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Sustainability is a multifaceted issue, in which the food production system and our diets play a crucial role. Achieving a healthy and sustainable food future is an urgent matter that depends on global collaborative efforts. What is sustainability, and what does it have to do with food? “Sustainability” can be hard to define as it can mean different things based on the context in which it’s discussed. However, the concept is much more than a trending buzzword. The most frequently quoted definition was put forth by the U.N.’s Brundtland Commission on sustainable development in 1987: “Sustainable development [meets] the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.” [1] Jeffrey D. Sachs, an expert on sustainable development and director of the Earth Institute at Columbia University, wrote: “Like all living species, humanity depends on nature for food and water, materials for survival, and safety from dire environmental threats, such as epidemics and natural catastrophes. Yet for a species that depends on the beneficence of nature, or on what the scientists call ‘environmental services,’ we are doing a poor job of protecting the physical basis of our very survival!” [2] Indeed, sustainability encompasses the environment, economics, health, nutrition, and other related dimensions. This interconnectedness can be observed in the FAO’s definition of sustainable diets: Sustainable Diets are those diets with low environmental impacts that contribute to food and nutrition security and to healthy life for present and future generations. Sustainable diets are protective and respectful of biodiversity and ecosystems, culturally acceptable, accessible, economically fair and affordable; nutritionally adequate, safe and healthy; while optimizing natural and human resources. [3] As we refer to it here, sustainability means the enactment of practices that fulfill the needs of society while protecting the physical basis of our long-term survival, our environment. We cannot have a secure food supply unless that food supply is sustainable. Why is a sustainable food supply important? Today, more than three billion people are malnourished and many of our planet’s 7 billion inhabitants eat diets low in quality. At the same time, the world’s population is rapidly expanding, and it is estimated there will be close to 10 billion people on our planet by 2050. [4] When considering sustainable food development, the goal is to ensure a future when this expanded population has both enough food available to eat and access to high quality, nutritious foods. Thinking about a successful food future must focus on the earth system as a whole, rather than local levels. The “Anthropocene” is a term used to describe the current geological epoch, a time period defined by humanity being the dominating driver of change in atmospheric, geologic, hydrologic, biospheric and other earth systems. In other words, humanity’s influence is at its greatest point in the history of our planet. The term “anthropogenic” is an adjective that denotes “originating in human activity.” In terms of anthropogenic activities, agriculture is the largest cause of global environmental change. Examples of global environmental change include climate change, deforestation, desertification, and damage to coastal reefs and marine ecosystems. Food production: Contributes approximately 30% of global greenhouse gas emissions, and the livestock sector alone represents almost half (14.5%) of these emissions [5, 6] Occupies about 40% of global land [7] Uses 70% of freshwater [8] Is the largest factor threatening species with extinction [9] Causes eutrophication (nutrient overload) and dead zones in lakes and coastal areas [10] Has led to a majority (~60%) of the world fish stocks to be fully fished or overfished (33%) – only 7% are underfished [11] Such global environmental change increases the risk of irreversible and catastrophic shifts in the Earth system marked by rising human mortality, morbidity, conflict, and food insecurity. [12] Agriculture in its current form is simultaneously a driver of global environmental change and a victim of shifting environmental conditions. [13] Without action, the world risks failing to meet the UN Sustainable Development Goals and the Paris Agreement. Simply put: global food systems are not sustainable. We need to rethink how we eat and rethink the way we produce food in the process. Healthy diets from sustainable food systems Despite substantial scientific evidence linking diets with human health and environmental sustainability, historically there’s been a lack of globally-agreed upon targets for healthy diets and sustainable food production. However, in 2019, the EAT-Lancet Commission (a group of 37 scientists from 16 countries working in the fields of human health, nutrition, economics, agriculture, political sciences, and environmental sustainability) assessed existing evidence and developed global scientific targets that define a “safe operating space” for food systems. [14] These targets focus on two key areas that apply to all people and the planet: Target 1: Healthy Diets Based on extensive research on foods, dietary patterns, and health outcomes, the Commission defines a “planetary health diet” with consumption ranges for each food group. Despite its name, this is not a specific diet but rather a flexible dietary pattern that largely consists of vegetables, fruits, whole grains, legumes, nuts, and unsaturated oils; includes a low to moderate amount of seafood and poultry; and includes no or a low quantity of red meat, processed meat, added sugar, refined grains, and starchy vegetables. According to the Commission, global adoption of this pattern of eating would provide major health benefits, including a large reduction in total mortality. Based on extensive research on foods, dietary patterns, and health outcomes, the Commission defines a “planetary health diet” with consumption ranges for each food group. Despite its name, this is not a specific diet but rather a flexible dietary pattern that largely consists of vegetables, fruits, whole grains, legumes, nuts, and unsaturated oils; includes a low to moderate amount of seafood and poultry; and includes no or a low quantity of red meat, processed meat, added sugar, refined grains, and starchy vegetables. According to the Commission, global adoption of this pattern of eating would provide major health benefits, including a large reduction in total mortality. Learn more about the planetary health diet and how to put it into practice. Target 2: Sustainable Food Production With current food production driving climate change, biodiversity loss, pollution, and unsustainable changes in water and land use, the Commission also identifies a set of boundaries that global food production should stay within to “decrease the risk of irreversible and potentially catastrophic shifts in the Earth system.” These boundaries relate to six key earth system processes: climate change (based on greenhouse gas emissions), land system change (based on cropland use), use of freshwater, biodiversity loss (based on extinction rate), and nitrogen and phosphorus cycling (based on the application of these fertilizers). A “Great Food Transformation” is necessary Transitioning to a sustainable food system that can deliver healthy diets for an estimated 10 billion people by 2050 is an unprecedented challenge. However, the Commission emphasizes that “data are both sufficient and strong enough to warrant immediate action, and delay will increase the likelihood of serious, even disastrous, consequences.” Fortunately, their analysis found this transition would be doable through a combination of substantial dietary shifts toward mostly plant-based dietary patterns, dramatic reductions in food losses and waste, and major improvements in food production practices. Of course, such a “Great Food Transformation” will not happen without widespread, multi-sector, multi-level action guided by scientific targets. To begin this process, the Commission proposes five strategies as general starting points for national, regional, city, and local change: Seek international and national commitment to shift toward healthy diets. Transitioning to a planetary health diet will require global consumption of foods such as red meat and sugar to decrease by 50%, while consumption of fruits, nuts, vegetables, and legumes must double. Policies are needed to improve the availability, access, and affordability of healthy foods while disincentivizing the consumption of unhealthy and unsustainable foods. Reorient agricultural priorities from producing high quantities of food to producing healthy food. Shift the emphasis in food and agricultural policy from high volumes of a few crops to greater diversity of nutrient-rich crops. Sustainably intensify food production to increase high-quality output. Use technology and system innovation to farm existing land with fewer inputs in order to experience better yields, sequester carbon, and conserve existing biodiversity and ecosystem services. Strong and coordinated governance of land and oceans. Protect natural ecosystems and biodiversity by collectively acting, at local and global levels, to halt the expansion of agricultural land and harvested marine areas. At least halve food losses and waste, in line with UN Sustainable Development Goals. Reduce food loss and waste in food production and consumption phases by 50% using a mix of technological solutions, consumer campaigns, and public policies. For more information and specifics on these strategies, read the Commission’s full report, Food in the Anthropocene: the EAT-Lancet Commission on healthy diets from sustainable food systems. Or, read the Commission’s briefs for cities, policymakers, farmers, food service professionals, healthcare professionals, and everyone. The bottom line Achieving a healthy and sustainable food system is an urgent matter that depends on collaborative efforts from governments, the private and public sectors, as well as individuals. Supply and demand work both ways—a shift in the food production landscape depends on a shift in our diets. We must be aware that our food choices ultimately impact more than just ourselves, and primarily plant-based diets are best for both health outcomes and the environment. In the end, what’s good for the planet is good for us too. Related Key terms for understanding sustainable food systems Anthropocene : A proposed new geological epoch which is characterized by humanity being the dominating force of change on the planet. The Anthropocene began in the mid-20th century and continues through today. : A proposed new geological epoch which is characterized by humanity being the dominating force of change on the planet. The Anthropocene began in the mid-20th century and continues through today. Planetary boundaries : Nine boundaries, each representing a system or process that is important for regulating and maintaining the stability of the planet. They define global biophysical limits that humanity should operate within to ensure a stable and resilient earth system—ie, conditions that are necessary to foster prosperity for future generations. : Nine boundaries, each representing a system or process that is important for regulating and maintaining the stability of the planet. They define global biophysical limits that humanity should operate within to ensure a stable and resilient earth system—ie, conditions that are necessary to foster prosperity for future generations. Earth system : Earth’s interacting physical, chemical, and biological processes consisting of land, oceans, atmosphere, and poles, and includes earth’s natural cycles— i.e., carbon, water, nitrogen, phosphorus, and other cycles. Life, including human society, is an integral part of the earth system and affects these natural cycles. : Earth’s interacting physical, chemical, and biological processes consisting of land, oceans, atmosphere, and poles, and includes earth’s natural cycles— i.e., carbon, water, nitrogen, phosphorus, and other cycles. Life, including human society, is an integral part of the earth system and affects these natural cycles. Biodiversity : The diversity and richness of all living organisms on land and in water. Biodiversity contributes to the stability of ecosystems, enhances ecosystem services, and promotes the resilience of food production systems. : The diversity and richness of all living organisms on land and in water. Biodiversity contributes to the stability of ecosystems, enhances ecosystem services, and promotes the resilience of food production systems. Biosphere : All parts of the earth where life exists, including the lithosphere (solid surface layer), hydrosphere (water), and atmosphere (air). The biosphere plays an important part in regulating the earth system by driving energy and nutrient flow between components. : All parts of the earth where life exists, including the lithosphere (solid surface layer), hydrosphere (water), and atmosphere (air). The biosphere plays an important part in regulating the earth system by driving energy and nutrient flow between components. Boundaries : Thresholds set at the low end of the scientific uncertainty range that serve as guides for decision makers on acceptable levels of risk. Boundaries are baselines, unchanging, and not time-bound. : Thresholds set at the low end of the scientific uncertainty range that serve as guides for decision makers on acceptable levels of risk. Boundaries are baselines, unchanging, and not time-bound. Desertification : the process by which fertile land becomes desert, typically as a result of a drought, unsustainable agriculture, or land clearing. : the process by which fertile land becomes desert, typically as a result of a drought, unsustainable agriculture, or land clearing. Eutrophication : the process by which a body of water becomes enriched in dissolved nutrients that stimulate growth of aquatic plant life usually resulting in the depletion of dissolved oxygen. In agriculture, this can result from fertilizer runoff, rich in nitrogen and phosphorus, into water bodies. : the process by which a body of water becomes enriched in dissolved nutrients that stimulate growth of aquatic plant life usually resulting in the depletion of dissolved oxygen. In agriculture, this can result from fertilizer runoff, rich in nitrogen and phosphorus, into water bodies. Food system : All elements and activities that relate to production, processing, distribution, preparation, and consumption of food. : All elements and activities that relate to production, processing, distribution, preparation, and consumption of food. Safe operating space for food systems : A space that is defined by scientific targets for human health and environmentally sustainable food production set by the EAT-Lancet Commission. [14] Operating within this space allows humanity to feed healthy diets to about 10 billion people within biophysical limits of the earth system. : A space that is defined by scientific targets for human health and environmentally sustainable food production set by the EAT-Lancet Commission. [14] Operating within this space allows humanity to feed healthy diets to about 10 billion people within biophysical limits of the earth system. Great Food Transformation: The unprecedented range of actions taken by all food system sectors across all levels that aim to normalize healthy diets from sustainable food systems. (Adapted from: EAT, Summary Report of the EAT-Lancet Commission [15]) References Strategic Imperatives. Report of the World Commission on Environment and Development: Our Common Future. 1987;10. Sacks JD. The Age of Sustainable Development. New York: Columbia University Press; 2015. Burlingame, B. (2012). Sustainable diets and biodiversity – Directions and solutions for policy research and action Proceedings of the International Scientific Symposium Biodiversity and Sustainable Diets United Against Hunger. Rome: FAO. United Nations, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division (2017). World Population Prospects: The 2017 Revision, Key Findings and Advance Tables. Working Paper No. ESA/P/WP/248. Vermeulen SJ, Campbell BM, Ingram JS. Climate change and food systems. Annual review of environment and resources. 2012 Nov 21;37:195-222. Food and Agriculture Organizations of the United Nations. Tackling Climate Change Through Livestock. October 21, 2014. http://www.fao.org/ag/againfo/resources/en/publications/tackling_climate_change/index.htm. Foley JA, DeFries R, Asner GP, Barford C, Bonan G, Carpenter SR, Chapin FS, Coe MT, Daily GC, Gibbs HK, Helkowski JH. Global consequences of land use. science. 2005 Jul 22;309(5734):570-4. Comprehensive Assessment of Water Management in Agriculture. Water for food, water for life: a comprehensive assessment of water management in agriculture. London: Earthscan and Colombo: International Water Management Institute, 2007. Tilman D, Clark M, Williams DR, Kimmel K, Polasky S, Packer C. Future threats to biodiversity and pathways to their prevention. Nature. 2017 Jun;546(7656):73. Diaz RJ, Rosenberg R. Spreading dead zones and consequences for marine ecosystems. science. 2008 Aug 15;321(5891):926-9. FAO. 2018. The State of World Fisheries and Aquaculture 2018 – Meeting the sustainable development goals. Rome. License: CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 IGO. Oppenheimer, M., M. Campos, R.Warren, J. Birkmann, G. Luber, B. O’Neill, and K. Takahashi, 2014: Emergent risks and key vulnerabilities. In: Climate Change 2014: Impacts, Adaptation, and Vulnerability. Part A: Global and Sectoral Aspects. Contribution of Working Group II to the Fifth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change [Field, C.B., V.R. Barros, D.J. Dokken, K.J. Mach, M.D. Mastrandrea, T.E. Bilir, M. Chatterjee, K.L. Ebi, Y.O. Estrada, R.C. Genova, B. Girma, E.S. Kissel, A.N. Levy, S. MacCracken, P.R. Mastrandrea, and L.L.White (eds.)]. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, United Kingdom and New York, NY, USA, pp. 1039-1099. Springmann M, Mason-D’Croz D, Robinson S, Garnett T, Godfray HC, Gollin D, Rayner M, Ballon P, Scarborough P. Global and regional health effects of future food production under climate change: a modelling study. The Lancet. 2016 May 7;387(10031):1937-46. Willett W, Rockström J, Loken B, Springmann M, Lang T, Vermeulen S, et al. Food in the Anthropocene: the EAT–Lancet Commission on healthy diets from sustainable food systems. The Lancet. 2019 Jan 16. EAT. Summary Report of the EAT-Lancet Commission. 2019. Terms of Use The contents of this website are for educational purposes and are not intended to offer personal medical advice. You should seek the advice of your physician or other qualified health provider with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition. Never disregard professional medical advice or delay in seeking it because of something you have read on this website. The Nutrition Source does not recommend or endorse any products.
This article is about the singer. For other uses, see Morrissey (disambiguation) Steven Patrick Morrissey (; born 22 May 1959), known mononymously as Morrissey, is an English singer, songwriter, and author. He came to prominence as the frontman of the Smiths, a rock band active from 1982 to 1987. Since then, he has pursued a commercially successful solo career. Morrissey's music is characterised by his baritone voice and distinctive lyrical content featuring recurring themes of emotional isolation and sexual longing, self-deprecating and black humour, and anti-establishment stances. Born in Davyhulme, Lancashire, to a working-class Irish migrant family, Morrissey grew up in Manchester. As a child he developed a love of literature, kitchen sink realism, and pop music. In the late 1970s, he fronted punk rock band the Nosebleeds with little success before beginning a career in music journalism and authoring several books on music and film in the early 1980s. With Johnny Marr he formed the Smiths in 1982, soon attracting national recognition for their eponymous debut album. As the band's frontman, Morrissey attracted attention for his trademark quiff and witty and sardonic lyrics. Deliberately avoiding rock machismo, he cultivated the aesthetic of a sexually ambiguous social outsider who embraced celibacy. The Smiths released three further studio albums—Meat Is Murder, The Queen Is Dead, and Strangeways, Here We Come—and had a string of hit singles. The band were critically acclaimed and attracted a cult following. Personal differences between Morrissey and Marr resulted in the separation of the Smiths in 1987. In 1988, Morrissey launched his solo career with Viva Hate. This album and its follow-ups—Kill Uncle, Your Arsenal, and Vauxhall and I—all did well on the UK Albums Chart and spawned multiple hit singles. Replacing Marr, he took on Alain Whyte and Boz Boorer as his primary co-writers. During this time his image began to shift into that of a burlier figure, who toyed with patriotic imagery and working-class masculinity. In the mid-to-late 1990s, his albums Southpaw Grammar and Maladjusted also charted but were less well received. Relocating to Los Angeles, he took a musical hiatus from 1998 to 2003 before releasing a successful comeback album, You Are the Quarry, in 2004. Ensuing years saw the release of albums Ringleader of the Tormentors, Years of Refusal, World Peace Is None of Your Business, and Low in High School, as well as an autobiography and a novel. Highly influential, Morrissey has been credited as a seminal figure in the emergence of indie rock and Britpop. Often regarded as one of the greatest lyricists in British history, his lyrics have become the subject of academic study. He has courted controversy since early on in his music career with his forthright opinions—endorsing vegetarianism and animal rights, criticising royalty and prominent politicians, and defending a particular vision of English national identity. In a 2006 poll for the BBC's The Culture Show, Morrissey was voted the second-greatest living British cultural icon. Early life [ edit ] Steven Patrick Morrissey was born on 22 May 1959, at Park Hospital, Davyhulme, Lancashire. His parents—Elizabeth (née Dwyer) and Peter Morrissey —were working-class Irish Catholics. They had emigrated to Manchester from Dublin with his only sibling, elder sister Jacqueline, a year prior to his birth. They had given him the forename of Steven after the American actor Steve Cochran. His earliest home was a council house at 17 Harper Street in the Hulme area of inner Manchester. Living in that area, as a child he was deeply affected by the Moors murders in which a number of local children were murdered by Ian Brady and Myra Hindley; the killings had a lasting impression on him and would be referenced in the lyrics of the Smiths song "Suffer Little Children". He also became aware of the anti-Irish sentiment in British society against Irish migrants to Britain. In 1970 the family relocated to another council house at 384 King's Road, Stretford. Following an early education at St. Wilfred's Primary School, Morrissey failed his 11-plus exam, and proceeded to St. Mary's Technical Modern School, an experience that he found unpleasant. He excelled at athletics, although was an unpopular loner at the school. He has been critical of his formal education, later stating that "the education I received was so basically evil and brutal. All I learnt was to have no self-esteem and to feel ashamed without knowing why". He left school in 1975, having received no formal qualifications. He continued his education at Stretford Technical College, and there gained three O-levels in English Literature, Sociology, and the General Paper. In 1975 he travelled to the United States to visit an aunt who lived in New Jersey. The relationship between Morrissey's parents was strained, and they ultimately separated in December 1976, with his father moving out of the family home. "I lost myself in music at a very early age, and I remained there ... I did fall in love with the voices I heard, whether they were male or female. I loved those people. I really, really did love those people. For what it was worth, I gave them my life ... my youth. Beyond the perimeter of pop music there was a drop at the end of the world." — Morrissey, 1991. Morrissey's librarian mother encouraged her son's interest in reading. He took an interest in feminist literature, and particularly adored the Irish author Oscar Wilde, whom he came to idolise. The young Morrissey was a keen fan of the television soap opera Coronation Street, which focused around working-class communities in Manchester; he sent proposed scripts and storylines to the show's production company, Granada Television, although all were rejected. He was also a fan of Shelagh Delaney's A Taste of Honey and its 1961 film adaptation, which was a kitchen sink drama focusing around working-class life in Salford. Many of his later songs directly quoted from A Taste of Honey. Of his youth, Morrissey said, "Pop music was all I ever had, and it was completely entwined with the image of the pop star. I remember feeling the person singing was actually with me and understood me and my predicament."[28] He later revealed that the first record he purchased was Marianne Faithfull's 1964 single "Come and Stay With Me". During the 1970s he became a glam rock fan, enjoying the work of English artists like T. Rex, David Bowie, and Roxy Music. He was also a fan of American glam rock artists such as Sparks, Jobriath, and the New York Dolls. He formed a British fan club for the latter band, attracting members through small adverts in the back pages of music magazines. It was through the New York Dolls' interest in female pop singers from the 1960s that Morrissey too developed a fascination for such artists, who included Sandie Shaw, Twinkle, and Dusty Springfield. Early bands and published books: 1977–1981 [ edit ] Morrissey idolised American film actor James Dean and published a book about him. Having left formal education, Morrissey proceeded through a series of jobs, as a clerk for the civil service and then the Inland Revenue, as a salesperson in a record store, and as a hospital porter, before abandoning employment and claiming unemployment benefits. He used much of the money from these jobs to purchase tickets for gigs, attending performances by Talking Heads, the Ramones, and Blondie. He regularly attended concerts, having a particular interest in the alternative and post-punk music scene. Having met the guitarist Billy Duffy in November 1977, Morrissey agreed to become the vocalist for Duffy's punk band the Nosebleeds. Morrissey co-wrote a number of songs with the band —"Peppermint Heaven", "I Get Nervous" and "I Think I'm Ready for the Electric Chair" —and performed with them in support slots for Jilted John and then Magazine. The band soon disbanded. After the Nosebleeds' break-up, Morrissey followed Duffy to join Slaughter & the Dogs, briefly replacing original singer Wayne Barrett. He recorded four songs with the band and they auditioned for a record deal in London. After the audition fell through, Slaughter & the Dogs became Studio Sweethearts, without Morrissey.[42] Morrissey came to be known as a minor figure within Manchester's punk community. By 1981, Morrissey had become a close friend of Linder Sterling, the frontwoman of punk-jazz ensemble Ludus; both her lyrics and style of singing influenced him. Through Sterling, he came to know Howard Devoto and Richard Boon. At the time, Morrissey's best male friend was James Maker; he would visit Maker in London or they would meet up in Manchester, where they visited the city's gay bars and gay clubs, in one case having to escape from a gang of gay bashers. Wanting to become a professional writer, Morrissey considered a career in music journalism. He frequently wrote letters to the music press and was eventually hired by the weekly music review publication Record Mirror. He authored several short books for local publishing company Babylon Books: in 1981 they released a 24-page booklet he had written on the New York Dolls, which sold 3000 copies. This was followed by James Dean is Not Dead, a volume he wrote about the late American film star James Dean. Morrissey had developed a love of Dean, having covered his bedroom with pictures of the deceased film star. The Smiths [ edit ] Establishing the Smiths: 1982–1984 [ edit ] In August 1978, Morrissey was briefly introduced to the 14-year old Johnny Marr by mutual acquaintances at a Patti Smith gig held at Manchester's Apollo Theatre. Several years later, in May 1982, Marr turned up on the doorstep of Morrissey's house, there to ask Morrissey if he was interested in co-founding a band. Marr had been impressed that Morrissey had authored a book on the New York Dolls, and was inspired to turn up on his doorstep following the example of Jerry Leiber, who had formed his working partnership with Mike Stoller after turning up at the latter's door. According to Morrissey: "We got on absolutely famously. We were very similar in drive."[52] The next day, Morrissey phoned Marr to confirm that he would be interested in forming a band with him. Steve Pomfret—who had served as the band's first bassist—soon abandoned the band, to be replaced by Dale Hibbert. Around the time of the band's formation, Morrissey decided that he would be publicly known only by his surname, with Marr referring to him as "Mozzer" or "Moz". In 1983 he forbade those around him from using the name of "Steven", which he despised. Morrissey was also responsible for choosing the band name of "The Smiths", later informing an interviewer that "it was the most ordinary name and I thought it was time that the ordinary folk of the world showed their faces". Alongside developing their own songs, they also developed a cover of the Cookies' "I Want a Boy for My Birthday", the latter reflecting their deliberate desire to transgress established norms of gender and sexuality in rock in a manner inspired by the New York Dolls. In August 1982, they recorded their first demo at Manchester's Decibel Studios, and Morrissey took the demo recording to Factory Records, but they weren't interested. In late summer 1982, Mike Joyce was adopted as the band's drummer after a successful audition. In October 1982 they then gave their first public performance, as a support act for Blue Rondo à la Turk at Manchester's The Ritz. Hibbert however was unhappy with what he perceived as the band's gay aesthetic; in turn, Morrissey and Marr were unhappy with his bass playing, and so he was removed from the band and replaced by Marr's old school friend Andy Rourke. After the record company EMI turned them down, Morrissey and Marr visited London to hand a cassette of their recordings to Geoff Travis of the independent record label Rough Trade Records. Although not signing them to a contract straight away, he agreed to cut their song "Hand in Glove" as a single. Morrissey chose a homoerotic cover design in the form of a Jim French photograph. It was released in May 1983. It was championed by DJ John Peel, as were all their later singles, but it failed to chart.[citation needed] The band soon generated controversy when Garry Bushell of tabloid newspaper The Sun alleged that their B-side "Handsome Devil" was an endorsement of paedophilia. The band denied this, with Morrissey stating that the song "has nothing to do with children, and certainly nothing to do with child molesting". In the wake of their single, the band performed their first significant London gig, gained radio airplay with a John Peel session, and obtained their first interviews in music magazines NME and Sounds. The follow-up singles "This Charming Man" and "What Difference Does It Make?" fared better when they reached numbers 25 and 12 respectively on the UK Singles Chart.[72] Aided by praise from the music press and a series of studio sessions for Peel and David Jensen at BBC Radio 1, the Smiths began to acquire a dedicated fan base. In February 1984, they released their debut album, The Smiths, which reached number 2 on the UK Albums Chart.[72] As frontman of the Smiths, Morrissey—described as "lanky, soft-spoken, bequiffed and bespectacled" —subverted many of the norms that were associated with pop and rock music. The band's aesthetic simplicity was a reaction to the excess personified by the New Romantics, and while Morrissey adopted an androgynous appearance like the New Romantics or earlier glam rockers, his was far more subtle and understated. According to one commentator, "he was bookish; he wore NHS spectacles and a hearing aid on stage; he was celibate. Worst of all, he was sincere", with his music being "so intoxicatingly melancholic, so dangerously thoughtful, so seductively funny that it lured its listeners ... into a relationship with him and his music instead of the world." In an academic paper on the band, Julian Stringer characterised the Smiths as "one of Britain's most overtly political groups", while in his study of their work, Andrew Warns termed them "this most anti-capitalist of bands". Morrissey had been particularly vocal in his criticism of then-Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher; after the October 1984 Brighton hotel bombing, he commented that "the only sorrow" of it was "that Thatcher escaped unscathed". In 1988 he stated that Section 28 "embodies Thatcher's very nature and her quite natural hatred". The Smiths' growing success: 1984–1987 [ edit ] "The Smiths brought realism to their romance, and tempered their angst with the lightest of touches. The times were personified in their frontman: rejecting all taints of rock n' roll machismo, he played up the social awkwardness of the misfit and the outsider, his gently haunting vocals whooping suddenly upward into a falsetto, clothed in outsize women's shirts, sporting National Health specs or a huge Johnny Ray-style hearing aid. This charming young man was, in the vernacular of the time, the very antithesis of a 'rockist'—always knowingly closer to the gentle ironicist Alan Bennett , or self-lacerating diarist Kenneth Williams , than a licentious Mick Jagger or drugged-out Jim Morrison ." — Paul A. Woods, 2007. In 1984, the band released two non-album singles: "Heaven Knows I'm Miserable Now" (their first UK top-ten hit) and "William, It Was Really Nothing". The year ended with the compilation album Hatful of Hollow. This collected singles, B-sides and the versions of songs that had been recorded throughout the previous year for the Peel and Jensen shows. Early in 1985 the band released their second album, Meat Is Murder, which was their only studio album to top the UK charts. The single-only release "Shakespeare's Sister" reached number 26 on the UK Singles Chart, though the only single taken from the album, "That Joke Isn't Funny Anymore", was less successful, barely making the top 50.[72] "How Soon Is Now?" was originally a B-side of the 1984 single "William, It Was Really Nothing", and was subsequently featured on Hatful of Hollow and the American, Canadian, Australian and Warner UK editions of Meat Is Murder. Belatedly released as a single in the UK in 1985, How Soon Is Now? reached number 24 on the UK Singles Chart. During 1985, the band undertook lengthy tours of the UK and the US while recording the next studio record, The Queen Is Dead. The album was released in June 1986, shortly after the single "Bigmouth Strikes Again". The record reached number 2 in the UK charts.[72] However, all was not well within the band. A legal dispute with Rough Trade had delayed the album by almost seven months (it had been completed in November 1985), and Marr was beginning to feel the stress of the band's exhausting touring and recording schedule.[82] Meanwhile, Rourke was fired in early 1986 for his use of heroin.[83] Rourke was temporarily replaced on bass guitar by Craig Gannon, but he was reinstated after only a fortnight. Gannon stayed in the band, switching to rhythm guitar. This five-piece recorded the singles "Panic" and "Ask" (with Kirsty MacColl on backing vocals) which reached numbers 11 and 14 respectively on the UK Singles Chart,[72] and toured the UK. After the tour ended in October 1986, Gannon left the band. The band had become frustrated with Rough Trade and sought a record deal with a major label, ultimately signing with EMI, which drew criticism from some of the band's fanbase.[82] In early 1987, the single "Shoplifters of the World Unite" was released and reached number 12 on the UK Singles Chart.[72] It was followed by a second compilation album, The World Won't Listen, which reached number 2 in the charts[72] – and the single "Sheila Take a Bow", the band's second (and last during the band's lifetime) UK top-10 hit.[72] Despite their continued success, personal differences within the band – including the increasingly strained relationship between Morrissey and Marr – saw them on the verge of breaking up. In July 1987, Marr left the band and auditions to find a replacement proved fruitless. By the time that the band's fourth album Strangeways, Here We Come was released in September, the band had broken up. The breakdown in the relationship has been partly attributed to Morrissey's annoyance with Marr's work with other artists and to Marr's growing frustration with Morrissey's musical inflexibility.[citation needed] Morrissey attributed the band's break-up to the lack of a managerial figure—in a 1989 interview with then-teenage fan Tim Samuels.[84] Strangeways peaked at number 2 in the UK, but was only a minor US hit,[72][85] though it was more successful there than the band's previous albums. Solo career [ edit ] Early solo work: 1988–1991 [ edit ] Several months before the Smiths dissolved, Morrissey enlisted Stephen Street as his personal producer and new songwriting partner, with whom he could begin his solo career. By September 1987, he had begun work on his first solo album, Viva Hate, at Wool Hall Studios near Bath; it was recorded with the musicians Vini Reilly and Andrew Paresi. Rather than featuring pre-existing images of celebrities, as the Smiths' album and single covers had done, the cover sleeve of Viva Hate featured a photograph of Morrissey taken by Anton Corbijn. In February 1988, EMI released the first single from this album, "Suedehead", which reached number 5 on the British singles chart, a higher position than any Smiths' single had achieved. The second single from the album, "Everyday Is Like Sunday", was released in June and reached number 9. The album reached number 1 on the UK album charts. The album's final song, "Margaret on the Guillotine", featured descriptions of Thatcher being executed; in response, the Conservative Member of Parliament Geoffrey Dickens accused Morrissey of being involved in a terrorist network and police Special Branch conducted a search of his Manchester home. Morrissey's first solo performance took place at Wolverhampton's Civic Hall in December 1988. The event attracted huge crowds, with NME journalist James Brown observing that "the excitement and atmosphere inside the hall was like nothing I have ever experienced at any public event". Following Viva Hate, Morrissey put out two new singles; "The Last of the Famous International Playboys" was about the Kray twins, gangsters who operated in London's East End, and reached number 6 on the UK singles chart. This was followed by "Interesting Drug", which reached number 9. After his songwriting partnership with Street ended and was replaced by Alan Winstanley and Clive Langer, he recorded "Ouija Board, Ouija Board", released as a single in November 1989; it reached number 18. Christian spokespeople and tabloid newspapers condemned the song, claiming that it promoted occultism, to which Morrissey responded that "the only contact I ever made with the dead was when I spoke to a journalist from The Sun." With Winstanley and Langer he began work on his second album, Bona Drag, although only recorded six new songs for it, the rest of the album comprising his recent singles and B-sides. The album reached number 9 on the UK album chart. Two of the newly recorded Bona Drag tracks were released as singles: "November Spawned a Monster", a song about a wheelchair-bound woman, reached number 12 in the charts but received criticism from some who believed that it mocked the disabled. The second, "Piccadilly Palare", referenced London rent boys and featured terms from the polari gay slang. Released in November 1990, it reached number 19 in the charts. The song attracted some criticism from the British gay press, who were of the opinion that it was wrong for Morrissey to utilise polari when he was not openly gay; in an interview the previous year he had nevertheless acknowledged his attraction to both men and women. Morrissey sold out The Forum in Los Angeles in fifteen minutes Adopting Mark E. Nevin as his new songwriting partner, Morrissey created his third solo album, Kill Uncle; released in March 1991, it peaked at number 8 on the album chart. The two singles released in promotion of the album, "Our Frank" and "Sing Your Life", failed to break the Top 20 on the singles charts, reaching number 26 and 33 respectively.[105] Another of the album's tracks, "Found, Found, Found", alluded to Morrissey's friendship with Michael Stipe, the lead singer of American indie rock band REM. Planning his first solo tour, Morrissey assembled several musicians with a background in rockabilly for his new backing group, including the guitarist Boz Boorer, Alain Whyte, and Spencer Cobrin. Morrissey began the Kill Uncle tour in Europe; he brought Phranc as his support act and decorated the stage of each performance with a large image of Edith Sitwell. On the US leg of his tour, he sold out Los Angeles' 18,000 seat The Forum in fifteen minutes, faster than Michael Jackson or Madonna had done. During the performance, David Bowie joined him onstage for a rendition of T.Rex's "Cosmic Dancer". In the US, he sold out 25 of his 26 other performances; one Texan appearance was filmed by Tim Broad for release as the VHS Live in Dallas. He proceeded to Japan—where he was frustrated by the authorities' tough stance toward fans—and then Australasia, where he cancelled several dates due to acute sinusitis. The early 1990s were described by biographer David Bret as the "black phase" in Morrissey's relationship with the British music press, which was increasingly hostile and critical of him. In some cases, this involved the press spreading misinformation, such as the claim that he and Phranc were recording a cover of "Don't Go Breaking My Heart"; others, such as those of Barbara Ellen in NME, were closer to personal attack than musical review. NME claimed that his cancelled performances reflected a disrespect towards his fans. He became increasingly reticent in talking to British music journalists, expressing frustration at how they constantly compared his solo work with that of the Smiths; "my past is almost denying me a future". He told one interviewer that the band he was then working with were technically better musicians than the Smiths had ever been. Changing image: 1992–1995 [ edit ] In July 1992, Morrissey released the album Your Arsenal, which peaked at number 2 in the album chart. It was the final release from producer Mick Ronson; Morrissey related that working with Ronson had been "the greatest privilege of my life". Your Arsenal reflected Morrissey's lament for what he regarded as the decline of British culture in the face of increasing Americanisation. He told one interviewer that "everything is informed by American culture - everyone under fifty speaks American - and that's sad. We once had a strong identity and now that's gone completely". A number of the tracks on the album, most notably "Certain People I Know" and "The National Front Disco", dealt with the lives and experiences of tough, working-class youths. Your Arsenal was critically well received, and often described as his best album since Viva Hate. The first single, "We Hate It When Our Friends Become Successful", had been released in April 1992 and peaked at number 17; this was followed by "Certain People I Know", which reached number 34, and "You're the One for Me, Fatty", which reached number 19. From September to December, Morrissey embarked on a 53-date Your Arsenal tour in which he varyingly decorated the stage with backdrops of Diana Dors, Elvis Presley, and Charlie Richardson. One of the performances was recorded and released as Beethoven Was Deaf. "The ones who listen to the entire song, the way I sing it, and my vocal expression know only too well that I'm no racist and glorifier of xenophobia. The phrase 'England for the English' [used in the song] is in quotes, so those who call the song racist are not listening. The song tells of the sadness and regret that I feel for anyone joining such a movement [as the far-right National Front]." — Morrissey, on "The National Front Disco". By the release of Your Arsenal, Morrissey's image had changed; according to Simpson, the singer had converted "from the aesthete interested in rough lads into a rough lad interested in aestheticism (and rough lads)". According to Woods, Morrissey developed an air of "quietly assured masculinity", representing "a more robust, burlier, beefier version of himself", while the poet and Morrissey fan Simon Armitage described the transition as being one from that of "stick-thin, knock-me-over-with-a-feather campness" to that of a "mobster and bare-knuckle boxer image".[130] This new image was reflected in the cover art for Your Arsenal; a photograph taken by Sterling, it featured Morrissey onstage with his shirt open, displaying a muscular torso beneath. Various sources accused Morrissey of racism for making reference to the National Front, a far-right political party, in his song "The National Front Disco"; this criticism ignored the ironic context of the song, which pitied rather than glorified the party's supporters. According to Bret, these and other allegations of racism typically entailed decontextualising lyrics from Morrissey songs such as "Bengali in Platforms" and "Asian Rut". NME also accused Morrissey of racism on the basis of the imagery he employed during his 1992 performance at the Madstock festival in North London's Finsbury Park; Morrissey included images of skinhead girls as a backdrop and wrapped himself in a Union flag. Conversely, these actions resulted in him being booed offstage by a group of neo-Nazi skinheads in the audience, who believed that he was appropriating skinhead culture. The York Hall boxing venue, which Morrissey frequented in the mid-1990s In mid-1993, Morrissey co-wrote his fifth album, Vauxhall and I, with Whyte and Boorer; it was produced by Steve Lillywhite. Morrissey described the album as "the best I've ever made", and at the time believed it would be either his final or penultimate work. It was both a critical and commercial success, topping the UK album chart. The album had been named for Vauxhall, a district of South West London famous for the Royal Vauxhall Tavern gay pub. One of the album's songs, "The More You Ignore Me, the Closer I Get", was released as a single in March and reached number 8 in the UK. The single's sleeve featured images of Jake Walters, a skinhead in his twenties, who was living with Morrissey at the time. Walters had introduced Morrissey to York Hall, a boxing venue in Bethnal Green, part of London's East End, with the singer spending an increasing amount of time there. That year, he also released a non-album single, "Interlude", a duet with Siouxsie Sioux: the track was a cover of a Timi Yuro song. The record was published under the banner "Morrissey & Siouxsie"; due to record company issues, "Interlude" was only available on import outside Europe.[142] In the autumn of 1994, Morrissey recorded five songs at South London's Olympic Studios. In January 1995, the single "Boxers" was released, reaching number 23 on the singles chart. In February 1995 he embarked on the Boxers tour, supported by the band Marion and featuring a backdrop depiction of the boxer Cornelius Carr. One of these performances was filmed by James O'Brien and released as the VHS Introducing Morrissey. In December 1995, the song "Sunny" was released as a single; a lament for Morrissey's terminated relationship with Walters, the song was the first of Morrissey's singles not to chart. In 1995 the compilation album World of Morrissey was released, containing largely B-sides. Move to Los Angeles: 1995–2003 [ edit ] After his contract with EMI expired, Morrissey signed to RCA. On this label, he recorded his next album, Southpaw Grammar, at the Miraval Studios in southern France before releasing it in August 1995. Its cover art featured an image of the boxer Kenny Lane. It reached number 4 in the UK album charts, although made little impact compared to its two predecessors. It is generally regarded as one of Morrissey's weaker albums. In September 1995, Morrissey served as the support act for the European leg of Bowie's Outside Tour. Backstage at the Aberdeen gig, Morrissey was taken ill and taken to hospital; he did not return for the rest of the tour. Later referring to the tour critically, he stated that "you have to worship at the Temple of David when you become involved" with Bowie. In December 1996, a legal case against Morrissey and Marr brought by Smiths' drummer Joyce arrived at the High Court. Joyce alleged that he had not received his fair share of recording and performance royalties from his time with the band, calling for at least £1 million in damages and 25% of all future Smiths album sales. After a seven day hearing, the judge ruled in favour of Joyce.[156] In summing up the case, Judge Justice Weeks referred to Morrissey as "devious, truculent and unreliable when his own interests were at stake", with the words "devious" and "truculent" being widely used in press coverage of the ruling. Marr paid the money legally owed to Joyce but Morrissey launched an appeal against the ruling. He claimed that the judge had been biased against him from the start of the proceedings because of the critical comments that he had made about Margaret Thatcher. Morrissey lost his appeal in July 1998, although he launched another soon after; this too was unsuccessful.[160] In a November 2005 statement, Morrissey said that Joyce had cost him £600,000 in legal fees alone and approximately £1,515,000 in total.[161] Morrissey returned on Island Records in 1997, releasing the single "Alma Matters" in July,[citation needed] followed by his next album Maladjusted in August. The album peaked at number 8 in the UK album charts. Its further two singles, "Roy's Keen" and "Satan Rejected My Soul" both peaked outside the top 30 on the UK singles chart.[105] Having been unhappy with the cover design for Southpaw Grammar, Morrissey left control of cover art of Maladjusted to his record company, but again was unsatisfied with the result. In 1998, Uncut reported that Morrissey no longer had a record deal.[164] In 1999, he embarked on a tour called "Oye Esteban" and was one of the headliners of the Coachella Festival in California.[165] The tour extended to Mexico and South America.[citation needed] "The England that I have loved, and I have sung about, and whose death I have sung about, I felt had finally slipped away. And so I was no longer saying, 'England is dying.' I was beginning to say, 'Well, yes, it has died and here's the carcass'—so why hang around?" — Morrissey, on his move to Los Angeles. Leaving Britain, Morrissey purchased a house in Lincoln Heights, Los Angeles. It had formerly been the residence of Carole Lombard and had been re-designed by William Haines. Over the next few years he rarely returned to Britain. In 2002, Morrissey returned with a world tour, culminating in two sold-out nights at the Royal Albert Hall, during which he played as-yet unreleased songs.[168] Outside the US and Europe, concerts also took place in Australia and Japan.[169] During this time, Channel 4 filmed The Importance of Being Morrissey, a documentary which aired in 2003; it was Morrissey's first major screen interview to appear on British television.[171] He told interviewers that he was working on an autobiography, and expressed criticism of reality television music shows like Pop Idol which were then in their infancy. Morrissey signed to Sanctuary Records, where he was given the defunct reggae label Attack Records to use for his next project.[175] Produced by Jerry Finn and recorded in both Los Angeles and Berkshire, Morrissey's seventh solo album was You Are the Quarry; it was released in May 2004. The album's cover art featured an image of Morrissey carrying a machine gun. It peaked at number 2 on the UK album chart and number 11 on the Billboard album chart in the United States.[105] The first single, "Irish Blood, English Heart", reached number 3 in the UK singles chart, the highest ranked single of his career. Promoting the album, he made appearances on both Top of the Pops and Later with Jools Holland, and gave his first television interview in 17 years on Friday Night with Jonathan Ross; Morrissey was visibly uncomfortable with Jonathan Ross' questions. He also agreed to interviews with various press outlets, including the NME, stating that "the nasty old guard" who controlled the magazine in the 1990s were gone and that it was not "the smelly NME any more". To promote the album, Morrissey embarked on an accompanying world tour from April to November.[182] He marked his 45th birthday with a concert at the Manchester Arena, supported by Franz Ferdinand; it was recorded for release as the DVD Who Put the M in Manchester?.[citation needed] Morrissey was also invited to curate that year's Meltdown festival at London's Southbank Centre. Among the acts he secured were Sparks, Loudon Wainwright III, Ennio Marchetto, Nancy Sinatra, The Cockney Rejects, Lypsinka, The Ordinary Boys, The Libertines, and playwright Alan Bennett. He had unsuccessfully attempted to secure appearances from Brigitte Bardot and Maya Angelou. That year he also performed at several UK music festivals, including Leeds, Reading, and Glastonbury. Morrissey performing in 2006 Morrissey's eighth studio album, Ringleader of the Tormentors, was recorded in Rome and released on 3 April 2006. It debuted at number 1 in the UK album charts and number 27 in the US.[187][188] The album yielded four hit singles: "You Have Killed Me", "The Youngest Was the Most Loved", "In the Future When All's Well", and "I Just Want to See the Boy Happy". Originally Morrissey was to record the album with producer Jeff Saltzman; however, he could not undertake the project. Tony Visconti, of T.Rex and David Bowie fame, took over production and Morrissey announced that the album was "the most beautiful—perhaps the most gentle—so far". Billboard described the album as showcasing "a thicker, more rock-driven sound".[189] Morrissey sued NME for libel over a 2007 article published by the outlet. In the article, NME criticised Morrissey after he allegedly told a reporter that British identity had disappeared because of immigration.[190] He was quoted as saying: "It's very difficult [to return to England] because, although I don't have anything against people from other countries, the higher the influx into England the more the British identity disappears. ... the gates of England are flooded. The country's been thrown away."[191][192] His manager described the article as a "character assassination".[190][193] In 2008, The Word apologised in court for a piece written by David Quantick, which commented on the 2007 NME article and suggested Morrissey was a racist. Morrissey accepted The Word's apology.[194] The legal suit against NME began in October 2011 after Morrissey won a pre-trial hearing.[195] Morrissey's case against NME editor Conor McNicholas and publisher IPC was due to have been heard in July 2012.[196] In June 2012, the parties settled the dispute with NME issuing a public apology. Morrissey's lawyer said that "no money was sought as part of a settlement. ... The NME apology in itself is settlement enough and it closes the case."[192] In early 2007, Morrissey left Sanctuary Records and embarked on a Greatest Hits tour. The tour ran from 1 February 2007 to 29 July 2008 and spanned 106 concerts over eight different countries. Morrissey cancelled 11 of these dates, including a planned six consecutive shows at the Roundhouse in London, due to "throat problems".[citation needed] The tour consisted of three legs: the first two, encompassing the US and Mexico, with support from Kristeen Young, and the third covering Europe and Israel, with support from Girl in a Coma. After a show in Houston, Texas, Morrissey rented Sunrise Sound Studio to record "That's How People Grow Up". The song was recorded with producer Jerry Finn as a future single and for inclusion on an upcoming album. In an interview on BBC Radio 5 Live with Visconti, the producer stated that his new project would be Morrissey's next album, though that this would not be forthcoming for at least a year. However, in an interview with the BBC News website in October 2007, Morrissey said that the album was already written and ready for a possible September 2008 release and confirmed that his deal with Sanctuary Records had come to an end.[197] In December 2007, Morrissey signed a new deal with Decca Records, which included a Greatest Hits album and a newly recorded album to follow in autumn 2008.[198] Morrissey released "That's How People Grow Up" as the first single from his new Greatest Hits album. It reached number 14 on the British charts.[187] One reviewer noted that the album only includes songs which reached the Top 15 in the charts, putting the emphasis on new songs and making the CD more suitable for new listeners than for old fans.[199] The album charted at number 5 in the British album chart on its week of release.[187] A second single from the Greatest Hits, "All You Need Is Me", was released in March. Morrissey at SXSW in 2006 On 30 May 2008, it was announced that Morrissey's ninth studio album, Years of Refusal, would be produced by Jerry Finn.[200] On 5 August 2008 it was reported that, although originally due in September, Years of Refusal had been postponed until February 2009, as a result of Finn's death and the lack of an American label to distribute the album.[201] On 15 August 2008, Warner Music Entertainment announced the upcoming release of Morrissey: Live at the Hollywood Bowl, a DVD of the live performance that took place at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles on 8 June 2007.[202] Morrissey greeted news of the DVD's release by imploring fans not to buy it.[203] This DVD has never been released. In November 2008, Rolling Stone magazine ranked Morrissey as 92nd of "The 100 Greatest Singers of All Time". The list was compiled from ballots cast by a panel of 179 "music experts", such as Bruce Springsteen, Alicia Keys and Bono, who were asked to name their 20 favourite vocalists.[204] In an interview with London radio station Xfm, Morrissey stated that "chances were slim" that he would continue performing past the age of 55.[205] Years of Refusal was released worldwide on 16 February 2009 by the Universal Music Group, reaching number 3 in the UK Albums Chart[206] and 11 in the US Billboard 200.[207] The record was widely acclaimed by critics,[208] with comparisons made to Your Arsenal[209] and Vauxhall and I.[210] A review from Pitchfork Media noted that with Years of Refusal, Morrissey "has rediscovered himself, finding new potency in his familiar arsenal. Morrissey's rejuvenation is most obvious in the renewed strength of his vocals" and called it his "most venomous, score-settling album, and in a perverse way that makes it his most engaging".[210] "I'm Throwing My Arms Around Paris" and "Something Is Squeezing My Skull" were released as the record's singles. The song "Black Cloud" features the guitar playing of Jeff Beck. Throughout 2009 Morrissey toured to promote the album. As part of the extensive Tour of Refusal, Morrissey followed a lengthy US tour with concerts booked in Ireland, Scotland, England, Russia.[211] He had never before performed in Russia. In 2009, remastered editions of 1995's Southpaw Grammar and 1997's Maladjusted were released.[212][213] These both featured a rearranged track listing with the inclusion of B-sides and outtakes, as well as new artwork and liner notes written by Morrissey.[214] In October 2009, a 2004–2009 B-sides collection, named Swords was released.[215] The album peaked at 55 on the UK albums chart, and Morrissey later called the compilation "a meek disaster".[216] On the second date of the UK tour to promote Swords, Morrissey collapsed with breathing difficulties after the opening song of his set, "This Charming Man", at the Oasis Centre, Swindon.[217] He was discharged from the hospital the following day.[218] Following the Swords tour, it was announced that Morrissey had fulfilled his contractual obligation to Universal Records and was without a record company.[219] In October 2010, EMI reissued the 1990 album Bona Drag on its Major Minor imprint, resurrected specifically for the release. The release featured six additional previously unreleased tracks, and reached number 67 in the UK charts.[220] The 1988 single "Everyday Is Like Sunday" was also reissued to coincide with the release on both CD and 7" vinyl formats.[221] Touring and autobiography: 2011–2013 [ edit ] Morrissey during his performance at the Hop Farm Festival 2011 In April 2011, EMI issued a new compilation, Very Best of Morrissey, whose track list and artwork were chosen by Morrissey. The single "Glamorous Glue" was released the same week with two previously unreleased songs.[222] In March 2011, it was announced that Morrissey was now under the management of Ron Laffitte.[223] In June and July 2011, Morrissey played a UK tour,[224] mainly consisting of small venues in the north of Britain; played the Glastonbury Festival and headlined the Hop Farm Festival.[223] In July and August he toured venues in Europe and played two festival dates, Hultsfred Festival in Sweden and the Lokeren Festival in Belgium.[225] During his performance at Glastonbury in 2011, Morrissey criticised the UK prime minister, David Cameron, for attempting to stop the ban on wild animals performing in circuses, calling him a "silly twit".[226] On 14 June 2011, Janice Long premiered three new Morrissey songs in session on her BBC Radio 2 programme; "Action Is My Middle Name", "The Kid's a Looker", and "People Are the Same Everywhere".