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SARASOTA, Fla. — Raiders linebacker Aldon Smith has applied for reinstatement to the NFL, team general manager Reggie McKenzie told The Chronicle.
Smith’s one-year suspension for violating the league’s substance-abuse policy ends Nov. 17. Smith is out of rehab, league sources said, and McKenzie said that Smith is working hard to return to the team, pending a meeting with NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell.
“Aldon is doing well,” McKenzie said late Wednesday night. “That situation is going to be totally up to the league because he’s been in the program and they’ve monitored him. It’s up to Goodell to say, ‘Yea, nay or when.’ And he could say no to everything. … That part is out of our hands.
“The league will take everything into consideration and Aldon will have to meet with Goodell at some point.”
The Raiders aren’t allowed to directly communicate with Smith, per the suspension, but they have kept tabs on him through middlemen, such as Smith’s agent, Doug Hendrickson.
“Aldon is working out and getting ready,” McKenzie said. “He is in a great place and that’s the main thing. Whether Goodell lets him out or not, that’s the important thing — that he’s healthy and happy. But I would hope that we as a league reward a guy — with stipulations — who goes through the right steps and wants to get better and get his life in order.”
Smith, 27, entered a treatment center in July after a video shared on social media raised questions about whether he had violated the NFL’s drug and conduct policies again. Smith denied on Twitter that he was the man in the video who appeared to be smoking marijuana, and the league has investigated the matter, sources said.
Smith also had been to rehab in 2013, following two DUI arrests, and served a nine-game suspension in 2014.
Smith signed with the Raiders just before the start of the 2015 season after spending his first four years with the 49ers. He was let go by the 49ers in August 2015 after his fifth arrest, when he was charged with hit and run, DUI and vandalism.
Smith had 3.5 sacks and was stout against the run in nine games with the Raiders, teaming with Khalil Mack to give Oakland one of the best pass-rushing tandems in the league. The 2011 first-round pick had 44.5 sacks in 50 games with San Francisco.
The Raiders (5-2) certainly could use some help.
Oakland is tied for the AFC West lead, but has been dreadful on defense most of this season. After collecting 38 sacks in 2015 (tied for 14th in the league), it has nine this season (28th) and is on pace for 21.
Oakland is last in total defense (430.4 yards per game) and passing yards allowed (302.1), is 28th against the run (128.3 yards) and is 25th in points allowed (26.4).
Vic Tafur is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: vtafur@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @VicTafur |
Coachella gets fancier and fancier every year, with luxurious VIP packages and gourmet, four-course al fresco meals, but this whole time, the restroom situation was limited to various classes of portable toilets. All that's changed, because festival organizer/promoter Goldenvoice says it's built the very first permanent restrooms on the polo grounds that host both Coachella and country music fest Stagecoach (both happening this month, both managed by Goldenvoice). Located in the "terrace" section of the venue, the flat-roofed, concrete block building holds 324 stalls and long trough-like sinks, and sports a gap between the tops of the walls and the roof to allow for precious air circulation.
Many of the festival's food vendors are also in the terrace area (smart!), and it's open to everyone with a ticket, so there's not going to be some weird VIPee pass people have to buy. (At least not this year.) The minimal, industrial-chic lavatories look pretty stunning now, but after three days of festival, they will likely be a little less shiny and a lot more littered with forgotten iPhones with cracked screens, smashed feather headbands, and hundreds of lost car keys.
· 8 Absurd and Expensive Amenities You Can Get at Coachella [Curbed LA]
· Here Are Photos of Everything Lost at Coachella This Year [Curbed LA] |
Title: Disgaea D2: A Brighter Darkness
Format: Blu-ray Disc / PlayStation Network Download (2.2 GB)
Release Date: October 8, 2013
Publisher: NIS America
Developer: Nippon Ichi Software
Original MSRP: $49.99
ESRB Rating: T
Disgaea D2: A Brighter Darkness is exclusive to PlayStation 3.
The PlayStation 3 Disc version was used for this review.
Gameplay:
Few games can return to their original storyline after ten years and still feel relevant today. Disgaea D2 did just that. While three other core games in the series have been made since, never has the dialogue and story been as strong as in the 2003 original, Disgaea: Hour of Darkness. For series veterans, booting up Disgaea D2 to see Laharl, Etna, and Flonne at it again is like going home after a long vacation. It just feels right.
Like a well-aged wine, Disgaea, has grown in the past decade. The story takes place soon after the original, making Disgaea D2 the first direct sequel in the series. Newcomers need not be concerned about this being a sequel though. While references to the original are made, character development and dynamics are quickly established through the expertly crafted, self-aware dialogue that the series is known for. This makes Disgaea D2’s story enjoyable for new and experienced fans alike.
While the story is important, the main draw for the series has always been its top notch gameplay. Building upon the innovations of the last ten years, D2 is able to marry the successful gameplay concepts established in previous iterations with the quality new additions to make a tactical RPG so wide-open and complex, you might not ever use the same strategy twice. This might seem overwhelming at first. Luckily, Disgaea D2 has excellent tutorials for those who need it and the ability to skip said tutorials for those who don’t.
Familiar concepts like the Item World (now deemed the Item Sea), the Dark Assembly, Prinny tossing, character stacking, and Geo Panels are still in effect in D2. Another staple of the series is the fantastically animated and varied team attacks, which compounded with the new “likability” feature, helps create even more dynamic gameplay. Likability breaks down like this: the more two characters attack together or heal one another, the higher their likability will become, and in turn, the better they will become at working together to defeat enemies. It’s a concept not too far off from other SRPG’s like Fire Emblem and adds yet another dimension to an already deep battle system.
Another new concept is the Mounting system, replacing the Magichange system from the past. Now, humanoid characters can mount monster characters, opening a variety of new strategy opportunities. This is also good in the regards to leveling new characters. The mounted monster will take care of the movement and damage received, while the humanoid can concentrate on attacking without being in any real danger. The Mounting system opens up new skills and attacks, but best of all, unlike the Magichange system, you can dismount and continue to fight alongside your monster like normal afterwards.
Other new additions to the gameplay make Disgaea D2 more accessible to a larger audience. Oftentimes, gamers don’t have time for the traditional “grind” of a JRPG. A new feature called the Cheat Shop helps eliminate that grind by allowing players to manipulate the amount of experience, Mana, weapon mastery, etc., they get in battle. Not only does this potentially reduce the amount of time a player could be stuck on a certain stage, but it also aids in leveling new characters, gathering large amounts of HL (currency), and managing post-game content for those who haven’t had enough. Another addition is the Demon Dojo, which helps accelerate the growth of a single stat on each character. The best part about the Demon Dojo is the more you use it, the better the system becomes; practically growing with your characters and allowing for some incredible stat increases.
I’d be remiss if I failed to mention the infinite amount of replayability that Disgaea D2 carries. Along with the re-playable story missions and the limitless, randomly generated Item Sea levels, D2 packs some of the best post-game content offered in video games. While an initial play-through might clock in at modest 40-50 hours, the 9999 “level-cap”, New Game Plus, and infinite Item Sea levels will keep you away from the outside world for weeks.
Visuals:
The Disgaea series just recently started with using HD sprites as character models and as such, they look great. Each character is detailed, colorful and distinct. The team attack animations are done very well and are always a joy to watch. The environments, while seemingly less cluttered than past games, fail to bring it to the next level in terms of pure graphics. Don’t buy Disgaea D2 expecting to get Ni No Kuni quality graphics. That being said, Disgaea has never made its name in that department anyway. The focus is entirely on the gameplay, which is not a negative in my book.
Audio:
One major thing any JRPG fan will say is important in terms of audio is the ability to change to Japanese voice actors. Luckily, Disgaea D2 allows for just that. If you prefer the English set of voice actors, they do a wonderful job in translating the inflections and connotations to the Western audience. The background music is good, but not great. Overall, Disgaea D2 does enough to get by, but does not take it to the next level in terms of audio.
Online/Multiplayer:
This game is single player only.
Conclusion:
Japanese tactical RPG’s are a niche of a niche, a genre that often gets overlooked in today’s Western market. Despite this fact, the team at Nippon Ichi Software continues to produce outstanding products; continually outperforming their competitors and our expectations. Disgaea D2: A Brighter Darkness could rest on its laurels, staying safe and re-hashing the same formula over and over again, but instead they expand upon and shape their core principles to near perfection. With every iteration, the Disgaea series has grown and evolved. Not only is Disgaea D2 the best Disgaea yet, it is one of the best RPG’s of 2013. I really could not recommend this game enough.
Score:
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By LUCY GUANUNA
ECHO PARK — Echo Park skaters will be happy to hear that a final design has been selected for an Echo Park Skate Park, and it’s more than twice the size originally envisioned. But it’s also more expensive than expected, leaving the city to find the necessary funds before construction can begin and skaters can start showing off on the rails and mini bowl planned for the park.
Skaters as well as residents got to voice their opinions and vote on three concepts for the skate park, which will be built where a now empty public swimming pool is located next to the 101 Freeway onramp at Echo Park and Bellevue avenues.
As part of the community outreach, the Local Volunteer Neighborhood Oversight Committee held three meetings to discuss the pros and cons of each design, which were prepared by HMC Architects and the skate park design firm, Site Design.
During the second community briefing, through an informal voting process, the designers were asked to combine two of the concepts into one design, according to information provided by the city. By the third meeting, the combined design was unanimously approved by the committee. This design has a small skating bowl in the middle of the skate park, and a “street style” skating design for the large area around the center bowl.
Initially there was a discussion about the best location for the skate park, and a number of issues were considered, with safety being the first priority. One concept to place the skate park next to the existing children’s play area on Bellevue raised safety and compatibility concerns. As a result, the skate park was moved on the other side of the brick recreation center where a shallow pool, long out of service, is now located To protect this area, the skate park will have guardrails and trees to shield it from the onramp to the Hollywood Freeway, and will also have a heavy gauge chain link fence around the space.
But the approved skate park concept measures 7,000-square-feet in size, more than double the 3,000-square-foot park envisioned as part of a $500,000 Prop K grant that would pay for the facility. That means the city will have to find more cash to pay for the larger skate park.
“The City is working to identify the required extra funding,” according to a summary by Richard Campbell with the city’s Bureau of Engineering. “Meanwhile, HMC and Site Design are proceeding with the final design, while the additional funds being sought. No construction will begin until such time as such funds are identified and allocated to the project.”
Assuming funds are found, the skate park will take about a year to build.
Can’t get enough Echo Park news? Sign up for The Eastsider’s new Echo Park Weekly email newsletter. Echo Park Weekly will feature EP-centric stories, tidbits, advice, observations, information as well as the week’s top news. Arriving in your inbox beginning in January.
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A Mrs Amel Marmouri, from Novara, has just become the first person in Italy to be fined for wearing a burqa in public. Her husband says he will not allow other men to look at her: "If the law says she can't wear one," says Mr Marmouri, "then she will have to stay in night and day."
Unfortunate Mrs Marmouri. How will she adjust to life as a non-person? Maybe she should get in touch with Harriet Harman. Or, since they are more of an age, Yvette Cooper, or any of the other, theoretically prominent Labour women who spent the election campaign either tagged or under house arrest. It appears they did not all go quietly. Yvette Cooper questioned her relegation to a humiliating "second division" event near the beginning of the election campaign and was not seen outside again. When, more recently, a mutinous Ms Harman challenged the terms of her captivity, it is reported that one of her protectors, Lord Mandelson, roughly told her to "shut up".
Although there were worries, after she was gagged, placed in a sack and then dragged away by Douglas Alexander, that Ms Harman might never return, male honour now appears to have been satisfied. At 10 on election night, just as soon as the vote could not be affected, Labour's women were free to resume their traditional work for female emancipation. On Thursday night, there were even sightings of the mythical caravanner, Margaret Beckett. For the Tories, the liberation of Theresa May allowed Michael Gove, just for a few seconds, to stop talking. Although, at the time of writing, Harriet has yet to re-emerge, it can't be long before she's back, stressing the contrast between Labour's diversity and the Tories' arrant misogyny. "Is this the situation in the modern Conservative party?" she likes to quote herself saying, in her first appearance at PMQs. "That women should be seen and not heard?"
Far better to do the thing properly, as in Labour's campaign, and ensure that women are not seen either. Unless, that is, they are content to define themselves as loyal wives, mothers, grannies, relicts or, in this progressive party, repentant prostitutes. Providing these biblical requirements have been met, and are not jeopardised by worldly ambition, Labour will not merely forgive a woman her weaknesses, but actively nurture her special preoccupations with the family, maternity leave and tax credits. Hence the party's devotion to Mumsnet, where the proposal of a pre-eminent reproductive identity, incorporating women of every ideological stripe, has attracted a succession of ministers who would never dream of courting, say, dads, or the one-fifth of women who are united in not having children.
Hence, too, Gordon Brown's immediate approval of Mrs Duffy, before she was disgraced by her opinions. "You're a good woman," he said, on hearing she had issue: just what one would expect from a man whose tribute to his wife, on the eve of the election, dwelt on her peerless servicing of his biological needs. "I think she's doing a great job as a mother and she's doing a great job as a wife." But there is much more, surely, to Sarah Brown than that. In years to come, let us hope she receives proper recognition as a wife who not only outperformed rival wives, with her incessant tweeting, blogging and snogging, but eclipsed every elected woman in Mr Brown's parliament.
Not even Cherie Blair, in her pomp, was capable of this. Norma Major was, comparatively, a radical feminist of the Dworkin school. Mrs Brown's vision of womanhood takes us back much further, before Barbara Castle or Betty Boothroyd got any ideas of political grandeur, to the era of Brief Encounter. Except that, unlike the film's troubled, prewar housewife, Laura, stifled in her claustrophobic marriage, Mrs Brown seems perfectly content with her surrendered status.
It is a clue to Laura's moral confusion, after she meets Alec at the railway station, that she is tempted, briefly, to pretend she understands his doctor's jargon. "I see," she says, when he talks about preventative medicine. "I'm afraid you don't," says Alec. Laura accepts his correction. "I was trying to be intelligent."
That is not a mistake the educated Mrs Brown has made, even once, in her accounts of Downing Street date nights and bathtime frolics. Taking the same, vintage approach to gender roles, each of Labour's election broadcasts was narrated or presented by a man, in a sequence that went from grizzled, via Doctor Who, to outright thug: Sean Pertwee, David Tennant, Peter Davison, Eddie Izzard and Ross Kemp, snarling: "Be careful" at fearful dependents of the female persuasion. Even Labour's rival in female manipulation, the new John Lewis tear-jerker, invests more dignity in a life defined by family responsibilities.
With their working wives, but no female colleagues, neither Cameron nor Clegg did better. Judging by the last few weeks, the political consensus on female respectability places elegant wives and mothers in the first rank, followed by nurses (also known as "angels"), horny-handed "mums", caring grandmothers, cancer victims (treated to a special Labour scare story), single women with children, followed by childless single women who cannot be bribed with tax credits, women politicians and, lastly, the widow, mum of two and former prime minister, Baroness Thatcher. Thanks to Labour's vision of a women-free public life, reinforced by both rival parties, it should be generations before her freakish achievement is ever approached, let alone repeated.
As much as they may welcome this move towards a western caliphate, Wahhabist clerics must be wondering if they've missed a trick. The politicians make it look so easy. But how was wife and mum Harriet Harman, quondam hammer of inequality, made to endorse the instruments of her own oppression? Could it be that Douglas Alexander knows something about patronising and marginalising women that orthodox religious leaders do not? Or did Ms Harman, deputy leader of her party, collude in this operation? All we know, for sure, is that the current generation of Labour mullahs studied at the feet of Blair and Campbell, whose sofa government proved as effective as any medieval method for subduing women and never left a mark.
These electoral campaigns could not, however, have been so damaging to women's prospects in public life without the assistance of British broadcasters. Defying all recent complaints about the absence of mature women on screen, editors ensured that every significant election event was mediated by men, including individuals whose staggering mediocrity or ugliness confirmed that maleness was their only conceivable qualification. In a limited but welcome concession to its critics, the BBC introduced Martha Kearney's "election lunch party" on Radio 4's World at One.
This bitter pill was, however, sugared by that now-customary signal that women and politics have, unaccountably, collided: Martha's home-made biscuits.
• More election comment from Cif at the polls |
Internet giants Amazon have tennis high on their list of priorities as they develop big plans for the live streaming of sport.
The ATP Masters series, whose contract with Sky expires in 2018, is seen as a serious target. Amazon want to start developing their sports content and as the largest online retailer in the world have the financial resources to challenge for any sports rights that interest them.
Amazon representatives are understood to have been at Wimbledon making contacts in tennis ahead of a potential bid to stream all the major tournaments below the Grand Slams on the Amazon Prime subscription platform. Amazon have already done a deal with the NFL to stream a package of 10 Thursday-night games in 2017.
Amazon have tennis high on their list of priorities as they develop plans for sport streaming
Sky Sports staff are fearful of losing more tennis, which doesn’t have a dedicated channel in their revamp as football, golf, cricket and F1 do.
Eurosport took over coverage of the US Open last year and the Masters series is one area where savings can be made after the expenditure on cricket and another Premier League rights tender before the end of the year.
Sky also couldn’t agree a deal to broadcast the US PGA tournament next month, as revealed by Sports Agenda, with the rights holders looking for a different multi- platform media model that is sure to involve the big social media players, Facebook, YouTube, Google and Amazon in some way.
Nico Rosberg on Friday had to find a pair of socks before he was allowed to enter the Royal Box
What is it about F1 world champions and Wimbledon’s Royal Box dress code? Lewis Hamilton was refused entry in 2015 for not wearing a jacket and tie and former Mercedes team-mate Nico Rosberg on Friday had to find a pair of socks before he was allowed in.
Rosberg was thrilled to meet tennis great Rod Laver, who had no idea who the retired driver was. Hamilton wrote a letter of apology to the All England Club.
Venus Williams will not be able to escape a post-match interview after the women’s final
Venus Williams will not be able to escape doing an immediate post-match BBC interview after the women’s final because, win or lose, it is conducted on court with Sue Barker.
Venus has already been fined $7,500 for swerving a number of mandatory media appearances at Wimbledon. This after Venus was fined $5,000 for the same reason at the 2016 Australian Open and $3,000 at the French Open in 2015.
John Inverdale, who lost his hosting of the Wimbledon highlights show after the Marion Bartoli ‘not a looker’ controversy, is now back in the BBC’s good books and will commentate on the women’s final for a second year. Andrew Castle will again call the men’s final.
BBC female tennis pundits such as Martina Navratilova will view with great interest next week’s publication — due to charter requirements — of all those paid over £150,000 a year by the BBC.
Navratilova and co believe they are paid considerably less than male counterparts at Wimbledon, where there is equal prize-money for players.
Martina Navratilova and co believe they are paid less than male counterparts at Wimbledon
Tennis chiefs on the move
There will be a changing of the guard at both the top of the Lawn Tennis Association and the All England Club just when the Big Four era could be ending as well.
David Gregson, chairman of the LTA, will step down in 2018 in the belief that six years is the finite period for leading a major sport, and Philip Brook, chairman of the All England Club, is expected to relinquish his post in 2019 or 2020.
Michael Gradon, former cruise line P&O chief, is the favourite to take over provided the AEC don’t decide to skip a generation. Tim Henman already looks a shoo-in to be the next Wimbledon chairman after that.
Richmond Park Golf Club was treated to the full repertoire of John McEnroe’s angry comments — including of course ‘You cannot be serious’ — when he and brother Patrick were roundly beaten by a couple of members when they played 18 holes there. |
Have you always wanted to learn more about the ships in Star Wars? Growing up a girl who wanted to be a pilot, this was one of my favorite parts of Star Wars. I won’t lie, I watched a young Anakin and daydreamed about pod-racing and I was also fascinated with all the ships in the Star Wars Universe. In this great video, you can learn more about all of the Star Wars destroyers found in the game. The video is only a little over 3 minutes long but it’s packed full of great info. Learn more about each destroyer, their class and size, the weapons they are loaded with, how many crew members they can carry, and much more. You’ll feel like a Star Wars destroyer pro in no time. If you’re just one of those fans who loves Star Wars stats, this is also a video that will appeal to you.
Star Wars Explained has many more great videos that cover topics like this, canon explained, history and famous characters, Yoda’s early life, Legends, and even an Introduction to Star Wars series. If you’re not familiar with it yet, you definitely want to head over and check them out. After you watch this video (embedded below) consider subscribing to their channel so you don’t miss out on any of the awesome Star Wars stuff they do.
Let’s compare the primary star destroyers of the Galactic Republic, the Galactic Empire, and the First Order!
There you go! Now don’t you feel so much more informed about Star Wars?
Want you own Star Destroyer? check out this Star Wars Star Destroyer AMT Model with Fiber Optic Lighting System by AMT Ertl
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Michel Barnier says so-called ‘divorce bill’ is indivisible from other parts of negotiation and payment is a matter of trust
The European Union has said the Brexit talks could be derailed by an escalating fight over money as it fired back at Boris Johnson for telling the EU leaders to “go whistle” if they expected Britain to pay a divorce bill for withdrawing from the bloc.
“I am not hearing any whistling, just a clock ticking,” said the EU negotiator Michel Barnier at a press conference in Brussels to preview the next round of talks, due to begin on Monday.
Spanish royals on state visit to UK, with Brexit issues unavoidable Read more
His London counterpart, the Brexit secretary, David Davis, has not yet presented a formal UK position on the scale of any financial settlement when Britain leaves, which some estimates have suggested could be as a high as €100bn.
But EU officials are adamant that failure to at least acknowledge the principle of ongoing budget obligations would prevent talks from proceeding at all and not allow any discussion of future relationship issues such as a free trade deal.
“The three priorities for the first phase are indivisible,” said Barnier, referring to the financial settlement, citizens’ rights and other separation issues such as the Northern Irish border. “Progress on one or two would not be sufficient in order for us to move on to the discussion of our future relationship.”
In some of the most strident exchanges of the Brexit process so far, Barnier said the issue was not simply a technical sequencing matter but went to the heart of whether the two sides could trust each other.
“How do you build a relationship based on trade, security … which is going to last, with a country with which you don’t have trust?” implored the French diplomat. “I am saying this from the bottom of my heart, I want us to build that relationship.”
Play Video 0:33 Boris Johnson: European leaders can ‘go whistle’ over EU divorce bill – video
Questioned in the House of Commons on Tuesday about whether Brussels should be told to “go whistle” for the money – a dismissive suggestion that its demands are futile – Johnson, the foreign secretary, replied: “I think that the sums that I have seen ... seem to me to be extortionate and I think ‘go whistle’ is an entirely appropriate expression.”
“People have used words like ransom,” added Barnier. “It’s not an exit bill, it’s not a punishment, it’s not a revenge, it’s simply settling accounts. It’s not easy and it might be expensive, but we are not asking for a single pound or euro more than they have legally agreed to provide. You can discuss this or that budget line, but they have to start by recognising that they have entered into commitments.”
But money is not the only issue that is threatening to derail the first phase of talks when Barnier and Davis regroup on Monday.
Earlier, the European parliament’s Brexit coordinator, Guy Verhofstadt, revealed that MEPs would also seek a say on whether sufficient progress had been made over Britain’s offer on citizens’ rights.
The parliament is demanding that the UK match existing rights enjoyed by EU citizens living in Britain and say its alternative suggestion of a new “settled status” system would be bureaucratic and unsettling.
“We find that the proposal by the UK is absolutely not what we need,” Verhofstadt told the parliament’s committee on constitutional affairs. “It falls short in respecting the rights that EU nationals have on family reunification, rights to participate in local elections and falls short on simplicity … it creates second-class citizenship for EU nationals.”
Verhofstadt has already threatened to veto the final Brexit deal if citizens’ rights are not maintained but on Wednesday he opened a new front that could complicate efforts by Davis and Barnier to at least reach a temporary compromise on this opening issue.
“In October, the parliament will do an assessment to see if enough progress has been made to go into the second stage,” the Belgian liberal MEP told the committee. “The role of parliament is to scrutinise before the council has taken a decision.”
Domestic political pressure on Davis is also likely to intensify when Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, Scottish first minister Nicola Sturgeon and Welsh first minister Carwyn Jones all arrive in Brussels for separate, private, talks with Barnier.
The EU’s chief negotiator said it was important he heard from the “differing points of view in the British debate” but insisted he would only negotiate officially with Davis, the UK’s Brexit secretary.
Verhofstad also suggested that after the UK exits the EU those with Irish passports in Northern Ireland should be allowed to vote in European elections across the border.
Verhofstad said the number of European seats could be increased from the current 11 to allow for Northern Irish voters to still exercise some influence in the EU as part of any post-Brexit deal.
The Democratic Unionists in turn said it would use its parliamentary muscle to force the government to block any moves allowing for Northern Ireland voters to elect MEPs in the Irish Republic.
DUP MP Sir Jeffrey Donaldson told the Guardian there was “no chance” his party would accept such an arrangement after Brexit.
Donaldson said the 10 DUP MPs at Westminster who currently shore up the minority Conservative government would insist to the prime minister that Verhostad’s proposal be rejected out of hand in Brexit negotiations.
“His idea would be a breach of the Good Friday agreement which keeps all constitutional change within strand one of that agreement, namely only within Northern Ireland.
“This idea would also upset the delicate constitutional balance we have worked out here and would endanger the peace process,” the Lagan Valley MP added. |
The World Rowing Federation’s (FISA) Extraordinary Congress is only held once every four years in order to consider if any changes are required in the Statutes and Rules. At this year’s Congress, held from 15 to 17 February in Copenhagen, Denmark, FISA is considering making alternations to its Statutes and Rules of Racing to better reflect the core values of the sport of rowing.
In 2010 FISA re-confirmed that rowing’s long-held and inherent core values were even more relevant today. It conducted a detailed Strategic Re-assessment Exercise which looked at all aspects of the sport, its events, its marketing and governance. With considerable input received from thousands of rowers and rowing officials worldwide through a global survey published on www.worldrowing.com, the following values were confirmed to be:
- Rowers are: Balanced, Dedicated, Focused and Determined
- Rowing is about: Teamwork, Inclusiveness, Nature, Endurance and Fairness
FISA is committed to ensuring that these values continue to be lived and exhibited in every aspect of its work and activities.
The strategy for the modifications proposed by the FISA Council for the Statutes and Rules has been with a focus on critical principles and values in the sport of rowing: ethics and autonomy, the health of the athletes, inclusion, equality and universality.
With regards to the ethics and autonomy of the sport of rowing, FISA aims to reinforce its Statutes and Rules to address potential issues including rules to prevent attempts to manipulate competitions, to interfere in the leadership of national federations and to unduly influence the World Rowing Federation. The FISA Council is recommending the creation of policies that will ensure that only those who are truly involved in the sport of rowing can reach positions to make decisions about rowing at all levels.
FISA initiated the “No Needle” policy at events in 2010 and has been a leader in the anti-doping movement having been the first international federation to conduct out of competition testing starting in 1983. It wishes to do more, however, to protect the health of its athletes and suggests requiring pre-competition health screenings to reduce the risk of sudden cardiovascular death and also recommends eliminating the averaging of weight in lightweight rowing to discourage unhealthy and potentially dangerous sudden weight loss practices.
Rowing is proud of the progress it has made in terms of rowing for those with a disability. The next step for inclusion would be to use the same “field of play” for Paralympic athletes by extending the Paralympic racing distance from 1000m to 2000m. This has been a principle in the Paralympic movement and is the case, for example, with the wheelchair marathon (same distance – same “field of play”) and wheelchair basketball (same hoop height and court size). Other issues include adding an additional boat class, the LTA mixed double sculls, to offer further competition opportunities to nations that only have two athletes in this classification category and to change the name of “adaptive rowing” to “Para Rowing” which is deemed to better communicate this discipline of the sport.
FISA emphasises equal participation between men and women, and this has had a positive effect in many countries. FISA is a leading federation in terms of women in positions of leadership. However, work is needed in terms of the participation of women in competitions from club level up to senior elite level. The FISA Council has identified strategies to encourage national federations to create programmes and to hold federations accountable in their work towards this important principle. Proposals such as the re-introduction of the women’s four event in the World Rowing Championships and also the introduction of the women’s lightweight single sculls at the Olympic Games (a change which would be only possible with the approval of the International Olympic Committee), are being considered.
To achieve universality, FISA is now considering a proposal to ensure that World Rowing regattas are held outside Europe every four years – not only at the senior level, but also at the under-23 and junior levels.
The Extraordinary Congress delegates will discuss and debate these proposed changes to the statutes and rules on Friday and Saturday of this week, and then vote on changes on Sunday at the Extraordinary Congress. |
Julia Parrish, ctvedmonton.ca
An Edmonton man who was accused of supporting terrorists earlier this year – has been charged with murder, relating to the deaths of five American soldiers in Iraq in 2009.
A federal grand jury in Brooklyn, New York has charged 38-year-old Sayfildin Tahir-Sharif with the murders of five American soldiers, plus charges of conspiring to kill Americans abroad and providing material support to a terrorist conspiracy to kill Americans abroad.
Tahir-Sharif was arrested in Edmonton in January at the request of the FBI, and is still in custody in Canada.
The FBI New York Joint Terrorism Task Force is conducting the investigation, with help from the U.S. Department of Defence, the RCMP and the government of Tunisia.
If he's convicted, Tahir-Sharif could face a maximum sentence of life in prison.
Tahir-Sharif's extradition hearing has been scheduled for January 30 to February 1.
With files from Kim Taylor |
UN Security Council to hold emergency meeting on Yemen after mosque bomb attacks: diplomats
Updated
The United Nations Security Council will hold an emergency meeting today to discuss violence-wracked Yemen, diplomats say.
The talks follow several suicide bombings at Shiite Huthi mosques in the capital Sanaa on Friday, claimed by the Sunni Islamic State (IS) group, which killed 142 people.
Discussions will take place at the request of embattled Yemeni president Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi who has accused the Iranian-allied Huthi militia, that controls Sanaa, of staging a coup against him.
In a letter on Friday addressed to the Security Council, Mr Hadi denounced "the criminal acts of the Huthi militias and their allies".
He said they "not only threaten peace in Yemen but the regional and international peace and security".
"I urge for your urgent intervention in all available means to stop this aggression that is aimed at undermining the legitimate authority, the fragmentation of Yemen and its peace and stability," Mr Hadi wrote.
The meeting will allow the envoys of the 15 member countries to hear an update of the situation on the ground, likely to be made by UN special adviser Jamal Benomar, who has tried to mediate the conflict for several months.
Representatives from Yemen and Qatar will also speak before the council meets behind closed doors.
Diplomats said the council may adopt a declaration but not a resolution, which would be too difficult to negotiate in several hours.
On Sunday, the Huthi militia and its allies seized an airport in the strategic south-western city of Taez from forces loyal to Mr Hadi, security sources said.
Meanwhile, the United States has evacuated its remaining personnel, including about 100 special operations forces, from Yemen because of the deteriorating security situation there, US officials said on Saturday.
By claiming its first attack in Yemen, IS has sought to exploit the chaos gripping the country where rival Al Qaeda has traditionally been the dominant militant movement.
Yemen has been hurtling towards civil war since last year when the Huthis seized Sanaa and advanced into Sunni areas, leading to clashes with local tribes and energising a southern separatist movement.
AFP
Topics: terrorism, world-politics, unrest-conflict-and-war, government-and-politics, yemen, united-states
First posted |
Scientists have detected definitive movement around the San Andreas Fault system in California. Areas of land surrounding the fault have been shown to be rising and sinking, according to findings reported by the University of Hawaii.
The study published in the journal Nature Geoscience found that parts of California surrounding the San Andreas Fault are symbiotically, if slowly, rising and sinking.
The scientists found that the Los Angeles Basin, Orange County, San Diego County and the Bakersfield area are sinking 2 to 3 millimeters a year. Inversely, Santa Barbara County, San Luis Obispo County, and a large portion of San Bernardino County — an area about 125 miles wide — are rising. According the Los Angeles Times, this range of motion is comparable to the combined widths of several coins.
Scientists and researchers have suspected this kind of tectonic motion for years but have never had the means to monitor it before.
“While the San Andreas GPS data has been publicly available for more than a decade, the vertical component of the measurements had largely been ignored in tectonic investigations because of difficulties in interpreting the noisy data,” Samuel Howell, lead author on the study and a PhD candidate at the University of Hawaii, said in a statement.
“Using this technique, we were able to break down the noisy signals to isolate a simple vertical motion pattern that curiously straddled the San Andreas Fault,” he added.
The capability to measure this kind of motion is groundbreaking and crucial to public safety. This tectonic motion and subsequent stress has the potential to unleash a potentially catastrophic 7.0 magnitude earthquake.
However, experts don’t know when this next wave will hit.
“It’s pretty much impossible to say when the next one will happen,” Howell told the Los Angeles Times.
The state of California lies at the intersection of two tectonic plates, which puts it at a higher risk of earthquake activity. There are dozens of fault lines separating the two plates throughout the state and the San Andreas Fault is one of the most significant.
The fault line has been behind some of the most devastating earthquakes in the state. In 1906, a quake hit San Francisco, causing widespread damage to the city and killing at least 700 people. In 1989, the 6.9 magnitude Loma Prieta earthquake also struck the Bay Area, a product of the northeast span of the San Andreas Fault. The shockwaves caused upwards of $5 billion dollars in damage and collapsed portions of the Oakland Bay Bridge.
But the southern portion of the San Andreas has been quiet for a longer timespan. Records show that Southern California gets hit by a large earthquake every century or so. The last major seismic activity in the region was a 7.9 magnitude earthquake in 1857, which hit Fort Tejon and could be felt as far away as Las Vegas, 300 miles away. |
Getty Letter from Mexico Trump Backs Mexico into a Corner At some point, Mexicans may just decide to turn their backs on the United States.
John M. Ackerman is professor at the Institute for Legal Research of the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM), editor-in-chief of The Mexican Law Review and a columnist at both Proceso magazine and La Jornada newspaper. Contact: www.johnackerman.blogspot.com Twitter: @JohnMAckerman.
MEXICO CITY—On Barack Obama’s first visit to Mexico as president in 2009, thousands of people spontaneously swarmed onto Mexico City’s grand Reforma Avenue to see whether they could get a peek at the 44th president of the United States as he passed by. Despite a long history of conflict between the two countries, the Mexican people were highly optimistic about the future of binational relations and believed in Obama’s message of hope and renovation.
In contrast, after the events of this past week, it will be difficult for Donald Trump to ever set foot on Mexican soil. Mexicans are a proud and dignified people and do not take well to being humiliated in public. Indeed, in response to the constant insults and lack of respect coming out of the new U.S. administration, Mexican citizen groups already have started to plan boycotts of Citibank, Walmart and other U.S. corporations. The newspapers and TV shows are full of biting commentary about Trump’s intolerant and aggressive behavior. At a rally a couple of weeks ago, one of the protesters even burned an American flag, something entirely unprecedented for more than a century in Mexico.
Story Continued Below
Trump is apparently confident that Mexico's weak and highly questioned president, Enrique Peña Nieto, will eventually cave into his demands. As I have argued elsewhere, Peña Nieto was instrumental in making Trump’s victory possible and generally shares the same pro-corporate worldview. Trump’s real Latin American double is not Hugo Chávez or Evo Morales, as some misguided commentators have suggested, but Peña Nieto.
Peña Nieto's first actions since Trump´s election have been conciliatory—some might say servile. At the beginning of January, he appointed Luis Videgaray, an economist with no diplomatic experience but with ties to Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner, as Mexico's new secretary of foreign relations. And the day before Trump´s inauguration, Peña Nieto sent over Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán to the United States as a demonstration of his willingness to collaborate with the new administration.
But Trump has underestimated the response of the Mexican people. Even before Jan. 20, Mexico was already a tinderbox. The drastic reduction of international oil prices along with the collapse in the value of the Mexican peso—50 percent since Peña Nieto took power in 2012—has led to a serious fiscal crisis along with a jump in inflation. The government has responded with the highly questionable strategy of squeezing consumers through new taxes on gasoline and hiking the prices on public utilities, such as electricity.
This was the straw that broke the camel’s back. On Jan. 1, the day the new gas and electricity prices came into effect, tens of thousands of angry citizens took to the streets throughout the country. Since then there have been marches and protests almost every day. Just about every city, small, medium or large, has participated in the mobilizations and the protests have quickly morphed from being about gas and electricity prices to a broader set of demands.
Mexicans blame Peña Nieto’s privatizing oil reforms for the weakness of Mexican oil production and thereby the increase in oil prices. Corruption scandals have drawn close to the president’s inner circle, including former governors Humberto Moreira and Javier Duarte, fueling further outrage. Recent polls place his approval rating at 12 percent, the lowest for any Mexican president in modern history. Mexicans are demanding a full overhaul of the entire political system.
This is the context that explains Peña Nieto’s surprising cancellation of next Tuesday's meeting with Trump in the White House. In other circumstances, Peña Nieto would have been willing to subject himself to Trump's abuse and even explore different options for Mexico making a contribution to the border wall. After all, in his frequent meetings with Obama, Peña Nieto never uttered a forceful word or gave any sign of standing up to Washington. Only after Trump and his team embarrassed him and threatened to slap tariffs on Mexican goods has he shown any hint of a backbone.
The two leaders spoke again on Friday, and issued face-saving statements on the need to “work together to stop drug cartels, drug trafficking and illegal guns and arms sales” while agreeing to disagree on who would pay for Trump’s wall. “Both presidents have instructed their teams to continue the dialogue to strengthen this important strategic and economic relationship in a constructive way,” the White House readout said.
But it’s other politicians, such as left-wing presidential hopeful Andrés Manuel López Obrador, who have best expressed the feeling on the streets. López Obrador has called on Peña Nieto to formally bring charges against Trump to the United Nations for human rights violations and has announced a tour to the United States to construct a binational “citizen front” against xenophobia.
The greatest beneficiary of Peña Nieto’s humiliation will indeed be the left—and not just in Mexico. In the midst of the Twitter exchange between Peña Nieto and Trump, in which the U.S. president wrote, “Mexico has taken advantage of the U.S. for long enough. Massive trade deficits & little help on the very weak border must change, NOW!”, Bolivian President Evo Morales reached out to the Mexican people: “I make a call to our Mexican brothers to look more to the south; to build unity together on the basis of our Latin American and Caribbean identity.” As of noon on Friday, Morales’ tweet has been retweeted 10 times more than any other tweet in the Bolivian president’s entire timeline.
Many have noted that the Mexican economy relies heavily on exports to the United States Some 16 percent of U.S. exports go to Mexico, while 80 percent of Mexico’s go to the United States. So it would seem Peña Nieto has little recourse but to accede to Trump’s demands.
Consider, however, that the Mexican economy is the 15th largest in the world, with an annual GDP of $1 trillion, and is the second-largest market for U.S. goods. And Mexico has the means to retaliate for any Trump punishments. Dean Baker, for instance, an economist at the D.C.-based think tank Center for Economic and Policy Research, has proposed that Mexico simply refuse to enforce U.S. patents and copyrights on its soil, for instance in the area of pharmaceuticals or technology. Expensive drugs and software could immediately be provided at bargain-basement prices—generating incredible savings for Mexicans and significantly cutting into the profits of major U.S. corporations.
That, of course, would probably mean leaving the North America Free Trade Agreement, the trade pact that Trump has vowed to renegotiate. Even stalwart neoliberal supporters of NAFTA among Mexico’s political class have begun to argue that it wouldn’t be so bad to simply walk away from it. Last Tuesday, Mexico’s economy minister Ildefonso Guajardo made this threat official, telling a television interviewer: “If we go for something that is less than what we have, well, then there is no sense in staying.”
Trump’s attitude has led to a transformation of Mexico’s medium and long term economic calculations. Although a withdrawal from NAFTA would create short-term pain, it would also create the opportunity for Mexico to finally delink itself from its excessive dependency on the U.S. economy and consolidate its alliances with other Latin American countries as well as with Europe and Asia. Ironically, Trump’s attack on Mexico may be just what Mexicans need to wake up and smell the coffee. |
The 71st Campia Turzii Air Base will host, in the period March 16-26, the Romanian-American bilateral exercise Dacian Warhawk, a press release of the Ministry of National Defence (MApN) informs.
Photo credit: (c) MIRCEA ROSCA / AGERPRES ARCHIVE
The exercise will see the participation of 200 Romanian servicemen, pilots and technical staff, operating six MiG-21 LanceR jet fighters and four IAR-330 helicopters (in SOCAT and MEDEVAC configurations) belonging to the 71st Campia Turzii Air Base and nearly 250 American servicemen operating F-16 jet fighters and the attached servicing technique, belonging to the U.S. Air Forces deployed in Europe command.
Through the execution of joint flights together with the American partners, the exercise has as a main goal exercising standard tactics, techniques and procedures associated to air operations, with the purpose of raising interoperability and increasing the capacity to field joint operations, the release shows. AGERPRES |
Four decades ago, getting married and having babies meant you’d reached adulthood. But today’s young people don't find those milestones nearly as important.
Barely more consequential to young adults: moving out of mom's and dad's house. Only 1 in 4 people aged 18 to 34 felt living independently was a precursor for adulthood, according to a recent U.S. Census Bureau report called "The Changing Economics and Demographics of Young Adulthood from 1975 to 2016."
Instead, today’s young people – the millennial generation – see getting an education and finding work as the most important steps to becoming an adult.
That’s because millennials’ earnings aren’t keeping up with the rising cost of living, said Todd Graham, a Metropolitan Council demographer.
“Young adults… are in an economically precarious situation in which their earnings power is not really comparable to the baby boomer’s experience in 1975, or even what Generation X experienced,” Graham said.
The number of 25- to 34-year-olds who are employed, married, have a child and live away from home today is nearly half what it was in 1975. It’s just not as important to young adults, the report said.
Meanwhile, most Americans expect adults to have finished schooling by age 22 and be financially independent by 21, according to a 2012 survey.
The ideal age to marry, Americans say, is 25.
Most young adults don’t meet those expectations.
Graham blames low wages, despite the economy’s general growth since the Great Recession.
“Overall, we’ve got a healthy economy,” Graham said, adding that wages for the age group peaked in the ‘80s and ‘90s. “But employers still need to make that adjustment of designing pay packages and wages that get past where we were in the last recession, when so many employers had scaled back.”
On top of that, baby boomers, with generally higher incomes than millennials, still dominate the housing market. Price levels, then, reflect the salaries of older generations instead of younger.
So millennials choose to stay home. Until 2005, most unmarried young people lived outside of their parents' homes. Ten years later, it flipped. In 2005, there were 35 states where the majority of young adults lived indepenedently. Now it's down to six.
In Minnesota, about half of young adults live independently, down slightly from about 56 percent a decade ago.
Still, millennials today aren’t worse off than their 1975 counterparts. More young adults — especially women — are obtaining a college degree, a strong predictor of higher income.
For young women, that increase follows them into the workforce, where more than two-thirds of them work, as compared to under half in 1975.
And women no longer cite staying home to take care of the family as a reason for unemployment, according to the report.
“It’s not that young adults aren’t making any of these milestones,” said Jonathan Vespa, a Census Bureau demographer who authored the report. They’re just taking longer to get there.
Jessie Bekker is a student at the University of Minnesota on assignment for the Star Tribune. |
This blog post will go through how I setup a basic Controller rendering using Glass Mapper Model.
Visit http://www.glass.lu/mapper/sc for more information on Glass Mapper for Sitecore.
TIHIDI: Stands for This Is How I Do It. I am going to write a series of blog posts going through how I do Sitecore related work. Hope it helps you!
We are going to use the same infrastructure as my previous post TIHIDI: Implement a simple view rendering in Sitecore MVC and Glass.
Keeping the model as is, we need to add the code to render this via a Controller Rendering. This functionality really does not need a controller rendering as we were able to do this in a view rendering but I wanted to give you an example.
Before we get into controllers, we need to setup a couple of things related to Glass and Business Logic.
I setup a ControllerSCContext similar to Nathanael Mann (the Mann). You can read about it further here. Why do I do it this way? I do not know, I was taught by the master(s) to do it this way. If there is a more efficient way to do it, please send me links.
using Glass.Mapper.Sc; namespace TIHIDI.Business.GlassSC { public interface IControllerSCContext : ISitecoreContext { T GetDataSource<T>() where T : class; T GetRenderingParameters<T>() where T : class; } } 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 using Glass . Mapper . Sc ; namespace TIHIDI . Business . GlassSC { public interface IControllerSCContext : ISitecoreContext { T GetDataSource <T> () where T : class; T GetRenderingParameters <T> ( ) where T : class ; } }
using Glass.Mapper.Sc; using Sitecore.Mvc.Presentation; using System; namespace TIHIDI.Business.GlassSC { public class ControllerSCContext: SitecoreContext, IControllerSCContext { private IGlassHtml _glassHtml; public ControllerSCContext(IGlassHtml glassHtml) { _glassHtml = glassHtml; } public T GetRenderingParameters<T>() where T : class { if (RenderingContext.CurrentOrNull != null) { string parameters = RenderingContext.CurrentOrNull.Rendering["Parameters"]; if (String.IsNullOrEmpty(parameters)) { return _glassHtml.GetRenderingParameters<T>(parameters); } } return default(T); } public T GetDataSource<T>() where T : class { string dataSource = RenderingContext.CurrentOrNull.Rendering.DataSource; if (String.IsNullOrEmpty(dataSource)) { return default(T); } Guid dataSourceId; return Guid.TryParse(dataSource, out dataSourceId) ? GetItem<T>(dataSourceId) : GetItem<T>(dataSource); } /// <summary> /// if the rendering context and data source has been set then returns the data source item, otherwise returns the context item. /// </summary> /// <typeparam name="T"></typeparam> /// <param name="isLazy"></param> /// <param name="inferType"></param> /// <returns></returns> public T GetControllerItem<T>(bool isLazy = false, bool inferType = false) where T : class { T renderingItem; if (RenderingContext.Current == null || RenderingContext.Current.Rendering == null || string.IsNullOrEmpty(RenderingContext.Current.Rendering.DataSource)) { return GetCurrentItem<T>(false, false); } try { renderingItem = this.GetRenderingItem<T>(isLazy, inferType); } catch (InvalidOperationException invalidOperationException) { renderingItem = GetCurrentItem<T>(false, false); } return renderingItem; } /// <summary> /// Returns the data source item. /// </summary> /// <typeparam name="T"></typeparam> /// <param name="isLazy"></param> /// <param name="inferType"></param> /// <returns></returns> public virtual T GetRenderingItem<T>(bool isLazy = false, bool inferType = false) where T : class { if (RenderingContext.Current == null || RenderingContext.Current.Rendering == null || string.IsNullOrEmpty(RenderingContext.Current.Rendering.DataSource)) { return default(T); } return GetItem<T>(RenderingContext.Current.Rendering.DataSource, isLazy, inferType); } } } 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 using Glass . Mapper . Sc ; using Sitecore . Mvc . Presentation ; using System ; namespace TIHIDI . Business . GlassSC { public class ControllerSCContext : SitecoreContext , IControllerSCContext { private IGlassHtml _ glassHtml ; public ControllerSCContext ( IGlassHtml glassHtml ) { _ glassHtml = glassHtml ; } public T GetRenderingParameters <T> () where T : class { if (RenderingContext.CurrentOrNull != null) { string parameters = RenderingContext.CurrentOrNull.Rendering["Parameters"]; if (String.IsNullOrEmpty(parameters)) { return _glassHtml.GetRenderingParameters <T> (parameters); } } return default(T); } public T GetDataSource <T> () where T : class { string dataSource = RenderingContext.CurrentOrNull.Rendering.DataSource; if (String.IsNullOrEmpty(dataSource)) { return default(T); } Guid dataSourceId; return Guid.TryParse(dataSource, out dataSourceId) ? GetItem <T> (dataSourceId) : GetItem <T> (dataSource); } /// <summary> /// if the rendering context and data source has been set then returns the data source item, otherwise returns the context item. /// </summary> /// <typeparam name = "T" > </typeparam> /// <param name = "isLazy" > </param> /// <param name = "inferType" > </param> /// <returns> </returns> public T GetControllerItem <T> (bool isLazy = false, bool inferType = false) where T : class { T renderingItem; if (RenderingContext.Current == null || RenderingContext.Current.Rendering == null || string.IsNullOrEmpty(RenderingContext.Current.Rendering.DataSource)) { return GetCurrentItem <T> (false, false); } try { renderingItem = this.GetRenderingItem <T> (isLazy, inferType); } catch (InvalidOperationException invalidOperationException) { renderingItem = GetCurrentItem <T> (false, false); } return renderingItem; } /// <summary> /// Returns the data source item. /// </summary> /// <typeparam name = "T" > </typeparam> /// <param name = "isLazy" > </param> /// <param name = "inferType" > </param> /// <returns> </returns> public virtual T GetRenderingItem <T> (bool isLazy = false, bool inferType = false) where T : class { if (RenderingContext.Current == null || RenderingContext.Current.Rendering == null || string.IsNullOrEmpty(RenderingContext.Current.Rendering.DataSource)) { return default(T); } return GetItem <T> ( RenderingContext . Current . Rendering . DataSource , isLazy , inferType ) ; } } }
Once that is done, I setup my business logic code.
using TIHIDI.Models.Templates.Content; namespace TIHIDI.Business.Content { public interface IContentLogic { ITextBlock GetTextBlock(); } } 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 using TIHIDI . Models . Templates . Content ; namespace TIHIDI . Business . Content { public interface IContentLogic { ITextBlock GetTextBlock ( ) ; } }
using System; using System.Collections.Generic; using System.Linq; using System.Text; using System.Threading.Tasks; using TIHIDI.Business.GlassSC; using TIHIDI.Models.Templates.Content; namespace TIHIDI.Business.Content { public class ContentLogic : IContentLogic { private readonly IControllerSCContext _currentContext; public ContentLogic(IControllerSCContext currentContext) { _currentContext = currentContext; } public ITextBlock GetTextBlock() { return _currentContext.GetDataSource<ITextBlock>(); } } } 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 using System ; using System . Collections . Generic ; using System . Linq ; using System . Text ; using System . Threading . Tasks ; using TIHIDI . Business . GlassSC ; using TIHIDI . Models . Templates . Content ; namespace TIHIDI . Business . Content { public class ContentLogic : IContentLogic { private readonly IControllerSCContext _ currentContext ; public ContentLogic ( IControllerSCContext currentContext ) { _ currentContext = currentContext ; } public ITextBlock GetTextBlock ( ) { return _ currentContext . GetDataSource <ITextBlock> ( ) ; } } }
I know the code is light but this shows you where the logic part of the code is supposed to be. I like my controllers as lean as possible. The next step is to define a controller.
using System; using System.Collections.Generic; using System.Linq; using System.Web; using System.Web.Mvc; using TIHIDI.Business.Content; namespace TIHIDI.Web.Controllers { public class ContentController : Controller { private readonly IContentLogic _contentLogic; public ContentController(IContentLogic contentLogic) { _contentLogic = contentLogic; } public ActionResult RenderTextBlock() { return View(_contentLogic.GetTextBlock()); } } } 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 using System ; using System . Collections . Generic ; using System . Linq ; using System . Web ; using System . Web . Mvc ; using TIHIDI . Business . Content ; namespace TIHIDI . Web . Controllers { public class ContentController : Controller { private readonly IContentLogic _ contentLogic ; public ContentController ( IContentLogic contentLogic ) { _ contentLogic = contentLogic ; } public ActionResult RenderTextBlock ( ) { return View ( _ contentLogic . GetTextBlock ( ) ) ; } } }
We also need to register our new interfaces with Simple Injector.
container.Register<IControllerSCContext>(()=> new ControllerSCContext(container.GetInstance<IGlassHtml>())); container.Register<IContentLogic, ContentLogic>(); 1 2 3 4 container . Register <IControllerSCContext> ( ( ) = > new ControllerSCContext(container.GetInstance <IGlassHtml> ())); container.Register <IContentLogic, ContentLogic > ( ) ;
Once that is done, its time to just copy our view rendering code since its going to be exactly the same. Create a new view under Views\Content.
@inherits Glass.Mapper.Sc.Web.Mvc.GlassView<TIHIDI.Models.Templates.Content.ITextBlock> @using Sitecore.Mvc @if (Model != null) { <h3>@Editable(Model, y => y.Heading)</h3> <h4>@Editable(Model, y => y.SubHeading)</h4> <div class="content">@Editable(Model, y => y.Content)</div> } 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 @ inherits Glass . Mapper . Sc . Web . Mvc . GlassView <TIHIDI.Models.Templates.Content.ITextBlock> @using Sitecore.Mvc @if (Model != null) { <h3> @ Editable ( Model , y = > y.Heading) </h3> <h4> @ Editable ( Model , y = > y.SubHeading) </h4> <div class = "content" > @ Editable ( Model , y = > y.Content) </div> }
Now that its all wired up, lets build and publish.
Setup a controller rendering in Sitecore to map this new controller.
Modify your item’s presentation to include this new rendering and fire it up.
If you have any questions or concerns, please get in touch with me. (@akshaysura13 on twitter or on Slack). |
When looking for proof of ancient aliens look no further than the Wedge of Aiud!
