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Typewriter Day. Onion Rings Day. Clean Your Aquarium Day. The days of the year designated to seemingly arbitrary causes are so inexhaustible that they've started to double and triple up. Case in point, today is Men's Mental Health Awareness Day in Canada and International Axe Throwing Day, which too tellingly sounds decidedly lumberjacky (read hyper "manly"). It's easy to glibly roll an eye and scoff out a "why is this even a day?" Eye Roll Day is actually May 3rd by the way, so you missed it. I've nothing against hurling forestry tools in a safe environment but normalizing the conversation around men's mental health sans eye-roll and stigma will, not to put too fine an axe tip on it, save lives - so I'm leaning that way. If gendering a mental health awareness day seems unnecessarily divisive to you, consider that the socially driven silence often stifling men from seeking help when they need it most yields an unpleasant stat: men are four times more likely to die by suicide than women in Canada and those numbers have been climbing for a decade. A recent study shows that the dark data points to one salient cause - toxic masculinity.
The term, a buzzy word that's been floating around for awhile, is most often used in feminist circles. It's shorthand for the poisonous paradigm in which we raise boys to deny any human emotion that isn't linked to aggressive power. At its core, it's a "boys don't cry" model where stoicism and solitary strength are the very height of masculine virtue. If you haven't heard of toxic masculinity before, this trailer for the documentary film The Mask You Live In should give you a better sense:
The most extreme markers of masculinity also enforce a "might is right" dogma that is fiercely damaging (for everyone). What's more, research proves that toxic masculinity doesn't just hurt women, it hurts men too.
Dr Joel Wong has found a definitive link between clichéd machismo and poor mental health in men. I suspect many mindful men may be unphased by that revelation. But after leading researchers at Indiana University Bloomington in analyzing data of nearly 20,000 participants (a synthesis of 78 studies) Wong says his team's findings are definitive. "It supports and confirms research done in the last 60 years that people who conform to masculinity have poor mental health." The hard truth is that manning up is tearing people down and we've had a sense of it for decades.
Researchers found that both mental health and the tendency to seek out appropriate help dropped based on adherence to societal masculine norms. Eleven traits (some more upsetting than others) best identified the hyper-manly norms Wong used as benchmarks. The wince inducing "male" traits are as follows: winning, emotional control, risk-taking, violence, dominance, playboy, self-reliance, primacy of work, power over women, and disdain for homosexuals. Anecdotal proof: for fear of being bullied, my best bud in high school refused to eat bananas in the cafeteria - phallic foods never escaped a hazing. Putting a pin in violence and homophobia for now, note that three of Wong's tested traits stood out more than the rest. Sexual promiscuity, self-reliance, and power over women were most categorically linked to frail mental health.
Part of the issue is that in playing up to these toxic ideals over a lifetime, men can lose touch with their actual feelings, harming themselves and others but also misinterpreting or manifesting emotional suffering as physical. Dr. Michael Myers, Professor of Clinical Psychiatry at SUNY-Downstate Medical Center in Brooklyn says, "In men, mental illness can be masked. We've known for decades that women are more apt to recognize illness of any sort and go to their doctor. This doesn't mean women are healthier, but that some men just repress it. We believe a lot of somatization [symptoms] in men, for example, migraines, back pain, irritable bowel syndrome, is rooted in depression." Myers also confirms that untreated depression often gets acted out in men in the form of marked hostility, binge drinking, and womanizing. At its worst, depression breeds violence, both verbal and physical. That violence is also often turned inward. On average, eight men commit suicide every day in Canada with single and divorced men over 40 being most at risk.
Self-medicating depressive or anxious feelings with drugs and alcohol is also common for men who are suffering. But one study linked alexithymia (a cognitive disorder marked by an inability to identify or express emotional states) with men prone to substance abuse. More than half, 53% of them, met the criteria for alexithymia. Difficult emotions get stuffed or drowned well past the point of health. Still, many men's health campaigns suggest making time to go for that beer - the takeaway being "go easy on the pints, heavy on the time spent connecting with a pal". When PSA campaigns are needed to broadcast the idea to men that it's okay to talk openly, there is an issue that needs addressing. Isolation, which as an important aside nearly triples the incidence of cardiovascular disease, is yet another factor that complicates the arena of men's mental health.
Although the conversation is changing, the way we (women and men) sometimes socialize boys can lead to a noxious shutting down of emotion that sets the stage for withdrawal - not just from others, but from their own feelings. Prince Harry recently spoke out about an inability to properly mourn his mother's death for nearly two decades before being forced by his brother, Prince William, to seek help after his textbook destructive behaviour became unmanageable. The effects of punishing vulnerability and rewarding aggression from an early age are unforgiving and science is finally catching up with that. Thankfully that science is trickling down and the rest of the world and taking note to. High profile celebrities are more vocal than ever about mental wellness. Recognize today as day for checking in on the men in your life and using your voice to cultivate a cultural detox. If you need a butch excuse to spend some time, so be it. Throw an axe at a bullseye together. Without sacrificing safety, focus on the detox, not the target.
Marc Beaulieu is a writer, producer and host of the live Q&A show guyQ LIVE @AskMe |
Povestea Imnului Național
Unul dintre simbolurile cele mai importante ale oricărei ţări este imnul. Alături de drapel şi stemă, imnul reprezintă sinteza valorilor, idealurilor, poporului care îl cântă. De asemenea, poate reprezenta simbolul casei regale (în cazul statelor monarhice) sau, şi acesta este şi cazul cântecului “Deşteaptă-te, române”, un cântec de luptă.
Posterităţii îi este recomandat un asemenea cântec de câteva condiţii care trebuie întrunite. Este vorba de emoţia publică pe care o generează intonarea acestuia, şi momentele istorice în care acesta este repetat. Acest din urmă element dorim să îl ilustrăm în continuare, sub amendamentul că nu vom putea face acest lucru exhaustiv. Vom puncta de aceea doar câteva momente istorice, legate în primul rând de Braşov, oraşul genezei acestui imn.
Încă de la apariţie, “Deşteaptă-te, Române” a fost un cântec menit să fie alături de români în cele mai grele momente ale istoriei lor. Versurile militante/combatante i-au chemat pe români la luptă, la (re)deşteptare.
Geneza unui cântec
La început a fost cuvântul…
Condiţia oprimată pe care au avut-o românii secole de-a rândul în cadrul regatului maghiar şi apoi în Imperiul Austriac au dus la marginalizare, izolare şi imobilism. Începutul revoluţiei de la 1848 îi găseşte pe intelectualii români preocupaţi de soarta conaţionalilor lor din Transilvania. Nu întâmplător, aceştia se situează în fruntea poporului, căruia încearcă să îi arate calea de urmat. Intelectuali de vârf precum George Bariţiu, Simion Bărnuţiu, Alexandru Papiu Ilarian, episcopul Andrei Şaguna, sunt desemnaţi să îi conducă pe români în grelele momente ale revoluţiei.
Necesitatea mobilizării rapide, efective şi eficiente era evidentă. Însă acest lucru nu se putea face numai prin intermediul proclamaţiilor şi a declaraţiilor din presă. Era nevoie de încă ceva. Poetului Andrei Mureşanu, aflat pe atunci la Braşov în calitate de profesor la Colegiul Latino-German din localitate (instituţie de învăţământ condusă de vărul său Iacob Mureşianu) şi redactor la suplimentul literar “Foaie pentru minte, inimă şi literatură” al periodicului românesc “Gazeta de Transilvania” condus de George Bariţiu, îi va reveni misiunea elaborării unui cântec de luptă.
După adunarea de la Blaj de pe Câmpia Libertăţii (3/15 mai 1848), în rândurile opiniei publice româneşti emoţia era febrilă. Împrejurările în care a fost scrisă celebra poezie sunt descrise de soţia lui Andrei Mureşanu, Susana, în consemnarea profesorului Moroianu: “…prin a doua jumătate a lunii mai 1848 erau adunaţi la Braşov mai mulţi fruntaşi ai românilor din Principate, între care Bălcescu, unul sau amândoi fraţii Brătieni, Magheru, Cezar Bolliac, Alecsandri, Gh. Sion, Bolintineanu, fraţii Goleşti şi alţii, dintre care unii se înapoiaseră de la Adunarea Naţională din Blaj, la care luaseră parte. În Braşov, aceşti fruntaşi din Ţara Veche se întâlneau adeseori cu fruntaşii locali ai românilor, cum erau cei doi Mureşeni, Iacob şi Andrei, cu Bariţ, cu protopopul Popazu şi cu dr. Vasici. (…) De la o asemenea întrunire s-a întors odată, pe la finea lui mai, bărbatul ei, târziu după miezul nopţii, fiind foarte agitat. El nu s-a culcat, ci s-a aşezat la masa de scris şi a scris până târziu, după ce se făcuse ziuă, mai sculându-se din când în când de la masă şi plimbându-se prin odaie, citind din ceea ce scrisese. Erau strofe din Deşteaptă-te, române!”
După aceasta poetul a început lupta pentru a da publicităţii creaţia sa. Despre aceasta ne relatează publicistul George Bariţiu: “După munca zilei ieşeam amândoi aproape regulat pe la cinci ore la aer curat. Astă dată Andrei venise la mine înainte de amiază ca să eşim spre pădure, că are să-mi mai citească ceva. Era Deşteaptă-te, române! – Oare cenzura ceva zice? – Vom încerca într-un noroc. Censorul cel mai sever va pleca de acasă, numai câteva zile să aşteptăm. – Până atunci doară îi voi afla şi o arie.” Această stratagemă a reuşit, poezia fiind publicată în numărul 25 din 21 iunie 1848 al “Foii pentru minte, inimă şi literatură” sub titlul “Răsunet”. Atragem atenţia asupra confuziei generalizate, întreaga posteritate reţinând poezia mai degrabă cu titlul cuprins în primul vers.
Un cântec… cu cântec
Iată deci cum, după ce versurile au fost puse pe hârtie, s-a pus problema identificării unui cântec adecvat, menit să pună şi mai bine în valoare stihurile. Aici apare o celebră controversă legată de persoana autorului melodiei. Pentru a cunoaşte sursele referitoare la problemă, vom prezenta în continuare cele trei ipoteze cunoscute.
Andrei Mureşanu – părinte al versurilor şi a melodiei
Aceeaşi Susana Mureşanu relatează: “Andrei Mureşanu şi-a luat băieţii de români de la gimnaziul catolic din localitate şi băieţi de la şcoala primară a neguţătorilor români şi s-a dus cu ei pe Tâmpa, cântând Deşteaptă-te, române! După o melodie veche, tărăgănată, care i s-a potrivit. Când s-a coborât de pe Tâmpa, băieţii îl cântau de minune. E bine deci să se ştie că melodia lui Deşteaptă-te, române! Tot poetul Mureşanu i-a dat-o, cum povestesc mai sus, şi acest imn mai întâi a fost cântat, pe urmă a fost publicat.”
Iacob Mureşianu compozitorul, răspunzând unei întrebări formulate de redacţia “Astra” din Iaşi afirma: “Autorul poeziei, cât şi a melodiei imnului Deşteaptă-te, române!, este Andrei Mureşanu. Armonizată însă a fost de un muzic boem la dorinţa autorului, şi s-a publicat într-un caet intitulat Flori române, împreună cu alte jocuri naţionale, pe la 1860. Melodia originală se vede în Muza Română, nr. 2/1888, la începutul putpuriului românesc.”
George Ucenescu – compozitorul ucenic al lui Pann
O consemnare autobiografică manuscrisă a discipolului lui Anton Pann, angajat al Bisericii Sf. Nicolae din Scheii Braşovului indică o altă variantă privitoare la autorul moral al melodiei, ulterior existând specialişti care i-au atribuit lui paternitatea melodiei: “Poetul Andrei Murăşanu, ca rudenie cu parohul Bonifaţie Pitiş, venea vara des la grădinile parohului pentru aer şi pentru cireşe. Sosind furiosul an 1848, poetul căuta o melodie după care să compuie pentru acest an un sonet (sic!) care să se cânte între amicii ce era să se adune la grădina parohului pentru o petrecere de seară – cu mâncări şi beuturi în onoarea cireaşelor. Am cântat multe cântece de probă, iar sosind la următorul cânt, Din sânul maicii mele, şi cântându-l, a rămas poetul pe lângă această melodie.”
Anton Pann – culegător de cântece vechi
O teorie des uzitată, şi, din păcate, încetăţenită în rândul opiniei publice româneşti, îl desemnează pe celebrul culegător şi profesor de muzică veche ca fiind autorul melodiei. Oricât de convenabilă ar fi această teorie, nu există nici o sursă care să îl asocieze pe Pann cu geneza celebrului cântec. Mai mult decât atât, deşi cântecul religios Din sânul maicii mele, cel care se pare că stă la originea melodiei actualului Imn de Stal al României, a fost într-adevăr consemnat şi publicat de folclorist (abia în anul 1850!), el era unul cu circulaţie foarte mare în epocă, noi putându-l considera astăzi ca un veritabil hit, des cântat, dar fără vreun autor nominalizat.
În concluzie, din datele expuse anterior, şi luând în considerare şi tradiţia orală a familiei Mureşenilor care îl indică pe Andrei ca fiind un muzician talentat (ştia să cânte la mai multe instrumente şi avea şi o voce deosebită), îndrăznim să avansăm ca fiind cea mai probabilă ipoteza în care Andrei Mureşanu a fost autorul propriu-zis al versurilor şi autor moral al melodiei.
Locul în care s-a cântat prima oară Deşteaptă-te, române!
Un alt subiect controversat legat de acest cântec istoric, şi care a făcut la rândul său istorie, este localizarea interpretării sale publice. Aflată în strânsă legătură cu controversa legată de autor, teoria conform căreia imnul a fost cântat prima oară în public la Râmnicu Vâlcea, în parcul Zăvoi, se bazează pe atribuirea paternităţii cântecului lui Pann.
Sursa, pe baza căreia s-a adoptat inclusiv legea “Zilei Imnului Naţional al României”, este Raportul nr. 10 al Comisarului extraordinar al districtului Vâlcea, D. Zăgănescu, către Ministerul trebilor din Lăuntru al Ţării Româneşti, publicat în Monitorul Oficial nr. 14, 1848, din 26 august. Datat în 30 iulie 1848, documentul anunţa că “ieri, joi 29 ale curgătoarei luni”, cetăţenii din Râmnicu Vâlcea au manifestat “într-o câmpie înconjurată cu arbori ce este la marginea cetăţii pentru constituţie, iar garda naţională a răspuns printr-un număr însemnat de arme cu salve detunătoare”. Aflându-se în acest “pompos constituţiu şi d-lui Anton Pann, profesor de muzică, împreună cu câţiva cântăreţi de aceeaşi profesie, au alcătuit o muzică vocală cu nişte versuri prea frumoase puse pe un ton naţional plin de armonie şi triumfal, cu care a ajuns entuziasmul de patrie în inimile tuturor românilor”.
Raportându-ne însă la toate datele care le-am enumerat până acum, nu putem să nu ne exprimăm rezervele faţă de localizarea la Râmnicu Vâlcea a locului unde s-a cântat Deşteaptă-te, române!, asta cu atât mai mult cu cât Anton Pann nu a consemnat niciodată faptul că ar fi interpretat acest cântec, în acel an, în acea localitate. Din cele expuse mai sus însă reiese indubitabil că Braşovul a fost locul unde s-a născut şi a fost cântat prima oară acest imn.Dar, fără a mai insista, lăsăm cititorilor plăcerea să aleagă între aceste ipoteze.
Un cântec face istorie
Condiţia pentru ca o melodie să devină imn naţional este ca aceasta să fie reluată în cât mai multe ocazii. Aceste ocazii nu au încetat să apară, practic în momente cu mare încărcătură emoţională românii au cântat acest marş revoluţionar.
Fără a avea pretenţia să acoperim exhaustiv momentele istorice în care acest cântec a apărut consemnat în presa epocii, vom marca totuşi câteva asemenea momente, bazându-ne inclusiv pe ziarul familiei Mureşenilor, “Gazeta Transilvaniei”.
Adunarea ASTRA din 1863
La Braşov are loc adunarea generală a ASTRA în anul 1863. În cadrul manifestărilor publice prilejuite de acest eveniment este inclus şi un recital la pian al lui Iacob Mureşianu, fiul redactorului “Gazetei Transilvaniei”. Acesta a interpretat “imnul naţional şi familial “Deşteaptă-te, Române!” de Andrei Mureşanu”. S-a presupus că şi autorul se afla în sală, era în ultimul an al vieţii.
La alegeri, cu cântec… înainte!
Pentru românii ardeleni, momentul alegerilor pentru Dieta Transilvaniei din anul 1863 a fost unul cu semnificaţii deosebite. După secole de-a rândul de tratament inegal (românii fiind consideraţi toleraţi, conform legilor medievale), în urma prevederilor Diplomei Octroate din octombrie 1860, dar mai ales ale Patentei din februarie 1861, se hotăreşte organizarea de alegeri, bazate pe sistemul censual, care permit românilor plătitori de impozite (şi nu unele mici, de minim 8 florini) să intre în viaţa politică a principatului transilvănean.
Intrarea românilor în sistemul politic public al Transilvaniei descătuşează energii acumulate de mult timp, una dintre formele de manifestare fiind cântul. Şi astfel, la alegerile din comuna Teaca, descriindu-se pregătirile pentru alegeri se spunea: “În 30 Juniu demineaţia la 6 ore s-au ţinut serviciul Dumnezeiesc, pontificând D. protopop Gabriele Cheţianu în frunte la 20 preoţi şi un diacon. Pe la mijlocul serviciului Dumnezeiesc s-a sfinţitu steagul sub ceriul liber. După aceea s-a răsfirat afară, (la) care corul a cântat: “Deşteaptăte Române”. (…) În 1 Juliu s-au începutu earăşi cu serviciul Dumnezeiesc, flamura petrecută de chorul cu “Deşteaptăte Române”, ca şi în ziua dintâia, însă către amiază simţindu-se că nemeşii intrighează pe faţă, neîndestulare comună, şi indignare în contra lui Hoszu.”
Într-o altă relatare din acelaşi an 1863, este descrisă încheierea alegerilor într-o altă circumscripţie: “Preşedintele vru a mai vorbi, dar alegătorii prorupseră la vivate mai entusiastice decât veru când altădată, comisiunea rămase încremenită. Tenerimea “Deşteaptăte Române”, musica imnului poporal (subl. n.), şi aşa se fini astă alegere atâta de dubiu, despre a cărei bun resultat numai eu nu am desperatu”.
Marea Unire şi deşteptarea naţiunii
În agitatele luni noiembrie şi decembrie 1918, batrâna “Gazetă” reapare sub titlul “Glasul Ardealului”. În mai multe numere, trimiterile directe la poezia lui Andrei Mureşanu indică prezenţa incontestabilă a spiritului imnului în sânul opiniei publice.
În numărul 4, din 14 noiembrie 1918, articolul de fond se cheamă “Acum ori niciodată”. Încheierea de-a dreptul patetică a articolului indică agitaţia dinaintea marii adunări de la Alba Iulia: “Ridicaţi capetele voastre, fraţi Români spre ceriuri şi cu credinţa moştenită dela străbuni aprindeţi în sufletele voastre făclia curată a iubirii de neam, căci iată a sosit ceasul fatal, când ni se cere poate ultima sforţare a bărbăteştei hotărâri. Orice jertfă am aduce acum, ea dispare în faţa măreţiei momentului, căci cutremurând adâncurile Vă zicem: Acum ori niciodată!” (subl. în textul original).
“Glasul Ardealului”, nr. 25, din 11 decembrie 1918, reeditează 11 dintre strofele poeziei. Deşi cu siguranţă marea majoritate a românilor ardeleni cunoşteau celebrele versuri, editorii publicaţiei vroiau să se asigure că nu va exista nici un braşovean care să nu aibă măcar versurile.
Descriind serviciul divin din prima zi a Crăciunului, acelaşi ziar consemna: “Biserica Sfântului Nicolae plină-tixită de credincioşi între cari şi o companie de vânători. Au celebrat toţi trei preoţii, în frunte cu părintele-protopop Dr. V. Saftu. Corul măestrului G. Dima a stăpânit sufletele mulţumite. Solo din priceasnă al Doamnei G. Dima, cu vocea-i de un alt duios ne-a pătruns în faţa “Tainei streine”. Pastorala Dlui episcop dela Arad, I. Pap, plină de reflexii şi sfaturi înţelepte, a fost ascultată azi cu toată mândria conştiinţei naţionale a credincioşilor fericiţi. Obştea întreagă a intonat imnul naţional (subl. n.) “Deşteaptă-te române” şi s-a îndepărtat sufleteşte mulţumiţi (sic), că Dzeu i-a făcut parte să ajungă acest cel mai fericit Crăciun românesc.”
Înainte ca generalului Berthelot, aflat în vizită la Braşov, să i se cânte Marseilleza, de către corul aceluiaşi G. Dima, ilustrul oaspete a fost întâmpinat astfel: “Uralele: Trăiască Generalul Berthelot! Vive la France! Trăiască România Mare! nu mai conteneau. Mulţimea adunată a intonat “Deşteaptă-te Române”, iar Generalul aclamat din toate părţile a fost condus la liceul român.”
Un număr festiv, scris în… duh legionar
La 1 decembrie 1940, la mai bine de două luni de la instaurarea regimului legionar în România, şi în urma abdicării regelui Carol al II-lea, Transilvania era ruptă în două. Prin pierderile teritoriale de după Dictatul de la Viena din 1940, românii ardeleni se aflau aproape în aceeaşi situaţie de dinainte de 1918, poate chiar mai gravă.
Nu surprinde de aceea editarea “Gazetei Transilvaniei”, sub frontispiciul “Număr festiv, scris în duh legionar”. Sub poza mare cât jumătate de pagină a lui Andrei Mureşanu, sunt tipărite nemuritoarele sale versuri “Murim mai bine-n luptă, cu glorie deplină,/Decât să fim sclavi, iarăşi, în vechiul nost pământ.”
Tot în aceste luni tulburi din istoria României, martori contemporani îşi amintesc cum emisiunile radioului public începeau cu intonarea imnului “Deşteaptă-te, Române!”, fiind apoi reluat de mai multe ori de-a lungul zilei, fiind unul dintre puţinele cântece mai vechi agreat de propaganda legionară.
Simbol al rezistenţei
Venirea comuniştilor la putere în România aduce acest vechi simbol al libertăţii românilor în postura ingrată de cântec interzis. În condiţiile “eliberării” aduse de armatele sovietice, deşteptarea clamată de Mureşanu devenea improprie, aducând mai degrabă aminte de libertatea pierdută, decât de cea “câştigată”.
Nu întâmplător deci, acest imn începe o nouă viaţă, mai apropiată rezistenţei subterane din ţară şi Diasporei, decât regimului public. Cântat în unele medii cu obstinenţă (este cunoscut cazul muzeografului Mircea Gherman, de la Muzeul “Casa Mureşenilor” din Braşov care încerca intonarea publică a imnului şi i se interzicea acest lucru), melodia rămane în conştiinţa opiniei publice în ciuda opoziţiei oficialităţilor.
Răbufnirea muncitorilor braşoveni din anul 1987 readuce dătător de speranţe în conştiinţa publică mesajul şi spiritul imnului. Iată descrierea momentului făcută de istoricul Stejerel Olaru: “Muncitorii revoltaţi se întrebau ce se poate face, unde ar putea merge pentru a fi ascultaţi. Evident, sediul Comitetului judeţean de partid era locul cel mai potrivit, astfel încât coloana protestatarilor, mult mai mică de această dată, a decis să părăsească uzina. În jurul orei 10, liniştea oraşului era spulberată. În faţa spitalului judeţean s-a cântat “Deşteaptă-te, Române!”, ceea ce a eliberat oamenii de teroare.” (subl. n.)
Un cântec însângerat
Pentru a completa cu adevărat motivele pentru care un cântec devine imn mai este nevoie de încă ceva. De sângele unor martiri, sânge pe care sistemul criminal comunist nu a ezitat să îl verse. Rememorând teribilele zile ale lui decembrie 1989, în grupajul de informaţii privitor la Timişoara, Rodica Palade rezuma: “Un grup de 30 de tineri se îndreaptă spre Catedrală. Urcă treptele şi desfăşoară un steag tricolor cu stema decupată. Încep să cânte “Deşteaptă-te, Române!”. Se trage în plin. Morţi şi răniţi. Doar câţiva reuşesc să fugă.”
Un participant la evenimentele din 16 decembrie 1989 din Timişoara, Miodrag Milin, descrie marea putere de mobilizare a acestui imn: “În complex, de la acea tribună improvizată (un bloc-transformator IRET), Oprea i-a îndemnat pe studenţi “să vină cu noi! să demonstreze contra dictaturii!!” S-a cântat “Deşteaptă-te, Române!”, s-a scandat “Jos dictatura! Jos Ceauşescu! Vrem libertate”. Mulţimea adunată a fost considerabil întărită de masa noilor veniţi din Zona Soarelui, de pe traseul Calea Girocului – Strada Cluj. S-au hotărât atunci să plece din nou la catedrală.”
În încheiere ne exprimăm speranţa că generaţiile viitoare vor înţelege exact contextul în care s-a născut acest cântec, şi, mai ales, vor cunoaşte teribilele momente în care el a fost reluat, pentru a accepta importanţa şi, mai ales, actualitatea sa. Trecutul şi prezentul său sunt garanţiile viitoare ale acestui cântec nemuritor.
Valer RUS |
Episode 14
Isn't it always the way that when you're hours from the office sporting only a smartphone with a dodgy data connection that something critical claps out back at work.
And then something's wrong with the VPN so you have to gain access through a convoluted chain of remote desktop, ssh and telnet links just to end up with a PowerShell interface which should NOT be accessible to you - or anyone. All because you need to bypass the security you not-so-carefully crafted – to perform a reboot.
And just when you're about to hit the final <enter>, some *GIT* rings you on the phone, which sends the command session you just had going into limbo.
"Yes?" I seethe.
"Just wondering if you know that the financials server is down?" the Boss says.
"It's not down, it just looks like it's down because the DNS component of the domain controllers has some syncing issue which is causing it to return deprecated DNS data." "I... what now?"
"Something's wrong in the main brain of the servers.” I explain carefully. "I need to look at it to see why it's wrong, but I can't do it while I'm being phoned."
I hang up and continue.
>tapitty< >prod< >RRRIING!<
"I told you - I can't do it while I'm being rung!!!"
"Yes I know," the Boss blurts quickly. "I was just wondering if you could tell me when things would be back as there's people wanting to work."
"I was going to say I don't know," I respond, "but now it's I don't know PLUS the time of this phone call, PLUS the time to navigate back to the remote desktop app."
"So you don't really have any idea?"
"I don't know exactly what's wrong yet, so no."
"Should I leave you my number?"
"The one that's the last two entries on my recent calls list?"
"Yes. I see. Well I'll just wait for your call. Any idea when tha.. >click<"
>tappity< >prod< >prod< >swipe< >RIIIINNNNG<
"Yes?"
"Hi, I know you've talked to Alan but I was just wondering if you could give us a ROUGH idea of when things will be working again. ROUGH - doesn't have to be too accurate," the IT Director says.
"Oh well, in that case, this week some time."
"Ha ha, yes. Well played. Maybe a little more accurate than that?"
"I could narrow it down to the days in this week which have not already passed..."
"Well, will it be up today?" he asks.
