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Fenerbahçe fans urge all sides to come together in Super Cup ISTANBUL - Hürriyet Daily News Fans of rival teams have marched together during the protests around Turkey. REUTERS photo An online Fenerbahçe fan group has called on all football supporters to watch the Turkish Super Cup final side by side.The group, 12 Numara, made the call to the Turkish Football Federation (TFF) to hold the Aug. 11 Super Cup final between Fenerbahçe and Galatasaray at the Atatürk Olympic Stadium and said all fans should watch it altogether.The call came in the wake of a newfound friendship between Turkish football’s fiercest rivals, Galatasaray, Fenerbahçe and Beşiktaş, whose fan groups have joined forces to fight police repression during the ongoing Istanbul Gezi Park protests.Athletes will be marching to Gezi Park to support the ongoing protests, according to an announcement made on the social media website Facebook. The announcement called on all athletes to join in, and show up in Osmanbey tomorrow evening.
Reelected: President Obama may be the first president whose election was decided by society's now-former outcasts. Could this be the beginning of a trend in global leadership? 'Whores, Junkies, and Queers' Determine U.S. Election (El Espectador, Colombia) "Having a progressive, mixed race U.S. president is the least one can expect in a globalized world, where the real minority is White, heterosexual, Anglo Saxon and Protestant, and who when in power, have throughout history, marginalized women, substance users, and the LGBT community seeking to defend their legitimate rights, by calling them whores, junkies, and queers. Today it turns out that united - whores, junkies, and queers are a powerful electoral force that has stood up to elect a new kind of Western leader. Colombian politicians should take note." By Catalina Ruiz-Navarro Translated By Florizul Acosta Perez November 9, 2012 Colombia - El Espectador – Original Article (Spanish) The reelection of President Obama may go down in history as the historic political 'coming out' of those once considered society's outcasts. BBC NEWS VIDEO: Middle class pleads with U.S. politicians to heal the country, Nov. 9, 00:03:14 Obama’s victory is a victory for women, ethnic diversity, the LGBT community, consumers of psychoactive substances and the countries that produce them, and for young people and and elderly, who all demonstrated that although a minority, they can be a majority that carries political influence. This is probably the first time that these groups installed a president in the most powerful position in the world - and they did it by supporting a sensible line of reasoning that in this election, faced the fanatical and extremist superstitions of Republicans. So Obama’s victory is, above all, a victory for reason. Already, one of the great gains of Obama’s second term is the legalization of gay marriage, which within just hours became a reality in several states, and little by little it will be accepted worldwide, as it is obvious that there is no valid reason to prohibit a community the option of formalizing love and forming a family. The only arguments to ban it belong to a religious tradition that must not be imposed on those who don't believe in it. This was achieved though a strategic and coordinated effort by LGBT groups and activists, along with the help of researchers and academics who one-by-one dismantled the myths behind this ban: that the gay marriage is unnatural, as if the institution of marriage were somehow natural, and that the members of the gay community are immoral and irresponsible, when ethical behavior has nothing to do with sexual orientation. Posted by Worldmeets.US Meanwhile, Obama’s presidency comes with an atmosphere of legalization (or better yet, fishing for legalization) - a necessary measure to be able to control and reduce drug abuse, which has been proven to be historically and culturally inevitable, and a prohibition which has been the teat that has nourished drug trafficking to the point that it has became an unstoppable monster that has claimed millions of lives - particularly Latin-American lives. Since Wednesday, for example, marijuana legalization is a fact in the State of Colorado. This is the first step to ending the stigmatization of its users and understanding that insisting on prohibition is like repeatedly slamming your head against a wall expecting that next time, your head will be stronger than stone. YOUR DONATION MAKES OUR WORK AS A NON-PROFIT POSSIBLE. THANK YOU.
When word leaked out that FOX News was competing for the coveted front-row center seat in the White House briefing room formerly occupied by the legendary Helen Thomas, liberal activists created an uproar. MoveOn.org and CREDO Action launched a petition drive to stop the White House Correspondents Association board from giving the seat to FOX, and instead award it to NPR, who was also vying for the seat along with Bloomberg News. The petition drive was successful – sort of. Although the board eventually awarded the center seat on Sunday to the Associated Press, FOX still got promoted from its second-row place up to the AP’s former front row seat. NPR got moved up to FOX’s old seat. (Thomas abruptly retired after 50 years as a White House correspondent when footage of some rather unfortunate comments she made about Israel surfaced on the Web.) MoveOn and CREDO hailed the decision by the association’s board to deny FOX the center seat, but the fact that this nakedly right-wing propaganda outfit masquerading as a news channel now gets to sit in the front row is still an embarrassment. FOX shouldn’t be in the room, let alone have the same honor bestowed on it as truly legitimate news organizations. Their presence makes a mockery of the White House press corps. But then again, I’ve thought for a long time now that the White House press corps had turned from an institution of respectable and hard-nosed reporters digging for truth (like in Helen Thomas’ heyday) to a club of overpaid prima-donnas obsessed with catching the president in an embarrassing soundbite when they’re not at the next minute getting cozy with Beltway officials to preserve their precious “access.” Thomas was the last – and perhaps, the greatest – of her kind of Washington correspondent, a holdover from the days when the news media did speak truth to power, and when reporters didn’t bend over backwards to appease corporate overlords concerned with quarterly profits rather than informing the public. What really got my blood boiling was a comment attributed to a press corps board member when the petition drive was launched. This member criticized the advocacy groups for “smearing” FOX’s reporters and producers, who she said are “some of the best and well-respected in the business.” But “smearing” is what this channel does to other people 24/7 – particularly to those who don’t follow the conservative political agenda. Shirley Sherrod. Van Jones. ACORN. Those are just the most recent casualties of FOX’s journalistic transgressions. And, why would such good reporters work at a place so obviously beneath their talents? Oh, I guess if you dangle enough money in someone’s face, principles can be easily compromised. The association’s board stated that it was giving FOX the front row seat as a recognition of the channel’s “length of service and commitment.” Commitment to what? Commitment to spreading lies about everything from why America is in such a financial mess to those phantom Iraqi “weapons of mass destruction?” Commitment to vile race-baiting, misinformation and crude political discourse? And why is it that one gaffe costs Helen Thomas her career, but when FOX constantly engages in irresponsible behavior it gets rewarded? Why does the White House Correspondents Association board now have such low standards? I’ve got my issues with NPR, which is more corporate these days because Congress won’t properly fund it. But NPR’s status as a long-standing public broadcaster should’ve taken precedence over FOX. NPR should be sitting beside the AP in the front row. I cannot understand why so many in the American journalism establishment keep defending FOX. This is precisely the wrong image of American media culture we are sending to the rest of the world. FOX should be treated like the television version of a supermarket tabloid – ignored and marginalized. “This suck up to a propaganda outfit just makes old media look more and more irrelevant. I’d like to have the White House press corps be filled entirely with independent and foreign journalists who know how to ask tough and intelligent questions rather than the gotcha drivel with which some of the American mainstream Washington correspondents waste the viewing audience’s time. Sylvia Moore Reposted with permission from the LA Media Reform.
Famed attorneys Ted Olson and David Boies will not be in a San Francisco courtroom Monday when attorneys in the landmark Proposition 8 case square off once again. This time, the fight is over a motion to vacate the ruling August 2010 by federal district court Judge Vaughn Walker, and over whether Walker must leave videotapes of the trial sequestered permanently with the court. Olson said in a telephone conference with reporters Friday, June 10, that he is needed on a hearing in a 2nd Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals case concerning copyrights and can’t make it to San Francisco for the June 13 hearing. Arguing both issues for the Olson-Boies team will be another of its star attorneys, Theodore Boutrous, of Olson’s law firm. Boutrous, who was on Friday’s phone conference, said the Yes on 8 motion to vacate Walker’s ruling—over the fact that Walker has been in a relationship for 10 years with a man—is a “desperate play” and a “publicity stunt.” But he said, nonetheless, that he was not surprised Chief Judge James Ware decided to give Yes on 8 attorneys a chance to argue their motion in court. Boutrous said he believes Yes on 8 attorneys “knew from the very beginning” of the Proposition 8 trial in January 2010 that Walker was gay. “This was no secret,” said Boutrous. Asked whether the Olson-Boies team knew Walker was gay, Olson said, “We heard what people thought.” But Olson said his legal team “uniformly agreed” that Walker was an experienced, highly respected judge, “and we were entirely comfortable” with the expectation of a fair hearing. Asked whether they anticipated the possibility Yes on 8 might argue that Walker had something to gain from ruling against Proposition 8, Olson said, “Everyone in California would have something to gain by getting rid of Proposition 8.” “It would set a dangerous precedent,” continued Olson, if judges were expected to reveal information about their personal relationships in taking on cases. “What if a judge is a Mormon? Or had son or daughter who was gay?” asked Olson. “There are an unlimited number of permutations of what could be disclosed.” Boutrous said there is a possibility Ware will choose to issue a ruling on the motions in court, following argument. The hearing begins at 9 a.m. PDT time Monday, June 13.
The Big Bang Theory on CBS has been on the air for 10 seasons, and it’s about to get a big jolt of lightening in the form of its latest guest star. Christopher Lloyd will appear on The Big Bang Theory this December. The Back to the Future star won three Emmys for his role on the comedy Taxi, so this will be quite a treat for television viewers. Christopher will join the cast of The Big Bang Theory that includes Jim Parsons, Kaley Cuoco, and Johnny Galecki. Unfortunately, Christopher Lloyd’s character on Big Bang Theory or the story of the episode are being kept under wraps, but we’re sure it will be hilarious. Regardless, creator Chuck Lorre and his team that includes Billy Prady and showrunner Steve Molaro are very excited. The three of them made a joint statement to the Hollywood Reporter about Lloyd’s role. "We’re so excited to be working with Christopher Lloyd, and think we’ve created a fun part that fans will really enjoy." The Hollywood Reporter has the theory that Christopher Lloyd might be playing a character’s father. Like maybe Howard’s. We don’t know if that’s a real possibility, but we will definitely be watching The Big Bang Theory in December to find out!
CENTENNIAL | Opening statements for the trial against accused theater shooter James Holmes were set for as early as April 21 — weeks earlier than first expected, Judge Carlos Samour Jr. told attorneys March 5. The final phase of jury selection will be concluded one week before opening statements. A second date for opening statements was announced as April 27, should one juror with a pending wedding be selected for the final panel. Thursday’s individual questioning of potential jurors ended with five potential jurors being kept for group questioning and seven excused. The count of potential jurors is now at 56. Samour said he expects to grow that pool to 120 before narrowing it down to 24 jurors and alternates that will hear the case. One potential juror that moved on to individual questioning Thursday has her wedding the week of April 21. Samour said if she were to be one of the 24 final jurors, they would push opening questions back to April 27. Among the jurors kept were two men, one 18 and one 21. When the judge asked the 18-year-old if he was up for this challenge, he said he believes he can handle the responsibility. Samour predicted that they would retain approximately 3.6 jurors daily and therefore the court will only need 38 more sessions in order to reach 137 jurors. Today marked the end of the week for the court, and individual questioning will continue on Monday.
There are few dogs that are more misunderstood than the pitbull. In some areas of the country, simply acting aggressively is enough for a dog to be labeled part of the breed. Everyone is likely to have heard or read stories of just how strong and vicious pits can be. This is due to a series of misconceptions surrounding them. In truth, there are few breeds of canine that are less likely to attack a human, but understanding that requires you to understand their behavior. Utility A pitbull is a utility animal. It was bred for specific traits related to the jobs that it was given. Its original use was as a herdsman’s dog. It would latch onto a bull’s nose and subdue it, which made it easier for the farmer to control. A sport arose around the training of the animals, which evolved into the bloodsport known as bull baiting where bulls would be subdued by multiple dogs while spectators waged bets. Since then, the breed has been used for a wide range of utility and sport and is even used to hunt boar, catching rather than killing the animal. Being bred for such tasks also means that they can get frustrated when not given enough exercise. Gameness When it comes to pitbull characteristics, gameness stands out as a breed universal. This trait means that they are fearless animals that will continue to pursue their prey until it, or they, have perished. This feature, also known as game drive, is what makes them so strong and full of energy. It also means that pitbulls do not get along well with other dogs, which is often equated to generalized aggression. However, for dogs, aggression is not simply about being vicious in general. Aggression There are two types of aggression in dogs, and they can be broken down into human and animal categories. They are separated because of how the animals arrive at their respective aggressive tendencies. Some breeds, like the Doberman, Rottweiler, and Chow were all bred to be exceptional guard dogs that would attack humans without hesitation. Pitbulls were bred to act aggressively towards other animals, but not to humans. This was an especially important trait, since a handler needed to be able to reach in and dislodge or take control of a dog without risk of being bitten. Training Being natural service animals, pits are driven by a need to please their human companions. For those unfamiliar with the breed, the degree to which this is true can be a surprise. Physical redirection, such as swatting with a rolled up newspaper, is unnecessary and may even be counterproductive. Verbal redirection is generally enough to correct negative behavior. Applying the amount of force necessary to let a pitbull know you are not trying to play is just as likely to make them fear humans as it is to aid in training. Positive reinforcement where you use treats or rewards to promote good behavior is generally the most effective method. Sports & Exercise If you yourself are not the type of person that likes to be on the move, exercise, and keep their dog moving, then this may not be the breed for you. When pitbulls are kept in doors or in kennels for long periods of time, they will build up pent up energy. This energy need to be released on a daily basis to maintain a healthy build and mental state. If you fail to exercise your dogs for long periods of time, they will find ways to release this energy in negative ways. The most common way is barking, chewing on anything they can find, or even in some cases turning aggressive and fighting other dogs. Dog sports are fantastic way to release this pent up energy and keep your dog in a healthy and happy mind state. Weight pulling, dock jumping, and spring poles are some of the best ways to build muscle and exercise your dog. Treadmills may be used as well, however if you have the option to run them outdoors it would be best. Just like birds need to fly, dogs need to run out side. The sense of exploring new territory is a great way to keep your dog’s mind happy and body healthily. If dog sports aren’t your cup of tea, at least a 30 minuet walk per day is recommended. In Conclusion A pitbull that grows up in a loving household is one of the least likely dogs to become aggressive with its handler. Their breeding alone makes them excellent companion and family dogs. They are entirely undeserving of the reputation they have garnered as vicious animals. If you are considering welcoming a pitbull into your home, you should not let modern myths dissuade you. Get to understand the breed and the individual animal, and you are sure to have a loving companion for years to come.
This Saturday, July 22, 2017 photo released by Tokyo Zoological Park Society, shows a giant panda cub at Ueno Zoo in Tokyo. The baby panda, born in June, got a check up on Saturday. (Tokyo Zoological Park Society via AP) TOKYO (AP) — Japan’s capital says it will start collecting suggestions this week for the name of a recently born giant panda cub. Tokyo’s Ueno Zoo, Japan’s oldest, has not shown the cub directly to the public. But it released a video of the cub born on June 12 showing the squeaky baby snuggling with its mother, ShinShin. The female cub already has the characteristic black and white panda pattern in its fur and its eyes have opened. ShinShin’s last cub was born in 2012 and survived only six days. The newcomer appears to be thriving, and is sure to draw huge crowds once it goes on display. The city government has said it will accept name suggestions online and also in a suggestion box at the zoo. Local reports said the panda will be named when it is about 100 days old. About 420 giant pandas live in captivity, mostly in their native China, while about 1,860 live in the wild. For decades, China gifted friendly nations with its unofficial national mascot, in what was known as “panda diplomacy.” The country more recently has loaned pandas to zoos on commercial terms. Eventually, the cubs born overseas must be returned to China. But in the meantime, Japan is rejoicing in having a new giant panda to coo over.
Australian Aborigines struggle for freebies and porn Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard barely escaped an angry crowd of Australian Aborigines who were protesting against the celebration of Australia Day, celebrated annually on January 26. Nearly 200 protesters attacked her after a meeting with the opposition leader Tony Abbott on her way to her car. 50 policemen guarding her could not contain the anger of the crowd. Gillard's bodyguard was forced to cover her with his body to protect her from the angry natives who got her right shoe as a trophy. On January 26, 1788 Captain Arthur Phillip established the first colony in Australia - New South Wales. For the Australian Aborigines January 26 is the "day of the invasion of aliens and the seizure of the motherland." Traditionally, Australia Day celebration is accompanied by mass protests of the indigenous population. Aborigines state that in 1788 the number of their ancestors on the Green continent was 700 thousand. By 1921 it had dropped to 60 thousand people as a result of epidemics brought by the whites, alcohol, displacement of indigenous Australians in environmentally adverse desert areas and their conscious annihilation. In recent years, the authorities have been reporting that the issue with the natives has been solved, indicating that the state and public organizations actively help them. The aid has resulted in rapid growth in their numbers: in 2001 there were already 437,000 people. Key achievements in the fight for their rights have been made by Aboriginal population in 1960s. In 1962 they won the right to vote; in 1967 they obtained the right to choose their government nominees. In the same year the right of Aborigines to obtain Australian citizenship was confirmed. Since the late 1960s, they developed a successful struggle for the revival of cultural identity and obtaining legal rights to land. A key date in the recognition of Aboriginal rights is believed to be 1985, when the government returned to them the sacred rock of Uluru in Autbek desert. In 1989, Aborigines were granted the right for self-government. Three years later the High Court of Australia acknowledged the illegality of the persecution of Aborigines at the so-called "no man's land" (uncultivated land). In 1999 the Australian Parliament apologized before the indigenous Australians for the abuse, calling it "the most flawed chapter in the nation's history." A year later, in 2001, the government held a symbolic ceremony of reconciliation with Aboriginal people in Canberra. In November of 2006, Tasmania became the first Australian state to pay compensation to the "stolen generation" (those Aborigines who were taken away from their parents). On February 13, 2008 an official apology to the "stolen generations" was given by Prime Minister Kevin Rudd on behalf of the Australian Government. Finally, in 2010 the Australian government proudly announced that they were able to solve the problem of Aboriginal people as for the first time in its history native Australian Ken Vuat became a member of parliament. However, the situation with Julia Gillard has shown that these statements were premature. White Australians are wondering what else they can possibly dream about. The government is already spending huge funds, building their houses, providing them with additional medical personnel and police, cajoling Aboriginal money. Aborigines say that the white strangers will not be able to pay them off, and indicate that their income is 40 percent lower than that of other Australians. In turn, their opponents have reproached them because "children of nature" want to get everything from life and are not willing to "profess the religion of white people" - regular job, but prefer to seek increasingly more handouts from the authorities. There are some odd claims for the "white colonialists." For example, in February of 2010, Special Rapporteur Aboriginal James Anaya spoke in the UN, condemning the Australian authorities for their "oppression of indigenous rights." He complained that the white racists did not allow him to enjoy pornography and alcohol. Incidentally, the use of the latter is one of the main reasons why Aboriginal people live on average 17 years less than other Australians. The struggle of Aboriginal Australians for their rights is not over. Of course, they are quite capable of getting additional monthly handouts from the white colonizers that they would once again spend on alcohol. Who knows how far indigenous peoples of the Green continent are willing to take the struggle? Sergei Balmasov Pravda.Ru Read the original in Russian
It must come as a surprise to Shannon Watts who runs Michael Bloomberg’s “Moms Demand Action” but gun owners really do have the law on their side. We have, however, become targets through social media bullying tactics. Ms. Watts should get used to legal gun owners prevailing, after all we have the Second Amendment on our side. As in the case of Clarence Daniels, a 62 year old man with a Florida Concealed Carry Permit who was attacked and put into a “choke hold” by 43 year old Michael Foster while walking into a Florida Wal-Mart. Foster, who never called 911 to report a suspicious person with a gun prior to attacking Daniels, was charged with battery. Florida is a “shall issue” state, and issues concealed carry licenses to both residents and non-residents. Not to mention this person could easily have been an off duty or undercover LEO. Mr. Daniels had done no harm that day, yet he was targeted because of an inanimate object. That inanimate object, a holstered gun, has become greatly feared thanks to misconstrued facts by Shannon Watts, and others within MDA’s organization. Michael Foster’s fear is based on his ignorance of not only the Second Amendment, but also on the amount of thought, care, and concern that legal open and concealed carriers have for safety. After all, safety is the reason gun owners carry to begin with. Mr Foster is ignorant about gun owner training, and the amount of time put in going over scenarios before carrying a concealed weapon. Lawful gun owners do what they can to responsibly prepare for situations life may throw at them. He is also ignorant to Florida state laws which require some level of training before a permit is issued. To maliciously physically attack law abiding gun owners who decide to protect themselves, loved-ones, and their friends by carrying is a disgusting trait. One which is widely shared by many of those on the anti gun side. More specifically, Shannon and her organization, have shown a propensity to support violence against those that seek to protect themselves or others from violent criminals. In regards to Shannon’s tweet, she showed contempt for Mr. Foster’s rightful arrest because she has the utmost contempt for law abiding gun owners. This is a grown up topic which requires grown up actions. Her advocating for school yard bully tactics is the reason 1MMAGC became a group and has grown as rapidly as it has. There are over 1.5 million Concealed Carry License Holders in the state of Florida. We won’t sit idly by while people like Shannon Watts, Mike Bloomberg, and others bully people into losing their rights.
SHODDY repair jobs, mouldy rooms, syringes and flea and slug infestations — welcome to some of Sydney’s most shocking rental properties. NSW Greens MP Jenny Leong has launched a Facebook page called Rental Horror Stories, which has attracted hundreds of complaints. Pictures of mushrooms growing from a living room carpet after a leaking roof was left unattended, is just one of the complaints left online. Another person said she did not have a kitchen floor. “We lived for quite some time without a proper floor in our kitchen. Our kitchen floor was so rotten a chair went through it,” she said. “After notifying the landlords their fixity man put a piece of plywood over the section. 4 months later, we finally had some repairs done to the floor, the rotten beams and boards were replaced by gyprock, which did not meet the walls properly, leaving large gaps which let in massive drafts, as well as vermin.” A man claimed his property had a slug infestation. “I lived in a property on the border of Marrickville and Enmore. Slugs were coming in through the house,” he said. Another man had a similar experience: “We live in a small 1 bed in southern Sydney. Our bathroom had mushrooms growing from the door frame. Slugs come up from the bathroom drain. Cockroaches are everywhere (I’ve been woken up FIVE TIMES by them crawling on my legs/arms/face while sleeping. I cried for hours after each time.” Leong, who is also the MP for Newtown where most of the complaints derive, urged people to make anonymous claims about their rental properties. “In 2016 there’ll be a review of NSW Rental Laws and we’re gathering data for our submission,” she wrote on the Facebook page. The Daily Telegraph highlighted in September the 10 worst suburbs in NSW to rent with Stanmore, Panania and Newtown topping the list. For some people, simply inspecting a property proved too much after one Facebook user claimed she was attacked by fleas. “I once went to inspect a house to rent. The agent gave me the key. I went in the housing walked down the hallway looking into the rooms as I went. I was attacked by a plague of fleas. Millions of them,” she said. “There were used needles and old clothes and it had been completely untouched since the last tenants left. and they had just left. I knew I was being bitten I was trying to scratch up my legs I ran to the street. the bites were all over me, the fleas filled my clothes,. I had to rip them off in the street and a woman was laughing at me.” NSW’S worst suburbs to rent 1. Stanmore 2. Panania 3. Newtown 4. Rutherford 5. Wahroonga 6. Marayong 7. Anna Bay 8. Condell Park 9. Carlingford 10. Belmore Source: Don’t Rent Me
The next James Bond movie, "Spectre," is massively over budget and on track to be one of the most expensive films ever made, costing more than $300 million. That's according to internal memos from the president of MGM Studios. Sony Pictures is the distribution partner for the 24th Bond film. CNNMoney is reviewing thousands of documents leaked online by hackers who broke into Sony. MGM president Jonathan Glickman sent emails in early November explaining how the studio is scrambling to cut costs. He says the current budget "sits in the mid $300Ms," but the studio has to drastically cut back to $250 million. And the shooting period already costs $50 million more than the previous film, "Skyfall." His suggestions show some Hollywood tricks: Villa in Rome? It's a nighttime scene, so try doing it in London instead. There's fighting on a train! Again! But use fewer carriages -- three instead of four. Forget the dramatic finale in the rain. It'll lower the cost of visual/special effects. Earn an extra $6 million by showing "the more modern aspects" of Mexico to maximize "the Mexican incentive." (The makers of Spectre are getting paid to film there.) "We recognize that this movie needs to build on the past few films - and there are expectations we must meet for the audience. Still, we must find further cuts," Glickman says. "This is not about 'nickel and diming' the production." Barbara Broccoli, the producer (and heiress to the Bond empire), fights back -- saying that she "cannot find the cemetery or villa in the UK" and refuses to cut down the number of trains. Later, Sony Pictures co-chairman Amy Pascal, looped in on all of this, sends a note directly to MGM's president, saying: "It's insane and you know with no script this movie is gonna go overbudget." It's a rare look at the inner workings of Hollywood. Related: Sony hack: Tom Cruise was asked to play Steve Jobs On the positive side for the studio, though, the major product placement deal struck with Heineken is helping reduce the budget, Glickman says. The emails also show that director Sam Mendes wants to cast Andrew Scott (who plays villain Dr. Moriarty in the Sherlock TV show) as Bond's intelligence agency boss, "C." And MGM can afford it, because they can pay Scott $1 million less than they were going to pay Chiwetel Ejiofor (12 Years a Slave). A few more tidbits: There's a "lesbian bad lady." And yes, we will meet Ernst Stavro Blofeld, the evil genius behind the creepy, secret transnational organization SPECTRE. Related: Signs point to North Korea behind Sony hack
Don Ayala – the U.S. Army contractor who pleaded guilty to a revenge killing in Afghanistan – won't be going to prison. Instead, U.S. District Court Judge Claude Hilton sentenced Ayala, a member of the Army's Human Terrain social science project, to five years probation and a $12,500 fine. Ayala (pictured, left) began working in Afghanistan in late September, as part of a Human Terrain Team, which embeds cultural advisers in combat units. Originally, the program was conceived as a way to find for commanders nonviolent options for stabilizing chaotic areas: Islamic radio broadcasts to mollify Afghan mullahs, shame tactics to nudge out corrupt Iraqi cops. "In a counterinsurgency, your level of success is inversely proportional to the amount of lethal force that you expend," lead social scientist Montgomery McFate told Danger Room. But in a war zone, violence is never far off. Human Terrain teams became involved in several lethal incidents. The latest occurred on November 4th when Ayala was on a foot patrol in the village of Chehel Gazni, with teammate Paula Loyd (pictured, right). Loyd, a social scientist, approached Abdul Salam, who was carrying a fuel jug. He said he had bought it, to fuel up his motorcycle. They started talking about the price of gas. Suddenly, the man doused Lloyd in a flammable liquid and set her on fire, court documents recount. *Engulfed in a ball of flame large enough to force those near her to involuntarily back away, Paula Loyd screamed in agony as the children that had surrounded her ran away. In the several seconds following the attack, no one could get near enough to Ms. Loyd to help her. Panicked, Ms. Loyd ran around briefly before those near her pulled her to the ground. One of the platoon medics tried to put the fire out with dirt, ultimately grabbing Ms. Loyd by her foot and dragging her into the nearby drainage ditch to douse the flames. By the time the fire was extinguished, all of Ms. Loyd’s clothing had been burned off and only her helmet and body armor remained. Medical personnel would later determine that Ms. Loyd suffered second and third- degree burns over more than 60% of her body. * Ayala chased Salam down, tackled him to the ground, and restrained him with plastic cuffs. "After about 10 minutes," according to an Army Criminal Investigation Division affidavit, "a soldier approached the location where Ayala had Salam detained and informed the personnel in the area that Loyd was burned badly. Ayala pushed his pistol against Salam’s head and shot Salam, killing him instantly." Ayala was taken into custody, and flown to the United States two-and-a-half weeks later. He was charged with murder — the first military contractor to be charged with such a crime under a 2000 law that allows the prosecution of U.S. government workers who commit crimes overseas. He later pled guilty to manslaughter – a crime, under federal sentencing guidelines, that call for a prison term of 78 to 97 months. Federal prosecutors had said they believed Ayala deserved substantial time in prison, the New Orleans Times-Piquayune observes. Ayala was a former Army Ranger and an experienced military contractor, serving on the security details of both Iraqi prime minister and the Afghan president. He should have known better than to attack someone in custody. If left unpunished, the prosecutors said, it could "erase in the minds of young troops, the "most basic rule" of their military training, "that you do not shoot prisoners." "For what he did to Ms. Loyd, Salam probably deserved to die, but not when and as he did. That was not Ayala’s decision to make," the prosecutors added. Ayala's defense lawyers countered that "any term of imprisonment of Mr. Ayala would... further compound a tragedy that began with a violent and incomprehensible attack upon an unarmed, vulnerable American woman who was actively working to improve the lives of all Afghans, including her assailant." As independent journalist John Stanton notes, the defense then went on to argue that the gruesome attack on Loyd had triggered "dormant combat stress injuries." That lead to a "perfect storm" of mental duress. Ayala simply wasn't in control of his own actions, when he shot Salam, the lawyers claimed. Paula Loyd succumbed to her wounds in January, and became the third Human Terrain researcher to die in nine months. Her family later asked the court to show leniency for Ayala. ALSO:
First Steps Eclipse can be a mercurial beast. Given how infinitely extendable it is (and completely free to boot) it's nothing short of amazing. However, this extendability can lead to complaints of it being slow or overly complex. Broken down below are all the tweaks, tips and configuration changes I perform on Eclipse Luna to make it nice and fast. First things first, I'm going to assume you already have Java installed; if so then download the Eclipse zip file for your platform (in this example, Windows 7 64-bit with 16GB RAM and running Java 7) and extract it to the location you want to run it from ( C:\eclipse ). Next, navigate to the Eclipse folder you chose and open up the eclipse.ini file in a text editor. It should look a little something like this: -startup plugins/org.eclipse.equinox.launcher_1.3.0.v20140415-2008.jar --launcher.library plugins/org.eclipse.equinox.launcher.win32.win32.x86_64_1.1.200.v20140603-1326 -product org.eclipse.epp.package.java.product --launcher.defaultAction openFile --launcher.XXMaxPermSize 256M -showsplash org.eclipse.platform --launcher.XXMaxPermSize 256m --launcher.defaultAction openFile --launcher.appendVmargs -vmargs -Dosgi.requiredJavaVersion=1.6 -Xms40m -Xmx512m There are a couple of issues with this default configuration we are going to tweak. Pinning that pesky Eclipse icon I like to pin Eclipse to my windows task bar as I use it an awful lot in my day job. But you may have noticed when right clicking on the Eclipse icon once it's running that it does not give you the option to pin it. If you try right clicking on eclipse.exe and pinning it to the task bar that way, you will find it will pin it but you will get a duplicate icon once Eclipse has finished loading after the splash screen. To fix that we need to specify which VM Eclipse should use. So right at the top of the file add the following: -vm C:/Program Files/Java/jre7/bin/server The path to Java should obviously match your system. Now if you run Eclipse and right click on the icon you should get the option to pin it. If the right-click context menu still doesn't appear, try rebooting Windows and reloading Eclipse and it should appear. Eclipse pinned and no duplicate icons after the splash screen finishes, yay. Performance tweaks Next we are going to add some tweaks to the VM arguments that Eclipse uses to make it nice and nippy. Locate the line -vmargs and directly beneath it add the following: -server -XX:PermSize=256m -XX:MaxPermSize=256m -XX:+UseParallelGC Then at the bottom of the file lets allocate Eclipse a little more memory to play with. Edit the lines starting -Xms and -Xmx and change them to the following. -Xms1024m -Xmx1024m I have 16GB RAM in my system; if you have less you can change the numbers to 512m instead. Just make sure you keep both numbers the same. The complete file When finished your file should look like the below. If so, save your file and close down your text editor. -vm C:/Program Files/Java/jre7/bin/server -startup plugins/org.eclipse.equinox.launcher_1.3.0.v20140415-2008.jar --launcher.library plugins/org.eclipse.equinox.launcher.win32.win32.x86_64_1.1.200.v20140603-1326 -showsplash org.eclipse.platform --launcher.XXMaxPermSize 256m --launcher.defaultAction openFile --launcher.appendVmargs -product org.eclipse.epp.package.java.product --launcher.defaultAction openFile --launcher.XXMaxPermSize 256M -vmargs -server -XX:PermSize=256m -XX:MaxPermSize=256m -XX:+UseParallelGC -Dosgi.requiredJavaVersion=1.6 -Xms1024m -Xmx1024m Preferences Now we have Eclipse starting up nice and quickly and we have our icon staying exactly where we want it, we are going to tweak some of the preferences in Eclipse to give us a nicer time of it when writing code all day. Content assist favourites If you use a few static utilities such as Google's Guava or JUnit's assertions (you do write tests don't you?), then you may find Eclipse's auto-complete features a little lacking as it will fail to offer any methods from said utilities. To fix this, we can add them to Eclipse's content assist. Navigate to Window > Preferences > Java > Editor > Content Assist > Favorites[sic] . Then click New Type and enter the fully qualified class names for the static members you want auto-complete to help you with. In my case: com.google.common.base.Preconditions org.junit.Assert org.mockito.Mockito Now Eclipse will offer up the methods from these libraries on hitting CTRL-SPACE . Save actions One handy time saver is that you can get Eclipse to perform certain actions every time you save a file; such as applying your default formatting rules, or ensure your imports are all organised correctly. Simply go to Window > Preferences > Java > Editor > Save Actions . I generally opt for both of the above mentioned time savers as well as the additional options listed. However, it might be better to opt for choosing to only format the edited lines, as once you go to check-in your code to source code control having a commit full of whitespace changes can be a bit of a pain! Automatically save before a build If like me, you are wearing out your left pinky and index finger by constantly hitting CTRL-S to make sure you don't lose anything you have written, save yourself a bit of time (and arthritis) by enabling the Save automatically before build option. Go to Window > Preferences > General > Workspace . Text file encoding If you have a work environment with lots of differing platforms that developers use, it's usually a good idea to set the default encoding used for all the files Eclipse creates to UTF-8 . Click Window > Preferences > General > Workspace . Always launch the previously launched application After about Eclipse 3.4 the Eclipse foundation changed the default behaviour of the run button. Previously, the button just launched whatever the last run launch configuration was. After 3.4, they changed it so Eclipse attempted to build and run whatever file you currently had selected. Fortunately you change this frankly odd behaviour back to when it made sense. Go to Window > Preferences > Run/Debug > Launching and select Always launch the previously launched application, et voila. Navigation Now we have Eclipse running mostly how I like it, it's time we learnt how we can move around within our codebase whilst saving wear and tear on our precious mice. Eclipse has some very handy keyboard shortcuts that will have you whizzing round your code in no time. Quick open CTRL-O Quick Open lets you jump to specific elements within the Java file you currently have open. This saves you having to visually scan through the Outline View to locate what you need. It also supports wildcards and camel case searching. Open type CTRL-SHIFT-T This one is the biggest time saver. Having to dig through the Package Explorer any time you need to locate a particular class is a complete waste of time. Just hit CTRL-SHIFT-T and type the classname you need. Again, this supports wildcards and camel case to make searching even quicker. Open resource CTRL-SHIFT-R If the file you want to open isn't a Java file, such as a properties file, then the way to bring them up quickly is through CTRL-SHIFT-R . Again, this works similarly to both of the above, and wildcards and camel casing is supported. However, there is also support for specifying which folder you want to search for particular files in; for example */icons/*.png will search for all PNG files within the icons folder of your project. The marketplace Lastly, Eclipse has a large ecosystem of plugins and extensions that can be accessed through the market place. Just click Help > Eclipse Marketplace . Below are the two plugins I like to install as a minimum: Eclipse Color[sic] Theme This lets you change the colours to any of the preset themes packaged with it. It has some very nice dark themes; as the new supposed dark theme in Luna is awful. I'm partial to Obsidian myself. Once it's installed it can be accessed through Window > Preferences > General > Appearance > Color[sic] Theme . FindBugs Eclipse Plugin FindBugs is a static code analysis tool that detects defects in your code. It has over 200 common bug patterns in its database. I make it a point to regularly run it against my projects. And running it couldn't be simpler; once installed simply right-click on your project in the Package Explorer and select Find Bugs > Find Bugs . If you have any other tips, time saving tweaks, or you've spotted some major cock-up in the above list, tweet me @_deanwilliams
Storagebod Are we heading for a Linux moment in the storage world where an open-source "product" truly breaks out and causes the major vendors a headache? I’ve had this conversation a few times recently with both vendors and end users - and the general feeling is that we are pretty close to it. What is needed is for someone to do a Red Hat: package up some of the open-source products, make them pretty and simple to use... and then give them away. Of course, Nexenta have already done this rather successfully and if I was looking for a bog-standard traditional dual-head filer product, I’d seriously consider them against the traditional filers. But great product that it is, it hardly breaks new ground - well, apart from price. What I’m thinking is something which forces its way into the scalable space ... block, file and object. Ceph is probably the technology that is closest to this and although it is pretty simple to get going, it is still a bit of science project for most. I’m not sure I’d want to manage a Ceph environment at scale yet - I’d certainly be nervous about running heavy production workloads on it. Integrating it into a traditional mixed data centre environment running Linux, Windows and a variety of virtualisation products would be a big challenge. I’m looking at InkTank to do something but I’m not sure that they have the funding to push it to the level required. Yet I think the storage market is ripe for this sort of disruption, especially in the object and "hyperscale" space - but the big vendors aren’t there quite yet. Perhaps a big vendor will finally realise that it can take the open-source building blocks and use them as a weapon ... it may mean sacrificing some margin but they could guide the direction and gain some serious advantage. If I were already building commodity hardware, I’d be looking at building proper commodity storage. ®
It took off like Apollo XII. It disappeared faster than Dane Sardinha. It eventually came to rest on a piece of driftwood in a different state than the batter's box it departed. This, friends, was no ordinary homer. In baseball, there are home runs. And there are long home runs. And then there are home runs like the one Reds masher Adam Dunn launched Aug. 10 -- home runs that need a passport, a suitcase and a couple of jet-lag pills. Some guys hit home runs that curl around the foul pole. When Adam Dunn hits home runs, teammate Sean Casey told Wild Pitches, "they disappear over the horizon." Technically, of course, this particular Adam Dunn homer didn't really disappear over the horizon. But it did, in fact, literally disappear. One second, it was resting in the right hand of Dodgers pitcher Jose Lima. The next, Dunn was unfurling that monster swing of his. And there went the baseball. Over the fence in center field, 404 feet from home plate. Over the 20-foot patch of grass behind that fence. Over the 32-foot-high hitter's eye at the back edge of that grass. Then over yet another wall that separates Great American Ball Park from the rest of the world. It's impressive enough when a guy hits a baseball and it goes over a wall. Adam Dunn hit a baseball that cleared three walls -- and came down in the street. "Can you imagine you're driving along out there, switching radio channels or something, and then a baseball comes through the window -- during a game?" Casey laughed. "What the heck would you think?" Yeah, those Reds are just going to have to establish some kind of Adam Dunn protective zone in the future: Block traffic. Hand out hard hats. Maybe build a protective tunnel. Because it just isn't safe to walk the streets of Cincinnati when this guy's around. This fellow is one strong human being. "Oh, he's strong," Casey said. "He's country strong, from Porter, Texas. He's United States country strong. "You know the Paul Bunyan legend?" Casey chuckled. "He's building the Adam Dunn legend. He's so strong, maybe he can help push boulders around and build a dam or something. If a flood is coming, they can use him to stop up the river. He could probably grab those 5,000-pound boulders and pick them up with one arm." And meanwhile, in his spare time, Adam Dunn could just play baseball. Fortunately, Dunn's mighty homer off Lima didn't break any windows or cause any concussions. According to an HOK architect who helped design the park, it landed on a street named Mehring Way, a ridiculous 535 feet from home plate. Then it hopped along for another 200 feet or so and came to rest on a piece of driftwood on the banks of the Ohio River. Which, according to local geographers, meant it was hit in Ohio and came to rest in KENTUCKY. So maybe it just wanted to visit Smarty Jones on the stud farm. That's as good an explanation as any. "I couldn't hit a golf ball that far," Reds reliever Phil Norton told the Dayton Daily News' Hal McCoy. "He couldn't," Dunn concurred. "Ever see him play golf?" McCoy reports that the baseball eventually was retrieved off that driftwood by an electrician named Tom Tuerck. Which is a shame, in retrospect. Think how cool it would have been to just leave that baseball alone and let it float off down the river. Who knows where it might eventually have ended up? That Ohio River, after all, flows all the way into western Pennsylvania. "It probably would have wound up in Pittsburgh," said Casey. "And Jason Kendall would have found it on his way to work." Multi-Tasker of the Month It tells you something about how Phillies pitcher Randy Wolf has been going that he was recently asked how he would compare himself to a guy named Babe Ruth. "Well," Wolf replied, "I'm a lot thinner."
Effects from the first storm of the Atlantic Ocean hurricane season, tropical storm Andrea, have arrived here in the Northeast. As I type this, it looks like the storm is leaving the Charleston, South Carolina area and headed up toward Maryland. The rain has been steadily coming down since last night and should keep up until Saturday morning. Here in Southern Connecticut, we’re being threatened with about four inches of rain and some high winds later on tonight. Four inches of rain is about a month’s worth, so the fact that it’s all scheduled to fall today has led to flood warnings. We’re prepared over here, and I’m hoping that my East Coast readers stay safe during the storm. I’m going to make a wild guess here even though it’s still early in the day that O’s baseball game tonight is cancelled. Just a hunch. I’m sure he’ll be disappointed, this would have been the final game of the season. The good news about baseball season ending is that it means we’re one step closer to summer vacation. It also means one less practice to schedule life around, until soccer season also ends and then there are no practices while we enjoy the summer. Summer means I don’t like to heat up the kitchen more than what’s absolutely necessary to provide nourishment. While we’re lucky and have central air conditioning, it’s easier to just not crank up the oven and test the limits. Also, and I’ve heard I’m not in the minority here, in the summer I find that I don’t really want heavy meals all that often. I crave simplicity and lighter meals, things that leave me with more time to be outside enjoying the nice weather or getting things done. I love my crock pot for this very reason. Not only does it churn out great comfort food meals, it’s perfect for cooking simpler things when you don’t have a lot of time to spend in the kitchen, or just don’t want to work up a sweat preparing dinner. I made this crock pot teriyaki chicken, and it couldn’t have been easier. The chicken turns out flavorful and tender, and way better than any take-out I’ve tried. I was originally going to cut the recipe in half, but I’m so glad I didn’t. I think this was even better reheated for lunch the next day, and that’s saying something because it was amazing for dinner the night it was made. Crock Pot Teriyaki Chicken Ingredients: 3 lbs. boneless, skinless chicken thighs (about 12 thighs), cut into 1/2 inch pieces 1/2 C. brown sugar 3/4 C. low-sodium soy sauce 6 Tbsp. apple cider vinegar 3/4 tsp. dried ground ginger 3/4 tsp. minced garlic 1/4 tsp. ground black pepper 4 1/2 tsp. cornstarch 4 1/2 tsp. cold water Directions: Place the chicken into a 4 quart crock pot. In a mixing bowl, combine the sugar, soy sauce, vinegar, ginger, garlic, and pepper. Pour the soy sauce mixture over the chicken. Cover the crock pot and cook on low for 4 to 5 hours, until the chicken is tender. To thicken the sauce, combine the cornstarch and water in a small bowl. Pour the cornstarch mixture into the crock pot and stir to combine completely. Allow the mixture to cook, covered, for 10-15 minutes longer, until sauce has thickened. Serve over cooked rice. Source: adapted from Lake Lure Cottage Kitchen Advertisements
Are you getting tired of seeing the same artists on every music festival lineup? Then Ponderosa Stomp might be for you. The annual New Orleans event books the kinds of artists that time seems to leave behind; the singers and bands who, despite their influence and place in musical history, never quite became the household names they should have been. Ponderosa’s lineup seems catered to a tee, bringing together acts from across the musical spectrum, from honky tonk to garage rock, but who are all interwoven into the fabric of American music. Those looking through the list of performers might recognize a handful of names, including Roky Erickson of psych legends The 13th Floor Elevators, who will be playing that band’s material, along with R&B singer-guitarist Barbara Lynn, ‘80s garage-rock outfits The Mummies and The Gories, and blue-eyed soul singer Roy Head, father of recent The Voice winner Sundance Head. It’s the kind of collection of rare and underestimated talent that you really can’t find anywhere else, and will make for one of the most interesting musical weekends of the year. Ponderosa Stomp will take place Oct. 5-7 at the Orpheum in New Orleans, and in addition to the musical performances, the festival will also feature a more extensive conference exploring the career and importance of each of the artists. Read through the full list of performers below, where you’ll also find a Spotify playlist curated by the festival and an Erickson performance from the Paste Cloud, or find the lineup on the festival website here, where you can also purchase tickets and travel packages. Ponderosa Stomp Lineup: + Roky Erickson performing the music of his legendary psychedelic ‘60s band the 13th Floor Elevators + Late ‘80s/early ‘90s garage rockers The Mummies + “Quarter To Three” hitmaker Gary U.S. Bonds + “Louisiana Man” artist and Johnny Cash Show guest Doug Kershaw + Detroit White Stripes antecedents The Gories + Rhythm and blues great Barbara Lynn, who was covered by the Rolling Stones + Archie Bell of “Tighten Up” fame + Father of “The Voice” Winner, Sundance Head, and “Treat Her Right” singer Roy Head + Masked Japanese garage band, The Stompin’ Riffraffs + Piano pounder Linda Gail Lewis + Little Richard, Otis Redding, Ike & Tina Turner sideman turned R&B Soul Singer Winfield Parker + A Texas Honky Tonk Revue Featuring Frankie Miller, Darrell McCall, and James Hand + The “husky, soulful voice” (All Music Guide) of Evie Sands + Chicago blues harmonica great Billy Boy Arnold, who was recently covered by JD McPherson + First generation rockabilly artist Johnny Knight + A Swamp Pop Revue Featuring GG Shinn, Warren Storm, and TK Hulin + Louisiana’s Lil Buck Sinegal and the Top Cats + National Heritage Fellowship award winner Santiago Jimenez + T-Bone Walker acolyte and accompanist, Chuck Willis creative collaborator, and Ray Charles sideman Roy Gaines + New Orleans rhythm and blues man Willie West + GRAMMY-nominated Yep Roc band Los Straitjackets + LA’s rockabilly masters Deke Dickerson and the Eccofonics + Austinites Eve and the Exiles
In an exclusive interview, the Roma striker discusses the criticism he has endured throughout his career, growing up in Bosnia during the war and facing Chelsea in the Champions League Edin Dzeko looks as if he wants to jump up from the chair. He is animated. His cheeks are red and he gesticulates wildly. “I don’t run? I don’t give my best? Come on! That is a joke,” he says. “I can guarantee that no one in the stands or in front of the TV wants us to win games more than I do! Any match, I don’t care who we play against or what we play for, I just want to score a goal or my team to score a goal so that we win the match. Every match I give my very best. Every single match.” It is a moment that encapsulates what the Bosnia-Herzegovina striker is all about. He has been described as being indifferent and cold but when we meet in an empty hotel restaurant on the outskirts of Sarajevo he is neither. Instead he is extremely passionate about the game, more perhaps than any other player I have interviewed, and a man who realises how lucky he is to play football for a living. Napoli's perfect start continues after compelling Serie A weekend | Paolo Bandini Read more Dzeko agreed to a half-hour interview with the Guardian but in the end we spend two hours talking about growing up in Bosnia during the war, his spells at Wolfsburg and Manchester City, his thoughts on Manuel Pellegrini – one word – his move to Italy and his plans for the future. But first, something close to his heart. Dzeko is the best goalscorer his country has had, he has won league titles with Wolfsburg and Manchester City, and last season he was the capocannoniere, the top goalscorer in Serie A – yet he seems to be permanently criticised. He misses too many chances, it is claimed, he is too lazy and the worst one, as far as Dzeko is concerned, he does not care. His take on the criticism is interesting. He accepts it from the people in the industry he respects, the people who have football knowledge, but is less understanding when it comes on social media. “I know people will criticise when you play bad; that is part of this job and I am fine with that. That is not a problem. The problem is the insults. That is what hurts the most. This is the time of social media and everyone has a chance to publicly say what they think. No matter how illogical or stupid it is. Everyone is entitled to an opinion, everyone is entitled to insult you because you did not score or play well. People think that they care more than I do – but that is simply not true. “It’s never easy to read headlines like that, to hear fans shouting things like that. You know that you are better than that, that you can play much better, but sometimes it is difficult to turn things around. What people do not see is that you are a human being too and that you have problems like everyone else. “I would lie if I tell you that I don’t listen or read what people say. I do. I ignore the insults and irrational things but I like to watch and read what educated football people have to say, people who analyse things, especially in Italy. They know football, they try to do it in depth and as someone involved in the game I do enjoy some articles or programmes. Did I read in England? No, to be honest, I did not. I don’t know why, maybe simply because I knew English better; in Italy I needed all the help to learn the language as fast as possible, so I’ve read a lot and kept the habit. Sometimes I agree, sometimes I disagree, but I respect their opinion.” I don’t feel like I am able to say that I had childhood, not in a way normal kids my age had Criticism is something Dzeko has had to live with throughout his career. Despite being only 18 when he made his debut for Zeljeznicar Sarajevo, Dzeko – then a lanky target man mockingly nicknamed “kloc”, a colloquial term probably best translated as a (wooden) log – he had to move abroad to get a proper chance. Zeljeznicar considered the €25,000 fee from the Czech side Teplice to be akin to winning the lottery. Two years later Dzeko joined Wolfsburg, where he scored 66 goals in 111 appearances, winning the Bundesliga in 2008-09 and the Golden Boot the season after. He also established himself as a first‑choice striker in a fast-improving national team. In a short time he had gone from being called a log to being the most popular athlete and biggest star in the modern history of Bosnia‑Herzegovina. Surely it was what he dreamed about when growing up? “Well, to be honest, I don’t feel like I am able to say that I had a childhood, not in a way normal kids my age had. I had something that was specific to Bosnia in 90s, something I call a period of survival. I was a kid when the war broke and I was not aware of most of the things, but war makes you grow up faster, forces you to learn things you would never learn and live life differently. “I always loved football, I couldn’t breathe without football, even during the war, but I never gave a thought to being a star. Of course, we all dream about doing big, playing for big clubs, but I wanted to play football because of the love for the game. And I still do. I love the game, I love to watch it, to read about it, to talk about it and most of all, to play it. It’s my first love and this is why I still don’t see myself as a ‘star’. I see myself as lucky.” Facebook Twitter Pinterest Edin Dzeko, in action for Bosnia against Belgium this month, did not imagine he would achieve such success. ‘I never gave a thought to being a star,’ he says. Photograph: Amel Emric/AP How often does he think about the war? Dzeko stops, stares at me and catches me off guard with a counter-question: how often do I think about the war? We are about the same age and went through the same horror and have the same nightmares. Almost never, I answer honestly. He chuckles and gives an explanation for both of us. “I think the only time I talk about the war is when I talk to foreign journalists. I never talk about the war with my family, with my wife, my parents, sister. I do remember it very well but I don’t see the point. It’s something I left behind long ago. It was a terrible experience, it changed us all, no matter how old you were at the time. But when it was finished we all tried to move on. During those three years everyone, even kids, dreamed to live a normal life, so after the war finished, we just did that.” He then pauses for a long time, before saying: “However, when things are bad, when I am going through difficult times, I do think about everything my family and I went through. Take football, for example; I hate to lose, I hate when I miss chances, but things like that must happen in football. Then you sit down, think about what was a really terrible thing in your life, times when you didn’t have anything to eat, drink or normal clothes to wear, you and everyone around you. And you see that things are good now. It’s weird to use the word positive in this context, but if there is a positive from what we survived it is the fact that we are now aware that there is always worse in life. And we experienced worse in first person.” In 1995 the Dayton peace agreement was signed to end the war in Bosnia, but it left a society both divided and in limbo. The country has been a political and organisational mess for 20 years. According to Bosnia’s national statistics agency the average net salary is £390 a month and every sixth household lives in poverty. The estimated unemployment rate for people aged 15 to 24 is 62.8%, the highest in the world. There is no system, no plan for how to make things better and people here are getting more and more pessimistic Dzeko is a Unicef ambassador and helps several organisations and individuals across Bosnia. “The first thing I notice when I come home is that the country is not improving, not going forward,” he says. “Don’t get me wrong, I love my country, it’s the most beautiful place on earth and my home. But people are struggling to live a normal life here and it seems not many care. I hate to talk about politics, I avoid that whenever I can, but here politicians are living in their own bubble, distant from people. There are many who barely survive. We try to help as best we can, but donating money is not always a solution. “We build a roof for one family today, 10 more families need it tomorrow. We help one or two or 10 sick kids, but thousands of them need help. There is no system, no plan for how to make things better in the future and people here are getting more and more pessimistic for a reason. Young people are leaving the country, looking for a better life and no one can judge them. I did the same, in my line of business; left my country in the quest for a better life. As someone who loves his country I hate seeing things like this. It really hurts me.” After winning two league titles with Manchester City, together with an FA Cup and a League Cup, Dzeko moved to Roma in the summer of 2015. Eight league goals in 31 appearances prompted Italian media to see him as the flop of the season, and the fans nicknamed him Edin Cieco, Blind Edin. How things have changed. He finished the 2016-17 season with 29 league goals, more than Gonzalo Higuaín, Mauro Icardi, Dries Mertens, et al. He is now settled in the Italian capital. “Nothing compares to Rome,” Dzeko says. “Nothing. People there are crazy about football, in a positive way. The expectations were big in Germany, bigger in England, but nothing even close to Rome. It’s a special city, with a special bond with a club and people adore it. In Manchester I could go out for a dinner or for a walk; people would stop me and politely ask for a photo from time to time. In Rome it is impossible for me to walk normally in the city. They are passionate, love their club and their players and the attention is enormous. And that kind of attention and passion raises expectations and pressure. But I am not saying this in a negative way. I love how things work there, because passion and love is what football is supposed to be about.” Dzeko describes himself as “a football freak”. “I watch football all the time. All the leagues, all the matches I can. No matter the level, no matter the teams. On a team bus I watch football on my tablet or phone and then when I have free time on weekends at home, I sit on my sofa and watch football again. Any league – Bosnian league, La Liga, Premier League and mostly Serie A.” He believes that helps him on the pitch. “I can see good and bad sides of teams we play against, defenders I play against. I look for that space, their movement, to weaknesses the opposition have.” Facebook Twitter Pinterest Edin Dzeko celebrates after scoring for Manchester City against Manchester United. ‘I loved the feeling of the derby, that pressure, the atmosphere,’ he says. Photograph: Paul Ellis/AFP/Getty Images Dzeko spent five season at City, scoring 72 goals in 189 appearances, including 50 in 130 Premier League games. His goal in the dying minutes against Queens Park Rangers in May 2012 gave City and Sergio Agüero the opportunity to score a last-second winner and end a 44-year title drought. “I love Manchester, I really do,” Dzeko says. “It’s a lovely city, lovely people and I really enjoyed it there. Some of my best memories are related to Manchester, to the title-winning team, to that crazy QPR match.” He talks fondly of Roberto Mancini but what about Manuel Pellegrini, the Italian’s successor as manager? Dzeko stops for a second, looks at my phone which records our conversation and says that he was “OK”. That’s it, I ask? He grins. He scored 72 goals for Manchester City and 15Fifteen of Dzeko’s goals for City came as a substitute, including two at Old Trafford in 2011. “That was always special, playing Manchester United. I loved the feeling of the derby, that pressure, the atmosphere around it. And I did have some good matches there, didn’t I? I love the rivalry, it reminds me of my childhood, when I used to prepare for the Sarajevo derby for days.” In nine matches against Chelsea, where Roma play on Wednesday, Dzeko failed to score. Chelsea are, with Sunderland and Burnley, one of only three Premier League teams he did not manage a goal against. “They are a very good team,” he says. “I watch the Premier League every weekend and I was impressed with them last season. Conte gave them a different dimension, I would call that an Italian dimension. They are packed with fantastic individuals and a joy to watch, and no team can say it will be easy to go to Stamford Bridge and beat them. They are one of the teams that can win the Champions League this season.” What about Roma? “Well, we are not here to win the Champions league. We have different goals, different class. The first aim is to reach the knockout stages.” Dzeko’s less immediate aims are clear. “I don’t even think what will I do after I stop playing. I have three years of contract and I don’t think this is my last contract. I just want to enjoy. I just want to score goals. And win. As long as possible.”