Details are hard to verify, but the 4 to 5 pound wedge-shaped aluminum object was allegedly found during digging on a construction project, along with two mastodon bones in 35 feet of sand. Someone gave it to the Museum of History of Transylvania, where it lay ignored in a storeroom for 20 years, before editors from a Romanian UFO magazine found it in 1995.
It’s not clear why UFO enthusiasts were poking around a national museum storeroom. Maybe that’s just how they do things in Transylvania.
The Aluminum Wedge of Aiud is a wedge-shaped object found two kilometers east of Aiud, Romania, on the banks of the Mures River in 1974. The object was reported to be unearthed 35 feet under sand and alongside two mastodon bones. A mastodon is an extinct large tusked mammal species. Physically, the artifact looked similar to the head of a hammer. The wedge was allegedly taken to the Archeological Institute of Cluj-Napoca to be examined, where it was found to be made of an alloy of aluminum encased in a thin layer of oxide. The alloy of the wedge is composed of 12 different elements. This artifact is considered strange because aluminum was not discovered until 1808 and not produced in quantity until 1885. Aluminium requires 1,000 degrees of heat to be made. The fact that the wedge was found in the same layer of earth as mastodon bones would make it at least 11,000 years old.
Based on it being found in the same layer as the mastodon bones, the wedge is claimed to be at least 11,000 years old, if not millions
Many people have claimed that the artifact is proof that aliens visited Earth. Engineers have reported that the object resembles the foot of landing gear, not unlike the technology used on spaceships. The scientific community believes the wedge was made on earth and its purpose is not yet identified. Due to the limited amount of information that exists on the subject, the antiquity and origin of the artifact is unclear. The Aluminium Wedge of Aiud is not on display to the public and remains in an undisclosed location. However, pictures of the wedge do exist.
THE AIUD ARTIFACT FACTS
1. The aluminium wedge of Aiud (also called the object of Aiud) is a mysterious artifact of uncertain origin in the shape of a wedge, which was found at an archeological site near the Roman town of Aiud, allegedly near by a mammoth skeleton.
It is composed of 89% aluminium covered by a thick oxide layer. The thickness of this oxide layer is said to be confirmation that the object is anachronistic, at least three-hundred or four-hundred years old.
The aluminium wedge of Aiud is often cited as “proof” that aliens visited earth at earlier times, because aluminium was difficult to produce in quantity before 1825. Most scientists, however, believe that this object is a fake.
2. The Aluminium wedge of Aiud (also called object of Aiud) is a mysterious body in form of a wedge, which was found at digging works near the Roman town Aiud. It consists of 89% of aluminium, which is covered by a thick oxide layer.
The thickness of this layer is said to be so strong as it would lay over a million years in the ground. The Aluminium wedge of Aiud is often citated as “proof” that aliens visited earth at earlier times, because there were no possibilities to produce Aluminium before 1825.
Unresolved Mystery ?
Nope, there’s a much more rational (albeit boring) explanation. The wedge is simply a tooth from a modern day excavator bucket, the kind used by workers digging foundations for construction projects.
The results of metallurgical tests made on the wedge are consistent with modern 2000 series duraluminWikipedia’s W.svg which oxidizes fairly rapidly, accounting for the aged appearance of the wedge, and which can be hardenedWikipedia’s W.svg to a degree similar to mild steel.
More Mysteries |
DPW Director David Kinney will have new discretion in enforcing the Dyster-Owens Disposal Ordinance or Do-Do.
The 37-page document establishing the rules and regulations for the city's new garbage collection system is an Orwellian document filled with labyrinthine twists and turns, dumbfounding legalese language and an appallingly petty list of minor infractions and their threatened consequences. It is the work of Mayor Paul Dyster and City Administrator Donna Owens, in conjunction with the city legal department, and stands as a testament to the sort of imperious disdain for city residents, property owners and businesses that have many in Niagara Falls openly calling for Owens' resignation or dismissal. Why they want only Owens' head when the entire plan was jointly conceived with Dyster who of course as her boss approved it, is hard to understand. The document, which may be called the Dyster - Owens Disposal Ordinance (or 'Do-Do') starts off by codifying the start date of the city's new program, August 1, less than a month away. It also sets into stone the backwards size of the refuse and recycling totes that will be used in Niagara Falls at 96 gallons for recycling and 64 gallons for refuse, exactly the opposite setup employed by every other community in the United States. Some items commonly disposed of previously on trash collection day will no longer be handled by Modern Disposal Inc., the Lewiston based company the city has contract with to provide the service. These exemptions were not imposed by Modern but rather written into the new ordinance by the city, in an effort to save money. Automobile tires, for example, my no longer be put out to the curb for disposal. Tires must be brought by the city resident seeking to get rid of them to the Department of Public works where, for a fee, they will be collected and disposed of, the new regulations state. Yard trimmings, a bone of contention when the new regulations were announced last month, have been hastily written into the ordinance and will now be collected. They must be put into clear garbage bags and left alongside the city issued totes for collection. Remarkably , the totes are reversed. The larger one (left) is for recycling and the smaller one (right) is for refuse. Time will tell how that will work out. Those Niagara Falls residents who supplement their incomes or, in some cases, live off of the money they make collecting cans and bottles from city garbage cans and returning them for deposit will be put out of business under the new ordinance, which makes such activity illegal. In keeping with a law that was crafted by someone with no clue about law enforcement, penalties, jurisdiction and other aspects of implementation of these new anti-can collecting regulations are not set forth. Under the new law, property owners and not those actually living at the residence are responsible for complying with the ordinance. That means that, if a tenant refuses to separate recyclables from his or her regular garbage, it is the landlord who will be subject to fines and other penalties. In one particularly poorly worded subsection of the new law, a mangled explanation is provided that would seem to give landlords an out. "Notwithstanding the provisions above, a property owner may apply to the Director for approval of a waiver of primary responsibility for compliance with recycling laws, rules and regulations governing recycling, that the tenants have assumed responsibility for compliance with recycling laws, rules and regulations. This approval may be revoked by the Director in accordance with promulgated rules and regulations." What this would seem to be saying is that landlords may somehow get themselves off the hook by getting tenants to agree to follow the new law but that, if the tenants fail to do so after initially agreeing, the landlord is left, once again, holding the bag. Why a tenant would willingly accept legal responsibility for an obligation placed by law on his landlord, unless it were somehow imposed as a condition of rental, is uncertain. And the tenant's dedication to strict compliance with the city garbage ordinance might be questionable under the best of circumstances since, if there's a violation, the DPW director has merely to revoke the approval sought by the landlord in the first place should a violation occur. This Catch 22 for landlords, many of whom live outside the city limits and have shown themselves to be unable of policing tenant activities in the realms of drug use, prostitution and other already illegal activities, might provide some comic relief for newspaper readers and writers who can chuckle at mounting fines and penalties being levied against addresses where far more serious law breaking activity has regularly occurred. The age old practice of writing ones address on garbage totes to prevent pilfering by other, less responsible individuals who may have damaged or lost their totes is outlawed under the new ordinance, as is the disposal of dead animals. It is uncertain who might want to put the decreased family dog or cat out with the morning garbage to begin with but, under the new legislation, the practice is illegal and a call must be placed to the Public Works Department to arrange for dead animal collection. On Page 23, the new ordinance finally gets around to enforcement, granting the DPW director the right to issue appearance tickets like any cop on the beat. First violations of any part of the complicated new ordinance will result in a warning ticket, but subsequent violations are incrementally increased to fines of up to $250. The owner of a three-unit apartment building housing tenants who are often unable to feed themselves without public assistance could find themselves facing thousands of dollars in fines should those tenants also be unable to understand the intricacies of the city's complicated new law. Each day a violation occurs or is permitted to exist is ruled by the ordinance to constitute a separate offence, meaning that the fines could pile up quickly. The ordinance provides for the civil collection of unpaid fines by the city Law Department after a period of 30 days, a process that will undoubtedly result in property liens and perhaps even constitute the straw that breaks the camel's back for owners who have been sitting on the fence about just abandoning their property, as have so many other Niagara Falls property owners before them. Numerous calls from prominent businessmen and members of the general public for the resignation or dismissal of Owens for her role in the mishandling of the new ordinance, might make it likely that the city administrator's Niagara Falls career will be taken out with the trash soon. Her lack of qualifications and poor people skills make her job hunting prospects questionable at best, and a hallmark of Dyster's administrative style has been to steadfastly refuse to admit a single mistake he has made during his years in office. |
It was reported today that Microsoft will be releasing 6 versions of Windows 7, and while the majority of consumers will realistically only be choosing between two of them, it helps highlight the difference between Apple’s approach to business, and that of other tech companies. Contrary to what they teach in business school, Apple has succeeded by limiting consumer choice, and Apple’s small product line-up has been a key factor in that success.
While other companies release an inordinate number of products in an attempt to satisfy every potential customer, Apple has kept its product line-up relatively streamlined in comparison. Not only does this make things less confusing for consumers, but it also helps consumers understand what they’re actually paying for. Everyone knew what the iPhone had to offer almost immediately upon its release. Now, imagine if Apple had released an iPhone, an iPhone Nano, an iPhone Mini, and an iPhone Pro. Consumers would have no idea where to even start, and they’d actually have to study up on all the different models before they made their purchase. Most people don’t have the time to do that, and to be honest, most probably don’t care to either.
When Steve Jobs returned to Apple in 1997, he himself found Apple’s product lineup to be convoluted and ultimately too confusing. He even quipped that if he couldn’t figure out the difference between a multitude of hardware models, how could Apple expect consumers to do so? Naturally, one of his first orders of business was putting the squeeze on Apple’s product lineup and focusing instead on only a few products that were to be marketed at either consumers or professionals. A large number of products were axed in the process, including the Newton. As a result, Apple’s product lineup shrunk down to just four offerings – laptops for either consumers or professionals, and desktops for either consumers or professionals.
Even today, Apple’s product lineup is relatively sparse compared to the product offerings of other companies. For example, if you want an Apple laptop, you can choose between a MacBook, a MacBook Air, and MacBook Pro. Three models to choose from, and that’s it. Even the names Apple chooses lend themselves to making it easier for consumers to differentiate between the different models available. By way of comparison, there are a multitude of Sony Vaio laptops out on market, and if you want to figure out how they differ, you have to study the specs. How else can you figure out the difference between a Sony Vaio VGN-Z550N and a Sony Vaio VGN-CS215J/R. In contrast, the use of the words “Air” and “Pro” helps provide users, right from the get-go, with an idea of what the machine is, and who it’s geared for.
Apple’s simplified approach to selling computers helped re-energize the company as it forced Apple to focus on doing a few things extremely well, while not letting its talent and resources drift off in a number of different directions and projects. That narrow focus eventually led to the development of the iMac, the iPod, and the iPhone – three products that together have helped Apple achieve record breaking financial and critical success. Apple understands that consumer choice is great, but too much choice can easily lead to customer confusion and frustration. It’s also worth pointing out that its easier for companies to provide quality technical support when there aren’t 15 models of a product that technicians need to be familiar with.
When it comes to product offerings, Apple’s approach to business is a lot like that of a Basketball coach. Would you rather have a smaller team comprised of only 7 All-Stars, or a full 12 man roster with 1 All-Star, 2 above average players, 3 mediocre players, and 6 benchwarmers. The Dream Team wins every time, baby. |
Jason Buff is a graduate of UNC Chapel Hill and founder of the Indie Film Academy. He started his career working in San Francisco and Los Angeles as a commercial DP and Director. At the same time, he worked as a professional script reader for Alliance Atlantis Communications. Follow Jason on Twitter: @indiefilmacdmy
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(Note: I need to start this article out with a quick clarification. In this article I am discussing primarily producers who also plan to write and direct their own low-budget films. If you are a new writer and not in the Los Angeles area, a really good route is trying to join up with local filmmakers and build your resume with a screenplay that has actually been produced. Now, on to the article….)
There is a common myth among new filmmakers that the order of putting a project together goes something like this. You write a screenplay, raise funds, shoot, edit, and then go out and try and sell your film. Sounds logical, but it is also a recipe for disaster. Based on about 99% of the interviews I’ve conducted with successful filmmakers over the past three years, it’s really not the way it’s done at all.
There is a very important theory in the world of business called Proof Of Concept. It’s a simple idea. It simply means that, before you spend all of your time and resources creating a product, you want to know if people are going to want it. For most of us, creating a film is probably going to take at least a year of our life from start to finish. And even though things are fun and exciting at first, there will come a point where it becomes a lot of very hard work. At almost every stage of the game, there are giant hurdles that you will need to overcome. Writing is hard, raising funds is hard, shooting is hard, editing is… well… I like editing, so we’ll skip that. Then after all is said and done, you have to try and sell your film. If you haven’t done your research early on, it is likely that at the end of this journey you will have a film that doesn’t have an audience.
Script EXTRA: Chris Sparling on How Directing Made Him a Better Screenwriter
Another thing that always shocks independent filmmakers is how film sales actually work. Many of the things listed below will be the only parts of your film that potential distributors will even look at. At the AFM, for example, it’s completely normal for distributors to purchase a film based completely off of the poster and the first 10 minutes. So, as strange as it sounds, the things you are creating here at the beginning of the process with very little investment, could actually be more valuable in the long-term sales of your film that the film itself.
So let me propose a slightly different order of development for your film before you ever even have a screenplay. We will assume you have the story in your head. Maybe as much as a few pages written. But the main thing is having an exciting premise that makes people want to know more.
1. Create A Poster
I have always recommended designing a poster as one of the first things you ever do when starting an indie film project. Why? Because it not only will show people what the concept is in a matter of seconds, but it will also make the project feel real. A poster should include two main elements… a picture that will be exciting to your target audience and a font treatment for the name of the film.
2. Spread The News
Once you have your poster, you can start making collateral materials, like Facebook and Twitter headers. You can post it to your various walls on social media. The less you say at first, the better. Let people’s minds wander. What is this? You will notice that an energy starts to build. Your friends will probably comment… “What’s this?” It takes a lot of work for people to become aware of a project, so the sooner you start putting things out the better. And this phase will lead to your next phase…
3. Pitch Your Story
Once people are aware of your project, pitch it to them. Just give them the quick concept. Imagine that the film has already been made and you have to give your friends a little two-sentence logline that will make them want to see it. There is a very important thing to keep in mind as you’re pitching the idea. Be honest with yourself. There are, of course, going to be friends who support you and say “Awesome! I’d go see that.” But you really need to find friends who will be honest with you and tell you the truth. If you can’t pitch an idea that you and others around you would be dying to see, you need to rethink your concept.
Script EXTRA: Get tips on writing a great logline.
Another way to get some brutal honesty is by putting your poster out on social media. Reddit is known for being pretty brutal, so if you really want to test an idea, go there and show your poster. Present it like it’s already been made, but be kind of vague. You will pretty quickly know how the reddit crowd feels.
4. Check Available Resources
This is Indie Filmmaking, so I’m going to assume you’re budget is pretty low. And by low I’m talking under 50k. So it’s important to figure out what your free resources are. Do you have access to a unique location? Do you have a friend with a cool car? Are there geographical locations that could really make your production feel bigger. All of these things need to be considered to be utilized by your screenplay. The same goes for actors. If you have a group of actor friends, then write something with their personalities in mind. I hear so many stories of screenwriters creating stories out of the blue and thinking that producers will just be able to pull all of those resources together. It’s OK for larger budgets, but not at this level. So find all of the cool things you can get and then create your story around it.
5. Crowdfund A Short Film Version of Your Feature
Let’s start with a concept. A fisherman goes out with just a worm and wants to catch a giant fish. So first he catches a small fish, then uses that fish as bait for a lager fish and on and on. This not only describes how most filmmaking careers work, but how many individual films work. Start small, and constantly test. Once you have enough of your story, actors and locations ready…it’s time to create a bite-sized version of your film. At this point, you hopefully have enough friends and family that you can raise a few thousand bucks. Let people know through social media that you will be doing a crowdfunding campaign and that you need their help. Create a video with all of your actors and tell your story as a filmmaker. Make people excited. Show your actors in costume. Give people a glimpse into what the story will be.
Script EXTRA: Get crowdfunding advice from award-winning filmmaker Cindy Baer
There is no better proof of concept for a story than a successful crowdfunding campaign. From there, you will create a scene from the film, mostly likely from the first act. It’s important to remember, if possible, the short you are creating should be part of your larger film. Maybe an opening scene or part of a flashback. You will have to figure that out on your own.
I want to imagine one final concept related to funding for your feature. Imagine yourself sitting across the table from a number of people who have the means and interest to make your film. You sit there with a screenplay in your hand, telling them all of the amazing things that happen in the story. They listen patiently and then tell you they will be in touch. Chances are, they will pass. I’ve seen it happen 99% of the time.
Now paint another picture. You are at the same table. You have not only a kick-ass poster, but pictures of your characters in their costumes. You have beautifully lit stills from the shoot. You have thousands of people following you on social media and a mailing list related to the film. And, as you’re pitching the idea to them, you say, “Oh, by the way, would you like to watch the first 10 minutes?” To make the pot even sweeter, you can tell them various awards that the short has won.
Get tips on how to create the short film version of your feature in the on-demand webinar
Producing Your Short Film Script: Launch Your Entertainment Career as a Writer-Producer |
LOWELL -- Gov. Deval Patrick will today announce a $20 million state investment to modernize UMass Lowell's Perry Hall, home to the school's engineering program.
The spending will pay for improvements to existing laboratories and classrooms and also allow for the addition of new research and academic space which had in the past been used for other purposes.
Research space and the controls in the labs, in the building constructed in 1952 on UMass Lowell's North Campus, also will also be updated.
"On behalf of the university, I would like to thank Governor Patrick, the Legislature and the Lowell delegation for their support for this important project," UMass Lowell Chancellor Marty Meehan said in a prepared statement.
"Perry Hall has been one of UMass Lowell's core science and engineering facilities for more than 60 years. With these upgrades, it will remain a place where students, faculty and industry come together for cutting-edge research and education for decades to come."
The renovations at Perry Hall are expected to be the first part of a larger project to upgrade the university's science and engineering facilities to make sure UML offers modern facilities to its students, according to Patrick's office.
Among the departments UMass Lowell's Francis College of Engineering houses in Perry Hall are: Chemical Engineering, Civil Engineering, Electrical and Computer Engineering and mechanical Engineering.
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Patrick was expected to make the announcement about the funds for the Perry Hall modernization while speaking today in Haverhill at the Merrimack Valley Chamber of Commerce.
At the event, he also was slated to announce investing $7 million to modernize the Spurk Building on Northern Essex Community College's Haverhill Campus, a $900,000 MassWorks award to connect Northern Essex Community College Allied Health Center with Lawrence's downtown, and a $5 million MassWorks award for the Merrimack Street Renaissance Project in Haverhill.
"Growth requires investment, and these investments in education, infrastructure will bring growth and opportunity to the Merrimack Valley and beyond," Patrick said in a prepared statement. "If we want to expand opportunity in our Commonwealth, this is what government must do and do well."
Follow Moran on Twitter @lylemoran. |
THERE has been plenty that has changed in Anthony McDonald-Tipungwuti's life since the start of this year, and plenty more that will change in the next few seasons as he aims to become a long-term player at Essendon.
He has become used to being recognised by keen Bombers fans walking down the street, and he notices the cheers that grow from the crowd whenever he tucks the ball under his arm at half-back and bolts down the wing.
He has also become familiar with seeing young Bombers wearing his No.43 jumper, and he has no plans to change his number next season, which will be his first of a three-year contract on Essendon's senior list.
"I'm going to stick with No.43," he told AFL.com.au this week. "On my locker, Dean Rioli is the only player at Essendon to have reached 100 games in that number. There's only one name there and I want to be the second."
How Hurley's new Essendon deal was done
McDonald-Tipungwuti will notch his 21st career game this weekend when the Bombers take on Carlton at the MCG in their season-closing encounter, and it is 21 more games than the 23-year-old expected when he joined Essendon. It is also a tally he doubts he could have managed had the Bombers not been hit by the season-long bans to 12 of their senior players in January.
At that stage, McDonald-Tipungwuti was training as a forward. It is what he was drafted as last year as a rookie after three years with the club's VFL side, and where he felt most comfortable. But after the Court of Arbitration's decision to suspend the dozen Bombers for doping breaches, McDonald-Tipungwuti's role – and season – was turned on its head.
"The circumstances changed and John [Worsfold] came back and said they'd play me at half-back and I said 'Oh OK, I'll do it'," he said.
"I've used my speed and skills. I use what I have and work on things I need to work on, but speed was one I really had and had good skills and good kicking. Running was my biggest focus and I really improved that this year."
He improved it so much that McDonald-Tipungwuti has quickly become one of Essendon's – and the competition's – biggest success stories of 2016. He ends the year in the Bombers' best team, with or without their returning players, and as the club's newest cult hero.
His fierce attack on the ball, aggression towards the opposition, pace and foot skills have won many fans among the Essendon faithful.
He regularly gets stopped walking down the street and has noticed the buzz in the crowd when he starts his dashing runs. At first, the attention felt strange to McDonald-Tipungwuti, who lived on Melville Island off the Northern Territory coast before moving to Victoria and pursuing his football.
"I've got used to it and I treat it as my job now. I really enjoy meeting new people if they come up and say hello," he said.
McDonald-Tipungwuti's previous job was at Essendon too, but in a different capacity. Last year he was working with the club's multicultural department, going out to schools and offering footy lessons.
He approached Worsfold at the end of last year to discuss his hopes of getting onto the list when the new coach was into his first month at the club. He's glad he took the plunge and put his case forward.
"It was during my lunch break and I thought I needed to go and talk to John and see what he said about me training with the boys. I ended up going in and was a bit nervous and went up to him and asked him if I could come up and train and have a go at AFL level," he said.
"We had a chat from then and worked it out and I've really enjoyed playing under him.
"I really enjoyed working [at the club] and learning different cultures, but AFL was my passion and I had to go for it."
Having been around the club in a working capacity and as a member of Essendon's VFL side, regular Bombers players were already familiar with McDonald-Tipungwuti before he was rookie-listed.
They were shocked by his body shape transformation in a short period of time, a fitness boost that allowed him to compete with them at pre-season training and build his endurance levels.
Lachie Whitfield feels the full force of a McDonald-Tipungwuti bump. Picture: AFL Photos
He was overlooked at several drafts, and had begun to think an AFL career might have passed him by. Essendon has been a club that has produced strong indigenous voices over the past three decades, and McDonald-Tipungwuti is keen to use his building profile for good.
"It's something I want to do, and encourage indigenous kids to achieve their goals, even if it's footy or just anything in life. I want to be that leader for everyone [so they know] they can achieve their goals if they put their mind to it," McDonald-Tipungwuti said.
"It wasn't easy. It was pretty hard. But I had the support with my families and a few friends. I knew where I had to get and [it was the] AFL. I had to put my mind into it and I finally achieved it, and I've still got a few more years to come." |
We’ll admit it: we were all squeeing like fanboys when we saw the official trailer for the upcoming sequel, Star Wars: The Force Awakens.
We may have watched it quite a bit more than once, but the YouTubers below have taken their fandom to another level, with some really well crafted remixes of the official short film.
Check out trailers below starring the cast of (and scenes directly from) the original trilogy, the trailer as Wes Anderson would do it, and a bizarre rendering of it all with pets in place of human actors. Oh, and there’s also the obligatory Lego version, as well, so be sure to scroll all the way down.
This Wes Anderson-style take on the Star Wars universe is a film we’d love to see. With his film-festival cred and distinctive narrative voice, Anderson would be a perfect choice to direct Star Wars: The Indie Film.
However, since we’re getting a Star Wars sequel directed by none other than J.J. “Lens Flare” Abrams himself, this next trailer features plenty of those shiny bright lights that featured so prominently in earlier Abrams films, most notably Star Trek, the other “star” franchise.
While we’re imagining different directors at the helm of the anticipated sci-fi blockbuster, why not think about getting George Lucas himself to create a trailer, prequel style. This short film continues the work Lucas did in “re-imagining” the first three films by adding a ton of special effects, creatures, and even story beats (Han shot first, ok?), into everyone’s favorite films.
Here’s a fantastic shot for shot remake of the new trailer using only footage from the original trilogy. We’re pretty impressed at both the visual fidelity of the original shots as well as the obvious homage that Abrams and the trailer makers have created to the first and best films in the series.
File this one under bizarre recreations, with its starring cast of cats and dogs in the main roles. Heck, there’s even a Roomba filling in for the Millennium Falcon near the end for this cute short from The Pet Collective, called Paw Warz: The Furrce Awakens (because of course it is).
What you see above is the result of 22 hours of work from the stop-motion genius of FinalFeature, a 17-year-old based in Hollywood who has quite a large set of short films to his credit. This one recreates the entire Force Awakens trailer in everyone’s favorite building toy, LEGO bricks. |
An Australian millionaire sent the Internet into a tizzy earlier this year when he used avocado toast as a symbol of millennial irresponsibility and excess, saying that choices such as “buying smashed avocado for $19” were making it hard for young people to afford homes. While the nuances of the housing market and the life choices of millennials may be fodder for endless debate, new data from Square makes one thing clear: the avocado toast business is booming.
Square, a tech company that helps businesses process credit card payments, crunched data from sellers around the U.S. and found that Americans are spending nearly $900,000 per month on crusty bread topped with mashed green fruit. That’s a huge increase from what the company was seeing in 2014, when Square’s sellers were only moving $17,000 worth of avocado toast per month.
Courtesy of Square
Though that’s a drop in the urn compared to the amount people spend on coffee, for instance, the hard figure for how much Americans are spending on such toast is certainly much larger, given that the Square data does not include the many avocado-toast-offering restaurants and food trucks and fast-casual counters that are not using Square’s services. And the jump remains proof of how hot the commodity has become. The company says the increase in sales has far outpaced Square’s growth in sellers.
So what of millionaire Tim Gurner’s claim that millennials are spending $19 a pop for this green-and-creamy brunch fave? Based on data from hundreds of Square sellers, the company found the average cost to be $6.78, with the cheapest avocado toast going for $2 and the most expensive going for $18. Given that the Australian dollar is weaker than the U.S. dollar ($19 Australian = about $15 U.S.), Gurner was within Square’s range. The average price was highest in Los Angeles, at $8.50 a pop, and lowest in D.C., at a mere $4.
Avocado toast consumption levels in U.S. cities vary, as do creative local spins on the item, which Square sellers are hawking in varieties like grilled cheese avocado toast and avocado toast lobster rolls. Per Square, the highest consumption per capita is (predictably) in San Francisco, followed by Honolulu, Nashville and Portland, Ore.
Long before smashed avocados were raising haunches, the City by the Bay was grappling with another great debate over the price of browned bread. Tensions over inequality have risen in San Francisco in recent years, and in 2014 stakeholders zeroed in on the fact that people were purchasing $4 toast as evidence that one-percenters were fueling an affordability crisis.
Back then, the small business offering the $4 toast had options like whole-wheat-sesame-poppy bread with butter. These days, millennials can get an “avocado mash” on toast at the same spot for twice the price. But, as many pointed out in the wake of Gurner’s comment, it would take a lot of toast to make a real difference in one’s housing situation. In fact, a person would have to save the equivalent of 475 of those mashes just to afford one month’s rent on the average San Francisco apartment.
Write to Katy Steinmetz at katy.steinmetz@time.com. |
[LP] BW Review - Modify the Phase Variance Text by Liquipedia Table of Contents
Portal Updates
Design Changes
Archives
Join the Ranks
Stories from the Twitterverse
Modify the Phase Variance
Liquipedia Reviews, in general, document the progress of Teamliquid's own Wikis. There's a faint possibility Brood War fans do not know this, since the last review to summarize updates, changes and new content directly focusing on our beloved game has been published more than two years ago. It's about time to revive the tradition and show you what the encyclopaedia looks like now. More than one thousand articles received a facelift, new portals have been created and several projects were started. Portal Updates
Liquipedia Brood War was released almost five years ago. Back then, the Wiki was planned as in-depth strategy compendium with a clear purpose. Over time more and more articles were added, which wouldn't fit the original goals any more. Consequently the project's goal changed bit by bit, especially under the influx of the upcoming StarCraft II Wings of Liberty beta. Nowadays Liquipedia covers a lot more than originally thought, events, tools, maps, community information, you name it. However, the structure wasn't nearly as effective as it could be — it was rather hard to find the desired article with a few clicks.
To solve this issue, the main page and many portals received a facelift. The most frequently visited portals are now only one click away from the main page, upcoming events are listed and the best content is featured with a spotlight on the main page. Maintenance reports and community news round up the picture. However, this only decreased the required time for readers to navigate, but did not help in terms of article quality.
The portal listing the history and achievements about foreign Brood War was dusty and painted a somewhat negatively biased picture. Race specific strategy overviews were a wall of text with rather vague links leading forward, beginners and newcomers to our scene had no real starting point. A lot of randomness, really. The solution was to completely work over many of the portals, so an entirely new structure could be created, an Ariadne's thread anyone could follow. One of the goals was to intentionally understand how to navigate in order to obtain information.
The New Protoss Strategy Overview
Assuming that most rookies would be interested in learning the basic principles of the game, we deduced a new portal designed for their wishes. This resulted in the so-called 'Beginners Portal', which gives a first glimpse on several topics: the races, where and how to play, technical aspects and definitions of the basic terms. Following this logic, the strategy portals themselves are being worked on, so any rookie is lead from abstract, basic concepts to detailed Build Orders. For now the Protoss Strategy overview is the only race specific portal finished. It summarizes all possible categories of strategy, shows where to find in-depth articles and lists beginner friendly tactics. The Terran and the Zerg portal are next in line, with Terran already being up to date for the match up against Protoss. However, Brood War is more than the alleged 'serious' competitive game modes. Thanks to influx of more recent tournaments, the Big Game Hunters portal received updates as well.
Furthermore, strategy isn't everything. Another goal for many contributors was to promote their respective scene. Almost all events by KeSPA, Sonic's new amateur scene and foreign organizers past beta, including but not limited to the beginner's scene, have been added. Replays, VODs, pictures, write ups and reviews can be found there. The efforts spent on covering are hard to put into words. Suffice to say more than five hundred articles were created in the past three years alone to keep Liquipedia a go to site for Brood War.
Liquipedia Brood War was released almost five years ago. Back then, the Wiki was planned as in-depth strategy compendium with a clear purpose. Over time more and more articles were added, which wouldn't fit the original goals any more. Consequently the project's goal changed bit by bit, especially under the influx of the upcoming StarCraft II Wings of Liberty beta. Nowadays Liquipedia covers a lot more than originally thought, events, tools, maps, community information, you name it. However, the structure wasn't nearly as effective as it could be — it was rather hard to find the desired article with a few clicks.To solve this issue, the main page and many portals received a facelift. The most frequently visited portals are now only one click away from the main page, upcoming events are listed and the best content is featured with a spotlight on the main page. Maintenance reports and community news round up the picture. However, this only decreased the required time for readers to navigate, but did not help in terms of article quality.The portal listing the history and achievements about foreign Brood War was dusty and painted a somewhat negatively biased picture. Race specific strategy overviews were a wall of text with rather vague links leading forward, beginners and newcomers to our scene had no real starting point. A lot of randomness, really. The solution was to completely work over many of the portals, so an entirely new structure could be created, an Ariadne's thread anyone could follow. One of the goals was to intentionally understand how to navigate in order to obtain information.Assuming that most rookies would be interested in learning the basic principles of the game, we deduced a new portal designed for their wishes. This resulted in the so-called 'Beginners Portal', which gives a first glimpse on several topics: the races, where and how to play, technical aspects and definitions of the basic terms. Following this logic, the strategy portals themselves are being worked on, so any rookie is lead from abstract, basic concepts to detailed Build Orders. For now the Protoss Strategy overview is the only race specific portal finished. It summarizes all possible categories of strategy, shows where to find in-depth articles and lists beginner friendly tactics. The Terran and the Zerg portal are next in line, with Terran already being up to date for the match up against Protoss. However, Brood War is more than the alleged 'serious' competitive game modes. Thanks to influx of more recent tournaments, the Big Game Hunters portal received updates as well.Furthermore, strategy isn't everything. Another goal for many contributors was to promote their respective scene. Almost all events by KeSPA, Sonic's new amateur scene and foreign organizers past beta, including but not limited to the beginner's scene, have been added. Replays, VODs, pictures, write ups and reviews can be found there. The efforts spent on covering are hard to put into words. Suffice to say more than five hundred articles were created in the past three years alone to keep Liquipedia a go to site for Brood War.
Design Changes
Thanks to our friends from the other Wikis we have plenty new templates to make articles look nicer. It's rather hard to summarize two years of updates, so let's just focus on the more important ones. To start off with, we added new brackets. Whenever you hover your cursor over a player's name, his path through the grid will be highlighted — which makes tracking your favourite a lot easier. Furthermore — whenever we could and had the time — we added detailed results in the grid, hence no more scrolling to the bottom of a page. If you click on a match with an i-symbol, a small window pops up, showing the date and time it was played or count down too if it's yet to be played, and it might also have links to reviews, previews, live report threads, replays and/or VODs.
That's how it looks like now
One of the other problems we encountered was the sheer magnitude of different modes used for team leagues and tournaments. Other than more modern leagues, old clan and nation wars often featured Best of Three sets for each game, as well as 2v2 games. No template really helped us to show all information we had, hence a few lines of syntax had to be added. Almost all formats can now be displayed!
Example of a detailed Clan War result table
Aside from these two major changes, we fixed tons and tons of player profiles, tournament and strategy infoboxes, worked on build order tables, added missing flags for National B-Teams and pictures we received from contributors, corrected dead links, and much more.
The last thing we'd like to highlight is our work on replays. Originally, replays were mostly linked via tables on Starcraft II strategy articles; we came to the conclusion they'd fit on different sections as well. For instance, many foreign tournaments now show the most memorable or interesting games with a direct link to the replay or VOD. Also, for older tournaments we tried to upload replay packs, so you can re-live the event today.
Archiving
Most recently, more ambitious goals have been formulated by some of Liquipedia's contributors: preserving Brood War's legacy. The game is more than a decade and a half old, we've seen tons of fan pages come and go, and there's been so many leagues played that most of them are already forgotten by most. To work against dementia, great efforts were made to create a complete archive of the most important events.
Nostalgia is another major factor for people still visiting fan pages, and the driving motivation for many contributors. Adding results is one thing, but to truly provide information, context has to be provided. New members of our shrinking community may not understand the drama that went with a new wave of hackers being caught red handed, the importance of an event like the World Cyber Games, why players like Flash and Jaedong were labelled as prodigies in the Korean scene, or how much influence the Bonjwas like Iloveoov, NaDa and Boxer really had on strategical development.
Interestingly enough, the solution to a problem helped to provide exactly this information. The problem was: many of the former leagues and tournaments are not recorded any more, at least not in full detail. Grids were lost when sites like WGTour, PGTour, GosuGamers or ICCup went offline or were updated. Consequently much of the information had to be reconstructed with the help of tools like Archive.org, Google Search Queries, and most importantly, via Battle Reports, L&R Threads and event coverage from a decade ago. With the power of hindsight, we were able to expand articles by summarizing the communities thoughts, connect story lines in-between tournaments on player profiles, explain the impact of details and overall put most tournaments in perspective to each other.
In combination with the changes we explained earlier, we were able to work over a row of articles. These contain more information, look better and more informative than anything else we have done so far. They're more than just a list of records or a collection of links — they're a glimpse of golden days past.
Pre Beta Articles
WCG 2006
WCG 2006 FiSheYe
FiSheYe Mondragon
Mondragon Sandlot
Sandlot 2006 Shinhan Bank OnGameNet Starleague Season 2 Post Beta Articles
ILME
ILME Moscow LAN 2012
Moscow LAN 2012 Sziky
Sziky Scan
Scan Defiler.ru Tournaments
Please do not underestimate the time that went into these articles and related edits. We burned the midnight oil figuring out smurfs and reconstructing grids via replays, forum discussions, archive.org and google cache. Most of the really ancient tournaments and their respective grids have been offline for years, even more are probably not archived at all. Keep in mind, we will never give up and try to restore and archive as much as possible. Our history may not be forgotten!
Thanks to our friends from the other Wikis we have plenty new templates to make articles look nicer. It's rather hard to summarize two years of updates, so let's just focus on the more important ones. To start off with, we added new brackets. Whenever you hover your cursor over a player's name, his path through the grid will be highlighted — which makes tracking your favourite a lot easier. Furthermore — whenever we could and had the time — we added detailed results in the grid, hence no more scrolling to the bottom of a page. If you click on a match with an i-symbol, a small window pops up, showing the date and time it was played or count down too if it's yet to be played, and it might also have links to reviews, previews, live report threads, replays and/or VODs.One of the other problems we encountered was the sheer magnitude of different modes used for team leagues and tournaments. Other than more modern leagues, old clan and nation wars often featured Best of Three sets for each game, as well as 2v2 games. No template really helped us to show all information we had, hence a few lines of syntax had to be added. Almost all formats can now be displayed!Aside from these two major changes, we fixed tons and tons of player profiles, tournament and strategy infoboxes, worked on build order tables, added missing flags for National B-Teams and pictures we received from contributors, corrected dead links, and much more.The last thing we'd like to highlight is our work on replays. Originally, replays were mostly linked via tables on Starcraft II strategy articles; we came to the conclusion they'd fit on different sections as well. For instance, many foreign tournaments now show the most memorable or interesting games with a direct link to the replay or VOD. Also, for older tournaments we tried to upload replay packs, so you can re-live the event today.Most recently, more ambitious goals have been formulated by some of Liquipedia's contributors: preserving Brood War's legacy. The game is more than a decade and a half old, we've seen tons of fan pages come and go, and there's been so many leagues played that most of them are already forgotten by most. To work against dementia, great efforts were made to create a complete archive of the most important events.Nostalgia is another major factor for people still visiting fan pages, and the driving motivation for many contributors. Adding results is one thing, but to truly provide information, context has to be provided. New members of our shrinking community may not understand the drama that went with a new wave of hackers being caught red handed, the importance of an event like the World Cyber Games, why players like Flash and Jaedong were labelled as prodigies in the Korean scene, or how much influence the Bonjwas like Iloveoov, NaDa and Boxer really had on strategical development.Interestingly enough, the solution to a problem helped to provide exactly this information. The problem was: many of the former leagues and tournaments are not recorded any more, at least not in full detail. Grids were lost when sites like WGTour, PGTour, GosuGamers or ICCup went offline or were updated. Consequently much of the information had to be reconstructed with the help of tools like Archive.org, Google Search Queries, and most importantly, via Battle Reports, L&R Threads and event coverage from a decade ago. With the power of hindsight, we were able to expand articles by summarizing the communities thoughts, connect story lines in-between tournaments on player profiles, explain the impact of details and overall put most tournaments in perspective to each other.In combination with the changes we explained earlier, we were able to work over a row of articles. These contain more information, look better and more informative than anything else we have done so far. They're more than just a list of records or a collection of links — they're a glimpse of golden days past.Please do not underestimate the time that went into these articles and related edits. We burned the midnight oil figuring out smurfs and reconstructing grids via replays, forum discussions, archive.org and google cache. Most of the really ancient tournaments and their respective grids have been offline for years, even more are probably not archived at all. Keep in mind, we will never give up and try to restore and archive as much as possible. Our history may not be forgotten! Join the Ranks
The efforts of Liquipedia Brood War's contributors have to be put into perspective. Unlike the other portals, our beloved game relies on the work of a very few contributors. Brood War only has a handful of motivated users updating and expanding each month. We desperately need more manpower!
The title already gives a hint: our work never stops. Any true Brood War fan should be proud to have the ability to contribute a little bit in order to preserve our history. There are hundreds of things anyone could do to help out just a little. However, we do understand that adding to the Wiki for the first time might be terrifying, especially if there is no guidance. Indeed, help pages and tutorials were missing for a long time — but not any more. There are general help pages for several genres of articles.
General Editing Video Guide
http://wiki.teamliquid.net/starcraft/Help:Tournaments
http://wiki.teamliquid.net/starcraft/Help layer_Profile
layer_Profile http://wiki.teamliquid.net/starcraft/Help:Strategy
Another thing to stop people from actually editing might be the lack of overview; where is information missing? The following lists might help you out and tell you what's required. Most important categories are on the top, less important ones on the bottom.
SOSPA Content : Sonic's new amateur scene, and related events like LoveTV leagues, are the beacon of hope for Korean Brood War. However, especially the new Bjs are unfamiliar to more seasoned veterans returning and interested readers new to the scene. Information is not lacking: many reviews feature interviews, short biographies, information about their styles and so on and so forth. No Korean is needed to at least write short notes on the otherwise rather empty pages of our new heroes. Any information on the players, the leagues, upcoming tournaments or Afreeca itself is very important. This rounds up the picture, might attract fresh blood and shows our appreciation for Sonic.
: Sonic's new amateur scene, and related events like LoveTV leagues, are the beacon of hope for Korean Brood War. However, especially the new Bjs are unfamiliar to more seasoned veterans returning and interested readers new to the scene. Information is not lacking: many reviews feature interviews, short biographies, information about their styles and so on and so forth. No Korean is needed to at least write short notes on the otherwise rather empty pages of our new heroes. Any information on the players, the leagues, upcoming tournaments or Afreeca itself is very important. This rounds up the picture, might attract fresh blood and shows our appreciation for Sonic. Strategy Help : The Terran and the Zerg strategy portals have almost no contributors. It is essential that both will be expanded. If you're a somewhat experienced player, feel free to add new Build Orders or work on the formulation of old ones. Thanks to the new tutorial pages it should be relatively easy to transform the word salad of really dusty articles into understandable, marvellous looking strategy advice. Even if you are afraid to change information, you can try to upload pictures (e.g. of Wall-Ins), check for dead links and find new exemplary games. It's easier than you might think!
: The Terran and the Zerg strategy portals have almost no contributors. It is essential that both will be expanded. If you're a somewhat experienced player, feel free to add new Build Orders or work on the formulation of old ones. Thanks to the new tutorial pages it should be relatively easy to transform the word salad of really dusty articles into understandable, marvellous looking strategy advice. Even if you are afraid to change information, you can try to upload pictures (e.g. of Wall-Ins), check for dead links and find new exemplary games. It's easier than you might think! Increase Quality : Related to the first point on our list, you might as well do something besides watching new tournaments. Regardless of what you watch, you can always easily expand articles. If you recently stumbled upon a really great game from an event already on Liquipedia, you can add the more interesting games in a new paragraph. Link to the VOD, write a few sentences as to why the game was worth watching, and you're done. As easy as a Forum Post, but helping out a lot!
If you have more time on your hands, you can also write a little about the participants, sum up the write ups and reviews, so people will know what it was like in a year. The more information, the merrier!
: Related to the first point on our list, you might as well do something besides watching new tournaments. Regardless of what you watch, you can always easily expand articles. If you recently stumbled upon a really great game from an event already on Liquipedia, you can add the more interesting games in a new paragraph. Link to the VOD, write a few sentences as to why the game was worth watching, and you're done. As easy as a Forum Post, but helping out a lot! If you have more time on your hands, you can also write a little about the participants, sum up the write ups and reviews, so people will know what it was like in a year. The more information, the merrier! Share your Archives!: Several player profiles do not even have a picture. Several tournaments do not have VODs, or replays. This is another very easy thing to fix on your ends. If you have, by any chance, pictures you made of a player, upload them to Liquipedia. If you have replay packs, which could help us out restoring old grids, leave a note on the talk page. We will harass you sooner than you might think.
However, please note that you must not upload anything if you're not the creator when it comes to pictures. We do need consent of the author before uploading anything to avoid copyright issues. As for the point of restoring grids — a good thing to judge whether or not you should try to get in touch with the contributors in order to forward your replays — is to check if there's an article about the tour. If there is no article, there's a high chance we might need the information. In any case, do not hesitate to help out!
The efforts of Liquipedia Brood War's contributors have to be put into perspective. Unlike the other portals, our beloved game relies on the work of a very few contributors. Brood War only has a handful of motivated users updating and expanding each month. We desperately need more manpower!The title already gives a hint: our work never stops. Any true Brood War fan should be proud to have the ability to contribute a little bit in order to preserve our history. There are hundreds of things anyone could do to help out just a little. However, we do understand that adding to the Wiki for the first time might be terrifying, especially if there is no guidance. Indeed, help pages and tutorials were missing for a long time — but not any more. There are general help pages for several genres of articles.Another thing to stop people from actually editing might be the lack of overview; where is information missing? The following lists might help you out and tell you what's required. Most important categories are on the top, less important ones on the bottom. Stories from the Twitterverse
Official Liquipedia Account. |
According to the official website DJI discontinued Phantom 3 Professional, Phantom 3 Advanced and Phantom 3 4K production. Basically, all Phantom 3 models except Standard have been discontinued. You can find this kind of notice if you follow the Phantom 3 Pro link:
Please note that the Phantom 3 Advanced/Professional/4K is no longer being produced. For the latest DJI technologies, please see the Mavic.
Why DJI Discontinued Phantom 3 Production?
There was a lot of pressure on the brand new DJI Mavic Pro orders that caused shipping delays, so they probably decided to free up some resources to manufacture new products.
Support Is Still There
We have messaged DJI support to find out whether they will support the Phantom 3 series products or no production would mean no more support? DJI ensured us that they still offer technical support and repair for the Phantom 3 Pro, Advanced and 4K and it would take about 2 weeks to have your drone repaired or replaced.
Phantom 3 Pro/Adv have been released in the March of 2015 and it’s been one of the most popular drones on a market for almost 2 years. Now it’s time to give the young a chance as DJI prioritizes Mavic Pro.
Thank you for reading! |
(CNN) -- A Louisiana justice of the peace who drew criticism for refusing to marry an interracial couple has resigned, the secretary of state's office said Tuesday.
Keith Bardwell resigned in person at the Louisiana secretary of state's office, said spokesman Jacques Berry. The state Supreme Court will appoint an interim justice of the peace to fill Bardwell's position, Berry said, and a special election will be held next year to fill the position permanently.
Bardwell, a justice of the peace for Tangipahoa Parish's 8th Ward, refused to perform a marriage ceremony for Beth Humphrey, 30, and her boyfriend Terence McKay, 32, both of Hammond, Louisiana, and sign their marriage license. The two were married by another justice of the peace.
The couple filed a federal discrimination lawsuit against Bardwell and his wife, Beth Bardwell, on October 20, claiming the two violated the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment.
Bardwell, speaking to CNN affiliate WBRZ, said he was advised "that I needed to step down because they was going to take me to court, and I was going to lose."
"I would probably do the same thing again," he said. "I found out I can't be a justice of the peace and have a conscience."
Sen. Mary L. Landrieu, D-Louisiana, who had called for Bardwell's dismissal, said Tuesday night that "Bardwell has finally consented to the will of the vast majority of Louisiana citizens and nearly every governmental official in Louisiana. Bardwell's refusal to issue marriage licenses to interracial couples was out of step with our Louisiana values and reflected terribly on our state. We are better off without him in public service."
Initial reports were that Bardwell refused to issue a marriage license to the couple, but in the lawsuit Humphrey and McKay say they obtained the license from the parish court clerk's office and contacted Bardwell to see if he would perform the ceremony and sign the license to legally validate the marriage.
Humphrey wound up speaking by telephone with Beth Bardwell, the lawsuit said, and Beth Bardwell asked Humphrey if they were a "mixed couple." When told they were an interracial couple, Beth Bardwell said, according to the lawsuit, "We don't do interracial weddings," and told her the two would have to go outside the parish to marry.
Bardwell did not return repeated phone calls from CNN in October, but told CNN affiliate WAFB that he had no regrets about the decision. "It's kind of hard to apologize for something that you really and truly feel down in your heart you haven't done wrong," he said.
In addition, he told the Hammond Daily Star in an October story that he did not marry the couple because he was concerned for the children that might be born of the relationship and that, in his experience, most interracial marriages don't last.
"I'm not a racist," he said. "I do ceremonies for black couples right here in my house. My main concern is for the children."
Humphrey said in October that she wanted Bardwell to resign. "He doesn't believe he's being racist, but it is racist," she said.
According to the lawsuit, Bardwell estimated he refused to marry at least four other interracial couples in the past 2½ years.
"Defendant Beth Bardwell ... aided, abetted and conspired with defendant Keith Bardwell to deprive plaintiffs of their constitutionally protected civil rights," according to the suit.
No response to the suit has been filed, and it was unclear whether the Bardwells had retained an attorney. The lawsuit seeks unspecified damages, claiming that Humphrey and McKay suffered emotional distress as a result of the incident.
Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal has said he believed Bardwell should lose his license, and the National Urban League called for an investigation into the incident by the U.S. Justice Department's Civil Rights Division, saying in a statement that Bardwell's actions were "a huge step backward in social justice."
According to the Census Bureau, Tangipahoa Parish is about 70 percent white and 30 percent black.
The U.S. Supreme Court tossed out any racially-based limitations on marriage in the landmark 1967 ruling in the case Loving v. Virginia. In the unanimous decision, the court said that under the Constitution, "the freedom to marry, or not marry, a person of another race resides with the individual and cannot be infringed by the State."
CNN's Shawn Nottingham contributed to this report. |
Ever since GIGABYTE’s Server team and I first started discussing reviews, it was interesting to see what a purely B2B (business to business) unit could do. Since then, GIGABYTE Server has expanded, catering to both the B2B and B2C (customer) markets and selling direct to end users. With the release of Haswell-EP we reported on their large launch at the time and they sent us the MD60-SC0 for review.
GIGABYTE Server MD60-SC0 Overview
For those not versed in 2P workstation and server culture, the MD60-SC0 looks a bit different to consumer line products. The DRAM and CPU sockets are aligned for airflow, first coming across the power delivery then the socket, and out the rear panel all in one straight line with the dram providing a baffle effect to channel the air. This means that the PCIe slots are in a somewhat awkward position in the middle of the motherboard, limiting the length of PCIe devices, and making the platform focus more on CPU power and storage rather than a GPU powerhouse without riser cables.
The sockets might also confuse some users. Unlike the standard square LGA2011-3 sockets we see on most Haswell-E or Haswell-EP motherboards, the MD60-SC0 uses the narrow socket configuration. This requires different coolers as well due to the different screw hole placement, and these coolers are typically not sold at retail and thus come OEM only. Gigabyte also supplied us with a pair of Dynatron R14 heatsinks for our review which certainly looked the part, although the noise at high loading is something I wouldn't wish on anyone. This system combination belongs in a server room for sure.
The system is based on the C612 chipset, which is similar to the consumer based X99 but with 2P related features, such as MTCP over PCIe. We were also supplied with a type-T LSI RAID mezzanine card to enable some on-board SAS ports. So while the ports are part of the motherboard, the raid card is a separate purchase and leverages the T slot configuration. It also allows a series of RAID card potential upgrades over time if needed.
As with most server motherboards, the MD60-SC0 does not have any form of onboard audio but does offer two gigabit network ports alongside an Aspeed management interface. The board also comes with a QSFP+ port for added network connectivity.
Benchmark wise, as this is the first Haswell-EP motherboard we have tested, it is a little hard to place. As usual with management-esque type motherboards, POST times are long and power consumption is in the upper echelons. DPC Latency with 2697 V3 CPUs was quite reasonable though, despite the other two CPU combinations giving much higher peaks.
One of the main server design crux points is the orientation and the size of the board, so the MD60-SC0 has to fit into your design paradigm to make the short list. With narrow sockets and the PCIe orientation it clearly aims itself at the OEM and server builders more than consumers.
Visual Inspection
The first thing that strikes as the motherboard is taken out of the box is two things – the size of the sockets, and the fact that the motherboard is not a simple square but with a cut out. The size of the sockets is merely from the point of view that I have not encountered the Narrow ILM LGA2011 based socket before, let alone the LGA2011-3 iteration. Using the socket is easy enough, although instead of the hooks we get with the larger socket the narrow socket has a flattened lever on one side and a raised lever the other. The usage is exactly the same.
Similar to the narrow socket, Type-T mezzanine connectors are a new concept for this reviewer. The gap in the PCB is such that the add-in card can fit, as the card is built within a certain 1U/2U standard. I would assume that non-perfect rectangular PCBs are harder to create, requiring a cutout, but then again all the motherboards we have reviewed at AnandTech all have cutouts for screw holes, and as such is probably not the oddest thing we have encountered.
Each socket uses all four memory channels at two DIMMs per channel. Combine this with the narrow sockets and there is space left for SATA ports on the edge of the board. Either way you cut it, it is a very tight squeeze and as such the narrow CPU coolers have to conform to Intel specifications exactly. The 16 total DRAM slots will accept 128GB of UDIMM memory, up to 512GB of RDIMMs and 1024GB of LRDIMMs. The thought of 1TB of DRAM in a single system is mindboggling.
Each socket is supplied with six phase power and an applicable heatsink. For those more accustomed to the mid-to-high end consumer market, this combination might not look like enough, especially when the motherboard has to deal with 160W CPUs. One thing C612 motherboards have in their favor is a lack of overclocking, meaning that power draw is a known quantity. Also, with this motherboard being oriented with sockets and DRAM aligned with the rear panel, the focus will be in systems with high pressure fans blowing in a single direction across the motherboard. This will aid the cooling, especially when at full tilt.