[227] Morrissey's 2012 tour started in South America and continued through Asia and North America. Morrissey played concerts in Belgium, Italy, Greece, Turkey, Israel, Portugal, England, and Scotland. In late September, while visiting Strand Bookstore in Manhattan, he saved an elderly lady who had fainted beside him.[228] On 12 November 2012, Morrissey announced that he would be continuing his North American tour adding 32 cities beginning in Greenvale, New York on 9 January and ending in Portland, Oregon on 8 March.[229] Patti Smith and her band were special guests at the Staples Center concert in Los Angeles, and Kristeen Young opened on all nights.[230] In late January 2013, following hospital treatment Morrissey was diagnosed with a bleeding ulcer and the several engagements were re-scheduled.[231] On 7 March, Morrissey was hospitalised again, this time with pneumonia in both lungs.[232] One week later, it was finally announced that the rest of the tour had been cancelled.[233] During his rehabilitation he spent time in Ireland, where he watched the country's football team play a match against Austria in the company of his cousin Robbie Keane.[234][235] On 8 April, EMI reissued the single "The Last of the Famous International Playboys" backed by three new songs, "People Are the Same Everywhere", "Action Is My Middle Name", and "The Kid's a Looker", all recorded live in 2011.[236] In April, Morrissey announced that he would perform live shows in Mexico, Brazil, Argentina, Peru and Chile, starting from June.[237] In August, Morrissey's concert at Hollywood High School on 2 March 2013, had a worldwide cinema release. 25Live marks Morrissey's 25th year as a solo artist, and was the first authorised live Morrissey DVD in nine years.[238] On 22 July, Morrissey announced the cancellation of the South American leg of his tour due to a "lack of funding", saying it was "the last of many final straws".[239] On 17 October 2013, Morrissey's autobiography, titled Autobiography, was released after a "content dispute" had delayed it from the initial release date of 16 September 2013.[240] The book's release caused controversy as it was published as a "contemporary classic" under the Penguin Classic label at Morrissey's request, which some critics felt devalued the Penguin Classics label.[241][242] Morrissey had completed the 660-page book in 2011,[243] before shopping it to publishers such as Penguin Books[244] and Faber and Faber.[245] The book opened to divergent reviews with The Daily Telegraph giving it a five-star review that described it as "the best written musical autobiography since Bob Dylan's Chronicles", while The Independent criticised the book's "droning narcissism" as well as its status as a Penguin Classic.[246] The book entered the UK book charts at number 1 with nearly 35,000 copies being sold in its first week.[247] In December, a 2011 live cover version of Lou Reed's "Satellite of Love", was released as a single.[248] Debut novel, further album releases: 2014–present [ edit ] In January 2014, The Guardian reported that Morrissey was writing his debut novel.[249] That same month, it was announced that he had signed a two-record deal with Capitol Music, with recording to commence on 1 February in France.[250] His 10th studio album, World Peace Is None of Your Business, was released on 15 July.[251] Prior to its release, he embarked on a US tour in May[252] but was hospitalised in Boston in early June, and cancelled the remaining nine dates on the tour.[253] The title track of the album was issued as a digital download in May.[251] Three other songs, "Istanbul", "Earth Is the Loneliest Planet" and "The Bullfighter Dies" followed in subsequent weeks. The songs were promoted with spoken word videos, featuring Morrissey reciting the lyrics.[254] In August, Capitol Music and Harvest Records ended their contracts with Morrissey.[255] In October, he disclosed he had received treatment for Barrett's oesophageal cancer.[256][257] In March 2015, Morrissey released "Kiss Me a Lot" as the fifth single from World Peace Is None of Your Business. After finishing a six date tour in the UK, he did a US tour during June and July, including a concert in New York with special guest Blondie at Madison Square Garden.[258] In July 2015, he publicly claimed that an airport security guard had groped him at San Francisco International Airport. He filed a sexual assault complaint; the Transport Security Administration found no supporting evidence to act on the allegation.[257] Morrissey's first novel, entitled List of the Lost, was published on 24 September 2015 by Penguin Books.[259][260] Low in High School, his 11th studio album, was released in November 2017, through BMG and Morrissey's own Etienne record label.[261] Two shows at Los Angeles' Hollywood Bowl were scheduled for November.[262] Morrissey then announced his first UK tour since 2015. It began in Aberdeen and concluded in London.[263] In November 2018, Morrissey released a music video for his cover of the Pretenders' "Back on the Chain Gang" to promote a double-vinyl reissue of Low in High School announced for 7 December 2018.[264] The reissue features a new artwork and nine additional tracks.[265] On 7 November, he performed "Back on the Chain Gang" on The Late Late Show with James Corden.[266] In December 2018, he revealed the title and the track list of his 12th studio album, California Son, which will contain twelve covers.[267] Vocal and lyrical style [ edit ] Lyrics [ edit ] Morrissey Live at SXSW Austin in March 2006 Mark Simpson characterised Morrissey as "the anti-Pop Idol", representing "the last, greatest and most gravely worrying product of an era when pop music was all there was". Music journalist and biographer Johnny Rogan stated that Morrissey's oeuvre seems based on "endlessly re-examining a lost, painful past". Morrissey's lyrics have been described as "dramatic, bleak, funny vignettes about doomed relationships, lonely nightclubs, the burden of the past and the prison of the home".[270] According to Mark Simpson, there is a common feeling that his music's emphasis on the sadness of life is depressing. His lyrics are characterised by their usage of black humour, self-deprecation, and the pop vernacular. Many of his lyrics avoid mentioning the gender of the narrator, and thus provide both male and female listeners with multiple points of identification. Simpson felt that his lyrics often highlighted "the essential absurdity of gender". Discussing the Smiths' lyrics in 1992, Stringer highlighted that they placed great emphasis on the concept of Englishness, but added that unlike the contemporary Two-Tone and acid house movements, they focused on white England rather than exploring its multi-cultural counterpart. Although noting that during the 1980s emphasising white identity was a trait closely linked with right-wing politics, Stringer expressed the view that the Smiths represented "the only sustained response that white, English pop/rock music was able to make" against the Thatcher government's "appropriation of white, English national identity". His lyrics have expressed disdain for many elements of British society, including the government, church, education system, royal family, meat-eating, money, gender, discos, fame, and relationships. In his lyrics for the Smiths, Morrissey avoided explicit descriptions of the consummation of sex; rather, he sings about the anticipation, frustration, aversion, or final disappointment with sex. Stringer suggested that this deliberate avoidance of sex was a reflection of the band's 'Englishness' because it invoked English cultures' "lack of emotional expression, the way in which feelings, and especially sexual feelings, cannot be expressed directly through casual touch, body contact and so on". Male homoerotic elements can be found in many of the Smiths' lyrics, however these also included sexualised descriptions featuring women. Morrissey has described having "a macabre fascination" with violence. Simpson opined that Morrissey's lyrics "bleed and throb with violent imagery", citing the references to bus crashes and suicide pacts in "There is a Light that Never Goes Out", smashed teeth in "Bigmouth Strikes Again", and nuclear apocalypse in both "Ask" and "Everyday is Like Sunday". More broadly, Morrissey had a longstanding interest in thuggery, whether that be murderers, gangsters, rough trade, or skinheads. Performance style [ edit ] As a solo performer, Morrissey typically featured older imagery as his stage backdrop, as seen here at a 2011 performance in Berlin Morrissey's vocals have been cited as having a particularly distinctive quality. Simpson believed that Morrissey's work embodied and personified that of the "Northern Women", speaking in styles of vernacular language that would be common to many women living in northern England. In this he was strongly influenced by the Northern singer Cilla Black, who had a successful career as a pop music singer in the 1960s, as well as Viv Nicholson, who similarly earned fame during that decade. Other female singers from that decade who have been cited as an influence on Morrissey have been the Scottish Lulu, and the Essexer Sandie Shaw. However, Stringer noted that rather than expressly singing in a Mancunian working-class accent, Morrissey adopted a "very clipped, precise enunciation" and sang in "clear English diction". He is also noted for his unusual baritone vocal style (though he sometimes uses falsetto).[204] When performing onstage, he often whips his microphone cord about, particularly during his up-tempo tracks. Simpson believed that Morrissey often gave "slyly aggressive gestures" while onstage; he cited two instances from Top of the Pops, one in which Morrissey used hand gestures in order to pretend shooting at the audience during "Shoplifters of the World Unite" and another in which he turned his microphone cord into a hangman's noose while repeating the lyrics "Hang the DJ, hang the DJ" in the song "Panic". Rogan claimed that Morrissey exhibited "a power onstage which I have seldom seen from any other artiste of his generation", and that while performing he "oozes charisma, offering that peculiar combination of gauche vulnerability and athleticism". On various occasions, Morrissey has expressed anger when he believes that bouncers and the security teams at his concerts have treated the audience poorly. For instance, at his San Antonio concert as part of the Your Arsenal tour he stopped his performance to rebuke bouncers for hitting fans. Personal life [ edit ] Throughout his career, Morrissey has retained an intensely private personal life. A longtime resident of Los Angeles during the latter part of his solo career, he now maintains a number of homes, in Los Angeles, Rome, Switzerland, and the UK.[292] In 2017, Los Angeles declared 10 November "Morrissey Day".[293] Friends refer to him as "Morrissey", and he dislikes the nickname "Moz", telling one interviewer that "it's like something you'd squirt on the kitchen floor." Stringer characterised Morrissey as a man with various contradictory traits, being "an ordinary, working-class 'anti-star' who nevertheless loves to hog the spotlight, a nice man who says the nastiest things about other people, a shy man who is also an outrageous narcissist". He further suggested that part of Morrissey's appeal was that he conveyed the image of a "cultivated English gentleman (and being every inch the typically English 'gent' he is perfectly representative of that type's loathing for cant and hypocrisy, and his fragile, quasi-gay sexuality)". Similarly, Morrissey biographer David Bret described the singer as being "quintessentially English", while Simpson termed him a Little Englander. During the 1980s, interviewer Paul Morley stated that Morrissey "sets out to be a decent man and he succeeds because that is what he is." Eddie Sanderson, who interviewed Morrissey for the Mail on Sunday in 1992, said that "underneath all the rock star flim-flam, Morrissey is actually a very nice chap, excellent company, perfectly willing and able to talk about any subject one cared to throw at him". Having photographed him in 2004, the photographer Mischa Richter described Morrissey as "genuinely lovely". Morrissey is known for his criticism of meat eaters, the British music press, royalty, and politicians. According to Bret, his "withering attacks" on those he disliked are typically delivered in a "laid-back" manner. He is a lapsed Catholic, who has expressed criticism of the Roman Catholic Church. In 1991, he said that he believed in an afterlife. Morrissey is a cousin of Robbie Keane, Irish footballer and former captain of the Republic of Ireland national football team. He has said of Keane, "To watch him on the pitch—pacing like a lion, as weightless as an astronaut, is pure therapy."[303][304] He is also a fan of boxing. He has described suffering from clinical depression for which he has pursued professional help. Animal rights advocacy [ edit ] A vocal advocate on animal welfare and animal rights issues, Morrissey has been a vegetarian since the age of 11.[307] He has explained his vegetarianism by saying that "if you love animals, obviously it doesn't make sense to hurt them".[308] As of a 2015 interview with Larry King, Morrissey is a vegan.[309] In a 2018 interview, Morrissey stated that while he "refuse[s] to eat anything that had a mother" he has always had difficulties with food, claiming that he only eats bread, potatoes, pasta, and nuts.[310] Morrissey is a supporter of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA). In recognition of his support, PETA honoured him with the Linda McCartney Memorial Award at their 25th Anniversary Gala on 10 September 2005.[311] In 2012, he appeared in a PETA ad campaign, encouraging people to have their dogs and cats neutered to help reduce the number of homeless pets.[312] In 2014 PETA worked with animator Anna Saunders to create a cartoon called "Someday" in honour of Morrissey's 55th birthday. It contains Morrissey's song "I Know It's Gonna Happen Someday" and highlights the journey of a young chick.[313] In January 2006, Morrissey attracted criticism when he stated that he accepts the motives behind the militant tactics of the Animal Rights Militia, saying "I understand why fur-farmers and so-called laboratory scientists are repaid with violence—it is because they deal in violence themselves and it's the only language they understand".[314] Morrissey has criticised people in the UK who are involved in the promotion of eating meat, notably Jamie Oliver[315] and Clarissa Dickson Wright[316]—the latter already targeted by some animal rights activists for her stance on fox hunting. In response, Dickson Wright stated: "Morrissey is encouraging people to commit acts of violence and I am constantly aware that something might very well happen to me."[317] The Conservative MP David Davis criticised Morrissey's comments, saying that "any incitement to violence is obviously wrong in a civilised society and should be investigated by the police".[318] Morrissey has also criticised the British royal family for their involvement in fox hunting. On 27 March 2006, Morrissey released a statement that he would not include any concert dates in Canada on his world tour that year—and that he supported a boycott of Canadian goods—in protest against the country's annual seal hunt, which he described as a "barbaric and cruel slaughter".[319] On 20 September 2018, he announced that he would perform in Canada again, feeling that his previous "stance was ultimately of no use and helped no one", and pledged to donate to animal protection groups in the cities that he plays. He also invited those groups to set up stalls at his concerts.[320] During an interview with Simon Armitage in 2010, Morrissey said that "[y]ou can't help but feel that the Chinese are a subspecies" due to their "horrific" treatment of animals.[321] Armitage said: "He must have known it would make waves, he's not daft. But clearly, when it comes to animal rights and animal welfare, he's absolutely unshakable in his beliefs. In his view, if you treat an animal badly, you are less than human."[322] At a concert in Warsaw, Poland on 24 July 2011, Morrissey stated: "We all live in a murderous world, as the events in Norway have shown, with 97 [sic] dead. Though that is nothing compared to what happens in McDonald's and Kentucky Fried Shit every day,"[323] in reference to the attacks by Anders Breivik in Norway on 22 July, which resulted in the killing of 77 people. His statement was described as crude and insensitive by NME.[324] He later elaborated on his statement, saying: "If you quite rightly feel horrified at the Norway killings, then it surely naturally follows that you feel horror at the murder of ANY innocent being. You cannot ignore animal suffering simply because animals 'are not us.'"[325] In February 2013, after much speculation,[326] it was reported that the Staples Center had agreed for the first time ever to make every vendor in the arena 100% vegetarian for Morrissey's performance of 1 March, contractually having all McDonald's vendors close down. In a press release, Morrissey stated, "I don't look upon it as a victory for me, but a victory for the animals". The request was previously denied to Paul McCartney.[327][328] Despite these reports, the Staples Center retained some meat vendors while closing down McDonald's.[329] Later in February, Morrissey cancelled an appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live! after learning that the guests for that night also included the cast of Duck Dynasty, a show about a family who create duck calls for use in hunting. Morrissey referred to the cast as "animal serial killers".[330] In 2014, Morrissey stated that he believed there is "no difference between eating animals and paedophilia. They are both rape, violence, murder."[331] In September 2015, he expressed his revulsion at the "Piggate" scandal, saying that if the Prime Minister, David Cameron, had inserted "a private part of his anatomy" into the mouth of a dead pig's severed head while at university, then it showed "a callousness and complete lack of empathy entirely unbefitting a man in his position, and he should resign".[332][333] Also in September, he called Australian politician Greg Hunt's campaign to cull 2 million cats "idiocy", describing the cats as smaller versions of Cecil the Lion.[334] Sexuality [ edit ] Morrissey's sexuality has been the subject of much speculation and coverage in the British press during his career, with claims varyingly being made that he was celibate, a frustrated heterosexual, or bisexual. In a 1980 letter, he described both himself and his girlfriend as bisexual, although adding that he "hate[d] sex". During his years with the Smiths, Morrissey professed to being celibate, which stood out at a time when much of pop music was dominated by visible sexuality. Marr said in a 1984 interview that Morrissey "doesn't participate in sex at the moment and hasn't done so for a while".[337] Repeatedly, interviewers asked Morrissey if he was gay, which he denied. In response to one such inquiry in 1985, he stated that "I don't recognise such terms as heterosexuality, homosexuality, bisexuality, and I think it's important that there's someone in pop music who's like that. These words do great damage, they confuse people and they make people feel unhappy so I want to do away with them." As his career developed, there was increased pressure placed on him to come out of the closet, although he presented himself as a non-practicing bisexual. In a 1989 interview, he revealed that he was "always attracted to men and women who were never attracted to me" and thus he did not have "relationships at all". In 2013, he released a statement which said, "Unfortunately, I am not homosexual. In technical fact, I am humasexual. I am attracted to humans. But, of course ... not many."[341] In 1997, he revealed that he had abandoned celibacy and that he had a relationship with a Cockney boxer. That person was revealed in his autobiography to be Jake Walters. Their relationship began in 1994 and they lived together until 1996.[343] In a March 2013 interview, Walters said, "Morrissey and I have been friends for a long time, probably around 20 years."[344] Morrissey was later attached to Tina Dehghani. He discussed having a child with Dehghani, with whom he described having an "uncluttered commitment".[343][345] In his autobiography, Morrissey also mentions a relationship with a younger Italian man, known only as "Gelato", with whom he sought to buy a house around 2006.[346][347] The Encyclopædia Britannica states that he created a "compellingly conflicted persona (loudly proclaimed celibacy offset by coy hints of closeted homosexuality)" which has "made him a peculiar heartthrob".[348] Speculation was further fuelled by the frequent references to gay subculture and slang in his lyrics. In 2006, Liz Hoggard from The Independent said: "Only 15 years after homosexuality had been decriminalised, his lyrics flirted with every kind of gay subculture."[349] Political opinions [ edit ] British politics [ edit ] Among the British leaders Morrissey has vocally criticised have been Elizabeth II and Margaret Thatcher In an academic paper on the Smiths, Julian Stringer characterised the band as "one of Britain's most overtly political groups", while Andrew Warns termed them the "most anti-capitalist of bands". Simon Goddard described Morrissey as being "pro-working class, anti-elite and anti-institution. That includes all political parties, parliament itself, all public schools, Oxbridge, the Catholic church, the monarchy, the EU, the BBC, the broadsheet press and the music press. Because his comments are not consistent with any one political agenda it confuses people, especially on the left. If anything, he's a professional refusenik."[350] Morrissey has exhibited enduring anti-royalist views from his teenage years and has fiercely criticised the British monarchy. In a 1985 interview with Simon Garfield, he stated that he had always "despised royalty" and that royalist sentiment is a "false devotion".[352] In a 2011 interview, he publicly identified as a republican, stating that he regarded the British royal family as "benefit scroungers and nothing else".[353] In a 2012 interview with Stephen Colbert he spoke out against the Diamond Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II, stating: "It was a celebration of what? 60 years of dictatorship. She's not [my Queen]. I'm not a subject."[354] Morrissey's first solo album, Viva Hate, included a track entitled "Margaret on the Guillotine", a jab at Margaret Thatcher. After her death in 2013, Morrissey called her "a terror without an atom of humanity" and said "every move she made was charged by negativity".[355] He described Thatcher's successor, John Major, as "no one's idea of a Prime Minister ... a terrible human mistake". During the Iraq War, he described George W. Bush and Tony Blair as "insufferable, egotistical insane despots". In February 2006, Morrissey stated he had been interviewed by the FBI and by British intelligence after speaking out against the American and British governments. He said: "They were trying to determine if I was a threat to the government ... it didn't take them long to realise that I'm not".[357] In 2010, he endorsed Marr's statement that Prime Minister David Cameron was forbade from liking the Smiths, criticising the Prime Minister's hobby of stag hunting.[358] In response to the 2017 Manchester Arena bombing, Morrissey criticised Prime Minister Theresa May, Mayor of London Sadiq Khan, Mayor of Greater Manchester Andy Burnham, and Elizabeth II for their statements regarding the bombing.[359][360] In 2013, he said that he "nearly voted" for the UK Independence Party, expressing his admiration for party leader Nigel Farage and endorsing his Euroscepticism regarding the UK's membership of the European Union.[361][362] In October 2016, he praised the UK's referendum on EU membership as "magnificent" and said the BBC had "persistently denigrated" supporters of the Leave campaign.[363] The following October he expressed the view that the 2017 UKIP leadership election had been rigged against anti-Islam activist Anne Marie Waters;[364] he endorsed Waters' new party, For Britain, in April 2018.[365] American politics [ edit ] At a Dublin concert in June 2004, Morrissey announced the death of Ronald Reagan and said he would have preferred if George W. Bush had died instead.[366] During a January 2008 concert, Morrissey remarked "God Bless Barack Obama" and criticised Hillary Clinton, naming her "Billary Clinton".[367] However in 2015, he accused Obama of not doing enough to tackle police brutality, stating he could not "see him doing anything at all for the black community except warning them that they must respect the security forces."[368] He endorsed Clinton in the 2016 US Presidential election,[257] although later criticised her as "the face and voice of pooled money" and praised Bernie Sanders as "sane and intelligent", accusing the US media of paying insufficient attention to his campaign. Morrissey denigrated Donald Trump as "Donald Thump" and accused him of not having any sympathy for the victims of the Orlando nightclub shooting.[369] When asked in a 2017 interview if he would push a button that would kill Trump if given the opportunity, he responded that he "would, for the safety of the human race."[370][371][372] He later said the United States Secret Service questioned him over his comments on Trump.[373] 2017 Der Spiegel interview [ edit ] Morrissey conducted an interview with German magazine Der Spiegel in November 2017. On the Me Too movement, he said: "I hate rape, I hate assault, I hate people being forced into a sexual situation. But in quite a few cases, you look at the situation and think that the people being described as victims are simply disappointed."[370][374] He defended Harvey Weinstein and Kevin Spacey, both of whom have been accused of sexual harassment and assault. Of Weinstein's alleged victims, he said, "Those people knew exactly what would happen [when they went up to Weinstein's hotel room], and they played along". He also criticized Anthony Rapp, who publicly accused Spacey of sexually assaulting him when he was 14; he said, "I don't find the whole thing very believable", and that "I think Spacey has been unnecessarily attacked".[370][374][375] After receiving criticism for the comments,[376] Morrissey accused Der Spiegel of misquoting him and said it would be his last print interview.[377][378] In response, the magazine released the full audio recording of the interview.[372] In the same Der Spiegel interview, Morrissey criticised German Chancellor Angela Merkel for her immigration policies, and stated: "When you try to introduce a multicultural aspect to everything, you end up with no culture. ... All European countries have fought for many, many years for their identity. And now it suddenly seems to be they are saying: 'Well, so what? Let's just throw it away. Anybody can do what they like to Germany. Anybody can do what they like to France.' I think that's quite sad."[370][372][379] Reception, legacy, and influence [ edit ] Bret has characterized him as an artist who divides opinion among those who love him and those who loathe him, with little space for compromise between the two. The press termed him the "Pope of Mope". Fandom [ edit ] Morrissey in 2006 Simpson stated that Morrissey had a global fan following that was unrivalled in its devotion to the singer, characterising this as "the kind of devotion that only dead stars command" normally. Morrissey's fans have been described as being among the most dedicated of pop and rock fans.[381] Music magazine NME considers Morrissey to be "one of the most influential artists ever", while The Independent says, "Most pop stars have to be dead before they reach the iconic status he has reached in his lifetime."[382] According to Bret, Morrissey's fanbase "religiously followed his every pitfall and triumph". Simpson highlighted an example during the U.S. leg of Morrissey's 1996 Maladjusted tour in which young men asked the singer to sign his autograph on their neck, which they subsequently had permanently tattooed into their skin. Rogan compared Morrissey to Wilde's character Dorian Gray "in reverse; while he slowly ages, his audience remains young". Rogan also noted that while onstage, Morrissey "revels in the messianic adoration" of his fans. Soon after achieving national fame, Morrissey became a gay icon,[385] with Bret noting that by the start of his solo career, Morrissey already had a "massive gay following". This development was influenced by the speculation around his own sexual orientation, his lyrics that dealt with such subjects as age-gap sex and rent boys, as well as the Smiths' heavy use of gay and camp imagery on their record covers. Morrissey's gay following was not restricted to Western countries, for he remained popular within the Japanese gay community as well. The film 25 Live evidences a particularly strong following amongst the singer's Latino/Chicano fans.[388] In various countries, fanzines were established devoted to him. There are a number of Morrissey fansites. In the early 2000s, Morrissey issued a "cease and desist" notification against the fan website Morrissey-Solo for publishing claims, never proven, that Morrissey had failed to pay members of his touring personnel.[389] In 2011, he issued a lifetime concert ban against the site owner who, it was claimed, had caused "intentional distress to Morrissey and Morrissey's band" over a number of years.[390] Another fansite, True-To-You, enjoys a close relationship with Morrissey and functioned as his official website for statements until May 2017.[391] In April 2018, Morrissey launched his own website, Morrissey Central.[392] Influence [ edit ] Morrissey is routinely referred to as an influential artist, both in his solo career and with the Smiths. The BBC has referred to him as "one of the most influential figures in the history of British pop",[393] and NME named the Smiths the "most influential artist ever" in a 2002 poll, even topping the Beatles.[394] Rolling Stone, naming him one of the greatest singers of all time in a recent poll, noted that his "rejection of convention" in his vocal style and lyrics is the reason "why he redefined the sound of British rock for the past quarter-century".[204] Morrissey's enduring influence has been ascribed to his wit, the "infinite capacity for interpretation" in his lyrics,[270] and his appeal to the "constant navel gazing, reflection, solipsism" of generations of "disenfranchised youth", offering unusually intimate "companionship" to broad demographics.[395] Paul A. Woods described Morrissey as "Britain's unlikeliest rock 'n' roll star in several decades", noting that at the same time he was also "its most essential". Bret described him as "probably the most intellectually gifted and imaginative lyricist of his generation", listing him alongside Leonard Cohen, Bob Dylan, and Jacques Brel as being one of "the monstres sacrés". "Bookish, reclusive-but-pugnacious—avowedly celibate—with an almost Puritan disdain for cheap glamour and armed with a deeply unhealthy interest in language, wit and ideas Morrissey succeeded in perverting pop music for a while and making it that most absurd of things, literary. Some were moved to talk of how much Morrissey owed that blousy Anglo-Irish nineteenth-century torch-singer and stand-up comedian Oscar Wilde, the 'first pop star'. Arguably, poor Oscar was merely an early failed and somewhat overweight prototype for Morrissey." — Mark Simpson, 2004. Journalist Mark Simpson calls Morrissey "one of the greatest pop lyricists—and probably the greatest-ever lyricist of desire—that has ever moaned" and observes that "he is fully present in his songs as few other artists are, in a way that fans of most other performers ... wouldn't tolerate for a moment." Simpson also argues that "After Morrissey there could be no more pop stars. His was an impossible act to follow ... [his] unrivalled knowledge of the pop canon, his unequaled imagination of what it might mean to be a pop star, and his breathtakingly perverse ambition to turn it into great art, could only exhaust the form forever".[399] In 2006, Morrissey was voted the second greatest living British icon in a poll held by the BBC's Culture Show.[400] The All Music Guide to Rock asserts that Morrissey's "lyrical preoccupations", particularly themes dealing with English identity, proved extremely influential on subsequent artists.[401] Journalist Phillip Collins also described him as a major influence on modern music and "the best British lyricist in living memory".[402] In 1998 he received an Ivor Novello Award for Outstanding Contribution to British Music from the British Academy of Songwriters, Composers and Authors.[403] In 2002, NME, by this point a critic of Morrissey, nevertheless considered him to be the "most influential artist ever". In 2004, Q gave him its best songwriter award. Other scholars have responded favourably to Morrissey's work, including academic symposia at various universities including University of Limerick[406] and Manchester Metropolitan University.[407] Gavin Hopps, a research fellow and literary scholar at the University of St Andrews, wrote a full-length academic study of Morrissey's work, calling him comparable to Oscar Wilde, John Betjeman, and Philip Larkin, and noting similarities between Morrissey and Samuel Beckett.[408] Morrissey performing in 2011 The British Food Journal featured an article in 2008 that applied Morrissey's lyrics to building positive business relationships.[409] A book of academic essays edited by Eoin Devereux, Aileen Dillane and Martin Power, Morrissey: Fandom, Representations and Identities, which focuses on Morrissey's solo career, was published in 2011.[410] He is regarded as an important innovator in the indie music scene;[395] while in 2004, Pitchfork Media called him "one of the most singular figures in Western popular culture from the last 20 years."[411] A Los Angeles Times critic wrote that Morrissey "patented the template for modern indie rock" and that many bands playing at the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival "would not be there—or at least, would not sound the same—were it not for him".[412] Similarly, the critic Steven Wells called Morrissey "the man who more or less invented indie" and an artist "who more than anybody else personifies" indie culture.[413] Stephen Thomas Erlewine of Allmusic writes that the Smiths and Morrissey "inspired every band of note" in the Britpop era, including Suede, Blur, Oasis, and Pulp.[414] Other major artists including Jeff Buckley[415] and Thom Yorke[204] have also been influenced by Morrissey. Colin Meloy of the Decemberists, who recorded a 2005 EP of Morrissey covers titled Colin Meloy Sings Morrissey, acknowledged Morrissey's influence on his songwriting: "You could either bask in that glow of fatalistic narcissism, or you could think it was funny. I always thought that was an interesting dynamic in his songwriting, and I can only aspire to have that kind of dynamic in my songs".[416] Brandon Flowers of the American rock band The Killers has revealed his admiration for Morrissey on several occasions and admits that his interest for writing songs about murder such as "Jenny Was a Friend of Mine" and "Midnight Show" traces back to Morrissey singing about loving "the romance of crime" in the song "Sister I'm a Poet". Flowers was quoted as saying, "I studied that line a lot. And it's kind of embedded in me".[417] Noel Gallagher called Morrissey "the best lyricist I've ever heard". A 2017 biopic of Morrissey's early years, titled England Is Mine, was written and directed by Mark Gill and stars Jack Lowden.[419][420] The film, which co-stars Jessica Brown Findlay, premiered at the closing gala of the Edinburgh Film Festival on 2 July 2017 and went into wide release in the UK and US in August 2017.[421] Awards and nominations [ edit ] Brit Awards Year Nominee / work Award Result 1995 Himself Best British Male Nominated 2005 Nominated GAFFA Awards Year Nominee / work Award Result 2004 Himself Årets Udenlandske Sanger Won Grammy Awards Year Nominee / work Award Result 1993 Your Arsenal Best Alternative Music Album Nominated Ivor Novello Awards Year Nominee / work Award Result 1998 Himself Outstanding Contribution to British Music Won Lunas del Auditorio Year Nominee / work Award Result 2007 Himself Best Foreign Rock Artist Nominated MOJO Awards Year Nominee / work Award Result 2004 Himself Icon Award Won 2005 Inspiration Award Nominated Meteor Music Awards Year Nominee / work Award Result 2005 Himself Best International Male Won 2010 Nominated NME Awards Year Nominee / work Award Result 1984 Himself Best Songwriter Won 1985 Won Best Dressed Won Best Haircut Won Best Male Singer Won 1986 Won Most Wonderful Human Being Won 1987 Won Best Male Singer Won Safe Sex Won 1988 Favourite NME Cover Of 1988 Won Most Wonderful Human Being Won Best Solo Artist Won 1989 Won 1990 Won 1991 Won 1992 Won 2005 Nominated Hero of the Year Nominated Hottest Man Nominated 2006 Morrissey: Who Put the M in Manchester Best Music DVD Nominated PLUG Awards Year Nominee / work Award Result 2006 Morrissey: Who Put the M in Manchester Best Music DVD of the Year Nominated Q Awards Year Nominee / work Award Result 1994 Himself Q Songwriter Award Won 2004 "Irish Blood, English Heart" Best Track Nominated Rober Awards Music Poll Year Nominee / work Award Result 2013 "Satellite of Love" Best Cover Version Nominated 2014 Himself Comeback of the Year Won Personnel [ edit ] Current members Boz Boorer – guitar (1991–present) Jesse Tobias – guitar (2005–present) Matt Walker – drums (2007–present) Gustavo Manzur – keyboards (2012–present) Mando Lopez – bass guitar (2014–present) Discography [ edit ] The Smiths [ edit ] Solo [ edit ] Publications [ edit ] Publications by Morrissey [ edit ] Publications with contributions by Morrissey [ edit ] References [ edit ] Bibliography [ edit ] Bannister, Matthew (2006). " ' Loaded': Indie Guitar Rock, Canonism, White Masculinities". Popular Music. 25 (1): 77–95. doi:10.1017/s026114300500070x. JSTOR 3877544. Bret, David (2004). Morrissey: Scandal and Passion. London: Robson Books. ISBN 978-1-86105-787-7. Goddard, Simon (2006). The Smiths: Songs That Saved Your Life (revised ed.). London: Reynolds and Hearn. ISBN 978-1-905287-96-3. Rogan, Johnny (1992). Morrissey and Marr: The Severed Alliance. London: Omnibus Press. ISBN 978-0-7119-1838-2. Simpson, Mark (2004). Saint Morrissey. London: SAF Publishing. ISBN 0-946719-65-9. Stringer, Julian (1992). "The Smiths: Repressed (But Remarkably Dressed)". Popular Music. 11 (1): 15–26. doi:10.1017/s0261143000004815. JSTOR 853224. Warnes, Andrew (2008). "Black, White and Blue: The Racial Antagonism of the Smiths' Record Sleeve". Popular Music. 27 (1): 135–149. doi:10.1017/s0261143008001463. JSTOR 40212448. Woods, Paul A. (2007). "Morrissey Needs No Introduction". Morrissey in Conversation: The Essential Interviews. Paul A. Woods (ed.). London: Plexus. pp. 5–8. ISBN 0-85965-394-3.
Tuesday January 13, 2015 Toronto, ON – The Canadian Hockey League today announced that Pittsburgh Penguins prospect Tristan Jarry of the Edmonton Oil Kings is the Vaughn CHL Goaltender of the Week for the week ending January 11 after posting a 2-0-0-0 record with a goals-against-average of 1.00 and save percentage of .971. Jarry earns the award for a second time this season turning aside 67 shots in a pair of wins for the Oil Kings who hold onto fourth place in the WHL’s Central Division standings. Jarry received first star of the game honours on Friday night with 36 saves in a 4-1 win over the Regina Pats, then made 31 saves on Sunday as second star of a 4-1 win over the Swift Current Broncos. Jarry, a 19-year-old from Delta, BC, is playing in his fourth career WHL season with the Oil Kings. Selected by the Penguins in the second round of the 2013 NHL Draft, Jarry currently carries a 15-14-2-2 record with a goals-against-average of 2.56 and save percentage of .914. Also considered for the award this week was Lucas Peressini of the Kingston Frontenacs with a pair of victories posting a goals-against-average of 1.92 and save percentage of .955, and Alex Dubeau of the Moncton Wildcats who won twice with a goals-against-average of 1.92 and save percentage of .933. 2014-15 Vaughn CHL Goaltenders of the Week: Jan. 5 – Jan. 11: Tristan Jarry (Edmonton Oil Kings) Dec. 29 – Jan. 4: Adin Hill (Portland Winterhawks) Dec. 15 – Dec. 28: Étienne Montpetit (Val’d’Or Foreurs) Dec. 8 – Dec. 14: Troy Timpano (Sudbury Wolves) Dec. 1 – Dec. 7: Ken Appleby (Oshawa Generals) Nov. 24 – Nov. 30: Tristan Jarry (Edmonton Oil Kings) Nov. 17 – Nov. 23: Jake Smith (North Bay Battalion) Nov. 10 – Nov. 16: Lucas Peressini (Kingston Frontenacs) Nov. 3 – Nov. 9: Brent Moran (Niagara IceDogs) Oct. 27 – Nov. 2: Landon Bow (Swift Current Broncos) Oct. 20 – Oct. 26: Jackson Whistle (Kelowna Rockets) Oct. 13 – Oct. 19: Philippe Cadorette (Baie-Comeau Drakkar) Oct. 6 – Oct. 12: Landon Bow (Swift Current Broncos) Sept. 29 – Oct. 5: Zach Sawchenko (Moose Jaw Warriors) Sept. 22 – Sept. 28: Charlie Graham (Belleville Bulls)
Recently I worked on an email campaign with an opt-in list that hadn’t seen any contact for nearly a year. It was for a small company that gave up on email marketing because it wasn’t seeing any real results. I expected to see a lot of bounces, several spam reports, and a low open rate. I was surprised at the final report: The core report shows us the campaign was sent to 2,453 subscribers. As expected, about 20% of the email addresses bounced. What wasn’t expected was only three spam reports and 16 opt outs. That’s pretty good for a company that was likely forgotten by many of the recipients. The open rate was a healthy 21.4%! In fact, save for the bounce rate, all the numbers were better than the average reported for the online/offline retail industry by Constant Contact. According to the solution provider, the average open rate for this industry is 18.01% (and that’s with regular mailings). The average click rate is 13.99%, though this client’s campaign received a rate of 23.7%. The spam-report rate average is .21%, and this campaign had a rate of .12%. What does this show us? That it’s never too late to reach out to your email list and re-introduce yourself. A few key points: The mailing sent did include some important information to remind subscribers who the company is and why they had originally subscribed. This included: A personal message from the company’s manager. A reminder that the recipient had signed up for the mailing list. A special offer exclusive to the subscribers. Last week I sent out a similar email to the subscribers of a list one of my own companies runs. That list hadn’t been touched in about 18 months (we were totally restructuring everything). While that site is still going through the revamp, the mailing invited people to sign up for the mailing list for this site. The results of this email were also above average and the mailing list for this website grew. My company’s list was much larger, yet less than 20 people opted-out, and there were fewer spam reports. If you’ve been sitting on a list of opt-in subscribers, now’s the time to remind them about who you are and what you do. Worst case scenario is they opt out of your mailings for good. Don’t wait, though – the longer you do, the better the chance of them ignoring your message.
: A non-numeric value encountered inon line: A non-numeric value encountered inon line Popularity in beard growth has essentially skyrocketed over the past few years, which of course has given everyone ample opportunity to attempt successful beard growth. Beards are fairly commonplace now with a multitude of individuals from different sects within the community sporting facial hair of different types. Hipsters tend to prefer stylizing their beards and moustaches, making a more profound and apparent statement. More athletically inclined individuals are drawn to beards as well, though there is a tendency to keep the facial hair short, trim, and uniform. Some people firmly adhere to the ideological concept of “go big or go home,” and they have long beards that require a lot of commitment to take care of. Regardless of the kind of beard someone has, it is imperative to take steps to care for your facial hair when the winter threatens to wreak havoc. Step One: Invest in Beard Oil Unless you’ve been living under a rock for your beard’s entire life, it seems unlikely that you’ve never heard of or used beard oil before. Beard oil is this combination of different oils, such as olive, grapeseed, vitamin e, apricot, jojoba, and argan oils. These are used for keeping the hair from splitting or breaking, keeping it soft and smooth, and keeping the aesthetic. This common combo for oils is often paired with fragrances that invoke images of woods, trees, and forests. Cedar is the most popular fragrance associated with beard oil. The important thing about beard oil is that it will keep your facial hair properly secure against the drying effects of cold weather. Step Two: Maintain a Trim Cold weather can cause a lot of complications when it comes to hair. It can cause dryness, flaking, split ends, and all sorts of nightmares. This is not the kind of treatment you want your beard to undergo. This means keeping the beard trimmed. You don’t have to cut it all off, or have a crisis over the length of the beard, but it would be helpful to the cause for you to keep the ends trimmed. They will split, they will be dry, and they will be the hardest to take care of under these circumstances. Therefore, by maintaining a routine cut of the last quarter inch of the beard, you are promoting healthy growth and strong individual hairs comprising the beard. Step Three: Conditioner Some guys don’t even bother to condition their hair, which is quite frankly ludicrous, but that indicates that they probably wouldn’t even consider conditioning their beard. The truth of the matter is, conditioner helps keep hair soft and healthy. It detangles and prevents knots, all of which are potential problems for beards, especially in the winter.
Cineplex Community Day: Free Movies at 9 AM + Regular Popcorn, Fountain Drink & Selected Candy For $2 Each on October 24! this offer is expired Update (10/15): The list of movies is now up! Mark your calendars as Cineplex's annual Community Day is coming up soon! This year, Community Day will be held on Saturday, October 24. If you've never been to a Community Day, here's what to expect: free movies starting at 9 AM and regular popcorn, regular fountain drink and selected candy available for just $2 each. All proceeds from concession stand purchases will go to Free The Children. Doors open at 8:30 AM so you can grab your snacks ahead of time and line up to get the best seats. This offer should be available across all Cineplex theatres in Canada. Here's a list of the movies you can check out for free: Despicable Me 2 (3D) Fast & Furious 6 The Lorax (3D) Pitch Perfect Dumb & Dumber To Hop Thanks to jasonchan for posting this one in our forums!
Disclaimer: This is only a translation of an announcement posted on KTERA’s Official Nexon Site. This was posted by a GM 26 hours after the Developer’s Note about the new GvG Raid and Guild System was posted. Hello, this is GM Lukina (Fun Fact: her mascot is that pink bunny Elin.) Yesterday on June 22nd (Wed) we’ve posted a GM note about GvG Raid and Guild System updates. We’ve heard many voices regarding some parts in the update. Among them, there seemed to be inconveniences regarding the Guild Bank so I’d like to share some of the plans that will be implemented ahead of time. Due to Guild Level System update, many personal guild bank users have pointed out that this will only cause inconveniences. To compensate the lack of bank space, as there will be difficulties in using guild bank, we are planning to make changes as stated below.
Madeleine Thien Wins the 2016 Scotiabank Giller Prize November 8, 2016 Madeleine Thien has been named the winner of the $100,000 Scotiabank Giller Prize for her novel, Do Not Say We Have Nothing, published by Alfred A. Knopf Canada. The announcement was made at a black-tie dinner and award ceremony hosted by Steve Patterson, attended by nearly 500 members of the publishing, media and arts communities. The gala awards were broadcast by CBC and live-streamed on CBCBooks.ca. Madeleine Thien has been named the winner of the $100,000 Scotiabank Giller Prize for her novel, Do Not Say We Have Nothing, published by Alfred A. Knopf Canada. The announcement was made at a black-tie dinner and award ceremony hosted by Steve Patterson, attended by nearly 500 members of the publishing, media and arts communities. The gala awards were broadcast by CBC and live-streamed on CBCBooks.ca. This year the prize celebrates its 23rd anniversary. The esteemed five-member jury panel made up of Lawrence Hill (jury chair), Samantha Harvey, Jeet Heer, Alan Warner and Kathleen Winter selected the shortlist and ultimate winner. Of the winning book, the jury wrote: "Do Not Say We Have Nothing by Madeleine Thien entranced the jurors with its detailed, layered, complex drama of classical musicians and their loved ones trying to survive two monstrous insults to their humanity: Mao Zedong's Cultural Revolution in mid-twentieth century China and the Tiananmen Square massacre of protestors in Beijing in 1989. Do Not Say We Have Nothing addresses some of the timeless questions of literature: who do we love, and how do the love of art, of others and ourselves sustain us individually and collectively in the face of genocide? A beautiful homage to music and to the human spirit, Do Not Say We Have Nothing is both sad and uplifting in its dramatization of human loss and resilience in China and in Canada." Madeleine Thien is the author of the story collection Simple Recipes, which was a finalist for the Commonwealth Writers' Prize, a Kiriyama Pacific Prize Notable Book, and won the BC Book Prize for Fiction; the novel Certainty, which won the Amazon.ca First Novel Award; and the novel Dogs at the Perimeter, which was shortlisted for Berlin's 2014 International Literature Award and won the Frankfurt Book Fair's 2015 Liberaturpreis. Her novels and stories have been translated into twenty-five languages, and her essays have appeared in Granta, The Guardian, the Financial Times, Five Dials, Brick and Al Jazeera. Her story "The Wedding Cake" was shortlisted for the prestigious 2015 Sunday Times EFG Short Story Award. Do Not Say We Have Nothing won the 2016 Governor General’s Literary Award. The daughter of Malaysian-Chinese immigrants to Canada, she lives in Montreal. During tonight’s award ceremony, guests enjoyed a performance by Canadian R&B singer/songwriter Jully Black and a roster of celebrity presenters ─ Catherine Reitman, Gordon Pinsent, Amanda Parris, Ins Choi, Tanya Tagaq and Annie Murphy ─ introduced the shortlisted authors and presented video profiles highlighting the nominated books. Listen to CBC Radio's q tomorrow at 10 a.m. ET for an interview with Madeleine Thien and relive the gala at CBCBooks.ca. Ask the author your questions about her book during a live Twitter chat hosted by @GillerPrize on November 10 at 2:00 p.m. ET using the hashtag #GillerWinner. Images from tonight's gala will be available on the Media Resources page at www.scotiabankgillerprize.ca. Partnerships & Events In a new and exclusive partnership with World Literacy Canada (WLC), the winner of the 2016 Scotiabank Giller Prize will appear in the WLC 2017 Kama Reading Series. WLC (worldlit.ca) has over 60 years of experience serving women and children in an effort to reduce poverty through literacy. The winner of the Scotiabank Giller Prize will be given an opportunity to explore, expand, and develop their practice during a two-week, self-directed residency in Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity's exclusive Leighton Artists' Colony. Banff Centre is Canada's leading destination for arts training and is located in the heart of Banff National Park. About the Prize The Scotiabank Giller Prize strives to highlight the very best in Canadian fiction year after year. The prize awards $100,000 annually to the author of the best Canadian novel or short story collection published in English and $10,000 to each of the finalists. The award is named in honour of the late literary journalist Doris Giller and was founded in 1994 by her husband, Toronto businessman Jack Rabinovitch. Visit us at www.scotiabankgillerprize.ca About Scotiabank Through our global community investment strategy, Scotiabank and its employees support causes at a grassroots level. Recognized as a leader for our charitable donations and philanthropic activities, in 2015, Scotiabank contributed $67 million to help our communities around the world. Scotiabank is Canada's international bank and a leading financial services provider in North America, Latin America, the Caribbean and Central America, and Asia-Pacific. We are dedicated to helping our 23 million customers become better off through a broad range of advice, products and services, including personal and commercial banking, wealth management and private banking, corporate and investment banking, and capital markets. With a team of more than 88,000 employees and assets of $907 billion (as at July 31, 2016), Scotiabank trades on the Toronto (TSX: BNS) and New York Exchanges (NYSE: BNS). Scotiabank distributes the Bank's media releases using Marketwired. For more information, please visit www.scotiabank.com and follow us on Twitter @ScotiabankViews. About CBC/Radio-Canada CBC/Radio-Canada is Canada's national public broadcaster and one its largest cultural institutions. We are Canada's trusted source of news, information and Canadian entertainment. Deeply rooted in communities all across the country, CBC/Radio-Canada offers diverse content in English, French and eight aboriginal languages. We also provide international news and information from a uniquely Canadian perspective. About Banff Centre Founded in 1933, Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity is a learning organization built upon an extraordinary legacy of excellence in artistic and creative development. What started as a single course in drama has grown to become the global organization leading in arts, culture, and creativity across dozens of disciplines. From our home in the stunning Canadian Rocky Mountains, Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity aims to inspire everyone who attends our campus - artists, leaders, and thinkers - to unleash their creative potential and realize their unique contribution to society through cross-disciplinary learning opportunities, world-class performances, and public outreach. www.banffcentre.ca About World Literacy Canada World Literacy Canada (WLC) is a registered charity with a successful 60 year record of educational development work in Canada and around the world. WLC employs a collaborative, community-led approach to program delivery with a focus on women and their children. The Kama Reading Series is WLC's annual event series held in support of its literacy programs. The series runs from January to May with one evening of readings per month, featuring Canada's most celebrated and most promising authors. 2017 marks the 25th anniversary year of the Kama Reading Series. Visit www.worldlit.ca for more information. About Cineplex Cineplex Inc. ("Cineplex") is one of Canada's leading entertainment companies and operates one of the most modern and fully digitized motion picture theatre circuits in the world. A top-tier Canadian brand, Cineplex operates numerous businesses including theatrical exhibition, food service, amusement gaming, alternative programming (Cineplex Events), Cineplex Media, Cineplex Digital Media, The Rec RoomTM and the online sale of home entertainment content through CineplexStore.com and on apps embedded in various electronic devices. Cineplex is also a joint venture partner in SCENE - Canada's largest entertainment loyalty program. Cineplex is headquartered in Toronto, Canada, and operates 165 theatres with 1,683 screens from coast to coast, serving approximately 77 million guests annually through the following theatre brands: Cineplex Cinemas, Cineplex Odeon, Cineplex VIP Cinemas, Galaxy Cinemas, SilverCity Cinemas, and Scotiabank Theatres. Cineplex also owns and operates the UltraAVXTM, Poptopia, and Outtakes brands. Cineplex trades on the Toronto Stock Exchange under the symbol CGX. More information is available at Cineplex.com. Media Enquiries Elana Rabinovitch, Scotiabank Giller Prize elana@scotiabankgillerprize.ca T - 416 275 5418 Kristin McCleister, Public, Corporate and Government Affairs, Scotiabank Kristin.mccleister@scotiabank.com T - 416 933 0646
Netflix Inc. (NFLX) is a video streaming giant that provides more than 100 million users with syndicated as well as original TV shows and movies. Since its humble beginnings as a mail-order movie and TV show delivery service in 1997, the company has come a long way, effectively killing its biggest competitor Blockbuster Entertainment. Netflix went public on May 23, 2002, and an investment of $990 on Netflix's initial public offering, or IPO, date of May 23, 2002, would have generated over $310,000 after stock splits. that's a gain of 31,260% Early Investment in Netflix If you invested $990 right after Netflix's IPO, assuming you purchased each share of Netflix at its IPO price of $15, you would have 66 shares. Netflix did not continue higher; instead, it traded in a downtrend until early October 2002, where it hit a low of $4.85. But things turned around for the company and the early investors. 2004 Two-for-One Netflix Stock Split On Feb. 11, 2004, Netflix closed at $71.96 per share. On Feb. 12, 2004, Netflix issued a two-for-one stock split, so those 66 shares would double to become 132 shares. On Feb. 12, 2005, Netflix closed at $37.30 per share. The investment of $990 would have been worth $4923.60, a return on investment, ROI, of 397%. Thereafter, Netflix had its ups and downs but overall the stock kept climbing crossing one price milestone after another. Source: FactSet 2015 Seven-for-One Netflix Stock Split Nearly 11 years later, Netflix reported its quarterly earnings and shares made a new all-time high. The company was announced another stock split, this time, a seven-for-one stock split, on July 15, 2015. On July 15, 2015, your 132 shares would become 924 shares. On the date of the stock split, Netflix closed at $98.13 per share. The total position was worth $90,672.12 at the close, a 9058% increase over the initial investment amount. Present-Day Value From a Netflix IPO Investment
START TRANSCRIPT >> Good morning or evening, folks, whichever applies. This here’s Craig Burton with another installment of Clean Shot, where we bring you the latest news and updates from all around this crazy ’verse to help you make the best of that long haul through life. To kick things off on a personal note, you all can probably tell that my usual calming voice sounds more like a combine trying to chew up some metal. Well, Mia May’s been sick so it was only a matter a time before me and the Missus got it too. Right now, it feels like I’m gargling glass, but hey, I’d be damned if I let a bug get between me and all you fine people. So, in short, sorry I’m sick, let’s get down to business. We’re gonna get started with the latest security and safety updates for the systems in a segment my producer wants to call TroubleZone … I don’t know. I’m still waffling on it. Anyway, today’s TroubleZone … is brought to you by Hardpoint Guys. One of the most trusted names in ship parts in the UEE for over fifty years, Hardpoint Guys is committed to bringing you the best in thrusters, avionics and power plants without cleaning out your accounts. Go into any of their local stores and mention Clean Shot to get an additional ten percent off their already low prices. Hardpoint Guys. Who else you gonna trust? Here’s some of the hotspots you should probably avoid if you can help it: First up, Leir system. Looks like the Outsiders on Leir II (or Mya) are shutting down their imports for a little while. Got a tip from long-time listener Calico that unless you have a firm contract, you should not attempt to land. They ain’t gonna just wave you off neither, they just won’t respond. Now I don’t know if this is some religious thing or what, but we’ll do our part to keep an eye on the situation and let you know one way or the other what’s happening. Next, we’re gonna bounce over to Garron system. Now, any of you folks out there who travel through Garron on the reg know that it can be a tense system to move through. While normally, when Garron comes up on this show, it’s because some Vanduul raiders decided to poke the UEE defenses. This time, it’s something different. We got some severe pirate activity bouncing up from the Nul system that’s actively targeting cargo ships. I don’t know if some pack’s set up shop or if they’re of the hit-n-move variety, but if your route has to take you through Garron keep those shields juiced and those engines max. Finally, we got Nexus system. Trouble’s been brewing in the Nexus system, which shouldn’t come as much of a surprise, but this time it’s not from the pirates. It’s from the local police. The crew of the Atala Grey reported that they were stopped by local police between Nexus IV and V, who claimed that they had received a tip that they were transporting illegal goods. When the crew complied, the cops rooted through their cargo and took what they wanted. Now, despite our rough history, deep down I’m a friend of the Law, so this really frays my fibers. I guess we’ll see how long this stays a problem because if the tip’s made its way to the Spectrum, I can’t imagine that these corrupt thugs will be enjoying their authority too much longer. Anyway, that’s all we got. I’ll be honest, I’m still not sold on TroubleZone as a name, but I can see my producer giving me the evil eye, so I guess we’ll keep it for now. Anyway, we’re gonna take a quick break and sort out some words from our fine sponsors. When we get back we’re gonna take a long look at Banshee and see if their latest discovery of palladium alloys is worth making a trip all the way down there. You’re on the Clean Shot, so settle in, we’re just getting started.