Eastern Queens, long seen as one of the sleepiest parts of New York City, is booming. A wave of immigration from Asia – East Asians in the northeastern corner, South Asians (many by way of the Caribbean) in the southern corner – has reinvigorated what was once a middle class redoubt in a declining city. The region’s growing Chinese population – New York City alone has almost 800,000 – has outgrown Chinatown in Manhattan and turned downtown Flushing into their primary business district, bidding up prices for a built environment that hasn’t grown much since the ‘60s, and straining transit networks that haven’t advanced since the 7 train was completed in 1928. South Asians, meanwhile, are bursting at the seams in neighborhoods to the south. They’re on the rise from East New York to Nassau County, but with crowding most acute in neighborhoods like Richmond Hill and South Ozone Park, to the west of Jamaica. The neighborhoods of eastern Queens desperately need a housing stock that can keep up with the immigrant growth, and fortunately, the newcomers seem open to it. Longtime anti-growth white residents still hold an inordinate amount of power, but their numbers are falling, and the ascendant groups have much more pro-development attitudes. Flushing has received a number of rezonings in the past few decades and will be the subject of another proposal by the de Blasio administration. And to the south, the Chhaya Community Development Corporation, a nonprofit that advocates for the needs of New Yorkers of South Asian descent, has spoken out against the Bloomberg-era downzonings that swept through southern Queens. But with growth must eventually come transit. And on that count, the city is woefully underprepared. For travel into Manhattan, the Flushing and Queens Boulevard subway lines are at capacity, and the Long Island Rail Road has no interest in providing rapid transit service. The governor and mayor, unfortunately, don’t seem to have much of a sense of urgency. Andrew Cuomo has control over the MTA and therefore the most power, but the only transit he’s proposing in eastern Queens is a gimmicky AirTrain to LaGuardia, a bread-and-circuses strategy aimed at the elite that will be all but useless as transportation. The de Blasio administration has its own transit gimmick – ferries – but is at least doing a bit more with the buses. Woodhaven and Cross-Bay boulevards will be the administration’s signature bus project, with talk of physically separated lanes for buses on the massive thoroughfare. But Woodhaven has eight or 10 lanes, and carving out two for transit is not a politically difficult move. Bus rapid transit there will be a good start, especially with the massive 50,000-strong weekday ridership of the four buses that ply the route, but there’s still more to be done for buses in the northeastern corner of the borough. Of Queens’s busiest bus routes, nearly all travel through Flushing, connecting it with other Chinese neighborhoods – Elmurst and Maspeth for the Q58, Auburndale and Oakland Gardens for the Q27, and an increasingly Asian Jamaica and the neighborhoods in between for the Q44, Q65, Q25, and Q17. This is where the most intense need for better surface transit is, but improvements appear much slower going. Between Flushing and Jamaica, planning is underway to improve the Q44 – the borough’s second busiest route, along Main Street – but opposition to transit priority is strong among the white politicians representing majority non-white neighborhoods. The Q25 on Kissena is next up for the area, but community consultation has yet to begin. The other routes out of Flushing – to the west on the Q58, which is the borough’s busiest single route, or to the east on the Q27, the third-busiest – do not have any improvements planned for the near future. If New York City were a European city, many of these routes would merit full-blown light rail. In New York, just giving them proper bus lanes will be a struggle. Rolling out proof-of-payment ticketing on all lines, as is standard in European cities, would speed boarding by ending the infuriatingly slow and infantilizing practice of the bus coming to a complete halt while everyone lines up single-file to dip their MetroCard. But this does not appear to be under consideration beyond the new Select Bus Service routes. The regional rail situation is even more depressing. Eastern Queens has a strong network of Long Island Rail Road lines connecting Flushing, Jamaica, and neighborhoods beyond to Manhattan, but with high fares, no integration with the subway, and low frequencies outside of peak hours, the are all but useless to residents, many of whom make the trip into Manhattan or Flushing on cheaper but slower buses and subways. The fundamental barrier to rapid transit-like service is the labor-heavy operational style of the Long Island Rail Road. With multiple conductors on each train checking tickets, unchanged from the early 20th century, the MTA simply doesn’t have enough money to run trains frequently and at low cost. As a result, when the 7 train was shut down the other day because of an errant umbrella on the tracks, Flushing-bound riders on the LIRR from Midtown only saw two trains per hour in the afternoon, despite the fact that the tracks are capable of carrying up to seven in each direction, more like a proper subway line, as they do during the busiest hours of the day. Trains could also be reconfigured to allow more room for standees, boosting the total number of passengers they could carry. And potential capacities will be boosted even further once East Side Access opens, providing another pair of tracks from Long Island and Queens into the railroad’s new terminal below Grand Central. If the MTA were interested in revamping their labor agreements, they could retrain conductors as train drivers, and move ticketing off the train, where it can be done more efficiently. The LIRR (and, for that matter, Metro-North and New Jersey Transit) could transition to either a turnstile-based fare payment system, as is used on the subway and in London, Paris, and Tokyo, or move to a proof-of-payment-based system, as used in German-speaking cities and Toronto. Ultimately, it might be a while until eastern Queens’s sclerotic white political establishment is replaced with a more pro-growth one that reflects the demands of the growing immigrant population. But when the change does occur, there are no shortage of transit reforms that could ease the strain on what has the potential to be one of the most dynamic and exciting corners of the city. Talk about this topic on the YIMBY Forums Subscribe to the YIMBY email newsletter and receive the latest new development news in your inbox. 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Better Farming Series 33 - Farming Snails 1: Learning about Snails; Building a Pen; Food and Shelter Plants (FAO, 1986, 57 p.) (introduction...) Introduction (introduction...) What do you need to start? Learning about snails (introduction...) What kind of snails can you farm? Where can you get snails? Where can you farm snails? The soil and the water in the soil Plants for food and plants for shelter Dew and rain Land that is wet Wind Where do you keep snails when you farm them? How many snails will you need when you first begin? How much snail meat can you expect to get? Now you must decide How to begin Choose a place on your land to put your snail farm Clean the site and prepare the ground Building a pen Plant the food and shelter plants (introduction...) When are the plants big enough for food and for shelter?
News Two more mechanisms for resistance found in Palmer amaranth April 6, 2017 By Top Crop Manager Palmer amaranth is a nightmare of a weed, causing yield losses up to 80 percent in severely infested soybean fields. It has evolved resistance to six classes of herbicides since its discovery in the United States 100 years ago. And now, scientists have discovered it has two new tricks up its sleeve. About a year ago, a group of researchers discovered Palmer is resistant to the herbicide class known as PPO-inhibitors, due to a mutation —known as the glycine 210 deletion — on the PPX2 gene. “We were using a quick test that we originally developed for waterhemp to determine PPO-resistance based on that mutation. A lot of times, the test worked. But people were bringing in samples that they were fairly confident were resistant, and the mutation wasn’t showing up. We started to suspect there was another mechanism out there,” says University of Illinois molecular weed scientist Patrick Tranel. Tranel and his colleagues decided to sequence the PPX2 gene in plants from Tennessee and Arkansas to see if they could find additional mutations. Sure enough, they found not one, but two, located on the R98 region of the gene. “Almost all of the PPO-resistant plants we tested had either the glycine 210 deletion or one of the two new R98 mutations. None of the mutations were found in the sensitive plants we tested,” Tranel says. Furthermore, some of the resistant plants had both the glycine 210 deletion and one of the new R98 mutations. Tranel says it is too early to say what that could mean for those plants. In fact, there is a lot left to learn about this resistance mechanism. “We don’t know what level of resistance the new mutations confer relative to glycine 210,” Tranel says. “There are a lot of different PPO-inhibiting herbicides. Glycine 210 causes resistance to all of them, but we don’t know yet if the R98 mutations do.” The team is now growing plants to use in follow-up experiments. Tranel hopes they will be able to determine how common the three mutations are in any given population. “That way,” he says, “when a farmer sends us a resistant plant and it doesn’t come back with the glycine 210 deletion, we will be able to tell him how likely it is that he’s dealing with another one of these mutations.” In the meantime, other research groups or plant testing facilities could use the new genetic assay to detect the mutations in Palmer samples. Tranel hopes they will. “The more labs testing for this, the more we learn about how widespread the mutation is,” he says. The article, “Two new PPX2 mutations associated with resistance to PPO-inhibiting herbicides in Amaranthus palmeri,” is published in Pest Management Science. The work was supported by a grant from the USDA’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture.
My daily devotional this morning was written by friend of both myself and the host of this blog, Mark Roberts. In it, Mark looks at Psalm 71 and specifically verse 9: Do not cast me off in the time of old age; Do not forsake me when my strength fails. Mark observes, “…because we live in a society that adores youthfulness, older folk can, in the words of Psalm 71:9, be “set aside.” A friend of mine in the entertainment business says that, when it comes to writing television comedies, you’re over the hill and irrelevant if you’re over 35. How terrible to be ignored and dismissed just because of a few grey hairs!” But he goes on to point out, “The good news is that God does indeed continue to love us, value us, and use us as we age. In fact, often the wisdom that comes from decades of faithfulness contributes more to the kingdom than the zeal of youth.” Mark ends the devotion with that good news, but I could not help but reflect on the juxtaposition of his two statements I have quoted and how they illustrate one of the greater divides between our society and God’s Kingdom. Our society values young and new, God’s Kingdom values old and wise. Certainly our society never achieved the status of being well aligned with God’s desires, but I think it is fair to say it used to be more in line than it is now. I cannot help but think that such change is rooted to a great extent in a shift from honoring age and wisdom to serving youth and energy. What factors contributed to this shift? How did it happen? Certainly stepping away from Judeo-Christian values contributed. But who stepped away and when? The country did not wake up one day and decide to forget faith. It has been a rapid, but still progressive shift over a few generations. It seems like it happened because successive generations failed to develop the values in the next generation. See, here’s the thing about honoring age and wisdom – the honor has to be earned. Earning such honor comes in two important ways. First, we have to engage with younger generations. That’s just hard work. It requires that we older folk expend our rapidly decreasing energy. It is even more difficult now than it used to be as younger generations really no longer are interested in what we have to offer. But more importantly, our lives have to demonstrate the good that clinging to those values and to faith can produce, which by the way, will make younger generations interested in what we have to offer. I think it a mistake for those of us in our more advanced years to blame “youth” for our societies ills. We dropped the ball somewhere, and that is why we seem to be “set aside.” I understand the psalmists lament and prayer – I share it. But I know that with God’s help I do not have to be set aside. I know that despite decades of walking with God, I have so much more to learn, so much more sin to overcome. Yes, I have much less energy than I did 30 years ago, but I can never let my zeal to be God’s man wane. I recently shared dinner with a man I have known since the late 1960’s when we were both boys. My friend now suffers from Parkinson’s Disease. While he and I are but months apart in chronological age, the disease makes him appear and move as if much older. (Praise God for the medical miracles that allow him to still move at all) And yet as I write this he is in Lebanon and Syria doing Christian mission work – not sitting behind his desk writing checks, but in Syria (you know Syria – bombing, chemical attacks, etc.) aiding those doing God’s work on the very front lines. I cannot help but be in awe of his zeal for God’s work. I pray for myself and for all of us that are reaching “our golden years” that we can have but a portion of the zeal that my friend exhibits. And that we take that zeal and we engage with those younger than us. If we allow God to answer that prayer in our lives, things will change.
Team News: - Rayo Vallecano: David Cobeño, Toño, Patrick Ebert, Piti and Jozabed (all injured); Adri Embarba and Ze Castro (suspended). - Getafe CF: Emiliano Velázquez (injured). Match Facts: Rayo Vallecano (16th, 28 pts): - The Vallecas outfit's players have admitted that this local derby against fellow Madrid suburbanites is the first of several "cup finals" standing between them and safety. They are counting on their fans to roar them on and help them get the three points. - A seven-game winless run has left Rayo with their backs against the wall again and desperately needing to return to winning ways. - Paco Jemez continues to be hamstrung by absences. In addition to his long-term casualties, he is without Jozabed – who is on the mend but is not fit yet – and Piti this matchday due to injury, while Ze Castro and Embarba are both suspended. Getafe (18th, 28 pts): - Fran Escriba's men will have been kicking themselves after seeing victory slip through their fingers at the death against SD Eibar, so the visit to Vallecas will mean all the more to them. - The Azulones have gone even longer without winning than their opponents, namely 10 matches, a streak that has seen them drop into the relegation places. 'Win at all costs' sums up their thinking right now. - One of the team's linchpins, Emiliano Velazquez, will miss out against Rayo through injury. Getafe, meanwhile, will miss not only his defensive talents, but also his attacking prowess from set pieces. Don't leave Madrid without… checking out Cleopatra and the Fascination of Egypt at the Arte Canal Exhibition Centre. This exhibition dedicated to the last queen of Egypt features more than 400 artefacts drawn from museums and collections from all over the world. Getting to Vallecas Address: Calle del Payaso Fofo, 28018 Madrid. Metro: Line 1, Portazgo Bus: 54, 58, 103 and 136 Stadium location here. Time: 20:30 Stadium: Vallecas Referee: Jaime Latre, Santiago TV: Watch the game in your country Hashtag: #RVMvGET Preview in numbers
Trecol 39294 Amphibious 6×6 Reading time: about 1 minute. Military Russian Meet the utterly unnecessary and batshit-fabulous Trecol 39294 6×6. You can keep your Hummer. We want one of these. Designed for use by the Russian military, Trecol are now selling these zombie-crunchers to civilians who find themselves needing an amphibious, six-wheel-drive hell-mobile. The 39294 has a top speed of 80kph but it’ll do that speed over any surface (think snow, ice, tundra, peasants and desert sand), it seats 8 in comfort and has a temperature operating range of -60C to +60C. The Trecol 6×6 isn’t cheap at 1,925,000 Rubles ($69,000 USD) but you’d be hard pressed to find a more capable offroader for the money. Just be warned, if you buy one and put spinners on it, a Russian man will be sent to kill you. Via Trecol
"The wicked plots against the righteous. They devise injustices, saying, We are ready with a well-conceived plot . . ." (Psalms 37:12, 64:6) The first witness to be called is Abraham Lincoln. He warned , "I see in the near future a crisis approaching that unnerves me and cause me to tremble for safety of my country; corporations have been enthroned, an era of corruption in High Places will follow, and the Money Power of the country will endeavor to prolong its reign by working upon the prejudices of the People, until the wealth is aggregated in a few hands, and the Republic destroyed." Congressman Wright Patman decared, "In the U.S. today, we have in effect two governments. We have the duly constituted government, then we have an independent, uncontrolled and uncoordinated government in the Federal Reserve, operating the money powers which are reserved to congress by the Constitution." Congressman Charles Lindbergh maintained, "Our financial system is a false one and a huge burden on the people . . . The Federal Reserve Act establishes the most gigantic trust on earth. When the President signs this bill, the invisible government of the monetary power will be legalized . . . The people must make a declaration of independence to relieve themselves from the Monetary Power . . . The worst legislative crime of the ages is perpetrated by this banking and currency bill. From now on, depressions will be scientifically planned and created . . . The people must make a declaration of independence to relieve themselves of from the Monetary Power . . . The present is the first scientifically one, worked out as we figure a mathematical problem." In 1928, the House Hearings on the Stabilization of the Purchasing Power disclosed evidence the Federal Reserve was working closely with the heads of the European banks. The committee warned a major crash had been planned in 1927. HISTORY SPEAKS FOR ITSELF! "This is a staggering thought. We are completely dependent on the commercial Banks. Someone has to borrow every dollar we have in circulation, cash or credit. If the Banks create ample synthetic money we are prosperous; if not, we starve. We are absolutely without a permanent money system. When one gets a complete grasp of the picture, the tragic absurdity of our hopeless position is almost incredible, but there it is. It is the most important subject intelligent persons can investigate and reflect upon. It is so important that our present civilization may collapse unless it becomes widely understood and the defects remedied very soon." Robert H. Hemphill, former Credit Manager of Federal Reserve Bank, Atlanta, GA. (Senate Document No. 23, January 24, 1939) "The Fed (Federal Reserve) was designed to have power over the treasury . . . it is NOT subservient to the Treasury Department - and never was." William McAdoo, Secretary of the Treasury in 1913. "The Federal Reserve is answerable to no one . . . not even the president." President Reagan "Monetary policy ought to be the responsibility of publicly accountable officials . . . not redelegated to an independent, self-perpetuating board [Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve] that is not accountable to anyone . . . All history shows that no society has been able to endure usury" Congressman Henry Gonzalez, Chairman of the Banking Committee "The Bill (Federal Reserve Act) as it stands seems to me to open the way to a vast inflation of the currency. I do not like to think a law can be passed which will make it possible to submerge the GOLD-STANDARD in a flood of irredeemable paper currency." Congressman Henry Cabot Lodge "When England paid us approximately $100,000,000 in gold the Treasury should have taken that gold . . . Instead, the gold was delivered to the private banks (Federal Reserve Banks) and the government given credit for the amount. The banks used a part of it as a base to issue considerable money, which they loaned to their customers, and the remainder, which was most of it, was sold back to England by the bankers . . . The gold that is given up by the people in the present crisis should be delivered to the government. It should be used to issue additional money upon which the people will not have to pay interest while it is in circulation." Congressman McGuGin (Congressional Record March 9, 1933) "All the perplexities, confusion and distress in America arise not from defects in the Constitution or Confederation: not from want or honor or virtue, as much as the downright ignorance of the nature of coin and circulation." President John Adams "Banking establishments are more dangerous to our liberties than standing armies. Already they have raised up a money aristocracy that has set the government at defiance. The issuing power of the money should be taken from the banks and returned to the people to whom it rightfully belongs." Thomas Jefferson "Allow me to control and issue the nation's money and I care not who makes the laws." Amshell Rothschild (18th century banker) "The monetary system of the U.S. and the major nations of the free world was established in 1694 by the Bank of England. This system subverts the legal and constitutional government and leads to socialism or fascism through favored corporate creation and control of the government's money and credit; directs the policies of government and holds in their hands the destiny of the people." Reginald McKenna, Chairman of the Board and President, Midlands Bank of England (National Economy and the Banking System, Senate Document, Vol. 3, No. 23, 76th Congress) Isn't the Golden-Rule, he who has the gold makes the rules? "Whoever controls the volume of money in any country is absolute master of all industry and commerce . . . When you realize that the entire system is easily controlled, one way or another, by a few powerful men at the top, you will not have to be told how periods of inflation and depression originate." President James A. Garfield "They [the Federal Reserve] are the most avariciously predatory parasites upon a body politic in world history. The national bonded indebtedness is heavily held by the Fed. The process by which it acquires our bonds is not beyond understanding, but it is beyond belief." George E. Hiscott IV, Former Intelligent Officer "People who will not turn a shovel full of dirt on the project (Muscle Shoal Dam) nor contribute a pound of material, will collect more money from the United States than will the People who supply all the material and do all the work. This is the terrible thing about interest . . . But here is the point: If the Nation can issue a dollar bond it can issue a dollar bill. The element that makes the bond good makes the bill good also. The difference between the bond and the bill is that the bond lets the money broker collect twice the amount of the bond and an additional 20%. Whereas the currency, the honest sort provided by the Constitution, pays nobody but those who contribute in some useful way. It is absurd to say our Country can issue bonds and cannot issue currency. Both are promises to pay, but one fattens the usurer and the other helps the People. If the currency issued by the People were no good, then the bonds would be no good either. It is a terrible situation when the Government, to insure the National Wealth, must go in debt and submit to ruinous interest charges at the hands of men who control the fictitious value of gold. Interest is the invention of Satan." Thomas A. Edison "The fact is the greatest steal ever permitted by a legislative body in American history occurred with the passage of the Federal Reserve Act . . . The great unanswered question is, Why do we keep on in this camouflage and financial policy . . . Members including myself, who were aware of the dangers lurking in a bill of this kind could not bring ourselves to sell out the people of the United States in this subtle way." Congressman Shoemaker (73rd Congress, 2nd Session, May 1, 1934) On July 18, 1974, before the House Banking Currency Committee, and just prior to being relieved from the position of President of the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, Darrell R. Francis delivered this message to Committee members: "Since the direct method of printing money to finance government expenditures is prohibited in the United States Constitution, the monetization of government deficits has occurred indirectly. I can find no benefit accruing to the whole society from debt monetization, but the risks are very serious." "The fact that bankers insist on defending their immoral fractional reserve money ratio system is the greatest crime on a worldwide scale against man and society." Rev. Charles Coughlin "The Federal Reserve System, is a criminal conspiracy, the ill-gotten gains, this trillion dollar debt, a lien against all private property in the United States, obviously is a criminal act against the people of the United States." A. Roberts, Director Committee To Restore The Constitution (Idaho Senate State Affairs Committee, March 7, 1983) "The banks have brought our country to the brink of ruin by the deliberate destruction of our monetary system through the fraudulent practice of fractional reserve banking." Anonymous "In its 60 year history, the Federal Reserve System has never been subjected to a complete, independent audit, and it is the only important agency that refuses to consent to an audit by the Congress' agency, the General Accounting Office . . . GAO audits of the Federal Reserve will, moreover, fill the glaring gap that now exists in our information about the Fed's activities and programs. As things now stand, the only information that we get on programs of the Fed is what the Fed itself wants us to have." Congressman Patman (Congressional Record May 5, 1975) Why hasn't the Federal Reserve ever been audited? Could it be that a total audit would reveal the vast amount of money that has been looted from the taxpayers? "You are a den of VIPERS. I intend to rout you out and by the ETERNAL GOD I will rout you out . . . The bank is trying to kill me - but I will kill it. If the people only understood the rank injustice of our money system, there would be a revolution before morning." President Andrew Jackson "History records that the MONEY-CHANGERS have used every form of abuse, intrigue, deceit and violent means possible to maintain their control over governments by controlling the money and its issuance." James Madison "Banking was conceived in iniquity and was born in sin. The Bankers own the earth. Take it away from them, but leave them the power to create deposits, and with the flick of the pen they will create enough deposits to buy it back again. However, take it away from them, and all the great fortunes like mine will disappear, and they ought to disappear, for this would be a happier and better world to live in. But, if you wish to remain the slaves of Bankers and pay the cost of your own slavery, let them continue to create deposits." Sir Josiah Stamp, President of the Bank of England in the 1920. "The modern Banking system manufactures money out of nothing. The process is perhaps the most astounding piece of sleight of hand that was ever invented. Banks can in fact inflate, mint and unmint the modern ledger-entry currency." Major L. B. Angas During hearings of the House Banking Currency Committee, on September 30, 1941, Congressman Patman asked then Chairman of the Federal Reserve Board, Mr. Eccles the following questions: Congressman Patman - "Mr. Eccles, how did you get the money to buy two billion dollars of government securities?" Eccles - "We created it." Congressman Patman - "Out of what?" Eccles confessed - "Out of the right to issue credit money." Congressman Wright Patman further declared, "The dollar represents a dollar debt to the Federal Reserve System. The Federal Reserve Board creates money out of thin air to buy government bonds from the United States Treasury, lending money into circulation at interest, by bookkeeping entries of checkbook credit to the United States Treasury . . . Which the American people are obligated to pay with interest." (House Banking Currency Committee, 1964) "Banks lend by creating credit. They create the means of payment out of nothing." Ralph M. Hawtrey, Former Secretary of the British Treasury "Banks hath the benefit of the interest on ALL monies that it creates out of nothing." William Patterson, Founder of the Bank of England "The Federal Reserve is not an agency of the government, it is a private banking monopoly." Congressman John Rarick (Congressional Record February 1, 1971) "What further proof do we need that the Fed is not an agency of the government than to understand that when the government needs money, the Fed does not merely create and print it as it would do were it a government agency. No the Fed creates it as a loan and charges the government interest on it . . . The Federal Reserve System is nothing more than a group of private banks which charge interest on money that never existed." Senator Jack Metcalf (National Conference of State Legislature, December 10, 1982) "The Federal Reserve Bank is an institution owned by the stock holding member banks . . . The government [WE THE PEOPLE] has not a dollars worth of stock in it . . . From a legal standpoint these banks are private corporations under a special act of Congress, namely the Federal Reserve Act. They are not in the strict sense of the word Government banks." W.P.G. Harding, former Governor Federal Reserve 1921 "An act of war was perpetrated against U.S. citizens and their descendants on December 23, 1913. On this day of infamy a private banking cartel affected passage of the Federal Reserve Act, usurped the government and assumed control of the American destiny." Lt. Col. Archibald Roberts ("The Most Secret Science") "The inability of the colonists to get the power to issue their own money permanently out of the hands of George III, and the international bankers was the PRIME reason for the REVOLUTIONARY WAR." Benjamin Franklin "Federal Reserve Notes are not Dollars." Russell Munk, Assistant General Counsel, Department of the Treasury "Despite my views about the value to society of greater publicity for the affairs of corporations, there was an occasion, near the close of 1910, when I was as secretive, indeed, as furtive, as any conspirator . . . our secret expedition to Jekyll Island as the occasion of the actual conception of what eventually became the Federal Reserve System." Frank Vanderbilt (Saturday Evening Post, Feb. 9, 1935) "My agency in promoting the passage of the National Bank Act was the greatest financial mistake of my life. It has built up a monopoly which affects every interest in the country. It should be repealed, but before that can be accomplished, the people will be arrayed on one side and the bank on the other, in a contest such as we have never before seen in this country." Salmon Chase, former Secretary of the Treasury "A great industrial Nation is controlled by its system of credit. Our system of credit is concentrated. The growth of the Nation and all our activities, are in the hands of a few men. We have become to be one of the worst ruled, one of the most completely controlled and dominated Governments in the world - no longer a Government of free opinion, no longer a Government by conviction and vote of the majority, but a Government by the opinion and duress of small groups of dominate men . . . I have unwittingly ruined my country" President Woodrow Wilson (National Economy and the Banking System, Senate Documents, Col. 3 No. 23) [Editor's Note: The Federal Reserve Act was passed during his administration He is quoted by close friends and relatives as having said on his death bed, "I have betrayed my nation."] "Money is the worst of all contraband. The money power preys upon the nation in times of peace, and conspires against it in times of adversity. It is more despotic than monarchy, more insolent than autocracy, more selfish than bureaucracy. It denounces, as public enemies, all who question its methods, or throw light upon its crimes. It can only be overthrown by the awakened conscience of the nation." William Jennings Bryan, former Secretary of Treasury "A disordered currency is one of the greatest political evils. It undermines the virtues necessary for the support of the social system, and encourages propensities destructive to its happiness. It wars against industry, frugality and economy, and it fosters evil spirits of extravagance and speculation. Of all the contrivances for cheating the laboring classes of mankind, none has been more effectual than that which deludes them with paper money." Daniel Webster (Congressional Record, March 4, 1946) "The real truth of the matter is, as you and I know, that a financial element in the large centers has owned the government of the United States since the days of Andrew Jackson." President Franklin Roosevelt "This year, I authorized the issuance of United State Notes. They are the same appearance except for the heading at the top. The difference is that we pay interest to the Federal Reserve on their notes, whereas we pay no interest on United State Notes." President John Kennedy (He was assassinated 10 days later) President Kennedy's Executive Order 11.110 called for the issuance of $4.2 billion in a new currency called United States Notes. These notes were interest free and debt free. They were issued through the U.S. Treasury. The first thing agent Lyndon B. Johnson did as President was to revoke Kennedy's executive order. Could this be the primary cause of President Kennedy's assassination? "Capital [traitors] must protect itself in every way, through combination and through legislation. Debts must be collected and loans and mortgages foreclosed on as soon as possible. When, through a process of law, the common people have lost their homes, they will be more tractable and more easily governed by the strong arm of the law, applied by the central power of wealth, under control of the leading financiers. People without homes will not quarrel with their leaders. This is well known among our principal men now engaged in forming imperialism of capital to govern the world. By dividing the people we can get them to expend their energies in fighting over questions of no importance to us except as teachers of the common herd." (Civil Servant's Handbook, "The Organizers" Jan. 1934) "Those influences and individuals most responsible for the direful conditions through which we are now passing have resisted us at every point. We have been ridiculed and abused by the money changers whose misconduct produced this terrible panic, with all its misery, its poverty, its hunger, its human suffering and human distress. `Whatsoever man soweth, that he shall also reap'. The very ones who sowed the seeds of this panic are now reaping the fruits of their own misconduct as they see their monetary Tower of Babel crash amid a confusion of tongues." Congressman Rankin (Congressional Record, March 9, 1993) "We have stricken the shackles from four million human beings and brought all laborers to a common level, not so much by the elevation of the former slaves as much as by practically reducing the whole working population, white and black, to a condition of serfdom. While boasting of our noble deeds we are careful to conceal the ugly fact that by our iniquitous money system we have nationalized a system of oppression which, though more refined, is not less cruel than the old system of chattel slavery." Horace Greely "Congress sold out our nation to private bankers." Rev. Casimir Frank Glerut ("Repeal the Federal Reserve Bank, Pandora's Box of Criminal Acts") Congressman Louis McFadden, former Chairman of the House Banking and Currency Committee, and one of the strongest critics of the Federal Reserve had this to say, "The Federal Reserve Banks are one of the most corrupt institutions the world has ever seen. There is not a man within the sound of my voice who does not know that this Nation is run by the International Bankers . . . They have cheated the government of the United States and the people out of enough money to pay the national debt. This evil institution has impoverished and ruined the people of the United States and has practically bankrupted our government . . . The depression was not an accident, it was a carefully contrived occurrence. The International Bankers sought to bring about a condition of despair here so that they might emerge as ruler of us all . . . every effort has been made by the Fed to conceal its power but the truth is - - the Fed has usurped the government. It controls everything in Congress and it controls all foreign relations. It makes and breaks governments at will . . . The Federal Reserve has never been independently audited and have resisted all attempts to be audited." On May 23, 1933, Congressman McFadden, brought impeachment charges against members of the Federal Reserve Board and the heads of the 12 member banks. He said, "Whereas, I charge them jointly and severally with having brought about a repudiation of the national currency of the United States in order that the gold value of said currency might be given to private interest . . . I charge them with having arbitrarily and unlawfully of taking $80 billion from the United States in 1928 . . . I charge them with having brought about a decline in the prices on the N.Y. Stock Exchange . . . I charge them with having arbitrarily and unlawfully raised and lowered interest rates on money. Increased and diminished the volume of currency in circulation for the benefit of private interest . . . I charge them with having conspired to concentrate United States securities and thus having conspired to transfer to foreigners and international money lenders title to and control of the financial resources of the United States . . . I charge them with having published false and misleading propaganda intended to deceive the American people and to cause the United States to lose its independence . . . I charge them with the crime of having TREASONABLY conspired and acted against the peace and security of the U.S." Congressman McFadden's shocking indictment was moved to the Committee of the Judiciary. It still awaits reporting (61 years later) to the House floor to impeach both former and present members of the Board of Governors and the Federal Reserve Banks for criminal conspiracy against We The People of the United States of America. "By a continuing process of inflation, governments can confiscate, secretly and unobserved, an important part of the wealth of their citizens. There is no subtler, no surer means of overturning the existing basis of society than to debauch the currency. The process engages all the hidden forces of economic law on the side of destruction, and does it in a manner which not one man in a million is able to diagnose." John Maynard Keynes CHECK OUT THIS 2 PART VIDEO FOR MORE INFORMATION ON THE BANKSTERS http://www.stopthenorthamericanunion.com/videos/MoneyMasters1.html#Title http://www.stopthenorthamericanunion.com/videos/MoneyMasters2.html#Title
The Divine Madman's "thunderbolt" may adorn the walls across Bhutan, but Wander Woman, Marie Javins, discovers that it's the women who wear the trousers "You are lucky today," said Tsering Penjor, my Bhutanese guide, as we gazed out over the white-topped Himalayan range in the distance, from atop a ten-thousand-foot mountain pass. This view is frequently shrouded in clouds and fog. I wasn't just lucky today – I was lucky during most of my trip in Bhutan. I'd gone in at the tail end of the rainy season, though I'd pushed it back as far as I could, hanging around Darjeeling to let the days pass. But I still had half a world to get through for MariesWorldTour.com before I was due to show up for my first day of teaching comic book colouring to seniors at School of Visual Arts in New York next semester. The mountain pass we'd driven to from nearby Thimphu was called Dochu La Pass. We walked up some steps to a temple just across the road from a series of chortens. I admired the colourful detailed paintings and carvings that adorned the temple, and when we stepped back outside, the clouds had returned. The Himalayas had disappeared. The chortens – built to commemorate the loss of Indian separatist's lives when the Bhutan military flushed them out near the border in 2003 – were shrouded in fog, and a slight drizzle had begun. We got in the Hyundai and started off down the other side of the mountain, winding through pine forests. When we reached the valley below, we pulled up to a small resthouse. Tobgay, our driver, pulled some professional trekking sticks out of the hatchback and handed them to my guide. "What are those for?" I asked. "To help you steady yourself when we walk up to the monastery." "That monastery?" I pointed to a building on a distant hill. But not too distant. A 20-minute walk over some rice fields and then up a gentle slope. He nodded. "I won't use them." I am unfit but not that unfit, even at altitude. He handed the sticks back to Tobgay and we hiked away from the parking area near a small restaurant, then passed a little building with a large penis painted on its side. The penis had a blue ribbon tied around its base, right above some... uh... how can I put this... hairy bollocks. I took a photo, but this wasn't the first hairy-balled penis dressed in a blue ribbon that I'd seen since we'd driven up from the Indian border a few days ago. I'd seen plenty – not in urban(ish) Thimphu but in rural areas. And yet, I hadn't seen any visuals of scantily clad women. The penis – or rather, phallus as it's called by those with better manners than me – is intended as a tribute and celebration of the Divine Madman, Bhutan's favourite saint, who could teach entire villages lessons on impermanence with his farts, who could humiliate false lamas by flashing them with a scarf tied around his penis while others were offering scarves in a more traditional manner, and whose sexual exploits were celebrated rather than hidden away. His penis was referred to as his "thunderbolt". And that was the Divine Madman's temple up there on the gentle slope ahead of us. We walked across the fields and started up the hill. After a bit, I stopped worrying getting burned by the bright sun and started chatting. I learned about how women inherit property in Bhutan but men do not. So men may end up renting or saving money to buy their own property, because the family property was inherited by their sisters. Some sisters share with their brothers, but are not obligated to do so. Men who marry will move into the family compound of their wives, and their in-laws and wives have the final say in all decisions. Men who divorce will then move out of the property owned by their wives or in-laws and will either return home to their sisters or parents, or will go rent, or save up to buy property of their own. Tibetans or Nepalese who live in Bhutan (along with the occasional expat from somewhere else) but have no family there make up some of the renting population, as well as people who move to the city for work. It's not unusual for extended families and several generations to live together on a farm, and family ties are important, but not in a way in which there is excessive corruption. Preferential treatment to family members in the workplace is frowned upon. I also finally learned why Tsering and Tobgay had looked so shocked back at the border when they'd first met me. They thought there had been a mistake in my age. They were expecting someone who looked a lot older. I was flattered, but one reason I look to be of a nebulous age is I try my best to keep out of the sun. So I was hurrying along, cowering under my scarf and trying to get to the shade of the prayer wheel enclosure just outside the temple. When we arrived at the temple, we left our shoes outside as usual and toured the inside. Every temple we'd been to had been a walled compound with at least one central shrine. Inside that one room would be a central statue or sculpture, sometimes surrounded by smaller sculptures, maybe some butter lamps, and assorted offerings. Photos were not allowed inside the chapels. Which is too bad, because I'd love to have a photo of what happened next. Tsering spoke to a monk and next thing you know, the monk said a chant and then blessed me on the head with a huge wooden fertility phallus. We headed back down to meet Tobgay, then drove on through the countryside to the town of Punakha, where we toured Punakha dzong after I was nearly reduced to wearing socks and sandals. This imposing dzong sits at the meeting point of two rivers and is the second-oldest and second-largest of the Bhutanese forts, and as such, demands a bit of respect. "Do you have socks?" "What? Socks?" I was puzzled. "There is a man who works at the door here who insists on socks." I was used to covering my knees and shoulders, but this was a first. Tobgay opened the hatchback and I dug around in my backpack for my socks, which were black and had a hole in the heel. I threw them in my handbag, but lucky for me, the sock-insisting guard wasn't at the door today. We were allowed in to tour the fortress with me in sandals. Tobgay met us with the car on the far side of the river, across a pedestrian bridge. He took us to a monastery in Punakha, then dropped us off nearby, and waited for us on the other side of town. We took a walk through the village, where stray dogs slept safely on sidewalks in the afternoon sun, saving their energy for their active night of story-telling (barking). We stayed in a busy hotel that night, and I ate my dinner alone in the corner of the dining room, while a group of Thai tourists filled the rest of the restaurant. The guys avoided this scene, and sat in a staff room chewing on chillies. But they needed to hide better if they didn't want me to see them. I ran into the two of them, looking guilty and concerned, because they'd thought I'd already gone to my room, and they were relaxing in T-shirts and jeans rather than traditional Bhutanese dress. I grinned at them – caught ya – and told them I'd see them in the morning. But what I wanted to know is this. What were Tsering and Tobgay like when they weren’t working? If I weren't an esteemed guest in their country, what would a day with them be like? Would we shoot pool, do archery, hang out in a cafe, do some farm work, or hang out with Tobgay's kids? Would they chew betelnut and eat chillies while I watched politely? I'd never know. At $200 plus $40 single fee a day to visit Bhutan, I couldn't afford to hang out and honestly get to know Bhutan or my charming Bhutanese pals. Which, given Bhutan's quirkiness and the good humour of my guide and driver, was a damn shame.
A recent poll by Gallup reveals that the American public isn’t all that sold on President-elect Donald Trump’s ability to handle the duties of his soon-to-be office. Using a sample size of over a thousand adults and conducted December 7-11, the survey found that only 46% of respondents feel confident Trump can handle an international crisis. And this was before his recent tweets about the United Nations, Israel and North Korea, among other foreign policy issues. Another question that was asked was if Trump could prevent major scandals in his administration. Only 44% said that they were confident he could. For comparison’s sake, the average for the incoming Clinton, Bush and Obama administrations was 76% confidence. Another area where Trump was unable to get even a slight majority to express confidence in him was regarding whether he’d use military force wisely, with only 47% feeling he would. The area where voters felt most confident in Trump was his ability to work effectively with Congress to get things done, with 60% stating their confidence in him. Of course, Trump is going into office with Republicans holding power in both the House of Representatives and Senate. [image via screengrab] – Follow Justin Baragona on Twitter: @justinbaragona Have a tip we should know? tips@mediaite.com
Obamacare health exchanges gave more than $100 million in tax credit payments to non-tax filers without checking their identities, and $22 million in tax credits to documented inmates and illegal immigrants. Federal health care officials said verifying Obamacare enrollees’ identities was irrelevant. A new Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA) report found state and federal Obamacare exchange officials gave $112 million in advanced premium tax credit payments to more than 35,000 people who didn’t file a tax return in 2014, despite being required to do so. Exchange officials also gave $21.8 million in tax credit payments to more than 11,000 non-filers the verification process revealed were here illegally or incarcerated, relying on applicants’ statements that they weren’t in prison instead of federal records. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid (CMS) officials told the IG that Affordable Care Act (ACA) identity documentation isn’t a factor in health insurance eligibility. (RELATED: Four Of 24 Obamacare Co-Ops Remain Open) “When we provided the results of our review to [CMS], management stated that the ACA does not require the exchanges to verify an applicant’s identity,” the IG said. “Management indicated that identity information is not a requirement or a factor in the determination for an individual’s eligibility for health insurance coverage through the exchanges.” The 35,276 ACA tax credit recipients who didn’t file tax returns in 2014 and had no identity verification represented 13.5 percent of the 261,872 tax credit recipients the IG analyzed among 2014 non-filers, according to the IG. More than 280,000 total ACA tax credit recipients never filed 2014 taxes, and the vast majority of them (75 percent) were in the federal exchange. The refundable premium tax credit is one of the main pitches Obamacare supporters used to market the health care law as attractive and affordable for lower- and middle-class families. ]The IG discovered exchange officials relied on tax credit recipients’ claims that they weren’t incarcerated, as the Social Security Administration data exchange officials use is unreliable. CMS officials told the IG they will provide additional information on the IG’s citizenship findings, but haven’t done so yet. The exchanges cut off coverage for 6,128 — or 54 percent — of the 11,388 enrollees who failed to meet citizenship or incarceration requirements, but haven’t terminated coverage for the rest. All Obamacare applicants must be lawful citizens or residents of the U.S., live in the state where the exchange is located, and not be imprisoned. The Government Accountability Office (GAO) and the Health and Human Services IG have raised similar concerns in past reports about the Obamacare exchanges’ failure to test ACA applicants’ eligibility. GAO’s auditors, for instance, obtained coverage for 10 of the 12 fictitious people they attempted to enroll in Obamacare. (RELATED: NY Obamacare Site Risking Personal Info) Utah Republican Sen. Orrin Hatch, chairman of the Senate Committee on Finance, requested the TIGTA report to make sure people applying for ACA coverage and tax credits are who they claim to be. Andrew Slavitt, CMS’s former acting administrator, outlined CMS’s verification approach in a letter to the IG, but didn’t address the specific problems raised in the IG report. The IG issued no recommendations. “Moving forward, CMS remains committed to improving the performance and outcomes of the state-based and federally facilitated marketplaces as well as continuing to protect the integrity of taxpayer dollars,” Slavitt wrote. Follow Kathryn on Twitter. Send tips to katie@dailycallernewsfoundation.org. Content created by The Daily Caller News Foundation is available without charge to any eligible news publisher that can provide a large audience. For licensing opportunities of our original content, please contact licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org.
