centrality, a graph theoretical measure of node importance, to show that the PCC/Rsp nodes showed the most elevated centrality measure for all age groups. The PCC/Rsp node was consistently observed in both age groups, suggesting that this region may form a “hub” even at the earliest developmental stage. They also found that the MPFC showed elevated centrality measures, though not as high as the PCC/Rsp. They suggest that the MPFC emerges as a potential secondary hub starting at the age of 1.
Typical Development: Studies in Older Children, Adolescents and Young-Adults ROI seed-based analysis Fair et al. (2008) used ROI-based analyses to examine differential connectivity of the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC) in a group of 7- to 9-year-old children compared to 21- to 31-year-old adults. Children showed marked decreases in connectivity along the anterior–posterior dimension, between the vmPFC and PCC, compared to adults. To further examine differences in brain network structure between children and adults, the time series associated with 13 nodes within the DMN (such as left and right lateral parietal cortex, left and right parahippocampal gyrus, MPFC, and retrosplenial cortex) were correlated with each other. Comparison of correlation matrices generated from child and adult rsfMRI data revealed that nodes within the DMN were sparsely connected in children, and strongly functionally connected in adults. Interestingly, in this age range, interhemispheric functional connections between homotopic regions were reported to be strong in children, as in adults. In addition to providing detailed information about the connectivity profiles of individual nodes, ROI-based analyses have aided in delineating regionally specific developmental changes within functionally heterogeneous brain regions. In a recent study, Kelly et al. (2009) examined the development of five functionally distinct cingulate-based networks in children (age 11 years), adolescents (age 15) and young-adults (age 22). These networks have been previously characterized in adults (Margulies et al., 2007), and underscore the heterogeneous connectivity of subregions within the cingulate cortex. This study found that children demonstrated a more diffuse pattern of correlation with voxels proximal to the seed ROI, whereas adults exhibited more focal patterns of functional connectivity, as well as a greater number of correlated voxels at long distances from the seed ROI. Adolescents exhibited intermediate patterns of connectivity between the children and adults. Interestingly, connectivity of networks associated with social and emotional functions [based in subgenual anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) and vmPFC] exhibited the greatest developmental effects, while connectivity of networks associated with motor control and conflict monitoring (dorsal ACC) did not differ greatly between the three groups (Kelly et al., 2009). This study demonstrates that rsfMRI data recapitulates two organizational principles of development that have previously been proposed, namely the shift from diffuse to focal activity with age (Durston et al., 2006), and the development of motor systems preceding the development of systems underlying higher cognition (Chugani et al., 1987). ICA-based analysis Using an ICA analysis in conjunction with “causal density” estimates, Stevens et al. (2009) characterized functional networks in 100 participants ranging in age from 12 to 30 years. The authors identified 13 components of interest and used Granger causality estimates to examine interactions between these networks. They report that mutual influences among networks decreased with age, and speculate that this reflects stronger within-network connectivity and more efficient between-network influences with development. Interestingly, they also found age-related reductions in the strength of interaction between lateral prefrontal-parietal (executive control) circuits and networks identified as resembling the DMN. They suggest that more segregated functioning of these sets of networks may allow greater processing flexibility. Thomason et al. (2008) identified the DMN in 7- to 12-year-old children using both rsfMRI and examination of task-induced deactivations. They report overlap between brain regions comprising the DMN as identified by ICA applied to rsfMRI data, and regions comprising the DMN as identified by load-dependent deactivation during a working memory task. These DMN regions identified by two methods overlapped with the regions previously reported in adults. They also found that cognitive measures collected outside the scanner correlated with BOLD decreases during the working memory tasks. Graph theoretical and network analysis In order to understand functional brain development, it is critical to investigate and characterize the underlying developmental processes that produce systematic changes in functional brain organization. Fair et al. (2008) were the first to examine this developmental process using rsfMRI. In a related study, they focused on a larger network comprised of 39 cortical regions involved in task-control (Fair et al., 2007a). This study reported a developmental process trend towards “segregation” (general decrease in connectivity strength) between regions close in anatomical space and “integration” (increased connectivity strength) between specific regions distant in Euclidean space, within the 39-node network. More generally, the authors of these two studies argue that the organization of large-scale functional brain networks shifts from a local anatomical emphasis in children to a more distributed architecture in young-adults (Fair et al., 2009). In contrast to examining developmental process within circumscribed network nodes, Supekar et al. (2009) investigated age-related functional connectivity changes across 90 cortical and subcortical regions that spanned the entire brain. More specifically, they analyzed inter-regional functional connectivity changes within this 90-node whole-brain network in relation to distance between the regions. The inter-regional distance was measured using quantitative diffusion tensor imaging-based white matter tractography, rather than Euclidean distance between regions as used in the studies by Fair et al. (2007a). Additional analyses further revealed that adults have weaker short-range functional connectivity and stronger long-range functional connectivity than do children. Taken together, the studies by Fair et al. (2007a, 2009), Kelly et al. (2009), and Supekar et al. (2009) suggest a developmental process of greater functional segregation in children and greater functional integration in adults at the whole-brain level, as well as in specific networks such as the attentional control network and the DMN. Understanding how the functional organization of the human brain matures and evolves from childhood to adolescence to adulthood is fundamentally important for gaining insights into the maturation of brain function. As described earlier, the graph theoretical approach is well suited for characterizing functional organization of the brain at multiple levels of granularity. At the global “whole-brain” level, Supekar et al. (2009) reported that both 7- to 9-year-old children and 19- to 22-year-old adults exhibit small-world architecture characterized by high clustering and short path lengths. A small-world architecture was also revealed in a study of multiple functional networks involving distributed nodes conducted by Fair et al. (2009). These studies indicate that at the global level, the human brain is comprised of sub-networks of densely connected nodes, mostly connected by short path lengths. More importantly, these studies indicate that this robust organization is conserved from early childhood to adulthood. At the sub-network level, however, Supekar et al. (2009) found significant differences in inter-regional connectivity patterns between children and adults. Notably, in children, subcortical areas were more strongly connected with primary sensory, association, and paralimbic areas, whereas adults showed greater cortico-cortical connectivity between paralimbic, limbic, and association areas (Figure ). This finding is in line with previous work demonstrating greater reliance on subcortical structures in children during cognitive tasks (Luna et al., 2001; Thomas et al., 2004). Taken together these studies indicate that while the global functional organization of the human brain is similar in 7- to 9-year-old children and adults, at the sub-network level, brain connectivity undergoes significant reorganization with development. Open in a separate window In summary, studies examining functional brain organization in infants, children, and adolescents have revealed consistent findings with respect to the development of long distance connectivity and regional functional specialization. The ability to study very young children at critical developmental milestones is an advantage of the rsfMRI approach, which allows for the in vivo examination of intrinsic functional architecture across the entire brain. However, most of these studies have been conducted in older children, adolescents and adults, and thus to date there is little known regarding how global or local network organization changes during the important developmental period from infancy to young childhood.