The PCIe mezzanine type-T arrangement is a full PCIe 3.0 x8 affair, with each side of the PCIe arrangement dealing with power and data. One important thing to note with type-T is the ability to cope with height restrictions. PCIe devices are notoriously tall, and are rarely given upright in server systems that are not 4U or above. Type-T allows smaller height arrangements, and as this motherboard is geared more towards storage with SATA breakout connectors and the eight SAS RAID ports, Type-T is a good fit for smaller height systems. It is worth nothing that the red SATA ports on the motherboard are the basic SATA 6 Gbps ports for testing the system or OS/storage when the breakout cables are not in use.
With our memory right up against the SAS ports, there might be a slight conflict if locking cables are used here especially at the edges with the DRAM latches. Though one would imagine that in a server, the cables are fixed and only the drives are moved if they need replacing.
In this area of the motherboard is also where we see the fan header arrangement. Beside each socket is a four-pin fan header, although these are SYS headers. There are five SYS headers on board – four on the right hand side of the board and one at the top. The two CPU fan headers are found to the left of both the sockets.
The PCIe arrangement affords two possibilities: either an x8/x16/x8/x8 arrangement with the type-T at PCIe 3.0 x8, or an x8/x16/-/x16, again with the type-T at PCIe 3.0 x8. Either way, due to the location of the sockets, large PCIe co-processors can only be used with a riser card or cable. For our testing, we typically equip the system with a GTX 770 Lightning. This was not possible with this system, and as such we used an R7 240 instead and we were unable to perform our normal GPU based testing.
Above the PCIe slots is the meat of the IO and control, with the Aspeed management engine chip paired with 256MB of Samsung flash and also the Intel 82599ES controller in quick succession.
Also in this area of the motherboard is a USB 3.0 header, a TPM header, a COM header and a Thunderbolt header (for use with a TB card). The QSFP Ethernet controller requires its own heatsink, and the port extends some way onto the motherboard:
Perhaps a little surprising is the power connectors. Bonus points for their location on the edge of the motherboard, although typically we see them a lot near the CPUs, especially the 8-pin connectors. This might have implications for power arrangement and delivery though the PCB, although as the board squeezes two sockets with 2DPC DRAM support in the way that it does it seems to be a reasonable compromise.
The rear panel is networking focused, giving the QSFP+ port alongside two Intel I350 ports and the server management port. All six USB ports on the rear are USB 3.0 standard, with a combination PS/2 port, a COM port and a VGA port (from the Aspeed) also in the mix.
Board Features
GIGABYTE MD60-SC0 Price US (Newegg) Size SSI EEB CPU Interface LGA2011-3, Narrow ILM Chipset Intel C612 Memory Slots Sixteen DDR4 DIMM slots
Up to 128 GB UDIMM, 512GB RDIMM, 1024GB LRDIMM
Up to Quad Channel, 2133 MHz Video Outputs VGA (via Aspeed) Network Connectivity Intel 82599ES (QSFP+)
2 x Intel I350
10/100 Management Port Onboard Audio None Expansion Slots 2 x PCIe 3.0 x16
2 x PCIe 3.0 x8
1 x PCIe 3.0 x8 Type-T Onboard Storage 2 x SATA 6 Gbps, RAID 0/1/5/10
4 x SATA 6 Gbps via mini-SAS
4 x S_SATA 6 Gbps, no RAID, via mini-SAS
8 x SAS/SATA via Type-T RAID card USB 3.0 6 x USB 3.0 via Rear Panel
2 x USB 3.0 via Onboard Header Onboard 2 x SATA 6 Gbps
2 x mini-SAS Breakout connectors
8 x SAS RAID Ports
1 x USB 3.0 Header
1 x COM Header
1 x TPM Header
7 x Fan Headers
1 x Thunderbolt Header
Front Panel Server Header Power Connectors 1 x 24-pin ATX
2 x 8-pin CPU Fan Headers 2 x CPU (4-pin)
5 x SYS (4-pin) IO Panel 1 x Combination PS/2 Port
6 x USB 3.0 Ports
1 x COM Port
1 x VGA Port
1 x QSFP+ Port (via Intel 82599ES)
2 x 1Gbit RJ-45 Ports (via Intel I350)
1 x 10/100 Network Management Port (via Aspeed) Warranty Period 3 Years Product Page Link
The big cost here will be that QSFP+ port, although we are not sure on exact cost between manufacturer and end-user – it could be in the region of $50 to $300. The narrow LGA2011-3 slots will also require different CPU coolers to normal as well. The mezzanine Type-T arrangement and RAID slots will need an added purchase to get these working too. |
Sarah Palin has long sold herself as a fiscal conservative, arguing against the Democrats’ health overhaul on the grounds that the nation simply can’t afford it.
But when the former vice presidential candidate resigned as governor of Alaska in the summer of 2009, she left the state with a 70 percent debt-to-GDP ratio — the highest state debt burden in the United States.
That’s according to data compiled by the Washington Independent’s Megan Carpentier, who notes that Alaska has a debt burden similar to “that of Jordan and Palin’s favorite health care resource, Canada, and a higher ratio than Ghana, Cote d’Ivoire, India, the Philippines or Uruguay.”
By comparison, crisis-stricken California has a debt ratio of less than 40 percent. All the more confounding about Alaska’s debt is the fact that it is an oil-producing region with a small population to share in that wealth. Oil-rich Alberta, Canada, for example, collects no sales tax and still managed to retire its debt entirely in 2004.
While Alaska’s massive debt burden can’t be blamed entirely on Palin’s two-and-a-half-year stint as governor, she did face similar debt problems while mayor of Wasilla, and those appear to be of her own making.
Wasilla’s municipal debt went from around $1 million when she came in to office, to around $22 million when she left, mostly as a result of the construction of a sports arena and public works projects championed by Palin.
While Alaska’s debt load is high by the standards of US states, it’s worth noting some nations have considerably higher debt loads. Japan, for example, is carrying a debt load of more than 190 percent of GDP; Greece, recently hit by a debt crisis, has a 108 percent debt-to-GDP ratio.
The debt load for the US federal government clocked in at around 53 percent in 2009; the debt is expected to increase to 68.5 percent by 2014. |
Dec. 4, 2015, 5:45 PM GMT / Updated Dec. 4, 2015, 5:45 PM GMT By Chris Fuchs
Oral arguments are set to begin before the U.S. Supreme Court on Dec. 8 in Evenwel v. Abbott, a case that asks whether the total number of registered or eligible voters — as opposed to the total population — should be used to draw up state legislative districts.
The outcome of the lawsuit, brought last year by two Texas voters against the Lone Star State, has strong implications for the rest of the nation, particularly in states with significant minority populations who are ineligible to vote because they are legal permanent residents or haven’t turned 18.
“About one in four Asians and Pacific Islanders are not yet citizens of the United States, yet most are eligible for naturalization,” Democratic National Committee spokesman Eric Walker told NBC News. The DNC filed an amicus brief for Evenwel v. Abbott in September.
“Excluding these lawful permanent residents for the purposes of redistricting would significantly decrease their political power relative to other groups, such as the white plurality," Walker said.
RELATED: Supreme Court to Hear Case on Drawing Voting Districts
At the center of the debate is the “one person, one vote” rule and the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment. While the Constitution requires that congressional districts be drawn equal in population, the Equal Protection Clause is silent on which total population should be used in creating state legislative districts. Most states glean that data from the U.S. Census, a nationwide headcount conducted every 10 years that includes non-citizens, felons, and children.
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 1966, however, that Hawaii could instead determine its legislative districts using total state citizen population since a large number of people counted in the Census—military personnel and seasonal tourists—were not Hawaii voters.
A decision in favor of using the total number of eligible or registered voters to draw state legislative boundaries would likely be a boon to Republicans, who tend to live in areas with higher concentrations of voters, according to a May 26 Slate article written by elections-law expert Richard L. Hasen. This is especially true if such a ruling were ever extended to cover congressional districts. It would also benefit voters in rural instead of urban areas, where people ineligible to vote are more likely to live, Hasen wrote.
“The vast majority of Asian-American residents under the age of 18 are citizens. If this cohort is excluded from the apportionment base, it puts the Asian-American community at a disadvantage."
The case in Texas began last year when Sue Evenwel, a member of the State Republican executive committee, and Edward Pfenninger sued then Gov. Rick Perry, claiming that the state’s new senatorial voting districts, signed into law in 2013, were “malapportioned.” Evenwel and Pfenninger, who are represented by Project on Fair Representation, a conservative advocacy group, argued that the redistricting violated the "one person, one vote" rule since the vote of someone in a district with a high percentage of eligible voters would carry less weight than the vote of someone in a district with a low percentage of eligible voters.
Last November, however, a three-judge panel of the Federal District Court in Austin dismissed their lawsuit, saying it was up to states to decide how to apportion state legislative districts. Around six months later, the Supreme Court announced it would hear the case.
In their brief to the Supreme Court, Evenwel and Pfenninger, who live in areas with large numbers of eligible voters, say that states do not need to stop using the Census to draw up districts. Their brief also says that “total population data often protect the one-person, one-vote rights of eligible voters because non-voters typically are evenly distributed throughout a given jurisdiction.” But they argue that wasn’t the case in Texas.
RELATED: Can This New App Help More Asian Americans Vote in 2016?
“When total population figures do not protect eligible voters, demographic data that ensures ‘the vote of any citizen is approximately equal in weight to that of any other citizen in the state’ must be used in the apportionment process,” according to the brief.
One such form of demographic data is an estimate of citizen voting age population, based on sampling from the American Community Survey, the most commonly used citizen estimate administered by the Census. But the DNC contends that the annual survey has limitations.
The committee argues that it is based on a sample of a small share of the population, that it is backward-looking and that it would exclude “from the apportionment base young citizens who turn 18 after completion of the decennial redistricting process,” according to the brief. Four former directors of the Census Bureau also jointly filed an amicus brief urging the Supreme Court not to replace total population with either citizen voting age population or registered voters for drawing state legislative districts.
But one group of demographers — among them the founding director of RAND Corporation’s Population Research Center — maintains that citizenship data from the American Community Survey is “reliable enough to allow states, like Texas, to draw, analyze, and adjust voting district boundary lines of substantially equal numbers of eligible voters,” according to the demographers' amicus brief.
Walker, of the DNC, said using citizen voting age population would result in 45 percent of the Asian-American population and 30 percent of the Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander population being excluded from the base used to draw up state legislative districts.
“The vast majority of Asian-American residents under the age of 18 are citizens,” Walker said. “If this cohort is excluded from the apportionment base, it puts the Asian-American community at a disadvantage."
In Evenwel and Pfenninger’s view, the Texas legislature did not “even make a good-faith effort” to configure state senate districts with roughly equal numbers of eligible voters, according to their brief. “Texas’ malapportionment of eligible senate voters is especially egregious because it could have substantially reconciled both total and voter population,” Evenwel and Pfenninger's brief argues.
For its part, the DNC believes removing non-voters from the base used to determine state districts would result in harmful consequences for people of color, according to the DNC’s brief.
“In sum, in our representational democracy, elected officials represent the interests of voters and non-voters alike,” the brief said. “Excluding current non-voters from the apportionment base of state and local electoral districts cannot be reconciled with the core conception of representation ingrained in our founding principles, nor with this court’s one-person, one-vote jurisprudence.”
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Will we ever be able to go even one week without some incident of racism aimed at Aboriginal people hitting the papers? This is the question I am currently asking myself. Barely a day has gone by lately where I haven't had someone asking for my views on something racist someone else has said or done. The emotional labour of continually having these conversations is taxing, yet I have no hopes of it letting up soon.
On Sunday morning, I woke to the news that an AFL fan threw a banana at Aboriginal player Eddie Betts while referring to him as a monkey during an Adelaide versus Port Adelaide game on Saturday. It appears that some opposition fans simply cannot abide a high-performing Aboriginal player and must therefore remind him of his place in society.
Eddie Betts was called a "monkey" and had a banana thrown at him, but people question whether it was racially motivated.
While it is heartening that the club has acted swiftly to punish the woman responsible by revoking her club membership, I'm left wondering if anything was learnt from Adam Goodes' experience of similar crowd behaviour. Port Adelaide, after all, have stated that they will place a life ban on her IF her actions are found to be racially-motivated, as if this fact is somehow murky.
Mere days earlier, performance artist Marina Abramovic was in the firing line after diary entries from 1979 were released detailing her then-impression of Aboriginal people she had encountered. These diary entries are being compiled to form her memoirs. Her observations were undoubtedly crude, referring to Aboriginal people as looking like "dinosaurs" while also passing comment about our stick-like legs and round torsos. |
The only reason I can explain it to you is I am not a fan of our president, but this goes beyond not being a fan. I didn't send it as racist, although that's what it is. Is sent it out because it's anti-Obama.
Earlier this week a Great Falls Tribune reporter found something startling in his inbox: a shockingly racist and misogynistic email forwarded from the most powerful federal judge in Montana, which "joked" that the president of the United States was the product of his mother having sex with a dog. The story soon became national news, with groups like ours calling on Judge Richard Cebull to resign. Cebull quickly apologized to the president and submitted himself to a formal ethics review, somewhat quelling the story. But the story is about more than one judge doing something wildly inappropriate and deeply disturbing. It's about a conservative movement in which the bile and animosity directed at the president -- and even his family -- are so poisonous that even someone who should know better easily confuses political criticism and sick personal attack. Come on: going after the president's late mother? Attempting to explain his email forward, Judge Cebull told the reporter, John S. Adams,
Judge Cebull is hardly alone in using the old "I'm not racist, but..." line. In fact, his email was the result of an entire movement built on "I'm not racist, but..." logic that equates disagreement with and dislike of the president with broad-based, racially charged smears. These smears, tacitly embraced by the GOP establishment, are more than personal shots at the president -- they're attacks on the millions of Americans who make up our growing and changing country.
Mainstream conservatives have genuine objections to President Obama's priorities and policies. But since he started running for president, a parallel movement has sprung up trying to paint Obama as an outsider and an imposter -- in unmistakably racially charged terms. Too often, the two movements have intersected.
The effort to paint Obama as a threatening foreigner sprung up around the right-wing fringe in the run-up to the 2008 election with the typically muddled conspiracy theory that painted him as both a secret Muslim and a member of an America-hating church. They soon coalesced in the birther movement, which even today is championed by a strong coalition of state legislators and a certain bombastic Arizona sheriff.
But the birther movement, the "secret Muslim" meme and the idea that the president of the United States somehow hates his own country are no longer confined to the less visible right-wing fringe. Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, until recently a frontrunner in the GOP presidential race, continually hammers on the president's otherness, most notably criticizing his "Kenyan, anti-colonial behavior." Rick Santorum flatly claims that Obama does not have the Christian faith that he professes, and eagerly courted the endorsement of birther leader Sheriff Joe Arpaio. And before they dropped out, Rick Perry and Herman Cain couldn't resist flirting with birtherism.
But perhaps more than either of these fringe-candidates-turned-frontrunners, Mitt Romney has been catering to the strain of conservatism that deliberately confuses policy disagreements with racially-charged personal animosity. Romney went in front of TV cameras to smilingly accept the endorsement of Donald Trump, whose own failed presidential campaign was based on demanding the president's readily available birth certificate. And Gov. Romney continually attacks Obama -- falsely -- for going around the world "apologizing for America."
Judge Cebull needs to take responsibility for his own actions. And if the GOP has any aspirations of providing real leadership to this country, it needs to jettison the deeply personal vitriol being direct against Barack Obama and start talking about real issues. When a federal judge has seen so much racially-charged propaganda against the president of the United States that he can claim not to know the difference between genuine disagreement and offensive personal smears, something in our discourse has gone terribly awry. |
BEREA, Ohio -- While the Cleveland Browns will up the tempo and intensity of training camp practices, coach Hue Jackson has zero issue with a particular veteran taking regular days off.
"I understand it and know exactly what it is," Jackson said during the team's minicamp.
That veteran would be left tackle Joe Thomas, a future Hall of Famer and a guy who has not missed a snap while making the Pro Bowl nine times in his nine-year career. But he practiced every other day in OTAs, and will miss a day a week during the season.
Managing the workload of veteran Joe Thomas appears to be a priority for new Browns coach Hue Jackson. "My job is to make sure that he can get to the game and play as well as he can play," Jackson said. Jeff Haynes/AP Images for Panini
Two or three years ago, Thomas and the team's medical staff came to an understanding. If the team wanted him on Sunday, it would have to give during the week. A left tackle's body can only take so many snaps and hits, and Thomas wants to make sure he's there when it matters.
"I think they pay me to play on Sundays," Thomas said.
Jackson will run a much more up-tempo training camp, which he said will include live hitting. If a coach were ever going to be the gruff, old-style type, he could force Thomas to practice -- or else.
But Jackson is not doing that. He will give Thomas his time off.
"Joe has done a tremendous job here, and Joe would be the first to tell you that there are certain things that he knows that I expect from him, and he’s done them all," Jackson said. "I know in this guy’s nine years -- [he] doesn’t miss much of anything. My job is to make sure that he can get to the game and play as well as he can play, but making sure that he is prepared to play and has done enough work.
"I will feel very comfortable with that."
Thomas' teammates do not begrudge him missing practice. They know what he does on Sunday, and players want guys who "show up on Sunday."
He also has played through issues that might sideline others. In his career, he's had three torn MCLs of varying degrees, and two high ankle sprains, but none sidelined him.
At 31, which Thomas said is an "advanced age" in the NFL, he simply wants "to be smart about it," and his coach is fine with it.
"I know exactly and he knows exactly what it is he needs to do," Jackson said. "I’m very comfortable with our medical staff, our strength and conditioning staff of our conversations about how to get him to where he needs to be so he can play great.” |
As previously discussed, it appears that the protagonist in H.P. Lovecraft’s tale “The Festival” may have somehow entered a parallel or alternative universe where Kingsport was populated with strange beings that enter our space-time through some underground caverns and would attempt to mimic or pose as humans through the use of gloves and wax masks. Thus, these entities may frequently pose as humans in their universe and in ours as well.
The Festival by Martnez (also known by Baghoul on http://www.deviantart.com)
The protagonist in “The Festival” was called to Kingsport to visit during the Yuletide by relatives. Specifically, he states his “…fathers had called me to the old town beyond.” The phrase “old town beyond” may be another reference to this town of Kingsport being in a parallel universe. Additionally, while the protagonist is supposed to be related to some of these Kingsport residents there is very little evidence to support this. In sharp contrast to the protagonist in “The Shadow Over Innsmouth” where there was some morphological evidence to support the idea that he was related to the hybrid Deep Ones, in “The Festival” there is no morphological or genetic connection revealed between that protagonist and the Kingsport residents.
One of the Kingsport residents tries to convince the protagonist that they are related and to join them as they mount the strange flying steeds and enter the deep underground caverns (into the other parallel universe?). As proof, the Kingsport resident give the protagonist a seal ring and watch with the family arms; the protagonist knows that the ring and watch were buried with his great-great-great-grandfather. However, if anything this provides evidence that the Kingsport residents were opening the tombs and crypts of the death in our universe.
Kingsport Celebrant by King Ovrats (www.deivantart.com)
So why were the Kingsport residents trying to convince the protagonist to join then in the underground caverns? These strange residents may be similar to Lovecraft’s ghouls in that they may be detritivores or scavengers, feeding off the bodies of people who have been buried in the Kingsport in our universe. However, the strange Kingsport residents may be running low on cadavers and so they needed to attract others to the town. Additionally, feeding off Kingsport ancestors of people now living may have provided the strange residents with the means of finding and reaching out to these people throughout the world. Perhaps some fragments of DNA left in the decomposing corpses provided the genetic information the strange Kingsport residents needed to track the descendants of the dead they would feed on; it should also be pointed out that the residents may not be feeding on the dead at all. However, this hypothesis is being proposed based on their general appearance of the strange residents.
In Lovecraft’s investigations the strange residents of Kingsport are rare; they are only documented in the tale “The Festival” and are not identified in another other story. However, according to Lovecraft’s investigations, the Kingsport residents would disguise themselves as humans, wearing gloves to cover their flabby hands and waxen masks with fake eyes to cover their faces. Overall, the bodies were abnormally pulpy according to the protagonist and when one of their masks was accidentally dislodged, it was quite a hideous experience for him.
Worm Person from The Festival by Michael Bukowski (www.yog-blogsoth.blogspot.com)
An idea of what the strange residents from Kingsport look like can be obtained from the concluding paragraph of the story, which is a passage in the Necronomicon written by the mad Arab Abdul Alhazred:
“The nethermost caverns are not for the fathoming of eyes that see; for their marvels are strange and terrific. Cursed the ground where dead thoughts live new and oddly bodied, and evil the mind that is held by no head. Wisely did Ibn Schacabao say, that happy is the tomb where no wizard hath lain, and happy the town at night whose wizards are all ashes. For it is of old rumor that the soul of the devil-bought hastes not from his charnel clay, but fats and instructs the very worm that gnaws; till out of corruption horrid life springs, and the dull scavengers of earth wax crafty to vex it and swell monstrous to plague it. Great holes secretly are digged where earth’s pores ought to suffice, and things have learnt to walk that ought to crawl.”
Most people take this passage to mean that the strange residents of Kingsport are highly evolved, complex forms of Annelida (ringed or segmented works that include earthworms and leeches). They are even described as scavengers so the idea of them feasting on the dead seems to be a plausible hypothesis. The text also alludes to the creation of these beings through some type of wizardry with the use of fats. However, based on the information we have reviewed in this, and in particular the previous, article, it is more than likely that a gateway, portal or bridge was somehow created to allow these beings to enter our universe from a parallel one, possibly the Dreamlands. Thus, the portal or nexus between our universe and theirs may be deep underneath the town of Kingsport and one of the early settlers of the town may have aided these beings to enter our universe.
Are the residents of Kingsport a highly evolved form of segmented worm? (from http://www.eattheweeds.com)
Next time we will talk about the strange, winged steeds the residents of Kingsport use to travel between our two universes. Thank you – Fred.
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An influential retired US general has called on Barack Obama to order the destruction the militant group responsible for murdering American journalist James Foley amid conflicting views in the administration on how to respond to the atrocity.
As Obama’s foreign policy team debates expanding its renewed air war in Iraq after the killing of Foley by the Islamic State (Isis), John Allen, a retired marine general who commanded the Afghanistan war from 2011 to 2013, urged Obama to “move quickly to pressure its entire ‘nervous system’, break it up, and destroy its pieces.”
Allen’s argument, presented in an op-ed for the DefenseOne website, echoes remarks by secretary of state John Kerry and comes amid internal dispute in the Obama administration over the future course of its two-week air war in Iraq. Much diplomatic effort is said to be spent broadening and hardening a region-wide effort against Isis, something Allen endorsed, with Turkey and Qatar being a particular near-term focus for Kerry.
The debate is said to be fluid. At present, a US official anticipated more continuity than change in future military operations against Isis, but said: “It may ultimately evolve.”
On Wednesday, six new airstrikes continued to hit Isis positions near the Mosul Dam, three days after Obama declared that it was no longer under Isis control. Nearly two-thirds of the 90 US strikes since 8 August have taken place near the critical dam.
In a grisly video produced by Foley’s captors, his killer says Foley’s death came as revenge for US airstrikes in Iraq. Soon after the video was released, the US confirmed that it had recently mounted a failed rescue bid for Foley. Elite US military forces secretly invaded Syria earlier this summer in a mission that involved dozens of special operations forces from all US military services, including the 160th special operations aviation regiment.
US forces flew into Syria in defiance of air defence batteries that senior military officials have described as highly threatening to pilots. Modified Black Hawk helicopters were involved, and “armed fixed-wing aircraft and drones” provided cover to forces on the ground, said an administration official. No hostages were found at the targeted location.
It emerged on Thursday that Foley’s family received a message from Foley’s captors on 13 August, warning them that he would be killed. They passed the message on to the US government, which helped with a response. Phil Balboni, chief executive of GlobalPost, the Boston-based online news publication that had published work by Foley, told Reuters: “It was an appeal for mercy. It was a statement that Jim was an innocent journalist,” and that he respected the people of Syria, where he was held.
Foley’s family and friends hoped the militants were bluffing and wanted a ransom, he said. The group had last year demanded a ransom of $132m for his rescue, Balboni said.
Wary of overcommitment to a new Iraq war, the Obama administration has sent mixed signals about how far it is willing to go against Isis. Kerry, who has been hawkish against Isis, said the jihadist organization “must be destroyed/will be crushed”, a goal beyond the one Obama has thus far set.
Allen proposed attacking Isis in Syria as well as Iraq “across its entire depth”, an option the Pentagon has studied after the group overran Iraq’s second largest city in June but is yet to implement.
In an interview on Thursday with National Public Radio, one of Obama’s closest advisers opened the door for attacking Isis in Syria, which would represent a significant expansion of a bombing effort whose missions have slowly evolved.
“We would not restrict ourselves by geographic boundaries,” said Ben Rhodes, a deputy national security adviser. “We haven’t made decisions to take additional actions at this time.”
Rhodes indicated that the administration believes that the incoming government of Haider al-Abadi in Baghdad will aid US efforts in assembling and deepening an anti-Isis coalition. Rejecting a recent suggestion, Rhodes ruled out a rapprochement with Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad to confront a mutual foe.
Writing for the DefenseOne website, Allen conspicuously praised Obama, who is wary of expansive promises made by the military. He did not propose a return to ground combat, but urged a “focused advise and assist” mission to bolster Iraqi and Kurdish soldiers and non-jihadist Syrian rebels, a commitment that would require a reintroduction of significantly more US military advisers.
Obama has ruled out US ground combat, preferring to rely on proxies, something his critics have not challenged, with memories of a bloody US occupation still fresh. The US official said working through vetted Syrian opposition groups and Iraqi and Kurdish forces “will continue to be the foundation of the US approach going forward”.
Though entire divisions of the Iraqi army fled from Isis in June, “they’ve shown a lot more capability in the last two weeks than in the previous two months,” the official said.
At the State Department, officials said the US is pressuring Qatar and Turkey to help cut off flows of financing and foreign fighters to Isis, even as they cautioned that they did not see evidence of either government supporting the extremist group officially.
“We are working with governments in the region where we believe there are private citizens funding [Isis] to get them to clamp down even further to cut off those sources of funding,” said spokeswoman Marie Harf.
“We need to attack [Isis] on a variety of fronts, one of which is the bombs that the Pentagon folks are dropping on them right now. One of them is not letting them have access to resources.”
Kerry also spoke directly to the Qatari foreign minister on Wednesday, during which Foley’s death was “likely” to have come up, according to US officials, although the call was primarily about Gaza.
Asked whether Qatar, Turkey or Saudi Arabia – another alleged source of funding – were “fully on board”, Harf responded: ”Well, look, we’re talking to them every day about what more we can all do. We know there’s more that needs to be done. We know this is a long-term fight, and we know it’s a tough one. So we’re having those conversations.”
Allen said Foley’s killing “embodies” the threat from Isis, which he called “an entity beyond the pale of humanity”. The US official said Allen’s article “serves a purpose in helping explain to the American people how dire it is”. |
Alexander Borisovich Godunov (Russian: Александр Борисович Годунов; November 28, 1949 – May 18, 1995) was a Russian-American ballet dancer and film actor. He was a member of the Bolshoi Ballet and became the troupe's Premier danseur. In 1979, he defected to the United States. Soviet overseers for the troupe immediately put his wife on a flight back to the Soviet Union. Initially the United States did not allow the flight to leave, resulting in a diplomatic incident between the two nations.
Early life and dance career [ edit ]
Godunov was born in Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk (Sakhalin, Russian SFSR, USSR), in the Russian Far East. Godunov began his ballet studies at the age of nine in Riga in 1958, in the same class as Mikhail Baryshnikov. He remarked his mother put him in ballet to prevent him from becoming "a hooligan".[2] The two became friends and helped each other throughout their years there. Godunov joined the Bolshoi Ballet in 1971 and rose to become Premier danseur. His teachers there included Aleksey Yermolayev.[3]
In 1973, he won a gold medal at the Moscow International Ballet Competition.[1] After playing Vronsky in 1976's Anna Karenina[1] and Lemisson, the Royal minstrel, in the 1978 film version of J. B. Priestley's 31 June, Godunov became well known in the Soviet Union as a movie actor.
Defection from the USSR [ edit ]
On August 21, 1979, while on a tour with the Bolshoi Ballet in New York City, Godunov contacted authorities and asked for political asylum. After discovering his absence, the KGB responded by putting his wife, Lyudmila Vlasova, a soloist with the company, on a plane to Moscow, but the flight was stopped before takeoff. After three days, with involvement by President Jimmy Carter and Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev, the U.S. State Department was satisfied that Vlasova had chosen to return to the Soviet Union of her own free will, and allowed the plane to depart.[4][5]
This incident was dramatised in a 1986 movie, Flight 222.[6] Vlasova later said that while Godunov loved American culture and had long desired to live in the United States, she felt she was "too Russian" to live in the United States.[7] The couple divorced in 1982.[8]
Later career [ edit ]
Godunov joined the American Ballet Theatre and danced as a principal dancer until 1982, when he had a falling-out with Mikhail Baryshnikov, the director of the company. A press release for the American Ballet Theatre stated a change in the troupe's repertoire did not provide him with sufficient roles. Following his release Godunov traveled with his own troupe, and danced as a guest artist around the world with a number of prominent ballet troupes. He also began working in Hollywood as a film actor.[9]
Godunov's acting roles were varied, including a good-natured Amish farmer in Witness (1985), a comically narcissistic symphony conductor in The Money Pit (1986), and an unforgettably violent German terrorist in Die Hard (1988).[10] He passed on roles which typecast him as a dancer or another heavy as in Die Hard.[9]
Personal life [ edit ]
Godunov married Lyudmila Vlasova, a soloist with the Bolshoi Ballet in 1971.[1] The couple had no children. The two divorced in 1982.[11]
In 1981, Godunov met actress Jacqueline Bisset at a party in New York City. Six months later, the two began a relationship that lasted seven years.[9][12]
Godunov became a naturalized citizen of the United States in 1987.[8]
Death [ edit ]
Godunov drank alcohol to excess, and this became a problem as he got older. On May 18, 1995, Godunov's friends became concerned when he had been uncharacteristically quiet with his phone calls. A nurse who had not heard from him since May 8 went to his home in the Shoreham Towers, West Hollywood, California, where his body was discovered. Godunov's death was determined to be due to complications from hepatitis secondary to chronic alcoholism.[13][14]
Following his death Godunov's ashes were scattered into the Pacific Ocean. A memorial to him at Gates Mortuary in Los Angeles is engraved with the epitaph "His future remained in the past."
Filmography [ edit ]
See also [ edit ] |
Kentucky wildlife officers have confirmed the discovery of the first wild adult mountain lion in the state since before the Civil War, well over a century ago. The large cat was first spotted by a dog walker in Bourbon County on Monday afternoon. According to WKYT, officials said that the dog may have given the cat a fright, and it fled up a tree on Redmon Road. The responding officers decided to euthanize the animal due to concerns that the predator could escape and endanger nearby residents as evening approached.
“If that cat had left that tree, it would have disappeared into the brush and it was a fairly populated area,” Mark Marraccini, a Fish and Game spokesperson, told The Courier-Journal.
“That’s the way the officers deemed to handle it and I don’t see any reason why it shouldn’t be handled that way,” Marraccini added.
Some have criticized the officers for not tranquilizing the large feline, but the department said it would have taken hours for a state veterinarian to have arrived with the darts, during which the cougar could have escaped into the nearby town of Paris. Mountain lion attacks are rare, even in states where they maintain a large population. However, attacks on humans can occur, and in September a six-year-old boy picnicking in California’s Santa Clara County was dragged away by one of the predators before his family was able to rescue him.
“The older they get, the more unpredictable and dangerous they can be,” Steven Taylor, assistant director of conservation at the Louisville Zoo, told the Lexington Herald-Leader. “Potentially, you could be killed by a mountain lion.”
Biologists examined the cougar and found it to be a healthy, 125-pound male of indeterminate age. Officials are trying to figure out where the mountain lion came from, since the species has been extirpated in the state since the 1800s. At one time Kentucky did have a native mountain lion population, but a combination of human expansion, over-hunting, and habitat loss drove the species west. A motorist ran over a juvenile cat in the state in the 1990s.
State biologists speculate that the mountain lion could be an escaped pet. Although cougars are hardly common among pet owners, Kentucky only recently outlawed the ownership of these cats in 2005. Residents who already had a cougar were allowed to keep them.
Image from Justin Shoemaker on the Wikimedia Commons
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Joey's Park, next to Winn Brook Elementary School in Belmont, is now closed due to a rat infestation.
"We are not allowing students to use Joey’s Park. It has been determined that there is a rat infestation below the play structure," Principal Janet Carey wrote in an email to parents on Oct. 19
"While students and staff have not reported sightings in the park, tunnels are apparent and numerous. The Park and Recreation Department oversees Joey’s Park and they are moving swiftly to address the situation. In the meantime, I wanted you to be aware of the problem and be assured that the park will be off limits to students until the problem has been resolved," Carey added.
On Oct. 23, a letter from Belmont Public Works Director Jay Marcotte and Director of Belmont Health Department Wesley Chin was sent to all Winn Brook-area residents advising them of the problem and how it is being addressed.
Pest control in action
"Assurance Pest Solutions, a professional pest control operator, will treat the rodent burrows with Rat-Out Gel, a deterrent substance that consists of active ingredients such as garlic oil and white pepper, and trap the nuisance wildlife in baiting stations located throughout the park," stated Marcotte and Chin in the letter.
The letter adds this section of the park will be regularly monitored and treated by the professional pest control operator over the next three to four weeks and it will remain closed until the problem is safely resolved.
Educational material on how to keep property clean and less likely to experience a rodent infestation was included with the letters to the Winn Brook residents. It includes how to locate evidence of rodent burrows and information on conditions that may attract rats and instructs residents to contact a professional pest control service if they find evidence of rodents.
Trash barrels in park 'overflowing'
Public Works Director Jason Marcotte sent a letter to the Town Administrator Oct. 20 which is on the town website. It states,"The Joey’s Park Playground will be closed temporarily to mitigate the rodents in this area. Town officials are working with an experienced contractor to implement an appropriate plan to end the situation and to safely re-open the playground. The playground will re-open as soon as possible; we appreciate your patience during this time."
Marcotte said the parks crew noticed big holes under the gazebo. He said he is investigating the safest possible solution.
"It's a problem in Metro Boston and eliminating food sources is the first thing to eliminate. The park is heavily used and trash barrels are always overflowing," said Marcotte.
According to Belmont Health Director Wesley Chin, the town first became aware of the problem Oct. 13, when a concerned mother called the Health Department to report seeing possible rat burrows.
"Health and DPW immediately went over to the park to verify the complaint. DPW then took steps to determine if the burrows were active. This process took a few days to confirm. In the meantime DPW has had licensed pest control operators assess the park and is in the process of reviewing treatment plans that are being submitted," said Chin in an email on Oct. 20.
Rats 'part' of urban environment
He said he is not sure why there are rats at Joey's Park but if there is an easily accessible food source nearby, such as food scraps and even dog waste, they will likely be attracted to it.
"Rats are a natural part of our urban environment. We often bring food and snacks to enjoy at our parks, so it is not entirely unexpected that rats might follow close behind and find their way into the parks too. It is important for people clean up after using our parks. Adoption of a carry in/carry out mentality might be one way to help prevent future problems," said Chin in an email on Oc.t 20.
Public Works is working with town officials, the town Department of Health, the Belmont Public Schools, and the Belmont Police Department to resolve this issue a quickly as possible. However, a timeline will be based on what the pest control operator thinks is the most effective and safe way to resolve the problem, said Chin.
According to Chin, there has been a 40 percent increase in reported rat sightings in Belmont this year based on calls tallied between May through August of this year in comparison to last year. That translates to 23 calls last year and 34 this year during that same period of time.
"This is a trend that many communities in the greater Boston area may also be experiencing," said Chin. |
never going back to older drives again, lightweight, FAST
Ok, as a test to see what this baby can do. I have an external SEAGATE 3Gb drive utilizing USB 3 for transfer - now this was fast. Was. I did two simultaneous data transfers to see what would be faster, what would take longer. Both of these transfers originated from the same local hard drive on my computer. The transfer data sample was 65Gb of miscellaneous files/videos/photos/documents/programs - totaling 1184 files. The Seagate drive expected the transfer to be complete in 1 hr 30 min. The ADATA drive (mounted internally) expected the transfer to be complete in 15 minutes. I am running Windows 10 Pro 64bit, with an i7-3820 liquid cooled, and 32GB Corsair Vengence DDR3 (1600MHz), with MSI GeForce GTX-970 w/4G RAM. The transfer speeds that I did were only downloading directly to the drive, not uploading, but from the speeds I attained, it was very nice. The speeds did fluctuate between 15MB/s and 60MB/s (depending upon the size of the file that was being transferred)... not the GB+ rating that the drive says it CAN do. I'd like to be able to tap into the complete speed of it for instant transfers. Most of the things I've transferred to it have been instant, but I wanted a intensive heavy test on it to verify it can do what you want. Anyhow, I recommend it. It works great for me!Read full review
Verified purchase: Yes | Condition: New |
This article is over 2 years old
Australian Christian Lobby takes aim at Labor and says Coalition may allow denial of goods and services to gay weddings
The Turnbull government has refused to rule out new exemptions to anti-discrimination law to allow religious objectors to refuse to provide goods and services to gay weddings.
The Australian Christian Lobby claims the Turnbull government is open to a new exemption.
The ACL has released a voting guide that takes aim at Labor’s promise to hold a parliamentary vote on same-sex marriage. It had distributed 67,000 copies of the guide to churches and supporters.
Sophie Mirabella complains of 'stacked-out audience' at Indi election forum Read more
The guide claims “there is no discrimination in Australian law against same-sex attracted people”.
In its response to the ACL questionnaire used to compile the voting guide, the Liberals ruled out suspending commonwealth anti-discrimination laws in the lead-up to the same-sex marriage plebiscite. State and territory laws were a matter for those governments, it said.
The managing director of the ACL, Lyle Shelton, told Guardian Australia it was “disappointing” the Coalition government “isn’t able” to suspend state discrimination law due to legal constraints.
But Shelton said his understanding was the Coalition had not ruled out allowing lay people who object to same-sex marriage to deny goods and services to gay weddings.
The Liberal party told the ACL it had “no plans to change the existing framework for religious freedom exemptions” under commonwealth laws. Shelton said this only pertained to creating a general religious freedom, not possible new exemptions for same-sex marriage.
“Bill Shorten has said that lay people will be forced, with the threat of fines, to provide services to weddings they don’t believe should be engaged in,” he said. “People should be free to live out your beliefs – not just if you’re a minister but also if you’re photographer or own a wedding reception venue.
“I don’t know what [the Turnbull government’s] policy is on that ... I don’t think the government has thought through the consequences of redefining marriage for other people’s freedoms.”
A spokeswoman for the attorney general, George Brandis, told Guardian Australia “the Turnbull government has no plans to remove religious exemptions from the Sex Discrimination Act”.
“Similar to the development of any policy commitment, the mechanics for the plebiscite and amendments to the Marriage Act, including appropriate protections for religious freedom, will be subject to the usual cabinet, party room and parliamentary processes after the election.”
Anti-discrimination law already prohibits denying goods and services to people based on their sex or sexuality. Labor opposes any extension of discrimination law exemptions to allow them to do so in the context of gay weddings.
The Greens propose abolishing religious exemptions to commonwealth discrimination laws entirely.
The guide said Labor’s proposed LGBTI anti-discrimination commissioner would be a “rainbow cop” that would “have nothing to do except pursue court cases against Australians who disagree with same-sex marriage and Safe Schools”.
The ACL noted Labor policy to reprint documents with new prefixes to remove or change gender markers or increase identification options. The document raised the question whether this would: “make public toilets unsafe for women and girls”.
The Greens’ LGBTI spokesman, Robert Simms, said the ACL’s statement about bathroom safety was deeply offensive and transphobic.
“We know [the ACL] wants to suspend anti-discrimination law because what they want to do is to run the mother of all hate campaigns,” he said.
Simms has previously moved a Senate motion condemning the ACL, which was not supported by the major parties.
“The idea the ACL could get its hands on public money to run the ‘No’ campaign would send a shiver down spine of Australians,” he said.
Penny Wong fears plebiscite could put marriage equality 'out of reach' Read more
“[The Australian Christian Lobby’s] positions here are another reminder why we shouldn’t see an unnecessary and divisive plebiscite, which would be a forum for hate speech.”
Simms said arguments about bakers and photographers serving gay weddings were a “red herring”.
“Hardline groups are throwing everything at this to try and muddy the waters and will use the plebiscite to say the sky will fall in and the world as we know it will end.”
The chief executive of Transgender Victoria, Sally Goldner, labelled the ACL’s arguments “ludicrous” because “there has never been a situation where women have been at risk due to laws allowing transgender people to use their bathrooms and there is no greater rate of sexual assault in gender-neutral toilets”.
Goldner said the ACL’s call to suspend discrimination law for the plebiscite showed its arrogance because it wanted “special privileges”.
At Labor’s launch on Sunday, Shorten warned the plebiscite would be “a taxpayer-funded platform for homophobia”.
On the ABC’s Q&A program on Monday, the prime minister, Malcolm Turnbull, said he believed the plebiscite debate would be respectful and intelligent. “I have great faith in the decency and the fundamental common sense of Australians,” he said.
The senior Labor frontbencher Penny Wong has said: “The dismissal by the Liberal party and the National party of this being a licence for hate speech demonstrates a complete lack of empathy.” |
First things that strikes me with Signs of the Swarm is their incredible cool logo. Very deathcore brutal like but also looks like a wasp. Freaking awesome. These five angry dudes comes from Pittsburgh, PA and let me tell you, they sure play brutal. The band came from nowhere for me and Senseless Order is their debut, not releasing any EP’s or before their full-length. So I had no idea what to look forward to before I started listening to Senseless Order.
They should have warned me though. They can’t just release a behemoth of an album like this out of nowhere! I need to prepare for this kind of brutality. The album starts off ruthless and only really slows down when Hour of Abhorrence comes on, as there are some segments that plays a bit slower down-tempo Black Tongue kind of style from there on. Then it goes back into full throttle mode at times and it feels like CJ McCreery and co just became even more evil and started mixing different tempo’s really well going all demonic on our asses.
I really like this album. I think it mixes Enterprise Earth and Black Tongue’s deathcore styles really well and fans of both down-tempo and fast brutal deathcore can look into Signs of the Swarm – Senseless Order to find this being right up their alley.
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/signsoftheswarm
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/signsoftheswarm
For fans of: Enterprise Earth and Black Tongue
Favorite song: The Following
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This article is about the category of words. For the comic character, see Onomatopoeia (comics)
A sign in a shop window in Italy proclaims "No Tic Tac", in imitation of the sound of a clock.
Onomatopoeia ( ();[1][2] from the Greek ὀνοματοποιία;[3] ὄνομα for "name"[4] and ποιέω for "I make",[5] adjectival form: "onomatopoeic" or "onomatopoetic") is the process of creating a word that phonetically imitates, resembles, or suggests the sound that it describes. As such words are uncountable nouns, onomatopoeia refers to the property of such words. Common occurrences of words of the onomatopoeia process include animal noises such as "oink", "miaow" (or "meow"), "roar" and "chirp". Onomatopoeia can differ between languages: it conforms to some extent to the broader linguistic system;[6][7] hence the sound of a clock may be expressed as tick tock in English, tictac in Spanish, dī dā in Mandarin, katchin katchin in Japanese, or "tik-tik" in Hindi.
Although in the English language the term onomatopoeia means "the imitation of a sound", the compound word onomatopoeia (ὀνοματοποιία) in the Greek language means "making or creating names". For words that imitate sounds, the term ὴχομιμητικό (echomimetico) or echomimetic) is used. The word ὴχομιμητικό (echomimetico) derives from "ὴχώ", meaning echo or sound, and "μιμητικό", meaning mimetic or imitating.
Uses
In the case of a frog croaking, the spelling may vary because different frog species around the world make different sounds: Ancient Greek brekekekex koax koax (only in Aristophanes' comic play The Frogs) probably for marsh frogs; English ribbit for species of frog found in North America; English verb croak for the common frog.[8]
Some other very common English-language examples are hiccup, zoom, bang, beep, moo, and splash. Machines and their sounds are also often described with onomatopoeia: honk or beep-beep for the horn of an automobile, and vroom or brum for the engine. In speaking of a mishap involving an audible arcing of electricity, the word "zap" is often used (and its use has been extended to describe non-auditory effects generally connoting the same sort of localized but thorough[clarification needed] interference or destruction similar to that produced in short-circuit sparking).
Human sounds sometimes provide instances of onomatopoeia, as when mwah is used to represent a kiss.[9]
For animal sounds, words like quack (duck), moo (cow), bark or woof (dog), roar (lion), meow/miaow or purr (cat), cluck (chicken) and baa (sheep) are typically used in English (both as nouns and as verbs).
Some languages flexibly integrate onomatopoeic words into their structure. This may evolve into a new word, up to the point that the process is no longer recognized as onomatopoeia. One example is the English word "bleat" for sheep noise: in medieval times it was pronounced approximately as "blairt" (but without an R-component), or "blet" with the vowel drawled, which more closely resembles a sheep noise than the modern pronunciation.
An example of the opposite case is "cuckoo", which, due to continuous familiarity with the bird noise down the centuries, has kept approximately the same pronunciation as in Anglo-Saxon times and its vowels have not changed as they have in the word furrow.
Verba dicendi ("words of saying") are a method of integrating onomatopoeic words and ideophones into grammar.
Sometimes, things are named from the sounds they make. In English, for example, there is the universal fastener which is named for the sound it makes: the zip (in the UK) or zipper (in the U.S.) Many birds are named after their calls, such as the bobwhite quail, the weero, the morepork, the killdeer, chickadees and jays, the cuckoo, the chiffchaff, the whooping crane, the whip-poor-will, and the kookaburra. In Tamil and Malayalam, the word for crow is kaakaa. This practice is especially common in certain languages such as Māori, and so in names of animals borrowed from these languages.
Cross-cultural differences
Although a particular sound is heard similarly by people of different cultures, it is often expressed through the use of different consonant strings in different languages. For example, the snip of a pair of scissors is cri-cri in Italian, riqui-riqui in Spanish, terre-terre or treque-treque in Portuguese, krits-krits in modern Greek and katr-katr in Hindi.[10] Similarly, the "honk" of a car's horn is ba-ba (Han: 叭叭) in Mandarin, tut-tut in French, pu-pu in Japanese, bbang-bbang in Korean, bært-bært in Norwegian, fom-fom in Portuguese and bim-bim in Vietnamese.
Onomatopoeic effect without onomatopoeic words
An onomatopoeic effect can also be produced in a phrase or word string with the help of alliteration and consonance alone, without using any onomatopoeic words. The most famous example is the phrase "furrow followed free" in Samuel Taylor Coleridge's The Rime of the Ancient Mariner. The words "followed" and "free" are not onomatopoeic in themselves, but in conjunction with "furrow" they reproduce the sound of ripples following in the wake of a speeding ship. Similarly, alliteration has been used in the line "as the surf surged up the sun swept shore...", to recreate the sound of breaking waves, in the poem "I, She and the Sea".
Comics and advertising
A sound effect of breaking a door
Comic strips and comic books make extensive use of onomatopoeia. Popular culture historian Tim DeForest noted the impact of writer-artist Roy Crane (1901–1977), the creator of Captain Easy and Buz Sawyer:
It was Crane who pioneered the use of onomatopoeic sound effects in comics, adding "bam," "pow" and "wham" to what had previously been an almost entirely visual vocabulary. Crane had fun with this, tossing in an occasional "ker-splash" or "lickety-wop" along with what would become the more standard effects. Words as well as images became vehicles for carrying along his increasingly fast-paced storylines.[11]
In 2002, DC Comics introduced a villain named Onomatopoeia, an athlete, martial artist, and weapons expert, who often speaks pure sounds.
Advertising uses onomatopoeia for mnemonic purposes, so that consumers will remember their products, as in Alka-Seltzer's "Plop, plop, fizz, fizz. Oh, what a relief it is!" jingle, recorded in two different versions (big band and rock) by Sammy Davis, Jr.
Rice Krispies (US and UK) and Rice Bubbles (AU)[clarification needed] make a "snap, crackle, pop" when one pours on milk. During the 1930s, the illustrator Vernon Grant developed Snap, Crackle and Pop as gnome-like mascots for the Kellogg Company.
Sounds appear in road safety advertisements: "clunk click, every trip" (click the seatbelt on after clunking the car door closed; UK campaign) or "click, clack, front and back" (click, clack of connecting the seat belts; AU campaign) or "click it or ticket" (click of the connecting seat belt, with the implied penalty of a traffic ticket for not using a seat belt; US DOT (Department of Transportation) campaign).
The sound of the container opening and closing gives Tic Tac its name.
Manner imitation
In many of the world's languages, onomatopoeic-like words are used to describe phenomena beyond the purely auditive. Japanese often uses such words to describe feelings or figurative expressions about objects or concepts. For instance, Japanese barabara is used to reflect an object's state of disarray or separation, and shiiin is the onomatopoetic form of absolute silence (used at the time an English speaker might expect to hear the sound of crickets chirping or a pin dropping in a silent room, or someone coughing). It is used in English as well with terms like bling, which describes the glinting of light on things like gold, chrome or precious stones. In Japanese, kirakira is used for glittery things.
Examples in media
Cross-linguistic examples
In linguistics
A key component of language is its arbitrariness and what a word can represent[clarification needed], as a word is a sound created by humans with attached meaning to said sound.[14] No one can determine the meaning of a word purely by how it sounds. However, in onomatopoeic words, these sounds are much less arbitrary; they are connected in their imitation of other objects or sounds in nature. Vocal sounds in the imitation of natural sounds doesn't necessarily gain meaning, but can gain symbolic meaning.[clarification needed][15] An example of this sound symbolism in the English language is the use of words starting with sn-. Some of these words symbolize concepts related to the nose (sneeze, snot, snore). This does not mean that all words with that sound relate to the nose, but at some level we recognize a sort of symbolism associated with the sound itself. Onomatopoeia, while a facet of language, is also in a sense outside of the confines of language.[16]
In linguistics, onomatopoeia is described as the connection, or symbolism, of a sound that is interpreted and reproduced within the context of a language, usually out of mimicry of a sound.[17] It is a figure of speech, in a sense. Considered a vague term on its own, there are a few varying defining factors in classifying onomatopoeia. In one manner, it is defined simply as the imitation of some kind of non-vocal sound using the vocal sounds of a language, like the hum of a bee being imitated with a “buzz” sound. In another sense, it is described as the phenomena of making a new word entirely.
Onomatopoeia works in the sense of symbolizing an idea in a phonological context, not necessarily constituting a direct meaningful word in the process.[18] The symbolic properties of a sound in a word, or a phoneme, is related to a sound in an environment, and are restricted in part by a language's own phonetic inventory, hence why many languages can have distinct onomatopoeia for the same natural sound. Depending on a language’s connection to a sound's meaning, that language’s onomatopoeia inventory can differ proportionally. For example, a language like English generally holds little symbolic representation when it comes to sounds, which is the reason English tends to have a smaller representation of sound mimicry then a language like Japanese that overall has a much higher amount of symbolism related to the sounds of the language.
The evolution of language
In ancient Greek philosophy, onomatopoeia was used as evidence for how natural a language was: it was theorized that language itself was derived from natural sounds in the world around us. Symbolism in sounds was seen as deriving from this.[19] Some linguists hold that onomatopoeia may have been the first form of human language.[16]
In the development of a language, sounds that are associated with natural objects then go on to form words with related meanings.[15] For example, gl- at the beginning of an English word can denote something that is shining or iridescent (e.g. glitter, glisten, gleam).[dubious – discuss]
Role in early language acquisition
When first exposed to sound and communication, humans are biologically inclined to mimic the sounds they hear, whether they are actual pieces of language or other natural sounds.[20] Early on in development, an infant will vary his/her utterances between sounds that are well established within the phonetic range of the language(s) most heavily spoken in their environment, which may be called "tame" onomatopoeia, and the full range of sounds that the vocal tract can produce, or "wild" onomatopoeia.[18] As one begins to acquire one's first language, the proportion of "wild" onomatopoeia reduces in favor of sounds which are congruent with those of the language they are acquiring.
During the native language acquisition period, it has been documented that infants may react strongly to the more wild-speech features to which they are exposed, compared to more tame and familiar speech features. But the results of such tests are inconclusive.
In the context of language acquisition, sound symbolism has been shown to play an important role.[15] The association of foreign words to subjects and how they relate to general objects, such as the association of the words takete and baluma[are these arbitrary nonsense words which are used in tests?] with either a round or angular shape[clarification needed], has been tested to see how languages symbolize sounds.[clarification needed]
In other languages
Japanese
Main article: Japanese sound symbolism
The Japanese language has a large inventory of ideophone words that are symbolic sounds. These are used in contexts ranging from day to day conversation to serious news.[21] These words fall into four categories:
Giseigo : mimics humans and animals. (e.g. wanwan for a dog's bark)
: mimics humans and animals. (e.g. for a dog's bark) Giongo : mimics general noises in nature or inanimate objects. (e.g. zaazaa for rain on a roof)
: mimics general noises in nature or inanimate objects. (e.g. for rain on a roof) Gitaigo : describes states of the external world
: describes states of the external world Gijōgo: describes psychological states or bodily feelings.