A 16-year-old boy recently asked the r/Linux community for advice. When his parents discovered that he'd reloaded his laptop with Linux, they were horrified—after all, this "free" software must certainly be riddled with viruses and/or hackers. It didn't help matters any that he'd "ruined" an expensive gift, and was no longer using some of the expensive software that had been purchased with it. He tried to talk to them about it, but it was tough—he was the teenager; they were the adults. With the help of information and advice from the Reddit community, that young man talked to his parents again and helped set most of their concerns to rest. The open letter you're reading right now is for the other parents out there who have discovered their children are using free and open source software, and aren't sure what it is, or whether using it is a good idea. Who am I? Really, this article isn't about me—it's about you, and it's about your kids, and it's about software. But to give you some idea who's giving you the information, my name is Jim Salter. I'm a 43-year-old professional systems administrator, author, and public speaker. I own and operate a couple of successful small businesses, and I attribute a lot of my success to FOSS—free and open source software—which empowers my businesses, my customers' businesses, and much of the economy you and I function in. What is FOSS? FOSS is an acronym for free and open source software. This includes operating systems like Linux and FreeBSD, as well as applications like LibreOffice (which manages office documents, like those created by Microsoft's Excel, Powerpoint, and Word), Firefox (a web browser, like Microsoft's Internet Explorer or Apple's Safari), or GIMP (an image editing program, similar to Adobe Photoshop). FOSS is not "stolen" software. Free software licenses like the GPL and the BSD and Apache licenses allow users the ability to freely use, and developers the ability to freely develop, the software placed under those licenses. Another important thing to understand about FOSS is that it is not merely "free" in the sense of "free in every box of cereal." Making a new copy of a piece of software literally costs nothing at all—this has made it possible for community efforts to produce world-class products in a way material goods never could be. FOSS is a community effort, with the emphasis on the community. Every user who actively uses FOSS is actually contributing, in their own way, to that project. By using the project, the user increases awareness of it, attracting more users. Some of those users will file bug reports, helping project developers understand what isn't working right in the code, or what could be working better. Other users who know how to write code (or decide to learn how to write code) may fix those bugs or add new features, directly improving the project. Others who write well may improve the documentation, allowing new users to learn how to use it better. This is what we mean when we talk about the open source community. Even in the case of projects with developers on the full-time salary of a large corporation, the community is incredibly important, and the community is vital to keeping the project active, healthy, and engaging. How can FOSS be safe? It's easy to understand why you might think something free can't be as good as something you pay for. In an age where it seems like a new virus is always right around the corner, suspicions tend to flare. You can't trust the "free" program that's a click away in a banner ad on a website, so why should you trust this "free" software? Again, the important difference to understand is the difference between "free" as in "click here," and "free" as in libre. And again, the community is that difference. When a shady website offers you a "free" download promising coupons, drivers for your computer, or some other form of snake oil, it's only "free" in the sense that you don't need to pull out your credit card. You cannot personally view the source code of that "free" download—and neither can anyone else. This makes it easy for the person pitching the "free click" to bury things in there that you don't want. In the old English language idiom, you're buying a pig in a poke—that is, you're being offered a tightly closed package with nothing but promises about what's inside. With FOSS, you are not simply getting a free download—you're being given the freedom to openly review (or even edit) the code of the software itself. Where a "free coupon" program might (and does) secretly track all of your activity on the Internet and force ads into webpages you view to make its author money, a FOSS program really can't do something like that. If it tried to, technically knowledgeable users would quickly find the "secret" code that did things that aren't good for the users—and shortly after that, even more technically knowledgeable users would actively disable the code that did things bad for the users. Nothing in life can truly be guaranteed safe in every situation. However, with FOSS code, you know that the maximum number of people whose motive is making the software good for the user (rather than making money) are actively involved in looking at the code and keeping it good for the users. This is an experience that proprietary software really cannot match, because the primary goal of proprietary software isn't to make the users happy—it's to make the company money. Want to read some articles about the security record of FOSS? Katherine Noyes of PCWorld gives you five simple reasons why Linux is more secure than Windows. Why would I want my child to use FOSS? Shouldn't they use what everybody else is using? Oh, this is the fun part! It's easy to look around your office and see computers running Microsoft Windows, or look around the nearest coffee shop and see Apple phones, and think, "Proprietary software is what runs the world." But that would be a mistake. Open source is frequently more behind the scenes than in your face, but it's actually the driving force empowering the world economy. Does that seem hard to believe? Let's take a look at a few examples. I'll provide links so that you can easily fact-check me or just learn in more detail. It's probably worth noting that even Microsoft uses Linux in their core infrastructure these days—so it's not like a child loses the ability to work with proprietary software companies by choosing Linux early. Let's look at some other interesting places you'll find FOSS like Linux and FreeBSD. BMW and Audi are using Linux. Internet, finance, healthcare, and insurance industries overwhelmingly use Linux. In particular, online retail giant Amazon.com has been running on Linux for well over 10 years. Search giant Google not only runs their public facing infrastructure on Linux, but also the desktop computers their employees sit in front of day to day. IBM is even running Linux on their Z series mainframe computers for enterprises! Linux is also increasingly prevalent in educational institutions, from the kindergarten to the postgraduate level, around the world. For one literally out-of-this-world example, the International Space Station runs on Linux. And if you're not sick of examples yet, here's a list of 50 more educational, governmental, and big business Linux users. BSD—another FOSS operating system that runs most of the same applications Linux does—doesn't get as much press as Linux these days, but it's also crucially important. Without BSD, we very likely wouldn't have the Internet as we know it today—the TCP/IP network protocol our computers all speak was adopted partly because of its free availability under the BSD license, and the Routing Information Protocol it used to address extremely large networks came from BSD itself. If you look hard enough, you'll find BSD everywhere—parts of the Apple OS X operating system are FreeBSD, Sony's Playstation 4 gaming console runs on a modified version of FreeBSD, Juniper powers its enterprise-grade network routers with FreeBSD, Netflix uses FreeBSD to deliver and cache streaming TV and movies, and WhatsApp uses FreeBSD infrastructure to deliver real time messages between millions of users around the world. FOSS operating systems aside, FOSS applications power a lot of the world we all live in too. Apache and NGINX web servers power more than 70% of the world's websites, both large and small. The open source video rendering application Blender has been used to make some pretty impressive free movies, as well as award-winning short independent films and major advertisements for products including Pepsi, Coca-Cola, BMW, Hugo Boss, and more. You've used FOSS personally if you've ever used the Mozilla Firefox web browser, and even Google's Chrome browser is based on the open source Chromium browser. The point is that there are a lot, and I mean a lot of ways to make money as an adult with a solid knowledge of open source technologies... and to make more money than you would without that knowledge. Considerably more money, in fact—Indeed.com shows that jobs with the keywords "Microsoft Windows" have an average salary of $64,000, while jobs with the keyword "Linux" have an average salary of $99,000. In conclusion If your eyes haven't crossed yet from information overload, I hope you can agree with me that free and open source software is a wonderful thing for a child to be interested in. And the best part is that the community welcomes you—as parents and as individuals—as much as it does your children! If you want to find out what your children are doing, you can read documentation for the operating systems and applications they're using, or you can install the same things they are on your own computers to see. It won't cost you anything, and it just might gain you a lot.
Eureka flag needs Commonwealth protection to stop 'inappropriate use', Ballarat council says Updated Ballarat City Council will seek Commonwealth protection for the Eureka flag, amid fears it has been "hijacked" for political motives. The council unanimously passed a motion on Wednesday night prohibiting "inappropriate" uses of the iconic emblem. Descendants of the Eureka Stockade this week criticised moves by far right-wing political party The Australia First Party to use the flag as its logo on election ballot papers. The party maintained the symbol was the "essence of Australianism" and a sign of its commitment to "Australian identity, independence and freedom". Councillor John Phillips, who brought the motion before council, said it should receive similar protections to the Australian or Indigenous flag. "The first thing you think about when someone says democracy is the Eureka Flag," he said. "So we need something that shows it stands for a democratic process, and not for a group to say, well, 'the Eureka Flag stood for the oppressed, and we're oppressed, so we're going to use it'." "We want the Commonwealth Government to put some level of protection around the flag. "I know it's been before government previously, but it's now time to have another good look at it." 'You can't put a patent on democracy' The Battle of the Eureka Stockade on December 3, 1854, led to the deaths of more than 25 people, most of whom were rebels. The Australian Workers Union, which claims the flag is central to "working-class values", has lodged an objection with the Australian Electoral Commission over its use by Australia First. In its submission, National Secretary Scott McDine said "attempts to hijack" the Eureka Flag were offensive to trade unionists, and a "deliberate attempt" to mislead voters. Councillor Phillips said neither the union, nor the Australia First Party, could put a patent on democracy. "That goes for everyone, and [protections] are something that should have been put in place 100 years ago when it started being used inappropriately," he said. "Any old group should not be able to stand up and say, well, we want some protection, so we're going to use the Eureka Flag." Topics: states-and-territories, political-parties, local-government, ballarat-3350, vic First posted
In post war Britain prestige car maker Daimler found themselves in a new marketing and manufacturing environment and they entered it, I suspect, without a really defined forward vision. Jaguar, under the leadership of William Lyons was quite different as William Lyons had a very clear vision of what he intended Jaguar to become and, equally importantly, how to get there. One thing Daimler had going for it was it owned the best British designed V8 engine extant; Edward Turner’s hemi-head 2.5litre V8, an engine that deserved a far better future than the one it experienced. Daimler understood the jewel they had in their V8 engine and they tried to do the best they knew how to do with it. William Lyons of Jaguar had put his new DOHC XK in-line six cylinder engine into a sports car, the XK120, and Daimler tried the same idea by putting Edward Turner’s V8 into a fibreglass bodied sports car the Daimler SP250. The only problem being that the XK120 and its siblings the XK140 and XK150 were stunningly beautiful cars and the SP250 wasn’t. It has the sort of quirky looks that could only be loved by someone who probably loves the Citroën DS series also. I really like both of them, but most people don’t. The SP250 was fast, and was adopted by Britain’s Metropolitan Police to further their role as “fun police” and to prevent young men on cafe racers from demonstrating Darwin’s theory of “survival of the fittest”. A Daimler SP250 with an automatic transmission was one of few things on wheels that could accelerate out past 100mph quickly enough to catch the “speed thrills” boys. Daimler thought of putting Edward Turner’s V8 into a version of the sixties Vauxhall Cresta with the Daimler badge on it, something I think demonstrates the lack of vision prevalent in the company at the time. Thankfully for the posterity of British motor manufacturing this was not brought to completion and in 1960, mercifully, Daimler was purchased from renowned gun-making and motorcycle making company Birmingham Small Arms by William Lyons’ Jaguar company. This was a marriage that could, and should have resulted in some fantastic V8 motor cars and it almost did, our feature car being an example of what might have been, but wasn’t. Jaguar really only acquired Daimler in order to expand Jaguar’s own manufacturing capacity. Daimler had imagined that Jaguar were really interested in making some fantastic Daimler cars, which they weren’t. In the tensions inherent in this new marriage not made in heaven Daimler pressured Jaguar to create a mid sized Daimler luxury car. Jaguar’s response was to have a quick look out the back at the junk heap where there was an abandoned Jaguar Mk 1 that had been used for suspension experimentation and development. Into that they shoehorned a Daimler V8 mated with a Borg Warner automatic transmission. It was a proof of concept that worked and so they went the next step and started with a new and not off the junk heap Mk 2 Jaguar and created a four door saloon with the 2.5litre V8 engine in a badge engineered Jaguar Mk 2 four door saloon. The Daimler V8 was over one hundred pounds lighter than the Jaguar XK engine and, being shorter, provided a much improved front to rear weight distribution. These cars were the Daimler 2.5 V8 later called the Daimler V8 250. They were, and are, absolutely fabulous motor cars. In production from 1962 until the Jaguar Mk2 production ended in 1969 these are one of the best iterations of Sir William Lyons original design. It seems however that neither Jaguar nor Daimler really knew how to get the best out of this car as it sat between the lower end Jaguars and high end Jaguars both in terms of power and luxury equipment. This was a car that, although Daimler were a maker favoured by Britain’s Royal Family, was almost but not quite placed in luxuriousness and price at the top of the Jaguar/Daimler range. A few decades later enter Vicarage, a British company that does not just restore old Jaguars, it also re-creates them as twenty first century cars with classic car appeal. You will find Vicarage’s web site if you click here. And you will find Vicarage’s informative brochure in downloadable PDF format if you click here. The black 1964 Daimler 2.5 V8 we are featuring is a Vicarage re-modeled car that is now a two door convertible with various Vicarage improvements over the sixties original. This car provides the beautifully balanced effect of William Turner’s classic British V8 with Vicarage improved suspension, steering and brakes. It’s the car that really should have been built in the sixties, but wasn’t. Our feature car is coming up for auction by Bonhams at the Goodwood Festival of Speed on 24th June 2016. You will find the sale page for this car if you click here. This Daimler is an inspiring car. It gets me inspired to want to create the car that should have been but wasn’t. When Jaguar first released their XJ6 in 1968 the Daimler version called the Daimler Sovereign was powered by a Jaguar XK engine, and a 2.8litre one at that. Given enough cash I’d like to slip up to see the nice people at Vicarage, acquire one of those early Daimler Sovereigns, rip out the Jaguar engine and replace it with an Edward Turner Daimler hemi-head V8, perhaps supercharged and mated to a five speed ZF gearbox and create the Daimler V8 that should have been, and that would have been a world beater of a car. Perhaps someone will get around to doing that one day, and hopefully they’ll make a two door coupé of it. (All pictures courtesy Bonhams). Jon Branch is the founder and senior editor of Revivaler and has written a significant number of articles for various publications including official Buying Guides for eBay, classic car articles for Hagerty, magazine articles for both the Australian Shooters Journal and the Australian Shooter, and he’s a long time contributor to Silodrome. Jon has done radio, television, magazine and newspaper interviews on various issues, and has traveled extensively, having lived in Britain, Australia, China and Hong Kong. His travels have taken him to Indonesia, Israel, Italy, Japan and a number of other countries. He has studied the Japanese sword arts and has a long history of involvement in the shooting sports, which has included authoring submissions to government on various firearms related issues and assisting in the design and establishment of shooting ranges.
The Supreme Court ruled Tuesday that a key provision of the landmark Voting Rights Act cannot be enforced unless Congress comes up with a new way of determining which states and localities require federal monitoring of elections. The justices said in 5-4 vote that the law Congress most recently renewed in 2006 relies on 40-year-old data that does not reflect racial progress and changes in U.S. society. The court did not strike down the advance approval requirement of the law that has been used, mainly in the South, to open up polling places to minority voters in the nearly half century since it was first enacted in 1965. But the justices did say lawmakers must update the formula for determining which parts of the country must seek Washington's approval, in advance, for election changes. Chief Justice John Roberts said for the conservative majority that Congress "may draft another formula based on current conditions." The decision comes five months after President Barack Obama, the nation's first black chief executive, started his second term in the White House, re-elected by a diverse coalition of voters. The high court is in the midst of a broad re-examination of the ongoing necessity of laws and programs aimed at giving racial minorities access to major areas of American life from which they once were systematically excluded. The justices issued a modest ruling Monday that preserved affirmative action in higher education and will take on cases dealing with anti-discrimination sections of a federal housing law and another affirmative action case from Michigan next term. The court warned of problems with the voting rights law in a similar case heard in 2009. The justices averted a major constitutional ruling at that time, but Congress did nothing to address the issues the court raised. The law's opponents, sensing its vulnerability, filed several new lawsuits. The latest decision came in a challenge to the advance approval, or preclearance, requirement, which was brought by Shelby County, Ala., a Birmingham suburb. The lawsuit acknowledged that the measure's strong medicine was appropriate and necessary to counteract decades of state-sponsored discrimination in voting, despite the Fifteenth Amendment's guarantee of the vote for black Americans. But it asked whether there was any end in sight for a provision that intrudes on states' rights to conduct elections, an issue the court's conservative justices also explored at the argument in February. It was considered an emergency response when first enacted in 1965. The county noted that the 25-year extension approved in 2006 would keep some places under Washington's oversight until 2031 and seemed not to account for changes that include the elimination of racial disparity in voter registration and turnout or the existence of allegations of race-based discrimination in voting in areas of the country that are not subject to the provision. The Obama administration and civil rights groups said there is a continuing need for it and pointed to the Justice Department's efforts to block voter ID laws in South Carolina and Texas last year, as well as a redistricting plan in Texas that a federal court found discriminated against the state's large and growing Hispanic population. Advance approval was put into the law to give federal officials a potent tool to defeat persistent efforts to keep blacks from voting. The provision was a huge success because it shifted the legal burden and required governments that were covered to demonstrate that their proposed changes would not discriminate. Congress periodically has renewed it over the years. The most recent extension was overwhelmingly approved by a Republican-led Congress and signed by President George W. Bush. The requirement currently applies to the states of Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, South Carolina, Texas and Virginia. It also covers certain counties in California, Florida, New York, North Carolina and South Dakota, and some local jurisdictions in Michigan. Coverage has been triggered by past discrimination not only against blacks, but also against American Indians, Asian-Americans, Alaska Natives and Hispanics. Towns in New Hampshire that had been covered by the law were freed from the advance approval requirement in March. Supporters of the provision pointed to the ability to bail out of the prior approval provision to argue that the law was flexible enough to accommodate change and that the court should leave the Voting Rights Act intact. On Monday, the Justice Department announced an agreement that would allow Hanover County, Va., to bail out. This is breaking news. More on this as it develops.
It appears to me that sadness is a feminized emotion. Thats why its “weak” or something shameful as opposed to anger which is attached more readily to masculine bodies and is often glorified. So in resting in the innate power of femme-ness ill use tears as resistance. Sit in my feelings as protest. Cry because im angry. Im happy. Im hurt. Ill remember it as sacred water to be marveled and honored instead of something shameful. Ill hold my tears in my hands as memoirs of the Atlantic. Of ancestral pain, joy, and healing. Theyre my tears, my mothers tears, the tears my father never cried. Generations of release. A second of freedom. And plus, capitalism hates sadness if it cant make money off it. Be sad so you can buy these pills, but dont be sad and take off work or stop producing. Keep em runnin. Keep em tired. Blah blah blah. Im not gonna carry shame around my tears or my feelings anymore.
Given the fact that I don’t have a job this is the best way I could think of. I am posting this tutorial because the animal rescue I volunteer for is in dire need of funds to save one of our kittens named KC. KC is in need of specialized lifesaving surgery thats going to cost upwards of 2000$. Read his full story here. All the initial proceeds will go to A New Beginning Animal Rescue (ANBAR for short) to help cover the surgery costs. I am using a pay what you want system, which means you get to choose how much you want to spend on this plush tutorial. You can even get it for free if you want. However if you donate over 5 dollars you will receive a personalized digital thank you card, and if you donate over 10 dollars you will receive an early copy of my next pattern (which I plan to do Tiny Box Tim) in addition to a thank you card. (Please Make sure to include your email under special instructions if you want your thank you card)
The Nexus 5, which comes with a 4.95-inch screen. Google Google may be working on a gigantic 5.9-inch smartphone to be released in November, according to a new report from Android Police. The company is reportedly working with Motorola on the phablet, which will supposedly come with a fingerprint sensor and will launch with major U.S. carriers. It's unclear what the device will be called, but Google and Motorola are said to be calling it "Shamu" internally. That size is unusually large for a smartphone. It's 1 inch shy from being the same size as most mini tablets, such as the Google Nexus 7. Samsung's Galaxy Mega, which comes in both 5.8-inch and 6.3-inch screen sizes, is the only other phablet that compares in size. Most phablets fall into the 5.3-5.7-inch range. An unnamed source reportedly shared this information with Android Police, and a tipster sent the website a screenshot from Google's issue tracker for developers showing a clear reference to the device. The issue mentioned in the screenshot refers to a bug in Android L, Google's upcoming version of Android that debuted at Google I/O. Android L only works with Google's Nexus devices, which is part of the reason Android Police believes this could be an unannounced Nexus smartphone. The Android news blog also mentions that the so-called "Shamu" phablet is running on a Google-built kernel, which is usually only present in Nexus phones and tablets. A kernel is the central component of an operating system that manages the way software and hardware components interact with one another. Think of the kernel as a bridge that allows the software and hardware to work together. There's been some confusion about what will happen to Google's line of Nexus devices over the past several months. Rumors have suggested that Google will axe the brand in favor of a new Android Silver program, but Google denied any changes to the Nexus line in an interview with ReadWrite in June.
Rupture of Aliso Canyon well has released more than 77,000 metric tons of methane and refocused attention on America’s accident-prone infrastructure The single biggest contributor to climate change in California is a blown-out natural gas well more than 8,700ft underground, state authorities and campaign groups said Monday. The broken well at the Aliso Canyon natural gas storage site has released more than 77,000 metric tons of the powerful climate pollutant methane since the rupture was first detected on 23 October, according to a counter created by the Environmental Defense Fund. Methane is a fast-acting climate pollutant – more than 80 times more powerful than carbon dioxide over a 20-year time frame. Experts believe the breach, which has forced the evacuation of hundreds of residents from the town of Porter Ranch, is the largest ever in the US. Locals have complained of headaches, sore throats, nosebleeds and nausea, caused by the rotten-egg smell of the odorant added to the gas to aid leak detection by SoCalGas, the utility that operates the natural gas storage site. About 1,000 people are suing the company. There are also concerns about the leak’s effect on smog and ozone. The company said it was monitoring air quality. The leak is unlikely to be brought under control before late February – and even that timetable depends on work crews’ success in locating and plugging a 7-inch pipe deep underground. Facebook Twitter Pinterest The first direct overhead photos of the leaking Aliso Canyon well pad in Los Angeles. Photograph: Earthworks Campaign groups said the release undercuts Barack Obama’s efforts to slow the rate of global warming to avoid a tipping point and live up to US commitments to a historic climate accord agreed in Paris last month. Obama is expected to tout his climate agenda during his State of the Union address on 12 January – one of his last big moments remaining to promote a key presidential priority. Carbon dioxide is still the biggest driver of climate change. But because methane emissions are on the rise and exercise such a powerful effect in the short-term, they are a growing source of concern as governments try to avoid a climate tipping point. A byproduct of the oil and gas industry and agriculture, methane accounts for about a quarter of the world’s warming. The release of methane from the ruptured well has now slowed considerably since its peak in late November, according to Carb. Back then, the climate impact was equivalent to the daily emissions from 7 million cars – or the equivalent of six coal-fired power plants, or three-quarters of the emissions from the state’s entire oil refining industry, according to EDF. But David Clegern, a spokesman for the agency, said the well remained a major source of climate pollution. “It is in California at this point the single largest source point of global warming,” Clegern said. He also said it was to his knowledge the biggest such natural gas leak ever. “We haven’t been able to see anything anywhere near this size.” Facebook Twitter Pinterest Crews work on a relief well at the Aliso Canyon facility. Photograph: Dean Musgrove/AP The Aliso Canyon well failure was widely seen as the climate equivalent of the BP disaster in the Gulf of Mexico. The April 2010 blow-out of BP’s well killed 11 and caused vast damage to fisheries and the environment in the three months it took to get under control. The Aliso Canyon leak is much less visible than BP’s oil disaster, but Mark Brownstein, who heads the climate and energy program at EDF, said it is a serious threat. “For the planet it is a big deal because methane is a such a powerful greenhouse gas, and the huge amount of gas that is escaping,” he said. The rupture at the Aliso Canyon facility has refocused attention on America’s ageing and accident-prone oil and gas infrastructure. Many such leaks go undetected. The Environmental Protection Agency is due to issue much-anticipated rules to control methane emissions from the oil and gas industry later this year. Gina McCarthy, who heads the EPA, said on Monday that the rules could avoid up to 400,000 metric tons of methane by 2025. The Aliso Canyon storage site is one of the biggest such facilities in the country, and was originally built for the oil industry about 60 years ago. When the oil fields were exhausted, the well was repurposed as a storage site. R Rex Parris, who is suing the gas company on behalf of Porter Ranch residents, said the site should have been shut down long ago. He faulted the company for removing a blow-out preventer at the bottom of the well in 1979. “They deliberately took the brakes off the car and continued to drive it. That’s the best metaphor I can come up with, he said. “They are saying it’s an accident that they ran into somebody. I’m saying: ‘no, it was inevitable’.” A company spokeswoman said the well was in compliance with state regulations.
HOUSTON (Reuters) - Iraq filed suit on Monday in a Texas court to gain control of a cargo of crude oil from Iraqi Kurdistan that Baghdad says was sold without its permission. The United Kalavrvta tanker, carrying some 1 million barrels of crude worth about $100 million, arrived off the coast of Texas on Saturday but has yet to unload its disputed cargo. The ship, which is too large to enter the port of Galveston near Houston, was given clearance by the U.S. Coast Guard on Sunday to transfer its cargo offshore to smaller boats that would deliver it to the U.S. mainland. Iraq, in its filing in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas, asked for an order allowing the cargo to be seized by the U.S. Marshals Service. Sale of Kurdish crude oil to a U.S. refinery would infuriate Baghdad, which sees such deals as smuggling. The U.S. State Department has expressed fears that independent oil sales from Kurdistan could contribute to the breakup of Iraq, said the oil belongs to all Iraqis, and warned potential buyers of legal risks. But it has also made clear it will not intervene in a commercial transaction. AET Offshore Services, a company in Texas hired to unload the tanker, asked in a separate court filing in U.S. district court on Monday if Iraq’s claims were valid. The court filings did not name the end-buyer of the cargo. AET Offshore is an intermediary. Piecemeal oil exports have gone from Iraqi Kurdistan to Turkey and Iran by truck in the past, which Baghdad also opposed. But the opening of a new pipeline to Turkey earlier this year, which could supply the Kurds with far greater revenues, has met much fiercer opposition from Baghdad. One cargo of Kurdish crude was delivered in Houston in May to an unidentified buyer, and four other cargoes of Kurdish crude have been delivered so this year in Israel. The case is Ministry of oil of the Republic of Iraq v. Ministry of Natural Resources of Kurdistan Regional Governate of Iraq et al, U.S. District Court, Southern District of Texas, No. 3:14-cv-00249
Tuesday 30th July, 2013 It is a hot day in Siem Reap, Cambodia. At least 30 degrees. Sweat is dripping from the brow of several tourists as they enter the War Museum. A middle-aged looking man waiting at the entrance offers his services as a free tour guide, which the tourists graciously accept. The man introduces himself as Thom, and bids the tourists welcome. Thom asks what country the tourists are from, “Australia” is the reply from three, while the fourth answers “British”. “Oh the lucky country,” Thom remarks to the Australians, as he leads the group on. Several old tanks, artillery batteries, anti-aircraft weaponry and even a helicopter and Chinese war plane (which resembles the Spitfire model of plane flown by the British in World War 2) litter the ground in the small plot of land dedicated to the museum. From one end of the compound to the other is around 50 metres, and only about 30 metres wide. The tourists take their seats in a small, open-faced wooden structure. They seat next to a rack filled with various guns from the war, including: AK-47s (Russian, as well as Cuban copies); M16s (American), many pistols and even what resembles a Tommy gun. Here, Thom begins his story. At age 12, he and his family traveled towards the Thailand and Cambodian border, hoping to cross into Thailand into safety. However the path contained many, many landmines, and as they approached the border it was clear Khmer Rouge soldiers would not let them pass. The soldiers were killing anyone who tried to cross. At one point during the journey, as his family were crossing a river at night, Thom lost sight of his family. He searched around for miles asking if anyone had seen them, but Thom soon lost any hope of finding them. He has not seen them since. Being a lone child, Thom describes how very sad he was. “A young child, you know. I would cry, cry. Cannot find my mother or father,” he said. With no-one but himself to look after him, Thom describes the difficult process of getting food. “I ask the people, ‘where do you get the food?’, and they say off the monks,” he said. For two years, Thom lived with the Buddhist monks, and they took care of him, and fed him in exchange for work and chores he would do with other orphans at the monastery. However, this peace was short-lived. At age 14, the Cambodian Army soldiers came and took Thom away and recruited him as a child soldier to fight the Khmer Rouge. Thom recalls the very strict methods of discipline inflicted upon the soldiers, by their leaders. “They give us an AK-47, my first gun, and each boy carries a very heavy ammo pack on his back. “We must say ‘Not heavy Sir!’, if a boy complained it is too heavy, they would give him another 20 kilo to carry,” he said. This was not the only method of motivation Thom described. If five people were carrying an ammo box, and the leaders thought they were moving too slowly, they would shoot one of them. The four remaining would then move a lot faster. Not too long into his service, Thom was injured by an American claymore mine. Hot shrapnel from the claymore pierced his left arm, claiming it from the elbow down. He describes the treatment process in gruesome detail. “No painkiller, they use a wire to cut through”, Thom draws an imaginary line around his amputation, “I begged them, ‘please please just cut off’, but they said is not a clean cut and must do it this way,” he said. Being a child, Thom was still growing. This meant his bone would continue to grow out of the wound, and had to be operated on again several times. Thom still believes he was one of the lucky ones. Many people lost more than just an arm. Those that lost both arms and legs had no chance to survive. It was considered humane to give them an injection of water into the belly. “After about one hour, blood would come out,” Thom makes a motion from his nose, eyes and ears, “then they die,” he said. Thom was disappointed at the lack of government support for those that had lost limbs. He very much wanted to get a job being a tour guide for the famous temples at Angkor Wat. However the government said “No, because you cannot carry the bag for the tourist,” Thom said. The Vietnamese people are well-known for claiming victory in their war against the French initially, and then the United States and its allies. However Thom does not believe anyone can win in war. “Everybody lose,” he says Thom motions the tourists to stand, and they follow him out of the weapons display structure and onto a dirt path. The path is narrow and leads to a large crater-shaped hole in the ground. He points out several landmines (deactivated, of course), and describes how many bones were found while digging at this site. The tourists gasped as they gazed into the mass burial site. Leading on, Thom takes the tourists further along the dirt path, to another open-faced wooden structure. There are several boards which displayed photos behind glass, both during the war and of post-war clean-up. Thom goes on to describe the many programs which have been run to clear out un-exploded ordinance (UXO): grenades, cluster bombs and other explosives. Pointing to two celebrities that led campaigns to highlight the dangers posed by UXO, he asks the tourists if they recognise those in the photos. “Princess Diana,” one says. “Jackie Chan,” follows the other. The number of deaths recorded each year in Cambodia by landmines continues to drop. From staggering heights in the 1990’s, from 4,320 landmine deaths reported in 1996, down to 114 for the first seven months of 2012. Thom allows the tourists to view the many photos displayed behind the glass cases, before beckoning them on to his next and final speech site. The tourists take their seats again, and Thom adds more to the tourists’ brief understanding of his life. Thom believes himself very fortunate and credits an Australian missionary, named John, with taking him off the streets and giving him hope. John taught English to Thom through the bible, which Thom says gave him hope in life and humanity. Eventually, Thom found work at the War Museum in Siem Reap. There he gives guided tours, showing a vast array of the weapons used during the Civil War in Cambodia, as well as the Indo-China War, (Indo-China is the old name for the region covering: Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam). Despite all that has happened to him, Thom remains remarkable positive. At 37 years of age, he speaks with all the wisdom of an seasoned monk. He says his hope for the future comes from the developed world. He sees robotic arms being developed in the USA and Japan, and hopes that one day the technology may help not only him, but also his many countrymen in similar need. “I hope, in 20 years, you can come back and I can give you a hug,” he says to the tourists as they depart on their way.
Terrapin Beer Company is innovating and adding new beers the lineup all the time. The Athens, Georgia craft brewery used to be one of the most local craft breweries available on Florida shelves. Now, as Florida’s craft breweries have sprouted, changed, and evolved, Terrapin is working to keep sending some great beers to the Sunshine State, as well as keeping the hits rolling out. From the Terrapin Beer Company Newsletter: One of Terrapin’s new beers for 2015 will be a single-hop Double IPA from the Monster Beer Tour called “Hop Selection.” What is it? “Hop Selection” Single Hopped Imperial IPA is a celebration of our favorite hop from the current harvest. Whether it’s an old classic, a new variety, or an experimental standout, this beer will continue to change yearly showcasing our favorite hop of the season. Next up for Florida shelves? An old favorite in a new package: Hopsecutioner will be available soon in 12oz cans. Look for these to be shipping from the Georgia brewery in March.
EDMONTON — The season doesn’t start until June but the journey for the Edmonton Eskimos begins with three days in April. The Esks embark on their annual three-day mini-camp Sunday in Vero Beach, Fla., a date newly-hired head coach Jason Maas has had circled all off-season. For Maas and an Eskimos staff with many new faces, April 17-19 is about setting the tone early above all else. “The way I look at it is the 2016 season starts with your mini-camp, bottom line,” Maas said in an interview with TSN 1260’s Jason Gregor. “It’s the first time your coaching staff is with players that are potentially going to be with your team. “So yeah,” Maas continued. “I’m fired up for it and it’s a good dry run to our training camp and what to expect from it and you always want to start fast and furious.” Maas talked mini-camp and how the Esks’ offence might look in 2016 among other things in the 13-minute long interview with Gregor, which can be heard in its entirety on TSN.ca. It’s that time of year again in the CFL, when many teams hit the field for the first time in 2016 in voluntary organized team activities. The Riders were the first to assemble last week in historic Dodgertown, with more than 100 players working out in front of Chris Jones and the team’s new-look coaching staff. The Eskimos will be focused on two things primarily: first, creating a competitive environment, particularly at positions of need like defensive back; and second, getting a newly-designed offence on the ground running. Mike Reilly, Adarius Bowman and Deon Lacey will be among veterans heading down south, while the rest of the camp will be made up of CFL rookies hoping to earn an invitation to training camp come the end of May. On the defensive side of the ball, the Esks hope to generate come competition for the positions left by Otha Foster and Aaron Grymes, both of whom left as free agents. “We’re looking for competition and for the players that we’ve scouted through this whole off-season to come together and see what we have,” said Maas in the same interview. “We’re looking for players; we’ve got some holes to fill. There’s some competition to be had at training camp.” Offensively, meanwhile, Maas will look to get the offence moving faster. “For Mike and the other veterans it’s just about getting back to football and seeing what kind of shape they’re in,” he concluded. “We’re a little more fast-paced, more no huddle than they were last year. “It’s getting back to football more than anything. We’re six weeks out and we want to get things off on the right foot.” “We’re six weeks out and we want to get things off on the right foot.” Maas, a former CFL quarterback of 12 seasons with the Eskimos, Tiger-Cats and Alouettes, was hired to replace Jones following the Eskimos’ Grey Cup Championship back in November. Jones was courted and eventually hired by the Riders to take over the role of general manager as well as head coach, taking most of his coaching staff with him from Edmonton to Saskatchewan. The Esks hired Maas as Jones’ replacement. Now 40, Maas started his coaching career as an assistant to Scott Milanovich in Toronto before engineering one of the league’s top offences as an offensive coordinator in Ottawa, leading the second-year REDBLACKS to the Grey Cup. Edmonton kicks off its regular season on June 25 in a Grey Cup rematch with the REDBLACKS in Edmonton.
Entertainment Sector: Industry Sector: Education Sector: The Palace Grounds: Server IP : Play.Athion.net Additional Notes The City of Look is a 3+ year long, on and off project I have been building and remodelling. Some of the buildings have been rebuilt 2-3 times already but all include full interior and large amounts of detail. I have built 90+% of all exteriors and interiors with 10% being built by recruited friends and builders to fill in personalized shops. The city is currently divided into 4 sectors, Entertainment, Industry, Education, and The Palace. Below is a list of builds within the city based on their sector for you to check out.I will update this project page as the construction continues.Other Project Located inside the City! - (some builds may not be shown here)Dock HouseLook MallOutdoor Shop GallerySpawn Building / MuseumsTrain StationLook Immigration / Cultural CenterLook TV StudioCanal / Dam / Outdoor ShoppingBoat RaceGrass Growing Betting HallKingglo Koffee Brewery / Kustomer Kare / DockingThe Great Look Library / Burgundy PubProfessor Pwego's Office / Pwego Universtiy Admissions OfficePwego UniversityLook Main BridgeThe PalaceInterior thanks goes to Mr_Marc, Steblam, Littleredcow, Hemglassen, Phillies, Pitfallingpat, moviemaker2, Xcaliber, Dosycool, goodman, greytopher, Narugetsu, _No_life_king_, stamog, Sycoinc, Kingglo, zZonday, meomes, TheDoctor12, WizardlyJew, Wrightrj, robo_cop, minomizer, xxprec, and others I can't think of atm.
Sometimes the puppets control the puppeteer. It seems volcanic outbursts on Jupiter’s moon Io control brilliant auroras on its parent planet. Auroras are shimmering curtains of light caused when charged particles slam into a planet’s magnetic field. Earth’s northern and southern lights are active only when the sun releases a big blob of charged plasma, as it did on 24 January. Jupiter has a permanent ring of auroral light surrounding each of its poles (see photo). Most of the charged particles responsible for the light have long been thought to originate from tiny, hyperactive Io, which burps out about a tonne of sulphur per second in its persistent, violent volcanic activity. However, the sun was thought to cause any variations in the rings via changes in the pressure of the solar wind. New observations suggest that Io can control these changes as well. “Variations we thought were connected to the sun we now see are connected to the volcanic activity,” says Bertrand Bonfond of the University of Liège in Belgium. Advertisement Mega plume Bonfond and colleagues observed Jupiter and Io with the Hubble Space Telescope once a day between February and June 2007. In those five months, the team captured twice as much data as had been collected in the previous 10 years. “Never before did we have daily observations of the auroras,” Bonfond says. “[Until then] we couldn’t disentangle the day-by-day variations and the global trends.” Over that time, Jupiter’s constant auroral rings grew significantly, but it was not clear why. The solution came when NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft flew by Jupiter in May 2007 on its way to Pluto. The probe snapped spectacular images of a volcanic plume hundreds of kilometres high erupting out of Io’s surface. The influx of plasma from this huge eruption flooded Jupiter’s magnetic field, widening the auroral rings. “The auroras are really responding to this increased amount of material coming out of Io,” Bonfond says. Open question Margaret Kivelson of the University of California, Los Angeles, says the new paper shows that Io can control Jupiter’s auroras over long timescales. However, she says the sun is still a player on timescales of a day or so. “This does not rule out contributions from the solar wind,” she says. Team member Denis Grodent of the University of Liège agrees. “The question is certainly still open,” he says. “The role of the solar wind is unclear, because of the lack of long-term observations.” There are also other mysteries to be solved, like how the charged particles are accelerated along Jupiter’s magnetic field lines. For answers, Bonfond looks to the Juno spacecraft that launched last August and will reach Jupiter in 2016. “For the first time we can analyse [the magnetic interactions] on another planet than the Earth,” he says. “It will be a game-changer.” Journal reference: Geophysical Research Letters, DOI: 10.1029/2011gl050253
By now, we all know that being called a "birdbrain" isn’t really an insult; birds have been shown to have several higher-order cognitive skills that we previously thought only primates had the brains for. Jays are capable of episodic memory, parrots can solve multi-step puzzles and use a succession of tools to get a food item, and crows have even learned to use city traffic and stoplights to their advantage. Now, Science reports yet another cognitive area where birds are on par with primates: they have a sense of numbers. In 1998, a pair of researchers used a novel experiment to show that rhesus monkeys had numerical competence; in other words, they could use abstract numerical rules. The monkeys were shown a set of three images picturing one, two, and three items, and were trained to choose these images in ascending order. Once they had been trained to a certain accuracy level, they were shown numbers of items that they hadn’t necessarily seen before. The monkeys were generally able to choose the greater of the two numbers, even when they didn’t have experience with the values involved. Clearly, they had learned not only the values they were trained on, but also more abstract rules about numerosity. The authors of this week’s Science article tested pigeons in the same way. They were taught to order 35 different sets of images, all of which displayed one, two, or three items. Then, the setup changed: values up to nine were introduced. The pigeons were then shown a pair of two familiar numbers (such as two and three), one familiar and one unfamiliar number (such as one and seven), or two unfamiliar numbers (such as five and eight). Not surprisingly, the pigeons did well at the task comparing two numbers they had been trained on. However, they also performed very well on the other two tasks, choosing the greater number in more than 90 percent of the trials with the familiar-novel pairs, and about 75 percent of the time in the trials with the novel-novel pairs. The pigeons’ accuracy was lowest when the distance between the two numbers was small and when the ratio of the numbers was close to 1. Overall, the birds performed about as well as the rhesus monkeys had in the original experiment. Both species are certainly capable of learning a simple mathematical rule, then using that rule in a more abstract sense to handle new values. So the obvious question now is whether the two species share a common ancestor with a keen number sense, or whether they both acquired their numerical competence through convergent evolution. Unfortunately, as the answer so often is in science, we don’t know yet. Science, 2011. DOI: 10.1126/science.1213357 (About DOIs).
NORTH BEND, Ore. - State police appealed to the public for help identifying a vehicle seen near where a yearling doe was shot and left to rot in Coos County last month. The Oregon State Police Fish and Wildlife Division released a photograph of the vehicle seen in the area around the time the doe was shot on October 22. State police were called to the scene off Willanch Lane the next day. "No effort had been made to salvage any of the meat from the animal," police said of the yearling doe. The public is urged to call Oregon State Police Trooper Brian Koell through the Turn in Poachers (TIP) hotline at 1-800-452-7888 or 541-888-2677 ext 244. A reward of up to $500 is available in the case.
Scientists are taking the latest rumblings seriously: roughly 8000 years ago, after all, the volcanic leviathan let rip with the largest eruption of the past 10,000 years. "It is very difficult to predict exactly what will happen with an eruption," says Monash University vulcanologist Professor Ray Cas, who is president of the International Association for Volcanology and Chemistry of the Earth. "Some just fizzle out after relatively minor activity, while others develop into major eruptions," Cas says. To gauge the likelihood and extent of an eruption, scientists gather all manner of information, including earthquake patterns, ground movements and the complex chemistry of gases. "In this case, the eruption could just stop, or if the molten magma migrates under the glacial ice cap, a sub-glacial eruption could begin – with the potential to become very explosive," he says. "This is because of the super-heating melt-water at the base of the glacier." Radiating from Bardarbunga's crater is a fracture in the crust that trends towards the north-east, says another Monash earth scientist, Dr Patrick Hayman. Initially, he says, magma moved from a depth of up to 15 kilometres below the crater, to the tip of this fracture – then pushed and shoved its way further north-eastwards. "Many of the earthquakes recorded in recent weeks have been related to this movement of magma," Hayman notes. "The first eruption, last month, occurred about 5 kilometres north-east of the glacier's edge, forming what is known as a fissure eruption – a long, narrow crack from which magma erupts." "There is a real possibility of a showdown between the magma and ice." Dr Patrick Hayman, earth scientist Because of the connection between the fracture and the volcano, the concern has been that magma will rise beneath the glacier between the fissure and the volcanic crater. "So there is a real possibility of a showdown between the magma and ice," Hayman warns. Flood danger A recent inspection flight over the glacier found two depressions up to 35 metres deep, caused by the melting and collapse of removed ice. "Of course, one of the concerns is melting of large volumes of ice and the rapid release of this melt-water forming a flood," says Hayman. There is often the potential for explosive eruptions when magma and water interact. "The hot magma, when it comes in contact with water, can instantly chill, contract and fracture into small particles of volcanic glass that we call ash – our term for a particle of less than two millimetres," Hayman says. "However, these interactions don't always lead to explosive activity; often they only produce steam." Geoscientists have monitored magma in two ways. First, the volume of erupted magma has been calculated and, second, high-precision GPS monitors tracked the extent to which the ground had been deformed. "They found that changes in ground deformation – in other words, how much volume has been lost – correlate closely with the quantity of magma erupted on the surface," Hayman says. "So far, there doesn't seem to be any build-up of magma at depth." Seismic puzzle All volcanoes are the surface expression of magma "plumbing" systems that sit deep in the crust. In the case of Eyjafjallajökull, and now Bardarbunga, magma originating from the Earth's mantle gets stored in chambers within the crust. Pressure builds as more magma enters the system, resulting in earthquakes and fracturing of the crust. Eventually, the pressure becomes too great and magma is erupted. Most volcanoes are confined to zones along boundaries between crustal plates and are closely associated with earthquakes. Earthquakes, meanwhile, often occur at around the same time – even thousands of kilometres apart. This is one of the puzzles of seismology. Overturning a once widely held belief among seismologists that earthquakes in different areas are independent, studies in the US and Kazakhstan have shown increases in tectonic activity hundreds of kilometres from epicentres of large earthquakes. Geophysicists believe this is due to changes in parts of the crust resulting from earthquakes. Earthquakes and volcanoes are not periodic – they occur in irregular cycles. What's more, they do not relate to tides or seasons – or anything else for that matter. And yet large earthquakes often come in clusters lasting for days or weeks. In recent weeks, thousands of earthquakes – some greater than five on the Richter scale – have occurred in the vicinity of Iceland's Bardarbunga. These earthquake swarms, as they are known, tell vulcanologists about the way magma is moving in the crust. Earthquakes that are relatively close to one another may be related, Hayman says: "In fact, large earthquakes can trigger other quakes. This has been well documented with the earthquake associated with the Boxing Day tsunamis." All of the earth's huge crustal plates are linked, adds Cas, and stress that builds in one can sometimes be transmitted to an adjacent plate. Predictive power Some Russian and Chinese seismologists believe they can predict the occurrence of some earthquakes and volcanic eruptions. The Chinese, in fact, claim to have predicted almost half of all earthquakes of seven or more on the Richter scale since 1978. Using the level of water in wells to make their predictions, they realised that levels rise or fall according to whether water is being absorbed by, or streaming out, of aquifers. This, in turn, depends on motions within the earth. In keeping with the eastern notion of cyclicity and the interplay between opposites, the Chinese have found periodic changes in seismic activity in western China. One area might be active for, say, 150 years or so while another is dormant; the dormant area then becomes active for the next 150 years, and so on. Russian seismologists, meanwhile, have searched to identify seismic patterns that might help them predict the time, area and size of a quake. Their computer models, based on statistical analyses, occasionally raise false alarms, while some earthquakes go unpredicted. Western experts remain largely sceptical of these efforts. "I'm not aware of any technique that allows the exact timing and location of major earthquakes to be predicted," Professor Cas says. Once earthquakes become frequent in a particular region, it may be that they are followed by a major event, he suggests. "With volcanoes, precursor signals such as increased volcanic earthquakes, ground displacements and changes in the rates of gas release or gas composition can be used to indicate that an eruption is possible," he says. Precise forecasting, Cas notes, is rarely possible more than a few hours in advance: "But sometimes eruptions begin with little or no warning." On relatively short timescales of days or hours, scientists rely on a raft of techniques to predict volcanic activity. "For the current Icelandic eruption, for example, the magma about 10 kilometres down was tracked as it moved north-east over a number of days and came closer to the surface," Hayman says. "By this point we knew an eruption was very likely." Quakes: how they work The immensely powerful earth-moving forces that shape the continents are as active today as they were 4.5 billion years ago, when our planet was in the throes of being formed. Beneath the Earth's relatively thin, rigid crust lies a mantle of solid crystalline rock. At a depth of more than 100 kilometres or so, the rock is so hot that it's malleable and squishy and can flow like plasticine. Over aeons, the covering crust fragmented into colossal brittle sections called plates. There are seven main ones and several smaller chips off the old blocks, all moving and shoving against each other as they slide across the hot, soft mantle – not unlike boats being heaved across a sandy beach. The plates are continuously colliding and being forced under one another, a process called subduction. Occasionally, they fracture, causing earthquakes and volcanoes. Their effects can be felt soon afterwards from hundreds of kilometres away, because the elastic waves produced by an earthquake travel at between four and 10 kilometres a second. Others to watch Volcanoes come in three varieties: active (likely to explode again), dormant (no activity for many years) and extinct (no sign of activity for ages). Something like 1900 of the Earth's volcanoes are currently active. So which are the major ones to watch? There's evidence, experts say, for the accumulation of vast quantities of magma beneath Yellowstone National Park and Mount St Helens in the US, for example. Eruptions on the scale envisaged would have potentially devastating consequences, based on the effects of the last super-volcanic eruption of Toba in Indonesia, about 73,000 years ago. Read up Some geoscientists say a truly monstrous volcano might bring about the end of life, as we know it. Find out more in Bill McGuire's book, A Guide to the End of the World (Oxford University Press). Links Discover more about amazing Bardarbunga at: en.vedur.is/about-imo/news/nr/2968 Check out the International Association for Volcanology and Chemistry of the Earth at: iavcei.org/ At noon September 16 and 17, discover more about volcanoes, earthquakes and some of Mother Nature's other powerful phenomena, in the IMAX Melbourne Museum movie, Forces of Nature. Details: imaxmelbourne.com.au/movie/forces_of_nature/education VCAA links VELS: Levels 5 and 6 Science: vels.vcaa.vic.edu.au/vels/science.html Levels 5 and 6 Thinking Processes: vels.vcaa.vic.edu.au/vels/thinking.html Please send bright ideas for new topics to pspinks@fairfaxmedia.com.au
A new music festival will be one of the first events to take place at the newly renovated Los Angeles State Historic Park, LA Weekly reported Thursday. The event is called Skyline: Art, Music, Food and will take place on Saturday, May 20. Performing at the inaugural festival are Miike Snow, Lido, Duke Dumont, Eden, Michl, Elohim, and KCRW DJ Jason Bentley. LA Weekly reported the festival is being produced by Radio Hill, a new collective of concert producers, talent buyers, and festival planners with KCRW, Space Yacht, and DoLA as partners. Los Angeles State Historic Park has been closed since April 2014 and will re-open on April 22. It formerly hosted FYF Fest, HARD Summer, and various other events. Skyline Festival is listed as a 21-and-up event. General admission tickets are priced at $40.00 with VIP tickets priced at $85.00. Tickets go on sale Friday, March 31 at 12 noon Pacific Time. BUY TICKETS TO SKYLINE FESTIVAL ON MAY 20 Set times have been released! Check them out below:
If you want to make Kevin Martin roll his eyes, just call him a Reality TV star. “I don’t identify with that word at all. Especially, there’s something with the American shows, they get a little bit of fame, but a Canadian reality TV star is even more of an asterisk,” said Martin, who was a contestant on Big Brother Canada in 2015. “It feels like a long time ago, yeah. Time goes fast though. As soon as you invest in your projects, time goes very fast.” Evicted after seven weeks, Martin, now a member of Team PokerStars Online, turned his energy back to poker as soon as he was back home. Before being cast on Big Brother he had met Jaime Staples at a small cash game in Lethbridge, Alberta and the two hit it off right away – even if it only happened because Staples was owning Martin in nearly every pot. “I bought in for $200 and there was this kid whose name was Jaime, and he just beat me in every pot. He called me when I had a bluff and he folded when I had the nuts,” recalled Martin. “He just read me like a book every time, I was like, ‘How are you doing this?’ He was like, ‘Well …’ and he coached me. He helped me out in my poker progression pretty quickly.” That was three and half years ago now and Martin calls Staples his best friend. When Staples jumped on Twitch and started streaming, Martin took notice and saw it as an opportunity to follow suit and, just like poker, learn from Staples. “To have someone where I can not only talk hands with, and talk details with, but to say, ‘Hey Jaime, I’m going to do this on my stream, what do you think about this?’ It’s very, very valuable,” said Martin, who now lives with Staples in Montreal along with Matthew Staples and a new addition to the house. “Jeff Gross just moved in too, so there’s four of us full time streamers. The saying is you don’t want to be the smartest person in the room and I’ve definitely had that early in my content creation and poker career,” said Martin while in Atlantic City for the PokerStars Live Festival New Jersey. “I’ve just had some really good relationships with some very successful people that have given me advice, helped me out and really, really sped up my progress.” Before Martin was a poker pro or a reality TV star, worked as a radio host and has an education in broadcasting, so he took to streaming pretty quickly and built up his audience. PokerStars took notice and despite his relative inexperience, began talking to him about coming on board as a sponsored pro. “PokerStars approached me last spring and they said, ‘Hey Kevin, we like your channel, we like how you represent Poker’, I was blown away by the phone call because in the history of Poker Stars, they’ve sponsored players in the top one percent, in the top point five percent, they’ve sponsored players who have made a six figure living from Poker,” said Martin. “Don’t get me wrong, I’m a good poker player, I definitely represent the game well, I work my ass of to study and get better, but I’m not a world class Poker player.” Martin’s sharp enough to know he’s not Jason Mercier or Vanessa Selbst or Daniel Negreanu but has developed a following and has a responsibility of sorts to be the player that can serve as a model of success for players not regularly playing $10K buy-in events around the world. “I would love to represent that person that plays medium and small stakes and is working on their game. That would be a huge blessing. I was a little bit nervous actually,” said Martin. “And I got a little bit of a negative outreach from the regular community because there’s a lot of better poker players out there that didn’t market themselves as well, that didn’t gain an audience as well and PokerStars asked me and it was a tremendous blessing,” One of the strengths of Martin’s stream is his ability to make himself relatable to almost anybody tuning in and not take himself too seriously. There may not have been a better display of that than last May when Martin got a knock on the door while streaming. “It was last spring, I got a knock on the door and I’d just fired up a bunch of tournaments, and this very flamboyant Chinese man was asking for charity money, he was a charity worker. He was like, ‘Do you have time?’ I was like, ‘I don’t have time, but do you want to come in?’,” said Martin. “We invited him in and we ended up having drinks and this this flamboyant Chinese man drank at my house for four hours and we just got pretty loaded on stream, it was amazing.” Rather than not answer the door at all or hurriedly send the charity worker on his way, Martin embraced the opportunity. After introdcing “Billy” on the stream, Martin played through his regular tournament schedule teaching Billy poker along the way. The more Martin and Billy talked over the course of the four hours, the more viewers Martin attracted. Last month Martin, along with the Staples brothers and Gross, used their stream to give something back and ended up raising over $21,000 for charity. “Gross was roommates with Michael Phelps, so he wanted to do something for his charity and we all got behind the idea. It was just instantly yes, yes, yes, yes. We actually thought of the idea on aFriday and we started it Sunday morning,” said Martin. The four players agreed to stream 24 hours a day for 7 days straight to raise money for the Michael Phelps Foundation. “One of us was always live, Matt had the night shift, I had the evening shift, Jaime had the morning shift, Jeff had the afternoon shifts so he could play the high stakes, and yeah, we streamed for what, a hundred and eighty hours straight, the four of us,” said Martin. “People donated, a hundred percent of the donations went toward the foundation, we gave pieces of our tournaments when we ran deep.” The streamathon was so well received and so successful that they’re already planning to do it again. “It was amazing. It’s something I think we’re going to revisit, I mean we had a really big success there, I think we’re just going to chill, do our own streams, and possibly put something together this spring,” said Martin.