"Before people started calling me, I would have said possibly - but now I'm not so sure."
"Well can you give me likelihoods? Like a percentage guess on how likely it would be to be up and running this afternoon."
"Well off the top of my head I'd say it was something like a 78 per cent chance."
"So 78 per cent?"
"No, LIKE 78 per cent. So it could be 7 or 8 or 78 per cent. It's hard to tell with all these calls."
"I see, well I'll just let you get on with it. If you could just give me a ca.."
>click<
>tappity< >tappity< >tweak< >tweak< >click< >prod< >prod<
Moments later I give the PFY a call.
"Where are you?" I ask.
"At the pub," the PFY says. "It's lunchtime."
"OK could you pop over the road and kick the domain controller in the guts, AFTER you pull the plugs on the backup DC? I think the backup is poisoning the primary."
"Not really," the PFY says.
"Why not?"
"I'm in Paris."
"YOU SAID YOU WERE IN THE PUB!"
"I am - I'm picking up some USB sticks."
"WHY FROM BLOODY PARIS?!!"
"Well you know how the Boss said he HAD TO HAVE a particular brand and a particular size of stick, AND he didn't care where I got them from so long as I got a good price? Well, I worked out that with the Eurostar special fare it was actually CHEAPER if I was buying more than 47 of them. So I'm sitting at a bar at Gare du Nord with a carton of 50. AND I've saved the company somewhere in the vicinity of 18 quid."
>click<
>tappity< >tappity< >click< >click<
Now I'm calling on the powers of memory that I don't have to remember to try and guess the address of the lights out management card. Worse still - I never really configured any of them outside of an address so they pretty much all look the same once you login.
>tappity< >clack!<
A quick ping tells me that the BDC is still there, so I've turned off something else in that server rack. I'm sure the monitoring system will page me in due course.
Unless I just turned off the monitoring system.
>tappity< >tappity< >click< >click<
>tappity< >clack<
Nope, another dud.
>tappity< >tappity< >click< >click<
>tappity< >click< SUCCESS! The BDC on port 9 has stopped responding to pings! I send a reboot to the PDC - which I know for a fact has an IP address one less than the BDC and pop into a pub to get myself a lunchtime lager.
>RING<
"Did you fix it?" the Director asks. "Only it looks like some people are getting back in."
"Yes. It should be right in half an hour or so. Now that the backup domain controller is out of the picture people will start getting information from the right one."
"So this... domain controller.. Should we replace it?"
"Undoubtedly."
"How soon can you do it so this doesn't happen again?"
"Well if I go through our normal suppliers, maybe a week or two."
"We have to do it sooner than that. We can't have this happen again! Are there no other options?"
"Well I could go and get one direct, which would take a day or two..." I say, directing Gina's gaze to the Amsterdam specials in a travel agents window...
I really should have written those IP addresses down. |
It sounds like a sitcom storyline aimed to poke fun of Canadians, but Alberta Parks has issued a sincere warning about moose licking vehicles in Kananaskis.
The warning, issued Monday, explains moose have been spotted in the Chester Lake and Burstall Pass trailhead parking lots trying to lick salt from the sides of vehicles.
READ MORE: Moose kisses caught on camera after licking warning in Kananaskis
“All animals have a natural need for salt because it is an important component in their blood,” Dr. Doug Whiteside at the Calgary Zoo said.
Animals will lose salt throughout the day and need to replenish that in order to maintain good health.
“In the wild, animals (like moose) will replace that salt through their diets, and if there is not a natural source of salt available they will find an alternate source, like the salt from the roads on the vehicles.”
The warning goes on to remind visitors the recommended viewing distance for moose is 30 metres, and that you should not try to push moose away from vehicles. Instead visitors are told to use their car horns or remote car alarms to deter moose away.
David Kay, head of Commercial Wildlife and Priority Species for the Alberta government, could not say how many moose-licking incidents have been reported this year.
Kay said he doubts this is something that is often reported, but Alberta Parks does know it happens every year, as moose can be known to be opportunistic when it comes to finding sources for salt.
There is no end date to the warning. |
Intellectuals are damned if they do and damned if they don’t.
When they keep silent they are accused of being pusillanimous cowards. When they do speak up they are dismissed as pontificating from ivory towers safely ensconced in Oxbridge or Ivy League comfort. So the likes of Salman Rushdie, Homi Bhabha, Anish Kapoor, Deepa Mehta deserve credit for spelling out unequivocally in print their fears about a Narendra Modi-led India whether or not it makes any difference to anyone’s vote. They especially deserve credit since they appear to be going against the tide in India.
It’s not like the Congress has been staunch in its championing of Rushdie’s freedom of expression. Now he risks burning his bridges with a Modi-led India as well when he lends his name to a joint note in The Guardian which reminds Indian voters that in 2002 under Modi “the Muslim minority were overwhelmingly the victims of pillage, murder and terror, resulting in the deaths of more than 2,000 men, women and children.”
This is fairly typical of liberal statements warning about the imminent coming of Modi. “Modi's infamous role in the massacre of Muslims in his state in 2002 is being brushed aside and he is promoted as morally 'fit enough' to lead the nation,” worries a more homegrown statement from over 100 eminent citizens including UR Ananthamurthy, S Irfan Habib, Mihir Pandya and others.
Gujarat 2002 must be part of the discourse on Modi but for liberals in India, bracing themselves for a Modi sarkar, the Muslim has become the convenient fig leaf behind which to hide their own fears.
Perhaps liberals think it is honourable to be seen as speaking up for Muslims and self-serving to speak up for themselves. But a Modi government is likely to be far more of a threat to liberals than it would ever be to Muslims for the simple reason that Modi never wants to have another situation like 2002 on his hands. He might have had no change of heart, he might never apologize for having failed in his duty as a chief minister during the riots, but he knows that if another 2002 erupts under his watch, his future will go up in smoke. That is the one thing he will be scrutinized on by the world, far more than any favours he extends to any Adanis. His entire campaign has been built around the fact that there have been no communal riots in Gujarat post-2002.
And Muslims know this as well, even though political leader after leader from Mayawati to Mamata are trying to rake up 2002 to scare Muslims into their kitty.At a rally in the Meo Muslim village of Mewat, Zamil Ahmed was clear that Muslims like him could not forgive Godhra. But he said it does not mean that would send them scurrying to the Congress out of Modi-terror.
“Log Modi se nahin darten, log Modi se nafrat karten hai (People are not scared of Modi, they just hate him),” he said.
A friend with an NGO in Delhi said Muslim workers at a shelter out in the villages said they were even considering voting for BJP because they felt Modi had the most to lose if communal violence erupted under him and therefore the most stake in keeping a lid on it. It’s perverse logic but as much a comment on the BJP as it is on the pathetic record of the supposedly minority-friendly parties like Congress and Samajwadi Party.
As Mayawati never ceases to stop pointing out in her rallies, in its two plus years in power, the SP has presided over 135 dangas in Uttar Pradesh. Modi might not want to woo Muslims but it would be utterly illogical and entirely against his self-interest to subject them to a re-run of Gujarat 2002.
Liberals, especially dissenting liberals, however, are another matter. If Modi chose to do so, he could easily decide to make an example of them and there would hardly be anyone to speak up for them. Liberals might dominate op-ed pages but they have little real constituency because in a democracy it’s all about who can deliver the votes.
Modi, not uniquely among powerful Indian politicians, has little appetite for dissent. As Caravan reported, when in 2002, Darshan Desai, an Indian Express reporter first tracked down Jashodaben in her village, not only did she refuse to talk to him, as soon as he got home, he got a call from Modi himself.
He said ‘Namaskar’, and then he asked: ‘So what is the agenda?’
“I said, ‘I didn’t quite get you.’ And he said, ‘You have written against me. Your newspaper even started Modi Meter,’ referring to a column my paper ran during the riots. I just kept quiet, and he said, ‘I’m aware what you’ve been up to today. What you’ve done today goes much beyond. That’s why I want to know what your agenda is.’
The chilling effect already extends beyond Gujarat. At a Campaign NOMOre event in New Delhi, Amir Aziz talked about how his play in DU was cancelled without any reason being given. He can only surmise it has something to do with the fact that it talks about Gujarat, Muzaffarnagar and is critical of Modi. He calls his play Caution: A Play in Progress.
These are small stories but indicative that the nervousness with which many view the rise of the autocratic Modi is not entirely misplaced. The fear about a future in which he is blessed with a popular mandate precisely because of his ruthlessness rather than despite it is genuine cause for concern for those who value democratic ideals and freedom of expression.
Columnist Swapan Dasgupta uncharitably writes in the Times of India that the intellectuals “in the boudoirs of Sujan Singh Park” are in a tizzy and quaking because they fear that their time in the sun is running out.
Over generations the Congress has nurtured and patronized an intellectual establishment that loosely shared its political assumptions. These notables fear marginalization and consequent loss of social importance and political influence. They feared it in 1998 too but inveigled their way back, fiercely exploiting the strange desire of some BJP leaders to acquire social respectability.
It is true that Modi is a true outsider who does not give a damn for acceptance in the intellectual fold unlike a Mamata who wooed Kolkata’s intelligentsia and artistic community during her rise to power and to this day trots out the likes of Mahasweta Devi whenever she can. Modi has snubbed the English language television media in his campaign to be PM appearing instead on the more aam aadmi program Aap ki Adalat. He might, in fact, quite relish showing what Dasgupta calls “the Praetorian guards of the ‘idea of India’” that there is a new Caesar in town.
There are excellent and pressing reasons to have a genuine debate about the idea of India that Modi represents. UR Ananthamurthy, who faced a barrage of vitriol for saying he didn’t want to live in an India under Modi, has to his credit, faced up to the larger issue beyond the Muslim one when he said "I have a feeling that we may slowly lose our democratic rights or civil rights, when there is a bully. But much more than that when there is a bully we become cowards.”
But to honestly have that debate and make that argument, liberals have to own up to their own fears as well instead of just projecting them onto Muslims in the guise of speaking on their behalf. We can only face our fears if we look them in the eye. In this case, liberals would do well look into the mirror first.
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You won't find Kenneth Moore's name in Canada's Sports Hall of Fame, but his family thinks you should.
"[He was] a poor boy from a family of eight from Peepeekisis First Nation," Moore's granddaughter, Jennifer Rattray, told CBC News.
"For him to actually achieve what he achieved … is really quite astounding."
Moore, who was born to a First Nation family in Saskatchewan in 1910, grew up as a natural athlete who spent countless hours at the local rink.
He played senior men's hockey in Winnipeg. His team won the Memorial Cup and was shot into an international arena: the 1932 Winter Olympics in Lake Placid.
It was there that Moore, a right winger, and his team won the Olympic gold medal.
Jennifer Rattray holds up Kenneth Moore's Olympic gold medal along with a portrait of him. (Jill Coubrough/CBC) "It was really exciting because I knew he'd been a hockey player but really didn't know what he'd accomplished," Rattray said.
"He didn't talk about it, but after he passed [in 1982] we found boxes and scrapbooks and paraphanalia."
In an old chest of drawers, Rattray found dozens of newspaper clippings, photographs, her grandfather's Olympic jersey and, of course, his gold medal.
It wasn't until 2009, amid the buzz leading up to the Winter Olympics in Vancouver, that Rattray decided to dig further.
"I got really interested in the Olympics and I thought my grandfather was humble and never shared his story, and my family never shared his story, so I felt a responsibility," she said.
"So I did some research … and through that process realized that my grandfather was the first First Nations person to win an Olympic gold medal."
Filed nomination application twice
Rattray said she then filed a nomination application with Canada's Sports Hall of Fame — twice — to have her grandfather recognized.
"Didn't receive any response; I didn't receive anything back," she said.
Rattray followed up with emails and phone calls, but she received no word.
"After two years of trying, I moved on," she said.
Fast-forward to this month, when Rattray's husband read in the newspaper that the hall of fame has released its latest list of inductees.
"My husband noticed in the newspaper some language around one of the other nominees being the first indigenous person to participate in a Winter Olympics and I know that's not accurate," Rattray said.
At the time, the hall of fame had identified the Firth sisters — twin cross-country skiers who competed at four Olympic games — to be the first indigenous athletes to attend the Winter Olympics.
Both Rattray and her husband do not want to take away from the Firth sisters' accomplishments, but they want Moore to be recognized as well.
"I'm a history buff. I teach history, so to know that that was not necessarily accurate and then have the family connection to that got me motivated to correct an error," said Stacey Dainard, Rattray's husband.
Dainard sent an email to the president of the hall of fame to flag the error.
Hall of fame corrects language
In an email, a spokesperson for Canada's Sports Hall of Fame told CBC News they became aware of Kenneth Moore on Thursday morning.
"We have made the clarification that the Firth sisters are believed to be the first Inuit-Indigenous athletes to represent Canada at the Winter Olympic Games," the spokesperson wrote.
However, CBC News has confirmed that the Firth sisters are Gwich'in, not Inuit.
According to the hall of fame, the selection committee reviews hundreds of nominations and selections are based on three criteria: athletic achievement, social values the athlete exhibits, and the nominee's broader impact on his or her sport, community or country.
Moore has yet to be acknowledged.
"My grandfather worked so hard and had a very difficult life, and what he was able to accomplish in 1932 by being a member of an Olympic team and by winning a gold medal is absolutely astounding. He deserves the credit and the respect for those accomplishments, and that's what I'm most concerned about," Rattray said.
"I really feel a duty for that for that not to be forgotten."
Rattray said the president of Canada's Sports Hall of Fame has since apologized for its lack of response to her past applications and encouraged her to nominate her grandfather again in 2016. |
I love Spotify’s motto/mindset, “Think It. Build It. Ship It. Tweak It.” I know testing is part of “Build It”, but I like to add “Test It” sometimes to amplify the importance testing has to shipping quality products. But I digress. The two videos linked below are produced by Henrik Kniberg and take you on Spotify’s journey to produce the culture they have today and where they hope to be. Spotify has been highly rated on glassdoor (employee rating companies) and has a fantastic product, who knew those two things could happen together.
These videos are very entertaining and informative. Grab your popcorn and enjoy.
I have been eagerly awaiting part 2 of the Spotify Culture video and Henrik posted it recently. There are so many great things about Spotify’s culture that this blog post would be a mile long if I tried to list them.
So inspiring. This doesn’t happen overnight and it appears that everyone has a say in Spotify’s journey. It isn’t perfect by any stretch and Henrik indicates that this is ideally how they operate. Peaking into some of the recent glassdoor comments indicate that not everything is all roses at Spotify. Luckily they are constantly inspecting and adapting. What are your thoughts on these videos?
Henrik, thank you so much for sharing!!
Relevant Links:
Spotify Labs blog post.
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Move over Hollywood! There's a new star stealing the spotlight -- China has beaten the U.S. for the first time in monthly box office sales.
China brought in $650 million in box office revenue for February, surpassing sales in the U.S. of $640 million, according to EntGroup, a Chinese entertainment research firm. Chinese theaters pulled in $282 million during the week of Lunar New Year, a popular movie-going period.
The top grossing Chinese film, "The Man From Macau II," starring Hong Kong actor Chow Yun Fat, brought in $104 million. Action film "Dragon Blade," with Jackie Chan, John Cusack and Adrien Brody, came in second at $95 million.
Chinese moguls have been making significant investments in the country's entertainment industry, looking to cash in big on the fast-growing market.
In 2013, Chinese billionaire Wang Jianlin -- who owns U.S.-based AMC Cinemas -- invested $8.2 billion to create a Chinese version of Hollywood. When complete, the Qingdao Oriental Movie Metropolis will boast massive film and television studios, production facilities, theme parks and hotels.
Related: Why China's Tencent wants to own Beyonce online
Even tech tycoons are recognizing how much money can be made in entertainment. Alibaba (BABA) co-founder Jack Ma has reportedly met with Hollywood executives, and his company has struck deals with Lions Gate (LGF) to stream popular U.S. shows such as "Twilight" and "Mad Men." Rival company Tencent (TCEHY) has struck similar deals to distribute hit shows in China.
Chinese moviegoers also love foreign films -- "Transformers: Age of Extinction," which was shot extensively in China, was a smash success.
But it remains a tricky place for foreign filmmakers. Chinese regulators only allow 34 foreign films to be show in theaters each year, limiting access to the latest Hollywood blockbusters. Approved films still face the heavy hand of government censors, who cut anything the Communist Party considers offensive or subversive. |
Ukraine’s new parliament was sworn in today. More than 400 members took their oaths, but 27 seats remain vacant – the annexation of Crimea, plus the war in eastern Ukraine, prevented deputies being elected there.
It is just one year since people seeking democracy and prosperity began protesting in Kiev’s Maidan Square, leading to the downfall of a kleptocratic regime and descent of a new cold war in Europe. How rapidly the news agenda moves on. Crimea was the first annexation on the continent since 1945 but is now largely forgotten, despite prices soaring and people disappearing or dying in suspicious circumstances if they cross their new rulers. Human Rights Watch has catalogued the import of Vladimir Putin’s trademark tactics of abusing activists and harassing journalists.
Meanwhile, a crippling conflict drags on in Europe. More than 4,300 combatants and civilians have been killed since Russia and its stooges began stirring up trouble eight months ago. Almost a million people have fled the afflicted region, the numbers surging in recent weeks. A report by UN monitors disclosed an average of 13 people dying each day since a supposed ceasefire between Ukraine, Russia and the rebels in early September, while all the protagonists suffer painful economic fallout.
So what’s being done? The message from last week’s G20 summit seemed clear: Putin was being sent to diplomatic Siberia. Stephen Harper, Canada’s prime minister, told the Russian president he would shake his hand but had only one thing to say: “You need to get out of Ukraine.” Then Putin was subjected to snubs, shunned at lunch and berated by other world leaders; little surprise he fled home early. Few will shed tears over such treatment of a despotic figure doing such damage to his nation’s interests both at home and abroad.
But this was gesture politics of the worst kind from western leaders, posturing in public while seeming to have little strategy for how to resolve a spiralling crisis in the midst of Europe. Instead, Ukraine seems to be slipping down the foreign policy agenda.
In the summer I saw early skirmishes at Donetsk airport, given a £500m facelift before football’s European Championship two years ago. Ukraine and the Russian rebels remain locked in lethal combat over the abandoned planes, wrecked control tower and battered terminal buildings, much of the debris filled with booby traps after the two sides slugged it out from different floors. Now a place that so recently demonstrated national pride is a depressing symbol of this destructive struggle.
Not only has Putin got his hands on Crimea, but increasingly it appears he may be getting what he wants elsewhere in Ukraine too, with the destabilising of a fledgling democracy and creation of patsy states on his border. For as Kiev halts payments of public funds for Novorossiya (New Russia), the areas of Donbass controlled by rebels seem to be sliding into frozen statehood.
This is another favoured Kremlin tactic – as seen with Russian-backed splinter states such as Abkhazia and South Ossetia in Georgia, and Transnistria in Moldova. Novorossiya would, however, be much more costly to support, with the need to rebuild a shattered, heavily industrialised pariah state of 4 million people. It reveals how Putin is at the mercy of events as much as any other player in the region, trapped by the potent combination of soaring popularity and a shaky economy.
Yet only the most deluded or sycophantic observer can blame anyone but Putin for these tragic scenes. For all his postmodern pretence of non-involvement, Russia’s president sent his forces into a neighbouring nation, tearing apart a country whose people sought the freedom and accountability he so fears in his own nation. Ukraine’s attempts to recapture its territory were thwarted by troops, tanks and artillery from over the border.
The response of western leaders is to pose as tough guys on the public stage while preparing to impose a few minor sanctions on separatists and some Putin cronies. They hope that pressure on Russia’s economy will prevent further escalation, although this might make Putin even more unpredictable. Meanwhile, Moscow continues to ramp up military spending, just as it has done from the moment that Putin, this former KGB apparatchik with Tsarist ambitions, took office – while the Baltic states (members of Nato, remember) grow ever more anxious.
Solutions should come from diplomatic, not military, action. Yet there must be deterrence alongside diplomacy. There is a danger, however, that the west is so distracted by events in the Middle East that it ignores the angry Russian bear lashing out in Europe, which possibly poses the bigger threat to our immediate futures. Earlier this year the Russian activist Alexei Navalny proposed a list of Putin’s inner circle who should be subjected to sanctions; nearly all are now on the western blacklist, apart from the football oligarchs Roman Abramovich and Alisher Usmanov. It would send a powerful signal to see sanctions imposed on this pair, whatever the cost to their London clubs.
Moscow is also demanding guarantees that Ukraine will never be allowed to join Nato; but Petro Poroshenko, Ukraine’s president, insisted this week that his nation will hold a vote once it meets the criteria for membership. Such a move should be welcomed if sought by the populace, as should their desire to join the EU. For at the core of this crisis lies the basic principle behind our noblest European ideals: the democratic right of people to determine their own futures, rather than have such hopes crushed by despotism or foreign aggressors. |
Tablets using Intel's newest Atom processor, Bay Trail, will hit the market next quarter, according to a comment made by Intel CEO Brian Krzanich during the chipmaker's earnings conference call with analysts.
Until now, the one-to-four core, 64-bit capable, low-power processors have largely been restricted to Windows 8.1 devices, reflecting Bay Trail's original Windows focus. Intel switched focus to Android during the development process, and this is what caused the delay in getting Android products to market.
Although previous Atom parts included 64-bit variants for high-density servers, Bay Trail represents the first Atom processor that has 64-bit editions aimed at tablets. Apple stole a march on its competitors in the smartphone and tablet market last year when it introduced the 64-bit A7 processor in the iPhone 5S, iPad Air, and iPad Mini with Retina Display. 64-bit support can provide modest improvements to both security and performance, and just as it has taken over the desktop and server space, in the long term it's inevitable that it will do so in the mobile space.
Windows 8.1-based Bay Trail tablets currently all run 32-bit versions of Windows due to driver issues with the 64-bit version's Connected Standby feature. Intel expects this situation to be remedied within the next few months, enabling 64-bit Windows on tablets. 64-bit Android tablets are set to follow shortly after. Intel demonstrated 64-bit Android on Bay Trail last November, but ARM-based Android is currently a 32-bit OS.
Intel's earnings for the final quarter of 2013 were a little surprising. Revenue of $13.8 billion was up three percent on the previous year, and net income of $2.6 billion was an increase of four percent. Though the overall PC market fell, Intel saw growth in one rather unfashionable segment: desktop PCs. Average prices for desktop processors were up five percent year on year.
Intel attributed this in part to the ongoing transitions from Windows XP: corporations are finally replacing old systems, and this is stimulating demand. The company anticipated further scope for desktop growth next quarter. |
Alabama DL Jonathan Allen joins SportsCenter and discusses his team's effort against Washington, using the momentum the Crimson Tide had heading into halftime and speaking highly of RB Bo Scarbrough for winning the MVP. (1:46)
ATLANTA -- After Alabama's dominating 24-7 victory against Washington on Saturday in the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl, Crimson Tide defensive end Jonathan Allen called the Huskies "soft." That was actually an improvement over what he called them walking off the field at halftime.
"They were soft," Allen told ESPN after the game. "No disrespect, but we could have played better."
Allen had six tackles, including a sack, as the No. 1-ranked Crimson Tide advanced to the College Football Playoff title game against Clemson on Jan. 9 in Tampa, Florida. Alabama held Washington to 194 yards.
At halftime, when Allen was walking off the field to the locker room, he shook his head and said to the Crimson Tide fans in the northeast corner of the Georgia Dome, "They're sorry, they're sorry," before entering the tunnel.
Later Saturday, Allen tweeted that he had not called the Huskies soft. He wrote: "To all the reports saying I called Washington soft that is not true I never said that, at Alabama were taught to win and lose with class ... I have nothing but the up most respect for Washington and how they came out there and competed today."
Allen, a senior, is expected to be among the first players taken in the 2017 NFL draft.
After the game, Huskies quarterback Jake Browning acknowledged the dominance of Alabama's defense.
"It's a good defense," he said. "They can get in a quarterback's head. I don't think they did that necessarily but they make you get rid of the ball quickly. They have elite pass-rush guys. We did a pretty good job with that overall, but you've got to make a couple more plays when you're playing a good team like that."
The Huskies managed only 44 yards rushing on 29 carries, an average of 1.5 yards.
Said Washington coach Chris Petersen: "They kind of are what we thought they were -- a really, really elite championship defense with real good players across the board."
Information from The Associated Press was used in this report. |
INTERVIEW with (writer/director) Kouros Alaghband after the trailer above!
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THE WIGLUM STORY
At his local supermarket salad bar, Wiglum witnesses the ridiculous routine of human life in mindless motion -- and it has taken its toll. Meanwhile at his company, he can no longer face the show-posing put on by the self-important applicants he interviews, but somehow stumbles upon Doug Nichol in the process. How is Wiglum now listening to the spurring voices in his mind from the tongue of another person . . . in this interview? And what is that worth anyway? This 15-minute short film tip-toes between 'fever-dream' and 'black-comedy' through the banal lens of a microscope.
The video above is the early trailer for the film! Since this is our first official short film, we invested our own savings to fund the *filming* of WIGLUM, but filming is only one part of many within making a movie -- with this trailer we give you a vivid glimpse into the near future. The goal is to begin post-production & submit the film to 20+ festivals across the US and abroad, with your help we can fund it!
STARRING BARRY DEL SHERMAN as WIGLUM
Our screenplay spoke to Barry Del Sherman from THERE WILL BE BLOOD & AMERICAN BEAUTY, in such a fashion that his commitment to Wiglum was total -- he trenched himself in the middle of unnameable compulsion.
Top - There Will Be Blood | Middle - w/ Daniel Day Lewis | Bottom - American Beauty
ALSO STARRING IAN PATERSON as DOUG NICHOL
Ian Paterson's Doug attunes his internal antennae for any detail Wiglum offers him. His conflict between observing the spectacle of Wiglum's immense mood and communing with it is in flux.
Ian Paterson as DOUG
Director of Photography - ALEX VENDLER
Interviewed by American Cinematographer for his Sundance splash - THE WOMAN (2011) . With an epic scope and non-budget like this one, we needed Alex's veteran passion and wisdom to squeeze the most out of our economic limitations. We used the RED Scarlett along with Zeiss Ultra-Prime and Super Speeds from the early '80s.
Alex Vendler On Panavision Camera
WIGLUM'S AESTHETIC IN STILLS
Much of the compositions pack a bizarre sober punch that capture an alien energy WIGLUM senses in these seemingly mundane moments and spaces. Take a look-see:
COMPOSERS - JONNY SANDU & MICHAEL ZIRBES
Wiglum feels nostalgia for the past, dreading the vacuous-consumerist present. Jonny and Michael will use natural and electric instruments played in the silent era of movies. An air organ made in the 1960's presented itself as Wiglum's small aching heart and several different percussion instruments used in that time. For the experimental jazz Doug listens to, we move forward in time and will use analog instruments. Here is a sample of their work:
OUR ECLECTIC CREW
Our crew is a melting pot of UC Berkeley students and experienced veterans in their respective fields. As rigorous of an undertaking as this film was, it was a constant learning experience at the same time. The collaboration of the WIGLUM crew combined a young gushing ambition with a wide skill-set.
Writers/Director/Co-Director - KOUROS ALAGHBAND & DREW HOFFMAN
WIGLUM is our first official short film. We have feature-length scripts ready to make, and are hoping to use WIGLUM as a calling card for these future films. In the past several years we have constantly been writing screenplays, and after finishing our undergraduate schooling we decided it was high time to make our favorite short screenplay a reality.