The two former correspond directly to the concept of onomatopoeia, while the two latter are similar to onomatopoeia in that they are intented to represent a concept mimetically and performatively rather than referentially, but different from onomatopoeia in that they aren't just imitative of sounds. For example, "shiinto" represents something being silent, just as how an anglophone might say "clatter, crash, bang!" to represent something being noisy. That "representative" or "performative" aspect is the similarity to onomatopoeia.
Sometimes Japanese onomatopoeia produces reduplicated words.[19]
Malay
There is a documented correlation within the Malay language of onomatopoeia that begin with the sound bu- and the implication of something that is rounded. As well as with the sound of -lok within a word conveying curvature in such words like lok, kelok and telok (locomotive, cove and curve respectively).[22]
Arabic
Within the Qur'an, written in Arabic, instances of onomatopoeia are documented.[16] Out of about 77,701 words, there are 9 words that are onomatopoeic, 3 which are animal sounds (e.g. "mooing"), 2 which are sounds of nature (e.g. "thunder") and 4 that are human sounds (e.g. "whisper" or "groan").
See also
References
Notes |
The dogs of ancient Europe probably looked a lot like the mutts roaming Europe today, new DNA discoveries from dog fossils suggest. In the ongoing debate over how many times dogs were domesticated from wolves, this new study suggests it happened just once.
Dogs are the very first species that humans tamed, but the details surrounding dogs’ origins are a little fuzzy. Now, ancient DNA extracted from two 7,000-year-old and 4,700-year-old dog fossils discovered in Germany offer scientists a glimpse at dog evolution. Modern dogs probably descended from just one population that lived continuously in Europe for millennia, according to the research led by Krishna Veeramah at Stony Brook University.
Two prehistoric dog fossils offer scientists a glimpse at dog evolution
Our furry friends likely evolved from a population of wolves domesticated sometime between 20,000 and 40,000 years ago. Exactly who domesticated these wolves, when, and how many times, is still a mystery, and scientists don’t agree on the answer. Dogs were probably domesticated by accident, when wolves began trailing ancient hunter-gatherers to snack on their garbage. Docile wolves may have been slipped extra food scraps, the theory goes, so they survived better, and passed on their genes. Eventually, these friendly wolves evolved into dogs. “People want a story that someone picked up a wolf cub and made a dog — but it’s been a much more complex process than that,” Veeramah says.
Last year, researchers led by Oxford’s Greger Larson argued that DNA from a 5,000-year-old Irish dog fossil showed signs that this complex evolution happened not once, but twice: once in Europe, and once in Asia. The dogs domesticated in Asia later replaced some of the early European dog population, they reported.
Today’s study disputes those findings, however, arguing instead that a single group of dogs were probably first domesticated between 20,000 and 40,000 years ago. (They don’t say where.) These ancestral dogs then split into Eastern and Western populations. The dogs that stayed in Europe are likely the distant ancestors of modern European mutts and many of today’s breeds, the study reports today in Nature Communications.
A single group of dogs were probably first domesticated between 20,000 and 40,000 years ago
It’s a solid paper, says Adam Boyko, a dog geneticist at Cornell University who wasn’t involved in the research. And most of the field would probably agree with its conclusions: that dogs were probably domesticated just once, and within the 20,000-year window Veeramah proposes. “Certainly dog geneticists can be a contentious group,” Boyko says. “I don’t think anyone’s overly invested in their own theory. It’s just that these are complicated questions, and everyone’s trying the best that they can to get the right answer.”
In fact, Gregor Larson’s team at Oxford — whose study last year supported the two domestications hypothesis — shared their data with Veeramah’s team. Their analysis of a 5,000-year-old Irish dog fossil revealed genetic traces of what might have been an extinct, European dog lineage, which they concluded could have resulted from a separate, earlier domestication event. But when Veeramah’s group reanalyzed the data, they couldn’t replicate the signal. “There wasn’t any evidence that this dog had anything special about it,” he says. Instead, he says they discovered a technical glitch behind the findings supporting two domestications, which they reported in their study today.
“The paper brings us back to the idea that there’s a single event.”
Veeramah’s team also extracted DNA from two more dog fossils discovered in Germany over the last 20 years. They re-created a canid family tree by comparing chunks of DNA from these ancient dogs and today’s purebreds, mutts, and wolves. By counting the genetic differences, and estimating how long it would take for those differences to show up, they could roughly date when each of these groups split apart. For wolves and dogs, that was roughly 20,000 to 40,000 years ago. For Eastern and Western dog populations, it was probably between 17,000 and 24,000 years ago.
The two ancient German canines turned out to be genetically related to one another, and to the dogs of today despite living thousands of years apart. There was a key difference though: today’s dogs are much more able to digest starches than these ancient dogs, thanks to a digestive enzyme. More copies of the gene for this enzyme help dogs digest starches better, and modern dogs have a lot of copies. These ancient dogs didn’t have nearly as many, however, so this adaptation to domestic life may have emerged later, possibly when agriculture and grain became more widespread.
“The paper brings us back to the idea that there’s a single event,” Boyko says. And it highlights how important ancient DNA will be for piecing together dogs’ contentious origin stories. |
Scotland’s First Minister, Nicola Sturgeon, has officially opened Pride Glasgow 2017, the first time any sitting First Minister or Prime Minister has done so in UK history.
Ms Sturgeon welcomed over 5000 people, who braved the typical Scottish weather, to Glasgow Green in the heart of the city in an emotional address. She opened by telling them:
“What a fantastic sight you all are. It’s such a privilege to look out over the Green to such a sea of colour, unity, happiness and love. I cannot tell you how proud I am to be the first First Minister or Prime Minister to address Pride anywhere in the UK. I may be the first, but I will not be the last. It really matters to me that you know I stand with you side by side, shoulder to shoulder, standing up for solidarity, love, respect and and the principle that love is love.”
The First Minister then turned to matters in other parts of the UK and the world, saying:
“But as we celebrate our progress, let us remember that there are people all over the world that do not enjoy the rights we have here. We must continue to stand up and fight for them as well. And lets remember, even in a part of the UK today, equal marriage is still not legal. Lets send a loud message of support to those in Northern Ireland campaigning for equal marriage, we are with you.”
The First Minister received a huge welcome by the thousands attending and used the opportunity to call out hatred, in a week beset with tragedy and division, saying:
“Lets send a loud message from Glasgow to all of those who want to divide us. They will not win as we will continue to live our lives by the principles of love, tolerance, respect, of solidarity and of love – because love is love, wherever you are and whoever you are.”
The First Minister was also sporting her Pride face paints, telling the crowds it was another first for her!
Susan Aitken, the Leader of Glasgow’s SNP City Government, also addressed the crowds gathered on Glasgow Green, another first in the 21-year history of Pride in Glasgow.
She spoke of her pride at supporting the new ‘PRISM’ network for LGBT+ staff of the city council and its partner agencies, promising to have a Glasgow City Council float in next years parade! The city council reiterated their commitment to making Glasgow the best place in Europe for LGBT+ people to live, work and visit, saying:
“If Scotland is the best place in the world to be LGBT+ then Glasgow has to be the best place in Scotland, doesn’t it? I pledge to work with all my colleagues within the Council and our partners to make sure it happens.”
Pride Chief Executive, Alastair Smith, told the thousands of enthusiastic revellers, despite the intermittent rain showers, of his pride at leading the parade with his mum and sister alongside him.
Over 20,000 people are expected on Glasgow Green across the weekend to enjoy the festival events, the biggest ever held in Scotland. Pop acts Saara Aalto, Collabro, Kelly Llorenna and B*Witched are all set to headline the main stage, as well as a host of local and tribute acts and the ever-popular GBX.
Despite a small number of protesters who tried to disrupt the start of the parade route, and a lone religious protester telling marchers they’d “burn in Hell for their sins” the march was hailed a huge success and one of the largest in the UK. A number of LGBT staff networks from both the public and commercial sectors were also represented with floats and marchers, including the Scottish Qualifications Authority’s Rainbow Network, the Scottish Government, Sky, Tesco, RBS and several unions.
You can view a video of the full Pride Glasgow Parade again at this link from Pink Saltire:
https://www.facebook.com/pg/pinksaltire/videos/
Main pic credit: Equality Network |
By Mark Scott and Melissa Eddy, New York Times
BERLIN — On the 78th anniversary of Kristallnacht, the 1938 Nazi pogrom against Jews, a far-right group published a map on Facebook that listed the names — and addresses — of local Jewish institutions and Israeli-owned businesses under the banner “Jews Among Us.”
A standoff quickly developed between Facebook and German authorities over what many here said was its inadequate response to the publication of the map. But Germany’s rules on what may be said or published — among the world’s toughest, with long prison terms for denying the Holocaust and inciting hatred against minorities — ensured that the post was eventually deleted.
The incident is one of several examples of how Germany has become an important test case globally for how the social network polices what may be published online, and how it should respond to inappropriate and illegal content.
Such steps in Germany are part of a growing push around the world to regulate what users are allowed to post online.
Some identified in the map complained. At first, Facebook did not remove the map, saying it complied with the company’s “community standards,” or guidelines for what it deems within the bounds of free speech.
But within 48 hours, after an outcry on social media, in local newspapers and from German lawmakers, Facebook relented. It deleted the far-right group’s entire page, including the post that had listed the Jewish institutions and businesses across Berlin.
“We recognize that this is a work in progress,” Richard Allen, Facebook’s director of policy in Europe, said in an interview. “It was hate speech, and it should have been taken down.”
In Germany, more than almost anywhere else in the West, lawmakers are demanding that Facebook go further to police what is said on the social network. The country’s lawmakers also want other U.S. tech giants to meet similar standards.
“Facebook has a certain responsibility to uphold the laws,” said Heiko Maas, the German justice minister. In October, Maas suggested the company could be held criminally liable for users’ illegal hate speech postings if it does not swiftly remove them.
To Learn More:
Twitter Suspends “Alt-Right” User Accounts in Crackdown on Hate Speech (by Bree Fowler, Associated Press)
A Haven for Online Harassment, Twitter Gives Users More Power to Block and Report Abusive Tweets (by Barbara Ortutay, Associated Press)
Twitter Still Trump’s Favorite Tool for Fear Mongering and Character Assassination (by Alexander Burns and Maggie Haberman, New York Times)
Twitter Pulls Plug on 125,000 Extremists’ Accounts (by Mike Isaac, New York Times)
Clicking “Like” on Facebook is Free Speech, But Online Hate May Be another Story (by Noel Brinkerhoff, AllGov) |
As the rebels of the Stonewall era enter their 60s and prepare for the sunshine years, the movement they forged is helping shape new ways of aging for the LGBT community.
More than 20 LGBT-focused retirement communities – homes, apartment buildings or resorts – are in various stages of development in the United States, some as private enterprises, some as public-private partnerships. Several communities already exist, catering to a people who busted open closet doors and don’t want to retreat to those closets in retirement.
But new housing cannot nearly meet the needs of LGBT seniors. For instance, a new affordable housing project underway in San Francisco will provide only 110 apartments and there are an estimated 25,000 LGBT seniors in the city already.
A National Gay and Lesbian Task Force study in 2010 estimated there were 3 million LGBT Americans over the age of 65 and that number will double by 2030.
The Cream City Foundation, which serves as a catalyst for social change on behalf of LGBT communities in Southeastern Wisconsin, published the groundbreaking “Wisconsin’s Elder Readiness: A Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Lens” in 2011.
The report estimated that about 53,000 to 106,000 older adults in Wisconsin are LGBT. The report also said Wisconsin’s population is aging rapidly – by 2020 there will be more people 60 years and older than children enrolled in K-12 schools in the state.
“And we’re talking about an increasingly diverse older adult population,” said Serena Worthington, director of community advocacy and capacity-building for SAGE. Services and Advocacy for GLBT Elders is a national organization with 23 affiliates in 16 states, including a popular group in Milwaukee that Worthington said is becoming part of the Milwaukee LGBT Community Center.
Worthington was working in art therapy at a nursing home in Chicago when she began taking a specific interest in LGBT aging issues. Eventually she went to work for the Center on Halsted, Chicago’s LGBT community center on Halsted Street in the heavily gay Lakeview neighborhood, and then for SAGE.
“If you get a group of seniors together, they’ll talk about the same thing, the same concerns,” Worthington said. Regardless of gender identity or sexual orientation, older Americans will talk about health care, transportation, housing and being alone.
LGBT people, Worthington added, will also talk “about acceptance and being able to be who they are where they live.”
These are valid concerns for a population that knows about isolation and discrimination.
Today’s LGBT seniors “came of age in an era when it was illegal to be gay. …This is a whole group of people whose formative years are shaped by this stigma, this rejection,” Worthington said.
In Milwaukee, different groups have examined aging issues and assessed needs in the LGBT community. There’s general agreement that providing access to affordable – and welcoming – housing must be a priority.
“There’s certainly a need, as we well know,” said Paul Fairchild, president and CEO of Cream City Foundation.
Fairchild said community leaders have had some discussions with representatives from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. But, he added, “We have a lot of work to do.”
Fairchild played an early, pivotal role in developing an LGBT aging program in Chicago in the 1990s and acknowledged that establishing affordable housing can be a lengthy effort. Although construction is set to begin this year on the senior housing project in Chicago’s Boystown, Fairchild said, “We started talking about that housing issue all those years ago.”
A ‘vulnerable population’
Contrary to a public perception, study after study shows that LGBT people are not disproportionately affluent. Discrimination has limited or ended careers, including military service, and denied same-sex couples many benefits others receive to prepare for their sunshine years.
Studies also show that LGBT people are twice as likely to enter old age as singles; less likely to have relatives who will care for them in old age; less likely to access health care, housing or social services – or, when they do access such services, more likely to say the experience is stressful or demeaning.
“We’re talking about a population that is pretty vulnerable,” said Worthington.
Older LGBT Americans in partnerships may find themselves unwelcome in a traditional retirement community or find that, because they are not legally married, they can’t share a room at a nursing home.
Some of these trends are likely to shift as a result of changing attitudes about LGBT people and transformative political reforms, especially the potential overturning of the U.S. Defense of Marriage Act as early as this summer. But what won’t change is the need for adequate services for a booming LGBT senior population.
A study by the National Senior Citizens Law Center and Lambda Legal found that many LGBT seniors in traditional retirement settings feel pressured to return to the closet. But, in some communities, there are nonprofits working with government agencies to create affordable housing so seniors can remain in their neighborhoods, in some cases the vibrant LGBT-centric neighborhoods they helped establish.
Triangle Square Hollywood is a four-story retirement community in Los Angeles that’s operated by the nonprofit Gay and Lesbian Elder Housing and provides housing to seniors who are 62 and older and earning 60 percent or less of the area’s median income. Triangle, built as a result of a public-private-nonprofit partnership, features more than 100 apartments, as well as an activity center, a pool and social service programs.
In Philadelphia, construction is underway on the John C. Anderson Apartments, named for a gay city councilman instrumental in the passage of Philadelphia’s gay rights bill in 1982 and a mentor to Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter. The 56-apartment affordable housing project in the city’s Gayborhood involves the William Way LGBT Community Center, the city, the Dr. Magnus Hirschfeld Fund and Penrose Properties. Construction could be finished this year.
In Denver, SAGE of the Rockies is working with other groups on exploring the creation of a retirement community in the heavily gay Capitol Hill neighborhood.
In Minneapolis, Spirit on the Lake Housing Co-op is a proposed 46-unit project for those earning less than half the area median income. The project involves the Spirit of the Lakes UCC Church and a community housing development group. The building may open as early as September.
In Chicago, the Center on Halsted and the Heartland Alliance, Inc. are working with the city and local housing authority to convert an empty police station at Addison Avenue and Halsted Street into a mixed-use building that contains commercial space and 70 apartments for low- and moderate-income seniors. Construction could be completed by next spring.
In San Francisco, the nonprofit Openhouse has city and county support, as well as the involvement of a private developer, for the development of 110 apartments for low-income seniors at 55 Laguna St., part of a larger multi-family development at the property. Construction is expected to start in late 2014.
“The 55 Laguna development addresses a critical need for LGBT seniors, who face enormous challenges in finding welcoming and affordable housing,” said Openhouse’s Seth Kilbourn. “For decades, thousands of LGBT people have come to San Francisco to find personal freedom and acceptance. As older adults with increasing needs, the pioneers of this migration are being forced back into the closet in order to receive the quality care and housing they need. They are being forced to relocate and leave dear friends behind. 55 Laguna will be a critical community resource to help LGBT seniors age with dignity and grace in the city they call home.”
Elsewhere, there’s a focus on market-rate LGBT-centric retirement communities, although some have struggled to survive the recession, foreclosure and bankruptcy.
In New Mexico, RainbowVision Santa Fe consists of a restaurant, a lounge with cabaret entertainment, the Billie Jean King Spa and Fitness Center, as well as more than 100 condominiums and 26 assisted-living apartments.
In Santa Rosa, Calif., the luxurious Fountaingrove Lodge LGBT Retirement Community features a pool, pet park, orchard, wine cave, art studio, bistro and cocktail lounge, as well as apartments and bungalows.
Outside Palm Springs, Calif., a massive proposed market-rate project is to be called Boom. The $250-million “urban village” is in the early planning stages.
In addition to creating LGBT-specific senior housing, aging specialists are working on alternatives – homesharing programs, building partnerships with housing authorities and continuing to train people at senior centers, nursing homes and assisted-living facilities to help make LGBT seniors feel more comfortable in more settings.
Perhaps it is not as exciting as seeing the groundbreaking on a new building, but this work will lead to “huge structural change,” Worthington said.
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Screenshot of iOS 5.1 Beta 3 over-the-air update (Source: @CDeeRON)
iOS 5.1 introduces a new API to mark files or directories that should not be backed up. For NSURL objects, add the NSURLIsExcludedFromBackupKey attribute to prevent the corresponding file from being backed up.
Returning from a holiday break, Apple today seeded iOS 5.1 Beta 3 to developers to allow for further testing of the next update to the company's mobile operating system. The new version arrives as Build 9B5141a, up from the previous Build 9B5127a released ad iOS 5.1 Beta 2 on December 12.So far the update appears to only be available via the over-the-air update mechanism for existing iOS 5.1 beta users, but should become available for general download through Apple's iOS developer program site shortly. We'll have more information on the new build at that time.: We're still waiting for Apple to post iOS 5.1 beta 3 to the developer site with release notes, but commenters in our forums have noted that the new build restores the toggle that allows users to turn off 3G cellular data access. As Apple notes on the setting, 3G offers faster data speeds but uses more battery power than EDGE.: iOS 5.1 Beta 3 is now available via the iOS developer program portal. Xcode 4.3 Developer Preview 3 and Apple TV Software Beta 2 have also been released today.The full release notes for iOS 5.1 Beta 3 still have not been posted.: The release notes for iOS 5.1 Beta 3 have now been posted, and one item of note involves a new API to help developers flag app content that should not be backed up.The addition appears to be an expansion of the company's iOS 5.0.1 effort to help deal with content being stored for offline use that does not need to be committed to a device backup but which should not be subject to removal during the purging of caches. Apple will be replacing the com.apple.MobileBackup file attribute introduced in iOS 5.0.1 with the new API usage in iOS 5.1. |
I have a binary file with some layout I know. For example let format be like this:
2 bytes (unsigned short) - length of a string
5 bytes (5 x chars) - the string - some id name
4 bytes (unsigned int) - a stride
24 bytes (6 x float - 2 strides of 3 floats each) - float data
The file should look like (I added spaces for readability):
5 hello 3 0.0 0.1 0.2 -0.3 -0.4 -0.5
Here 5 - is 2 bytes: 0x05 0x00. "hello" - 5 bytes and so on.
Now I want to read this file. Currently I do it so:
load file to ifstream
read this stream to char buffer[2]
cast it to unsigned short: unsigned short len{ *((unsigned short*)buffer) }; . Now I have length of a string.
. Now I have length of a string. read a stream to vector<char> and create a std::string from this vector. Now I have string id.
and create a from this vector. Now I have string id. the same way read next 4 bytes and cast them to unsigned int. Now I have a stride.
while not end of file read floats the same way - create a char bufferFloat[4] and cast *((float*)bufferFloat) for every float.
This works, but for me it looks ugly. Can I read directly to unsigned short or float or string etc. without char [x] creating? If no, what is the way to cast correctly (I read that style I'm using - is an old style)?
P.S.: while I wrote a question, the more clearer explanation raised in my head - how to cast arbitrary number of bytes from arbitrary position in char [x] ?
Update: I forgot to mention explicitly that string and float data length is not known at compile time and is variable. |
Uttarakhand Edu Min Gets A Simple Math Problem Wrong But Shames This Teacher For It Instead
Uttarakhand Edu Min Gets A Simple Math Problem Wrong But Shames This Teacher For It Instead
The Indian Education system, as we all know it, is riddled with loopholes. From outdated syllabus, lack of teachers to improper infrastructure, innumerable problems plague government schools across the country.
Things become even more apparent when officials pay a visit to check the status, however, one surprise our by Uttarakhand education minister went awry.
The minister in the BJP-led state government Arvind Pandey recently paid a surprise visit to Dehradun’s Mahila Inter College and a video of him asking some 'basic' arithmetic questions to a teacher has gone viral.
According to News 18, Pandey who wanted inspect the quality of education, picked up chalk and duster, walked up to the board, and wrote (-) + (-) = 'what'.
Don't Miss 16 K SHARES 94.2 K SHARES 48.6 K SHARES 64.9 K SHARES 19.2 K SHARES
While teacher gave the correct answer, which was minus (-), the minister completely dismissed it.
According to Pandey, (-) + (-)= (+) in mathematics but (-) in Chemistry, a theory he thinks is correct. The official who realized the minister's wrong answer, tried to intervene to no avail.
But that's not all, Pandey took things to the next level, by asking the teacher to guess the fourth chapter from a book lying in front of her.
After the video went viral, Pandey tried to defend his case on Twitter saying, "Neither the teacher nor the students were carrying any book. The teacher was teaching with the help of a "key", a book with questions and their solutions." reports News 18. |
MEXICO CITY — Ever since the powerful drug lord known as El Chapo escaped from a maximum-security prison through a mile-long tunnel that opened right into the shower of his cell, Mexico has been wondering how his accomplices got their hands on the blueprints to operate with such pinpoint precision.
The answer could be quite simple: They may have had them for years.
It turns out that the prison is a virtual replica of another lockup that El Chapo, whose real name is Joaquín Guzmán Loera, broke out of in 2001 in an almost equally audacious escape.
In other words, he essentially broke out of the same prison twice.
The authorities believe that for his first escape — by some accounts, he sneaked out in a laundry cart — Mr. Guzmán had the help of a top prison security official who went on to become a trusted member of his Sinaloa cartel. |
by Dustin Kramer
As I sit here and try to think about what Masayuki Yoshihara’s The Eccentric Family has to say, I find myself profoundly inept at finding a fitting focal point for this introduction. It would be a disservice to say the 13-episode adaptation of Morimi Tomihiko’s novel is purely about the importance of family, because its scope feels so much wider than that. However, I hesitate to claim that its central themes examine the meaning of life itself, a concept so large and overdone that it implies pretension–something that this story truly has none of. But to denounce both of these examinations is equally dishonest, because this animated drama has plenty to say in each arena and much more.
The show begins with the voice of our protagonist, Yasaburou Shimogamo, narrating over images of himself running through the streets of Kyoto, Japan’s former capitol and a city known for its historic relevance. He enlightens the audience to the balance that is maintained by the city’s three intelligent species: tanuki, Japanese raccoon dogs mythologized in folklore as having the ability to transform; tengu, humanoid creatures with black wings and the power to fly; and humans, the only species seemingly unaware of the fantastic creatures with which they coexist. Yasaburou is a tanuki that seeks only the most joyous experiences in life, but he makes it clear that he isn’t interested in being a “mere tanuki.” He “admires tengu from afar and loves imitating humans,” hinting at a thread of cultural tolerance that runs through this piece.
The events of the narrative revolve around the death of Yasaburou’s father, Souichirou. Years prior, the tanuki patriarch had been killed and used as the main ingredient for a traditional dish called “hot pot” that the human fraternity known as the Friday Fellows indulge in at every New Year’s celebration. This sets the stage for every dramatic turn that we encounter throughout this journey, but each of the Shimogamo family members has already undergone major character changes in light of Souichirou’s untimely demise before the series even begins.
The mother of the four brothers attempts to step in to a more masculine role by literally dressing up as a prince. Yasaburou’s answer to his mother’s transformation is to become a feminine presence within the family via cross-dressing. The oldest of Yasaburou’s brothers, Yaichirou, has spent the time since his father’s death attempting to emulate the leadership and nobility that Souichirou exuded. Yajirou, the second oldest of the Shimagamo siblings, has lived life transformed into a frog and dwells at the bottom of a well, giving advice to any and all who drop a small donation into his dank abode. When it is later revealed that he was out drinking with his father on the night of his death, his retreat into doleful solitude is finally understood. The youngest of the bunch, Yashirou, has regressed into a childish state of arrested development whereas his brothers have sought some solace in early maturity. He is still quite young, but perhaps too young to be hiding in the shadow of his family’s elders as he does.
In their tanuki forms, the Shimogamo boys bear markings that reflect the four suits in a French deck of playing cards. The two elders, Yaichirou and Yajirou, are the spade and club respectively. The black color of these suits is representative of a darkness within these characters that their siblings don’t carry. Like a spade, Yaichirou is sharp and offensive. Yajirou’s club brings to mind the image of a clover, the diminutive plant’s natural color and shape mirroring that of his chosen amphibian form. Yasaburou and Yashirou, on the other hand, bear the red suits–a color that symbolizes warmth and zeal, something their older brothers have clearly lost. Yashirou is the heart, and he certainly has the most of it. Yasaburou’s diamond is the only shape with four sides, representing the centrality and connective nature of his character in relation to his three brothers and mother. Those who share a suit color exist as pairs. Yashirou seeks emotional refuge in Yasaburou over anyone else (except perhaps their mother), and Yaichirou’s strong empathetic reaction to the revelation that the guilt-stricken Yajirou may have been the last one to see their father alive suggests a much stronger bond between the characters–despite rarely communicating with one another–than the audience had been privy to up to that point.
The first half of the show occurs in a series of brief arcs detailing the relationships between the Shimogamo tanuki clan and their relatives (the Ebisugawas), an aging tengu professor named Akadama, and the largely clueless Friday Fellows. Akadama requests that Yasaburou summon Benten, a human woman to whom Akadama had previously taught the tengu’s signature skill of flight. Her uncommon power serves to blur the line between these hierarchical groups, strengthening the theme of cultural borderlessness. Yasaburou agrees to deliver Akadama’s letter, but he does so with trepidation. You see, Benten is member of the Friday Fellows, the mysterious organization that cooked and ate the young tanuki’s father years prior. It becomes clear that both Yasaburou and Akadama have feelings for the human woman. Once the rivalry between the Shimogamos and the the Ebisugawas is established, the show builds in the final half toward an election to determine who will lead the Kyoto tanuki community as the “Nise-emon,” a role that Souichirou was filling when he died. Yaichirou vies for the position against his uncle, Souun.
The Eccentric Family is a gorgeous piece of entertainment art and yet another bright spot in studio P.A. Works’ ever-growing portfolio of visually impressive projects. The backgrounds are so painstakingly detailed and given touches of realism that many of the studio’s peers would disregard as unnecessary minutia. They seem to be painted on a textured surface not unlike a watercolor block. The characters themselves are heavily stylized and drafted with straight, clean lines and solid blocks of color. This gives the entire presentation a very distinct visual flavor while serving another more practical goal — when the story calls for action, budget can be easily moved around to ensure that money goes where it needs to. More static scenes of dialogue can be trimmed without the animation quality appearing to have been affected. This works out well for the series, as a moment where a notable dip in aesthetics is rare.
I’ve twice mentioned the series’ interest in examining cultural tolerance and challenging the morality of tradition, so let’s dive in to that briefly. Despite tensions between the humans, tengu, and tanuki, they all make efforts to coexists peacefully. Furthermore, the fact that members of three different species–Yasaburou, Akadama, and one of the Friday Fellows–all fall in love with the human woman Benten speaks to the possibility of a world without borders. As an extension of this, the show seems to make some apologies for Japan’s own slow, quiet transitions into progressiveness. The non-human societies in the series are certainly aware that the Friday Fellows’ practice of eating tanuki is wrong, but everyone accepts it as a fact of life until tradition is contested and things change. With this, the writers ask that the world be patient with the island nation as it learns to compassionately approach longstanding, sinful ideals. The country really can’t claim a large number of loud social movements that pepper other comparatively younger countries’ histories. Instead, when it’s time to think a new way about something, social change just tends to happen–often from the top down, with the government passing new civil rights legislation before it even becomes a major issue among activists. A cursory glance at the Wikipedia pages for “Social Movements in America” and “Social Movements in Japan” is an eye-opening reminder that the Land of the Rising Sun just tends to “go with the flow,” which happens to be a piece of advice that Akadama gives Yaichiro in the final episode.
This anime is a fantasy set in the real world, but the real-world implications of murder are never really addressed. The show never paints Benten as a villain, despite her passiveness to the killing and eating of tanuki (and her active participation in the death of Souichirou in particular). She’s enigmatic but woefully incomplete and highlights an uncommon thematic void for the series. Additionally, although Yasaburou was engaged to his cousin, Kaisei (Yajirou was also in love with her), the show never addresses the topic of incest. The ancient practice of marrying relatives for political purposes is not foreign to the West, but in a show where themes of tradition-breaking are so prevalent, the absence of examination or commentary here is notable. As an aside, the relationship is never sexualized in any way, so it would be inaccurate to call it fan service–it’s definitely not that kind of show.
The last few episodes resolve the arcs of major and minor characters alike and prove to be one of the most satisfying endings of an anime series in recent memory. The variety of sociopolitical ideas the show tackles and the overwhelming rate of success at these attempts is laudable. If The Eccentric Family had only one thing to say, well, it wouldn’t be the thematically rich piece that it is. But if I had to try and nail down the “one thing” that the series is about, I think it wants to say something like this:
Don’t over-prepare for things that may not come to pass, take life one day at a time, enjoy it to the best of your ability, and never forget what’s important to you, no matter what it is.
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TORONTO — In a year when improvement up and down the Raptors lineup has been undeniable, picking one player as most improved is not an easy task.
We gave that tough job to Nick Nurse, the only returning assistant coach from last year’s staff and, outside of the coach and general manager, the man most able to judge just how far they have come.
Nurse is in his third year with the Raptors, all three which have seen the progression of all the potential MIP’s in the lineup — Kyle Lowry, DeMar DeRozan, Patrick Patterson, Terrence Ross, and Jonas Valanciunas.
Nurse struggled to put one above the other, as all five have shown significant improvement from last year to this, but in the end he opted for Patterson, one of only two non-starters in the group.
“I’d probably say Pat,” Nurse said courtside before a recent game. “I think they have all made significant progress, and maybe Kyle has to be in the conversation because when I first got here three years ago, they were still trying to figure out whether he was a starter or an almost. Now he has elevated himself into a major player so that has to be a talking point, too.
“But Pat has obviously solidified himself as a really good defender who plays in pretty much all the crunch time minutes for us,” Nurse said. “He makes big shots, he’s developing his offensive game a little bit. He’s a good ball-mover. He’s a lot of things that slot in really nicely for what we need.”
Now, there was a time back in training camp when it seemed as if Patterson would be the starting power forward alongside Lowry, DeRozan, Valanciunas and a healthy DeMarre Carroll.
But for whatever reason, Patterson is just not comfortable in that role. So the decision to have him come off the bench was made and the decision-makers never wavered.
“I just think it’s one of those quirky things that he just doesn’t like to start,” Nurse said. “It just doesn’t fit him. There’s no real way to explain it and I don’t think it’s a real big deal. He’s put big minutes up. It’s not like he’s playing against second-unit guys all the time. He plays mostly all the fourth quarter for us a lot of times, so he’s playing in the guts of the game when it’s most important.”
Patterson’s numbers don’t jump off the page, but if you look, he is uniformly valuable across the board. Playing just less than 251/2 minutes a night, Patterson averages seven points, 4.4 rebounds, and 1.1 assists.
But if you ask Nurse, he’s just a guy whose presence on the floor means good things for the Raptors because he brings you what you expect every night now, a trait in the NBA that doesn’t get talked about a lot, but one that is extremely valuable.
“I would say he has made more strides defensively, but I would also say he has made strides consistently producing the same thing night in and night out,” Nurse said. “I think there were a little more extreme peaks and valleys with him and I think now you get a lot of what get night in and night out. Again, that is the sign of becoming an experienced pro in this league in that you put out a consistent effort. They expect what they’re going to get and they get what they expect is the right way to say it.”
Really, the gap between the most improved player and the next four guys isn’t that big. The Raptors aren’t a 50-plus win team if they are not seeing this kind of improvement from various positions.
Here is Nurse’s rundown of the other four returnees who have made huge jumps.
KYLE LOWRY
“I think he is obviously having a much better shooting year,” Nurse said. “We put some work in really early last spring on his shooting and I think he digested that and took that forward with him in his summer work. It was some minor technique teaching things that we cleaned up, but there’s two parts to it. Change it and then put in the work so we did one and he did the rest of it. So that’s big.
But there was also a change on the defensive end for the Raptor that makes everyone go.
“I think he’s been a much better defender,” Nurse said. “He’s got into people a little bit more consistently. A lot of that probably relates to his overall conditioning. And I think he has matured as a vocal leader of our team and a lead-by-example guy. You know, play your heart out, and a lot of guys follow that lead by him.”
DEMAR DEROZAN
Nurse laughs when it’s pointed out the entire NBA went ga-ga over Lowry’s new physique but few if any noticed the change in DeRozan.
Not that DeRozan has ever been out of shape, but his overall strength improved dramatically over the course of a summer.
Playing through contact to finish at the rim is no longer problematic for one of the hardest working Raptors in the off-season.
“Obviously, he continues to mature physically and he’s just getter bigger as all of us do as we get older,” Nurse said.
“He’s much better. I would say he has come a long way but he still has a ways to go.
“There’s still room for improvement there and playing through (contact) because that’s just the way it’s going to be for him.”
TERRENCE ROSS
The improvement for Ross wasn’t so much in what he could do.
He’s always been a guy who can knock down shots, but now he’s getting the chance to do it in a part of the game where he’s most effective.
“I guess you could say we found a groove for him, similar to Pat,” Nurse said.
“We found a guy that is a little bit better not starting and being more of a focal point of the second unit rather than just feeding off of what’s left over after Kyle and DeMar. And I think that was the key.
“(Head coach Dwane Casey) decided that was what we needed to do and start running more things for him, some really good stuff for him.
“Sometimes, that’s what guys need. They need to know, ‘Oh wow, my head coach thinks I can do this and they are calling my number,” and I think that kind of snowballed for him and I think that’s a big key to it, I really do.”
JONAS VALANCIUNAS
“Two things with JV — I think the schemes defensively this year have helped him and he’s been much, much better there.” Nurse said.
“Just protecting and playing a good big man role, protecting the rim, helping his teammates and clogging up the paint.
“And then one of the things I wanted to do with him when I went over (to Lithuania) last spring after the season was to just get him comfortable with the ball — more comfortable with handling, drilbble-handoffs, passing and following with a screen, reversing the ball.
“Just getting the ball away from the basket a little bit because he’s skilled, man. I just thought he had all those skills to do those things and we kind of had him a little trapped in this box around the block. I just wanted to re-enforce to him how talented and skilled he was and I think it helped him.”
JUST SHOOT THE DAMN THING, JV
If there is one player Nick Nurse got a crash course on last summer it was Jonas Valanciunas. When Valanciunas went home to Lithuania, Nurse followed him over soon after.
When Valanciunas headed back to North America to work out with the staff at the Las Vegas Summer League, Nurse was there. When JV went back overseas to represent Lithuania at the EuroBasket in Serbia, Nurse followed again.
And from it all, Nurse came away with a ton of respect for the young Raptor’s ability to shoot the basketball.
“He is such a great shooter. I am still begging him every day: ‘When you come off your guy and you’re wide open, just shoot the damn thing,’” Nurse said. “(The pump fakes) drive us all crazy. But it’s like he shoots litterally 60% from 10-16 feet. I don’t know how many times a week I tell him he’s a great shooter. He shoots 80-85% in the drills we do. It’s amazing how great a touch he has. He’s come a long way and we have some progress ahead of us coming with him as well.” |
Republicans in Colorado are continuing to outpace Democrats in early ballot returns, growing their lead with ballots returned as of this morning.
Surprisingly, Republicans are winning both the mail-in/absentee ballot returns AND early voting.
According to a Colorado Peak Politics source with access to ballot return numbers, the figures are as follows:
Total:
R: 187,824 (39.7%)
D: 171,971 (36.3%)
U: 108,421 (22.9%)
Mail-In/Absentee Ballots
R: 172,461
D: 158,139
U: 98,532
Early Voting
R: 15,363
D: 13,832
U: 9,889
As a reminder, the latest Denver Post poll of Colorado has Romney winning Unaffiliateds 43/39
Advantage, still Romney.
——-
See the ballot returns from October 24 here and October 23 here.
Brandon Rittiman of 9News had a great analysis piece yesterday comparing 2008 turnout to 2012 turnout. What he found was Republicans have a 9 point-swing in their favor this year. |
Company Name Min Monthly Fee One-Time Fix Live Chat Phone Response Time Location
AndiSites $79 $100 12h 39min North Carolina, USA Site: andisites.com/wordpress-support-maintenance
Contact: andisites.com/contact
Phone: (919) 704-4683
Discounts:
Note: 3rd round of emails sent as Marko.
Interview: Declined Advertised Services:
Updates, backups, security, performance, etc. Response Email:
Hi Marko, Thanks so much for contacting us about your website project. We'd love to help! We can absolutely help you diagnose and speed up your website, either on a one-time hourly basis ($100/hour) or as part of an ongoing support and maintenance plan ($79/month). If you could share the URL of your website, then we should be able to give you some quick thoughts on what we see and how we can help.
Thanks again for getting in touch, and I look forward to hearing back from you!
Andi ??
Barrel Roll $49 $100 3h 52min Virginia, USA Site: gobarrelroll.com
Contact: gobarrelroll.com/contact-us
Phone: 757-828-6137
Discounts: Discount for multiple sites
Note: 3rd round of emails sent as Marko.
Interview: Declined Advertised Services:
Backups, updates, security monitoring & cleanup, etc. Response Email:
Thanks for reaching out, Mark! Yes, we can help speed up your site. How much depends on what's going on, but there is always something we can do. If you don't mind sharing your URL, I can run some quick tests to give you an idea of what we can do for you. In the mean time, here's an article talking about our optimization process and some recent successes we've had. Regards,
Scott - Barrel Roll
BitofWP $19 $49 Not tested Canada Site: bitofwp.com
Contact: bitofwp.com/contact-us
Phone:
Discounts: Discount for multiple sites
Note:Since we've done 3 rounds of testing, we are not testing new companies for response time.
Interview: Haven't done yet Advertised Services:
Maintenance and support, malware removal, migration, content updates, etc. Response Email:Not tested.
ClickWP $35 1h 10min Malaysia Site: clickwp.com
Contact: clickwp.com/contact
Phone:
Discounts:
Note: 3rd round of emails sent as Marko.
Interview: Declined Advertised Services:
Website setup, customization, speed up, tweaks and improvements, etc. Response Email:
Hello Marko Thank you for getting in touch. We help many of our customers with their load time and site speed, so I am sure we can improve your website. Are you referring to webtvornica.com? With our website care plan, we will help diagnose and fix issues that affect your site speed. However, there may be some issues caused by your website hosting. For an additional $5/mo we will also provide high quality hosting to ensure the best performance of your website. ClickWP is headquartered in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia with team members in Scotland and USA. Please let me know if you have further questions. Thanks --
David Wang
Head Caretaker
hello@clickwp.com
Coversine $49 $30 Not tested USA Site: www.coversine.net
Contact: info@coversine.net
Phone: 941-845-6441
Discounts:
Note: Since we have done 3 rounds of testing, we are not testing new companies for reponse time.
Interview: haven't done Advertised Services:
Backups, security,web development, etc. Response Email:
Not tested.
FixMyWP $50 2h 14min Greece Site: fixmywp.com
Contact: fixmywp.com/wordpress-support-request
Phone:
Discounts:
Note: we have a relationship with them, so they might have "figured out" our test email
Interview: Read the interview Advertised Services:
Updates, spam cleaning, database optimization, fixing hacked sites, etc. Response Email:
Hello Ivan. We run a PageSpeed test through webpagetest.org, you can see the results below: First Try: http://www.webpagetest.org/result/170825_BZ_a9a95e3b8cc47a1a4c5c73c99a197a1d/ Second Try: http://www.webpagetest.org/result/170825_3P_7315181de953ce100fe832fd17eaf13c/ Those PageSpeed tests show that your site is faster than most of the sites out there but you can still optimize its total loading time, specifically for the ranks marked as "F". Both of our Maintenance Plans offer PageSpeed Optimization, Support and Updates while the Ninja one has some extra services related to security like Malware Scanning and Cleaning. Feel free to take a look at our Maintenance Plan page, if you haven't done this already, and send me any additional questions or comments you may have: https://fixmywp.com/wordpress-maintenance-services ps: I come from Greece but we have people working from us from Serbia and the US as well so you can get a reply from our support department all day(and night) long. -- Makis.
FixRunner $59 $49 Not tested Delaware, USA Site: fixrunner.com
Contact: www.fixrunner.com/contact/
Phone:+1 (888) 446 5559
Discounts:
Note: Since we've done 3 rounds of testing, we are not testing new companies for response time.
Interview: Read the interview Advertised Services:
Personal Support, Secure Updates, Speed Optimization, Cloud Backups, Uptime Monitoring, etc. Response Email: Not tested.
Go WP $29 $49 4h 53min Georgia, USA Site: www.gowp.com
Contact: support@gowp.com
Phone: (770) 691-6272
Discounts:
Note:
Interview: Declined Advertised Services:
Support Dashboard, WP Core & Plugin Updates, Daily Off-Site Backups, Front-End Security Scans, etc. Response Email:
Hi Ivan, Typically, our ability to help with speed optimization is limited to a few things: installing/configuring a caching plugin like WP Super Cache (if your host allows caching plugins; some hosts block these in favour of their own server-side caching systems), installing and configuring a minification/concatenation plugin like Autoptimize, and installing/configuring an image optimization/compression plugin like TinyPNG (free for up to 500 optimizations per month). For any deeper optimization efforts, you'll need to work with your host and/or a service specifically offering site optimization. We can certainly provide basic troubleshooting for other issues as needed, and can generally address those as part of a subscription - although there will sometimes be issues that need to be addressed by the specific plugin/theme vendor. Our team is distributed, but we're headquartered near Atlanta, GA. Our support hours are currently 7am to 5pm US Eastern, Monday to Friday. Our goal for turnaround time on support/task requests is 8 business hours; actual turnaround time will vary depending on a number of factors, but is typically closer to 3-4 business hours. Please let us know if you have any other questions! Thanks, -- Lucas Karpiuk Happiness Engineer, GoWP Support 770-691-6272
IvyCat $35 4h 40min Washington, USA Site: ivycat.com/wordpress/wordpress-support-maintenance/
Contact: ivycat.com/contact
Phone:800-861-4004
Discounts:
Note: 3rd round of emails sent as Marko.
Interview: Declined Advertised Services:
Upgrades, security, backups & troubleshooting, etc. Response Email:
Hi Marko, Thanks so much for contacting us. We're a small company based in Gig Harbor, WA. We do offer speed optimization services which are separate from our maintenance plan. However, if you are on our maintenance plan, you do receive 5% off any work, including optimization. Could you send us a link to your website so we can take a look and get back to you with some suggestions on how we can speed it up? Thanks,
Jenny
MaintainPress $35 53d 4h 44min California, USA Site: maintain.press
Contact: maintain.press/contact
Phone:
Discounts: Free for 14 days
Note: 2nd round of emails sent as Marko. Email sent on national holiday in the USA which may have affected the response time.
Interview: Declined Advertised Services:
Initial Analysis & Tune-Up, Daily Malware & Vulnerability Scans, 24/7 Uptime Monitoring, etc. Response Email:
Hello Marko, Thanks for reaching out about your firm's site. By any chance, did you sign up recently? We had a law firm site signup recently but we have been unable to get in contact with anyone. I won't share any more details in case they are unrelated, but please let me know if that is your site. To answer your question about load-times and overall speed, we definitely can help. Of course we'd need to evaluate the site before knowing exactly what kind of improvements to make, but if you can let me know the domain I can do a quick scan and start to see what issues we can work on for you. Our team is split between California & Florida. Where are you located? Thanks for reaching out. Please don't hesitate to let me know if you have any questions or I can help in any way. Best, Jeffery Patch
Maintainn $49 6h 49min USA Site: maintainn.com/
Contact: info@maintainn.com
Phone:
Discounts: yearly - 16%
Note:
Interview: Read the interview Advertised Services:
Nightly backups, weekly updates, 24/7 security monitoring, development services, etc. Response Email:
Hello Ivan,My name is Jim Byrom and I am the Director of Client Services here at Maintainn. In addition to providing 24/7 security monitoring, nightly backups and weekly updates (core/theme/plugins) for your WordPress site through one of our service plans, we also offer development services through our Bulk Hours program. Bulk Hours are development hours that can be used for site enhancements and/or bug-fix requests. Bulk Hours never expire, so any remaining hours from a previous purchase will be stored in your account for future use. We currently have a promotion right now for when you purchase a block of 10 Bulk Hours ($1,500) you will receive 2 bonus hours at no additional cost (a savings of $300), but you can purchase Bulk Hours in smaller blocks as well. Once you have signed up with one of our service plans, we can take a look at your site/code and provide some recommendations on the development hours required to increase your site performance/speed.Also, we are a fully-distributed company with personnel located throughout the continental U.S. and our standard support hours are 9am - 8pm ET.Please let me know if you have any other questions.Thank you,------- Jim Byrom Director of Client Services Maintainn Support
Newt Labs $66 $198 16min UK Site: newtlabs.co.uk
Contact: hello@newtlabs.co.uk
Phone: 01954 789349
Discounts: yearly - 17%
Note: we have a relationship with them, so they might have "figured out" our test email
Interview: Read the interview Advertised Services:
Updates, backup, monitoring, firewall, etc. Response Email:
Hi Ivan, good to speak with you again. yes I would be happy to help speed up your site, take a look at your initial issues and then support and maintain the site going forward. In addition to a speed up I would recommend checking out our managed hosting available to our site care customers. This will have the most impact on your website speed - https://newtlabs.co.uk/wp-hosting/ We are from Cambridge in the UK and we mainly work with people in the UK however we are happy to make an exception for people in other European countries where the time difference is not that much. Where is it you're from/based? Kind Regards Steven Watts
Novage $41 $100 Not tested Singapore Site: novage.com.sg/services/web-maintenance/
Contact: novage.com.sg/contact/
Phone: 67 444 064
Discounts:
Note: Since we have done 3 rounds of testing, we are not testing new companies for reponse time.
Interview: haven't done Advertised Services:
Updates, security monitoring, article creation, etc. Response Email:
Not tested.
OptimWise $79 1d 0h 49min South Carolina, USA Site: optimwise.com/
Contact: https://optimwise.com/contact/
Phone:
Discounts: Yearly - 10%
Note: 2nd round of emails sent as Marko. Email sent on national holiday in the USA which may have affected the response time.
Interview: Read the interview Advertised Services:
Updates, backups, security & uptime monitoring, etc. Response Email:
Marko, thank you for contacting OptimWise! Our Gold Plan includes Speed Optimization, to make your site faster. After you sign up for your plan, we'll see what's slowing the site down. We can then plan the steps to improve its speed. We're based in the state of South Carolina in the United States (US). Our team is located in several states in the US. You can learn more about our team on our About page. We look forward to taking care of your website! Chad Warner | Founder | OptimWise | Take care of your business. We'll take care of your website.
purpleplanet $49 36min Germany Site: purpleplanet.com/wordpress-maintenance/
Contact: info@purpleplanet.com
Phone: 0049 (0)625 446 333 99
Discounts: yearly - 20%
Note:
Interview: Declined Advertised Services:
24/7 Uptime Monitoring, Daily Cloud Backups, WordPress Updates, etc. Response Email:
Hi Ivan, I'm sure we can help with your site issues. Which plan would be best suited to your requirements? I'm English, but based in Germany, so working on Central European Time, although I tend to be available long hours. Let me know how you wish to proceed. Many thanks, Matt Atherton | Principal Consultant
SkyrocketWP $79 Not tested Tyler, USA Site: https://skyrocketwp.com
Contact: info@skyrocketwp.com
Phone:
Discounts:
Note: Since we've done 3 rounds of testing, we are not testing new companies for response time.
Interview: haven't done yet Advertised Services:
Daily Database & Core Backups, Page Speed Optimization, Performance Monitoring, 24/7 Uptime Monitoring, Ongoing Hack Prevention, etc. Response Email:Not tested.
SteadyWP $55 $50 Not tested Sweden Site: steadywp.com
Contact: info@steadywp.com
Phone:
Discounts: yearly - 17%
Note: Since we have done 3 rounds of testing, we are not testing new companies for reponse time.
Interview: Read the interview Advertised Services:
Backups, updates, visual regression testing, automated functionality tests, etc. Response Email:
Not tested.
The WP Butler $41 didn't respond Oregon, USA Site: www.thewpbutler.com
Contact: www.thewpbutler.com/contact/
Phone:
Discounts:
Note: 2 emails sent, no response
Interview: Declined Advertised Services:
Backups, malware scans, updates, site review, uptime monitoring, small fixes, etc. Response Email:
Didn't respond to our email.
Theme Location $29 $19 10min Pakistan Site: www.themelocation.com
Contact: waqas@themelocation.com
Phone:
Discounts:
Note: Response email ended up in spam (we use Gmail)
Interview: Declined Advertised Services:
Security monitoring, backups, updates, etc. Response Email:
Hi Ivan! Thank you for contacting me. Yes, I can surely speedup your website. We did speed optimization for many websites. No Problem doing that. I am from Pakistan and almost available from 13 to 15 hours a day. Hopefully You wont have issues working with me. Yes, If you subscribe our monthly package, We will make sure everything remains Well with your Website. Just don't Worry at all. thanks
Total WP Support $49 5h 11min Canada Site: totalwpsupport.com
Contact: info@totalwpsupport.com
Phone: 1800 985 9860
Discounts:
Note: 3rd round of emails sent as Marko
Interview: Read the interview Advertised Services:
Backups, updates, 24/7 monitoring, security, maintenance, etc. Response Email:
Hi Marko, nice to meet you and thanks for your interest in total wp support. Can you send me your site so i can have a look and do a quick assessment of your sites current speed issues? We can certainly help you out with your speed problems. The extent to which we can assist from within the costings of the maintenance plan does have its limitations, depending on the plan you choose. Generally, maintenance plans are all about maintaining the site you have. Extensive work to fix speed issues are generally outside the scope of a plan. That said, MOST websites speed issues are fairly easily fixed and come down to one or a combo of a few different factors. - poor quality hosting
- no caching on server side or site side
- no cdn used
- too many plugins
- poorly built website The first four items are most likely the root cause of your issues and assessing and fixing those will most likely provide the boost your site needs to meet your speed requirements. All of those are things we can do for you. We provide extremely high quality hosting that includes very aggressive caching on all levels. Most sites see a dramatic immediate boost after switching to our hosting. Our hosting also makes it very easy and affordable to set up and run a CDN for your images and other assets. We can help assess what plugins are causing the greatest slow downs and help to deactivate and delete plugins that aren't needed. The only part that isn't included in sites that are hosted with us and on a maintenance plan would be actually getting in and fixing the more advanced issues like the technical aspects of the sites development. In these cases we simply work to a set quote that is acceptable with the client. If you have further questions, let me know, happy to set up a phone call if needed to discuss further. All the best Bodhi
TriSummitSolutions $97 $79 2h 51min Texas, USA Site: trisummitsolutions.com
Contact: trisummitsolutions.com/contact/
Phone:
Discounts:
Note:
Interview: Declined Advertised Services:
Backups, security, speed improvements, SEO optimization, training, tweaks, etc. Response Email:
Hi Ivan, Thank you for contacting us! I was hoping I could get a little more information from you. What is your personal travel blog URL so that I can check it out? Besides sites speed, what other issues are you experiencing with your site? Who do you host your site with? Our monthly support plan does help keep your blog running smoothly, but for sites we did not build, we generally require a one time site cleanup and optimization fee, which would include fixing other issues, depending on the severity. We are located in central Texas, USA. Thank you, Morgan
Valius WP $59 $65 37min California, USA Site: valiuswp.com
Contact: info@valiuswp.com
Phone:
Discounts: start for free; yearly - 20%
Note:
Interview: Declined Advertised Services:
Speed optimization, seo optimization, Unlimited Small Jobs, etc. Response Email:
Hi there, Yes, a big part of what we do for new customers is site speed optimization. If you sign up for the Unlimited Plan this is an included service. We're a global team. I'm based in Italy, my business partner is in the States and we have developers all over. Let me know if you have any other questions we can answer. Thanks! -- Steven Steven from Valius WP
WOptimize $29 Not tested Italy Site: woptimize.com
Contact: www.woptimize.io/get-in-touch/
Phone:
Discounts: yearly - 20%
Note: Since we have done 3 rounds of testing, we are not testing new companies for reponse time.