Neurodevelopmental Disorders: Studies in Children and Adults Overview In addition to enabling unique insights into typical brain development, rsfMRI has been used to explore potentially altered functional connectivity associated with neurodevelopmental disorders. Unfortunately, the majority of these studies have not focused on infants and young children, an issue that is particularly pressing in early impact disorders such as ASD. Nonetheless, the theoretical and methodological progress that has resulted from studies of older children and adults is paving the way for similar studies in younger populations. Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder Several recent studies have focused on ADHD, although few consistent findings have emerged. An early study in adolescents found that patients with ADHD showed more significant resting-state functional connectivity between dorsal ACC and thalamus, cerebellum, insula, and brainstem (Tian et al., 2006). Using an approach termed “regional homogeneity” (ReHo), which measures the similarity of a voxel's time series to its neighbors, it was reported that children with ADHD showed decreased ReHo in frontal–striatal–cerebellar circuits and increased ReHo in the occipital cortex (Cao et al., 2006), suggesting disordered functional organization in circuits previously implicated in structural brain imaging studies of ADHD (Giedd et al., 2001). Classifiers based on ReHo measures have been used to discriminate children with ADHD from controls with 85% accuracy (Zhu et al., 2008). Zang et al. (2007) showed that children with ADHD had decreased amplitude of low-frequency fluctuations (ALFF: 0.01–0.08 Hz) in the right inferior frontal cortex, left sensorimotor cortex, and bilateral cerebellum, and increased ALFF in the right ACC, left sensorimotor cortex, and bilateral brainstem. Using a measure incorporating ReHo and variance of LFF, Tian et al. (2008) found that adolescents with ADHD showed greater resting-state activity than controls in basic sensory areas (bilateral BA 17/18/19, left BA 3, left BA 22, and bilateral thalamus). Yet another study reported putamen-specific functional connectivity abnormalities in ADHD, with group differences in putamen and cortical–striatal–thalamic circuits (Cao et al., 2009). Though intriguing, very few replicable findings have emerged from these studies, perhaps due to the relatively small sample sizes and heterogeneity of symptomatology in the patients examined. ADHD is known to be associated with attentional lapses (Castellanos et al., 2005), thus recent studies have begun to focus on understanding how circuitry within the ACC may contribute to the symptoms of the disorder. A study of 20 adults with ADHD and 20 matched controls found decreases in negative correlations between the anterior cingulate and precuneus/ PCC regions as well as decreases in connectivity between precuneus and other default mode network components, including vmPFC (Castellanos et al., 2008). This finding was bolstered by similar results utilizing a different measure on the same dataset, which found reduced “network homogeneity” within the DMN in ADHD, particularly between the precuneus and other DMN regions (Uddin et al., 2008). These findings are in line with a theory positing that spontaneous patterns of very low frequency coherence within the DMN may intrude into periods of active task-specific processing, producing periodic fluctuations in attention that compete with goal-directed activity in ADHD (Sonuga-Barke and Castellanos, 2007). Autism spectrum disorders Autism is another major neurodevelopmental disorder that has long been associated with disruptions in brain connectivity (Frith, 2004). Surprisingly, to date there have been no published reports of rsfMRI studies in children with ASD. However, a few studies have used this method to study adolescents and adults with ASD. Cherkassky et al. (2006) used an ROI-based approach to demonstrate functional underconnectivity in anterior–posterior connections in ASD. ASD is associated with altered socioemotional responses, which have been linked to the DMN. Kennedy and Courchesne (2008) showed, in a mixed group of adolescents and adults, disrupted intrinsic connectivity in the DMN, but not the executive control network. Another recent study replicated this finding of reduced DMN connectivity, and further demonstrated that restricted and repetitive behaviors in ASD were correlated with the degree of connectivity between the PCC and right parahippocampal gyrus (Monk et al., 2009). This group went on to examine DMN connectivity in adolescents with ASD. They also found that relative to controls, adolescents with ASD showed weaker connectivity in nine of the eleven areas of the DMN that were analyzed. Additionally, poorer social skills and increases in restricted and repetitive behaviors and interests correlated with weaker connectivity, whereas poorer verbal and non-verbal communication correlated with stronger connectivity in multiple areas of the DMN. Compared to their study of adults with ASD, these findings indicate that adolescents with ASD show even weaker connectivity in the DMN (Weng et al., 2010). Paakki et al. (2010) used the ReHo approach to study adolescents with ASD, and found that compared with the controls, the subjects with ASD had significantly decreased ReHo in right superior temporal sulcus region, right inferior and middle frontal gyri, right insula and right postcentral gyrus. Significantly increased ReHo was shown in left inferior frontal and anterior subcallosal gyrus (Paakki et al., 2010). A study in neurotypical adults found that functional connectivity between the anterior insula and ACC was related to social responsiveness (Di Martino et al., 2009). Future research is needed to examine how reduced functional connectivity between specific brain regions impacts symptom severity in young children and adolescents with ASD, and how these reductions influence deficits in performance on tasks involving social information processing. While rsfMRI studies relevant to understanding the neural basis of ASD are still in their infancy, they highlight the utility and value of this approach. In addition, these studies have identified previously understudied candidate brain regions and large-scale networks of interest. In particular, we believe that the study of relationships between networks involved in self-related and social cognition (DMN), externally oriented attention (executive control) and switching between them should be particularly prioritized in future studies of ASD (Uddin and Menon, 2009). Other neurodevelopmental disorders and genetic effects Tourette syndrome (TS) is another pediatric disorder that has recently been studied using rsfMRI methods. Church et al. (2009) found that a fronto-parietal network involved in rapid, adaptive online control was weaker in adolescents with TS. Adolescents with major depressive disorder have decreased functional connectivity in a subgenual ACC-based neural network that includes the supragenual ACC, right medial frontal cortex, the left inferior and superior frontal cortex, superior temporal gyrus, and the insular cortex, areas involved in mediating emotion processing (Cullen et al., 2009). Intriguingly, specific genetic polymorphisms have also been shown to affect resting-state functional connectivity measures in children (Thomason et al., 2009). BDNF gene variants, associated with alterations in brain anatomy and memory, appear to affect functional connectivity. Thomason et al. (2009) found a reduction in hippocampal and parahippocampal to cortical connectivity in met-allele carriers within each of three resting networks (the default mode, executive, and paralimbic networks), as well as increased connectivity to amygdala, insula and striatal regions in met-carriers, within the paralimbic network. Thus, genetic differences can contribute to functional connectivity differences at the systems-level. How these differences in functional connectivity influence memory function remains to be investigated.