Kouros Alaghband
HOW YOUR DOLLARS WILL BE SPENT
( 60 % Post Production | 40 % Festivals )
POST PRODUCTION - Film Editing, Color Correction, Foley Design, Sound Design, Sound Mixing, & Music Composition.
FESTIVALS & TRAVEL - Our goal is to submit to at least 25 film festivals across the country and abroad. If selected, we need funding for travel.
STRETCH GOAL | $25,000
If our supporters and believers exceed our expectations for funding, the extra money will go towards (1) increasing the quality of the film, (2) having the chance to submit to additional festivals abroad & (3) funding the travel costs of additional cast and crew to attend film festivals!
WANT TO HELP WITH WIGLUM?
Pledge at any level, every dollar counts and helps!
Share our Kickstarter page on your FB or Twitter - bit.ly/WIGLUMLIVE
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CONTACT US
You can reach us at wiglumfilmco@gmail.com
Please feel free to contact us at any time with your questions or comments. We would love to hear from you. |
The elder god is a central antagonist throughout the Legacy of Kain series. Characterised as a writhing mass of tentacles and eyeballs, he resides deep underground underneath Nosgoth and exists simultaneously in both the spectral and material realms. However it wasn't an entity that most could actually see, even those that worshipped it. The race of ancient winged vampires (of which Janos Audron belonged to), who were the original guardians of the Pillars worshipped him - however the Hylden didn't, which lead to the ancient vampire-Hylden war that ended with the Hylden being banished to the Demon Realm but not before cursing the vampires with bloodlust and immortality. This lead to the elder god turning his back on the ancient vampires, as he was sustained by souls of Nosgoth and the vampires, now immortal and sterile with no way to be "born" anymore, did not flow with the Wheel of birth, death and rebirth to which all souls are drawn. Most of the ancient vampires died out (likely committing suicide due to despair and madness from being unbearably separated from their god) and only a few, such as Janos Audron, accepted the curse as the price they paid for keeping the Hylden banished. Eventually, Janos found a way to pass the curse onto humans to turn them into vampires, starting with Vorador, ensuring the survival of the race even though the extinction of the ancient vampires was inevitable.
The elder god is first introduced in Soul Reaver. After Raziel was thrown into the abyss, it was the elder god that resurrected him as a wraith, and explained to him the world was imbalanced due to the nature of the immortality of vampires. Although he doesn't explicitly state it, Kain's vampire empire that he had built threatened his existence - as Kain's vampire lineage spread, less and less souls were being returned to the Wheel. He wanted the eradication of the vampires, especially Kain, and sent Raziel to do his bidding, telling him to seek vengeance on Kain and his brethren as his "Soul Reaver". Throughout the game, the elder god acts as somewhat of a guide to Raziel, explaining to him what had happened in the centuries since his execution, and confirming things such as Raziel and his brethren once being Sarafan when he finds the raided tomb. When Kain struck Raziel with the physical Reaver blade and it shattered, Raziel discovered that the spirit form of the blade had become part of him, wrapping itself around his right arm, and the elder god told him that he had restored it to its true form, releasing it from its physical prison. All the while, he kept Raziel's true destiny from him. Before following Kain through time in the Chronoplast chamber, the elder god warned him that he would be beyond his influence.
In Soul Reaver 2 Raziel travelled back in time 30 years before the events of Blood Omen. Initially, he doesn't find any evidence that the elder god actually existed in this era. However, during the paradoxical moment where he threatened to kill Moebius (and very well could have, therefore altering history), Moebius manages to convince him to spare his life by telling him that he, too, served the elder god. Raziel already didn't hold Moebius in particularly high regard, and now that he knew he was allied to the elder god, he began to distrust the elder god too. This moment clarifies exactly why Moebius is so bent on constantly trying to influence Raziel to kill Kain - because it was his master, the elder god, that wanted it to happen.
Raziel eventually does find the elder god in this earlier time period of Nosgoth's history, who chastises him for not killing Kain earlier when he had the chance, reiterating that Kain and the rest of the vampires were a poisonous scourge on the land. Raziel told him that he was unwilling to be his pawn, and was no longer interested in carrying out his plans. If he was to kill Kain, he'd do it on his own terms, for his own reasons. Later in the game, after Raziel didn't kill Kain during the paradoxical moment and he altered history by not doing so, he was sent into the future by Moebius where he found the elder god again...Raziel being somewhat surprised that the collapse of the Pillars 100 years earlier actually seemed to cause the elder god's body to grow. The elder god spurned him, becoming increasingly angry at Raziel's continued rebellion of his order to kill Kain, and Raziel began to question the elder god's motives, calling him a parasite. Following the death of Janos Audron later in the game (now 500 years before Blood Omen), Raziel met with the elder god one last time, and Raziel wondered whether the elder god had actually had anything to do with his resurrection at all. After Kain had removed the Reaver blade from Raziel and altered history, Raziel's physical form was too weak and he slipped back into the spectral realm.
In Defiance it's shown that Raziel had been kept in the spectral realm, detained by the elder god as long as he continued to defy the elder god's orders (this is what Moebius was referring to when he told Kain that Raziel was contained). Raziel certainly didn't consider the elder god to a "god", restating his earlier opinions of him being a parasite on the land. Raziel eventually decided to end the face off, and feigned loyalty to the elder god in order to convince him to release him. However, just as Raziel was actually making his escape, the elder god seemed to change his mind and tried to stop him, but Raziel got away. He then tried to prevent him from entering the material realm again by removing the portals Raziel had previously used, but Raziel found a new way to do so by inhabiting the body of a corpse in a cemetery. When he emerged, he found that 500 years had passed and he was in the Blood Omen era.
Later, Kain entered a sealed chamber within the Vampire Citadel, and found a small bath within it. The elder god (who Kain had not previously met before) spoke to him through this pool, knowing he was searching for Raziel. He informed him Raziel was in fact 500 years in the future and searching for the Heart of Darkness. Kain actually had no idea where the Heart of Darkness was, and certainly didn't suspect it was actually within him, but he feared the worst if Raziel found it (when he pulled the Reaver from Raziel at the end of Soul Reaver 2, he had seen that the Hylden would be released through Janos Audron). The elder god transported Kain into the Blood Omen era, where he would eventually face Raziel in battle, reiterating to him that Raziel was the only being with true free will. Raziel defeats Kain and pulls the Heart of Darkness from his chest, leaving him for dead.
Towards the end of the game, Moebius has been resurrected by the elder god and is speaking to him, when Kain surprises him and kills him again. Neither Moebius nor the elder god had seen this coming, they both assumed he had perished after the encounter the Raziel. In the spectral realm, as Moebius' spirit asks the elder god to restore him again, the wraith Raziel plunges his wraithblade into him, purifying Moebius' spirit and allowing him to see the elder god's true form for the first time, and he is horrified to see the entity he had worshipped for centuries. Raziel consumed his soul, but the elder god was unfazed, saying that Moebius had been a faithful servant but was of no further use to him. The elder god began to pull on the foundations of the building, threatening to bury both Kain and Raziel underneath the rubble. Raziel realised that Moebius had never seen the elder god until his spirit Reaver had allowed him to, and even the ancient vampires had no idea what it was they worshipped. He now knew what he had to do.
Raziel returned to the material realm using Moebius' corpse, and when Kain noticed the body moving again he immediately plunged his Reaver blade into it before Raziel revealed himself to him. Kain was aghast that he had just impaled Raziel, but this is what Raziel intended. He had finally embraced his destiny to become the spirit within the Reaver blade, telling Kain that the two Reavers come together to become one, and the Scion of Balance is healed - this was what the Reaver was for, this is what HE was for. He wasn't Kain's enemy, he wasn't Kain's destroyer, he was, as he was before, Kain's right hand, his sword. This healed Kain of the corruption that was within him since birth, when he had been chosen as the next Balance Guardian and was infected by Nupraptor's madness. It purified Kain, and Raziel told him he can now see the true enemy - and the elder god was revealed to him. Kain was mortified when he saw the elder god...was this what he had condemned Raziel to when he had him thrown into the abyss? With his vision purified, and empowered by the completed Soul Reaver, Kain was able to inflict damage on the elder god for the first time, slicing his tentacles cleanly through. He called him a false god and remarked that he wouldn't fear them if they couldn't do him harm, and was able to wound him enough to subdue him. As the walls of the building started to crumble, Kain escaped, leaving the building to topple on top of the elder god. Even though the elder god told him he can not be destroyed, and that Kain's death was a foregone conclusion, Kain simply responded by telling him he'd best burrow deep in the meantime, and left the chamber. As he looked out at the collapsed pillars from on top of the Vampire Citadel, he now knew that "the strings of the puppets had become visible, and the hands of the prime mover exposed". Raziel's final gift to him...more powerful than the sword that now held his soul, more acute than the vision his sacrifice had accorded him...was the first bitter taste of that terrible illusion: Hope. |
For Washington, D.C., being the capital of the United States of America isn't enough. The city is looking to become the capital of something else entirely: esports.
North American esports team NRG Esports is now being sponsored by D.C., the district's official convention and sports authority, Events D.C. revealed to me in a series of interviews yesterday. Not only is the city's sponsorship one of the first of its kind, it marks the District of Columbia's official push into the world of professional competitive gaming.
NRG Esports — which has professional teams and players competing in Overwatch, Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, Hearthstone, Super Smash Bros., Rocket League and more — was founded by Sacramento Kings co-owners Andy Miller and Mark Mastrov, and has big name investors like four-time NBA champion Shaquille O'Neal and MLB stars/World Series champions Alex Rodriguez and Jimmy Rollins. Washington D.C. will have logos on the teams' jerseys, players' streams and the NRG website, plus it will host NRG bootcamps where players get together and practice for long hours for days on end.
SEE ALSO: NBA becomes first sports league to create a gaming league
Sponsoring a team like this is a way for D.C. to show that it's embracing esports and gearing up to be an esports hub, Events D.C. Chairman Max Brown said.
"This is just another prong in our strategic approach to continue to make D.C. a great place to live and work and play," he said.
D.C. welcomes esports
D.C. is changing, Brown said, with an average of 1,000 people moving to the city every month. The influx of new people is causing the district to evolve from a government town to a broader and more diverse economy.
"We have a bunch of universities here in Washington," Brown said. "There are lots of younger kids who are here and are coming here every year through our universities so we think it makes a lot of sense for us as a city to plant a flag [for esports], and ultimately be the capital of esports like we’re the capital of the United States."
Esports demographics tend to skew younger and D.C. needs to provide entertainment to keep people coming.
The city is planning to build a brand new arena that sounds perfectly suited to host sizable esports events.
D.C.'s esports presence won't be limited to logos on NRG Esports, though. The city is planning to build a brand new arena that sounds perfectly suited to host sizable esports events.
"A $65 million 4,200-seat, state-of-the-art arena," Brown said. "[It will] come online in late-2018, early-2019. Fully tailored and wired for esports."
The arena will be the new home of WNBA team the Washington Mystics. Though it's being build with esports in mind, it'll be open to host other events, like concerts and boxing matches.
NRG Esports co-founder Any Miller said bringing esports events to D.C. could be huge for local fans who would normally have to travel to major cities like New York City, Los Angeles, Atlanta or Seattle to attend live events.
"These events sell out in two seconds, you need to travel, you need to spend good money and they’re big and they’re fun and they’re super cool but it’s not like, 'I want to go watch my team play this weekend, head down and check them out at the local arena,'" Miller said. "That just doesn’t happen in esports, and that’s something that’s missing when you want to have a real connection with an organization and with players."
Being able to host esports events could entice visitors, too. D.C. already gets around 20 million visitors a year, a chunk of who are international.
"Of that group, Asian visitors — Chinese in particular — are the no. 1 market for us internationally," Events D.C.'s Brown said. "Why is that important? People who come from overseas to Washington spend more money because they stay longer. So what we want to is get our brand — as a city and as Events D.C. — out into the country and across the globe in various ways. And this way, sponsoring NRG and being a part of their platform in terms of content, jerseys, other platforms for them to publicize our brand, makes a tremendous amount of sense."
For NRG Esports, the sponsorship is validation not only for the team but for esports as a whole.
NRG's new sponsorship
D.C.'s sponsorship of NRG is exciting, NRG's Miller said.
"We’re really excited about it," he said. "I think it’s definitely a first for esports and a great validation of NRG but also the esports space and how big and interesting it’s becoming to the point that now you have really forward-thinking folks like Events D.C. taking a look and actually wading into the waters here and putting time and money behind it."
The sponsorship doesn't mean that NRG is tied to the city like more traditional sports organizations.
"We’re not the D.C. NRG," Miller said. "But we will be spending a bunch of time down there, we will definitely be bootcamping down there... and then hopefully we can bring real big events across all the different leagues and games that we play in to D.C. so that people can actually go and watch them."
Esports organizations have not traditionally been tied to specific cities, and although some games and publishers may not want to go down that patch, Miller said he likes the idea of teams having local ties in some games.
"Anytime a new partner enters esports, it draws more attention from others outside the industry, which is great for the scene." - Seagull
"There’s no reason why it shouldn’t be Washington D.C. against New York, or Boston against LA and see these rivalries developing," Miller said. "And we have our own rivalries in different games that we play with different organizations but it would be really neat if it was city-based as well."
Overwatch developer Blizzard Entertainment announced the Overwatch League with a plan to have teams represent and play in different cities around the world. NRG may become one of those teams when the league kicks off in late-2017 or in 2018.
When asked whether D.C.'s sponsorship could be a hint at NRG representing the city in the Overwatch League in the future, Miller said that wasn't the case.
"One — we want to make sure we’re in the Overwatch League," he said, noting that the league's teams have yet to be decided. "Two — if it’s Washington D.C., that would be great. We have a wonderfully exciting team that we want to keep together and we want to keep growing and we have a fanbase and we’ve been in it for a while and we’ve been carrying the torch for Overwatch for a while now. I do think this [sponsorship] is a validation for the city-based approach that they’re trying to put together."
NRG's D.C. sponsorship is almost akin to the team dipping its toes into representing a city and Miller said there is potential that this local presence will be great for strengthening the organization's fanbase.
"We have a really, really popular Overwatch team and an incredibly popular player named Seagull [real name: Brandon Larned] and the amount of people — 20,000, 30,000 people — concurrently watching him every minute when he practices — those are people that I’m sure would love to go meet him, see him in person and watch him play," Miller said. "If they had that opportunity to do that, that would change the game and move this whole esports world into the next level."
Seagull himself echoed the sentiment that the partnership is a positive move for esports as a whole.
"Anytime a new partner enters esports, it draws more attention from others outside the industry, which is great for the scene," he said. "We're looking forward to having some bootcamps in D.C.!"
Events D.C.'s sponsorship of NRG Esports will be highlighted at SXSW March 13 at the WeDC House, which is presented by WDCEP in partnership with the Executive Office of the Mayor and Events D.C. |
SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Consistent with its heritage of democratizing investing, The Charles Schwab Corporation today announced a series of steps to deliver significantly more value to investors of all sizes, and introduced an industry-unique Satisfaction Guarantee1.
Commission Reduction
Beginning February 3, 2017, the company will reduce its standard online equity and ETF trade commissions from $8.95 to $6.952, making Schwab’s trading commission lowest among competitors, including Fidelity, Vanguard, TD Ameritrade and E*Trade.
Schwab Fidelity TD Ameritrade E*Trade Vanguard $6.95 $7.95 $9.99 $9.99 $7 - $20 depending on number of trades Competitor commissions as of 1/31/17
Index Mutual Fund Expense Reductions
Starting March 1, 2017, expenses for the Schwab market cap-weighted index mutual funds will be lowered to align with their Schwab ETFs™ equivalents3, which already have among the lowest expenses in the industry. Importantly, all investment minimums are being eliminated for these mutual funds4, and the use of a single share class ensures that even the smallest investor can invest at low costs historically available only to large institutions.
Investment Amount 5 $5,000 $100,000 $5,000,000 Schwab S&P 500 Index Fund 0.03% 0.03% 0.03% Fidelity 500 Index Fund 0.09% 0.045% 0.035% Vanguard 500 Index Fund 0.16% 0.05% - - - 6 Schwab Small-Cap Index Fund 0.06% 0.06% 0.06% Fidelity Small Cap Index Fund 0.19% 0.07% 0.06% Vanguard Small Cap Index Fund 0.20% 0.08% 0.07% Schwab U.S. Aggregate Bond Index Fund 7 0.04% 0.04% 0.04% Fidelity U.S. Bond Index Fund 0.15% 0.05% 0.04% Vanguard Total Bond Market Index Fund 0.16% 0.06% 0.05%
Also effective March 1, 2017, the expenses on the Schwab U.S. TIPS ETF™ and Schwab Fundamental Index* ETFs will be lowered. Pending shareholder approval, the Schwab Fundamental Index mutual funds will follow suit effective May 1, 2017 by eliminating all investment minimums, employing a single share class, and aligning expenses with those in the comparable Schwab ETFs.8
“Two of the irrefutable truths when it comes to investing are that costs matter and complexity can negatively affect returns,” said Schwab President and Chief Executive Officer Walt Bettinger. “For more than 40 years, Charles Schwab has put the power of investing into the hands of American investors both large and small. And clients have entrusted us with almost $3 trillion in assets. Today, we are thanking them by sharing the benefits of our scale with them through dramatic reductions in trading and investing costs.”
Mr. Bettinger continued, “Reducing online trade commissions as scale and technology lower our operating costs is a way to ensure our clients benefit from their commitment to us. I am especially proud of our decision to eliminate investment minimums and employ a single share class in our market cap-weighted and Fundamental Index® mutual funds – ensuring that every investor pays the lowest possible fees.”
Chairman Charles Schwab, a longtime proponent of index investing, added, “Indexing is the simplest, easiest, cheapest way for the average American to build personal wealth. It’s dynamic yet predictable, and offers diversification, cost-efficiency and the potential growth opportunities that come with owning a broad basket of securities. With today’s news, we’re making it even easier for mainstream investors to build indexed portfolios.”
Satisfaction Guarantee
Additionally, the company has initiated a broad-reaching Satisfaction Guarantee for clients, unique among brokerage firms. Simply, if a Schwab client is not satisfied for any reason, Schwab will refund any related commission, transaction fee or advisory program fee paid to the firm1.
“Today’s consumers expect great value, a great experience, and a refund if they aren’t satisfied,” Mr. Bettinger concluded. “We believe a modern investing experience should deliver on these expectations – period.”
For more information on this news, visit www.aboutschwab.com/press/disrupting-the-industry-on-behalf-of-investors
For more information on the mutual fund and ETF cost reductions, visit www.schwab.com/lowercosts or www.csimfunds.com/lowercosts.
Financial Considerations
The Charles Schwab Corporation believes that the pricing changes described above will enhance its value proposition and competitive position, and encourage the consolidation of client assets and trades at Schwab. While the actual timing and extent of any such consolidation is uncertain, management estimates that these pricing changes are equivalent to approximately $15M of monthly revenue. Chief Financial Officer Joe Martinetto commented, “Throughout Schwab’s history, clients have rewarded us for investing in them, and the actions announced today help keep us well positioned for continued success in building our client base. With solid profitability and a healthy balance sheet, we are able to pursue our growth opportunities from a position of strength.” Less than 11% of the company’s net revenues currently come from trading.
Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements relating to client assets, trading and revenues. These statements reflect management’s current expectations and objectives, the achievement of which is subject to certain risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ from the expressed expectations and objectives. These risks include, but are not limited to, the company’s ability to accurately assess the elasticity of client demand for trading services and the effect of pricing changes on client acquisition, retention and asset levels; a sustained decline in securities prices, trading volumes and investor confidence from recent levels; and other risks set forth in the company’s most recent 10-Q.
About Charles Schwab
The Charles Schwab Corporation (NYSE:SCHW) is a leading provider of financial services, with more than 335 offices and 10.2 million active brokerage accounts, 1.5 million corporate retirement plan participants, 1.1 million banking accounts, and $2.78 trillion in client assets as of December 31, 2016. Through its operating subsidiaries, the company provides a full range of wealth management, securities brokerage, banking, money management, custody, and financial advisory services to individual investors and independent investment advisors. Its broker-dealer subsidiary, Charles Schwab & Co., Inc. (member SIPC, www.sipc.org), and affiliates offer a complete range of investment services and products including an extensive selection of mutual funds; financial planning and investment advice; retirement plan and equity compensation plan services; referrals to independent fee-based investment advisors; and custodial, operational and trading support for independent, fee-based investment advisors through Schwab Advisor Services. Its banking subsidiary, Charles Schwab Bank (member FDIC and an Equal Housing Lender), provides banking and lending services and products. More information is available at www.schwab.com and www.aboutschwab.com.
Disclosures
*Schwab is a registered trademark of Charles Schwab & Co., Inc. Fundamental Index is a registered trademark of Research Affiliates, LLC.
1 If you are not completely satisfied for any reason, at your request Charles Schwab & Co., Inc. (“Schwab”) will refund any eligible fee related to your concern within the timeframes described below. Two kinds of “Fees” are eligible for this guarantee: (1) asset-based “Program Fees” for the Schwab Private Client (“SPC”), Schwab Managed Portfolios (“SMP”), Schwab Intelligent Advisory (“SIA”), and Managed Account Connection (“Connection”) investment advisory services sponsored by Schwab (together, the “Participating Services”); and (2) commissions and fees listed in the Charles Schwab Pricing Guide for Individual Investors (“Account Fees”). Program Fee refund requests must be received no later than the next calendar quarter after the Fee was charged. Account Fee refund requests must be received within one year of the date that the Fee was charged.
The guarantee is only available to current clients. Refunds will only be applied to the account charged and will be credited within approximately four weeks of a valid request. No other charges or expenses, and no market losses will be refunded. Other restrictions may apply. Schwab reserves the right to change or terminate the guarantee at any time.
2 $6.95 online commission does not apply to:
Foreign stock transactions (stocks not listed on U.S. or Canadian exchanges): These trades are subject to the greater of the broker-assisted trade schedule or $100, or 0.75% of principal. No maximum applies. Not applicable to American Depositary Receipts.
Large block transactions (orders of 10,000 or more shares, or orders over $500,000): May be eligible for special handling and/or pricing—please call us for information.
Restricted stock transactions: Broker-assisted commission pricing schedule applies for all trades, including those placed online.
Employer negotiated commission schedules applicable to equity compensation transactions.
3 Operating Expense Ratios are subject to change and may not always align among strategies. Some mutual funds do not have an ETF equivalent.
4 Minimums are subject to change and ETFs require investment of at least one share.
5 The table is based on prospectus net expense ratio data comparisons between Schwab market cap-weighted index mutual funds and non-Schwab market cap-weighted index mutual funds. The non-Schwab mutual funds shown represent Vanguard and Fidelity index mutual funds with the lowest expense ratio with a $10,000 minimum investment within their fund family in their respective Lipper category. Schwab operating expense ratios (OERs) listed reflect OERs expected to be effective on 3/1/17. Competitor OERs obtained from prospectuses and Strategic Insight Simfund, as reflected on 1/31/2017. Funds in the same Lipper category may track different indexes, have differences in holdings, and show different performance. Competitors may offer more than one market cap index mutual fund in a Lipper category, including funds that are not market cap index mutual funds. Expense ratios are subject to change.
6 An Institutional share class is expected to become available on 3/1/17, according to an initial prospectus filing on 12/23/16, and the operating expense ratio is unknown. Vanguard offers the Vanguard Institutional Index Fund – Institutional class at 0.04%, which is a separate fund from the Vanguard 500 Index Fund, but is designed to track the S&P 500 Index.
7 This fund will not be available for trading until February 23, 2017.
8 With the exception of Schwab Fundamental Emerging Markets Large Company Index Fund, all changes are pending shareholder approval of an Amended and Restated Investment Advisory and Administration Agreement.
Diversification does not eliminate the risk of investment losses.
Investing involves risk, including possible loss of principal.
Investors should consider carefully information contained in the prospectus, including investment objectives, risks, charges, and expenses. You can view and download a prospectus by calling 877-824-5615. Please read the prospectus carefully before investing.
Charles Schwab Investment Management, Inc. (CSIM), the investment advisor for Schwab Funds, and Charles Schwab & Co., Inc. (Schwab), Member SIPC, the distributor for Schwab Funds, are separate but affiliated companies and subsidiaries of The Charles Schwab Corporation.
Schwab ETFs are distributed by SEI Investments Distribution Co (SIDCO). SIDCO is not affiliated with Charles Schwab & Co., Inc.
(0217-U01G) |
Beleaguered Conservative MP Eve Adams has been admonished by party brass for her conduct in a controversial nomination battle, but has not been disqualified from seeking the prize.
Ms. Adams had faced the risk of being barred from seeking the nomination in a suburban Toronto riding after Stephen Harper was presented with accusations that she had been granted unfair advantages in this race, had interfered with the district's election planning, and verbally abused party members.
Instead, sources say, the Conservative National Council reprimanded her with regard to her treatment of local Tory workers.
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The National Council approved letters in a Wednesday night meeting that are being sent to Ms. Adams and a riding official who had complained about how she pursued the nomination in a suburban Toronto riding, sources say.
The council is, however, still investigating – and has asked for a financial accounting of how much Ms. Adams has spent on the nomination race – and what has been donated – so far. It wants to see how close she is to spending limits for the nomination campaign.
The Tory MP has fared better than fiancé Dimitri Soudas, a former key aide to Stephen Harper who vacated a top Conservative Party post last month after extensive evidence arose that he'd violated a contractual pledge not to intervene in the nomination race on Ms. Adams's behalf.
The decision of the National Council means Ms. Adams is free for now to continue her campaign to win the Tory nomination for Oakville North-Burlington.
She currently represents a Mississauga seat but is trying to make the jump to the Oakville riding, where she has purchased a home and where data from the last couple of elections suggest the Tories might have a better chance of winning.
Sources say that for the National Council, the most serious allegation was that Ms. Adams verbally abused Tory officials at a board meeting to which she was not invited. A Conservative source said Mr. Harper was especially unhappy about this accusation.
Ms. Adams, for her part, told The Globe and Mail last week the accusations against her contained a "slew of inaccuracies" and has filed a rebuttal of these accusations with the party.
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The Conservative Party had little to say on the matter Wednesday evening but made it clear they expect would-be candidates to watch their conduct.
"We expect that all campaigns and candidates will respect the rules of the Conservative Party of Canada on all matters related to nominations," Conservative Party spokesman Cory Hann said in a statement.
Follow me on Twitter: @stevenchase |
OTTAWA Canada intends to extend and expand its ongoing military mission against Islamic State extremists, Prime Minister Stephen Harper says.
Harper said Wednesday that he will be seeking parliamentary approval to extend the six-month mission, now set to expire in early April.
He said more details about the new mission would be unveiled next week, including whether the bombing campaign by CF-18s on targets in Iraq will be extended to Syria.
"The current mission was authorized in the fall and that authority comes due fairly shortly," Harper said.
"Next week it is the government's plan to move forward with a request for Parliament for extension and expansion of the mission. I will obviously give more details when we do that," Harper said, during a stop in Mississauga.
Canada joined the multinational campaign against Islamic State extremists in September, when it announced that a team of 69 special forces soldiers were being sent to northern Iraq in a noncombat mission to train local Kurdish and Iraqi fighters.