It is an undeniable fact that individuals with chronic pain have a higher prevalence rate of suicide than the general population. Tang and Crane (2006) summarized the results of 12 articles examining correlations between suicide and chronic pain, concluding that individuals with chronic pain are twice as likely to die by suicide than the general population. More specifically, approximately 5-14% of individuals with chronic pain attempt suicide, and about 20% report some level of suicidal ideation. One of my counseling clients who has experienced chronic pain for the past three years recently told me, “I keep praying that God will take me home as I sleep. I would never kill myself, but I just need a break.” In my work as a counselor, I have found that passive suicidal thoughts such as these are the norm among individuals undergoing constant physical suffering. Although I have never contemplated suicide, my own experience with chronic pain has been eye-opening regarding how people can get to the place of either active or passive suicidal thoughts. Before pain, the thought of suicide seemed foreign and strange. After dealing with long periods of uncontrolled pain, it is not hard for me to see how people find themselves in a place of hopeless that drifts into suicidal intentions. I am currently reading a book entitled Myths About Suicide by Thomas Joiner, and it has been eye-opening in understanding some of the finer nuances of why individuals with pain and illness die by suicide. Joiner’s theory is that individuals die by suicide due to the merging of three key factors in their lives: perceived burdensomeness, failed belongingness, and learned fearlessness. When these three factors converge, individuals are able to move past the ingrained human desire for self-preservation to a place in which death is no longer feared. Not only is death no longer feared, but it becomes seen as a better option than life. As I considered these three factors, it became apparent why suicide is such an immense risk for individuals facing severe and ongoing illness and pain. Factor #1: Perceived Burdensomeness Most individuals with pain or illness feel like a burden. There are so many things we can no longer do and so many tasks others must take over for us. Perhaps we can no longer work and contribute financially. Perhaps, we can’t get around on our own and need constant and close caretaking. Wherever we fall on the spectrum of disability, we can’t shake the feeling that we are burdensome to our families and our friends. When this feeling of burdensomeness becomes strong enough, individuals begin weighing the costs and benefits of life versus death in terms of how it will affect family and loved ones. They begin to wonder, “Would it be more beneficial for the people around me if I were dead than my current state of being alive?” Factor #2: Failed Belongingness Many individuals with severe pain and illness struggle to maintain a sense of belongingness. Joiner describes failed belongingness as “the feeling that one is alienated from others and not an integral part of a family, circle of friends, or other valued group” (Joiner, 2011). This sense of alienation happens for many reasons among individuals with severe pain and illness. Perhaps most significantly, moving into community becomes difficult to impossible when physical limitations leave individuals bedbound, homebound, or severely limited in their mobility. Many times, groups of people are centered around activities, and those with pain and illness become alienated because they are no longer able to engage in activities that once made them feel as though they belonged. Friends leave, families drift away, and it becomes difficult to find people to relate to when you aren’t up and doing what everyone else is doing. Factor #3: Learned Fearlessness Learned fearlessness is a process of habituation that occurs when individuals go through long-term painful situations. Joiner explains it this way: “past experience with injury, pain, and the like creates a familiarity and fearlessness, which, if combined with desire for death, can prove fatal” (p. 21). Individuals with severe pain and illness have no choice but to become acquainted with injury and pain. There is no possible way not to experience it. Over and over again, they are desensitized to physical suffering. The thought of death begins to lose its terror because they have faced so many physical terrors already. In the end, severe and unending pain and illness lead to an erosion of the natural fear of dying. Some Possible Solutions Here are some of my initial thoughts on what all this might mean for prevention of suicide among individuals with pain and illness. When it comes to learned fearlessness, individuals with chronic pain and illness need real relief from their physical and emotional suffering. The process of habituation that occurs due to sustained exposure to severely undermanaged pain and symptoms can often be avoided, to some extent, if physical pain is taken seriously. Patients with pain and illness need doctors and nurses and other medical professionals to believe their pain is real and believe it is actually as bad as they say it is. They need counselors and friends who will walk with them through their emotional pain, recognizing it as a real and important issue, but not blaming their pain on their emotional status. They need pain management options and doctors who are willing to try over and over again to bring sustained relief. Individuals with severe pain need opioids and other medicines that are often stigmatized, and they need to be able to take them without being labeled addicts. Anecdotal evidence reported by the Pain News Network suggests that the new CDC opioid guidelines could be leading to an increase in deaths by suicide among individuals with chronic pain. According to the Pain News Network, many of their readers have written in, explaining that their doctors have decreased or cut off treatment, leading some of them to consider suicide as a better option than years of uncontrolled pain. Something needs to be done. When it comes to failed belongingness, individuals with chronic pain and illness need real community to welcome them in. Community is so hard to find for individuals with severe pain and illness. Sometimes it is impossible for them to go into community, and they desperately need community to come to them. They need family, friends, church members, anyone who is willing, to come and be with them. An acquaintance once approached me several years ago and asked if I needed help with anything. Did I need help getting to doctor’s appointments? Someone to clean my house? Could they do anything for me? I responded that what I actually really needed at that time was company. Would they be willing to come visit me because I was feeling incredibly isolated and unable to get out and be around people. My schedule was flexible, and they could let me know a good time for them. It was so strange. The moment I asked for this kind of help, the conversation stopped. They never followed up, never said anything further about my request. Perhaps this was because visiting someone doesn’t necessarily seem like offering help. But it is. It may be the most important thing that can be offered to people isolated because of physical pain and symptoms. People with severe pain and illness need relief from suffering, but more importantly they need people who will walk with them through their suffering that will not be going away. When it comes to perceived burdensomeness, individuals with chronic pain and illness need to believe their value does not come from what they are able to do or contribute. In considering burdensomeness, I think it is important to recognize that burdens do exists. Yes, sometimes we perceive ourselves as burdensome when this is not the case. But, if we are going to deal with this topic honestly, we have to recognize that our pain represents a cost to the people around us. Yet here is the important difference. You carry a great burden, but you are not a burden. A burden is not who you are, it does not define you. It does not determine your value or your worth. Every single person who has ever lived will carry burdens, and some people must carry bigger burdens than others. So often we devalue people who carry bigger burdens, when really our response should be to carry one another’s burdens in love, each of us using the measure of strength we have been given. We carry each other’s burdens because this is part of who we were created to be – those who serve one another in love. And we do this back and forth, for each other. Those who are healthy do what those who are sick cannot. Those who are sick care for their caretakers as well, proving a listening ear, showing interest in their life, looking out for their needs, and encouraging them to ask for help. If you are considering suicide, know that the people around you would not be better off without you. Who you are is not measured by how much you are able to accomplish or do. From the moment you were born, you were filled with great value and great worth, given to you by God that can never be taken away, no matter how bad the pain becomes, no matter how long the pain persists. If you are experiencing suicidal thoughts, please call The National Suicide Hotline at 1-800-273-8255. (Want to learn more about pain management and how to address the physical, spiritual, and emotional impact of chronic pain? Life in Slow Motion offers online courses for people with chronic pain. Check out What Really Helps People With Chronic Pain, an eight-week self-management course held several times per year.) Joiner, T. (2011) Myths About Suicide. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press Tang N. K. Y. and Crane, C. (2006). Suicidality in chronic pain: A review of prevalence, risk factors, and psychological links. Psychological Medicine, 36(5), 575-586. Check out the first booklet in the Chronic Pain and the Christian Life series, But God Wouldn’t I Be More Useful to You If I Were Healthy, on Amazon.com.
Last year, I reviewed Apple’s new iPad Pro and found that it was not quite the laptop replacement that we had hoped for. But with the tablet that Apple announced last week, the company is closer than ever, especially once iOS 11 is released. I tested the device for several days, on the road and at home. Apple lent me a 10.5-inch iPad Pro, which is the newest size — up from 9.7 inches, which has been the basic screen size for the iPad since it was introduced. Apple also has a refreshed 12.9-inch iPad Pro. But the smaller iPad Pro, the company said, has become a customer favorite. [Five others announcements Apple made at its developers conference last week] The bulk of the iPad's upgrade involves screen improvements. The display’s size bump is noticeable, particularly when watching video, but it hasn’t added much to the device’s weight. (At about a pound, it’s still pretty light.) The larger screen makes typing easier, though for serious work you will still want to use the keyboard cover or another external keyboard. In fact, as with the previous generation of the iPad Pro, the tablet is best when you add accessories. That probably means Apple’s $159 smart keyboard case as well as the $99 Pencil, if you’re looking to sketch. Those are costs you should consider on top of the iPad Pro’s $649 starting price tag (for a tablet with 64 gigabytes of storage). The screen is the key component of the tablet, of course. Apple has improved the iPad’s screen with something it calls ProMotion, which essentially optimizes your iPad’s screen to display whatever you’re looking at. Text is sharper. Video playback is smoother. Scrolling through a page feels less floaty, with a less noticeable blur in text as you race by and a more immediate clarity when you stop. These are all small things — if you didn’t know that the iPad Pro had a more responsive screen, you might not pick up on it. I’m not sure I would have sensed that without being told to look for it. Still, it’s a change worth noting because it improves your experience looking at the screen, particularly if you’re doing a lot of online reading on the tablet. With the addition of an Apple Pencil, the screen’s improvements get a little more noticeable. As a person who still takes a lot of notes with paper and ink, I’m always interested when companies claim that their tech can replace my ever-growing pile of notebooks. With this iPad Pro, Apple comes closer than ever to simulating that experience. It’s more than adequate for jotting down notes during a meeting or for writing a reminder. The new size is certainly a plus if you’re considering using the iPad Pro as a laptop replacement. For creative work and digital note-taking, you’ll notice even less latency than before, which is saying something. But, in one big way, reviewing the iPad Pro now as a device for real work would be telling only half the story. The real changes to the iPad Pro — and all of Apple’s iOS 11-compatible iPads — will come with the release of iOS 11 in the fall. Based on the demonstrations Apple has shared, the software update will make the iPad much more like a laptop, using Apple’s familiar file structure plus a number of multitasking features that will make it feel more robust. Once iOS 11 hits, it will be possible to run up to four apps on the screen at a time — two side-by-side, one floating and video in picture-in-picture. Then, the combination of the slightly larger size, faster processing power and new software could make the new iPad Pro stand out against the rest of the line. This may make the proposition more confusing if you’ve been considering something light, like a MacBook Air (which hasn't been updated in years), against the tablet. If you're looking for something portable that you can watch videos on or use to write documents and emails, then it comes down to whether you want to be able to use a touch screen. Overall, if you have a first-generation iPad Pro and are happy with it, you may not find a compelling reason to upgrade. But if your laptop is getting up there, and you’re looking for a light device to replace it, the iPad Pro will soon be able to fill that gap with fewer compromises than ever. Read more: Apple escalates its battle with Amazon and Google with the HomePod Softer-than-expected sales turn up heat on Apple to make next iPhone a winner Why Apple is struggling to become an artificial intelligence powerhouse
He doesn't carry the child, but a father's prenatal anxiety may have an affect on children's later behavior. Getty Images He doesn’t carry the child, but a father’s prenatal anxiety may have an affect on children’s later behavior. For years, research centered around how a mother’s mental health could impact her child’s development, including later behavioral problems, but the latest research suggests that it’s not just mom’s mental state that may be important. Although studies on paternal influences are still scarce, a 2011 study, for example, found that a child’s chance of developing behavioral or emotional problems increases by 11% if his father has signs of depression. But those studies involved children growing up in households with one or more depressed parents. But the current analysis, published in the journal Pediatrics, looked at the role of men’s mental health during their partner’s pregnancy, and found a link between dad’s mental health and their child’s behavioral development. (MORE: Older Fathers Linked to Kids’ Autism and Schizophrenia Risk) The Norwegian researchers looked at data from the Norwegian Mother and Child Cohort Study that follows 31,663 children and includes self-reported mental health information from fathers in week 17 or 18 of pregnancy. The scientists found that around four and half months into pregnancy, 3% of fathers reported high levels of psychological distress and this anxiety was strongly linked to their child’s behavioral problems at age 3. Kids whose fathers had higher levels of distress had more behavioral and emotional issues overall. “The findings from this study suggest that some risk for future child emotional and behavioral problems can be identified during pregnancy, and as such the results are of importance for health professionals and policy makers in their planning of health care in the prenatal period,” the study authors write. But how does a father’s stress influence a growing fetus? The authors offer a couple of speculative reasons. Depression in expectant fathers may impact the mental health of their pregnant partners and cause hormonal changes in mothers that could influence their pregnancy. They also acknowledge that a father’s mental health prior to the birth is likely to predict his mental health after his child is born, and, as previous studies have shown, children raised by parents with mental stress could negatively impact the toddlers’ behavior. (MORE: Why Fathers Have Lower Levels of Testosterone) “There is dramatically less literature on the influence of fathers’ depression than for mothers,” says Michael Weitzman, a professor of pediatric medicine at New York University who authored the 2011 study on fathers’ depression and their kids’ behavioral problems but was not involved in the current study. “What does this say about us as a society that we don’t think about fathers this way? We don’t think about men and their profound influence on children.” Weitzman and his team found that the biggest predictor of depression in mothers is living with a depressed spouse. It’s a somewhat obvious, but meaningful finding that has not been addressed in relation to child development. “In the midst of the recession, and the large number of people returning from Iraq and Afghanistan, no one has thought to frame this in terms of a child issue. One of the biggest predictors of depression in fathers is losing a job,” says Weitzman. (MORE: Kids of Older Fathers and Grandfathers May Inherit Longevity) The researchers acknowledge there is a need for more research in this area, especially long-term studies with a larger number of parent-child pairs and more objectively measured data on mental health status. But the findings open a new window into another potential contributor to childhood behavior issues that could lead to helpful interventions that relieve some of the stress that all parents, both moms and dads, feel when starting or adding to their family.
John H. Hammergren is an American businessman. He is best known for being the Chairman and CEO of McKesson Corporation since 1999.[1] On November 1, 2018 John Hammergren announced his plan to retire. [2] Early life [ edit ] John Hammergren was born in St. Paul, Minnesota on 20 February 1959. His father was a traveling salesman in the healthcare industry. After having attended University of Minnesota, Hammergren received an MBA from William College Of Business at Xavier University. Career [ edit ] Hammergren began his career at Lyphomed. In 1996, Hammergren was hired by McKesson to run the Pharmaceutical division at McKesson. In 1999, soon after McKesson's fraud scandal, he was named president and co-CEO of the company, becoming sole CEO in 2001, and chairman of the board in 2002.[3] McKesson [ edit ] Hammergren was elected president and CEO of McKesson in 2001 and chairman in 2002.[4] In 2017, McKesson was involved in a number of lawsuits against the state of Arkansas over the supply of vecuronium bromide.[5] Lawsuits alleged that McKesson directors paid little attention to oversight of opioid sales after a 2008 settlement centering on the company’s insufficient monitoring of such shipments. The lawsuit involved 10 existing and former executives and directors, including Hammergren.[6] Hammergren was criticized for his pay given the controversy surrounding the company’s role in the opioid epidemic and failure to report suspicious opioid orders.[7] Hammergren’s annual bonus pay was increased to amount of $1.1 million in 2017. The International Brotherhood of Teamsters, who own shares in the company, said of the bonus pay issue: “It is staggering that Hammergren received a $1.1 million boost to his bonus just months after the company announced it had reached a record $150 million settlement with the DEA in a year the company faces mounting litigation, negative press and Congressional scrutiny.” The union urged shareholders to vote against Hammergren’s compensation package at the company’s annual shareholder meeting.[8] In 2005, John Hammergren was elected to Hewlett-Packard's board of directors.[9] Hammergren served until 2013 when he left the board.[10] New York City's public pension funds supported the efforts to oust two Hammergren and G. Kennedy Thompson because of their support for the company's 2011 acquisition of British software maker Autonomy and "their failure to protect investors from costly, misguided acquisitions."[11] Hammergren received less than 60 percent of the vote for reelection at the 2013 annual shareholder vote and subsequently resigned.[12] Highest paid CEO [ edit ] In December 2011 it was revealed that Hammergren was the highest paid CEO in the US with total remuneration in excess of $700m.[13] Annual total compensation payouts 1999 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 p 2015 2016 (in million $) 0.692[3] 41[3] 37[3] 55[14] 46[3] 66.3[15] In June 2014, Glenn Gray, a former employee at McKesson returned to the company's annual meeting to ask that Hammergren's $292 million severance package be redistributed to low-paid employees. The proposal was defeated by the shareholders. He had also earlier, in 2013, 4 months before being relieved from his duties at McKesson, asked for wage raises during the company's annual meeting too. [16] According to a Bloomberg Pay Index, Hammergren had taken home $781 million as of July 2017, since becoming sole CEO at McKesson in 2001.[17] Rewards [ edit ] Best-performing CEOs in the world by the Harvard Business Review (ranked #53 in 2014,[18] #63 in 2015[19]) Other tenures [ edit ] Book [ edit ] Hammergren, John (2008). Skin in the Game: How Putting Yourself First Today Will Revolutionize Health Care Tomorrow. Wiley. ISBN 978-0470262788.
From The Times of Israel: A number of people from the former Soviet Union wishing to immigrate to Israel could be subjected to DNA testing to prove their Jewishness, the Prime Minister’s Office said Sunday. The policy was reported in Maariv on Monday, one day after the Israeli paper revealed that a 19-year-old woman from the former Soviet Union was required to take the test to qualify for a Birthright Israel trip. The Prime Minister’s Office confirmed that many Jews from the FSU who were born out-of-wedlock can be required to bring DNA confirmation of Jewish heritage in order to be allowed to immigrate as a Jew. A source in the PMO told Maariv that the consul’s procedure, approved by the legal department of the Interior Ministry, states that a Russian-speaking child born out-of-wedlock is eligible to receive an Israeli immigration visa if the birth was registered before the child turned 3. Otherwise a DNA test to prove Jewish parentage is necessary. This seems not unreasonable. Going back to Sen. Henry Jackson's legislation to give special rights to immigrate to Israel (and America) to Soviet Jews, a lot of fairly random Russians have claimed to be Jewish to cash in. For example, I knew a lady from Leningrad in the early 1990s who wasn't noticeably Jewish in looks, demeanor, culture, or family ties, but her Plan C for staying in America (she wanted to be blackjack dealer in Las Vegas) was to assiduously pull together a stack genealogical paperwork of who knows what authenticity to prove she was Jewish enough not to get kicked out of the U.S. by the INS.
Speaking to reporters in Tehran on Saturday, Qassemi said Iranian travel agencies can resume their activities in Turkey and they are no longer banned from dispatching Iranian nationals to Turkey. Lifting the ban does not preclude travel agencies’ responsibility for providing due services for Iranian tourists, the spokesman stressed. He further pointed to a day-long visit to Turkey by Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif on Friday, saying that the trip was “constructive and in line with the interests of the two nations.” During the visit, Zarif and the Turkish officials held long and detailed talks on various issues, including political ties and regional and international issues, Qassemi said, adding that several agreements were also reached between the two sides. The Iranian foreign minister met with Turkish officials in Ankara on Friday in the most significant visit by a high-ranking foreign dignitary to Turkey since the July 15 failed coup attempt. Iran had banned activities of its travel agencies in Turkey due to security concerns following the coup in the country.
Tesla is the subject of a proposed class-action lawsuit alleging that its Model X and Model S vehicles are prone to sudden, unintended acceleration (SUA). A number of owners are claiming that their electric vehicles suddenly drove through a garage or into a wall either by human or computer error—and at least 23 accounts of Teslas experiencing unintended acceleration are on record with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. The California automaker run by Elon Musk claims that, among other things, its data shows it was human error that caused the crashes described in the lawsuit. The suit claims that from the Model S's 2012 introduction through June 2016, approximately 75,000 Model S vehicles have been sold. The suit then states there have been 13 reports to NHTSA in which Model S drivers experienced full-power acceleration while parking or traveling at low speed. Regarding the Model X, in which 18,240 cars were sold by the end of 2016, "Tesla has received, or is otherwise aware of, 13 nearly identical instances in which drivers of the Model X experienced full power acceleration either while in the act of parking the Model X or while driving the Model X at slow speed, ten of which resulted in a crash of the vehicle," according to the suit. "For the Model X, remarkably all 10 of the reported SUA events occurred while the driver was in the process of parking the Model X, all but one of which resulted in a collision," the lawsuit said. "Irrespective of whether the SUA events in the Tesla vehicles are caused by mechanical issues with the accelerator pedal, an unknown failure in the electronic motor control system, a failure in other aspects of the electrical, mechanical, or computer systems, or some instances of pedal misapplication, the Model S and Model X are defective and unsafe." The suit claims that the Model S and Model X are defectively designed and that Tesla did not "develop and implement computer algorithms that would eliminate the danger of full throttle acceleration into fixed objects" even if caused by human error. "This leaves tens of thousands of Tesla owners with vehicles that could potentially accelerate out of control," the suit says. Regardless of whether it was driver error or algorithm error, Tesla said it has no "legal duty to design a failsafe car." According to Plaintiffs, the purported defect is that Tesla’s vehicles are allegedly prone to sudden, unintended acceleration. Plaintiffs allege that the sudden acceleration may be caused by defects in various vehicle systems or by driver negligence, but that, in any event, Tesla should have designed a failsafe system to prevent it. Tesla contends that each sudden acceleration incident alleged in the FAC (First Amended Complaint) was the result of driver error, denies that its cars are defective in any way, and disputes that there is a legal duty to design a failsafe car. Tesla claims that such a feature—an algorithm that would eliminate full throttle acceleration into fixed objects—is something that "no manufacturer has ever done" and is not covered by warranty. According to the lawsuit, there is something wrong with the design of the Automatic Emergency Braking system in which the Tesla computer will use the forward-looking camera and the radar sensor to determine the distance from objects in front of the vehicle. "When a frontal collision is considered unavoidable, Automatic Emergency Braking is designed to automatically apply the brakes to reduce the severity of the impact. But Tesla has programmed the system to deactivate when it receives instructions from the accelerator pedal to drive full speed into a fixed object," according to the suit. Tesla has designed and manufactured a vehicle that is capable of accelerating from zero to 60 miles per hour in 2.9 seconds—acceleration that was previously achievable only in a select number of exotic sports cars—and equipped the vehicle with the ability to sense objects in its path and brake automatically to prevent or minimize frontal impacts, but Tesla has programmed these systems to allow the Model S and Model X to engage full throttle acceleration into fixed objects, such as walls, fences, and beams, that are in the direct path and immediate proximity of the vehicle. Toyota was the last car company to be accused of producing cars affected by SUA. In that case, it was caused by driver error, sticking accelerator pedals, and trapped floor mats; NASA was called in to interrogate Toyota's control electronics but found no evidence of a problem. A hearing on the Tesla dispute is set for May 1 in a Santa Ana, California, federal court. Listing image by Federal court documents
There are plenty of ways to get revenge on your cheating wife, if you don't want to roll over and be someone people should feel sorry for. However, of all the plans, I reckon not spending a load of money on a wedding would be a start to go about it, even if it does result in mass humiliation for someone who's betrayed you. A groom decided not to care about the money shelled out on a ceremony when exposing his partner's adultery, choosing to show a video of her getting intimate with another bloke at their reception. Local media in Singapore report that the wedding began with a montage of the couples relationship on a big screen, but all of a sudden the guests' joy turned to shock as the footage changed. In the clip the bride was shown going into a hotel room with a man before getting allegedly 'intimate' with him. Credit: AsiaWire Singapore website Zaobao say the husband-to-be hired a private detective to check his wife's movements in the lead up to their special day. Usually you'd say that's just a really insecure man with trust issues, but on this occasion it was justified. During the scathing revelation the bride was reported to have ran out of the room embarrassed by the whole ordeal, which suggests she's guilty. Ms Zhuo, from Ajax Investigation And Security Services, was the private investigator hired, and told Zaobao that she was invited to the ceremony, despite advising the groom to break off the engagement based on what she had found out. Although she was shocked by the invite, she said she understood his motivations to reveal the adultery this way. She also said she appeared on the screen herself while people photographed the video. Credit: AsiaWire This sort of thing seems to be a trend, as one Irish LAD revealed on The Graham Norton Show a while ago. On the red chair, he told a story about a wedding he'd been to. At the wedding the groom made a speech, and asked if he could play a game. In that game, people who had red dots on the back of their plates were asked to stand up. I'll leave the man himself to tell it because I simply won't do it justice... Credit: BBC/The Graham Norton Show The story was lapped up by Graham and his guests, meaning the young Irish bloke didn't have to worry about being flipped off his chair. To go back to an earlier point though, doesn't make sense to just not go through with the wedding at all? Surely getting a divorce is a bigger ball ache. Featured Image Credit: AsiaWire
SCP-1763 Item #: SCP-1763 Object Class: Safe Special Containment Procedures: The stairwell leading into the basement containing SCP-1763 is to be kept closed at all times, and guarded from the inside by two security personnel. A clearance level of 2 or higher is required for entrance. Personnel interested in viewing video records of performance incidents are to contact Dr. Howder. Description: SCP-1763 is a Class-4 (reclassified from Class-3 following incident 1763-64) interdimensional portal located in the basement of ████ West 38th Street, New York City, NY. At the time SCP-1763 was discovered, 76 folding chairs had been set up facing SCP-1763, in a formation typical of a proscenium space. While there is no box office, a metal bowl is placed on a small table at the entrance to the seating area with the label "donations". Any objects placed in the bowl will disappear at exactly one hour following the end of any performance incident. One hour before a performance incident, 40 to 70 programs will appear beside the bowl, detailing the performance that will take place along with a brief summary of the social context of the performance and an overlook of the organization performing the piece. Throughout Foundation containment of SCP-1763, only one organization has performed; however, several programs indicate that previous "companies" have made use of the venue. The reality visible within SCP-1763 appears to be a proscenium-arch-type stage, with two permanent sets of curtains . The theatre is mainly constructed from wood , with metal scaffolding above the stage . This stage area is designated SCP-1763-1. SCP-1763-1 is currently used as a theatre venue by a large company designated SCP-1763-A. This company will perform on a monthly basis, with limited runs during the last full week of the month from Monday to Saturday. Shows typically start at 18:00 and run until 20:00 - 22:00, with a 15 - 20 minute intermission. There may also be a matinee on Fridays or Saturdays at 2:00. Alongside these regular performances, SCP-1763-A may also produce children's shows, stand-up comedy, or improvised theatre . Members of SCP-1763-A show numerous anomalous properties. SCP-1763-A-1 is an incorporeal entity which operates through mechanical hands extending inwards from off-stage, SCP-1763-A-5, -6, and -12 are entirely skeletal, SCP-1763-A-7 and -8 possess two sets of arms, and SCP-1763-A-13 appears to be a member of Homo neanderthalensis. Players may or may not be type-casted depending on their appearance. Construction of the set begins two weeks before opening, with dress rehearsals occurring three days before opening. Pieces performed by SCP-1763-A vary widely. Approximately one quarter of all performances correspond to existing plays. Thus far, the perceived cost of a production and the frequencies of production have not changed with audience attendance or the amount donated. Attempts to interact with the space within SCP-1763 have so far been unsuccessful. Tunneling around and into SCP-1763's apparent space leads to a mirror image of SCP-1763. Addendum: Samples of productions: Performance Incident #: 1 Performance: "Ghoul or Girl" by "Glashmer Haghjsd" Program Description: A look at the life of a young, female Ghoul as she struggles to find her identity in a world of four genders. Body image problems, red squirting, and how parents are expected to deal with these issues are some of the numerous issues addressed in this piece. Observations: The four genders acknowledged in the play are male, female, "Hansi", and "Frog". SCP-1763-A-3 vomited an orange fluid onto the stage during the second act. Performance Incident #: 4 Performance: Waiting for Godot by Samuel Beckett Program Description: Samuel Beckett's classic play is now being presented by the Harsh Lot Theatre Company. Vladimir and Estragon wait for a mysterious figure named Godot and provide insight into many problems facing society today. Observations: Researchers agreed SCP-1763-A-13's performance as Estragon was "charming". While mentions of Godot remained unchanged, "God" was replaced with "Dog" throughout the production. The reason for this remains unknown. Performance Incident #: 14 Performance: "Play With the Jenklsedn" by "Rodney Harper" Program Description: A play all children should attend, Play With the Jenklsedn addresses problems of growing up, family issues, and even how to deal with a family pet. Observations: Scenes include "Bad Words", "Why We Share", and "Sexual Problems with Cats". Performance Incident #: 21 Performance: "Love and a Sea Blorb" by "J" Program Description: A new comedy by J, Love and a Sea Blorb is sure to keep your appendix rumbling as we watch a man slowly fall into madness when a sea blorb breaks up with his mother! Observations: The production was overall quite humorous, albeit somewhat disturbing. Performance Incident #: 22 Performance: "Yuk Yuks for Schmuck Schmucks" Program Description: For one night only, see some of Transervita's greatest comedians come all the way to New York for some great stand-up! Observations: SCP-1763-A-34 emitted a high-pitched, constant shriek for 10 minutes which caused uncontrollable laughter among researchers. Recommendation to avoid productions by any similar entities. Performance Incident#: 31 Performance: Hamlet by William Shakespeare Program Description: One of Shakespeare's most famous works, the Harsh Lot Theatre Company performs their interpretation of this historic piece. Observations: Entire work was performed backwards, including the words themselves. In spite of this, the production was described by researchers as "oddly compelling". Performance Incident#: 36 Performance: "Hat" by "Elaine Eniale" Program Description: On top on bottom on top on bottom on top on bottom you are nothing Observations: An experimental, 6-hour piece consisting of SCP-1763-A-37 removing and replacing a New York Yankees baseball cap while repeating "Hats are the system. We are the system. We are hats." Due to SCP-1763-A-37's properties, the hat was covered in a thick, pink slime.
One South Carolina equipment company recently decided to replace its native-born factory workers with Hispanic immigrants. As described by the researcher Laura Lopez-Sanders, the company instructed Hispanic supervisors to hire their co-ethnics for entry-level jobs and to advertise only in Spanish-language newspapers. {snip} In the company’s view, the best kind of Hispanic worker was an immigrant — especially an illegal immigrant. The Lopez-Sanders study is part of a larger body of ethnographic research showing that American employers of low-skill workers overwhelmingly prefer Hispanic and Asian immigrants over native-born whites and blacks. As the evidence has accumulated, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has filed several lawsuits accusing businesses of systematically replacing natives with immigrant labor. {snip} Although the country’s official unemployment rate is just 4.1 percent, the statistic is misleading because it only reflects people who are actively seeking work. A significantly larger percentage of working age-adults has dropped out of the workforce altogether. The problem is most pressing for men ages 25 to 54. Not long ago, such men were expected to work, and that expectation was usually met. {snip} While 6 percent of native male college graduates have abandoned the workforce, 17 percent of those with only a high school diploma have done so, as have 36 percent of high school dropouts. For African Americans the problem is even worse: the labor force dropout rate for black men of any education is 22 percent. What are these men doing instead of working? They are not taking care of dependents or going to school. Rather, the evidence indicates that they spend much of the day — 5 and 1/2 hours on average — watching movies and television! {snip} While native work effort dwindles, immigrant men continue to put in long hours — an average of 49 full-time weeks per year for workers without a high school diploma, compared with just 35 weeks for comparable natives. And Hispanic immigrant men work 10 more weeks per year than native-born black men. {snip} Experts blame natives’ nonwork on a reduced number of jobs for low-skill labor, while at the same time attributing the influx of millions of low-skill immigrants to the shortage of workers available to do those very jobs. {snip} {snip} In the words of economist Vernon Briggs, immigration exerts a “narcotic influence” on politicians, opinion leaders, and business owners. It allows our country to avoid confronting head-on the vital national problems of native non-work and declining worker quality. Without drastically curtailing low-skill immigration, there is little incentive to make the significant cultural and practical changes needed to improve and reintegrate native workers. {snip} Reducing immigration would encourage other long overdue changes as well, including strengthening work requirements as a condition of government aid, tightening eligibility standards for disability benefits, and abandoning the college-for-all mindset that devalues blue-collar occupations. Finally, low-skill natives themselves should embrace the social expectation — once unquestioned in our society—that they must work at the jobs that are actually available, even if sometimes arduous and unpleasant. {snip} Original Article Share This
Sao Noi was forced to give rides to tourists (Picture: BLES/Facebook) An elephant that had been forced to give rides to tourists was so emaciated you could see her ribcage. Sao Noi was chained up and kept in a camp in Thailand, where she was made to perform the back-breaking work. It’s likely she would have been tortured into submission, too. While people might think elephant rides are just a bit of fun, it’s not at all fun for the elephants who have to do it. Elephants who perform these tricks for tourists – such as giving rides, performing massages or playing basketball – go through a horrific process called ‘phajaan’, or ‘elephant crushing’. She was so emaciated you could see her bones (Picture: BLES/Facebook) This is where baby elephants are stolen from their parents and tortured from a young age. ‘Trainers’ will then lock them in tiny cages, tie them up with rope, starve them, deprive them of sleep and water, beat and stab them on a daily basis until they become completely broken and subservient. Advertisement Advertisement Thankfully, Sao Noi was eventually rescued by Boon Lott’s Elephant Sanctuary (BLES), which is based in Sukhothai. The journey from the camp to Sukhothai took more than 30 hours, but luckily volunteers had a meal and a warm coat waiting for her in their truck. Volunteers managed to rescue her and take her to a sanctuary in Sukhothai (Picture: BLES/Facebook) ‘She is calm and enjoying the mini feast we had prepared for her in the truck,’ the sanctuary wrote during the rescue. ‘She is all wrapped up in a specially made, water and wind-proof gold coat, looking cosy, but weak.’ Here’s hoping she has a much happier life at the sanctuary. If you would like to donate to BLES and help with their rescue efforts, click here H/T The Dodo
A non-profit school in China dedicated to helping underprivileged children has pledged $20,000 to Shenmue 3's Kickstarter to help raise awareness of its organisation. The Volunteer English Teacher Program, which helps teach children from small villages and orphanages how to speak English - initially offered $10,000 to have dinner with creator Yu Suzuki. But following "an amazing amount of attention in China", it has pledged a further $10,000 to have one of its teachers appear as an NPC in the game. "We are not wealthy!" said one of the school's volunteers. "This was a hard decision. We could have given $20,000 directly to building the school and it's programs but we feel that this pledge will lead to more exposure and support than what we could do through other mediums. "For those who don't know our school yet. We are called The 'V.E.T. Program' (Volunteer English Teacher). You can find us on Facebook. We teach children and young adults English to help in their educational and career pursuits. Many of these kids come from small villages in the Guilin area and may not have an opportunity to learn elsewhere." "We really need help in reaching our goals. We would love for you to like us on Facebook. We will eventually look outside ourselves and setup a way for donations to be made but we didn't want to distract from the Kick Starter or be overbearing donation hunters."
Recently, it came to our attention that we had accidentally used a piece of fan art in a collage we made for my Tropes vs Women in Video Games Kickstarter two years ago. Some of you have politely asked questions and expressed concern about this issue so I will do my best to clear things up here. First, we would like to offer our sincerest apologies to Tammy for mistaking her Dragon’s Lair fan art for official promotional material two years ago when we created this remix collage. Her rendering of famed animator Don Bluth’s character Princess Daphne is so professional looking that we honestly thought it was official art used in the marketing of one of the dozens of Dragon’s Lair remakes and ports that have been released over the past 30 years. Compounding our confusion, Tammy’s image is used on many video game sites and forums without proper attribution to the artist and without indication that it is fan art. It was on one of these sites that we originally found the image which was grouped with many other official images of famous female gaming characters. Feminist Frequency makes a point to try to not use fan art. Many fan artists are so talented that their creative works can look as good, if not better than the official versions. So we try our best to be diligent and make sure all media used is from the publishers and developers of the games discussed but occasionally we do make an honest mistake. We use thousands of images in the creation of our video critiques and we rely on fair use to be able to do that. The fair use doctrine allows for the transformative re-use of copyrighted materials for the purposes of commentary, criticism, parody and education as provided for under section 107 of US Copyright law. As such fair use is a critical legal framework for free speech, after all it is what allows for fan artists to publish their creative works in the first place. Fair use is also what allows even large commercial entities (like Comedy Central’s The Daily Show, for example) to comment on and criticize media clips and images without asking for permission first. We believe that our transformative use of Tammy’s fan art is a fair use under the law. However, since we honestly did not intend to use fan art in this case, we have voluntarily gone ahead and replaced the fan art in our old collage as a gesture of goodwill. Unfortunately, there is now a staggering amount of misinformation about the Tropes vs Women project flying around the internet. It would take too long to correct all of the false rumors but I do want to clarify a couple of facts. We take copyright and fair use concerns very seriously. As such, we took the necessary time to respond to Tammy’s concern in a proper and considerate manner. The reports that we ignored Tammy’s initial inquiry are entirely false. We have been in repeated contact with Tammy and have worked diligently to try and resolve this issue since we were first notified that the image in question was, in fact, fan art. We gathered our team together to discuss the issues and then responded as promptly as was possible. We did not see her “open letter” blog post until after we had already sent her our first response. We did not feel it would be appropriate or professional to publicly discuss this incident until a resolution could be reached. Complicating matters was the fact that Tammy had recently been in direct social media communication with at least one individual who has participated in the doxxing of me, my team and my family. We do not believe Tammy had any knowledge of this person’s actions, but it necessitated additional caution on our part in dealing with this situation. Finally, the Tropes vs Women project is a nonprofit endeavor. We never place ads on any of our episodes and always make our videos available for free to everyone on YouTube. For those that may be interested, Feminist Frequency is registered as a public-benefit nonprofit corporation in the state of California. On a personal note, I’d also like to say that I love fan art and have been an ardent supporter of fan works for many years. I am a member of the Organization for Transformative Works, which advocates for and archives transformative fan works online. I highly recommend checking out their website and sending some support their way. If you are interested in learning more about the fair use doctrine I recommend the following resources: Lastly, I’d like to extend a big thank you to all those who have continued to support me and my Tropes vs Women in Video Games project. Sincerely, Anita
Research into grammar by academics at Northumbria University suggests that a significant proportion of native English speakers are unable to understand some basic sentences. The findings -- which undermine the assumption that all speakers have a core ability to use grammatical cues -- could have significant implications for education, communication and linguistic theory. The research, conducted by Dr Ewa Dabrowska, showed that basic elements of core English grammar had not been mastered by some native speakers. The project assumed that every adult native speaker of English would be able to understand the meaning of the sentence: "The soldier was hit by the sailor." Dr Dabrowska and research student James Street then tested a range of adults, some of whom were postgraduate students, and others who had left school at the age of 16. All participants were asked to identify the meaning of a number of simple active and passive sentences, as well as sentences which contained the universal qualifier "every." As the test progressed, the two groups performed very differently. A high proportion of those who had left school at 16 began to make mistakes. Some speakers were not able to perform any better than chance, scoring no better than if they had been guessing. Dr Dabrowska comments: "These findings are ground breaking, because for decades the theoretical and educational consensus has been solid. Regardless of educational attainment or dialect we are all supposed to be equally good at grammar, in the sense of being able to use grammatical cues to understand the meaning of sentences. "Of course some people are more literate, with a larger vocabulary and greater exposure to highly complex literary constructions. Nevertheless, at a fundamental level, everyone in a linguistic community is supposed to share the same core grammar, in the same way that given normal development we can all walk." The supposition that everyone in a linguistic community shares the same grammar is a central tenet of Noam Chomsky's theory of universal grammar. The theory assumes that all children learn language equally well and that there must therefore be an underlying common structure to all languages that is somehow "hard-wired" into the brain. Dr Dabrowska has examined other explanations for her findings, such as limitations to working memory, and even so-called "test wiseness," but she concluded that these non-linguistic factors are irrelevant. She also stressed that the findings have nothing to do with intelligence. Participants with low levels of educational attainment were given instruction following the tests, and they were able to learn the constructions very quickly. She speculates that this could be because their attention was not drawn to sentence construction by parents or teachers when they were children. She adds: "Our results show that a proportion of people with low educational attainment make errors with understanding the passive, and it appears that this and other important areas of core grammar may not be fully mastered by some speakers, even by adulthood. "These findings could have a number of implications. "If a significant proportion of the population does not understand passive sentences, then notices and other forms of written information may have to be rewritten and literacy strategies changed. "What's more, the existence of substantial individual differences in native language attainment is highly problematic for one of the most widely accepted arguments for an innate universal grammar: the assumed 'fact' that all native speakers of a language converge on essentially the same grammar. Our research shows that they don't." Dr Dabrowska presented her findings in a keynote lecture at the UK Cognitive Linguistics Association Conference on July 7.
The publisher behind games like Mass Effect and Madden says it won't be selling its games at brick-and-mortar stores for much longer. Speaking to GamesIndustry.biz, EA Labels president Frank Gibeau said it won't be too much longer before the company goes completely digital: It's in the near future. It's coming. We have a clear line of sight on it and we're excited about it. Retail is a great channel for us. We have great relationships with our partners there. At the same time, the ultimate relationship is the connection that we have with the gamer. If the gamer wants to get the game through a digital download and that's the best way for them to get it, that's what we're going to do. It has a lot of enhancements for our business. It allows us to keep more that we make. It allows us to do some really interesting things from a service level standpoint; we can be a lot more personalized with what we're doing... For us, the fastest growing segment of our business is clearly digital and clearly digital services and ultimately Electronic Arts, at some point in the future... we're going to be a 100% digital company, period. It's going to be there some day. It's inevitable. Hope you've got broadband. EA is "going to be a 100% digital company, period" says Gibeau [GamesIndustry.biz]
Although dark energy is all the rage these days, dark matter still has enough mystery to keep physicists entertained. We don't actually know what dark matter is. Yes, we know that it hangs around in galaxies, modifying their rates of rotation. We know that without dark matter in the early Universe, there would have been insufficient gravitational attraction to generate the Universe we observe today. We have even seen dark matter that's physically independent of normal matter out there in the Universe. But we really want to get a hold of it and find out how it fits with the pantheon of particles we do know about. Doing this will require some experimental ingenuity and possibly all sorts of new approaches. Currently, our experiments are silent on what dark matter actually is. Even worse, dark matter doesn't fit into the Standard Model—the theory that tells us about everything from quarks and neutrinos to where all the missing socks are. Extensions to the Standard Model, like supersymmetry, produce a large menagerie of particles. Each of these possible particles might look like dark matter, but theory doesn't really pin their properties down very precisely. This leaves the field rather open as far as potential experiments go, so there's a lot to try—and none of it is easy. Think of it as painting a landscape you have never seen, in a dark room, without knowing where the paint is. Many hands make light work? The key to success here is to explore as many different avenues as possible. In the spirit of these discussions, allow me to present a new salty, shiny dark matter detector (yet to be built). The target of this detector is the potential dark matter particle called the axion, which is a very light supersymmetric particle. The nice thing about axions is that their mass is low, so if they are around, we should be able to detect them in laboratory experiments. Indeed, we have reported in the past on experiments that have placed limits on the mass of the axion. Likewise, because the axion is light, it will have a direct impact on the evolution of stars. Stars begin by burning hydrogen; when they run out of hydrogen, they begin to burn helium. For a given stellar mass, the timing of this switch is fairly predictable. However, axions will change that time by a small amount. By carefully examining the statistics of stars, it is possible to place limits on the way that axions affect normal matter. Even more noticeably, during a supernova, a dying star will emit a burst of neutrinos. If they interact too strongly, axions will quench that burst. So supernova SN1987a provides some limits on their interactions as well. Finally, white dwarfs, which are the slowly cooling corpses of stars, will cool slightly faster if the axion is around. Guess what? White dwarfs do cool just a little faster than predicted by theory. The picture that emerges is that we have a couple of tantalizing hints that the axion might be real. Even better, if it does exist, it still influences ordinary matter, even if weakly. So with the right experiment, we can detect it. Making axions flip magnets Pierre Sikivie from the University of Florida has proposed an interesting approach to detecting axions. The basic idea is that every now and again, an axion will bang into an atom or molecule and place it in an excited state. Given a hypothetical axion density and a sample of atoms, we can predict how many atoms should be in the excited state at any one time. Working backward, if we continually count the number of atoms in the excited state, we can work out how many axions there are, as well as how massive they are. Unfortunately, this is easier said than done. To excite an atom into an electronic excited state usually requires energies on the order of an electron volt, or 0.2aJ (1aJ = 10-18J). Axions must have energies between 100,000 and a million times smaller, so electronic excited states are out. Instead, an axion can excite the spin states of electrons. Picture it like this: an electron is like a small bar magnet, and this bar magnet is running around inside a magnetic field that is composed of the magnetic field from neighboring electrons and the nucleus. This field may give the electron a preferred or lower energy orientation of its bar magnet. We can also control this energy difference by applying a magnetic field. With the field applied, the excitement of the electron involves sufficient energy to flip its magnet from aligned with the applied field to aligned against the applied magnetic field. If we set the energy difference between the two spin states to the energy of the axion, then the axion will generate atoms in the excited spin state. Then we simply count the number of atoms in the excited state and await the adoring crowds that will descend on our lab. Sikivie proposes using salt crystals like iron floride because they have been well-studied and have a relatively clean set of excited spin states that are dominated by the magnetic properties of iron. So we can set up a crystal of material that will respond optimally to dark matter, but we still need to count excited atoms. To make this work, we need to have as few atoms in the excited state as possible. Unfortunately, the excited state is very close to the ground state (remember, we're talking less than 10-23 Joules here), so thermal energy is enough to excite atoms. Thus, the sample material needs to be held at well under 1K (say ~100mK). Even there, if you have a few milligrams of sample, you would still expect a large background of excited atoms. To get around that, you have to sweep the magnetic field strength so that a change in the number of excited atoms is detected, rather than the absolute number. Finally, Sikivie proposes to count the number of excited atoms through laser absorption or fluorescence. Shine a laser that is tuned to push atoms from the excited state to a much higher energy state, which I will call the signal state. After that, detection is easy: either look for glowing atoms or measure a dip in the laser beam intensity after it has passed through the sample. Either way, we can measure that at the single-atom level. Hmm, will that really work? Regular readers know that I love lasers. If anything can be done with a laser, you can expect me to be cheering the project on. But in this case, I think there are better ways. In the paper, Sikivie doesn't seem to pay much attention to the practicalities of this sort of detector. It's true that a laser with the right wavelength to excite atoms from the excited state to the signal state will not have the right wavelength to excite atoms from the ground state to the signal state. But the transition we don't want to see is just very improbable, not impossible, so the laser will generate a small background. Worse, that background will increase as we try to detect lighter and lighter axions. I think Sikivie is also relying on a nice rule of physics: essentially, if exciting the atom from the excited state to the signal state conserves angular momentum, then exciting the atom from the ground state to the same signal state will not conserve angular momentum. These are called forbidden transitions. Unfortunately, not only are they not entirely forbidden (just very weak), but there is usually a transition from the ground state to a different signal state that requires a very similar light frequency. All in all, we are looking at a rather large background. I think I would go for something much less direct. For instance, the population in the excited state will change the dielectric constant of the material. If you placed the material inside a very high quality cavity for, say, microwaves (~2GHz), then the resonant frequency of the cavity would change as the population of the excited state increased or decreased. Since we can measure frequency to 1 part in 1015, this would make for an extremely sensitive detector. Furthermore, the radiation in the cavity has much lower energy than the axion interaction, so it will only contribute a tiny amount to the background. To sum up: I think using electronic and nuclear spin states to detect axions is a very exciting idea. By using spin states, you can sweep the strength of a magnetic field through different values until you hit on one that matches the energy of the axions. If the axions have a distribution of energies, that is also detectable. I do have problems with the proposed detection scheme, but there are many different possibilities of counting the atoms in the excited state, so I don't see that preventing further work. Physical Review Letters, 2014, DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.113.201301
Yesterday, Jerry Seinfeld — a famously “clean” comic known for staying away from controversial issues — issued some strong words on the topic of political correctness. After stating that political correctness is hurting comedy and railing on college kids for being too sensitive on an ESPN podcast, he later went on Seth Meyers to say that “there’s a creepy PC thing out there that really bothers me," because some of his old routines riffing on gay men no longer play well with audiences. Conservatives and comedians don’t tend to agree on a lot, but a shared rallying cry for both has been the area of political correctness. Lately, more and more comedians have been speaking out against political correctness, arguing that audiences’ increased sensitivities and tendencies to take offense stifles comedic freedom. These issues came to a head with the recent Trevor Noah flap, in which people dug up a number of old sexist and racist tweets belonging to the soon-to-be "Daily Show" host. While Noah was roundly criticized in the media, a number of comics came to his defense, arguing that the problem wasn't Noah's bad jokes, but an overly sensitive public. As Jim Norton wrote in Time, "Trevor, while tweeting things with the intention of being funny, had gone … yes, you guessed it – over the line!... In his rush to be funny, he had broken what has become the new golden rule in American public life, which is to never say anything (or, God forbid, joke about anything) that may be deemed even remotely offensive or upsetting by any segment of the population for any reason thoroughly addicted to." Advertisement: There's also the argument that comedians in particular are held to an unfair standard of scrutiny given the fact that their art form requires that they publicly workshop material. As Chris Rock put it in a New York Magazine piece a few months prior to the Noah controversy, "Prince doesn’t run a demo on the radio. But in stand-up, the demo gets out. There are a few guys good enough to write a perfect act and get onstage, but everybody else workshops it and workshops it, and it can get real messy. It can get downright offensive." While some female comedians are critical of PC culture, too, the most outspoken opponents of political correctness have tended to be men pushing back against today's climate of increased public scrutiny. That scrutiny isn't universally denounced, though. As Lindy West smartly wrote in a Guardian piece (which is worth reading in full): “It’s so-called political correctness that gave me the courage and the vocabulary to demand better than that from the community I love. Yes, this cultural evolution is bumpy, but what Seinfeld and some other comedians see as a threat, I see as doors being thrown open to more and more voices.” Or as John Hodgman wrote in a brilliant twitter rant in response to Jonathan Chait’s recent essay in New York Magazine, “I will say that the 'PC' critiques, even at their most infuriating to me, almost always make me think and yes check my privilege...I am glad to give these issues thought. It enlarges me.” Still, not all comedians embrace those critiques. Here are ten comics explaining why they think political correctness is killing comedy. 1. Chris Rock In an interview with Frank Rich in New York Magazine, Chris Rock said he stopped playing colleges because they are too conservative: “Not in their political views — not like they’re voting Republican — but in their social views and their willingness not to offend anybody." He also discussed how the prevalence of social media forces comedians into self-censorship. As he put it: “It is scary, because the thing about comedians is that you’re the only ones who practice in front of a crowd. Prince doesn’t run a demo on the radio. But in stand-up, the demo gets out. There are a few guys good enough to write a perfect act and get onstage, but everybody else workshops it and workshops it, and it can get real messy. It can get downright offensive. Before everyone had a recording device and was wired like fucking Sammy the Bull, you’d say something that went too far, and you’d go, “Oh, I went too far,” and you would just brush it off. But if you think you don’t have room to make mistakes, it’s going to lead to safer, gooier stand-up. You can’t think the thoughts you want to think if you think you’re being watched.” 2. John Cleese The former Python has been particularly outspoken in his views against PC culture. As he put it in an interview with Bill Maher, Cleese dismissed political correctness as “condescending,” saying “It starts as a half way decent idea and then it goes completely wrong and is taken ad absurdum,” and explaining how he stopped making race-related jokes after audiences were angered by jokes about Mexicans in his routine. As he put it “Make jokes about Swedes and Germans and French and English and Canadians and Americans, why can't we make jokes about Mexicans? Is it because they are so feeble that they can't look after themselves? It's very very condescending there.” 3. Russell Peters Canadian comic Russell Peters told George Stroumboulopoulos that he too thinks that society has become overly sensitive. As he put it, "If you look at TV in the ‘70s versus TV now, and you see the things people said back in the day – they said the most off-colour stuff and nobody’s feelings were hurt. Do you know why? Because it’s about intent. The intent then was to make you laugh. And the intent is still to make you laugh, but they’ve drilled it in into your head that you’re not supposed to laugh at this." Advertisement: 4. Scott Capurro The fiercely polemical comic wrote a long screed about political correctness in Time Out, arguing for the importance of pushing boundaries, especially from his vantage point as a gay comedian seeking to “test audiences and see if words could change their perceptions.” As he put it, “I don't ever want the audience to know what side I'm on. I've got no sides. I'm trying to deliver more than one argument. I'm like the US Army: I don't take a position, I'm just there to help clear up this mess of confusion about political correctness, because there is none. Everyone's boundaries are different, thank Goddess. If we all agreed, nothing would be funny. If at least parts of the crowd aren't shaking or angry by the end of my set, they haven't got their money's worth and I feel a bit dirty, like I've let down the contingency of cantankerous, crabby, clarifying comics by smothering myself in sticky, gooey kindness.” He concluded that “comics shed light. We're as necessary as a lightbulb, yet harder to replace.” 5. Daniel Lawrence Whitney (Larry the Cable Guy) In an interview with 60 Minutes, the famed Nebraskan stand-up agreed that political correctness had gone way too far. As he put it, “It's gotten way outta control. You know. I really think that we're at a point in this country where people really need to take the thumb outta their mouth and grow up a little bit and realize there's a lot bigger problems out there than what a comedian did a joke about.” His “politically correct" version of "The Night Before Christmas” similarly gets the point across: 6. Patton Oswalt As Salon readers know, Oswalt has long taken issue with political correctness. After the Trevor Noah controversy, he sent out a long string of humorous tweets riffing on peoples’ tendency to take offense at the slightest provocation. And, as he put it in Salon’s own interview with him, “Comedians have always been the best conduit to the forgotten, to the outsiders, to the inarticulate. We speak for the underdogs, for the most part. That’s what most comedians do. If Salon is doing articles about, 'Did the Onion go too far?' or 'Why does ‘Last Week Tonight with John Oliver’ have to be hosted by another straight, white male?' then you are now just picking, out of context, these buzzwords. You’re asking questions that don’t need to be asked. The content of what John Oliver does is so revolutionary and so amazing that if you’re going to just pick it apart, you’re making progressives look like people that can count beans but can’t make soup.” Advertisement: 7. Jim Norton Norton is another comic who has expressed annoyance with online outrage culture, particularly in his special “Contextually Inadequate." Weighing in on the Trevor Noah flap in Time, Norton says that Western culture has become a “tireless brigade of social-justice warriors” and that “Being outraged and upset and feeling bullied or offended are not only things we enjoy, they’re also things we have become thoroughly addicted to. When we can’t purposefully get our feelings hurt by a comedian, we usually find another, albeit less satisfying, source of indignation… I choose to believe that we are addicted to the rush of being offended, the idea of it, rather than believing we have become a nation of emasculated children whose only defense against an abyss of emotional agony is a trigger warning.” 8. Gilbert Gottfried The controversial comic — who got in trouble online back in 2011 for some jokes he made about the tsunami in Japan — penned a piece for Playboy called “The Apology Epidemic,” arguing that our current apology culture has gone too far. As he put it, “It’s the modern equivalent of ringing someone’s doorbell and running away. We’re more vindictive than we’ve ever been, but we’re also cowards.” In Gottfried’s opinion, its not just the internet, but inside comedy clubs as well, where PC culture is taking its toll. “Imagine if the most brilliant comedians in history were working today. They’d never stop apologizing. Charlie Chaplin would have to apologize to all the homeless people he belittled with his Little Tramp character. W.C. Fields and Dean Martin would both have to apologize to alcoholics. The Marx brothers would have to apologize to Italians, mutes and uptight British ladies. Comedy has been around for a long, long time, and there have been a lot of impolite, unpleasant and jaw-droppingly politically incorrect jokes…. You went up there as a comic and joked about it all and nothing was off-limits. And to this day, nobody has died from a single joke.” Advertisement: 9. Lisa Lampanelli The edgy comic wrote a piece in the Hollywood Reporter titled “How Political Correctness is Killing Comedy,” writing “Here’s the problem: Comedy, probably more than any other art form, is subjective. What jokes crack up your mom, your little brother, and your gay best friend will be completely different -- unless it’s a video of a guy getting hit in the gonads with a piñata stick. That’s funny to everyone….If you like safe, generic comedy, that’s fine. Go on a cruise ship and crack up listening to the comedian point out the hilarious differences between loafers and shoes with laces. But don’t go to one of my shows and be outraged by what you hear. Going to my show and expecting me not to cross the line of good taste and social propriety is like going to a Rolling Stones concert and expecting not to hear 'Satisfaction.'” 10. Dennis Miller One of the few big-name comics who is also a conservative, Miller is certainly no fan of PC culture. In his book of rants, Miller devotes a whole chapter to the issue, writing “trying to negotiate straits of what's acceptably funny nowadays is like trying to navigate through the Sargasso Sea of plastic toadstools in the middle of a bumper pool table." Miller acknowledges that he understands where political correctness comes from, “but now, suddenly, we find ourselves in a classic overcorrection, where we're all supposed to zip through life like some huge societal squadron of Blue Angels, flying six inches off each other's taste wing, never ever deviating even one angstrom. Well, folks, there are a lot of different aircraft careening through the social stratosphere, and we better start working out some respectfully independent glide paths right now, or it's gonna start getting really messy….Why don't we start by letting humor serve as our guide? Laughter is one of the great beacons in life because we don't defract it by gunning it through our intellectual prism. What makes us laugh is a mystery -- an involuntary response.”