Methodological Issues and Challenges One of the primary challenges in pediatric neuroimaging is the fact that the procedure requires participants to remain motionless for an extended period of time. As this is particularly difficult for young children, especially for clinical populations such as children with ADHD or ASD, fMRI data often contains significant motion artifacts, resulting in up to 50% data loss in some cases (Yerys et al., 2009). Two main solutions to this problem are currently implemented, one at the data collection level and one at the data processing level. Data acquisition protocols often include a “mock scanner” training session, during which children practice lying still in a scanner-like mockup. Post data acquisition, artifact correction algorithms can also be implemented to remove motion-related spikes in the data (Mazaika et al., 2007, 2009). Currently, these procedures are not universally utilized, and considerable variability exists between research centers with respect to criteria for inclusion of data containing motion artifacts. As previously discussed, one advantage of rsfMRI is that it requires very little time in the scanner, and thus can be more easily collected from young participants. In addition, resting-state data is often analyzed using ICA, as summarized in the studies reviewed above. This analysis method may be helpful in effectively isolating motion-related artifacts as distinct independent components (Beckmann et al., 2005). A second issue concerns the use of varied instructions to the participant during acquisition of rsfMRI data. By definition, resting-state signal reflects activity during a task-free (“rest”) state. Accordingly, most of the developmental studies reviewed here have used data collected while the participants were not performing any task. Although these data indeed reflect resting conditions, a closer look indicates that participants were either instructed to fixate on a cross-hair, or keep their eyes open while viewing a blank screen, or keep their eyes closed for the duration of the scan. A recent study, however, indicated that resting-state connectivity within the DMN and attention network was significantly diminished in participants with eyes closed, compared to eyes open or a fixation condition (Van Dijk et al., 2009). An important related issue is the use of “rest blocks” within task data to conduct analyses typically performed on pure resting-state data. Fair et al. (2007b) used rest blocks extracted from interleaved experimental task data in studies investigating developmental changes in intrinsic functional connectivity. Cherkassky et al. (2006) used a similar approach to investigate resting-state functional connectivity in autism, as reviewed. Another group used residual signal obtained by regressing out task-evoked effects from an event-related task to study functional connectivity within fronto-parietal resting-state networks (He et al., 2007). Given the inherent resting-state connectivity differences even within various resting states, it is more than of academic interest to investigate how well these datasets relate to pure rsfMRI data. Fair et al. (2007b) investigated this issue by comparing resting-state functional connectivity measures from data obtained from (1) residual data from event-related designs, (2) continuous resting-state data, (3) resting data that was interleaved between task blocks, and (4) simulated interleaved resting data that was created using the continuous resting data set. They reported that the residual data set, the interleaved dataset, and the simulated interleaved dataset were mostly similar to the continuous resting state dataset, with some differences. The greatest caveats on interpretation of functional connectivity results were placed on the use of event-related data residuals (Fair et al., 2007b). Another issue concerns the current lack of studies examining test–retest reliability of resting-state data collected for developmental studies. While the patterns of resting-state functional connectivity have been shown to be reproducible across adult participants and scans (van de Ven et al., 2004; Damoiseaux et al., 2006), there is limited evidence about their test–retest reliability, particularly for the pediatric populations. In adults, Shehzad et al. (2009) reported that the test–retest reliability of resting-state functional connectivity was high for significant positive correlations and relatively low for non-significant and negative correlations. Furthermore, they showed that the reliability for DMN connectivity was higher compared to task positive networks. Meindl et al. (2009) reported similar reproducibility results. They observed, across three scan sessions, higher reliability for DMN correlations and lower for non-DMN correlations. These results were further confirmed by Zuo et al. (2010a,b). Although the results of these studies appear promising, Honey et al. (2009) recently raised concerns about the test–retest reliability of rsfMRI data. For individual participants, they observed overall low reproducibility across scans for resting-state correlations between 998 ROIs. All of these previous studies have been conducted in adults, therefore it is not at all known to what extent this issue affects studies of development. Yet another issue pertains to statistical power or lack thereof in pediatric resting-state studies. Most studies to date have had included relatively small numbers of participants. Although analyses of power and sample sizes have been reported for conventional task-based functional neuroimaging studies (Desmond and Glover, 2002), similar power analyses have not yet been applied to rsfMRI. This is particularly important for studies of typical and atypical pediatric populations, which are inherently highly heterogeneous. Ideally, along with statistical power analyses, a clinical pediatric resting-state study should be comprised of a relatively homogenous group, as well as a homogenous well-matched control group for meaningful interpretations and better comparability of findings across studies. Finally, it is now well documented that raw rsfMRI data is contaminated by motion artifacts, scanner artifacts, and physiological noise (Biswal et al., 1995; Lowe et al., 1998; Cordes et al., 2000, 2001). To remove this noise, researchers have used a gamut of techniques including, but not limited to, spatial smoothing (to improve signal-to-noise ratio), temporal filtering (to remove signal contributed by physiological sources such as cardiac and respiratory cycles) (De Luca et al., 2006; Supekar et al., 2009), whole-brain signal regression (to account for noise sources such as motion, cardiac, and respiratory signals that globally influence the signal) (Desjardins et al., 2001), and regressing out cardiac and respiratory signals acquired in the scanner (to minimize unwanted physiological variations) (Birn et al., 2008; Chang and Glover, 2009; Chang et al., 2009). Although these techniques are fairly effective in removing noise, they raise some concerns regarding the interpretation of the preprocessed data. For example, regressing out whole-brain signal has shown to introduce negative correlations (Murphy et al., 2009; Smith et al., 2009; Van Dijk et al., 2009), though there is no reason to believe that all reported negative correlations are artifactual (Fox et al., 2009). Preprocessing including global signal correction has been shown to increase connection specificity. However, as negative correlations can be induced by this procedure, there is reason to interpret the directionality of these relations with caution especially when global regression is used (Weissenbacher et al., 2009). While these issues are a concern for all rsfMRI studies, not just those exploring developmental issues, the field has not yet reached a consensus as to how to best minimize the effects of noise on these analyses.
Summary and Future Directions In this review, we have summarized the current status of research utilizing rsfMRI to examine the typical and atypical development of functional brain circuits. Several key principles of human brain development are beginning to emerge from this literature. In particular, these studies suggest that intrahemispheric connectivity develops before interhemispheric connectivity (Fransson et al., 2007; Liu et al., 2008), and that anterior–posterior connectivity is slowest to develop (Kelly et al., 2009). Sensorimotor networks emerge early in infancy and appear to develop well before visual networks (Lin et al., 2008). Whether this applies to other sensory systems remains to be investigated. Such investigations may provide important insights and have implications for cognitive development, specifically with respect to an infant's early exploration of the world. Beyond infancy, there is converging evidence from multiple studies suggesting that by age 7–9 children manifest a similar “small world” type of functional architecture at the whole-brain level as adults (Fair et al., 2009; Supekar et al., 2009). However, the organization of individual functional sub-networks as well as their interactions have a protracted developmental time course. This process is characterized by a number of developmental features. First, children have stronger and more abundant connections between subcortical and cortical regions, while in young-adults, connections among cortical regions were more prominent. Second, the brains of young-adults are more hierarchically organized, with more regions involved in larger and longer-distance clusters of activity. Third, the development of large-scale brain networks is characterized by weakening of short-range functional connectivity and strengthening of long-range functional connectivity. Taken together, these findings suggest that the dynamic process of over-connectivity followed by pruning, which rewires connectivity at the neuronal level, also operates at the systems level and helps reconfigure and rebalance cortical and subcortical connectivity in the developing brain (Supekar et al., 2009). Several methodological issues remain to be addressed before the field can move forward. These are thoroughly discussed and reviewed in another contribution to this Special Issue (Cole et al., 2010). It is our belief that the two main methodological approaches discussed here (ICA and seed-ROI based correlation) each make important contributions to the study of intrinsic brain architecture, and can be used in a complementary fashion to understand global and local functional properties of the developing brain. At present, it is unknown how and to what extent changes in functional connectivity are related to structural brain maturation. Directions for future research include integrating rsfMRI with diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) to investigate how the maturity of specific fiber tracts relates to the maturation of cognitive function and skill acquisition. A recent study examined developmental changes in DMN connectivity using a multimodal imaging approach by combining rsfMRI, voxel-based morphometry and diffusion tensor imaging-based tractography. The authors found that the DMN undergoes significant developmental changes in functional and structural connectivity, but these changes are not uniform across all DMN nodes. Critically, this study found that functional connectivity in children can reach adult-like levels despite weak structural connectivity (Supekar et al., 2010). Improved multimodal analysis of anatomy and connectivity will allow us to better characterize the heterogeneous development and maturation of functional brain networks. It has recently been demonstrated that one possible function of resting-state functional connectivity is to support the consolidation of previous experience. Lewis et al. (2009) showed that visual perceptual learning, an example of adult neural plasticity, modified the resting covariance structure of spontaneous activity between networks engaged by the task, and that the observed changes correlated with the degree of perceptual learning. The complex relationships between cognitive performance and integrity of resting-state networks is only beginning to be explored, and future work in this area will have particular significance for developmental psychologists and neuroscientists. Additional future directions include incorporating knowledge of genetics into rsfMRI studies, as well as continued investigations into relationships between functional connectivity and cognition and behavior. The field would particularly benefit from longitudinal studies that would allow tracking of development of connectivity within individuals. Mapping the developmental trajectory of functional brain organization will be greatly facilitated by a longitudinal approach. Lastly, elucidating brain organization related to neurodevelopmental disorders is perhaps the arena in which rsfMRI can make the greatest contributions. Very young and low-functioning children who might not otherwise be able to tolerate the scanner environment may be able to participate in a resting-state scan with a 5-min duration. Such data can be used to derive brain-based biomarkers that may in the future lead to early diagnosis and thus the development of more efficient and targeted treatments and therapies. The use of rsfMRI for studying typical and atypical brain development is still in its infancy. Critically, its potential for synthesis and uncovering general organizational principles underlying functional brain development remain largely untapped. Current efforts to pool resources and data across multiple sites will in the future result in larger sample sizes, which are particularly critical for addressing clinical developmental questions. These data-sharing efforts have already produced interesting insights into brain organization in typically developing adults (Biswal et al., 2010). With rapid methodological improvements in rsfMRI, and the use of larger, more refined samples, we can expect to see rapid progress in the use of rsfMRI for addressing important research questions in developmental systems neuroscience.