In October, the federal government joined the air campaign striking at extremist targets in Iraq. Flying out of an airbase in Kuwait, six CF-18s are backed by an air-to-air refueler and two reconnaissance aircraft, supported by some 600 personnel on the ground.
As of March 16, the aircraft had flown a total of 631 sorties, including 412 sorties by the CF-18 fighters. Their bombing missions have so far been restricted to Iraq. Asked about that on Tuesday, Harper would not rule out expanding their mandate to include Syria, where the extremists have been operating extensively.
"I will address those issues next week. Let me just say that the current authorization laid open the possibility of going to Syria, although we have not done that," Harper said, pledging to reveal more details to MPs.
Torstar News Service |
Is it harder to take candy from a baby or a border agent?
That question may be impossible to answer definitively, but according to multiple whistleblowers , Department of Homeland Security (DHS) employees have quite the sweet tooth: they've abused the agency's overtime system so habitually that many have come to refer to it as the "candy bowl."
Today a House subcommittee will hold a hearing to investigate DHS stewardship of taxpayer dollars. The cost to taxpayers of DHS's "candy bowl" practice is approximately $8.7 million per year for just six offices alone, according to a federal report that calls the allegations part of a "persistent pattern." Members of Congress from both sides of the aisle have since demanded an investigation into the report's findings and a solution to the longstanding problem.
That's a sugary, sweet mess.
Four of the report's six whistleblowers come from Customs and Border Protection (CBP)— a fact that should come as no surprise to those familiar with CBP's dismal track record when it comes to preventing employee misconduct and managing taxpayer dollars. Employees in the Washington headquarters of CBP, for example, routinely claimed two hours of overtime every day, which was usually spent relaxing, watching TV, surfing the internet, or taking care of personal matters. Try doing that at your job and see what happens.
This isn't the first time that CBP has been at the center of overtime abuse allegations. Last year, it was reported that CBP paid $1.4 billion in overtime to Border Patrol agents over the previous six-year period, despite the fact that apprehensions along the border were at a 40-year low , raising questions about just what all that overtime was being used for. In fact, whistleblowers revealed that many agents were simply bored, some even sleeping on duty , as overtime expenses climbed. With this new set of revelations, it appears that nothing has changed.
The agency's demonstrated culture of impunity is a problem that goes far beyond overtime abuses. Since 2010, at least 19 people have died as the result of alleged excessive use of force by CBP officials. The victims include minors, U.S. citizens, and individuals killed while in Mexico , or even in custody . At the demand of Congress, CBP asked the Police Executive Research Forum (PERF) to conduct an independent review of the agency's use of force policies. But when it didn't like all of PERF's recommendations, CBP rejected them—specifically, it refused to abide by the recommendations to stop using deadly force against rock throwers and vehicles. And rather than make the results of PERF's review public, CBP instead issued a short release with a list of limited recommendations —clearly signaling the agency's unwillingness to shine a light on its own actions.
This accountability vacuum is particularly disturbing given that CBP's use of force policy really could mean the difference between life and death. In fact, eight of the people killed by CBP in recent years were accused of merely throwing rocks. ACLU has called for an overhaul of the agency's use of force policy, including a requirement that officials be equipped with body-worn cameras in order to capture interactions with the public.
One need look no further than the DHS budget to understand that oversight and accountability have not been high on the Department's list of priorities over the last decade: unprecedented funds have been spent on unnecessary border enforcement measures, such as doubling the number of Border Patrol agents from 10,819 to 21,394, while funding for oversight bodies like the DHS Office of Inspector General (OIG) and Office for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties (CRCL) continually lags far behind. As CBP's budget has nearly doubled from FY 2004 to FY 2012, OIG's budget increased by only 75 percent , and CRCL's by just 73 percent during the same period – and these increases took place from a low baseline.
The combined budgets of OIG and CRCL remain just a drop in the bucket, accounting for well under 1 percent of the total DHS budget in FY 2012. Those offices are increasingly unable to keep up with the volume of complaints against the massive and quickly-expanding CBP, which commands about 22% of DHS's spending power. No wonder then that DHS has a history of failing to investigate and respond to complaints appropriately. In March 2012, OIG had 2,361 open cases (and that number has not dipped below 2,000 since 2009). In response to this daunting backlog, OIG transfers cases of employee misconduct back to CBP for investigation, a practice that raises serious conflict of interest concerns.
DHS should demonstrate its commitment to careful oversight of taxpayer dollars by devoting adequate resources towards that goal. And until CBP has solved its oversight problem, Congress should stop appropriating funds that only feed the agency's culture of impunity and add to an already mismanaged "candy bowl." |
Spain Good form silencing critics
After winning La Liga and the Copa Del Rey with Barcelona last season, Gerard Pique carried that form into Euro 2016 but was unable to do anything as Spain were eliminated by Italy in the Round of 16, losing 2-0.
Since the start of the season, the 29-year-old has been playing at an elite level and his absence saw Barcelona lose their first game of the season, a home game against newly-promoted Alaves.
Though he played in last weekend's 4-3 loss away at Celta de Vigo, Pique scored twice and was one of Barcelona's better performers.
"I'm in good form," Pique said. "I have been playing at a high level for two or three years now.
"Now that I've been keeping quiet, it seems as if people value me more and think I'm play better."
When asked about Spain's loss to Italy, in which the Azzurri played a three-man defence, the centre-back believes that the opposition's system did not affect the game.
"I do not think it influenced the game a lot," he replied. "The formations are there, but there are factors that end up being decisive in winning or losing a match."
Inevitably, Pique was coy when asked about comparisons between Vicente Del Bosque and Spain's new head coach, Julen Lopetegui.
"They are different coaches that work differently, so I will not compare them.
"The Del Bosque era was unique and we will never forget him.
"We are beginning a new stage, and a win against Italy will help us as we look to achieve our objectives."
The fixture against Italy on Thursday will also see Pique face Alessandro Florenzi, Roma's versatile midfielder who scored a stunning goal to earn a 1-1 draw for the Italians against Barcelona in last year's Champions League.
"It was a great goal- he meant it too- but that won't happen again." |
GETTING GOVERNMENT OUT OF THE WAY: President Donald J. Trump has done more to stop the Government from interfering in the lives of Americans in his first 100 days than any other President in history.
President Trump has signed 13 Congressional Review Act (CRA) resolutions in his first 100 days, more than any other President. These resolutions nullified unnecessary regulations and block agencies from reissuing them. Since CRA resolutions were introduced under President Clinton, they’ve been used only once, under President George W. Bush.
The Wall Street Journal editorial: “So far the Trump Administration is a welcome improvement, rolling back more regulations than any President in history.”
TAKING EXECUTIVE ACTION: In office, President Trump has accomplished more in his first 100 days than any other President since Franklin Roosevelt.
President Trump will have signed 30 executive orders during his first 100 days. President Obama signed 19 executive orders during his first 100 days. President George W. Bush signed 11 executive orders during his first 100 days. President Clinton signed 13 executive orders during his first 100 days. President George H.W. Bush signed 11 executive orders during his first 100 days. President Reagan signed 18 executive orders during his first 100 days. President Carter signed 16 executive orders during his first 100 days. President Nixon signed 15 executive orders during his first 100 days. President Johnson signed 26 executive orders during his first 100 days. President Kennedy signed 23 executive orders during his first 100 days. President Eisenhower signed 20 executive orders during his first 100 days. President Truman signed 25 executive orders during his first 100 days. President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed 9 executive orders during his first 100 days.
A SLEW OF LEGISLATION SIGNED: Despite historic Democrat obstructionism, President Trump has worked with Congress to pass more legislation in his first 100 days than any President since Truman. |
By the time Jesus was born, Augustus had already been monarch for a quarter century. King of kings, he ruled from Gibraltar to Jerusalem and from Britain to the Black Sea.
He had done what no one had done for two hundred years before him: he had brought peace to the wider, Roman world. But it was peace at a price - a price paid in cash by subjects in far-off lands.
Augustus "gave peace, as long as it was consistent with the interests of the Empire and the myth of his own glory," wrote Arnaldo Momigliano. There you have it in a nutshell: the whole ambiguous structure of human empire, a kingdom of absolute power, bringing glory to the man at the top, and peace to those on whom his favour rested.
Yes, says Luke's gospel (2:1), and watch what happens now. This man, this king, this absolute monarch, lifts his little finger in Rome, and fifteen hundred miles away, in an obscure province, a young couple undertakes a hazardous journey, resulting in the birth of a child in a little town that just happens to be the one mentioned in the ancient Hebrew prophecy about the coming of the Messiah. And it is at this birth that the angels sing of glory and peace.
Which is the reality, and which the parody?
Here we have to pause, because the passage from Micah 5, which Luke intends to awaken in our minds, is so well known and so little attended to: "But you, Bethlehem of Ephrathah, little among the clans of Judah - from you shall come forth the one who is to rule in Israel" (Micah 5:2).
The passage is regularly cut off a verse or two early when read in public. Verse 4 launches a project that ought to make Augustus anxious: "He [the coming King] shall stand and feed his flock in the strength of YHWH, in the majesty of the name of YHWH his God; and they shall live secure, for now he shall be great to the ends of the earth." But the next verse goes on: "And he shall be the man of peace."
How is this peace to be secured? This coming King, born in Bethlehem of Judea, will rescue his people from the hand of the foreign emperors. In Micah's day, this was Assyria; but Luke's readers would have transferred the meaning to Rome, and Luke would have hoped that subsequent generations would be equally adept at contemporary applications.
Herod was worried by what the wise men told him. If someone had told Augustus what the angels had said to the shepherds, he would have been worried, too.
Suddenly, Luke's scene ceases to be a romantic pastoral idyll, with the rustic shepherds paying homage to the infant King. It becomes a clear statement of two kingdoms destined to compete, kingdoms that offer radically different definitions of what peace and power and glory are all about.
Here is the old king in Rome, turning 60 in the year Jesus was born: he represents perhaps the best that pagan kingdoms can do. At least he knows that peace and stability are good things; unfortunately, he has had to kill a lot of people to bring them about, and to kill a lot more, on a regular basis, to preserve them.
Unfortunately, too, his real interest is in his own glory. Already, before his death, many of his subjects have begun to regard him as divine.
Here, by contrast, is the young King in Bethlehem, born with a price on his head. He represents the dangerous alternative, the possibility of a different empire, a different power, a different glory, a different peace. The two stand over against one another.
Augustus's empire is like a well-lit room at night: the lamps are arranged beautifully, they shed pretty patterns, but they have not conquered the darkness outside. Jesus' kingdom is like the morning star rising, signalling that it is time to blow out the candles, to throw open the curtains, and to welcome the new day that is dawning. Glory to God in the highest-and peace among those with whom he is pleased!
You see the two empires squared off against each other toward the end of John's gospel, when Pilate confronts Jesus with two questions: Don't you know that I have the power to have you killed? And, what is truth? That is the language of kingdom, power and glory that the world knows.
Notice how the two halves support each other. In order to be able to say, "Support my kingdom or I'll kill you," the pagan empire needs to say that there's no such thing as truth. And if someone not only tells the truth but lives the truth, the pagan empire has no alternative but to kill him.
Jesus responds by quietly reminding Pilate that all power comes from on high, and by getting on with the job of being the truth - living out truly the love of God for the salvation of the world.
Luke's message of the baby in the manger stands over against even the best pagan empires, inviting us to contemplate the radical and total redefinition of truth, of peace, and above all, of kingdom, power and glory.
Jesus had come as the Bethlehem Jesus, the Prince of Peace; and Jerusalem had refused his way of peace, opting instead for the way of the sword, which, as Jesus said to Peter, could have only one result. Jesus as an adult acted out the message the angels had sung at his birth; but, when he came to his own, his own received him not.
Once again, there went out a decree from Caesar, which had a profound effect fifteen hundred miles away: rebel kings get crucified. If you let this man go, said the chief priests to Pilate, you are not Caesar's friend.
This, then, was what it would look like when the ancient promises were fulfilled, when the glory of the Lord would be revealed for all flesh to see together: a young Jew, riding over the Mount of Olives in tears, driving the traders out of the temple, and dying at the behest of Caesar's kingdom.
And once again, Luke intends us to realize, the angels are singing that God is glorified and that the way of peace has been achieved after all. This is the ultimate redefinition of the kingdom and the power and the glory. Caesar's plans for his own glory are turned by God into the establishment of the true kingdom.
If Jesus is the true King of all the world, whose kingdom redefines power and glory so that they are now seen in the manger, on the cross, and in the garden, then to pray "Thy kingdom come" from the Lord's Prayer is to ask that this kingdom, this power, and this glory may be seen in all the world.
It is not enough - though it is the essential starting point - that we submit in our own lives to God's alternative kingdom-vision; we must pray and work for the vision to come in reality, with the rulers of this world being confronted with the claims of their rightful King.
We cannot, then, pray the Lord's Prayer and acquiesce in the power and glory of Caesar's kingdom. If the church is not prepared to subvert the kingdoms of the world with the kingdom of God, the only honest thing would be to give up praying the Lord's Prayer altogether.
Formerly Anglican Bishop of Durham, in 2010 the Rt Revd Dr N.T. Wright was appointed to a Chair in New Testament and Early Christianity in the School of Divinity at the University of St Andrews, Scotland. He is one of the world's most distinguished and influential New Testament scholars. Among his many books are The New Testament and the People of God (1992), Jesus and the Victory of God (1996), The Resurrection of the Son of God (2003), Surprised by Hope (2007) and Virtue Reborn (2010). |
Attribute to L. Neil Smith's The Libertarian Enterprise
One of the rationalizations used by advocates of government action vis-a-vis the recent batch of "invaders" (e.g. Honduran kids), has been the defense of our culture. It's funny though, because when I examine the culture that is being defended, it doesn't seem to be my culture.
For one thing, the culture being defended is, in part, socialism. Now, while I doubt that many get worked up over brown people picking strawberries out in a field, the picture invariably painted is of them getting "free shit" like hospital visits and government schooling and food stamps and such. I agree that socialism cannot work very well when unlimited numbers of people try to get that free shit. The only way it can work at all (assuming for the purposes of argument that it can) is by having enough victims to loot, and by limiting the numbers of recipients of that stolen loot. So, the "fence 'em out" crowd wants "socialism for me, but not for thee". That is not defending my culture, though. My culture is, among other things, "kill socialism". I don't think it's good for me or for thee.
It's particularly amusing that the brown people are described as being more socialist-leaning, politically, than the average American, since what is being advocated by the "fence 'em out" crowd, is keeping our home-grown American socialism healthy. So, the brown people will make the USSA lean more to the left? Don't make me laugh. Dudes, we are already there. Even so-called libertarians and so-called conservatives work to preserve it.
In another amusing inconsistency, the "fence 'em out" crowd often expresses a veneration of the ways and attitudes of the Founders. They make an exception for immigration, though, as the Founders didn't have such laws (with the notable exception of the Alien Acts, directed at those dastardly French, which bounced the Federalists out of power forever). There were no fences around America back then. Fences are not for free people.
Another thing that gets their panties in a bind is that these brown people break laws, laws against travelling where they please. Now, everybody makes a show of sneering at mala prohibita laws— but for the ones they prefer! I guess libertarians are as good at cherry-picking as everybody else. But this is not defending my culture, either. My culture is that laws are petty dictates written by scum and enforced by thugs. I like it when people break mala prohibita laws; they are my kind of people. Too bad more "real Americans" don't do the same, because obedience is an attribute of slaves. When I cite Jefferson* or Heinlein** on the subject of law, strangely enough, I actually mean it. I don't cross my fingers behind my back and whisper to myself, "... except for immigration."
Another thing that bothers the "fence 'em out" crowd is melanin. I guess in the old days it would have been Catholicism, but they seem to be (mostly) over that and just don't like seeing too many brown people, or too many people speaking something other than English. But they are not defending my culture this way either. I like to meet and know a variety of people from around the Earth, because they have interesting stories. Hearing a conversation conducted in Spanish does not rile me.
The "fence 'em out" crowd also has a lust for incarceration, police, bureaucratic procedures (of the immigration "service"), quotas, national ID's, and government permission slips for work. They certainly do not defend my culture in these ways. I think we have more than enough people incarcerated already. I don't like roadblocks and interrogations by uniformed thugs. I can't imagine why anyone would like those things.
Yet another fad of the "fence 'em out" crowd is collectivism. You will daily hear tales of brown people as disease vectors, or gang members, or Aztlan flag-wavers, or welfare queens. The talking points flow straight from the Ministry of Propaganda into the hater's brains, and from there to their mouths. Never will you hear brown people described as individuals. This does not defend my culture, sorry. I am not a collectivist. In fact I wrote a little article aiming to help people not be collectivists, here. I wish folks would take a look and give it a try.
Another passion of the "fence 'em out" crowd is fear. Being fearful of Honduran kids, seriously? That's even more absurd than being fearful of terrorists (other than those of our own government, anyway). One of these days the ruling class may institute a campaign, seeing if they can get people to become fearful of Pez, just for laughs. I try not to be too driven by fear; it's not part of my culture, anyway. I think bravery is a better trait to cultivate.
It looks to me that the culture being protected here, is the neocon culture, or maybe fascism. Or xenophobia—who knows. Anyway I am none of these. Somebody else's culture is being protected, not mine; so I don't want to hear any more nonsense about protecting culture. The only culture government protects is plunder, power lust and slavery—the ruling class culture. People ought to stop looking to their slavemasters (who don't give a rat's ass about it) to protect theirs.
I want to qualify all the above with a statement of tolerance. I don't actually mind socialism per se, nor fascism nor xenophobia nor collectivism—as long as I am left alone by their proponents. Well, I do mind them, and find them ugly, but I can tolerate them, because I am an advocate of political tolerance AKA Panarchy. But the point of the article still applies. My culture is not being protected by the "fence 'em out" crowd. If I could blow up every immigration checkpoint in the world, letting people travel freely, letting the free market work, I would do it. I don't fear liberty. Instead, I am concerned about the lack of it.
I hope El Neil is doing better these days. |
Which Orioles pitchers have had the most dominant individual outings by modern statistical measures? That’s one of the questions that came to mind for me as I read Joe Sheehan’s article “The Case for ... The Pedro” in the May 25 edition of Sports Illustrated.
Sheehan discusses Corey Kluber’s May 13 outing for the Cleveland Indians, during which he struck out 18 batters and walked none, and makes the case that, “To strike out a lot of hitter, while walking few or none ... is the pinnacle of great pitching.” He identifies Kluber’s effort this month as “one of the greatest outings a pitcher has ever had.”
Kluber’s start was the 10th best since 1995 according to the Game Score measure created by Bill James. The best? That was Kerry Wood’s 20-strikeout, no-walk one-hitter in 1998.
Sheehan notes that striking out at least 15 batters while walking none is more rare than a no-hitter in the modern era. No-hitters are most often team efforts; high strikeout, low-walk performances are all about the pitcher, he explains.
“Statistical analysis tells us that a pitcher controls his strikeouts and his walks far more than he controls what happens after a ball hits a bat,” Sheehan writes. “To strike out a lot of men while walking few or none is the pinnacle of great pitching - even if we don’t have a word for it yet.”
Sheehan dubs these outings “The Pedro” in honor of Pedro Martinez.
Unfortunately, the most recent example of “The Pedro” comes to mind in relation to the Orioles is Michael Pineda’s 16-strikeout, no-walk performance in seven innings for the Yankees on May 10.
Let’s wash the taste of that example out of our mouths by digging a little deeper into Orioles history.
The Most Dominant Orioles Outings: Mike Mussina and Erik Bedard are the only two Orioles pitchers to have 15 strikeouts in a game. Mussina did it twice in the regular season and once in the playoffs during the 1997 American League Championship Series. Bedard did it once in an outing that pitching coach Leo Mazzone called “one of the greatest performances I’ve seen.” Each pitcher had one 15-strikeout, no-walk appearance.
This is one instance where the numbers and the mind’s eye are aligned. Mussina’s 1997 playoff effort stands out for me among the greatest pitching performances I’ve watched during my lifetime.
If Bedard and Mussina have had the most dominant outings for the Orioles by Sheehan’s “Pedro” measure, then Mike Flanagan and Connie Johnson at least deserve a mention. Flanagan had 13 strikeouts and no walks in a 1978 outing versus the Red Sox, while Johnson had 14 strikeouts and one walk versus the Yankees in 1957.
The Best Orioles Game Scores: The Game Score measure Sheehan mentions is described on Baseball-Reference.com as follows:
“Start with 50 points. Add one point for each out recorded, (or three points per inning). Add two points for each inning completed after the fourth. Add one point for each strikeout. Subtract two points for each hit allowed. Subtract four points for each earned run allowed. Subtract two points for each unearned run allowed. Subtract one point for each walk.”
So in short, Game Score rewards strikeouts and punishes walks consistent with Sheehan’s focus, while also factoring in the length of outings as well as the number of hits and runs allowed.
Only one Orioles pitcher ranks in the top 20 for Game Score this season: Ubaldo Jimenez. Go figure.
Jimenez’s April 11 outing versus the Blue Jays ranks 19th in baseball so far this season by Game Score. He struck out eight and walked one while allowing one hit and no runs. Kluber’s May 13 game is the top performance in 2015 by Game Score.
To Sheehan’s point about the relative rarity of “The Pedro,” Jimenez has tossed a no-hitter during his career, but he has never had a 15-strikeout, no-walk performance.
Jimenez’s career-high for strikeouts in a game is 13, which he has accomplished twice. The most strikeouts he has ever recorded without giving up a walk is 10. He has done so twice, both times during the 2013 season.
Overall, Mussina is the Orioles pitcher to have the most outings with a Game Score of 90 or greater. He did it a total of nine times during his career with the Orioles and the Yankees. That ranks 16th in baseball history. Nolan Ryan, who posted a Game Score of 90 or greater on 31 occasions, leads the category.
Matthew Taylor blogs about the Orioles at Roar from 34. Follow him on Twitter: @RoarFrom34. His ruminations about the Birds appear as part of MASNsports.com’s season-long initiative of welcoming guest bloggers to our site. All opinions expressed are those of the guest bloggers, who are not employed by MASNsports.com but are just as passionate about their baseball as our roster of writers. |
Divorce is a big deal. Judith Wallerstein’s research helped us learn how.
Pixland/Thinkstock.
My friend Judy Wallerstein, who died last month at age 90, liked to tell the story of how she was drawn into the rancorous national debate on divorce. It was 1970 and Judy, a psychologist, had just moved with her husband and three children from the Menninger Clinic in Topeka, Kan., to Marin County in northern California.
It was a Sunday morning and her daughter’s new friend Karen, age 9, had slept over. As they were eating breakfast, Karen put her spoon into her mouth and stared off into space. “I wonder,” she said, laying aside the spoon, “if my mother is going to marry Mr. O’Brien.”
Judy was startled. “Karen, do you really call him Mr. O’Brien?”
“Of course, I do,” she said, and then revealed that this would be her mother’s fourth husband.
The divorce rate in “no fault” California, soon to be followed by the rest of the country, was skyrocketing. Women, propelled into delirious freedom with the advent of the birth control pill a decade earlier, were examining their career options, motherhood roles and, perhaps most intently, their stale marriages. There was a national sigh of relief over the fact that people could get a divorce without convincing a judge that a spouse had been unfaithful.
Judy took a close look at the little girl. She was bright, charming, animated and happy. How could so much instability result in so little distress? As Judy wrote in the first book she and I co-authored, Second Chances: Men, Women and Children a Decade After Divorce, “I began to think about divorce not with the notion that children are necessarily damaged by it, but with the idea that today’s children might negotiate their way through and come out as charming and open as Karen. It was an intriguing idea.”
So, Judy went to the Berkeley library to see what had been written about how children react to divorce. And found nothing.
The remedy was the “California Children of Divorce Study” which Judy and her colleague Joan Berlin Kelly launched in 1971. They recruited 60 families with 131 children between the ages of 3 and 18 at the point the marriage dissolved, when life as everyone knew it began to unravel. The parents were middle class and well educated. The children had been well cared for.
Judy personally interviewed every man, woman, and child at the time of separation (followed by divorce) and, for the vast majority, every five years afterward for the next quarter of a century. The study turned into an unprecedented longitudinal examination of the effects of divorce on the American family.
Judy’s methodology was based on intimate case studies. She talked with each person over many hours, probing for feelings and insights. For years, she held each child “in her head,” remembering every dream they reported, every fantasy, every frustration. Huge files containing these case studies are still stored downstairs at her home on Belvedere Island in Marin.
In 1980, Judy and Joan Kelly wrote Surviving the Breakup: How Children and Parents Cope with Divorce based on the five-year follow-up. That same year, she established the Judith Wallerstein Center for the Family in Transition in Corte Madera, Calif., which provided counseling to thousands of divorcing couples and their children. Having seen more divorced adults and their children than anyone in the country, Judy liked to refer to herself as a tribal elder regarding divorce.
Judy and I began our collaboration in 1984 after I wrote an article in the New York Times about her work. She called and asked if I would be interested in writing a book on the 10-year follow-up. We met for Korean barbeque and hit it off immediately. In 1992, as my own marriage fell apart, Judy helped me and my adolescent children survive our own crisis.
Given her initial idea that divorce may not be so bad, it’s ironic that Judy became best known as one of the nation’s leading critics of divorce. The heart of her findings:
The effects of divorce on children are not transient. They are long-lasting and profound, persisting well into adulthood.
The quality of the post-divorce family is critical. Parents are told “don’t fight” but the issue is much bigger. Beyond custody and visiting plans, children need to be fully supported as they grow up. Few are.
Age matters. Little ones, ages 2 to 6, are terrified of abandonment. Elementary-school-age children, 7 to 11, grow resentful when deprived of opportunities they would have had if their parents had stayed together. Preadolescents, ages 11 and 12, can be seduced by what Judy called “the voices of the street.” Many teenagers, taking on the role of parent, become overburdened.
Stepfamilies are laden with land mines that no one sees coming.
Second Chances was a best-seller, but reaction to Judy’s findings was harsh. Parents did not want to believe it. Rival academics attacked her. Through it all, she stood up to her critics.
For example, some said she had no control group, so how could her findings be valid? Judy snorted, that’s ridiculous! What was I supposed to do, gather another 60 families in 1970 and make them promise to never get divorced? Then I could compare the two groups?
Judy also defended the case-study approach, a gold standard in psychiatry. She noted that a lot of research on divorce is done with questionnaires, whereas she spent hours talking to each subject, asking things not like “how many times a month does your father visit” but “how do you feel when your father visits?”
Feminists attacked her for trying to guilt trip women into staying in bad marriages. But let’s be clear: Judy was never against divorce. Serious marital conflict can be far more damaging, she said. But she desperately wanted women to be prepared for their children’s anger and disappointment and learned that a divorce undertaken thoughtfully and realistically can teach children how to confront serious life problems with compassion, wisdom, and appropriate action.
Some organized fathers groups considered Judy public enemy No. 1. While her work was seminal in pointing out how important fathers are in a child’s life, Judy felt that some groups were more interested in finding ways to avoid child support than in genuinely helping children.
Judy got involved in the courts and legal maneuverings around divorce. She fought for a mother’s right to relocate as the custodial parent. She complained that many judges treat children as rag dolls, propped in a corner with their mouths sewn shut. Because children change as they grow up, she argued, visiting and custody arrangements should be renegotiated every few years. She won some of these battles and lost some, but never tired of fighting them.