Interview: Read the interview Advertised Services:
Daily updates and backups, uptime monitoring, daily security and performance checks, etc. Response Email:
Not tested.
WP Always $49 $78 1h 54min Michigan, USA Site: wpalways.com
Contact: support@wpalways.com
Phone:(877) 869-4003
Discounts:
Note: Response email ended up in spam (we use Gmail)
Interview: Declined Advertised Services:
Backups, malware detection, uptime monitoring, blacklist removal, etc. Response Email:
Hi Ivan, thanks for reaching out. Yes, we certainly can resolve your load speed issues. At the $59 and $89 levels, we include 1 and 2 hours of maintenance work per month respectively. I have a friend who has been very successful at monetizing the travel vertical, so I'm curious to learn more about your travel blog. Do you have a few minutes today to discuss further? Here's a link to our pricing table for more insight: https://wpalways.com/wordpress-managed-security-maintenance/
WP Cope $65 didn't respond India Site: wpcope.com
Contact: support@wpcope.com
Phone:(00)919812561898
Discounts:
Note: email address listed on the site doesn't exist
Interview: Declined Advertised Services:
WordPress upgrades, migration, fixing themes/plugins, etc. Response Email:
Email address doesn't exist; we never received an answer.
WP Curve $49 didn't respond n/a Site: wpcurve.com
Contact: https://uk.godaddy.com/wordpress/premium-support
Phone:020 7084 1810
Discounts:
Note: they got acquired by GoDaddy in December 2016 and had plenty of time to redirect/reorganize their website - they didn't. Us sending them messages via site may seems douchey but a lot of people will google them, come to the site and try to contact them without knowing the "business details". They didn't respond to the message sent via site form, nor when we sent it to the email listed on the site.
Edit, Aug 26th - contact form was removed from the site, all CTAs now go to GoDaddy. Very confusing is you ask us.
Interview: Declined Advertised Services:
Small jobs, bug fixes, boost conversion, speed optimization, etc. Response Email:
Never received any response
WP Dude $25 14min UK Site: wpdude.com
Contact: https://wpdude.com/wordpress-technical-support
Phone:
Discounts:
Note:
Interview: Declined Advertised Services:
Backups, updates, monitoring, security, reporting, etc. Response Email:
Hi Ivan I'm based in the uk What are your issues over and above the performance problems Thanks Thanks -- Neil Matthews support@wpdude.com WP Dude
WP Fix It $49 $39 didn't respond California, USA Site: wpfixit.com
Contact: wpfixit.com/contact-us/
Phone: 443-WPFIXIT
Discounts:
Note: 2nd round of emails sent as Marko. Email sent on national holiday in the USA which may have affected the response time.
Interview: Declined Advertised Services:
Infection cleanup, speed up, agency support, manage services, etc. Response Email:
didn't respond
WP Fixy $29 10min India Site: www.wpfixy.com
Contact: support@wpfixy.com
Skype: WordPressExpertHelp
Discounts:
Note:
Interview: Declined Advertised Services:
Error fixes, malware removal, migration, optimization, etc. Response Email:
Hi Ivan, Thanks for reaching out to me. I can certainly looked into your blog and speedup the site to an optimum levels possible. Usually,Speed up project is a separate task than our "Peace of mind maintenance plan" where we make site secure, update, fix any update related issues, take offsite server backups, monitoring on a regular basis. Please note that, With all maintenance plans, World class WordPress optimized web-hosting for that WordPress installation comes free of cost. We can add the speed project for free, only if you're ready for a commitment of 6 month plan of maintenance plan. Standalone speed up project charge is $75. I am from India and have all clients from western countries only and hence have aligned my timings as per that timezone. If there are any questions left, please do not hesitate to contact me again. Thanks & Regards, Vikash Kumar
WP Hero $179 1h 3min Ireland Site: wphero.io
Contact: support@wphero.io
Phone:
Discount: yearly - 20%
Note:
Interview: Read the interview Advertised Services:
Small fixes, updates, backups, social media integration, etc. Response Email:
Hi Ivan, Thanks for contacting us at WP Hero with your question. We would be more than happy to take a look at your website and see if we can find the issues that may be affecting the speed. We do offer a Free First Fix for all our customers, however, it is limited to 30 minutes and generally, most site surveys and optimization requests take longer than this. Therefore I would suggest signing up to one of our plans http://wphero.io/plans/. We offer a no quibble refund guarantee, so if you're not happy then we'll happily issue you with a refund. Site speed optimization is one of the many services we offer, we also specialize in fixing and improving other areas of your website. We simply tell our customers to think of us as their remote tech support team! As for our location, although we are headquartered in Ireland, we also run a development office in India. So we aim to cover most time zones. We can offer the option of completing work on your site during your specified "down times" i.e. when your site is least busy. We find this is useful for our customers, especially e-commerce operations. I hope this information is useful. If you have any other questions please don't hesitate to ask. Many Thanks Nigel
WP Maintainer $99 4h 38min n/a Site: wpmaintainer.com
Contact: wpmaintainer.com/contact/
Phone:
Discounts:
Note:
Interview: Declined Advertised Services:
Updates, monitoring, malware cleanup, migration, etc. Response Email:
Ivan,Possibly, but sometimes this requires more than maintenance-level work, so it is a hard question to answer. What is the URL to your site and where are you hosted?--Andy StrattonWP Maintainer Support
WP Maintenance with Love $37 28d 0h 6min UK Site: wpmaintenance.love
Contact: wpmaintenance.love/#contact
Phone:0044 (0)7973 575502
Discounts: yearly - 8%
Note:
Interview: Read the interview Advertised Services:
Updates, database optimization, backups, spam$revision cleanup, etc. Response Email:
Hi Ivan, I'm very sorry for the delay in getting back to you. Please let me know if you still need my help. You would need to let me know the website address so I can take a look at what the performance is like currently. But yes, I can help you speed up your website if you sign up for a monthly plan. With regards to any other issues it would really depend on what they are. These may have to be paid for separately depending on what plan you chose. My business is registered in London, but I am based in Barcelona, Spain. Let me know if you still need my help. Kind regards,
Rob
WP Minder $30 3h 1min Colorado, USA Site: www.wpminder.com
Contact: hello@wpminder.com
Phone:
Discounts:
Note: 2nd round of emails sent as Marko. Email sent on national holiday in the USA which may have affected the response time.
Interview: Declined Advertised Services:
Backups, updates, hack cleanup, etc. Response Email:
Hi Marko, The Business Plan does include a performance audit focused on speeding up site loading times (although your host plays a big role in that too). I also offer a standalone performance tuneup: https://www.redkitecreative.com/web-design-and-development-services/wordpress-performance-optimization-speed-up-wordpress-site/ I'm located in Fort Collins, CO. --
Debbie Campbell
http://www.wpminder.com
Minding your site so you can mind your business!
WP Relieve $199 8h 14min New York, USA Site: wprelieve.com
Contact: support@wprelieve.com
Phone: +1(646) 583-2402
Discounts: Free trial available
Note: 2nd round of emails sent as Marko. Email sent on national holiday in the USA which may have affected the response time.
Interview: Declined Advertised Services:
Theme and plugin fix and customization, speed up, SEO optimization, prevent site hacking, etc. Response Email:
Hey Marko ,
Thank you for your inquiry on WP Relieve about speeding up your Law Firm's website.
If you Subscribe to our STARTER package , we will not only speed up your website but also do security scan from time to time to keep it safe from viruses and hacking. We will even add or remove content and install or remove themes and plugins on your request. If you Subscribe to our BASIC package , we will do every thing from STARTER package and will also do customization in current website such as customizing plugin or theme and adding new pages or functionality . Also , our team consist of developers from different countries all around the world but we are officially based in Brooklyn,New York,United States. Thank You Mark Bell
Customer Relationship Manager
+1 (646) 583-2402
WP Relieve - We relieve you from Wordpress headaches by fixing any small issue you request and improving your site in a number of ways 24/7 for just $69/Month
WP Site Care $79 5h 5min Utah, USA Site: www.wpsitecare.com
Contact: www.wpsitecare.com/contact/
Phone: (866) 302-1221
Discounts: yearly - 20%
Note:
Interview: Declined Advertised Services:
24/7 Security Monitoring, automated backups, performance optimization, etc. Response Email:
Hi Ivan, Thank you for reaching out to us. Our corporate office is in Springville Utah but we are a remote company and have employees located within North America. A great way to find out what exactly is slowing your site down would be to purchase one of our SiteChecks. We will evaluate your hosting, theme, plugins, media, site speed and security to determine what is slowing everything down and provide you with a report and steps on what we can do to speed it up for you. You can also purchase one of our plans so that we are proactively taking care of your site. We offer the following support and maintenance plans: Our Protect Plan is a preventative maintenance package that covers all of the most important parts of your website, like realtime backups, update management (to make sure you're always running the latest versions of everything), and realtime malware scanning and removal. It's $99 per month, or $79 per month if you choose annual billing. Our Professional Plan offers all of the services that the Protect Plan does, but also includes uptime monitoring (if your site ever goes offline we'll know immediately and will start working to bring it back online), a staging area where all updates are tested, version control with Github, and two hours of development time each month. That plan is $399 per month, or $299 if you choose annual billing. (minimum plan required for eCommerce) You are able to buy development time from us on both plans (for anything that falls outside of what's included in each plan), for an additional $125 per hour. Would you like to get started with a SiteCheck? Which of these plans seems like the best fit for your needs? Please let me know if you have any other questions. I look forward to hearing back from you. Amy Farrell Account Manager
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Hello Marko The straight answer is yes we can speed up your site. However we like to do a review of your site for free first and then give you a full report on the condition of your website, our advice on fixing those issues and your options in regards to either a monthly plan or a single fix price. If you would like to proceed with the site review please create an admin user as wpsupport_si46 and the email clientacct@wpsupportservices.co.uk And then email us the site link and password to clientacct@wpsupportservices.co.uk and we will have a full report sent back to you by tomorrow. The company is based in the UK but we have both staff and clients on 4 continents. Regards David Finch WP Engineer
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Ivan, I've reviewed your website/issue/project and in order to complete this, it would be an hourly job. I recommend our monthly WordPress Management packages as they include a preset amount of support hours and additional hourly rates are preferential. They also include a suite of crucial services for the overall health of your website such as daily backups, software/plugin updates, malware scans, performance reports, keyword tracking, uptime monitor and more. If you would prefer a one-time quote, I've added information about hourly retainer billing at the bottom of the message. We have four levels of monthly management available: ESSENTIALS ? 30 Mins Support Time From $79/month https://www.wpsync.com/account/cart.php?a=add&pid=273 PREMIUM ? 2 Hours Support Time From $179/month https://www.wpsync.com/account/cart.php?a=add&pid=260 ULTIMATE ? 4 Hours Support Time From $279/month https://www.wpsync.com/account/cart.php?a=add&pid=261 PARTNER - 10 Hours Support Time From $799/month https://www.wpsync.com/account/cart.php?a=add&pid=262 In all the plans additional time is billed at $75/hour, which is invoiced on Mondays for the previous weeks overage. For example, if you had the 2-hour "Premium" plan and used 2 hours 15 minutes, you would receive an invoice for the extra 15 minutes ($18.75). It's also worth noting that these monthly packages are not locked into a contract, you can downgrade or cancel at the end of the current billing cycle. If you are not interested in a monthly commitment, we also offer hourly retainer billing. These are single hours purchased at full-rate, so do not offer quite as much value as the monthly packages. To purchase a retainer hour for your project please click here: https://www.wpsync.com/account/cart.php?a=add&pid=331 Once your payment is approved, you will be redirected to our support system. There you can securely provide credentials so that we can begin our work. I'll be happy to answer any questions. - Thomas Customer Support
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Hi Ivan. I love to help you out why don't you book a day and time that works for you using my online calendar scheduler? And to answer you question YES this is what we do every day of the working week, We are based in Carson City, NV, USA. Take care Jonathan Denwood
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Hi Marko, Thanks for getting in touch with us. Yes absolutely if you were to take out the Pro or Business package then you could utilise your "tweaks" that are part of those packages to get us to perform speed improvements. Who is your host currently? We are based in the UK but we have people that can work at all hours. Kind regards Neil
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Yes our team can assist with speeding up your site. We do that and much more. Our main office is in Arizona. Our techs are all over the world.
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A writer revealed that the idea of Soviet cosmonauts blasting off into space armed with shotguns and machetes was not, as many believed, a myth (Picture: Wikimedia Commons)
Firing a shotgun inside a thin-walled, oxygen-filled spacecraft is a catastrophically stupid thing to do.
But Russian cosmonauts carried guns regardless – and kept on doing so until 2007.
A writer revealed that the idea of Soviet cosmonauts blasting off into space armed with shotguns and machetes was not, as many believed, a myth.
Russian space travellers carried a convertible shotgun which doubled as an axe and machete as part of a standard kit.
Writer James Simpson recently confirmed that Russian space explorers were carrying weapons until very recently – until 2007, in fact.
Cosmonauts weren’t packing heat ready for a blazing duel with NASA astronauts, though.
The weapons were part of a ‘survival kit’ which was designed to help if the crew’s craft veered off course during landing or take-off.
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The shotgun was there to kill bears in case the crew landed in a remote area, Simpson revealed.
It had three barrels, and the weapon also had a sharp blade which could be used as a machete in jungle areas, or as an axe to chop wood.
‘Having a gun inside a thin-walled spacecraft filled with oxygen sounds crazy but the Soviets had their reasons.
MORE: ‘Snow leopard’ escapes zoo and maims zookeeper after earthquake
‘Much of Russia is desolate wilderness. A single mishap during descent could strand cosmonauts in the middle of nowhere.’
Russian cosmonauts were armed with the TP-82 shotgun until 2007 – and they still carry a gunless version of the same survival kit. |
Tanner McEvoy runs out of the pocket during the Wisconsin annual Cardinal and White spring football game. Credit: Joe Koshollek
By of the
Madison — Other than saying quarterbacks Tanner McEvoy and Joel Stave both deserve to play this season, Wisconsin football coach Gary Andersen has been coy about who will start the opener against LSU on Aug. 30 in Houston.
According to three sources, the staff has decided to start McEvoy, a redshirt junior who transferred to UW last season from Arizona Western College.
"Both those kids are still right there," Andersen told reporters on Monday, after the team's second scrimmage of preseason camp. "Like I said a long time ago, we may know who the starter is, but we're not going to say who the starter is until we jog out on the field for the LSU game.
"There's no big announcement."
McEvoy worked at quarterback last summer but struggled and was eventually moved to safety. He played 10 games at safety, with three starts, and impressed the defensive coaches.
However, he returned to quarterback in the spring and closed the spring with the No. 1 offense after Stave was sidelined because of pain in his right shoulder, which he injured in the Capital One Bowl.
McEvoy, 6 foot 6 and 222 pounds, passed for 1,943 yards and 25 touchdowns and rushed for 414 yards and six touchdowns in his lone season as the starter at Arizona Western.
Before the season at Arizona Western, he redshirted in 2011 at South Carolina.
"Obviously, Tanner is a good player," Stave said recently. "He wouldn't be in this position if he wasn't."
Stave, a graduate of Whitnall High School, started all 13 games last season and has 19 starts overall. He passed for 2,494 yards and 22 touchdowns but also had 13 interceptions.
Unlike McEvoy, Stave is not a threat to run. He rushed 37 times for minus-22 yards last season and suffered the shoulder injury in the bowl game when he failed to slide at the end of a short run.
Not all practices in camp have been open to reporters, but Stave performed better than McEvoy in Week 1.
McEvoy rallied in Week 2, however.
"What summer is for is to get stronger and faster," McEvoy said earlier in camp. "I think I accomplished that, as well as getting reps with all the receivers. I feel OK. There's definitely a lot more room for improvement. Spring is spring. It is what it is.
"Fall camp is when it really counts. I've got to pick it up and do better than what I was doing in the spring. My only goal is to try to take that No. 1 spot and take it from there."
Andersen has made it clear he covets a quarterback who can make plays in a variety of ways.
His starting quarterback at Utah State, Chuckie Keeton, was an outstanding dual-threat performer.
Keeton started eight games as a freshman in 2011 and in 28 games overall has passed for 5,961 yards, with 56 touchdowns and 13 interceptions. He has also rushed for 1,153 yards, 4.6 yards per carry and 14 touchdowns.
Keeton passed for 186 yards and two touchdowns and rushed 15 times for 75 yards in a 16-14 loss to UW in 2012, Andersen's final season with the Aggies.
"A lot goes into that," Andersen said in explaining quality quarterback play to fans who attended the second scrimmage. "Pre-snap awareness, the ability to check the run (and) the ability to make plays with his arm, with his mind and with his legs."
Andersen reiterated UW missed too many opportunities to make big plays last season.
"We missed too many layups last year," he said. "When it is there and it's given to you on a platter, you've got to take advantage of it.
"If you don't, it will cost you. It will cost you big."
With the choice of McEvoy, it appears Andersen is betting UW can cash in more often than it did in 2013. |
For SMU’s first road trip of the season, a 200-mile hop to scrimmage in secrecy against Texas, Tim Jankovich aimed to keep things simple. The Mustangs coach told his team there would be no traditional opponent scouting. Just go out there, play and see what happens, he advised. The goal was merely to improve. For an event so off-the-record that NCAA rules forbid Jankovich from discussing it to this day, it seemed a reasonable approach.
A 6’ 8” junior forward named Jesusemilore Talodabijesu Ojeleye, however, deemed this practicality a joke. Due to a mid-year transfer from Duke followed by a strategic redshirt semester, he had not competed against anyone other than teammates for nearly two calendar years. The player known as Semi was not inclined to deploy half-measures. This is the first time I’ve suited up with a jersey, Ojeyele recalls thinking. I’m treating it like a game.
Details of the proceedings aren’t readily available, but Ojeleye also remembers this: Listening to up-tempo Christian hip-hop beforehand, praying for strength and then mentally reviewing defensive rotations and spots to hit on offense. Predictably, energy was not an issue. Rhythm came early and easily against the Longhorns. Then the scrimmage’s unofficial intermission arrived. “I remember my teammates looking up at halftime, like, man, what’s going on up there?” Ojeleye says. “I look up and I’ve scored a bunch. I’m so into the game I didn’t even realize it.”
Recognition is no longer an issue. After a one-year absence from the postseason prompted by NCAA sanctions, the 14th-ranked Mustangs (25–4) have won 11 in a row and ascended to national relevance again, led by a forward who is intimately familiar with taking off on a delayed flight. Ojeleye has gone from consensus top-40 recruit to afterthought in Durham to one of the nation’s most important performers, averaging 18.2 points and 6.6 rebounds and compiling 6.1 Win Shares overall—a figure that tied for third nationally to start the week, trailing only Villanova’s Josh Hart and Gonzaga’s Nigel Williams-Goss, a pair of surefire All-Americans. SMU thrives with a rotation featuring experienced, interchangeable parts. But a first-time starter may be the indispensible cog in pursuit of a first NCAA tournament victory since 1988.
Ojeleye (pronounced OH-juh-lay) did not log a single second of floor time between Nov. 30, 2014 and Nov. 11, 2016, and now he does everything to make up for lost time. “We have a lot of guys that want to hang out in the gym—that sounds like no big deal, but it is a big deal—and he’s the leader of that,” Jankovich says. “It rubs off on everyone else. On the court, he’s helping us in every single area. Everyone looks at his scoring, but he’s an outstanding rebounder, and nobody’s even mentioned how he defends -- he might be as good on defense as he is on offense. Maybe better.”
Still, Ojeleye required a little more time to grasp the circumstances that conspired toward this late arrival with SMU. He was the No. 32 prospect in the Class of 2013, per the Recruiting Services Consensus Index, after setting the Kansas high school career scoring record with 2,763 points at Ottawa High School. He joined a three-person Duke recruiting class headlined by Jabari Parker and also featuring Matt Jones, who would go on to be a four-year cornerstone for the Blue Devils. “I planned for things in college to go differently, to go more smoothly, to be at Duke,” Ojeleye says. “That was my plan. But plans change.”
A lack of maturity stalled him; as Ojeleye puts it, he never learned a skill as small as taking the two or three minutes after class to clear his mind for the day’s work. “Not knowing how to bring my best every day, not knowing how to prepare myself mentally, to get myself to a point where you can play at the highest level,” Ojeleye says. “I did not handle that.” He says he grew anxious about what was ahead on a daily basis. He couldn’t find the “peace about everything” that has come naturally with age. And he wouldn’t stick around long enough to find it in Durham, where he amassed 143 minutes and 46 points in barely more than one season.
“We always felt, and it’s proven to be true, that he’s an outstanding young man,” Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski says. “He came from a real small environment basketball-wise. There was going to be a process of adjustment, and he was making that progress. And obviously he’s made it. We’re happy for him.”
Jankovich and SMU associate head coach K.T. Turner—both then-lieutenants to Larry Brown who paid rapt attention to high school hoops in their home state of Kansas—were fully aware of Ojeleye’s exploits in Ottawa. They knew the particulars of the departure with Duke. It made for a good match, but the NCAA would intervene and put the consummation of the marriage on hold. On Sept. 29, 2016, SMU received the one-year postseason ban for recruiting violations under Brown. Ojeleye would have been clear to contribute mid-year. But two weeks before a return from exile, his AAU coach called with a suggestion that was really more of a directive: Sit out yet another semester. Preserve a full year of eligibility instead of starting the clock again during a season going nowhere.
Matthew Visinsky/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images
I’ll think about it, was Ojeleye’s reply. But common sense soon overrode his denial. “I knew it was the right thing to do,” he says. “I don’t think I understood what sitting out that much longer would mean.” It meant extending the psychological toll of performing without purpose that every transfer experiences. And that meant finding refuge in workouts outside of practice, in trying to make 300 shots a day at game speed during the offseason. Ojeleye considered himself a decent three-point shooter through high school, but there is a fairly simple explanation for why he transformed into a volume producer from the perimeter this season, firing at 41.1% on an average of five attempts from three-point range per night. “I’ve had a lot of time sitting out,” Ojeleye says, “so there’s really nothing else to do but go to the gym and shoot.”
“Every single day that you come here, he’s in there,” Jankovich says. “I mean, he’s like a machine. Sometimes we try to get him out of there because we’d rather have him resting. But he’s so passionate that you can set your clock on him.”
The scrimmage with Texas answered any lingering questions from SMU teammates about how much Ojeleye could contribute to the cause. “He was making all the right plays,” SMU forward Ben Moore says. That counted for something, surely, but not anything substantial in the grand scheme. Ojeleye would have to wait until Nov. 11 season opener against Gardner-Webb for that. Nerves did not besiege him the night before that outing; they’d been working him over for a week, in fact. Paying attention in class was a hopeless endeavor. All Ojeleye envisioned was being on the court, jogging out as a starter, taking the jump ball at center court. The season felt like it would never come, and when it did, the wait was replaced by worry. “I was wondering: Would I be a better player than I was?” Ojeleye says.
He would benefit from a coach who gave him the benefit of the doubt, because Jankovich could relate. Long ago, in 1979, SMU’s coach himself debuted as a transfer guard for Kansas State, having played one season at Washington State before a homecoming of sorts. He remembered enough about his uneven return to resign himself to the fact that Ojeleye was probably not going to be very good for the first half of the Gardner-Webb game. And Ojeleye was not very good for the first half of the Gardner-Webb game. He missed four of five shots from the floor and committed five turnovers in 17 minutes. “I turned the ball over like it was my job,” Ojeleye says now. He subsequently amassed 18 points and nine rebounds in the second half alone, the first of 28 double-figure scoring efforts in 29 outings. And after a seven-turnover debut, Ojeleye has recorded just 34 miscues in the 28 games that followed, including zero in his last four.
“Honestly, the entire team and coaching staff felt like he would be somebody that was going to be a very, very significant contributor,” Jankovich says. “The only question mark was going to be, in games, was he comfortable? It wasn’t in any way, is he ready to play skill-wise or physically or anything like that. What is going to be his confidence level? Turns out it was really high.”
Critically, Ojeleye has figured out how to fit in without upending the dynamics of an SMU rotation in which he is the only newcomer of note. (Freshman Dashawn McDowell has played in 25 games but averages just 7.8 minutes.) Ojeleye’s usage (25.6%) leads the Mustangs, but his efficiency justifies the level of involvement. His effective field goal percentage of 55.1% is tied for third among SMU regulars, and he averages 1.086 points per possession in half court settings, per Synergy Sports.
Ojeleye is by no means a distributor (44 assists all season) and his passing out of post-up double-teams isn’t great. But he is a willing mover of the ball on the rare occasion opponents send a second defender at him on the wing, for example; on those 11 total possessions, SMU has scored 11 points, which rates in the 78th percentile nationally. “Something he doesn’t get enough credit for: He knows what spots to be in or what plays to make on offense when they’re trying to take him away,” Moore says.
Despite Ojeleye’s pedigree as a once-sought-after recruit, he does not blame people who are somewhat astonished by his emergence. He is, after all, one of those people.
“For sure, I think surprise is the right word,” Ojeleye says. “Having the team trust me to take shots and make plays, a team that is unselfish as we are, is something that surprised me. Everyone on this team got here before I did, except for a few freshmen. They definitely, in my mind, had a right for it to be their team. They’ve really embraced me and allowed me to take a bigger role than I expected to have.”
As a result, the disappointment at Duke has been thrust the rearview, though not entirely out of sight. It is, actually, the basis for something else Ojeleye feels he owes SMU now.
He was a seldom-used freshman watching from the sideline as the Blue Devils suffered one of the program’s most stunning NCAA tournament failures: A 78–71 loss to 14th-seeded Mercer in 2014. It was no doubt a shock. But all year, Ojeleye felt older players on the roster struggled to communicate with the younger classes. He promised himself he would keep all lines open at all times when he was a veteran. This has allowed Jankovich to revel in what he calls the “complete camaraderie” of his group, traced to one of the lineup’s relative newcomers: Moore, for one, considers Ojeleye perhaps the most influential communicator on a team unafraid to talk big about championships. “It was weird,” Ojeleye says of that Mercer defeat years ago. “You’re just watching a team that you know should probably be playing better, [and losing] is something that sticks in my mind. The things that hurt us that year—like communication, just overall team chemistry—are something I try to make sure doesn’t happen to our team now.”
No such hazards threaten SMU. The program appears positioned for a postseason breakthrough almost 30 years in the making, thanks in large part to this season’s—wait for it—Semi-charmed life. |
Five Points Gang was a 19th-century and early 20th-century criminal organization, primarily of Irish-American origins, based in the Sixth Ward (The Five Points) of Manhattan, New York City. In the early 19th century, the area was first known for gangs of Irish immigrants. Their descendants gradually moved out, to be followed by the next immigrants.[1]
Paul Kelly, born as Paolo Antonio Vaccarelli, was an Italian American who founded the Five Points Gang, one of the dominant street gangs in the first two decades of the twentieth century. Over the years, Kelly recruited youths who later became prominent criminals, such as Johnny Torrio, Al Capone and Lucky Luciano.
Five Points [ edit ]
A slum tour through the Five Points in an 1885 sketch
The area of Manhattan where four streets – Anthony (now Worth), Cross (now Mosco), Orange (now Baxter), and Little Water (now nonexistent) – converged was known as "The Five Points".[2] Mulberry, notorious for slum tenements, was one street down from the Five Points. This area, now the present-day location of Chinatown, lay between Broadway and the Bowery. By the 1820s, this district had been a center of settlement for poor immigrants and was considered a "slum" area of run-down wood frame and brick dwellings, warehouses and commercial enterprises dating from the late 18th century colonial era and early 19th century populated by mostly poor English and Scots-Irish with increasing torrents of waves of Irish refugees by the 1840s.[1]
Gambling dens and brothels were numerous in the Five Points area, and it was considered a dangerous destination, where many people had been mugged, particularly at night. In 1842, famous British author Charles Dickens visited the area and was appalled at the poor living conditions in substandard housing.[1]
By the 1870s a new wave of now Italian and Eastern European Jewish immigrants were settling into the area. Criminal gangs competed for control of the revenue to be made from illicit activities. Old line remnant Irish gangs, such as the Whyos, replaced the Chichesters. Monk Eastman's Eastman Coin Collectors had many Irish members.
The 2002 film Gangs of New York is set in Five Points based on Herbert Asbury's historical novel portraying the strife from the 1840s to the Civil War draft riots of 1863 between old line Americanized Protestant English and Scots-Irish immigrants and newly arrived persecuted Roman Catholic Irish with riots, crime, poverty and exploitation by political machines like Tammany Hall.
Origins [ edit ]
Italian American Paul Kelly (born Paolo Antonio Vaccarelli), formed the Five Points Gang, made up mostly of Italians. During the gang's later years, Kelly's second-in-command John Torrio, helped form a national crime syndicate in the United States. The Five Points Gang had a reputation for brutality, and in battles with rival gangs, they often fought to the death. Kelly and Torrio recruited members from other gangs in New York to join the Five Points organization. Al Capone came from the James Street gang, and would later lead the Chicago Outfit. Torrio was the first to establish his style of racketeering in Chicago, and recruited Capone to join him there. Charles "Lucky" Luciano, also joined the Five Points crew, and was later considered the most powerful criminal in the country.
Rise to power [ edit ]
Biff Ellison , a former member and would-be leader of the Five Points Gang.
As the Five Points Gang became more experienced, Kelly and his lieutenants saw the money to be made by supporting corrupt politicians in their election bids. By threatening voters, falsifying voter lists and stuffing ballot boxes, the gang aided city officials of the old Democratic Party political machine like in the era of Tammany Hall to retain power. At the turn of the 20th century, the only competitors to the Five Pointers were from Monk Eastman's gang.
The rivals disputed claims to a strip of territory of the Lower East Side in Manhattan. In 1901, a Five Pointer shot Eastman in the stomach, but he survived. Soon after, one of his crew killed a Five Pointer in retaliation. By 1903 the feud escalated, and the two gangs openly engaged in warfare. In one incident Kelly, Torrio and 50 Five Pointers were in a gun battle with a similarly sized force of Eastman's gang. City Police called to the scene had to retreat from the battle, which lasted several hours. Three men were killed, and many were wounded in the battle. When the police finally gained control of the situation, they arrested Eastman, but he spent only a few hours in jail. A Tammany-controlled judge released him after Eastman swore that he was innocent.
The general public was angered about warfare in the streets. A Tammany Hall deputy named Tom Foley brought Kelly and Eastman together and told them that neither would receive any political protection if they did not resolve the border dispute. They restored peace for a short time, but within two months, violence had risen again. Officials brought together the two leaders but asked them to take on each other in a boxing match, with the winner's gang to take the disputed territory.
The New Brighton/Little Naples Cafe, main clubhouse of Paul Kelly's Five Pointers gang.
On the appointed day, hundreds of men from both sides met at an abandoned house in the Bronx. Eastman and Kelly fought each other for two hours. Kelly had been a boxer in his younger days, and was said to make a better showing in the earlier rounds, but Eastman was a larger man and fought ferociously. At the end of the match, neither man had been knocked out, and the match was declared a draw. The gang leaders told their men that they were still at war.
At this point, the Tammany Hall bosses decided to back the Five Points crew, and to withdraw any legal or political help to Eastman and his gang. In 1904 Eastman was beaten unconscious by a policeman who had foiled a robbery in progress. Eastman was convicted of the crime and sentenced to a 10-year term in Sing Sing prison (Ossining Correctional Facility) in Ossining, New York. His successor Max "Kid Twist" Zwerbach was murdered in 1908 by members of the Five Points Gang, and the Eastman crew began to crumble.
Final years [ edit ]
Paolo Vaccarelli/Paul Kelly survived an attempt on his life, after being shot three times by two of his lieutenants, James T. "Biff" Ellison and Pat "Razor" Riley, in a gun battle inside one of his nightclubs. Tammany Hall pressure made him keep a lower profile after this incident. He became more involved in the nascent labor union rackets. He died of natural causes in 1936.
Gradually the Mafia gangs took over the rackets and criminal activities formerly controlled by the Five Points Gang. Former Five Pointers such as Torrio, Capone and Luciano became the leaders of the new groups, and expanded their operations on a national and international basis. With the 18th Amendment and the Volstead Act establishing Prohibition in 1920, profits from bootlegged liquor became a huge source of revenue for the Mafia families. |
Feminist group that blocked reporter from interviewing students complains video did not have enough interviews
The sponsors of a feminist conference where staff prevented Campus Reform reporter Katherine Timpf from interviewing students for a video covering the event has released a statement decrying that the video did not contain more completed interviews.
“We regret that the clip shown online might overshadow some of the completed interviews that were conducted over the conference weekend,” the Feminist Majority Foundation said in an email to Fox News’ On the Record with Greta Van Susteren Thursday.
"You know what? That is so pathetic and so weak. What? Women are so delicate that they need extra information before answering questions about women?" - Greta Van Susteren
But Timpf told Van Susteren that there were not many more completed interviews to include — because the organizers prevented her from completing them.
“First they made an announcement saying they should beware of me, they were taking pictures of me and posting them on Twitter saying ‘watch out,’ and then actually interrupting my interviews and saying, ‘she’s a conservative,’” Timpf told Greta Van Susteren.
The footage of organizers repeatedly interfering with Timpf’s interview attempts was published Tuesday by Campus Reform.
WATCH: Katherine Timpf talks exclusionary feminists with Greta Van Susteren.
Van Susteren said she was “stunned by the Feminist Majority Foundation statement in response to organizers’ treatment of Katherine Timpf.”
“It reads in part, the statement, ‘...Some participants thought it would be wise if those sought to interview were informed about the perspective of Campus Reform.’ You know what? That is so pathetic and so weak. What? Women are so delicate that they need extra information before answering questions about women?” she said.
“Women promoting women’s rights should stand tall, they don’t need extra help, that is such the wrong message to send,” she added. “So, Feminist Majority, wake up, get out of 1968, this is 2014. A lot has happened, and there’s a lot of work to do.”
Van Susteren also compared the organizers’ treatment of Timpf at the conference to the movie Mean Girls.
“I’m a feminist, my career and background prove that one,” Van Susteren said.
Follow the author of this article on Twitter: @SterlingCBeard |
At the 5th Global Conference on Cyberspace, Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched UMANG (Unified Mobile Application For New-age Governance) app in an aim to bring e-governance on a unified platform, making it accessible to all citizens to access myriad e-gov services with ease.
It has seamless integration with customer centric services such as Aadhaar, DigiLocker, Rapid Assessment System and Bharat Bill Payment System. It is launched with the provisions of 43 government departments that grants access to 150+ services and is targeted to reach 200 departments granting access to 1200+ services by December 2019.
It was announced last year by the PMO as a part of the Digital India initiative by Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) and is aimed to address this issue of multiplicity.
It features like transaction records to help the user in case of any conflict, setting users’ preferences for frequently accessed services, shortcuts and languages. It has support for 12 regional languages in addition to English and has been designed to offer access to the pan India e-government services from the Central, State, Local Bodies, and Agencies of government on app, web, SMS, and IVR channels.
The app supports major services like EPFO, PAN, NPS, CBSE, Bharat Gas, DigiLocker, Passport, GST, HP, Bharat & Indane Gas, e Pathshala, Income Tax, Digi Sevak, Crop Insurance and more. If you have linked your Aadhar card to the app, you can effectively pay taxes, apply for or renew their passports, book gas, insure crops, access & alter pension account details, access e-books, and even check CBSE exam results.
You can also give a missed call on 97183-97183 to get the app download link on your number or download it from the links below.
Download UMANG – Android | iPhone | Windows Phone
Speaking at the event, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, said:
Today, we launched the UMANG Mobile App, which will provide over a hundred citizen-centric services. At the back-end, these services will be catered for by many different departments of the Union and State Governments. This integrated approach will add an automatic layer of “peer performance pressure”, in the working of these departments. |
Tesla is an immensely successful company known over the world for being a leader of innovation—and it wouldn’t reach this point without its determined CEO. From the plans he has for Tesla cars to the Gigafactory that is set to be constructed in Nevada, Elon Musk’s vision for innovation seems unstoppable. One of the projects you should look out for is Tesla’s new solar roof which might just change people’s way of living for the better.So what exactly can you expect from one of Tesla’s most highly-anticipated products?
Breaking the norm
The new solar roof that Tesla plans to produce was first introduced last October 2016. The product is expected to reach homes in California by June of this year. Of course, those who want to have the latest solar roof in their houses first were given a chance to pre-order the solar glass roof early with a price of $1,000 as a deposit. You can conveniently pay with your credit card online.
The solar roof will be sold all over the country in mid-2018 which would be organized by SolarCity. The solar roof shingles are not the only solar product that you should keep an eye on from Tesla. The company also announced that they are going to start producing a Panasonic solar panel that wouldn’t need a mounting apparatus to work. This company is certainly determined to conquer the future of home technology with their advanced and revolutionary products.
Beautiful solar
Do you remember the time when you were considering to install solar panels in your house, but you couldn’t help but think twice because they wouldn’t look good at all? Although solar panels are very efficient, one of the biggest frustrations that you might encounter when considering this equipment is how it will impact your home’s aesthetic appeal. This dilemma is easily solved by Tesla’s new solar roof.
The BIPV or Building-Integrated Photovoltaics technology used in the company’s upcoming product will allow users to enjoy the benefits of solar panels without dealing with a weird-looking roof. Instead of having to install a PV module in your house for a solar panel, the new solar roofing will be able to replace your conventional roofing. Although this technology is not new in the market, combined with Tesla’s amazing designs, it will be turning heads more this year.
If you are planning on purchasing a new property and you want to have an efficient energy supply, choosing Tesla’s solar roof will help you save money in the long run because their roof tiles are created to take the place of your standard roof. However, if you still want to replace your existing roof with this innovative product, you can do so but you should expect additional costs because it requires hiring contractors to remove your old roof.
As expected, the price for this new Tesla product would be higher than the average solar panel you can find on the market. According to Tesla, the solar roof glass would cost $21.85 per square foot. You can canvass how much budget you’ll need for your home through Tesla’s calculator.
Should you wait?
The final question is, “Is it worth it?” With the advanced design and the quality that Tesla is devoted to delivering in all their products, there is no doubt that the new solar roof glass proves to be an exceptional purchase for your house. With its beautiful design, excellent build quality and energy-efficient features, it can be just what you need to build a more environment-friendly home.
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DISCLAIMER: This article expresses my own ideas and opinions. Any information I have shared are from sources that I believe to be reliable and accurate. I did not receive any financial compensation in writing this post, nor do I own any shares in any company I’ve mentioned. I encourage any reader to do their own diligent research first before making any investment decisions. |
Bellaire police officer, bystander killed in shooting
Steven Hester, 18, places flowers at a memorial for slain police officer Jimmie Norman on Monday outside the Bellaire Police and Courts Building. Hester is joined by his sister Jess, right, and mother, Linda. Steven Hester, 18, places flowers at a memorial for slain police officer Jimmie Norman on Monday outside the Bellaire Police and Courts Building. Hester is joined by his sister Jess, right, and mother, Linda. Photo: Johnny Hanson, Staff Photo: Johnny Hanson, Staff Image 1 of / 30 Caption Close Bellaire police officer, bystander killed in shooting 1 / 30 Back to Gallery
As most of Houston focused on the happy details of an unseasonably warm Christmas Eve, the families of Jimmie Norman and Terry Taylor were stunned by the fallout from a routine traffic stop that became a deadly confrontation Monday morning.
Both were shot to death in a southwest Houston parking lot for reasons that no one pretends to understand.
Norman, a corporal with the Bellaire Police Department and a 24-year law enforcement veteran, was mortally wounded following a brief struggle with a young man who had sped away when Norman pulled him over for a traffic violation. Seconds later, Taylor, the owner of a Maaco body shop, was shot by the same suspect when he emerged from the shop to see what the commotion was about.
See photos of Cpl. Jimmie Norman and the crime scene
The 21-year-old suspect, Harlem Harold Lewis, was shot during a gunfight with other Bellaire officers at the scene. Police say he ran away but a trail of blood led to his nearby hiding spot beneath a truck, where he was arrested and taken to Memorial Hermann Hospital. He was charged with capital murder of a police officer and was listed in critical but stable condition and is expected to survive his wounds. A .380-caliber pistol, the suspected murder weapon, was recovered nearby, police said.
Activist Quanell X said he knows Lewis' family well because they attend the same mosque. He watched Lewis grow up in a strict household and said he was stunned by Monday's events.
"This is not a kid that grew up in a broken home," Quanell X said. "He had a faithful Muslim mother and father. He was raised in a good community. This is outside the imagination of anybody who knows this young boy."
He added: "The No. 1 question we all keep asking is, 'Why?' "
It is a question many will be asking as they sift through the flurry of events that started as a potentially minor infraction.
Jarred by loud noise
Bellaire resident Chris Hokanson was eating breakfast when he heard a bang outside his house on Jessamine. He ran outside to see a Bellaire police cruiser chasing a black Honda coupe and a white pickup truck. He also saw a bumper lying in the street and the rear bumper of his own Saturn smashed.
Hokanson wasn't sure what was going on. Neither was Stephanie Pacheco, who was working at an auto parts store around the corner when she heard something happening. She looked out to see a Honda pull into the parking lot that serves Maaco and other businesses, followed quickly by a Ford F-150 pickup truck, which blocked the exit path of the Honda. A Bellaire police car pulled in right after them.
Norman got out of his vehicle and approached the Honda, trying to get the driver to get out of the car. Then Pacheco saw him leaning in to the car, "tussling" with the driver.
Seconds later, Norman was shot. He never had time to draw his own weapon. When Taylor showed up, he, too, was shot. Bellaire police said Taylor may have been coming to Norman's assistance when he was killed.
The tragedy unfolded in just a few minutes. Police said the suspect's Honda collided with the Ford pickup while fleeing Norman. The driver of the F-150 tried to force the Honda driver to a stop, and when he failed, he gave chase. They turned onto Bellaire Boulevard, and the suspect drove a short distance before turning into the Maaco parking lot.
To Hokanson and Pacheco, the gunshots seemed to go on and on. When they stopped, Norman and Taylor lay on the pavement. Norman was pronounced dead at Ben Taub General Hospital. Taylor died at the scene.
Officer of the year
Norman had twice been honored as Bellaire's officer of the year. He received numerous awards for his police work.
Norman also was involved in charity work and coached the police flag football team, which played a team from the Bellaire Fire Department in a game to raise money for families in need at Christmas.
"Jimmie was a nice guy, really sort of a big teddy bear," said Assistant Fire Chief Alton Moses, who coached against him and later with him in the football games. "He always seemed pretty quiet, and like most of us, he was there to do his job and do it the right way. This morning was really tough."
Bellaire Police Chief Bryon Holloway said the department considered Norman part of its family.
"We have dispatchers taking calls with tears in their eyes," Holloway said. "We have officers responding to other people's problems, and they're setting this aside, but everyone is hurting."
Holloway said Norman was the first Bellaire officer to be killed in the line of duty. The chief also recognized Taylor, saying that the second victim may have been coming to the aid of Norman when he was shot.
Holloway said Norman worked as a detective, a patrol officer and an investigator in the organized crime division.
On Monday, Norman was working as a patrol supervisor and had been at work about two hours when the shooting broke out. Holloway said another officer had volunteered to work Norman's Christmas Day shift so he could be with his family.
City honors officer
Bellaire City Manager Bernie Satterwhite read a statement from Mayor Phil Nauert and the City Council that read, in part: "We owe a great debt of thanks to officer Norman and the thousands like him who ask for not much more than to be a good police officer and to come home safe."
Houston Police Chief Charles McClelland arrived at Ben Taub in a black suit and spent about an hour speaking with the Bellaire officer's family.
"I just wanted to meet with the family and pay my respects to his wife and kids," McClelland said.
"This should be a joyous time," he said, pausing. "Christmas will have a different meaning for this family."
Reporters Jayme Fraser, Dane Schiller and Robert Stanton and photographer Johnny Hanson contributed. |
WASHINGTON ― The Senate came closer on Wednesday to approving a bill that cuts taxes mostly for corporations and the wealthy.
The legislation, which also includes temporary tax breaks for middle-class households, cleared a procedural vote by a margin of 52 to 48. A vote on final passage could come as soon as Thursday.
Republicans had apparently not resolved several intraparty disagreements over the legislation, leaving key policy questions unanswered. They seem to be struggling most with the fact that the legislation would bring about a loss of revenue, and therefore add to the national debt.
Many Republicans have argued that, contrary to all evidence and expert analysis, the tax cuts would boost economic growth so much that the lost revenue would be recouped by increased receipts from surging business activity and personal spending. Those arguments are not carrying the day.
Several GOP senators emerged from a caucus lunch on Wednesday talking about the idea of including a debt “trigger” in the bill that would cut discretionary spending if the bill does not spur sufficient economic growth. Deficit hawks like Sens. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) and James Lankford (R-Okla.) initially insisted on a similar measure that would roll back the bill’s corporate tax cuts if certain revenue targets aren’t hit in the future.
It remained unclear on Wednesday what the provision would ultimately look like.
“I do not like the idea of automatic tax increases,” Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.) said. “I would much prefer the idea of an automatic spending cut on the discretionary side. I would, frankly, think we don’t need either.”
Funnily enough, the Senate bill already includes substantial tax increases, because, in a bid to keep the legislation’s cost beneath $1.5 trillion over 10 years, most of the tax breaks for individuals would expire at the end of 2025. While those cuts would be temporary, the bill would permanently adjust the way tax brackets change with inflation. The brackets would rise more slowly than incomes, resulting in more income getting taxed at higher rates.
Sen. Mike Rounds (R-S.D.) said he didn’t think the trigger issue would need to be resolved before the Senate actually passes its bill. Instead, he suggested the Senate could pass the legislation, then resolve the trigger in the process of merging the House and Senate bills in what’s known as a conference committee.
“I think most of us expect a conference committee discussion would be appropriate,” he said.
Sens. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) and Steve Daines (R-Mont.) had withheld their support of the bill over concerns that businesses that pay the corporate tax rate would disproportionately benefit from the legislation, while businesses whose earnings are taxed on owners’ individual returns would be left behind.
Both Johnson and Daines voted in favor of the motion to proceed to the final vote, however, amid talk of Republican leaders increasing the value of a new deduction for such “pass through” businesses from 17.4 percent to 20 percent.
“I’ve seen enough progress to vote yes to move the debate forward,” Daines tweeted Wednesday.
In a sign of growing momentum for tax reform, moderate Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine), who bucked her party by opposing Obamacare repeal over the summer, voted to advance the tax bill despite concerns about it repealing the health care law’s individual mandate. She told reporters on Wednesday that she had secured a pledge from Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) to hold a vote this year on a bipartisan agreement known as the Alexander-Murray bill, which aims to stabilize Obamacare’s insurance markets.
That vote, Collins said, would likely take place alongside a short-term bill to fund the government next month.
Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), another key GOP holdout in the effort to repeal Obamacare, also announced her support for the tax bill on Wednesday.
“After thoroughly reviewing the good work of the Finance Committee, I intend to support the reconciliation legislation that is now before the Senate,” Murkowski said in a statement.
Ultimately, the House and Senate will have to agree on the same legislation before it can become law. House leaders advised members to be ready for a possible vote to go to conference by the end of this week if the Senate approves its tax bill on Thursday. |
The Royal Navy's new multibillion pound hunter-killer submarine, HMS Astute, has been beset by design and construction flaws that have raised doubts about its performance and potential safety.
The Guardian can reveal that Astute, the first of seven new submarines costing £9.75bn, has been unable to reach its intended top speed.
At the moment, the boat, heralded as the most sophisticated submarine ever built for the navy, cannot sprint to emergencies or away from an attack – an essential requirement for a hunter-killer boat.
It would also be incapable of keeping pace with the Royal Navy's new aircraft carriers, which will be able to travel at more than 30 knots and need the submarines to protect them. One source told the Guardian the boat had a "V8 engine with a Morris Minor gearbox".
Other problems that have affected the boat in recent months include:
• Flooding during a routine dive that led to Astute performing an emergency surfacing.
• Corrosion even though the boat is essentially new.
• The replacement or moving of computer circuit boards because they did not meet safety standards.
• Concern over the instruments monitoring the nuclear reactor because the wrong type of lead was used.
• Questions being raised about the quality and installation of other pieces of equipment.
• Concern reported among some crew members about the Astute's pioneering periscope, that does not allow officers to look at the surface "live".
The MoD confirmed Astute had suffered some "teething problems" during sea trials. "It is normal for first of class trials to identify areas where modifications are required and these are then incorporated into later vessels of the class," a spokesman said.
Though the MoD said it cannot discuss the speed of submarines, the spokesman said Astute would "provide an outstanding capability for decades to come".
However, if the propulsion problems persist, they would represent one of the biggest procurement disasters the MoD has ever had to deal with, and potentially leave the Astute fleet struggling to perform all the duties it was built for.
John Large, an independent nuclear safety analyst and specialist engineer, said: "These problems are much more significant than the niggles and glitches expected to arise during working up of a new class of nuclear-powered submarine. Particularly disturbing is the apparent mismatch between the nuclear reactor plant and the steam turbine sets, putting the submarine speed below par and making her susceptible in the anti-submarine warfare theatre."
The shadow defence secretary, Jim Murphy, said ministers "must be clear over the impact of any problems with this essential programme on timing and cost".
Even though the boat has yet to start formal service, Astute – four years overdue and £2bn over budget – has been surrounded by controversy since it was first commissioned 15 years ago. In 2010, it was marooned off Skye, a calamity that led to its commander being removed from post. Last year a senior officer was shot dead by a junior member of the crew.
The Guardian has learned that during exercises off the east coast of the United States, a cap on one of the pipes that takes seawater from the back of the submarine to the reactor sprang a leak. A compartment began flooding with seawater, forcing the commander to surface immediately. Though nobody was hurt, an investigation revealed a cap was made from the wrong metal, even though construction records said the right metal had been installed.
The cap was supposed to have been "level one quality assurance". This means that BAE, which is responsible for building the boat, is supposed to give it the highest scrutiny.
"The fact the cap failed is bad enough, but the most worrying thing is that there is no way of knowing whether the submarine has other pieces of equipment like this on board," said a source. "The quality assurance tests are there to make sure this kind of thing doesn't happen, but it did. So what else has been installed that we don't know about? It is impossible to know. They fitted the wrong cap but it was still signed off."
The MoD confirmed that the incident had taken place. "During trials last year HMS Astute experienced a leak which was immediately isolated and the submarine returned safely to the surface," a spokesman said. "An investigation found one small part which had not been made of the correct material had corroded. A replacement was fitted at sea and the submarine continued with her programme. BAE Systems have carried out a full assessment which concluded all similar parts were fitted correctly."
Neither the MoD nor BAE was prepared to discuss how a cap made from the wrong metal had been fitted. BAE also declined to explain how it could be sure other parts were installed correctly when the quality assurance inventory system was proved to be flawed.
Some of the instruments which tell commanders about the state of the nuclear reactor were also feared compromised, the Guardian can reveal. The detectors which measure the power coming from the reactor are in a lead-lined water jacket that surrounds the reactor core.
The lead has to be "virgin" metal, mined from great depth, so that it does not carry any electrical charge of its own that could generate a false reading.
However, the lead used in Astute was not of the right quality, which means instruments gave incorrect readings. Using impure lead can also have a knock-on effect during maintenance – the charged metal can create increased and persistent radioactivity within the reactor compartment.
A source said this oversight was "unforgivable". Initially the MoD denied there was a problem with the reactor instruments. However, it then conceded the wrong lead had been used – but insisted tests showed the accuracy of the readings had not been affected. In addition, some of the small computer switchboards on Astute should have been placed six inches apart, but they were only one inch apart.
They did not conform to either naval or Lloyds civilian safety standards and are now having to be moved or replaced. The MoD says this work has been completed.
Of all the difficulties, it is the problems with propulsion which are the most sensitive. The MoD stated Astute would be able to make 29 knots, but the Guardian has been told it cannot do this.
Rather than building a new power plant for Astute, the MoD chose to use the Pressurised Water Reactor 2 (PWR2) from the much bigger Vanguard-class Trident submarines. It was linked to a steam turbine system based on the model used in the aged Trafalgar Class attack submarines.
"This was always likely to be a big problem, and so it has proved," said a source. "The PWR2 was meant for a much bigger boat, and Astute had to be designed around it. That may have cut costs, but it has caused problems. The power from the reactor does not translate into forward movement."
Large added: "So much promise was held out for the Astute class of nuclear powered submarine but these faults occurring during its commissioning into active/service, particularly in the propulsion system and its under-performance, suggest that the whole has been cobbled together from some ill-fitting parts – the real concern here is that these or similar mismatches will compromise nuclear safety at risk to crews and the public generally."