Conflict of Interest Statement The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.
Acknowledgments This work was supported by a Mosbacher Postdoctoral Fellowship and a National Institute of Mental Health Career Development Award (K01MH092288) to Lucina Q. Uddin, as well as grants from the National Institutes of Health (NS058899, HD047520, HD059205, HD057610) to Vinod Menon, and the National Science Foundation (BCS/DRL 0449927) to Vinod Menon. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the NIMH or the NIH. |
Modi and the Ramanujam Test
December 17, 2007
A K Ramanujam put forth a simple idea: while Westerners function on moral absolutes, Indians function on contextual morality.
Some readers will recall that this is the nth time I am writing this. I beg their indulgence for repeating myself yet again. But I do believe that it is important for understanding many of the things that we Indians do, and, even more importantly, the way we think, especially about issues of morality.
It is important today because of our diverse and strange reactions to Narendra Modi [ Images ] . He has a lot going for him -- leadership, demagoguery, a state under his belt, tacit and revealed Hindu approval, etc. One also gets the sense that India is getting tired of centrist politics and is ready for a decisive shift rightwards.
Be that as it may, in the mid-1980s, the well-known American Indologist from Chicago, McKim Marriott, edited a volume called Imagining India: India through Indian eyes. In it was an essay by the late poet A K Ramanujam titled Is there an Indian Way of Thinking? That essay remains, in my view, the best ever written on the subject of how Indians decide on the morality of their actions.
Ramanujam put forth a simple proposition. He said that unlike the West, which functions on the basis of moral absolutes, Indians function on the basis of contextual morality.
Thus, most often, for the majority of Indians, an action is right or wrong depending on the context in which that action is situated. So in some contexts it is perfectly all right even to kill your brother. Even the Gita tells you so.
When I first wrote about this essay, many people protested. Ramanujam simply could not have said this, they said. I had to mail at least a dozen copies of the essay in order to convince the skeptics. Only two replied.
If we apply the Ramanujam Test, as I like to call it, everything falls into place. Thus, in the context of the partition, it was moral to reassure India's Muslims that they were safe here, whence the charge of appeasement.
In the context of Pakistan and its million follies, many Hindus believe that it is moral to attack them. In the context of the inequities of the caste system, it was all right to deprive the upper castes via reservations, never mind that such deprivation is itself immoral. In the context of domestic political exigencies, it was all right to take money from the KGB but not from the CIA. In Nandigram [ Images ] it was all right, said the CPM, to kill villagers because they belonged to the Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist).
We can multiply these examples, but the point is clear. The absence of moral absolutism enables us to justify everything. It clouds our collective as well as individual judgment and, at the most trivial, we get the rubbish we see on TV.
But sometimes it is not trivial, especially when the political context becomes the moral justification for the actions of people, the government, its agents and even some institutions of the State - when a big tree falls, the earth is bound to shake, Soharabuddin, Afzal Guru, etc.
As far as political morality of present dilemma is concerned, I think the original sin lies in our having adopted and accepted identity politics as being a normal and legitimate instrument for pressing group claims - but only as long as such politics is confined to caste. So we say it is fine to have caste-based political parties but not religion-based ones.
We apply different rules to the two - even if the end-result is the same: fomenting disaffection between communities. How does it matter to the citizen if state persecution is based on either caste or religion? Isn't persecution the same for everyone?
This moral ambivalence is what Ramanujam talked about. For example, however strong and morally justified the case may be for the empowerment of the oppressed castes and for what the Americans call affirmative action, is it a logical and morally justifiable step from there to have caste-based political parties that incite hatred?
We have internalised identity-based politics to such an extent that not only do the jholawallah intellectuals make a nice living from it, we don't even hark back a mere 102 years ago, when it all started, for it was in 1905 when India took the decisive step towards identity-based politics when W A J Archbold, Principal of the Anglo-Mohammedan Oriental College in Aligarh, helped fix that fateful meeting of Muslims landowners with Lord Minto, the Viceroy.
Later he helped them draft the letter that demanded separate electorates. Muhammad Ali, the great secular leader, described the whole thing as a "command performance". Yet has any Indian historian enquired who this guy Archbold was? How did a Cambridge don writing about French poetry become the Principal at this college? Who suggested his name? Why did his predecessor resign? Is there a biography? No, sir, not one. The man has become a mere footnote even though there are a million questions to be answered about him.
Therefore, first we got the Muslim League, next the Justice Party in 1918 (the DMK's fore-runner) and so on until after independence, when a whole clutch of caste-based parties sprang up. What great moral principle are all these parties based on?
Think about it and you will see that Narendra Modi is our own creation, of liberals, conservatives, fascists, communists and every other man jack of us. He is not the problem, we all are.
Powered by |
HOW HWEE YOUNG / EPA A visitor looks at a scene from the Korean War in the painting gallery at the Museum to Commemorate the War to Resist American Aggression and Aid Korea, in Dandong, China, on April 7, 2013
Just how steadfast is China’s support of North Korea? It is a question that has been asked by outsiders since the Korean Peninsula was divided after World War II. Given the secrecy of the two allies, concrete answers are hard to find. And wrong conclusions, as when General Douglas MacArthur and President Harry Truman underestimated China’s support for its communist ally when U.S.-led U.N. forces stormed north in 1950, can have disastrous consequences.
So it’s worth paying attention when Chinese President Xi Jinping weighs in on the issue, or at least appeared to, at the Boao Forum on the Chinese island of Hainan. “No one should be allowed to throw the region or even the whole world into chaos for selfish gains,” Xi said Sunday. The new Chinese leader didn’t single out North Korea, but given the near daily threats and provocations emerging from Pyongyang in recent weeks, it was seen by many observers as a likely target of the criticism.
(PHOTOS: North Korea Ratchets Up Tensions on the Peninsula)
The White House also seems to detect a shift in China’s support for North Korea, the New York Times has reported. But Gregory Kulacki, China project manager with the Union of Concerned Scientists argues that the U.S. media have exaggerated any movement in China’s stance. “The idea that China would change its policy on North Korea because of security concerns is so well-entrenched in the minds of U.S. officials and reporters that this ‘subtle change’ in China’s thinking about North Korea was taking place in a 2003 episode of The West Wing,” he wrote in a post on the All Things Nuclear blog.
The expectations go back even further than that. In the early 1990s, after the fall of the Soviet Union and China’s establishment of diplomatic ties with South Korea, discussions of Sino–North Korean ties frequently mentioned China’s growing anger. “The self-styled North Korean Great Leader, Kim Il Sung, sometimes describes China as his country’s ‘large rear area,'” the Times’ Nicholas Kristof wrote in a 1993 story headlined “China and North Korea: Not-So-Best of Friends.” “Mr. Kim does not mean any insult, and if he has a sense of humor he hides it better than his nuclear weapons program. But it is true enough that China these days feels that it is being treated as North Korea’s large rear area.”
(MORE: Poker on the Korean Peninsula: Why Kim Jong Un Keeps Raising the Stakes)
Two decades, two North Korean leaders and three nuclear tests later, China is still perturbed with North Korea. A nuclear armed North Korea is frightening to Beijing, but so too is a unified, U.S.-aligned Korean Peninsula and the prospect of an unchecked flow of starving refugees crossing the Yalu River. For all its criticism of Pyongyang, Beijing is unlikely to push its brittle ally to the brink.