Finally, parents would say to Judy, “Divorce is no big deal because so many kids today have divorced parents. It’s normal.” To which, she replied, “Children go through divorce in single file. The pain of loss is acute. That is as true today as it was 40 years ago.”
Judy knew about the pain of loss. Her father died of cancer when she was 8. Her mother didn’t tell her what had happened—Judy didn’t know he had been ill. He just disappeared. “You can trace all this work to my own suffering as a child,” she told a reporter in 1997. “I know the importance of an intact family, about the importance of fathers.”
Thanks in large part to Judy’s work, there is greater attention today to the needs of children after divorce. Lawyers, mediators, judges, educators, counselors, husbands, and wives have heard her message, even if they’ve never heard her name.
Meanwhile, over the years, Judy’s phone kept ringing as subjects from her original study stayed in touch. The children, now grown, called for advice and Judy, listening closely, realized they had another story to tell. In 2000, we published The Unexpected Legacy of Divorce, a 25-year landmark study of the effect of divorce on children. The kids, now age 28 to 43, shared a suite of attitudes that surprised everyone but them. As adults, children of divorce tend to be frightened of commitment. Marriage is a slippery slope and their parents fell off it, so it is to be avoided. Many live by the rule that if you don’t marry, you won’t divorce—so they cohabitate, not realizing that the pain of a breakup is not dependent on a marriage license. Adult children of divorce have trouble dealing with conflict in their marriages, even the good marriages, Judy said. These findings have been upheld by numerous other studies and books written by the adults themselves.
Judy and I co-authored two other books. In 1995 we published The Good Marriage: How and Why Love Lasts and in 2003 What About the Kids? Raising Children Before, During and After Divorce. Writing with her was always an adventure in nonlinear thinking. Judy was holistic in her reasoning, following instincts before logic. When we worked, I would interview her for hours while she free-associated ideas. As a veteran science reporter, with a constant eye on story structure, I would wrestle her narratives into drafts. The book on good marriage required five full rewrites. It was frustrating but always, always fruitful.
Judy died on June 18. She was still writing columns on the effects of divorce for the Huffington Post in May. She is survived by two daughters (a son died in 2006), five grandchildren, and her husband of 64 years, Dr. Robert Wallerstein. |
Ryan Adams has announced a new album, Prisoner. It’s out February 17 via Pax Am/Blue Note. Check out the tracklist and cover art below. Adams also announced that the album’s first single “Do You Still Love Me?” will be released tomorrow. In a recent interview with the Japan Times, Adams spoke about the inspiration for the album:
I started writing this record while I was going through a very public divorce, which is a humiliating and just a fucking horrible thing to go through no matter who you are. To be me and to go through that the way that I did was destructive on a level that I can’t explain. So a lot of extra work went into keeping my chin up and remembering what I did and what I loved about who I was.
Prisoner is the follow-up to 1989, Adams’ song-for-song remake of Taylor Swift’s album of the same name (and a project that he does not look back fondly upon). It marks Adams’ first full-length collection of new music since 2014’s Ryan Adams.
Prisoner:
01 Do You Still Love Me?
02 Prisoner
03 Doomsday
04 Haunted House
05 Shiver and Shake
06 To Be Without You
07 Anything I Say to You Now
08 Breakdown
09 Outbound Train
10 Broken Anyway
11 Tightrope
12 We Disappear |
According to this flyer, Time Warner Cable is asking people in Kansas City to share "tips, rumors and rumblings about Google construction or launch activity" about Google Fiber for a chance to win money. Yeah, Time Warner is so worried about Google Fiber that it's asking people to spy on Google so it'll have a better idea of how screwed Time Warner is.
As you may know, Google is rolling out some thick pipes in the form of a Gigabit fiber network in Kansas City as a sort of experiment on ultra fast Internet speed. Time Warner, if you're lucky enough to have never been a ripped off customer of theirs, is an awful Internet service provider and cable company. Google Fiber, with its theoretical 1Gbps speed, will very probably murder every crappy ISP in Kansas City, so TWC wants to collect intelligence on it by crowdsourcing spies.
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Smart move? Maybe. But even if Google came to TWC with all its blueprints and told TWC exactly what it'll be doing with Google Fiber and how to pull it off, I doubt Time Warner is capable of saving itself from its own ineptitude. [GigaOM] |
A FIRST case of Zika spread through sexual transmission has been recorded in France after a woman was infected when her partner returned from Brazil, Heath Minister Marisol Touraine said.
The case was detected several days ago in “a woman who is not pregnant,” the minister told AFP during a visit to French Guiana.
The couple lives in the Paris area, the minister’s entourage said. “She showed classic signs of the disease,” an official said. “She was not hospitalised and is doing well.” Brazil has been the hardest hit country by the mosquito-borne virus, with 1.5 million cases of active Zika transmission.
The World Health Organization (WHO) has said that up to 46 countries have reported some level of evidence of Zika infection and that 130 countries are home to the Aedis aegypti mosquito which carries the virus, meaning the eventual spread of the disease could be enormous In nearly all Zika cases, symptoms are mild, resembling those of flu. However, the growing belief that Zika can also trigger microcephaly in babies born to mothers infected while pregnant has spread international alarm.
Microcephaly is a congenital condition that causes abnormally small heads and hampers brain development.
There is currently no cure or vaccine against the Zika virus. |
The chief executive of the third-largest city in the nation doesn't need a winning personality to be effective.
That's certainly the case with Mayor Rahm Emanuel, who in his first term has taken on the major challenges facing Chicago, from budget deficits and underfunded pensions to the lagging performance of city schools and still-too-high violent crime rate. At the same time, he has tried to take advantage of the city's strengths as a tourist destination, a welcoming home for the budding tech industry and the concentration of college graduates who annually arrive here from across the region.
While his administration has made more progress solving some problems than others, on the whole he has pushed the city in the right direction, earning our endorsement for re-election.
For a city that put off making hard decisions for far too long, fiscal policy is a paramount consideration in this election. Emanuel has taken a sound approach to the biggest financial threat facing Chicago—the pension crisis—by combining increased city contributions with common-sense changes to benefits. Last year, he won approval in the Legislature for pension changes covering nearly half the city's workforce, a signature accomplishment. That law should serve as a template for the difficult negotiations that lie ahead to restructure the retirement systems for teachers, police officers and firefighters.
Emanuel also narrowed the city's structural budget deficit and reduced the rate of the increase in borrowing, although he still has not lowered the city's indebtedness as much as sound financial management would dictate.
He changed how government operates by, for example, modifying garbage collection routes to follow the street grid instead of ward boundaries and bringing “managed competition” to recycling, which he extended citywide. To cut costs, he also risked backlash by closing three of the city's 25 police stations and half of the 12 city-run mental health clinics.
Emanuel has held the line on property taxes and eliminated the head tax, a $4-per-worker annual fee that large employers opposed. To be sure, he has raised a variety of other levies, fees and fines, but the increases have been moderate.
To his credit, the mayor has not ruled out property tax hikes to help the city meet its pension obligations, including a $550 million additional payment due next year to the police and fire retirement funds. The years of fairy-tale budgeting have come to an end. Addressing the pension crisis will require higher taxes, even with changes to benefits.
Despite criticism that he's too close to the city's monied class, Emanuel has led a new era of ethics, freeing the city from court supervision under the anti-patronage Shakman decree after 42 years. Yet further reforms are needed. Emanuel's Gordon Gekko-like obsession with campaign contributions could prove his weakness.
As hoped for, the mayor has become the city's recruiter-in-chief, using a combination of incentives and salesmanship to woo major employers. Motorola Mobility's 2012 decision to move to the Merchandise Mart, ultimately bringing 2,000 jobs, was a game changer for Chicago's tech sector. Hand in hand with increased corporate recruitment is Emanuel's emphasis on boosting tourism, long a neglected aspect of Chicago's economy.
In education, his administration has expanded worthwhile initiatives launched under Mayor Richard M. Daley. As a result, high school graduation rates are at their highest level since at least 1999. Graduation rates also are rising at City Colleges of Chicago, which has been given a new focus on job skills. Charter schools have proliferated, giving parents greater choice in their public schools.
Compared with Emanuel's record, the proposals from his chief opponents in this election do not measure up. Ald. Bob Fioretti, 2nd, offers a poorly conceived plan to tax commuters and the financial markets. Cook County Commissioner Jesus “Chuy” Garcia has refused to embrace those farfetched ideas, recognizing the importance of downtown as a job generator for the entire city. But he offers no credible alternative for solving the city's very real—and very immediate—financial challenges.
After putting City Hall's financial affairs in order, the biggest issue facing the incoming mayor is growing income disparity, which ripples through all aspects of our city, from education and employment to crime and housing. This is too big a problem for a mayor to solve but not too big for a mayor to make better.
Emanuel is better-qualified to narrow the income gap than his opponents because the solution depends, at least in part, on better education and more jobs. In a time of austerity, he has to find ways to encourage more economic development outside of downtown. He must do more to free small businesses from needless city regulations.
In some neighborhoods, the biggest obstacle to economic growth is crime. While homicides have fallen since 2012, when murders spiked at more than 500, there still is much work to do. Most important, he must come up with innovative ideas to spark hiring. The unfortunate new city-only increase in the minimum wage is unlikely to create jobs.
It's no secret that Emanuel has his flaws. He has done a poor job articulating a bold vision for the city's future, instead mounting a re-election campaign that promises another four years of blocking and tackling. While competent execution is a necessary part of leadership, voters also need inspiration, the sense that we're all part of a joint effort.
His decision in 2013 to close 49 schools was a disaster, disrupting families with the fewest resources to deal with such a dramatic change. Previously, the Chicago Board of Education had put off the hard decision to bring school facilities in line with a declining enrollment. But making up for lost time in one fell swoop was a mistake a “neighborhood guy” wouldn't have made.
The school closings are part of a pattern for Emanuel, whose hard-charging personality prompts him to make decisions and then justify them with task forces and public hearings. A big-city mayor doesn't need to be a charmer to get the job done, but sometimes it clearly would help. For his own good, as well as the city's, Emanuel could learn something from Garcia, who talks persuasively about building consensus around important decisions.
Yet this election should be about results, not congeniality. Running on his record, Emanuel deserves your vote in the city election on Feb. 24. |
President Trump slammed reports indicating the White House was preparing to move on from Secretary of State Rex Tillerson as “fake news” yesterday as his top diplomat brushed off speculation that he’s lost the confidence of the commander in chief.
“The media has been speculating that I fired Rex Tillerson or that he would be leaving soon — FAKE NEWS!” Trump tweeted. “He’s not leaving and while we disagree on certain subjects (I call the final shots) we work well together and America is highly respected again!”
Trump’s tweet came after senior White House officials began telling reporters Thursday that the White House had devised a plan to push Tillerson out and replace him with CIA chief Mike Pompeo. Tillerson, who attended two meetings at the White House yesterday, called speculation that he was leaving “laughable.”
His aides said Tillerson would continue to serve until the president asked him not to and stressed that such a request had not been made.
Although Tillerson looks safe for now, he will be losing a senior aide and conduit to the public in coming weeks.
R.C. Hammond, who has run State Department strategic communications since Tillerson took office, will leave his post in mid-December, officials said.
According to senior White House officials, the plan to move on from Tillerson centered on replacing Tillerson with Pompeo, which would have led to a major realignment early in Trump’s term. It would create a vacancy atop the CIA that officials said could be filled by Republican Sen. Tom Cotton of Arkansas.
Friction between the president and the nation’s top diplomat has grown increasingly public through the year.
After a report in October that Tillerson had called the president a “moron,” Tillerson appeared before cameras to pledge fealty to his boss. Soon after, Trump publicly challenged his secretary to an IQ match.
Herald wire services contributed to this report. |
The biggest win of the evening may have gone to Spotlight, but it was another film entirely that really won this year's Oscars. Mad Max: Fury Road took home six awards over the course of the night, far surpassing any other film (its closest competitor was The Revenant, which earned just three). George Miller's post-apocalyptic action film nearly swept all the below-the-line categories, including Best Costume Design, Production Design, Makeup & Hairstyling, Film Editing, and both Sound Mixing and Editing. The only exceptions were Best Cinematography, which The Revenant's Emmanuel Lubezki took home for a record third year in a row, and Visual Effects, which Ex Machina won in what was one of the biggest upsets of the night. Along the way, Fury Road also helped shut out Star Wars: The Force Awakens from receiving any of the Oscars it was nominated for.
Fury Road electrified critics when it came out last May, with Miller's creative vision incorporating bold cinematography, electrifying chase sequences, and one of the most compelling action heroes in years in the form of Charlize Theron's Imperator Furiosa. It received numerous accolades from critic's associations and 10 Oscar nominations, second only to The Revenant's 12, but despite that it seemed to lose steam towards the end of the season, as attention turned towards the Best Picture battle between Revenant, Spotlight, and The Big Short. Some felt it was due to the film being released so early in the year — often death for films with Oscar aspirations — but clearly Miller's fantastical world made a lasting impression on Academy voters.
Miller's film broke through during a splintered awards season
One could argue that it doesn't make a ton of logical sense for a film to dominate the way Fury Road did and not walk away with awards for directing or Best Picture. Of course, there's a lot that often doesn't make sense about the Oscars. What remains is the fact that George Miller's tour de force was able to break through during a splintered awards season in which no single film was ever truly in the driver's seat. Even better, such a high-profile show of support — so overwhelming that Louis C.K. even joked that Fury Road had won a documentary award — could potentially make Warner Bros. even more interested in taking another trip to the dystopian wastelands of Miller's imagination. I'm just hoping that, no matter what the filmmaker has said in the past, Furiosa is along for the ride. |
DAMASCUS, SYRIA (5:16 A.M.) – Just a day after the US airstrikes that targeted a convoy of SAA and allies reinforcements heading to the Tanf front, the Syrian Army would continue its advance in east Damascus capturing the Research Center located south of Zaza Junction that lies along the Damascus-Baghdad Highway.
In a parallel development, the Syrian Armed Forces alongside allied paramilitaries like the Arab Tawhid Party captured the village of Zuluf alongside hundreds of square kilometers along the Syrian-Jordanian borders following yesterday’s seizure of Zuluf Dam from the Jordanian-backed rebels.
The most recent advances in southern Syria have not only made Suweida province almost entirely insurgent-free, but have also enabled the Syrian Army to reach the heart of the Levantine Badiyah. An assault on the strategic Tanf region could be propelled from Suweida province as other army units strike from eastern Qalamoun to liberate the Damascus-Baghdad Highway.
Should the Syrian Armed Forces rid this area from the presence of the foreign-backed FSA forces, they would be in prime position to strike al-Mayadeen and Al-Bukamal in conjunction with another government offensive on Deir Ezzor from Palmyra and Ithriya axes in eastern Homs.
Anonymous sources embedded with the Syrian military also hinted to AMN that the government forces intend launch massive military drills and maneuvers inside the recently dominated desert space- drills that are rumored to rival the large drills of 2013: a show of defiance and strength aimed to prove the existence of a formidable Syrian Arab Army after 7 years of brutal warfare.
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(Facebook) The Belligerent Bruncher might not actually own half of Manhattan, but the person who recorded his tirade says he's part of a larger problem. "I filmed them because this is one of a thousand incidents that have happened around there," the uploader says. "The week before they had to call an ambulance because someone got so drunk at one of these brunches they crapped themselves and had to be taken to the hospital."
A manager at Pranna strenuously denied that 20-year-old Gerry Shalam (whose father is a garment executive, according to The Smoking Gun) imbibed at their restaurant, telling us that she reviewed the restaurant's video surveillance. Pranna Tweeted that "there are several bars and brunch locations around Madison Avenue." The uploader, who asked to remain anonymous because he's concerned about revealing the location of his home, said all these restaurants produce a nuisance on the weekends.
"I'm heading to my doorway with my family and these guys are stumbling all over the place, it's like 4 p.m. in the afternoon," he said. "It's scary. It's just not safe, people are getting hurt, it's absurd."
He also remains unconvinced by Pranna's denials: "Pranna says they weren't there, but I saw them standing outside the restaurant with all the other drunk people."
A commenter on Gawker expounds on the issue:
I live right next to where this is being filmed and I totally understand why the guy was filming this idiot and his idiot drunken friend. The neighborhood has had it with Pranna. Anywhere between the hours of 2pm and 6pm on Saturdays and Sundays you will see people puking, passed out, or completely fucked up on the sidewalk from their shenanigans inside the restaurant/club/whatever. It's disgusting, and the place attracts trust fund kids, social climbers, and wannabe rich-folk who spend their whole two week paycheck there. This guy is probably filming all of this so he can send it straight to the higher-ups in the city in an attempt to get the place shut down.
Whether or not the group was in Pranna is unclear, but Shalam's Facebook photos seem to indicate that the group was at Bagatelle on the day in question.
(Facebook)
Bagatelle did not return our phone calls or emails. Shalam did not respond to our Facebook message.
Community Affairs officers at the 13th and 6th Precincts said they were not aware of any recent complaints about Pranna or Bagatelle.
According to Community Board 2 records, neighbors "spoke vociferously in opposition" to Bagatelle's request for sidewalk cafe seating last year, citing "substantial noise issues due to extremely loud music in the interior of the restaurant that spills out to the street and often for blocks around." In February, residents said that the restaurant "has made steps to address those issues." Bagatelle's liquor license is up for renewal in October of 2015.
Pranna has had to address "complaints regarding noise and violence" as recently as last year. Community Board 5's district manager was unavailable to comment. Pranna's liquor license is up for renewal at the end of September.
Transcript:
Woman: “Can you please not do that? Thanks.” "Jerry": “Hey, you have to go away. Alright, I don’t know who the fuck you are, but you need to listen to me right now. Alright, can you listen to me? Can you listen to me? Are you a human being? Are you a human being? Videographer: “Get the fuck off my property.” "Jerry": “This is your property?” Videographer: “Yes, you guys need to leave.” "Jerry": “This is your property? Is this your property?” Videographer: “Yes, leave...” "Jerry": “My dad’s in fucking real estate, you’re going to tell me this is your property.” Videographer: “Shut up, dude.” "Jerry": “My dad owns half of fucking Manhattan and you’re going to tell me this is your property? You’re going to tell me this is your property, and you are going to tell me that right now? Tell me this is your property and I’ll call the cops. Because you don’t think I own the cops? You think the fucking man who does fucking real estate doesn’t own the cops?” Videographer: “Yeah? What’s your name Mr. ‘I Own Half Of Manhattan’?” "Jerry": “Really? Fucking "Jerry" Adjmi—look up my fucking last name.” Videographer: “Okay, great. Please call the cops, "Jerry".” "Jerry": “Alright, really? You want me to?” Videographer: “Yes, I’d love for you to call the cops.” "Jerry": “Fine. Morgan! Morgan! Call the fucking cops.” Videographer: “Please call the cops. Oops, your friend just fell. Why don’t you go worry about your friend.” "Jerry": “Really? Is that what he did? Is that what he did?” Videographer: “Your friend is passed out on my fucking sidewalk.” "Jerry": “And what are you doing? What are you doing?” Videographer: “You guys need to call the cops and get your friend an ambulance because he can’t even walk.” "Jerry": “And why are you taking pictures?” Videographer: “Because I’m trying to get this place—” "Jerry": “Is that your legal right? Is that your legal right?” Videographer: “Yes, it absolutely is.” "Jerry": “It really is? Because I’m a fucking lawyer. Tell me how that’s your fucking legal right?” Videographer: “Oh I thought you were in real estate?” "Jerry": “Who are you? What do you do for a living? You fucking take fucking pictures? Is that your fucking living? You want me to call the fucking Bill de Blasio on you right now? He’s a fucking liberal but I’ll fucking call him. You take your hand off that camera right now. My dad owns half of fucking Manhattan, if you ever want a fucking job in your life you tell me right now. I know those cameras don’t take videos so what do you want to do with me? What do you want to do with me? What do you want to do?” Videographer: “I don’t care about you. Your friend here needs help.” "Jerry": “Is that what you want? You want to take video of it? You want to take video of a person in need? Is that what you really what to do? Is that what you want to show your fr—your kids? Is that what you want to show your kids? You want to show your kids that? You’re a fucking opportunist. You’re a fucking opportunist is that what you want to show your friends?” Videographer: “Let’s go. Let’s go guys. Alright, you’re almost off my property. So keep walking.” "Jerry": “What property? Where’s your property? Cause my dad’s a fucking real estate agent in fucking New York and you tell me where’s your fucking property? Okay? And I’ll call the fucking cops.” Videographer: “You’re not allowed to touch me, dude. So right now you’re committing a crime.” "Jerry": “You’re not allowed to touch me, okay? Who will win that lawsuit, the guy who has half the cops in his pocket or the fucking schmuck, the fucking loser, who’s trying to take a video? Who’s going to have the fucking cops in his pocket at that point? Who? Who?” |
Nobody will ever forget the night 15 months ago, when as a member of the Texas Rangers, Josh Hamilton launched four home runs at Camden Yards in Baltimore on a single night. Even more astounding, it’s only been five years since the Home Run Derby at Yankee Stadium where Hamilton launched a record-breaking 28 home runs in a single round.
And so begs the question these days: What in the world happened to Josh Hamilton?
When the Angels made Hamilton just the third $25-million-a-year position player in baseball history, they didn’t believe that he would respond by hitting just .234 this season. It’s a mystery that a man with as much power as Hamilton can own a lower slugging percentage (.419) than James Loney. It’s an even bigger mystery that a man with the offensive skill set of Hamilton can post a lower OPS (.713) than Brian Dozier (a name so obscure I actually had to look him up to find out he plays second base for the Minnesota Twins). In fact, Hamilton has played so poorly this season that although he makes more than the entire Houston Astros roster, he finds himself batting seventh in the order for the Angels. Now while he has shown some signs of life at the plate recently, posting a .329/.414/.539 slash line over the last 19 games or so, it doesn’t overshadow the tremendous disappointment he’s been this year.
Let’s take a look at some possible reasons as to Hamilton’s decline this year:
According to FanGraphs, the average distance of every fly ball that Hamilton has hit has dropped by more than 26 feet from 299.8 to 273.4. His Isolated Power (which measures power by subtracting batting average from slugging percentage) has fallen more than 100 points from last year from .292 to .185 overall. What’s more is that it’s not even a home vs road splits problem: Hamilton has been awful everywhere he’s played. Another disturbing trend is the percentage of “hard-hit balls”, which according to Inside Edge, has plummeted from 34 percent to just 22 percent.
When Hamilton went on his ridiculous tear last year, it seemed that every ball he hit was jumping off his bat. He got the barrel of the bat on every ball and drove it to all parts of the field, including the stands. This year, however, none of the magic that made him look almost superhuman for a stretch of time has reappeared.
One theory that has been thrown out there has been the amount of weight that Hamilton lost over the offseason. Last year, he played at a weight of somewhere between the 240-250 range, but this year, he’s been playing at a weight almost 30 pounds lighter than that. Most people have pointed to Hamilton’s new gluten-free diet dominated by fruit and vegetables juices that Hamilton says he saw on late-night TV.
Another explanation has been Hamilton’s penchant to swing at literally everything that comes his way, from balls in the dirt 10 feet in front of home plate to balls thrown 10 feet above his head. So far this season, Hamilton has swung at 439 pitches outside of the strike zone, good for third in the league. Hamilton has hit .141 when he does that, with 90 strikeouts, 26 hits, and only five for extra-bases.
This, however, does not represent a huge change in the way that Hamilton has always approached the plate. Last year, he swung at 649 pitches that were off the plate — over 100 more than the next guy — and he’s chasing about the same percentage of pitches as he has over the last five years, according to TruMedia. The only difference? Hamilton has had a lot more success in the past when he swung outside the zone. In 2010, he hit .280 on pitches outside the zone, a vast difference over his current .141. In May 2012, during his incredible run, he hit .341/.464/.545 on these pitches and got as many extra base hits in that one month (five) than he’s gotten all season this year. The graph below will help illustrate this point better. |
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Pronounced /ˈɪnˈtɛrəʊbæŋ/
A current interpretation of the interrobang, in Palatino Linotype
It’s a combination of an exclamation mark and a question mark. It was invented in 1962 through the advocacy of Martin Speckter, head of a New York advertising agency, Martin K Speckter Associates, which handled promotion for the Wall Street Journal, among other clients. For decades, advertising copywriters had used both marks together to imply various blends of question and exclamation. The combination might indicate a rhetorical question allied with an exclamation, or a shout of wonder and curiosity. It may also mark that mixture of incredulity and dismay which any parent may produce at stressful moments: “You did what?!”
Mr Speckter asked the readers of TYPEtalks Magazine, which he then edited, to suggest a shape and a name for the character. A lot of replies came in, suggesting names such as rhet, exclarotive, and exclamaquest. He chose interrobang. It combined interrogation, for the question mark, with bang, a printer’s term for the exclamation mark, a usage since taken over into computing.
At first, it was positively received:
The “?” at the end of “How do you do?” doesn’t always indicate just the tone of voice a writer wants to convey. The proposed interrobang, which for mechanical reasons cannot be here displayed, would indicate more accurately the degree of pleasure, curiosity and maybe surprise —all in one — the writer intended “How do you do” to deliver. An interrobang would be just right, also, to punctuate a rhetorical accusation, such as “Who forgot to put gas in the car?” where a plain question mark alone just isn’t adequate.
Wall Street Journal, 6 Apr. 1962.
In 1966, American Type Founders issued a metal typeface called Americana which included the interrobang. This was the peg for a comment in Time:
If the interabang gains the acceptance of grammarians, printers and writers, it will be the first punctuation symbol to enter the printed language since the introduction of the quotation mark during the late 17th century. Some typographical experts have already hailed its unique ability to express the ambiguity, not to mention the schizophrenia, of modern life. The interabang, cracks Harvard University Press’s monthly bulletin the Browser, “might with profit appear editorially at the end of all remarks from the political platform and the pulpit.”
Time, 21 Jul. 1967. Note the spelling, which seems, despite its repetition, to be a typographical error, since interrobang is used in the preceding paragraph.
Remington Rand added an optional key for it on several typewriters in 1968. But by the end of the 1960s, the nascent popularity of the interrobang was already waning, even among advertisers and typographers, because it was considered unnecessarily bombastic. Life was sceptical:
I seriously doubt if we are going to solve the problem by creating new punctuation marks. That only clutters up a language more. ... Besides, let in one man’s interrobang and you let in every nut who is trying to express the incredibility of modern life. They’ll start hanging around typographers’ shops hoping to get their own symbols into the language to solve their own emotional needs.
Life, 15 Nov. 1968. The writer, William Zinsser, jokingly suggested amperstop (&;) “to catch that delicate moment when you want to say something more and then think better of it” and the percentoquote (%”) “to suggest that the person being quoted should be only partially believed.”
An advertisement in 1971 mischievously subverted its creator’s intent:
The interrobang. A question mark. An exclamation point. A punctuation mark that may or may not mean what it seems to mean, so it doesn’t get used much. It’s never needed at Baker & North, because our advertising programs make clear sense to both our clients and their prospects.
Advertisement in the Hartford Courant, 9 May 1971.
By the time Martin Speckter died in February 1988, the interrobang was quite out of favour. It’s not part of the standard punctuation canon, any more than the old ?! combination ever was, having been written off by stylists and typographers as a faded fad.