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Then this clone fades in and padding class being removed from $items and absolute position removed from inserted clone */ function insertNewClone() { var $clone = clones["clone"+cloneCounter]; $clone.addClass("absPos hidden"); $items.prepend($clone).addClass("padded"); $clone.css("top"); $clone.removeClass("hidden"); $clone.find(".item__icon").addClass("animated"); cloneCounter++; if (cloneCounter > 3) cloneCounter = 1; setTimeout(function() { $items.removeClass("padded"); $clone.removeClass("absPos"); }, 300); }; /* This looks messy, but basically I'm storing tree parts paths D attributes as arrays and X&Y coordinates of middle points. */ function storeTreeCoords() { var treeId, treeObj, trunkTop, leafsTop; $trees.forEach(function($tree) { treeId = $tree.getAttribute("data-id"); treesData["tree"+treeId] = {}; treeObj = treesData["tree"+treeId]; treeObj.isRight = $tree.classList.contains("m--right"); treeObj.$treeTrunk = $tree.querySelector(".svgBg__tree-trunk"); treeObj.$treeLeafs = $tree.querySelector(".svgBg__tree-leafs"); treeObj.trunkInitArrD = treeObj.$treeTrunk.getAttribute("d").split(" "); treeObj.leafsInitArrD = treeObj.$treeLeafs.getAttribute("d").split(" "); trunkTop = treeObj.trunkInitArrD[2]; leafsTop = treeObj.leafsInitArrD[3]; treeObj.trunkInitX = +trunkTop.split(",")[0]; treeObj.leafsInitX = +leafsTop.split(",")[0]; treeObj.trunkInitY = +trunkTop.split(",")[1]; treeObj.leafsInitY = +leafsTop.split(",")[1]; }); }; storeTreeCoords(); /* Each tree consists of two parts - trunk and leafs. Both of these parts created with two quadratic bezier curves (left and right sides). Trunk created with C curve, leafs with Q curve. Here you can find good explanation about them: http://tutorials.jenkov.com/svg/path-element.html Basically, I'm just changing middle point X coordinate of each part and it's affects both curves, so this looks like I'm magically tilt these trees */ function tiltTrees(x) { var treeId, treeObj, trunkArr, leafsArr, changeX; $trees.forEach(function($tree) { treeId = $tree.getAttribute("data-id"); treeObj = treesData["tree"+treeId]; trunkArr = treeObj.trunkInitArrD.slice(); leafsArr = treeObj.leafsInitArrD.slice(); changeX = (treeObj.isRight) ? x : -x; trunkArr[2] = (treeObj.trunkInitX + changeX/2) + "," + treeObj.trunkInitY; leafsArr[3] = (treeObj.leafsInitX + changeX) + "," + treeObj.leafsInitY; treeObj.$treeTrunk.setAttribute("d", trunkArr.join(" ")); treeObj.$treeLeafs.setAttribute("d", leafsArr.join(" ")); }); }; /* Moving mountains and tree <g> elements with transform translateY transform-origin's hardcoded for each element in css and scales with viewBox */ function moveBgs() { $bg1.css({"-webkit-transform": "translate3d(0,"+bg1change+"px, 0)", "transform": "translate3d(0,"+bg1change+"px, 0)"}); $bg2.css({"-webkit-transform": "translate3d(0,"+bg2change+"px, 0)", "transform": "translate3d(0,"+bg2change+"px, 0)"}); $bg3.css({"-webkit-transform": "translate3d(0,"+bg3change+"px, 0)", "transform": "translate3d(0,"+bg3change+"px, 0)"}); $leftTrees.css({"-webkit-transform": "translate3d(0,"+bg2change+"px, 0)", "transform": "translate3d(0,"+bg2change+"px, 0)"}); $rightTrees.css({"-webkit-transform": "translate3d(0,"+bg3change+"px, 0)", "transform": "translate3d(0,"+bg3change+"px, 0)"}); }; function checkMaxBgValues() { if (bg1change > bg1max) bg1change = bg1max; if (bg2change > bg2max) bg2change = bg2max; if (bg3change > bg3max) bg3change = bg3max; }; // applies changes for all elements function applyChanges(topY) { $top.css("height", topH + topY + "px"); moveBgs(); tiltTrees(treeChange); $planeRotater.css({"-webkit-transform": "rotate("+planeChange+"deg)", "transform": "rotate("+planeChange+"deg)"}); }; /* calculates numbers for applyChanges function, when you are using mousemove/touchmove pull event */ function pullChange(y) { if (y < 0) y = 0; if (y > maxPullDeltaY) y = maxPullDeltaY; bg1change = bg2change = bg3change = y; checkMaxBgValues(); treeChange = y * treeMaxCoef; planeChange = y * planeMaxCoef; applyChanges(y); }; /* calculates numbers for applyChanges function, when release event is fired */ function releaseChange(props) { bg1change = bg2change = bg3change = props.bgY; checkMaxBgValues(); treeChange = props.treeVal * treeMaxCoef; planeChange = props.planeDeg * planeMaxCoef; applyChanges(props.topY); }; function release() { // number of frames, which you need to animate with requestAnimationFrame var steps = Math.floor(releaseTime / frame); var curStep = 0; var topY, bgY, treeVal, planeDeg; var y = pullDeltaY; if (y > maxPullDeltaY) y = maxPullDeltaY; var releasePlane = y >= maxPullDeltaY/2; animating = true; // prevents from pull event during animation // if you pulled more than 1/2 of maxPullDeltaY - starts the plane flight animation if (releasePlane) { $plane.addClass("fly"); // adds class to plane with keyframes animation setTimeout(function() { // when animation is over, allow pull events, remove keyframes class and add new clone animating = false; $plane.removeClass("fly"); insertNewClone(); }, planeAnimTime); } /* this function fires each available frame, until animation will be over (curStep > steps) */ function animate() { curStep++; // applies different easings for different groups of elements topY = easings.elastic(curStep, y, 0 - y, steps); bgY = easings.elastic(curStep, y, 0 - y, steps); treeVal = easings.elasticBig(curStep, y, 0 - y, steps); planeDeg = easings.inCubic(curStep, y, 0 - y, steps); releaseChange({topY: topY, bgY: bgY, treeVal: treeVal, planeDeg: planeDeg}); if (curStep > steps) { pullDeltaY = 0; // if pulled less than 1/2 of maxPullDeltaY - allow pull event earlier if (!releasePlane) animating = false; return; } requestAnimFrame(animate); } animate(); }; /* On mousedown/touchstart, attaches mousemove/touchmove events for dynamic pull change events. When mouseup/touchend event fired - runs release function and removes move/end events */ $(document).on("mousedown touchstart", ".demo__body", function(e) { if (animating) return; // prevents from pulling during the release animation var startY = e.pageY || e.originalEvent.touches[0].pageY; $(document).on("mousemove touchmove", function(e) { var y = e.pageY || e.originalEvent.touches[0].pageY; pullDeltaY = (y - startY) / 1.5; // slightly slow pull event for better experience if (!pullDeltaY) return; // prevents from rapid click events pullChange(pullDeltaY); }); $(document).on("mouseup touchend", function() { $(document).off("mousemove touchmove mouseup touchend"); if (!pullDeltaY) return; // prevents from rapid click events release(); }); }); // source - http://davidwalsh.name/javascript-debounce-function function debounce(func, wait, immediate) { var timeout; return function() { var context = this, args = arguments; var later = function() { timeout = null; if (!immediate) func.apply(context, args); }; var callNow = immediate && !timeout; clearTimeout(timeout); timeout = setTimeout(later, wait); if (callNow) func.apply(context, args); }; }; /* redifine max values for desktop/mobile all other things scales with rem units and viewBox */ var resizeFn = debounce(function() { isDesktop = window.matchMedia("(min-width: 769px)").matches; topH = (isDesktop) ? 186 : 149; bg1max = (isDesktop) ? 10 : 8; bg2max = (isDesktop) ? 22 : 18; bg3max = (isDesktop) ? 44 : 35; maxPullDeltaY = (isDesktop) ? 70 : 56; treeMaxX = (isDesktop) ? 18 : 14; }, 100); $(window).on("resize", resizeFn); }); !
Share This Article: USD was narrowly defeated by Pepperdine 50-47 Saturday afternoon in the quarterfinals of the West Coast Conference Tournament at the Orleans Arena in Las Vegas. Support Times of San Diego's growth with a small monthly contribution Become a supporter The No. 5 seed Toreros (15-16, 8-10) led No. 4 seed Pepperdine 24-18 at halftime, but a 9-0 run by the Waves midway through the second half brought them within striking distance, and they would not look back. Both teams battled close the rest of the way, however the Toreros were not able to tie it up on a halfcourt shot by senior guard Johnny Dee that missed a little to the left in the final seconds of the game. Dee finished with 11 points, which was tied for the team-high with freshman guard Vasa Pusica. Pepperdine will now face off against Gonzaga—No. 7 in the AP Top-25 poll— in the semifinals of the tournament while the Toreros will look to various postseason tournaments to keep their season alive. USD coach Bill Grier told Times of San Diego last week that the Toreros have been in discussion about playing in the College Basketball Invitational (CBI) and the College Insider.com Postseason Tournament (CIT). Last season USD won two games in the CIT, but were defeated by Pacific in the quarterfinals. “Those tournaments really have a lot of value for our program,” Grier said. “It gives you an opportunity to continue to play and it can give your younger players a taste of the postseason. It was a good experience for us last year.” However, Grier noted that a win on Saturday would have put them in a “good position” to be in one of those tournaments. The CIT has a field of 32 and will begin on March 17 while the CBI has a field of 16 teams and also begins play on March 17. Toreros Lose in Conference Tournament, Await Postseason Fate was last modified: by >> Subscribe to Times of San Diego’s free daily email newsletter! Click here Follow Us:
"Davey" Boyd, an honorary member of the St. George Fire Department, beamed with pride Tuesday morning as he stood in uniform beside three firefighters during the unveiling of the southwestern New Brunswick town's new fire truck. By lunchtime, firefighters from St. George and at least four neighbouring communities were battling a blaze at the home Boyd shared with his two brothers and their elderly mother, who cared for them. The bodies of three men and a woman were discovered inside the home after the fire, leaving the tight-knit community of about 1,500 people heartbroken. Foul play is not suspected in the deaths, RCMP say. Autopsies were conducted Wednesday morning in Saint John on the four victims, Const. Isabelle Beaulieu told CBC News. David (Davey) Boyd, one of the deceased, was an honourary member of the St. George Fire Department, who was honoured in December for 40 years service. (Facebook) "At this point, foul play is not suspected in their deaths, but it's still under investigation," she said. The investigation into the cause of the fire is continuing, Beaulieu said. She expected to have more information later in the day, but as of 6:30 p.m., none had been released. The names of the victims have not been officially released by police, but CBC News learned the house at 25 South St. was owned by Esther Boyd, David Bruce Boyd, Robert Brian Boyd and William Boyd. Area residents say Esther Boyd was in her 80s and had been taking care of her three sons, believed to be in their 40s to late-50s, since her husband died more than 30 years ago. "She did have a lot of challenges, you know, a lot in her home to deal with, and she never complained. You would never know it," said Mary Leigh LeBlanc. "Everybody respected her in the community. "We're going to really miss her and we love her and there is a place in heaven for her and all of those boys." She probably wouldn't want it any other way — that everybody went the same time —because that was a concern of hers. She always said, 'I don't know what would happen to my boys.' - Daniel LeBlanc, grocery store owner LeBlanc's husband, Daniel LeBlanc, the owner of Independent Grocer, described Boyd as a "true blue." "She never had nothing bad to say about anything," said LeBlanc, who picked her up every Saturday at 7 a.m., before the store opened, to get her groceries, and then drove her home in his truck, just like the owner before him did. 'We never missed one Saturday for as long as I can remember, since before I started working here, and I started when I was 13," said LeBlanc. Daniel LeBlanc and his wife, Mary Leigh LeBlanc, fought back tears as they shared some of their memories of Esther Boyd. (Rachel Cave/CBC) The thought of not picking her up this Saturday is "heart-wrenching," he said. "I just feel so bad, but I know she probably wouldn't want it any other way — that everybody went the same time —because that was a concern of hers. She always said, 'I don't know what would happen to my boys.'" 'Like a little brother' The St. George Fire Department has named its new fire truck in honour of David "Davey" Boyd. (Facebook) The St. George Fire Department requested more time Wednesday before making a statement on the loss of Davey Boyd, who was just recognized in December for 40 years of honorary service. The town's new fire truck now bears her son's name: David B. Boyd 1961-2017. "A nice, lasting tribute," Dwayne Richards posted under a photo of the truck on the town's Facebook page. "Very fitting," commented Elizabeth Myles Stackhouse. The firefighters are still shaken and distraught, town staff told CBC News. People have been dropping off homemade soup, sandwiches, cookies and pies for them. Boyd was like a little brother to the firefighters, and helped keep the trucks "shiny and clean," said Cecily Stewart and Courtney Dodd, who were still close to tears themselves. Town staff told CBC News on Wednesday the firefighters are very shaken and distraught. People have been dropping off food for them. (Rachel Cave/CBC) Stewart and Dodd both work at The Birch Grove Restaurant, which Boyd visited every day at 1:30 p.m., regardless of the weather. "Davey came faithfully every day" and would have celebrated his 56th birthday on Saturday, said Stewart. He liked hamburgers, french fries and gravy, she said. "The girls yesterday, I wasn't working, but they did get the call yesterday [about the fatal fire] just about the time that he would have arrived for his lunch." On Wednesday, the restaurant had white flowers in a vase at Boyd's regular table, No. 13, along with a "reserved" sign and photograph of him in uniform. It will remain reserved in his memory for three days, said Stewart. Cecily Stewart, a waitress at The Birch Grove Restaurant for nine years, tears up talking about Davey Boyd's daily visits. (CBC) "He was always pleasant, happy … There wasn't anything you could say about Davey that wasn't great," said Stewart. "He tugged at your heart," she said. "If he trusted you, he loved you. In return, I guess we loved him too." Boyd "absolutely loved his community," said Fundy-The Isles-Saint John West MLA Rick Doucet. Our focus right now is our fire department as they are grieving for one of their own. - Crystal Cook, St. George mayor "This is pretty devastating for something like this to happen," said Doucet. "It's sad and very difficult for a small community." Town staff said they believe a memorial service may be held outside to accommodate everyone. Doucet said he knew something was wrong when he heard the sirens from the local fire trucks that were racing down South Street. When he got to the scene, he described it as "surreal." He said the Boyds used to own the local hardware store and he has fond memories of going into the store and being greeted by the family. "It was just a way of life down here," he said. A tragedy The house, located at 25 South St., was still cordoned off with yellow caution tape on Wednesday and a police cruiser was parked in the driveway. (Rachel Cave/CBC) Mayor Crystal Cook described Tuesday's fire as a "tragedy for the community." "We lost a beloved family and a loved honorary member of our fire team in St. George for the last 40 years," she said in an email to CBC News. Cook said the town has received an outpouring of support from residents and surrounding communities. She said residents are "eternally grateful" to the local fire departments, including St. Stephen, Saint Andrews and Fundy Bay, that also came to help the community on Tuesday. "Our focus right now is our fire department as they are grieving for one of their own," she said. "In the coming days it will be a struggle, but I believe as a community and with resources from critical incident debriefing, we will help our members get through the oncoming days."
The High Druid’s Blade by Terry Brooks will publish March 11, August 2014 in the US and the UK! It is the first stand-alone novel in Shannara since the publication of First King of Shannara, one of three stand-alone novels that will be published in the Defenders of Shannara series. These three books will lead into the concluding Shannara trilogy that Terry plans to write in the next few years. To celebrate the upcoming release of The High Druid’s Blade, Terry and Del Rey Books have released the first two chapters of the book! Click HERE to read (must have Adobe Reader)! Here is more about The High Druid’s Blade: Legend has it that Paxon Leah is descended from the royals and warriors who once ruled the Highlands and waged war with magical weapons. But those kings, queens, and heroes are long gone, and there is nothing enchanted about the antique sword that hangs above Paxon’s fireplace. Running his family’s modest shipping business, Paxon leads a quiet life—until extraordinary circumstances overturn his simple world . . . and rewrite his destiny. When his brash young sister is abducted by a menacing stranger, Paxon races to her rescue with the only weapon he can find. And in a harrowing duel, he is stunned to discover powerful magic unleashed within him—and within his ancestors’ ancient blade. But his formidable new ability is dangerous in untrained hands, and Paxon must master it quickly because his nearly fatal clash with the dark sorcerer Arcannen won’t be his last. Leaving behind home and hearth, he journeys to the keep of the fabled Druid order to learn the secrets of magic and earn the right to become their sworn protector. But treachery is afoot deep in the Druids’ ranks. And the blackest of sorcery is twisting a helpless innocent into a murderous agent of evil. To halt an insidious plot that threatens not only the Druid order but all the Four Lands, Paxon Leah must summon the profound magic in his blood and the legendary mettle of his elders in the battle fate has chosen him to fight. Terry and I both hope you enjoy the excerpt! If you would like a signed copy of the book, The Signed Page is now accepting orders. The High Druid’s Blade by Terry Brooks publishes March 11, August 2014! Leah! Leah!
AURORA | If you’re going to catch ’em all at all hours, you’re going to need an adult. The breakout success of the Pokemon GO smartphone game — in which users travel to use a GPS-based augmented reality interface to ‘catch’ the popular Nintendo characters and build up their powers — has tested some young players’ limits against the city’s long-standing juvenile curfew. Aurora Police officials took to social media late Wednesday night, July 13, to remind the public that anyone under 18 is not allowed to loiter on streets, sidewalks, parks or other outdoor areas between 11 p.m. and 5 a.m. without a parent, guardian or other adult 21 or older accompanying them; the curfew on Friday and Saturday nights kicks in an hour later at midnight. The combination of many Aurora students being on summer break with the game’s exceptional popularity has led to hundreds of residents combing the city for the various digital “Pokestops” (areas where in-game items can be obtained) and Pokemon gyms (where players can train and battle their characters). Businesses such as Nick’s Garden Center off South Chambers Road and the Brunswick Lanes bowling alley near Overland High School have seen a surge in the transient packs of players, briefly stopping to search for rare Pokemon and stock up on in-game gear. Aurora’s Mission Viejo Library has capitalized on being one of the game’s real-world pit stops by urging budding Pokemon masters to stop in for books while coming by to access the in-game PokeGym located at the site. While PC and console gamers may sit at home sipping Mountain Dew and playing well into the morning hours, Pokemon Go users are being reminded that Aurora’s municipal code requires them to have an adult on hand if they’re going to continue their quest while much of the rest of the city sleeps. Loitering, as defined by the city, is “remaining idle in essentially one location, to be dilatory, to tarry, to dawdle and shall include, but not be limited to, standing around, hanging out, sitting, kneeling, sauntering or prowling.” In the three weeks prior to the July 6 launch of Pokemon Go, Aurora police only issued one curfew violation. In the last week, the number is up to two. Violators are subject to a warning or $25 fine; unpaid fines can lead to a warrant to hold a violator’s driver’s license.
Image caption The government plans to begin the closure of the prison on 18 July Inmates at Bolivia's biggest prison have said they are protesting against government plans to close the jail. They said they should instead be helped to integrate back into society. Bolivia's prison service said shutting down San Pedro prison in La Paz would put an end to "cocaine trafficking and other abuses" carried out by prisoners. The decision follows allegations that a 12-year-old girl became pregnant inside the jail after being repeatedly raped by her imprisoned father and other men. 'No proof' But a spokesman for the prisoners, Ever Quilche, denied the rape and said the girl was "fine". "There is no proof that the girl was raped, mistreated or touched," he told the BBC. "We are waiting for medical tests so that we can deny the allegation." We cannot control the police. They have orders to stop drugs and alcohol from entering the prison, but to no avail Ramiro Llanos, Head of Bolivia's prison service The girl, who ha been taken into care, was among several hundred children with no alternative but to live in the San Pedro jail while their relatives serve their sentences. The minors share living space with violent criminals including murderers, rapists, gang members and drug dealers. "We have been abandoned and we don't know what to do if the jail closes," Mr Quilche complained. "We need jobs and education so that we can be reintegrated into society." 'Enough with the abuses' But the head of the prison service, Ramiro Llanos, said the alleged rape was "the straw that broke the camel's back". "We have had enough of abuses being committed inside the jail," he told the BBC. "We cannot control the police. They have orders to stop drugs and alcohol from entering the prison, but to no avail. "So we will close down the prison altogether." Mr Llanos explained that no more criminals will be imprisoned there from 18 July, and those already inside will be relocated or released in the next few years. Originally intended to house around 600 inmates, San Pedro prison now has more than 2,400 prisoners. Correspondents say the operation of the jail, in central La Paz, has been the subject of constant criticism for its poor infrastructure and overcrowding.
Breaking News Emails Get breaking news alerts and special reports. The news and stories that matter, delivered weekday mornings. Nov. 16, 2017, 7:26 PM GMT / Updated Nov. 16, 2017, 7:26 PM GMT By Mark Murray President Donald Trump has insisted, for months, that the Republican tax plan he supports won’t benefit him. “It’s not good for me. Believe me,” he said at a Sept. 27 event in Indiana to sell the plan. “My plan is for the working people, and my plan is for jobs. I don’t benefit,” he also said that day. And earlier this month, according to NBC News, Trump told a group of Democratic senators in a phone call, "My accountant called me and said 'you're going to get killed in this bill.’” In fact, Trump and his heirs potentially could save more than $1 billion overall under the GOP tax proposal that the House of Representatives passed Thursday, with most of that amount coming from a repeal of the estate tax, according to an analysis NBC News commissioned of Trump’s one known 2005 tax return and his estimated net worth. Trump would save more than $20 million himself, according to the analysis of how the legislation affects his 2005 tax return, and his heirs could potentially save $1.1 billion based on his reported wealth. Unlike other past presidents and presidential nominees, Trump has refused to release his income taxes, saying that the federal government is auditing his returns. So it’s impossible to know, precisely, how the House bill would impact the president’s taxes. But based on a known 2005 return of Trump’s taxes, Maury Cartine, a tax expert at Marcum LLP, says the House legislation would have saved the president more than $31 million in the Alternative Minimum Tax he paid that year — because the bill repeals that tax. “The repeal of the Alternative Minimum Tax would result in an initial federal income tax savings of $31,261,179,” Cartine said in analyzing the House bill based upon Trump’s 2005 tax return. Cartine adds, however, that the current capital-gains tax — which is higher now than it was in 2005 — plus a tax on investment income and the elimination of some itemized deductions would reduce that savings to $22.6 million, according to that 2005 tax return. Yet the legislation’s biggest benefit to Trump and his family is its repeal of the federal estate tax by 2024. Under current law, the heirs of estates above $5.5 million for an individual and $11 million for a married couple must pay a 40 percent tax on the estate. “Provided that Donald and Melania are still living at that time, the combined estates of Donald Trump and [his wife] will save $400 million of federal estate tax for every billion dollars of net assets,” said Cartine, who is the partner in charge of tax and business services at Marcum LLP, a national accounting and advisory firm that NBC News has relied on in the past for tax analysis. Given Trump’s estimated net worth of $2.86 billion, per Bloomberg’s Billionaires Index, that savings comes to $1.1 billion by 2024. Trump has claimed his net worth is much higher than $2.86 billion. Cartine says that it’s unclear how much another major component of the House bill — limiting the tax rate on business income to 25 percent — would affect Trump due to a lack of information from that 2005 tax return. “While the payment of substantial self-employment tax may be indicative of ‘qualified business income,’ the information reported on pages 1 and 2 of the 2005 Form 1040 are not sufficient to permit any conclusions one way or the other,” Cartine said of the 2005 tax return. NBC News reached out to the Trump White House to comment on the analysis, but it didn’t immediately respond. Cartine’s analysis isn’t the only one indicating that wealthy Americans like Trump will benefit under the House bill. The nonpartisan Tax Policy Center has said that while taxes would be reduced, on average, by nearly $1,000 by 2027, the Top 1 percent of all taxpayers would get a cut of more than $62,000, while the Top 0.1 percent would get an average cut of $320,000. And back in September – after Republicans first introduced their tax proposal – the New York Times also estimated that Trump and his family could save more than $1 billion under the plan.
Gaia wrote: well.. hopperhtkn wrote: [General] Artist should be "れをる" same as Amamiya Yuko's Mapset Only in Promotion movie has "Vocal : Reol" but it's not true Source like this what makes you think his set is correct then? but if you're looking for a source.. then here's what it looks like in the actual cd p/3963623 [Kibboo's Insane] 01:25:632 - It's useless Inherited Point. You should remove this [P A N's Extra] 00:10:632 - Useless Inherited Point 00:19:763 - ^ 00:49:844 - ^ 01:25:632 - ^ 02:20:415 - ^ green lines, well.. pretty useless telling me now when i cant do anything about them.. but in any case its not that big of an issue to cause a dq anyways so yeah green lines, well.. pretty useless telling me now when i cant do anything about them.. but in any case its not that big of an issue to cause a dq anyways so yeah Actually her official introduced herself as "れをる" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-RGctbcrfk8 So Artist "れをる" Romanised Artist "Reol" is the most naturall form for japanese people.However I can't say that souce is not correct. So yeah you can keep this artist name.I think either source is probably fine. so in the next time , I hope you (and others) to use Japanese "れをる" when making her map! thank you.
One of Theresa May’s more memorable screw-ups, in an election campaign not short of them, came on Question Time at the start of June, when a nurse, who had not had a pay rise since 2009 gently queried when this might change. The prime minister sympathised (at least, I assume that’s what she was trying to do). But, she added, “I’m being honest with you ... There isn’t a magic money tree that we can shake.” Tuesday briefing: Bung parliament – May's £1bn bill for DUP support Read more That was nonsense. OK, money isn’t infinite, and choices have to be made. But one of the choices the Conservative party had made was to get spending down, in part by leaning hard on public sector wages. Other options, like higher taxes, had not been chosen. What’s more, Britain controls its own currency and money supply. In a very real sense, there is a magic money tree: the Tories had simply decided not to shake it. And lo, it came to pass that, shorn of her majority, May found her magic money tree. It was growing, it turned out, in Ulster, watered by the party’s desperation for the votes of the Democratic Unionist party. The “confidence and supply” deal which will keep them in power, at least for the moment, comes with price tag of £1bn. Amazing what you can find in trees, isn’t it? In 2019, it’s up for negotiation again. Lucky there are no other economic crises due to hit the economy before then, eh? It’s worth taking a moment to spell out what a billion quid buys you these days. Some £400m will go on new physical infrastructure; £150m on better broadband, and £100m (over five years) will tackle deprivation. Another £350m – where have I seen that number before? – will go to the health and education services. A million here, a million there, and before you know it you’re talking real money. (The Northern Ireland executive will get greater control over what happens to another £500m in its existing budget.) In all, the deal is worth the equivalent of £537 for every person in Northern Ireland – or, if you prefer, £100m for every DUP vote in the House of Commons. That’s only for the next two years, though. In 2019, it’s up for negotiation again. Lucky there are no other economic crises due to hit the British economy in the first half of 2019, eh? It’d be unfair misleading to extrapolate from that figure, to frame it in terms of what it’s worth in the rest of the UK. But I’m an unfair and misleading person, so I’m going to do it anyway. Around 1.8m people live in Northern Ireland. Extrapolating based on population size, this is the equivalent of an extra £1.6bn in Wales, an extra £2.8bn in Scotland, or an extra £28.5bn in England. Facebook Twitter Pinterest ‘Another £350m – where have I seen that number before? – will go to the health and education services. A million here, a million there, and before you know it you’re talking real money.’ Photograph: Jack Taylor/Getty Images In some ways, over two years, the combined £34bn that results if you imagine the DUP deal going UK-wide isn’t that huge a sum: it’s enough to keep the NHS running for just over three months. On the other hand, it amounts to over £325m a week of extra money, which isn’t that far off the number we all saw plastered on a bus not that long ago. It’s real money that Theresa May is throwing at Northern Ireland, in order to cling on to power. Little wonder that the first ministers of Scotland and Wales respectively described it as “grubby” and “a bung”. It was Jeremy Corbyn, though, who asked the biggest question: “Will all parts of the UK receive the much-needed additional funding?” The answer, so far, seems to be no: the Barnett formula pegs spending in the three Celtic nations to that in England, not the other way around. But there is a difference between legal requirements and political ones, and while there may be no mechanism to get spending flowing again in the other three nations, public demand can create a momentum all of its own. Theresa May faces backlash from Scotland and Wales over £1bn Tory-DUP deal Read more None of this is to say that Northern Ireland shouldn’t have the money. Its citizens have the lowest average incomes of any of the four UK nations. A progressive state should invest in its poorer regions. But while average incomes may be higher, mainland Britain contains plenty of less prosperous regions of its own. Cornwall, the Tees Valley, South Yorkshire and West Wales all rank among the poorest regions of northern Europe. To anyone who isn’t personally invested in Theresa May’s career, it’s not clear why they are more deserving of austerity than another region that simply happened to elect a politically convenient number of DUP MPs. Not so long ago, the Tories were hoping to consolidate their hold on power by winning extra seats in areas like Wales and the north east. Perhaps they still might one day. But first, they may find they need to shake that magic money tree again.
We love the idea behind Ning , a site which allows people to create their own social network for anything — from anime to baking, but including stuff of a more sustainable flavour such as local bartering and skillshare networks to permaculture meet-ups. We came across Ooooby — Out Of Our Own Backyards — a Ning social network dedicated to connecting for food growers and locavores, and working towards a "goal of food interdependence". The site also features some hot pictures of chicken tractors (apparently also called " chicken burees "). It's based in New Zealand, but the network encourages people from the United States and the United Kingdom, of whatever skill level, to join. They also have " roobys " — a unit of value based on homegrown food that you can earn by growing food or accepting roobys as payment for goods and services. You can use roobys to buy things, for example, at participating cafés. Ooooby is also featuring "opods" or Ooooby "pods" where users of specific locales can connect even further. Ooooby is a great idea, blending local living philosophy with the power of online networking. Though the site is young (live since only December 2008), membership already boasts almost a thousand members. We're looking forward to other "oooobies" springing up online. Ooooby More on Social Networking and Locavorism TreeHugger Picks: Green Social Networking Green Social Networking at CoolTribe MakeMeSustainable: The Green Alternative to Social Networking
So, I’m a full time Windows Phone user. My Lumia 920 is my daily driver. I’ve found it to be the best platform for me and what I do. I have a couple of Android devices laying around, so I’m neither ignorant, nor exclusive. The other day, I was fiddling around on my Samsung GSIII when something occurred to me – multiple home screens are nice. It would be sweet if Windows Phone home screens could get on board that train. It makes sense when you think about it. The vertical scrolling in Windows phone really is less than ideal. After all, if you have a bunch of small tiles – and lets face it, that was one of the things I looked forward to in Windows 7.8/8. – they’re not always so easy to distinguish when scrolling vertically. One of the downsides of the vertical scroll is there’s a definitive lack of precision when doing it. When you flick your thumb up, it goes and goes and where it stops nobody knows. Which means you can’t program yourself to think, “My email is going to be one flick up and then two tiles down in the right hand column.” It keeps going and going and going… With multiple home screens, the game changes. Currently, Windows Phone adopts a vertical perspective. One home screen that can go on indefinitely. This is nice because you have no limit on how many live tiles you can have, or how you want to arrange them. Multiple home screens could still adopt that vertical model. One flick up, you go to home screen number two. If you add more tiles than home screen two can handle, then you automatically create home screen number three. Rinse. Repeat. Microsoft already has the grid system down pat. Tiles are a great implementation of that grid system. It gives you the information like widgets, but it keeps the design paradigm consistent across the platform which is a very desirable trait. All I want are pages instead of one long page. I’ll take vertical or horizontal; I’m not picky. But there is something to be said for horizontal. Peer pressure. Everyone’s doing it. After all that’s the design paradigm used for Windows 8. And iOS. And Android. Windows Phone pretty much remains the only home screen system that uses vertical scrolling. That would actually open up some other possibilities to make the home screen, and more notably, multiple home screens more usable. A static bar of tiles across the bottom that did not move when the home screens did would be hellacool. Sure it’s been done on every other platform. But, that’s kinda because it works. Four small tiles running across the bottom of the screen which enable quick access to Phone, People (read: Contacts) Whatever and Whatever would be pretty sweet. Meantime, you can scroll horizontally between home screens and organize things a bit better and make things faster. In my case, most of my important tiles are either at the top of the home screen, or at the bottom. The reason for this is, I can flick down to the bottom and have it stop when it gets there. Once it does, I’ll know that my Pocketnow shortcut is third from the bottom. But I find myself losing middle tiles because they’re off the screen when I’m all the way at either end, and that means I have to scan for them, which is not conducive to quick access to information, which is what Windows Phone live tiles are all about. Maybe I’m just too German. So crazy, it just might work It’s not like I’m asking all that much. If the horizontal or vertical scroller had defined “pages” or “home screens” or whatever you want to call them, the tiles would be locked into place every time you visited that particular screen. So Twitter and Facebook could be the first and second tiles on my second home screen, always. I know it’s crazy, right? Windows Phone obviously didn’t adopt this from the start. It could be part of their overall design philosophy that it doesn’t “flow” like the rest of the UI. Some might see flicking between screens as “janky” or “not efficient”. Maybe having the home screen screech to a halt with every new set of icons would be jarring. It’s not on Android, but I could see the argument. If one has enough home screens, suddenly you’re looking at three swipes and a tap to do what just one swipe and tap does now. It’s the little things. Maybe there’s a patent issue. After all, every other OS in the world uses a similar concept, surely someone must’ve put a “c” in a circle next to it by now right? Maybe Microsoft couldn’t use something like that if they wanted to. Though I suppose anything is possible given enough time or dollars. It’s not like Windows Phone is unusable now – far from it. But it occurred to me, sitting there swiping left and right, that I’d sure love to be able to do that on my Lumia. Maybe it’s a pipe dream. Maybe it’ll come some day. It is not the biggest problem Windows Phone has to overcome. Not even close. But maybe it might make some lives a little easier. What about you? Would such a concept make your experience easier? Or are you more of a one flick and done kind of bloke? Am I just griping about a tiny little thing and wasting our time? Sound off below and let me and maybe Microsoft know what’s up. Image source: (Leader) Technobuffalo (Just pretend all those tiles are different apps…shhh….); Judge: wpcentral
Friends of English Theatre NAC Costume Sale When: Oct. 7, 3-7:30 p.m. Where: NAC Fourth Stage Monetary donations welcome at the door. Got a fancy dress ball or Hallowe’en party coming up? The NAC’s Friends of English Theatre may be your ticket to the best outfit ever. The organization is selling off about 150 costumes from NAC productions on Oct. 7 as a fundraiser for NAC English Theatre’s Family Day programming in February 2015. The costumes, priced from $10 to $400 and mostly women’s, are from two English theatre shows and one opera. They run the gamut from elaborately brocaded and bejewelled Victorian gowns to red silky things that wouldn’t be out of place in a bordello. “They’re made with authenticity; it’s how the performers get into character,” says Linda Wood who’s organizing the fund-raiser. “The workmanship and cost of the fabric in some of these is huge.” Among the selection: 30 pairs of women’s ultra-sexy red shoes with killer heels that were sported by a mix of male and female characters in the 2011 production of St. Carmen of the Main, Michel Tremblay’s play that’s set on Montreal’s Saint Lawrence Boulevard. Eo Sharp did the costumes, and Peter Hinton directed. Like the other items, the shoes are unlikely to be used again in a production and so are being sold, says Wood. “They’d be perfect for a Pride Parade,” she adds. Also on the for-sale racks at the NAC warehouse in Gatineau where Wood and her team have been busy sorting and pricing them: men’s great coats along with jackets and pantaloons from the 2010 production of Bertolt Brecht’s Mother Courage and Her Children. It was also directed by Hinton with costumes by Teresa Przybylski. The coats, notes Wood, would be hit among the Goth set while the grey jackets with their oversized collars could, unlike the pantaloons perhaps, make a stylish addition to a modern wardrobe. The opera costumes – from the spectacular 1983 production of Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin with soprano Lois Marshall – are the most elaborate items for sale. In mostly muted tones of peach, burgundy, gold and the like, they are multi-layered (pity the women of the time for many reasons, including what they had to cart around on their bodies!) and elaborately detailed with brocade and pearls and glittery bits. Like all the other items, the original tag identifying the production, performer and role is sewn into every gown – a nice touch of history, whether you’re buying the costume for a costume party or for your theatre company. That touch of history may have helped inspire a couple of folks who Wood remembers buying costumes at the first such sale in 2002: they intended to hang the costumes in their homes as works of art. Wood cautions that if you plan to try on costumes at the sale, wear light clothing: there are no dressing rooms available. The NAC warehouse also holds thousands of costumes not for sale. Normand Theriault, who heads up wardrobe construction at the NAC, stopped by the same day the Citizen did and happily led a tour through the endless racks of shirts, dresses, military wear and more. Among the unexpected outfits: robes depicting the seven deadly sins from Roch Carrier’s Floralie, Where Are You? presented in 1977. The pink, magenta and yellow robe that once garbed Gluttony features round faces with huge, lolling tongues while Sloth’s turquoise robe sports giant snails and hourglasses. Elsewhere hang outfits from an early 1970s production of Moliere’s Tartuffe. They’re made of catalogne, a kind of scrap cotton. “They were made by hippie weavers in Montreal,” says Theriault. Asked if the weavers’ contract included the provision of illegal substances, he says, “There were stories of having to buy them munchies.” The most spectacular or noteworthy costumes are kept in a temperature-controlled archive at the NAC, says Theriault, and are complete, from undergarments to millinery. The warehouse is about more than just costumes. Its 25,000 square feet host over 5,000 items, according to Ron Muise who runs the spot. There are gramophones with trumpet speakers, an old jukebox, dozens of battered suitcases any one of which might have once belonged to Willy Loman, a tombstone, an ancient wheelchair with velvet cushions, a giant rocking chair and an oversized tea cup. “Everyone who comes here wants to sit in the chair or cup and have their picture taken,” says Muise. The extraordinary stock is available for rental by schools and other theatre companies. “We’re a factory of stuff for little theatres,” says Muise.
Scientist: Ben Stein's 'Expelled' should really be 'Flunked Out' Muriel Kane Published: Wednesday April 16, 2008 | Print This Email This Comedian and former Nixon speechwriter Ben Stein's new documentary, Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed, will not open until this Friday, but it has already been widely blasted for its alleged dishonesty and looseness with the facts. Stein has recently emerged as a prominent spokesperson for so-called "intelligent design," a pseudo-scientific gloss over the religious philosophy of creationism. Using film-making techniques clearly borrowed from Michael Moore, Stein set out to confront scientists and educators about their alleged persecution of supporters of intelligent design, whom Stein claims have been "targeted for retaliation and harassment." However, the National Center for Science Education has performed an extensive investigation of the "martyrs" profiled in Stein's file and has found a consistent pattern of misrepresentation. "We reviewed public records and reports on the intelligent design promoters who were supposedly discriminated against, and we discovered that the claims that they lost their jobs over intelligent design are unsupported," biologist Josh Rosenau explained. "That said, professors who aren't making advances in their field, editors who disregard their journal's established practices, and lecturers who repeat creationist falsehoods shouldn't be surprised if they have trouble holding jobs. These people weren't expelled; they flunked out." The controversies over Expelled began last fall, when two supporters of evolution who are interviewed in the film, Professors Richard Dawkins and PZ Myers, claimed that they were tricked into appearing by being told the film would present a serious debate about the "controversy that exists in America between evolution, creationism and the intelligent design movement." "At no time was I given the slightest clue that these people were a creationist front," Dawkins complained. Stein countered, "I don't remember a single person asking me what the movie was about." Myers recently noted that the producers of Expelled appear to have stolen some of their sequences from PBS and from a small animation company, XVIVO. Those producers have now counter-sued XVIVO, alleging that its claims are "part of an ongoing campaign attempting to discredit the film and its producers." Expelled has also come under fire for its attempt to link a belief in evolution to Nazi genocide. When its producers offered a private screening to Scientific American, hoping for some sort of positive -- or at least newsworthy -- reaction, editor-in-chief John Rennie was withering in his criticism. "We could simply ignore the movie," Rennie wrote. "Unfortunately, Expelled is a movie not quite harmless enough to be ignored. Shrugging off most of the film's attacks — all recycled from previous pro-ID works — would be easy, but its heavy-handed linkage of modern biology to the Holocaust demands a response for the sake of simple human decency." Scientific American columnist Michael Shermer, who also appears in the film, expanded further on the Holocaust issue: "Cleverly edited interview excerpts from scientists are interspersed with various black-and-white clips for guilt by association with: bullies beating up on a 98-pound weakling, Charlton Heston's character in Planet of the Apes being blasted by a water hose, Nikita Khrushchev pounding his fist on a United Nations desk, East Germans captured trying to scale the Berlin Wall, and Nazi crematoria remains and Holocaust victims being bulldozed into mass graves. This propaganda production would make Joseph Goebbels proud." Shermer pointed out in contrast that Darwinian theory has often been used as the unpinning for a belief in Stein's preferred doctrine of free market capitalism, a fact of which he found Stein to be "astonishingly ignorant." In fact, Shermer notes, Enron's CEO, Jeffrey Skilling, has said that his favorite book while at Harvard Business School, "was Richard Dawkins' The Selfish Gene ... a form of Darwinism that Skilling badly misinterpreted."