Two days after Xi’s speech, the overseas edition of the People’s Daily, the Chinese Communist Party’s mouthpiece, ran a front-page editorial discussing just who China’s leader was referencing when he complained about countries throwing the world into chaos for selfish gains. The first two specific cases named were Iraq and Afghanistan. “Some countries spend billions but still can’t fix the problem, can’t think of a way to exit and trigger their own fiscal and financial crises,” the paper wrote, in a clear reference to the U.S. It proceeded to scold the West for “fanning the flames” of unrest in the Middle East and North Africa and “outside nations or those who wish to interfere with China’s peaceful development” for stirring up problems in the East and South China seas. As for North Korea, it dismissed the situation in a sentence, saying merely the involved parties “should not seek the worst possible outcome.”
MORE: Trying to Plumb the North Korean Mind-Set |
UCLA and six other UC campuses on the quarter system are adjusting their 2014-15 academic calendars to comply with a UC policy to avoid scheduling fall residence hall move-in dates in conflict with the observance of major religious holidays.
Because Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, will occur Sept. 24-26 this year, UCLA will begin the fall quarter on Sept. 29. Classes will start Oct. 2, a week later than usual. As a result, the fall quarter will end Dec. 19.
"Our responsibility as a UC campus is to ensure we are in compliance with UC policy," said UCLA Registrar Frank Wada. The same action was taken by UCLA in 2008 to comply with the policy.
The policy was enacted in 2007 when leaders of the state legislature wrote a letter to then-UC President Robert Dynes complaining that such a conflict had occurred in 2006, putting incoming Jewish students who observe the High Holy Days in a dilemma. They asked UC officials to ensure that this doesn't happen again. |
Stephen Hawking, who is part machine, wants to stop the rise of the machines.
From Fast Company:
Stephen Hawking, who turns 71 today, has joined the board of an international think tank devoted to defending humanity from futuristic threats. The Cambridge Project for Existential Risk is a newly founded organization which researches existential threats to humanity such as extreme climate change, artificial intelligence, biotechnology, artificial life, nanotech, and other emerging technologies. Skype cofounder Jaan Tallinn and Cambridge professors Huw Price and Martin Rees founded the project in late 2012.
Price and Tallinn collaborated on a speech at the 2012 Sydney Ideas Festival which argued that artificial intelligence has reached a threshold that could lead to an explosion of autonomous machine dominance similar to the rise of Homo sapiens. The Cambridge Project for Existential Risk's stated goal is to establish a research center dedicated to the study of autonomous robot (and other) threats within Cambridge University. |
The Lehigh Valley Phantoms have re-signed forward Chris Conner to a two-year deal which will keep him under contract through the 2018-19 season. The 33-year-old winger has spent the past two seasons with the Phantoms and posted a career-high 22 goals and tied a career-best 56 points in 2016-17.
The @LVPhantoms have signed five players to AHL contracts, including forward Chris Conner Details: https://t.co/61krqIax7g pic.twitter.com/ZWdzBXFsri — AHL (@TheAHL) July 6, 2017
Conner finally seems to have found himself a home in Lehigh Valley for the first time since he was drafted and played four seasons in the Stars’ organization from 2005-2009. Since then Conner has bounced around the AHL and NHL; Conner has played for the Peoria Rivermen, Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins (two tenures), Grand Rapids Griffins, Portland Pirates, and the Hershey Bears in the AHL. In the NHL, Conner has made appearances for the Pittsburgh Penguins, Detroit Red Wings, Phoenix Coyotes, and the Washington Capitals.
The Phantoms also announced that they have signed four players to AHL contracts: Derek Hulak, Matt Willows, Frank Hora, and John Muse.
Hulak is entering his 4th season of professional hockey. Spending almost a decade playing hockey in the WHL and CIS (Canadian collegiate sports system), he was signed to a professional contract by the Texas Stars in 2014. An offensive force with the Stars in his first 2 seasons, he recorded 44 and 40 points in 68 and 69 games, respectively. Last season, the 27-year old forward only played 17 games with the Utica Comets before an upper-body injury took him out of the lineup for the season.
Willows, 25, is entering his 3rd season of professional hockey. After spending 4 seasons playing for the University of New Hampshire, Willows signed his first AHL contract in 2015 with the Charlotte Checkers where he was then immediately sent down to the Florida Everblades in the ECHL for the full season. Scoring 66 points in 71 games for the Everblades, the forward added 6 more points in 6 playoff games that year to take home the John A. Daley Trophy as the ECHL Rookie of the Year. The next season, 2016-17, he bounced around a few teams in the AHL and ECHL before ending up on the Reading Royals for the majority of the year. A team affiliated with the Flyers, the Royals enjoyed his presence as he scored 50 points in 46 games in the regular season.
Hora is entering his rookie year next year with the Phantoms. After spending the last 4 seasons playing with the Kitchner Rangers of the OHL, it will be his first professional contract. However, he was signed to a PTO last year with the Cleveland Monsters for 4 games. The 21-year old defenseman was honored with the captaincy of the Rangers last season. In 241 OHL games, he scored 91 points.
Muse, 28, is entering his 7th season of professional hockey. A bit of a journeyman of sorts, the goaltender has played for 7 teams across the AHL and ECHL as well as 1 game with the Portlan Pirates on a PTO in 2011. Usually a backup, Muse’s busiest season was 2013-14 where he was able to play 47 games with the Charlotte Checkers and put up a .915 save percentage. Named twice an AHL Player of the Week that year, it remains the only time he played over 30 regular season games a year. In 2011-12, Muse was the biggest reason behind the Florida Everblades’ Kelly Cup title as his .939 save percentage in 13 playoff games earned him the Kelly Cup Playoffs MVP award. Last year, he played 20 games with the Rochester Americans and Elmira Jackals in the AHL and ECHL.
Dylan was the President of GNGHockey from its beginnings to January 2018. http://DylanRCoyle.com |
US President Donald Trump stunned the political world Thursday with an impromptu White House news conference at which he railed against his perceived enemies in the media, calling them "dishonest" and "out of control".
The US leader has repeatedly ignored presidential decorum, including in his relations with loyal allies like Australia, reportedly lambasting Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull during a phone call last month and later attacking an agreement with Canberra on refugees as a "dumb deal".
At a press conference in New Zealand, Turnbull, who has repeatedly insisted relations with key ally the United States remain strong, was asked about Trump's views of the media.
"Winston Churchill once said that politicans complaining about the newspapers is like a sailor complaining about the sea," Turnbull told reporters in Queenstown.
"There's not much point. It's the media we live with.
"We have to get our message across and we thank you all in the media for your kind attention," Turnbull added with a smile.
Related Turnbull focuses on US refugee deal over NZ offer
The spat flared over an agreement struck in November to resettle in the United States an unspecified number of the 1,600 people detained by Australia on Pacific islands. Many are Iranians.
In Queenstown, Turnbull met his New Zealand counterpart Bill English and agreed to pursue the Trans-Pacific Partnership, despite Trump's decision to dump the massive trade deal that encompasses a dozen nations.
"In light of the intention of the United States not to ratify the TPP, the two Prime Ministers agreed that Australia and New Zealand would work together to engage with other TPP partners on the way forward, over the coming months," a joint statement said. |
ADVERTISEMENT
In New York City, Mayor Bill de Blasio is struggling with the issue of homelessness. There are tons of people sleeping on the street, and New Yorkers are upset about it. One police union briefly trolled the mayor by urging officers to post pictures of homeless people on the union's Flickr page.