BAE Systems, which is responsible for building the Astute fleet, said: "Safety is of paramount importance to every stage of the design, build, test and trials of a submarine and is at the heart of everything we do. Before entering full service, every submarine is required to complete an exhaustive period of sea trials, which are designed to prove the vessel's capabilities. These trials also present an opportunity to improve performance by resolving any issues that may come to light during this time, which is not uncommon on a first-of-class submarine."
Read more: why Astute was trouble from the start |
Come learn the (really simple) skill of soldering EL Wire – and light up your creations!
Our annual Soldering Parties at Cool Neon are here again, an annual tradition since ’99, always free.
NOON – 6PM: Saturday, August 16th .
Come to our shop in Oakland to learn everything you need to know to get you glowing. Soldering workshops and project advice are always free. Bring your ideas, bikes, vehicles, outfits, questions, patience, kids, friends, and enthusiasm.
While there, you can test ride our Social Revolution, the 2-3 person playa tricycle.
AND, see all the new additions to our product line since our shop will be open.
In addtion, order pick-up and in-store shopping Tuesday – Friday 11 AM – 4 PM. We are conveniently located near the base of the Bay Bridge in Oakland.
Call us, Benny, Karen, and Gian anytime with questions.
510-547-5878
1433 Mandela Parkway
Oakland, CA 94607
We can’t wait to see you and your projects glowing on the playa!
Benny, Karen, Gian and the Elves
Share the light! Facebook
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LinkedIn
Email |
An unpresidented historical timeline that will illiterally change your life.
Ken Kamami Blocked Unblock Follow Following May 2, 2017
1922: King Abe and Lord W fight over the beautiful Princess Leia in The Battle of the Steps[Image Credit: Wifflegif.com]
Recently, our beloved Supreme Leader and Executive Grabber at Large, divulged a portion of his vast knowledge. The recipients of this coveted historical account invoking Andrew Jackson were his loyal subjects who all seem to have misplaced their silly hats. They still however believe that only the Leader’s immediate family is apt to making their kingdom great again..and believe with equal conviction that the Emolument Clause is strictly for the Snowflaked and Libtarded. His Grabbiness has evidently pivoted from having Reagan as his mentor to Jackson, citing the fact that he likes presidents who don’t acquire strange afflictions such as Alzheimer’s.
As a Libtarded snowflake who gets extremely bothered and frightened every time Trump lifts a pen or opens his mouth, I was very troubled by a particular fact that sufficed in the crash course of reinforcing his followers’ belief in white supremacy. Well, the whole speech bothered me as do all of them, but the fact that Andrew Jackson hated the Civil War WHICH HAPPENED 16 YEARS AFTER HE DIED, touched my soul. And so, without much further ado, here is a historical timeline inspired by this new development:
Top Alternafuckertive Historical Facts Guaranteed to Drop Your Jaw:
1776: Judas betrays Jesus Christ. Pontius Pilate is elated. He chides the rest of the disciples and offers them a quick but painful death.
1826: MTV launches with a bang and citizens everywhere can’t get enough of Native Americans dancing around campfires pumped up as fuck that their country has been taken over and their neighbors walled out because they’re rapists and generally bad hombres.
1985: The first Homo Erectus fossil is discovered by two 5th grade truants smoking a pipe at the Jacksonville city park.
1999: Heralds run through cities on wild mustangs yelling, “The fucking British are coming! And they got a shitty sense of style, but sexy accents! Let’s call them Redcoats when they get here.”
2008: Israelites flee Egypt terrified out of their minds about a serial killer angel going around stabbing anyone’s first born kid — should they forget to rub sheep blood on their doors.
2009: Dinosaurs officially go extinct. The last one being a ferocious T-Rex who lived in Central Park and harassed joggers by snapping at their feet and snatching picnic baskets from courting lovers.
Yesterday: Sally Field dons a green mask at the Oscars and gives a touching speech acknowledging the country’s approval of her.
Yesterday: Sally being conceited as fuck and embarrassing her friends[Image Source: giphy.com]
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Look, it’s simple. Just hit the green thingy that looks like a heart to recommend this story so it can get a virus. Also, feel free to follow me. I have a whole archive of alternafuckertive events that Kellyanne Conway emailed me. |
The arrest of polygamist leader Lyle Jeffs, evictions of polygamist families and new studies on crippling genetic disorders among small ultra-orthodox or “fundamentalist” Mormon communities in rural Utah have made headlines this summer.
This spotlight on polygamy is likely to make the majority of Mormons who are nonfundamentalist uncomfortable. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS) – the mainstream Mormon Church with 15 million members worldwide – publicly rejected polygamy in 1890. But to this day, mainstream Mormons encounter stereotypes of polygamy.
As a scholar of Mormonism and gender and a Mormon myself, I know that the truth about Mormonism and polygamy is complicated and confusing. For more than 175 years, polygamy and tensions surrounding it have defined what it means to be a Mormon – especially a Mormon man.
Beginning of polygamy
Founded by Joseph Smith in 1830, the Mormon movement from its beginnings offered a unique perspective on the religious role of men.
One of the most influential events in the life of Joseph Smith was the death of his 25-year-old brother Alvin in 1823. In 1836, Joseph Smith had a vision of Alvin Smith in heaven. Based on this vision, he developed the Mormon teaching that families could be together in heaven if they underwent religious rites – called “sealings” – in Mormon temples. Any faithful Mormon approved by church leaders could perform these sealings.
Due in part to this powerful role it gave to men in helping to save the people they loved and brought to heaven, Mormonism attracted proportionally more male converts than any other American religious movement of the time.
In the early 1830s, Smith extended this view of the role of men to include polygamy as it was practiced by Old Testament prophets like Abraham. Smith taught that a righteous man could help numerous women and children go to heaven by being “sealed” in plural marriage. Large families multiplied a man’s glory in the afterlife. This teaching was established as doctrine in 1843.
Rumors that polygamy was practiced by a small cadre of LDS Church leaders spurred mob violence against early Mormon settlements in Illinois and Missouri. In the face of this opposition, Smith counseled Mormon men to be “crafty” – contemporary scholars have interpreted this to mean alert, wise and “resourceful” – in their practice of polygamy and use of “sealings.”
After the murder of Joseph Smith in 1845, Mormons migrated to Utah territory in 1847, and there, under the leadership of Brigham Young – who succeeded Joseph Smith – brought the practice of polygamy out of the shadows. LDS leaders announced plural marriage as an official Mormon Church practice in 1852.
Following Young, Mormon theologians heralded polygamy as a core doctrine and as evidence of patriarchal manliness. By the 1880s, an estimated 20-30 percent of Mormon families practiced polygamy.
Polygamy laws, fundamentalist groups
However, after the U.S. Civil War, a growing controversy over polygamy united Americans – in both the North and South. Politicians, preachers and novelists decried it as an evil equal to slavery.
The United States Supreme Court ruled in Reynolds v. the United States (1878) that polygamy was an “odious” practice. The court said,
“Polygamy has always been odious among the northern and western nations of Europe, and, until the establishment of the Mormon Church, was almost exclusively a feature of the life of Asiatic and of African people. At common law, the second marriage was always void, and from the earliest history of England, polygamy has been treated as an offence against society….”
The United States Congress passed the Edmunds-Tucker Act (1887) authorizing the seizure of LDS Church assets and making polygamy a federal offense. Entire families went “underground” to avoid imprisonment. Mormon men were stereotyped as fanatics who exploited innocent converts to satisfy their “sexual degeneracy.” Mobs in the American South in the 1880s attacked Mormon missionaries.
Under pressure, LDS Church President Wilford W. Woodruff announced in 1890 that the Mormon Church would no longer sanction plural marriages in adherence with the law of the United States. Still, such marriages continued to be performed among Mormons in Mexico – some of whom emigrated from Utah to northern Mexico specifically to continue polygamy – or by rogue LDS leaders through the 1920s.
In the 1930s, seven leading Mormon polygamists banded together to form a loose confederation of Mormon fundamentalists to keep polygamy going. Several were excommunicated from the mainstream LDS Church and formed close-knit fundamentalist communities across the West – from Canada to Mexico – that survive to this day.
New depictions of masculinity
While fundamentalist Mormons broke off from the LDS Church in the early 20th century to continue their open practice of polygamy, those who remained members of the LDS Church made a hard turn toward the American mainstream and assimilation.
These mainstream Mormons developed new norms of Mormon manhood that seemed safer to the American public.
Moving away from the stereotype that Mormonism was led by fanatical prophets with multiple wives and long beards, as Mormons assimilated, LDS Church leaders developed a more modern clean-shaven appearance and a bureaucratic, corporate style of managing church affairs.
Between 1890 and 1920, LDS participation in the Boy Scouts (which began in 1911), bans on smoking and alcohol, and conservative sexuality helped to defined this new Mormon manhood. Donny Osmond, Steve Young and Mitt Romney exemplify the modern Mormon norm.
AP Photo/Rick Bowmer
Still, it is my experience as a lifelong Mormon that LDS people with strong cultural and familial ties to the faith commonly believe that polygamy will be a fact of life in heaven. The LDS Church publicly renounced the practice of polygamy in 1890, but it has never renounced polygamy as doctrine, as evidenced in LDS scriptures. It has always permitted and continues to permit men to be married in Mormon temples “for the eternities” to more than one wife.
This tension between private belief and public image makes polygamy a sensitive subject for Mormons even today. |
Thousands urge help for Indian sisters ‘ordered raped’
World
Thousands urge help for Indian sisters ‘ordered raped’
NEW DELHI: Thousands have signed a petition urging protection for two Indian sisters after a local council allegedly ordered them raped and paraded naked as “punishment” after their brother eloped with a married woman.
Amnesty International said on Sunday more than 122,000 people have joined its online petition in recent days to protest at the order by the council of elders or “khap panchayat” in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh.
“An unelected all-male village council (khap panchayat) ordered that they be raped and paraded naked, their faces blackened, as punishment for the actions of their brother,” Amnesty’s petition said.
One of the sisters this month filed a petition in the Supreme Court seeking protection for her family after they were forced to flee their village in Bhagpat district.
The family, from the lowest “untouchable” Dalit caste, was forced into hiding after the brother eloped with a woman from the village’s dominant Jat caste, according to lawyer Vivek Singh.
The council of Jat elders issued the rape order against the sisters, aged 23 and 15, in July after Jats falsely accused the brother of abducting the married woman, Singh said.
“They were threatened by the Jats with rape. They wanted to take revenge for the actions of their brother,” Singh, acting for the 23-year-old sister who filed the case, told AFP. The Supreme Court ordered Uttar Pradesh authorities to reply to the sister’s petition by September 15. |
The city attorneys for Los Angeles and San Francisco said on Monday they are investigating reports that Nevada’s primary mental health facility has shipped more than 1,500 patients to cities across the country while they still needed care.
“This type of conduct is deplorable,” San Francisco City Attorney Dennis Herrera told KNTV-TV. “Taking advantage of our most vulnerable putting them on a bus with a one way ticket to somewhere with no support.”
The Sacramento Bee reported on April 14 that Nevada state records showed Rawson-Neal Psychiatric Hospital has prematurely dispatched an increasing number of patients since 2008 including more than 200 to Los Angeles County, a practice referred to as “patient dumping” or “Greyhound therapy.” Nearly 400 patients were allegedly bused out last year to 45 states.
According to the Bee, Nevada Health and Human Services director Mike Willden told state lawmakers in March 2013 that an internal investigation showed no pattern of misconduct, and that new policies have been enacted barring Rawson-Neal from busing patients out without confirming that they had care waiting at their destinations. Nevada Gov. Brian Sandoval (R) also defended the facility in an interview aired Monday.
“I think there is a good quality of care there,” Sandoval said of the hospital. “Mike Willden does a fabulous job. If there’s a problem, we’re going to correct it.”
Los Angeles City Attorney Carmen Trutanich confirmed to KNBC-TV on Monday that his office was also investigating the allegations.
“The reason you dump patients is you want to get out from under the cost of them,” Trutanich said. “You jeopardize their safety, and we have no idea what the elements are that these individuals who have been dumped, allegedly have been dumped onto our streets, are suffering from.”
The Center for Medicare and Medicaid is conducting an investigation into the hospital’s alleged practices, and U.S. Commission on Civil Rights head David Kladney has called for a separate probe.
Watch KNTV’s report on the investigations against Rawson-Neal, aired Monday, below.
View more videos at: //nbcbayarea.com. |
704 Bracketeers voted in Batch 67, and 9.86m votes have now been cast.
Visual results are here and today’s results are:
Reef Worm defeats Final Revels with 93.31% of the vote
Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet defeats Kor Dirge with 87.59% of the vote
Emrakul’s Evangel defeats Ondu Champion with 83.89% of the vote
Logic Knot defeats Vigilante Justice with 83.83% of the vote
Iridescent Angel defeats Mindlash Sliver with 83.78% of the vote
Utvara Hellkite defeats Goblin Cadets with 83.63% of the vote
Victory’s Herald defeats Howling Banshee with 79.06% of the vote
Spirit Bonds defeats Gryff Vanguard with 78.25% of the vote
Cunning Sparkmage defeats Predatory Nightstalker with 77.76% of the vote
Hopeful Eidolon defeats Fiery Hellhound with 74.78% of the vote
Judge Unworthy defeats Battleflight Eagle with 74.78% of the vote
Volcanic Dragon defeats Yotian Soldier with 74.68% of the vote
Iname, Death Aspect defeats Offering to Asha with 73.61% of the vote
Rakdos Pit Dragon defeats First Response with 72.22% of the vote
Heart of Ramos defeats Watchwing Scarecrow with 71.51% of the vote
Assault Formation defeats Epic Struggle with 70.87% of the vote
Artisan of Kozilek defeats Executioner’s Capsule with 70.67% of the vote
Vinelasher Kudzu defeats Magnifying Glass with 67.85% of the vote
Sea Gate Oracle defeats Scatter the Seeds with 66.72% of the vote
Bloodthrone Vampire defeats Brown Ouphe with 66.47% of the vote
Flame Jab defeats Marang River Prowler with 64.86% of the vote
Magus of the Bazaar defeats Heir of the Wilds with 63.91% of the vote
Order of Whiteclay defeats Whirlwind with 63.45% of the vote
Breakneck Rider defeats Titanic Growth with 61.79% of the vote
Declaration in Stone defeats Sage of Hours with 61.23% of the vote
Loxodon Peacekeeper defeats Power of Fire with 60.84% of the vote
Indomitable Ancients defeats Threaten with 57.27% of the vote
Day’s Undoing defeats Aggravated Assault with 57.04% of the vote
Sifter of Skulls defeats Bouncing Beebles with 56.23% of the vote
Mockery of Nature defeats Hidden Predators with 55.62% of the vote
Nomad Decoy defeats Servant of Tymaret with 55.44% of the vote
Bog Witch defeats Phyrexian Vault with 54.24% of the vote
Full results to date can be seen here. |
CARACAS (Reuters) - Venezuela’s ruling Socialist Party began a six-day congress on Saturday with President Nicolas Maduro seeking to fire up militants and quell dissidents who say he is failing to fix the economy or end graft.
Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro speaks during a news conference at Miraflores Palace in Caracas, in this handout photo provided by Miraflores Palace July 23, 2014. REUTERS/Miraflores Palace/Handout via Reuters
It was the party’s third congress since formation in 2008, but the first without its charismatic founder, former president Hugo Chavez who died last year of cancer after ruling the South American OPEC nation for 14 years.
“This congress will be unforgettable for the future of the fatherland,” Maduro told the 537 delegates, dressed in socialist red, at a Caracas theater. “All of us together have to be Chavez, we must not fail the giant. We are his heirs.”
By sheer force of personality, Chavez was able to hold together the ruling party’s competing factions, from Marxist ideologues to military officers and pragmatic businessmen.
But Maduro, 51, a former bus driver who rose to be Chavez’s vice-president, has been unable to replicate his political grip and faces a dilemma in preserving his predecessor’s political legacy while rectifying deepening economic problems.
Venezuela has the highest inflation rate in the continent at 62 percent in the 12 months to June.
A Byzantine currency control system, with official rates ranging from 6.3 to 50 bolivars to the dollar and a black market level of 80, is creating price distortions, stymieing private business and earning huge sums for those playing the system.
POWER AND WATER CUTS
Shortages of basics continue across the nation, while electricity and water cuts are angering Venezuelans.
“Working people’s daily life has become a long suffering,” said the disgruntled ‘Chavista’ group Socialist Tide, lambasting “scandalous” graft and government policy paralysis.
“There is confusion and pessimism over the future.”
The frustrations and fissures in government circles came into the open last month when Maduro pushed out of government Jorge Giordani, a long-time Chavez minister, Marxist academic and architect of Venezuela’s economic controls.
The party then suspended a director who backed Giordani’s departing criticism of Maduro for failing to stem multi-billion-dollar fraud with the currency controls.
Despite that high-profile affair and the grumbling at grassroots level, there was no sign of a revolt at the carefully-choreographed party congress.
CHAVEZ NAMED ‘ETERNAL LEADER’
A low turnout at delegate elections favored cabinet-backed candidates with superior mobilizing capacity.
The delegates’ first move was to name Chavez their “eternal leader” and Maduro the new party president. “He has shown himself to be a worthy son of Chavez,” the resolution said.
The meeting included lengthy tributes to the deceased Chavez. Maduro wiped away tears when a recording of Chavez singing the national anthem was played.
Veteran Venezuela analyst David Smilde of Tulane University said the government had managed to “domesticate” the high-profile congress but divisions would not go away.
“They are going to sidestep the difficult questions. Then in August they will do what they have to. What they have in mind is slow change, like turning a big ship,” he said.
Maduro’s vice-president for economy, Rafael Ramirez, has said the three currency control levels will likely be unified.
That would effectively bring a devaluation, create further price pressure, and risk more ire from grassroots party hardliners who do not want to see Chavez’s model changed.
Then there is the hugely sensitive move to raise gasoline prices that are currently the cheapest in the world.
Officials have for months been trying to prepare Venezuelans to pay more for fuel, and the government could do with the extra revenue, but they seem to be baulking at passing the measure due to the risk of social unrest.
LICKING WOUNDS
“Of course there are problems. But how many more were there in 1998?” said Socialist Party vice-president Diosdado Cabello, listing welfare advances, from literacy campaigns to wider pension coverage, in the 15 years since Chavez won power.
Venezuela’s opposition parties, meanwhile, are licking their wounds after traumatic events earlier this year when hardline leaders spurred three months of street protests and barricades that led to 43 deaths in daily clashes between demonstrators, government supporters and security forces.
The unrest shook but failed to topple the government, and split the opposition between radicals and moderates, leaving the Democratic Unity coalition as fissured as the government.
That is a relief to Maduro, who only narrowly beat the coalition’s candidate Henrique Capriles in last year’s election to replace Chavez. Maduro’s term lasts until 2018.
“Enough of childish fights,” said Roberto Enriquez, head of opposition party Copei. “Changes are coming to Venezuela, it’s not the time for personal projects but for unity.”
Venezuela’s poor failed to join this year’s protests that were largely a student and middle-class affair. And while slum-dwellers are often critical of the Maduro government, they do not seem ready to throw their support behind his foes. |
Environment Canada says two fall storms will bring rain events to B.C. this week, with a third system on the horizon.
A special weather statement was issued Monday morning, warning of heavy downpours bringing 50-70 mm of rain, particularly overnight and into Tuesday morning for Metro Vancouver, the North Shore and Sea to Sky regions.
"This is a very active pattern ... residents should be prepared for localized flooding and pooling of water," said Environment Canada meteorologist Philippe-Alain Bergeron.
The central coast's coastal and inland sections will be hit with the same system, and the special weather statement also extends to Vancouver Island .
Wilder weather for B.C.'s interior
Special weather alerts were also issued for B.C.'s interior, with strong wind gusts expected Tuesday morning.
"There is also potential for a squall line to develop with intense thunderstorms. Strong gusty winds, frequent lightning and heavy showers, possibly mixed with flurries, can all be expected with the passage of the squall line," said Environment Canada's statement.
"Challenging driving conditions are expected over Rogers Pass with the possibility that heavy flurries and strong winds could reduce visibility to near zero."
Bigger storms coming Wednesday
The rain is expected to taper off Tuesday morning, and the skies will likely clear — but a more powerful system is expected to hit mid-week.
"Our main concern for the South Coast is a stronger storm coming on Wednesday with very significant rain and winds," said Bergeron.
Strong winds from both storms are expected to bring down leaves, and residents are reminded to keep storm sewers clear to prevent flooding.
Don't put the umbrellas away yet
The weather patterns aren't expected to let up any time soon, however.
Bergeron said while it's too soon to predict the severity, another system is expected to hit next weekend, bringing cooler temperatures and snow accumulation in higher elevations. |
I hate being a guy sometimes. Don’t get me wrong: I’m comfortable in my skin and happy with the way God and/or genetics created me…outside of the fact that I am a complete weakling prone to being knocked over by a moderate breeze. But sometimes dudes do and say really stupid things and this can’t help but drag the rest of us down in a guilt-by-association sort of way. Allow me to say that this season of Survivor has made me really bummed out to be a male, because so many of these Worlds Apart men have been downright horrible when it comes to speaking to and about women.
Max’s comment about appreciating strong women seems like a lifetime ago when matched up against the transgressions of his fellow male castmates. First we had Rodney offering his warped view about how “girls need to hold themselves to a higher standard than guys” and “I’m just stating facts that women disrespect themselves.” Later, Mike explained to Dan that “My personal experience with women? They don’t want the explanation. They just want you to say you’re sorry so they can say they were right.” (Dismissive, much?) Dan has made talking down to females a full-time job, going out of his way to belittle Sierra and Shirin to their faces, and then—in the case of Shirin—thinking it was cool to advocate hitting a woman by saying “somebody slap this woman. For the love of God just slap her and shut her up already.”
Then we got to Will’s explosion last week, where he told Shirin, “I guarantee you there is no one at home in the United States that is missing you. We all have loved ones that love and care for us. You have nothing. You have no family. You have nothing.” See! Guys suck! But wait! It looks like Dan is about to apologize to Shirin. He’s going to show us another side of himself—prove that things can be said in the heat of the moment that he does not really believe, and tell us all how his mistake has made him grow as a person. Okay, here he goes—and right at the top of this week’s episode, no less: “For what it’s worth—I’m really sorry about what happened last night at Tribal.”
Okay, well, technically that was not apologizing for anything he did but rather apologizing for Will, but still, it’s progress. Oh, look! Now he’s talking to us in a confessional. Let’s see what he has to add to that: “Apparently there is violence in her history. If that’s the case, I feel very bad for her.” Again, okay, we’re taking baby steps here. He is expressing sympathy for her situation. That’s a start. Let’s find out what else he has to say. “However…” WAIT, WHAT DO YOU MEAN HOWEVER?!? THERE’S NO HOWEVER! AND WHY IS THE BACKGROUND MUSIC SUDDENLY CHANGING FROM INSPIRING TO CREEPY AND EVIL? WHAT’S WITH THE CREEPY, EVIL MUSIC? DON’T DO IT, DAN! DON’T DO IT!!! “…that being said—Shirin is a drama queen. She is a two-faced liar. She loooooves to play the victim. For Shirin to say that Will is worse than her—that’s hypocritical. Did he go overboard? From what I heard, yes, he did. But when she’s calling him names, when she has no gratitude or appreciation—I ‘d call that karma.”
Crap. What’s with the blame-the-victim she-was-asking-for-it nonsense? Like I said, being a guy sucks. Because, apparently judging by this season’s cast… all guys suck! Okay, that’s an exaggeration. There have been fellas like Max, Joe, and Tyler who all appear to be fine, upstanding gentlemen. And while I will not go so far as to excuse Mike’s unfortunate comment about how women like to be apologized to, that is miles away from the other examples and I do get the sense that he is a generally good dude. But how you feel about all this man-on-woman smack talk (and talk about smacking) may very well determine how you feel about this entire season of Survivor.
Jeff Probst told me before the season began that this might be his favorite cast of all-time. That is a huuuuuge statement to make when you look back at some of the stunning seasons that preceded it. And that statement has struck many as off the mark considering all the ugliness that has transpired in season 30. Many of you in the comments have described this as one of the most unlikable if not the most unlikable cast ever. I’ve seen people complain that there is nobody to root for, which is certainly a problem when you have this many people left.
NEXT: Give ‘em enough rope… that they don’t actually need
Next ( 1 of 6 ) |
Nothing Says “Rockin’ In The Free World” Like A “Neil Young Night” In A West Bank Settlement
What is it about Israeli settlers and (not very good) rock and roll?
First we had evangelical presidential failure Mike Huckabee slapping the bass in Psagot. Then came everyones favorite occupation warbler, who took a hatchet to Miley Cyrus’ already mediocre catalog, and now this: A “Neil Young” night in the West Bank settlement of Efrat.
The concert actually took place few months ago, but this video was only recently excavated by IVN.
Now look, I’m not a huge Neil Young fan (read: actively dislike him) but if he is your cup of tea, I don’t think you’ll find the covers in and of themselves to be all that bad. The full setlist reads like a “greatest hits” collection, including tracks like “Helpless” and Young’s classic protest song “Ohio.” That said, let’s backtrack a second and realize what we’re watching here:
Israeli settlers singing American, Vietnam-era, protest songs, written by a Canadian, in occupied Palestinian territory.
Huh.
So keep on rockin’ in that free world, Israeli settlers! I’m sure all your neighbors think you have a heart of gold.
[via, cover image via youtube] |
Does anything else in the U.S. economy rival housing as a source of job creation? Well, there's also the military buildup. The Economic Policy Institute estimates that increased military spending over the past four years has created 1.3 million private-sector jobs.
And, yes, there are the Bush tax cuts, which the administration insists are the source of everything good in the economy. And it's true that some portion of the tax cuts, which amounted to $225 billion this year, must have been spent in ways that created jobs. Given reasonable estimates of the effect of tax cuts on spending, however, they were probably a smaller force for job creation than the military buildup, and dwarfed by the housing boom.
So it's an economy driven by real estate. What's wrong with that?
One answer is that it has been a pretty disappointing recovery. Two new reports, one from the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities and one from the Congressional Budget Office, compare the current economic expansion with other postwar recoveries. By any measure except corporate profits, which have done very well, this one comes up short.
Even the good months would have been considered subpar in the past: the administration hailed last month's job growth as something wondrous to behold, yet there were 68 months during the Clinton years when employment grew faster.
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Still, the economy is expanding. But because that expansion depends so much on real estate -- without the housing boom, the economic picture would look dismal indeed -- you have to wonder how much to trust it.
I've written before about the reasons to believe that current house prices in much of the country represent a bubble. When that bubble begins to deflate, so will housing-related employment.
Beyond that, there's the disturbing point that we're paying for the housing boom (and the military buildup and tax cuts) with money borrowed from foreigners.
Now, any economics textbook will tell you that it's fine to borrow from abroad if the money is used to expand the economy's productive capacity. When 19th-century America borrowed from Europe to build railroads, it was also enhancing its ability to repay its debts later. But we aren't borrowing to build productive capacity. As a share of G.D.P., investment other than housing construction is below its average between 1980 and 2000, and way below its level at the end of the 1990's.
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In other words, a fuller answer to my former neighbor would be that these days, Americans make a living selling each other houses, paid for with money borrowed from the Chinese. Somehow, that doesn't seem like a sustainable lifestyle.
How solid, then, is America's economic recovery? The British have a phrase that applies: "safe as houses." Our economy is as safe as houses. Unfortunately, given current prices and our dependence on foreign lenders, houses aren't safe at all.
Op-Ed Columnist E-mail: krugman@nytimes.com |
Marreese Speights is finally heading home.
After playing for five NBA teams in nine years – the Philadelphia 76ers, Memphis Grizzlies, Cleveland Cavaliers, Golden State Warriors and Los Angeles Clippers – the Florida native signed with the Orlando Magic this summer.
Speights was born and raised in St. Petersburg, FL, playing the majority of his high school ball at Gibbs High School and Admiral Farragut Academy. He decided to stay close to home when making his college decision, committing to the University of Florida. As a freshman with the Gators, he won an NCAA championship and played alongside future NBA All-Stars Al Horford and Joakim Noah in a loaded frontcourt. He broke out as a sophomore – averaging 14.5 points, 8.1 rebounds and 1.4 blocks – so the 76ers made him the 16th overall pick in the 2008 NBA Draft.
The thought of playing for one of Florida’s NBA teams at some point was always in the back of his mind. While he enjoyed his other stints around the NBA – particularly when he hoisted the Larry O’Brien trophy with the Warriors during the 2014-15 season – he’s ecstatic to be joining the Magic. He rooted for Orlando growing up and he’ll be near his family and friends for much of the year.
“Playing for the Magic has always been a dream of mine,” Speights told HoopsHype. “The arena is an hour and 20 minutes from my house in St. Pete. I grew up watching them; I became a big fan of them as a kid and that’s when I fell in love with the game. I’ve always wanted to play for the Magic. This is a dream come true.
“All of my family in Florida are going crazy and they have the city buzzing. I’ve never felt like this before in all my years playing in the NBA, so it’s going to be good. My family is so excited and my wife’s family is so excited. I have a lot of family in North Florida – people from Gainesville to Lake City to Jacksonville to Live Oak to Marianna – who never had a chance to come to one of my NBA games before, so they’re really excited to come see me play in person.”
Speights averaged just 15.7 minutes per game in the Clippers’ crowded frontcourt last season, but he played well in his limited minutes. He put up 8.7 points and 4.5 rebounds, while shooting 44.5 percent from the field, 37.2 percent from three-point range and 87.6 percent from the free-throw line. Per-36-minutes, those stats translate to 19.9 points, 10.4 rebounds, 1.8 assists and 1.1 blocks.
Speights had to settle for a one-year deal worth the veteran’s minimum with the Magic, but if he emerges as a leader for this squad and produces when given playing time, he could ink a more lucrative deal next offseason when he will be an unrestricted free agent again.
“It was a weird free agency period,” Speights said. “As you know, the money kind of dried up, especially for backup big men. So for me, I figured if I’m going to play on a minimum deal, which is what I got, I might as well play for Orlando! This allows me to be close to home and around my family. I also feel like there’s an opportunity to play and contribute in Orlando. I’m not exactly sure what my role is going to be yet – I can only control what I can control – but I’m going to do whatever I can to help this team. That’s my mindset entering training camp and the season. It’s on the coaching staff to determine my role. But I love to hoop, so I’ll enjoy every minute I’m out there.”
Ever since Dwight Howard’s ugly exit from the Magic in 2012, the organization has tried to assemble a young core and surround that group of up-and-comers with quality veterans. Orlando has brought in a long list of experienced players, hoping they’d serve as strong leaders and help the Magic become more competitive. Orlando is in the midst of a five-year playoff drought and they’re 132-278 over that span.
This offseason, Orlando’s revamped front office – led by president of basketball operations Jeff Weltman and general manager John Hammond – brought in a new group of veterans to surround the Magic’s young core, which features under-24 players Aaron Gordon, Jonathan Isaac, Elfrid Payton, Evan Fournier, Bismack Biyombo and Mario Hezonja. This summer’s veteran additions were Speights, Afflalo (who re-joined Orlando on a one-year, minimum deal), Jonathan Simmons and Shelvin Mack – with DJ Augustin and Terrence Ross returning after being acquired last year.
The Magic are hoping this is the season when everything will come together for their squad. Head coach Frank Vogel is entering his second year with the team, some of the youngsters seem like they could be poised to break out, the supporting cast has quite a few talented pieces and a playoff seed in the top-heavy Eastern Conference seems more obtainable than in past years.
Landing Speights on a $1,471,382 contract is a steal for Orlando. The talented stretch-four will certainly help the Magic as they try to develop a winning culture. As a key contributor on the Warriors for three seasons, he saw exactly what it took behind the scenes to go from being a team that was eliminated in the first round of the 2013-14 postseason to an absolute juggernaut that won the championship in 2014-15 and then rattled off an NBA-record 73 victories the following season (although they lost to the Cleveland Cavaliers in the NBA Finals rematch).
Speights has qualified for the playoffs in seven of his nine NBA seasons. He is one of only four active players who’s won both an NCAA title and NBA championship – with the others being Memphis Grizzlies point guard Mario Chalmers, San Antonio Spurs shooting guard Danny Green and Los Angeles Lakers shooting guard Corey Brewer.
“I’ve learned what it takes to win in this league over time based on the different experiences I’ve had,” Speights said. “I think the biggest thing I’ve seen is that the more time you spend around each other, the more comfortable you get on the court together. The more team-bonding events you do, the better. Those bring you closer as a team and they help you when you step onto the court together. I’ll definitely try to get the guys together on road trips and even get guys together when we’re home. I’ll be planning different events for the group. That kind of stuff really helps the team.
“I’m also going to tell the young guys, ‘If you want to win, if you want to make the playoffs, you have to sacrifice.’ And when I say sacrifice, that may mean different things for different players, but everyone has to sacrifice in some way. Whether it’s not playing one night or not getting the last shot or whatever, everyone has to make sacrifices and prioritize winning. Everyone needs to be thinking, ‘I’ll make sacrifices and do whatever I can to make sure our team wins.’ Once you start doing that kind of stuff and thinking that way, you start winning more games. And then once you get a taste of winning, you realize it’s the most important thing.”
One such team-bonding event takes place this week. Nearly every Magic player is traveling to Los Angeles to work out together and build chemistry. Orlando’s younger players are excited to work with Speights and pick his brain.
“His championship insight and leadership is definitely something we can use,” Payton told HoopsHype.
Last season, it only took a .500 record to qualify for the postseason in the East. This year, it may be even easier to snag one of the final playoff seeds since several All-Stars like Paul George, Jimmy Butler and Paul Millsap each left their respective lower-tier playoff team to play in the Western Conference. This presents a great opportunity for an up-and-coming team like Orlando and Speights believes making the playoffs is a realistic goal for the 2017-18 campaign.
“I’m just going to stress the importance of getting better every single day. We control our effort and we control whether we put in the work to get better each day. If we handle our business, [making] the playoffs will be easy,” Speights said. “That starts this week in Los Angeles, working hard together and developing those strong bonds during our workouts. Then, that will help us going into training camp. Then, we’ll have a strong camp and keep building those relationships. That’s the kind of stuff that helps you have a strong start to the season. You see what I mean? Winning doesn’t happen overnight; it’s a process. Everybody has to buy in, which means working hard, listening to the coaches and making sacrifices to win. If we do those things, we could easily make a run for the playoffs. Easily. With the team we have and these young guys being a year older? Easily.”
Make no mistake, Speights wasn’t brought to Orlando solely to be a strong locker room presence. He can also contribute at a high level and he’s a perfect fit for this team since their biggest weakness is their shooting. Last season, Orlando ranked second-to-last in the NBA in field goal percentage (44 percent), three-point percentage (32.8 percent), effective field goal percentage (48.9 percent) and true shooting percentage (52.4 percent).
Speights, who shot 37.2 percent from three-point range last year with the Clippers, could be a key part of the Magic’s supporting cast. Last season, he ranked ninth among power forwards in three-point percentage (37.2) and 11th in total three-pointers made (103, despite averaging 15.7 minutes).
“He’ll be a great fit with our team,” Payton said of Speights. “He’ll be able to knock down threes and he’ll space the floor, which will create driving lanes for me and others.”
“I feel like I can help the team a lot,” Speights said. “I know I can help on the court and off the court. I’m open-minded [entering this situation]. I’ve put in a lot of work this summer and I’m going to keep putting a lot of work in moving forward. I’m going to be prepared to play whatever role is asked of me.”
While Speights has embraced a reserve role throughout his career, he admits that he does feel a bit underrated at times. He feels there’s more to his game than what he’s been able to show as a bench player.
“I feel underrated because I know what kind of player I am and what I could do if put in the right situation,” Speights said. “I know what I could do if given the right opportunity. Say I was given a chance to start; I think I’ve shown what I can do, putting up good numbers when I have gotten the chance to play in the starting lineup. Last season, I made 103 three-pointers in about 15 minutes a night. You don’t see other people doing that, so that’s where I do think I’m underrated a little bit. You know what I’m saying?
“But it honestly doesn’t bother me. I don’t have a chip on my shoulder or anything like that. I just love playing basketball and as long as I’m able to keep doing that, I’ll be happy. I’m about to enter my 10th season in the NBA. I’m fine being underrated and people can view me however they want; I’m still here in the league after 10 seasons! I get to do the thing that I love every day, so I’m not complaining. I can’t control how people view me or rate me, so I just go out there and play my game.”
With Orlando desperate for shooting and Speights looking for an opportunity to showcase his game, this marriage seems like it could work really well for everyone involved. |
Why has the concern of women…getting Big and Bulky from weight training…been largely ignored by trainers?
Women are told…”You don’t have to worry about putting on as much muscle as a man and bulking up, because you have much less testosterone than a man.”
So why do I hear these complaints from women on a regular basis?
Perhaps Countless Women Around the World Are Simply Imagining Things!
-OR- maybe they should get used to having a little more muscle than what they want.
After all , their personal trainer tells them that fit women should look muscular.
…But what if a she doesn’t want “ripped deltoids”?
What if she doesn’t want a “V” shaped back?
What if she wants to be fit, but still look stunning in a dress?
There is Nothing Wrong With Wanting to be Fit While Still Looking 100% Feminine.
I can show you exactly how to get in tremendous shape, look and feel better than ever, without adding excess muscle. Over the past 10 years, I’ve mastered the technique of “slightly increasing muscle tone” to a body part while “decreasing the size” of that same body part.
This is NOT your typical high-rep for muscle tone type advice.
This is NOT “cookie cutter” fitness info.
This is NOT mainstream!
Who the heck am I and why would you want to listen to me -vs- the typical fitness info?
If I was in your position I’d be thinking the same thing right about now…
My Name is Rusty Moore: I’ve been a fitness author the past few years as well as a devoted gym member for 24+ years.
Unfortunately after 12 years of training, I looked a bit like a “gym guy”. Although I wasn’t as big as a pro bodybuilder, it was blatantly obvious that I trained all the time.
My legs became so big that I could only fit into over-sized baggy jeans and I was no longer able to fit into nice dress pants.
I never had the intentions of looking like a typical overly-muscular and bulky “Gym Guy”.
I wanted to have a decent amount of muscle while still being able to look “GQ”. At around that same time (in 1999), I saw the movie Fight Club. I was impressed by how Brad Pitt was in outstanding shape, while still being able to look hip and stylish in his regular clothes.
It took me from 1999-2001 to get the look I desired.
In roughly a year and a half I accomplished the goal of leaning down. It took me a long time, because there wasn’t any mainstream literature on losing muscle mass on purpose. From 2001 going forward I perfected the technique of getting lean without adding excessive size. Guys were coming up to me on a regular basis and asking for workout advice. I would do my best to explain the concepts, but it was hard to do in a simple 10 minute conversation.
In 2007 I Decided to Start a Blog About Getting the Lean “Hollywood Look”.
getting fit and toned without adding additional size
Their thoughts…“who in their right mind wouldn’t want to get as big as possible?”
I knew for a fact that there was a LARGE group of men and women who wanted to get lean without having the physique of a typical “gym person”…but I was NOT ready for how big the demand was for this information!
Within a Short Time My Little Blog Was Getting Staggering Amounts of Traffic.
It hit over 3 million visitors in its 2nd full year and pushing into the 5 million visitor per year range, this year. This was not due to me simply writing articles about my methods…
(I just happened to be the first person to get the ball rolling on this sizzling-hot topic.)
This site has become a massive entity & mastermind about the lean Hollywood Look.
It has grown WAY beyond what I have contributed. Information pours in at a fast rate…Last time I checked, the blog has received 20,000+ comments (all of them manually approved by me).
I believe that this blog has become the largest resource online devoted to this topic.
(Again…this isn’t about what I have done…I just got things started.)
Scattered over the 300+ posts, 20,000+ comments, and 4 years of conversations I’ve had with the top minds in the industry…is a massive amount of cutting-edge information. In 4 years, I have absorbed an almost unreal amount of information about getting a lean and sleek physique.
So after 4 years running the #1 resource online for getting the lean Hollywood Look
…I wanted to take all of the cutting-edge information and collective knowledge gathered by this large mastermind group…and compile and it into the ultimate workout routine for women.
Introducing the First Comprehensive Women’s Course…100% Targeted to Getting the Slim, Fit and Feminine Physique!
Some Highlights From the 89 Page – Visual Impact for Women (Main Manual)
A recent study which shows that Training to Failure , regardless of rep range, can lead to an Increase in Muscle Size.
, regardless of rep range, can lead to an High Rep Training is likely to create “a pump” in the muscles. This is great for developing Large VASCULAR Muscles <— is that what you are aiming for?
<— Why Adding Muscle to Burn Body Fat is a backward approach to getting lean… What to do instead .
is a backward approach to getting lean… . Although CARDIO is getting slammed by the fitness industry , it is still the “Go-To” Fat Loss Method for celebrities who need to get lean in a hurry.
, it is still the for celebrities who need to get lean in a hurry. A Dieting Approach that works FLAWLESSLY, whether you like to eat 1-2 times per day…or over 6 times per day .
that works FLAWLESSLY, whether you like to eat . Lifting with Lower Reps, short-of-failure …not only avoids” the pump”…it is the Best Way to firm up a muscle WITHOUT adding size to that muscle.
…not only avoids” the pump”…it is the Best Way to firm up a muscle adding size to that muscle. Why Increasing Tension when lifting —>Will Increase Muscle TONE…& Increasing Fatigue when lifting —>Will Increase Muscle SIZE.
when lifting —>Will Increase Muscle TONE…& when lifting —>Will Increase Muscle SIZE. How to strategically combine High Intensity Interval Training with “ Steady State Cardio “…to predictably Burn Body Fat on Demand.
with “ “…to predictably Burn Body Fat on Demand. The difference between Primary Cardio Machines and Secondary Cardio Machines…the ideal Cardio Routine should include both types.
Free Weights, Machines, Your Body Weight, or Resistance Bands can all provide a fantastic workout, if you have the proper Workout Design.
can all provide a fantastic workout, if you have the proper Workout Design. How focusing on a Weekly Calorie Deficit not Daily Calories allows you to lose weight while mixing in High Calorie Meals on a regular basis.
a not allows you to lose weight while mixing in High Calorie Meals on a regular basis. A study which PROVES that skipping meals will NOT slow your metabolism <—and a study which shows benefits of occasional fasts.
<—and a study which shows benefits of occasional fasts. “Dieting for an Event”…a Detailed aggressive Diet Plan for Losing 10-12 Pounds (or More) in 2 Weeks . WARNING …this is effective but tough!
. …this is effective but tough! A “Go-To” 4 Day Per Week Workout for the Slim “Hollywood Look” . (This is the routine that both me & my girlfriend use most of the year.)
. (This is the routine that both me & my girlfriend use most of the year.) A Special “3-Day-Per-Week” Workout Routine … for women who are busy or simply like to workout a little less than 4 times per week.
… or simply like to workout a little less than 4 times per week. How to Tweak and Customize these to create countess variations and create the PERFECT routine for the exact look you are after.
these to create countess variations and create the PERFECT routine for the exact look you are after. How to Lose Muscle Mass on Purpose if you have an overdeveloped body part.
if you have an overdeveloped body part. …and MUCH more!
My Goal is For You to Learn & Master the Skill of Creating the Precise Look You Desire.
Although I lay out detailed workout routines that you can follow to the “T”…my goal is to teach you how to analyze and adapt your routine as your body changes.
I Actually Encourage You to Change and Personalize These Routines!
This isn’t just about blindly following the routines in this manual. I want to help you become your own ultimate personal trainer. Once you understand how everything fits together, you will be able to tweak these routines to perfection. This manual is meant to empower you.
These workouts can be done in a gym setting…or your can Train from Home.
I have designed the Home Workout Routines to be done 100% with 1 set of Adjustable Dumbbells + 1 Adjustable Bench. This is all you need for a complete home gym.
The Gym Routines will make use of more pieces of equipment.
If you do have a gym membership, the sky is the limit on equipment. I give you exercise “suggestions”…but you can make use of whatever extravagant equipment your gym offers!
A Commercial Gym will also give you much more options in the way of cardio equipment.
I do have several suggestions of how to do cardio outside, but it is hard to beat the selection of cardio machines that a commercial gym offers. If money isn’t an issue, a treadmill for the home is money well-spent.
And to make sure you become a Cardio Ninja Master…
Fat Torching Cardio – A 12 Week Advanced “Progressive Cardio” Program…Helping You to Burn as Much Body Fat As You Desire .
Some Highlights from the 12 Week – Fat Torching Cardio Program
Why Cardio Machines allow you to adjust and fine-tune intensity levels in a way that can NOT be accomplished with most forms of circuit training.
in a way that can NOT be accomplished with most forms of circuit training. How Performing High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) in a fasted state, will increase your body’s release of its natural Fat Burning Homone .
. Adjusting the Work-to-Rest Ratio to ensure your body doesn’t adapt to your Interval Cardio Routine.
to ensure your body doesn’t adapt to your Interval Cardio Routine. A Type of “Aerobic Interval” which increases your VO2 Max …Making your body more efficient at burning fat regardless of the activity.
…Making your body more regardless of the activity. Adjusting the Work-to-Rest Ratio of Intervals to either focus more on Oxygen Debt or more on HGH Release (and what this means to you).
or more on (and what this means to you). A BRUTAL Pyramid Interval Routine to use, if you have a StepMill machine in your gym. This one Increases Aerobic Capacity in a big way!
to use, if you have a StepMill machine in your gym. This one in a big way! Why adding Steady State Cardio after HIIT is a way to take advantage of a limited Fat Burning ‘Window of Opportunity’ .
after HIIT is a way to take advantage of a limited . 4 Progressively Tougher Versions of HIIT…3 Progressive “Hybrid Cardio” Routines <— for Greater Fat Burning as you become more Advanced.
as you become more Advanced. …you will Quickly become the Cardio Expert in your gym!
You Will Be Able to Systematically and Predictably Drop Body Fat on Demand .
There’s a reason that the actresses in Hollywood use cardio to get ready for Movie roles.
Cardio is one of the few things that can be increased to a large degree. Cardio is the only variable in the weight loss equation that you can increase when everything else is “maxed out”.
You can only reduce the calories so much before your become malnourished.
You can only lift weight so much before your body becomes broken down.
You can only do circuits so many times before you become over-trained.
When preparing for movie roles, actors and actresses have been known to use 2-3 hour sessions of cardio each day to get lean in a hurry <—However I’m NOT saying that is ideal!
Fat Torching Cardio – is a much more efficient approach.
There shouldn’t be any reason to do hours of cardio each day. This is why cardio is criticized so hard by the fitness industry right now. “Traditional Cardio” takes up a lot of time! The approach I teach you is much more effective than traditional cardio.
I’ve Also Included a Detailed 229 Page Exercise Demonstration Manual .
Since I encourage using a variety of exercises, I felt the need to include this ebook.
This the same ebook that I created for my men’s course, Visual Impact Muscle Building. It is a monster ebook that will give you a bunch of ideas on different ways you can work each body part.
This ebook also has “Clickable Navigation”
So you don’t have to scroll through hundreds of pages…it has a way for you to quickly navigate from the front page, to exercise selections broken down by body part. It also has the workout routines broken down by exercise and you simply click on the particular exercise you want to research.
Bottom line…this is a very user-friendly and useful resource!
Finally, You Will Get Printable Workout Charts for All of The Workout Routines.
This is simple a “no-frills” printable workout book.
Each individual workout routine is listed on its own dedicated page. This way you will simply need to print out one page at a time (to save ink and paper). This one is keep minimalistic on purpose.
After a short time, you will memorize each workout routine.
The idea is to internalize exactly what you need to do and memorize your workouts. My best guess is that you will only need to bring this chart with you the first 2-3 weeks after starting your new workout routine.
I Decided to Price This Comprehensive Women’s Course for Less Than the Cost of 1 Single Session With the Average Personal Trainer.
I was contemplating charging $77 because this course wound up being significantly larger than my men’s course…but I didn’t think it would be fair to charge more for the women’s course.
I decided on ONE single payment of $47.
This is slightly less than $50…which happens to be a typical rate for the average personal trainer.
I did this on purpose, because Visual Impact for Women…was formed on the collective knowledge of hundreds…if not thousands of people.
What you gain here “SMOKES” – 1 hour spent with even the best personal trainer!
I am NOT saying that to be mean or put down personal trainers AT ALL…Heck, it would take me at least 3-4 hours to teach you all of these principles in person and I live and breath this info.
Anyway…
This course was a long-time in the making & I’m Super-Proud of how it turned out.
…and I honestly think you will Dig It!
Click The Add to Cart Button below to place your secure order.
Visual Impact for Women…where I’ll receive INSTANT access to the first comprehensive women’s course…100% dedicated to the slim and lean, feminine physique . …where I’ll receive INSTANT access to the first comprehensive women’s course…100% dedicated to the I also understand that for this one low price of $47, I will get
LIFETIME free upgrades. Every time a new version of this
course comes out, I will get the newest version free of charge. AND I understand that this investment is backed by a no quibble,
no questions asked 60 guarantee…if I don’t feel I have received
true value and am well on the way to making dramatic
improvements in my physique, I will receive all my money back. On that basis I’m ready to begin my training by clicking the
‘Add To Cart’ button below… $47
Note: This is a downloadable program. You will NOT receive a physical package shipped to you in the mail. The entire package will be immediately available for you to download and get started right away after ordering. This program is NOT available in stores, so you can only access it through this website.
Here’s to getting a slim, fit and feminine physique! |
DEEP in the jungles of Myanmar there is a camp stocked with guns, maps and medical supplies. Medics and former rebels regularly practise dodging bullets on its flat exercise ground. Then they dust themselves off and kick a ball at makeshift bamboo goals. The communication difficulties attendant on the aftermath of civil conflict mean they may not have seen Real Madrid win the European Champions League last month. But they know how its famed Portuguese winger, Cristiano Ronaldo, stands over a free kick.
An interest in getting a ball to some sort of goal, by one means or another, over the opposition of another team has been shown by all sorts of cultures throughout history. But the particular version codified in Britain in the 19th century, which ruled out moving the ball with hands or anything held in them, quickly won the hearts and feet of industrialising Europe and many of its colonies, current and former. Simple rules (offside provisions notwithstanding) and no need for equipment, apart from whatever might pass for a ball, have allowed the game to flourish in the favelas of Brazil, the shanty towns of South Africa and the jungles of Myanmar. The notorious corruption of the sport’s governing body, FIFA (see article) has not stopped it enrolling more members (209) than the United Nations (193). In 2006 FIFA estimated that the game’s players, both serious and casual, totalled 300m.
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The world does not just play football—it watches it, bets on it, argues about it and spends money on it. The English Premier League (EPL) is broadcast in 212 territories, reaching 643m homes. Brand Finance, a consultancy, values Bayern Munich’s brand at $900m. The world’s 20 richest clubs made €5.4 billion ($7.4 billion) during the 2012-13 season, according to Deloitte, another consultancy. People do not just write books about the game, they write books about how it illuminates all manner of other things, such as “How Soccer Explains the World” by Franklin Foer, or “Futebol Nation”, a study of Brazil by David Goldblatt (see review). Such broad thinking might seem ambitious. But then half of mankind is expected to watch at least some of the World Cup, which begins in São Paulo on June 12th.
The balls less kicked
The sport’s global dominance is unprecedented—and all the more remarkable given that, of the four countries in the world larger than Brazil, only one, America, qualified to be among the 32 countries to send a team there. For various reasons, football is a much lesser preoccupation in the world’s giant countries than elsewhere.
Though its presence in Brazil shows that America fields a decent national team, there are a number of other sports its citizens pay greater heed to; in India there is another sport so deep in the national psyche that football seems hardly to get a look in. In China and Indonesia football teams from other countries have devoted followings, but the national teams are pretty poor. Neither Indonesia nor India has travelled to the World Cup’s finals in the competition’s 84-year history; China did once, in 2002, but failed to win any games, or indeed score any goals. How can football be the world’s game if nearly half the world hardly plays it?
Exceptions on this scale stand as something of a rebuke to football fans’ declarations of their sport’s planet-encompassing importance. They also show that football has the potential to get even bigger. These countries are “just starting to switch on” to the game, says Simon Kuper, the co-author of “Soccernomics”, a statistical analysis of football. European clubs—the richest and most popular in the world—see lots of potential for growth in the big markets of Asia and have increased their missionary work there. American, Chinese and Indian domestic leagues have seen an influx of cash and have improved as a result.
These various indicators have many in the footballing establishment hoping that the hold-out nations will soon join the football-mad small fry. Sceptics are entitled to a sense of déjà vu. Football has been poised to take off in these places before, only for the rocket to stall on the pad or fall back to Earth in flames. But a mixture of market opportunities, new approaches and demography means that football looks more likely than ever before to conquer the places it has passed by.
In America, the beachhead is well established. On the day of a football match, being in Seattle is like being in another country, says Clint Dempsey, a forward with the Seattle Sounders who is also the captain of America’s national men’s team. The Sounders’ fans meet in the heart of the city an hour and a half before kick off and march to the stadium with their scarves held high and flares alight. A 53-member marching band leads the way. Mr Goldblatt compares Sounders fans to the ultras, Italy’s fanatical football supporters—but though they have borrowed some traditions from European football culture, they also created their own. If ever there was a sign that football is taking off in America, this is it, says Mr Goldblatt.