The Japanese have been studying the link between blood type and personality for over 60 years. To find out more about blood types, including what foods to eat and avoid and ideal exercise, be sure to read The Body Ecology Diet. Could blood type provide a key to wellness and even affect our personality? Canadian naturopathic doctor James D'Adamo and his son Peter D'Adamo think so. In Japan, extensive research on blood type and personality began more than 60 years ago. Blood type can be a valuable clue for understanding your own uniqueness. Today, it is even more common to hear the Japanese ask your blood type than it is for Americans to ask your astrological sign. To most Japanese, both biology and genetics have a role in determining personality. Approximately 90% know their blood type and for decades, blood typing has been used by employers when assessing job candidates, dating services for potential love matches and even companies for marketing soft drinks and other products. I seem to have a special relationship with Japan. I lived there from the ages of 12 to 15. I also studied with Lima Ohsawa, who founded Macrobiotics with her husband, George Ohsawa. During my years of travel and study in Japan, I had an opportunity to learn first-hand the ways that the Japanese used blood types and it immediately caught my attention -- especially because several years earlier I had also become fascinated with the work of Dr. James D'Adamo. His theory focused on how blood type could indicate the foods and lifestyle choices most compatible for you. One man's food is another man's poison. After meeting Dr. James D'Adamo and reading his book, I began to question everyone about their blood type in an attempt to verify if blood type diet indeed provided clues to our individual uniqueness. All of these years later, I am certain it does have merit and is worth our attention. In fact, when I began working with children with autism, I quickly saw that 8 out of 10 of them are blood type "A". An "A" myself, this told me a lot about the little bodies they were in and what their special needs were. Knowing that blood is the most fundamental nourishment for our bodies, it seems to me that different blood types would react differently to certain substances in food. Please reflect on this theory yourself and see if you don't agree. While there is not a lot of "hard science" to date on blood type, it makes a lot of "common sense" to look further into this theory. Blood carries the nutrients of foods into our cells and clearly not all blood is exactly the same. While Dr. James D'Adamo's theories were based on patient observation, his son Peter D'Adamo has tried to use a more scientific approach on the activity of lectins (proteins found in food). Peter found that eating the wrong lectins for your blood type could cause weight gain, early aging and immune problems. I credit much of the blood type information presented in The Body Ecology Diet to both James D'Adamo and Pete D'Adamo's research, but because of my own observations with blood type and my fortunate exposure to the Japanese theory on personality and blood type - and as you will see in more detail in The Body Ecology Diet book - I do not always agree with these two brilliant and creative men. Blood Type and Personality There are four blood types: O, A, AB and B, with blood type A being the most common where so much research on blood types have been focused - in Japan. In fact, 74% of the Japanese are blood type A. I find it interesting that the Japanese diet very much favors those with blood type A. "B" type, the second most common blood type, does not do well on soy, or soba (buckwheat) common foods eaten in Japan. Fish is an important protein for B's and the Japanese consume more fish that any country in the world. Lamb, an important protein for B's, is not available there. Here are some examples of blood type and personality, based on James and Peter D'Adamo's work: Blood Type A - Tend to be cooperative, sensitive, clever, passionate and smart. Often bottling up anxiety in order to get along with others, they may hold in their emotions until they explode. Many are tense, impatient and unable to sleep well. While they are capable of leadership positions, they may not take them because the stress is not good for their tightly wired systems. In Japan, many "A"'s are in research. They have roles in discovering more about and refining science, economics, manufacturing, etc. Their research on microflora and other areas of medicine is some of the best and most meticulous in the world. They are perfectionists to say the least. This quality shows up in their perfecting electronics like TV's and also less expensive more efficient cars that were originally created here in the US. Blood type A's tend to have more sensitive constitutions. Too much stress weakens their immunity more quickly than other blood types. Low stomach acid is common among blood type A's even from birth, so special care should be taken when eating animal proteins. Using digestive enzymes, like Assist Dairy and Protein, along with consuming fermented foods and drinks is really a must for A's. It is not surprising to me that fermented foods like Miso and Natto play an important role in providing easily digested protein in the Japanese Diet. They also eat raw fish which is much easier to digest than cooked. Blood Type B - Blood type B individuals tend to be balanced - thoughtful like A's and yet ambitious like O's. They are empathetic, easily understanding others' points of view, yet often hesitating to challenge or confront. Chameleon-like and flexible, they make good friends. Peter D'Adamo found that while their immunity is strong, they are more prone to slow-growing viral infections like lupus, MS and chronic fatigue. They may also have problems with hypoglycemia and blood sugar, especially if they eat the wrong foods. Blood Type AB - Tend to be very charming and popular. They don't sweat the small stuff and can be seen as spiritual and even at times a bit "flaky". Only about 2 - 5% of the population are blood type AB. There is never a dull moment in a AB's life, so if you find one for a friend, consider yourself lucky! Like blood type A's, AB's react to stress poorly. They are stronger and more active than type A's, but need to pay attention to stress levels so that they don't compromise their immunity. Sometimes it is difficult to be an AB. AB's don't like to fit in anyone else's "boxes". If they feel too confined, they'll break out of that box and do things their own way. When it comes to food choices, an AB must discover when they are more B-like or A-like. For example, dairy foods like milk kefir can be excellent for them or not good at all. - Tend to be very charming and popular. They don't sweat the small stuff and can be seen as spiritual and even at times a bit "flaky". Only about 2 - 5% of the population are blood type AB. There is never a dull moment in a AB's life, so if you find one for a friend, consider yourself lucky! Like blood type A's, AB's react to stress poorly. They are stronger and more active than type A's, but need to pay attention to stress levels so that they don't compromise their immunity. Sometimes it is difficult to be an AB. AB's don't like to fit in anyone else's "boxes". If they feel too confined, they'll break out of that box and do things their own way. When it comes to food choices, an AB must discover when they are more B-like or A-like. For example, dairy foods like milk kefir can be excellent for them or not good at all. Blood Type O - Tend to be loners or leaders and are intuitive, focused, self-reliant and daring. They handle stress better than other blood types and have strong immune systems, a well developed physique and a physically active nature. Blood type O's tend to have sluggish blood flow and feel better with vigorous exercise for about an hour each day. Obviously many other factors influence your personality. I think you will find like me that these blood type theories are quite fascinating. Do your own subjective research and see if you agree or disagree. To find out more about blood types, including what foods to eat and avoid and ideal exercise, be sure to check out our 10-Day Gut Smart Challenge which hones in on finding a personalized solution for any health challenge. In 1994, I began writing about blood type and diet in the 1st edition of The Body Ecology Diet. When Peter D'Adamo's book, Eat Right For Your Type came out in 1996, we began to get questions on some of the conflicting information in the two books. Based on our years of working with clients to create a system of health and healing, I feel that the Body Ecology system expands upon Peter's work and goes further toward helping you know and care for your body. Experiment and Be Your Own Guide While Body Ecology believes that the blood type theory can provide clues to your diet and health, currently, there are no studies that support or deny the theory. The Body Ecology Diet offers a series of guidelines about your blood type so that you can safely experiment. Hopefully you know your blood type - if not its worth finding out (via your doctor, for example). Keeping in mind the Body Ecology Principle of Uniqueness, blood type may be a way to modify Body Ecology guidelines for your own unique situation. Try it out for yourself and see what you think! We'd love to hear about your experiences. And also TRY THIS FUN EXPERIMENT -- forward this article to your friends and family and inquire about their blood types and start your own research to discover how valid the above information about personality types may be! These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease.
ANONYMOUS, the international network of activists and (sometimes) hactivists, stepped into Arkansas this week with a video challenging the West Memphis Police Department and Gov. Mike Beebe to properly solve the murders of Steve Branch, Michael Moore and Christopher Byers. The boys were eight years old in 1993 when their bodies were found in a West Memphis drainage canal. A character with robotic motions and speech narrates a brief overview of the case that resulted in the convictions, incarcerations, and eventual freeing of Damien Echols, Jason Baldwin and Jessie Misskelley, all of whom were teenagers at the time of their arrests a month after the murders. In 2011, in a strange and much-derided move, state officials allowed the three convicted men to be freed if they would plead guilty. The men accepted the deal and pled guilty—while stating at the same time that they were innocent—and were released. The speaker urges Beebe (pronounced Beeb in the video) to pardon Echols, Baldwin and Misskelley, but the governor recently said he cannot grant such pardons because the men have not gone through the application process. Addressing the West Memphis police, the speaker in the video said, “You should not let prejudice and friendships guide your investigation rather than evidence from the crime scene itself.” Addressing “the murderers,” the speaker said, “The clock is ticking… You cannot escape justice.” In a statement posted after the video’s release, Anonymous wrote: “It is not only the right of the people but also the duty of the people to demand that their [public] servants and elected officials do their jobs.” In response to criticism that the video amounts to a threat, the statement countered that it “merely lets the murder(s) know that time is running out for them to hide from the truth.” The statement and video are here. The comments section contains a video created by Dr. Mark Cowart, a Tennessee dentist, that compares a partial belonging to Terry Hobbs, stepfather of victim Stevie Branch, with bite marks found on Branch’s body.
Click to email this to a friend (Opens in new window) Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window) Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window) “Jersey Shore” star Vinny Guadagnino is schooling Donald Trump after the president tweeted that the East Coast could use “a little bit of that good old Global Warming” over the anticipated freezing holiday weekend. “I think climate change is more complex than [the idea that] global warming will make it hotter,” 30-year-old Guadagnino replied to Trump on Thursday. “It has to do with disruptions of atmospheric conditions,ocean patterns, jet streams and s–t like that.” Guadagnino, who majored in political science at SUNY New Paltz, was miffed when people began tweeting about how it’s “bad” that a “Jersey Shore” star was educating Trump. “I get the joke but why does having a summer shore house automatically make u stupid?” he wrote, adding, “No smart ppl ever partied with friends on weekends?” Gym, tan, laundry, climate change.
Beijing dismisses scathing EIA report on wildlife trade which claims ivory haul of Xi Jinping delegates in Tanzania doubled price on illegal market China has strongly dismissed claims suggesting that a Chinese delegation accompanying Xi Jinping to Tanzania last year purchased so much illegal elephant ivory that prices spiked. According to a scathing report on the country’s illegal wildlife trade by the Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA), business boomed when Xi’s delegation was in the capital city, Dar es Salaam, last March, doubling the market price of ivory to $700 a kilogram. Speaking at a press briefing on Thursday, China’s foreign ministry spokesman, Hong Lei, called the allegations groundless, adding that the ministry was “strongly dissatisfied” with the report. “We attach importance to the protection of wild animals like elephants. We have been cooperating with other countries in this area.” But the campaigners EIA, who are based in London, UK, said that the Chinese president’s entourage had purchased “thousands of kilos of ivory” and later sent the load back to China. The group pinpointed two traders at the city’s notorious ivory trading hub of Mwenge market. One was Suleiman Mochiwa, the owner of a freight forwarding service, and the other, Paulo Gavana, an ebony carver. “The price was very high because the demand was high,” Mochiwa told undercover investigators, according to the report. “When the guests come, the whole delegation, that’s then time when the business goes up.” A third, unnamed, trader said that the visit of Hu Jintao, who was China’s president from 2002 to 2012, to Tanzania with a large delegation in 2009, caused the same phenomenon. “They come to take many things,” the trader said. “But that was not for Hu Jintao, it was the whole group. Then they go direct to the airport, because VIP – no one checks your bags.” The report says that China’s demand for ivory means Tanzania is losing more of its elephants to poaching than any other African country. The Selous reserve in the country’s south has been the hotspot for ivory poaching, with elephant numbers there falling from about 70,000 in 2006 to 13,000 in 2013. The report says that officials’ seizures of goods show that more ivory is coming from Tanzania than any other African country. The report cites the case of Yu Bo, a Chinese national who was detained in December 2013 while attempting to deliver 81 elephant tusks to two officers from a Chinese naval task force on an official visit to the port of Dar es Salaam, in the Kurasini region. Yu was caught at one checkpoint after paying bribes totalling $20,000 (£12,500) at a previous checkpoint, and subsequently sentenced to 20 years in jail after being unable to pay a $5.6m fine. In November 2013 three Chinese nationals were arrested at a house in a suburb of Dar es Salaam, where 706 tusks were found. The EIA’s executive director, Mary Rice, said: “This report shows clearly that without a zero tolerance approach the future of Tanzania’s elephants and its tourism industry are extremely precarious. “The ivory trade must be disrupted at all levels of criminality, the entire prosecution chain needs to be systemically restructured, corruption rooted out and all stakeholders, including communities exploited by the criminal syndicates and those on the frontlines of enforcement, given unequivocal support.” The report lays the blame for Tanzania’s ivory trade problem on “collusion between corrupt officials and criminal enterprises”, accusing rangers, police officers and revenue and customs officers of corruption. It also highlights underfunding for the wildlife division which protects the Selous reserve. It says that agency’s funding fell $2.8m for the year, in 2005, to $0.8m in 2009, after revenue raised from safari photography trips was scrapped. The wildlife division has one ranger for every 168 square kilometres (65 sq miles) rather than the recommended level of one per 25 sq km. The Chinese ambassador to Tanzania this year deplored the role Chinese nationals were playing in the country’s illegal wildlife trade, saying “our bad habits have followed us”.
Nationalising the major power providers, as suggested by Labour leadership candidate Jeremy Corbyn, could cost £185bn, according to leading City analysts. Following a report in the Financial Times in which Corbyn discusses an ambition to take control of the big energy companies, analysts at Jefferies stockbrokers concluded there would be a number of hurdles to this idea. They cite European Union law and stock exchange rules which require an offer for a whole company to be made once a shareholder owns 30% of the shares. The FT piece follows a report by Greenpeace about Corbyn’s proposals. Andy Burnham vows to renationalise railways Read more Corbyn is quoted in the Financial Times (£) as saying: “I would want the public ownership of the gas and the National Grid … [and] I would personally wish that the big six were under public control, or public ownership in some form.” The MP for the London seat of Islington North since 1983 is attracting support for his leadership bid. Corbyn is said to want to take stakes in British Gas, SSE, E.ON, RWE npower, Scottish Power and EDF, as well as the National Grid. In the FT, Corbyn is quoted as saying: “You can do it by majority shareholding; you can do it by increased share sales, which are then bought by the government in order to give a controlling interest.” The Jefferies analysts said: “Such a policy would face many hurdles, such as compatibility with EU law, but if it was implemented how much might it cost? In his interview, Mr Corbyn suggests that the government could take a majority equity stake in the utility companies. However, under stock exchange rules, once a stock holding hits 30% an offer for the whole company must be made. Therefore, we assume that all of the equity would be acquired.” Photograph: Jefferies According to their analysis, the cost would amount to £185bn based on the entire market stock market value of the companies. But, they said: “If a future Labour government restricted itself to just acquiring the UK assets of the big six generators plus National Grid, the cost would be £124bn.” They assumed that the shares are bought at current prices and not at any higher price, which might be expected from a takeover, to calculate an enterprise value – the debt and equity – for the companies. For companies which are not directly listed on the market and are part of bigger groups – such as EDF or E.ON – the analysts have used valuations of just the UK operations.
Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, center, flanked by Sen. John Barrasso, R-Wyo., left, and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Ky. speaks to reporters on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, April 4, 2017, about the struggle to move Supreme Court nominee Neil Gorsuch toward a final up-or-down vote on the Senate floor. Associated Press/J. Scott Applewhite Sen. Chuck Grassley said this week that a Supreme Court justice is rumored to be resigning within the year. "I would expect a resignation this summer," he said, according to the Muscatine Journal. He did not name a justice. The Iowa Republican, who is also chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, made the remarks during a question-and-answer session in Muscatine, Iowa. If a resignation does occur, it's expected that President Donald Trump would nominate a replacement from the same list from which the newly appointed Justice Neil Gorsuch was chosen, Grassley said. He added that most of the candidates on the list are well-qualified. "I don't know about racial and ethnic divisions, but there's some very good females on there that would make good Supreme Court justices as well," Grassley said. Another Trump appointee would likely be a conservative-leaning judge, skewing the Supreme Court bench further to the right. Grassleys remarks come less than two weeks after the swearing in of Gorsuch, who now fills the seat of the late Justice Antonin Scalia. To confirm Gorsuch, Republicans opted to change the rules of the Senate to overcome a Democratic filibuster. Future Supreme Court confirmations will now only require a series of simple majority votes in the Senate, rather than a previous 60-vote threshold.
First, Twitter came for his blue “verification” checkmark. Now the social media site has suspended James Allsup, saying the controversial Washington State University student espousing far-right views violated its terms of use. Allsup is a far-right activist who’s been accused of sowing racial divisions on campus since he led WSU’s chapter of the College Republicans and organized a “Trump wall” demonstration more than a year ago. In August, he attended the white-nationalist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, drawing attention from Washington lawmakers. He’s now a senior at WSU and co-hosts a podcast called “Nationalist Review.” Allsup’s Twitter handle was @realJamesAllsup – a nod to President Donald Trump’s user name – and like Trump, he routinely used the platform to attack “leftists,” multiculturalism, “antifa” and Obama-era immigration policies. By the time Allsup’s account was shut down on Christmas, it had amassed nearly 24,000 followers. Fewer than a third as many Twitter users follow WSU President Kirk Schulz’s account. In mid-November, Allsup was among a handful of far-right figures who were stripped of their verification checkmarks – visual cues that Twitter gives to prominent accounts to help other users ensure they are authentic. By disabling his account, Twitter has gone a step further. While the company doesn’t say precisely why it suspends individual users, Allsup’s penchant for provocation offers a variety of possible explanations. On Nov. 29, for example, he used his Twitter account to harass a high school student about her weight – a departure from his usual, politically charged comments. The student had posted pictures of herself along with a text exchange indicating she’d been bullied at school. “I’m on a 1660kcal a day diet and the pics of this girl just made that a whole lot easier,” Allsup wrote.
Nicolas Cage makes a lot of movies. His IMDb page lists 15 roles since 2011, with another 10 more in various stages of production and development for the rest of 2015 and 2016. He’s got to pay for those dinosaur bones , haunted houses , and giant pyramid tombstones in New Orleans somehow. With so much new Cage constantly flooding the market, it can be tough to keep up with all of it, even for a die-hard Cage-iac like myself. That’s why, until earlier this week, I had never seen Cage’s 2007 film Next. Reader, every minute of the last eight years I spent not watching Next was a colossal waste of time. This is a magnificent work of gonzo cinema; goofy and silly, illogical and insane. It is about Cris Johnson (Cage), a Las Vegas magician with the weirdest haircut in human history, who just so happens to have the gift of second sight — he can see exactly two minutes into the future. Cris is recruited by the FBI to help them find a stolen nuclear bomb. Since he can only see two minutes into the future, it seems like Cris’ usefulness would be limited. (“It’s two miles away! And it’ll take us 40 minutes in L.A. traffic to get there. So we’re basically dead.”) Nonetheless, FBI Agent Callie Ferris ( Julianne Moore ) insists Cris is the man for the job, and stops actively looking for the bomb so she can chase Nicolas Cage around the country instead. Your tax dollars at work! Cris is also wanted by Las Vegas police, because he’s been using his psychic powers to cheat at blackjack. Luckily he can use those same mental abilities (and quick changes of clothes) to stay ahead of his pursuers. After he ditches the cops, Cris winds up in a diner, where he drinks a martini. Because that’s what people drink in diners. Martinis. Meanwhile, a beautiful woman named Liz ( Jessica Biel ) enters. Cris is instantly smitten. It’s love at first intensely awkward stare. Cris keeps trying to figure out how to approach this glamorous vixen. He imagines one possible future where he tries a smooth pickup line; when it backfires, the scene rewinds and he picks another tactic. It’s like Nicolas Cage’s Groundhog Day and it is as fantastic as it sounds. While Cris is divining the future, Liz’s boyfriend Kendall (!!!) walks in. They get into a fight, and Cris comes to Liz’s rescue. Again, Cris keeps trying out different scenarios to win his maiden’s heart, one of which involves intuiting Kendall’s every punch before it’s thrown: He quickly realizes the only way to woo Liz is to let Kendall beat the crap out of him, which results in some hard-earned sympathy (and one of the weirdest faces Nic Cage has ever made onscreen): It’s worth noting that Nicolas Cage was 43 in 2007; Jessica Biel was 25. Their romance is exactly as awkward and forced as you expect it would be. And the movie has love scenes! (I spared you the GIFs of those.) For reasons too dumb to explain, Liz takes Cris to a Native American reservation. When they arrive, he wins over the locals with some magic tricks (and a lot of vintage Nic Cage oddness): “Wait, so now I have to take care of this lizard? This is supposed to be a gift? Screw you Nicolas Cage!” (Wasn’t this movie about Nicolas Cage using psychic powers to find a nuclear bomb? What happened to that?) Worried they will exploit his gifts for evil, Cris refuses to help the FBI. Instead, he hides out in a remote cabin with Liz. Their lovemaking seems about as tender and romantic as a dental exam, but Cris’ short-range psychic abilities must make him a dynamo in the sack, because when Agent Ferris tracks down Liz and tries to convince her to help the FBI capture him, she betrays her country in order to help Cage to make a daring escape. And that’s when Nicolas Cage gains the ability to dodge bullets: And to duck falling trucks at just the right (and most awesome) moment: Despite his bullet-time abilities, Cris gets taken into custody. There he’s subjected to terrible psychic torture. But then he escapes, once again using his mind powers to evade detection (and to use nightsticks as projectile weapons): Eventually, Liz gets kidnapped by the same terrorists who have the nuclear bomb, so Cris relents and agrees to help the FBI. So they get to walk towards a helicopter all cool and stuff. Why is Nicolas Cage swinging his arms like that? He looks like he has to go to the bathroom. In the big climax, Cris’ abilities begin to manifest in ways that frankly don’t make any sense. Now he uses his second sight to divide himself into multiple Cages to explore all the different nooks and crannies of this shipping warehouse where the nuclear bomb is supposedly hidden. You heard me: Multiple. Nicolas. Cages. MULTICAGE! The Cage Army eventually tracks down the lead terrorist (Thomas Kretschmann) who’s got Liz held at gunpoint. Undeterred, Cris simultaneously explores each possible future where he gets shot until he finds the one where he doesn’t. (Maybe; I honestly don’t understand how this works.) I won’t spoil how the movie ends, but it does involve Nicolas Cage and Jessica Biel getting back into bed one last time, because there is nothing more erotic than Nicolas Cage nuzzling a 25-year-old woman. Reviews of Next were pretty brutal in 2007 (“Crummy!” — Manohla Dargis, The New York Times ), though it did have a few defenders (including Grantland’s Wesley Morris, then at the Boston Globe , who called it a “watchably absurd popcorn flick.” I’d say that’s exactly right; by any objective measurement, Next is terrible. The story is laughable, the effects are like something out of a Syfy Original, Nicolas Cage spends way too much time walking around without a shirt, and Julianne Moore looks like she’s counting down the seconds until she can go back to her trailer. But it’s the fun kind of terrible. It’s Nicolas Cage dodging bullets and wearing fedoras and romancing a woman who could easily play his daughter. It’s glorious. You might think I’ve spoiled the entire film with this description and these GIFs. Far from it; I shared less than half the Next GIFs I made, and I left plenty of stuff for you to discover (including the random cameo by a TV legend who gets to hug a topless Nicolas Cage). The only reason it’s not the craziest and most hilarious movie of Cage’s career is because everything Nic Cage makes is the craziest and most hilarious movie of his career. I recommend it become the next thing you watch on Netflix . Don’t make the same mistake I did and wait eight years to check it out. Life is too short, even for a psychic.
California-based Avni Madhani was 14 when the first diabetes-related death in her family in India took place. Her uncle died in 2014 and then a year later, she lost her paternal grandfather to the disease. “It was then that I started researching about type-2 diabetes and realised that unlike type-1 which is mostly genetic, type-2 is largely a preventable lifestyle disease,” Madhani says of the disorder that affects 422 million people across the world. “A healthy diet and half an hour of physical activity every day can reduce your risk of developing it,” she adds. The high-school student also realised how people, not just in India, but around the world did not have a sound knowledge of what they were eating. “While researching I found out a lot of things about nutrition that I myself did not learn in school. People do not know what they are consuming because society itself does not do a good job of educating people about nutrition,” the 16-year-old says. The Calorie Counter is a vast database on the website that gives the caloric values of various Indian vegetarian foods from vegetable to pulses and snacks, cooking oils and beverages. “Just like there is a Swachh Bharat Campaign, there should be a Swasthh Bharat campaign,” the teen, who was in Delhi recently to create awareness about nutrition, says. To plug this gap, she decided to create a repository of basic nutritional knowledge so that people could educate themselves about healthy eating and living. In 2016, when her maternal grandmother too died of type-2 diabetes, she launched her website - thehealthybeat.com. It covers all the bases when it comes to eating right: You can check your ideal weight, body mass index, and calculate how many calories you should be consuming in a day. Calorie Counter, a vast database that gives the caloric values of various Indian vegetarian foods from vegetable to pulses and snacks, cooking oils and beverages. The Build Your Meal section helps you plan your meal mindful of the calories you are piling or lacking. Nutritional Knowledge works like a refresher course by listing all the vitamins and minerals as well as their function, sources, deficiency symptoms and the sources of carbs, fats and dietary fibre. There is even a section on various physical activities and the number of calories burnt during each activity. The daughter of a software entrepreneur, who moved to the US in 1989 after completing his bachelor’s in electrical engineering from IIT-Bombay, and a former fashion designer follows what she preaches. “I eat whatever I want to when I am outside but I am careful of what I eat at home. I eat a lot more salads now,” she says. Madhani, who wants to study medicine after school, says a common mistake people make is to overload their daily diet with carbohydrates and fats and consume zero vegetables. “Carbs break into sugar which is why your blood sugar level goes up. I have seen people eat the number of calories they should eat during the whole day in one meal,” she says. Madhani says she created content for the website by accessing online resources such as the websites of Nutrition Society of India, South Asian Heart Center, Diabetic Association of India and a community college-recommended book on nutrition. “I wasn’t old enough to enrol into that course at that time. So I got hold of the book they were using – Understanding Nutrition by Ellie Whitney and Sharon Rady Rolfes,” Madhani says. The content on the website is available in English as well as Hindi since Madhani’s audience primarily is the south Asian community. Madhani, who teaches Hindi at a local Jain temple in San Francisco, says she translated the material into Hindi herself and at times took the help of online translation tools. “My Hindi has got better. I learnt to say things I did not know before, like ‘kidney functions’ which means gurde karya in Hindi,” she laughs. Follow @htlifeandstyle for more. First Published: Jan 10, 2017 15:24 IST
The man who painted my house two summers ago is out of a job. The company that has employed him for the last 10 years has sacked almost all its staff, because the work just isn't there. Joseph has had no income for eight weeks. For the first time in his life, he tried to claim a benefit – jobseekers' allowance – but he wasn't entitled to it because, for all but the last 10 months, his firm had defined him as self-employed. Ten months isn't enough to build an independent tax and national insurance contributions record, even though he has been a taxpayer for 27 years. He's been told he can't have income-based benefit either, because his wife, who is a cleaner, earns about £8,000 a year. The couple live in a rented flat with their 20-year-old student son. The son, hardworking and ambitious, lives at home and spends four hours a day travelling to university because his family were too frightened to take on the extra debt of a student loan. The parents have never had the money to put down a deposit on a London home, so they have missed out on the housing boom. Nor have they ever felt settled. They have had to move three times in five years because the landlord wanted to sell his property, or because he suddenly raised the rent. Now they don't know whether they will be evicted, or whether the housing benefit they applied for two months ago will meet the £200 weekly rent. Even if it does, the future looks frightening. Joseph used to earn £350 in a good week, or £10 an hour, but the rates advertised in the local jobcentre for painting work are for between £6 and £7. And no one's offered him any of the jobs. The family had more than £3,000 in savings, but that is almost gone. Joseph's wife has always worked, but some of her cleaning jobs have been cut, and the competition for new ones, with employers offering illegally low wages, is intense. The family has gone from just managing to cope to facing real daily anxiety and constraint. The plight of families like Joseph's isn't a dramatic one. It doesn't attract much notice because it's not about extremes – dire poverty, drugs, or crime. For that reason it's easy for policymakers to pay less attention to people like these. But 30% of the population – some 14.3 million adults – are in a similar position to Joseph; living in households earning less than the median income but above the level for state support. A report out today argues that these low earners are particularly vulnerable to the effects of the recession, and that they need more help than they get. The Resolution Foundation was set up to campaign for this segment of Britain. It says that low earners are being squeezed by the mixed economy; too well-off to depend on state benefits; too poor to cushion themselves when things go wrong. Almost half these households have less than a month's salary in savings. One-third say they would like to save £10 a month, but can't afford it. Eleven million already had financial problems before the recession began. They struggle to get on the housing ladder, but don't qualify for social housing, so many are pushed into the insecure private rented sector. They tend to have low skills, and to work in areas which have been particularly hard hit this year: retail, hospitality and construction. When they lose their jobs, their lack of particular skills makes then less desirable to employers. A quarter of low earners are still unemployed after six months, compared with only a tenth of managers and the higher-skilled. Clive Cowdery, the City financier who created the Resolution Foundation with £20m of his own money, is a passionate advocate for this group. These people are, he says, active, courageous, and determined to make something of their lives. That's why they haven't surrendered to a life on benefits. Many are holding down one-and-a-half jobs, and yet their incomes still don't match their outgoings. For them, he says, the recession is like a bomb going off, with the full impact yet to come. Government cuts designed to deliver savings while protecting the poor – like Gordon Brown's plans to end childcare vouchers or George Osborne's proposal to chip back at child trust funds – will hit low earners hardest. They already live at the edge of their means, with almost two-fifths always or usually running out of money at the end of every month. Inflation for this group, who have to spend much of their income on food or fuel, is running much higher than for the better-off. And previous experience shows that unemployment for this group will lag behind the end of the recession by a year, as failing companies are finally closed down by the banks. Just as the better-off are celebrating, hundreds of thousands of low earners will be losing their jobs – and often their homes. The Resolution Foundation wants to ensure lives aren't casually wrecked. More can be done. The credit squeeze is raising the price of loans; they should not be held artificially high. A money guidance service would give advice before debts became unmanageable, and lenders should be required to evaluate individuals' prospects before automatically calling in mortgages and borrowing. Individuals ought to be given budgets for training, to choose for themselves how to improve their skills, and employers should be advised on how to cut employees' hours rather than jobs. Tax breaks could create a solid and dependable private rented sector. Benefits must be paid faster. All welfare-to-work schemes should offer real training, linked to genuine jobs. Cowdery is no sentimentalist. People will lose jobs and have to repay debts. All he's asking is for low earners to be given more control over their lives and a greater chance of recovering from a crisis. Governments make policy by listening to the vocal, he says – the financial industry, the poverty lobby, the Daily Mail. The missing third of the population must be heard too.
Who will drones target? Who in the US will decide? A new procedure puts the White House squarely in control of who will be targeted by drone attacks WASHINGTON (AP) — White House counterterror chief John Brennan has seized the lead in choosing which terrorists will be targeted for drone attacks or raids, establishing a new procedure for both military and CIA targets. The effort concentrates power over the use of lethal U.S. force outside war zones within one small team at the White House. Advertisement: The process, which is about a month old, means Brennan's staff consults with the State Department and other agencies as to who should go on the target list, making the Pentagon's role less relevant, according to two current and three former U.S. officials aware of the evolution in how the government goes after terrorists. In describing Brennan's arrangement to The Associated Press, the officials provided the first detailed description of the military's previous review process that set a schedule for killing or capturing terror leaders around the Arab world and beyond. They spoke on condition of anonymity because U.S. officials are not allowed to publicly describe the classified targeting program. One senior administration official argues that Brennan's move adds another layer of review that augments rather than detracts from the Pentagon's role. The Pentagon can still carry out its own internal procedures to make recommendations to the secretary of defense, the official said. The CIA keeps its own list of targets, though it overlaps with the Pentagon's. It never included the large number of interagency players the Pentagon brought to the table for its debates Brennan's effort gives him greater input earlier in the process, before making final recommendation to President Barack Obama. Officials outside the White House expressed concern that drawing more of the decision-making process to Brennan's office could turn it into a pseudo military headquarters, entrusting the fate of al-Qaida targets to a small number of senior officials. Under the new plan, Brennan's staff compiles the potential target list and runs the names past agencies such as the State Department at a weekly White House meeting, the officials said. Advertisement: Previously, targets were first discussed in meetings run by the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Adm. Mike Mullen at the time, with Brennan being just one of the voices in the debate. Brennan ultimately would make the case to the president, but a larger number of officials would end up drawn into the discussion. The new Joint Chiefs chairman, Gen. Martin Dempsey, has been more focused on shrinking the U.S. military as the Afghan war winds down and less on the covert wars overseas. With Dempsey less involved, there is an even greater need to draw together different agencies' viewpoints, some in the administration believe, showing the American public that al-Qaida targets are chosen only after painstaking and exhaustive debate. This could be especially true in an election year, when drone strikes can be politically sensitive. Some of the officials carrying out the policy are equally leery of "how easy it has become to kill someone," one said. The U.S. is targeting al-Qaida operatives for reasons such as being heard in an intercepted conversation plotting to attack a U.S. ambassador overseas, the official said. Stateside, that conversation could trigger an investigation by the Secret Service or FBI. Advertisement: The CIA and the Pentagon did not respond to requests for comment. Drone strikes are highly controversial in Pakistan, too. Obama met briefly on the sidelines of the NATO summit in Chicago on Monday with Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari and Afghan President Hamid Karzai. Pakistan has closed key transit routes used by NATO to send supplies to troops in Afghanistan in response to a U.S. airstrike that killed two dozen Pakistani soldiers. Advertisement: An example of a recent Pentagon-led drone strike was the fatal attack in January on al-Qaida commander Bilal al-Berjawi in Somalia. U.S. intelligence and military forces had been watching him for days. When his car reached the outskirts of Mogadishu, the drones fired a volley of missiles, obliterating his vehicle and killing him instantly. The drones belonged to the elite U.S. Joint Special Operations Command. The British-Lebanese citizen al-Berjawi ended up on the JSOC list after a studied debate run by the Pentagon. The Defense Department's list of potential drone or raid targets is about two dozen names long, the officials said. The previous process for vetting them, now mostly defunct, was established by Mullen early in the Obama administration, with a major revamp in the spring of 2011, two officials said. Drone attacks were split between JSOC and the CIA. By law, the CIA can target only al-Qaida operatives or affiliates who directly threaten the U.S. JSOC has a little more leeway, allowed by statue to target members of the larger al-Qaida network. Advertisement: Under the old Pentagon-run review, the first step was to gather evidence on a potential target. That person's case would be discussed over an interagency secure video teleconference, involving the National Counterterrorism Center and the State Department, among other agencies. Among the data taken into consideration: Is the target a member of al-Qaida or its affiliates; is he engaged in activities aimed at the U.S. overseas or at home? If a target isn't captured or killed within 30 days after he is chosen, his case must be reviewed to see if he's still a threat. The CIA's process is more insular. Only a select number of high-ranking staff can preside over the debates run by the agency's Covert Action Review Group, which then passes the list to the CIA's Counterterrorism Center to carry out the drone strikes. The Director of National Intelligence, Jim Clapper, is briefed on those actions, one official said. Al-Berjawi's name was technically on both lists — the Pentagon's, and the CIA's. In areas where both JSOC and the CIA operate, the military task force commander and CIA chief of station confer, together with representatives of U.S. law enforcement, on how best to hit the target. If it's deemed possible to grab the target, for interrogation or simply to gather DNA to prove the identity of a deceased person, a special operations team is sent, as in the case of the 2009 Navy SEAL raid against al-Qaida commander Saleh Ali Saleh Nabhan. Nabhan's convoy was attacked by helicopter gunships, after which the raiders landed and took his body for identification, before burying him at sea. Advertisement: But if the al-Qaida operative is in transit from Somalia to Yemen by boat, for instance, U.S. security officials might opt to use the Navy to intercept and the FBI to arrest him, officials said. Human rights and civil liberties groups have argued for the White House to make public the legal process by which names end up on the targeting lists. "We continue to believe, based on the information available, that the (drone) program itself is not just unlawful but dangerous," said Hina Shamsi, director of the ACLU National Security Project. "It is dangerous to characterize the entire planet as a battlefield." Shrinking the pool of people deciding who goes on the capture/kill list means fewer people to hold accountable, said Mieke Eoyang from Third Way, a centrist Democratic think tank. Advertisement: "As a general principle, if people think someone is checking their work, they are more careful," Eoyang said. "Small groups can fall victim to group-think." Brennan gave a landmark speech last month describing the Obama administration's legal reasoning behind the drone program. He said the choice of targets is weighed by whether capture is possible vs. the level of threat the person presents to Americans. He argued such targets are not civilians, but akin to targeting Japanese or German commanders in World War II.
Perhaps no American city has embraced beer in recent years as heartily as Chicago. Places like Portland and San Diego have well-deserved reputations as craft brewing hotspots, but the Windy City – home to a pack of upstarts, several established players and two of the country's premier institutions of beer knowledge – seems well on its way to replacing its northern neighbor, home of baseball's Brewers, as the mecca of American beer. “The trend in Chicago mirrors larger national trends in craft beer, but 2012 will be a banner year particularly for Chicago,” says Paul Schneider, who writes about the city's craft beer scene at chitownontap.com . “We are primed for absolutely unprecedented growth in volume, dollars, breweries, and SKUs.” The city's biggest beer producer is of course MillerCoors, America’s second largest brewer, which opened its new headquarters downtown a few years ago. But it's the craft beer scene that's got the most depth these days: And it's only the beginning. Schneider's 2012 craft beer preview lists nearly two-dozen Chicago area brewers in various planning stages. Several are embracing innovation. The New Chicago Beer Company has partnered with The Plant, a sustainable food production facility on the South Side. Samuel Evans, who owns New Chicago Beer with his brother Jesse, is looking forward to fueling his brewery with steam from The Plant's $2 million anaerobic digester.* “It makes perfect sense for a brewery because we create a lot of organic byproducts and use a ton of energy,” says Evans. “Other breweries have to cart away their spent grain, we just wheel it down the hallway and put it in the digester.” (Magic Hat Brewing, in Vermont, uses a similar digester.) Argyle Brewing is creating what may be the first community-supported brewery. The Ravenswood outfit will support itself with subscriptions from members, who will in turn receive their monthly supply of brews. Other new brewers include Broad Shoulders Brewing, founded by a former Goose Island brewer, and Pipeworks Brewing, which recently began production in its Wicker Park location after a successful Kickstarter campaign. So why is this happening in Chicago? Chalk at least some of it up to institutional memory. Across the street from Goose Island's original brewpub on Clybourn Avenue sits the Siebel Institute of Technology, founded in 1871 and the oldest brewing school in the United States. Scions of the Stroh's and Busch families learned the brewing arts at Siebel nearly a century ago. Today, scores of 21st century brewers-to-be come looking to gain insight on the finer points of hops and brewing styles. Siebel offers classes in Chicago, Milwaukee, Denver, and at its sister campus in Munich, Germany. Chicago is also home to the Craft Beer Institute, which trains beer servers, distributors and restaurant and industry professionals in the history, production, handling, and consumption of beer. The program recently issued its 10,000 certified beer server certificate, just four years after Chicagoan Ray Daniels created the program. With established players like Goose Island, up-and-comers like Half Acre and a wave of newcomers, new entrants to Chicago's craft beer scene might worry about the competition. Not so. “We're not worried in the slightest,” says Samuel Evans of New Chicago Beer. “We're actually friends with the majority of these new breweries, and we all have our own niche we're going after. Craft beer's a very interesting industry, it's very open. There's countless collaborations between breweries. When one brewery struggles, others come in and help them out. It's just a culture that's been created around this young growing industry.” Chicago's craft brewers are developing a culture of collaboration and cooperation just as millions of Chicagoans are learning to appreciate a fine brew. “The craft beer scene is definitely going to be a prominent feather in Chicago's cap,” says Schneider. *An earlier version of this article misstated the name of New Chicago's head brewer. This story also incorrectly stated that Revolution makes bottled beer; they produce only canned beer. Finally the story incorrectly state that Half Acre required tour reservations - they are now first-come, first serve.
Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti (D) in a recent radio interview said he is concerned that increased Immigration & Customs Enforcement (ICE) raids under the Trump administration could cause already high tensions in his city to boil over. “If something goes wrong, I fear a tinderbox out there, you know where people will suddenly say ‘no’ and try to defend. You know, keep that person from being taken,” Garcetti told Latino USA. “That’s a very dangerous situation. That’s dangerous for those officers. That’s dangerous for those agents. And we’re going to have to respond.” ADVERTISEMENT Garcetti noted that the city has built trust between the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) and the immigrant community that could be affected by aggressive immigration actions, like those promised by President Trump and Attorney General Jeff Sessions Jefferson (Jeff) Beauregard SessionsTrump says he hasn't spoken to Barr about Mueller report Ex-Trump aide: Can’t imagine Mueller not giving House a ‘roadmap’ to impeachment Rosenstein: My time at DOJ is 'coming to an end' MORE. “We just commemorated, you know, 25 years since the urban unrest and we know how quickly things can explode,” Garcetti said, referencing the 1992 riots that followed the acquittal of several LAPD officers in the beating of Rodney King. “But when ICE calls themselves police, people open that door expecting to see LAPD. It’s bad for ICE, and it’s bad for LAPD,” he said.
Long ago, Thomas Malthus argued that, although humans might be able to outpace nature's carrying capacity in the short-term, in the long run the mathematics of population growth would precipitate disaster. According to Malthus' original predictions, widespread starvation was inevitable due to the fact that food production could only increase arithmetically, whereas population growth was exponential. During Malthus' day, without the advantage of family planning technologies, offspring in typical pre-industrial families could easily outnumber parents by an exponential factor. Consequently, Malthus felt certain that, as populations exploded, demands for food would necessarily exceed available supplies. When that occurred, widespread starvation would ensue with the end result being a catastrophic population crash. - Advertisement - Interestingly, Malthus published his first predictions about overpopulation in the year 1798. At the beginning of the nineteenth century, the global population stood at approximately one billion people. In the years since his prediction, global population has indeed grown exponentially. As of 2012, global population has climbed to over seven billion people. Although it is safe to say that population has mushroomed precisely as Malthus predicted--during the twentieth century alone global population quadrupled from 1.5 billion to 6 billion people--the global food crisis that Malthus predicted has not occurred. Certainly, there have been persistent and tragic food shortages all over the planet, particularly in the developing world. Nevertheless, the calamitous food crisis that Malthus predicted has not yet transpired. Thus, one must wonder: How have humans avoided the Malthusian nightmare? - Advertisement - Seeing the Future through the Past It turns out that, like many great thinkers, Thomas Malthus attempted to predict the future through the lens of the past. Time is structured such that human experience is always located in the present. In turn, the present can be understood as a dynamic temporal transition point through which time flows toward the future and away from the past. It's as if we are all time-surfers; we skim forward on a temporal foundation that is fixed to the present while time washes by from the future to the past. Given the one-way flow of time, humans have direct experience with two of the three discernible temporal domains: we occupy the present while preserving fragmentary records of the past. Once again, due to the uni-directional flow of time, the temporal dimension with which humans lack direct experience is the future. Never having inhabited the future, its specific attributes are largely a mystery. The flow of time would need to reverse in order to acquaint time surfers with the same level of insight about the future that we currently accumulate about the present and past. Thus, no one can predict the future because neither the future, nor the fate of humanity is yet determined. At best, we can make educated guesses, based upon extrapolations from the past and present, about how the future might unfold. Still, because of the extraordinary capacity that super-adaptable agents (i.e., humans) have to modify the course of events in utterly unpredictable ways, we will never know precisely what the future holds until it arrives in the present. Essentially, the future is a process. The fact that the earth has been revolving around the sun for eons is a fairly strong indicator that it will continue doing so in the future. However, as Karl Popper argued, past circumstances, no matter how long they may have persisted, provide no absolute guarantee that similar events will transpire in the future. Though the probability is minuscule, an asteroid just might pulverize the earth tomorrow. Thus, the future is a combination of phenomena that give shape to the present blended with dynamics that stimulate change in the future. As such, the future is a construct that is constantly undergoing a process of evolutionary and unpredictable change. Indeed, one of the most unpredictable instigators of temporal change is the often improbable impact that human agents have upon the structure of unfolding events. - Advertisement - Thomas Malthus gazed into the future through a paradigm that was shaped by eighteenth century expectations. Within the context of the eighteenth century, there was no conceivable means by which to sustain an exponentially-increasing global population. As a result, Malthus was convinced that the end was near. Interestingly, in the late eighteenth century, the world as Malthus knew it was about to end, but, importantly, not in the way that Malthus had predicted. Malthus published his prognostications about the presumptive fate of humanity as the age of agriculture was coming to a close. Being unacquainted with the sweeping social, political, economic, and scientific changes that would accompany the Industrial Revolution, Malthus was unable to foresee the innovations that would amplify food supplies sufficiently to keep pace with exploding populations. Technologies such as higher yield grains, fertilizers, pesticides, herbicides, and petroleum-powered machines have generated astounding increases in agricultural yields throughout the industrial era. Without doubt, the problems that Malthus identified were real. Just as it would have been impossible for NASA to safely land astronauts on the moon using 1950s space technologies, so too would it have been impossible to avert the Malthusian nightmare using seventeenth century agricultural techniques. Exploding populations represented a dire crisis, and as Karl Popper argued, all life forms must find ways to solve problems or they will perish. In response, super-adaptable humans dealt with the problems associated with population growth and impending food shortages by pursuing an entirely new problematic: industrial society. Having thus dramatically redefined the substance and structure of human society, nineteenth century Europeans set about the process of transforming the social, political, cultural, and technological landscape to make the machine-age a reality. Mitigating Problems through Progress In the industrial era, the food supply problems that Malthus foresaw have largely been mitigated. Again, in recent centuries, global population has expanded exponentially, and, in spite of nagging problems associated with an unequal distribution of food, the total supply of food has kept pace. Though Malthus would be surprised by this outcome, Karl Popper would not. Again, Popper argued that humans are extraordinarily adept at developing intellectual solutions to survival problems. In successfully identifying such solutions, old problems often become non-issues: in industrially-advanced nations, farmers have been able to produce more food than consumers can eat. In fact, instead of being plagued by shortages, Americans are increasingly plagued by the problem of overabundance. The fact that the population quadrupled during the twentieth century is an undeniable indicator of human problem-solving ingenuity. However, as the population has grown, the degree to which humans have taxed the environment has also increased. For example, our love affair with hydrocarbons has had a dramatic impact on global climate, including elevating sea levels, a shrinking cryosphere, expanding deserts, etc. Thus, successful exploitation of fossil fuels has produced entirely new problems. Frustrating as this situation may seem, Karl Popper would not be troubled by such developments. Popper argued that, in the game of life, successful solutions to one set of problems invariably generate an entirely new set of problems. When Popper argued that all life is problem solving, he literally meant that survival for every living creature is contingent upon developing workable solutions to environmental problems. Living creatures either develop effective strategies to secure the necessary sustenance, space, and security that they require, or they will expire. Most life forms develop new survival strategies through the genetic evolutionary process. Random genetic mutations that enhance a creature's ability to solve environmental problems (e.g., accessing new food sources, dissuading predators, expanding into new territory, etc.) confer advantages in the struggle for survival. However, as creatures successfully adapt, they inevitably encounter new survival challenges to which they must adapt afresh (e.g., marine mammals successfully reconquered the sea only to encounter hungry sharks in their new environment). Thus, evolution is a never-ending process because every creature must constantly re-adapt to changing survival conditions. Humans are subject to the very same survival pressures as other creatures. Having taken full advantage of hydrocarbon-age technologies, humans are now confronted with an entirely new set of problems: global warming, ozone depletion, unsecured nukes, pollution, depletion of resources, etc. In spite of our success, the problems that plague humanity seem, if anything, larger and more insoluble than ever. Yet, strange as it may seem, that's actually a good thing. It is certainly true that, if nothing changes, the problems that humanity currently faces will be irresolvable. Just as Malthus gazed at the burgeoning problems in the eighteenth century and concluded that, for citizens of that era, the situation was hopeless, the same will be true for citizens of the twenty-first century. Einstein summed up this situation thus: "The significant problems we face cannot be solved at the same level of thinking we were at when we created them." In other words, we can't possibly hope to solve existing problems with existing knowledge. While that might seem to be a hopelessly pessimistic perspective, it is simply a statement of truth--but it is also a call to action. As with many prognosticators, Malthus failed to see the future coming. That is, Malthus viewed the future through a paradigm that was better suited to make sense of the past. When Malthus assumed that the future would inevitably be shaped by the same forces that had defined his present, he made a critical error. The problems that plague one historical era, so long as humans succeed in elevating their thinking, often tend to be viewed as relatively minor challenges in succeeding eras. This is not to say that the advancement of scientific knowledge will gradually create a perfect world. Far from it. In agreement with Popper, I believe that the problem-solving process is never-ending. Each solution to a major survival problem will always introduce an entirely new set of even more challenging problems. Though we will never live in a trouble-free world, we can feel safe in the knowledge that, so long as we have the courage to dream of doing the impossible, no problem will ever be too challenging to overcome. (Interested in more of this dicussion? Check out Good Science .)