I keep seeing the word "meritocracy" pop up, mostly in discussions that seem to have stemmed from Faruk Ateş' "A primer on sexism in the tech industry". Do yourself a favor, don't go googling. It's the same shit: "Sexism isn't real because I'm a woman and no one did the sexism to me!" "Women resent being treated as women instead of being evaluated solely on their capabilities!" "You're a sexist moron!" "Some people called me a sexist moron after my moronic sexist blog post and it hurt my little feelings and I'm leaving the internet!" "You GUYS, remember this is supposed to be a meritocracy." Except no. No it fucking isn't. Because a meritocracy is not a real thing. It is a joke. The word meritocracy comes from a political satire. It was never meant to be something we should aspire to. It was the opposite, actually, a warning about how we rationalize what we believe we've "earned". If that sentence doesn't seem to you applicable to the tech industry and our cyclical discussions about sexism, racism, and even occasionally classism, go get yourself another cup of coffee. There's some dumb bullshit in one of the current crop of reaction posts waxing poetic about "hacker culture," and its freedom of speech and lack of PC dogma. Hacker culture was a bunch of white dudes. Hacker culture is a great example of a meritocracy. Some of the most privileged of the privileged got together and formed a community around the idea that they were smarter than everyone else. They created an arbitrary set of metrics for membership and according to their metrics, they triumphed. This was the first time in the history of the world white men had experienced the elation of peer recognition. A meritocracy is not a system for locating and rewarding the best of the best. If it were, the "best of the best" in almost every goddamned industry or group on the planet would not be a clump of white men. I'm having trouble finding good stats on this, but white men are something like 8% of the world's population. When you go to a fucking conference and you look around at all the white dudes, do you really honestly think, "Wow! What a bizarre fucking statistical anomaly it is that basically everyone with the special magic gift of computer programming happened to be born into a teeny tiny little demographic sliver of the population"? Of course you don't. You don't think about it. You focus on telling yourself that you're supposed to be there, because you're so fucking smart, and if other people were as smart or, if you prefer, they were "technically inclined," they could be there just as easily. A meritocracy is a system for centralizing authority in the hands of those who already have it, and ensuring that authority is only distributed to others like them or those who aren't but are willing to play by their rules. Somebody on twitter told me that when the computer industry was overwhelmingly female, it was due to merit. I think that makes a really good counterpoint to this meritocracy bullshit. Because no, it was not due to merit. Merit didn't fucking enter into it. Most of those women had no experience in the industry and - even if we accept the lol-worthy premise that merit can be objectively measured - there was no way to evaluate their merit as computer scientists. That's not to say we shouldn't use that as a template. We absolutely should. Those women had jobs and were happy to have them. They worked hard. Those who stood out did so because they had demonstrated that their work was good (through their work, not through their savvy) and because standing out and advancing the field was necessary to their work. I would rather work with a roomful of those women than with the arrogant, privileged brats our industry too often recognizes "merit" in these days. If we met the utopian ideal we toss around in blog posts, we'd still have lots of middle-aged women in this field. We'd have black people. We'd have Asian people - not a smattering, but a majority, cause the world is mostly Asian people. We'd have an even ratio of men and women. Because if there's one thing I've learned after sixteen years in this career, it's that if a middle-class white boy who literally never had a job before getting a sweet internship at some cutting edge technology company can eventually, through practice, become a passable computer programmer, anyone can do it. If there's one thing I've learned after thirty-three years of being alive, it's that if you see middle-class white boys flocking in droves to a particular career path, it's a pretty fucking easy job and you should try and get yourself one like that. I guess that's a little mean. Sorry, middle-class white boys. I'm not calling you dumb. I'm calling you soft. I'm calling myself soft, also, and everyone else who works in this field. What a meritocracy really protects us from is challenge. If we don't even allow most people through the gates, we don't have to worry that we might pale in comparison to them (pun intended). There will always be a place for us in an industry we keep others out of. That's why we should seek out diversity - because the lack of it makes us weak. If you give a shit about this industry's goals beyond making yourself look smart and cool, for fuck's sake, stop calling it a meritocracy.
eden, police, siege, south coast, bega, eden siege, emergency UPDATE 4.50pm: After almost four hours, the Eden siege has ended peacefully with the man brought out of the house accompanied by a number of police officers including those in flak jackets and helmets. The man has been helped into an ambulance and is about to be driven away. It’s a peaceful resolution to something that threatened to be a potentially dangerous situation for local residents. UPDATE, 4pm: Police negotiators have entered the premises, while heavily armed and protected officers remain in the vicinity. Around 10 police vehicles, Fire and Rescue and multiple ambulances are now on scene. All roads near the home including the highway, are now blocked to traffic. BREAKING, 2.45pm: There is a quiet tension in Flinders St, Eden, as police prepare to deal with a siege at a house on the corner of Flinders and Mitchell St. Armed officers have just donned flak jackets and are believed to be preparing for the worst. A man had barricaded himself inside with his parents, but both parents have now emerged safely. The man, who lives with his parents, is believed to be in his late 40s-early 50s. The family moved into the house about a year ago and the man is thought to have mental health issues according to local residents. Ambulance officers are now with the mother, who has just been brought out of the house, but the heavily armed police presence remains. The street has numerous police and other emergency service vehicles and there are also officers wearing camouflage in attendance. However, a police spokesperson said they wouldn’t be commenting officially until the situation was resolved, other than to say a police operation was underway and had been since around midday Thursday, January 7. More info as it comes to hand https://nnimgt-a.akamaihd.net/transform/v1/crop/frm/38KKizhZLpuTDCkJAjRb34b/e1c7470c-9369-4f2a-b181-4a85c03bb80d.JPG/r8_384_3256_2219_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg
The pharaohs were rulers of Ancient Egypt dating from the unification of Upper and Lower Egypt during the Early Dynastic Period by Narmer approximately 3100 BC. Although the specific term "Pharaoh" was not used by their contemporaries until the rule of Merneptah of the 19th dynasty, c. 1200 BC, the style of titulature of the rulers of Egypt remained relatively constant, initially featuring a Horus name, a Sedge and Bee (nswt-bjtj) name and a Two Ladies (nbtj) name, with the additional Golden Horus, nomen and prenomen titles being added successively during later dynasties. Egypt remained continually governed by native pharaohs for approximately 2500 years until it was conquered by the Kingdom of Kush in 656 BC, whose rulers adopted the traditional pharaonic titulature for themselves. Following the Kushite conquest, Egypt would first see another period of independent native rule before being conquered by the Achaemenid Empire, whose rulers also adopted the title of "Pharaoh". The last native Pharaoh of Egypt was Nectanebo II, who was Pharaoh before the Achaemenids conquered Egypt for a second time. Achaemenid rule over Egypt came to an end through the conquests of Alexander the Great in 332 BC, after which it was ruled by the Hellenic Pharaohs of the Ptolemaic Dynasty. Their rule, and the independence of Egypt, came to an end when Egypt became a province of Rome in 30 BC. Augustus and subsequent Roman Emperors were styled as Pharaohs when in Egypt up until the reign of Maximinus Daia in 314 AD. The dates given in this list of pharaohs are approximate. They are based primarily on the conventional chronology of Ancient Egypt, mostly based on the Digital Egypt for Universities[3] database developed by the Petrie Museum of Egyptian Archaeology, but alternative dates taken from other authorities may be indicated separately. Ancient Egyptian king lists [ edit ] Modern lists of pharaohs are based on historical records: Ancient Egyptian king lists and later histories, such as Manetho's Aegyptiaca, as well as archaeological evidence. Concerning ancient sources, Egyptologists and Historians alike call for caution about the credibility, exactitude and completeness of these sources, many of which were written long after the reigns they report.[4] An additional problem is that ancient king lists are often damaged, inconsistent with one another and/or selective. The following ancient king lists are known (along with the dynasty under which they were created)):[5] Predynastic period [ edit ] Lower Egypt [ edit ] Lower Egypt geographically consisted of the northern Nile and the Nile delta. The following list may not be complete: Upper Egypt [ edit ] Regrouped here are predynastic rulers of Upper Egypt belonging to the late Naqada III period, sometimes informally described as Dynasty 00. Predynastic rulers: Dynasty 0 [ edit ] The following list of predynastic rulers may be incomplete. Since these kings precede the First Dynasty, they have been informally grouped as "Dynasty 0". Name Image Comments Dates Iry-Hor Correct chronological position unclear.[19] Around 3150 BC Crocodile Potentially read Shendjw; identity and existence are disputed.[20] Around 3150 BC Ka Maybe read Sekhen rather than Ka. Correct chronological position unclear.[21] Around 3150 BC Scorpion II Potentially read Serqet; possibly the same person as Narmer.[22] Around 3150 BC Early Dynastic Period [ edit ] The Early Dynastic Period of Egypt stretches from around 3150 to 2686 BC. First Dynasty [ edit ] The First Dynasty ruled from around 3150 to 2890 BC. Name Image Comments Dates Narmer Believed to be the same person as Menes and to have unified Upper and Lower Egypt. Around 3100 BC Hor-Aha Greek form: Athotís. Around 3050 BC Djer Greek form: Uenéphes (after his Gold name In-nebw); His name and titulary appear on the Palermo Stone. His tomb was later thought to be the legendary tomb of Osiris. 54 years[23] Djet Greek form: Usapháis. 10 years[24] Den Greek form: Kénkenes (after the ramesside diction of his birthname: Qenqen[25]). First pharaoh depicted wearing the double crown of Egypt, first pharaoh with a full niswt bity-name. 42 years[24] Anedjib Greek form: Miebidós. Known for his ominous nebwy-title.[26] 10 years Semerkhet Greek form: Semempsés. First Egyptian ruler with a fully developed Nebty name. His complete reign is preserved on the Cairo stone. 8½ years[24] Qa'a Greek form: Bienéches. Ruled very long, his tomb is the last one with subsidiary tombs. 34 years Sneferka Very short reign, correct chronological position unknown. Around 2900 BC Horus Bird Very short reign, correct chronological position unknown. Around 2900 BC Second Dynasty [ edit ] The Second Dynasty ruled from 2890 to 2686 BC. Name Image Comments Dates Hotepsekhemwy[27] Manetho names him Boëthos and claims that under this ruler an earthquake killed many people. 15 years Nebra[28] Greek form: Kaíechós (after the ramesside cartouche name Kakaw). First ruler who uses the sun-symbol in his royal name, could be identical to king Weneg. 14 years Nynetjer[29] Greek form: Binóthris. May have divided Egypt between his successors, allegedly allowed women to rule like pharaohs. 43–45 years Weneg-Nebty[30] Greek form: Ougotlas/Tlás. Could be an independent ruler or the same as Peribsen, Sekhemib-Perenmaat or Raneb. Around 2740 BC Senedj[31] Greek form: Sethenes. Possibly the same person as Peribsen. This, however, is highly disputed.[32] 47 years (Supposedly) Seth-Peribsen Used a Seth-animal above his serekh rather than an Horus falcon. He promoted the sun-cult in Egypt and reduced the powers of officials, nomarchs and palatines. Some scholars believe that he ruled over a divided Egypt.[33] Around 2890-2686 BC Sekhemib-Perenmaat Could be the same person as Seth-Peribsen.[34] Around 2720 BC Neferkara I Greek form: Néphercherés. Known only from ramesside king lists, not archaeologically attested. 25 years(according to Manetho) Neferkasokar Greek form: Sesóchris. Known only from Ramesside king lists, not archaeologically attested. Old Kingdom legends claim that this ruler saved Egypt from a long lasting drought.[35] 8 years Hudjefa I Known only from ramesside king lists, his "name" is actually a paraphrase pointing out that the original name of the king was already lost in ramesside times. 11 years(According to the Turin Canon) Khasekhem(wy)[36][37] Greek form: Chenerés. May have reunified Egypt after a period of trouble, his serekh name is unique for presenting both Horus and Set. 18 years Old Kingdom [ edit ] The Old Kingdom of Egypt is the point of Egypt which succeeded the Early Dynastic Egypt and precedes the troubled First Intermediate Period. The kingdom ruled from 2686 to 2181 BC. Third Dynasty [ edit ] The Third Dynasty ruled from 2686 to 2613 BC. Fourth Dynasty [ edit ] The Fourth Dynasty ruled from 2613 to 2498 BC. Fifth Dynasty [ edit ] The Fifth Dynasty ruled from 2498 to 2345 BC. Sixth Dynasty [ edit ] The Sixth Dynasty ruled from 2345 to 2181 BC. First Intermediate Period [ edit ] The First Intermediate Period (2181–2060 BC) is a period of disarray and chaos between the end of the Old Kingdom and the advent of the Middle Kingdom. The Old Kingdom rapidly collapsed after the death of Pepi II. He had reigned for more than 64 and likely up to 94 years, longer than any monarch in history. The latter years of his reign were marked by inefficiency because of his advanced age. The union of the Two Kingdoms fell apart and regional leaders had to cope with the resulting famine. The kings of the 7th and 8th Dynasties, who represented the successors of the 6th Dynasty, tried to hold onto some power in Memphis but owed much of it to powerful nomarchs. After 20 to 45 years, they were overthrown by a new line of pharaohs based in Herakleopolis Magna. Some time after these events, a rival line based at Thebes revolted against their nominal Northern overlords and united Upper Egypt. Around 2055 BC, Mentuhotep II, the son and successor of pharaoh Intef III defeated the Herakleopolitan pharaohs and reunited the Two Lands, thereby starting the Middle Kingdom. Seventh and Eighth Dynasties (combined) [ edit ] The Seventh and Eighth Dynasties ruled for approximately 20–45 years (possibly 2181 to 2160 BC). They comprise numerous ephemeral kings reigning from Memphis over a possibly divided Egypt and, in any case, holding only limited power owing to the effectively feudal system into which the administration had evolved. The list below is based on the Abydos King List dating to the reign of Seti I and taken from Jürgen von Beckerath's Handbuch der ägyptischen Königsnamen[47] as well as from Kim Ryholt's latest reconstruction of the Turin canon, another king list dating to the Ramesside Era.[48] Ninth Dynasty [ edit ] The Ninth Dynasty[52] ruled from 2160 to 2130 BC. The Turin King List has 18 kings reigning in the Ninth and Tenth Dynasties. Of these, twelve names are missing and four are partial.[52] Tenth Dynasty [ edit ] The Tenth Dynasty was a local group that held sway over Lower Egypt that ruled from 2130 to 2040 BC. Eleventh Dynasty [ edit ] The Eleventh Dynasty was a local group with roots in Upper Egypt that ruled from 2134 to 1991 BC. The 11th dynasty originated from a dynasty of Theban nomarchs serving kings of the 8th, 9th or 10th dynasty. Name Image Comments Dates Intef the Elder Iry-pat Theban nomarch serving an unnamed king, later considered a founding figure of the 11th Dynasty. Unknown The successors of Intef the Elder, starting with Mentuhotep I, became independent from their northern overlords and eventually conquered Egypt under Mentuhotep II. Middle Kingdom [ edit ] The Middle Kingdom (2060–1802 BC) is the period from the end of the First Intermediate Period to the beginning of the Second Intermediate Period. In addition to the Twelfth Dynasty, some scholars include the Eleventh, Thirteenth and Fourteenth Dynasties in the Middle Kingdom. The Middle Kingdom can be noted for the expansion of trade outside of the kingdom that occurred during this time. This opening of trade eventually led to the downfall of the Middle Kingdom, induced by an invasion from the Hyksos. Eleventh Dynasty continued [ edit ] The second part of the Eleventh Dynasty is considered to be part of the Middle Kingdom of Egypt. Enigmatic kings, only attested in Lower Nubia [ edit ] Name Image Comments Dates Segerseni[57] Obscure pharaoh absent from later king lists; tomb unknown. Only attested in Lower Nubia, most likely an usurper at the end of the Eleventh Dynasty or early Twelfth Dynasty. Early 20th century BC Qakare Ini[57] Obscure pharaoh absent from later king lists; tomb unknown. Only attested in Lower Nubia, most likely an usurper at the end of the Eleventh Dynasty or early Twelfth Dynasty. Early 20th century BC Iyibkhentre[57] Obscure pharaoh absent from later king lists; tomb unknown. Only attested in Lower Nubia, most likely an usurper at the end of the Eleventh Dynasty or early Twelfth Dynasty. Early 20th century BC Twelfth Dynasty [ edit ] The Twelfth Dynasty ruled from 1991 to 1802 BC. The position of a possible additional ruler, Seankhibtawy Seankhibra is uncertain. He may be an ephemeral king, or a name variant of a king of the 12th or 13th Dynasty. Second Intermediate Period [ edit ] The Second Intermediate Period (1802–1550 BC) is a period of disarray between the end of the Middle Kingdom, and the start of the New Kingdom. It is best known as when the Hyksos, whose reign comprised the Fifteenth, made their appearance in Egypt. The Thirteenth Dynasty was much weaker than the Twelfth Dynasty, and was unable to hold onto the two lands of Egypt. Either at the start of the dynasty, c. 1805 BC or toward the middle of it in c. 1710 BC, the provincial ruling family in Xois, located in the marshes of the eastern Delta, broke away from the central authority to form the Canaanite Fourteenth Dynasty. The Hyksos made their first appearance during the reign of Sobekhotep IV, and around 1720 BC took control of the town of Avaris (the modern Tell el-Dab'a/Khata'na), conquering the kingdom of the 14th dynasty. Then, some time around 1650 BC the Hyksos, perhaps led by Salitis the founder of the Fifteenth Dynasty, conquered Memphis, thereby terminating the 13th dynasty. The power vacuum in Upper Egypt resulting from the collapse of the 13th dynasty allowed the 16th dynasty to declare its independence in Thebes, only to be overrun by the Hyksos kings shortly thereafter. Subsequently, as the Hyksos withdrew from Upper Egypt, the native Egyptian ruling house in Thebes set itself up as the Seventeenth Dynasty. This dynasty eventually drove the Hyksos back into Asia under Seqenenre Tao, Kamose and finally Ahmose, first pharaoh of the New Kingdom. Thirteenth Dynasty [ edit ] The Thirteenth Dynasty (following the Turin King List) ruled from 1802 to around 1649 BC and lasted 153 or 154 years according to Manetho. This table should be contrasted with Known kings of the 13th Dynasty. The position of the following kings is uncertain: Fourteenth Dynasty [ edit ] The Fourteenth Dynasty was a local group from the eastern Delta, based at Avaris,[70] that ruled from either from 1805 BC or c. 1710 BC until around 1650 BC. The dynasty comprised many rulers with West Semitic names and is thus believed to have been Canaanite in origin. It is here given as per Ryholt, however this reconstruction of the dynasty is heavily debated with the position of the five kings preceding Nehesy highly disputed. The position and identity of the following pharaohs is uncertain: The Turin King List provides additional names, none of which are attested beyond the list. Fifteenth Dynasty [ edit ] The Fifteenth Dynasty arose from among the Hyksos people who emerged from the Fertile Crescent to establish a short-lived governance over much of the Nile region, and ruled from 1674 to 1535 BC. Name Image Comments Dates Semqen Chronological position uncertain. 1649 BC – Unknown 'Aper-'Anat Chronological position uncertain. Unknown Sakir-Har — — Unknown Khyan Apex of the Hyksos' power, conquered Thebes toward the end of his reign 30–40 years Apepi — 40 years or more Khamudi — 1555–1544 BC Abydos Dynasty [ edit ] The Second Intermediate Period may include an independent dynasty reigning over Abydos from c. 1650 BC until 1600 BC.[72][73][74] Four attested kings may be tentatively attributed to the Abydos Dynasty, and they are given here without regard for their (unknown) chronological order: Sixteenth Dynasty [ edit ] The Sixteenth Dynasty was a native Theban dynasty emerging from the collapse of the Memphis-based 13th dynasty c. 1650 BC and finally conquered by the Hyksos 15th dynasty c. 1580 BC. The 16th dynasty held sway over Upper Egypt only. The 16th Dynasty may also have comprised the reigns of pharaohs Sneferankhre Pepi III[79] and Nebmaatre. Their chronological position is uncertain.[76][77] Seventeenth Dynasty [ edit ] The Seventeenth Dynasty was based in Upper Egypt and ruled from 1650 to 1550 BC: The early 17th Dynasty may also have comprised the reign of a pharaoh Nebmaatre, whose chronological position is uncertain.[67] New Kingdom [ edit ] The New Kingdom (1550–1077 BC) is the period covering the Eighteenth, Nineteenth, and Twentieth dynasty of Egypt, from the 16th to the 11th century BC, between the Second Intermediate Period, and the Third Intermediate Period. Through military dominance abroad, the New Kingdom saw Egypt's greatest territorial extent. It expanded far into Nubia in the south, and held wide territories in the Near East. Egyptian armies fought with Hittite armies for control of modern-day Syria. Three of the best known pharaohs of the New Kingdom are Akhenaten, also known as Amenhotep IV, whose exclusive worship of the Aten is often interpreted as the first instance of monotheism, Tutankhamun known for the discovery of his nearly intact tomb, and Ramesses II who attempted to recover the territories in modern Israel/Palestine, Lebanon and Syria that had been held in the Eighteenth Dynasty. His reconquest led to the Battle of Qadesh, where he led the Egyptian armies against the army of the Hittite king Muwatalli II. Eighteenth Dynasty [ edit ] The Eighteenth Dynasty ruled from c. 1550 to 1292 BC: Nineteenth Dynasty [ edit ] The Nineteenth Dynasty ruled from 1292 to 1186 BC and includes one of the greatest pharaohs: Rameses II the Great: Twentieth Dynasty [ edit ] The Twentieth Dynasty ruled from 1190 to 1077 BC: Third Intermediate Period [ edit ] The Third Intermediate Period (1077–664 BC) marked the end of the New Kingdom after the collapse of the Egyptian empire. A number of dynasties of Libyan origin ruled, giving this period its alternative name of the Libyan Period. Twenty-First Dynasty [ edit ] The Twenty-First Dynasty was based at Tanis and was a relatively weak group. Theoretically, they were rulers of all Egypt, but in practice their influence was limited to Lower Egypt. They ruled from 1069 to 943 BC. Theban High Priests of Amun [ edit ] Though not officially Pharaohs, the High Priests of Amun at Thebes were the de facto rulers of Upper Egypt during the Twenty-first and Twenty-second Dynasties, writing their names in cartouches and being buried in royal tombs. Twenty-Second Dynasty [ edit ] The pharaohs of the Twenty-Second Dynasty were Libyans, ruling from around 943 to 728 BC: Twenty-Third Dynasty [ edit ] The Twenty-Third Dynasty was a local group, again of Libyan origin, based at Herakleopolis and Thebes that ruled from 837 to c. 735 BC: Rudamun was succeeded in Thebes by a local ruler: Name Image Comments Dates Menkheperre Ini Reigned at Thebes only. 762–Unknown BC Twenty-Fourth Dynasty [ edit ] The Twenty-fourth Dynasty was a short-lived rival dynasty located in the western Delta (Sais), with only two pharaohs ruling from 732 to 720 BC. Twenty-Fifth Dynasty (Nubian Period) [ edit ] Nubians invaded Lower Egypt and took the throne of Egypt under Piye although they already controlled Thebes and Upper Egypt in the early years of Piye's reign. Piye's conquest of Lower Egypt established the Twenty-fifth Dynasty which ruled until 656 BC. They were ultimately driven back into Nubia, where they established a kingdom at Napata (656–590), and, later, at Meroë (590 BC – AD 500). Late Period [ edit ] The Late Period runs from around 664 to 332 BC, and includes periods of rule by native Egyptians and Persians. Twenty-Sixth Dynasty [ edit ] The Twenty-sixth Dynasty ruled from around 664 to 525 BC.[89] The son and successor of Necho I, Psamtik I, managed to reunify Egypt and is generally regarded as the founder of the Twenty-sixth Dynasty. Twenty-Seventh Dynasty (First Persian Period) [ edit ] Egypt was conquered by the Persian Empire in 525 BC and constituted a satrapy as part of this empire until 404 BC. The Achaemenid Shahanshahs were acknowledged as Pharaohs in this era, forming the 27th Dynasty: Twenty-Eighth Dynasty [ edit ] The Twenty-eighth Dynasty lasted only 6 years, from 404 to 398 BC, with one Pharaoh: Name Image Comments Dates Amyrtaeus Descendant of the Saite pharaohs of the Twenty-sixth Dynasty; led a successful revolt against the Persians. 404–398 BC Twenty-Ninth Dynasty [ edit ] The Twenty-ninth Dynasty ruled from 398 to 380 BC: Name Image Comments Dates Baenre Nefaarud I Also known as Nepherites. Defeated Amyrtaeus in open battle and had him executed. 399–393 BC Khenemmaatre Hakor (Achoris) Son of Nefaarud I. Around 392–around 391 BC Psammuthes Possibly dethroned Hakor for a year. Around 391 BC Hakor (restored) Retook the throne from Psammuthes. Around 390–around 379 BC Nefaarud II — Was deposed and likely killed by Nectanebo I after ruling for only 4 months. Son of Hakor. Around 379 BC Thirtieth Dynasty [ edit ] The Thirtieth Dynasty ruled from 380 until Egypt once more came under Persian rule in 343 BC: Thirty-First Dynasty (second Persian period) [ edit ] Egypt again came under the control of the Achaemenid Persians. After the practice of Manetho, the Persian rulers from 343 to 332 BC are occasionally designated as the Thirty-first Dynasty: Name Image Comments Dates Artaxerxes III Egypt came under Persian rule for the second time. 343-338 BC Artaxerxes IV Arses — Only reigned in Lower Egypt. 338-336 BC Khababash Rebel pharaoh who led an invasion in Nubia. 338-335 BC Darius III Upper Egypt returned to Persian control in 335 BC. 336-332 BC Hellenistic period [ edit ] Argead Dynasty [ edit ] The Macedonians under Alexander the Great ushered in the Hellenistic period with his conquest of Persia and Egypt. The Argeads ruled from 332 to 309 BC: Ptolemaic Dynasty [ edit ] The second Hellenistic dynasty, the Ptolemies, ruled Egypt from 305 BC until Egypt became a province of Rome in 30 BC (whenever two dates overlap, that means there was a co-regency). The most famous member of this dynasty was Cleopatra VII, in modern times known simply as Cleopatra, who was successively the consort of Julius Caesar and, after Caesar's death, of Mark Antony, having children with both of them. Cleopatra strove to create a dynastic and political union between Egypt and Rome, but the assassination of Caesar and the defeat of Mark Antony doomed her plans.[citation needed] Caesarion (Ptolemy XV Philopator Philometor Caesar) was the last king of the Ptolemaic dynasty of Egypt, and he reigned jointly with his mother Cleopatra VII of Egypt, from September 2, 47 BC. He was the eldest son of Cleopatra VII, and possibly the only son of Julius Caesar, after whom he was named. Between the alleged death of Cleopatra, on August 12, 30 BC, up to his own alleged death on August 23, 30 BC, he was nominally the sole pharaoh. It is tradition that he was hunted down and killed on the orders of Octavian, who would become the Roman emperor Augustus, but the historical evidence does not exist.[citation needed] Rome [ edit ] Egyptian relief depicting the Roman Emperor Trajan (right, reigned 98–117 AD) in full pharaonic style. Cleopatra VII had affairs with Roman Dictator Julius Caesar and Roman General Mark Antony, but it was not until after her suicide (after Mark Antony was defeated by Octavian, who would later be Emperor Augustus Caesar) that Egypt became a province of Rome in 30 BC. Subsequent Roman Emperors were accorded the title of Pharaoh, although exclusively while in Egypt. The last Roman Emperor to be conferred the title of Pharaoh was Maximinus Daia (reigned 311–313 AD).[2][92] See also [ edit ] Bibliography [ edit ] J. H. Breasted, History of Egypt from the Earliest Time to the Persian Conquest , 1909 , 1909 J. Cerny, 'Egypt from the Death of Ramesses III to the End of the Twenty-First Dynasty' in The Middle East and the Aegean Region c.1380–1000 BC, Cambridge University Press, ISBN 0-521-08691-4 Clayton, Peter A. (1995). Chronicle of the Pharaohs: The Reign-by-Reign Record of the Rulers and Dynasties of Ancient Egypt . The Chronicles Series (Reprinted ed.). London: Thames and Hudson. ISBN 978-0-500-05074-3. Dodson, Aidan and Hilton, Dyan. The Complete Royal Families of Ancient Egypt . Thames & Hudson. 2004. ISBN 0-500-05128-3 . Thames & Hudson. 2004. ISBN 0-500-05128-3 Sir Alan Gardiner Egyptian Grammar: Being an Introduction to the Study of Hieroglyphs , Third Edition, Revised. London: Oxford University Press, 1964. Excursus A, pp. 71–76. , Third Edition, Revised. London: Oxford University Press, 1964. Excursus A, pp. 71–76. Nicolas Grimal, A History of Ancient Egypt, (Blackwell Books: 1992) Murnane, William J. Ancient Egyptian Coregencies, Studies in Ancient Oriental Civilization. No. 40. The Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago, 1977 The Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago, 1977 Michael Rice, Who's Who in Ancient Egypt , Routledge 1999 , Routledge 1999 Ryholt, Kim & Steven Bardrum. 2000. "The Late Old Kingdom in the Turin King-list and the Identity of Nitocris." Zeitschrift für ägyptische Sprache und Altertumskunde 127 Shaw, Garry. The Pharaoh, Life at Court and on Campaign , Thames and Hudson, 2012. , Thames and Hudson, 2012. Toby A. H. Wilkinson, Early Dynastic Egypt , Routledge 1999, ISBN 0-415-18633-1 , Routledge 1999, ISBN 0-415-18633-1 Verner, Miroslav, The Pyramids – Their Archaeology and History , Atlantic Books, 2001, ISBN 1-84354-171-8 , Atlantic Books, 2001, ISBN 1-84354-171-8 Egypt, History & Civilisation By Dr. R Ventura. Published by Osiris, PO Box 107 Cairo.
Active eavesdropping alters the communication between two parties who believe they are directly communicating with each other. A man-in-the-middle attack allows a malicious actor to intercept, send and receive data meant for someone else. In this tutorial, we will use Cain and Abel to perform this attack. How does It work? The address resolution protocol better known as ARP spoofing allows computers to map Mac addresses to IP addresses. allows computers to map We have to remember computers only care about the Mac address , which is the actual hardware address of the network it’s after; the IP address is just there for human benefit . only care about the , which is the actual hardware address of the network it’s after; the IP address is just there for . This system allows the computer to know who it’s supposed to be sending packets to when an IP address is specified. The man in the middle attack works by tricking ARP or just abusing ARP into updating its mappings and adding our attacker machine’s mac address as the corresponding mac address for any communication task we wish to be in the middle of. Now that we understand what we’re gonna be doing, let’s go ahead and do it. Also read MITM attack over HTTPS connection with SSLStrip Activate the Sniffer – Cain and Abel Let me activate the sniffer at first so that my network adapter discover local area network IP addresses. Scan for list of IP address so that we can target the victim traffic After adding range of IP’s to scan, Select All hosts in my Subnet Also Read Lyft and Ford team bonded up for building self-drive car Address Resolution Protocol Poisoning Select victims Ip and default gateway so that we can send the arp request. Start Arp Poisoning: Lets poison the victim’s network Also read Driftnet – Tool used to capture images that your friend looking Online Victims Traffic Captured Now the attacker has successfully poisoned victim, as the result below shown arrow is victims destination IP’s, Attacker can resolve this ip and view the website the victim has visited. Also read URLSnarf – Tool used to capture website links that your friend looking Online
Generics for small, fixed-size vectors Recently, I decided to clean up and release a small library which I hacked together several months ago and then all but forgot about. I find it quite amusing; perhaps you will, too. The library implements a framework for computing with small, fixed-size vectors such as complex numbers or coordinates. My goal was to be as generic and efficient as possible. In particular, it should be easy to generically define common functions such as dot product or magnitude for vectors of arbitrary arity and to add new vector types and operations. Equally importantly, there shouldn’t be any run-time overhead – all operations should be as fast as if they were written by hand. There are a number of nice libraries on Hackage which provide all this to varying degrees. However, I thought it would be fun to write my own and perhaps I could come up with a design that is minimal in some sense. In the end, I’m not sure about minimal but I sure did have quite a bit of fun. So what is a small, fixed-size vector? Essentially, it should be completely defined by two operations: construct :: a -> ... -> a -> v a inspect :: v a -> (a -> ... -> a -> b) -> b That is, we can construct a vector from a bunch of coordinates and inspect it with a function that takes a bunch of coordinates and produces some result. The number of coordinates is the arity of the vector and is known at compile time. Ideally, the framework should work for all types that define these two operations and nothing else. The question is: can we just put them in a type class and implement everything else on top of it? The two signatures suggest (unsurprisingly) that functions of type a -> ... -> a -> b play a rather central role here: construct is such a function and inspect takes such a function as an argument. Nowadays, it is fairly straightforward to encode them in the type system. First, we define type-level natural numbers which represent the arity: data Z -- zero data S n -- successor of n Now, we can define such functions as a type family parametrised by the arity n , the type of arguments a and the result type b : type family Fn n a b type instance Fn Z a b = b type instance Fn (S n) a b = a -> Fn n a b For example, functions or arity 2 are represented by Fn (S (S n)) a b = a -> a -> b . To define a generic vector class, we also have to associate vectors with their arity. This is easy: type family Dim (v :: * -> *) One design decision here is that vectors are type constructors such as Complex which must be applied to an element type. This makes certain things easier but means that tuples like (Int,Int,Int) aren’t vectors. An alternative design in the style of the vector-space package is also possible and easily supported by the framework. But that’s a topic for another post. Anyway, a generic vector class should be easy now: class Vector v a where construct :: Fn (Dim v) a (v a) inspect :: v a -> Fn (Dim v) a b -> b Alas, this fails quite miserably. The problem is that a and v are not fixed in construct . Fn is a non-injective type family and so there is no way to find outwhat v and a are from Fn (Dim v) a (v a) . To fix that, it is enough to introduce an injective type constructor which captures Fn : newtype Fun n a b = Fun (Fn n a b) Now, Fn is a type function which captures functions from n a s to b and Fun is a type constructor which does the same but is injective. As an aside, it is well possible to make Fun an injective data type family or even a GADT and forgo Fn altogether: data family Fun n a b newtype instance Fun Z a b = FunZ b newtype instance Fun (S n) a b = FunS (a -> Fun n a b) However, this really messes up GHC’s optimiser and leads to very inefficient code. The slightly more complex setup with Fn and Fun is much better in this respect and not that hard to understand. Just keep in mind that Fn n a b doesn’t fix the types n , a and b and Fun does. The final definition of Vector looks like this: class Arity (Dim n) => Vector v a where construct :: Fun (Dim v) a (v a) inspect :: v a -> Fun (Dim v) a b -> b Here is a simple instance: type instance Dim Complex = S (S Z) instance RealFloat a => Vector Complex a where construct = Fun Complex inspect (Complex x y) (Fun f) = f x y This is nice but rather pointless unless we can do something useful with these vectors. And we can! All necessary functionality is folded into the Arity type class which is a superclass of Vector . Here is its definition and instances for Z and S : class Arity n where accum :: (forall m. t (S m) -> a -> t m) -> (t Z -> b) -> t n -> Fn n a b apply :: (forall m. t (S m) -> (a, t m)) -> t n -> Fn n a b -> b instance Arity Z where accum f g t = g t apply f t h = h instance Arity n => Arity (S n) where accum f g t = \a -> accum f g (f t a) apply f t h = case f t of (a,u) -> apply f u (h a) This might look a bit scary but really isn’t. At least not very. The two methods allow us to define ( accum ) and apply n-ary functions generically. Let’s look at the latter first. In apply f t h , t is a seed which can generate n values of type a , where n is statically encoded in its type. From this seed, the function f produces one a value and a new seed which now embeds n-1 values. It can do this for any n which means that we can apply it repeatedly to obtain all values stored in the seed. These values are then passed to h , which ultimately yields a result of type b . Here is an example of how to use apply : data T_replicate n = T_replicate replicateF :: forall n a b. Arity n => a -> Fun n a b -> b replicateF x (Fun h) = apply (\T_replicate -> (x, T_replicate)) (T_replicate :: T_replicate n) h This function applies an n-ary Fun to n copies of x . The seed T_replicate doesn’t carry any useful information, it just fixes n . When asked to produce a new a, we simply return x ; the new seed is T_replicate with a different n . Now, it is easy to define a generic replicate for arbitrary vectors: replicate :: Vector v a => a -> v a replicate x = replicateF x $ construct To understand how it all works, Let’s see how the term replicate 0 :: Complex Double is evaluated: replicate 0 :: Complex Double = replicateF x (construct :: Fun (S (S Z)) Double (Complex Double)) = let f :: forall m. T_replicate (S m) -> (Double, T_replicate m) f T_replicate = (x, T_replicate) in apply f (T_replicate :: T_replicate (S (S Z))) Complex = let f = ... in case f (T_replicate :: T_replicate (S (S Z))) of (x,u) -> apply f u (Complex x) = let f = ... in apply f (T_replicate :: T_replicate (S Z)) (Complex x) = let f = ... in case f (T_replicate :: T_replicate (S Z)) of (x,u) -> apply f u (Complex x) = let f = ... in apply f (T_replicate :: Z) (Complex x x) = Complex x x The interesting part is, of course, that replicate works for vectors of arbitrary arities. Equally importantly, everything is evaluated at compile time – GHC really compiles the term to (0 :+ 0) . The other method of Arity , accum , is slightly more involved. The call accum f g t produces a function which accumulates its arguments (of type a ) by repeatedly applying f to an accumulator value (starting with t ) and an a argument. The number of values that can be accumulated into t is, again, determined by its type and decreases with each application of f . After accumulating all arguments in this way, we end up with a value of type t Z from which g produces the final result. Here are two examples of how to use accumulate: newtype T_foldl b n = T_foldl b foldlF :: forall n a b. Arity n => (b -> a -> b) -> b -> Fun n a b foldlF f b = Fun $ accum (\(T_foldl b) a -> T_foldl (f b a)) (\(T_foldl b) -> b) (T_foldl b :: T_foldl b n) newtype T_map b c n = T_map (Fn n b c) mapF :: forall n a b c. Arity n => (a -> b) -> Fun n b c -> Fun n a c mapF f (Fun h) = Fun $ accum (\(T_map h) a -> T_map (h (f a))) (\(T_map h) -> h) (T_map h :: T_map b c n) Their semantics shouldn’t be surprising: foldlF f z = \a1 ... an -> z `f` a1 `f` ... `f` an mapF f h = \a1 ... an -> h (f a1) ... (f an) There are, of course, more useful functions which can be defined in this way. Of these, the most important is probably zipWithF . I’ll leave its implementation as an exercise for the interested reader (should there be any) for now. It is a bit elaborate but not that difficult to come up with. Took me only a few hours or so. Now that we have all these nice functions, it is quite easy to implement a lot of useful stuff for our vectors. Here are a few examples: map :: (Vector v a, Vector v b) => (a -> b) -> v a -> v b map f v = inspect v $ mapF f $ construct zipWith :: (Vector v a, Vector v b, Vector v c) => (a -> b -> c) -> v a -> v b -> v c zipWith f v w = inspect w $ inspect v $ zipWithF f $ construct fold :: Vector v a => (b -> a -> b) -> b -> v a -> b fold f z v = inspect v $ foldF f z eq :: (Vector v a, Eq a) => v a -> v a -> Bool eq v w = inspect w $ inspect v $ zipWithF (==) $ foldF (&&) True The structure of these functions reflects the fact that we are essentially programming in continuation-passing style. All this is nicely generic but what about efficiency? With appropriate INLINE pragmas, GHC’s mighty simplifier is perfectly capable of eliminating all intermediate data and functions and produce code that is equivalent to what we would write by hand. For example, here is a small function: isZero :: Complex Double -> Bool isZero x = V.eq x (V.replicate 0) The code generated by GHC is perfect: \ (x_agj :: Complex Double) -> case x_agj of _ { :+ x1_XxL y_XxO -> case x1_XxL of _ { D# x2_awT -> case ==## x2_awT 0.0 of _ { False -> False; True -> case y_XxO of _ { D# x3_Xy6 -> ==## x3_Xy6 0.0 } } } } There is a fairly obvious connection between accum and apply and well-known list operations. Consider that Fun n a b is, in a sense, equivalent to a partial function of type [a] -> b . The Arity methods then correspond to the following functions: accumList :: (t -> a -> t) -> (t -> b) -> [a] -> b applyList :: (t -> (a,t)) -> t -> ([a] -> b) -> b Of course, accumList is just a disguised foldl and applyList is almost exactly unfoldr . It would be nicer if accum corresponded to foldr instead of foldl but that would lead to much uglier code. Anyway, this is it for now. I’m still cleaning up the library (which doesn’t have any comments whatsoever at the moment) but a first version should appear on Hackage in the next week or so. Advertisements
Content Poll #33 World switcher An in-game world switcher that allows you to quickly jump from one world to another without having to re-enter your login information is an update that is often requested. As such, we would like to offer it on content poll #33. If it were to pass, the world switcher would be placed in the log out tab. This would leave it easy to access without any changes being made to the gameframe. Using this to hop worlds would, of course, have the same restrictions as logging out usually does. It would not be possible to log out in combat or any other circumstances where logging out is not usually possible. Question: Should we add a world switcher to the log out tab that can be used to quickly hop from one world to another without having to re-enter login information? An in-game world switcher that allows you to quickly jump from one world to another without having to re-enter your login information is an update that is often requested. As such, we would like to offer it on content poll #33.If it were to pass, the world switcher would be placed in the log out tab. This would leave it easy to access without any changes being made to the gameframe.Using this to hop worlds would, of course, have the same restrictions as logging out usually does. It would not be possible to log out in combat or any other circumstances where logging out is not usually possible.: Should we add a world switcher to the log out tab that can be used to quickly hop from one world to another without having to re-enter login information? Duel Arena Changes We recently borrowed Mod Maz, a RuneScape 3 developer who has been developing content since 2005, to temporarily come over to the Old School team to help out with a few projects while we look for a new, permanent content developer. She has been working on bringing the duel arena up to speed and making it as robust as possible. As well as making the duel arena a more solid piece of content, we would like to offer a couple of changes and new features to make dueling and staking a more pleasant experience. Extending the challenge area The area in which you can challenge people to duels currently starts quite far into the grounds of the duel arena. We would like to change this so it is possible to challenge others to duels anywhere within the fenced bounds of the duel arena. Use previous rules & use saved rules A highly requested feature for the duel arena is the ability to select a particular set of rules in a single click. Such a feature can easily help reduce any risk of scams taking place at the duel arena as well as speeding up the process of getting into duels in general. We would like to offer the ability to both select the rules used in the previous duel as well as the ability to save a custom set of rules and use these rules in a single click. Question: Should we extend the bounds of the challenge area at the duel arena to include the every part of the duel arena grounds? Question: Should we add an option to the duel arena challenge interface that allows you to select the rules used in your previous duel in a single click? Question: Should we add an option to the duel arena challenge interface that allows you to save the currently selected rules and select them in a single click in future duels? We recently borrowed Mod Maz, a RuneScape 3 developer who has been developing content since 2005, to temporarily come over to the Old School team to help out with a few projects while we look for a new, permanent content developer. She has been working on bringing the duel arena up to speed and making it as robust as possible.As well as making the duel arena a more solid piece of content, we would like to offer a couple of changes and new features to make dueling and staking a more pleasant experience.The area in which you can challenge people to duels currently starts quite far into the grounds of the duel arena. We would like to change this so it is possible to challenge others to duels anywhere within the fenced bounds of the duel arena.A highly requested feature for the duel arena is the ability to select a particular set of rules in a single click. Such a feature can easily help reduce any risk of scams taking place at the duel arena as well as speeding up the process of getting into duels in general.We would like to offer the ability to both select the rules used in the previous duel as well as the ability to save a custom set of rules and use these rules in a single click.: Should we extend the bounds of the challenge area at the duel arena to include the every part of the duel arena grounds?: Should we add an option to the duel arena challenge interface that allows you to select the rules used in your previous duel in a single click?: Should we add an option to the duel arena challenge interface that allows you to save the currently selected rules and select them in a single click in future duels? Additional Grand Exchange slots When creating the Grand Exchange, Mod Ash made sure to leave room for additional slots in the future. As a simple quality of life update, we would like to expand the number of Grand Exchange slots from 6 to 8. Free-to-play users would have access to 3 Grand Exchange slots. Question: Should we increase the number of Grand Exchange slots from 6 to 8? Free to play players will have access to 3 slots. Additional Dagannoth King Features The Dagannoth Kings are one of the most popular bosses in Old School. Offering both a challenging fight and some excellent rewards, there is a constant flow of players making their way through the dungeon of Waterbirth Island to take on the beasts. With how busy it can become, we would like to offer a couple of small, quality of life features to make life a little easier when it comes to finding an available world. Checking for players In order to make it a simpler task to see if a world is free, we would like to offer an option on the ladder that takes you down to the Dagannoth Kings that will let you know how many players are currently in the boss room. This would make the process of hopping around worlds and finding an empty one both simpler and less disruptive to the players already killing the bosses. Additional Dagannoth Kings' lair We would also like to offer access to a second Dagannoth King lair. By paying Askeladden, found at the top of Waterbirth Island, a one-off fee of 500,000 coins and completing the Fremennik elite diary you would unlock access to this additional lair permanently. This lair would not be instanced but would be entirely separate from the existing set of Dagannoth Kings, effectively doubling the number of available bosses on any world. In order to access the second Dagannoth King lair, you will need to go to the entrance of the original one. Question: Should an option be added to the ladder leading into the Dagannoth Kings' lair that allows you to check how many players are currently in the boss room? Question: Should we add an additional Dagannoth Kings' lair that can be unlocked by completing the Fremennik elite diary and paying Askeladden, found on the top of Waterbirth Island, 500,000 coins? The Dagannoth Kings are one of the most popular bosses in Old School. Offering both a challenging fight and some excellent rewards, there is a constant flow of players making their way through the dungeon of Waterbirth Island to take on the beasts.With how busy it can become, we would like to offer a couple of small, quality of life features to make life a little easier when it comes to finding an available world.In order to make it a simpler task to see if a world is free, we would like to offer an option on the ladder that takes you down to the Dagannoth Kings that will let you know how many players are currently in the boss room. This would make the process of hopping around worlds and finding an empty one both simpler and less disruptive to the players already killing the bosses.We would also like to offer access to a second Dagannoth King lair. By paying Askeladden, found at the top of Waterbirth Island, a one-off fee of 500,000 coins and completing the Fremennik elite diary you would unlock access to this additional lair permanently. This lair wouldbe instanced but would be entirely separate from the existing set of Dagannoth Kings, effectively doubling the number of available bosses on any world. In order to access the second Dagannoth King lair, you will need to go to the entrance of the original one.: Should an option be added to the ladder leading into the Dagannoth Kings' lair that allows you to check how many players are currently in the boss room?: Should we add an additional Dagannoth Kings' lair that can be unlocked by completing the Fremennik elite diary and paying Askeladden, found on the top of Waterbirth Island, 500,000 coins? Ring of the Gods (i) The Ring of the Gods is the signature drop of Vet'ion, one of the wilderness bosses released with the wilderness rejuvenation project. It currently provides stats +1 to all defensive stats and +3 prayer bonuses. While this is useful in a few places, the usefulness of the ring is not always considered to be representative of how difficult it can be to attain. We would like to offer an imbue to the ring to make it more appealing to use. The imbue would have the following effects and would require Nightmare Zone points and a holy wrench to unlock: • The prayer bonus of the ring would be increased to +4. • The imbued ring provides the same effect as the holy wrench, increasing the prayer restored by prayer potions, super restore potions and Sanfew serum. We feel that this imbue effect will add a reasonable amount of value to the ring while still keeping it well balanced. It also gives some additional value to the holy wrench which is often less useful than simply bringing along an extra potion. Question: Should we allow the ring of the gods to be imbued, giving an additional +1 prayer bonus as well as the passive effect of the holy wrench? This would be purchasable from Nightmare Zone and would require a holy wrench in your inventory. The Ring of the Gods is the signature drop of Vet'ion, one of the wilderness bosses released with the wilderness rejuvenation project. It currently provides stats +1 to all defensive stats and +3 prayer bonuses. While this is useful in a few places, the usefulness of the ring is not always considered to be representative of how difficult it can be to attain.We would like to offer an imbue to the ring to make it more appealing to use. The imbue would have the following effects and would require Nightmare Zone points and a holy wrench to unlock:• The prayer bonus of the ring would be increased to +4.• The imbued ring provides the same effect as the holy wrench, increasing the prayer restored by prayer potions, super restore potions and Sanfew serum.We feel that this imbue effect will add a reasonable amount of value to the ring while still keeping it well balanced. It also gives some additional value to the holy wrench which is often less useful than simply bringing along an extra potion.: Should we allow the ring of the gods to be imbued, giving an additional +1 prayer bonus as well as the passive effect of the holy wrench? This would be purchasable from Nightmare Zone and would require a holy wrench in your inventory. Multiple clue scroll changes Recently, we made a change to clue scrolls to prevent players dropping lower tiered clue scrolls in order to reduce the number of steps required to complete an elite clue scroll. While this has worked and this is no longer possible, it has also had the impact of sometimes extending the lower tiered clue scrolls to the number of steps that an elite clue scroll might have. We would like to get rid of this problem completely by allowing players to have one clue scroll of each tier rather than restricting them to simply one clue scroll. This would mean that you could have an easy, medium, hard and elite clue scroll at the same time, but never two of the same difficulty. This change would prevent the different lengths of clue from interfering with each other while also serving as quite a nice quality of life update for clue scrolls in general. Question: Should the limitation on how many clue scrolls you can own be changed from one clue scroll to one clue scroll of each tier? This would ensure that all clue scrolls have the correct number of steps. Farming Tweaks Over the past few months we have had a fair few quality of life requests for Farming. We'd like to offer a few of these relatively small changes in content poll #33. Question: Should the option on farming patches to rake, clear, cure and prune be made the left-click option? Question: Should the Tool Leprechaun be able to convert weeds to bank notes? Question: Should the aggressive vampire that often wanders into the Canafis farming patch be prevented from doing so? Question: Should the examine option on compost bins show how full they are? Question: Should the Tool Leprechaun found at the farming patches just south of Falador be moved closer to the farming patches? Other questions Question: Should we remove the 200 Defence experience given for mounting Kalphite Queen and King Black Dragon heads in player owned houses? Question: Should the teleport to Sherlock, a reward for completing the Elite Kandarin achievement diary, be given unlimited daily uses? Question: Should a right-click option to open the holiday items interface be added to Diango? Question: Should a right-click 'Pay' option be added to the Blast Furnace Foreman? Question: Should a right-click 'Repair' option be added to Bob in Lumbridge? Question: Should a bank deposit box be added to the bank in Nardah? Question: Should the upgraded Iban staff be named Iban staff (u), rather than Iban staff? Question: Should the minigame list, found inside the quest and achievement diary tab, be ordered alphabetically? Question: Should we add an option to clear your private messages? This would be found as a right-click option where you currently toggle your private chat to on, friends or off. Question: Should the Karamja gloves 4, received after completing the Karamja Elite achievement diary, be able to teleport you to Duradel? As always we will be taking all of your feedback into consideration before content poll #33 goes live so be sure to let us know what you think! Whether it is here on the forums, through Twitter or anywhere else you can get the message to us, we want to hear what you have to say.
by Maggie Stapleton The timing of John Luther Adams’ Become Ocean Pulitzer Prize announcement in conjunction with the Seattle Symphony’s trip to Carnegie Hall during Spring for Music 2014 to perform that very piece was unbelievably perfect. Ever since, it’s been a ride of pride and celebration for John Luther Adams, Ludovic Morlot, and the Seattle Symphony. Cantaloupe records releases a beautifully mastered recording on September 30, 2014 of Become Ocean, recorded at Benaroya Hall and mastered in NYC. It’s a musical commemorative token of the journey and relationship fostered between all involved. Seattle Symphony gave the world premiere of this piece in June 2013 at Benaroya Hall with a supporting art installation at Seattle Art Museum featuring Adams’ Veils and Vesper. Adams was unable to attend the premiere due to a medical emergency, but when he heard one of the concert recordings he was “thrilled because it sounded exactly like I imagined it would. I’m a perfectionist and chronic reviser, always tinkering with pieces and always critical of performances, but the orchestra played it flawlessly. That just doesn’t happen with a world premiere of a piece. I think that just speaks to what a perfect musical partnership that was, what a great orchestra you have there in Seattle, and what an extraordinary Music Director.” The admiration continued when he heard Become Ocean live for the first time in Carnegie Hall, nearly a year after its premiere. “People are looking to Seattle as a model for the new orchestra, for what the symphony orchestra might be in the 21st century and how it might not just survive but thrive and expand the arts world. I was balled over by the sense of commitment and joy coming from that orchestra. These are professional musicians, veteran orchestral musicians who love music and are in no way jaded.” As for the recording? The ideal scenario for the listener in a performance of this piece is to be surrounded by the orchestra and furthermore have the opportunity to move around within the physical space, if desired. Listening to this recording in surround sound is the next best thing! Adams told me, “In making this recording we took special care to mix in stereo much of the time, so that the experience of hearing this music in stereo is as vivid as possible and gives you a sense of being immersed.” The title “Become Ocean” comes from the end of a poem written by John Cage in memory of Lou Harrison (below). While this piece is not specifically a direct homage to either composer, John says, “It would be disingenuous of me to say they were not huge influences on my life and my life’s works. I have no idea as to where I would be without John Cage, Lou Harrison, as incredible role models and their incredible music. So in a way, everything that I do is some kind of tribute to Lou and John.” first the quaLity Of yoUr music tHen its quAntity and vaRiety make it Resemble a rIver in delta liStening to it we becOme oceaN As if there wasn’t already enough good will shared in this post – there’s more. This recording project was successfully funded with a Pledge Music campaign and 5% of those proceeds go directly to the Ocean Conservancy. How’d that come about? “I’m a hardcore environmentalist!” John says. He is an activist going back to the mid-1970s for the Alaska Coalition and the Northern Alaska Environmental Center. These types of issues are at the core of his life. It only seemed appropriate that they might give a little bit back to one of the many organizations trying to clean up and preserve the oceans. Cheers to the Seattle Symphony, Ludovic Morlot, & Cantaloupe Records! Share this: Tweet Email More Print Like this: Like Loading...