But it’s not quite dead. A reverse and upside down version has been humorously invented under the name gnaborretni (interrobang backwards) for use in Spanish sentences. An entry for interrobang appears in some American dictionaries, the mark is in one Windows symbol font that I know of, and it’s also in the Unicode character set, which means that if we ever feel we need it, it will always be to hand. |
“This is the first in a sequence of four pictures from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope’s Advanced Camera for Surveys that dramatically demonstrates the echoing of light through space caused by an unusual stellar outburst in January 2002.” Picture: NASA
“The Hubble telescope captured a display of starlight, glowing gas, and silhouetted dark clouds of interstellar dust in this 4-foot-by-8-foot image of the barred spiral galaxy NGC 1300.” Picture: NASA
“Resembling a nightmarish beast rearing its head from a crimson sea, this celestial object is actually just a pillar of gas and dust. Called the Cone Nebula (in NGC 2264) - so named because in ground-based images it has a conical shape - this monstrous pillar resides in a turbulent star-forming region.” Picture: NASA
“The Hubble Space Telescope’s image of the star V838 Monocerotis (V838 Mon) reveals dramatic changes in the illumination of surrounding dusty cloud structures.” Picture: NASA
“Huge waves are sculpted in this two-lobed nebula some 3000 light-years away in the constellation of Sagittarius.” Picture: NASA
“Located in the Large Magellanic Cloud, one of our neighbouring dwarf galaxies, this young globular-like star cluster is surrounded by a pattern of filamentary nebulosity that is thought to have been created during supernova blasts.” Picture: NASA
“Hubble’s view of the Carina Nebula shows star birth in a new level of detail.” Picture: NASA
“This Hubble image is among the largest ever produced with the Earth-orbiting observatory - gives the most detailed view of the entire Crab Nebula ever.” Picture: NASA
“In the new Hubble image of the galaxy M74 we can also see a smattering of bright pink regions decorating the spiral arms.” Picture: NASA
“This Hubble Space Telescope view shows one of the most dynamic and intricately detailed star-forming regions in space, located 210,000 light-years away in the Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC), a satellite galaxy of our Milky Way.”Picture: NASA
“The subject of this image is NGC 6861, a galaxy discovered in 1826 by the Scottish astronomer James Dunlop. Almost two centuries later we now know that NGC 6861 is the second brightest member of a group of at least a dozen galaxies called the Telescopium Group.” Picture: NASA
“Arp 148 is the staggering aftermath of an encounter between two galaxies, resulting in a ring-shaped galaxy and a long-tailed companion.” Picture: NASA
“This spectacular image was captured by the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope’s Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS).” Picture: NASA
The image shows a pair of colossal stars, WR 25 and Tr16-244, located within the open cluster Trumpler 16. Picture: NASA
“This is an image of MyCn18, a young planetary nebula located about 8,000 light-years away, taken with the Wide Field and Planetary Camera 2 (WFPC2) aboard the Hubble Space Telescope (HST).” Picture: NASA |
CORTLAND, N.Y. -- There are 185 new smiles in Sudan these days, and Oday Aboushi helped create them all.
Aboushi, an offensive lineman for the New York Jets, was part of a five-day surgical mission by the Islamic Medical Association of North America in early March to repair cleft lips in the African country. IMANA Medical Relief's volunteer SaveSmile team of doctors and nurses operated on infants as young as a few months old to young adults in their early- to mid-20s in Sudan's capital city of Khartoum.
Oday Aboushi was part of a five-day surgical mission by the Islamic Medical Association of North America in early March to repair cleft lips in Sudan. AP Photo/Frank Franklin II
Aboushi, who joined the group along with his older sister Tahanie and youngest brother Haytham, scrubbed in and assisted with giving patients IVs and watched as their mouths were transformed in the 35-minute procedures. Muscles are adjusted and tissues connected so that a lip can form and heal properly.
"It was such a great experience to help people, but also to see such an instant result," said Aboushi, a sociology major in college. "You're bringing them into the operating room and then a few minutes later, you're bringing them out and they look like a totally different person.
"Their parents are in tears, they're so grateful."
The group arrived at the hospital every morning at 7 a.m. and worked until 7 p.m. -- five days straight and 185 patients. Aboushi's siblings made the trip the two previous years and raved about the experience. After he finished his rookie season last December, Aboushi decided to join them on the 18-hour trek from Staten Island to Africa.
"Going over there made me realize just how blessed I am to have a normal body -- well, I have a bigger body -- and have a normal face," the 6-foot-5, 308-pound Aboushi said. "You appreciate being able to drink normally and go out and make friends and feel comfortable. That's something you always take for granted because it's not really measured."
Aboushi was particularly touched by the story of one patient who had the procedure two years ago, but before that had withdrawn from school and rarely left his house because he felt out of place. After the surgery, Aboushi said, he's at the top of his class in grades and going on interviews.
"It's crazy, and so awesome," he said. "I look forward to hearing more about certain kids we worked on and see where they are in life, just to have that chance to be normal and be able to do daily functions that everybody does."
Aboushi plans to make similar trips in the future, but now his focus is solely on football -- and competing for a starting spot on the Jets' offensive line. He was drafted last year out of the University of Virginia as a tackle, and spent all season on the active roster but never got into a game.
"I came back taking nothing for granted," Aboushi said. "I'm always being appreciative of what I have now. The whole experience really just humbled me greatly." |
*Based on current progress of migration into the Blizzard App, the actual moment which StarCraft: Remastered goes live will be around 1 p.m. PDT. See our forum post for more details
Event Summary
The world-wide launch of StarCraft: Remastered approaches! On Monday, August 14 through Tuesday. August 15, we welcome you to join us as we bring some of the storied starCraft: Brood War personalities and players together for a 2-day hang-out extravaganza over StarCraft: Remastered. Below we've put together details to help you get ready for this broadcasted LAN-party celebrating the re-release of a game which caused us to re-imagine what it meant to be a gamer.
Event Details
Personalities & Players
Hosts/Casters: Sean 'Day[9]' Plott and Nick 'Tasteless' Plott
Players:
Legionnaire
Draco
G5
Nyoken
Ret
White-Ra
Both!: Dan 'Artosis' Stemkoski and Geoff 'iNcontroL' Robinson
Stream Location & Schedule
Twitch.tv/day9tv
Monday, August 14
12 p.m. to 9 p.m. PDT
Tuesday, August 15 |
Data collated by Anchor Pumps has revealed the countries that love renewable energy.
Figures from the World Bank, based on the Sustainable Energy for All (SE4ALL) database, ranked each country by the proportion of renewable energy that made up each country's 'total final energy consumption'.
Total final energy consumption covers all energy supplied to the final consumer, for all energy uses.
indy100 has created a map of the renewable energy users in 2016.
Green planet
Topping the list is Somalia. Of the country's final energy consumption, 94 per cent was renewable energy.
The country has made large investments into renewable energy, in part due to the high cost of electricity.
Since the civil war, the country has developed an energy plan from scratch.
Strong winds from the Gulf of Aden have made them well placed to invest in off-shore wind farms, and their position on the Equator is perfect for solar panels.
Shunning renewables
Countries using the lowest proportion of renewable energy are the fifteen nations which use less than 1 per cent, including Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and Oman. As these are gulf states, who’s economies are largely run on money from oil sales, it makes sense that their governments might not be keen on the use of renewable energy.
Of countries which do use renewable energy, but still not much, include the USA on 9 per cent, Japan on 6 per cent and Russia on 3 per cent.
In the UK, 7 per cent of final energy consumed in 2016 was renewable.
Changes in Europe
Liechtenstein was the most improved country, rising from 0 per cent in 1992 to 62 per cent in 2016.
Similarly Montenegro and Bosnia & Herzegovina also made the largest steps towards use of renewable energy.
Norway and Turkey were both using a smaller proportion of renewable energy in 2016 than they did in 1992. In Norway this was 2 per cent less, and in Turkey 13 per cent less. |
(Image: NASA)
It’s easy to drift in space, but it’s harder to drift off to sleep. The most comprehensive study to date of sleep patterns in astronauts reveals that they suffer sleep deficiency during space flight and even before they take off – and sleeping pills may not be the solution.
Astronauts have complained of fatigue and sleep deficiency since the beginning of human space travel.
“Trying to sleep in space is a neat kind of disorientation,” says six-time NASA astronaut Story Musgrave. “There’s no clock, no day or night, no up or down, and no tension on your body so you can even lose the sense of where your limbs are when you sleep.”
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Most astronauts can expect a relatively quick return to normal, as most space missions last a year or less. But as space agencies prepare for longer journeys to Mars or elsewhere in the solar system, it will become ever more important to understand how best to manage sleep in space.
Now, researchers from Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School in Boston have performed the most extensive analysis to date. They monitored the sleep patterns of 64 astronauts from 80 space shuttle missions, as well as 21 astronauts who spent time on the International Space Station. They fitted the astronauts with a wrist device that records sleep and waking cycles and required them to keep a diary of their sleep habits before, during and after space flight, logging more than 4200 nights in space and over 4000 on Earth in total.
Despite having 8-and-a-half hours in every 24 designated for sleep during space flight, the average astronaut slept just under 6 hours on shuttle missions, and just over 6 hours on ISS visits. Only 12 per cent of shuttle astronauts and 24 per cent of those on the ISS slept more than 7 hours at a time.
The researchers found that preflight sleepless nights are also common, and sleep deficiency can build up in astronauts from as early as three months before lift-off. Astronauts in training average only 6.5 hours per night – although that is not far off from average adults during the work week, says researcher Laura Barger of Harvard Medical School.
Things improved once the astronauts were back on the ground, though. Post-flight data recorded for the same astronauts showed that they slept more than 7 hours nearly half the time once they returned to Earth.
Lack of sleep has been consistently linked to decreased performance, and more effective measures are needed to keep crew members as alert as possible. While some astronauts cope with disorientation by sleeping in a closet in a sort of sleeping bag, or strapping down their knees or head, Barger and her colleagues found that more than 75 per cent of astronauts turn to sleep medication at some point.
“Medication is essential. After two to three days of bad sleep, your performance begins to suffer, and often medication is the only relief,” says Musgrave.
While this strategy is common, it might not the best remedy. “If astronauts had to be awakened in an emergency situation, they run the risk of their performance being impaired if they’ve been using hypnotic sleep aids,” says Barger.
The ISS is testing out new lighting that provides more short-wavelength light to promote alertness. Future research will explore behavioural changes and schedule modifications that might help astronauts to sleep through the “night”.
Journal reference: The Lancet Neurology, doi.org/t37 |
Over the past years, search engine optimization has actually transformed drastically. What once contained attempting to outsmart a formula has now developed right into a sophisticated fine art of audience targeting, focused around delivering tangible worth to clients and also customers.
Excellent SEO gives small businesses the opportunity to cut through the Internet’s noise and reach the right audience with useful content designed that can help readers address their company troubles. Yet where should they start?
We talked experiencing Todd Friesen, Director of SEO at Sales-force, to discover even more regarding exactly what small businesses require to recognize for SEO success. Exactly what should small businesses do if they haven’t focused on this location of their company?
As a seo for small business company, SEO could be intimidating. You type your services and products right into the almighty Google as well as you view industries as well as nationwide brands in the leading ports. You’re standing at the end of a steep hill searching for. What are you, as a for small business company, going to do to contend? You’re visiting take the bull by the horns and also focus on just what’s vital.
Okay, where should they start? What are the basics to know?
The Google Webmaster Guidelines are a popular area to start, and also will help you build your site in a means that Google and Bing can conveniently crawl your website as well as abstract the details they require to rate your web site properly. All search engines really want to provide their users experiencing the best encounter possible.
You need to also supply an appropriate XML sitemap to clearly define the specific pages that an online search engine should want and crawl. This need to NOT like URLs that have session IDs or tracking criteria in the URLs. These criteria can produce large material duplication problems and dilute your internal linking and also web page authority.
Bing and also Google both offer a suite of Webmaster Tools that could help you asses these issues as well as more. Every webmaster must be making use of these devices from the largest company empire to the tiniest one-man place of business on the corner.
1) Google Guidelines
2) Google Webmaster Tools
3) Bing Webmaster Tools
Keywords play a large place in SEO. Where should SMBs start in their study?
It is really essential that you know the keywords and choosing a keyword phrases that your possible clients are making use of to locate you as well as your competitors. This allows you to concentrate your content.
When it comes to keywords, affordable research study is tip one. Investigating the paid search landscape of your competition will certainly expose a host of keywords that deserve considering. If a person is willing to get that traffic, there are good probabilities those keywords transform to sales.
You could quickly and also rapidly view the keywords you and also your rivals are placing for, the keywords they are getting, and also the approximated quantity of searches Google gets on a monthly basis. If you do not have the ideal keywords, the ideal website in the world with the best material in the globe will not reach the right audience.
You pointed out concentrating on content. Why is content so crucial to SEO?
Search engines really want content. They want new exciting points for their customers to locate and also engage experiencing. Right here, we’re talking about top-notch material, not material for material. As a small business, one of your finest possessions is, quite often, your degree of experience as well as customer service. You can parlay this into ending up being an acknowledged authority experiencing your content. This content will be taken in as well as passed around and also linked to. This is link-building.
So it’s an excellent, economical tactic: social SEO.
Yes, it’s where the content you’ve been creating really begins to begin. While individuals may passively discover as well as eat your material, in order to actually acquire the round rolling– to get your material spread about, consumed, and also creating links for you– you have to acquire social. Go find all the social profiles you can. Twitter, Facebook, and other pillars are noticeable, yet there hundreds of social websites out there that satisfy a wide range of passions. Find your consumers and also promote straight to them while supplying aid and also experience. If you simply show up as a promo machine, you will be marked down and also your material development initiatives will certainly have been wasted.
Just what else can SMBs do to remain affordable with larger firms?
Localization is a considerable possibility for small businesses that have a physical address. Experiencing the latest property developments in personalization and localization, search engines are offering customized outcomes based on certain searches and also user area.
As an example, when you search for “pizza” on Google, you get results that show businesses with locations nearby to you. Localization has to do with uniformity and enrollment in all the suitable databases. This is one area when the best course is to utilize a regional registration solution like www.alllocal.com to handle this project for you. The relationships between the sources are intricate and also taxing to handle on your own. Search engines gain access to this information to confirm the dependability of their regional outcomes.
Any type of work items of guidance for small businesses?
SEO is a necessity of the advertising and marketing mix for small businesses online, but if you understand the fundamentals and invest your time focused on high quality content, in the ideal place, experiencing the best keywords, you can add worth to your bucks and also clients to your bottom line. |
China flew a long-range nuclear-capable bomber outside China for the first time since President-elect Donald Trump spoke with the president of Taiwan, two US officials told Fox News.
The dramatic show of force was meant to send a message to the new administration, according to the officials. It marks the second time Beijing flew bombers in the region since Trump was elected.
Even more concerning for the Pentagon, China has been seen by American intelligence satellites preparing to ship more advanced surface-to-air missiles to its contested islands in the South China Sea.
Trump's call with Taiwan's President Tsai ling-wen broke decades- long protocol after American leaders stopped communicating directly with the Taiwan president in 1979, when diplomatic ties were severed and the United States shifted to a new "one-China" policy. China protested Trump's call with President Tsai.
MANILA SAYS WILL NOT HELP US ON PATROLS IN SOUTH CHINA SEA
The Chinese H-6 bomber flew along the disputed "Nine-Dash line" Thursday, which surrounds the South China Sea and dozens of disputed Chinese islands, many claimed by other countries in the region.
The Pentagon was alerted to the Chinese flight Friday. It was the first long-range flight of a Chinese bomber along the U-shaped line of demarcation since March 2015, according to the officials.
Over the summer, Chinese bombers flew over the South China Sea and the contested islands, but they did not fly nearly as far as this one, the officials said.
At various points in recent long-range flights, Chinese fighter jets provided escorts to the single Chinese bomber.
In recent days, U.S. intelligence satellites have spotted components for the Chinese version of the SA-21 surface-to-air missile system at the port of Jieyang, in southeast China, where officials say China has made similar military shipments in the past to its islands in the South China Sea.
TRUMP'S TAIWAN CALL, TWEETS POINT TO FLASHPOINTS WITH CHINA
In February, Fox News first reported that China had deployed an advanced surface-to-air missile system, the HQ-9, to Woody Island, a contested island in the Paracel Island chain in the South China Sea, also claimed by Taiwan and Vietnam.
The HQ-9 is based on the Russian S-300 missile system and has a range of roughly 125 miles.
The Chinese SA-21 system, based on the more advanced Russian S-400, is a more capable missile system than the HQ-9.
Depending on the types of missiles used, it could extend the range up to 250 miles and target not only aircraft, but ballistic missiles as well.
The head of the U.S. military's Pacific Command, Admiral Harry Harris has repeatedly warned in the past year about China's continued military build-up or "militarization" of the South China Sea.
In October, a US Navy destroyer sailed close to Woody Island in what the Pentagon calls a "freedom of navigation" operation. The Chinese called the act "provocative." It was the fourth such operation by the U.S. Navy in the past year.
China has constructed over 3,000 acres of land atop reefs in the South China Sea in the past few years. It now has three runways and has sent bombers and fighter jets to a number of them.
TRUMP REMAINS ON DEFENSIVE AFTER CALL WITH TAIWAN PRESIDENT
In August, satellite photos appeared to show China making progress on at least two dozen hardened concrete hangers in order to land Chinese bombers and fighter jets as well as in-flight refueling planes, greatly expanding the reach of the Chinese military.
The photos were collected and studied by the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), a Washington-based think-tank. They showed the construction on China's man-made islands at Fiery Cross, Subi and Mischief reefs. |
Warren Mundine puts Indigenous council offside with suggestion of extra $600 million in savings to portfolio
Updated
The Prime Ministers' chief advisor on Indigenous affairs, Warren Mundine, has angered members of his own council, with suggestions about further funding cuts in the portfolio post-budget.
The Federal Government cut funding to Indigenous programs by $534 million in the budget, but Mr Mundine says a further $600 million in savings could be made.
Mr Mundine says the federal budget measures are all about eliminating waste and there will be very little impact on frontline services.
"Most of these areas are the backroom stuff, so looking at the 150 program streams, collapsing that into five. Looking about the savings that we can do in Canberra into other areas and also then shifting, look at shifting some of the programs," he said.
"To me, for services on the ground, we won't notice it."
But Mr Mundine says the cuts are not enough and the Government can and should go further.
He will be meeting with the Finance Minister and the Treasurer to put forward the case for more savings of about $600 million.
"It's actually more than that, but I'm looking at $600 million in the next budgetary round in 2015," he said.
"We did some modelling on repair and maintenance of housing and there's no doubt from the modelling that we got back that you can save 24 per cent, 24 per cent on the repair and maintenance of housing, and you can save from 5, 10 per cent in other areas."
He says the savings can be made from programs across the country.
"It's quite a lot of money when you start looking at a budget, like we did with remote area housing with $3.6 billion, so you can imagine a saving of 10 or 5 per cent of that - that's quite a lot of money."
Mundine draws criticism from Indigenous council deputy
Dr Ngaire Brown, the deputy chair of the Indigenous Advisory Council says it is too early to talk about further cuts as the full impact of last month's budget is not yet known.
"I'm not quite sure where they're getting the current savings from in the first place, let alone making suggestions that we can trim another $500-600 million," she said.
"So without knowing the detail and without be reassured around the first round of cuts, I wouldn't be supporting any further calls and in fact, why can't we have the savings made from other portfolios, have that re-invested in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander affairs."
In terms of the recommendation to additional savings from the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander portfolio, without breaching my privacy requirements, I don't recall that being discussed. Dr Ngaire Brown, deputy chair of the Indigenous Advisory Council
Dr Brown says the proposed savings were not discussed at a meeting of the council last week, and while everyone wants to spend funding more wisely further cuts are not advisable.
"The budget was discussed, absolutely, and we had been forewarned, as had everyone really that the budget was going to be tight. In terms of the recommendation to additional savings from the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander portfolio, without breaching my privacy requirements, I don't recall that being discussed," she said.
"It is a priority of the Government, and the Prime Minister has made himself the Prime Minister for Indigenous Affairs, so you would think that symbolically we are one of the key priorities that this country has."
Mr Mundine rejects suggestions that he is making decisions without the backing of his council and says from day one, the group's role has been to look at efficiencies in Indigenous Affairs and come up with a new way of doing business.
"Everyone's very clear in regard to that there are inefficiencies and waste within the system and it's very clear that we need to fix them," he said.
"So as I say, Indigenous services on the ground are actually delivering what we need to deliver to the Aboriginal communities and so everyone is very much on, you know, that thinking."
Mr Mundine says the Indigenous Advisory Council members should not be concerned about the possibility of more cuts.
"I didn't hear Professor Brown's comments but if she's talking about cuts, well we're not talking about cuts," he said.
Topics: indigenous-aboriginal-and-torres-strait-islander, indigenous-policy, budget, government-and-politics, federal-government, canberra-2600, australia
First posted |
Photo remix available thanks to the courtesy of mripp. CC BY 2.0
As front-end developer your part is often to provide the best possible experience for your application’s end-users. In standard Rails application everything is rather easy - user clicks on the submit button and waits for an update. User then sees fully updated data. Due to async nature of dynamic front-ends it is often missed what happens in the ‘mid-time’ of your user’s transaction - button is clicked and user waits for some kind of notification that his task is completed. What should be displayed? What if a failure occurs? There are at least two decisions you can take to answer those questions.
The most common solution is to update your front-end if and only if backend notifies us that particular user action is successful.
It is often the only choice to solve consistency problem - there are actions that have effects we unable to compute on front-end due to lack of required information. Consider sign in form - we can’t be sure user signed in or not before the backend finishes its logic.
Implementation often is rather straightforward - we just make some AJAX call, wait until a promise is resolved (you can read about it in more detail here) and then perform an update to your views.
Example:
Imagine you have a simple to-do list application - one of its functions is that users can add a task to it. There is an event bus where you can subscribe to events published by your view. Your data is stored within the ReadModel object - you can ask it to return current list of tasks and update it via addTask method. Such updates automatically updates the view.
Your Dispatcher ( Glue ) class can look like this:
class Dispatcher constructor : ( @ eventBus , @ commands , @ readModel , @ flashMessages ) -> @ eventBus . on ( 'addTask' , ( taskText ) -> response = @ commands . addTask ( taskText ) response . success (( json ) => @ readModel . addTask ( json . id , taskText )) . fail ( => @ flashMessages . error ( "Failed to add a task." )) )
Here you wait for your addTask command to finish - it basically makes a POST request to your Rails backend and the task data is returned via JSON. You definitely saw this pattern many times - it is the most ‘common’ way to handle updates.
Pros:
Implementation is simple - there are no special patterns you’d need to introduce.
- there are no special patterns you’d need to introduce. It aligns well with Rails conventions - let’s take a small part of the code introduced above: ( json ) => @ readModel . addTask ( json . id , taskText ) As you may see, ID of the given task is returned inside JSON response. Basically such pattern is provided by convention in a typical Rails app - primary keys are given from your database and such knowledge must be propagated from a backend to a frontend. Handling such use cases in “Wait for backend, then update” method requires no change in Rails conventions at all.
All front-end data is persisted - there is no problem with ‘bogus’ data that may be introduced only on front-end. That means you can only have fewer data than on backend at any time.
Cons:
Feedback for the user is delayed - an user is still forced to wait for completion of his task before a proper feedback is provided. This solution makes our front-end a less responsive.
- an user is still forced to wait for completion of his task before a proper feedback is provided. This solution makes our front-end a less responsive. Developers are forced to provide and maintain different kind of visual feedback - waiting without a visual feedback is not enough. If completing an action needs a considerate amount of time, providing no visual feedback would force an user to repeat his requests (usually by hitting button twice or more) because such time would be misinterpreted as “app doesn’t work”. That means we need to implement yet another solution - the most common “hacks” here is disabling inputs, changing value of the button to something like “Submitting…”, providing some kind of “Loading” visual indicator etc. Such ‘temporal’ solution must be cleaned up after failure or success. Errors with not cleaning up such ‘temporal’ visual feedbacks is something that users directly see and it is often very annoying for them - they just see that something “is broken” here!
It is hard to go with ‘eventual consistency’ with this approach - and with today requirements it’s a big chance you’d want to do so. If you implement your code with “wait for backend, then update” it can be hard to make architecture ready for “offline mode”, or to defer synchronisation (like with auto-save feature).
Tips:
You can use Reflux stores to easily “bind” read model updates to your React components.
Promises help if one business action involves many processes which needs to be consulted with back-end or some external tool. You can use $.when to wait for many promises at once.
to wait for many promises at once. If you structure your code using store approach encouraged by Flux, it is good to provide some kind of UserMessageStore and IntermediateStateStore to centralize your visual feedbacks.
and to centralize your visual feedbacks. You can listen for ajaxSend “events” to provide the simplest visual feedback that something is being processed on backend. This is a simple snippet of code you may use to your needs (using jQuery): UPDATE_TYPES = [ 'PUT' , 'POST' , 'DELETE' ] $ . activeTransforms = 0 $ ( document ). ajaxSend ( e , xhr , settings ) -> return unless settings . type ? . toUpperCase () in UPDATE_TYPES $ . activeTransforms += 1 $ ( document ). ajaxComplete ( e , xhr , settings ) -> return unless settings . type ? . toUpperCase () in UPDATE_TYPES $ . activeTransforms -= 1 We bind to ajaxSend and ajaxComplete “events” to keep track of number of active AJAX transactions. You can then query this variable to provide some kind of visual feedback. One of the simplest is to provide an alert when the user wants to leave a page: $ ( window ). on 'beforeunload' , -> if $ . activeTransforms '''There are some pending network requests which means closing the page may lose unsaved data.'''
You can take the another approach to provide as fast feedback for an end-user as possible. You can update your front-end and then wait for backend to see whether an action succeeds or not. This way your users get the most immediate feedback as possible - at the cost of more complex implementation.
This approach allows you to totally decouple the concern of doing an action from preserving its effects. It allows you a set of very interesting ways your front-end can operate - you can defer the backend synchronisation as long as you like or make your application ‘offline friendly’, where an user can take actions even if there is no internet connection. That’s the way many mobile applications work - for example I can add my task in Wunderlist app and it’ll be synced if there will be an internet connection available - but I have my task stored and can review it any time I’d like.
There is also a hidden effect of this decision - if you want to be consistent with this approach you’re going to put more and more emphasis on front-end, making it richer. There is a lot of things you can do without even consulting backend - and most Rails programmers forget about it. With this approach moving your logic from backend to front-end comes naturally.
Example:
In this simple example there is little you have to do to make implementation with this approach:
class Dispatcher constructor : ( @ eventBus , @ commands , @ readModel , @ flashMessages , @ uuidGenerator ) -> @ eventBus . on ( 'addTask' , ( taskText ) -> uuid = @ uuidGenerator . nextUUID () @ readModel . addTask ( uuid , taskText ) @ commands . addTask ( uuid , taskText ) . fail ( => @ readModel . removeTask ( uuid ) @ flashMessages . error ( "Failed to add a task." ) ) )
As you can see, there are little changes with this approach:
There is a new dependency called uuidGenerator . Since we’re adding a task as fast as possible we can’t wait for an ID to be generated on backend - now the front-end assigns primary keys to our objects.
. Since we’re adding a task as fast as possible we can’t wait for an ID to be generated on backend - now the front-end assigns primary keys to our objects. Since when something went wrong we need to compensate our action now, there is a new method called removeTask added to our read model. It is not a problem when there is also a feature of removing tasks - but when you add such method only for compensating an action I’d consider it a code smell.