Americans have heard this before. The first purported turning-point for football in America came in 1975, when the New York Cosmos signed Pelé. Though the Brazilian legend raised the profile of the game, the North American Soccer League in which the Cosmos played folded ten years later. When America hosted the World Cup in 1994, it was again thought that football was on the up. But Major League Soccer (MLS), the country’s professional league, failed to build on the momentum; a few years later it nearly went bust. Other dramatic developments—America reaching the quarter-finals of the World Cup in 2002, David Beckham signing with the Los Angeles Galaxy in 2007, Landon Donovan’s miraculous last-minute goal against Algeria in 2010—were heralded as game-changers. The games Americans showed most interest in, though, did not seem to change.
Songs in the street
Football’s critics took all this as evidence that America would never embrace such a low-scoring game with few statistics to fuel fantasy leagues. Youngsters of both sexes might play football in large numbers, and the women’s game (at which America excels) would occasionally capture the nation’s attention, but there was no way football could challenge America’s four major team sports—baseball, basketball, ice hockey and American football. And yet, without making any single dramatic breakthrough, football has surreptitiously entered the mainstream.
Teams that once played in near-empty American-football stadiums now boast arenas designed for football and frequently full. Average attendance, though down last year, has risen to 18,600 per match, which puts MLS ahead of both the National Basketball Association (NBA) and National Hockey League (which play more games). According to Forbes magazine, the average MLS franchise is now worth $103m, up more than 175% over the past five years. The league had 13 clubs in 2007; next year it will have 21, including a new club in New York. The improved MLS has lured America’s best players, like Mr Dempsey and Michael Bradley, back from the European leagues. There are ten players from MLS teams in this year’s American squad; there were just four in 2010.
Last month MLS signed a new eight-year deal, estimated to be worth $90m per season, that will see more of its games broadcast on more television channels. In 2012 NBCUniversal, a television and film company, paid $250m for the rights to broadcast the games of the EPL for three years. The previous three-year contract had gone for under $70m. Over 30m Americans tuned in to EPL matches this season, more than double the number that watched the previous one. Kevin Alavy of Futures Sport + Entertainment, a consultancy, expects America to come third, behind Brazil and Germany, in terms of World Cup viewers this year (being in the right set of time zones is a big help).
Digital technologies allow America’s fans to keep up with foreign leagues even when television takes no interest. Stephen Nuttall, senior director for sport at YouTube, says 300 of the world’s top football clubs run official channels on the site. That may not matter much to the older, more sofa-bound sports fan; but football’s American fans are much more likely to be young. Rich Luker, a pollster, says football is second only to American football in its popularity with Americans between the ages of 12 and 24 (and concerns about head injuries have an increasing number of parents holding their children out of that sport). Mr Luker notes that two international footballers—Mr Ronaldo and Lionel Messi, an Argentine who plays for Barcelona—rank among the ten most popular athletes for Americans under the age of 34.
Olé, olé, olé, olé
America’s demography is working in football’s favour, too. Hispanics in the United States, as elsewhere in the Americas, love the game. Though they make up only 16.9% of the population, the number of Hispanics grew by 43% between 2000 and 2010. Over that same period the number of non-Hispanic whites, who tend to follow America’s long-established team sports, grew by just 1.2%. Based on current trends, Mr Luker believes international football will soon be four or five times bigger in America than it is today, and MLS’s fan base will triple or quadruple.
After a recent stretch of mediocrity, America has headed off to the World Cup ranked 14th in the world, though its draw means it is unlikely to get through the group stage into the final 16. It is a measure of how far the game has come that Jürgen Klinsmann, the German who coaches the team, not only felt that he had a strong enough squad to leave the ageing Mr Donovan at home—he was also called on to explain his decision on live television.
Robert Baan, the Dutchman who is technical director for India’s national team, must dream of such interest. In cricket-mad India, football is an afterthought—just ask Bollywood. In “Lagaan”, a hugely popular film from 2001, Indian villagers beat British colonial officers at a game of cricket, and win relief from oppressive taxes. But the real-life version of this tale, or the closest thing to it, actually involves football. In 1911 Mohun Bagan, from Kolkata, beat the East Yorkshire Regiment for the Indian Football Association Shield, becoming the first Asian squad to defeat a foreign team—a much celebrated event in the febrile atmosphere of the time.
The All India Football Federation (AIFF) was established in 1937, and an Indian team was invited to the World Cup when it was last hosted by Brazil in 1950 (it did not attend, due to the expense and the requirement that its footballers, who played barefoot, wear boots). Up until the death of Syed Abdul Rahim, a revered national coach, in 1963, India’s football was in reasonable fettle. The national team won the Asian games in 1951 and 1962 and came fourth at the 1956 Olympics, the best ever finish for an Asian country at the time.
Not a sporty nation?
Never, though, did football enjoy anything like the hold on the nation that cricket exerts. As many as 400m people will watch the national cricket team on television when the stakes are high; the immensely popular Indian Premier League (IPL), a professional cricket tournament set up in 2008, draws tens of thousands of fans to each match, and its brand is valued at $3 billion. In contrast, around 6m Indians watched the final of the World Cup in 2010, held in South Africa. The average crowd for India’s top professional football league, the I-League, is around 4,000 and most of its teams face financial hardship.
Indian football is not just eclipsed by cricket; for a long time it has been in absolute decline. The national team has sunk to 147th in FIFA’s world rankings—behind Afghanistan and North Korea. As the nation’s fortunes fell, investment drained out of the game and the country’s football infrastructure deteriorated. Professional teams play in rickety stadiums. Sunando Dhar, the head of the I-League, touched a nerve last year when he claimed that “India lacks sporting passion and is not really a sporting country.” But he may have a point. Apart from cricket, India does not excel at sports: at the last summer Olympics, it won six medals, none of them gold.
But even Mr Dhar is optimistic about football’s future in India. As in America, there are signs of a generational shift. India’s World Cup television viewers in 2010 may have been few in number, but they were also disproportionately young. Foreign leagues are already popular—IMG, a global sports-management firm, estimates that 131m Indians watch football on television each year, mostly tuning in to matches from the EPL or Spain’s La Liga. Other studies show this audience growing. European clubs like Manchester United, Liverpool and Barcelona have opened youth academies in the country, mindful of what discovering an Indian superstar would do for their fan base. A document promoting the creation of the new Indian Super League sums up the mood: “Cricket was the game of the fathers. Football is the game of the sons.”
Cricket’s promoters have been aware of the generational issue for a while; they set up the IPL, which features a shorter version of the game, to appeal to a younger audience. Now football is cheekily using the IPL as a prototype for the Super League, which will kick off in September. Set up by Reliance Industries, a big Indian conglomerate, and IMG, the league is expected to feature eight squads of Indian players alongside recycled foreign stars like Freddie Ljungberg, a Swede, and Robert Pirès, a Frenchman. It has even co-opted some of cricket’s star power, with Sachin Tendulkar, the sport’s greatest batsman, taking a stake in one of the teams. A number of Bollywood actors are also involved. The league is gimmicky, to be sure. So was MLS, early on.
When Mao wore the yellow jersey
Some fear the Super League will disrupt the poorly run I-League; others think one will subsume the other. Either way, the creation of the new league reflects an optimism surrounding the sport. It will never come close to unseating cricket, but it could benefit from the increased appetite for less-staid sport that the IPL has tapped into and encouraged. If India becomes a somewhat sportier nation, the world’s default sport will be well placed to benefit.
For that to happen, though, the country needs to improve its football infrastructure. As a spur to such improvements, FIFA has chosen India to host the World Cup for players under the age of 17 in 2017 on the understanding that it will spruce up its stadiums. By virtue of being host, India’s junior team will get into the 2017 tournament regardless of its quality.
By then, if all goes to plan, Indian football should show other signs of improvement. The Super League clubs have promised to invest in grass-roots efforts to teach the game, while the AIFF has opened up four academies to develop talent. But even Mr Baan, the first technical director the AIFF has had, thinks the country is a decade or so away from fielding squads that might qualify for the World Cup. Others would see that as impressively optimistic.
India can, to some extent, blame cricket for a lack of footballing success. China can blame communism. Under Mao Zedong, who played as a goalkeeper in school, the country was isolated from football’s growing popularity. Even after China started to open up under Deng Xiaoping, another football fan, the game was difficult to play, as meetings of ten or more people needed official sanction. The Chinese will tell you that they invented football, and they have a point; there was a formalised way of kicking balls around fields in China two thousand years ago. But they do not play it in large numbers today, nor do they play it terribly well. The men’s national team ranks 96th in the world—which is, as it happens, one spot behind Qatar.
The government is well aware of what some commentators call the country’s “football crisis”. And it takes policy for sporting prowess seriously in a way that India’s government does not and America’s does not need to. But interest shown off the pitch—the Chinese are keen to watch football played elsewhere, and to bet on it—is not proving easy to translate into participation and success on it. The top-down approach that works well for sports that depend on individual athletes is less suited to producing winning teams. Rather than investing in the coaching and infrastructure that might lead to long-term success, party leaders have sought quick fixes, such as shipping promising young players abroad to hone their skills. They often fail to flourish.
Chinese football also faces a cultural challenge. Most parents insist that their children cram for exams rather than kick a ball. Most kids do not aspire to success on the football pitch. Chinese football has no Yao Ming, the phenomenal Chinese star of the Houston Rockets basketball team, to inspire them. The result is that in 2011 the Chinese Football Association (CFA) reported just 7,000 registered players under the age of 18. That helps explain the national team’s ineptitude.
Yet the Chinese love watching foreign teams. Games from Italy’s top division, Serie A, have been aired on national television for decades. The EPL is often broadcast on regional channels, which have a wide reach. Many watch games online as well. In 2010 over 300m Chinese tuned in to the World Cup, with 17 stations airing nearly 3,000 hours of the games. (The 11-hour time difference is expected to put a big dent in this year’s numbers.) Big foreign clubs, like Barcelona and Manchester United, often make pre-season trips to the country.
Simon Chadwick, a professor of sport business at Coventry University, says support for such teams needs to be seen not so much as participation in the vicarious joys and sorrows that fans are heir to as a form of conspicuous consumption: “Manchester United is just another Western consumer brand.” Foreign clubs seem content with this superficial, if lucrative, engagement; they fly in and play but do not invest much in the country’s footballing scene. This contrasts sharply with the attitude in basketball. America’s NBA has worked hard at encouraging basketball in China by building new facilities and opening up training schools. As a result it is one of the country’s most popular sports.
Professional football in China has largely been known for foreign stars, like Nicolas Anelka, a Frenchman, and Didier Drogba, an Ivorian, who arrive to fanfares but leave soon after. It has also been known for corruption. In 2010, match-fixing saw the Guangzhou team relegated to the second division. That team’s fortunes, though, have changed. Shortly after its demotion, Evergrande Real Estate Group bought it and began pumping money into it, hiring Marcello Lippi, a World Cup winning Italian coach, in the process. Guangzhou Evergrande, as it is now known, has won the Super League, China’s top division, three years running. Last year it beat FC Seoul to become the first Chinese team to win the Asian Champions League. On June 5th Alibaba, an internet company, announced that it had agreed to buy 50% of the club.
It is a reflection of China’s building boom that most of the other teams in the league are owned by property developers, too, and they are also spending freely on foreign talent. The Super League’s top scorers are from Brazil, Sweden and Morocco. Last year Guangzhou R&F hired Sven-Goran Eriksson, a Swede who managed England, as its coach. The average attendance at games is a respectable 18,600, on a par with the MLS’s.
Well it beats quidditch
Rowan Simons, the author of “Bamboo Goalposts”, believes Chinese football would benefit more if the money shelled out for foreign coaches and players was spent on helping young Chinese players get really good. Evergrande has already made a big investment in this area. The club has built an enormous football academy in the southern province of Guangdong that students compare to Hogwarts, the school in the Harry Potter novels. With 2,300 students and 50 football pitches, it is China’s largest such institution, and perhaps the biggest in the world.
When the school opened in 2012 Xu Jiayin, the billionaire head of Evergrande, said, “Our long-term strategy is to use teenagers to turn Evergrande into a team of only domestic players in eight to ten years, making them stars in China, Asia and the world.” At least one other club has followed Evergrande’s lead, opening up a smaller school. Others are likely to do so if the academies are a success. The CFA has also hired Mr Beckham to promote the game to children and sell Chinese football to the rest of the world. Until the sport finds its version of Mr Yao, he’ll have to do.
Football’s situation, and prospects, in each of the sidelined countries differs. But there are common themes. In all of them, football is to some extent a deviation from the cultural mainstream, and following it expresses an interest in the world beyond the country’s borders. In some ways, indeed, football in these countries is more global than it is elsewhere, where the fiercest devotions are normally reserved for local teams. In its glamour, its appeal to the young, its international investments, its consumerist sheen and its easy integration with new media, football can be seen as a poster child for globalisation, and to many in the countries which have yet to excel at the game that increases its appeal.
This is not to say it does not have its dark side. China is still getting over its latest match-fixing scandal, which saw dozens of officials sent to jail. Indian officials say their I-League has been targeted by a Malaysian betting syndicate. A recent report from the Sorbonne and the International Centre for Sport Security states that football is under siege by criminals. And the global game is overseen by a FIFA elite some of whose concerns about corruption seem to be limited to ensuring that they get their fair share.
Chart the rise of football through history with our interactive maps
The awfulness of FIFA is not new, is not completely out of line with the situation in other sports and has done little to dampen the world’s enthusiasm for football. But at the margins it can do real harm. Take the choice of venue for the 2022 World Cup. The front-runners were a large, liberal country with an increasingly football-friendly population and a small, sweltering autocracy made up mostly of migrant workers. FIFA chose the latter, apparently because of the largesse its supporters spread around. And so a second American World Cup, which might have truly set the seal on football’s ascendance in that nation, was passed over for a Qatari one.
That decision might be overturned, which would be all to the good. Yet no matter how rotten FIFA appears or how poor its decisions, there seems to be little that can hold back football, and that too is for the good. The world needs friendly competition around which to gather; at the same time football’s diversity of styles is a welcome demonstration that globalisation need not mean homogenisation. And it still has half of the world to conquer. |
Pope Francis talks with Cuban President Raul Castro during a private audience at the Vatican on May 10. (Photo11: Gregorio Borgia, AP)
Cuban President Raúl Castro met with Pope Francis at the Vatican on Sunday and thanked the pontiff for his role in rekindling relations between the United States and his island nation.
The Communist leader also said he was so impressed with the pope that "I will go back to praying and go back to the church, and I'm not joking."
"Bienvenido!" the Argentine-born Francis said in his native Spanish in welcoming Castro, the Associated Press reported. The Cuban president, bowing his head, gripped Francis' hand with both of his, and the two men began private talks. The meeting lasted nearly an hour, and both men spoke in Spanish.
The Vatican announced last month that Francis would visit Cuba in September before arriving in the United States.
Castro, the brother of revolutionary leader Fidel, who brought the Communists to power in Cuba, had much praise for Francis after their meeting.
"When the pope goes to Cuba in September, I promise to go to all his Masses, and with satisfaction," Castro said at a news conference at the office of Italian Premier Matteo Renzi, whom he met with after the Vatican talks.
"I read all the speeches of the pope, his commentaries, and if the pope continues this way, I will go back to praying and go back to the church, and I'm not joking," he said, according to AP.
"I am from the Cuban Communist Party, that doesn't allow (religious) believers, but now we are allowing it, it's an important step," Castro said.
Castro, talking about Francis, said he was "very impressed by his wisdom, his modesty, and all his virtues that we know he has."
Castro had previously thanked Francis publicly for his role in drawing Havana and Washington together to open relations for the first time in 53 years, and he reiterated it Sunday.
"I thanked the pope for what he did," Castro told journalists.
After his meeting with Renzi, Castro expressed hope that Cuba would quickly see more fruits of the thaw between his country and the U.S. "Maybe the (U.S.) Senate will take us off the list of terrorist nations" soon, Castro said, according to AP.
Castro had stopped in Rome on his way back from celebrations in Moscow of the 70th anniversary of the surrender of Nazi Germany in World War II.
The meeting came about after Francis had written a personal letter to President Obama in the fall and a separate letter to Castro, inviting them to "resolve humanitarian questions of common interest," according to a Vatican statement.
The Vatican received delegations from both countries in October and helped facilitate a dialogue, resulting in a major U.S. policy shift toward Cuba, including a prisoner swap between the two countries.
The pontiff is scheduled to visit Washington, New York City and Philadelphia starting around Sept. 23.
Francis would be the third pope to visit Cuba, after Pope John Paul II in 1998 and Pope Benedict XVI in 2012. Fidel Castro met with Pope John Paul II at the Vatican in 1996.
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The water and gas had been shut off for days when Lessena M and his flatmates, a group of asylum seekers from Ivory Coast who have been living in Naples for more than a year, decided to stage a protest.
They began throwing rubbish bins and an old orange sofa over the balcony of their flat while neighbours gathered in the street to watch. Then the police arrived, seemingly dismayed that the owner of the flat had not yet turned the water back on. Without working plumbing, the stench in the property had become intolerable. Lessena, 34, said even the boy who brought them their food every day in a plastic pouch – always pasta – had stopped coming.
“We were totally abandoned. At that point, we were totally alone,” he said. Soft-spoken Lessena, who survived an acid attack in Ivory Coast that scarred his left shoulder and neck, said he had been to the police several times to file formal complaints, because the owners of his building, who are being paid by the Italian state to house asylum seekers, were not reachable.
Within days of the protest, which was captured last month in a film for the Guardian by Italian journalists, the asylum seekers were moved.
Lessena is one of an estimated 99,000 migrants being hosted in Italy this year at a cost of about €1.16bn, double what it cost last year. The job of taking care of them has largely been outsourced to charities, individuals, companies and cooperatives across Italy. While many are housed in huge reception centres, such as Europe’s largest in Mineo, Sicily, others are sent to smaller properties, where landlords, hotel managers and restaurant proprietors have turned their available space into housing. It is a lucrative business: owners of shelters for asylum seekers are paid €35 a day for every adult they house. A person running a shelter receives €1.28m if they house 100 people for a year.
On paper, asylum seekers are legally entitled to certain benefits to help them stay safe and healthy and even assimilate into Italian society: food and medical attention, psychological support and €2.50 per day. Rightwing politicians, led by the Northern League’s Matteo Salvini, habitually portray asylum seekers as living cushy lives on the dole.
But for some, the reality is substantially different.
A number of activists working with asylum seekers believe the business of hosting them is riddled with corruption and the influence of organised crime groups, who are taking advantage of a national emergency and profiting from it. The migrants are concentrated in southern Italy, where the influence of organised crime is significant.
The opportunity for illegal profit was sensationally articulated by the man at the centre of the so-called “mafia capitale” corruption scandal in Rome, Salvatore Buzzi, who was recorded last year telling an associate that drugs were “less profitable” than the business of housing asylum seekers.
Facebook Twitter Pinterest Asylum seekers from Ivory Coast protest against conditions in their refugee shelter in Naples. Photograph: theguardian.com
Gianluca Petruzzo, the president of a rights group called Associazione 3 Febbraio, said Italy was essentially in a state of emergency when it came to housing. When authorities know, for example, that 1,000 migrants are arriving in Sicily, arrangements are usually hastily made to house them, often without putting a bid up for tender.
“In an area north of Naples, you have a restaurant, this is hosting 300 people – one room for 300 people. There are certified hotels where in a room for two or three people they put bunk beds for seven or eight migrants,” Petruzzo said.
In some cases he claims he has personally witnessed, asylum seekers are brought to farms owned by migrant shelter owners to work 12-hour days, usually for about €10 a day.
“The biggest indignation is when you go into the centre and speak to the owners and they will say: ‘what do you want, they’re from Africa. We give them food and water, what else do they want?’ The owners think they are more beasts than humans,” Petruzzo said.
There is a debate about whether the poor living conditions many asylum seekers in Italy face reflect the fact that the country simply cannot cope with the numbers of migrants, or whether Italy has purposely taken a hands-off approach as a way to deter people from staying.
Petruzzo said he did not believe the excruciatingly long wait facing those who had applied for asylum was an accident. While many are supposed to be interviewed by local immigration authorities within 60 days of their arrival, most have to wait six to eight months for their interview, and then another six months before they get their answer. In that period, they are not allowed to work or leave the country.
“It is a long time because the longer they stay, the more Italy gets money from [the] EU, the more shelter owners get from that state, and that goes back to the politicians,” said Petruzzo. “It is a lack of organisation, but also intentional misconduct.”
Lessena’s experience in Italy followed a harrowing journey last year from Libya on a rubber boat that was partially deflated. He said he watched while his friend and his friend’s girlfriend drowned.
He was taken to a building owned by a company that directly and indirectly controls more than two dozen other properties. The asylum seekers allege that they were not given soap and other benefits they are entitled to, as is stipulated under public contracts required of people who house migrants. They also claim their electricity and water were cut off, despite frequent official complaints to police, who Lessena said served as middlemen between the owners and the tenants.
A representative from the company did not respond to requests for comment. The office of the prefect of Naples did not respond to requests for comment, including requests for information that is supposed to be public about how much the firm has been paid by the Italian government.
Back in the Ivory Coast, Lessena said he worked as a graphic designer making T-shirts, a job he would like to take up again so he can earn money and send it home to his family.
He has pain around his neck and shoulder but he has not received medical attention. “When I have my documents, I can enter life again. I can have a moral freedom, I can have an opinion. Because now I don’t know the real life.” |
Image copyright AFP Image caption The phase-out was first proposed by the government in 2011
Switzerland has voted to phase out nuclear power in favour of renewable energy.
More than 58% backed the move towards greener power sources in a referendum on Sunday.
Switzerland has five ageing nuclear power plants, which provide a third of the country's energy needs.
There is no date yet to decommission the facilities, but the country will now aim to increase reliance on sources like solar, wind and hydro power.
Opponents had warned the move away from nuclear energy would cost too much money and lead to the landscape being "disfigured".
But the president of Switzerland's Green party, Regula Rytz, hailed the vote as a "moment of historic change".
Image copyright AFP Image caption Voters backed the move in a referendum, despite warnings from the "no" campaign it would cost too much
"The Swiss population has said 'no' to the construction of new nuclear power plants and yes to the development of renewable energy," she added. "The conditions have also been set whereby the economy and households will need to take responsibility for the future.
"It's absolutely magnificent."
The Swiss government first proposed phasing out nuclear energy in favour of renewables after Japan's Fukushima plant was destroyed in a tsunami in 2011.
The vote now paves the way for them to move ahead with the plan, beginning in January 2018.
However, a referendum which asked if people wanted to limit the nuclear plants lifespan to 45 years failed to get enough support in November. |
Image copyright Thinkstock Image caption The Gweedore parish bulletin warned parishioners not to put their souls in danger by practising yoga, tai chi or reiki
An Irish priest has warned his parishioners against taking part in yoga, describing it as "unsavoury".
Fr Padraig O'Baoill, a parish priest in Gweedore, County Donegal, issued the warning in a parish newsletter.
The weekend bulletin stated Catholic parishioners should not "endanger" their souls by practising yoga, tai chi or reiki.
Fr O'Baoill, who is currently visiting the Catholic pilgrimage site of Lourdes, declined to comment further.
'Conflict'
Gweedore parish is located in the Gaeltacht, an Irish-speaking part of County Donegal, and is run by the Diocese of Raphoe.
The newsletter, printed in the Irish language, was published at the weekend.
The document stated: "As followers of Jesus Christ, we shouldn't be taking part in any activities that are in conflict with our faith.
"Therefore don't take any part in yoga classes, tai chi or reiki. Do not endanger your souls for the sake of such unsavoury activities."
CJ McGinley, who reported the comments in the Donegal News, said people in Gweedore were "baffled and bemused" by the priest's remarks.
Yoga teacher Norah Graham, who has held yoga classes in the area for about 20 years, said she was both offended and "a bit surprised" by the comments.
'Over the top'
She said she had spoken to Fr O'Baoill about the issue before and he had put an "embargo" on the advertising of yoga classes, so she was aware that he did not approve.
However, the yoga teacher said the strength of Fr O'Baoill's latest comments had come as a surprise and said she felt his remarks were "over the top".
Ms Graham, who is also a retired secondary school teacher, said she was not a particularly religious person.
She said the handful of people who regularly attended her yoga lessons had "their own beliefs" and religion played no part in her classes.
Ms Graham added that the practice of yoga in Western countries was now "largely divorced" from religious associations.
'Healing'
Tai chi was originally developed as a martial art in 13th Century China, but its slow, low-impact movements are currently practised around the world as a health-promoting exercise.
Reiki is a Japanese spiritual healing technique, that aims to boost the body's natural healing abilities by a trained practitioner laying hands on or above the recipient's upper body.
The BBC has contacted the Diocese of Raphoe regarding the priest's remarks, but the calls have not been answered. |
David Gettis catches a touchdown pass against Shawntae Spencer in 2010. (Chuck Burton/Associated Press)
The Redskins announced on Tuesday that they have signed wide receiver David Gettis to a futures contract.
The 6-foot-3, 220-pound Gettis played collegiately at Baylor along with quarterback Robert Griffin III and backup center J.D. Walton, whom Washington signed late in the season.
Gettis entered the NFL in 2010 as a sixth-round pick by the Carolina Panthers.
Gettis missed the 2011 season with a torn anterior cruciate ligament and appeared in two games in 2012. Carolina released him in the preseason of 2013 on an injury settlement. Gettis is the eighth player signed by Washington to a futures contract in the past two weeks.
They signed seven — guard Tevita Stevens, punter Robert Malone, running back Davin Meggett, linebacker Gabe Miller, cornerback Ryan Mouton, tight end Richard Quinn and defensive back Peyton Thompson — to those contracts on Dec. 31. |
Vandals strike Christopher Columbus statue in Detroit (Photo: Daniel Bethencourt)
In what could be dubbed an act of criminal irony, a statue of Christopher Columbus in downtown Detroit was vandalized just in time for this year's Columbus Day.
The statue, located at Jefferson and Randolph right next to city hall, was splashed with fake blood, and a hatchet was taped to his forehead as if it had just been struck.
The hatchet was later removed by a group of urban explorers, who can be seen examining the statue in a video posted to Facebook.
It was not clear when exactly the statue was vandalized. Detroit police are looking into the incident. City officials will have the fake blood cleaned up tomorrow, said Dan Austin, a Mayor's Office spokesman.
The statue was dedicated in 1910 to honor Detroit's Italians, but was restored and relocated in 1988, according to the statue's plaques.
One of the plaques also reads that Columbus is a "great son of Italy" who "discovered America."
Contact Daniel Bethencourt: dbethencourt@freepress.com
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Alice Ruling Kills Another Patent Dead, As Lumen View Patent Troll Drops Appeal
from the making-it-easy dept
Appellant Lumen View Technology, LLC respectfully moves to dismiss voluntarily the appeal under Fed. Cir. R. 42(b). The United States Supreme Court in Alice Corporation Pty. Ltd. v. CLS Bank International, 573 U. S. ____ (2014) (No. 13-298), has provided greater clarity on patentability in light of 35 U.S. C. §101. The parties respectfully make a request for dismissal as an efficient resolution of the instant appeal and to conserve judicial resources.
We recently noted that a bunch of courts had been killing off bad software patents thanks to the Supreme Court's ruling in Alice v. CLS Bank. And now, that ruling is even leading the trolls themselves to give up. Notorious patent troll Lumen View recently dropped its appeal in its case against the website FindTheBest, saying that the ruling in Alice made it clear it wouldn't win:If you don't recall, Lumen View holds a patent (US Patent 8,069,073 ) (now officially and finally decided as invalid) for a "system and method for facilitating bilateral and multilateral decision making." Don't ask what that means because it doesn't mean much. Even before the Alice ruling, the district court had said the patent was invalid as merely being an "abstract idea" and thus unpatentable subject matter.Throughout the case, Lumen View (and its lawyers) had done some astounding things, including claiming that FindTheBest's CEO committed a hate crime for calling Lumen View a patent troll. Lumen View's lawyers later sought a gag order against FindTheBest's Kevin O'Connor, demanding that he remove from the internet his discussions about Lumen View and his willingness to fight back against the troll rather than give in.For a company like that to finally give up -- before the appeal was even heard -- shows just how powerful that ruling in Alice is. The legal fight is not totally over. FindTheBest is still arguing that Lumen View is guilty of racketeering (which is unlikely to go anywhere), and the two sides are still fighting over Lumen View having to pay FindTheBest's legal fees -- but the main event is now concluded, and the patent is officially and totally invalid.
Filed Under: kevin o'connor, obviousness, patents
Companies: alice, cls bank, findthebest, lumen view |
While an earlier source had said that Dallas Cowboys outside linebacker Anthony Spencer would play Monday night against the Chicago Bears despite missing practice all week with a strained pectoral, a source with direct knowledge of the situation later confirmed Spencer would not play.
Spencer, a key cog in the NFL’s top-ranked defense, is officially listed as questionable.
Spencer, a former first-round pick playing this season under a franchise tag tender, has been a force during the Cowboys’ 2-1 start. He ranks second on the team in tackles (29, according to coaches’ film review) and sacks (two) and leads the Cowboys with nine quarterback hurries and two tackles for losses.
Rob Ryan’s defense will be missing three starters, including strong safety Barry Church, who was placed on injured reserve after tearing his Achilles tendon in the Week 3 win over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
Pro Bowl nose tackle Jay Ratliff, who had yet to play this season due to a high ankle sprain, might be able to return after the Cowboys’ upcoming bye. Defensive end Kenyon Coleman will miss his second consecutive game with a hyperextended knee. |
A First Nation in southern Alberta has passed a new trespassing bylaw that will prevent non-tribe members from entering the reserve without a permit.
The Blood Tribe, near Lethbridge, Alta., declared a fentanyl crisis a year and a half ago after a number of fatal overdoses.
The new bylaw is intended to help curb and minimize illegal drug activity on the reserve.
"The purpose is not to necessarily keep everybody off the reserve. It is to minimize the impact of the fentanyl and other drug-related activities on the Blood reserve and to ensure the safety of our Blood Tribe members," said band council member Dorothy First Rider.
Trespassers will be removed and charged
The bylaw gives Blood Tribe police the authority to stop any people they suspect are not members of the Blood Tribe and request to see an entry permit. If the person doesn't have a permit, police are authorized to remove and charge the trespasser.
Blood Tribe council member Dorothy First Rider says the bylaw is intended to minimize the impact of fentanyl and other drug-related activities on the reserve. (CBC)
"We're not under the false impression that we're going to be able to stop all of the illegal activities," First Rider said.
"This is an opportunity to minimize that kind of activity and it also sends a message out to people engaged in those kinds of activities to think twice before they come on to the reserve."
Non-band members living on the reserve, and those who wish to visit, will be able to obtain permits.
The bylaw comes into effect April 13. |
Boris Groys, who has the trepidation-inducing title of Global Distinguished Professor of Russian and Slavic Studies at New York University, is the author of The Total Art of Stalinism, a provocative essay in which he argues that the avant garde desire to transform the entirety of reality, to make life itself into a unitary art work, found a form of twisted completion in Stalinism. It was a brave as well as a controversial volume, and it was particularly astute in reading socialist realism, both plastic and literary, not as a repudiation of the supremacist art of Malevich or the futurism of Mayakovsky, but as a continuation of the desire to create a politically feasible and genuinely populist avant garde, albeit within the now totalitarian strictures of Stalinism. Given this background, I was intrigued at the publication of this new book. Although I would recommend it to anyone already interested in critical theory and the avant garde, it is not quite the book I thought it was. It is an introduction, but one that presupposes you are already fairly well acquainted.
"Antiphilosophy" is defined by Groys as the work of thinkers who have the same relationship to philosophy as the "anti-art" of Marcel Duchamp and other dadaists and post-dadaists has to art: this is both an almost traumatic breach with every preconception of the past and a vital rejuvenation of a stale form, a gifting to the future. These anti-philosophers, broadly speaking, begin with Kierkegaard and Nietzsche, and, mediated by Heidegger, lead into so-called "continental philosophy": Sartre, Barthes, Levinas, Derrida, Baudrillard et al. In comparison with philosophy in the anglophone tradition, this strand of thinking encompasses both Marx and Freud (and indeed, in Adorno, Althusser, Lacan and Žižek, they have had many heirs). The keynote, as Groys argues, is a commitment to Marx's dictum that philosophy had hitherto only interpreted the world, in various ways; the point was to change it. There is a pressing need for an unpatronising book that outlines these fractious, contradictory and ennobling thinkers for an intelligent rather than a specialist audience, though that is not what Groys has written.
In the preface he admits that "the texts that are collected in this book were written at different times, for different purposes, in different languages, and initially they were not intended to be read together". That does not mean that there are not overarching themes, and one of the great strengths of the collection is how Groys brings Russian thinkers into play, into a series of arguments that has often, parochially, been characterised as the free-for-all French versus the logically bean-counting British. In his chapter on Nietzsche and Russian thinkers, for example, he brings a radically new perspective to writers such as Bulgakov and Bakhtin. In western versions, Bakhtin's "carnivalesque" has often been read as a sly opposition to the totalitarian: it underpins the work of Salman Rushdie, Angela Carter and Robert Coover. By putting Bakhtin back into his Soviet context and looking closely at Bakhtin's reading of Nietzsche, Groys offers a startling alternative: the carnival, with its "thronings and dethronings", its ritual humiliation, its sense of theatre and the fear that someone might mistake the theatrical for the actual, was describing, not opposing, the Stalinism of the 1930s.
Two essays stand out. Groys writes beautifully about Walter Benjamin, and again proposes an eyebrow-raising idea: that Benjamin should be read as a theologian rather than as a philosopher. Benjamin certainly fits badly with a conventional version of philosophy, and Groys argues that the difference between philosophy and theology is the difference between the future and the past: the philosopher desires the truth which is just out of reach, while the theologian commemorates and repeats the transformative event which is becoming more and more distant. Groys even manages not to quote one of Benjamin's most famous observations: "This is how one pictures the angel of history. His face is turned toward the past. Where we perceive a chain of events, he sees one single catastrophe which keeps piling wreckage upon wreckage and hurls it in front of his feet". If you close only one eye, the image could as easily be product upon product lavished on the feet of Capital.
The other electrifying piece is on Ernst Jünger, author of Storm of Steel, and his "technologies of immortality". Jünger is a writer often held at arm's length – when Benjamin reviewed him the title read "Theories of German Fascism" – but Jünger sits uneasily in histories of nazism. A death-bed convert to Catholicism and aristocratically disdainful of the Nazis, neither executed as an inspiration for the Stauffenberg plot by the Gestapo nor tried at Nuremberg as an inspiration to Hitler, he was nonetheless the closest Germany came to an Italian futurist, a lover not of truth, but war. Jünger yearned for the individual to cease to be and for the machine to replace society, since, to his mind, they already had. Groys unpicks the hysteria in Jünger, and wonders why, if what he said was already true, he felt the need to say it, and so loudly. But the sting is the end of the essay. Many of Jünger's ideas are now current in a thin version of "post-humanism" – the electronic collective, the convergence of made and man, the idea of going beyond consumer society. Would so many thinkers adopt these ideas if their ancestry were transparent? Groys shows that Jünger's ideas never really chimed with nazism – but they did with Hollywood. Other essays, particularly when he writes on the internet and Marshall McLuhan, display both insight and naivety. After having written so vividly on the persistence of the totalitarian and the theological, Groys sees the internet as somehow free from these. Imagine this: your neighbour now knows all your Google searches. Whether you find this terrifying or not, it's worth wondering about.
There are other joys in this book – Groys's essay on Gotthold Ephraim Lessing and the unspeaking nature of art brings to this reader's stark attention a linguistic irony: that vouloir dire means in French "to mean", and also "desire to say". In that one slippage, the whole of anti-philosophy's conundrum is caught in flash-photography. Or as Heidegger said so often, Die Sprache spricht – "Language speaks" being the inadequate translation. When readers have a pocket-sized book on these ideas, they will be delighted by Groys.
• Stuart Kelly's The Book of Lost Books is published by Polygon. |
If you're an Android geek, you're probably sick of hearing about Android's "fragmentation" problem. If you have a non-Nexus Android phone, you're probably even sicker of dealing with it. We've heard promises from Google time and time again, but it's time to bite the bullet and accept that for us Android geeks, the Nexus is the only phone worth buying.
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The Fragmentation Problem
Put simply, Android's fragmentation problem can be summed up by looking at the iPhone: When a new iPhone update rolls out, every newer-than-two-years old iPhone owner can expect to upgrade at the same time. They may not all have the exact same feature set—e.g., the iPhone 4 won't have the new turn-by-turn navigation coming in iOS 6—but they're at least guaranteed to be updated with some new features. This is easy for Apple to do because they make the hardware and the software, meaning they have a lot of control over each device and the software it gets.
Unfortunately, Android is different. With Android, you have multiple manufacturers taking Android, tweaking it with their own UIs and editing it to fit a ton of different devices. The problem is, those devices don't get software updates as soon as Google releases them, and in a lot of cases, they don't get them at all. Android manufacturers have gotten worse at keeping up with updates over the past year, too. Only 50% of you even have Ice Cream Sandwich—even less if you discount custom ROMs—and Jelly Bean is already out in the wild. We complain about this all the time, and yet so many of us have ignored the most obvious solution: just get a Nexus.
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What's a Nexus?
For those of you who don't know, Nexus is essentially Google's iPhone. They have full control over the hardware and software, come out with a new Nexus every year or so, and update all recent-ish Nexus phones with the latest version of Android as soon as possible. The Galaxy Nexus is the latest Nexus phone, available on multiple carriers and already updated to support Android 4.1 Jelly Bean. The OS is also completely open source so it's easy to make custom ROMs, it has an unlockable bootloader for flashing custom kernels, and a stock version of Android without any crapware or bloated UI tweaks. However, for some reason, it's often ignored even by Android geeks, who opt for other, less advantageous phones from other manufacturers.
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What You Get (or Rather, Don't Get) with a Non-Nexus Phone
One of the best things about Android is that you have your pick between tons of different handsets—some large, some small, some with styli, some with physical keyboards. Many have their own UI on top of Android, which brings extra features to the device (which are sometimes good, and sometimes God awful). The choice is nice, but by buying one of these phones, you make one big sacrifice: updates. You may get them, but they aren't guaranteed, and you certainly won't get them in a timely fashion. When buying a non-Nexus phone, you should buy it based on what the phone is like out of the box and consider any software updates you end up getting are an exciting bonus. I really can't put it better than Matt Buchanan did over at Buzzfeed:
You might buy a new phone that's missing something, thinking, "It will get better." No, it won't. If I were to tell you one thing about buying technology, it is this: Buy something because you like what it is right now, not because you think it's going to get better, or that one day it'll be what you really wanted it to be. It's kind of like marrying somebody and thinking you'll change them and they'll get better. They might. But they probably won't. Over time, you'll just hate them even more. And yourself, at least a little.
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Now, in the case of Android, it may not always be this dramatic. In fact, most phones are pretty awesome when they come out—like the Samsung Galaxy S III, which is launching this week. Is it good phone? Sure it is. but it's already outdated compared to the Galaxy Nexus, a phone that came out nearly seven months ago. It'll probably get Android 4.1 at some point, but you'll be waiting awhile—and we'll already be halfway to another version of Android by then.
What You Get with a Nexus Phone
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Because Google has so much more control over the Nexus phones—and because they don't have manufacturer UIs and other roadblocks—having a Nexus means you get updates almost as soon as Google releases them. They won't stay up-to-date forever, of course, but if an update is coming, you'll be the first to have it. Not only that, but you'll have more stable ROMs, better rooting methods, and all around an easier time hacking and tweaking your phone, all because developers have more to work with. Plus, you don't get locked bootloaders like you do on other phones, including that hailed Galaxy S III.
The downside, obviously, is choice. You no longer have a heap of different devices to choose from; instead, you're predictably buying the one phone that comes out every year, made by the same people that make the software (sound familiar?). It may not be as fun as choosing your own phone, but it does have its advantages: you don't have to deal with the "should I wait" question, and you're pretty much guaranteed to have awesome hardware if you buy it at release time. Heck, the Galaxy Nexus is still a pretty awesome phone, hardware-wise—and frankly, I'd rather have constant Android updates than an extra 0.2 GHz in my phone's processor.
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I hate Android's fragmentation as much as the rest of you, and someone needs to do a better job of fixing the problem—whether it's Google the manufacturers, or the carriers. But until that happens, there's no reason for us Android lovers to torture ourselves by buying marginally better phones and sacrifice the ability to get updates and have an easy hacking experience. The next time you're in the market for a new phone, ignore your impulse to shop around and just get the Nexus—you'll be a lot happier in the end.
Title image remixed from Adchariyaphoto. |
Image copyright EPA Image caption Andy Murray tweeted his support for independence on Thursday
Online abuse directed at tennis star Andy Murray after he declared support for Scottish independence has been described as "vile" by Police Scotland.
Murray tweeted on Thursday morning that "no campaign negativity" had "totally swayed" his view on the issue.
Some users of the site sent him hate messages, with one referring to the Dunblane massacre in 1996.
Murray was a pupil at Dunblane Primary school when gunman Thomas Hamilton shot 16 children and their teacher.
Murray's tweet, just hours before polls opened, read: "Huge day for Scotland today! no campaign negativity last few days totally swayed my view on it. excited to see the outcome. lets do this!"
The BBC did not report his comments while polls were open because of strict rules governing broadcasters during elections.
Image copyright Twitter
Assistant Chief Constable Bernard Higgins said: "People who put abuse such as this online should be utterly ashamed of themselves for making such vile, disgusting and distasteful comments.
"We are monitoring social media and where appropriate will take action against those involved.
"Social media is important for many people but it must be used responsibly. There is no place for personal abuse of any kind on it."
Image copyright EPA Image caption The tennis star had not given his opinion on the referendum until now
The former Wimbledon winner has previously dodged revealing his opinion on independence.
In June he did criticise Scottish First Minister Alex Salmond for waving the country's flag at the tournament last year.
In August, he told the Guardian he did not think it looked likely the result would be a "Yes", but added that his preference would be to represent Scotland if the country became independent.
"If Scotland became independent, then I imagine I would be playing for Scotland," he told the newspaper.
Other celebrities who have received online abuse for revealing their opinions on the referendum include J K Rowling and David Bowie, who both backed a "No" vote. |
Pakistan’s Ministry of Defence has confirmed reports via its Facebook page that TTP commander Fazlullah was gunned down by Pakistani Air Force jets in Afghanistan. The agency said intelligence sharing among organizations enabled them to take out the man who was said to have masterminded the bloody attack on a Peshawar school earlier this week. More than 100 people died in the attack, most of whom were school children.
According to The Kashmir Monitor, Afghanistan President Ashraf Ghani had ordered his army to arrest the TTP leader. Sources reportedly told the media outlet that the priority was first to arrest him rather than kill him.
The first reports of Fazlullah’s death came over Facebook and Twitter from Pakistan’s Ministry of Defence’s official accounts. However, we are still awaiting an official press release from the Pakistani military, and no mainstream media have reported it yet.
Fazlullah said to mastermind Peshawar attack
The Star published a profile of Fazlullah, also known as Mullah Radio for the illegal FM radio station he ran, on which he pushed for jihad and decried education for women. The TTP commander led militants who have killed more than 100 children.
Officials report Fazlullah masterminded the Peshawar school attack on Tuesday in which 148 students and teachers were gunned down. The Taliban claimed the attacks were in retaliation for the Pakistan army’s crackdown on the terrorist organization.
According to The Kashmir Monitor, Fazlullah gave instructions to the militants who carried out the attack from a location in Afghanistan. Right after the attack, Pakistani General Sharif went to Afghanistan and negotiated for the handover of Fazlullah.
Update on Peshawar attack
Express reports that the Pakistan army has continued to pound the Taliban hard since Tuesday’s attack on the school in Peshawar. Officials said they killed 77 Taliban “monsters” in airstrikes in the northern part of Pakistan today. The Pakistani government ordered more than 20 new military operations against the Taliban after the Peshawar massacre.
A spokesperson for the Pakistani army said approximately 32 militants were killed on Thursday in an ambush in Tirah Valley. He also said 17 were killed in air strikes and ten were killed in ground fighting. The army reportedly killed another 18 militants in Khyber during a search operation.
Officials believe 16 top commanders from different parts of the Pakistan Taliban helped organize the brutal attack. They believe a 17th man, a militant named Umar Adizai, was also involved in organizing the Peshawar attack. Authorities are seeking all of the men believed to be involved in planning the bloody siege. |
1983 studio album by Metallica
Kill 'Em All is the debut studio album by the American heavy metal band Metallica, released on July 25, 1983, by the independent record label Megaforce Records. Kill 'Em All is regarded as a groundbreaking album for thrash metal because of its precise musicianship, which fuses new wave of British heavy metal riffs with hardcore punk tempos. The album's musical approach and lyrics were markedly different from rock's mainstream of the early 1980s and inspired a number of bands who followed in similar manner. The album did not enter the Billboard 200 until 1986, when it peaked at number 155, following Metallica's commercial success with its third studio album Master of Puppets; the 1988 Elektra reissue peaked at number 120. Kill 'Em All was critically praised at the time of its release and in retrospect, and was placed on a few publications' best album lists. It was certified 3× Platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) in 1999 for shipping three million copies in the United States. The album generated two singles, "Whiplash" and "Jump in the Fire".
Metallica began by playing shows in local clubs in Los Angeles. They recorded several demos to gain attention from club owners, and eventually relocated to San Francisco to secure the services of bassist Cliff Burton. The group's No Life 'til Leather demo tape (1982) was noticed by Megaforce label head Jon Zazula, who signed them and provided a budget of $15,000 for recording. The album was recorded in May with producer Paul Curcio at the Music America Studios in Rochester, New York. It was originally intended to be titled Metal Up Your Ass, with cover art featuring a hand clutching a dagger emerging from a toilet bowl. The band was asked to change the name because distributors feared that releasing an album with such an offensive title and artwork would diminish its chances of commercial success. Metallica promoted the album on the two-month co-headlining Kill 'Em All for One tour with English heavy metal band Raven in the U.S. Although the initial shipment was 15,000 copies in the U.S., the album sold 60,000 copies worldwide by the end of Metallica's Seven Dates of Hell European tour in 1984.
Background and recording [ edit ]
Lars Ulrich (pictured in 2008) founded Metallica through an advertisement in The Recycler. He picked the band's name from his friend Ron Quintana's list of names for his upcoming magazine. Ulrich suggested Metal Mania, secretly wanting to use Metallica as the band's name. ) founded Metallica through an advertisement in. He picked the band's name from his friend Ron Quintana's list of names for his upcoming magazine. Ulrich suggested, secretly wanting to use Metallica as the band's name.
Metallica was formed in 1981 in Los Angeles by drummer Lars Ulrich and by vocalist and guitarist James Hetfield. Before settling on a definitive lineup, Metal Blade Records owner Brian Slagel asked Metallica to record a song for the first edition of his Metal Massacre compilation. Hetfield and Ulrich chose "Hit the Lights" from Hetfield's previous band Leather Charm, and recorded it with Hetfield on vocals, his childhood friend Ron McGovney on bass, and temporary guitarist Lloyd Grant. The band's first lineup featured Hetfield, Ulrich, McGovney, and guitarist Dave Mustaine, who was acquired through a newspaper advertisement. The band practiced in McGovney's garage and looked for gigs at local clubs. Metallica's first show was on March 14, 1982, at the Radio City in Anaheim. The nine-song setlist consisted of two originals ("Hit the Lights" and an unfinished version of "Jump in the Fire" from Mustaine's earlier band Panic) and covers of new wave of British heavy metal (NWOBHM) bands such as Diamond Head, Blitzkrieg, Savage, and Sweet Savage. The gig turned out to be notorious, because Mustaine had problems with the guitar distortion pedal, and broke a string during a song. Metallica's second gig was on March 27, 1982 at Hollywood's Whisky a Go Go, opening for Saxon. Although Mötley Crüe was originally scheduled to open the show, the group canceled because of its growing popularity. Metallica recorded a three-song demo to persuade the venue's management to allow the band to open for Saxon. Metallica's third concert was in April 1982, at which was premiered "The Mechanix", written by Mustaine during his tenure with Panic.[3] Mustaine interacted with the fans at Metallica's earliest shows because Hetfield was shy.
To draw attention from club owners, Metallica recorded the Power Metal demo in April 1982 which featured "Motorbreath" in addition to the already-performed originals. The logo, displaying the band's name with the first and last letter drawn larger with sharp serifs and italicized, was designed by Hetfield. The No Life 'til Leather demo was recorded in July 1982, and it created a buzz in the underground tape trading circles. No Life 'til Leather featured a re-recorded version of "Hit the Lights", which appeared on the second pressing of Metal Massacre, in addition to new songs such as "Phantom Lord", "Seek & Destroy", and "Metal Militia". The recording and mastering was financed by Kenny Kane, owner of the punk label High Velocity, and distributed by Ulrich and his friend Pat Scott. Because of tensions with Mustaine, McGovney left the band in December. Ulrich was impressed by Cliff Burton's performance with Trauma at The Troubadour in West Hollywood, and offered to let him join the group. Burton joined on the condition that Metallica would relocate to the San Francisco area. Moving to El Cerrito in February 1983, the band stayed and rehearsed at Exodus manager Mark Whitaker's house, which they called the "Metallica Mansion". Metallica intended to record its debut in Los Angeles on Slagel's independent label on an $8,000 budget. Slagel could not afford the record, and Ulrich contacted Jon Zazula, a New Jersey record store owner and promoter of heavy metal bands on the East Coast who had already heard No Life 'til Leather. Metallica rented a U-Haul truck and drove to New Jersey in late March, and upon arrival, allowed Zazula to sell copies of No Life 'til Leather to help him found Megaforce Records, because no label wanted to finance the album's recording.
Dave Mustaine (pictured in 2005) was an early member of Metallica, and co-wrote several songs on Kill 'Em All. His erratic and violent behavior led to his expulsion from the band prior to recording the album. ) was an early member of Metallica, and co-wrote several songs on. His erratic and violent behavior led to his expulsion from the band prior to recording the album.
Hetfield and Ulrich fired Mustaine on the morning of April 11 after a gig in New York, because of his drug and alcohol problems, overly aggressive behavior, and clashes with bandmates. On Whitaker's recommendation, Metallica recruited Kirk Hammett, who played in Exodus and was a one-time student of Joe Satriani. Hammett learned the songs on his flight to New York, and started recording the album with Metallica barely a month later. Metallica met producer Paul Curcio at Music America studios in Rochester, and recorded the album in two weeks. Unable to afford a hotel during the recording sessions, the band members lived in people's houses in Rochester and at the Music Factory in Jamaica, Queens, where Anthrax held rehearsals. Curcio had set the studio equipment as if he were recording an ordinary rock band. He thought the initial tapes sounded very distorted, and tried to compensate by turning down the knobs. Metallica resented Curcio's involvement, because he seemed uninterested, and had little impact on the sound. Although Zazula wanted Hammett to replicate Mustaine's solos, Hammett's guitar solos on the album were partially based on Mustaine's original solos, with the first four bars of most solos written by Mustaine before his departure.[17] Despite their differences, Mustaine's contributions to the early years of Metallica were still acknowledged, and he received four co-writing credits on Kill 'Em All.[18] Zazula was not satisfied with the initial mix because he thought the drums were too loud, and the guitars were too low in the mix. The remix was done by sound engineer Chris Bubacz, according to Zazula's instructions. The final cost for the record rounded to an estimated $15,000, which nearly caused Zazula to go bankrupt. "This was mortgage money I'm spending, not something I've got put by I'm going to invest," he said later. Zazula had a hard time finding a distributor for the record, but he eventually convinced Relativity Records to distribute the album in the U.S. and Canada, and Music for Nations in Europe.
The band initially intended to title the album Metal Up Your Ass with the cover featuring a hand clutching a dagger emerging from a toilet bowl. However, Zazula convinced them to change this as he thought distributors would not stock it as it was too explicit to display. The final cover featured the shadow of a hand letting go of a bloodied hammer. Burton was credited with coming up with the name Kill 'Em All—referring to timid record distributors, saying, "Those record company fuckers ... kill 'em all!"—as a response to the situation. Ulrich thought Kill 'Em All was a good name, and Zazula agreed. Burton suggested to Gary L. Heard, also responsible for the Metallica photograph on the back cover, to feature a bloodied hammer on the album art. According to Hammett, "Cliff carried a hammer with him everywhere he went. He always had a hammer in his luggage, and he would take it out occasionally and start destroying things."[21] Even though the original title was unused, the band did later release a "Metal Up Your Ass" T-shirt with the proposed artwork. A live bootleg recording of a 1982 performance at the Old Waldorf, titled Metal Up Your Ass (Live), featured the original cover artwork. Original pressings of the album came with an inner sleeve that included pictures and lyrics as well as a silver label on the vinyl. Subsequent pressings had a blank white sleeve and standard album label. The 1988 reissue re-introduced the lyrics and photos. The original release can be distinguished by the words "Bang That Head That Doesn't Bang" at the top of the back cover. This was dropped from the reissue.[18] The phrase "Bang That Head That Doesn't Bang" was dedicated to San Francisco fan Ray Burch, known for his headbanging at the band's early shows.