PoliZette WaPo Forced to Correct Its Russian Hacking Story Inaccurate report claimed breach of U.S. electric grid in Vermont The Washington Post issued a correction this weekend to a story it published Friday. The story inaccurately stated that Russian hackers successfully infiltrated the U.S. electric grid at a utility company in Vermont. The Post published its initial story, written by Juliet Eilperin and Adam Entous, one day after President Obama slapped Russia with sanctions and expelled 35 of the country’s officials from the United States. Obama’s sanctions were in response to reports that Russia sought to actively meddle in the outcome of 2016 presidential election to support Republican Donald Trump’s candidacy over Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton’s. Advertisement The Post’s original story, however, jumped to a conclusion — and claimed Russian hackers had managed to successfully penetrate the U.S. electric grid in a Burlington Electric Department computer. “It’s unfortunate that an official or officials improperly shared inaccurate information with one media outlet, leading to multiple inaccurate reports.” “An earlier version of this story incorrectly said that Russian hackers had penetrated the U.S. electric grid. Authorities say there is no indication of that so far. The computer at Burlington Electric that was hacked was not attached to the grid,” the editor’s note in The Post reads. The article’s subsequent revisions acknowledged the hackers “did not actively use the code to disrupt operations,” although the hacking operation the Obama administration has dubbed Grizzly Steppe was detected in a single Burlington Electric Department computer. “We detected the malware in a single Burlington Electric Department laptop not connected to our organization’s grid systems,” the company itself said in a Friday statement. “We took immediate action to isolate the laptop and alerted federal officials of this finding. Our team is working with federal officials to trace this malware and prevent any other attempts to infiltrate utility systems. We have briefed state officials and will support the investigation fully.” [lz_related_box id=”265691″] Advertisement But as rumors swirled that the Russians had hacked the U.S. electric grid successfully, the company issued another statement Saturday with further clarifications. “It’s unfortunate that an official or officials improperly shared inaccurate information with one media outlet, leading to multiple inaccurate reports around the country,” the Burlington Electric Department’s statement read. “At Burlington Electric, where we take great pride in conveying timely and accurate information, we want our community to know that there is no indication that either our electric grid or customer information has been compromised. Media reports stating that Burlington Electric was hacked or that the electric grid was breached are false.”
About a third of the way into in a Department of Justice white paper explaining why and when the President can kill American citizens, there is a citation that should give a reader pause. It comes in a section in which the author of the document, which was given to members of the Senate Intelligence and Judiciary committees last year—and obtained by Michael Isikoff, of NBC, on Monday—says that this power extends into every country in the world other than the United States, well beyond those where we are engaged in hostilities. The reference is to an address that John R. Stevenson, a State Department legal adviser, gave before the Association of the Bar in New York in May, 1970, to justify the Nixon Administration’s incursion into Cambodia. Does that make everyone, or anyone, feel better about what the Obama Administration has decided it can do, or the extent to which it thought through the implications, unintended consequences, precedents, and random reckless damage it may be delivering with this policy? The white paper is a summary of something that had long been sought: the Obama Administration’s legal analysis of its killing of Anwar al-Awlaki, an American citizen in Yemen who was hit by a drone strike in 2011. That memo has been described to reporters but never released. It needs to be. The question isn’t whether al-Awlaki, who worked with Al Qaeda, was an innocent—the question is at what point he crossed the line and became killable without any judicial proceedings, and when, by extension, the rest of us could be put on a “kill list.” John Brennan, the President’s nominee for head of the C.I.A., has been deeply involved in the drone and targeted-killing programs. His confirmation hearings are this week, and the white paper offers a guide to some of the questions Senators should ask him. (As the Washington Post notes, it may have been leaked for that purpose.) The paper pretends to lay out a careful argument, a legal framework for considering the circumstances in which the U.S. government could use lethal force in a foreign country outside the area of active hostilities against a U.S. citizen who is a senior operational leader of al-Qaida or an associated force of al-Qaida—that is, an al-Qaida leader actively engaged in planning operation to kill Americans. The three conditions for killing, the paper says, are that such a person poses an “imminent threat”; that capture is “infeasible”; and that the killings are “consistent with applicable law of war principles.” But once it has defined its terms, the restraints all but disappear. There is never a strong definition of “senior operational leader,” or even—maybe especially—of what counts as an “associated force,” the affiliation that makes people who are not part of Al Qaeda eligible for assassination. (A footnote mentions “co-belligerents,” but that itself can be a flexible designation.) The paper notes that it “does not attempt to determine the minimum requirement” for killing an American, and that is certainly true. One of the most disastrously vague terms with regard to capture is “infeasible.” David Cole, in a piece in the New York Review of Books that lists thirteen questions for Brennan’s confirmation hearing, asked whether the ease of drone killings and their safety for American service members had led to a redefinition of feasibility, to the point where any attempt to arrest a suspect would be dismissed as unreasonably risky. It is an excellent question—the white paper begs it. It says that capture might not be feasible because of time, because of the capabilities of the country where the killing takes place, because of the safety of troops, or maybe just due to “other factors.” Would political infeasibility count? Diplomatic embarrassment? Fear of what might be said at a trial? Or would it be enough to feel that an arrest was just too much trouble? Another crucial term is “imminent threat”—which a person is supposed to pose in order to be killed. According to the paper, this does not mean that the person is imminently threatening to do a specific thing. Al Qaeda leaders are “continually planning attacks,” “continually plotting,” and “the U.S. government may not be aware of all al-Qaida plots as they are developing and thus cannot be confident that none is about to occur.” If a person has been associated with such things in the past “and there is no evidence that he has renounced or abandoned such activities,” that person “poses an imminent threat.” Judging imminence also includes “the likelihood of heading off future disastrous attacks on America.” In short, posing an imminent threat is a matter of identity and character, not of having made any particular plans. All it means is that you strike someone—an “informed, high-level official”—as dangerous, or maybe just scary. That is what counts as due process. The paper asserts that “there exists no appropriate judicial forum to evaluate these constitutional considerations.” (Eric Holder said something similar in a recent speech at Northwestern.) Why not? Because it would involve asking a court “to supervise inherently predictive judgments”—that is, to make the White House defend its guesses about who is worth killing. It ought to be able to do that. As is often the case, this is justified with an appeal to the special status of a new kind of war: “By its nature, therefore, the threat posed by al-Qaida and its associated forced demands a broader concept of imminence.” Does every President think that his enemies are of a different nature than any that came before, and that his powers need to be, too? A contemporary account of Stevenson’s May, 1970, speech, in the Times, described him as saying that “the United States had chosen to invade without Cambodian consent to preserve the neutrality of that country”—pause for a moment to get your mind around that phrase—“from whose territory the North Vietnamese and Viet Cong soldiers had posed an imminent threat.” Imminent: a President’s magic word. The echoes are a reminder that what we sign onto now can be plucked decades later, thrown into a different balance in another White House, with another conception of enemies and danger. (The Times also mentions something white paper does not—that Stevenson “was promptly rebutted” by another speaker, Abram Chayes, who had worked in Kennedy’s State Department.) A few weeks before the Stevenson speech, Nixon offered his own rationalization, in which he said that we were taking our war into Cambodia because the United States could not act “like a pitiful, helpless giant”: “My fellow-Americans, we live in an age of anarchy, both abroad and at home. We see mindless attacks on all the great institutions which have been created by free civilizations in the last five hundred years. Even here in the United States, great universities are being systematically destroyed.” (The true, tragic anarchy, of course, would come in Cambodia in the years ahead.) In our great universities, in the days that followed, there were protests and outrage at the expansion of the war. Between Nixon’s speech and Stevenson’s came the Kent and Jackson State shootings, where students who didn’t want the United States to go into Cambodia were killed, along with bystanders, by the National Guard and the police. What if those students had been Americans at a university in, say, Paris, who formed a group to protest a war? Could a President who read the D.O.J.’s white paper tell himself that they were an “associated force” based in a foreign country, or that, if they succeeded in mobilizing Congress or public opinion against what it considered a necessary military action, that they would pose an “imminent threat”? Could he kill them then? Could he do so now? Photograph, of John Brennan, by Brendan Hoffman/The New York Times/Redux.
The new biopic Cesar Chavez film is an emotional tale that breathes new life into the story of the important Latino labor organizer who died in 1993. Yet the film has multiple inaccuracies and doesn't give justice to the business underpinnings of the struggle between labor and capital, with economics receiving scant, passing mention. Republicans like President Reagan and Richard Nixon are grainy, one-dimensional villains, Bobby Kennedy an angelic patron. Michael Peña portrays an intrepid Chavez fighting against unconstitutional bans on farm workers’ gatherings, guaranteed by the Bill of Rights’ freedom of assembly. It depicts the workers' painful conditions, picking crops as their knees bleed, paying for water that should be free from their employer as they toil under the hot California sun. Pickers lacked proper bathrooms and child labor was par for the course. Clearly the workers needed leverage to banish these unethical business practices, and it’s heartening the Chavez helped them ultimately claim safe, sanitary labor conditions. Yet a film clearly directed by a non-economist--though the aesthetic prowess of economists is certainly questionable--is naive about the broader economic realities of supply and demand. The film shows Chavez's wife Helen selected last to work for a day’s labor, leaving a large group behind the gate, surplus labor. But there is no discussion of how surplus labor gives employers considerable discretion over whom to hire and the competitive pressures they face both domestically and internationally to keep expenses low. There is plenty of histrionic rhetoric today about the working poor, but the reality is that just 4.2 percent of full-time workers live below the poverty line, compared to 15.5 percent of part-time workers and 16 percent of the general population. Hiking the cost of labor incentivizes firms to cut jobs and hours, thrusting more workers into poverty. This is the reality that Cesar Chavez ignores. Also on the capital side of the equation, the film portrays Chavez’s team cheering as grape companies bled money during the-worker triggered boycott of California grapes, delighting in the destruction of the very companies putting bread on workers’ tables. The farm workers collude with dock workers who refuse to unload non-union grapes, leaving produce to rot. Yet no one in the film questions the morality of this business vandalism, and Chavez engages in a hunger strike, the equivalent of negotiation hostage-taking. This type of obstructionism undergirds union membership declines across the country. Business leaders refuse to be held hostage by union leaders that seek to hijack the supply chain, oftentimes making their own workers obsolete in the process. Microsoft ’s Bill Gates pointed this out in the current debate over the minimum wage, saying that artificially hiking wages encourages substituting workers with machines (which, I’ll add, don’t strike). Observers point out the current state of the farm labor movement is a shadow of its past in part, as my former Harvard Kennedy School organizing professor Marshall Ganz writes, due to "Chavez himself.” Ganz is a Chavez admirer who collaborated with him during this earlier period. Yet after winning some admirable victories on behalf of workers, Chavez’s later leadership purges and other tactics stymied his own movement, a fate described in the book Trampling out the Vintage. Cesar Chavez omits this multi-faceted, dramatic twist. Mark Krikorian points out in National Review Online that Cesar Chavez omits the true life leader’s views on immigration: he was overtly hostile to foreigners, especially strikebreakers, entering from Mexico to take jobs that would have gone to citizens. The film makes a weak attempt to humanize capital when John Bogdanovich, a vineyard owner played by John Malkovich, is loath to see his business destroyed after he built it from scratch as a poor Croatian immigrant. Yet Bogdanovich also wants Chavez to starve, obliterating our empathy for the immigrant. In disputes between labor and capital there can be legitimate grievances on both sides that require a third-party arbiter. Ganz says the US Catholic Bishop’s Committee actually mediated the contracts that emerged from the grape boycott, an effort he says was “entirely ignored” in Cesar Chavez. It’s unclear why this is, whether for cinematic simplicity or perhaps anti-Catholic bias. Maybe it would make business seem too reasonable, perhaps even charitable. Capitalism is the most powerful anti-poverty force known to man, but this complicating fact threatens the stereotypical Hollywood business-as-boogeyman narrative embraced in Cesar Chavez.
It started as an after-work project. We played around with creating dynamic maps, a scary environment and a heart stopping monster. We added creepy background audio and threw in some animated object events. After a while it played like a pretty fun game. At least we thought so. Then we showed a version to some Twitch.tv game reviewers and here are a few of their comments: "It doesn't focus too much on jump scares and doesn't focus too much on atmosphere. It's a very good balance." "It is like Slender and Amnesia had a baby." "It was fun dude. And it scared me." "I am extremely excited to see this finished." Based on that encouragement and positive feedback, we are finishing it. Instead of closing ourselves off and doing it on our own, we decided to open it up so people could contribute their ideas. To do that, we have to switch the project from an after-work project and start giving it our full attention. We need to listen to your suggestions and try some things out. While that takes more time, we are really looking forward to it. Definitely support us, become a part of the team and help make this happen. What is great about this game? Besides being scary, the game includes a dynamic level building system that actually changes the level while you are playing it. This means that the level never ends. You can keep going and going and going and there will always be more. This also means that if you go back to where you have already been, the layout may have changed, which adds to the nightmarish feel of the whole thing. This also adds replay value. Everything is different every time. What platforms does it run on? The Hat Man is a single player only game we are currently targeting for Windows and Macintosh. We have worked on many different hardware platforms including the PS3, Xbox 360, Android, PS2, NDS, Xbox, SNES, and go all the way back to the Apple ][. We are currently PS3 and PS Vita certified developers. To release on a platform you have to have a license from the platform creator, the hardware to test, and the people to test as well. This means the added platforms and hardware we will support will come from the suggestions and contributions of the people who support us here. We are using Unity to develop the game so almost every platform is open to us. To get the game on another platform, tell us what it is and tell your friends to support us so we can make sure the game runs on it. Stretch Goals!! Stretch goals are extra content that we can accomplish if the funding goals are met. Now that we have hit $1,500, we have enough resources to add Oculus Rift support! Our next goal is the OUYA platform at $3000. We are not saying that if we do not reach the stretch goal we will never work on the rest of the features. But if we do reach the stretch goals, we can promise we will do them with confidence! Why Kickstarter? Kickstarter means that small, niche video games like this can exist. The Hat Man began as a passion project for a former paranormal investigator and his sidekick. As we added more to the game each week, we felt we really had something special. The kind of title that would benefit by staying indie. We did a $1 Kickstarter campaign because the game is a long way along and we are going to finish it regardless of what happens on Kickstarter. The money will not be used for that. What it will be used for is software licenses, hardware, and getting the game on more platforms. It will also be used as a barometer for the interest in what we are doing. The more interest we have, the more time and resources we'll dedicate to the game. If you like what we are doing, support us! And spread the word about what we are doing. Who is Game Mechanics? Game Mechanics was created in January 2011 as a virtual company by John C. Ardussi (San Diego, CA) and Mike Gehri (Cary, NC). Together we have over 30 years of experience in the game industry, working on 20+ games that range from the Descent series to Ghost Recon. As independent developers we have created several racing games, a demolition derby game, a 2d platformer game, even a racing screensaver. Mike has also worked as a paranormal investigator which was the initial inspiration for him starting this project. Both of us have a deep passion for creating experiences that are fun and entertaining. • Twitter: @TheHatManGame • Facebook: Facebook.com/TheHatManGame
Today’s question: Which player, coach or general manager is on the hottest seat in the NFC North? Rob Demovsky, Green Bay Packers reporter: Teddy Bridgewater: The Vikings have just about everything a Super Bowl-contending team needs: Playmakers on all three levels of their defense, a seemingly unstoppable running back and a master tactician as a head coach. But do they have the quarterback? Entering his third season, Bridgewater has yet to answer that question in the affirmative. His career numbers -- 28 touchdowns, 21 interceptions and a 7.2-yard average per attempt -- suggest he might never be anything more than a game-manager. The Vikings might need more from him than that. Jeff Dickerson, Chicago Bears reporter: Jim Caldwell. Honestly, I’m surprised Caldwell is still the Lions' coach after owner Martha Ford fired team president Tom Lewand and general manager Martin Mayhew. New Detroit general manager, Bob Quinn, wants to hire his own guy, and that likely isn’t Caldwell. From a record perspective, Caldwell is 18-15 in two seasons in Detroit. That is commendable. But the life expectancy for head coaches when the team changes general managers is a short one. Just ask Lovie Smith. The third-most successful coach in Bears’ franchise history, Smith was fired one year into Phil Emery’s tenure as Chicago’s general manager, despite Smith’s team finishing 10-6 in 2013. Be careful, Jim. There could be another Marc Trestman lurking around the corner in Detroit. Minnesota Vikings reporter: Caldwell. The Lions might have saved their coach’s job by winning six of their last eight games last season, but after an awful start that forced the team to change offensive coordinators in the middle of the season, Caldwell will have to put a steadier product on the field this year. He’ll have to do it without Calvin Johnson, and he'll go on the road three times in the first four weeks with a team that lost its first four away from Ford Field last season. He has to impress a new GM this season, not to mention an ownership group that’s hungry for a winner. There is little doubt it’s a make-or-break year for him. Michael Rothstein, Detroit Lions reporter: I’d be a little stunned if this isn’t the across-the-board answer with my colleagues, but it has to be Caldwell. Quinn spent a week after he was hired in January evaluating Caldwell before choosing to keep him. So it has to be win-or-else for Caldwell in 2016, considering Caldwell was not the guy Quinn hired and this is a team transitioning out of the Calvin Johnson era, with quarterback Matthew Stafford likely due a big extension before the 2017 season. If Caldwell wins and Stafford progresses, Caldwell will likely be in good shape. But if he doesn’t win this season, the Lions could go a different coaching direction in 2017.
(CNN) Could clues that police found in a hideaway outside Paris lead investigators to the lone remaining suspect in last week's terror attacks? They say the apartment had been rented by Amedi Coulibaly, who was killed during a police rescue operation to end his siege at a kosher grocery store in Paris , where authorities say he killed four hostages on Friday. But police say his partner -- and alleged co-conspirator -- Hayat Boumeddiene -- is still on the run. The last place authorities spotted her was somewhere near Turkey's border with Syria And forensics teams have been examining the apartment in the Paris suburb of Gentilly to determine whether Boumeddiene, 26, might have stayed there before her escape, RTL reported. Coulibaly had rented the apartment from January 4 to January 11, police said, according to RTL. Police began looking into the apartment after the Thursday slaying of a policewoman in the Paris district of Montrouge, the station reported. Coulibaly was also behind that attack, authorities say. And the car in which he allegedly fled the crime scene was ditched in Arcueil, near the hideout, RTL said. After abandoning the car, Coulibaly boarded a train, police told RTL. The details about the hideout came as millions gathered at a massive rally Sunday in France , where world leaders, dignitaries and everyday citizens alike joined "unity rallies" in defiance of the terror rampage. Up to 3.7 million people marched throughout France Sunday, the spokesman for the country's mission to the United Nations said, describing it as the largest mobilization in his nation's history. 3,7 million people marched throughout France today. Largest mobilization in history of France. #CharlieHebdo — Thierry Caboche (@Tcaboche) January 11, 2015 Beyond France's borders, demonstrators showed their support with rallies around the world. At the Golden Globe Awards in Beverly Hills, California, audience members gave the president of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association a standing ovation when he referenced the attacks, vowing to stand against "anyone who would repress free speech anywhere from North Korea to Paris." As he received a lifetime achievement award, actor George Clooney described Sunday's demonstrations and their rallying cry "Today was an extraordinary day," he said. "There were millions of people that marched -- not just in Paris, but around the world. And they were Christians and Jews and Muslims. They were leaders of countries all over the world. And they didn't march in protest. They marched in support of the idea that we will not walk in fear. We won't do it. So, je suis Charlie." In Paris, police said no incidents had been reported despite the record number of people involved in the march there. France remained on high alert as authorities pieced together who was behind last week's attacks -- and warned of the threat of more violence. French law enforcement officers have been told to erase their social media presence and carry weapons at all times because terror sleeper cells have been activated in the country, a police source said. The source told CNN that the cells were activated in the past 24 hours. And it's not just French police that are concerned. Officials in the New York City Police Department and other law enforcement personnel across the United States responded to a threat from ISIS after someone re-released a September 2014 message that tells followers to "rise up and kill intelligence officers, police officers, soldiers, and civilians," specifically naming the United States, France, Australia and Canada as targets. According to an NYPD memo obtained by CNN , department employees were told to "remain alert and consider tactics at all times while on patrol," especially in light of the attacks in France last week. The FBI and Department of Homeland Security issued a similar bulletin to law enforcement across the United States. Meanwhile, French investigators continued efforts to delve into the attackers' backgrounds and track down Boumeddiene, the lone remaining suspect wanted in the terrorism rampage that left 17 people dead in three days last week. Targeting police officers? The clues from his apparent hideaway aren't the only information authorities have about Coulibaly. A video circulating on jihadist websites shows him pledging allegiance to ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. Weapons including a rifle serve as a backdrop for the video, and an ISIS flag is prominently displayed during portions of the video. Coulibaly identifies himself as "Abou Bassir AbdAllah al-Irfiqi" and a "soldier of the Caliphate," while warning the West, "You attack the Caliph, you attack ISIS, we attack you. You can't attack and not get back anything in return." It's unclear when all the video was shot. "The U.S. intelligence community is aware of the video and is reviewing it to determine its authenticity," said Brian Hale, spokesman for the U.S. director of national intelligence, James Clapper. According to a source, Coulibaly made several phone calls about targeting police officers in France. Red flags on brothers Long before they stormed into the offices of the Charlie Hebdo satirical magazine last week and killed 12 people, French authorities were watching Said and Cherif Kouachi. But despite red flags, authorities lost interest in them, L'Express magazine reported Tipped off by U.S. intelligence agencies that Said Kouachi may have traveled to Yemen, France placed him under surveillance in November 2011 but terminated the scrutiny last year when it deemed him no longer dangerous, according to L'Express national security reporter Eric Pelletier, who said he talked to multiple French officials. The surveillance of his brother Cherif terminated at the end of 2013 when his phone calls suggested he had disengaged from violent extremism and was focused on counterfeiting clothing and shoes. Were suspects working alone? U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder, responding to a reported claim of responsibility by al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula in the Charlie Hebdo attack, told CNN there was no "credible information" on who sponsored the violence. And U.S. officials Sunday said American authorities don't have evidence yet directly linking al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) to ordering the attack. But they're assuming that Said Kouachi met American terrorist cleric Anwar al-Awlaki at some point in Yemen and received orders from AQAP to carry out an attack , a U.S. official told CNN. The official said Kouachi's motivation for waiting so long to launch the attack was not clear. The Kouachi brothers were killed Friday in a shootout with French security forces outside of Paris. And investigators are still trying to track down their ties that may have helped them before last week's rampage. On Sunday, a spokeswoman for Pitie Salpetriere Hospital in Paris said Farid Benyettou, a well-known spiritual leader believed to have radicalized Cherif Kouachi , had been working as a nurse trainee at the hospital until last Friday. Arson attack at German newspaper Meanwhile, an incendiary device was hurled at a German newspaper that reprinted the Charlie Hebdo cartoons. No one was in the building at the time of the attack early Sunday. The arson attack at the Hamburger Morgenpost occurred about 2 a.m., the newspaper said on its website. The device was thrown into the archive section of the building, setting it on fire. It's unclear whether the arson attack is connected to the Charlie Hebdo attack. The German paper reprinted Charlie Hebdo cartoons depicting the Prophet Mohammed after the attack on the satirical magazine's offices in Paris. Anonymous vows to fire back at jihadist websites "We intend to take revenge in their name, we are going to survey your activities on the net, we are going to shut down your accounts on all social networks," a video from the group said Friday.
Meath County Council had the highest recorded number of abusive incidents towards traffic wardens in the country with 20 incidents recorded in Navan between January and August this year including a number of serious threats and physical altercations. Local authority records obtained under Freedom of Information by thejournal.ie showed that Meath County Council had the highest number of recorded incidents. According to thejournal.ie, in one incident, a warden at Kennedy Place in Navan in June observed three cars parked in clearway. He asked the drivers to move on and they refused. The warden said he would issue a fine and that the drivers responded by “laughing and making fun of him”. He then issued a fine. As he was putting it on the windscreen the “driver drove off and as he was driving he grabbed traffic warden’s shirt”. The warden managed to pull free, but the council said the driver “then got out of the car and punched [the] traffic warden in the head”. In March, a comment was posted on Facebook about a warden which stated: “Follow him home and burn him out”. According to theJournal.ie article, Meath County Council said this was “reported to gardaí who said the law does not cover Facebook” and gardaí advised the warden to report the comment to Facebook. Other incidents in Navan included: A taxi driver on Kennedy Road in July was “very rude and aggressive and shouted at [the] traffic warden”. According to the council’s report, the driver said “he would make his job hell and he would break his legs if he saw him near his car again”. The incident was reported to gardaí. A fine was issued on Fairgreen Road in March for parking on a double yellow line. The owner became verbally abusive as the warden had issued a fine for tax the previous day. He told the warden that if he came his way the next day he would “put his head through the windscreen”. The incident was reported to gardaí. The warden issued a ticket to a vehicle which was parked on double yellow lines. The owner shouted abuse at the warden and when he was passing by in the car rolled down the window and said he would come back with his brothers and “bust [the] traffic warden’s nose”. This was reported to gardaí. While the traffic warden was taking photos of a car parked on double yellow lines, a car drove past and someone inside “threw a bread roll at him”. A fine was issued for parking in the central median on Kennedy Place. The owner became verbally abusive. As the warden was leaving the area, the owner passed in the car and “gestured to him with his hand”.
Computing is currently based on binary (Boolean) logic, but a new type of computing architecture created by electrical engineers at Penn State stores information in the frequencies and phases of periodic signals and could work more like the human brain. It would use a fraction of the energy necessary for today’s computers, according to the engineers. To achieve the new architecture, they used a thin film of vanadium oxide on a titanium dioxide substrate to create an oscillating switch. Vanadium dioxide is called a “wacky oxide” because it transitions from a conducting metal to an insulating semiconductor and vice versa with the addition of a small amount of heat or electrical current. Biological synchronization for associative processing Using a standard electrical engineering trick, Nikhil Shukla, graduate student in electrical engineering, added a series resistor to the oxide device to stabilize oscillations. When he added a second similar oscillating system, he discovered that, over time, the two devices began to oscillate in unison, or synchronize. This coupled system could provide the basis for non-Boolean computing. Shukla worked with Suman Datta, professor of electrical engineering, and co-advisor Roman Engel-Herbert, assistant professor of materials science and engineering, Penn State. They reported their results May 14 in Scientific Reports (open access). “It’s called a small-world network,” explained Shukla. “You see it in lots of biological systems, such as certain species of fireflies. The males will flash randomly, but then for some unknown reason the flashes synchronize over time.” The brain is also a small-world network of closely clustered nodes that evolved for more efficient information processing. “Biological synchronization is everywhere,” added Datta. “We wanted to use it for a different kind of computing called associative processing, which is an analog rather than digital way to compute.” An array of oscillators can store patterns — for instance, the color of someone’s hair, their height and skin texture. If a second area of oscillators has the same pattern, they will begin to synchronize, and the degree of match can be read out, without consuming a lot of energy and requiring a lot of transistors, as in Boolean computing. A neuromorphic computer chip Datta is collaborating with Vijay Narayanan, professor of computer science and engineering, Penn State, in exploring the use of these coupled oscillations to solve visual recognition problems more efficiently than existing embedded vision processors. Shukla and Datta called on the expertise of Cornell University materials scientist Darrell Schlom to make the vanadium dioxide thin film, which has extremely high quality similar to single crystal silicon. Arijit Raychowdhury, computer engineer, and Abhinav Parihar graduate student, both of Georgia Tech, mathematically simulated the nonlinear dynamics of coupled phase transitions in the vanadium dioxide devices. Parihar created a short video simulation of the transitions, which occur at a rate close to a million times per second, to show the way the oscillations synchronize. Venkatraman Gopalan, professor of materials science and engineering, Penn State, used the Advanced Photon Source at Argonne National Laboratory to visually characterize the structural changes occurring in the oxide thin film in the midst of the oscillations. Datta believes it will take seven to 10 years to scale up from their current network of two-three coupled oscillators to the 100 million or so closely packed oscillators required to make a neuromorphic computer chip. One of the benefits of the novel device is that it will use only about one percent of the energy of digital computing, allowing for new ways to design computers. Much work remains to determine if vanadium dioxide can be integrated into current silicon wafer technology. The Office of Naval Research primarily supported this work. The National Science Foundation’s Expeditions in Computing Award also supported this work. Abstract of Scientific Reports paper
One of those food related memories from years gone by recently bubbled up in my conscience so vividly I could almost taste it. I was transported to a backyard in San Antonio where Dad was grilling filet mignons. These were not local, grass-fed steaks, but as a teen they were a real treat. Filets from the base commissary, pre-wrapped in bacon and frozen. Not something I would crave today but back then? Boy, oh boy, they were a great summer weekend feast for a budding foodie. “It’s really changed my palate and my whole way of looking at food,” he says. “Anyone can buy a steak and salt and pepper it and grill it, but it’s harder to bring out the best in vegetables.” And the first bite was always the best because it came straight from the grill, hot and dripping with juice. Dad would slice off a tiny corner of the filet while he was cooking and sample it to test for doneness. Obviously, not something you want to do when you’re cooking for company, but that’s the way he did it for family meals. And, of course, I would hover near the smoking grill waiting for a sample. That may be, or may not be, the reason I always taste while I’m cooking. My kitchen noshing may have more to do with the fact that I’m either creating recipes or testing new recipes and am constantly wondering if they are turning out right. Or it may just be that I’m too freakin’ antsy to wait until the dish is done to eat it. Professional chefs almost always taste their wares, particularly if they are working out new dishes. Which is why I was pretty shocked that chef German Mosquera hasn’t tasted all of the dishes on his menu at Roots Bistro, a new eatery in the old So Vino spot on the Westheimer Curve that made CultureMap’s Last Chef Standing Restaurant Challenge finals. And he has some incredible dishes. The menu rotates depending on what’s fresh and available that day but you can expect wood-fired pizzas (one was recently topped with Texas sausage), a wonderfully light and fragrant whole smoked trout with house cured lemons, Kobe beef pastrami, lamb and foie gras. “The farmers market is my produce vendor,” the CIA (Culinary Institute of America) trained Mosquera says. “My food is all about being local and sustainable. I buy whole animals from heritage farmers and butcher them on site.” The meat may be wonderful, but that still doesn’t mean he eats it. Or even tastes it. “I’ve been a vegan for four years,” Mosquera says. Not just vegetarian, but vegan. That means he doesn’t taste the wonderful meat and fish dishes that come out of his kitchen or even the scrumptious mac and cheese made with gluten free quinoa because of the truffle cheese from Houston Dairy Maids. No meat, no cheese, no eggs, no milk. No animal products. Period. So how does he do it? “I cook by smell and texture,” he says. “It’s not that hard.” Veggie Power Maybe not for him, but I doubt I could do that. Be around all that fresh meat and the smell of roasting steak and poultry and not even sneak a taste? Not me. Obviously, Mosquera's not vegan because of ethical reasons. He still butchers animals and cooks them. For Mosquera, it’s more about health and just taste. The meat may be wonderful, but that still doesn’t mean he eats it. Or even tastes it. “It’s really changed my palate and my whole way of looking at food,” he says. “Anyone can buy a steak and salt and pepper it and grill it, but it’s harder to bring out the best in vegetables.” And this is where Roots Bistro really shines. An entire section of the menu is devoted to perfectly prepared veggies like the plate of fennel head ferns and glazed baby carrots, so tender and sweet, that they could tempt even the most carnivorous among us. Or the fire roasted kale salad or the wild black trumpet mushrooms with Swiss chard. Mosquera’s bistro is a light and airy spot for dining (with an adorable patio surrounded by brightly colored gardening tools), a fun and fresh wine menu and retail wines, and some fascinating large scale paintings. But the real draw is the menu that caters to meat eaters, vegetarians and vegans and even those gluten-free eaters. There’s something for everyone here, even sweet eaters. Craving chocolate mousse? Go ahead and indulge. This dessert is made with whipped avocado and topped with crushed nuts and local lavender. It’s creamy, sweet and not at all what you think an avocado could be capable of becoming. And there’s a wood fired yeast donut that’s completely vegan, made with coconut milk. Man, Meatless Mondays just got a whole lot sweeter.
Fans of science fiction know that time isn’t necessarily a progression of linear events, but instead, more of a big ball of wibbly-wobbly, stuff. Meaning, for some, 2016 might feel as though it’s feet-dragging, while for others, it might be accelerating out of control, and still others, that you’re living events you’ve already experienced. Time is complicated, is what we’re saying. There are at least several markers of progression: the coming premiere of Rogue One, the three days that you binge-watched Stranger Things, the hours you waste contemplating Mr. Robot. And in between that, you’re going to have some downtime, during which you’re obviously going to want to read new science fiction. Ah, but what? Here’s a list of the best-of-the-best new science fiction coming your way in the last portion of 2016. From hard SF to light-hearted high concepts, to dystopia, to Time Travel to space opera, and yes, even books about the Death Star. Below is everything a sci-fi reader could want to round out their 2016. Read on! Everything Belongs to the Future by Laurie Penny Quasi-immortals in a dystopia are wound-up in social science fiction at it’s best. If people can live nearly forever just because they have the money, then maybe it’s time for a little anarchy! Release date: October 18th Crosstalk by Connie Willis Science fiction legend Connie Willis returns with a comedic novel about a future in which couples are encouraged to undergo a surgical procedure which will give them more empathy toward each other. The novel is being described as a sci-fi version of Nora Ephron. That description alone gives this book the earmarks of possibly being the book of the year. Release Date: October 4th Arrival (Stories of Your Life) by Ted Chiang Technically a re-print, this collection of short stories by Ted Chiang features his alien-first contact story “Arrival” which the forthcoming film of the same name is based-upon. This version of the book will have all the movie stuff on the cover, but you might be able to find the same book with the original cover out in the wild right now. Release date: October 25th Death’s End by Cixin Liu Liu’s The Three-Body Problem is one of the most critically acclaimed sci-fi books of this century and Liu easily the most popular Chinese sci-fi writer. The trilogy which began with The Three-Body Problem and continued with The Dark Forest concludes with the new book Death’s End. Come for the political social commentary. Stay for the planetary chaos. Release Date: September 20th Catalyst: A Rogue One Prequel by James Luceno If Rogue One is set to tell the story of what happened before the Rebels blew up the Death Star, then the book Catalyst is set to tell the story of what happened right before that. Even if this seems like a shameless tie-in grab for Star Wars stuff right before the movie, the book’s author, James Luceno, has a fantastic track-record of connecting the complex Star Wars continuity into satisfying novels. If he can make the politics of The Phantom Menace comprehensible, he can do a pre-Death Star story no problem. Release Date: November 15th Star Wars: Ahoska by E.K. Johnston Set in between the events of The Clone Wars and Rebels this novel-for-young-readers will reveal what happened to Ahoska post Order 66 and before she became an informant for the Rebels. This is a must-read for fans of the greatest Star Wars character to never have featured in one of the films. Release Date: October 11th Babylon’s Ashes by James S.A. Corey The latest installment in the book series The Expanse is the sixth volume in the saga and will find its primary protagonist - James Holden - fighting pirates among the outer planets of the solar system. For fans of the TV show adaptation, you might get spoiled a little bit on stuff that’s yet to happen, but it will be totally worth it. Release Date: November 1st INVERSE LOOT DEALS Meet the Pod The first bed that learns the perfect temperature for your sleep, and dynamically warms or cools according to your needs. Buy Now FeedBack by Mira Grant With her novel Feed, Mira Grant established a new kind of pandemic story. Now, she revisits that same world of Newsflesh with the new book Feedback. Neither a sequel nor a prequel, this book will be exciting for those who read Feed but also perfect if you’ve never read any of Grant’s excellent, and enthralling science fiction novels. Release Date: October 4th The Warren by Brian Evenson The brilliant and celebrated Brian Evenson returns in this novella about a person named X who is living in an underground facility only to be faced with the realities of being outside. Is X human? What does that mean? Release Date: September 20th Time Travel: A History by James Gleick Though not actually a science fiction book, the popular science-writer James Gleick chronicles the history of one of sci-fi’s greatest tropes: time travel. From H.G. Wells to Doctor Who and everything in between, this will be a must-read for anyone wanting to talk authoritatively about time travel. Release Date: September 27th
Customer reviews are independent and do not represent the views of Zavvi. a decent outing for Bats. Though Arkham Origins is bigger than its predecessor and that it borrows a large chunk from Arkham City, there are a few things to check out with Origins. For starters, this game is based within the first 2 years of Bruce Wayne donning the cowl. The game starts out with a bounty put on to Batman's head by mod boss Black Mask for one night only on christmas eve. As with all the Arkham games the story is well written and plays out to its conclusion well. but aside from the story the gameplay and the large map are basically revamped and tweaked versions previously seen in City with little to no new elements added into the mix. There are a few bugs as well but nothing that is game breaking and in most part are very minor and will not impede the story progression. All in all, the game is decent and well worth picking up just for the story but if you are new to the Arkham games, I'd suggest checking Asylum and/or City first before delving into Origins.
Loopnet Changes Its Subscription Price from $658.80 to $2351.52 Per Year. Thank You for Being A Valued Customer. It’s a story that never ends. Thank you for being a valued LoopNet customer. We are contacting you regarding your current Premium Searcher Subscription. The price of your current subscription is changing from $658.80 to $2351.52 per year. This maintains a 20% discount off our current list price of $2939.40 per year. To continue enjoying full searching access to nearly 800,000 commercial real estate listings, no action is required. The new rate will be effective on your next bill date. If you have any questions, please contact Premium Client Services at 800.601.8803. Thank you again for your business, The LoopNet Team No Action Required. You don’t need to do anything. Just PAY! How long will the commercial real estate industry allow this to happen? [page_ad middlead=”middle-ad-2″] What if your local utility company sent an email like this to every customer they have? Think of the outrage. Think of the press coverage. Think of the little old ladies on local TV saying ” I have no choice .” Could they get away with it? No, and not just because it’s a regulated industry. Why not, they should be able to charge anything they want. Little old ladies be damned. The market is what the market allows it to be. LoopNet defines their market, and you pay. [page_ad middlead=”middle-ad-3″] I have asked before. LoopNet. How Much Value Does It Provide For Your Business? You answered “not very much at all.” I’ve written post after post. Co-Star LoopNet Data Tenants Transparency Lease Comps Fame Money Sex Power and The Kitchen Sink. And still……….? I posted a video years ago clearly stating exactly what would happen. And guess what? LoopNet Raises It’s Prices And All You Can Do Is Bitch. So What’s The Answer? You know the answer. It’s already here. So……. LoopNet Changes Its Subscription Price from $658.80 to $2351.52 Per Year. Thank You for Being A Valued Customer.
Head of IS in Afghanistan killed in airstrike KABUL: The head of Islamic State in Afghanistan, Abu Saad Erhabi, was killed in a strike on the group´s hideouts in Nangarhar province on Saturday night, authorities said on Sunday. Ten other members of the militant group were also killed in a joint ground and air operation by Afghan and foreign forces, the National Directorate of Security in Kabul said in a statement. A large amount of heavy and light weapons and ammunition were destroyed during raids on two Islamic State hideouts. The jihadist group´s Amaq´s news agency carried no comment on the issue, and there was no immediate reaction from the Nato-led Resolute Support mission that trains and advises Afghan forces. The provincial governor of Nangarhar said Erhabi was the fourth Islamic State leader in Afghanistan to be killed since July 2017. The group has developed a stronghold in Nangarhar, on Afghanistan´s porous eastern border with Pakistan, and become one of the country’s most dangerous militant groups. The exact number of Islamic State fighters in Afghanistan is difficult to calculate because they frequently switch allegiances, but the US military estimates that there are about 2,000. More than 150 Islamic State fighters surrendered to Afghan security forces this month in the northwestern province of Jawzjan, where the group is fighting for control of smuggling routes into neighbouring Turkmenistan. Provincial governor´s spokesman Attaullah Khogyani confirmed the leader´s death, also citing a joint operation involving strikes. US forces in Afghanistan confirmed they had conducted a strike in the location described by Afghan officials, which “targeted a senior leader of a designated terrorist organisation”.
Jackie Calmes, NYT: At 10 percent of the gross domestic product, the 2009 deficit is the highest since the end of World War II, when it was 21.5 percent. At that level, it already has become a bigger economic and a political issue than any time since the late 1980s. Investors who are essential to financing the debt, including China and other foreign interests, are eager for signs that the government will eventually regain control over its budgets. And polls show that Americans are increasingly worried as well, raising concerns about Mr. Obama's ambitious domestic agenda, including his signature health care overhaul, that Republicans are stoking. At the same time, many Americans are demanding further help, confronting forecasts that job losses will not peak until mid-2010. Read the whole thing > See Also: Bailout Delivers Record Bonuses For Wall Street Is It Time To Stop Throwing Money Down The Money Hole?
Bernie Sanders launched a long-shot presidential campaign, drastically overperformed expectations, fell insurmountably far behind in the delegate race, and then decided he wanted to stay in it all the way until the end so his supporters in every state had a chance to vote. Traditional insurgent campaigns haven't done that, but Hillary Clinton's non-insurgent campaign in 2008 did, and Sanders's success meant that he had the cash he needed to run a full campaign through California. And good for him. "Every state gets to vote before we decide the primary is over" is a perfectly reasonable new tradition for an American political party to start, and Sanders can count this principle as one of several constructive influences he's had on the campaign season. But now that everyone has voted (okay, not DC, but I think even the most die-hard Bernie Bro knows he's losing here), it's time for him to admit that he lost, endorse Clinton, and move on to his next act. A lot of people are going to be agreeing with me about this today and tomorrow, and they'll mostly be invoking the need for party unity or the specter of Donald Trump. But I think Sanders sincerely believes he'll be the stronger candidate against Trump, rendering this argument unpersuasive. The real reason, anyway, has nothing to do with Trump. Sanders should drop out for the sake of the millions of young people he's engaged in politics — many of them for their first time ever — and who could have decades of constructive engagement in the process if he teaches them the right lessons. Those lessons, clearly visible from Sanders's own career, are that big change is hard and if you try for it you are likely to lose, but just because you lost is no reason to give up. It's also no cause to whine about how you've been cheated or take refuge in denial that it's truly over. You need to dust yourself off, move on to the next thing, and try to win more votes in the future. Sanders's path to victory is ridiculous The argument for Sanders not dropping out before June 7 was clear and persuasive. A lot of people live in New Jersey, California, and other states voting today. Those people deserve a chance to vote and to have their voices heard. It's true that it's been evident for a couple of months now that the margins Sanders would have needed to win were unrealistic, but very little is accomplished in life by people who restrain their horizons to the realistic. But Sanders's path to the nomination from today forward isn't just unlikely — it's ridiculous. It hinges on a double technicality: First, unelected superdelegates can , legally speaking, use their position to swing the nomination against the candidate who won a majority of votes and pledged delegates in favor of the candidate who received fewer votes and fewer pledged delegates. , legally speaking, use their position to swing the nomination against the candidate who won a majority of votes and pledged delegates in favor of the candidate who received fewer votes and fewer pledged delegates. Second, unelected superdelegates who have promised to vote for one candidate can, legally speaking, change their minds and vote for someone else at the convention. For either of these things to actually happen would be fairly bizarre. It's easy to imagine superdelegates playing a meaningful, constructive role in a convention where the presence of multiple candidates left the party with no majority vote getter. At one point this spring, Republicans seemed to be facing the difficult challenge of holding a brokered convention with nobody actually there to do the brokering. The superdelegates, for all their flaws, do solve that particular problem — if someone needs to broker a convention, the Democrats have ensured that their party's elected officials, national committee members, and éminences grises will be present on the floor to try to land the plane safely. By the same token, if there are a huge number of uncommitted superdelegates the morning after the last primary, then spending time politicking and trying to court them makes some sense as a strategy. But: The idea that a raft of superdelegates who endorsed Clinton before she won the primaries are going to turn around after she secured a majority of votes and delegates and flip the outcome is silly. she won the primaries are going to turn around she secured a majority of votes and delegates and flip the outcome is silly. The idea that they would do so in order to toss the nomination to a self-described independent democratic socialist who campaigned as a scourge of the party establishment is sillier. The idea that they would do so after the socialist in question loudly, publicly, and repeatedly denounced the idea of superdelegates overturning the electoral outcome is so silly that it's hard to believe anyone would entertain it. The problem is the nature of politics is such that if Sanders insists on saying this is plausible, people will believe him. People who've already emotionally invested themselves in the Sanders campaign — already gone to rallies and argued with uncles and called out corporate media shills on Twitter — are going to be highly predisposed to align themselves with whatever tactical notions Sanders puts out there. Which is why responsible political leaders have a responsibility to their constituents to not run around saying silly things and spreading silly ideas. Politics is hard Bernie Sanders ran four statewide races — twice each for governor and senator — in Vermont in the mid-1970s as the nominee of the Liberty Union Party. He lost all four but secured some upward momentum across the races. Four years later, in 1980, he found a better opportunity. Burlington is left-wing even by Vermont standards, but its incumbent Democratic mayor had grown very close to the local business community and faced no Republican opposition. Sanders was able to run and win against him as the progressive candidate in a two-way race. Years of service as mayor then proved that beyond ideology, Sanders actually knew how to serve in office and get the job done. That set him up for a 1986 gubernatorial bid that he, again, lost — finishing in a distant third place but considerably less distant than before. In 1988 he ran for a US House of Representatives seat in a three-way race and, again, lost. But this election — his sixth statewide bid — was different from the early five in that he finished in second place rather than third, ahead of the Democratic Party's nominee. That meant that when Sanders ran again in 1990, he'd established the idea that it was the Democratic nominee — not Sanders himself — who was the potential spoiler in the race. And he won! And then in his first 15 years in Congress he cooperated enough with the Democratic leadership that they stopped running candidates against him and cleared the field in 2006 for him to run and win a Senate race. The point is that the political world is tough. It's particularly tough for people who want to come in from the outside and shake things up. You need high aspirations to achieve anything, but you also need to take punches and get back up again — not go on a roller coaster of excessive optimism and excessive bitterness. Most of all, you can't invest your energy in whining that the system isn't fair. After all, if the system were totally fair, there'd be no need for outsiders to come in and shake things up. To live, the political revolution needs to die The real choice facing Sanders over the next couple of weeks is what kind of lesson he wants to impart to his supporters. Does he want to tell them that the system is rigged, and that candidates worth rallying for don't have a chance to win? That they may as well join the large group of Americans who don't really participate in the political process at all? Or does he want to tell them that when you fight the good fight, you sometimes lose, and then you stop and think about how to win next time? There are literally thousands of elected offices in the United States of America, virtually all of them easier to win than the White House. And there are millions of Americans — largely people of color — who seem broadly amenable to the main themes of Sanders's campaign but who didn't buy into the particulars of Sanders's persona. If the people who bought unprecedented fundraising success to the Sanders campaign turn that passion and commitment to other, more winnable contests, they will score some wins. If they recruit a broader base of champions, they will gain more allies. But to succeed, they need to do what Bernie's done over the course of his career — work hard and keep trying — rather than do what he's been saying he's going to do over the past month and waste time on a deluded and slightly ridiculous superdelegate chase that can only end in humiliation. Where our modern primaries came from
Early this morning a small, dead shark was spotted on the Queens-bound N train. [Please point out in the comments how it's currently Shark Week it'll be just hilarious.] Tipster Mary M. sent us some photos, noting that the shark was there when she got on at 34th Street just after midnight. "I board a car that's not terribly full and as soon as I enter, a stench hits my nose. It's not the typical urine/trash smell, it's...fishy? I look down to the end of the car to see a dead shark on the floor. I think I stood there for a good minute just staring, thinking 'Is this for real?! Oh come ON, NYC!' One of my fellow passengers remarked 'I've been riding the subway for 15 years, and this is the weirdest thing I've seen. And I've seen EVERYTHING.' The train filled as we made our way to Astoria, every new passenger was getting excited about it. Once we got to Queensboro Plaza, an MTA employee made all of us move to another car." Mary did not see who dumped the shark there, but surely someone saw something? Email us if you witnessed this scenario play out. In the past we've seen people selling baby sand sharks right out of buckets on the subway, and this looks to be a similar shark. We've reached out to the MTA to see how they go about discarding something like this, and a spokesman cracked wise (and inaccurately described a shark as a "mammal"): "Live sharks are wrangled by Shark Maintainer IIs, who have passed the qualification test and have minimum three years in the Shark Maintainer I title. Dead ones are handled by Shark Maintainer Is, or if none are available on that shift, then by Aquatic Mammal Handler IIs." Check back later today for our exclusive interview with the MTA's Chief Aquatic Mammal Handler II. UPDATE: The MTA confirms the shark was real, and tells us, "The conductor on this N train reported the shark to the control center at 12:34 am. The conductor moved everyone out of the car at Queensboro Plaza, and when the train arrived at the end of the line at Ditmars Boulevard, a Train Service Supervisor placed the dead shark in a garbage bag and disposed of it in the trash. The Road Car Inspector at Ditmars made sure the car was clean and returned it to normal service." UPDATE II: This guy gave the shark a cigarette and MetroCard.