The most interesting thing is that you can take @commands call and move it to completely different layer. You can add it to a queue of ‘to sync’ commands or do something more sophisticated - but since there is immediate feedback for an user you can make it whenever you like.
Pros:
It makes your front-end as responsive as possible - your clients will be happy with this solution. It makes your users having more ’desktop-like’ experience while working with your front-end.
- your clients will be happy with this solution. It makes your users having more ’desktop-like’ experience while working with your front-end. It makes communication with backend more flexible - you can make a decision to communicate with backend immediately or defer it as long as you’d like.
- you can make a decision to communicate with backend immediately or defer it as long as you’d like. It is easy to make your app working offline - since we’re taking an action immediately already the all you need is turning off external services while working in offline mode and add it to some queue to make this communication when you come online again.
- since we’re taking an action immediately already the all you need is turning off external services while working in offline mode and add it to some queue to make this communication when you come online again. It makes your front-end code richer - if it is your goal to move your logic to a front-end, making this decision forces you to move all required logic and data to a frontend while implementing an user interaction.
- if it is your goal to move your logic to a front-end, making this decision forces you to move all required logic and data to a frontend while implementing an user interaction. It’s easier to make your commands ‘pure’ - if you are refactoring your backend to CQRS architecture there is a requirement that your commands should return no output at all. With updating on a front-end and removing a necessity of consulting each action effect with backend (generating UUID on a front-end is one of major steps towards it) you can easily refactor your POST/PUT/PATCH/DELETE requests to return only an HTTP header and no data at all.
- if you are refactoring your backend to CQRS architecture there is a requirement that your commands should return no output at all. With updating on a front-end and removing a necessity of consulting each action effect with backend (generating UUID on a front-end is one of major steps towards it) you can easily refactor your POST/PUT/PATCH/DELETE requests to return only an HTTP header and no data at all. You can reduce overhead of your backend code - since you are not making a request immediately, you may implement some kind of batching or provide another way to reduce number of requests made by an user to your service. This way you can increase throughput of your backend, which can be beneficial if you are experiencing performance issues.
Cons:
It can be hard to compute an effect of an action on front-end - there are some types of actions which can be hard to do without consulting backend - like authentication. Everywhere where data needed to compute a result is confidential it’s much easier to implement a code which consults with backend first .
- there are some types of actions which can be hard to do without consulting backend - like authentication. . Implementation is harder - you need to implement compensation of an user action which can be hard. There is also a non-trivial problem of handling many actions in sequence - if something in the middle of such ‘transaction’ fails, what you should do? Also there can be situations where implementing compensation without proper patterns can make your code less maintainable.
- you need to implement compensation of an user action which can be hard. There is also a non-trivial problem of handling many actions in sequence - if something in the middle of such ‘transaction’ fails, what you should do? Also there can be situations where implementing compensation without proper patterns can make your code less maintainable. It’s harder to achieve data consistency this way - in the first approach there is no way that you can have an ‘additional’ data on the front-end which is out of sync with your backend - you can only have less data than on backend. In this approach it is harder - you may have data which are not on a backend, but they exist on your frontend. It is your job to make your code eventually consistent - and it is harder to do so in this approach .
- in the first approach there is no way that you can have an ‘additional’ data on the front-end which is out of sync with your backend - you can only have less data than on backend. In this approach it is harder - you may have data which are not on a backend, but they exist on your frontend. . You need to modify your backend - solutions needed to implement this approach well, like UUID generation needs to go against Rails conventions - you’ll need to write some backend code to support it.
Tips:
You can benefit greatly with backtracking that immutable data structures provide. Since each mutation returns new collection in this approach, if you make your state immutable it is easier to track “history” of your state and rollback accordingly if something fails. There is a library called ImmutableJS which helps you with implementing such pattern.
To avoid a code smell with creating methods just to compensate failures, you can refactor your commands to a Command pattern. You can instantiate it with data it needs and provide an undo method you call to compensate an effect of such command. Here is a little example of this approach: class Commands constructor : ( @ readModel ) -> addTask : ( uuid , taskText ) -> new AddTaskCommand ( @ readModel , uuid , taskText ) class AddTaskCommand constructor : ( @ readModel , @ uuid , @ taskText ) -> call : -> # put your addTask method body here. undo : -> # logic of compensation # in our dispatcher: @ eventBus . on ( 'addTask' , ( taskText ) -> uuid = @ uuidGenerator . nextUUID () @ readModel . addTask ( uuid , taskText ) command = @ commands . addTask ( uuid , taskText ) command . call (). fail ( command . undo ) ) That way you ‘enhance’ a command with knowledge about ‘undoing’ itself. It can be beneficial if logic you need to implement is valid only to compensate an event - this way your other code can expose interface usable only for doing real business actions, not reversing them.
In sophisticated frontends it is a good step to build your domain object state from domain events. This technique is called “event sourcing” and it aligns well with idea of ‘reactive programming’. I just want to signal it is possible - RxJS is a library which can help you with it.
Conclusion
Decisions you can make to handle effects of user actions can have major consequences with your overall code design. Knowing those consequences is a first step to make your front-end maintainable and more usable for your users. Unfortunately, there is no silver bullet. If you are planning to make your front-end richer and want to decouple it from backend as much as possible it is great to try to go with “update first” approach - it has many consequences which “pushes” us towards this goal. But it all depends on your domain and features. I hope this post will help you with making those decisions in a more conscious way.
Do you have some interesting experience on this field? Or you have a question? Don’t forget to leave a comment - I’ll be more than happy to discuss with you! |
: Added in more information on the preseason changes, including jungle items, smites, red/blue spawn time, and more.To kick off a new cycle, a HUGE update has been pushed to the PBE! Today's update includes the recently announcedand her launch skin, a total of SIX new champion skins, over FIFTY texture rebalances, a newward skin, the return of the preseason changes, and more! Continue reading for more information!
(Warning: PBE Content is tentative and iterative - what you see may not reflect what eventually gets pushed to live servers! Manage your expectations accordingly. )
Table of Contents
New Champion - Kalista
Kalista, The Spear of Vengeance
Stats & Abilities
Base HP: 517.76 (+83 per level)
Base Mana: 231.8 (+35 per level)
Base Movement Speed: 325
Base Damage: 55.46 (+3 per level)
Base Mana Regen Per Second: 1.26 (+0.08 per level)
Base Attack Range: 550
Base Magic Resist: 30 (+0 per level)
Base Armor: 19.012 (+3.5 per level)
Base HP Regen Per Second: 1.2 (+0.11 per level)
Active: Bind with an ally for the remainder of the game,
becoming Oathsworn Allies. Oathsworn empowers you both while
near one another. [Choice is intended to be permanent]
Kalista cannot cancel her attacks. If the target leaves vision, her attack will miss.
If Kalista enters a movement command while winding up her basic attack or Pierce, she will drive through in that direction when she launches her attack, lunging a short distance.
Dash distance scales with boot rank and is 25% greater when
lunging backward.
50/55/60/65/70 mana, 8 sec cooldown
A fast but narrow projectile that deals 10/70/130/190/250(+100% total AD) physical damage. Triggers Martial Poise (P), Sentinel (W), and Rend (E).
If it kills a target, Pierce continues onward, passing all stacks of Rend to the next target.
25 Mana, 30 second cooldown
Passive: When you and you Oathsworn both basic attack the same target within 1.5 seconds, you deal 12/14/16/18/20% of their max health as magic damage (minimum 100/125/150/175/200 damage to minions). 8 second cooldown per target.
Active: Send a soul Sentinel to patrol an unseen area. Champions they see are revealed for 4 seconds. Sentinel lasts 7 laps.
Kalista gains a charge of Sentinel every 60/55/50/45/40 seconds.
35 mana, 14/12.5/11/9.5/8 sec cooldown
While off cooldown, Kalista's spears pierce their target and linger there for 4 seconds.
Active: Kalista rips the spears from nearby targets, dealing 20/35/50/65/80(+60% total AD) physical damage and slowing their Movement Speed by 20/25/30/35/40% for 2 seconds. Each extra spear increases the damage by 20/25/30/35/40%, but not the slow.
If it kills a target, Rend's cooldown is reset.
100 mana, 90/75/60 sec cooldown
Draw Kalista's Oathsworn to her. For up to 4 seconds, the Oathsworn is untargetable but pacified.
They may mouse click to fly toward target position, stopping at the first enemy champion hit, knocking all enemies in a small radius back and placing the Oathsworn at their maximum attack range from the enemy.
Kalista's Oathsworn must be within 1400 units for her to cast this ability.
Voiceover / Lore
"Kalista is an eternal spirit of retribution, who possesses a cold-burning hatred for all betrayers, deceivers, and traitors. In life, she was a legendary warrior, but while trying to avert tragedy she was betrayed and slain by those she trusted most. Now, she is an undying entity that can be invoked to exact vengeance, but only at great cost: the supplicant’s soul becomes forfeit, bound to her for eternity"
Release Skin: Blood Moon Kalista
RiotBaconhawk
"The mists swirl and part, wispy tendrils sliding hungrily across her undead arms. She pulls down her mask, silently creeping along the twisted treeline.
With a hushed growl, she sends her specter to scout ahead. Its reddish glow turns the spooky green forest into an undulating mottled pattern of gray trees and black shadows. Even the moon above seems to dim.
By its sinister light, she spots her prey ahead.
Silently, she raises her spear back. The sharp, curved tip flows with bloody energy.
With a grunt, she hurls it, and and springs forward in anticipation.
Blood Moon Kalista has arrived.
An all new model with Blood Moon mask, new armor, new spectral scout
All new Blood Moon particles, with red and deep blue colors
A new recall animation, complete with new sounds Join her ranks, if you are brave."
New Skins
Battlecast Kog'Maw 1350 RP 1350 RP
Riot KateyKhaos with a Battlecast Kog'Maw:
"The adorable "Void Puppy" is back and ready for action and this time, he's fully equipped for battle! Battlecast Kog'Maw will be 1350 RP and includes: All new model and texture , complete with all the weaponry you could possibly need on the Rift!
, complete with all the weaponry you could possibly need on the Rift! All new particles ! (Explosions and stuff!)
! (Explosions and stuff!) New animations !
! A new recall animation !
! New VO filter! You can check out Battlecast Kog'Maw in game now on PBE! We always find bug reports and feedback super helpful, so feel free to comment in the thread below. Likewise, if you've got any questions, post 'em here, and we'll do our best to answer them! GLHF!"
Here'swith a bugs & feedback thread for
Battlecast Alpha Skarner
1820 RP
Galetta with a Battlecast Alpha Skarner! Here'swith a bugs and feedback thread for "Specialization: Target Apprehension. The creator requires additional organic templates. Abduction protocol in effect. Isolate high-potential subjects. Battlecast Alpha Skarner has been activated on the PBE. This mechanical evolution includes:
All new model and texture with chainsaw claws!
All new VO with processing!
All new particles!
All new animations! This skin is Legendary and will be 1820rp. Your feedback and bug reports are extremely helpful to us, so please check out Battlecast Alpha Skarner and let us know what you think! Feel free to drop any bugs you find in this thread as well, and definitely give him a go on the Summoner’s Rift Update! See you on the Rift, contemptible biological units."
Safecracker Evelynn 750 RP
[ Not currently enabled for testing on the PBE!]
Pickpocket Twitch 750 RP
Galetta with a Safecracker Evelynn and Pickpocket Twitch: Here'swith a bugs and feedback thread forand "Sneaky, sneaky.... Buy a vision ward and keep your eyes peeled because Pickpocket Twitch and Safecracker Evelynn are infiltrating the PBE. These skins include:
All new model and texture! They are super sneaky cat burglars now!
Twitch has bullet SFX on his crit, auto attack, and ult! These skins will be 750rp, each. Your feedback and bug reports are extremely helpful to us, so please check out Pickpocket Twitch and Safecracker Evelynn and let us know what you think! Feel free to drop any bugs you find in this thread as well, and definitely give them a go on the Summoner’s Rift Update! See you on the Rift....or not...you might be hiding. >.> NOTE: (11/4) Safecracker Evelynn will not be available for testing today."
Captain Volibear 750 RP
[ Not currently enabled for testing on the PBE!]
Constable Trundle 750 RP
Riot KateyKhaos
"With loose cannons like Jinx wreaking havoc in Runeterra among others, it's hard for Officer Caitlyn to keep up! Good news for her, she's getting back up! Introducing Captain Volibear and Constable Trundle!
Captain Volibear and Constable Trundle will be 750 RP each and include:
All new model and texture! You can check out the boys in blue in game now on PBE! We always find bug reports and feedback super helpful, so feel free to comment in the thread below! Likewise, if you've got any questions, post 'em here, and we'll do our best to answer them!
GLHF!
NOTE: (11/4) Captain Volibear is not available to play today. Please hang tight!"
New Splash Art
New Ward Skin - Battlecast
Riot KateyKhaos
"With the addition of two new Battlecast skins, it's only fitting that there's a Battlecast Wardto celebrate!
The Battlecast Ward will be 640 RP and includes:
All new model and texture! (So shiny!)
(So shiny!) New animations !
! New particles ! Note: Exhaust fumes do not harm the inhabitants of Runeterra ...except maybe Teemo.
! Note: Exhaust fumes do not harm the inhabitants of Runeterra ...except maybe Teemo. New SFX! You can check it out the Battlecast Ward in game now on PBE! We always find bug reports and feedback super helpful, so feel free to comment in the thread below! Likewise, if you've got any questions, post 'em here, and we'll do our best to answer them!
GLHF!"
Ability Bar and Buff Update
Rayven
"Hello Summoners!
Active items (items that come bundled with an ability) are tremendously powerful... if you can remember to use them! To address this, we're making a few changes to the ability bar that will better group and prioritize information.
In particular, active item abilities are now displayed over your center ability bar! By placing them front and center, we hope to increase awareness and usage. Functionally, they will be ordered (and have the same hotkeys) as the slot they are assigned to in the item section.
To supplement this change, we're also shifting buffs around.
Left - Ambient Buffs. Buffs that do not contribute to moment-to-moment interactions are now located above your champion portrait. This includes auras, persistent states, and information that is already well-represented in game space. In addition, Buffs are left-justified, while Debuffs are right-justified.
Center - Ability Trackers. Buffs that are core to your gameplay loop remain above your ability bar. This includes things like spell countdowns (Annie's Pyromania) and spell timers (Annie's Summon: Tibbers).
We hope these changes will reinforce the ability bar as the tactical command center of game interaction. Try out the feature and let us know how you feel! As always, this is an iterative feature, which means we'll be making continued tweaks and improvements, even after we go live!"
More Texture Rebalances
Amumu
Emumu
Little Knight Amumu
Vancouver Amumu
Pharaoh Amumu
Almost Prom King Amumu
Re-gifted Amumu
Caitlyn
Officer Caitlyn
Arctic Warfare Caitlyn
Resistance Caitlyn
Safari Caitlyn
Sheriff Caitlyn
Ezreal
Explorer Ezreal
Frosted Ezreal
Nottingham Ezreal
Striker Ezreal
Fizz
Tundra Fizz
Atlantean Fizz
Void Fizz
Fisherman Fizz
Gragas
Gragas Esq.
Hillbilly Gragas
Santa Gragas
Scuba Gragas
Kog'Maw
Monarch Kog
Caterpillar Kog
Deep Sea Kog
Jurassic Kog
Reindeer Kog
Mordekaiser
Dragon Knight Mordekaiser
Talon
Dragonblade Talon
Renegade Talon
Udyr
Black Belt Udyr
Primal Udyr
Urgot
Battlecast Urgot
Butcher Urgot
Giant Enemy Crabgot
Vladimir
Blood Lord Vlad
Marquis Vlad
Count Vlad
Nosferatu Vlad
Vandal Vlad
Zilean
Groovy Zilean
Old Saint Zilean
Shurima Desert Zilean
Time Machine Zilean
Other
Preseason 2015
Balance Changes * Remember *: The PBE is a testing grounds for new, tentative, and sometimes radical changes. The changes you see below may be lacking context or other accompanying changes that didn't make it in - don't freak out! These are not official notes.
* Remember *: The PBE is a testing grounds for new, tentative, and sometimes radical changes. The changes you see below may be lacking context or other accompanying changes that didn't make it in - don't freak out! These areofficial notes.
Champions [[All Champions]]
As a part of the preseason 2015 changes, all champions have received significant tweaks to their base stats
Azir
Conquering Sands (Q) Sand Soldier damage increased to 75/105/135/165/195 from 60/90/120/150/180
Sand Soldier damage increased to 75/105/135/165/195 from 60/90/120/150/180 Arise (W) AP ratios decreased to .6 from .7
AP ratios decreased to .6 from .7 Shifting Sands (E) shield value increased to 80/120/160/200/240 from 60/100/140/180/220
Cassiopeia
Aspect of the Serpent (Passive) no longer stacks on poisoned unit kill or Twin Fang casts on enemy champions.
no longer stacks on poisoned unit kill or Twin Fang casts on enemy champions. Aspect of the Serpent (Passive) now stacks once every 6 seconds AND every second that an enemy champion is poisoned. [The total # of stacks for each tier has been adjusted to keep them at the approx. same game time according to Stashu ] Noxious Blast (Q) mana cost increased to 45/50/55/60/65 from 40/45/50/55/60
mana cost increased to 45/50/55/60/65 from 40/45/50/55/60 Noxious Blast (Q) damage lowered to 65/105/145/185/225 from 75/115/155/195/235
damage lowered to 65/105/145/185/225 from 75/115/155/195/235 Twin Fang (E) No longer restores mana on kill
No longer restores mana on kill Twin Fang (E) mana cost lowered to 30/35/40/45/50 from 30/45/60/75/90
mana cost lowered to 30/35/40/45/50 from 30/45/60/75/90 Twin Fang (E) now increases poison damage dealth to target by 25% for 5 seconds, can stack up to two times. [Context: See this post by Riot Stashu for more information and context!]
Maokai
Vengeful Maelstrom (R) [seems to be functionality change - now SHIELDS based on stored energy instead of dealing magic damage. Also grants % haste if the maximum bonus is reached] [Context: Seems to be tooltip only and unintentional. ]
Unspeakable Horror (E) has a new passive : "Nocturne gains massively increased movement speed toward feared enemies."
Consume (Q) [tooltip updated to better reflect what he is eating for each buff.]
Quinn
Attack range increased to 550 from 525
Base movement speed lowered to 330 from 335 [Context: We've seen these changes go on and off the PBE with preseason.]
Soraka
Starcall (Q) now has a "fixed travel time cast paradigm"
now has a "fixed travel time cast paradigm" Astral Infusion (W) range increased by 100, to 550 from 450. [Context: See Vesh's PBE thread for more info!]
Today's update is HUGE, don't get lost!Following her champion reveal earlier today is now up for PBE testing!(These may seem a little weird due to the preseason stat changes for all champions)(Kalista's Unique Item that she starts with)(Passive)(Q)(W)(E)(R)As you may have heard, her voiceover includes: unique lines when starting a game on the different maps, special interactions when taunting, and, numerous unique lines when purchasing items, and more!and here isshort in-client lore entry:Last but not least we haverelease skin!Here'swith a bugs and feedback thread forToday's update also features a total of SIX new skins, although only four are up for testing!Here'swith a bugs & feedback thread forandAs previewed in the 4.19 patch notes 's splash art has been added to the PBE!In addition toand, we also have a newHere'swith a bugs & feedback thread forHere'swith information on ability bar and buff changes they are testing out:Here's an example where you can see buffs on the left side and item short cuts near the middle.Today's PBE update also includes OVER 50 texture rebalances! Texture balances are aimed at aligning older champions and skins with the current art style of the updated Summoner's Rift. They are NOT replacing visual updates or model/texture updates!Today's texture rebalances include:andThe new Victory and Defeat screens first introduced (but not hooked up) last PBE cycle are now enabled!lore has been reverted back to the long form version instead of the short form version seen in the last PBE cycle.There are new IP and EXP boost icons!Preseason is to be back and ready for more testing, including all the jungle, objective, and item changes we saw during the last PBE cycle!There are new, uniquely colored sparkles for each camp's smite reward.Dragon's buff is also slightly different. |
WEB giants and phone operators will be forced to allow spooks a “back door” into their products, protesters claim.
Privacy campaigners said last night that leaked documents prove the Government is seeking surveillance powers enabling spies to “listen” to 6,500 people at any one time.
Getty Images 2 The UK Government has reportedly discussed a deal with O2, Vodafone and Virgin to spy on your internet and phone
The Independent reports Open Rights Group leaked the doc which shows plans to force operators to provide customer’s communications.
They say this would essentially ban encryption – used by WhatsApp and banks.
Messaging app WhatsApp repeatedly refused MI5 pleas to decode encrypted messages linked to terror investigations, Whitehall sources said in March.
MOST READ IN NEWS Exclusive DARK PAST Homeless man doused in water by rail staff KILLED man who splashed him with paint MOMO NO-NO Momo Challenge in 'Peppa Pig and Fortnite vids' as YouTube and Instagram slammed MOMO SHOCK Creepy 'suicide character' Momo told lad, 8, to 'stab himself in neck' SUICIDE WARNING What is Momo and how can parents protect their children? TREE OF TERROR Mum horrified to learn what the strange 'pods' were hanging from branches say no no to momo Expert advice on how to keep children safe from online suicide game Momo
Fanatic Khalid Masood used it before his Westminster attack — but cops were not able to access it.
Home secretary Amber Rudd said it was “completely unacceptable” terrorists used encrypted messages to thwart security services.
The Register reports that the draft states communication companies must "provide and maintain the capability to disclose, where practicable, the content of communications or secondary data in an intelligible form and to remove electronic protection applied by or on behalf of the telecommunications operator to the communications or data”.
But the Home Office said there was "nothing new in this consultation".
They say: "These regulations do not create any new powers on encryption. They relate to technical details of powers that are set out in the Investigatory Powers Act, which was approved by Parliament in November 2016."
Rex Features 2 The Home Secretary Amber Rudd wants social media giants to do more to tackle extremist materials
It is understood secretaries of state and a judge will have to authorise the surveillance.
The proposals will also need to be approved by both Houses of Parliament before becoming law.
The paper has reportedly passed through the UK's Technical Advisory Board.
This means that O2, BT, BSkyB, Cable and Wireless, Vodafone and Virgin Media have all seen its contents.
Open Rights executive director Jim Killock said: “These powers could be directed at companies such as WhatsApp to limit their encryption.
“The public has a right to know about government powers that could put their privacy and security at risk.”
He added: “Selective, secretive consultations have no place in open government.”
Liberal Democrat President Sal Brinton told The Register: “The security services need to be able to keep people safe. But these disproportionate powers are straight out of an Orwellian nightmare and have no place in a democratic society."
A BT spokesperson said: “BT has received a copy of draft Regulations, to be made under the Investigatory Powers Act 2016, in relation to technical capability notices. Any further enquiries should be directed to the Home Office”
A Vodafone spokesperson said: “It is for government to decide what information the authorities need access to in order to investigate crime and terrorism.
"Vodafone does not allow access to any customer data by authorities unless we are legally obliged to do so and we insist that that all agencies and authorities comply with legal due process. Our privacy principles and law enforcement practices are clearly outlined in our Law Enforcement Disclosure Report.”
Sun Online has contacted O2, BSkyB, Cable&Wireless and Virgin Media for comment.
We pay for your stories! Do you have a story for The Sun Online news team? Email us at tips@the-sun.co.uk or call 0207 782 4368 |
MR. OBAMA: Right, because of the sequester.
NYT: -- that you and Congress agreed to -- right -- and some of the laws -- the payroll tax cut, and the increase in upper-end taxes to some extent -- but all of those things are by any economist’s measure a drag on the economy. There’s not a day goes by I don’t get some analyst saying that -- and that the Fed is pursuing expansionary policies to offset that. How can you -- how are you going to -- what exactly can you do between now and the end of the year to overcome the Republicans’ opposition and change that, to end sequester?
MR. OBAMA: Well, let me back up, Jackie. First of all, as the economy got stronger during the course of my presidency, I had always committed to a responsible reduction in the deficit. I think that was the smart thing to do, the right thing to do, and good for our growth. And if we’re growing faster, if businesses and the markets have more confidence, then ultimately that benefits middle-class families as well. So I make no apologies for putting forward budgets consistently that, as I had promised, would gradually reduce the deficit.
Now, the sequester I did not want to be in place. When you say I agreed to it, what happened, as you will recall, in 2011 is, is that we had the prospect of either default or a willingness on the part of Republicans and Democrats to spend a year and a half trying to come up with a sensible way to reduce the deficit. The sequester was supposed to be something that was so damaging to the economy that both parties would want to avoid it. The fact that Republicans embraced the sequester as what they consider a win during the course of this year, despite all the damage that they said they wanted to avoid, for example, to our military, is different from me agreeing to the sequester. All right? So that’s point number one.
Point number two, every economist will tell you that if we are being smart about growth and we’re thinking about jobs and we’re thinking about the middle class, but we’re also thinking about fiscal responsibility, then what we should be doing is making sure that the drop-off in government spending on vital things like education and infrastructure don’t go down too fast, and that rather we look at what the real problem is, which is long-term health care costs.
Because of the Affordable Care Act and a lot of changes that are taking place out there among providers, we’re starting to see health care costs slow. That’s a positive. If we can build on that, then we can capture the same amount of savings that we’re capturing through the sequester and use those to make sure that we’re not cutting vital investments that I talked about today, and we can help middle-class families.
Now, I think there are probably going to be 15 different ways for you guys to ask me the same question, which is, “But there’s Congress.” (Laughter.) More specifically, “There’s the House Republicans, and what are you going to do about that?”
NYT: Who are still embracing sequestration and who are still willing to use the debt limit to go to the mat. |
Jest is running thousands of tests at Facebook at all times, either through continuous integration or invoked by engineers manually during development. This worked well for years even as the people working on Jest moved on to other projects within Facebook.
As engineers added more and more tests though, we noticed the performance of Jest wasn't going to scale. Additionally, in the last year the JavaScript ecosystem has changed dramatically with the introduction of things like npm3 and Babel, which we hadn't anticipated. We formed a new Jest team to address all of these issues and we'll be sharing our progress and plans on this blog from now on.
Jest is a bit different from most test runners. We designed it to work well in the context of Facebook's infrastructure:
Monorepo At Facebook we have a huge monorepo that contains all of our JavaScript code. There are many reasons why this approach is advantageous for us and there is an awesome talk by a Google engineer that highlights all the benefits and drawbacks of monorepos.
At Facebook we have a huge monorepo that contains all of our JavaScript code. There are many reasons why this approach is advantageous for us and there is an awesome talk by a Google engineer that highlights all the benefits and drawbacks of monorepos. Sandboxing Another feature of Jest that's important to Facebook is how it virtualizes the test environment and wraps require in order to sandbox code execution and isolate individual tests. We're even working on making Jest more modular so we can take advantage of this functionality in other non-testing related use cases.
Another feature of Jest that's important to Facebook is how it virtualizes the test environment and wraps in order to sandbox code execution and isolate individual tests. We're even working on making Jest more modular so we can take advantage of this functionality in other non-testing related use cases. providesModule If you've looked at any of our open source JavaScript projects before, you may have noticed that we use a @providesModule header to assign globally unique IDs to modules. This does require some custom tooling, but it allows us to reference modules without relative paths which has helped us move incredibly fast, has scaled well as our engineering organization has grown, and has fostered code sharing across the entire company. Check out RelayContainer for an example of how this works in practice. One downside to this approach, though, is that we're forced to read and parse our entire JavaScript codebase in order to resolve a single require statement. This would obviously be prohibitively expensive without extensive caching, especially for a short-lived process like Jest.