In a rich nation like the United States, homelessness, like poverty generally, is a simple problem to solve policy-wise, but a tough nut to crack politically. Utah, of all places, has demonstrated that the simplest imaginable solution — namely, giving nearly free housing to the chronically homeless — works like a charm, and actually saves money. The only problem is overcoming the political barriers.
The first thing to understand about homelessness is that it's mostly a transitory phenomenon. Of any particular population of homeless people, the vast majority of them will find some place to live in a few months.
The people you see out on the street, panhandling and sleeping in doorways, are almost always part of the small hard core of chronic homeless people, about 10 percent of the homeless total. These are the people the New York Police Department is complaining about, and they're typically older people with serious addictions or mental illnesses.
Such people are very expensive for the state. Homeless shelters cost a lot, and people on the street are constantly being picked up by the police and getting sick from being out in the elements. Shelter beds, jail cells, court time, and repeated emergency room visits (if not time in intensive care) add up to truly spectacular bills. Utah found that it was spending $20,000 per year per chronically homeless person — fully 60 percent of the total spending on homeless overall, despite them being only a tenth of the total. In New York, the figure is more like $40,500.
Practically, this means that you could spend a lot of money on concentrated social services for the chronically homeless, and still come out ahead financially if it keeps them off the street. So when Utah tried just handing such people their own apartment in a program called Housing First (though participants do have to pay $50 or 30 percent of their income, whichever is more), and combined that with regular attention from social workers, hey presto — the state decreased chronic homelessness by 91 percent.
It's not a perfect solution. Some people wreck their apartments, while others simply prefer the street life. But on the whole, the program has been a smashing success — and not just at reducing government outlays, but at helping people stabilize their lives. It turns out that it's easier for people to get jobs and cut back on substance abuse when they aren't on the street.
Of course, this is not to neglect the much larger population of homeless people who are transitory. There is a similar program in some places called Rapid Rehousing that works with people who have recently lost their homes to get them into new ones and keep them out of shelters, which can be violent and dangerous. It's a simple solution, but a difficult fiscal proposition in a place like New York, which has a desperate housing shortage. The city could easily afford to house the chronic population given the likely savings, but the tens of thousands more who are temporarily homeless are a different story. The best solution here would be to implement a general public housing plan with hundreds of thousands of new units (which de Blasio has been trying to do, with some success), and reserve some of these for homeless use.
What this policy orientation runs headlong into, however, is the typical American attitude about moral desert. The idea of the most basketcase homeless people getting more services sets many people's teeth on edge. "I'm working hard and paying my bills," the argument goes. "How come I don't get a free apartment?" This sort of attitude produces wretched welfare-for-the-rich policies like the mortgage interest deduction, which pays out more the more money you make.
The answer to this hypothetical questioner, of course, is that he is fortunate enough not to need a free place to live. Incidentally, if he wants to quit his job, get himself a mental illness or three, and spend a few months sleeping on subway grates, all to get that sweet efficiency apartment, he's certainly free to do so.
When it comes to the hardcore homeless people that get the police and the tabloids all worked up, the solution is obvious and proven to work. All you have to do is try. |
Flick's Favorite Memories From 'A Christmas Story'
Enlarge this image toggle caption Amy Sancetta/AP Amy Sancetta/AP
The holiday season means family, food, friends — and a slew of holiday films. The 1983 comedy A Christmas Story has become one of the cult favorites of the season, in heavy rotation on television screens across America each year.
The quirky film follows a boy named Ralphie and his misadventures with his parents, friends and neighborhood bullies — all while he pines for a Red Ryder BB gun for Christmas.
Scott Schwartz played Flick, the kid who stuck his tongue to a frozen flagpole in one of the film's most memorable scenes. Schwartz talks with NPR's Neal Conan about his memories from the set and the enduring appeal of the film. And Talk of the Nation movie buff Murray Horwitz also joins the conversation to remember some favorite moments from A Christmas Story.
Interview Highlights
On the film's origins as a 1974 radio drama and Playboy magazine series
Horwitz: "The reason for the success of this thing and for the durability of it ... is Jean Shepherd [the film's narrator]. Jean Shepherd is a writer and storyteller ... mostly localized in New York ... He is an underappreciated, undersung writer, and he's the reason for it.
"He improvised a great many of his stories on the air, on WOR [New York City], but he also was published in Playboy magazine ... One of the many delicious ironies about this movie is the fact that the stories on which it was based were first published in Playboy."
On the visual appeal of the movie
Horwitz: "As much as [the film's success] depends on the writing and on Jean Shepherd's narration ... It's the images that stick with you ...
"Shepherd's narration is incessant, but the pictures are what really get the laughs and hit us hard: Flick's bandaged tongue. That shot out the window when the teacher, Mrs. Shields, sees him stuck to the flagpole. The little brother Randy in that Michelin Man snowsuit writhing on the ground trying to get up. Watching him eat like a pig ... [It's] these images that don't have any narration or even dialogue around them that really make it an unsentimental Christmas card."
On how the "tongue on the flagpole" scene was filmed
Schwartz: "It was a plastic pole. It wasn't real. And they put a little hole in it about the size of your pinky nail, and there was a suction tube with a motor that was in the snow buried so you couldn't hear it, and just like a vacuum cleaner, if you put your hand on the vacuum cleaner, it's just phhhht, and you get stuck ... It took us about 11 1/2 hours to shoot that ...
"And if that wasn't bad enough, we actually had to shoot it twice. The first time we did it, the film came out dark. They developed it dark, and they nicely came to me and said, 'Listen, we have good news and bad news. The good news is you're going to be with us a few more days. The bad news is we've got to go out there and do it all over again.' "
On why Schwartz can no longer watch the film
"I don't watch the whole thing. I watch bits and pieces. Being a kid, having a film, you have to watch it with your parents, your aunts, your uncles, your cousins, you brother, your sister, your best friends, their families. So about the 600th time, I just — I can't do it anymore." |
When it comes to bleak stylish thrillers and crime films, it’s hard to beat the South Koreans nowadays and all the movies listed below are fine examples of that statement. Whereas the South Korean film industry had been heavily state-regulated until the late eighties, the first fully non-government funded film, Marriage Story, appeared in 1992.
Although films started to suffer less from censorship, the state still placed strict limits on the number of foreign films which were allowed to be shown in the country which made the local film industry thrive.
In 1999 Shiri was released, a spy thriller which did so well that it sold more tickets than Titanic in South Korea that year. Due to this movie’s success, larger budget films started being produced and crime thrillers gained enormously in popularity. Two years later, the gangster coming-of-age drama Friend eclipsed Shiri’s earlier sales records but it wasn’t until Chan-Wook Park’s Oldboy in 2003 that the stylish South Korean crime thriller really came of age and that critics in the West started paying attention.
Ever since, South Korea has been the undisputed champion of the genre as a plethora of films with intricate twist-filled screenplays, stunning production design and cinematography, dark themes, powerhouse performances and edge-of-your-seat storylines have found their way to the screen.
Whilst it should be noted that South Korea cinema produces far more than just crime films and thrillers, there’s no denying that the nation has a real knack for the genre and that it’s these movies which have gathered most attention abroad. If there have been two defining features of these films, they would have to be their über-stylish visuals and downbeat bleak themes.
All the movies listed below are prime examples of at least one, if not both, of these qualities and are essential viewing for those with a serious interest in thrillers or crime dramas.
15. The Berlin File (Seung-Wan Ryoo, 2013)
With its non-Korean setting (Berlin as you might have guessed from the title of the movie) and sweeping action set pieces, The Berlin File revolves around Jong-Seong, a North Korean agent who becomes exposed when an illegal arms deal goes wrong.
In the aftermath no one is sure whose side Jong-Seong and his wife, who is a translator at the North Korean embassy, belong to and soon the CIA as well as the North and South Korean intelligence agencies are all after them. Forced into a corner, Jong-Seong will need to make a decision as to where his royalties lie: his wife or his country.