5.8K Shares Pin 20 I remember the night so clearly. I was driving down a dark, narrow two-lane road with the gas pedal to the floor. Intoxicated. It was the night my life hit rock bottom. I wasn’t man enough to throw my truck in front of a tree. But if I happened to lose control, then so be it. How did I get to this point? One word: friends. Don’t get me wrong. I owned my actions. My friends didn’t put me behind the wheel. I was responsible for the mess that was my life. But the man behind the steering wheel that night allowed the actions of his friends to influence the man God created him to be. “Bad company corrupts good morals.” These are the words of the apostle Paul in 1 Corinthians 15. But the words never applied to me. Or so I thought. Looking back, I realize my naivety. The words did apply to me. Truth isn’t selective. It doesn’t pick and choose. And the truth in Paul’s words is a warning for us. Your friends WILL shape your life. In fact, friendships contribute more to the man or woman you are going to be (or have become) than any factor outside of God. Bold words, I know. But this one reality might change the trajectory of your life. My prayer for this post is that one person will see that their friends are shackling them from becoming the man or woman God created them to be. And they will make some changes. Your friends can challenge you to achieve things you never imagined. Your friends can also cripple your dreams, leaving you on a two-lane road feeling hopeless. Here are 7 friends that will ruin your life. 1.) The “tells you what you want to hear” friend These friends say exactly what you want them to say. They do exactly what you want them to do. To put it bluntly, they are groupies, not friends. Groupies think their respective group, player, etc. hung the moon. The person they admire could open hand slap an old lady on a cane, and a groupie would find some way to justify it. These friends don’t really love you. They are infatuated with something you have. Popularity. Looks. Athleticism. But they aren’t concerned with pointing you to God and challenging you to be the best man or woman you can be. Friends who love you and want you to succeed will point out your inconsistencies. They don’t enjoy doing this. But, with love and grace, they step into difficult conversations because they can’t bear to watch you continue down a path that might lead to destruction. 2.) The “not that serious about God” friend You know these friends. They usually go to worship on Sunday. They might go on a foreign mission trip. But they never give God their lives. These friends are lukewarm. They think God is ok with having some of the pie. These friends are toxic because they model a dangerous approach to Christian living. The approach that says status quo Christianity is ok. There is no reason to be a Jesus freak. Jesus freaks don’t enjoy life. So go to worship on Sunday. Read the Bible occasionally. But leave a piece of the pie for yourself. And the moment you try to go “all in” for God, you will meet fierce resistance. Believe me. I have been there. Several times in my teenage and early adult years, I wanted to go all in for God. But my friends weren’t there. And they saw my attempt to go all in as a threat to our Friday and Saturday nights. So, I heard statements like these: “Are you really going to stop partying, getting drunk, etc.? You know there is no way you will stick to it? In two weeks, you will be back to your old self.” And my friends were right. After a few weeks, I was back to my old self. As long as “not that serious about God” friends are close enough to you to ask these questions, you will never give your full allegiance to God. 3.) The “no ambition” friend Our greatest fear should not be of failure but of succeeding at things in life that don’t really matter. Francis Chan These friends have ambition. But only towards things that don’t matter. Like completing two seasons of their favorite Netflix show in one day. If you mention Xbox, movies, the opposite sex, or the game plan for Friday and Saturday night, these friends perk up like the time I poured water on my roommate when he was sleeping. But if you mention serving in the community, studying for a test, or attending a Bible study, you might as well be talking to a brick wall. Surround yourself with people who want to make the world a better place. Surround yourself with people who want to do well in areas that matter. You were created in the image of God. This means you were created to learn, grow, and give. You were created to make the world a better place and do things with excellence. Surround yourself with people who get this…and practice it. 4.) The “attention must be on me” friend Spotlight on me. All. The. Time. Do you have friends like this? These friends are plagued with jealousy and bitterness. They are extremely insecure. And here’s the big one…their lives are plagued with drama. They live a real life soap opera. And most of these friends have no idea why drama always follows them. Here’s why. These friends sell their souls to the gods of attention and spotlight. These gods are ruthless. They require everything. And the gods of attention and spotlight kick you to the curb for their next victim once they destroy your worth and value. These friends are toxic because they are always takers. They take your energy. They take your joy. They take your time. And they will never celebrate your successes. They can’t. The gods of spotlight and attention won’t allow them to celebrate you. It means they take a backseat. True friends are givers. They celebrate you. They are ok with taking a back seat to you. They listen to you. Surround yourself with givers. 5.) The “everyone else is doing it” friend If I had a nickel for every time I heard (or spoke) this phrase as a teenager and young adult, I would be writing this post from an oversized yacht in the Pacific. The “everyone else is doing it” friend justifies every action. Nothing is their fault. “Yeah, I was doing that, but Jill made me do it.” “Johnny actually sent the text, I just wrote it. So, it’s really his fault.” You get the idea? Not only do these friends refuse to accept responsibility for their actions, they also refuse to stand for anything. They go with the flow. They roll with the crowd. They are influenced heavily by peer pressure. If the crowd is doing it, they are doing it. Here’s why these friends are toxic. As they follow the crowd, they will encourage you to do so as well. As they refuse to take accept responsibility for their actions, they will encourage you to do so as well. You need friends who are confident in their identity. They are content in Christ. They are steadfast in their convictions. Because even if you are the strong one, it only takes one moment of weakness for this friend to take you down a road you never intended to travel. 6.) The “sees the worst in everything” friend We live in a world where cynicism is the default posture of the majority. It’s rare to find someone who looks at the world through a positive lens. Even Christian leaders and preachers (myself included, at times) present God as an angry cynic who can’t wait to destroy the world. But this is not God’s default posture. He looks at the world through the lens of restoration, redemption, and hope. You can’t look at the world through this lens unless you have an optimistic worldview. Negative people are exhausting. They drain your life and enthusiasm. They leave you feeling like the world, in general, and your life, in particular, are hopeless. If you have friendships that drive you deeper into cynicism and hopelessness, it’s time to consider ending the relationship. The world is how you see it. You can choose to see good. You can choose to see bad. Your friends should choose the former because your friends love Jesus. Find those friends. And cling to them. 7.) The “doesn’t know how to forgive” friend These friends make a list of every person who disses them, shames them, or shows them up. And they check it twice. They spend a lot of their time and energy seeking revenge. They wade in a pool of bitterness and resentment, drowning out any notion of forgiveness and grace. “If Jesus was in my shoes, he would do the same thing!” This is a typical response from these friends. These friends are cool with you…until you do something to belittle them. Then you go on the hit list with everyone else. Grace has a short leash. Oh, they want God to extend them grace, but they don’t believe God expects them to extend the same level of grace and forgiveness. Find friends who model forgiveness and refuse to build a wall of bitterness over their heart. This is a rare virtue in our culture. So, if you find someone modeling gospel-centered forgiveness, hang on to them. __________________ These words aren’t a call to cut ties with every friend who exhibits any of these qualities. Instead, I hope and pray you will seriously consider the people you allow to shape your life. The perfect friend doesn’t exist, but we shouldn’t settle when it comes to friendships. Too much is at stake. I think about the friends in my life the night I hit bottom and the friends in my life today. When I sit down with friends today, we aren’t talking about the hottest girl, the latest gossip, or how drunk we were last weekend. We talk about stuff that matters. And that almost always includes Jesus. My friends today challenge me to love my wife more intimately, love my kids more passionately, and love God more fully. Choose your friends wisely. They will impact who you are in the present and who you will become in the future. What do you think? What qualities are important in healthy friendships? Leave a comment below and let’s continue the conversation! I love you all. To God be the glory forever. Amen! 5.8K Shares Pin 20
Actually doing what everyone fears as horribly inflationary--printing and dropping cash into households--might not be as terrible an idea as many assume. Just as a thought experiment: what if the Federal Reserve and the U.S. Treasury ditched the failed policy of Quantitative Easing (QE) and instead printed cash and "helicopter dropped" it into households' accounts? Many people think QE is a "helicopter drop" of cash; it is not. It is simply a way of expanding credit and encouraging more borrowing. What if the Federal Reserve and U.S. Treasury stopped trying to stimulate the economy by encouraging more borrowing with "quantitative easing" and instead "dropped money from helicopters" into households' accounts? The core of quantitative easing is this: by expanding bank credit and lowering interest rates, a central bank (in the U.S., the Federal Reserve) stimulates more borrowing and thus more spending by businesses and households. The problem with this policy is that none of the funds goes directly into consumers' accounts. If consumers are tapped out or wary of taking on more debt, then bank credit can be expanded to the moon and households will not borrow more money. So while the Fed, Treasury and the FDIC have shoveled about $4 trillion dollars into the nation's banking sector in various bailouts and guarantees, these actions have not actually distributed any cash to consumers or businesses. The Fed's operations in the recent crisis have been loans to banks and other financial institutions and purchases of financial assets, not helicopter drops of cash into households' accounts. The problem with quantitative easing is fairly obvious to all: it hasn't really stimulated the economy, which despite the trillions of dollars spent on bank bailouts, is still tanking. Put another way: the popular conception of Fed policy as a "helicopter drop" of money is misleading; a real helicopter drop would put money directly into households' bank accounts, rather than expand bank credit. Some policies do put money in consumers' pockets. A trillion-dollar tax cut, for example, leaves more cash in the accounts of taxpayers—the basic idea behind the Bush tax cuts. The limits of tax cuts as a way of stimulating the economy are also obvious; as I reported in Why Growth May Still Leave 95% of Americans Behind, rising income disparity means that tax cuts benefit the top 5% and make relatively little difference to the bottom 95%. Proponents of a real helicopter drop of money directly into households' checking accounts argue that a broad-based distribution of freshly issued cash would directly stimulate spending and thus employment. This is why they recommend replacing the macroeconomic role of bank credit with distributions of cash. What if the Fed and Treasury distributed $1.3 trillion directly to households rather than disburse it to prop up bank lending? At least some households would use the funds to pay down debt, meaning the money would flow to the banking sector anyway, but with one critical difference: household debt would actually decline, leaving household balance sheets in better shape and owing less interest every month. With quantitative easing, the idea is to increase the debt load on households; with a helicopter drop of fresh cash, the idea would be to reduce the debt load that is crushing many households. Banks would benefit, too, as more consumer debt would be paid off in full compared to the current policy of promoting heavier debt loads. The negative consequences of pushing more debt on households is also obvious: more loans become uncollectible and go into default, creating more loan losses for banks. If the cash transfers were broadly distributed, the subsequent spending would be more representative of sustainable demand than other means of stimulus, such as costly and ineffective "job creation" programs. Most importantly, the status quo monetary policy distorts economic activity towards debt-based financial assets and debt-financed durable goods such as the "cash for clunkers" program to boost auto sales. According to the status quo, adding more debt to households is the cure to our economic malaise. But for most households, high debt is the disease, not the cure,and adding more debt to "stimulate spending" is like trying to put out a fire with gasoline. Some might argue that a direct deposit of freshly issued cash into households would be inflationary. But other economists argue that if inflation is a monetary issue, and a helicopter drop of cash is fundamentally fiscal, then the worry over sparking inflation is misplaced. What seems clear is that expanding bank credit through quantitative easing policies of funneling trillions of dollars into banks isn't working. Putting the same money thrown into banks ($4 trillion) into households' accounts would certainly put the money where it could either be spent or used to pay down debt--both of which are direct "cures" to over-indebtedness and a no-growth economy. The sums of money squandered on bailing out banks are difficult to grasp. So I'll make it easy: if the Treasury printed up $1.3 trillion in cash, that would be enough to give $10,000 to all 130 million households in the U.S. Even $10,000 to each household would enable a lot of debt to be paid off. Those without any debt could save/invest/spend it. That would certainly do more for the economy than throwing another $1.3 trillion to "extend and pretend" the banks' insolvency. Would such a distribution set up a political expectation for another $10,000 next election cycle? Very likely. Would that be positive? No. But all policy is a series of trade-offs, and a helicopter drop could be "sold" as one-time only. Would it trigger massive inflation? Doubtful. The national debt is about $13 trillion, so adding 10% to it with a "helicopter drop" is not going to change the long-term debt problem much. The GDP is around $13-$14 trillion as well, so it would amount to a one-time 10% boost in GDP. Total personal income is around $8.4 trillion, so a $1.3 trillion helicopter drop of cash would be about a 15% boost to personal income. Would it really do much to lower indebtedness of the American consumer? No. Total debt in the U.S. is about $52 trillion--governmental, corporate and private. Mortgage debt is around $10 trillion, and consumer debt is around $2.4 trillon. (These are approximate; a web search will confirm the round numbers.) While $1.3 trillion won't do much to change the outlook for inflation or future debt crises, it sure would give a lot of households one last chance to set things on a more positive course. $10,000 could wipe out a high-debt credit card without wiping out the creditworthiness of the household, or it could finance a move to a locale with more employment. It could replace a vehicle on its last legs with a better used car. Would some people squander a one-time "last chance to set a new course" helicopter drop? Of course some people will. But that's not the point. The point is that the nation has received zero value from trillions in quantitative easing, and so if even 10% of the 130 million households do something useful with their $10,000 in cash then that would be one heck of a lot more than we've gotten from the trillions thrown down the rathole of a venal, corrupted, insolvent banking sector. Throwing money at banks hasn't done anything but reward financial Power Elites via privatizing their gains and transferring their losses to the taxpayers. Throwing money at households won't solve the nation's problems either, but it would give households a one-time chance to do something useful with a chunk of cash. If 90% of the households blew it, then it would still end up somewhere in the economy, which is more than can be said of the trillions thrown away on QE. In the long run, it wouldn't make much difference to the nation's fiscal situation, but to households on the edge, it might make a very significant difference.
The lackluster opening for 'Pixels' highlights the ousted exec's weak slate ('Chappie,' 'Aloha'), as Sony slips to last place in major studio market share. A version of this story first appeared in the August 7 issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine. To receive the magazine, click here to subscribe. In November, as she attempted to revive Sony Pictures' fading fortunes, studio co-chair Amy Pascal emailed a note to her chief lieutenant Doug Belgrad. Assessing Sony's lineup for 2015, she wrote, in all caps, "THERE ARE TOO MANY DRAMAS/NOT ENOUGH TENTPOLES/NO OBVIOUS BREAKOUT HITS." Those words would prove to be more than a little prescient. More than halfway through 2015, Sony barely is hanging on at the box office. The studio has fallen to seventh place in domestic market share — behind the five other majors and Lionsgate — with a mere $247 million in grosses, just 3.74 percent of the total pie. Globally, Sony has made a weak $564 million. (By comparison, leader Universal Pictures has pulled in $1.8 billion domestically and more than $5 billion worldwide.) As its peers all have released at least one film that has earned $300 million worldwide, Sony's highest-grossing movie, Paul Blart: Mall Cop 2, topped out at only $104 million. Its latest attempt to create a homegrown tentpole, Adam Sandler's Pixels, isn't reversing that downward trajectory. The sci-fi comedy about arcade game aliens, co-starring Josh Gad, Michelle Monaghan and Peter Dinklage and with a budget officially pegged at $88 million, opened July 24 to only $24 million domestic, picking up another $25 million overseas. Even though the movies Pascal shepherded have determined the studio's 2015 standing, she is, of course, no longer at the helm. On Feb. 5, she transitioned into a four-year production deal worth as much as $40 million (four days later, speaking at a conference in San Francisco, Pascal admitted she'd been "fired"). While it widely was assumed that she had taken the fall for her handling of the destructive computer hack that hit Sony on Nov. 26 — as well as her embarrassing emails that it exposed — her exit now appears to be a precursor of what Sony Pictures chairman and CEO Michael Lynton suspected would be another difficult year. During her long tenure at the studio — she had run Sony's Columbia Pictures since 1996 and had headed the motion picture group since 2003 — Pascal enjoyed plenty of success. As recently as 2012, the studio, thanks to movies like the James Bond entry Skyfall, The Amazing Spider-Man and Men in Black 3, led its rivals in market share. But the wheels had already started to come off. Even though it grossed $758 million worldwide, Sony’s latest Spider-Man entry was considered a disappointment, forcing the studio to rethink the franchise and eventually partner with Disney's Marvel Studios to reboot it. Other movies, like the $225 million MIB 3, were simply too expensive. When a string of 2013 movies like Will Smith’s After Earth, Channing Tatum’s White House Down and Matt Damon’s Elysium all came up short, Lynton and Pascal came under increasing pressure both to cut costs and establish bankable franchises. But hits proved elusive, and 2014 ended disastrously: The studio's big holiday film, the family musical Annie, mustered just $134 million worldwide, while Seth Rogen and James Franco’s The Interview saw its theatrical potential cut short thanks to the hack, the ensuing threats and the major theater chains' refusal to show it. The studio has tried to right itself — Lynton tapped Tom Rothman of Sony's TriStar unit to replace Pascal, and a new marketing and distribution team was installed last year — but Pascal didn't leave them much to work with. So far this year, the studio has released a handful of films: The Wedding Ringer, the Kevin Hart comedy from its Screen Gems division, attracted $80 million worldwide. The sci-fi robot story Chappie leveled out at $102 million; Aloha, Cameron Crowe's Hawaii-set rom-com, barely registered with $24 million; and the $30 million Mall Cop 2, while likely profitable, lagged behind the first film and has been overshadowed by comedies like Melissa McCarthy's Spy and even Ted 2. The Pixels backstory provides insight into the studio's troubles. Based on a 2 minute and 35 second animated short, the project was developed by Sony and Sandler's Happy Madison Productions. When Chris Columbus was brought in to direct, he excitedly wrote to Pascal about a rewrite of the script, "This officially turns this movie into a perennial, a film that families can watch together for the next thirty years," predicting, "It now feels like a gigantic four quadrant event." But Lynton and Pascal fretted over its projected budget of $135 million. Looking for a financial partner, the studio put feelers out to Paramount, Fox and Warner Bros., with no takers. After wrangling concessions from the filmmakers, they got the budget down to $110 million, and LStar Capital — with which Sony has a three-year, $200 million co-financing deal — took a piece of the film, while the China Film Group made a small equity investment. (Sony execs were careful to excise any references, including an attack on the Great Wall of China, that might have endangered that support.) Tax incentives — the film shot in Canada — reduced the cost further to $88 million, according to the studio, which declined to comment for this story. Exactly when to launch the film then became a matter of debate. Sandler, who has made several of his biggest films at Sony (including the still-active Grown-Ups franchise) and wields clout despite a spotty recent track record, wanted a May 15 bow. The film originally was penciled in to open against Mad Max: Fury Road until execs got nervous about that match-up. It was decided that moving Pixels to July 24 was a safer bet, but that decision angered director Judd Apatow, whose Trainwreck originally was to have opened the same day. "I am not pleased that you all did that to me," he complained in an email to Pascal. "And the [Amy] Schumer movie is spectacular. It won't be an easy comedy weekend. You miscalculated." Trainwreck eventually moved up a week and notched a $30 million weekend, better than Pixels' bow. Heading into the second half of the year, Sony's fortunes will depend on a mix of Pascal's legacy movies and Rothman's first efforts. There is one surefire hit on the horizon: The James Bond adventure Spectre, which Sony produced with MGM and Eon, arrives Nov. 6 (though Sony splits profits three ways). But Aug. 7's Ricki and the Flash, starring Meryl Streep as an aging rocker, is a question mark and represents the first of the movies that Rothman oversaw during his two years running TriStar. His biggest 2015 gamble will be Robert Zemeckis' The Walk, a 3D restaging of Philippe Petit's 1974 high-wire act at the World Trade Center, which stars Joseph Gordon-Levitt and is opening the New York Film Festival in hopes of establishing an awards season run. The animated Hotel Transylvania 2, (with voice work from Sandler and Selena Gomez) is slated for Sept. 25; Goosebumps, based on the best-selling kids horror title and originally set for summer, was pushed to October. And Sony's year-end offerings could be as problematic as last year's. If The Interview upset North Korea, Rogen's new film The Night Before. a comedy about Christmas Eve debauchery featuring a church vomit scene, could prompt accusations of taking a side in the war against Christmas. And Sony is courting more controversy with Concussion, starring Smith in a drama about head injuries to NFL football players. NBC Sports reported July 25 that league owners already are plotting how to respond to the movie. If there's a bright spot for Sony, it's also connected to Pascal. She is now among the producers on the highly-anticipated female Ghostbusters, scheduled for summer 2016, and the Spider-Man reboot, slated for the following year. "It takes time for new management to realign the whole operation," says analyst Harold Vogel. "I don't think you can expect too much for six months or a year."
There's something comical and quaint about vintage black-and-white photos from 100 years ago. Until, that is, they come to life and start acting like a dream (or a horrendous nightmare.) Artist Kevin J. Weir turns old visions of the world into strange, surreal animations. Weir, a NYC-based art director, created these Gifs from old images found in the Library of Congress and other large online archives. But he's turned them into something truly... odd. Edison in his laboratory Your browser does not support HTML5 video tag.Click here to view original GIF Advertisement Herman A. "Germany" Schaefer (1876-1919), trying out the other side of the camera during the Washington Senators visit to play he New York Highlanders in April, 1911 Your browser does not support HTML5 video tag.Click here to view original GIF Ypres, Belgium Your browser does not support HTML5 video tag.Click here to view original GIF Advertisement Grand Duke Alexander Mikhailovich of Russia, early 1910s Your browser does not support HTML5 video tag.Click here to view original GIF Composer and conductor John Philip Sousa in front of a marching band, May 1914 Your browser does not support HTML5 video tag.Click here to view original GIF Advertisement Neidenburg Church (now Nidzica, Poland), damaged by Russian forces duing WWI, 1914 Your browser does not support HTML5 video tag.Click here to view original GIF 3rd Ave-42th Street, in the 1910s Your browser does not support HTML5 video tag.Click here to view original GIF Advertisement Friedrich Ernst II Fürst zu Solms-Baruth (1853-1920), served as a High Chamberlain, the highest ranking court official in Kaiser Wilhelm II's service, c. 1910-1915 Your browser does not support HTML5 video tag.Click here to view original GIF General Michel, c. 1910-1915 Your browser does not support HTML5 video tag.Click here to view original GIF Advertisement Labor activist Mother Jones (1837-1930) attending the 1915 hearings of the federal Commission on Industrial Relations at the New York City Hall, New York City Your browser does not support HTML5 video tag.Click here to view original GIF Ruins of Roebling's works, Trenton, New Jersey, January 1915 Your browser does not support HTML5 video tag.Click here to view original GIF Advertisement N.Y. National Guard Practice, February 1915 Your browser does not support HTML5 video tag.Click here to view original GIF African American fishermen standing in water, c. 1910-1915 Your browser does not support HTML5 video tag.Click here to view original GIF Advertisement Clearing away debris after a fire in Bangor, Wales, UK, c. 1910-1915 Your browser does not support HTML5 video tag.Click here to view original GIF Industrialist Gustav Krupp von Bohlen und Heibach (1870-1950), the head of Friedrich Krupp AG, c. 1910-1915 Your browser does not support HTML5 video tag.Click here to view original GIF Advertisement The fort in Przemsyl, Austro-Hungarian Empire (now in Poland), during WWI, c. 1914-1915 Your browser does not support HTML5 video tag.Click here to view original GIF A barrel mounted on a small cart, during WWI, c. 1914-1915 Your browser does not support HTML5 video tag.Click here to view original GIF Advertisement Verdun, France, during WWI Your browser does not support HTML5 video tag.Click here to view original GIF Boxers Your browser does not support HTML5 video tag.Click here to view original GIF Advertisement Father Gerontius, with a barrow, in Valamo Monastery, Karelia, Russia, 1930s Your browser does not support HTML5 video tag.Click here to view original GIF Hardiman I, the first attempt to build a powered exoskeleton, by General Electric in 1965 Your browser does not support HTML5 video tag.Click here to view original GIF Advertisement The Cybernetic Walking Machine, or Walking Truck, developed by GE engineers in 1968, designed by Ralph Mosher
A Marine is set to be booted from the service after he was arrested at a pro-Confederate rally, where he allegedly helped unfurl a banner that displayed a white supremacist slogan. Staff Sgt. Joseph Manning was arrested in Graham, N.C. on May 20, charged with a misdemeanor of first degree trespassing. He could face up to 60 days in jail along with his removal from the Corps, according to trade publication Marine Corps Times. Manning, who at the time was stationed at the Marine Corps Engineer School at Camp Lejeune about 200 miles from Graham, is accused of scaling a building with fellow serviceman Sgt. Michael Chesny and unfurling a banner with the acronym “YWNRU,” according local paper The Times-News. The letters apparently stand for “You will not replace us,” which is the slogan for white nationalist group Identity Evropa. Manning and Chesny were back on active duty as of June 4, the Daily Beast reported, but an internal investigation verified the allegations and the Corps is now in the process of “administratively” separating Manning from the military branch, Capt. Joshua Pena said, according to the Marine Corps Times. The Brief Newsletter Sign up to receive the top stories you need to know right now. View Sample Sign Up Now Chesny has been disciplined but is still an active member of the Marine Corps, a spokesman told the publication. Chesny and Manning are scheduled for court in Graham on Oct. 10 where a formal decision could on their fate could be made. The reason for the discrepancy between the two Marines’ punishment is not clear. The Corps did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Manning joined the Marine Corps in 2002 and has been decorated with a Purple Heart, Combat Action Ribbon, Iraq Campaign Medal and Afghanistan Campaign Medal, according to the Marines Corps Times. Contact us at editors@time.com.
1 of 1 2 of 1 Education Minister Mike Bernier says he's "disappointed" that the Vancouver board of education refused to balance its budget on Wednesday (June 29). “Our offer was a simple one—we gave them the go-ahead to sell Kingsgate Mall and put the proceeds back into education services," Bernier said in a statement on the B.C. government website. "We backed that up with a guarantee of almost $6 million in exchange for a small ownership share in the mall if the sale does not happen in the next school year. Either option would have made sure the budget was balanced in Vancouver." Bernier also claimed that the board was investing $37 million annually in "empty seats", which is a reference to the 84.6 percent utilization rate in schools. The province has demanded that Vancouver boost utilization to 95 percent in order to receive funding for seismic upgrades. Under the School Act, boards of education are required to balance the budget by today (June 30). Trustees have opposed selling a capital asset, Kingsgate Mall, to cover the operating budget. The mall generates about $750,000 per year. A Vancouver school board statement noted that the province's proposal "did not include any more provincial funding". The board's senior management team had projected a $21.8-million shortfall for 2016-17. More than 92 pecent of the board's revenue comes from provincial operating grants. The management team noted that 82.7 percent of expense go to "instruction-related functions", 13.1 percent to "building operations and maintenance", 3.1 percent to "district administration", and 1.1 percent to "transportation and other functions". Some trustees made their views known over Twitter, including the chair, Mike Lombardi. Another Vision Vancouver trustee, Patti Bacchus, took aim at Advanced Education Minister Andrew Wilkinson for tweeting how "frustrating" it was to him that the board refused to balance the budget. The last time the Vancouver trustees refused to balance the budget was in 1985. The Social Credit education minister at that time, Jack Heinrich, then fired the Coalition of Progressive Electors-controlled board and replaced it with a trustee. In 1986, all nine COPE candidates were elected to the board, which indicated that the public supported the trustees' actions.
The final three weeks should have been an anxious but happy time for a Hillary Clinton team on the cusp of making history. Her odds of victory, according to most prediction experts, sit north of 80 percent, and she has solidified modest but durable leads over Donald Trump in most battleground states. Story Continued Below But Clinton's final sprint has become a joyless, nail-gnawing slog through Trump Tower’s moat of mudslinging — and the day-to-day worries of WikiLeaks’ dump of internal emails from campaign chairman John Podesta’s hacked account is taking a toll. “This is making me tear up, it’s so infuriating and disgusting,” a Clinton aide wrote in an email halfway through the St. Louis debate, arguably the low-water point of a general election that has had few high-tide moments. “This is not our country.” In Trump's Mourning-in-America march to the abyss, he has rejected political norms, and his campaign has largely devolved into trashing Clinton, the women accusing him of sexual assault and harassment, the legitimacy of U.S. elections, the media, President Barack Obama, the GOP and the time-honored idea of a presidential campaign as a sunny, aspirational enterprise. Even more unnerving is the release of stolen emails popping daily, like the morning paper hitting the driveway, from WikiLeaks — part of an effort Clinton’s aides believe is geared toward dividing her supporters, sapping her team’s morale, and distracting the media’s attention from Trump’s self-immolation. All of this makes the last days of what is likely to be a winning campaign seem more like 22 weeks than 22 days. “The goal of this is to create dissension between everyone,” said Neera Tanden, a close Clinton ally whose years of candid correspondence with Podesta are now uncomfortably on public display. “This is Russian psy-ops. That’s what they’re trying to do. The campaign is going to fight back against that, by not getting subsumed in dissension.” Campaign aides and longtime allies aren't the only ones getting bummed out. Bill Clinton is also “having a hard time,” according to a source familiar with his thinking, as he watches Trump revive the former president's decades-old sex scandals in an effort to tarnish his wife, and was reportedly enraged when Trump paraded his accusers around the debate last week in St. Louis, even seating them in the front row. (An aide disputed both characterizations of his mind-set.) Chelsea Clinton remains “very focused” on the email hack, livid at accusations hurled at her by a former Clinton aide, Doug Band, calling her a “spoiled brat kid … [who] hasn’t found her way and has a lack of focus in her life." She is also “hurt,” a source said, by the fact that Podesta does not appear to defend her in his response to the email. (Chelsea Clinton’s spokeswoman pushed back on the characterization. “Anyone saying that simply doesn't know Chelsea. Chelsea isn't bothered by gossip but instead has been ‘very focused’ on campaigning for her mom, making sure the Clinton Foundation is able to help as many people as possible as effectively as possible, as well as being a mom herself,” she said.) As for the candidate herself, a person close to the Clinton family said she was “not really focused on the hack” — and another person who travels with the candidate said she has adopted, as a matter of principle, the position that she will not discuss the leaks because “she doesn’t want to play into their hands.” She does, however, remain worried about the political impact of disclosures, like the excerpts from her long sought-after Wall Street speeches — which included a comment suggesting a politician should maintain “a private and a public position” on politically contentious matters. But, mostly, in the words of one longtime aide, “she’s pissed.” And she is ever more determined to see that the foreign culprits her campaign is fingering are rooted out and their connections to Trump’s circle, especially dark-arts specialist Roger Stone, whom Clinton reviles, be publicly exposed. (Trump and Stone have vehemently denied any connection to WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, the Russians or the hacking, but current and former law enforcement and intelligence officials say those links will almost certainly be examined.) "It's the new McCarthyism," Stone told POLITICO in an email. "If you don't want war with Russia you're in bed with Putin. I have no Russian clients, no Russian contacts and have never gotten a dime of Russian money. I don't , however, think Syria is worth going to war over- as neither side in this conflict are our friends." Gossip from the emails is also damaging important relationships with donors and surrogates outside the bunker. Longtime Clinton fundraiser Lady Lynn Forester de Rothschild, multiple sources said, has been furious to find herself lampooned internally by loyal Clinton hands, and has been complaining to the campaign about her treatment after years of loyalty to the Clintons. “I have to [see] that crazy Lade De Rothschild person,” Tanden, president and CEO of the Center for American Progress, wrote to Podesta in an email on April 20, 2015. Rothschild serves as a Clinton bundler — in May, she hosted a $100,000-a-head fundraiser dinner for Clinton. On Friday, after Trump unleashed a barrage of vitriol unprecedented even in his defiantly low-road campaign, Clinton acknowledged the grinding toll of the negativity. “This election is incredibly painful,” she told campaign staffers at a field office in Seattle. “I take absolutely no satisfaction in what is happening on the other side with my opponent. I am not at all happy about it, because it hurts our country.” But the emails pose a more immediate psychological threat to her side. Key allies are filled with anxiety about their personal, and often blunt, assessments — of Democratic allies and the candidate herself — being exposed in the email hack. The campaign has scoured Podesta’s account, using search words to identify any information that could potentially come out and upend the race. Campaign manager Robby Mook has tried to keep the mood upbeat among the hundreds of young staffers who populate two floors of an overcrowded campaign headquarters in Brooklyn — and Clinton’s staff claims there’s nothing they have discovered in the hack that they expect will take them down or upend the race. But some of the “psy-ops” tactics appear to be working. Anxiety among Clinton aides and allies, some of whom are positioning themselves for jobs in the White House or ambassadorships, is spreading. Campaign allies are buzzing that there are emails coming down the pike in which Podesta — who in more than 10,000 documents released so far remains circumspect in sharing his personal judgments — “appraises some people on the campaign negatively.” Campaign operatives have been reaching out to some allies on the outside who have been mentioned in the emails, but there’s only so much good a heads-up can do. Tanden, who is currently serving as co-chair of Clinton’s transition team, has also offered blunt criticism of the candidate's own blind spots, pushing for her former boss to offer a full-throated apology for using a private email server while at the State Department and noting, “apologies are like her Achilles heel." Some have viewed Tanden's blunt critique as exactly the kind of candid assessment Clinton needs in the staff she surrounds herself with; others have been surprised to see how much influence Tanden has wielded from the outside, and how plainly she is willing to speak about the boss. One Clinton ally whose name appears throughout Podesta’s emails explained the tension people are feeling this way: “I know what my correspondence with him directly is. I know what chains I’ve been on. What I don’t know is what comments people may have made about me.” For his part, Podesta says he’s remained “zen” about the entire thing — an opinion not shared by some of his pen pals interviewed by POLITICO. “I bet the lobster risotto is better than the food at the Ecuadorian Embassy,” Podesta tweeted Friday, trolling Assange — who has been confined in a small London apartment for years to avoid arrest. Podesta has encouraged others to follow his lead and simply shake it off and move on. It’s possible to overstate the dread, or the depression, gripping Clinton’s Brooklyn headquarters. Increasingly, Clinton’s team is speaking more openly about an impending victory. And they say they are inspired by the cheering presence of the fired-up first couple, Barack and Michelle Obama, and protected by loyal surrogates Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders on the left flank. Still, Trump’s bad vibes have fallen like a thick curtain over some of Clinton’s top campaign officials, unsettled by the fact that the Republican nominee is a man who will do things public officials shouldn’t even joke about doing — bragging about kissing and groping women without consent, then making fun of the way they look. “We're winning, so you’re happy,” one close ally said, “but it’s a toxic environment and it’s sad to see.” Yet, in the view of many on the campaign, it’s more than toxic — it’s terrifying. The idea that Vladimir Putin, an authoritarian trained by the KGB, wants Clinton to lose creates stresses no other campaign has ever had to deal with. And just because Clinton’s senior team (which includes seasoned intelligence experts such as ex-State Department official Jake Sullivan and Podesta, who served as Bill Clinton’s chief of staff) knows these efforts are more of a mind game than a minefield doesn’t mean the anxiety doesn’t take its toll. Over the past several months, Clinton staffers have become increasingly unnerved by what they view as attempts by Moscow and the Chinese to disrupt their campaign — especially at times when Trump was flagging in the polls. To some extent, this was old news: Clinton, her team and high-ranking Obama administration officials have for years believed, with near unanimity, that their emails, messaging software and even cellphone calls were, in some way or another, being hacked by foreign intelligence services. There’s a gallows humor about it: Mook has posted reminders over the urinals in the campaign headquarters reminding campaign staffers to be careful with their email passwords. “You wouldn’t share your toothbrush, don’t share your password,” one sign reads (according to a source familiar with the men’s room). While some Clinton allies confess to spending hours at night reading through the entire email dump, others have chosen to simply steer clear of it all together. “We all write things in emails we probably shouldn’t,” conceded Clinton donor Jay Jacobs. “If there is a price to be paid, I think it’s a mild one. I’m purposefully not looking — it’s really not any of my business. Someone has illegally decided to do that.” Barring some unforeseen shock — and 2016 has featured its share of them already — the most lasting impact of the campaign’s dispiriting dismount might be to harden an already-pervasive opinion among Clinton’s staff that she is forever being denied her due as a serious historical figure. That could set the tone for how her team operates if they get to the White House and whether a candidate who was already wary of the press and obsessed with efforts to attack her will make a bunker of the Oval Office. “I didn’t start off this campaign feeling bitter, and I always made fun of how paranoid she was,” said a Clinton ally who, like so many working on her behalf, supported Barack Obama in 2008. “But I’m really starting to understand where she’s coming from. I’m starting to hate some of the people doing these things to her.”
Members of the Hungarian Jewish community march during an Holocaust memorial ceremony in Budapest on April 21, 2013. [AFP] The Hungarian government announced a deal Saturday with a US-based Holocaust restitution organisation on reparations for Hungarian survivors living abroad, ending a year-long row over transparency and a freeze of payments to survivors. “The government has concluded an agreement with the Conference of Material Claims Against Germany,” Janos Lazar, Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s chief of staff, said in a statement to the Hungarian news agency MTI. Hungary signed a five-year agreement with the Claims Conference in 2007 for the distribution of $21 million (16 million euros) to Hungarian Holocaust survivors but broke off talks on an extension of the agreement last year. It stopped payments and asked for some funds to be repaid after accusing the Claims Conference of improper accounting, a charge the organisation fiercely denied. “Holocaust survivors of Hungarian origin living abroad will be able to receive as soon as possible the compensation to which they are entitled,” Lazar said Saturday. “In order to now faster disburse restitution monies, the government will transfer $5.6 million within three days,” he said. Lazar said the money would be transferred to the Jewish Heritage of Hungary Public Endowment (MAZSOK), a Hungary-based committee made up of government officials and Jewish representatives, which liaises with the Claims Conference. The parties have also agreed to contract an international auditing firm to monitor the transparency of the disbursements, he added. State pensions for Hungary-based Holocaust survivors were hiked 50 percent by the government earlier this year. The Holocaust claimed the lives of some 600,000 Hungarian Jews, but the local Jewish community, thought to number up to 100,000 in total, remains one of the biggest in Europe. [Image via Agence France-Presse]
Almost exactly a year ago at the Financing for Development Conference in Addis Ababa, a small group of rich countries blocked the United Nations from taking on a larger role in the fight against global tax abuse. Now, at the one year anniversary mark, the same story seems to be unfolding yet again. This time, the location is Nairobi and the venue is the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, a summit that happens every four years so member nations can discuss how the UN should engage with issues of trade, finance, and development. Currently, most global rules on tax and transparency are set by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and the G20, two groupings of the wealthiest nations on earth. But these processes leave little room for input from developing countries, which are often most adversely affected by illicit financial flows. And it’s vital that developing countries have a seat at the table — the ambitious development goals set by the United Nations last year, the Sustainable Development Goals, directly reference the need to reduce illicit financial flows. So, it’s only logical that the United Nations would play a strong role in in setting the rules meant to help achieve this goal. This is why news reports coming out of the conference, and information from our own ears on the ground, are so disconcerting; it seems rich countries are once again attempting to block any language in the final document that would increase the scope of the United Nations to work on these issues. Rather than cut UNCTAD out of work on global tax and transparency, we should welcome their expertise and broader viewpoint into the global discussion. UNCTAD has a critical role to play. By working at the convergence of trade, finance and development, they are in a truly unique position. Just last year, UNCTAD released a report that estimated developing countries lose nearly USD$100 billion in revenue each year when multinational corporations shift their profits into low-tax jurisdictions. And though the money leaving via illicit financial flows is moving almost unabated from poor countries to rich ones, OECD members don’t seem to want to let a group that includes both work on how to bring it back.
China is aiming to overthrow the US dollar as the currency of choice for the oil market, a move that could have far-reaching consequences. Read more Since the 1970s, the oil trade has almost entirely been conducted in US dollars, even when buyers and producers are not American. The ramifications of the dollar-denominated oil trade are immense: Because oil is priced in dollars, there is huge demand for dollars, lending the US economic and strategic power. Beijing hopes to challenge the dollar by setting up a futures market with its own currency, the yuan. To that end, reports indicate that China is set to introduce an oil benchmark priced in yuan in the coming months. For China, there are a lot of upsides to this gambit. An oil futures market based in yuan will stimulate demand for the Chinese currency, which China believes will lend it strategic clout. That money is also more likely to be recycled back into the Chinese economy. The US has been able to run huge budget deficits, borrowing money at extremely low rates because of the demand for its currency. Petrodollars continuously flow back into the US economy, creating investment and economic growth that might not otherwise occur. The dollar has also long been one of the premier safe havens for investors around the world. China hopes to replicate this dynamic. And as the largest oil importer in the world, there is a great deal of logic in having oil contracts trade in yuan. But it won’t be easy to unseat the greenback. The plan is to launch an oil futures contract on the Shanghai International Energy Exchange (INE), but there are obstacles in convincing large oil producers and consumers in using the yuan and investing in the Shanghai benchmark. Without some major countries participating, like, say, Saudi Arabia or Russia, it will be difficult to create a market that is deep and liquid enough to make a difference. Read more Moreover, because the yuan does not float freely – it is fixed to the dollar and adjusted daily – major investors will be wary of trading in the Chinese currency. "My biggest reservations are the role of the Chinese central government, potential state intervention and favoritism toward Chinese companies," said John Driscoll, director of JTD Energy Services, according to CNBC.On the other hand, China has slowly loosened its grip on its currency. "Game changer it is not — at least not yet," Gal Luft, co-director of the Institute for the Analysis of Global Security, told CNBC. "But it is another indicator of the beginning of the glacial, and I emphasize the word glacial, decline of the dollar." Others see much more dramatic change coming from the launching of the Shanghai benchmark. Juerg Kiener, managing director and chief investment officer of asset manager Swiss Asia Capital, told CNBC that the petro-yuan is “well-advanced” and already “structurally in place.” Up until now, there have been some transactions in yuan, but only in trade specifically with China, and typically only with some smaller countries. Iran in particular was an early adopter of yuan-based oil sales, an unsurprising fact given Tehran’s eagerness to avoid the long arm of the US Treasury department. A more significant development was Russia agreeing to some yuan-based oil trade in 2015, also the result of US sanctions. Read more Many believe that key to the success of the benchmark is convincing a country like Saudi Arabia to participate. Saudi Arabia is one of the largest oil producers in the world, and sells a little more than one million barrels of oil each day to China. Russia is still the top supplier to China, exporting 1.545 mb/d in September, and in fact, Russia has been taking market share away from Saudi Arabia in China. If Riyadh wants to avoid losing more ground, the thinking goes, it may need to agree to yuan-denominated sales. Recent reports that China’s large state-owned oil companies are considering an outright purchase of five percent of Saudi Aramco, a move that Saudi Arabia is rumored to be considering in lieu of the Aramco IPO, should be seen in this context. "I believe that yuan pricing of oil is coming and as soon as the Saudis move to accept it — as the Chinese will compel them to do — then the rest of the oil market will move along with them,” Carl Weinberg, chief economist at High Frequency Economics, said on CNBC earlier this month. At that point, things would really start to change, and the dollar would start to lose its top status. Some see that as unlikely, as Saudi Arabia would likely be met with blowback from the US. But it would be a difficult choice for Riyadh – lose the Chinese market or spark the ire of Washington. It may not happen right away, but the launching of the crude oil benchmark on the Shanghai exchange could mark the beginning of the end of the petrodollar. This article was originally published on Oilprice.com
Net Neutrality Network neutrality—the idea that Internet service providers (ISPs) should treat all data that travels over their networks fairly, without improper discrimination in favor of particular apps, sites or services—is a principle that must be upheld to protect the future of our open Internet. It's a principle that's faced many threats over the years, such as ISPs forging packets to tamper with certain kinds of traffic or slowing down or even outright blocking protocols or applications. In 2010, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) attempted to combat these threats with a set of Open Internet rules. But its efforts were full of legal and practical holes. In 2014, after a legal challenge from Verizon, those rules were overturned, and the FCC set about drafting a new set of rules better suited to the challenge. It was clear that the FCC was going to need some help from the Internet. And that’s exactly what happened. Millions of users weighed in, demanding that the FCC finally get net neutrality right, and issue rules that made sense and would actually hold up in court. EFF alone drove hundreds of thousands of comments through our online portal DearFCC. As a direct result of that intense public activism and scrutiny, in 2015, the FCC produced rules that we could support—in part because, in addition to the bright line rules against blocking, throttling, and paid prioritization of Internet traffic, they included strict “forbearance” restrictions on what the FCC can do without holding another rulemaking. Unfortunately, the FCC, led by a new Chair, repealed those hard-won rules just two years later, despite intense resistance from nonprofits, artists, tech companies large and small, libraries, even some ISPs, and millions of regular Internet users. What is worse, that repeal – via the ironically-named “Restoring Internet Freedom Order” -- ignored technical evidence submitted by EFF and others and showed a remarkable lack of understanding of how the Internet works. Despite the new FCC’s best efforts, net neutrality isn’t dead. The 2017 repeal is being challenged in court, in Congress, and by the states. The litigators will explain the holes in the FCC’s order and the procedures the FCC ignored. Congress has the ability to overturn the FCC’s order with a simple majority, and there are already bills waiting to do just that. And, through proposed state legislation and executive orders, states have started moving to protect their residents from ISPs. Restoring the protections given in 2015 will be a step forward, but it isn’t a silver bullet. ISPs must be open about how traffic is managed over their networks in order for anyone to know when there’s a problem. Local governments can also play a crucial role by supporting competitive municipal and community networks. When users can vote with their feet, service providers have a strong incentive not to act in non-neutral ways. We want the Internet to live up to its promise, fostering innovation, creativity, and freedom. We don’t want ISPs acting as gatekeepers, making special deals with a few companies and inhibiting new competition, innovation, and expression.
This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form. AMY GOODMAN: Anjali, if you could introduce the two women lawyers that you spoke to… ANJALI KAMAT: Yes, absolutely. So I spoke to two women lawyers who were — really seem to be running a lot of things on the Council of the Revolution. One of them is a member of the Council of the Revolution, Salwa Bugaighis. She’s the first woman who you’ll see. And the second woman is Hanaa Al-Gallal, also a lawyer. She’s a member of the media committee. And I asked them a number of questions, and this clip begins when I asked them if they expected this to take place in Libya, and in particular to begin in their home town of Benghazi. SALWA BUGAIGHIS: They can’t believe themselves. No, for two, three days, they can’t believe themselves, that Gaddafi not here anymore. HANAA AL-GALLAL: We can talk. We can do — SALWA BUGAIGHIS: We can talk. We can feel — HANAA AL-GALLAL: — freedom of expression. SALWA BUGAIGHIS: Yeah, yes. It’s horrible things. You can’t believe it, you know? Forty-two years, everything belongs to Gaddafi and his sons. HANAA AL-GALLAL: Regime. SALWA BUGAIGHIS: And his sons. HANAA AL-GALLAL: Yes, yes. SALWA BUGAIGHIS: You know, all the — HANAA AL-GALLAL: He said it in his speech. SALWA BUGAIGHIS: Yeah. HANAA AL-GALLAL: “I am Libya.” There is no Libya without him. We are not numb. And look what he called us. He called us “cockroaches.” That’s how he saw us for 42 years, and that’s the way he treated us for 42 years. And we are happy, celebrating, but at the same time we are praying for Tripoli and for the — SALWA BUGAIGHIS: Yeah, because the Tripoli is our country, yesterday, today and tomorrow. HANAA AL-GALLAL: We are calling for the unity of Libya. The capital city is Tripoli. ANJALI KAMAT: How is the coalition, the Itilaf, supporting Tripoli? What are you doing to support people in Tripoli and Zawiyah? SALWA BUGAIGHIS: Now there’s a meeting outside the court here with the people from coalition from Tobruk, Bayda and Darnah, OK? And now they are — they are having meeting now, and they are discussing these things. And we will see what will happen, what they will decide about that. HANAA AL-GALLAL: We cannot talk too much into the future. We are just living it minute by minute. And this is overwhelming, even to the people of the international media and international community. This is something never happened in history. And we are doing — and we are surprised ourselves, and we are proud, because in Benghazi there’s no looting, there is no chaos. Everything is — every person in this country and this city has been participating in protecting private and public property. Everybody is opening his home for the expatriates. We are doing everything. There might be minor mistakes, but this is normal. We are in emergency, but we are doing great. SALWA BUGAIGHIS: And I want to say something else, that everybody from outside, they are asking us, “What you want to do? What you want?” Please, be patient. Please. You know, there’s a lot of stress on us, OK, because we are — we didn’t plan it in Egypt, when they say that they prepared since 1995 — 2005, for five years. We didn’t do nothing, OK? This comes [snaps] like this. HANAA AL-GALLAL: It’s the will of God. SALWA BUGAIGHIS: Yeah. ANJALI KAMAT: In this situation, what is it you’d like from the international community? Is there something that you’d like to see? What kind of tangible support would you like from the government and from the people? SALWA BUGAIGHIS: We need their support, and we thank all the media who comes here so they can see by their own eyes that we didn’t lie. HANAA AL-GALLAL: We have very urgent demands, and that’s what we want from the international world, is a non-flight zone over Libya, because this is the only way they can help us. If the Security Council and the United Nations, they have that, they are helping us a lot, because this is the only way we can help liberating Tripoli. Then everybody can come and help and comes out. AMY GOODMAN: That was Hanaa Al-Gallal and Salwa Bugaighis, lawyers in Benghazi, members of the Coalition for the Revolution, interviewed by Democracy Now!’s Anjali Kamat.
A few years before she died, my mother began to lose her vision to macular degeneration. As her central vision blurred, she had to give up her driver’s license. At first she could read with ever-larger magnifiers, but later she couldn’t do that, either. Eventually, even recognizing faces was a trial. Age-related macular degeneration, known as AMD, is a leading cause of vision loss and blindness for Americans over 50. There’s no cure. The image below gives you an idea of what a scene — two small boys holding balls — might look like to someone with the disease. “People (with AMD) are suffering. Everywhere you look, there’s a blurry spot in the center,” said Dr. Aaron Lee, a University of Washington opthamologist and assistant professor who specializes in problems of the retina. Ideal for AI Lee believes AI can help — not just people with AMD, but those with eye diseases that cause vision loss. GPU-accelerated deep learning may be able to detect signs of disease that doctors miss, or speed diagnosis so doctors can start treatments sooner, he said. He’s already developed deep learning algorithms that spot AMD and macular edema, a condition that damages central vision. Of all medical fields, ophthalmology is among the best suited to benefit from GPU-accelerated deep learning, Lee said. Not only do ophthalmologists collect the massive amounts of data needed to train a neural network, but that data is highly standardized across the field. “Something Amazing” Lee and his team focus on a test called optical coherence tomography (OCT), which uses light waves to take cross-section pictures of the retina. Doctors perform more than five million OCT tests a year to diagnose conditions such as AMD, glaucoma and diabetic retinopathy. In diabetics, high blood sugar levels can damage the blood vessels in the retina and affect sight. Researchers linked 100,000 patient OCT scans to their electronic health records to create the AMD-detecting algorithm. They trained a neural network to identify patients with AMD — reaching an accuracy rate of 93 percent — using the CUDA parallel computing platform and our GeForce GTX TITAN X GPUs with the cuDNN-accelerated Python Caffe deep learning framework. That AMD algorithm, completed in only three weeks, dispelled Lee’s skepticism about the advantages of GPU-accelerated deep learning. “I saw there was something amazing going on here,” he said. “It would have been impossible using regular computer architecture to process a dataset of that size and train a neural network as large as the one that we used.” AI Matches the Experts Delighted with those results, Lee added computing power with eight NVIDIA Tesla P100 GPUs to tackle the difficult challenge of identifying intraretinal fluid (IRF) in OCT scans. IRF, which can steal sight, happens when blood vessels in the retina get damaged. Doctors watch IRF to determine how well patients are responding medication and whether they’re improving. The team trained a neural network to identify IRF at a pixel-by-pixel level — currently a manual process that relies on doctors’ judgment. Their algorithm performed as well as experts and would give doctors a way to objectively track how much patients improve over time. “We’re on the precipice of using deep learning to show us features in images that we as doctors were blind to,” Lee said. Sights Set on AI But Lee sees much more opportunity for AI to transform ophthalmology. He expects it to detect eye disease faster and more efficiently so doctors can spend more time treating patients. It could help address a growing shortage of doctors available to treat an aging population or provide care to people in regions where doctors are scarce. And it could lead to new insights into the causes of AMD and other diseases. “AI is going to play a big role in how patients are treated in the future,” Lee said. For more information, read Lee’s papers on his research: The researchers open-sourced their work on github at https://github.com/uw-biomedical-ml/oir and https://github.com/uw-biomedical-ml/irf-segmenter. To learn more about Lee’s work, attend his talk at the GPU Technology Conference, March 26-29, in Silicon Valley. Register now. * Main image for this story is an optical coherence tomography (OCT) scan of the macula. (Courtesy of Ugur Onder Bozkurt under a Creative Commons license.)