The present study shows preferential activity of neurons in the medial and dorsolateral pulvinar to images of snakes. Pulvinar neurons responded faster and stronger to snake stimuli than to monkey faces, monkey hands, and geometric shapes, and were sensitive to unmodified and low-pass filtered images but not to high-pass filtered images. These results identify a neurobiological substrate for rapid detection of threatening visual stimuli in primates. Our findings are unique in providing neuroscientific evidence in support of the Snake Detection Theory, which posits that the threat of snakes strongly influenced the evolution of the primate brain. This finding may have great impact on our understanding of the evolution of primates. Abstract Snakes and their relationships with humans and other primates have attracted broad attention from multiple fields of study, but not, surprisingly, from neuroscience, despite the involvement of the visual system and strong behavioral and physiological evidence that humans and other primates can detect snakes faster than innocuous objects. Here, we report the existence of neurons in the primate medial and dorsolateral pulvinar that respond selectively to visual images of snakes. Compared with three other categories of stimuli (monkey faces, monkey hands, and geometrical shapes), snakes elicited the strongest, fastest responses, and the responses were not reduced by low spatial filtering. These findings integrate neuroscience with evolutionary biology, anthropology, psychology, herpetology, and primatology by identifying a neurobiological basis for primates’ heightened visual sensitivity to snakes, and adding a crucial component to the growing evolutionary perspective that snakes have long shaped our primate lineage.
I’ve recently been diagnosed with Crohn’s disease and my doctor recommended that I try to avoid gluten as much as possible, as well as other foods that might upset my stomach. Like most people, I have a hard time with this, since I am in love with bread, pasta and most other foods containing a gluten. I have started to experiment with gluten free baking and have had some successes and some failures, but so far, the easiest thing I’ve done is to replace flour tortillas with lettuce leaves. This is really a no brainer, folks, and as you may imagine, is quite delicious and healthy. They are perfectly crunchy and give tacos a nice fresh taste that I love. This is one of the easiest recipes to make and it’s really popular among the omnivorous members of my family. It took me about 30 minutes to make this meal and it was very satisfying and delicious. Instead of buying taco seasoning from the store, I just used the spices I already had on hand in my pantry to create a flavor-packed seasoning that tastes just like the kind you can buy, but without any additives. I hope you try this recipe for yourself and let us know how it turned out in the comments below. My Latest Videos
After a weekend spent mostly on Deadly Premonition, here’s another version of DPfix. Due to the number of fixes and additions in this one I bumped the version number by 0.2. Changelog: Fixed additional map locations/sizes for main menu map and large overlay map Fixed positioning and size in scenes with 2 viewpoints being shown (also fixed size of their storage buffers) Fixed enemy shadow trails on the world map at night Added anti-aliasing support (FXAA and SMAA1x supported, see DPfix.ini to enable) Added texture dumping and overriding functionality (works as it did in DSfix) Download DPfix 0.5 here (If you like this version you can consider donating) Some other things: Some people think their posts here on the blog are being deleted, rest assured this is not the case. Because of spam issues I run a rather rigorous spam filter and most posts need to be manually accepted (particularly if it’s your first post) so there may be some delay involved in that. (You may have noticed that there’s no spam in the comments, unlike most blogs :P) If you have issues with the game which are unrelated to DPfix, (e.g. stuttering, crashing) try rebooting and setting DP.exe to Windows 98 compatibility mode. Sounds silly, but it fixed everything for me. I can’t really fix audio issues or add real gamepad support to the game, sorry. In the upcoming week I have quite a lot of work to do, so I probably won’t get much done in DPfix, but I think this version is really good enough to enjoy the game with. Edit: Oh, and someone please make a high-res texture pack for the 3D stuff in the in-game menu. It’s hideous!
Could defender Axel Tuanzebe make his competitive debut against Northampton? Manchester United face Northampton Town in the EFL Cup live on Sky Sports on Wednesday, with Jose Mourinho expected to rotate his side. The Red Devils are looking to bounce back from a third consecutive defeat against Watford at the weekend, but which young players could get a chance to impress against their League One opponents? Here are five youngsters who will be eager to get the nod… Axel Tuanzebe While he is yet to make his competitive debut, 18-year-old defender Tuanzebe was actually promoted to Louis van Gaal's first-team squad before more established duo Cameron Borthwick-Jackson and Marcus Rashford last season. Tuanzebe featured for Manchester United's first team in pres-season He is highly rated by Mourinho, too. The former Chelsea boss was full of praise for Tuanzebe after he made a substitute cameo in a 2-0 win over Wigan during pre-season. "The potential is there, you see it immediately," he said. "You know him better than me because you know him for a few years but if anyone sees him for the first time, ten minutes is enough to see the potential." Tim Fosu-Mensah Fosu-Mensah has fallen out of first-team contention after bursting onto the scene under Van Gaal last season. The Dutch youth international produced a string of impressive displays under his countryman, but is yet to feature under Mourinho despite signing a new contract in August. Timothy Fosu-Mensah impressed against West Ham's Dimitri Payet last season He'll be hoping to get his chance against Northampton. The tall teenager mainly operated as a full-back last season, but he is also capable of playing as a centre-back or a defensive midfielder. That versatility could work in his favour as Mourinho switches things up on Wednesday night. Sean Goss Midfielder Goss is another youngster who came to wider attention under Van Gaal last season, featuring on the bench for a Champions League tie with Wolfsburg. The 20-year-old did not get on that day, but he has impressed in United's youth teams since his arrival from Exeter in 2012. Sean Goss joined Manchester United from Exeter Goss has been compared to Michael Carrick in the past, and admits he models himself on the 35-year-old. "He is one of my favourite players in the first team and I do look up to him," he said." I want to play like him as well, spreading passes, keeping the ball and trying to read the play, while getting on the ball as much as I can." Joe Riley Riley made his first-team debut in United's FA Cup clash with Shrewsbury Town last season and he was handed his first start against Midtjylland in the Europa League. The 19-year-old came through the United youth ranks as a winger but he has recently been converted into a full-back. Riley faces stiff competition to break into the first team under Mourinho, but he says he is developing a similar style to Luke Shaw. "If you look at someone like Luke, he bombs forward all the time and is obviously a great left-back," he said. "It's good watching him get forward but also defending as well. I'd like to take that into my game." Regan Poole Poole has made a big impression since joining United's youth ranks from Welsh outfit Newport County in 2015. The highly-rated defender was handed his first-team debut by Van Gaal against Midtjylland last season, and one of his former coaches has compared him to a young Rio Ferdinand. Regan Poole is a highly-rated central defender The Wales U21 international only turned 18 in June, but could Manchester United's defensive struggles against Watford open the door for his second senior appearance against Northampton? Poole was only 16 years and 94 days old when he made his Newport County debut in League Two. It was the start of a rapid rise.
Preorders were a subject of much discussion during Ubisoft's post-earnings call last week, and it could be inferred from executive comments that they haven't been up to expectations for some titles. "We do consider that preorders are important," CEO Yves Guillemot said when asked about how reservations were shaping up for Watch Dogs 2, "but they are not completely [crucial] for the success of the game." Ubisoft made clear that it considers preorders less reliable indicators of a game's eventual performance than they used to be. Part of that is due to customers knowing that scarcity is no longer an issue: if they decide to buy a game at launch, they can always download it instead of being forced to locate a physical copy in a local store. However, it also varies from game to game. Other executives pointed to Far Cry 3 as an example, saying that preorders for the title weren't great because players wanted to see if it received good reviews and word of mouth before committing to it. Rainbow 6 Siege was another example given of a game that didn't do very well at launch, but turned its performance around as a result of the publisher committing to improving the game over months and adopting player feedback. A slide presentation accompanying Ubisoft's numbers underscored that point. Titled, "A More Dependable and Profitable Industry," the slide charted the rising profitability of the four largest AAA console publishers (EA, Activision Blizzard, Ubisoft, and Take-Two) since 2007. The slide indicates that trend has been boosted by rising barriers to entry in the market and the impact of digitalization on the industry. Guillemot talked about the impact specific to his company in comments released alongside the results, saying, "The Crew, The Division, and Rainbow Six Siege each have more than 10 million registered players, demonstrating that we are effectively executing our business development plan and moving towards an ever-more recurring model. All of our actions and initiatives are aimed at achieving this objective. We are creating powerful franchises that offer long-term visibility. Our multi-studios organization enables us to have regular games releases. And the Live experiences for our consoles and PC games, including our investments in eSports, encourage long-term player engagement." Source: https://www.ubisoft.com/en-US/company/investor_center/index.aspx https://www.ubisoftgroup.com/comsite_common/en-US/images/d20161103050148ubisoft%20h1%20fy17%20slides%20conf%20call%20final_tcm99-273993_tcm99-196733-32.pdf
I just got back to Berlin from the Bitraf IoT hackathon we organized in Oslo, Norway. This hackathon was the first of two IoT workshops around MsgFlo and Flowhub IoT. The second will be held at c-base in Berlin this coming weekend. Bitraf and the existing IoT setup Bitraf is a large non-profit makerspace in the center of Oslo. It provides co-working facilities, as well as labs and a large selection of computer controlled tools for building things. Members have 24/7 access to the space, and are provided with everything needed for CNC milling, laser cutting, 3D-printing and more. The space uses the Flowhub IoT stack of MsgFlo and Mosquitto for business-critical things like the door locks that members can open with their smartphone. In addition to access control, they also had various environmental sensors available on the MQTT network. With the workshop, our aim was to utilize these existing things more, as well as to add new IoT capabilities. And of course to increase the number of Bitraf members with the knowledge to work with the MsgFlo IoT setup. Preparations Being a makerspace, Bitraf already had everything needed for the physical side of the workshop — tons of sensors, WiFi-enabled microcontrollers, tools for building cases and mounting solutions. So the workshop preparations mostly focused on the software side of things. The primary tools for the workshop were: Docker setup of Bitraf IoT, making running the whole IoT environment locally as easy as docker-compose up msgflo-arduino, a library for making ESP8266 devices work as MsgFlo participants To help visualize the data coming from the sensors people were building, I integrated the NASA OpenMCT dashboard with MsgFlo and InfluxDB time series database. This setup is available at the cbeam-telemetry-server project. This gave us a way to send data from any interesting sensors in the IoT network to a dashboard and visualize it. Down the line the persisted data can also be interesting for further analysis or machine learning. Kick-off session We started the workshop with a quick intro session about Flowhub, MsgFlo, and MQTT development. There is unfortunately no video, but the slides are available: After the intro, we did a round of all attendees to see what skills people already had, and what they were interested in learning. Then we started collecting ideas what to work on. People picked their ideas, and the project work started. I’d like to highlight couple of the projects. New sensors for the makerspace Building new sensors was a major part of the workshop. There were several projects, all built on top of msgflo-arduino and the ESP8266 microcontroller: Motion sensor for tracking whether there are people in the laser cutting lab Sensor for tracking which windows are open or closed: https://github.com/Poohma/IOT_Window_Hall_sensors Sensor for tracking whether a given machine is currently running or not: https://github.com/slunke/onoffsensor There was also a project to automatically open and close windows, but this one didn’t get completed over the weekend. You can follow the progress in the altF4 GitHub repo. Tool locking All hackerspaces have the problem that people borrow tools and then don’t return them when finished. This means that the next person needing the tool will have to spend time searching for it. To solve this, the team designed a system that enabled tools to be locked to a wall, with a web interface where members can “check out” a tool they want to use. This way the system constantly knows what tools are in their right places, and which tools are in use, and by who. You can see the tool lock system in action in this demo video: Source code and schematics: https://github.com/einsmein/bitraf-thelock. After the hackathon Before my flight out, we sat down with Jon to review how things went. In general, I think it is clear the event was a success — people got to learn and try new things, and all projects except one were completed during the two days. Our unofficial goal was to double the number of nodes in the Bitraf Flowhub graph, and I think we succeeded in this: Here are couple of comments from the attendees: Really fun and informative. The development pipeline also seems complete. Made it a lot easier for beginner to get started. this was a very fantastic hackathon! Lots of interesting things to learn, very enthusiastic participants, great stewardship and we actually got quite a few projects finished. Well done everbody. In general the development tools we provided worked well. Everybody was able to run the full Flowhub IoT environment on their own machines using the Docker setup we provided. And apart from a couple of corner cases, msgflo-arduino was easy to get going on the NodeMCUs. With these two, everybody could easily wire up some sensors and see their data in both Flowhub and the OpenMCT dashboard. From the local setup going to production was just a matter of switching the MQTT broker configuration. If you’d like to have a similar IoT workshop at your company, we’re happy to organize one. Get in touch!
By Richard Immel, USA Wrestling ESPN has announced that Adeline Gray, three-time world champion in women’s freestyle wrestling, will be among the 19 featured athletes in ESPN The Magazine’s eighth annual Body Issue. Gray, a 2016 Olympian, will be joined by the likes of NBA champion Dwyane Wade of the Miami Heat, UFC featherweight champion Conor McGregor, Super Bowl champion Von Miller of the Denver Broncos and several Olympic athletes in the issue. The 19 featured athletes will shed their clothes and present the human body in its simplest and most powerful form in ESPN The Magazine’s Body Issue, which is set for release online on July 6 and in newsstands on July 8. We caught up with Adeline at Beat The Streets, where she discussed her incredible (and busy) year!
(The only proper) PDO tutorial There are many tutorials on PDO already, but unfortunately, most of them fail to explain the real benefits of PDO, or even promote rather bad practices. The only two exceptions are phptherightway.com and hashphp.org, but they miss a lot of important information. As a result, half of PDO's features remain in obscurity and are almost never used by PHP developers, who, as a result, are constantly trying to reinvent the wheel which already exists in PDO. Unlike those, this tutorial is written by someone who has used PDO for many years, dug through it, and answered thousands questions on Stack Overflow (the sole gold PDO badge bearer). Following the mission of this site, this article will disprove various delusions and bad practices, while showing the right way instead. Although this tutorial is based on mysql driver, the information, in general, is applicable for any driver supported. Why PDO? First things first. Why PDO at all? PDO is a Database Access Abstraction Layer. The abstraction, however, is two-fold: one is widely known but less significant, while another is obscure but of most importance. Everyone knows that PDO offers unified interface to access many different databases. Although this feature is magnificent by itself, it doesn't make a big deal for the particular application, where only one database backend is used anyway. And, despite some rumors, it is impossible to switch database backends by changing a single line in PDO config - due to different SQL flavors (to do so, one needs to use an averaged query language like DQL). Thus, for the average LAMP developer, this point is rather insignificant, and to him, PDO is just a more complicated version of familiar mysql(i)_query() function. However, it is not; it is much, much more. PDO abstracts not only a database API, but also basic operations that otherwise have to be repeated hundreds of times in every application, making your code extremely WET . Unlike mysql and mysqli, both of which are low level bare APIs not intended to be used directly (but only as a building material for some higher level abstraction layer), PDO is such an abstraction already. Still incomplete though, but at least usable. The real PDO benefits are: security (usable prepared statements) (usable prepared statements) usability (many helper functions to automate routine operations) (many helper functions to automate routine operations) reusability (unified API to access multitude of databases, from SQLite to Oracle) Note that although PDO is the best out of native db drivers, for a modern web-application consider to use an ORM with a Query Builder, or any other higher level abstraction library, with only occasional fallback to vanilla PDO. Good ORMs are Doctrine, Eloquent, RedBean, and Yii::AR. Aura.SQL is a good example of a PDO wrapper with many additional features. Either way, it's good to know the basic tools first. So, let's begin: Connecting. DSN PDO has a fancy connection method called DSN. It's nothing complicated though - instead of one plain and simple list of options, PDO asks you to input different configuration directives in three different places: database driver , host , db (schema) name and charset , as well as less frequently used port and unix_socket go into DSN; , , and , as well as less frequently used and go into DSN; username and password go to constructor; and go to constructor; all other options go into options array. where DSN is a semicolon-delimited string, consists of param=value pairs, that begins from the driver name and a colon: mysql : host = localhost ; dbname = test ; port = 3306 ; charset = utf8mb4 driver ^ ^ colon ^ param = value pair ^ semicolon Note that it's important to follow the proper format - no spaces or quotes or other decorations have to be used in DSN, but only parameters, values and delimiters, as shown in the manual. Here goes an example for mysql: $host = '127.0.0.1' ; $db = 'test' ; $user = 'root' ; $pass = '' ; $charset = 'utf8mb4' ; $dsn = "mysql:host= $host ;dbname= $db ;charset= $charset " ; $options = [ PDO :: ATTR_ERRMODE => PDO :: ERRMODE_EXCEPTION , PDO :: ATTR_DEFAULT_FETCH_MODE => PDO :: FETCH_ASSOC , PDO :: ATTR_EMULATE_PREPARES => false , ]; try { $pdo = new PDO ( $dsn , $user , $pass , $options ); } catch (\ PDOException $e ) { throw new \ PDOException ( $e -> getMessage (), (int) $e -> getCode ()); } With all aforementioned variables properly set, we will have proper PDO instance in $pdo variable. Important notes for the late mysql extension users: Unlike old mysql_* functions, which can be used anywhere in the code, PDO instance is stored in a regular variable, which means it can be inaccessible inside functions - so, one has to make it accessible, by means of passing it via function parameters or using more advanced techniques, such as IoC container. The connection has to be made only once! No connects in every function. No connects in every class constructor. Otherwise, multiple connections will be created, which will eventually kill your database server. Thus, a sole PDO instance has to be created and then used through whole script execution. It is very important to set charset through DSN - that's the only proper way because it tells PDO which charset is going to be used. Therefore forget about running SET NAMES query manually, either via query() or PDO::MYSQL_ATTR_INIT_COMMAND . Only if your PHP version is unacceptably outdated (namely below 5.3.6), you have to use SET NAMES query and always turn emulation mode off. More details regarding Mysql can be found in the corresponding chapter, Connecting to MySQL Running queries. PDO::query() There are two ways to run a query in PDO. If no variables are going to be used in the query, you can use the PDO::query() method. It will run your query and return special object of PDOStatement class which can be roughly compared to a resource, returned by mysql_query() , especially in the way you can get actual rows out of it: $stmt = $pdo -> query ( 'SELECT name FROM users' ); while ( $row = $stmt -> fetch ()) { echo $row [ 'name' ] . " " ; } Also, the query() method allows us to use a neat method chaining for SELECT queries, which will be shown below. Prepared statements. Protection from SQL injections This is the main and the only important reason why you were deprived from your beloved mysql_query() function and thrown into the harsh world of Data Objects: PDO has prepared statements support out of the box. Prepared statement is the only proper way to run a query, if any variable is going to be used in it. The reason why it is so important is explained in detail in The Hitchhiker's Guide to SQL Injection prevention. So, for every query you run, if at least one variable is going to be used, you have to substitute it with a placeholder, then prepare your query, and then execute it, passing variables separately. Long story short, it is not as hard as it seems. In most cases, you need only two functions - prepare() and execute(). First of all, you have to alter your query, adding placeholders in place of variables. Say, a code like this $sql = "SELECT * FROM users WHERE email = ' $email ' AND status=' $status '" ; will become $sql = 'SELECT * FROM users WHERE email = ? AND status=?' ; or $sql = 'SELECT * FROM users WHERE email = :email AND status=:status' ; Note that PDO supports positional ( ? ) and named ( :email ) placeholders, the latter always begins from a colon and can be written using letters, digits and underscores only. Also note that no quotes have to be ever used around placeholders. Having a query with placeholders, you have to prepare it, using the PDO::prepare() method. This function will return the same PDOStatement object we were talking about above, but without any data attached to it. Finally, to get the query executed, you must run execute() method of this object, passing variables in it, in the form of array. And after that, you will be able to get the resulting data out of statement (if applicable): $stmt = $pdo -> prepare ( 'SELECT * FROM users WHERE email = ? AND status=?' ); $stmt -> execute ([ $email , $status ]); $user = $stmt -> fetch (); // or $stmt = $pdo -> prepare ( 'SELECT * FROM users WHERE email = :email AND status=:status' ); $stmt -> execute ([ 'email' => $email , 'status' => $status ]); $user = $stmt -> fetch (); As you can see, for the positional placeholders, you have to supply a regular array with values, while for the named placeholders, it has to be an associative array, where keys have to match the placeholder names in the query. You cannot mix positional and named placeholders in the same query. Please note that positional placeholders let you write shorter code, but are sensitive to the order of arguments (which have to be exactly the same as the order of the corresponding placeholders in the query). While named placeholders make your code more verbose, they allow random binding order. Also note that despite a widespread delusion, no " : " in the keys is required. After the execution you may start getting your data, using all supported methods, as described down in this article. More examples can be found in the respective article. Binding methods Passing data into execute() (like shown above) should be considered default and most convenient method. When this method is used, all values will be bound as strings (save for NULL values, that will be sent to the query as is, i.e. as SQL NULL ), but most of time it's all right and won't cause any problem. However, sometimes it's better to set the data type explicitly. Possible cases are: LIMIT clause (or any other SQL clause that just cannot accept a string operand) if emulation mode is turned ON. complex queries with non-trivial query plan that can be affected by a wrong operand type peculiar column types, like BIGINT or BOOLEAN that require an operand of exact type to be bound (note that in order to bind a BIGINT value with PDO::PARAM_INT you need a mysqlnd-based installation). In such a case explicit binding have to be used, for which you have a choice of two functions, bindValue() and bindParam(). The former one has to be preferred, because, unlike bindParam() it has no side effects to deal with. Query parts you can bind It is very important to understand which query parts you can bind using prepared statements and which you cannot. In fact, the list is overwhelmingly short: only string and numeric literals can be bound. So you can tell that as long as your data can be represented in the query as a numeric or a quoted string literal - it can be bound. For all other cases you cannot use PDO prepared statements at all: neither an identifier, or a comma-separated list, or a part of a quoted string literal or whatever else arbitrary query part cannot be bound using a prepared statement. Workarounds for the most frequent use cases can be found in the corresponding part of the article Prepared statements. Multiple execution Sometimes you can use prepared statements for the multiple execution of a prepared query. It is slightly faster than performing the same query again and again, as it does query parsing only once. This feature would have been more useful if it was possible to execute a statement prepared in another PHP instance. But alas - it is not. So, you are limited to repeating the same query only within the same instance, which is seldom needed in regular PHP scripts and which is limiting the use of this feature to repeated inserts or updates: $data = [ 1 => 1000 , 5 => 300 , 9 => 200 , ]; $stmt = $pdo -> prepare ( 'UPDATE users SET bonus = bonus + ? WHERE id = ?' ); foreach ( $data as $id => $bonus ) { $stmt -> execute ([ $bonus , $id ]); } Note that this feature is a bit overrated. Not only it is needed too seldom to talk about, but the performance gain is not that big - query parsing is real fast these times. Note that you can get this advantage only when emulation mode is turned off. Running SELECT INSERT, UPDATE, or DELETE statements Come on folks. There is absolutely nothing special in these queries. To PDO they all the same. It doesn't matter which query you are running. Just like it was shown above, what you need is to prepare a query with placeholders, and then execute it, sending variables separately. Either for DELETE and SELECT query the process is essentially the same. The only difference is (as DML queries do not return any data), that you can use the method chaining and thus call execute() right along with prepare() : $sql = "UPDATE users SET name = ? WHERE id = ?" ; $pdo -> prepare ( $sql )-> execute ([ $name , $id ]); However, if you want to get the number of affected rows, the code will have to be the same boresome three lines: $stmt = $pdo -> prepare ( "DELETE FROM goods WHERE category = ?" ); $stmt -> execute ([ $cat ]); $deleted = $stmt -> rowCount (); More examples can be found in the respective article. Getting data out of statement. foreach() The most basic and direct way to get multiple rows from a statement would be foreach() loop. Thanks to Traversable interface, PDOStatement can be iterated over by using foreach() operator: $stmt = $pdo -> query ( 'SELECT name FROM users' ); foreach ( $stmt as $row ) { echo $row [ 'name' ] . " " ; } Note that this method is memory-friendly, as it doesn't load all the resulting rows in the memory but delivers them one by one (though keep in mind this issue). Getting data out of statement. fetch() We have seen this function already, but let's take a closer look. It fetches a single row from database, and moves the internal pointer in the result set, so consequent calls to this function will return all the resulting rows one by one. Which makes this method a rough analogue to mysql_fetch_array() but it works in a slightly different way: instead of many separate functions ( mysql_fetch_assoc() , mysql_fetch_row() , etc), there is only one, but its behavior can be changed by a parameter. There are many fetch modes in PDO, and we will discuss them later, but here are few for starter: PDO::FETCH_NUM returns enumerated array returns enumerated array PDO::FETCH_ASSOC returns associative array returns associative array PDO::FETCH_BOTH - both of the above - both of the above PDO::FETCH_OBJ returns object returns object PDO::FETCH_LAZY allows all three (numeric associative and object) methods without memory overhead. From the above you can tell that this function have to be used in two cases: When only one row is expected - to get that only row. For example, $row = $stmt -> fetch ( PDO :: FETCH_ASSOC ); Will give you single row from the statement, in the form of associative array. When we need to process the returned data somehow before use. In this case it have to be run through usual while loop, like one shown above. Another useful mode is PDO::FETCH_CLASS , which can create an object of particular class $news = $pdo -> query ( 'SELECT * FROM news' )-> fetchAll ( PDO :: FETCH_CLASS , 'News' ); will produce an array filled with objects of News class, setting class properties from returned values. Note that in this mode properties are set before constructor call for all undefined properties __set magic method will be called magic method will be called if there is no __set method in the class, then new property will be created method in the class, then new property will be created private properties will be filled as well, which is a bit unexpected but quite handy Note that default mode is PDO::FETCH_BOTH , but you can change it using PDO::ATTR_DEFAULT_FETCH_MODE configuration option as shown in the connection example. Thus, once set, it can be omitted most of the time. Return types. Only when PDO is built upon mysqlnd and emulation mode is off, then PDO will return int and float values with respective types. Say, if we create a table create table typetest ( string varchar ( 255 ), ` int ` int , ` float ` float , ` null ` int ); insert into typetest values ( 'foo' , 1 , 1.1 , NULL ); And then query it from mysqlnd-based PDO with emulation turned off, the output will be array( 4 ) { [ "string" ] => string ( 3 ) "foo" [ "int" ] => int ( 1 ) [ "float" ] => float ( 1.1 ) [ "null" ] => NULL } Otherwise the familiar mysql_fetch_array() behavior will be followed - all values returned as strings with only NULL returned as NULL . If for some reason you don't like this behavior and prefer the old style with strings and NULLs only, then you can use the following configuration option to override it: $pdo -> setAttribute ( PDO :: ATTR_STRINGIFY_FETCHES , true ); Note that for the DECIMAL type the string is always returned, due to nature of this type intended to retain the precise value, unlike deliberately non-precise FLOAT and DOUBLE types. Getting data out of statement. fetchColumn() A neat helper function that returns value of the singe field of returned row. Very handy when we are selecting only one field: // Getting the name based on id $stmt = $pdo -> prepare ( "SELECT name FROM table WHERE id=?" ); $stmt -> execute ([ $id ]); $name = $stmt -> fetchColumn (); // getting number of rows in the table utilizing method chaining $count = $pdo -> query ( "SELECT count(*) FROM table" )-> fetchColumn (); Getting data out of statement in dozens different formats. fetchAll() That's most interesting function, with most astonishing features. Mostly thanks to its existence one can call PDO a wrapper, as this function can automate many operations otherwise performed manually. PDOStatement::fetchAll() returns an array that consists of all the rows returned by the query. From this fact we can make two conclusions: This function should not be used, if many rows has been selected. In such a case conventional while loop ave to be used, fetching rows one by one instead of getting them all into array at once. "Many" means more than it is suitable to be shown on the average web page. This function is mostly useful in a modern web application that never outputs data right away during fetching, but rather passes it to template. You'd be amazed, in how many different formats this function can return data in (and how little an average PHP user knows of them), all controlled by PDO::FETCH_* variables. Some of them are: Getting a plain array. By default, this function will return just simple enumerated array consists of all the returned rows. Row formatting constants, such as PDO::FETCH_NUM , PDO::FETCH_ASSOC , PDO::FETCH_OBJ etc can change the row format. $data = $pdo -> query ( 'SELECT name FROM users' )-> fetchAll ( PDO :: FETCH_ASSOC ); var_export ( $data ); /* array ( 0 => array('John'), 1 => array('Mike'), 2 => array('Mary'), 3 => array('Kathy'), )*/ Getting a column. It is often very handy to get plain one-dimensional array right out of the query, if only one column out of many rows being fetched. Here you go: $data = $pdo -> query ( 'SELECT name FROM users' )-> fetchAll ( PDO :: FETCH_COLUMN ); /* array ( 0 => 'John', 1 => 'Mike', 2 => 'Mary', 3 => 'Kathy', )*/ Getting key-value pairs. Also extremely useful format, when we need to get the same column, but indexed not by numbers in order but by another field. Here goes PDO::FETCH_KEY_PAIR constant: $data = $pdo -> query ( 'SELECT id, name FROM users' )-> fetchAll ( PDO :: FETCH_KEY_PAIR ); /* array ( 104 => 'John', 110 => 'Mike', 120 => 'Mary', 121 => 'Kathy', )*/ Note that you have to select only two columns for this mode, first of which have to be unique. Getting rows indexed by unique field Same as above, but getting not one column but full row, yet indexed by an unique field, thanks to PDO::FETCH_UNIQUE constant: $data = $pdo -> query ( 'SELECT * FROM users' )-> fetchAll ( PDO :: FETCH_UNIQUE ); /* array ( 104 => array ( 'name' => 'John', 'car' => 'Toyota', ), 110 => array ( 'name' => 'Mike', 'car' => 'Ford', ), 120 => array ( 'name' => 'Mary', 'car' => 'Mazda', ), 121 => array ( 'name' => 'Kathy', 'car' => 'Mazda', ), )*/ Note that first column selected have to be unique (in this query it is assumed that first column is id, but to be sure better list it explicitly). Getting rows grouped by some field PDO::FETCH_GROUP will group rows into a nested array, where indexes will be unique values from the first columns, and values will be arrays similar to ones returned by regular fetchAll() . The following code, for example, will separate boys from girls and put them into different arrays: $data = $pdo -> query ( 'SELECT sex, name, car FROM users' )-> fetchAll ( PDO :: FETCH_GROUP ); array ( 'male' => array ( 0 => array ( 'name' => 'John' , 'car' => 'Toyota' , ), 1 => array ( 'name' => 'Mike' , 'car' => 'Ford' , ), ), 'female' => array ( 0 => array ( 'name' => 'Mary' , 'car' => 'Mazda' , ), 1 => array ( 'name' => 'Kathy' , 'car' => 'Mazda' , ), ), ) So, this is the ideal solution for such a popular demand like "group events by date" or "group goods by category". Some real life use cases: Other modes Of course, there is a PDO::FETCH_FUNC for the functional programming fans. More modes are coming soon. Error handling. Exceptions Although there are several error handling modes in PDO, the only proper one is PDO::ERRMODE_EXCEPTION . So, one ought to always set it this way, either by adding this line after creation of PDO instance, $dbh -> setAttribute ( PDO :: ATTR_ERRMODE , PDO :: ERRMODE_EXCEPTION ); or as a connection option, as demonstrated in the example above. And this is all you need for the basic error reporting. Reporting PDO errors TL;DR: Despite what all other tutorials say, you don't need a try..catch operator to report PDO errors. Catch an exception only if you have a handling scenario other than just reporting it. Otherwise just let it bubble up to a site-wide handler (note that you don't have to write one, there is a basic built-in handler in PHP, which is quite good). The only exception (pun not intended) is the creation of the PDO instance, which in case of error might reveal the connection credentials (that would be the part of the stack trace). In order to hide them, we can wrap the connection code into a try..catch operator and then throw a new ErrorException that contains only the message but not the credentials. A long rant on the matter: Despite a widespread delusion, you should never catch errors to report them. A module (like a database layer) should not report its errors. This function has to be delegated to an application-wide handler. All we need is to raise an error (in the form of exception) - which we already did. That's all. Nor should you "always wrap your PDO operations in a try/catch " like the most popular tutorial from tutsplus recommends. Quite contrary, catching an exception should be rather an exceptional case (pun intended). In fact, there is nothing special in PDO exceptions - they are errors all the same. Thus, you have to treat them exactly the same way as other errors. If you had an error handler before, you shouldn't create a dedicated one for PDO. If you didn't care - it's all right too, as PHP is good with basic error handling and will conduct PDO exceptions all right. Exception handling is one of the problems with PDO tutorials. Being acquainted with exceptions for the first time when starting with PDO, authors consider exceptions dedicated to this library, and start diligently (but improperly) handling exceptions for PDO only. This is utter nonsense. If one paid no special attention to any exceptions before, they shouldn't have changed their habit for PDO. If one didn't use try..catch before, they should keep with that, eventually learning how to use exceptions and when it is suitable to catch them. So now you can tell that the PHP manual is wrong, stating that If your application does not catch the exception thrown from the PDO constructor, the default action taken by the zend engine is to terminate the script and display a back trace. This back trace will likely reveal the full database connection details, including the username and password. However, there is no such thing as "the displaying of a back trace"! What zend engine really does is just convert an uncaught exception into a fatal error. And then this fatal error is treated like any other error - so it will be displayed only if appropriate php.ini directive is set. Thus, although you may or you may not catch an exception, it has absolutely nothing to do with displaying sensitive information, because it's a totally different configuration setting in response to this. So, do not catch PDO exceptions to report them. Instead, configure your server properly: On a development server just turn displaying errors on: ini_set ( 'display_errors' , 1 ); While on a production server turn displaying errors off while logging errors on: ini_set ( 'display_errors' , 0 ); ini_set ( 'log_errors' , 1 ); keep in mind that there are other errors that shouldn't be revealed to the user as well. Catching PDO exceptions You may want to catch PDO errors only in two cases: If you are writing a wrapper for PDO, and you want to augment the error info with some additional data, like query string. In this case, catch the exception, gather the required information, and re-throw another Exception. If you have a certain scenario for handling errors in the particular part of code. Some examples are: if the error can be bypassed, you can use try..catch for this. However, do not make it a habit. Empty catch in every aspect works as error suppression operator, and so equally evil it is. if there is an action that has to be taken in case of failure, i.e. transaction rollback. if you are waiting for a particular error to handle. In this case, catch the exception, see if the error is one you're looking for, and then handle this one. Otherwise just throw it again - so it will bubble up to the handler in the usual way. E.g.: try { $pdo -> prepare ( "INSERT INTO users VALUES (NULL,?,?,?,?)" )-> execute ( $data ); } catch ( PDOException $e ) { $existingkey = "Integrity constraint violation: 1062 Duplicate entry" ; if ( strpos ( $e -> getMessage (), $existingkey ) !== FALSE ) { // Take some action if there is a key constraint violation, i.e. duplicate name } else { throw $e ; } } However, in general, no dedicated treatment for PDO exceptions is ever needed. In short, to have PDO errors properly reported: Set PDO in exception mode. Do not use try..catch to report errors. Configure PHP for proper error reporting on a live site set display_errors=off and log_errors=on site set and on a development site, you may want to set display_errors=on site, you may want to set of course, error_reporting has to be set to E_ALL in both cases As a result, you will be always notified of all database errors without a single line of extra code! Further reading. Getting row count with PDO You don't needed it. Although PDO offers a function for returning the number of rows found by the query, PDOstatement::rowCount() , you scarcely need it. Really. If you think it over, you will see that this is a most misused function in the web. Most of time it is used not to count anything, but as a mere flag - just to see if there was any data returned. But for such a case you have the data itself! Just get your data, using either fetch() or fetchAll() - and it will serve as such a flag all right! Say, to see if there is any user with such a name, just select a row: $stmt = $pdo -> prepare ( "SELECT 1 FROM users WHERE name=?" ); $stmt -> execute ([ $name ]); $userExists = $stmt -> fetchColumn (); Exactly the same thing with getting either a single row or an array with rows: $data = $pdo -> query ( "SELECT * FROM table" )-> fetchAll (); if ( $data ) { // You have the data! No need for the rowCount() ever! } Remember that here you don't need the count, the actual number of rows, but rather a boolean flag. So you got it. Not to mention that the second most popular use case for this function should never be used at all. One should never use the rowCount() to count rows in database! Instead, one has to ask a database to count them, and return the result in a single row: $count = $pdo -> query ( "SELECT count(1) FROM t" )-> fetchColumn (); is the only proper way. In essence: if you need to know how many rows in the table, use SELECT COUNT(*) query. query. if you need to know whether your query returned any data - check that data. if you still need to know how many rows has been returned by some query (though I hardly can imagine a case), then you can either use rowCount() or simply call count() on the array returned by fetchAll() (if applicable). Thus you could tell that the top answer for this question on Stack Overflow is essentially pointless and harmful - a call to rowCount() could be never substituted with SELECT count(*) query - their purpose is essentially different, while running an extra query only to get the number of rows returned by other query makes absolutely no sense. Affected rows and insert id PDO is using the same function for returning both number of rows returned by SELECT statement and number of rows affected by DML queries - PDOstatement::rowCount() . Thus, to get the number of rows affected, just call this function after performing a query. Another frequently asked question is caused by the fact that mysql won't update the row, if new value is the same as old one. Thus number of rows affected could differ from the number of rows matched by the WHERE clause. Sometimes it is required to know this latter number. Although you can tell rowCount() to return the number of rows matched instead of rows affected by setting PDO::MYSQL_ATTR_FOUND_ROWS option to TRUE, but, as this is a connection-only option and thus you cannot change it's behavior during runtime, you will have to stick to only one mode for the application, which could be not very convenient. Note that PDO::MYSQL_ATTR_FOUND_ROWS is not guaranteed to work, as it's described in the comment below. Unfortunately, there is no PDO counterpart for the mysql(i)_info() function which output can be easily parsed and desired number found. This is one of minor PDO drawbacks. An auto-generated identifier from a sequence or auto_inclement field in mysql can be obtained from the PDO::lastInsertId function. An answer to a frequently asked question, "whether this function is safe to use in concurrent environment?" is positive: yes, it is safe. Being just an interface to MySQL C API mysql_insert_id() function it's perfectly safe. Prepared statements and LIKE clause Despite PDO's overall ease of use, there are some gotchas anyway, and I am going to explain some. One of them is using placeholders with LIKE SQL clause. At first one would think that such a query will do: $stmt = $pdo -> prepare ( "SELECT * FROM table WHERE name LIKE '%?%'" ); but soon they will learn that it will produce an error. To understand its nature one has to understand that, like it was said above, a placeholder have to represent a complete data literal only - a string or a number namely. And by no means can it represent either a part of a literal or some arbitrary SQL part. So, when working with LIKE, we have to prepare our complete literal first, and then send it to the query the usual way: $search = "% $search %" ; $stmt = $pdo -> prepare ( "SELECT * FROM table WHERE name LIKE ?" ); $stmt -> execute ([ $search ]); $data = $stmt -> fetchAll (); Prepared statements and IN clause Just like it was said above, it is impossible to substitute an arbitrary query part with a placeholder. Any string you bind through a placeholder will be put into query as a single string literal. For example, a string '1,2,3' will be bound as a string, resulting in SELECT * FROM table WHERE column IN ( '1,2,3' ) making SQL to search for just one value. To make it right, one needs separated values, to make a query look like SELECT * FROM table WHERE column IN ( '1' , '2' , '3' ) Thus, for the comma-separated values, like for IN() SQL operator, one must create a set of ? s manually and put them into the query: $arr = [ 1 , 2 , 3 ]; $in = str_repeat ( '?,' , count ( $arr ) - 1 ) . '?' ; $sql = "SELECT * FROM table WHERE column IN ( $in )" ; $stm = $db -> prepare ( $sql ); $stm -> execute ( $arr ); $data = $stm -> fetchAll (); Not very convenient, but compared to mysqli it's amazingly concise. In case there are other placeholders in the query, you could use array_merge() function to join all the variables into a single array, adding your other variables in the form of arrays, in the order they appear in your query: $arr = [ 1 , 2 , 3 ]; $in = str_repeat ( '?,' , count ( $arr ) - 1 ) . '?' ; $sql = "SELECT * FROM table WHERE foo=? AND column IN ( $in ) AND bar=? AND baz=?" ; $stm = $db -> prepare ( $sql ); $params = array_merge ([ $foo ], $arr , [ $bar , $baz ]); $stm -> execute ( $params ); $data = $stm -> fetchAll (); In case you are using named placeholders, the code would be a little more complex, as you have to create a sequence of the named placeholders, e.g. :id0,:id1,:id2 . So the code would be: // other parameters that are going into query $params = [ "foo" => "foo" , "bar" => "bar" ]; $ids = [ 1 , 2 , 3 ]; $in = "" ; foreach ( $ids as $i => $item ) { $key = ":id" . $i ; $in .= " $key ," ; $in_params [ $key ] = $item ; // collecting values into key-value array } $in = rtrim ( $in , "," ); // :id0,:id1,:id2 $sql = "SELECT * FROM table WHERE foo=:foo AND id IN ( $in ) AND bar=:bar" ; $stm = $db -> prepare ( $sql ); $stm -> execute ( array_merge ( $params , $in_params )); // just merge two arrays $data = $stm -> fetchAll (); Luckily, for the named placeholders we don't have to follow the strict order, so we can merge our arrays in any order. Prepared statements and table names On Stack Overflow I've seen overwhelming number of PHP users implementing the most fatal PDO code, thinking that only data values have to be protected. But of course it is not. Unfortunately, PDO has no placeholder for identifiers (table and field names), so a developer must manually format them. For mysql to format an identifier, follow these two rules: Enclose identifier in backticks. Escape backticks inside by doubling them. so the code would be: $table = "`" . str_replace ( "`" , "``" , $table ). "`" ; After such formatting, it is safe to insert the $table variable into query. For other databases rules will be different but it is essential to understand that using only delimiters is not enough - delimiters themselves should be escaped. It is also important to always check dynamic identifiers against a list of allowed values. Here is a brief example: $orders = [ "name" , "price" , "qty" ]; //field names $key = array_search ( $_GET [ 'sort' ], $orders ); // see if we have such a name $orderby = $orders [ $key ]; //if not, first one will be set automatically. smart enuf :) $query = "SELECT * FROM `table` ORDER BY $orderby " ; //value is safe Or, extending this approach for the INSERT/UPDATE statements (as Mysql supports SET for both), $data = [ 'name' => 'foo' , 'submit' => 'submit' ]; // data for insert $allowed = [ "name" , "surname" , "email" ]; // allowed fields $values = []; $set = "" ; foreach ( $allowed as $field ) { if (isset( $data [ $field ])) { $set .= "`" . str_replace ( "`" , "``" , $field ). "`" . "=: $field , " ; $values [ $field ] = $data [ $field ]; } } $set = substr ( $set , 0 , - 2 ); This code will produce the correct sequence for SET operator that will contain only allowed fields and placeholders like this: ` name `=: foo as well as $values array for execute() , which can be used like this $stmt = $pdo -> prepare ( "INSERT INTO users SET $set " ); $stmt -> execute ( $values ); Yes, it looks extremely ugly, but that is all PDO can offer. A problem with LIMIT clause Another problem is related to the SQL LIMIT clause. When in emulation mode (which is on by default), PDO substitutes placeholders with actual data, instead of sending it separately. And with "lazy" binding (using array in execute() ), PDO treats every parameter as a string. As a result, the prepared LIMIT ?,? query becomes LIMIT '10', '10' which is invalid syntax that causes query to fail. There are two solutions: One is turning emulation off (as MySQL can sort all placeholders properly). To do so one can run this code: $conn -> setAttribute ( PDO :: ATTR_EMULATE_PREPARES , false ); And parameters can be kept in execute() : $conn -> setAttribute ( PDO :: ATTR_EMULATE_PREPARES , false ); $stmt = $pdo -> prepare ( 'SELECT * FROM table LIMIT ?, ?' ); $stmt -> execute ([ $offset , $limit ]); $data = $stmt -> fetchAll (); Another way would be to bind these variables explicitly while setting the proper param type: $stmt = $pdo -> prepare ( 'SELECT * FROM table LIMIT ?, ?' ); $stmt -> bindParam ( 1 , $offset , PDO :: PARAM_INT ); $stmt -> bindParam ( 2 , $limit , PDO :: PARAM_INT ); $stmt -> execute (); $data = $stmt -> fetchAll (); One peculiar thing about PDO::PARAM_INT : for some reason it does not enforce the type casting. Thus, using it on a number that has a string type will cause the aforementioned error: $stmt = $pdo -> prepare ( "SELECT 1 LIMIT ?" ); $stmt -> bindValue ( 1 , "1" , PDO :: PARAM_INT ); $stmt -> execute (); But change "1" in the example to 1 - and everything will go smooth. Transactions To successfully run a transaction, you have to make sure that error mode is set to exceptions, and learn three canonical methods: beginTransaction() to start a transaction to start a transaction commit() to commit one to commit one rollback() to cancel all the changes you made since transaction start. Exceptions are essential for transactions because they can be caught. So in case one of the queries failed, the execution will be stopped and moved straight to the catch block, where the whole transaction will be rolled back. So a typical example would be like try { $pdo -> beginTransaction (); $stmt = $pdo -> prepare ( "INSERT INTO users (name) VALUES (?)" ); foreach ([ 'Joe' , 'Ben' ] as $name ) { $stmt -> execute ([ $name ]); } $pdo -> commit (); }catch ( Exception $e ){ $pdo -> rollback (); throw $e ; } Please note the following important things: PDO error reporting mode should be set to PDO::ERRMODE_EXCEPTION you have catch an Exception , not PDOException , as it doesn't matter what particular exception aborted the execution. , not , as it doesn't matter what particular exception aborted the execution. you should re-throw an exception after rollback, to be notified of the problem the usual way. also make sure that a table engine supports transactions (i.e. for Mysql it should be InnoDB, not MyISAM) there are no Data definition language (DDL) statements that define or modify database schema among queries in your transaction, as such a query will cause an implicit commit Calling stored procedures in PDO There is one thing about stored procedures any programmer stumbles upon at first: every stored procedure always returns one extra result set: one (or many) results with actual data and one just empty. Which means if you try to call a procedure and then proceed to another query, then "Cannot execute queries while other unbuffered queries are active" error will occur, because you have to clear that extra empty result first. Thus, after calling a stored procedure that is intended to return only one result set, just call PDOStatement::nextRowset() once (of course after fetching all the returned data from statement, or it will be discarded): $stmt = $pdo -> query ( "CALL bar()" ); $data = $stmt -> fetchAll (); $stmt -> nextRowset (); While for the stored procedures returning many result sets the behavior will be the same as with multiple queries execution: $stmt = $pdo -> prepare ( "CALL foo()" ); $stmt -> execute (); do { $data = $stmt -> fetchAll (); var_dump ( $data ); } while ( $stmt -> nextRowset () && $stmt -> columnCount ()); However, as you can see here is another trick have to be used: remember that extra result set? It is so essentially empty that even an attempt to fetch from it will produce an error. So, we cannot use just while ($stmt->nextRowset()) . Instead, we have to check also for empty result. For which purpose PDOStatement::columnCount() is just excellent. This feature is one of essential differences between old mysql ext and modern libraries: after calling a stored procedure with mysql_query() there was no way to continue working with the same connection, because there is no nextResult() function for mysql ext . One had to close the connection and then open a new one again in order to run other queries after calling a stored procedure. Calling a stored procedure is a rare case where bindParam() use is justified, as it's the only way to handle OUT and INOUT parameters. The example can be found in the corresponding manual chapter. However, for mysql it doesn't work. You have to resort to an SQL variable and an extra call. Note that for the different databases the syntax could be different as well. For example, to run a sored procedure against Microsoft SQL server, use the following format $stmt = $pdo -> prepare ( "EXEC stored_procedure ? ?" ); where ? marks are placeholders. Note that no braces should be used in the call. Running multiple queries with PDO When in emulation mode, PDO can run mutiple queries in the same statement, either via query() or prepare()/execute() . To access the result of consequent queries one has to use PDOStatement::nextRowset() : $stmt = $pdo -> prepare ( "SELECT ?;SELECT ?" ); $stmt -> execute ([ 1 , 2 ]); do { $data = $stmt -> fetchAll (); var_dump ( $data ); } while ( $stmt -> nextRowset ()); Within this loop you'll be able to gather all the related information from the every query, like affected rows, auto-generated id or errors occurred. It is important to understand that at the point of execute() PDO will report the error for the first query only. But if error occurred at any of consequent queries, to get that error one has to iterate over results. Despite some ignorant opinions, PDO can not and should not report all the errors at once. Some people just cannot grasp the problem at whole, and don't understand that error message is not the only outcome from the query. There could be a dataset returned, or some metadata like insert id. To get these, one has to iterate over resultsets, one by one. But to be able to throw an error immediately, PDO would have to iterate automatically, and thus discard some results. Which would be a clear nonsense. Unlike mysqli_multi_query() PDO doesn't make an asynchronous call, so you can't "fire and forget" - send bulk of queries to mysql and close connection, PHP will wait until last query gets executed. Emulation mode. PDO::ATTR_EMULATE_PREPARES One of the most controversial PDO configuration options is PDO::ATTR_EMULATE_PREPARES . What does it do? PDO can run your queries in two ways: It can use a real or native prepared statement: When prepare() is called, your query with placeholders gets sent to mysql as is, with all the question marks you put in (in case named placeholders are used, they are substituted with ?s as well), while actual data goes later, when execute() is called. It can use emulated prepared statement, when your query is sent to mysql as proper SQL, with all the data in place, properly formatted. In this case only one roundtrip to database happens, with execute() call. For some drivers (including mysql) emulation mode is turned ON by default. Both methods has their drawbacks and advantages but, and - I have to stress on it - both being equally secure, if used properly. Despite rather appealing tone of the popular article on Stack Overflow, in the end it says that if you are using supported versions of PHP and MySQL properly, you are 100% safe. All you have to do is to set encoding in the DSN, as it shown in the example above, and your emulated prepared statements will be as secure as real ones. Note that when native mode is used, the data is never appears in the query, which is parsed by the engine as is, with all the placeholders in place. If you're looking into Mysql query log for your prepared query, you have to understand that it's just an artificial query that has been created solely for logging purpose, but not a real one that has been executed. Other issues with emulation mode as follows: When emulation mode is turned ON one can use a handy feature of named prepared statements - a placeholder with same name could be used any number of times in the same query, while corresponding variable have to be bound only once. For some obscure reason this functionality is disabled when emulation mode is off: $stmt = $pdo -> prepare ( "SELECT * FROM t WHERE foo LIKE :search OR bar LIKE :search" ); $stmt -> execute ([ 'search' ] => "% $search %" );` Also, when emulation is ON , PDO is able to run multiple queries in one prepared statement. Also, as native prepared statements support only certain query types, you can run some queries with prepared statements only when emulation is ON . The following code will return table names in emulation mode and error otherwise: $stmt = $pdo -> prepare ( "SHOW TABLES LIKE ?" ); $stmt -> execute ([ "% $name %" ]); var_dump ( $stmt -> fetchAll ()); When emulation mode is turned OFF One could bother not with parameter types, as mysql will sort all the types properly. Thus, even string can be bound to LIMIT parameters, as it was noted in the corresponding chapter. Also, this mode will allow to use the advantage of single prepare-multiple execute feature. It's hard to decide which mode have to be preferred, but for usability sake I would rather turn it OFF , to avoid a hassle with LIMIT clause. Other issues could be considered negligible in comparison. Mysqlnd and buffered queries. Huge datasets. Recently all PHP extensions that work with mysql database were updated based on a low-level library called mysqlnd , which replaced old libmysql client. Thus some changes in the PDO behavior, mostly described above and one that follows: There is one thing called buffered queries. Although you probably didn't notice it, you were using them all the way. Unfortunately, here are bad news for you: unlike old PHP versions, where you were using buffered queries virtually for free, modern versions built upon mysqlnd driver won't let you to do that anymore: When using libmysqlclient as library PHP's memory limit won't count the memory used for result sets unless the data is fetched into PHP variables. With mysqlnd the memory accounted for will include the full result set. The whole thing is about a resultset, which stands for all the data found by the query. When your SELECT query gets executed, there are two ways to deliver the results in your script: buffered and unbuffered one. When buffered method is used, all the data returned by the query gets copied in the script's memory at once. While in unbuffered mode a database server feeds the found rows one by one. So you can tell that in buffered mode a resultset is always burdening up the memory on the server even if fetching weren't started at all. Which is why it is not advisable to select huge datasets if you don't need all the data from it. Nonetheless, when old libmysql-based clients were used, this problem didn't bother PHP uers too much, because the memory consumed by the resultset didn't count in the the memory_get_usage() and memory_limit . But with mysqlnd things got changed, and the resultset returned by the buffered query will be count towards both memory_get_usage() and memory_limit , no matter which way you choose to get the result: $pdo -> setAttribute ( PDO :: MYSQL_ATTR_USE_BUFFERED_QUERY , FALSE ); $stmt = $pdo -> query ( "SELECT * FROM Board" ); $mem = memory_get_usage (); while( $row = $stmt -> fetch ()); echo "Memory used: " . round (( memory_get_usage () - $mem ) / 1024 / 1024 , 2 ). "M " ; $pdo -> setAttribute ( PDO :: MYSQL_ATTR_USE_BUFFERED_QUERY , TRUE ); $stmt = $pdo -> query ( "SELECT * FROM Board" ); $mem = memory_get_usage (); while( $row = $stmt -> fetch ()); echo "Memory used: " . round (( memory_get_usage () - $mem ) / 1024 / 1024 , 2 ). "M " ; will give you (for my data) Memory used : 0.02M Memory used : 2.39M which means that with buffered query the memory is consumed even if you're fetching rows one by one! So, keep in mind that if you are selecting a really huge amount of data, always set PDO::MYSQL_ATTR_USE_BUFFERED_QUERY to FALSE . Of course, there are some drawbacks, two minor ones: With unbuffered query you can't use rowCount() method (which is useless, as we learned above) Moving (seeking) the current resultset internal pointer back and forth (which is useless as well). And a rather important one:
1484 2441 18th St NW Washington, DC 20009 (202) 656-5285 The flavors here are top-notch, A1. Bulgogi is banging, pork belly is perfect, noodles are juuuuust the right consistency and the broth is magical . Don't think about it, just do it! Definitely a cool, underground ramen spot in the heart of AdMo. I really like the vibe and the service is way faster than I expected. Me and my boyfriend went in around 2 pm on a Sunday and I think we were in and out within 45 minutes. We got the gyoza, shoki bowl and tonkatsu red and weren't overly please with our ramen. The broth wasn't too flavorful however the meat was pretty tasty. I do also prefer a stronger-flavored egg in my ramen that's a little more runny. Overall - I would recommend but I personally won't be craving another visit anytime soon. Perhaps one day I'll stop by again and try and a different ramen. I would consider myself a ramen connoisseur. I love ramen....LOVE. It's not a game. So...I give Sakuramen a strong 3.8 stars (and we're rounding up, that's where you get the 4). Things I loved about the spot: - the wait wasn't super long (which I hear is not normal, but we were seated fairly quickly) - the thick and wavy noodles were sooo good and perfect. I hate when ramen spots try to get too unique and don't serve proper noodles. - I got the spicy ramen and it was pretty good. Like I said, a solid 3.8. - they allowed me to substitute the pork belly for portobello mushrooms which I've never seen before - they have a cheese topping for the ramen (which I'd never tried before but my friend said it's amazing) - prices are reasonable So why a 4 and not a 5?? Glad you asked! - I ordered the spicy miso ramen. The waitress then asked me if I wanted it spicy....I was very confused. Apparently the base spicy miso has no spice....and then you have to add a fireball or whatever to it. So if you order it...and are expecting spice...make sure you order spice on top of your spicy miso. - in comparison to my favorite ramen spot...still doesn't top it. But definitely wouldn't be opposed to stopping in again. Sakuramen is the perfect place for a cold night. It's a small (cozy) restaurant with great comfort food. There was no wait for a table, and the staff was friendly. The food came quickly, and we didn't have to wait for a check. I picked the chosun ramen, which was a little heavy for me. That said, it's a preference- and I look forward to trying other dishes here. This is, plain and simple, a solid restaurant Limited menu options here - which is what I like to see!! Love it when restaurants focus on making a few really quality items over a crowded menu of medium quality items. I ordered the tonkotsu red ramen at spicy level 4 and thought it was really tasty! The meats were tender and yummy. Good texture on the noodles too (a little chewy but not too soft or too hard). Although I didn't think it was too spicy! I have an above average tolerance for spiciness so I'd love to try the add-on extra spicy fireball next time. Pro tip: eat here before 8pm if you don't like loud music. They upped the volume right around 8pm and my friend & I had to start talking louder over the music. Not a huge deal but could be a dealbreaker for a date! Takes both cash and credit card. Very limited seating. If you are coming with a party less than 4, seating is pretty quick. Larger parties might have to wait for some time. If you love ramen, this is the place to go. They offer a variety of ramen options. I would recommend getting the ramen with the thick noodles. Any additions to your soup will cost you more, which is typical of all ramen shops. Customer service here fluctuates depending on the time of day. We came here on a weekend and the staff were not too tentative. However, the food here is okay. In terms of pricing, expect to pay $14+ for ramen (before any additions). If you drive here, you must park on the metered streets. Might consider parking further or take the train here. So staying in the Adams Morgan area while in DC and was feeling like something warm since it's a bit chilly. This place is right down the street from where we are staying...so we thought we would give it a go. Went a bit early and boy are we glad we did, the place got pretty busy!!! The place is pretty small, but the ambiance is nice and the food makes up for the size. Took about 20 minutes for us to be seated, and then ordered. We got steamed buns and a ramen to split which was plenty for us! Everything was great! Pork belly.... Just do it Kimchi was also pretty good... Though I've never had a kimchi I don't like.... Hands down best ramen in DC!! There's almost always a wait but it's worth it. The pork belly is the best part When you're on a trip and have limited time for yourself, you know you gotta nail all the best restaurants. But unfortunately, sometimes you miss. And for me, that was the case with Sakuramen in DC. Oh how I really wanted to love this restaurant, but it just didn't work out (*insert droopy sad face*). So last week, I spent a few days in Washington DC celebrating an award my boss received. We were staying in the Adams Morgan Neighborhood at the LINE, which y'all should definitely check out once in your lifetime (https://yelp.to/qTKq/lraY98FK0R). Because of the chilly weather, I was really craving ramen and decided to give Sakuramen a try; why not as it was down the street? On the outside, Sakuramen looked like your average ramen shop that served a short list of broth options. But in actuality, this little restaurant that was below-ground offered a unique "fusion" twist. Korean-inspired, Sakuramen served some interesting dishes such as their bulgogi ramen and chasu-style buns - things I wouldn't see at a normal ramen shop along the West coast. Hoping for a bold experience, I got their most Korean-inspired ramen: Their Chosun Ramen with 7/10 spice level and added in bamboo. I also got the Chasu Buns cause you know if your company covers it why not? Here's what I thought of the experience: -- AVERAGE FOOD, CONSIDERING DA HYPE -- Sadly, the quality and of the food just wasn't what I expected. For all the buzz, the delivery wasn't there but portion size was great? Kinda? 1. Chasu Buns (8/10): This was actually my favorite part of the meal. I got two pretty hefty buns that were soft and fluffy. They packed plentiful slices of juicy and flavorful pork meat. I loved how they tasted in my mouth, especially with the scallions on top and lettuce on the bottom (sorry that sounds so wrong lol). Except, the sauce was too oily and they could've given more for $9. 2. Chosun Ramen (6/10): Excuse my poor pun, but the Chosun Ramen was definitely not the chosen one. Though I got a whole bunch of meat and noodles, it underperformed. The bulgogi tasted fine but I did not like the fact that it came out more like ground beef than strips. Moreover, the chicken broth tasted okay and packed some spice but it was overpowered by the flavor of the bulgogi and the kimchi. In addition, I thought the bamboo was good, egg was cooked well, and the thin noodles were aight. Overall though, the ramen really didn't have a consistent vibe to it; felt like they did too much and it was all over the place. I should've just gotten their Tonkotsu. -- INTIMATE AND COZY THO NOISY -- The restaurant was tiny, but I loved the lighting and it definitely offered me a nice escape from the cold weather outside. I'd definitely recommend the setting for a date but will warn that it got noisy because of the small space. -- GREAT SERVICE, FAST DELIVERY -- Service here was actually really good. The waiters were friendly and one guy took my jacket to the back since they didn't have coat hangers. Plus, I got my food really quick! Looking back, I should've either taken a taxi to Daikaya (apparently best ramen in DC?) or walked down the street to Amsterdam Falafel Shop (best food in the area?) because Sakuramen was a bit underwhelming for me. The food wasn't bad per say, but I expected more - especially if this was gonna be the meal I'd want to remember in DC. So I give this place a "Tolerable, sufficient for sustenance" rating. Eat well and prosper, Delicious ramen bar that's worth the wait in line. FOOD: I ordered the Shoki Bowl, a so-called "meat lovers" bowl that came with pork slices, bulgogi, and a broth that was so meaty that my friend claimed it tasted "like a burger" when she tried it (I disagreed, but I think my friend meant it in a good way). With the bowl came a healthy dose of ramen and bean sprouts, a slice of seaweed, and a picturesque egg that was as delicious as it looked (see my picture). Overall, the food was delicious and I would come again (although I might reconsider if the line becomes as long as it did). ATMOSPHERE: If you like noisy places with lots of energy in a room and small-ish spaces, this is a good place to be. Otherwise, you might want to reconsider. Again, though, the food is worth it. SERVICE: The staff was friendly and was mostly hands-off because they had a hundred other guests to tend to (which was fine by me); despite how busy they were; they were quick to refill water and deliver us our checks when we were done. CAN YOU IMAGINE ANYTHING ELSE THATS SO AMAZING? Nope. Come and eat here. You won't regret it. Best ramen you will ever have. Atmosphere was awesome and cool and the service was fine. The food was so good. I got double noodles because I like the noodles. My friend got a 6 on spice level and it was really really good. I didn't get any spice and wish I had! Mine was still amazing tho. The dumplings were amazing too. This is a must try! I will say. This is the best ramen spot in DC! In the middle of Adams Morgan, it's a cute and quaint little place. I'm not the biggest fan of ramen, but this place was pretty impressive! For a college budget though- not the best bang for your buck. It's $15 for a relatively okay-sized bowl and not a lot in it. If you have the money, I would say go for it, but otherwise, might be better saving your money! I didn't know it would be this expensive. Service wasn't the best, it took forever to get the check and I was upset that there weren't even side dishes :-( I went here yesterday for dinner and enjoyed my meal. I got the vegetarian ramen which wasn't bad. Not sure if I had the option to add more vegetables but if I could I would have added some broccoli. My friend got the same thing and she enjoyed it. And our other counterpart got the beef and something else and he loved it. Said it was the best ramen he ever had. I also ordered the green tea ice cream and the mango ice cream and this was the highlight of my entire visit! It was so good! This was my first time coming here. We were able to find parking relatively easy but it's also because it was a cold Tuesday night. Usually I would have to park in the lot. The place is nice and friendly. Service was okay. The prices are definitely reasonable. This is a great place for lunch, a to go order, or if you're just trying to warm up! This basement level hot spot is the place to go to for Ramen! I came here for my first time last night and I am so happy I did. Watch your step as you walk in, otherwise you may almost miss like I did. Sakuramen is on your typical hole in the wall level of greatness. We arrived around 6:30pm and it was packed. The wait time was not long at all, we probably waited 7 to 10 minutes to be seated. We ordered the steamed dumplings (Delicious!) The Soy sauce they give you with the dumplings is not your ordinary soy sauce. It tasted homemade, seasoned, and it was the perfect savory match for the dumplings. Highly recommended! I ordered the spicy miso, but instead of thick noodles I ordered thin waving noodles. My boyfriend got the Tonkotsu. Both of us ordered mild, which was a 4 on the level of spiciness according to our waitress. We were so impressed with how well seasoned the food was. Everything was spiced to perfection and I'm not talking about spice as in pepper, I'm talking about herbs, seasoning, vegetables, it was the perfect combination. My boyfriend really wanted to try the Bulgogi Buns, so we ordered them to go and I am so glad we did! When we got home we tore those up! So, so, good! I will definitely be coming back. I already told a friend, who told a friend to definitely check this place out. Great divey type place. The pork dumplings, steamed, were really great. They give you what tastes like a house made soy sauce which puts the dumplings over the top. I got the tonkotsu RED at spice level 4 which was just right. The noodles were cooked perfectly and the broth brought me right back home in my head. Felt like cuddling up with a good movie. This is definite try if you're feeling like noodles or a good broth!! Pleasantly surprised with the overall taste of the ramen. I'm usually not a big fan of these dishes but the individual items complement each other very well. My favorite part was the soft boiled egg that is included in the shoki (meat lovers) bowl which is why I would definitely recommend ordering that over other options. My second favorite part was the pork belly - very tender, melty, and savory. Only aspect of the dish holding it back from perfection is the saltiness. It was one of the saltiest broths I've had and the more you eat it, the more overwhelming it becomes. Service is a bit on the slower side but overall not too bad. Would definitely revisit for another ramen bowl on a cold day. I enjoyed Sakuramen. It was my first time having ramen and overall I think I just like Pho better but ramen is a lot hardier and thicker. It was good and spicy and if you like ramen you'll like it from here. Staff was super nice even when this incredibly rude woman ordered her food too spicy and then complained when her food was too spicy. She was terrible, chef and owner was not. I came here solo during a work trip. It was pretty packed when I went. The staff were very nice. They gave me a glass of water while I waited. After about 15 minutes, they prepared my seat. I was debating if I should get the tonkotsu mild or sakuramen. I decided to go with the classic: sakuramen. Since it is vegeterian, I added extra chasu and a soft boiled egg. I ordered the spiciness level 5 out of 10. My dish came woth nori, chasu, egg, green onions, corn, bamboo shoot, and mushrooms. I am glad that I got this ramen and added the meat. Every ingtedient played a role in texture, balnacing taste, and consistency. The noodles were cooked to a good thickness and texture. The broth wasn't too salty and had a nice mushroomy taste. I think the 5/10 spice level was perfect for me. It had a nice kick (granted, i am not good at eating spicy foods). The corn added a nice crunch. I've had better chasu, but still excellent! But let me talk about the boiled egg! Maybe recently, my boiled eggs haven't been good in ramens. This was perfectly soft boiled. Some yolk seeping out, but still remaining its structure until eaten. Thanks! Space and Date We- me and husbie- went on a Thursday evening. The space is small. It was not crowded thankfully at the time we arrived (like 630P) Food They have like 2 vegetarian options so if you don't eat red meat- they don't have much to offer. I got the one vegetarian dish. The mushrooms provided a pungency to the dish which was striking at first but didn't bother me with subsequent eating. I like the chew of the noodles and the season egg! (Didn't come w my dish- paid extra $1 for the egg- but worth it) we asked for medium spicy and it was not spicy at all. So if you actually want to taste the spice, ask for very spicy. Timing For a ramen place, I was surprised at how long it took for our dishes. But when it arrived it was hot and well presented. Price My dish was $14 and husbie- who got a meat heavy dish was like $16-$17. Overall I would try other ramen shops in the area before coming back. But as it is cold and perfect ramen weather, if you are in the area with no dietary restrictions- it's worth stopping by here. I'd really give a 3.5 star but rounded up bc the noodles and egg was great
The victim, who is known only as "Tiffany G." Of all the weird and sordid finance stories to flash across our screens over the past year, the one about Michael Lallana allegedly ejaculating into his female coworker's drink bottle was probably the worst. And now he's been found guilty of assault and battery, with the conclusion that he did what he did "for sexual gratification," CBS reports. Lallana "admitted in a taped interview that he ejaculated into an 'attractive' coworker's water bottle because 'her lips had touched it,' but told detectives he never thought she would drink it." Lallana and his victim, known only as "Tiffany G," were coworkers at Northwestern Mutual Financial in Newport Beach. Apparently they barely knew each other, and the extent of their interaction was limited to small talk here and there. Lallana told police: "It was the closest I could ever get to someone as good looking as that without tampering with my marriage or hurting anyone. Can I honestly say I wanted her to drink it? No." He did it not once, but twice. After the second time, Tiffany decided to investigate. She assumed that her water tasted strange for one reason and had her boyfriend ejaculate into a water bottle to see if her suspicion was right. Long story short, she had an independent investigator test the water and they confirmed her suspicion. Lallana gave investigators a DNA sample, and they found a match to the DNA in Tiffany's bottle. For more details on how Tiffany discovered the attack, go to CBS >>
Odell Beckham Jr.’s sprained ankle kept him from playing football Sunday night, but it apparently didn’t stop him from dancing in public just days earlier. According to the New York Post’s Page Six, Beckham was spotted engaged in a dance battle with NBA MVP Russell Westbrook on Thursday night in the Meatpacking District. It all went down while Wyclef Jean was performing during Catch NYC’s sixth anniversary celebration, the report said. MORE: McAdoo: Giants Need To Make A Big Jump Against The Lions “There were a bunch of models like Taylor Hill on one side and Teyana Taylor and her husband, Iman Shumpert, on the other side cheering them on,” a witness told the Post. Beckham missed the Giants’ season-opening loss at Dallas after spraining his ankle in a preseason game against the Browns on Aug. 21. He hasn’t practiced since suffering the injury, only doing some stretching, running and other light work on the sidelines. His status for Monday night’s home opener against the Lions is up in the air. The Post report isn’t the first example of Beckham dancing on his bum ankle. On Aug. 30, linebacker J.T. Thomas posted a since-deleted Instagram video of Beckham briefly flashing his moves in the Giants’ locker room. https://twitter.com/ThePudgyPuggle/status/902949563929120768
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A five-week summer break might sound sweet to many people, but maybe not to the 292 Republicans in Congress who leave Washington with none of their major legislative goals achieved after six months in power alongside President Donald Trump. The U.S. Capitol Building is seen shortly before sunset in Washington, U.S. May 17, 2017. REUTERS/Zach Gibson With Congress due to be closed until Sept. 5, voters may ask: What happened to repealing and replacing Obamacare? Overhauling the tax code? Investing more money in job-creating infrastructure projects? The awkward answer for Republican lawmakers and Trump is “not much.” Despite having control of the White House, the Senate and the House of Representatives since the November 2016 elections, Republicans have not delivered on their biggest campaign promises. Distracted by a probe of possible ties between his campaign and Russian meddling in the election, among many other issues he tweets about, Trump has yet to propose any major legislation since his Jan. 20 inauguration. Some Republicans fear voters will punish their party in the November 2018 elections for inaction now, and that congressional losses would make it even harder for Trump to get things done in 2019-2020, the second half of his four-year term. Republicans’ failure to repeal Obamacare “is going to be difficult to explain to the (Republican) base,” former Senate Majority Tom Daschle, a Democrat, said in a recent interview. There are some achievements for Republicans to point to, including the Senate confirmation in April of Trump’s nominee to the Supreme Court, conservative judge Neil Gorsuch. This week, congressional Democrats and Republicans also pressured Trump into enacting a Russia-Iran-North Korea sanctions bill. Lawmakers also managed to pass bills to improve veterans’ healthcare and renew a Food and Drug Administration funding stream for reviewing drug safety. The Senate confirmed a new FBI director and Congress also repealed 14 Obama-era regulations. But as Senator Tim Scott of South Carolina told reporters, he and his fellow Republicans “lack traction” on major legislation. “We have not done well on the big events.” When Congress returns in early September, Republicans want to focus on taxes. But a comprehensive tax reform initiative remains under wraps amid deep divisions in the party. There has been no movement on legislation to finance the rebuilding of roads, bridges, airports and other infrastructure. Democratic Senator Heidi Heitkamp of North Dakota, who faces a possible tough re-election next year, said Trump remains popular among voters in her state, which he carried by 36 points in November. “They’re grateful for the rollback of what we all considered onerous regulations against industry; onerous overreach by EPA (Environmental Protection Agency),” Heitkamp said of the regulations then-President Barack Obama imposed before leaving office, which Trump and Congress nullified. Republicans want to pass a budget blueprint for the fiscal year beginning on Oct. 1, an action that was supposed to have been taken care of long before the summer recess. Without the measure, Republican legislation rewriting the U.S. tax code might not advance. There are serious disagreements among Republicans about long-term spending levels, however. Also ominous are the party’s rifts over funding the government near-term and avoiding Oct. 1 federal agency shutdowns. And there is the problem of raising Washington’s borrowing limit. Failure could trigger a historic U.S. default. Those and other issues will be taken up next month. But in the run-up to the summer break the Senate did manage to close ranks and unanimously pass a resolution proclaiming Sept. 25 as National Lobster Day.
President Donald Trump supports a bill that will cut legal immigration in half and return to a merit-based system of immigration. Instead of huddled masses of welfare recipients and jihadists and drug cartels from the wretched refuse of teeming shores, we will get more immigrants who want to come here to work and live free. Within hours, amnesty McCain said, “I wouldn’t do it”. McCain is promoting another amnesty bill as soon as they all get back from their one-month vacation after accomplishing absolutely nothing this year. McCain was joined by so-called Republican Lindsey Graham who said they really need cheap labor in South Carolina. He didn’t put it exactly that way, but it is what he means. “Unfortunately,” said Sen. Lindsey Graham, in a statement about RAISE, “[one] part of this proposal would reduce legal immigration by half, including many immigrants who work legally in our agriculture, tourism and service industry. South Carolina’s number one industry is agriculture and tourism is number two. If this proposal were to become law, it would be devastating to our state’s economy, which relies on this immigrant workforce.” Graham knows the workers in farming are here illegally. He is supporting illegal alien labor, yet he pretends he’s talking about legal immigrants. Graham is clearly lying. “South Carolina’s number one industry is agriculture and tourism is number two. If this proposal were to become law, it would be devastating to our state’s economy which relies on this immigrant workforce,” Graham said in the media release. In July, Graham called for granting citizenship to 1.5 million illegal immigrants who were brought into the United States illegally as children. He also called for increasing importation of foreign workers. Forget what is right for the United States. It doesn’t matter. Ron Johnson also rejected the proposal. The farmers won’t vote for him and that is what it is all about – their re-election. In May, Johnson proposed allowing states to import 500,000 foreign workers to replace Americans who were out of the labor market. The legislation did not consider helping American citizens re-enter the labor market who were out of the workforce for a variety of reasons including drug addiction. Johnson has turned into quite a RINO. In January, he told a CNBC audience: “Let’s start working with Democrats. Let’s transition to a system that will actually work, that, you know, Democrats are talking about. They want to fix it. Well, let’s fix it for the benefit of the American public.” Sounding like an elitist, he added, “From my standpoint, I’ve been talking about repairing the damage and then transitioning to a system that actually works. That takes some time. It’s way more complex than simply repeal and replace. That’s a fun little buzzword, but it’s just not accurate.” In other words, Trump and stupid Trump supporters need these superior beings to work it out for them. After all, the elite have done so well so far. These people aren’t in Congress for Americans or even citizens. They are there to get re-elected. The bill’s co-sponsor Sen. Tom Cotton said legal immigration should raise the country’s standard of living. The other co-sponsor Sen. David Perdue said, “Our current system does not work. It keeps America from being competitive.” That is simply common sense. McCain is obviously bulletproof and so are Graham and Johnson. Graham is up for re-election in 2020 and Johnson in 2022. The Senate will not let this bill pass. With a 52-seat majority, there simply aren’t enough Republicans to pass it. The Senate won’t approve any of Trump’s agenda. It’s not so much that they hate Trump as they hate the agenda and use Trump hate as their shield. The liberal Republicans aren’t even RINOs, they’re Democrats and Democrats are Socialists. I campaigned on creating a merit-based immigration system that protects U.S. workers & taxpayers. Watch: https://t.co/lv3ScSKnF6 #RAISEAct pic.twitter.com/zCFK5OfYnB — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 2, 2017
The story of a Sioux chief buried in Germany in 1914 and the challenges his descendants face today in South Dakota. Editor's note: This film is no longer available online. At a Catholic cemetery in Dresden, Germany, the inscription on a weather-beaten tombstone reveals who was buried in the grave in 1914: Edward Two Two, Sioux chief. So where did he come from and why was he buried in Germany, thousands of kilometres away from his native homeland? This film tells the fascinating story of a Sioux chief from South Dakota who came to Germany as part of one of the so-called human zoos. In those days, people who fulfilled the local audience's desire for the exotic would be taken from all over the world and presented in elaborately choreographed shows. Edward Two Two initially came with his wife and a granddaughter to Hagenbeck, a zoo based in Hamburg, later moving on to Dresden's Sarrasani circus. At the time, Indians were a big attraction. Living in tepees in front of the circus tent, they were required to wear a feathered headdress and traditional clothing at all times as well as dance and sing. Flocking past, the large audiences loved them. They corresponded to a common, romanticised image of the Indians. Yet in their homeland the reality had long been far different. From their free life on the prairie, Native Americans had been forced into reservations and subjected to a programme of re-education. So how are things today in the reservation Edward Two Two left behind for Germany at the beginning of the last century? Filmmaker Bettina Renner embarks on a journey to trace the roots of Edward Two Two in the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota, where she meets several descendants of the man whose grave she had stumbled on in Dresden. FILMMAKER'S VIEW By Bettina Renner It was a warm and sunny summer day. I was filming a TV documentary at the Catholic cemetery in Dresden when I suddenly came across the graveside of Edward Two Two. This was the moment I began my journey. Questions raced through my mind - who was this man, where did he come from and why was he buried here, thousands of kilometres away from his native homeland? My research took me to archives and libraries. I was astonished and excited at how many documents I was able to find. I was also lucky because I found many people who helped me find my way through the systems of archives and who shared with me the moments of joy when an additional piece of the puzzle was found. The next stage of my journey took me to the former homeland of Edward Two Two - the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota. I drove around, knocking on people's doors, asking them if they knew of any descendants of Edward Two Two. Surprisingly, I was never sent away. With the help of the Pine Ridge community, I managed to track down several descendants of Edward Two Two. They happily shared their personal stories with me and allowed me to tell the story of their "grandfather Edward" in a documentary film. For me it was important to tell the story of Edward Two Two - not as a historical film but as a story of the past within the present. I wanted to show the consequences of the past on the lives of today. While staying at the Pine Ridge reservation, I found out that within the Lakota community, there were also a number of Europeans who had permanantly settled in the largely Indian reservation. When I met the Europeans and their families, I was touched by how much they gave back to the people, and the place, they now called home. Were these Europeans attracted to this place because of a romantic notion about Native Americans? This was the first question I asked myself. After spending some time with them I soon realised there was a much deeper reason. The story of Edward Two Two is not only a story about the Indian-white relations in the past and the present. For me, the story presents the universal question - where and how do we find our place in this world? I would like to thank everyone who made it possible for me to tell Edward Two Two's story in this way, especially all the people who opened their homes to us and shared their lives. Source: Al Jazeera
Kristin Ross is Professor of Comparative Literature at New York University. Her recent book, Communal Luxury: The Political Imaginary of the Paris Commune (Verso, 2015), is a masterful study of the ideas and aspirations driving the historic revolt. ROAR editor Jerome Roos spoke to her about the Commune’s legacy, its impact on 19th century radical thought, and the revival of the communal imaginary in our times. ROAR: The Paris Commune has been studied and debated for almost a century and a half. How does your book add to our understanding of this world-historical event, and why did you decide to write it now? Kristin Ross: Like many people after 2011 I was struck by the return—from Oakland to Istanbul, Montreal to Madrid—of a political strategy based on seizing space, taking up space, rendering public places that the state considered private. Militants across the world had reopened and were experiencing the space-time of occupation, with all the fundamental changes in daily life this implies. They experienced their own neighborhoods transformed into theaters for strategic operations and lived a profound modification of their own affective relation to urban space. My books are always interventions into specific situations. Contemporary events drew me to a new reflection on the Paris Commune, which for many remains a kind of paradigm for the insurgent city. I decided to restage what took place in Paris in the spring of 1871 when artisans and communists, workers and anarchists took over the city and organized their lives according to principles of association and federation. While much has been written about the military maneuvers and legislative disputes of the Communards, I wanted to revisit the inventions of the insurgents in such a way that some of today’s most pressing problems and goals might emerge most vividly. The need, for example, to refashion an internationalist conjuncture, or the status of art and artists, the future of labor and education, the commune-form and its relation to ecological theory and practice: these were my preoccupations. The Paris Commune has always been an important point of reference for the left but what is new about today is in part the entire post-1989 political context and the collapse of state socialism, which took to the grave a whole political imaginary. In my book, the Paris Commune reemerges freed from that historiography, and offering a clear alternative to the centralism of the socialist state. At the same time the Commune has never, in my opinion, fit easily into the role that French national history tries to make it play as a kind of radical sequence in the establishment of the Republic. By liberating it from the two histories that have instrumentalized it, I was certain we would be able to perceive the Commune anew as a laboratory of political invention. Communal Luxury is neither a history of the Paris Commune nor a work of political theory in the ordinary sense of the term. Historians and political theorists have been responsible for most of the massive literature generated by the Commune, and in the case of the latter—whether communists, anarchists, or even philosophers like Alain Badiou—this means approaching the event from the perspective of an already-formulated theory. Communard actions become the empirical data marshaled in support of verifying the given theory, as if the material world were a sort of local manifestation of the abstract rather than the other way around. To my mind this amounts to summoning up the poor Communards from their graves only in order to lend gravitas to philosophizing. What I did instead was to immerse myself for several years in the narratives produced by the Communards themselves and a few of their fellow travelers of the period. I looked closely not only at what they did but at what they thought and said about what they were doing, the words they used, fought over, imported from the past or from distant regions, the words they discarded. These narratives about their struggle—and we are fortunate that so many of the literate Communards chose to write something about their experience—are already highly theoretical documents. But they tend not to be treated as such by political theorists. This is why I had very little use for the existing political theory about the Commune and why, in the end, I find political theorists to be the bane of our existence to the extent that they approach instances of political insurrection from the perspective of an overarching view that tries to unify them under a single concept, theory, or narrative of historical progression. I don’t think it is wise to consider historical events from an omniscient perspective, nor from the vantage point provided by our present, fat and complacent with all the wisdom of the “back-seat driver,” correcting the errors of the past. I ignored all the innumerable commentaries and analyses of the Commune, many of which—even those written by people sympathetic to the memory of the Commune—consist of nothing but this kind of second-guessing or listing of errors. I had to perform a massive clearing of the terrain in order to construct the distinct phenomenology of the event and visualize it outside of the multiple projections placed on it by historians. It is the event and its excesses which teach you how to consider it, how to think and talk about it. And once you have paid this kind of attention to workers as thinkers—an attention I learned when I encountered and translated some of the early work of Jacques Rancière—you can’t tell the story the same old way: the way, for example it has been told by the two traditions that controlled its narration for so long: official state-Communist historiography on the one hand and the French national fiction on the other. You have to reframe and reconfigure those past experiences in order to render them significant on their own terms and to make them visible to us now, in the present. By focusing on the words and agency of concrete individuals acting in common to dismantle, little by little and step by step, the social hierarchies that make up a state’s bureaucracy, I’ve tried to think the Commune historically—as belonging to the past, as dead and gone—and, at the same time, as the figuration of a possible future. I tried to stage it as very much a part of its historical era, yet in a way that exceeds its own history and suggests to us, perhaps, the deepest and most durable demands for worldwide democracy and revolution. The book is my way of reopening, in other words, from the midst of our current struggles, the possibility of a different historiography, one that allows us to think and do politics differently. The Commune offers a distinct alternative to the course taken by capitalist modernization on the one hand, and the one taken by utilitarian state socialism on the other. This is a project that I think more and more of us share and it’s why I wrote the book. By choosing to focus on the afterlife of the Commune more than on the 72 days of “its own working existence”, you manage to unearth the myriad ways in which the Commune’s political imaginary actually survived the massacre and lived on in the struggles and thought of ex-Communards and their contemporaries. What do you consider to be the most important legacy of the Commune in this respect? I did not so much focus on the “afterlife” of the Commune as I did on its survival. In one of my earlier books, May ’68 and Its Afterlives, my subject was indeed, as the title suggests, something more like a memory study: how the ’68 insurrections were represented and discussed ten, twenty, thirty years later. And today very interesting work is being written by what some choose to see as the “afterlives” or “reactivations” of the Paris Commune: studies of the Shanghai Commune, for example, or other aspects of the Chinese Cultural Revolution, or studies that look to the Zapatistas as a kind of reactivation of some of the gestures of 1871. Communal Luxury, however, is limited to the life-span of the Communards and is centrifugal or geographic in its reach. I examine the shockwaves of the event as they reach Kropotkin in Finland or William Morris in Iceland, or as they propel the hard-pressed Communard exiles and refugees themselves into far-reaching new political networks and ways of living in Switzerland, London and elsewhere in the aftermath of the massacre that brought the Commune to an end. The extremity and gore of that end, the Bloody Week of state violence that brought thousands of people to their deaths, has all too often proved to be an uncontrollable lure, making invisible the networks and pathways of survival, reinvention and political transmission that came in the years immediately after, and that concern me in the latter part of the book. There’s almost a wish on the part of historians to lock the whole event up into a neat 72-day episode that ends in tragedy. In that sense I wanted to examine the prolongation of Communard thought beyond the bloody carnage in the streets of Paris, its elaboration when the exiles met up with their supporters in England and the mountains of Switzerland. In so doing, of course, I am very much in agreement with Henri Lefebvre who tells us that the thought and theory of a movement is generated only with and after the movement itself. Struggles create new political forms and ways of doing as well as new theoretical understandings of these practices and forms. On one level you could argue that it is the forms taken by that survival—a “life beyond life” as in the French word “survie”—that constitute the Commune’s most important legacy: the very fact that its own “working existence” continued, the refusal on the part of the survivors and their supporters to allow the catastrophe of the massacre to bring everything to an end. At a more symbolic level, though, the legacy left by the thought generated by the Commune emerges in my book in the cluster of meanings that attach to the phrase I chose for the book’s title: “communal luxury.” I discovered the phrase tucked away in the final sentence of the Manifesto Eugène Pottier, Courbet and other artists wrote when they were organizing during the Commune. For them the phrase expressed a demand for something like public beauty—the idea that everyone has the right to live and work in pleasing circumstances, the demand that art and beauty should not be reserved for the enjoyment of the elite, but that they be fully integrated into daily public life. This may seem a merely “decorative” demand on the part of decorative artists and artisans, but it is a demand that in fact calls for nothing short of the total reinvention of what counts as wealth, what a society values. It is a call for the reinvention of wealth beyond exchange-value. And in the work of Commune refugees like Elisée Reclus and Paul Lafargue and fellow travelers like Peter Kropotkin and William Morris, what I am calling “communal luxury” was expanded into the vision of an ecologically viable human society. It’s striking that the work of Reclus, Lafargue and their friends is now at the center of the attention of ecological theorists who find there a level of environmental thought that died with that generation in the late 19th century and was not resuscitated again until the 1970s with figures like Murray Bookchin. This is all exciting work, but it often fails to take into account how the experience of the Commune was part and parcel of the ecological perspective they developed. The experience of the Commune and its ruthless suppression made their analysis even more uncompromising. In their view, capitalism was a system of reckless waste that was causing the ecological degradation of the planet. The roots of ecological crisis were to be found in the centralized nation-state and the capitalist economic system. And they believed a systemic problem demands a systemic solution.
LONDON (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump has promised to end “the war on coal” waged by the previous administration and help put coal miners back to work. In practice, coal production and employment have been victims of the shale gas revolution rather than government regulation. Coal-fired power generation has been steadily losing market share to natural gas since 1988, according to data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration. Coal accounted for 57 percent of electricity generation in 1988 but that share fell to 53 percent in 1998 and 50 percent in 2008 (tmsnrt.rs/2o3nRSL). Gas has been the main beneficiary with its share of generation climbing from 9 percent in 1988 and 13 percent in 1998 to 20 percent in 2008. For much of that period, coal’s relative decline was cushioned by growing demand for electricity which provided an expanding market for all fuels. Coal consumption by power producers peaked at 1.05 billion short tons in 2007, up from 758 million tons in 1988 (tmsnrt.rs/2nE69Sv). But since then the coal industry has been hit a perfect storm of stagnating electricity demand, a sharp fall in the price of gas, and a record warm winter in 2015/16. Coal has continued to lose out to gas in the generation system but since 2008 the decline has been absolute as well as relative terms because demand for electricity is no longer growing. Gas prices have fallen sharply thanks to the shale revolution, encouraging power producers to build more gas-fired power plants and run them for more hours each year. And the unusually mild winter of 2015/16 resulted in an enormous build up of coal stockpiles at power plants and a sharp reduction in new shipments from the mines (tmsnrt.rs/2nDS2fR). The resulting wave of bankruptcies, mine closures, and job losses and layoffs crashed over the coal industry during 2015/16. But mine closures and job losses were the result of market forces rather than job-killing government regulations introduced by the Obama administration. MORE COAL CLOSURES Most mining companies and coal analysts are cautiously optimistic about the outlook for production and employment in 2017/18. Excess coal stocks at the country's power plants have been worked down and a modest rise in gas prices should encourage power producers to run gas-fired plants for fewer hours in 2017/18 (tmsnrt.rs/2o32b9q). But the medium-term outlook for the coal industry remains poor, with more coal-fired power plants scheduled to close over the next five years to be replaced by a combination of gas and renewables. Gas-fired generating capacity is scheduled to expand by another 8 percent over 2017/18 according to data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration. At the same time, more coal plants are set to close, which will cut potential demand further even if gas prices increase modestly. The problem is that most coal-fired power plants are now growing very old and nearing the end of their service life. The capacity-weighted average U.S. power plant started generating in 1987, according to an analysis of EIA data (tmsnrt.rs/2o3hwqh). But the average for all power plants conceals significant differences between coal and non-coal power generating units. The capacity-weighted average coal-fired power plant started generating in 1976 and has now been producing power for 41 years (tmsnrt.rs/2p0ZYsB). In contrast, the average non-coal power plant started generating in 2000 and has been producing electricity for less than 17 years (tmsnrt.rs/2nE3wA5). COAL FLEET AGEING Most coal plants were originally planned to operate for a minimum of 25 years without significant modification and their service life can be prolonged to 40 or even 50 years. But as plants age they are increasingly likely to suffer mechanical breakdowns and need expensive components replacing (“Life extension of coal-fired power plants”, IEA, 2005). The main problems are associated with the steam generator and the turbines, which suffer from creep, fatigue, corrosion and erosion. Repeated heating and cooling of the system accelerates the ageing process and shortens the service life even further. Most coal plants were designed to operate as baseload, with a limited number of cold and warm starts to reduce the thermal stress on the components. But many are now forced to operate on a two-shift system, operating only during peak hours and then coming off load when electricity demand drops. Two-shifting involves more starts, and much more thermal stress on the components, speeding up the ageing process. Many of the coal-fired power plants scheduled for closure in the next five years started generating in the 1950s and 1960s and are basically wearing out. Some of them are small-scale and relatively inefficient, burn low-quality coal, or emit lots of mercury and other air pollutants. In most cases, there is no economic case for replacing worn out boilers and turbines or fitting new pollution-control equipment. Power plant operators mostly plan capacity expansions and refits on a 20-year horizon or longer and few see any benefit from upgrading or adding coal-fired units. No new coal-fired power plants are currently planned, in contrast to many additional gas-fired and renewable power units, according to notices filed with the EIA. Even if the Trump administration tries to throw a lifeline to coal-fired power plants, its four or eight-year time-span is too short to have much impact on capacity planning. As the existing coal fleet continues to age, more power plants are likely to be retired because they are too expensive to maintain. The Trump administration can end the “war on coal” but it cannot halt the march of time and fatigue which is gradually culling the coal fleet. The amount of coal-fired generation capacity will continue to shrink. Any revival in coal consumption depends on a rise in gas prices to encourage power producers to use the remainder for more hours each year.
LAS VEGAS—New chips that blur the line between computer memory and storage are starting to move beyond niche applications and could change how we use PCs, an industry analyst said Sunday. The chips would enable the same instant-on capability that’s common on tablets, but at much higher performance, said Tom Coughlin, founder of Coughlin Associates. ”We’re seeing the development of new solid-state storage technologies that are starting to play a role,” he said. “MRAM is one that we’re seeing playing a role providing a non-volatile memory technology, and there’s some talk about resistive RAM doing some things.” Conventional memory chips—called DRAM—store ones and zeros using a electrical charge in each memory cell, but Magnetoresistive RAM (MRAM) uses a magnetic charge. Resistive RAM (RRAM) is based on a sandwich made from two materials, with the center layer having a different resistance to the material that makes up the outer layers. ”Some of these new technologies that have been in the lab and have been finding niche applications have been getting a little bit more widespread,” said Coughlin. He was speaking at the Storage Visions conference happening on the sidelines of the International CES in Las Vegas. Many of the biggest computer memory chip makers are beginning a shift to the new technologies. Renesas, Hitachi and Micron Technology are among major players working together on an MRAM project at Japan’s Tohoku University, according to the Nikkei newspaper. And in August this year, startup Crossbar said it plans to make and license RRAM. Work still needs to be done on both technologies before they can replace DRAM chips, and Coughlin said the price of the chips also needs to come down. ”When they do that, there’s going to be a lot of interest in creating computer architectures that will span storage and memory—where I can actually have a memory that doesn’t go out when the computer power goes out,” he said. PCs today use DRAM to run programs and temporarily store data required by the system and software. The contents of the DRAM are lost when the power goes off, but with MRAM or RRAM it would be possible to instantly resume a computing session even after the machine has been switched off. Flash memory, commonly found in tablet PCs, already offers persistent storage after the power is removed, but the new chips would out perform flash, according to their developers. RRAM will eventually deliver 20 times faster write performance, 20 times less power consumption and 10 times more durability than NAND flash memory. Crossbar says its RRAM will eventually deliver 20 times faster write performance, 20 times less power consumption and 10 times more durability than NAND flash memory. Bringing persistent memory to PCs might introduce at least one problem. ”A lot of people, in order to recover from system crashes and problems, will restart their computers. Well, it’s usually something bugged up in the memory, so if my memory stays even when I turn it off, then I have to find new ways of doing that,” said Coughlin. As a result, computer makers might be forced to make more reliable systems, he said.
Lawyers for George Zimmerman filed suit today against NBC Universal Media over a well-publicized editing error that portrayed their client in racist terms in his pursuit of Trayvon Martin on a drizzly evening in February. “NBC saw the death of Trayvon Martin not as a tragedy but as an opportunity to increase ratings, and so to set about the myth that George Zimmerman was a racist and predatory villain,” states the civil complaint in its opening salvo against NBC. (Also at The Washington Post: Can Zimmerman prevail against NBC?) NBC’s editing of the 911 audiotape in the Martin case became a public fixation after the media-monitoring Web site NewsBusters.org noted editing oddities on a “Today” show broadcast March 27. Here’s how NBC News portrayed the audiotape: Zimmerman: This guy looks like he’s up to no good. He looks black. The full tape went like this: Zimmerman: This guy looks like he’s up to no good. Or he’s on drugs or something. It’s raining and he’s just walking around, looking about. Dispatcher: OK, and this guy — is he black, white or Hispanic? Zimmerman: He looks black. Zimmerman thus didn’t volunteer a racial profile of Martin; he was asked to provide it, a point that the lawsuit makes in colorful fashion: “NBC created this false and defamatory misimpression using the oldest form of yellow journalism: manipulating Zimmerman’s own words, splicing together disparate parts of the recording to create illusions of statements that Zimmerman never actually made.” The suit against NBC alleges four other instances in which NBC-produced shows aired false and defamatory versions of the same events. Zimmerman faces a second-degree murder charge in the case. The botched edits, charges the suit, were far from innocent mistakes: “Defendants pounced on the Zimmerman/Martin matter because they knew this tragedy could be, with proper sensationalizing and manipulation, a racial powderkeg that would result in months, if not years, of topics for their failing news programs, particularly the plummeting ratings for their ailing “Today Show” as well as for the individual defendants to “make their mark” for reporting a [manipulated] story such as this.” Individual defendants are Lilia Luciano and Jeff Burnside, NBC employees involved in early cases of Zimmerman mis-editing. Following a public uproar over the tape-doctoring, NBC News issued a statement on the matter saying this: “During our investigation it became evident that there was an error made in the production process that we deeply regret. We will be taking the necessary steps to prevent this from happening in the future and apologize to our viewers.” Such contrition didn’t impress the Zimmerman camp. “Only after the defendants’ malicious acts were uncovered and exposed by other media outlets … did defendant NBC ‘apologize’ and terminate some of those in its employ responsible for the yellow journalism identified in this Complaint.” Zimmerman himself never received an apology from the defendants, according to the suit. The suit doesn’t specify a dollar amount of damages that Zimmerman is seeking. “That’s showmanship,” says James Beasley, the Philadelphia-based lawyer representing Zimmerman in the suit. Beasley declined to comment on whether he’d already had any discussions with NBC. “I don’t want to talk about that. I can’t talk about that. But let’s just say I don’t think it’s going to get settled.” On that question, at least, Beasley and NBC appear to agree. When asked about the complaint, NBC Universal issued this statement: “We strongly disagree with the accusations made in the complaint. There was no intent to portray Mr. Zimmerman unfairly. We intend to vigorously defend our position in court.” Read more: Can Zimmerman prevail against NBC?