Probably the most straight-forward action movie on this list, The Berlin File is maybe easiest described as a South Korean Jason Bourne film. A spy thriller with a clear emphasis on action setpieces and not so much the bleak thematic undercurrent of virtually all other films on this list,
The Berlin File is a great and easy introduction to Korean crime thrillers for Western audiences who might not be familiar with any of the films in this article yet. A clear commercial genre film, The Berlin File looks, feels and sounds great. The only thing letting this one down a bit is the convoluted plot and the sense that you have seen most of this before. Still, it’s well done and if you like spy thrillers, chances are you will not be disappointed by this action-packed spy flick.
14. Montage (Jeong Geun-Seop, 2013)
15 years ago a girl was kidnapped and never found. Just days before the case’s statute of limitations expires, someone places a flower at the scene of the crime, a location which was only known to the girl’s mother, the detective that took on the case and the kidnapper himself. Then, a few days later, another kidnapping occurs which bears striking resemblances to the 15 year old unsolved case.
Three people now all get involved in this new kidnapping, desperately trying to solve it: the grandfather whose grandchild was taken right from under his nose, the mother of the girl who was kidnapped 15 years ago and has never stopped looking for her and the detective who has been haunted by the 15 year old case which he has never been able to solve.
Montage starts out as your average suspense thriller and takes its time getting to the second part of the movie, tricking the audience into thinking that this is just your standard pot-boiler. But once the screenplay starts revealing more and some of the character’s motivations are brought to light, the film becomes a whole different beast and some of the events in the first half take on a totally different meaning.
A more quiet and pondering mystery than most of the other entries on this list, Montage is a well directed tense thriller with a lot more to say than one might initially expect.
13. I Saw The Devil (Kim Jee-Woon, 2010)
When Kyung-Chul, a serial killer, murders Joo-Yun on a snowy night and scatters her body parts, he doesn’t realise he couldn’t have selected a worse victim. Not only is her father a police squad leader, her boyfriend, Soo-Hyun, is a secret service agent of the National Intelligence Service, who becomes determined to track down the killer and make him pay.
Given leads on some suspects by his father-in-law, Soo-Hyun soon manages to locate the killer. But instead of bringing him to justice, he places a tracking device on him and keeps tormenting the killer, in the process even capturing a vicious cannibal and his girlfriend who Kyung-Chul has been supplying with victimes. But once the killer finds out how Soo-Hyun is tracing him and why, he decides to go after Joo-Yun’s family to exact revenge.
You know that things are going to get nasty when South Korea decided to censor I Saw The Devil for its extreme graphic violence. Kim Jee-Woon’s answer to Chan-Wook Park Vengeance Trilogy, the film suffers in comparison and never manages to reach the same heights. But if stylish brutal films are your cup of tea than there’s plenty to like here.
Violent, disturbing and with two of Korea’s greatest stars doing what they do best, I Saw The Devil is another noteworthy South Korean entry in the revenge movie genre and well worth seeing for lovers of these types of film, even though at times the story really doesn’t make all that much sense.
12. Mother (Joon-Ho Bong, 2009)
Do-Joon is a shy and mentally slow young man in his twenties who is looked after by his over-protective mother. Do-Joon hangs out with Jin-Tae a lot, who the mother sees as a potential bad influence on this easily swayed Do-Joon. One day a girl is found murdered and circumstantial evidence leads the police to Do-Joon.
The boy is arrested and easily convinced into signing a confession even though he doesn’t seem to recall having anything to do with the crime. His mother, convinced that her son could never have committed such a terrible act and that he might in fact be covering for Jin-Tae, starts trying to prove her son’s innocence but the deeper she digs, the more complicated the truth seems to become.
Jooh-Ho Bong’s follow-up to his international breakthrough hit, The Host, is a mystery crime drama in which the director once again manages to give his own personal twist to genre he’s working in. Featuring great performances from all involved and controlled direction by Bong, the film is filled with ambiguity and at times genuinely heartfelt. The movie was nominated for and went on to win a whole slate of awards at various international film festivals.
11. Breathless (Ik-Joon Yang, 2008)
Song-Hoon is an enforcer for a local loan shark. And as the man is basically rage personified, he’s damn good at his job. Violent, brutal, obnoxious, swearing incessantly and intimidating as hell, Song-Hoon is not to be messed with and will take down anyone for very little reason. One day he accidentally spits on a schoolgirl, who tells him to get lost, and true to his nature he proceeds to knock her out.
Sensing that he might have overreacted, he stays around till she wakes up and then offers to buy the still deviant girl a beer. From here on in the two develop a cautionary friendship and slowly but surely the girl manages to awake a gentler side in Sang-Hoon, which leads him to reconsider his life choices.
Breathless is without a doubt the most low-key and low-budget entry on this list. Directed, produced, written and edited by Jang Ik-June, who on top of all those duties also manages to star in the movie, Breathless is a triumph of independent and low-budget filmmaking.
Grim as hell and just as bleak as the larger productions found in this article, the movie refuses to give easy or crowd pleasing answers. Another festival favourite, the film managed to take home more than twenty awards at various international festivals.
10. Sympathy for Lady Vengeance (Chan-Wook Park, 2005)
Lee Geum-Ja was in her early twenties when she was convicted for the kidnapping and murder of a young boy. Because of her age and innocent looks the case became a media circus and her story has been followed by many, even during her reduced 13 year prison sentence in which she became a model prisoner and made many friends on the inside.
As she leaves jail, a fan procession is awaiting her outside but Lee Geum-Ja pays them no mind and immediately starts working on a plan she has been preparing for the last 13 years: revenge.
The closing chapter of Chan-Wook Park’s critically acclaimed Vengeance Trilogy, Sympathy for Lady Vengeance is possibly the lightest entry in the series, which doesn’t mean we are not dealing with some serious sick subject matter here.
The film has a much brighter colour palette then the previous two entries in the trilogy and tones down the visceral and brutal violence but also feels like the most personal entry in the series. If Lady Vengeance seems to fall slightly short, it’s only because it lacks the intensity of the first two films. Taken on its own merits, this is a stunning and unique vision from a director at the top of his game.
9. The Chaser (Hong-Jin Na, 2008)
Jung-ho is a ex-policeman who has turned to pimping. Lately two of his girls have disappeared without clearing their debts and he is starting to suspect foul play. When he gets a call for another girl, he sends off Mi-jin but realises too late that the number belongs to the same man who hired the last girl who disappeared. His old detective skills kick in and he goes to investigate and actually manages to catch the suspect after a lengthy chase but both men are arrested and taken to the police station.
There the killer admits to murdering the women but police can’t hold him due to lack of any physical evidence. Now Jung-ho only has twelve hours to find Mi-jin, who might still be alive somewhere.
The Chaser was the debut for director Hong-jin Na, who delivered a very tense and elaborately plotted thrill-ride with his very first movie. The film took home a whole bunch of various Korean film awards, including Best Film, Best Director, Best Actor, Best Screenplay, Best Cinematography and Best Editing. Although it’s not as well known as Park Chan-Wook’s Vengeance Trilogy, this movie comes just as highly recommended. |
Imagine the scene. The release of the impending season’s fixture list is imminent; midnight cannot come quick enough. As the clock strikes, marking the turn of the hour, the domain surge is one, which could penetrate a wall of riot shields as sports lovers stampede to uncover the dates of the blockbuster rivalries. Shock and horror is in store.
This year there will be no El Clasico. “Pure sacrilege, the work of an iconoclast!” The largest rivalry in football has been stripped from the league’s calendar and cup-ties will be rigged to separate the illustrious clubs, with Barcelona and Real Madrid destined only to cross paths if both reach the final.