PoliZette Ingraham: Frequent Terror the Price ‘to Pay for Multiculturalism’ LifeZette editor-in-chief hammers liberal 'Nirvana' where your throat can be cut 'having a drink' LifeZette Editor-in-Chief Laura Ingraham insisted that the price the West has “to pay for multiculturalism” is the risk of having a radical Islamic terrorist “mow you down” in a van or “put a knife to your throat and slit it,” during an interview Tuesday on Fox News’ “Fox & Friends.” Ingraham noted that the United Kingdom has paid a heavy price for embracing unchecked multiculturalism and mass immigration, having suffered three terror attacks in the span of three months. Ingraham blasted those who say, “This is what we’re going to have to start living with.” Advertisement [lz_jwplayer video=”h4pF9QD5″] “This is happening right now in Britain and everyone’s like, ‘Well, this is what we’re going to have to start living with … This is the cost of living in an open society,'” Ingraham said. “Innocent Brits and people traveling to London and all over Western Europe — now the price they have to pay for multiculturalism is the risk that you’re walking on the sidewalk and a man or a woman will purposefully mow you down,” Ingraham continued. “And then, while you’re maybe finishing your cappuccino in a cafe or having a drink, someone will put a knife to your throat and slit it with the attempt perhaps to behead you.” “That’s what we all have to live with for the free and open society that [London Mayor] Sadiq Khan and all these other multiculturalists want Britain to become,” Ingraham added. “They want — this is the Nirvana they wanted to create, and this is what we have.” LifeZette’s editor-in-chief said a substantial part of the problem the U.K. and the West must tackle is the “staggering” number of individuals under surveillance that have known or unknown ties to radical Islamic groups. [lz_related_box id=”805658″] Advertisement “We’re not talking about a couple hundred. We’re talking about thousands and thousands,” Ingraham said. “We saw the same problem happen, remember, in Belgium before the Paris attacks. We’ve seen this problem happen time and again throughout Europe, where individuals are on watch lists. They’re persons of interest for intelligence authorities. But I think they’re overwhelmed.” This is why it’s so important that the U.S. and Europe take extreme vetting and tighter immigration control seriously, Ingraham argued. “That’s why it’s so important that before you allow people to come into your country, you have a very good sense that they are interested in being part of the British experience, they’re not interested in undermining the culture or carrying out horrific attacks,” Ingraham said. “How you really do that type of extreme vetting is proving very, very difficult, especially with a mass migration into Western Europe.” Ingraham also touched on the national security threat as the U.S. government — and President Donald Trump — faces an onslaught of leaks. The Justice Department announced Monday it was pressing charges against Reality Leigh Winner, a federal contractor with top-secret security clearance, for allegedly leaking classified information to The Intercept. [lz_jwplayer video=”mlaE1UkV”] “Why did it take so long to find out that this woman was leaking? I’m glad we found out, but this is just the tip of the iceberg, guys,” Ingraham warned. “There are people burrowed into the federal contracting world and into the federal government who have an anti-Trump bias, an anti-Trump agenda, and they will use every tool at their disposal to try to embarrass the administration and hurt what they’re trying to accomplish, both on an international level and the domestic level.” Advertisement Noting that this situation “is rotting from within … just like the rot in a tree,” Ingraham urged the administration to “cut it out and try to regrow the plant.” “This is a deep rot within our government and within the contracting world,” Ingraham said. “This is not new, but the ferocity of the leaks and the intention behind them is much more politically based versus just, ‘Oh, everybody should know this information.’ This is geared toward one thing: getting Trump out of office.” When the “Fox & Friends” hosts brought up Trump’s Tuesday tweet in which he said, “The FAKE MSM is working so hard trying to get me not to use Social Media. They hate that I can get the honest and unfiltered message out,” Ingraham said Trump’s tweets can serve a “salient” and effective purpose. [lz_third_party includes=”https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/872059997429022722″] “I think he has an enormous following, and when he has a point to make that is salient and which kind of pulls us away from the verbiage of the day, cuts right through, he can be very effective,” Ingraham said. “[The mainstream media] don’t like that, that’s for sure.” Advertisement Later in the morning, Trump added, “Sorry folks, but if I would have relied on the Fake News of CNN, NBC, ABC, CBS, washpost or nytimes, I would have had ZERO chance winning WH.” [lz_third_party includes=”https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/872064426568036353″] Ingraham did offer Trump and his administration a warning, however, over tweeting about the Russia probe and former FBI Director James Comey’s upcoming Thursday testimony. “The only caveat I would throw to that is, tweeting out anything about the investigation that’s ongoing, I do not think that will help Donald Trump,” Ingraham said. “You’re not going to win the investigation regarding James Comey in the press. You’re not going to win it. You’re going to win it with really great lawyering, really sober lawyering, but you’re not going to win that through tweeting.”
Vernon Lee, aka Violet Paget Nothing says winter better than a Victorian ghost story, and I’ve already covered A Christmas Carol and The Haunted House by Charles Dickens, and the awful world of occult detectives. The most natural author to write next about would be Henry James, one of the 19th century’s major literary dudes, and the writer of classic, delicately shaded ghost stories. But that would ignore the legion of 19th century women who wrote for a living, their stories filling the pages of periodicals, their sensation novels jamming the shelves. They were an army of society hobbyists, sole breadwinners, explorers, gossip-magnets, spiritualists, suffragettes, Egyptologists, adventurers, sanctimonious prudes, and salacious scandal-mongers. Whether their names have receded from the limelight because they were pushed by the patriarchy, or due to lack of timeless talent, it’s impossible to know, but one thing is clear: we’ve lost a large chunk of our literary legacy by letting their books fade into the background, because many are as entertaining, if not more so, than their male counterparts. If you’ve ever read the Amelia Peabody mysteries by Elizabeth Peters, then you’re reading the story of Amelia Edwards. A literary prodigy, Edwards was born in 1831 and started selling stories to the magazines when she was 12. Her novels made her financially independent and when her parents died nothing was keeping her in England. So, eschewing convention and refusing to travel with a male chaperone, she and her close friend Lucy Renshaw hit the road, eventually winding up in Egypt where they fell in love with the country. Dismayed at the looting of Egypt’s glorious past (“The work of destruction, meanwhile, goes on apace. There is no one to prevent it; there is no one to discourage it. Every day, more inscriptions are mutilated—more paintings and sculptures are defaced. […] When science leads the way, is it wonderful that ignorance should follow?” she wrote), Edwards returned to England, published a best-selling travelogue, and co-founded the Egypt Exploration Fund with Reginald Poole of the British Museum, and immediately set about preserving ruins and fighting the “plunder and pillage” instincts of the day. She was the face of Egypt in the West, going on grueling lecture tours, until the men of the Egypt Exploration Fund conspired behind the scenes to cut her out of the society she founded. She died in 1892, three months after the death of Lucy Renshaw who had been her live-in companion, friend, and comrade for more than 30 years. Her best known ghost story is the much-anthologized “The Phantom Coach,” but it’s her later story, “A Night on the Borders of the Black Forest” that really delivers the goods. The less said about it the better, but be prepared for not so much ghosts but for a sort of low key German version of a Texas Chainsaw Massacre. If it’s the distilled essence of pure Victorian Christmas ghosts you want, then Mary Elizabeth Braddon’s “At Chrighton Abbey” is your moonshine. Set on a lavish country estate over the course of Christmas, it’s got the penniless female narrator, a young man torn between two loves, a snotty upper-crust fiancé, and a phantom hunt that foretells doom. It’s written in the bright, bouncy, evocative prose you’d expect from a woman who churned out 80 novels, and was called the “Queen of the Sensation Novel,“ sort of the feminine counterpart to Wilkie “The Moonstone” Collins. Her life was appropriately gothic as well. An actress-turned-writer, she and her lover, publisher John Maxwell, lived together for 13 years with Braddon acting as stepmother to his five children, before Maxwell’s wife, consigned to a Dublin lunatic asylum, died and freed them to marry and have six more children. Charlotte Riddell, on the other hand, seems to be the very picture of dignified regularity. Married at 25 to an engineer who died about 20 years later, she moved to the country and died in 1906, but that surface bio hides a lifetime of shame and pain. Born in Ireland, she moved to London with her mother after her father died and almost immediately discovered that her mother was dying of cancer. Like a heroic orphan, Riddell vowed to keep them from the poorhouse with her writing, which was totally stupid since she’d never published anything. Winter 1855 was turning street urchins into popsicles, and Riddell spent it tramping by frozen foot from one publisher to the next, none of them interested in her books. Finally, she sold a story to Thomas Newby, the only printer who had a female manager. Her first few books did well, and she moved to fancier publishing houses, got married, and realized that her publishers were ripping her off. Acting most unladylike (read: in her own best interests), she signed with a new publisher and received a massive advance (close to half a million dollars in today’s money) which her old publishers jeered would never be earned back. She earned that and more with close to 40 novels. This did not make her rich, however, because her husband was an idiot who threw all her money away on bad business investments. When he died, he left his family in a debt deeper than the Mariana Trench. Bonehead or hero, Mrs. Riddell took on his debts and repaid them, bankrupting herself for the rest of her life. She was under no legal obligation to do so, but viewed it as her ethical responsibility. She died of cancer, poor and miserable, in 1906. It’s no wonder that her books, praised for their naturalism, weren’t about love and domestic affairs, but about business, debts, money, finance, courts, financial frauds, and the crushing weight of loans. Her best short story is her novella, The Uninhabited House, which is not so much memorable for its rather trite ghost story, but more for the financial panic that grips its heart in an ice-cold fist. The narrator is a poor clerk in a law firm whose job security hinges on finding tenants for the haunted house owned by a crazy client who steals money, wails and cries, and only cares about her pocketbook. It’s a book about pounds and shillings and property values and tenant-landlord court battles, and at the end the class system makes a guest appearance just in time to smash everyone’s hopes and dreams to dust. There’s a tacked-on happy ending, much as Dickens tacked on a happy ending to Great Expectations, but ignore it. This is one of the first haunted house stories that’s as much about the value of real estate as it is about a spooky ghost saying “Woooo…” The best, and most flamboyant, forgotten female writer of the 19th century was Vernon Lee, aka Violet Paget, a certifiable genius who wore men’s clothing and sported an androgynous look decades before David Bowie. Publishing articles in French and German when she was 13, Lee was devoted to her older half-brother, Eugene Lee, a crummy poet and hypochondriac who took to his sofa for 20 years forcing the family to settle down in Florence, and Vernon Lee to travel back and forth to England hawking his manuscripts. After 20 years, Eugene suddenly rose from his sickbed, got married, and completely cut off contact with his devoted sister. Fortunately, Vernon Lee wrote like a machine and was smart as a whip. She collected and published Italian folktales, massive essays on aesthetics and Italian art history that often took David Foster Wallace-ian digressions into other fields, full of dialogue and flights of fancy that erased the boundary between fiction and non-fiction. She was also a self-destructive writer whose first novel, Miss Brown (1884), was dedicated to Henry James. Bad move. It was a satirical evisceration of London literary circles, slicing to ribbons the sexist assumptions of James and his circle, leading James to harrumph that her book was “a deplorable mistake.” Later he would describe her in a letter as “dangerous and uncanny.” In 1883, she wrote an essay “Faustus and Helena: Notes on the Supernatural in Art” in which she compared Marlowe and Goethe’s versions of Helen of Troy. Brian Stableford summarizes her essay as being about the fact that, “art’s various attempts to render the supernatural explicit are bound to obliterate exactly those qualities which surpass the natural, and the supernatural can only retain its quintessential power over the imagination if it is allowed to remain obscure, ambiguous and paradoxical.” It was from this ambiguity that her stories drew their power. Her first, “A Wicked Voice” (collected in her book, Hauntings) was an attempt to capture Venice, which contained, “…the market-place with the stage coach of the dentist, the puppet show against the Gothic palace, the white owl whom my friend John [Sargent] and I wanted to buy and take home to the hotel….a land where the Past haunted, with its wizards, sphinxes, strange, weird, curious.” The plot tells of a man who sees a tacky old painting of a fat castrato and becomes haunted, and ultimately driven insane, by the dead man’s hypnotic, tacky, shrill, ugly, beautiful, vulgar, glorious voice. Her most famous story is The Phantom Lover. A short novella, it tells the tale of an artist hired to paint the portrait of the lady of a country house, and his long stay drops him into the middle of a battle between husband, wife, and a long-dead poet. If there was ever a ghost story that rivaled James’s The Turn of the Screw, it’s this one, full of haunted, insubstantial landscapes, a past that is continuously consuming the present, an emotionally-charged house dominated by a dark, dead presence, and the delicate charting of subtly shifting emotions. To stumble across a novella this accomplished is, to put it bluntly, astonishing, and in a way it’s the obscurity of these women writers that adds luster to their work. Plenty of famous critics have opinions about A Christmas Carol or The Turn of the Screw but when you read The Uninhabited House or The Phantom Lover, it feels like a private discovery, something intended for your eyes alone. These women’s works feel like a single plucked violin string, far from the crashing orchestral scores of Dickens or James, and when you read their words it’s like they’re standing right behind you, whispering intimately in your ear. Their books feel like the writings of a phantom. Or a ghost. Grady Hendrix is the author of Satan Loves You, Occupy Space, and he’s the co-author of Dirt Candy: A Cookbook, the first graphic novel cookbook. He’s written for publications ranging from Playboy to World Literature Today and his story, “Mofongo Knows” appears in the anthology, The Mad Scientist’s Guide to World Domination.
Turkish nurse keeps family in dorm room for 13 years ISTANBUL An investigation has been launched into a Turkish nurse for keeping her family in a dorm room for 13 years in Istanbul. The nurse, who remains anonymous, has reportedly ensured her family lived in a dormitory at the Istanbul Faculty of Medicine since 2004, Sabah newspaper reported on Nov. 21. While accommodation facilities offered to single female nurses by the hospital, the nurse, who was the former head of accommodation, reserved the area for her mother, her brother, his wife and their three children. Moreover, it was revealed that her relatives raised fowls outside a remote part of the building’s garden. Upon revelation of the incident, the Istanbul University Rectorate filed a complaint against the nurse to the Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office. “She was appointed as the chief of accommodation when she was staying at the accommodation for Istanbul Medical Faculty nurses. She abused her duty and caused harm to the public,” the complaint reportedly read.
Sen. Jim Bunning (R-Ky.) didn't mince words Thursday with colleagues who asked him to stop blocking the action in the upper chamber. Bunning holds floor: 'Tough s--t' Senate Democrats spent Thursday night hammering away at Sen. Jim Bunning (R-Ky.) for single-handedly holding up action in the upper chamber – but he blurted out a message to one of them on the Senate floor: “Tough s—t.” In an unusual display in the normally sleepy chamber, Bunning – without the support of GOP leadership – has blocked efforts to quickly approve a series of extensions to measures that would otherwise expire Sunday, including unemployment insurance and the Cobra program that allows people who lose their health benefits to continue getting coverage. Story Continued Below And that has led to a furious exchange on the floor, with Democrats attacking the senator, who has refused to relent on his objection, in unusually harsh terms. In a colloquy with Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), Sen. Jeff Merkley, a freshman Democrat from Oregon, was pleading for Bunning to drop his objection, when the Kentucky Republican got fed up. “Tough s—t,” Bunning said as he was seated in the back row, overheard by the floor staff and others in attendance. A spokesman for Bunning did not immediately respond to a request for comment. It’s rare for senators to curse at one another on the floor of the chamber. In 2004, Dick Cheney famously told Sen. Patrick Leahy to “f—- yourself” when the vice president appeared for a photo session in the upper chamber. Bunning is furious about increased spending in the Senate – but he’s waging a lonely battle to stop it. The senior senator from his state, Republican Leader Mitch McConnell, with whom he has a frosty relationship, is not backing him up. If he refuses to relent, Democrats will have to file cloture to shut down debate, pushing back final action until next week. But Democrats are eager to have this fight; even though they know that Bunning remains largely by himself, they know that hammering away at the Kentucky Republican will drill home their argument that the GOP is out to obstruct progress. On the floor, Bunning leaned back in his chair, legs crossed, as he listened to a slew of Democratic senators talk about the bill he is blocking. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) approached Bunning around 9:30 p.m., and they spoke for a moment before Reid left the floor. Reid has asked for unanimous consent to approve the package of provisions that expire Sunday, which also include 30-day extensions of flood insurance, highway funding and small business loans. But Bunning continues to object to the unanimous consent requests. To maximize pressure on Bunning, Durbin has been reading messages from Kentucky residents and unemployment statistics from counties around the state, whose unemployment rate stands at 10.7 percent, above the national average. One country, Magoffin County, has 21.4 percent of its residents unemployed, Durbin said. Merkley said he is “deeply disturbed” that Bunning can be is so “disconnected from the challenges” of working Americans.
Hall of Fame trainer Freddie Roach, who handles WBo welterweight champion Manny Pacquiao, does not view Terence Crawford as a big enough name to do a major pay-per-view event. Pacquiao and Crawford, who are both promoted by Top Rank, appears to be a very viable fight. But for whatever reason the boxers appear to be heading in different directions for the moment. Pacquiao is scheduled to defend his title against undefeated 2012 Australian Olympian Jeff Horn on July 1, at the Suncorp Stadium in Bribane. Crawford could be heading into a junior welterweight unification with Julius Indongo. After Crawford's most recent win from three weeks ago, when he demolished Olympic gold medal winner Felix Diaz, he called for a fight with Pacquiao. But Roach is not a big fan of the fight, and says the reason are strictly financial for his fighter. Roach would much rather have him face three division world champion Mikey Garcia or former two division champion Danny Garcia. “Who’s Terence Crawford?” said Roach to ABS-CBN News. “Popularity-wise, I think Mikey Garcia is the best option, because it will pit Mexican versus Filipino,” he added. But I like Danny Garcia the best.” “(Danny) came all the way to my gym and they don’t like me. But he shook my hand and said, ‘I want Manny Pacquiao. I said okay, but they got to talk to Michael Koncz and Manny.” According to Roach, he doesn't believe a black fighter being matched against a Filipino will do good business on pay-per-view. Other than Pacquiao's mega-fight with Floyd Mayweather Jr., Roach indicates that Pacquiao's numbers against black fighters on pay-per-view have not been impressive. But Pacquiao did over a million buys for Shane Mosley, who at the time was viewed as a big underdog. And Pacquiao's numbers against Joshua Clottey, who was unknown, generated around 700,000 buys. However, Crawford is likely going to demand a guarantee than Mosley or Clottey received for facing Pacquiao, who would also want a really big guarantee to face Crawford - which leaves Top Rank in a tough spot where the pay-per-view would have to generate a high number to avoid taking a loss. “Filipino against Mexican sells well, but Filipjno against black? It doesn’t sell well in America,” said Roach. “(Crawford) has audience, yes. In Nebraska, (where he comes from).”
The condo boom is as fierce as ever in Toronto. According to a report from the Bank of Montreal, a record 10,368 units were completed in the city last month, shattering previous totals. Analysts chalk the burst up to companies playing catch-up after construction delays in previous years, but the flood of finished units is expected to cause a ripple effect in the market. Despite demand being high for new condos, there are now over 1,600 units on the market, a 21 year high. The saturation of available units should, BMO predicts, curtail the rise of condo prices in the city, at least for the time being. How long this will last,however, is harder to predict. Construction of new buildings isn't slowing down and other cities across the country are dealing with surpluses. It seems like Toronto condo watchers are always waiting for the other shoe to drop, which has yet to happen even though words like "overbuilding" and "saturation" are thrown around with greater frequency. What do you think? Will construction of condos continue to outpace demand in this city? Photo by Neil Ta in the blogTO Flickr pool
Please enable Javascript to watch this video RICHMOND, VA -- After a recent Supreme Court ruling, same-sex marriage is recognized in all states, and so far thousands of same-sex couples have walked down the aisle. A concern among many in LGBT community is what protections they are offered, as discrimination laws differ state to state. Essentially, gay marriage may be legal, but one could potentially be fired from a job for marrying their partner. The concerns among Virginians also comes after state Republicans vowed to defend religious liberty in the wake of the SCOTUS ruling. Specifics on what "defending" religious liberty means so far have not been made public. "We should do everything we can," said Victoria Cobb with Virginia's Family Foundation. Cobb says bakers and photographers should not be forced to participate in gay marriage ceremonies if it goes against their religious beliefs. "It's not unlike the African-American baker asking them to bake a Confederate flag," Cobb said. "Is that what we want for society?" Cobb says conscience clauses currently exist for some counselors in Virginia and she believes those clauses should be expanded. In the baking community this subject has become a hot topic after bakers in Colorado and Oregon began fighting orders to participate. "Some bakeries chose not to do cakes for same-sex couples," Graham Haddock, owner of Cakes by Graham in Richmond said. Haddock says he would never turn a gay couple away. "We had a gay couple on Saturday," Haddock said. Peter Johnson with the Richmond Business Alliance, a chamber of commerce for the LGBT community, said the need to "review" religious liberty laws are unnecessary and will hurt business. "Expanding or reviewing our religious liberty laws are not needed," Johnson said. Johnson says he and his partner plan on marrying one day and fear the talk of discrimination could mean some places could say no. "It breaks my heart that the spiritual community often discriminates against the LGBT community," Johnson said. Johnson says it is important to note that of the thousands of gay marriages that have taken place in Virginia so far, there have been no reported cases of discrimination. Haddock says if a business would wish to discriminate it just means more business for bakers like him who just wants to bake.
Hot Felon Jeremy Meeks, who cheated on his wife of eight years with Chloe Green, is also accused of stealing the Topshop heiress from rumoured boyfriend Robert Cavalli. The 32-year-old convicted criminal turned model is facing a backlash from fans who are furious he dumped the wife who stood by him while he was in jail and was pictured passionately kissing 26-year-old Chloe on a luxury yacht in Turkey. The married father-of-one, who previously described himself as a 'family man', was accused on social media of 'disrespecting his marriage' as he romanced billionaire Sir Philip Green's daughter. Scroll down for video 'Look that says I'm with your woman!': Jeremy Meeks was pictured embracing Chloe Green's rumoured boyfriend Robert Cavalli at Cannes before he was photographed kissing the Topshop heiress Together...? Robert shared a photo with rumoured girlfriend Chloe before she was pictured with married convicted felon Meeks, a 33-year-old father of two And Chloe was attacked on social media for allegedly dumping her reported beau Robert, son of legendary fashion designer, Roberto Cavalli. Chloe was linked to the millionaire designer's son after he posted a number of sun-soaked pictures of them together over the past year. In the run-up to Cannes Film Festival, the couple appeared to be travelling together, with Robert sharing a photo of them from Monaco, enjoying a cup of tea with Chloe in a pink dressing gown with the caption: 'Me vs you'. It is believed that Chloe met Meeks while she was in Cannes earlier this year with Robert. Steamy: Meeks and Green were pictured kissing on board a luxury yacht that costs £119,000 a week to hire as they sailed in the Med off the coast of Turkey near Bodrum He posted a photo of himself meeting Meeks at the film festival. But after the photos emerged of Meeks and Chloe together in Turkey the photo was flooded with comments from Instagram users accusing Meeks of stealing his girl. One follower joked: 'He giving you that fake a What's up homie but low key he just slipped that h Chloe his number.' Another added: 'I'm with ur woman'. Fans notice a snap Robert had shared with Chloe along with a heart emoji, commenting: 'U might have had a chance with her if u were a married man' (sic). Life of luxury: Meeks continued to send tongues wagging after pictures emerged of him kissing British Topshop heiress Chloe Green on a yacht in Turkey on Friday Close: The new couple cuddle on the beachfront in Turkey during their holiday romance Meeks and Chloe, who is heir to her father Sir Philip's billions, were pictured sharing an intimate kiss over the weekend and snuggling up together as they waited to be taken back to their £112,000-a-week yacht in Bodrum, Turkey. Their tender embrace was watched over by an entourage which had joined them on their luxury charter for a week of fun in the sun. It came as Melissa broke her social media silence and as his legions of fans turned on him for dumping her. All aboard: Heiress Chloe's billionaire father Sir Philip has refused to comment on her relationship with his daughter On Monday, two days after the pictures emerged, Meeks's manager posted a photo of him and his client, who has 1.2million Instagram followers in Dusseldorf, Germany. But fans turned on them with one user writing: 'Shame on you,' in apparent reference to the photos. Meeks' wife, Melissa, a mother of three who has a son with the convict, appeared to respond to her husband's alleged infidelity with a sultry Instagram post of her own on Sunday. She added: 'It's just me against the world baby,' with the hashtag 'Still I rise'. 'Just the beginning': Chloe took to Instagram on Saturday, sharing a a photo with Meeks and his manager, with the caption: 'Just the Beginning... We appreciate all the love and the hate' Kiss: Chloe didn't seem to have a care in the world as she leaned in to the convicted criminal whose mugshot won him an army of female admirers and a modelling contract on his release Ignoring the revelation that her husband was cheating on her, Melissa made a point of not mentioning his adultery and instead opted to caption the picture with two hashtags - Queens are Born in July and It's My Birthday Month. Chloe has since deleted her Instagram account shortly after posting a picture of her and Meeks together with the caption: 'Just the beginning...We appreciate all the love and the hate.' Meeks too has edited his account, deleting all photographs of him and Melissa, which has not gone down with the fans who fell in love with his good looks after his California mugshot went viral in 2014. He has left pictures up of Melissa's two children from a previous relationship as well as their own child. Rumoured beau: Chloe and Roberto pose for a photo on board a luxury yacht at Cannes before they met Meeks at the revered film festival in the South of France 'Missing you': Robert Cavalli posted this cute photo of him and Chloe on Instagram and tagged her in it - before pictures emerged of her in the Mediterranean with the hot felon One angry user Mish Reine wrote: 'And the award for the biggest scumbag of the earth goes to Jeremy. 'What an idiot leaving a woman who held you down for eight years despite everything she's even given you a beautiful child just for you to throw it all away for a bit of fame by going off with a billionaire daughter for more publicity. 'Your actions are the real meaning of a low life felon. 'Karma's a b***h. Remember that.' Another user going by the name of Enlightened Beauty wrote: 'How sad. Don't let the materialistic things get to you. Facing the music: Meeks landed in LA today to face his wife of eight years for the first time since photos emerged of him kissing Chloe on holiday 'When you die, none of this is gonna matter. Everyone will remember you cheating on your wife.' Meanwhile Chloe's father Sir Philip said he is 'not getting involved' in his daughter's holiday romance. The tycoon refused to be drawn when asked about it, telling the Telegraph: 'With respect, I am not getting involved in it.'
VR + AI: the very real reality of virtual artificial intelligence Jacob Mullins Blocked Unblock Follow Following Jan 25, 2017 VR + AI TLDR; Virtual Reality can be immersive and fun, but add natural deep Artificial Intelligence and you quite literally get a new world which — beyond the computer generated world around you — may not actually be so virtual. As applications in Virtual Reality are increasing in quality and variety, early developers are providing us with new interaction dynamics that are expanding the richness of immersive virtual worlds. By layering in aspects of natural artificial intelligence, experiences are developing that lose the feeling of being so “unreal;” distinct memories, interactions and relationships are being created that cause the user to question — well, if it happens in real life, but inside of a headset, does that not make it real? Of our five senses, Head Mounted Displays (HMDs) handle vision, a solid pair of 3D headphones like OSSIC handle sound; AxonVR and others are working on haptics and touch…next up is smell and taste, those should be, well…interesting. But beyond our five senses which create the feeling of physical “presence” in a virtual space, is the “immersion” of having a real experience, experiencing the unexpected and having the opportunity to create very real memories. As opposed to playing a pre-programmed “AI” game experience, natural social interaction is the key to this. True social interaction in Virtual Reality can be created in two ways: a. multiplayer interactions connecting live users synchronously, and b. through true AI actors that interact and respond naturally based on the user’s nuanced interactions and cues. (I’m referring to pure, deep AI in this case, not the simple AI of playing against the game itself, which is quite common today). “Theodore Twombly” (Joaquin Phoenix) in Her Consider the real love experienced for the AI in the film “Her,” or the questionable line between robot and “being” in the film “Ex Machina,” or the incredible helpfulness of The Librarian, the sentient all-knowing AI in the book “Snow Crash”. Natural, social AI is a new user interaction dynamic on which we are surfing the cusp. Ava (Alicia Vikander) in Ex Machina While physical, Turing Test-graduate humanoid robots may be a decade away, immersive, bespoke experiences are happening today in Virtual Reality. Layer in “Voice” as user input mechanic, and you can live a very real life within a virtually-projected environment. The best example I’ve seen of this yet is Wevr & RealityOne’s “Gnomes & Goblins” preview experience. In this, the user explores a whimsical fantasy world of “goblins,” and each time I go in, its feels as if the virtual world lives and breathes around me — the time of day is different, the friendly goblins interact with me in different ways. The creators have done a great job of combining the natural human interest of discovery with the deep AI dynamic of natural environmental and social response, leaving me with a truly magical feeling every time I leave. I’m incredibly excited to experience the confluence of VR + AI as it develops to become some of the most real experiences we may have, yet. Yes it will happen in a headset, and yes it will be very real. — I’m investing in the emerging platforms of VR/AR (incl. computer vision, 3D modeling), robotics (automation, AI), voice as a platform, and IoT at Shasta Ventures. And I organize the VR Tuesday meet-up in San Francisco focused on the business-side of VR/AR/MR. Find me on Twitter @jacob.
Donald Trump’s stunning election victory will provoke immediate tensions across several continents, and force Republican foreign policy elites to make quick decisions whether to work for a man most strongly opposed as unqualified, according to foreign policy experts and GOP insiders. The mere fact of Trump’s election will produce political instability in Asia, Europe, the Middle East and Latin America, experts say, as world leaders scramble to prepare for potentially radical shifts in American foreign policy and brace for global financial panic. Story Continued Below Republicans were uncertain late Tuesday night about whether Trump would turn to seasoned insiders for top State Department, Pentagon and national security council jobs, particularly after dozens publicly vowed they would never work for him. But some held out hope that Trump would draw from a pool of experienced professionals rather than outsiders with little understanding of a newly-roiled world. “I very much hope lots of my conservative colleagues will join the administration,” said Kori Schake, a Republican who has worked in the White House, State Department and Pentagon. “It's one thing to keep from helping Trump get elected, and another thing to make the best of it when voters have already elected him.” (Schake herself has said for months that she would “never” work for Trump.) Given his often ambiguous and conflicting statements, Trump's victory has triggered huge anxiety and uncertainty among U.S. allies worldwide, analysts said, and foreign governments will be watching his early statements and appointments wuth hawk-like attention. "Given the unclear and at times inconsistent messages on foreign policy and the Middle East--Pence is for safe zones in Syria, Trump is against--there is an early need for the president-elect to clarify his key principles in foreign policy," said Dennis Ross, who served at the White House and State Depatment under several presidents of both parties. "His appointments may offer early signals of what will guide a Trump approach to foreign policy in general and the Middle East in particular." In Tehran, Iranian officials will have to discuss whether and how they will restart their dormant nuclear program if Trump follows through on his vow to scrap the July 2015 agreement painstakingly brokered by President Barack Obama. That agreement was already under pressure in the run-up to Iranian elections early next year and Trump’s victory could deal a blow to moderate supporters of Obama’s signature foreign-policy agreement. “I don't actually think he'll rip up the deal, but I also didn't think he would win this election,” a senior Obama administration official said late Tuesday night. A Trump win “clearly puts back on the table a credible threat of military force and the use of severe economic sanctions,” said Mark Dubowitz, executive director of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies and a firm opponent of the nuclear agreement. “It however runs the risk of isolating the United States if Iran can successfully flip the Europeans against the Trump administration. But the utter unpredictability of a Trump administration could make Iran's Supreme Leader and his Revolutionary Guards very cautious about nuclear and regional escalation.” Russia experts predict that Russian President Vladimir Putin will aggressively pursue his country’s military campaign in Syria with little fear that a President Trump would counter him there as Hillary Clinton might have. Trump says he wants to cooperate with Moscow in Syria and elsewhere, and has expressed no interest in the kind of U.S. military action, like a no-fly zone, that Clinton proposed there. Even before Tuesday’s vote, Russian forces were already reportedly preparing to join a new offensive against rebels in the Syria city of Aleppo. Experts say nationalist politics could flare in Eastern Europe and the Baltic states along Russia’s border, creating dangerous instability in the region. Trump has suggested he might not come to the defense of the Baltic states of Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia—all NATO members—if they are not contributing enough to the alliance’s budget. Those countries view NATO as their only hope against against a Russia they consider a real and present danger to their territories. The government of the Baltic state of Estonia was already on the brink of collapse this week and the effects of a perceived loss of U.S. and NATO deterrence against Putin could ripple through the region, stoking anti-Russian nationalism—which in turn could provoke Moscow or provide Putin with a pretext for action. But while many observers fear that Putin could move fast to invade the Baltics, which he considers a rightful part of Russia, some experts believe that the Russian leader will avoid creating an early crisis that could be cast as a test of Putin’s strength, instead working slowly with Trump to first weaken the NATO alliance. China will prepare for economic combat with a president-elect who has vowed stiff new tariffs—but will also relish the already-apparent fear of its top regional rivals, Japan and South Korea, both of whom rely on a U.S. nuclear umbrella Trump has questioned in a break with decades of American doctrine. According to the South Korean Yonhap News Agency, the country’s president was convening a national security council session to discuss the impact of the presidential election. And Trump’s win will rock the U.S. southern border, where an already unpopular Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto faces popular fury for his summer meeting with Trump in Mexico City—the president-elect’s only foreign trip during the campaign—while the peso craters over Trump’s threats to restrict trade with the country. Against this tableau of crisis, Republican foreign policy elites who consider Trump repellent and unqualified will continue a debate begun in a whisper during the campaign–about whether and how they might mitigate his most dangerous impulses. While dozens of experienced Republican foreign policy insiders vowed never to work for Trump, others kept their silence, calculating that a president with no foreign policy experience will require seasoned advisors to guide him. Insiders in both parties cited Stephen Hadley, a former national security advisor to George W. Bush, as one of the most senior GOP foreign policy hands to hold his tongue about Trump, and say he could be a top choice for a senior national security post. “Steve Hadley would be a genuinely superb Secretary of Defense,” Schake said. Foreign policy veterans may be in especially high demand at the State Department, where career foreign service officers have talked for months about whether they could serve under a President Donald Trump—a debate many considered academic but which now presents them with a grueling choice between their values and their country. The prospect of mass resignations “is a real thing,” according to one career diplomat who has had several such conversations with State Department colleagues. Eliot Cohen, an influential Republican who served as counsellor to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, and who vehemently opposed Trump, urged longtime diplomatic and national security professionals not to quit in disgust. "Career people, I think, have an obligation to serve faithfully, and not least to ensure that the principles and letter of our Constitutional system of government are respected," Cohen said.
A number of articles have shown that Ken Ham‘s Ark Encounter is failing in one key way: It hasn’t provided an economic boost to the very communities that sacrificed so much to have them build the attraction in their backyard. Ken Ham wants to push back against that narrative (for obvious reasons), and he’s finally figured out how to do it. Instead of taking responsibility for his underwhelming Ark, or offering an excuse like it’s too early to see economic growth resulting from the attraction, he’s blaming atheists for the negative publicity. Recently, a number of articles in the mainstream media, on blogs, and on well-known secularist group websites have attempted to spread propaganda to brainwash the public into thinking our Ark Encounter attraction is a dismal failure. Sadly, they are influencing business investors and others in such a negative way that they may prevent Grant County, Kentucky, from achieving the economic recovery that its officials and residents have been seeking. If people like me writing a few sentences at a time can get in the way of an entire county’s economic recovery, then maybe Ham’s business plan was bad to begin with… To be sure, Ham points out some valid concerns about an article in the Lexington Herald Leader. Reporter Linda Blackford quoted an owner of a “Snack Shack,” Matt Griffith, who said customers hadn’t been coming in like he had hoped. In fact, we’re told, he “closed it down for three months over the winter,” presumably because of that low attendance. Ham got in touch with Griffith, who told him that’s not true. In an email to Ham, Griffith wrote: Very interesting that she put that “we closed down,” because that was something she asked me about. I explained it was due to the sewer lines needing replaced. So I guess she somewhat skewed what I said. That’s no small mistake on the reporter’s end. But notice there’s no denial of Griffith’s statement that “those hordes have not yet appeared.” Since opening in October 2016 I have had a wonderful flow of visitors with approx 4% of my recorded sales being from Ark Visitors. This is NOT the ARKS fault.. this is NOT the cities fault… it IS ALL OF OUR faults for not doing what is necessary to make the RIGHT NOW changes that need to be made so that everyone wins… Another person Blackford quoted was, a coffee shop owner who said Ark visitors “don’t get to her shop.” But, in a Facebook post Ham cites, Murphy said the Ark doesn’t bear all of the blame: So the Ark isn’t entirely to blame. But it’s not helping in a huge way either. (I’ve reached out to Blackford to see if she has a response to those comments.) Her article, however, noted a lot of examples of how Ark Encounter is basically fleecing the city of Williamstown and Grant County. Ham didn’t respond to most of those, so I assume that means they’re accurate. Ham also bragged about high attendance over the past weekend, though it’s hardly indicative of what’s normal. Of course they’re going to get more people through the doors over the summer. It’s the rest of the year when we should all have doubts about their attendance, and we won’t know until next month (at least) what their actual attendance has been for the past year. Keep in mind that’s just one measure of success. The other is whether local business really are thriving. There just aren’t many owners saying “My business is doing great because of Ark Encounter.” There are planned hotels and restaurants, but until they’re up and about and filled to capacity, who knows if they’ll be a worthwhile investment. And let’s be honest: A few places getting a few more customers isn’t really anything to celebrate. None of that justifies a $100 million Ark that miseducates people. But Ham’s still blaming his critics. Why so many lies and misinformation? Simply because we are in a spiritual battle, and the intolerant secularists are so upset with such world-class attraction like the Ark (and Creation Museum) that publicly proclaim a Christian message. They will resort to whatever tactics they deem necessary to try to malign the attractions. We don’t need to make up reasons to condemn the Ark. The pictures of the exhibits and Ham’s own words provide more than enough proof that these people have no idea what they’re talking about. We know they’re spreading lies. The economic impact is a different story, and the jury is still out on that… though the evidence we have so far doesn’t indicate that Ark Encounter has been worthwhile for the nearby communities. We’re not going to stop pointing that out. Ken Ham can blame us all he wants, but his team promised Williamstown and Grant County the moon and the stars when they wanted help building their Ark with as little of their own money as possible. It’s now up to Answers in Genesis to deliver on that promise. (Thanks to Dan for the link)
Recording purporting to be of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi released after rumours he was injured or killed in air strike Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, leader of the Islamic State (Isis), has apparently surfaced alive after he was rumoured to have been killed in a US air strike last week, calling for attacks in Saudi Arabia and for “volcanoes of jihad” across the world. Baghdadi’s call, in a defiant speech purported to be in his name, claimed that the “crusader” US-led military campaign against Isis was failing. “America and its allies are terrified, weak, and powerless,” he said, repeatedly attacking “the Jews” and “apostate” and “treacherous” Muslim (Arab) leaders who feared the return of the Muslim faithful to the ways of the caliphate. In a 17-minute audio tape released by al-Furqan media — a jihadi site — Baghdadi was described as “commander of the faithful” and “Caliph of the Muslims”. It was not immediately possible to determine the tape’s authenticity but the voice, articulation and tone all appeared close to his prior speech patterns. “Oh soldiers of the Islamic State, continue to harvest the [enemy] soldiers,” the recording exhorted in a key passage. “Erupt volcanoes of jihad everywhere. Light the earth with fire under all the tyrants and their soldiers and supporters.” The speech was in florid, classical Arabic shot through with expressions of Muslim piety in the extremist takfiri tradition. The timing of the recording was unclear, but it referred to Barack Obama’s recent decision to send a further 1,500 US military advisers to train the Iraqi army and to a pledge of allegiance by Egyptian jihadis to the Islamic State last weekend. In a triumphant survey of what he described as the group’s growing influence, the speaker also mentioned support from Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Libya, Algeria, Tunisia and Morocco. In Saudi Arabia, singled out in the message as the “head of the snake and stronghold of disease”, people were urged to “draw their swords” to fight and to kill Shia Muslims – referred to in pejorative sectarian terms as “rafidah”. Shia worshippers were indeed attacked in a terrorist shooting in the country’s Eastern Province 10 days ago. In Yemen, Baghdadi called for attacks on the “apostate” Houthis – rebels it is claimed are backed by Iran (seen as the embodiment of Shia power) who are fighting the central government in Sana’a. There was a mention too for the Sinai Peninsula, where “the people of jihad” - a group called Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis- are fighting the “Egyptian tyrant” and had “terrified the Jews”. God would grant victory, the recording said. It also attacked “lying media” in claiming that the coalition, which includes Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Jordan and Bahrain, had hit Isis targets. “Be assured, O Muslims, for your state is good and in the best condition,” Baghdadi declared. “Its march will not stop and it will continue to expand, by Allah’s permission. The march of the mujahidin [Muslim holy warriors] will continue until they reach Rome. And soon, the Jews and Crusaders will be forced to come down to the ground and send their ground forces to their deaths and destruction.” Facebook Twitter Pinterest Islamic State (Isis) leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi reportedly makes an audio address to his Isis followers on Thursday The audio message was the first of Baghdadi since a video released in July, shortly after Isis proclaimed its caliphate over parts of Iraq and Syria, showed him delivering a Friday sermon in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul. Its release again underlined the groups reputation for a sophisticated media strategy. It was distributed on Twitter with accompanying Arabic, English, and Russian transcripts for easy access and maximum impact. Additional reporting Raya Jalabi
Do I need my own insurance to drive my mothers car? What I would like to do it borrow my Mother’s car to drive to work, which is less than 2 miles away. Do I need to have my own insurance, or will her insurance cover me if I’m driving her car? ANSWER: I suggest one to try this web page where one can get quotes from the best companies: http://INSUREQUOTE.US/index.html?src=WP2raizyrdimuvent RELATED FAQS: Will I get fire if I don’t get a license while working at insurance agency? The agent offered me a job because I also speak another langauge. And they told me what the job is like (receptionist/interpreter/office clerk kind of job. Before I accept the job, the agent told me that license it’s not required to get hire. So I quite my old job to work at this agency. NOW..the agent wants to discuss about license with me. I don’t think i can do it, and I don’t have the money and time to do it. I am not there to sell insurance. How do I turn it down with a professional manner?" 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How can I get health insurance while still living in my parents home.? I’m 19 and I still live at home because I have no choice at the moment. My parents get state insurance and it’s only them and my little sister on the plan. I have nothing. I would like to get some even if it’s just a basic plan. With my mom being sick and needing it more then me at the time I just let it go when thy started enrolling family members I could not be added at the time.. I don’t want to do anything that would get them cut of but I can’t go without anything. I don’t of I can get my own plan threw the state even tho I still live at home or if I can find a cheap plan and pay for it.. This is all new to me I have not had health care since I was 6. I would really like to get some coverage even if it’s just bare basic without interfering with my moms so she can still get the care she needs.. This is my first time do this so I no this sounds stupid but my parents have not had health care on my since I was 6. So this is all very new to me. Insurance for teenager?? How much will it cost a sixteen year old male to get minimum coverage? Indiana resident buy car insurance in Chicago? I go to college in Indiana and hold an Indiana license. I’m working in Chicago this summer and thinking about buying an affordable used car here since there are way more options in the city. I’ll go back to Indiana in the fall and would like to register the car as an Indiana one. Since I can’t drive the car without an insurance, I wonder if I can buy insurance here in Chicago and still register it as an Indiana car? Thanks a lot." What is the fine for driving without insurance at Southern California District Court? How much is the fine for driving without insurance in the jurisdiction of the federal court in San Diego. 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None of us are not physically hurt (except later my neck started to have a pain) but yeah the guy who’s car I hit has his father came by and everything, I called my dad and told him I got into a car accident, my dad was pissed off and told me to drive home now because he doesn’t want his car to be towed, so I kinda did a Hit and Run where I drove straight to my houser without letting them know BUT I came back to the accident by walking (took me 40 mins to get there) the guy calmed down and decided to be very cool with me and what not., he called the police and said I did a hit and run but came back and told me don’t worry man, everything gonna be fine you’ll be okay man don’t stress too much. He said he has insurance and it will cover it (he told me he was driving his dad’s car) but my dad and brother told me that his insaurance company is gonna come after me (that really scares me!) anyway, the cops came by and started talking ** to me because I have no DL and he took me to my house to talk to my dad. My dad talk to the cop and the cop said he was gonna arrest me and put me to jail for hit and run and for stealing the car. My dad said I did not steal the car, he said I was suppose to only go to the store and come back. the cop ask me if what my dad said is true, and I said yes, and he told me why were you driving over here on main street? I told him because my friend live close by and I wanted him to see me drive. after that the cop took me back to the accident scene and the guy told the cop that I came back and made a mistake. after that, the cop wrote me up for a citation and I need to go to court and pay around $700-900 bucks. 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I’m currently learning how to drive, and am thinking of buying a cheap car to practice on, and then obviously use when I pass. I’ve looked up provisional insurance prices and full insurance prices, and have heard that if you buy provisional insurance, you can then update it to full and pay the difference. I was wondering, if I had the provisonal insurance for 3 months, then updated to full, would I get 12 months of that full insurance, or will it be 9 months, because I’ve had 3 months of provisonal already? Also, I’m think of a fiat seicento, is that a good car? I’m 17 Thank you!" Do you have to be a licensed insurance agent to do this? Do you have to be a licensed insurance agent to quote Medicare Supplement rates in Texas? Please cite a source of your information. I live in spain and all the insurance companies want full payment for car insurance etc…….? id like to know how the uk companies set up the payment schemes where you can pay monthly and if i could look into it here to help people like myself spread the payments any help is very much appreciated Is my son covered on my car insurance? If I get Insurance on MY car, and my son drives it sometimes, if he has a wrek in it with him not being on the policy, will my insurance cover the damages?" "I received a ticket for no seat belt, will it affect my insurance?" I got the ticket in Garden Grove, California (my first offense). I am thinking about fighting it because I DID have my seat belt on but then I found out that the Vehicle Code 27315 states that the fine for a first offense is no more than $20. But then again I am worried that it will affect my record and my insurance. Can I go to traffic school or something to clear the violation so my insurance won’t know? If not should I fight it?" What is the best auto insurance rates? What is the best auto insurance rates? Will my insurance go up if we get another car? Ok, so im 16 and I want to know if my mom buys herself a new car and gives me her old one, will my insurance go from a part time driver to a full-time driver, EVEN if BOTH cars are in HER name. So in total, there will be 3 cars, 1 my dad’s(his name) and 2 my mom’s(her name) I’ve heard many different answers, some of which say no, and some yes. If it helps, I live near Philadelphia PA. Thanks!" "I’m trying to get my driver’s license for the first time, I’m 23, do I still need to have auto insurance?" I don’t plan on actually driving at all, I just want to get it for identification purposes. Do I still need to be a part of an insurance policy in order for the dmv to issue me a license." Should High School Dropouts & Others w/o Insurance be forced to Join the Military …? … and to serve their country in exchange for taxpayers taking care of them? 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New Delhi: India will be hoping to get some clarity on US President Donald Trump’s policy towards South Asia and the Afghanistan-Pakistan region when US national security adviser (NSA) Herbert Raymond McMaster—the highest ranking official of the administration to visit the South Asian region—holds talks with Indian officials on Tuesday in New Delhi. McMaster who began his trip to the region with a stop-over in Afghanistan on Sunday, was in Pakistan on Monday where he met Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif in Islamabad. He was seen as key in developing US military’s counter-insurgency strategy under General David Petraeus while serving as his special assistant when Petraeus commanded US troops in Iraq from 2007 to 2008. McMaster was also deployed in Afghanistan in 2010. A Pakistani statement after talks between McMaster and Sharif said “the prime minister reaffirmed his commitment to a peaceful neighbourhood and apprised the US NSA of the steps taken by Pakistan to reach out to both India and Afghanistan." India and Pakistan are seen as vying for influence in Afghanistan with Islamabad seeking to install a friendly government in Kabul in case of a conflict with India. New Delhi, on the other hand, wants a government in Kabul that will not be inimical to its interests. So far, the signals for India from Washington vis-a-vis South Asia have been mixed. President Trump had seemed inclined to act tough on terrorism in the early days of his inauguration—with the White House readout of a conversation Trump had with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in January stating that “Trump and Prime Minister Modi resolved that the US and India stand shoulder to shoulder in the global fight against terrorism." ALSO READ : Pakistan briefs US on ‘plight’ of Kashmiris But rather than focusing on cross-border terrorism of the kind perpetuated by Pakistan against India, Trump has been seen as keen on targeting groups like the Islamic State (IS) in Syria. Incidentally, McMaster’s visit to Afghanistan came just a day after the US dropped its biggest non-nuclear bomb on Nangarhar province of that country, killing some 100 IS militants. Earlier this month, India rebuffed a US offer to mediate between India and Pakistan, stressing that New Delhi’s position on and conditions for a bilateral redressal of problems including the Kashmir dispute between the South Asian neighbours had not changed. India also urged the US and the international community to lean on Pakistan to accept internationally mandated requirements that call for abandoning terrorism as an instrument of state policy. The sharp response came after the US ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley overnight indicated that the US would try and “find its place" in efforts to de-escalate tensions between India and Pakistan. In Kabul on Sunday, McMaster in an interview to the local Tolonews said “what was critical was strengthening the Afghan security forces and institutions," besides creating and supporting an Afghan airforce and a zero tolerance approach towards the IS. On the Taliban, the main insurgent force fighting the US-led troops in Afghanistan, McMaster said the group must be defeated except those who “are willing to join their Afghan brothers and sisters... and end the violence." On Pakistan, McMaster said: “We hope that Pakistani leaders will understand that it is in their interest to go after these groups (of terrorists) less selectively than they have in the past and that the best way to pursue their interests in Afghanistan and elsewhere is through diplomacy and not through the use of proxies who engage in violence." According to the reading in New Delhi, such statements were in keeping with India’s own thinking about the region, “but we will have to wait and see how the talks on Tuesday proceed," said a second person familiar with the development.
ST. LOUIS — Suspended St. Louis Rams wide receiver Stedman Bailey was shot and critically wounded as he and four other people were sitting in a car outside a home in the Miami area, police said Wednesday. Bailey was at a hospital awaiting surgery for injuries that have not been disclosed by the Rams or the authorities. Another man, Antwan Reeves, was with Bailey and was also shot in the attack Tuesday night. Three others in the car, including two minors, were not wounded, police said. FS1 NFL Insider Mike Garafolo originally confirmed the report through a team source. Article continues below ... "The victims drove themselves to an area hospital for evaluation and treatment," Miami Gardens police said in a statement. "Based on reports from the hospital, Bailey is in critical but stable condition awaiting surgery." Police said they were looking for suspects, who had driven up in another car before shooting. The Rams said they were aware Bailey was "involved in an incident" and that they had spoken with him. "We are gathering facts about the situation and will provide updates as we learn more," the team said. Bailey went to high school in the Miami area. His is in third season with the Rams but has been suspended twice by the NFL. Bailey, who turned 25 on Nov. 11, was a third-round pick in the 2013 draft out of West Virginia, where he was part of a prolific wide receiving tandem with Tavon Austin, whom the Rams selected with the eighth overall pick that year. Bailey was suspended four games this month for violating the NFL’s substance abuse policy. He has two games remaining on the ban. He served a two-game suspension for performance-enhancing drugs at the start of last season. According to police, Bailey, Reeves and the three others were sitting in a car at about 8:45 p.m. ET Tuesday at a local residence. Another vehicle arrived and "opened fire," police said. Reeves was taken into surgery shortly after arriving at the hospital. Players from around the league reached out on social media shortly after reports emerged. "Keep our brother (at)iamSB3 in your thoughts, prayers tonight. I don’t wanna believe it," Rams defensive end Chris Long tweeted. Pittsburgh Steelers star running back Le’Veon Bell used Twitter to send his best wishes: "prayers to my brother Stedman Bailey." Rams punter Johnny Hekker tweeted, "Praying for guardian angels over Sted. We’re with you brother." Bailey has started three games each of the last two seasons, and this year has 12 receptions for 182 yards with one touchdown. He was fined for pulling a stunt after the lone score after using the ball as a pillow and lying down in the end zone. Last year, he had 30 receptions with a 14.5-yard average and one touchdown. He was among five Rams receivers who did the "Hands Up, Don’t Shoot" gesture during player introductions before a game last December as a show of solidarity for protesters in nearby Ferguson, Missouri. The Rams signed free-agent wide receiver Wes Welker after Bailey’s second suspension. Bailey is eligible to return to the roster on Dec. 7, the day after the Rams play at Arizona.