Music and lyrics [ edit ]
Kill 'Em All ' s lyrics created as much excitement as the band's music. Taken together, the words of the songs on the album form a single theme. It is a s lyrics created as much excitement as the band's music. Taken together, the words of the songs on the album form a single theme. It is a concept album that heralds the breakthrough of a new subgenre of metal, its fans, and its leader, Metallica. It is a celebration of metal. It is a call to arms to a new generation of metalheads, many of whom were already armed and ready." —Deena Weinstein, Essays on Debut Albums
Kill 'Em All features intricate riffing reminiscent of the NWOBHM bands played at high velocity. The album is considered crucial in the thrash metal genesis because it introduced fast percussion, low-register chords, and shredding leads to the genre. Hammett played some pentatonic patterns in addition to his breakneck solos. Ulrich adopted a double time snare pattern that would become a mainstay on Metallica's subsequent albums. Hetfield's vocals evolved from the melodic wail on No Life 'til Leather to a rough-edged bark, and the entire band played faster and more accurately on Kill 'Em All. Music writer Joel McIver said Burton's and Hetfield's performances were nearly virtuosic, because of the smooth-sounding bass of the former and the precise picking skills of the latter. According to journalist Chuck Eddy, the juvenile lyrical approach to topics such as warfare, violence and life on the road gives the album a "naive charm".[26] The musical approach on Kill 'Em All was in contrast to the glam metal bands who dominated the charts in the early 1980s.[27] Because of its rebellious nature and Metallica's street appearance, it appealed to fans who were not into the mainstream of hard rock.[28]
"The Four Horsemen" "The Four Horsemen" is based on a galloping tremolo picked riff and double bass drum triplets. Its multipart concept preceded the more complex song structures Metallica applied on subsequent albums. Problems playing this file? See media help.
"Hit the Lights" was based on an unfinished Leather Charm song written by Hetfield and Hugh Tanner. Hetfield had brought the majority of the song to Ulrich, and the two worked out different arrangements. Performed at 160 beats per minute, "Hit the Lights" opens with fade-in distorted guitars and a short shriek by Hetfield. The song is driven by the 16th note repeated main riff and the continuous eighth note snare drum hits. The lyrics celebrate heavy metal itself and are sung with short and high pitched vocals. The song ends with several lengthy guitar solos by Hammett, who performed cleaner and more melodic versions of Mustaine's leads. "The Four Horsemen" is a revamp of the Mustaine-penned "The Mechanix", which originally had lyrics about having sex at a gas station.[3] A modified version of his composition with the original lyrics appeared on Megadeth's debut Killing Is My Business... and Business Is Good! (1985). Although Mustaine told Metallica not to use any of his music, Hetfield wrote lyrics about the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse and added a bridge and cleanly picked guitar solo in the middle. Mustaine said the bridge was inspired by the main riff in Lynyrd Skynyrd's "Sweet Home Alabama".
"Motorbreath" was written by Hetfield during his time in Leather Charm and tells about life on the road. The song is based on a four-chord verse and a stop-and-start chorus. The most recognizable parts are Ulrich's drum rolls in each chorus and the riff that accompanies Hammett's solos. Because of its speed, the song requires fast picking by the bassist. "Jump in the Fire" was originally written by Mustaine, with lyrics about teenage sexual experience. Hetfield's revised lyrics for the album were written from Satan's point of view, describing how the devil watches people killing each other, and is sure they will go to hell for their actions. "Jump in the Fire" was released as a single in the UK in February 1984 to promote a UK tour with Venom.[34] The single featured "Phantom Lord" and "Seek & Destroy" as live tracks, although they are actually studio recordings with fake crowd noise dubbed over them.[35] The single's cover art features an oil painting titled The Devils of D-Day, created by artist Les Edwards in 1978.
"(Anesthesia)—Pulling Teeth" is a bass solo by Burton, accompanied on drums by Ulrich. A staple of Burton's live performances since his high school days in the band Agents of Misfortune, the instrumental track featured Burton's distinctive "lead-bass" style of playing, incorporating heavy distortion, use of wah-wah pedal and tapping. Bubacz introduces the track as "Bass solo, take one", informing listeners that the song was recorded in one take. "(Anesthesia)—Pulling Teeth" was the bass solo that Burton was playing when Hetfield and Ulrich first saw him at a gig. Hetfield stated: "We heard this wild solo going on and thought, 'I don't see any guitar player up there.' We were both counting the strings and I finally turned to Lars and said, 'Dude, that's a bass!' Cliff was up there on stage with his band Trauma with a wah-wah pedal and his huge mop of red hair. He didn't care whether people were there. He was looking down at his bass, playing." "Whiplash" was the album's first single, issued on August 8, 1983.[42] It features a swift rhythm line of straight 16th notes played at about 200 beats per minute. Hetfield and Burton performed with palm muted technique and precise metronomic control. The lyrics celebrate crowd energy and headbanging. Rock journalist Mick Wall wrote that "Whiplash" signified the birth of thrash metal, stating: "If one wishes to identify the very moment thrash metal arrived spitting and snarling into the world, 'Whiplash' is indisputably it."
"Seek & Destroy" The song opens with thin, mid-register guitars. The last two sections (5:50 onward) feature palm muted riff in low E. Since 2004, "Seek & Destroy" serves as the closer on Metallica's live set. Problems playing this file? See media help.
"Phantom Lord" is a lyrical nod to devilry. The song begins with synthesized bass drone and contains a middle section with clean, arpeggiated guitar chords. Written by Mustaine, its central riff is in NWOBHM fashion. "No Remorse" is a mid-tempo song which suddenly accelerates its tempo in the fifth minute. The song is about not feeling any remorse or sense of repentance during battle. "Seek & Destroy" was inspired by Diamond Head's "Dead Reckoning"[3] and is the first song Metallica recorded during the Kill 'Em All sessions.[28] Hetfield wrote the main riff in his truck outside a Los Angeles sticker factory where he was working.[3] Because of its simple, one-line chorus, the song became a permanent setlist fixture and a crowd singalong. "Metal Militia", one of the fastest songs on the album, is about heavy metal's way of life and nonconformity. Mustaine composed the main riff, which emulates a marching army. The song ends with tramping feet and bullet ricochet in a fade-out.
Reception [ edit ]
Kill 'Em All received critical acclaim. Bernard Doe of Metal Forces described Kill 'Em All as one of the fastest and heaviest albums ever recorded, and remarked that the album is not for the faint-hearted.[54] Greg Kot of the Chicago Tribune acknowledged it as the "speed metal prototype", but felt the lyrical replication of Judas Priest and the Misfits kept the album short from becoming a classic.[49] In a retrospective review, Billboard praised Kill 'Em All for changing the face of popular music with its unique combination of punk and metal.[28] AllMusic's Steve Huey called it "the true birth of thrash". He praised Hetfield's highly technical rhythm guitar style and said that the band was "playing with tightly controlled fury even at the most ridiculously fast tempos".[48] Rob Kemp, writing in The Rolling Stone Album Guide, credited the album for consolidating the punk rock and heavy metal scenes, but felt that apart from "Seek & Destroy" and "(Anesthesia)—Pulling Teeth", most of the album had the band "trying to look tough" over enthusiastic but unfinished riff-based songs. Journalist Martin Popoff said Kill 'Em All differentiated from the debuts by Metallica's Bay Area contemporaries because the fans could identify with Hetfield's lyrics and the band's appearance. Spin's Chuck Eddy considered Kill 'Em All the inception of the "extreme metal mania" of the early 1980s. He noted the album did not receive much critical praise at the time of its release, but said it aged well and opened the doors for the less commercially successful bands.[26] Although McIver credits Venom's Welcome to Hell (1981) as the first thrash metal album, he acknowledged Kill 'Em All as a major influence on the flourishing American heavy metal scene. Despite its "less-than-perfect" production, Loudwire's Jon Wiederhorn said that Kill 'Em All sounds like an "influential slice of history" and stands on the same level as classic albums by Black Sabbath, Iron Maiden, and Judas Priest.[58]
Kill 'Em All was released on July 25, 1983 by Megaforce with an initial pressing of 15,000 copies. Because of the label's financial restrictions, the album was pressed in batches of 500 copies. Kill 'Em All had sold 17,000 copies in the U.S. by the end of the year. Similarly to punk rock acts, Metallica promoted its material through the tape trading network and independent music magazines such as Metal Forces in the UK and Metal Mania in the U.S. The album did not enter the Billboard 200 chart until 1986, when it peaked at number 155 following Metallica's commercial success with its third studio album Master of Puppets.[62] The 1988 re-issue on Elektra Records also charted on the Billboard 200, peaking at number 120.[62] It was certified 3× Platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) in 1999 for shipping three million copies in the United States.[63] Despite being the lowest selling Metallica studio album, it helped the band establish its image and build a fanbase in its inaugural years.
Kill 'Em All, as the first thrash metal album released in the U.S., had substantial impact on the emerging scene and inspired numerous bands with its aggression and austere seriousness. Guitarist Kerry King acknowledged Slayer was still finding its sound while Metallica had already determined its image and musical identity. Anthrax guitarist Scott Ian was impressed by the album's heaviness and songwriting, and said it influenced him as much as the albums by Iron Maiden. Dream Theater's drummer Mike Portnoy observed that Kill 'Em All surpassed the NWOBHM bands in terms of sheer velocity and cited Burton's bass solo as the album's peak.[27] Guitarist Ulf Cederlund of Swedish black metal band Morbid cited "Motorbreath" and "Metal Militia" as songs that influenced him as a young musician. Kill 'Em All was ranked at number 35 on Rolling Stone's list of The 100 Greatest Albums of the '80s.[66] Additionally, the album placed at number 54 on "The 100 Best Debut Albums of All Time"[67] and again at number 35 on "100 Greatest Metal Albums of All Time",[68] two lists compiled by the same magazine. Kerrang! listed the album at number 29 among the "100 Greatest Heavy Metal Albums of All Time".[69] In 2010, Consequence of Sound ranked it number 94 among its "Top 100 Albums Ever".[70]
Touring [ edit ]
In late July 1983, Metallica embarked on the two-month Kill 'Em All for One tour with British co-headliners Raven. The tour name melded the titles of the albums the two bands were promoting: Metallica's Kill 'Em All and Raven's All for One, both released on Megaforce. The two groups met in Zazula's home two days before the tour began, and traveled in the same vehicle throughout the tour with five roadies and sound engineer Whitaker. The tour was set to conclude with three shows in San Francisco, thus Hetfield painted "No Life 'til Frisco" on the Winnebago tour bus. The tour had a few poorly attended gigs, such as a performance at the Cheers club in Babylon, New York, attended by some 50 people. After the conclusion of Kill 'Em All for One in early September, Metallica returned to El Cerrito to work on new material. Seven weeks after the tour ended, Metallica booked a number of performances at Bay Area clubs, the first a Halloween gig at the Keystone in Palo Alto. At the Country Club in Reseda, the group debuted "Fight Fire with Fire" and "Creeping Death", along with an early version of "The Call of Ktulu", then titled "When Hell Freezes Over". Three days later, at a gig at The Stone in San Francisco, Metallica premiered "Ride the Lightning", the title track from the upcoming album. In December, Metallica went on a short tour in the Midwest and eastern United States with a three-man road crew: Whitaker, guitar technician John Marshall, and drum technician Dave Marrs. The January 14, 1984 concert in Boston was canceled because the band's equipment was stolen the night before.
In February, Metallica embarked on its first European trek with Twisted Sister, supporting Venom's Seven Dates of Hell tour. The tour was sponsored by Metallica's UK distributor, Music for Nations, who released the "Jump in the Fire" EP for that occasion. The first show was at the Volkshaus in Zurich on February 3. At the Aardschok Festival in Zwolle on February 11, Metallica played in front of 7,000 people, its largest audience at the time. The tour stretched through countries such as Italy, Germany, France, and Belgium, culminating in two sold-out shows at the Marquee Club in London. After concluding the Seven Dates Of Hell tour, Metallica headed to Sweet Silence Studios in Copenhagen to record its sophomore album Ride the Lightning. By the end of the tour, Kill 'Em All had sold 60,000 copies worldwide and Metallica began to gain international recognition. On June 8, 2013, at the Orion Festival, billed as the fictional band Dehaan, Metallica played the album in its entirety for the first time ever to mark the 30 year anniversary of the album.
Track listing [ edit ]
All lyrics written by James Hetfield, except where noted. The bonus tracks on the 1988 re-release were originally recorded as B-sides for the "Creeping Death" single in 1984, later known as Garage Days Revisited, and would later appear on the compilation album Garage Inc. (1998). The bonus tracks on the digital re-release, which replaced the original bonus tracks, were recorded live at the Seattle Coliseum, Seattle, Washington on August 29 and 30, 1989, and later appeared on the live album Live Shit: Binge & Purge (1993).
Side two No. Title Music Length 7. "Phantom Lord" Mustaine
Ulrich
Hetfield 5:02 8. "No Remorse" Hetfield
Ulrich 6:27 9. "Seek & Destroy" Ulrich
Hetfield 6:56 10. "Metal Militia" Ulrich
Hetfield
Mustaine 5:11 Total length: 51:20
Bonus tracks (digital re-release)[77] No. Title Music Length 11. "The Four Horsemen (Live)" Hetfield
Ulrich
Mustaine 5:31 12. "Whiplash (Live)" Hetfield
Ulrich 4:19 Total length: 61:10
Personnel [ edit ]
Credits are adapted from the album's liner notes.[18]
Metallica
Production
Paul Curcio – production
Jon Zazula – executive producer
Chris Bubacz – engineer
Andy Wroblewski – assistant engineer
Bob Ludwig – mastering
Alex Perialas – mastering
George Marino – remastering
Charts [ edit ]
Certifications [ edit ]
Region Certification Certified units/Sales Canada (Music Canada)[83] Platinum 100,000^ United Kingdom (BPI)[84] Gold 100,000^ United States (RIAA)[85] 3× Platinum 3,000,000^ ^shipments figures based on certification alone
References [ edit ]
Bibliography [ edit ] |
The luxury marketplace that accepts Bitcoin, BitPremier, is listing a Greek Villa for sale. The home is priced at almost 5,000 bitcoins, or €1,200,000. With capital controls in Greece, the wealthy there may choose to use Bitcoin as a payment rail to save their assets. Alan Silbert, CEO of BitPremier, said when he started the company in 2013:
"We're finding a lot of wealthy, smart people are getting into the game with Bitcoin. I think as the ecosystem matures, I think you're going to see a lot more of that."
Located in Verga Messinia, the property sits on 4.025 sqm of land only five minutes from Kalamata Beach. Outside, the villa shows three levels of landscaping, including an exclusive orchard growing crops such as oranges, guava and olives. The spacious home also has a large terrace, a two-car garage and a tool room. With Spanish decor and proximity to the beach, the home built in 2006 comes with many amenities. If sold for Bitcoin, it will be another large real estate sale made in crypto and completed through the BitPremier marketplace.
BitPremier was founded in 2013 by Alan Silbert, the brother of Barry Silbert. The luxury marketplace sells a wide variety of items, including estates, classic cars and even a satellite. The company offers an escrow service to its clientele and keeps both involved parties completely anonymous till the deal is closed. The service has a fee of 5% on all sales. When he started the company, Silbert told Business Insider:
“I prefer to own Bitcoin to property. [T]hat's why I would be happy to sell it in bitcoin. I think property is a better asset class than USD, and bitcoin a better asset class than property.”
The villa is one of the first big items being put up for sale in Greece during its time of crisis, following the stepping down of Greek Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis on July 6, after citizens voted "no" to demands from an international lenders’ referendum. The vote shows that the majority do not agree with austerity measures given by the Eurozone leaders. Marketplaces such as BitPremier may see more business coming from Greece and surrounding countries, with people selling estates and other assets for Bitcoin as they attempt to hold onto their wealth. |
The
is the oldest dog on the block when its comes to craft brewing in Colorado, since it was founded in 1988. But the brewpub, which is celebrating its 25th anniversary this year, has learned plenty of new tricks.
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Today the Wynkoop reported that sales of its beer outside of the pub itself rose 80 percent during the first six months of 2013, compared to the same time period in 2012.
See also: - Colorojo follows Rocky Mountain Oyster Stout as the Wynkoop's latest canned beer - Great Divide rolls with Chipotle while the Wynkoop rides with Elitch's - Wynkoop Brewing will package its "ballsy" Rocky Mountain Oyster Stout in cans
Those numbers put the brewery right up there with its much younger peers when it comes to taking advantage of the ever-expanding craft-beer market in Colorado.
"We hate to sound critical of our past, but I think we are making the best beer of our 25 year history, and people are noticing," says Wynkoop spokesman Marty Jones. "Our beer list now is more representative of new ways and not the old guard."
Over the past six months, the Wynkoop has released three new canned beers: Belgorado, a Belgian IPA; Colorojo, an imperial red; and Rocky Mountain Oyster Stout, a foreign stout made with bull testicles that has attracted national attention. (The latest report is on CNBC.)
"Our most ambitious and biggest beers are becoming our best-sellers," Jones says, adding that although the Wynkoop isn't brewing that much more beer this year than it did last year, it has been able to charge more because its new beers are of higher quality.
He also credits a major account at Elitch Gardens, which sells three beers that the Wynkoop makes exclusively for the amusement park, and two new sales representatives, who have increased sales of Wynkoop beers all over Denver and Boulder. And this month, the brewery will begin selling kegs and cans in Fort Collins.
The Wynkoop brewed 3,850 barrels of beer in 2012 and is on pace to brew 4,200 barrels in 2013, although Jones thinks it may exceed that number.
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After missing Tuesday's game in New Orleans with right Achilles tendinitis and being listed as questionable for the previous several games, Rudy Gay has been removed from the lineup and will miss his second consecutive game Wednesday against the Houston Rockets (11-3).
Rudy's replacement, Omri Casspi, played extremely well in his absence. No. 18 scored 22 points and grabbed four rebounds in the team's impressive win over Anthony Davis and the New Orleans Pelicans.
Darren Collison will also miss his second consecutive game with a left quadriceps contusion/strain. Collison had tallied 30 assists and just five turnovers in his three games prior to injury.
Darren's backup, Ramon Sessions is again listed on the injury report with a right knee strain, but after playing in Tuesday's win in New Orleans and tallying 15 points and 6 assists, has been upgraded to probable.
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Sean Plott has emerged as one of the leading voices, literally, in eSports today. Known as Day9 by millions of fans, Plott has turned a love of gaming into a career. The former StarCraft: Brood War pro gamer is now a caster for StarCraft II.
The native of Leawood, Kansas focused on mathematics at Harvey Mudd College and received a Master’s Degree in Interactive Media from the University of Southern California. He’s put that education to good use. Today he oversees a multimedia empire, Day9TV and Day9Daily, where he connects with millions of fans of Blizzard’s games and helps them improve their own virtual skills.
Plott travels the globe to cast at events like DreamHack and BlizzCon and he’s a regular for Red Bull LANs and the inaugural Battle Grounds event last month. He also founded the After Hours Gaming League, which has teams from companies like Microsoft, Riot Games, Blizzard and Google competing for charity by playing in StarCraft II and League of Legends tournaments.
This league is the latest example of how eSports is expanding. With more fans cognizant of pro gaming, the comparisons between cyber athletes and real athletes is becoming more obvious.
“The biggest thing is you have to spend a lot of time practicing and you have to know exactly what you are practicing,” said Plott. “It’s not just the hours put in. It’s having that clear focus, and in particular, the endurance to go through. If you ask any Olympic athlete how they managed to do what they do or ask what tips do they have if I want to become an athlete, they won’t tell you about how much weight you’re going to have to lift or what equipment you’re going to use. They’re going to talk to you about mental discipline. They’re going to talk to you about having a regimen and following it and how to stay focused and get in the zone. That all carries over to gaming.”
Plott said if you’re a pro gamer you live, eat, drink, breathe and sleep gaming. It’s a lifestyle, which is why many pro gaming teams in the US are following the routes of Asian and European teams and establishing Gaming Houses to allow pros to live the game 24/7.
“You look at what pros do and they’re like anyone who’s passionate about the thing that they do,” said Plott. “You know they’ll play eight to ten hours a day and when they’re not playing, they unwind by watching some of the pro matches and learn from them. They’ll go out with their teammates and talk about strategies. And then on the weekends they go to tournaments and training places.”
Plott recently served as caster for the inaugural Red Bull Training Grounds in Santa Monica, where eight of the top StarCraft II players competed for $8,000 in prizes. While Gaming Houses allow for practice, nothing replaces the pressure when money is on the line.
“These events give players the experience of playing in a tournament,” said Plott. “All the structures that are put into these events are designed with that in mind – like battling for $100 on every game. You get pressure in every game. So even players who are eliminated from the event get a little pressure in those games, because it’s so easy when you’re playing to give up if there’s nothing on the line.”
While League of Legends is the most popular game in eSports today, StarCraft II has a huge global following. The launch of the latest expansion, Heart of the Swarm, has helped boost the game’s popularity this year.
“There are so many diverse strategies and the strategies now tend to be based more on finesse and execution than on just the ‘whoops you didn’t have the right defense prepared so I won.’ You get these really interesting back and forth struggles. We’ve seen tons of spikes in viewer numbers with a lot of the major events. At the MLG Championship that happened right after launch, both of the DreamHack events, and the WCS Europe all peaked about 125,000 concurrent gamers, which is about as big as really any eSports broadcast is getting.”
There’s a growing number of fans coming into eSports that are learning the intricacies of what goes into a StarCraft II match. Plott said it’s as complex as playing a game of chess or playing a game of Go.
“It’s complex as trying to construct a car from a bicycle while you’re riding that bicycle down a hill,” said Plott. “That’s the skill that you have to do because it’s not just thinking about what you’re doing and having the good strategy and the good thought process behind it. It’s also executing on that and then responding to all the changes that are coming at you in the form of what your opponent is doing. So it’s a mix of being like a pianist and a problem solver.”
Plott knows about those skills, having established himself as one of the best Brood War players in the world in his former life. And now he parlays those skills to help the future pros of eSports. |
"We have come to our nation's capital to cash a check," Martin Luther King Jr. told the rapt throng on the National Mall 50 years ago.
King told the gathering of 250,000 people, most of whom were black, that the Constitution and Declaration of Independence were a promissory note "to which every American was to fall heir. This note was a promise that all men, yes, black men as well as white men, would be guaranteed the unalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness."
"It is obvious today that America has defaulted on this promissory note insofar as her citizens of color are concerned," King said on that hot August afternoon. "Instead of honoring this sacred obligation, America has given the Negro people a bad check, a check which has come back marked 'insufficient funds.'"
King's "I Have a Dream Speech" today is celebrated more for the lyrical, hopeful portraits he ended with, of what the nation could be, than for the stinging rebukes he began with, about the nation as it was.
The March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, at which he gave the speech, commemorated the 100-year anniversary of the Emancipation Proclamation. A century after that proclamation, "the Negro still is not free," King told the crowd. "The life of the Negro is still sadly crippled by the manacles of segregation and the chains of discrimination."
It was no longer a time for patience, he said. "This sweltering summer of the colored people's legitimate discontent will not pass until there is an invigorating autumn of freedom and equality."
In the 50 years since that sweltering summer, the chains of discrimination have loosened some, but the manacles of segregation are still taut. And as a result, for many blacks throughout the nation, the invigorating autumn has yet to appear.
"The generation of African-American children raised during the civil rights era has made virtually no advancement out of the nation's poorest neighborhoods," sociologist Patrick Sharkey writes in a new book, Stuck in Place. It's a conclusion many other researchers have arrived at as well.
Here, I look at some of the quality-of-life indicators that King hoped would improve for black Americans, and we consider the degree to which they've changed for Chicagoans in particular. It could be called a progress report, except there's little progress to report.
We asked Mayor Emanuel for his thoughts about the March on Washington anniversary. We wanted to know how far Chicago had come since then, in his view, and what more needed to be done. How did he think things were better, or not, for the city's African-Americans?
He replied with a statement:
The arc of history has spanned fifty years since Dr. King declared "I Have a Dream," yet the echoes of his voice still ring loud and clear here in Chicago, urging us to honor the anniversary of his historic speech, not by looking back on all that has been accomplished, but by looking forward as we each pull together to bend the arc of history ever further towards justice. Dr. King's dream inspired generations of Chicagoans since, from those who marched with him to integrate education and housing in this city, including my mother, to those who broke down old barriers, especially Mayor Harold Washington, to those who have changed the course of history, none more so than President Barack Obama. As we mark this historic anniversary, we know that dream lives on, as we work together to improve education, safety, and opportunity for all our residents, and build a city for our children that is defined not by its divisions, but by what is possible when we work to overcome them.
We followed up by asking Emanuel how he felt about the level of segregation in Chicago's neighborhoods and schools a half century after King's speech. He didn't respond.
***
Segregated neighborhoods
"We cannot be satisfied as long as the Negro's basic mobility is from a smaller ghetto to a larger one," King said on that August day.
But in Chicago, that's exactly what happened.
About a quarter of the city's 3.5 million population was black in 1960. And that proportion was rising: an African-American migration from southern cities to the north was continuing, and white Chicagoans were moving to the suburbs.
As soon as blacks had started moving to Chicago in significant numbers, during World War I, the city's white residents had taken steps to hem them into certain neighborhoods—mainly a "Black Belt" on the south side, and later another ghetto on the west side. Restrictive covenants throughout much of the city prohibited white property owners from selling or renting to blacks, and where covenants weren't in force, whites repelled black incursions with violence.
In 1960, 69 percent of the city's 813,000 blacks lived in just 11 of the city's 76 community areas. The total population of these neighborhoods was 94 percent black.
The African-American migration into Chicago slowed in the 1960s and '70s, but the white migration to the suburbs didn't—so the city's black neighborhoods expanded and their population thinned. "The 'ghetto' in which black Chicagoans are confined has grown to an even more enormous size, while becoming more and more hollow at its core," the Chicago Urban League said in a 1978 report.
Robert Taylor Homes, 1965. Most of Chicago's housing projects have been demolished, but segregation persists on the south and west sides.
Sun-Times files
The Urban League report noted a few pockets of racial integration in the city—in Hyde Park, the Near South Side, the Near West Side, the Near North Side, and Lincoln Park, where conscious attempts at integration had occurred, mainly as part of government urban renewal programs. And in Rogers Park and Uptown, a smattering of unplanned integration "unique to Chicago" had developed, the report said. The dominant pattern on the south and west sides, however, was for whites to move out of a neighborhood as soon as blacks moved in.
By 1980, the black migration to Chicago had all but ended, but the city's intense segregation persisted. Chicago's current population of 2.7 million is nearly equal thirds black, white, and Hispanic, but most blacks still live in a separate part of town. According to the most recent census figures, 63 percent of the city's African-Americans live in 22 community areas—18 on the south side, four on the west side—whose total population is 95 percent African-American.
Beverly and Hyde Park have been racially integrated for years now: about one-third of the residents in those south-side neighborhoods are African-American. And there's also some racial integration in Rogers Park, Uptown, the Near West Side, the Near South Side, and in Humboldt Park.
These might be significant exceptions, but, as in the late 1970s, they are exceptions. Demographers measure segregation with a "dissimilarity index," which represents the percentage of a racial group that would have to move for the group to be perfectly integrated in a city or metro area. An index above 60 represents high segregation. In 1960, Chicago's black-white dissimilarity index was 93. It's now 84.
A host of social scientists have demonstrated how the segregation that was imposed on African-Americans has concentrated their poverty, intensifying the ills of their neighborhoods. For his book, Sharkey tracked the economic outcomes of a large cohort of children raised after the civil rights movement. The black children had "substantially lower" income as adults than the white children—even when they were raised by parents with similar jobs and levels of education and aspirations for their kids.
The key variable, Sharkey found, was the vastly different kinds of neighborhoods the children grew up in. "The rigid segregation of urban neighborhoods means that the black child will be raised in a residential environment with higher poverty, fewer resources, poorer schools, and more violence," Sharkey writes. "These differences have an important impact on children's opportunities as they move toward adulthood." The stark racial differences in neighborhoods "has been a primary mechanism for the reproduction of racial economic inequality in the post civil rights era."
Employment
The unemployment rate in Chicago was 7.6 percent for blacks and 2.3 percent for whites in 1968 (the first year for which I could find unemployment data here by race). The black-white employment gap is nothing new, and it's not just a Chicago problem: nationally, the black rate has been nearly double and occasionally two and a half times the white rate since the 1960s. In 1963, the black unemployment rate was 10.8 percent, the white rate 5 percent; and most recently, in July, the national rates were 12.6 percent for blacks and 6.6 percent for whites.
Unemployment today is especially high for blacks in big cities, and that's certainly true in Chicago. Last year, the rate for blacks here was 19.5 percent, the rate for whites 8.1 percent.
"America has given the Negro people a bad check, a check which has come back marked 'insufficient funds.'" —Martin Luther King Jr.
Urban African-American neighborhoods took a nosedive in the 1970s and '80s, with a startling loss of jobs leading the way. Businesses moved to the suburbs, where land was cheap and crime rates low. Between 1967 and 1987, Chicago lost an incredible 60 percent of its manufacturing jobs—more than a half million.
In 1986, the Tribune documented the change in North Lawndale, a west-side neighborhood. In 1950, the community had been 87 percent white; by 1960, it was 91 percent black. The Hawthorne plant of Western Electric, which had once employed 43,000, phased out operations and closed in 1984. An International Harvester plant that had employed 14,000 shut its doors in the late 1960s. The world headquarters for Sears, Roebuck, which had employed 10,000, moved most of its offices downtown in 1973. Smaller businesses left after riots following King's assassination in 1968. By 1986, North Lawndale had 66,000 residents but only one bank and one supermarket. It also had 48 state lottery agents, 50 currency exchanges, and 99 liquor stores and bars.
Public transportation to the suburban jobs was poor. The jobs that remained in the city increasingly required at least some college education, and many black Chicago residents hadn't finished high school.
In the 1980s, some African-Americans who could afford to move to the suburbs did so, which made indigence even more prevalent in the communities they left. By the early 1990s, a "new urban poverty" gripped segregated neighborhoods in Chicago and other cities, the sociologist William Julius Wilson wrote in his 1996 book When Work Disappears. A "substantial majority" of adults in these neighborhoods were either unemployed or had dropped out of the labor force altogether. In a dozen poor black community areas on Chicago's south and west sides, only one in three adults had held a job in a typical week in 1990, Wilson wrote.
A stronger national economy improved circumstances for black women in the 1990s, but not for black men. Many of them were in no position to take advantage of the boom—they'd turned to the drug trade for income in the 1980s, and by the '90s a significant proportion was locked up.
As bad as that current 19.5 percent unemployment rate is for Chicago blacks, it understates their plight. It counts only those in the labor force, excluding the imprisoned. It also excludes "discouraged" workers—those who've given up looking for work because they believe no jobs are available for them.
The mass incarceration of African-Americans not only eliminates them from the labor pool when they're in prison, it also makes them less employable when they get out, because employers are disinclined to hire ex-offenders. A study of Milwaukee employers in 2003 indicated the employers were more willing to hire white male ex-offenders than black male ex-offenders with the same credentials. In fact, the employers were slightly more willing to hire white male ex-offenders than black males with no criminal records. The discouragement of "discouraged" black workers is not without reason.
Economic status
"The Negro lives on a lonely island of poverty in the midst of a vast ocean of material prosperity," King said on that August afternoon in 1963.
In 1960, 29.7 percent of black Chicago families were living in poverty, compared with 7.4 percent of white families. Median income was 62 percent higher for white families than for black families ($7,700 versus $4,800). The city's ten poorest community areas were all overwhelmingly black.
In 1983, 20 years after King's speech, the Chicago Urban League analyzed socioeconomic indicators from the 1980 census—unemployment, female-headed households with children, persons in poverty, high school graduation rates—and found disparities between blacks and whites in the Chicago area to be greater than in any major metropolitan area in the nation. "No other urban center even comes close to matching this ignominious record," the Urban League said in its report.
The report attributed the disparities to the city's extreme racial segregation, and the machine politics which for decades had "funneled most resources to non-black sections of the community." Whatever the causes, one thing was clear, the report said: "Chicagoans need to recognize the severity of the racial inequities which exist in this city, and we must begin to make a concerted effort to reduce this gap in the years immediately ahead."
Nationally, the number of high-poverty neighborhoods—areas with poverty rates of at least 40 percent—doubled in the 1970s and '80s, then declined by 24 percent in the 1990s. But the number of such neighborhoods has been climbing again, according to a 2008 Brookings Institution study.
And today in Chicago, 30 years after the Urban League exhorted the city to reduce the socioeconomic disparities between black and white residents, 34.1 percent of black Chicagoans are living in poverty, and 10.9 percent of whites. In 2010, median income of white households was twice that of black households ($58,752 versus $29,371). The seven poorest community areas today are all overwhelmingly African-American. Twenty percent of their residents are living in extreme poverty—their incomes are less than half of the poverty line.
And African-Americans in Chicago haven’t been gaining ground economically of late. Their poverty rate climbed from 29.4 percent in 2000, to 31.5 percent in 2007, to the current 34.1 percent.
Child poverty also has been rising for African-Americans in Chicago, according to census data compiled for us by the Social IMPACT research center of the Heartland Alliance. Now one of every two black children in Chicago is poor, compared with one of every 11 white children.
Sharkey's study of post-civil rights children found most white children to have been upwardly mobile economically—whereas most black children were actually worse off than their parents had been. This, again, is likely due to neighborhood disparities, he observes: a black family that makes economic gains finds it hard to sustain them in areas of high crime, low property values, and inferior schools—which characterizes the neighborhoods most black children and almost no white children grow up in. "The ideal of America as the land of equal opportunity is simply not supported by the evidence," Sharkey writes.
Students at Calhoun North elementary, in East Garfield Park, in May. Calhoun North's enrollment was 99 percent black and 98 percent low-income. It was one of 50 schools the board closed this year because they were underused.
Rich Hein/Sun-Times
Schools
In the mid-1960s, Chicago's public school enrollment was nearly half white and half black—but the white students went to schools that were nearly all white, and the black students went to schools that were nearly all black. And the black enrollment was rising, while the white enrollment was declining: white families were moving to the suburbs or putting their children in private schools.
By 1980, when the city finally signed a consent decree to desegregate its schools, it was far too late: the white proportion was down to 19 percent and still falling.
Last year, only 9 percent of CPS students were white. Forty-four percent were Hispanic, and 42 percent were African-American. Eighty-seven percent were from low-income families.
With that composition, it's not surprising that the vast majority of African-American children in Chicago's public schools are still hypersegregated. In 2013, 86 percent of African-American students attended schools that were at least 90 percent black and Hispanic. More than two-thirds of African-American students—68 percent—were in schools that were at least 90 percent African-American.
Reading scores in the black schools of the 1960s were far below scores in the white schools—and African-American students are still way behind. The Consortium on Chicago School Research at the University of Chicago reported in 2011 that graduation rates for CPS students rose from 48 percent in 1997 to 66 percent in 2010. But they were the lowest and grew the least for African-Americans. The Consortium also found that between 1990 and 2009, racial gaps in achievement grew, with white, Asian, and Hispanic students making modest gains in reading while black students showed "virtually no improvements."
Realizing the dream
Given how deep and long-standing the disparities, fixing them is a monumental task. But it's not an impossible one. I write about potential approaches here.
The first steps, of course, are recognizing the extent of the crisis and committing fully to addressing it. For decades now, African-Americans in Chicago and many other big cities have been living in intolerable circumstances, or circumstances that would be deemed intolerable if whites were living in them. And their cities and states and nation continue to tolerate their plight.
"We have come here today to dramatize a shameful condition," King said at the Lincoln Memorial 50 years ago.
It still is.
Mac Irvine and Jillian Sandler helped research this story.
SOURCING FOR CHICAGO THEN & NOW:calculated from census data in Local Community Fact Book, Chicago Metropolitan Area, 1990;calculated from census data in "Chicago Neighborhood Indicators 2000-2011", Social IMPACT Research Center, Heartland Alliance;"Statistics on Manpower", U.S. Department of Labor, 1969;Bureau of Labor Statistics;Survey of Economic Opportunity, U.S. Census Bureau;Social IMPACT Research Center, Heartland Alliance;Survey of Economic Opportunity, U.S. Census Bureau;U.S. Census Bureau |
Managing editor of The Heartland Institute’s Budget & Tax News, Jesse Hathaway, joined Breitbart News Daily SiriusXM host Raheem Kassam on Wednesday to discuss America’s economic upswing bolstered by tax cuts and high consumer confidence. He also discussed how trade lawsuits against foreign competitors are up in 2017.
While the full implications of the recent tax reform have yet to kick in, regarding consumer confidence, Hathaway said, “With economics, there’s definitely a psychological aspect to it. So if people are feeling like they’re better off, they are more likely to go out and spend, as opposed to putting money under the bed or, even worse, just sending that money off to Washington,” where Hathaway implied it would be wasted.
They then went on to discuss retail figures and the impact of e-commerce on more traditional models based on physical locations like shopping malls and how those changes may impact American society.
Hathaway said he does not think location shopping is going away but is changing from product to service-based models, and some people will continue to prefer shopping locally, as opposed to online, after all.
Listen to the entire discussion below.
Breitbart News Daily airs on SiriusXM Patriot 125 weekdays from 6:00 a.m. to 9:00 a.m. Eastern.
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The Walking Dead, Orange Is the New Black, or The Good Wife?
Rock 'n' roll, hip hop, or dubstep?
Sport bike, commuter, or touring?
Life is full of choices. Is it possible to have a little of everything? That brings us to the Kawasaki Ninja ZX-14R. And yes, I know… I watch weird TV shows.
In Europe, it's the ZZR1400 and the European Kawasaki website calls it a sport-tourer and lists accessories such as brackets for side cases and GPS. Kawasaki North America puts the 14R in its Supersport category, and offers no such accessories. So which is it? Supersport, tourer, or something else? I got to take the bike home for a month to see if I could come up with a definitive answer.
The 2015 Kawasaki ZX-14R. Kawasaki photo.
The bike
The Kawasaki Ninja ZX-14 debuted in 2006, replacing the ZX-12R. The latest overhaul, in 2012, saw an increase in engine displacement from 1,352 cc to a massive 1,441 cc. Only the new Ninja H2 has a slight edge in horsepower over the current 14R. But the 14R has the most torque, unless you shell out $50,000 for four more foot-pounds in the H2R. Before we head off into an “if I won the lottery” tangent, let's focus on the 14R’s specs.
Only 300 of the 30th Anniversary Limited Edition ZX-14Rs are coming to the United States. Kawasaki photo.
30th Anniversary Limited Edition badge. Kawasaki photo. The ZX-14R weighs a lofty 590 pounds wet. MSRP is $14,999 for the standard model and Kawi offers a limited-edition (300 units in the United States) 14R that comes with special firecracker red and metallic graystone paint and gold calipers for $15,899, to pay homage to the 30th anniversary of the Ninja line.
Digital fuel injection and four 44 mm Mikuni throttle bodies surge petrol into the 1.4-liter inline-four monster to produce a claimed 189 rear-wheel ponies and a breathtaking 111 foot-pounds of torque.
Keeping the rider one with the road at the front is a 43 mm inverted cartridge fork with adjustable preload, 18-way compression, and 15-way rebound damping. The rear suspension is equipped with a bottom-link Uni-Trak and gas-charged shock with adjustable preload, stepless rebound and compression damping adjustments, and adjustable ride height.
ABS front and rear is standard on both models. Dual floating 310 mm petal rotors, complemented by radial-mounted, four-piston calipers, are mounted up front. Individual brake pads for each piston help prevent heat deformity. Rear stopping power comes from a single 250 mm petal disc and a two-piston caliper.
And people say this big bike is meant for the drag strip... Photo by Max Zuckerman.
Testing the ZX-14R ABS
The morning after I brought the bike home, I stared outside my kitchen window, loading up on protein and coffee, wondering how I was going to unload a 590-pound bike on an uneven driveway by myself without contributing to the next “Epic Fails” YouTube compilation. I was shocked how all my worry and stress were for nothing.
The ZX-14R hides its almost 600 pounds nicely. The bulk of the weight is centered and low. I was able to unload the heavy bike solo, and in flip flops, no less. I have the video to prove it. But let’s get to the real important stuff: the riding.
Sightseeing. Photo by Bucky Bautista.
I tested the ZX-14R for more than 2,000 miles, which included a day at the track, twisties, a 375-mile trek up to northern California, rush hour in San Francisco, and more twisties. There wasn’t much this versatile heavyweight couldn’t handle.
Willow Springs Raceway, “The Fastest Road In The West,” was a perfect testing ground to see how close I could get the bike to the electronically limited 186 mph top speed. It was also a chance to see how the 14R stacked up against Yamaha YZF-R1s and Ducati Panigales purpose-built for the track. I was able to reach an indicated 175 mph on the straight before reaching my braking marker, without even hitting the rev limiter in fifth gear. My friends on the popular race-replica liter bikes could only hit 160 mph before they ran out of track. The torque was the difference, and the reason I was able to drive past them, despite the weight difference.
The combination of street tires and the weight of the bike prevented the 14R from matching the triple-digit corner speeds of the race-inspired sport bikes on the abrasive track, however. The 14R isn’t anywhere near being the best choice as a pure track weapon for a roadrace course. It's no accident that when Kawasaki shows photos of this bike on a track, it's a drag strip. But the ZX-14R can handle the job if you want to take it to the road course and feel the pull of that powerful motor for more than a quarter of a mile at a time.
Trying to find the rev limiter in fifth gear is tough work. Photo by Bucky Bautista.
While the ZX-14R may not be a true sport bike, the handling is close to one. My first ride on the bike was to the mecca of serpentine roads: the Santa Monica Mountains. There, you can run the gamut of curves, from tight and technical to sweeping and fast. The 14R loved the faster sweepers of Encinal Canyon Road. It tracked right through the speedy turns and felt like it was on rails. The 10 miles of technical turns on Latigo Canyon Road, however, found the suspension wanting. The bike wanted to run wider when I tried to nip apexes at slower speeds in the tighter turns. Trail braking helped correct the lack of turn in, but that can be a daunting task for a less experienced rider on such a heavy bike.
Overall, the bike is nimble, considering its size. I felt the weight when dragging a knee at maximum lean, but I could still transition from side to side surprisingly fast and negotiate a U-turn on a narrow, two-lane highway without putting a foot down. The weight of the 14R is simply not a factor when balancing the bike through tight places (more on that later).
A special show by one of my favorite punk bands called for me to be in San Francisco. What better way to schlep north than on what Sean calls a badass sport-touring bike? I was pressed for time as I left the day of the concert, so I couldn’t take the 12-plus-hour scenic ride up the Pacific Coast Highway like I wanted to. Instead, I pounded the pavement all the way up Interstate 5 and cut over the Pacheco Pass to meet a friend who was riding at a motocross event in San Jose.
Touring in style. Photo by Bucky Bautista.
The ZX-14R's ergonomics put my 5-foot, 9-inch frame in a comfortably leaned-forward stance with a slight bend in my arms when cruising. Needless to say, if I had been riding my sport bike, a 300-mile straight shot on I-5 would have called for an apres-ride alcoholic drink and a nap. Instead, I geared up and jumped right on my buddy's bike for some laps at the motocross track. The ZX-14R's relaxed position, plush suspension, and dual engine balancers provided a smooth ride that kept the fatiguing vibrations to a minimum and me fresh as a daisy. The ample suspension travel eliminated any bone-jarring impacts to my spine as I chugged on I-5’s choppy, truck-battered pavement.
After hitting the MX track, I pressed on to the city, during rush hour. San Francisco is one of the hardest cities to commute in. There are steep hills, cable car gaps on the ground, a bazillion cars, and bicyclists causing chaos on the city streets. I felt like I was in a real-life police rodeo as I dodged grid-locked cars and motorcyclists on FZ-09s and cafe racers. I was simply able to out-maneuver small commuter bikes on a bigger bike at walking speeds. The ZX-14R's torque made it easy for me to stay in one gear while filtering through traffic.
Photo by Max Zuckerman.
Other than fuel economy, there is no need ever to click past third gear in street riding. Kawi has the ECO indicator on the LCD screen to suggest a conservative throttle hand. The indicator turns off right about 6,500 rpm. Clicking all the way up to sixth gear and holding steady throttle at a realistic 75 mph highway cruising speed will get you an indicated 44 mpg, compared to 29 mpg in third gear.
Overall, my gas mileage was consistently around 33 mpg, except for the 26 mpg at the track. I was able to record 178 miles with half a gallon left in the 5.8-gallon tank, and thankfully found a petrol station in the middle of nowhere along I-5.
About KRTC and ABS
I tested all three modes of Kawasaki’s KRTC traction-control system at the track and in the canyons. I never was in wet or slippery conditions that warranted mode three, so I cannot comment on its effectiveness in its intended use. I will say that mode three should not be used in dry conditions. The cut-off of the ignition is so abrupt, I was almost thrown over the handle bars. I whacked the throttle open expecting the front to lift, followed by a smooth wean off the power. Instead, it felt like someone had unexpectedly grabbed my front brake.
KRTC mode two is great for riders who want the reassurance of not letting the ZX-14R's power get the upper hand. You can hear the system working when you're hard on the gas out of a turn, but there is no squirming from the rear trying to break traction. Calm and happy as a Hindu cow. The front will let you enjoy a momentary wheelie, but will quickly and smoothly bring it back to the ground.
The 2015 Kawasaki ZX-14R. Kawasaki photo.
The least intrusive mode one will let the rear step out slightly under acceleration, but did a good job of keeping me in the no-fly zone. It allows some hot-dogging in the wheelie department, but thankfully the electronics will keep you well away from the risk of looping the bike. Turning off KRTC is an option, if you dare, but turning off the ABS is not an option, short of pulling fuses.
The ABS is great overall on public roads. The levers provide good, but not great, feel. I could detect pulsing, but it was tolerable. I never felt ABS interfered too much, except at the track day. I am a habitual late-braker at the track. Slowing from 175 mph to about 90 mph in the shortest distance possible into turn one while the ABS was trying to sort itself out wasn’t reassuring for me. Needless to say I blew past my turn-in marker several times. Luckily I never had any issues with the brakes on the streets, and I can't criticize the inability to switch off the system since track days will probably be infrequent on this bike.
Highlights
The power of this bike is unparalleled in anything I’ve ridden. If you roll off the throttle and get back on it hard, the bike will literally try to rip itself from your white-knuckled fists if you’re not ready. Sounds a bit intimidating, but I loved the challenge.
With that kind of power, you need good handling, and nimbleness, weight location, and ergonomics all receive high marks. This bike really blurs the line between a sport bike and sport-touring machines.
Despite all that weight, the front end is still more than happy to pop up out of a corner. Photo by Eddie Sifuentes.
While not quite the adjustable touring windscreen of the Ninja 1000, the bubble does a great job of buffering while leaned in a sporty stance. I'm sure the screen and aerodynamics of the bike helped prevent fatigue on my long trip.
A rear seat cowl comes standard and is easily detached. Kawasaki photo. The low seat height makes it easy to walk the bike around despite its weight and the seat is very plush for extended rides. The rear seat cowl is standard on the U.S. models and comes off easily for two-up riding by removing four plastic screws.
The hydraulic clutch is light and provides good feel. I was standing at traffic lights with the lever fully pulled in all day without fatigue. I appreciated the adjustment dial, which let me position the lever outward so I had enough room for the two fingers I kept glued to the grip.
What else ya need to know? Kawasaki photo.
Lowlights
I reluctantly returned the bike with a little over 2,300 miles on the odometer. Granted, I did some hard riding on a very abrasive track, but the tires only had a couple hundred miles to go before the wear indicators were showing. The weight of the bike and sheer power going to the rear wheel means tire longevity is sacrificed.
The left controls make for convenient access to the KRTC, Power Mode, and LCD functions, but some may find it cluttered. I was constantly turning on my high beams, thinking I was switching the display from mpg to fuel range.
So. Many. Buttons. Kawasaki photo.
The headlights are plenty bright, but the factory setting puts the low beam’s visibility at only 40 feet ahead. That just doesn’t equate to sufficient lighting when traveling at higher speeds at night. There is an adjustment screw, but it also adjusts the high beams, instead of having a separate adjustment screw. You will have to find a middle ground if you don’t want to be that guy riding with high beams everywhere.
Don't buy this bike if you hate attention. Photo by Bucky Bautista.
The heat flowing from the mid panels of the fairing is great in cold weather, but will scorch your shins during the warmer months.
There is very little clearance to access the preload rings on the rear shock. I had to remove the left heel guard and I still have scabs from shaving skin off my hands.
Finally, this is more of a warning than a lowlight. The front fender extends further than any other bike I’ve ever seen. The morning I unloaded the bike, I realized that the fender was pressed against the back of my truck’s bed and had a stress crack from the transport. Use a mounted or stand-alone wheel chock to avoid this.
The competition
The Suzuki Hayabusa has long been the closest rival of the 14R, though the BMW K 1300 S also matches up with the Kawasaki. Of the three, the Hayabusa produces the least power at 170 horsepower and 101 foot-pounds of torque (which, of course, is still more power than almost any other motorcycle on the road). It is the second-heaviest at 586 pounds. Priced at $14,599, the Suzuki comes standard with power modes and ABS, but does not come with traction control. The Suzuki’s fuel economy trumps the Kawasaki, however, by seven mpg at 41.
Photo by Bucky Bautista.
The K 1300S is the highest-priced of the three at $15,855 with ABS. If you want the premium package, a bump up to $17,790 goes above and beyond the standard features of the 14R and includes electronic suspension adjustment, the Gear Shift Assist, a tire-pressure monitor, and heated grips. The BMW is also the lightest, only weighing 560 pounds, 26 pounds lighter than the Hayabusa.
Kawasaki’s largest Ninja has the biggest engine, the highest output of the trio at 189 horses, weighs the most at 590 pounds (but only four more than the Hayabusa), and costs just $400 more than the Suzuki, despite including traction control.
Conclusion
So where does the ZX-14R fall on the sport bike versus sport-touring continuum? Kawasaki did an excellent job of keeping this big-displacement bike in the middle ground by mixing sport bike handling and sport-touring ergonomics. I think it is telling that Kawi uses different categories to describe this bike in different countries. The 14R just isn’t one or the other. It's too plush and heavy to call it a supersport. It lacks features like a proper windscreen, side cases, or higher hand grips to be a true ST (Kawasaki has the Concours 14 for that). Clearly, there are far more economical options for city commuting than this 1.4-liter monster.
Wheelie time! Photo by Eddie Sifuentes.
To be honest, though, Kawasaki has produced a middle-ground bike that's still fun. The compromises made to blur the lines did not stop me from enjoying my time with the 14R. Most of the items I listed as lowlights are things that are minor, fixable, adjustable, or just plain avoidable.
I would recommend the big Ninja for larger riders, for experienced motorcyclists who want gobs of disposable power, or for riders who have room in the garage for one bike that can take the place of two purpose-built motorcycles. If you are a one-dimensional rider — commuting, corner-carving, touring or track days — then I suggest you go buy the motorcycle specifically built for the riding you do. If you want a heavyweight champ who can do a little of all that and pack an unmatched punch, then get a Ninja ZX-14R. And set aside some money for tires and gas. |
RIYADH (Reuters) - Saudi Arabia’s telecom regulator has banned use of the web-based communication application Viber, which is hard for the state to monitor and deprives licensed telecom companies of revenue from international calls and texts.
“The Viber application has been suspended ... and the (regulator) affirms it will take appropriate action against any other applications or services if they fail to comply with regulatory requirements and rules in force in the kingdom,” the Communications and Information Technology Commission (CITC) said in a statement on its website.
Viber allows subscribers to make free calls, send instant messages and share files over the internet. CITC did not explain what regulatory requirements and rules it breached, but the kingdom appears to be pushing for greater control over cyberspace as Internet and smart phone usage soars.
Attempts to use Viber on two different smartphones and to download it onto a computer in Saudi Arabia failed to work on Wednesday. A message on the Viber website explained the service had been banned in Saudi Arabia.
The regulator issued a vaguely worded directive in March warning that such tools as Viber, Whatsapp and Skype broke local laws, without specifying how.
Local media reported at the time that Saudi Arabia’s three main operators Saudi Telecom Co, Etihad Etisalat (Mobily) and Zain Saudi had been asked to tell CITC if they were able to monitor or block such applications.
CITC did not respond to requests for comment on Wednesday or when the earlier announcement was made in March.
Earlier this year, the Interior Ministry’s spokesman complained that Islamist militants were taking advantage of social media to foment unrest. However, in a separate interview with Reuters he argued against imposing stricter controls.
Mobile penetration was 188 percent by the end of 2012, CITC data shows. Saudi now has 15.8 million Internet subscribers and the average user watches three times as many online videos per day as counterparts in the United States, according to YouTube.
Conventional international calls and texts are a lucrative earner for telecom operators in Saudi Arabia, which hosts around nine million expatriates. These foreign workers are increasingly using Internet-based applications such as Viber to communicate with relatives in other countries, analysts say. |
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