Similarly the Six Nations will also suffer the purge of rivalry matches. No England against Wales, nor England against Ireland. Heck, England will play Italy and then be shipped off to the southern hemisphere to compete in a series of meaningless friendlies.
In Tennis there will be no Wimbledon; the Premier League season will not have Super Sundays of Liverpool vs Manchester United followed by Arsenal vs Chelsea, for those fixtures will not be taking place.
Our transatlantic counterparts will endure a similar fate. No Steelers-Bengals, no Warriors-Cavaliers, no Yankees-Red Sox. What is this madness?
Fortunately this would never happen in most sports. Yet cricket proves to be the predictable outlier.
Forgotten Rivalry
Under a Western-centric focused microscope, the Ashes would stand out as Cricket’s Ultimate Rivalry. But this assertion somewhat foolishly overlooks a continent that houses two-thirds of the world’s population. Surely the title could easily belong to India and Pakistan? Unfortunately, in this case, unlike England vs Australia, historical context exacerbates its very obscurity rather than enticing its consistency.
Since the Mumbai terrorist attacks in 2008, the India and Pakistan Test series has been wiped from the cricketing calendar and is seemingly in no hurry to return. Indeed, this was in no way an isolated event between the two countries. It stemmed from years of horrific violence following the turbulent fallout at the end of the British Raj and the emancipation of Pakistan from India.
Suddenly, a nation’s brothers and sisters were to be separated, with families in complete upheaval. Ties needed to be established and this was no less true on the cricket field. International cricketers from Lahore would now have to choose if they were to play for their motherland India (majority Hindu) or their newly adopted nation of Pakistan (majority Muslim).
Naturally with shared origins, the style was in the beginning an almost mirror image, a reminder of their irrefutable bond. Yet political background had automatically thrust these two sides into a state of fierce animosity, a ready-made hatred that went beyond the normal everyday neighbouring rivalry. But as violence has persisted, the cricketing contest has ceased to exist outside of the major tournaments.
India-Pakistan – a Loss for the Game
It would appear as if while other sports bend over backwards to muscle in on the litter of entertainment-driven ventures and suckle on the teat of the lucrative TV rights cash cow, cricket deprives itself of its major selling point.
Around one and half billion people reside in India and Pakistan, and the most recent World Cup clashes in 2011 and 2015 attracted a combined total of nearly two billion viewers. It is a match-up that embodies the love and passion of the sport and inspires so much so that it broke into the top 10 audiences for worldwide sporting events rivalling the likes of the FIFA Confederations Cup Final and the Rugby World Cup, while blowing the Superbowl out of the water.
However, this idea that cash is being refused is somewhat misplaced and adds to the apparent absurdity that surrounds cricket. Indeed, both nations are cricket-mad to the point that matches in the early post-Partition era were characterised by a park-the-bus tactic which was motivated by the fear of losing; failure was unthinkable given what was at stake: not only pride but perhaps mass brawl.
The makeup of the rivalry is the perfect selling point: political context, a huge fan following, similar cultural roots and passion for the game. And yet the Test arena is one in which both countries are in fact less inclined towards these days.
It is not therefore, in shirking off, a major money spinner, that makes this loss comparable to say an El Clasico-less season in La Liga but more so a lack in quality and context for cricket’s most highly regarded platform. It is the loss of art more so than profit, which is all the more lamentable.
Test Match Struggles in Asia
While Pakistan play out a day-night Test in an empty stadium in the desert, India play England in a heavyweight bout, in front of a pitiable crowd in cricket’s most unpopular region in India.
Test cricket’s superficial popularity is tenuously strained by many factors (terrorism, demonetization, poor marketing) in Asia at the present time. But then again, that doesn’t mean to say that it wouldn’t be one of the best things for the sport, if these two estranged neighbours were to reconcile.
A Rivalry Begging to be Seen
One proposed motion for a divisional Test league would see the sides being divided into a Pakistan group and an India group, preventing any chance of a fixture. What’s saddest about all this is that it is at a time of great prosperity for both sides on the cricket pitch.
Having both shared time at the top of the ICC Test ladder in 2016, India boast the best home record of any Test nation in the last five years and Pakistan have made an impression by beating England twice in London, and exercising home series consistency.
A Test between the two would perhaps be the match-up of the century. Young, fiery passion in Virat Kohli, meets veteran, ‘what’s cooler than ice-cold?’ in Misbah. Prolific batsmen face age-defying stalwarts. The aggression of Wahab and Mohammad Shami adds spice and the swing of Mohammad Amir and Bhuvneshwar Kumar sprinkles a touch of class. Even juicier a prospect is that two of the game’s most prolific spinners – Yasir and Ashwin – would come head to head and look to challenge the unwritten rule, which decrees sub-continent batsmen’s dominance over spin bowling. The subplots are endless; forget politics and history, the cricket sells this one.
A Match-Up between Polar Opposites
Pakistan cricket is a rather intriguing enigma. On their day they can bat you into oblivion, but they are immune to bouts of schizophrenia. Their batting order is delicately balanced in such a way that demands contributions from their top order to keep them competitive.
On an off-day, Pakistani cricketers are practically the nomenclature of a cricketing collapse. As Ahmer Naqvi expressed in his most recent article for ESPNCricinfo, their ability to self-destruct transcends the genre of team capitulation and becomes a microcosm of Test failure.
In stark contrast, the Indian side is rising above the current mediocrity to impose themselves as cricket’s postmodern juggernaut. They have inflicted embarrassing wallopings for fun this year; with the bitter taste of defeat a distant memory, dating as far back as August 2015.
Should Pakistan not show up, the Test could be over in a matter of one session. But in the world of romanticized plot conjurings, Misbah’s men would rise to the challenge and provide more than ample resistance. It is written in this way for the match-up pits the ultimate contrast in cricketing tactics against each other. Since the partition of India, the cricketing philosophies of Pakistan and India, once all-Indians, have veered off in polar opposite directions.
Cutting Edge vs Vintage Class
Pakistan are old school. They are the last of the Test-playing nations to stand by a true tail. Their batsmen bat and their bowlers bowl: it’s as simple as that. India on the other hand are the jack of many trades. They put emphasis on multi-faceted players. With a first-class hundred to number ten’s name, you never feel like you quite have India on the rocks.
The latter style is most definitely the influence of Twenty 20’s rise to supremacy. And while it has lead India to creating an impregnable fortress at home, a similar tactic has proved catastrophic for England and Australia when visiting Asia. The focus on picking a team, which can recover from a collapse or make the most out of the conditions, regardless of their lack of international quality, has left touring sides hapless to thrashings. India in turn have yet to prove that their selection policy works abroad.
Meanwhile, Pakistan’s attitude to fielding a fixed side, were their men are backed to perform in their preferred suit leaves them to be a rather cumbersome task when it all clicks. Admittedly, this is only really feasible thanks to the two modern-day batting greats in their current side. Together Younis Khan and Misbah-ul-Haq have compiled over 28,000 runs for Pakistan in all formats. And yet a stellar record in their adopted home, the UAE, and two comprehensive victories during a Test series in England have vindicated their strategy.
A Possible Match-Up
It stands to reason that there is no such thing as a correct formula for a Test cricket side. Inconsistency and series defeats away from home remain unsurprising, and home form continues to be good for competitive outfits. The only thing that is granted is that Pakistan’s formula is an antiquity, against the grain of a sport now obsessed with leather colours other than red. Although it is the difference in approach that would make for an interesting subplot on the rivalry.
For now, all we can do is imagine potential match-ups and let the drama play out in our think tanks. Hopefully with time, wounds can be allowed to heal, political progress be made and relations be rediscovered. A return of the prodigal rivalry would certainly be a momentous occasion; cricket reclaiming one of its most valuable lost treasures, the return of artistic splendour. |
Subsets and Splits
No community queries yet
The top public SQL queries from the community will appear here once available.