General who led Obama's 'surge' strategy says even now the military does not have the local knowledge to end the conflict One of America's most celebrated generals has issued a harsh indictment of his country's campaign in Afghanistan on the 10th anniversary of the invasion to topple the Taliban. The US began the war with a "frighteningly simplistic" view of Afghanistan, the retired general Stanley McChrystal said, and even now the military lacks sufficient local knowledge to bring the conflict to an end. The US and Nato are only "50% of the way" towards achieving their goals in Afghanistan, he told the Council on Foreign Relations. "We didn't know enough and we still don't know enough. Most of us, me included, had a very superficial understanding of the situation and history, and we had a frighteningly simplistic view of recent history, the last 50 years." McChrystal led the Obama administration's "surge" strategy that started in 2009 and sent US troop levels in Afghanistan to more than 100,000. Widely acknowledged as a gifted military commander, he was forced to resign last year amid controversy over remarks he made to Rolling Stone magazine. The 10th anniversary of the war, marked on Friday, has prompted sober reflection in the US about a conflict that has passed Vietnam as the military's longest war. Just over 2,750 foreign troops have been killed – 28% of them in Helmand – while between 14,000 and 18,000 civilians have died as a result of fighting, according to various estimates. Yet although the US entered Afghanistan to hunt down Osama bin Laden and topple the Taliban, its most prominent targets quickly slipped across the border into Pakistan. The al-Qaida leader was discovered in Abbottabad, north of Islamabad, last May, while the Taliban have used remote border bases in Pakistan's tribal areas to launched a stiff resurgence. In his comments on Thursday night, McChrystal also indirectly criticised the Bush administration's decision to invade Iraq in 2003, saying it made success in Afghanistan more difficult to achieve. The invasion "changed the Muslim world's view of America's effort", he said. "When we went after the Taliban in Afghanistan in 2001, there was a certain understanding that we had the ability and the right to defend ourselves and the fact that al-Qaida had been harboured by the Taliban was legitimate. I think when we made the decision to go into Iraq that was less legitimate [in the eyes of the Muslim world]." The 10th anniversary has also been marked in downbeat fashion in Afghanistan where talk of US-driven "nation building" has largely evaporated. Despite $57bn in international aid since 2001, aid agencies say most people remain mired in deep poverty. "There has been some important progress, especially in urban areas," said Anne Garella of Acbar, an umbrella group of 111 foreign and local aid agencies. "But our research highlights the gap behind positive rhetoric and grim reality." An Acbar study found that 80% of Afghans now have access to health services compared with 9% in 2001. The number of children in school has rocketed from barely one million a decade ago, 5,000 of them girls, to seven million today, one third of whom are girls. But Afghanistan still has been some of the world's worst health indicators due to shoddy facilities, conflict and official corruption. Afghans have grown highly sceptical of western aid over the years, with a widespread perception – partly well founded – that much of the money finds its way back to western countries through security costs and inflated expatriate wages. But the greatest worry for most Afghans now is the consequence of the US drawdown planned for the end of 2014, which will see the vast majority of 150,000 foreign troops leave the country. The American plan is to hand power to the shaky Karzai-led government, which is plagued by corruption and enjoys diminishing credibility. McChrystal said that building a legitimate government that ordinary Afghans believed in, and which could serve as a counterweight to the Taliban, was among the greatest challenges facing US forces. Efforts are under way to bolster the government's authority. Nato says it will have trained 325,000 Afghan soldiers by January 2015, and the US is likely to continue financial support, although exact levels have yet to be decided. But rising ethnic and political tensions could destabilise the country before then. And plans to bring the Taliban to peace talks were hit by the assassination of Karzai's main peace envoy, Burhanuddin Rabbani, last month.
LONDON -- President Trump got a congratulatory phone call on Saturday from Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, and British Prime Minister Theresa May will visit Mr. Trump at the White House next week. A spokesman for Russian President Vladimir Putin said Saturday that Mr. Trump should also expect a phone call from Putin soon. Meanwhile, anti-Trump demonstrations were held in cities around the globe. Protests were held around the globe after President Trump’s inauguration on Jan. 21, 2017. CBS News Protesters in the tens of thousands snaked through the streets of London Saturday in solidarity with the Women’s March on Washington. Ivonne, from Hinckley, England, said the overall message she wanted to send to the U.S. was that “we’re with you in this.” “I think there’s a lot of people in the U.S. that also don’t agree with his inauguration,” she said. The U.K. may be an ocean apart, but protesters here took the U.S. election personally, crediting Mr. Trump’s campaign rhetoric for fueling Europe’s nationalist movement, which gained steam with last summer’s Brexit. “I felt very strongly that we shouldn’t Brexit -- and we have done,” said Moira from London. “We need to be, we want to be a united world.” Around the world on Saturday, more than 600 marches swept through major cities. From Paris to Prague, Rome to Berlin -- even as far away as Japan and Australia -- they are vastly different worlds united under one message. Protesters in Japan on Jan. 21, 2017. CBS News While Mr. Trump hasn’t taken criticism very well in the past, Moira said Mr. Trump would “most probably not” listen to their message, but she said, “one of the greatest things we’ve got is the freedom of speech and the right to speak.” Saturday’s international turnout is a reflection of how important Mr. Trump now is -- and just how much some people around the world disagree with the tone he’s already set.
Katie Couric is fighting back against a gun group's claim that she defamed them, saying their lawsuit is nothing more than a cheap shot. The TV personality’s legal team called for a dismissal on Tuesday of the $13 million lawsuit filed by The Virginia Citizens Defense League against Couric, the documentary "Under the Gun," director Stephanie Soechtig, Epix, and others who worked on the film. The eight-second scene in question shows Couric interviewing members of the VCDL and asking: “If there are no background checks for gun purchasers, how do you prevent felons or terrorists from purchasing a gun?" The film shows members of the group rendered silent by Couric’s question. However, in the unedited version, one person responds that if you’re not in jail, you should have the right to buy guns. Couric and Atlas Films motion to dismiss states: "No reasonable viewer could interpret the film that way, because just before the exchange in question, the film explicitly depicted them explaining why they oppose background checks. Plaintiffs further assert that the film implies they are unfit to engage in business activities such as selling guns. Those alleged implications are equally strained. At worst, the film might be construed to imply that some members of the interview group had trouble coming up with an answer to the much narrower question about how, if there are no background checks, felons and terrorists can be prevented from buying guns. Defendants have never disputed that editorial choice may fairly be subject to criticism and debate, and indeed it has been. But whatever one thinks about the propriety of the edit, it simply does not rise to the level of defamation." The court filing follows Couric's earlier admission that she regretted the clip edit. "I take responsibility for a decision that misrepresented an exchange I had with members of the Virginia Citizens Defense League (VCDL)," Couric wrote earlier this year. "My question to the VCDL regarding the ability of convicted felons and those on the terror watch list to legally obtain a gun, was followed by an extended pause, making the participants appear to be speechless.... I regret that those eight seconds were misleading and that I did not raise my initial concerns more vigorously." A Virginia federal judge will decide whether there is sufficient evidence to continue with the lawsuit.
If you're looking to back up all your important files, photos, and music in the cloud, Amazon has a few new unlimited cloud storage options. For those who just want to back up photos, Amazon on Thursday launched a new unlimited photos plan, which lets you store an infinite number of snaps in Cloud Drive for $11.99 a year, or less than $1 a month. As part of the unlimited photos plan, you'll also get 5GB of space free to store whatever else you like. There's also a new "unlimited everything" plan, which gives you as much Cloud Drive space as you need for photos, videos, files, documents, movies, and music for $59.99 per year, or less than $5 a month. "Most people have a lifetime of birthdays, vacations, holidays, and everyday moments stored across numerous devices. And, they don't know how many gigabytes of storage they need to back all of them up," Josh Petersen, director of Amazon Cloud Drive, said in a statement. "With the two new plans we are introducing today, customers don't need to worry about storage space—they now have an affordable, secure solution to store unlimited amounts of photos, videos, movies, music, and files in one convenient place." Even better—you can try out the service for free before making the investment. Starting today, get a free three-month trial of either plan. Current Cloud Drive customers can upgrade from their account settings. Amazon Prime members already get unlimited Cloud Drive storage for photos, plus 5GB of free storage for videos and files at no extra cost. For more, check out PCMag's full review of Amazon Cloud Drive.
Former first lady Michelle Obama (C) and her friends work out — and vacation — together. EPA/FABIO DI PIETRO Michelle Obama is spending her post-White House days working on her upcoming book — and she’s also working it. The former FLOTUS posted a series of Instagram pics on Monday of herself working out alongside some of her besties. In what looks like an en plein air boot-camp session on a football field, Obama is seen baring her famously impressive arms while holding a plank pose. Also on the menu: lunges, leg raises and sweat — the ladies came equipped with towels for wiping their brows. Obama captioned the photo series with a sweet tribute to fitness and friends, noting that she was continuing a tradition of working out in boot-camp sessions with her pals that began while she was in the White House. “My girlfriends have been there for me through all kinds of life transitions over the years — including a pretty big one recently! — and we’ve done our best to stay healthy together,” she wrote. “Whether it’s a bootcamp or a walk around the neighborhood, I hope you and your crew can find some time this summer to be healthy together. The fitness posse included Sharon Malone, a well-known OBGYN and the wife of former attorney general Eric H. Holder Jr.; and Obama’s former aide, University of Chicago exec Susan Sher; and a friend who appeared to be poet and Colombia University professor Elizabeth Alexander. The group looked to be led by Obama’s longtime trainer, Cornell McClellan. The squad isn’t just for grueling workouts, though: Malone and Alexander were among the pals she was spotted with on an Italian vacation last month.
A MAJOR train station outside Disneyland Paris was evacuated after a suspect package was found. TWITTER PANIC: Cops and soldiers with 'assault rifles' reportedly swooped on a train station Police confirmed a suspicious package was found at Marne-la-Vallée train station, just metres away from the entrance to the popular theme park. Panicked eye-witnesses told of police and soliders with "assault rifles" swooping on the train station at around 8pm local time. Hundreds of tourists — including many Brits — were caught up in the chaos, with one describing the scenes as "bedlam". A local police source said: "Marne la Vallée station is being shut down as a precaution. "Searches are underway following a warning about a suspicious package." GOOGLE LOCATION: The package was found at a station near Disneyland Paris “Marne la Vallée station is being shut down as a precaution” Local police source Tom Wiseman, who was at the park with his children, told Daily Star Online he initially thought there was a "potential terror threat" at one of the main hotels. He said: "Just left Disneyland Paris. "It was bedlam getting on buses. "Seems there been a potential terrorist at one of the main hotels." However, he later said he believed the train station was the main focus of the incident, not a hotel. He added: "Seems like my info was a little panicked from a fellow traveller. The hotels were not the target, just the train station. "However, I'm locking down with the wife and kids in my hotel room just in case." GETTY BUSY: Disneyland paris is one of the most popular tourists destinations in Europe @BBCBreaking Alegedly a suspect package was found at the train station at Disney Paris. Hopefully nothing serious. station cordoned off — Neil Dynamix (@DJDynamix) August 10, 2016 Later on it appeared the threat had been scaled down, with one eye-witness claiming it was "just an abandoned bag". The theme park reveller told Daily Star Onlne: "I was just there myself, it's nothing serious. No need to panic." It is the third time in as many weeks that suspect packages have been found at Marne la Vallee station. Traffic was brought to a standstill after bomb disposla experts were called to the scene on July 18 and 20. On each occasion the packages were safe. I just left Disneyland Paris on a very crowded bus after being redirected by soldiers (w/ assault rifles) away from the bus station. — old ben kenobi (@BENFROWN) August 10, 2016
Three big, friendly — but slobbery dogs, are all that's left from a family of seven German shepherds who lost their owner earlier this year. Brutus,3, Ace,5, Loki,7, are part of a family that was left to fend for themselves following the sudden death of their owner, a farmer in Stanley. "He took real good care of them," said Lynn Walker, a supervisor at the Fredericton SPCA. "But you could tell that they missed him." Following the death of their owner, the SPCA was called to collect the animals off the farm. Lynn Walker is helping take care of Ace, Brutus and Loki, three German shepherds from the same family looking for a new home after the death of their former owner. (CBC) "Some weren't too comfortable with strangers," said Walker. "Ace when we found him, he wouldn't come out from underneath the barn floor. We had to lure him out with moose meat." New beginnings Back home on the farm, Walker says the dogs were rarely inside. But these days, the three German shepherds are comfortable indoors, loyally following staff around the shelter. The dogs are getting used to strangers as well. They'd be couch potatoes if you let them. -Lynn Walker In the past, the dogs also didn't have a lot of access to animal toys. But earlier this week, Loki was showcasing his ability to fetch for the first time, despite having a birth defect in his back legs that causes him to run with a pigeon-toe, where his feet are pointed inwards. "They love cats," said Walker. "They're used to barn cats, so they love them." Walker says she realizes the family has been split up in order to be adopted, but the pets are adjusting to their new lives. "The Oromocto SPCA got three, and they've been adopted, and we got three," said Walker. "And there was one that was old and sick and needed to be euthanized." Brutus and Loki share kisses as the two enjoy some late March sunshine at the Fredericton SPCA. (CBC) Walker is proud of their progress and believes they will make great pets for future families. "They might need a little warming up," said Walker. "They'd be couch potatoes if you let them."
Fabulously rich and slightly lost, Giorgio Moroder decided to build a pyramid. “It was some years ago,” he says, slipping into a reverie. “This structure was planned for Dubai. Oh, it was going to be huge. It would’ve been empty in the middle with apartments all along the sides — just beautiful. I spent two years designing it. I wanted to do that instead of music.” He sighs and shakes his head. “So much time chasing stupid things.” Moroder, an Italian who looks a bit like a suave Joe Biden, is sitting with his dewy, ringlet-haired wife Francisca amid olive trees and under a retractable glass roof at Spago in Beverly Hills on an opulent spring evening. He’s been coming here since the restaurant — which he named; Wolfgang Puck is an old friend — opened in 1982, back when he was arguably the most successful music producer in the world and an in-demand film composer with one Academy Award and two more soon to come. Our waiter, a pinched, pinkish man with the unidentifiable accent of a Bond villain, arrives with menus, purring, “So glad to see you, Mr. Moroder. It has been too long.” Moroder, blessed with the warmly dignified bearing of a benevolent duke, scans the menu. “Things have changed, guapito,” he says to his wife. Francisca frowns. “They don’t have the Jewish pizza anymore.” A waitress in a crisp white shirt and black apron, her rigid aura and pursed lips bringing to mind a moonlighting dom, places an oyster amuse-bouche in front of Moroder as he wearily recounts the projects he undertook during his decades devoted to whimsy. “I made a cognac; it was really quite good. I had an idea for a technologically advanced luxury watch. I got involved in digital art and neon painting and put on shows of my work. I designed a sports car, the Cizeta-Moroder, with Marcello Gandini from Lamborghini; he did the Countach, of course. The Cizeta cost $600,000, but we could bargain — if a Japanese businessman says he wants it for three, fine.” In the past year, though, spurred by Daft Punk’s Thomas Bangalter and Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo, two musicians who share his interest in dance music and pyramids, Moroder has rebooted. “When the news came out that Daft Punk did a song with me [Random Access Memories’ ‘Giorgio by Moroder’] all of a sudden I started getting calls from management companies. I got an agent for DJing when I’ve hardly ever DJ’d before in my life. I got an offer to do an album from a major record company — I can’t say which. David Guetta loves me. I’ve spoken with Avicii. Two months ago, not one of those people was talking to me. Daft Punk has given me credibility.” For more than a decade, Moroder was at the top of every hit-hungry schmoozer’s call list. Beginning in 1975, when he cowrote and arranged Donna Summer’s breakthrough disco come-on “Love to Love You Baby,” and through to his work on the Top Gun soundtrack in 1986, this soft-spoken man uncannily anticipated and sleekly satiated the desires of the music-buying public, and in so doing altered the trajectory of pop, dance, and film scoring. Aside from his collaboration with Summer, Moroder produced and cowrote hits for David Bowie, Blondie, Janet Jackson, Sparks, and Freddie Mercury. Which is like noting that Michelangelo did some solid doodles away from his work on the Sistine Chapel. He made ’80s-defining songs with small names (“What a Feeling” with Irene Cara, “Take My Breath Away” with Berlin), and generated anthems for global pageants — in 1984, he co-wrote and produced “Reach Out,” the official song of the Los Angeles Olympics. Four years later, he was called upon again for the Seoul Summer Games, producing proto K-pop confection “Hand in Hand” for the group Koreana. (Both are classics of panhuman kitsch, and exceptional accompaniment for jazzercising in legwarmers.) Movies were also within Moroder’s domain. The moody, electronic scores for The Social Network, Drive, and Christopher Nolan’s Batman films are essentially tributes to the music Moroder composed for Midnight Express (1978), American Gigolo (1980), Scarface (1983), and Flashdance (1983). He also produced and cowrote the theme song for 1984’s children’s fantasy picture The NeverEnding Story (sung by an English chirper named Limahl, the former lead singer of Kajagoogoo), which despite having willingly heard it twice in 25 years remains forever stuck in my mind, much like the ill-fated horse Artax in the Swamps of Sadness. This music — indeed, all of Moroder’s best music — has a 26th-century cybernetic gleam, a sweeping sense of melodic drama, synthesizers that signify as state-of-the-art even when they’re not, a deep beat, and an eager-to-please-ness that only could have been produced by a robot programmed to appeal broadly but who is still waiting on plug-ins for irony and cool. Or, say, a European. That such a description could fit the work of Europop-inflected chart champs Calvin Harris, Guetta, and Dr. Luke, as well as countless Italo disco, house, and trance club kings is testament to how deeply encoded Moroder’s default settings have become. This content is no longer available. “The way Moroder was pushing synths with live instruments and a four-on-the-floor beat invented the language that I’m using now. You can easily draw direct lines,” offers Dr. Luke, frequent producer for Ke$ha, Katy Perry, and countless others. Movers and shakers slightly closer to the margins also caught the Moroder virus. “When DFA [Records] started, people like [LCD Soundsystem’s] James Murphy and myself were saying the name Moroder a lot,” says house DJ and producer John “The Juan” MacLean. “He was a model for us. You could hear him taking the electronic innovations of people like Kraftwerk and doing the arguably more innovative thing of putting those sounds into a pop context. It was, and is, incredibly inspiring.” It’s also easy to argue that Daft Punk’s mysterious image was prototyped by Moroder, who for much of his career hid his face behind black sunglasses and a resplendent black mustache. The cover of his entirely digitally recorded, vocoder-heavy 1979 solo album E=MC2 showed him holding his jacket open to reveal an Iron Man-like torso of dials and glowing guts. Google has enlisted Moroder to soundtrack Racer, a new mobile game for tablets and smart phones. And on May 20, as part of the Red Bull Academy Music Series in New York City, Moroder performed his first-ever American DJ set — further evidence of a culture coming back around on one of its chief architects. “I set a Google Alert for myself and now I’m seeing people say my music influenced them and how great it is all the time,” says Moroder, poking at the puny mollusk. “Sometimes I listen to this stuff that’s supposed to be influenced by me and I can’t hear myself in it. But I’d rather they say it than not. It used to be just occasionally I’d read these things.” What does this atmospheric change mean for Moroder? He slurps his oyster and smacks his lips. “It means I’m back in business.” Giovanni “Giorgio” Moroder was born the son of innkeepers in Ortisei, a small town in far Northern Italy in 1940. Giorgio’s three brothers liked painting and sculpting, but he liked music. At 15, he bought a guitar; at 19, he won his parents’ blessing to give up schooling and try to earn a living as a musician. For years, he sang pop covers in sleepy coffee shops, peppy originals in discotheques, and played stand-up bass in grand alpine ballrooms. Because he enjoyed tinkering with a primitive tape machine, he moved to Berlin in the mid-’60s to take a job as a recording engineer. In those days, the profession was still dominated by lumps in white lab coats who saw a shaggy haircut, let alone a lavish mustache, as a warning sign. Moroder found the job, and the city, “like a prison.” In Berlin, “the Wall meant it was hard to leave when you wanted to and the engineers were all so conservative. I liked to experiment; if there was a new machine, I wanted to get it and see what it could do. Setting levels in a studio was too boring.” After a few years of feeling fenced in, Moroder moved to Munich because it was closer to Ortisei. In 1967, he produced some bubblegum tunes — which the Germans called Schlager music — for a dusky Lebanese-French pop poodle named Ricky Shayne. The songs sold well, and Moroder’s career was off, though not quite running. A natural behind the recording console, he stubbornly kept stepping into the spotlight, writing and singing catchy and cleverly arranged candyfloss dross that made the Archies sound edgy. His genius for melody and arrangement turned much of that material into respectably successful singles — the cream is compiled on Schlagermoroder Volume 1, released in April by Repertoire — but Moroder was pushing up against his performing limits. His voice was thin, and even as a young man, he looked middle-aged. Still, the DNA of his later successes can be found in such curious collections as 1972’s proto-disco strudel, Son of My Father. “That was my first record where I used synthesizer,” Moroder explains. “I’d met a classical composer in Munich, Eberhard Schoener, who had a Moog and showed me how to use it. I was absolutely taken — it sounded totally new. I decided I needed to figure out how to use Moogs and sequencers and synthesizers in commercial music.” At the same time Moroder was futzing around with these high-tech tools, two bands of Germans, Kraftwerk in Düsseldorf and Tangerine Dream in Berlin, were using the same machines to evoke, respectively, robotic romanticism and interstellar safaris. The keenly curious Moroder released his own highly experimental electronic record, 1975’s Einzelganger, which sold squat. “The way I know if something works is if it sells,” says Moroder. “When I heard Kraftwerk and Tangerine Dream, I thought they were doing some interesting things, but there was no strong melody. After Einzelganger, I wanted do more with synthesizers and I wanted it to be popular. I needed an extra element, something more human. ” So, he added orgasms. Donna Summer was an expatriate American musical-theater singer living in Munich when she came to Moroder’s attention while doing session work at Musicland, the studio he opened in the bottom of a hotel complex. (Musicland would eventually host T. Rex, Led Zeppelin, the Rolling Stones, Queen, Electric Light Orchestra, and other British rock stars with an extreme aversion to paying U.K. taxes, before Moroder sold it in 1979.) “Donna had a very sexy and soulful voice,” says Moroder. “She was obviously great-looking. You need that combination of talent and image. I never had that before, and I couldn’t have predicted finding a beautiful black American singer in Munich. She made the music hot. I was incredibly lucky.” If the 17-minute version of Summer’s first Moroder-helmed disco single, “Love to Love You Baby” — recorded for Casablanca Records and filled with the singer’s pulse-quickening erolalia — was the warning shot, 1977’s “I Feel Love,” with its sequenced bass and rippling synthesizer, signaled that the future had arrived. Moroder’s solo groove LP, From Here to Eternity (released the same year), was similarly epochal, though for DJs and producers rather than dancers. Moroder went on to captain six gold and platinum albums and nine No. 1 Billboard dance hits for Summer before the singer left for Geffen Records in 1980. “Hearing his stuff with Donna changed my whole mind about playing dance music,” says Chic’s Nile Rodgers, himself a disco godhead and Daft Punk collaborator. “Giorgio’s groove and syncopation were so tight. He’s the guy who made the synthesizer move. Prior to him I wasn’t interested in getting people to dance. I was doing hardcore jazz fusion. Then I heard this modern-sounding music that was so funky and I thought, ‘I can now make dance music and hold my head up high.'” Once he’d found his sound, Moroder worked fast. “Giorgio was always trying to get out of the studio,” recalls his protégé Harold Faltermeyer, a Musicland session keyboardist who went on to compose the electronic scores for Fletch and Beverly Hills Cop (Blame him for “Axel F”). “One time, he told me and [drummer] Keith Forsey and [lyricist] Pete Bellotte, ‘You all go into a room and compose a song, then when I come back, we’ll record it.’ And I said, ‘So, Giorgio, what are you doing then?’ He said, ‘I’ll be playing pool.’ He wasn’t one to linger on a song.” In 1978, British director Alan Parker asked if Moroder would score his prison nightmare film Midnight Express. “I remember seeing that movie and thinking, ‘Why hasn’t anybody done this before?'” remembers Hollywood composer Hans Zimmer, an Oscar-winner for The Lion King. “If you put electronic sounds up against scary images it gets ten times scarier because with live musicians you can instinctively tell when the tension in the music is going to break. With Giorgio’s synthesizers, it’s this inevitable stream of notes coming at you. The viewer never knows when something is going to alleviate the tension. He did absolutely brilliant, revolutionary work.” Zimmer adds that when he built a new synthesizer to use for The Dark Knight Rises score, he named it Giorgio. Moroder’s work on Midnight Express was the first all-electronic score to win an Academy Award and compelled him towards Hollywood, both the place and state of mind: He moved to L.A. in the early ’80s and bought a vast white mansion he dubbed the Ice Castle. He invested in restaurants and had weird encounters with iconic oddballs. “Sylvester Stallone, a real gentleman, asked me to do a song with Bob Dylan for Rambo III,” shares Moroder, who’d previously scored Sly’s 1987 bicep-epic Over the Top. “I went over to Bob’s house in Malibu, this gorgeous all-wood place, and played what I’d written. He was talking about the message of the movie and saying it wasn’t right for him with all the Russians and politics. Those kinds of meetings were common. It was a wonderful time.” This golden era felt eternal. “I knew how to make hits,” Moroder says matter-of-factly. “Sometimes, I only used the synthesizers a little, like with Blondie [on 1980’s ‘Call Me’]. Other times, they were the key to the song. Even when disco went out, I could still make hits. Once I had so much success, every idea became concentrated. I had so much confidence. I knew how the bass should sound, what rhythms would work. The tempos I knew: 110 to 120 BPM. I knew they would dance in the clubs in New York or anywhere. You can’t be sure what songs will take off, but it was almost like I had a magic formula.” Until the magic went boom, bap, and gone. The elevator opens into Francisca and Giorgio’s apartment on the 21st floor of a Westwood high-rise. Through the floor-to-ceiling windows, the Santa Monica Mountains sprawl spectacularly in the distance. “At night, when the lights from the houses are all that you can see, the view reminds me of Ortisei,” says Moroder wistfully. The Moroders have been living in this rented space for three years, having sold the Ice Castle when the mansion began to feel forbiddingly large. Candy Spelling, the widow of television mogul Aaron, is now a neighbor, although a reported $600 million fortune isn’t enough to make her smile at Francisca in the lobby. For two years before she died (in 2012, from lung cancer), Donna Summer lived here, too, a couple of floors down. She and Moroder had grown apart after she’d switched labels. “David Geffen pushed her to make music that wasn’t right for her. It was a big mistake in my opinion,” says Moroder, who produced two slightly commercially disappointing Geffen albums for Summer before Quincy Jones took control on 1982’s Donna Summer. Divergent personal beliefs turned that professional fissure into a fault. “Donna became quite religious,” says Moroder, as he strides past a wall of gold and platinum records. “She made me record a dance song about Jesus, dear God. And she really did not like gays — her attitude was sometimes difficult in the ’80s.” (Summer has denied ever making anti-gay statements.) “We were never ‘estranged,’ but for a long time we did not have the relationship we once did.” Towards the end of Summer’s life, Moroder says that they would talk and text often after she moved into the building. “I saw her more in those two years than I had in the previous 20. It was lovely.” [ooyala code=”9neHJwdTqPGktZpIBaqW84kCxo7ApKlY” player_id=”8bdb685537af477d8cd5ea1ebd611511″] We walk through Moroder’s living room. A painting of his — an abstract azure wave — dominates one wall, though the neon-light strip running through it has gone out. Thigh-high ochre vases line the floor by the windows. On top of a white piano are photos of Moroder with Venus Williams and Raquel Welch. His Oscars and Grammys fill a small end table. I ask where he keeps his stereo. “I don’t have one. I never listen to music at home, only what I’m working on. I listen to pop radio when I drive. That’s it,” he says. We take a seat at the long glass dining-room table. Francisca brings Moroder some orange juice. I ask about the slow-down in his discography that began in the late ’80s and continued till, well, now. “Rap was a big part of that,” he says. “I had no idea about it. None at all. I could hear it was new, but I could never have produced it well. I didn’t understand a word they were saying. I’m not a street guy; I’m not urban. I had no feel for it. I don’t know if I would say I was out of step, because I recognized this music was exciting, but I was not willing or able to make it myself.” He gives a classic Italian whattayougonnado shrug. “I was okay with this change. I’d done enough. I’d done everything, really. I was sick of hanging out in studios anyway.” The cosmic joke is that Moroder’s music was enthusiastically adapted by hip-hop. Tracks by OutKast, DJ Shadow, Raekwon, Rick Ross, Lil Wayne, Kanye West, Beyoncé, to name a few, were built on Moroder samples. Those folks knew what to do with his music; he just didn’t know what to do with theirs. “It doesn’t matter who you are,” reasons Nile Rodgers. “There comes a time when music moves on. That’s nature. They say mathematicians and musicians have similar brains. The idea is that you peak as an idea generator, as a creative person, around 30 years old. Albert Einstein came up with all his best stuff in his twenties, and I wrote all my biggest hits between the ages of 25 and 27. The fact that Giorgio kept having hits into the ’80s is an amazing exception. Hip-hop definitely derailed a lot of people, but there are other reasons why Giorgio might have felt uninspired. No one is endlessly adaptable by himself. You need good collaborators.” Moroder leads me to his home workstation: Two computer monitors and a keyboard are on a desk. To the left of the desk is a vocal mic. Hanging on the wall to the right is a blank white canvas spotted with burn holes, a piece of art by his son, Alessandro, 23. On the wall facing the monitors is a large, digitally altered photo of Summer. “I changed the color of her eyes,” says Moroder. Believing that pop music has curved back towards him (“It’s all European disco on the radio now,” he says), Moroder has been asking singers here to record demos of songs that he hopes to send out to labels, publishers, and artist managers. Amanda Warner, of synth-pop act MNDR, sang with Moroder earlier this year. “The whole time you’re looking at him and thinking, ‘That’s Giorgio Moroder,'” she says. “The rest of the time, you’re trying to please him. He’s very hands-on about getting the performance he wants. That’s a rare thing now, when everyone is sending digital files to each other. His music has this amazing electronic sheen, but fundamentally, he’s trying to get a human performance out of you.” Moroder scrolls through a drive looking for a file. “I’ve never been organized. I don’t label anything in a smart way. There are Donna Summer recordings that no one knows where they are because I put them somewhere and never found them again.” He finds the file and plays a song that sounds very much like a Giorgio Moroder song, full of strobing synth flash and disco kick. “Who are the big up-and-coming pop stars that I should tell my manager to connect me with?” Moroder asks. He has many questions like this. Should he have a Twitter account? Should he post material on Soundcloud? YouTube? What’s the point of a Facebook page? (There are “Giorgio Moroder” accounts on both Soundcloud and Facebook. Neither is legit. That said, whoever is posting on the “official” Facebook page should keep it up: Moroder likes your work.) Ultimately, consumer-facing questions are secondary. He needs to reach the creators. It’s nice for historically aware hitmakers to bow, but folks other than Daft Punk need to offer a hand if Moroder has any hope of playing the game at the level he used to. “This business is a copycat business. If the Daft Punk record takes off, then you’ll see more and more people interested in Giorgio and his work and I might be out of a job,” says Dr. Luke, wryly. “If that doesn’t happen? Look, even for the hottest producer at a given moment, this business is completely unpredictable. It’s not easy. A lot of times you need someone to give you a break.” Someone like Dr. Luke? “It depends on the project. I’d love to talk to Giorgio.” Back in his apartment, Moroder plays me another new song. A synthesized bass line begins to boogie. He starts tapping his foot and I follow. Four on the floor. Works every time. “Who do you think would be good to sing on something like this?” Moroder asks eagerly. “I could imagine Katy Perry. Of course, Rihanna is a major talent.” He looks out the window, searching for more. “Lady Gaga, she has a great voice. Who else? Nicki Minaj.” Moroder turns up the volume. “Tell me,” he says, now bouncing in his chair, scanning horizons in his mind, “Will they dance to this in New York?”
A woman flies kites with her children on a warm sunny day in Alexandria, Virginia, on March 9, 2013. The weather was in stark contrast to that of only a couple of days ago, when a winter storm hammered the East coast. AFP PHOTO / Karen BLEIER (Photo credit should read KAREN BLEIER/AFP/Getty Images) File photo of kids playing. (KAREN BLEIER/AFP/Getty Images) COLUMBUS, Ga. (AP) – The headmaster of a school in Georgia says he plans to cancel classes because of great weather. Len McWilliams of Calvary Christian School in Columbus says he’s calling off classes Friday because of a commitment he made to find a positive reason to cancel classes before he retires at the end of the year. McWilliams told the Ledger-Enquirer of Columbus he’s had to cancel school because of bad weather for years, and thought he should eventually cancel classes because the weather was just too nice for students and staff to be cooped up all day. The forecast for the Columbus area calls for sunny skies and a temperature of more than 80 degrees. Copyright 2013 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Experts at the SETI institute are attempting to find funding amid closures of their facilities (video produced by the BBC's Matt Danzico) The hunt for signals from intelligent extraterrestrials has been in full swing for half a century. But the effort's flagship facility recently came to a grinding halt. The first of a two-part series on the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (Seti) takes a look at the facility and what it means for Seti's future. "It's never been this bad." Seth Shostak, principal astronomer for the Seti Institute in Mountain View, California, is trying the door of an outbuilding at the Allen Telescope Array (ATA). Like all the others, it is locked. "There's always been at least one or two people around who can let you in." The group of 42 antennas is, as the flyer posted nearby advises, "in the process of being returned to operations". Last April, there wasn't enough money in the Seti coffers to pay the staff, and the facility shut down. A funding drive raised money from Seti enthusiasts including former astronaut Bill Anders, sci-fi author Larry Niven, and even Hollywood actress Jodie Foster. But it's only enough to keep going for a few months. "Since 1993, Seti has had to run on private donations from people who think this is an interesting thing to do," Seth tells me. "I remain confident that we'll find the money to make this a permanent operation. After all, you're not going to find ET unless you have the telescope operational." Blind valley But even if the telescope is operational, will the effort find ET? Ask Seth or his colleagues, and you'll get the same answer: it's a long shot. It may take years, or decades, or centuries to pick up a signal. Image caption The Allen Array is now partly used by the US Air Force, who are helping to financially support it We humans have only been on the radio for about a century, and listening for cosmic signals for half of that. That is an infinitesimal slice of time in the 13 billion years that our Universe has been around. Yet, we are probably closer, at least philosophically, than we have ever been to answering the timeless question of whether we are alone. Fifty years ago, all we had was the Drake equation - a string of factors that, multiplied together, yielded a guess of how many ETs might be out there, phoning our home. Many of those factors were a matter of complete guesswork in the early 1960s: the rate of star formation in the galaxy, how many stars may host planets, how many of those planets could potentially support life. Today, some of those factors are being solidly quantified thanks to results from the Kepler space telescope, which is discovering far-flung planets - some potentially hospitable to life - at an astonishing rate. And where once there were single radio dishes listening in on single frequencies - single radio stations - improvements in the electronics behind the scenes make it possible to sift through literally millions of stations automatically. If you're the lucky one that finds ET, you get the Nobel prize Dan Werthimer, UC Berkeley and Seti@home So Frank Drake, the originator of the equation, says it is a terrible time for Seti and the ATA to be experiencing what he calls a "valley". "After many years of quite a lot of action, the economic troubles of the world have had a great impact," he told BBC News. "There are very few searches going on in the world, despite the fact that at the present time we have far better equipment than we've ever had." Seti does have its economical ways and means, however. As with other areas of science that require vast computing power, there is the Seti@home screen saver - which sends signals from the Arecibo radio telescope to millions of volunteers around the world. "Everybody gets a different part of the sky to analyse, and it wakes up like any other screen saver when you go out for a cup of coffee," says Dan Werthimer, director of the Seti programme at the University of California Berkeley and a Seti@home pioneer. "It goes through the [Arecibo data] looking for all kinds of possible radio signals. Any strong signals it finds, it sends back to our server at Berkeley. Your name is attached to that data, so if you're the lucky one that finds ET, you get the Nobel prize." Other things are changing the nature of the hunt, too. Radio is one good way to squash energy into a signal carried across the cosmos. But another is the laser, which can focus a lot of energy, or information, into a lighthouse-like beam. Enter "optical Seti" - a hunt using good old-fashioned optical telescopes to look for laser lighthouses in the cosmos - one of the eight types of Seti searches that Berkeley carries out. "We think the best strategy is a variety of strategies," Dan tells me. "It's really hard to guess what an advanced civilisation might do." DNA message Back at the ATA, we find a technician who lives nearby to drop off the keys so we can head inside the control room. Seth tells me that his take is that we should be looking for signs of artificial intelligence, as well as squishy "biological" aliens. The autonomous robotic vacuum cleaners we have now are just a harbinger of the truly advanced intelligence he thinks will soon be developed. Image caption The Arecibo radio telescope sends millions of signals to Seti@home volunteers worldwide And if any advanced civilisation can invent its technological successor, these "thinking machines" could carry on searching the cosmos long after their biological forebears are gone. But it gets even more intriguing. Paul Davies of the Beyond Center at Arizona State University has proposed looking not for aliens but for footprints of alien technology, such as waste from their nuclear energy technology. And he has other ideas. "The one that most intrigues me is the possibility that the aliens may have engaged in some kind of biotechnology - if they had come to Earth and tinkered with terrestrial micro-organisms, or even made their own from scratch, the products of that could still be around." In other words, if aliens came through our neck of the woods long before we were here to see them, they may have left deliberate clues tucked in the DNA of microbes that have faithfully copied the message for millions of years. Prof Davies reckons that, since we're sequencing the DNA of life of all sorts anyway, we should keep an eye out for this kind of "message in a bottle". Powerful question But as the locked doors of the Allen Telescope Array remind me, all of this does take money. Those at the Seti Institute argue that the $2m (£1.3m) a year or so that the wider Seti effort requires is a drop in the ocean compared to, for example, military spending. Jill tells me that she spends a lot of her time trying to organise a foundation that can fund the effort far into the future - not just money to keep telescopes turning, but also to pay the next generation of Seti scientists. What is clear, though, is that the Seti effort speaks to something far deeper than the politics and the money issues that occasionally put it in the spotlight. "Calibrating our place in the cosmos is something that's important for humans to do, to really get a better sense of where we came from and where we're going, and I think that's part of the Seti story," she tells me. "That question 'are we alone?' hasn't lost any of its impact and its emotive power, even though it's been asked for millennia." The first of a two-part BBC World Service Discovery series, "Seti: the past, present and future", will be first broadcast at 19:32 Monday 9 January and the podcast can be found here.
This Saturday, June 4th there is a push race in Central Park, New York City from 12:00pm-3:00pm. There is a Facebook event set up with a link to the official entry page, which can be found by clicking here. If you’re in New York on Friday, the night before the race, be sure to check out Friday Night Rips at 8 PM in Prospect Park, Brooklyn. The organizers say Friday Night Rips is just a casual skate event with lots of sliding and manuals. Sounds like a ton of fun before the big event on Saturday. As for the actual race it’ll start at NOON Saturday June 4th in Central Park — be early as the race WILL start on time. Organizers say to meet by the Spanish American War Memorial; Columbus Circle, 59th St. and Central Park West. Be sure to be quiet to not attract attention. As of this posting 149 racers are entered, there is no entry fee so as long as you can get to New York you have absolutely nothing to lose. Most skaters look to be from the Tri-State area of NY, CT, and NJ but at least a few skaters have listed their locations as far away as Florida and Brazil. The event looks like it’ll be a great time and shouldn’t be missed if you can help it. WARNING: HELMETS ARE REQUIRED! If you don’t have a helmet you’ll be disqualified once you cross the finish line. What fun is that? Besides, wearing a helmet is always a smart decision, traumatic brain injuries are no joke and no fun. The Protec Adult Helmet and TSG Skate Helmet are two great options if you don’t have one already. Again, you can find the link to register right here: http://bit.ly/jypiUZ If you want some more info you can check out the Facebook Event page here: http://on.fb.me/m8Nm1r As always, you can register at the forums and talk to other East Coast skaters over at the forum. Update: As of right now (7:30PM Friday night) there are 181 registered skaters. This is going to be one hell of an event!
Heat guard Dwyane Wade is content with not having a vote in this year's ballot for the league's most valuable player. If he did, however, his pick would be Houston Rockets guard James Harden. "Right now, I would say James Harden," Wade said before Tuesday's game against the Milwaukee Bucks. "It's tough. Any one of those top guys could be MVP. I would say James Harden from everything he's done for the full season, the entire season. With the injury to Dwight Howard and carrying that team in the tough Western Conference and being right up there. That's pretty impressive and he's done it all season long." The Rockets are the No. 3 seed despite center Dwight Howard being sidelined much of the season due to injury. Harden is the NBA's second-leading scorer at 27.2 points a game while also averaging seven assists and 5.8 rebounds. The other players most commonly in the discussion are Golden State Warriors guard Stephen Curry and Oklahoma City's Russell Westbrook. Curry has led the Warriors to the top seed in the West while Westbrook is on the verge of taking the Thunder to the playoffs despite injuries to Kevin Durant and Serge Ibaka. The knock on Westbrook is his team has the least wins of any MVP contender, a situation Wade knows all too well. In 2009, Wade finished third in the voting behind Kobe Bryant and LeBron James despite leading the league in scoring. The Heat were just 43-39 and lost to the Atlanta Hawks in the first round. "I think it goes on your full body of work, whatever it is," Wade said. "I was in a position where I didn't have the most wins but I felt I deserved MVP. LeBron had a great season. He had a better record. Obviously, he got it but I don't know. That's why I'm glad I don't have to make that decision." 3-point deficiency The Heat are on pace for their worst 3-point shooting season since 2010-11, the first year of Wade, James and Chris Bosh teaming together. That year the team made 547 3-pointers on 37 percent shooting. As of Tuesday, the Heat had made 473 from behind the arc on 34 percent shooting. Spoelstra said he still wants players to attempt them despite the struggles. "As long as they're open," Spoelstra said. "We want to get clean looks." The Heat have lacked a consistent 3-point threat this season. Unlike year's past, there is no Ray Allen, James Jones, Mike Miller or Shane Battier on the roster. The departure of Shawne Williams left Luol Deng as the most consistent 3-point shooter. "We're still getting to our 3-point spacing," Spoelstra said. "Spacing is very similar to what it's been before." No. 6 seed of some interest Spoelstra said the team is playing for the No. 6 seed in the playoffs but won't let it affect its focus. Earning the spot would allow the Heat, who still trail the Bucks in the standings, to avoid playing the Cleveland Cavaliers in the first round. "We're very aware of the standings but right now the focus is on an important game," Spoelstra said. "We have to stay in that moment as much as we can and not overwhelm [ourselves] with it. We want to keep on moving up badly and not just try to sneak in just for the sake of momentum." Still, the Heat aren't playing for particular matchups. They would face the Toronto Raptors or Chicago Bulls should they capture the sixth seed. "It's not matchup based or anything like that," Spoelstra said. "If you have a chance to move up, you move up." srichardson@tribune.com
United Kingdom Independence Party (UKIP) leader Nigel Farage will cross the pond at the end of February to speak at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) hosted by the American Conservative Union (ACU) just outside Washington, D.C., Breitbart News has learned exclusively. “I am very excited to be coming to speak to so many freedom-loving individuals at CPAC this year – and I consider it an honour to do so,” Farage said in an emailed statement to Breitbart News. “In Britain, we are fighting against the creation of a client-state, against rampant corporatism, against a career political class that services vested interests and has forgotten about the world outside of their cosy, Westminster bubble. I understand that in the United States, the fight isn’t all that different. I look forward to meeting attendees and guests, and discussing how together, we can refuse to simply ‘manage decline’ and how we can alter the trajectory of our once great nations.” CPAC will be held from Feb. 25 through Feb. 28 at the Gaylord National Resort & Convention Center in National Harbor, Maryland, just outside of Washington, D.C. ACU chairman Matt Schlapp is elated that Farage is coming, saying that his presence in the international conservative movement is a warning to the GOP establishment in Washington. “Nigel Farage’s participation in this year’s CPAC is a significant reminder to the center-right party in America’s two-party system that it can only be successful if it captures the hearts of conservatives,” Schlapp said in an emailed statement to Breitbart News. “As the incumbent leader of the Independence Party of the United Kingdom, Farage has been one of the most influential voices in the fight for a free democracy, promotion of free market capitalism, and defending the right of every citizen to support himself and his family. Our shared values of hard work, commitment to success, and dedication to a better life has influenced our allies in the U.K. and his message is one that will surely resonate with the activists and students attending this year’s CPAC.” Confirmed speakers who are potential 2016 GOP presidential candidates include Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX), 2008 GOP vice presidential nominee Gov. Sarah Palin, former Texas Gov. Rick Perry, Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, Dr. Ben Carson, Indiana Gov. Mike Pence, former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum, Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY), real estate magnate and reality television star Donald Trump, and former Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina. Other high-profile confirmed speakers include Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC), Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT), Media Research Center president Brent Bozell, radio host Mark Levin, Fox News’ Sean Hannity, Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), and more. Farage’s party has been on the march in the United Kingdom amid a political environment where both major parties—the Conservatives, also known as the Tories, and the Labour Party—have ignored the grassroots. UKIP as a party has been around for more than a decade, but it’s this past couple years where the anger at the political class has transformed it into a tour de force as a viable option for voters upset with the establishment. In a recent interview with Breitbart News on a trip to the United States this past fall, Farage said that U.S. conservatives seem to be going through the exact same problems with the political establishment—especially on the key issues UKIP is winning on in the U.K., including immigration and national security. Farage also said that if the GOP establishment in the United States doesn’t back down and let conservatives control the direction of the party, there may be a need for a U.S. version of UKIP to send the Republican National Committee (RNC) the way of the Whigs. “I have no idea what the Republican Party stands for,” Farage said in the interview at the Breitbart News Capitol Hill headquarters in Washington, D.C. “I meet lots of individuals within it who want it to say one thing or another, but collectively it’s pretty blurry, it’s pretty unclear. If I was living over here, I would say to myself alright number one we’ve got to reclaim our party–we’ve got to take it away from being safe and establishment, because that way you’re never going to win because the Democrats have certain built-in advantages. If you are unable to reclaim your party, you might have to do a UKIP.”
I have a confession to make. I used to fear pod death. No, scratch that. I wasn't afraid of pod death. I was outright terrified of it. For those of you unfamiliar with the term, 'pod death' is what happens when a pilot in Eve Online 'dies'. According to game lore, a 'capsuleer' faced with imminent hull breach is pumped full of lethal neutrotoxins even as a 'transneural burning scanner' transmits a snapshot of their brain matter to their closest available clone. Mechanically speaking, this was nothing but a nifty way of explaining how the game works. advertisement advertisement But ridiculous as it might sound, it was that bit of conceptual fluff right there that scared me. I just couldn't stomach the idea of playing a soulless replica of my character. I wasn't prepared to spend precious hours on what would effectively be a delusional conglomeration of vat-grown virtual cells. If my waistline was going to get compromised because of a gaming habit, it was going to be for my own character, damn it. Ahem. Soliloquy aside, let me ask you a question: When was the last time a video game made you fear death? When was the last time death was anything but an inconvenience to you, a problem easily corrected with the well-timed application of a save file? When was the last time you took possible extinction into serious consideration? A week? Two months? The last time you played Super Mario Brothers? Death in video games is cheap and it's getting cheaper by the day. Over the last decade or so, games have evolved into something vastly more forgiving. As some purists would put it, they've grown 'soft'. Mind you, this isn't necessarily bad. For all the nostalgia it evokes, I'm not particularly keen about going back to the days where an ill-timed jump can spell the end of six hours of cautious platforming. I want to see a story. I want to enjoy my game. I don't want to fling my controller out of the window. At the same time however death, when used correctly, can be effective. Roguelikes are probably the best examples of this. One mistake and that's it. You're through. Do not pass go. Go back to the beginning. Punishing as all that might sound, there's a strange allure to this. Caution becomes the operative word. Every victory wrestled from the jaws of defeat becomes sweeter, every useful item a privilege rather than a right. The death of a boss? A moment of pure triumph, a story to tell the children. Do you remember the last time you felt this way in an MMO? Now, here's my next question: what if we take a leaf from the roguelike book and change one important dynamic in MMOs? What if we made death hurt? Before you get started, I know the arguments against the idea. Heck, I agree with most of them. MMOs are different from single player games. You're not just playing a game. You're building a lifestyle. You become invested. Single player games are flings, MMOs are marriages. More importantly, however, MMOs are subject to the will of others. If you're rooted in a PVP-enabled realm, you already know what I'm talking about. Griefers happen. More often than not, they happen for no real reason whatsoever. Malicious players will eliminate your quest givers. They will camp your corpse. They will make it a bad, bad day. Imagine what would happen if death came with a heavy penalty. Imagine the chaos. At the same time, however, would it make survival more profound? Would it make us appreciate our virtual existences more? Would it transform the experience into something other than a race to the end-game? Or would it result in the MMO expiring ignominiously a few months after release? If you asked me this question a year ago, I would have loudly proclaimed my belief in the latter. Even today, I don't know of too many people who would be willing to play a game where they could potentially lose a character they've spent years building. Now? Now, I'm not so sure. Over the last few months, I've seen the word 'permadeath' surface time and time again. In September, CCP Games briefly hinted at the possibility of permadeath in their upcoming World of Darkness MMO. In February, Paradox Interactive announced Salem, a crafting MMORPG with permadeath elements. And on the Eastern front, we have Gamepot's Wizardry Online. Needless to say, that one's going to have permadeath as well. (Yes, that one has elves but I'm willing to overlook it for once. After all, death is as un-elvish as any one concept can get. Outside of ugliness and subterranean romps, of course.) These are companies that have done their time. They've gone through the production cycle. They know their player base. And they're putting their money and reputation on a concept that may be tantamount to suicide. Are they simply that desperate to break into the market or do they know something that we do not? Have they somehow stumbled over some magical formula that will allow them to balance their upcoming titles, to keep griefers from completely consuming their respective games? Inquiring minds want to know. Right now, details are at a premium but we're going to take a closer look at the aforementioned games over the next few weeks. We might even share a few exclusive screenshots. Until then, however, here's one last question: Would you play on an MMO with permadeath?
Five shooting incidents involving unidentified gunmen resulted in three deaths within 24 hours in Muntinlupa City on Monday. In the first attack at 12:50 a.m., businessman Samuel Aguilar and his driver were in a black Toyota Fortuner when four men alighted from a black pickup that had tailed them and fired at Aguilar’s vehicle near the corner of Commerce and Filinvest avenues in Alabang. ADVERTISEMENT Both men were unhurt, according to a report to the city police chief, Senior Supt. Dante Novicio. The report said Aguilar was the 47-year-old president of the Iloilo-based Eagle Crest Gaming and Holdings Corp. Two of the gunmen were seen wearing Philippine National Police T-shirts. Twenty-eight M-16 bullet casings were recovered from the scene. At 10:15 a.m., a 59-year-old businesswoman was driving her car when shot in the neck by two men on a motorbike on National Road, Barangay Putatan. She was still confined at the hospital at press time. At 10 p.m. 29-year-old Ronald Natividad was killed near the corner of Acacia and Ilaya Streets in Alabang. Witnesses said six motorcycle-riding assailants were involved in the attack on Natividad, a resident of Rosario, Cavite. Twenty minutes later, 21-year-old Von Albert Arevalo was gunned down also by a six-member group on motorbikes in front of a convenience store in Barangay Bayanan. Police said that after killing Arevalo, the fleeing assailants saw 52-year-old Orlando Dolleton drinking coffee at a vulcanizing shop nearby and shot him as well. Arevalo and Dolleton were brought to Alabang Medical Clinic, where they were later pronounced dead. ADVERTISEMENT Read Next LATEST STORIES MOST READ

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