The Alabama special Senate election is a dead heat after more women accused Republican candidate Roy Moore of sexual misconduct. The FiveThirtyEight Politics podcast team assesses attitudes among different voting groups in Alabama and discusses the candidates’ strategies thus far. The crew also looks at the pros and cons for Republicans of passing a tax reform bill. You can listen to the episode by clicking the “play” button above or by downloading it in iTunes, the ESPN App or your favorite podcast platform. If you are new to podcasts, learn how to listen. The FiveThirtyEight Politics podcast publishes Monday evenings, with occasional special episodes throughout the week. Help new listeners discover the show by leaving us a rating and review on iTunes. Have a comment, question or suggestion for “good polling vs. bad polling”? Get in touch by email, on Twitter or in the comments.
A campaign has been launched to hold to account Britain's 'feral' elite for the series of crises which have scarred the country Something is unraveling before our eyes. From bankers to media-barons, private interests have bankrupted and corrupted the public realm. Power, for so long hidden in the pockets of a cosy elite, has been exposed. Those who wield it have been found wanting – in scruples, in morals and in decency. Things are now in flux, but will not stay so for long. Without decisive and sustained action, power will fall back into the hands of a small elite who have their own, and not the public's interest at heart. They want to prevent public revulsion turning into public action. But, it's time for real change. Things cannot be allowed to turn back to business as usual. Britain can no longer be just the plaything of a handful of powerful, remote interest groups treating the wider public with contempt. The current press and political scandal is not an isolated event. It's the third crisis in quick succession. First, the bankers and their bonuses, then some politicians and their expenses and now there is the press, profiting from peoples' pain, grief and private lives. These crises share common origins. Left to their own devices politicians, bankers and media moguls could not regulate themselves. They share a common culture in which greed is good, everyone takes their turn at the trough, and private interest takes precedence over the public good. They have protected each other and left the British people with a financial and political crisis. They do what they can get away with, not seeming to care for the common life of our country. And, they are scared of only one thing. Us. The public. If public organisations and citizens are vigilant, that elite won't be able to get away with it again. With the right checks and balances we can put the public interest back into the heart of the system. Only we, the public, can hold power truly to account by testing whether what happens is in the public interest. To work out how to do it we call for a new Public Jury for the British public interest to propose reforms of banking, politics, media and the police. The Jury would be made up of 1,000 citizens drawn as a random sample of the electorate. It will be a jury of our peers. We do not need yet another inquiry in which one elite asks another elite to tell them what cannot be done. The Jury will be funded out of the public purse, with a paid secretariat with the resources to commission research and call witnesses. It will have the power to require attendance where persons will be asked by the public to explain themselves. Reporting within a year of its launch the convention will study and report on: • Media ownership and the public interest • The role of the financial sector in the crash • MP selections and accountability • Policing and public interest • How to apply a 'public interest first' test more generally to British political and corporate life Signed by: Greg Dyke Henry Porter Lord Stewart Wood Lord Smith of Clifton Baroness Helena Kennedy QC John Kampfner, Index on Censorship Philip Pullman, author Gordon Roddick Caroline Lucas MP, leader of the Green Party Professor Zygmunt Bauman, Leeds University Professor Francesca Klug OBE Professor David Marquand, Mansfield College, Oxford University Professor Kate Pickett, University of York Professor Richard Grayson, University of London Ann Pettifor, Prime Economics Peter Facey, Unlock Democracy Deborah Doane, World Development Movement John Christenson, Tax Justice Network Richard Murphy, Tax Research LLP Charlie McConnell, Schumacher College Professor Tim Jackson, University of Surrey Guy Shrubsole, Public Interest Research Centre Richard Hawkins, Public Interest Research Centre Alan Mac Dougall, PIRC Neal Lawson, Compass Martin McIvor, Renewal Gavin Hayes, Compass Andrew Simms, nef fellow Will Straw, founder of Left Foot Forward Clifford Singer, Other Taxpayers Alliance Dave Prentis, General Secretary, Unison Heather Wakefield, Unison Polly Toynbee, The Guardian Madeleine Bunting, The Guardian Laurie Penny, journalist Heather Savigny, UEA Professor Judith Marquand, Wolfson College, Oxford University Professor Alan Finlayson, University of Swansea Professor Jonathan Rutherford, Middlesex University Professor Danny Dorling, University of Sheffield Professor George Irvin, University of London, SOAS Professor Prem Sikka, University of Essex Professor Richard Wilkinson, Emeritus Professor of Social Epidemiology Professor Stefano Harney, QMUL Professor Peter Case, Bristol Business School Owen Jones, author of Chavs Howard Reed, Landman Economics Stewart Lansley, research fellow, University of Bristol Professor John Weeks, SOAS Jenny Jones AM, Green Party Jeremy Leggett, founder and CEO, Solar Century Tamasin Cave, Spinwatch Professor Victoria Chick, UCL Ruth Potts, The Great Transition, New Economics Foundation Stewart Wallis, executive director, New Economics Foundation Rajesh Makwana, director, Share The World's Resources To support the call for a People's Jury for the British Public Interest go to www.compassonline.org.uk
Boxing fans and pundits waited a long time for Eddie Chambers to move down to his "rightful" division, which came tonight in his cruiserweight debut. To say the very least, it did not go well, as Chambers was routed by little-known and lightly-regarded Thabiso Mchunu over 10 rounds to open tonight's NBC Sports Fight Night broadcast. Mchunu (14-1, 10 KO) won on scores of 99-91, 99-91, and 97-93, the latter score closer than anyone else had it that I was able to see on Twitter or on the site here. BLH had it 100-90 for Mchunu, finding no pity rounds to give Chambers (36-4, 18 KO). The 31-year-old Chambers just never got out of the starting blocks in this one, as he looked bewildered by the southpaw counter-puncher from South Africa, as if he had no real game plan and was just there to wing it and see what happened. Several theories were offered during the fight: Chambers' usual speed advantage was gone, Chambers didn't know how to fight a southpaw, Chambers ate bad Subway pulled pork, #FAMJUICE is definitely not a PED, and so on, but really, he just got outboxed and outfought for the entire fight. While much of the focus will be on what Chambers does going forward, we should talk more about Mchunu, a 24-year-old fighter who looked quite impressive here, tagged Chambers clean and caused his opponent to yell at his own hand a bunch (which was weird, but Eddie was weird in general the entire fight), and looked to be a legitimate guy to watch at cruiserweight. It's a competitive division and this fight was supposed to give us a new contender. That was supposed to be Chambers, but it's Mchunu instead. Our live coverage of "Three to See" continues here. Join us!
WYOMING, MI – Joe Cramer, also known as the Wyoming Riddler for more than three decades, issues his final puzzle today: Here’s the deal: Cramer has hidden a small, oval medallion out in the snow somewhere in the greater Grand Rapids area, and you can use a street map to decipher the riddle and find it. A mug and treasure of silver items awaits the winner. And this is your last chance. Joe Cramer Cramer, who owns an auto detail shop on Clay Avenue SW, is making this 33rd annual treasure hunt his final one due to time and money constraints and family health issues. “When I say that word (final) I think about all the yesterdays,” Cramer said. “That’s half my lifetime I’ve been doing this. “The reason for it was so that people know about carbon monoxide and I have talked to people who were made aware of it and their lives are better now because of it. If I had been that aware, I wouldn’t have had two years of amnesia.” RELATED: Cramer started the hunt after suffering amnesia from carbon monoxide poisoning in the 1970s. He has written a book about his experience, and . Last year’s medallion was found on 50th Street SW at U.S. 131. for contest details and rules. Cramer plans to issue clues every-other Tuesday – Jan. 21, Feb. 4, Feb. 18 – until the riddle is solved. Matt Vande Bunte covers government for MLive/Grand Rapids Press. Email him at mvandebu@mlive.com or follow him on Twitter and Facebook.
A wide ranging survey of the nation’s mood reveals a happy people with a deep attachment to country and culture – but also some unexpected twists in the wake of Tony Abbott becoming PM Tony Abbott’s crusade against terrorism has worked a miracle. Suddenly we are less cynical of Canberra and more enthusiastic than ever about the Australian way of life. We may not have taken Abbott to our hearts, but government is having a big win. Patriotism is on the march. This is the news from the Scanlon Foundation which produces a beautiful set of figures every year to map Australia’s shifting moods. The purpose of these surveys, says their author Professor Andrew Markus of Monash University, “is to further understanding of social cohesion in Australia”. His teams were in the field as usual in June and July but early this month they went back out again to check the impact of the heightened concern in Australia over terrorism in the Middle East and its domestic repercussions. They were surprised to find no greater hostility to Muslims; no less support for immigration and multiculturalism; but this flowering of trust in Canberra. That has been in short supply since the death in 2010 of the high hopes inspired by Kevin Rudd. Trust sank even further under Julia Gillard and didn’t recover with Abbott’s election. Only a quarter of those polled the first time round this year thought Canberra did the “right thing for the Australian people” almost always or most of the time. That jumped 10% in September when Abbott turned the nation’s attention to terrorism. Those who felt they belonged to Australia “to a great extent” rose 12% to 73%. Worry about the quality of government disappeared from the top five concerns of the nation to be replaced by a focus on defence, national security and terrorism. Next on the list was sudden anxiety about racism. Trust in Canberra is back where it was in Rudd’s heyday. Even so, we remain remarkably cynical about politicians and government. Year after year the Scanlon surveys confirm we are a happy people with a deep attachment to our country and its culture. But 62% of those Markus polled in the last few weeks still feel Canberra does the right thing by us only some of the time or almost never. Facebook Twitter Pinterest Spectators at an Anzac Day parade in 2013. Photograph: Tracey Nearmy /AAP The mission of the Scanlon Foundation is to measure how a migrant nation hangs together. The work is done in collaboration with the Australian Multicultural Foundation and the Monash Institute for Global Movements. The 2014 survey was the seventh since 2007 and the headline verdict is reassuring. Markus concludes: “Australia remains a highly cohesive society.” But there are signs of fracture. We are less optimistic these days. In the age of Abbott we are more aware of injustice. We are remarkably welcoming to immigrants but our hostility to boat people is barely diminished. Anglo Australians remain deeply hostile to Muslims. We see ourselves as a tolerant nation but discrimination is at a new peak. This is not the best time in Australia to have an Indian face. “It’s not a one-way street,” Markus told Guardian Australia. “There are very positive findings but mixed findings in some areas. It means that immigration – resettling in a new country, being of a different culture – is never easy. No society scores 10 out of 10. Australia scores about four out of 10. Most societies struggle to score one out of 10. That’s what makes Australia distinctive.” But his latest survey Mapping Social Cohesion is richer than an audit of our dealings with migration. It’s a portrait of the nation. Happy Australia Year in, year out, about three quarters of us report we are satisfied or very satisfied with our own financial situation. The GFC didn’t shake our confidence. Every year roughly 90% of us say that taking everything into account the last year has been a happy one – perhaps not very happy, but happy. And nothing shakes the confidence of about 80% of us that this is “a land of economic opportunity where in the long run, hard work brings a better life”. Though there’s been a little cooling off here in the last year (those who strongly agree with the proposition have dropped from 40 to 35%) this result remains, says Markus, distinctively Australian. He told Guardian Australia: “You have all this international polling about the countries that have the best quality of life. They use different indicators but end up with the same message that Australia is at or near the top.” Facebook Twitter Pinterest Tony Abbott claims victory at the 2013 election. Photograph: Penny Bradfield for the Guardian Change under Abbott More of us worry about the future in 2014. When these surveys began seven years ago half of us were unabashed optimists, confident our lives would be better in three or four years’ time. Pessimists made up only a 10% rump expecting their lives to be worse. Australia’s optimism took a hit under Rudd, rose under Gillard but then slid away under Abbott. The split is now: optimists 43%; those of us who expect our lives to be no better or worse unchanged at about 33%; and pessimists growing to 19%. We are more troubled about the gap between rich and poor. A significant change since the late Gillard survey of 2013 is a jump to 37% in the number of us who “strongly agree” that that gap is too large. Another 39% “agree” with the proposition. Only 18% of us remain unconcerned. Australians are happier than ever with the level of immigration. “It’s an amazing statistic,” says Markus. “We know because the question has been asked forever that this is a very volatile measure. In the early 1990s we were getting above 70% of people saying we’ve got too much immigration. The expectation in the current economic circumstances is that that would go up to 50 or 55% negative. And it is extremely surprising that it went south.” The city skyline behind Qantas planes arriving at Sydney airport. Photograph: David Gray/Reuters The welcoming country Nearly six out of 10 Australians believe the number of migrants coming here these days is about right or even too low. Only 35% of us think the intake is too high. Markus says: “This is possibly the highest current level of positive sentiment towards immigration in the western world.” Markus puts this down to Canberra stopping the boats. “This success has conveyed the message that the government has effective border control measures and can be trusted to manage immigration.” More of us than ever believe “accepting immigrants from many different countries makes Australia stronger”. The figure jumped 5% in the last year to nearly 70%. An unbudgeable quarter of the country remains hostile to immigration but Markus says: “In Europe it is 70%.” Only a foolish Australian politician would mount a frontal attack these days on multiculturalism. In 2014 more than eight out of 10 Australians agree that whatever the word means, multiculturalism has been good for the country. “But there isn’t one definition,” cautions Markus. “There is hard multiculturalism and soft multiculturalism. For a lot of people it means integration. And when you unpack that result there is more ambivalence than that figures indicate.” Nevertheless, he insists that the brand is a great success. “In many other countries, multiculturalism is a dirty word. It hasn’t become that in Australia.” The keen are very keen about the impact of migration on Australia. There is some ambiguity among the half of Australians who pledge themselves, perhaps not with such enthusiasm, to the idea of multiculturalism. Then comes a steep fall to the old, not so well off and not so well educated living outside the main cities who remain implacably hostile. But their numbers are tiny. And whatever we feel about immigration and multiculturalism, we have a cosy belief that people of different races get on well in our neighbourhood. Yet that seems less so, says Markus. His teams have found over the past couple of years that 5% of Australians of all races and religions experience discrimination at least once a month. The rise of discrimination Markus doesn’t blame the political uproar in the last few years over refugee boats. Nor does he tie the sharp spike in reported discrimination in the last two surveys to new fears of terrorism. He told Guardian Australia: “There is no question that it is a huge issue, but it may well be that these figures are, in part at least, a function of the way people are being encourage to speak out and to name racism.” The pattern is familiar: Muslims, Indians and Chinese people, particularly those under 45, bear the brunt of discrimination. “As in past surveys,” Markus writes, “those of non-English speaking background reported the highest experience of discrimination, 26% compared to 16% of those born in Australia.” But this year for the first time the Scanlon teams also asked where discrimination happens. The worst place by far is the local neighbourhood; next comes shopping centres and workplaces; next is public transport; safer than all of those it seems, are sporting events. An asylum seeker boat is escorted by the navy at Christmas Island. Photograph: Scott Fisher/AAP The relief of stopping the boats The political uproar over the boats which Markus has seen in the past to be a negative for social cohesion in Australia, has ceased. He told Guardian Australia the advantages were a fact: “On a number of indicators where we have had downward trends, we have arrested the downward trend.” Whatever we might think of Rudd and Abbott blocking the boats, it’s a hugely popular policy which has staunched an open wound. Scanlon surveys over the last few years confirm a large majority of Australians have little understanding of the number of asylum seekers who reached the country by boat. And they were convinced these people were illegal immigrants merely seeking a better life. Hostility to them was more than matched by warmth towards refugees selected from camps abroad. They now enjoy the support of 75% of Australians. We seem to have become a little more compassionate as a result of our cruelty. With the boats stopped, we are showing a little more sympathy for giving refugees who arrive by sea permanent residence. Even so, the obligation we took on when we signed the Refugee Conventions is still a minority view across the board however prosperous, well-educated and young we are. Only one group identified in the Scanlon surveys supports permanent residence for boat people: the Greens. Turning back the boats is also a minority view which in 2013 is backed by a little less than a third of us. But Markus’ teams made a curious discovery: though only a couple of boats ever landed in Queensland years ago, Queenslanders are really keen to push refugees back out to sea. Support for the idea runs at 37.6% in that State. But Western Australia where almost all the boats have reached the mainland over the last 40 years is the most reluctant to see them forced back out to sea. Only 24.2% of West Australians support the policy. Being there seems to engage our human sympathies. Facebook Twitter Pinterest Young Muslim women modelling Australian flag hijabs as part of national Harmony Day in 2006. Photograph: Glenn Hunt/AAP How much do white Australians fear Muslims? Markus was keen to discover what third generation Australians thought of Muslims. These are Australians born of Australian-born parents. Almost to a man and woman they are white. Markus conducted parallel polls: one on the phone and another on the internet for pollsters believe impersonal exchanges on the internet elicit more truthful answers. On the internet there is no need to parade your virtue. The answers tallied on most questions he asked them about race and migration. But the gap was dramatic on two. Multiculturalism: these white Australians seemed not particularly hostile on the phone. Twelve per cent said they disagreed that multiculturalism was good for Australia. But online, that figure rose to 22%. Muslims: on the phone, 28% of these Australians admitted to negative or very negative feelings towards Muslims. On the internet that figure shot to a staggering 48%. These third-generation Australians make up half the population.
With the latest season of The Flash ending in some troubling time-travel, fans are eager to see what Grant Gustin’s Barry Allen has done to the timeline when the show returns to the CW this Fall. However, according to the show’s Executive Producer Andrew Kreisberg, fans should also be looking excited about Caitlin Snow’s upcoming storylines. In an interview with Collider, Andrew Kreisberg spoke about Danielle Panabaker doubling up as both Caitlin Snow and Killer Frost in the most recent season of The Flash. And, more importantly, Kreisberg teased that Caitlin’s mom may be making an appearance in Season 3. When asked where Caitlin might go in the third season, Kreisberg teased fans by saying that, “We haven’t met Caitlin’s mother yet. We got a little talk between the two women, which will probably play out in Season 3.” While Caitlin’s mom has never made an appearance on The Flash, she was mentioned in the show when Caitlin and Killer Frost had a less-than-stellar conversation describing their estranged mother. Fans know little else about Caitlin’s family or her past aside from these characters’ terse discussion, but Killer Frost did let slip that she had a brother on her Earth. With The Flash’s timeline promising to bend after its recent season finale, it’s not out of the question that Caitlin might discover a long-lost brother pretty soon.
— McTelvin Agim can still hear the sound of his cell closing for the first time, six years after the fact. Clink. Clink. The Arkansas defensive lineman was an eighth-grader in Texarkana, Texas, and had just started a weekend sentence in a juvenile detention center, the result of an arrest for running from the police. His punishment — and the outcome — could have been so much worse, considering Agim had been trying to steal a car. Fate had other plans for the 14-year-old Agim, one of the top high school football recruits in the country two years ago and now a rising star as a sophomore. It's a rise that began in that jail cell. A kid struggling to cope with the loss of his caretaker grandmother found a way to turn his weekend in juvy into a life-changing event. "I really believe it's one of the best things to ever happened to me," Agim said. "I thank God that it happened to me then when I could change my life instead of later when it was too late." By all accounts, Agim was a good kid. Good grades, committed to his grandmother, Charlie B. McGraw, and two sisters, everything that could be expected while growing up in an area where the Crips are listed as having documented gang activity by the state of Texas . It's not like he had a choice. Despite having lost her eyesight and legs because of complications from diabetes, McGraw ran a disciplined household while Agim's mother, Deanna Giddens, was at work much of the time. Between a childhood that started in Dallas and saw several moves back and forth to the Texas side of Texarkana, Agim always considered grandma's house his home. That guidance vanished for a seventh-grade Agim when she died in 2011. What filled the void for Agim, along with grief, was more unsupervised time than he had ever had. He didn't start stealing from the Dollar General store for fun or to impress friends. He says he did so to eat in the evenings after his school lunch couldn't quell the hunger anymore. "I feel bad about it, but it was either steal or starve," Agim said. Agim was home alone in his grandmother's house much of the time while his mother worked across the state line in Hope, Arkansas. The electricity came and went and he heated water on the stove, though a repossession agent once showed up to try to take that. Agim started hanging out more with his friends. They weren't part of any organized gang, more of a clique really, but the trouble was real — eventually resulting in Agim's weekend in the juvenile detention center. He thought about his grandmother that weekend, thought about where he was and where he wanted to go. Football wasn't part of Agim's thoughts that weekend, but a move out of Texarkana was. He moved back to the Dallas area briefly as a ninth-grader before finally moving with his mother to Arkansas over the Thanksgiving break and attending a small high school outside Hope for the rest of the semester. It was during that month, while Agim was playing basketball at Blevins High School, that Hope football coach Jay Turley first heard of this freakishly athletic freshman who was 6-foot-2, 220 pounds at the time. At the semester break, Giddens moved down the road to Hope where she worked — and where Turley was excited and waiting for the chance to try to mold her son into a football player. The results were nearly immediate, as were the accolades. He had 16 sacks as a sophomore and 22 as a junior. By the time his senior season rolled around, Turley said teams wouldn't even run toward Agim's side of the field. He still had 24 sacks that year, though — along with spending time at running back, quarterback and kick returner in addition to his duties on the defensive line. "I probably won't ever coach the No. 9 player in the country again, but that's not what I'm proud of," Turley said. "I'm proud of the way he overcame adversity in his life. To me, that's what football and life is all about." Nearly every college in the country wanted Agim. He took visits to schools such as Stanford, Alabama, Auburn and Texas A&M, among others. Arkansas wasn't on Agim's mind when he began the recruiting process, having grown up on the Texas side of the Texarkana border and fought his share of battles with his neighbors to the east. However, his outgoing personality matched that of coach Bret Bielema — to the point where Agim felt comfortable sharing the story of his eighth-grade arrest, and pride in what he had overcome, before committing to the Razorbacks. During one visit, Agim took Bielema to the empty home of his grandmother, 30 minutes away. "I think he probably had to be mature in the adult world way before it's normal," Bielema said. "He had to experience and see some things in the world that matured him in the way that you see him today." Bielema requires his players to do a minimum of two hours of community service per semester. For Agim, it was an easy decision where to spend his time last year. He went back to Texarkana and shared his story with a group of approximately 20 teenagers in a detention center. "Somebody in the juvenile center right now is locked up and probably thinking, 'I've got no way out,'" Agim said. "If by talking I can help somebody else who is feeling the same pain I was, I'll do it every time." Agim started the final five games for the Razorbacks last season as a true freshman. Now 6-3 and 286 pounds, many expect him to use his quickness and power to approach an all-SEC level this season. "It's on him to be as good as he wants to be," defensive line coach John Scott Jr. said. "I think people will be surprised when they see some of the things he's able to do." Agim has his grandmother's name and face tattooed on his right forearm, and rarely a day goes by when he doesn't either think or talk about the impact she had on his life. He misses her, but he's found a way to channel that sorrow. After enrolling at Arkansas during the spring of his senior year in high school, Agim is on track to graduate by the fall of his junior year — just in time to be finished with school in case he does decide to leave for the NFL. His grades are good. His life is great. All according to the five-year plan he came up with following that weekend behind bars. Exactly how his grandmother would have told him to live life. "How she raised me when she was here, I feel like she made me the person I am today," Agim said. "I think she'd be proud, most definitely, about who I am as a person."
As an automobile, this 1972 Dodge van has seen better days. But as a pop culture artifact, it's worth over $20,000, thanks to some scribbling Kurt Cobain did on the side during his stint as a roadie for sludge metal pioneers the Melvins . The car, dubbed the 'Melvan,' was sold last night (Aug. 28) on eBay, where its previous owner, musician Ben Berg, watched the auction conclude with a winning bid of $24,701 -- not a bad price for a 40-year-old set of wheels that he described by writing, "It does run, but could use a new set of tires and a brake job." Still, it's a far cry from the $99,999.99 the van went for during Berg's original attempt to auction it off in the spring-- a bid that went unpaid because it didn't meet the reserve price he'd set, in addition to some questions regarding the authenticity of the artwork. This time around, Berg listed the van along with a pair of letters, including one from original Melvins bassist Matt Lukin, verifying that the Kiss-inspired graffiti on the side was indeed scrawled by the future Nirvana frontman. No word on the new owner's plans, but if you live in the Washington area and you happen to notice a spray paint-covered old van in a parking lot, just remember -- that could be a "one of a kind piece of grunge rock history" you're looking at.
The anticipated vacancy in the Senate seat, which was once occupied by her uncle Robert F. Kennedy, has set off intense speculation in the political world. Any interest from Ms. Kennedy could instantly overshadow others whose names have been mentioned as possible successors to Mrs. Clinton, including the state attorney general, Andrew M. Cuomo, and several members of the New York congressional delegation. And Ms. Kennedy could satisfy those Democrats who have been urging the governor to find a replacement for Mrs. Clinton with star power who can continue to bring attention to New York and its issues in the Senate. Ms. Kennedy took on an unusually public role in the presidential election this year, first announcing in an Op-Ed article in The New York Times that she would back Senator Barack Obama for president, then appearing for him at campaign stops around the country. It is unclear, however, how badly Ms. Kennedy wants to be senator, or how much appetite she has for the unglamorous aspects of campaigning across New York’s 62 counties. Ms. Kennedy would have to run back-to-back races — in 2010, to serve out the remainder of Mrs. Clinton’s term, and again in 2012, for a full term of her own Photo “Hillary Clinton was a superstar, but she worked like an animal,” said one prominent Democratic elected official who spoke on condition of anonymity to avoid antagonizing the governor. Still, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., an environmental advocate who has taken himself out of the running for the seat, noted Ms. Kennedy’s tremendous work ethic and her success raising money for New York City’s public schools. “I don’t think anybody who knows Caroline doubts that she has fire in her belly,” Mr. Kennedy said. “She’s a workaholic.” Advertisement Continue reading the main story Ms. Kennedy, the daughter of President John F. Kennedy and Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy, is especially close to her uncle, Senator Edward M. Kennedy, who has been treated for brain cancer in recent months. The emergence of Ms. Kennedy comes as a wide network of feminist organizations and prominent female Democratic activists have been mobilizing to lobby Mr. Paterson to choose a female successor to Mrs. Clinton. On Thursday, the group Feminist Majority, joined by the National Organization for Women, endorsed Representative Carolyn B. Maloney, who represents parts of Manhattan and Queens, citing her many years in elected office and proven experience in advancing women’s issues. Newsletter Sign Up Continue reading the main story Please verify you're not a robot by clicking the box. Invalid email address. Please re-enter. You must select a newsletter to subscribe to. Sign Up You will receive emails containing news content , updates and promotions from The New York Times. You may opt-out at any time. You agree to receive occasional updates and special offers for The New York Times's products and services. Thank you for subscribing. An error has occurred. Please try again later. View all New York Times newsletters. But reached on Friday night, Eleanor Smeal, the president of Feminist Majority, said that if Ms. Kennedy decided to seek the job, she would have to go back to her board to discuss whom they would support going forward. “I feel that her record is extremely strong. We know she gets things done,” Ms. Smeal said of Ms. Maloney. “But there’s no question we’ll go back to the board. You’re talking to someone who thinks Ted Kennedy is the most effective senator there.” Other leading women have been urging Mr. Paterson to appoint Representative Kirsten E. Gillibrand, who represents an upstate district. Photo Many veteran supporters of Mrs. Clinton’s view the choice of her successor as a significant test not only for women’s progress in politics, but of Mrs. Clinton’s political legacy. The wrong choice, they say, could reopen wounds barely healed from the presidential campaign. Some even said that they would demand that a woman be selected for the post even if Mrs. Clinton — who has not yet expressed a preference to the governor — backed a man. “Those women are elated with her appointment to the Department of State, but they still feel quite bruised by the political process over the last year,” said Judith Hope, a former state Democratic Party chairwoman who is close to Mr. Paterson. “The women I am talking to feel very, very strongly that the next United States senator from New York should be a woman.” The effort to push for a woman spans a variety of national and state groups, such as NOW, Naral Pro-Choice America, and the Eleanor Roosevelt Legacy Committee, a group that raises money for Democratic women running for office in New York. And it includes prominent Democratic women such as Ellen R. Malcolm, the head of Emily’s List, and Susan Patricof, a major Democratic fund-raiser whose husband, Alan Patricof, was a national finance chairman for Mrs. Clinton’s presidential campaign. Advertisement Continue reading the main story They suggested that the choice for Mrs. Clinton’s successor is especially important not only because of her prominence but because of the central role she played on issues like abortion rights and expanded access to birth control. They said they believed that no man, no matter how well-intentioned, would give those issues the same attention as Mrs. Clinton. “Once your eyes have been opened on what can be done in terms of when you have someone who is a real leader, it’s a bitter pill to think of going back,” said Kelli Conlin president of Naral Pro-Choice New York, an abortion rights group. Some other Democrats, however, are skeptical that Governor Paterson should give so much weight to the gender of his pick. They said he should be primarily concerned with experience, but also give thought to regional diversity, especially since none of the state’s top officials now hail from north of, say, Chappaqua. “Our party is rightly concerned with diversity in gender and race,” said Assemblyman Joseph D. Morelle, who is also chairman of the Monroe County Democratic Party. “I am afraid sometimes that we begin to categorize so much that very talented people get overlooked because they don’t meet the proper demographic characteristics.” The women’s groups and people involved have encouraged thousands of their volunteers across the country to send e-mail messages to the governor. Some who know him well have already made personal pleas, while others will buy tickets to his first major fund-raiser next week, and try to buttonhole Mr. Paterson in person. “If anyone has connections, they will call,” said Lorna Brett Howard, a philanthropist who is the former president of NOW’s Chicago chapter. “I have friends in Chicago and L.A. who are talking. They say, ‘Who is he going to pick?’ Especially the die-hard people Hillary people.” Aides to Mr. Paterson have stressed that he has weeks before he must make his selection.
U.S. citizens wrongly detained, deported by ICE Immigration Law 56786 Hector Veloz, at his aunt's home in San Marcos, California on Friday, May 29, 2009. By JOSHUA GATES WEISBERG/SPECIAL TO THE CHRONICLE 56786 Hector Veloz, at his aunt's home in San Marcos, California on Friday, May 29, 2009. By JOSHUA GATES WEISBERG/SPECIAL TO THE CHRONICLE Photo: Joshua Gates Weisberg, Special To The Chronicle Photo: Joshua Gates Weisberg, Special To The Chronicle Image 1 of / 9 Caption Close U.S. citizens wrongly detained, deported by ICE 1 / 9 Back to Gallery The son of a decorated Vietnam veteran, Hector Veloz is a U.S. citizen, but in 2007 immigration officials mistook him for an illegal immigrant and locked him in an Arizona prison for 13 months. Veloz had to prove his citizenship from behind bars. An aunt helped him track down his father's birth certificate and his own, his parents' marriage certificate, his father's school, military and Social Security records. After nine months, a judge determined that he was a citizen, but immigration authorities appealed the decision. He was detained for five more months before he found legal help and a judge ordered his case dropped. "It was a nightmare," said Veloz, 37, a Los Angeles air conditioning installer. Veloz is one of hundreds of U.S. citizens who have landed in the custody of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and struggled to prove they don't belong there, according to advocacy groups and legal scholars, who have tracked such cases around the country. Some citizens have been deported. By law, immigration authorities have jurisdiction only over noncitizens. Citizens, whether native-born or naturalized, cannot be deported. As ICE increased its collaboration with state and local police and prisons under changes to immigration laws and policies in recent years, some detainees who have had a run-in with the law drop through a trapdoor from the criminal justice system into deportation proceedings. In immigration detention it falls to the detainees to prove their citizenship. But detainees don't have the constitutional protections, such as the right to legal counsel, that would help them prove their case. And many of those who wind up in immigration custody are frequently those who might have the most difficulty proving their citizenship. Many were born abroad and acquired citizenship through a U.S.-born parent, like Veloz, or a parent who became a naturalized citizen. Some have mental health problems. And frequently they are poor, as those who can afford a lawyer get out more quickly. "These are people who are the most vulnerable," said Judy Rabinovitz, deputy director of the ACLU Immigrants Rights Project. "People are being locked up without bond hearings, often for long periods." A growing chorus of legal experts says these detentions are unconstitutional. "The constitution is the same that applies to U.S.-born citizens as to naturalized citizens," said Sin Yen Ling, an attorney at San Francisco's Asian Law Caucus. "Detaining these folks is creating a third category of people with a different set of rights." Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials insist they would never knowingly detain or deport a U.S. citizen. Asked about citizens winding up in immigration detention, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, who oversees ICE, told The Chronicle: "We're always concerned about that. If there's an error made, we want to rectify it as soon as possible." In April, after The Chronicle reported on a Modesto man in immigration detention, ICE released him and dropped its deportation case against him. Douglas Centeno was born in Nicaragua but derived citizenship when his father naturalized while he was a boy. He was jailed for four months. A lack of rights People charged in the criminal justice system have a range of constitutional rights, including the right to a speedy and public trial before an impartial jury and the right to legal counsel even if they can't afford to hire a lawyer. Criminal detainees have the right to a telephone call, to be brought before a judge, usually within 48 hours, and to be told of the charges against them. Immigration matters, however, are civil, not criminal, so those protections do not apply. Still, the U.S. Constitution is designed to protect citizens from detention without due process. But citizens in immigration detention are not being afforded that due process, advocates say. Immigration detainees are routinely shipped to remote jails where free legal aid is unavailable, their families are not notified of their whereabouts, and they are often denied access to telephones, mail and even medical care, according to a March report by Amnesty International and several federal audits. "Throwing people into a system where they're sitting 3,000 miles away without a lawyer and trying to prove they're a citizen - they're making people make their arguments with two hands tied behind their back," said Nancy Morawetz, a professor at New York University School of Law and an expert on deportation law. In January, Napolitano ordered a full review of ICE detention and removal operations. ICE spokeswoman Cori Bassett said she did not know when the review would be completed or whether its findings would be made public. Immigration officials must balance civil liberties against security concerns, some observers say, and wrongful detentions are rare. "ICE is not going to pursue anyone unless they can really justify the cause for it," said Janice Kephart, national security director at the Center for Immigration Studies in Washington, D.C. Fighting the system That's not what happened to Hector Veloz. Before his birth, Veloz's U.S.-born father was sent to Vietnam, so his pregnant mother stayed with relatives in Mexico and Veloz was born there. Months later, the family returned to the United States and has lived here since. Veloz was automatically a citizen at birth, though his parents never obtained his certificate of citizenship. In 2006, Veloz was convicted of receiving stolen property after purchasing a car that had been stolen. He served eight months and was about to be released from prison when he was turned over to ICE. "I said, 'I'm a U.S. citizen, why am I being put through deportation?' " he recalled. At the ICE prison in Arizona, the paperwork stated that he had entered the country illegally and that his father was a Mexican citizen. "It was all incorrect information," Veloz said. Immigration lawyers say locking up Veloz and others like him violates the 1971 Non-Detention Act, which says the U.S. government cannot detain citizens without an act of Congress. ICE's presumption that everyone in immigration custody is an alien undermines the act, said Holly Cooper, a professor of immigration law at UC Davis. "The system is set up so even if they believe you, you have to prove it in court. It could take six months to five years to prove it and you're detained in the meantime," said Cooper, who helped Veloz win his freedom on appeal. "You give up your citizenship at the prison door." Tough to prove A person who is born abroad to U.S. parents, as Veloz was, is a citizen at birth. And a foreign-born child automatically derives citizenship when a parent naturalizes, though they may not realize it. Without documentation at hand, or an attorney's help, however, it can be tough to prove. "I don't carry my birth certificate around with me and I bet you don't," NYU's Morawetz said. "ICE ought to know the law. Individuals might not, but the government is supposed to. They're the experts." ICE's Bassett said that officials work hard to ensure that they deport only aliens. In rare instances, she said, the government might detain an actual U.S. citizen because that person claimed to be an alien. "With somebody who misrepresents their true identity and makes a false statement to an ICE officer, it creates a problem for the government and for themselves," she said. The number of people in detention has tripled over the past dozen years. Immigration authorities now detain more than 400,000 people a year. Analysts say that is leading to more citizens wrongly detained by ICE. A study by the nonprofit Vera Institute, conducted for the U.S. Justice Department's Executive Office of Immigration Review, found more than 700 people at several detention facilities between 2006 and 2008 who said they planned to pursue claims of U.S. citizenship. Jacqueline Stevens, A UC Santa Barbara professor of law and society, said she had identified 160 cases of people who had been detained or deported but whose U.S. citizenship was later affirmed by the federal government or a jury. And several immigrant legal aid groups have helped free dozens of other citizens in recent years. In addition to U.S. citizens, there are other inmates in immigration detention who may not be deportable, legal analysts say. They include lawful permanent residents who have committed crimes that are not grave enough for deportation, and asylum seekers locked up until their cases are decided. The fact that citizens are imprisoned in a system designed to deport them points to potential problems for these other detainees, said Chuck Roth, litigation director for the National Immigration Justice Center in Chicago. "If it can happen to U.S. citizens, you can imagine how few procedural protections are available to everybody else." This article has been corrected since it appeared in print editions. Deportation sagas: Citizens tell their harrowing stories of detention and deportation by ICE. A9
Jose Mourinho warned that he wasn’t interested in selling his players on the cheap, even if they aren’t playing. Now, the Manchester United boss is making good on his promise. Manchester United have rejected a £19 million bid from Everton to sign Morgan Schneiderlin, who has made just three appearances in league play. Even though it seems Schneiderlin is not in Mourinho’s plans, Man U reportedly want to recoup the £24 million they spent signing Schneiderlin in the first place. The rejected bid is just the latest bit of evidence that Mourinho was serious when he suggested it would take a lot for him to part ways with Schneiderlin, Bastian Schweinsteiger or Memphis Depay. Article continues below ... “I don’t want to sell players,” Mourinho said last week. “The club and the board is totally with me. But as I’ve said, if a player is not having lots of minutes and really wants to leave, we have no right to stop him leaving if the conditions are our conditions. “But we have not received one single offer that we are going to accept.” Now it appears those conditions may relate to whatever Man U paid in the first place so the English Premier League club doesn’t lose money on the player. The Chicago Fire offered Schweinsteiger a $16.5 million three-year deal — but with Man U having paid a transfer fee that reports have put between £6.5 million and £14.4 million, it seems the MLS club will need to put a lot more cash up. Man U had already rejected a £13 million bid for Schneiderlin from West Bromwich Albion. They were reportedly preparing another offer before Everton jumped in and had their offer rejected. Depay, meanwhile, is expected to be on his way out, with Mourinho admitting that he hasn’t played Depay because he learned the player was interested in leaving Manchester in January. MORE FROM FOX SOCCER:
9th episode of the sixth season of Futurama "A Clockwork Origin" is the ninth episode of the sixth season of the animated sitcom Futurama. It aired on Comedy Central on August 12, 2010. In the episode, Professor Farnsworth leaves Earth after being frustrated by anti-evolutionists' belief in "Creaturism", a form of Creationism. He and the Planet Express crew arrive at a lifeless planet and the Professor introduces nanobots into the environment. The nanobots rapidly begin evolving into mechanical organisms, allowing the crew to witness a whole new evolutionary history that unfolds before their eyes. The episode was written by Dan Vebber and directed by Dwayne Carey-Hill and received mostly mixed reviews from critics. Plot [ edit ] Professor Farnsworth finds himself arguing with Dr. Banjo, a hyper-intelligent orangutan who believes in "Creaturism", a form of creationism. In an attempt to prove evolution did occur, the Professor excavates the lost missing link, which Dr. Banjo depicts as Homo farnsworth anachronistically riding a Stegosaurus in an attempt to support his Creaturist beliefs. The Professor becomes fed up and resolves to leave Earth. He takes the rest of the crew with him to an abandoned planet to live in solitude. After Professor inserts nanobots into the nearby pond to clean the water, the nanobots evolve rapidly into flora and fauna. Robotic versions of an Elasmosaurus and a Tyrannosaurus rex attack the crew, but a solar flare short circuits the dinosaur robots, causing a mass extinction of every robot creature except for "small mammalian robots" that were hiding in caves, including Bender. The next day, the crew wakes up to find both Leela and Amy kidnapped by caveman-like robots, but the following day, they find that Leela and Amy are free, because the robot cavemen have since evolved into a completely civilized, modern robot society. The Professor states that he is proud of the nanobots' growth after he dumped their ancestors in a pond a few days ago. The robots, who believe unquestioningly in robot evolution, are angered by Farnsworth, when he shows a picture of a robot (Bender) riding a robotic Stegosaurus at the start of their creation. Bender represents him in court and in his arguments, states that the Professor is not arguing against evolution, but only claims a small role in beginning it by providing the materials necessary (the nanobots). He also tries to declare Professor insane. The following day, the robots have now evolved into a state of incorporeal transcendent higher consciousness. They are no longer concerned with the Professor any more, finding corporeal beings altogether irrelevant, and sends the crew home. The Professor and Dr. Banjo reconcile their differences. Dr. Banjo argues that what the Professor witnessed was evolution, but evolution set in motion by an intelligent creator. The Professor agrees that it is possible, however unlikely that Earth evolution was set in motion the same way. Cultural references [ edit ] The title are references to the books A Clockwork Orange and On the Origin of Species. It could also be considered a reference to William Paley's Watchmaker analogy, a teleological argument found in his work Natural Theology. The episode includes several cultural references related to depictions of evolutionary history and the debate between evolution and creationism. The crew's encounters with the robotic dinosaurs and Amy's two-piece cavewoman outfit are parodies of the 1940 fantasy film, One Million B.C.[1] The trial held in the episode also parodies the Scopes Monkey Trial.[1] During the anti-evolution rally, a Flying Spaghetti Monster—a satirical symbol [2][3][4]—appears, arguing against evolution.[5] Broadcast and reception [ edit ] "A Clockwork Origin" originally aired August 12, 2010 on Comedy Central.[6] In its original American broadcast, "A Clockwork Origin" was viewed by an estimated 1.926 million viewers with a 1.3 rating/2% share in the Nielsen ratings and a 1.0 rating/3% share in the 18-49 demographic, nearly identical to the previous week's episode, "The Late Philip J. Fry".[6] The episode received mixed to positive reviews from critics.[1][5][7] Merrill Barr of Film School Rejects gave the episode a mixed review, calling it "[a] 50/50 episode of Futurama."[7] He stated, "There were parts I loved, and parts I hated. That is all."[7] He also criticized the Zoidberg and Cubert subplot saying, "while on his own Cubert is a funny character, paring [sic] him with a character like Zoidberg is a bad idea."[7] Zack Handlen of The A.V. Club gave the episode a B+, saying, "It mostly worked, but I was mildly disappointed by the end, because I keep waiting for the episode to move from good to great."[5] Sean Gandert of Paste gave the episode a score of 7.9/10, writing "'A Clockwork Origin' was still a good, fun episode, but was a more disposable piece of entertainment than the show can be at its absolute best."[8] Robert Canning of IGN gave the episode a strong, positive review, rating it a 9.0/10.[9] Canning praised the episode's pacing as the season's best describing "A Clockwork Origin" as "a very funny, very solid episode."[9] Danny Gallagher of TV Squad gave the episode a positive review as well, saying "It's far from the best episode of the season, but that's still saying a lot for a show that has managed to find new ways to stay fresh while it's been in the can for so long."[1] He also called the robot dinosaur world a perfect parody of One Million B.C..[1] See also [ edit ]
TAMPA — A semitrailer truck driver died in a fiery crash on Interstate 75 that closed the northbound lanes for six hours and snarled rush-hour traffic. It was the second major Tampa Bay-area accident on that highway in a month. An FHP report said that on Friday Alicia Fontes-Ferraz, 20, of Tampa, was merging onto I-75 north from the E Fowler Avenue entrance, when she entered the path of Paul Pitts, 48, of Panama City, who was driving a semi loaded with cardboard boxes. To avoid hitting Fontes-Ferraz's 2001 Ford Focus, Pitts tried to move into the inside lane. His truck collided with another semitrailer that was already there. The second semi slammed into a wall, traveled into the median and caught on fire, the FHP said. The driver of that semi died at the scene. His identity was not released. The wall the semi hit was a concrete barrier in a construction zone — part of a $95 million project to expand I-75 from Fowler Avenue to State Road 56 that began early this year and is expected to be completed in 2015. Traffic constricting barriers and lane shifts were installed in the area more than a year ago to protect workers trying to complete new interstate spans over Bruce B. Downs Boulevard. Troopers have not said the construction was a factor in this crash. During the investigation, the northbound lanes of the interstate were shut down from Interstate 4 to Fowler Avenue from 2:10 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. The FHP report said charges are pending in this case. On Oct. 5, a chain-reaction crash caused a 50-car pileup at the Manatee-Sarasota county line that severely injured several people and closed I-75's southbound lanes for six hours.
Matt Ridley has a new article in The Times, called Spare me the selfishness of the eco-toffs. I appreciate that Matt Ridley may not have chosen the title, but I suspect I’m not alone in finding an article criticising eco-toffs, written by a Viscount, a little ironic. The Times article is paywalled, but it appears that the full article is here. I’ve been rather critical of Matt Ridley in the past, so will keep this short. In all honesty, I’d be quite keen if Matt Ridley actually stopped making the kinds of silly mistakes he seems to make. He clearly has a voice and I’d rather that what he said was credible, rather than nonsensical. I guess that may, however, weaken his preferred narrative, and so I probably shouldn’t hold my breath. In this most recent article Matt Ridley focuses on the newly released IPCC report. I thought I might highlight a couple of aspects of what Matt Ridley has said that seem to indicate a very significant misunderstanding of what the report is really saying. One thing he mentions is But when you cut through the spin, what the IPCC is actually saying is that there is a range of possibilities, from no net harm at all (scenario RCP2.6) through two middling scenarios to one where gathering harm from mid century culminates in potentially dire consequences by 2100 (scenario RCP8.5). Let’s make something very clear. The RCP’s are Representative Concentration Pathways. They are simply four possible future anthropogenic greenhouse gas emission pathways. They’re meant to bracket the range of possible emission pathways. We’ll almost certainly not exactly follow one of these particular pathways. They’re also not possible in some kind of probabilistic sense; we’re not going to randomly follow one of these pathways. Ignoring major changes in the carbon cycle, we get to decide which of these pathways we want to follow. Of course, if we do follow a low emission pathway, the resulting warming will be lower than if we follow a high emission pathway. That’s kind of the point. We’re meant to consider the range of warming associated with each emission pathway and use that to inform policy. Implying that we may, by chance, follow a low emission pathway seems nonsensical. I guess it is possible that something magical will happen in the coming decades, that will allow us to switch easily from fossil fuels to some other energy source. I’d argue, though, that that is more likely if we actual try to do so, than if we simply hope that we’ll do so. Matt Ridley goes on to say So let’s focus on the two middle scenarios, known as RCP4.5 and RCP6. In these more realistic projections, if you use the latest and best estimates of the climate’s “sensitivity” to carbon dioxide (somewhat lower than the out-of-date ones still used by the IPCC), the most probable outcome is that world will be respectively just 0.8 and 1.2 degrees Celsius warmer than today by the last two decades of this century. Firstly, his latest and best estimates of climate sensitivity largely refers to the results from energy budget estimates preferred by Nic Lewis (and some others). Although there is nothing fundamentally wrong with these estimates, there are reasons why they might be regarded as lower limits, rather than somehow more accurate than other methods. Also out-of-date is Matt Ridley’s own construct, not a view held by actual experts. Matt Ridley is actually correct that if his preferred estimates are correct, then the best estimate from these methods would suggest about 1.2oC by 2100 (relative to today). However, you shouldn’t really consider what Matt Ridley calls the best estimate a particularly likely outcome. Typically it’s the median of the distribution, which means that there is a 50% chance that the actual value will be higher/lower than this best estimate. Therefore, even his preferred method suggest that we could have between 0.9 and 2.9oC of warming, relative to today for RCP6.0 (or, about between 2oC and 4cC relative to pre-industrial times). So, even using Matt Ridley’s preferred method (which suggests a lower climate sensitivity than other methods) we’re almost guaranteed – if we follow an RCP6.0 emissions pathway – to have more than 2oc of warming by 2100. Maybe Matt Ridley thinks differently to me (I really hope so) but climate policy isn’t some kind of bet; we aren’t gambling on a precise value for climate sensitivity. Climate policy should, in my view, be some kind of risk analysis. How do we balance minimising the risks associated with climate change, with the risks/costs associated with minimising these risks? Choosing to follow an emissions pathway that is almost certain to result in more than 2oC of warming, doesn’t seem particularly sensible. I must admit, that I’m starting to tire of critiquing things that people like Matt Ridley say. They seem quite comfortable repeating this type of stuff despite people regularly pointing out their errors. If Matt Ridley really thinks that we shouldn’t be too concerned about following an RCP6.0 emissions pathway, maybe he could at least acknowledge that this could lead to much more warming than his articles suggest. If he can’t, or won’t, do this, then I would argue he’s neither rational nor honest. Advertisements