As a result of these unique constraints, Jest may never be able to be as fast as other test runners when running on our entire suite of tests. However, engineers rarely need to run Jest on our entire test suite. Powered by static analysis in the node-haste project – we've been able to make the default mode for running Jest at Facebook jest --onlyChanged , or jest -o . In this mode we build a reverse dependency graph to find only the affected tests that need to be run based on the modules that have been changed.
Optimal Scheduling of a Test Run
Most of the time our static analysis determines that more than one test needs to be run. The number of affected tests can be anywhere from a couple of tests to thousands. In order to speed this process up Jest parallelizes test runs across workers. This is great because most of Facebook's development happens on remote servers with many CPU cores.
Recently we noticed Jest often seemed stuck “Waiting for 3 tests” for up to a minute toward the end of a run. It turned out we had a few really slow tests in our codebase that were dominating the test runtime. While we were able to speed these individual tests up significantly, we also made a change in how Jest schedules test runs. Previously we used to schedule test runs based on file system traversal, which was actually quite random. Here is an example of 11 tests in gray blocks over two workers. The size of the block is the runtime of the test:
We were randomly running a mix of fast and slow tests, and one of our slowest tests ended up running as almost all the other tests were completed, during which the second worker sat idle.
We made a change to schedule tests based on their file size which is usually a good proxy for how long a test is going to take. A test with a few thousand lines of code likely takes longer than a test with 15 lines of code. While this sped up the entire test run by about 10%, we ended up finding a better heuristic: now Jest stores the runtime of each test in a cache and on subsequent runs, it schedules the slowest tests to run first. Overall this helped improve the runtime of all tests by about 20%.
Here is an example of the same test run from before with better scheduling:
Because we are running slow tests first, Jest can sometimes seem to take a long time to start up – we only print results after the first test has completed. For the future we are planning to run previously failed tests first, because getting that info to developers as quickly as possible matters the most.
Inline Requires and Lazy Mocking
If you have written tests using Jasmine before, they probably look like this:
const sum = require ( 'sum' ); describe( 'sum' , () => { it( 'works' , () => { expect(sum( 5 , 4 )).toEqual( 9 ); }); });
One special thing we do in Jest is reset the entire module registry after every single test (call to it ) to make sure tests don't depend on each other. Before Jest, individual tests would depend on each other and internal module state often leaked between them. As engineers removed, reordered or refactored tests, some of them started to fail, making it hard for people to understand what was going on.
Every single test in Jest receives a fresh new copy of all modules, including new versions of all mocked dependencies which take a lot of time to generate for each test. A side effect of this is that we had to call require manually before every test, like this:
let sum; describe( 'sum' , () => { beforeEach( () => { sum = require ( 'sum' ); }); it( 'works' , () => { expect(sum( 5 , 4 )).toEqual( 9 ); }); it( 'works too' , () => { expect(sum( 2 , 3 )).toEqual( 5 ); }); });
We built a babel transform called inline-requires that removes top-level require statements and inlines them in code. For example, the line const sum = require('sum'); will be removed from code, but every use of sum in the file will be replaced by require('sum') . With this transform we can write tests just like you'd expect in Jasmine and the code gets transformed into this:
describe( 'sum' , () => { it( 'works' , () => { expect( require ( 'sum' )( 5 , 4 )).toEqual( 9 ); }); });
A great side-effect of inline requires is that we only require the modules that we actually use within the test itself, instead of all the modules we used in the entire file.
Which leads to another optimization: lazy mocking. The idea is to only mock modules on demand, which combined with inline requires saves us from mocking a lot of modules and all their recursive dependencies.
We were able to update all tests using a codemod in no time – it was a simple 50,000 line code change. Inline requires and lazy mocking improved the test runtime by 50%.
The inline-require babel plugin is not only useful for Jest but for normal JavaScript as well. It was shipped by Bhuwan to all users of facebook.com just a week ago and significantly improved startup time.
For now, if you'd like to use this transform in Jest you'll have to add it manually to your Babel configuration. We are working on ways to make this easier to opt-in.
Repo-Sync and Caching
The open source version of Jest used to be a fork of our internal version, and we'd sync Jest out only once every couple of months. This was a painful manual process that required fixing up many tests every time. We recently upgraded Jest and brought parity to all platforms (iOS, Android and web) and then enabled our sync process. Now, every change to Jest in open source is run against all of our internal tests, and there's only a single version of Jest that's consistent everywhere.
The first feature we got to take advantage of after unforking was the preprocessor cache. If you are using Babel together with Jest, Jest has to pre-process every JavaScript file before it can execute it. We built a caching layer so that each file, when unchanged, only has to be transformed a single time. After we unforked Jest, we were able to easily fix up the open source implementation and shipped it at Facebook. This resulted in another 50% performance win. Because the cache only works on the second-run, the cold start time of Jest was unaffected.
We also realized we were doing a lot of path operations when resolving relative requires. Because the module registry is reset for every test, there were thousands of calls that could be memoized. One big optimization was to add a lot more caching, not just around a single test, but also across test files. Previously, we would generate module metadata for the automocking feature once for every test file. The object a module exports never changes however, so we now share this code across test files. Unfortunately, because JavaScript and Node.js don't have shared memory, we have to do all of this work at least once per worker process.
Question Everything
When trying to improve performance, it's important to also dive into the systems that sit above and below your system. In the case of Jest, things like Node.js and the test files themselves, for example. One of the first things we did was to update Node.js at Facebook from the years-old 0.10 to iojs and subsequently to Node 4. The new version of V8 helped improve performance and was quite easy to upgrade to.
We noticed that the path module in Node.js is slow when making thousands of path operations which was fixed in Node 5.7. Until we drop support for Node 4 internally at Facebook, we'll ship our own version of the fastpath module.
We next started questioning the outdated node-haste. As mentioned before, the entire project has to be parsed for @providesModule headers to build a dependency graph. When this system was originally built, node_modules didn't exist and our file system crawler wasn't excluding them properly.
In previous versions, Jest would actually read every file in node_modules – which contributed to the slow startup time of Jest. When we picked up Jest again we replaced the entire project with a new implementation, based on react-native's packager. The startup time of Jest is now less than a second even on large projects. The react-native team, specifically David, Amjad and Martin did an outstanding job on this project.
Adding everything up
A lot of the above changes improved the test runtime by 10% or sometimes even 50%. We started at a runtime of about 10 minutes for all tests, and without these improvements we'd probably be at around 20 minutes by now. After these improvements, though, it now consistently takes around 1 minute and 35 seconds to run all our tests!
More importantly, adding new tests causes total runtime to grow very slowly. Engineers can write and run more tests without feeling the costs.
With Jest's recent 0.9 release and performance improvements from the node-haste2 integration, the runtime of the Relay framework's test suite went down from 60 seconds to about 25 and the react-native test suite now finishes in less than ten seconds on a 13” MacBook Pro.
We're very happy with the wins we've seen so far, and we're going to keep working on Jest and making it better. If you are curious about contributing to Jest, feel free get in touch on GitHub, Discord or Facebook :) |
Photos by Chase Castor
It was Thursday afternoon, and Kenny Yarnevich was running late for his shift at the St. John’s Catholic Club. The place was empty, though, save for the old man sitting at the bar, who looked as though he’d been clipped out of a 1938 issue of Life magazine. Everybody calls the man Jake, but his name is Charles — Charles Sutulovich. Why Jake?
“I got it in grade school,” Sutulovich said. “In the old days, almost everybody had the same name — Joseph or John or Mary or Ann. So you had to have a nickname, too. Back then, it was the Depression going on. There wasn’t hardly any food. But on your birthday, you’d get a treat to take to school. They asked me what kind of treat I wanted. I said cake. This guy says, ‘You always take the cake, Jake.’”
Sutulovich has been hanging around St. John’s — 708 North Fourth Street, top of Strawberry Hill, Kansas City, Kansas — his entire life. Ninety years. He attended the school, which closed in 2008, and the church, which still holds Sunday mass. St. John’s is the oldest Croatian church west of the Mississippi (built circa 1900), and its congregation of mostly second-generation Croats maintains close ties to the homeland. A few feet from Sutulovich, the latest copy of Zajedničar, a dual-language newspaper that calls itself “the official organ of the Croatian Fraternal Union of America,” rested on a counter. A flier on the wall announced the upcoming Croatian Day Picnic (Saturday, August 19). On the fridge was posted an advertisement for Karlovacko, a Croatian beer named after the city of Karlovac, home to the ancestors of many St. John’s parishioners.
Increasingly, though, St. John’s enjoys a reputation that transcends its function to Croats and Catholics. That’s because it’s home to a well-preserved, six-lane, score-your-own-games bowling alley. Several of the Catholic churches in Wyandotte County used to have them, but over time they withered away, along with their old-world congregations. All Saints Church, over off Eighth and Vermont — it used to be St. Joseph’s, a Polish church — never removed its alley, but it’s water-damaged and has been closed for years.
That leaves only the lanes at St. John’s, built in the 1940s and still using the Brunswick A-2 pinsetter system: no plastic, no computer, entirely mechanical. For a price (about $350 for four hours), you can rent out the club — and unlimited rolls — for your party.
“The rental thing was initiated by Rick Mikesic, the president of the club before me,” Yarnevich told me later. “But it started really taking off three, four years ago. I used to work in sales for The Kansas City Kansan, the newspaper. Well, it shut down in 2009, as you know. So I took over management here at the club. I went to kindy-garten here, and my great-grandfather helped build the church. Anyway, I used my sales experience to promote the place. Got some business cards printed up and started distributing them down at the River Quay.”
Nowadays, St. John’s Catholic Club is booking parties “at least 200 nights a year,” Yarnevich said — and that’s not including the bowling-league nights that meet three times a week between September and April. Earlier that day, Yarnevich had booked a fundraising party for Kansas House Rep. Tom Burroughs. David Alvey, who’s running for mayor in KCK, held his first campaign party at the club not long ago.
“We get all kinds,” Yarnevich said. “Corporate businesses. Restaurant staffs. Ordinary folks from around the neighborhood. Christmas parties. Our busy season is the holidays. But it’s a nice place to be on a hot day, too. We got the AC going. You don’t have to fight the bugs. Our beers are reasonable-priced — $2.75 domestic, $3 high-end. We provide free ice. You can bring in your own catering. We got a bartender on staff. You roll some games.”
Other than for parties, the club isn’t open to the public. That’s a luxury enjoyed only by Jake and a few other old-timers around St. John’s.
“Yeah, Jake,” Yarnevich said. “He’s kind of like our watchman around here. This is kind of his second home. Did he tell you about his routine?”
He did not. He’d wandered out without saying much. He’d seemed suspicious of the nonmember asking him questions.
“Well, he’s been coming in here pretty much every day since he retired from the Wyandotte County Courthouse, 20 years ago probably,” Yarnevich said. “No kids, never married. Never golfed, never hunted. This was always just kind of his place. He used to bowl, but he’s too old anymore. Then he used to keep score on the league nights, but his eyesight got too bad.”
Yarnevich went on: “Nowadays, he and a couple other old guys, they meet here around 5:30 in the morning and head over to Corner Café, in Riverside, to have breakfast. Then they come back here to the club and watch TV a couple hours. Then those guys take off and Jake sticks around and goes off to lunch somewhere, or he’ll do some work helping out the church. Later in the afternoon, this guy John, who lives across the street, he comes by, and he and Jake go to the Village Inn restaurant, over there in Mission. Then, just before rush hour, he gets in his car and drives home.”
A 40-person party would be arriving soon. Yarnevich walked toward the lanes to lay out bowling sheets attached to clipboards.
“The old people around here, they died off or they moved out of the neighborhood when the highway got built, or their kids moved out south or west, where the better schools are,” Yarnevich said. “But they still come back for funerals and weddings and church events, things like that. And now we got people who like the older thing we do here. They like coming to these old kinds of places. They like keeping their own score.” |
University of Chicago Law School Professor Laura Weinrib bemoaned recent decisions by the ACLU to defend free speech in a Wednesday op-ed for the LA Times.
Weinrib took to the pages of the Los Angeles Times to condemn the ACLU’s recent decisions to defend speech rights of white supremacists who rallied in Charlottesville on August 11 and 12. In the aftermath of the rally, the ACLU released a statement defending the rights of the marchers, clarifying only that the First Amendment “does not protect people who incite or engage in violence.”
Writing in her op-ed, Weinrib questions the assumptions commonly made about the ACLU’s history of defending the speech rights of extremists. She reminds readers that the ACLU primarily views free speech as a tool of social justice. That is, the First Amendment provides a means of expression for marginalized persons to liberate themselves through expression.
Commentators have rightly observed that the ACLU has defended far-right speech since its founding, despite fierce criticism. But there is a common and mistaken premise in this analysis. It assumes that the organization has always believed, as it does today, that “freedom of expression is an end in itself.” In reality, the early ACLU viewed free speech as a tool of social justice, suited to particular purposes under particular conditions.
Professor Weinrib argues that the ACLU’s defense of Nazi speech in the 1930s was a product of the historical moment.
Yet the ACLU’s defense of Nazi speech in the 1930s was never untethered from the exigencies of its historical moment. In the words of co-founder Roger Baldwin, it was “the only sound position to get the results you want—at least in this country and at this particular period.” The ACLU weighed the transformative power of workers’ strikes and protests against the possibility that America would succumb to fascism. The upsurge of progressivism that swept President Franklin D. Roosevelt into office made the former a reasonable bet.
Towards the end of her column, Weinrib bemoans the eager defenders of the First Amendment, cautioning them to consider the impact of the speech rights that were afforded to groups like the Nazis in 20th century Germany. |
E-mail: If you can't read the image above, the address is <1@2.3> , where the first two numbers represent ``dcljr'' and ``obkb'' and the last number represents ``com''. (I've presented it this way to try to foil spambots that harvest e-mail addresses from the web. Note that as of Mar 2004, I'm now getting over 270 messages a day that SpamAssassin is [apparently correctly] identifying as ``almost certainly spam'', so I've started just deleting such messages without looking at them. To maximize your chances of getting through, make your message plain-text only, include a meaningful subject line, and... uh... don't make it spam.) Snail mail: Please contact me by e-mail if you need my current snail-mail address. Geek code: (v 3.12) -----BEGIN GEEK CODE BLOCK-----
Version: 3.12
GM$ d s+:- a C+ U P+++ L E W++ N+ o? K- w !O !M- !V-- PS+ PE- Y+ PGP t(+) 5 X(++) R- tv@ b+>++ DI+ !D G e+++ h+ r-->++ y
------END GEEK CODE BLOCK------ (Last updated May 2002. See the English translation. Used to be a little more interesting when I was in grad school...) Nerdity Quotient: (v [5x3−3x]/2) 49.8% MBTI: INTP (See also Jung's personality theories, from which the MBTI was developed.) |
Shaken and Stirred is a carefully curated collection of nearly 200 easy, essential, delicious craft cocktails to make at home. Each recipe is accompanied by a tutorial video from Small Screen. Moreover, you can input your ingredient inventory and the app will show you which drinks you can make!
This is the ideal cocktail app for absolute beginners. However, it’s awfully handy for experienced drink-mixers, too: while our other acclaimed recipe apps delve deeply into particular mixological themes, this one places a cross-section of popular, simple, proven recipes close at hand for quick reference.
Important: all the recipes included in this app are available for free on the web. What this product offers is a native, interactive recipe database with search/filtration, built-in ingredient info, and an ingredient inventory feature that helps you identify the drinks you can make with the ingredients you have on hand. |
Law enforcement agents in Georgia arrested two members of the satirical parody hip-hop group “Birja Mafia” in the evening of June 8th, on charges of purchasing and possessing large amounts of the drug MDMA.
The relatives of the two arrested men, however, strongly deny the drug possession allegations. They believe the hip-hop artists were arrested because of a Birja Mafia music video which shows a policeman tied up with a leash. In the video, the policeman on the leash is now blurred over.
According to the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Georgia, police searched Mikheil “Mishka” Mgaloblishvili, also known by his stage name “Young Mic,” and found 1.4965 grams of MDMA on his person. Giorgi Keburia, also known as “Kay G,” was found with 2.3342 grams of MDMA.
The Ministry of Internal Affairs has opened an investigation under Article 260 of the Criminal Code, part 6, for the purchase and possession of large amounts of illegal drugs.
If convicted, Mgaloblishvili and Keburia could face an 8-20 year prison sentence, or even a life sentence.
The President’s Parliamentary Secretary, Ana Dolidze, announced that the presidential administration will examine the case.
“Due to our recent history, we need to look closely at the situation of any accused individual if such case involves the limitation of human rights, especially in regards to violence and crackdowns,” Dolidze said.
The Ministry of Internal Affairs reports that Giorgi Keburia has admitted to the charges.
Mikheil Mgaloblishvili’s trial was held at 16:00 at Tbilisi City Court today. Mgaloblishvili denied the charges against him and accused police of planting the drugs on him. He linked his detention to the Birja Mafia video where a policeman is seen on a leash and on all fours.
Mgaloblishvili told the court that when he was arrested, law enforcement agents told him that, "someone is annoyed and you will be punished for it. Anyone who represents police in such a manner will be punished." Mgaloblishvili says the law enforcement agents talked about his music video, confiscated his phone so that he could not contact anyone, and verbally and physically insulted him. Mgaloblishvili said he can identify the persons.
Mgaloblishvili also said he was pressured to take a drug test; that he was tested for various kinds of drugs, and that there were no signs of drugs in his blood.
Mgaloblishvili says he was made to sign a document pleading guilty, out of pressure and fear; he says he was promised to be released in three days in exchange for signing the document.
The defense requested a 50,000 dollar bail. Tbilisi City Court Judge Badri Shonia sentenced Mgaloblishvili to temporary detention as a ‘preventive measure,’ satisfying the solicitation of the Prosecutor's Office. According to the prosecution’s argument, "we have uncontrolled borders and he [Mgaloblishvili] can run away from the country.” The next trial is scheduled for June 27th.
Giorgi Keburia’s trial will be held separately, according to the MIA. |
HUNTSVILLE, Alabama - The City of Huntsville is temporarily suspending curbside garbage pickup because of the extreme cold.
City officials announced Monday afternoon that sub-freezing temperatures are causing equipment failures on garbage trucks, making it impossible for some crews to complete their routes. With arctic conditions expected to stick around for at least another 24 hours, the city has decided to cancel Tuesday trash pickup as well.
Here's the revised schedule for the rest of this week:
Monday trash pickup will be moved to Wednesday
Tuesday trash pickup will be moved to Thursday
Wednesday trash pickup will be moved to Friday
Thursday trash pickup will be moved to Saturday
Residents scheduled for Wednesday pickup should make sure their garbage can is not frozen shut before rolling it to the curb.
For more information, call the Huntsville Sanitation Department at 883-3965.
Madison County says its garbage collection schedule -- which covers the cities of Madison and Triana, in addition to unincorporated areas -- will not change because of the cold weather.
Updated at 3:01 p.m. with information from Madison County. |
FOXBOROUGH, Mass. -- New England Patriots tight end Aaron Hernandez left Sunday's 20-18 loss against the Arizona Cardinals with an ankle injury and did not return.
According to multiple reports, initial X-rays on the ankle did not reveal a broken bone.
Aaron Hernandez grabbed his ankle immediately after the injury and was seen on crutches after the game. AP Photo/Elise Amendola
Hernandez will have an MRI on his right ankle Monday, according to a league source. After the game, Hernandez left the stadium with the assistance of crutches, wearing a walking boot on his ankle. It is unclear how long the injury will keep him out.
Patriots coach Bill Belichick did not have an update on Hernandez's status immediately following the game.
Hernandez was tied up while blocking on a screen pass to receiver Julian Edelman early in the first quarter. The star tight end appeared to injure his right ankle when another player fell on him as he went to the ground.
The Patriots struggled offensively without Hernandez and did not reach the end zone until Tom Brady found Rob Gronkowski for a 5-yard touchdown with just more than two minutes remaining in the game.
"You can't go into the game just counting on one guy, any guy," Belichick said. "Everybody has to be ready to adjust. It's not the first time a player has been injured in a game."
The injury caused the Patriots to drastically alter their offensive personnel. After using two or more tight ends on all 67 offensive plays in Week 1 against the Tennessee Titans, New England used a pair of tight ends on just 20 of 77 offensive plays Sunday.
Since the start of the 2011 season, the Patriots used two tight ends or more on 80 percent of their offensive plays.
"He's part of the game plan the whole week, obviously," Gronkowski said. "He's a great player. You just gotta be prepared though -- any time, any situation for anything. We gotta be more prepared and be able to go out and do the offense." |
Twelve-year-old Maddy Paige has been kicked off her football team. The reason? Lust.
Paige has been asked by the heads of Strong Rock Christian, a K-12 private school in Locust Grove, Ga., to leave her football team as a preemptive measure against inciting lecherous and debauched temptations in other 12-year-olds.
This article from Maureen Downy of the Atlanta Journal Constitution was spotted by Rick Chandler of SportsGrid, and it only gets more interesting as the reasoning behind the decision unfurls.
Paige was an active player on Strong Rock’s sixth grade football team. As far as sixth-graders go, she was a productive member of her team. Her stats weren’t exactly gaudy (a handful of sacks in a season), but hey, she held down her role at defensive end. That is, until the school stepped in after the end of last season.
Different school figures have explained their decision to ban Paige from the team in different ways. The school’s athletic director, Phil Roberts, said the decision was based on official middle school policy, according to Devin Fehely of WXIA-TV Atlanta.
"Our official policy is that middle school girls play girl sports and middle school boys play boy sports," Roberts wrote in an email to the news station.
Paige’s mother, Cassy Blythe, told the station that Roberts’ explanation rings hollow compared to other reasons she was given in private conversation with school administrators.
"In the meeting with the CEO of the school, I was told that the reasons behind it were... that the boys were going to start lusting after her, and have impure thoughts about her," she said. "And that locker room talk was not appropriate for a female to hear, even though she had a separate locker room from the boys."
"It’s like taking my dream and throwing it in the trash," Maddy said about the school’s decision.
So, they’re not getting dressed together or showering together, but it’s still inappropriate?
I’m no philosopher, but when you ban preteen girls from being around boys while wearing shoulder pads, “inciting lust” sounds like a flimsy reason. After all, the rest of the girls on school grounds are wearing skirts and polos and aren’t covered in reeking hand-me-down padding.
If you think that's messed up, you're not alone. Paige's family started "Let Her Play"—a Facebook community aimed at getting her reinstated on the team and raising awareness of her situation. As of this writing, the page has well over 20,000 likes.
In summary, the school administrators asked for this. They let Paige play the first season and then banned her the next. You shouldn't do that to a little girl. Heck, you shouldn't do that to anyone.
On top of it all, they opened a whole can of tuna with their separate-but-equal middle school policy, and it’s beginning to look like they won’t be able to screw a lid on it.
Printing #FreeMaddy shirts as we speak.
Follow @Dr__Carson |
Former Vice President Dick Cheney said on Sunday, that he had no regrets about the course of actions he and the Bush administration pursued when it came to interrogating suspected terrorists or, more broadly, waging the war on terror.
"No regrets," Cheney declared during an appearance on CBS' "Face the Nation." "I think it was absolutely the right thing to do. I am convinced, absolutely convinced, that we saved thousands, perhaps hundreds of thousands of lives."
Watch:
<0--1002--hh>0--1002--hh>
The interview was another in a wave of post-White House remarks from the controversial former vice president. On Sunday, Cheney insisted that he was speaking out because "the issues are so important." President Obama, he added, had "moved to take down a lot of those policies we put in place to keep the nation safe for eight years."
His public appearances have not been without controversy. Cheney has often taken the hardest of partisan lines against the current president and voiced the loudest public defenses of harsh interrogation techniques. Sunday was much of the same, with the former VP insisting the Bush administration had tried less controversial interrogation approaches to limited effect.
"Remember what happened here," he said. "We had captured these people. We had pursued interrogation in a normal way. We decided that we needed some enhanced techniques. So we went to the Justice Department and the controversy has arisen over the opinions written by the Justice Department. The reason we went to the Justice Department wasn't because we felt we were going to take some kind of freehand assault on these people, that we were in the torture business. We weren't. ... if we had been about torture we wouldn't have wasted our time going to the Justice Department."
Perhaps the most remarkable moment of the interview, however, came when Cheney was asked if President Bush himself had signed off on the interrogation program. His response left the impression that Bush was brought into the loop only as a legal or political formality.
"I certainly have every reason to believe that he knew a great deal about the program," he said. "He basically authorized it. I mean, this was a presidential level decision. And the decision went to the president. He signed off on it." |
This weekend, the entire dance scene had its eyes and ears focused on Miami. Next to the DJ’s and clubbers enjoying the stunning shores and sandy white beaches, Miami also offered one of the absolute highlights in the career of Armin van Buuren. At the Ultra Music Festival, he had his very own A State of Trance 550 stage and celebration. And what a celebration it was!
12 hours of the best trance, progressive and dance were served for ten-thousands of EDM lovers, who partied tirelessly. With an incredible light show, the sun shining bright and nothing but smiles, ASOT550 in Miami is an event we will never forget. Enjoy the party report of this magical night!
Timetable ASOT550 Miami (EDT time)
11:00 Armin’s warm-up hour
12:00 Eco
13:00 Marcus Schössow
14:00 Jochen Miller
15:00 Tritonal
16:00 Cosmic Gate
17:00 Sander van Doorn
18:00 Dash Berlin
19:00 Ferry Corsten
20:00 Armin van Buuren
21:00 Gareth Emery
22:00 ATB |
FORMER Home Secretary Leon Brittan resisted calls to ban a notorious paedophile ring despite warnings some members were “obsessed by the death of children”.
Lord Brittan, who died in January, was urged by campaigning MP Geoffrey Dickens to protect kids from “evil people” in the Paedophile Information Exchange (PIE). But documents seen by the Daily Star Sunday reveal former Tory MP Lord Brittan dismissed the idea of banning the group. His comments were made during a meeting with Mr Dickens in November 1983. A separate letter from Mr Dickens to Lord Brittan shines more light on what top government offi cials knew about PIE’s sick activities. The then Attorney General reportedly admitted some members were interested in murdering children through “sexual torture”. Campaigners expressed shock at the documents, released under Freedom of Information laws. Labour MP Simon Danczuk, who led calls for an inquiry into historic abuse, said: “People will be left wondering why a Home Secretary would not want to ban an organisation clearly aimed at sexually abusing children.”
“Public opinion requires action on this subject to protect the little children of this country from these evil people” Tory MP Mr Dickens Lord Brittan died before he could be questioned about a missing dossier on high-profile paedophiles given to him by Tory MP Mr Dickens in 1984. In a letter dated August 17, 1983, Mr Dickens detailed the scale of PIE’s atrocities. He wrote: “Public opinion requires action on this subject to protect the little children of this country from these evil people. “Sir Michael Havers, the Attorney General, in a written reply to a Parliamentary Question from me, conceded that within the PIE organisation were people obsessed by the death of children through sexual torture. It is no longer good enough to say that the law is adequate to protect children – it is not!” The pair then met on November 23, with Mr Dickens again raising the subject of banning PIE. A note of the meeting said Lord Brittan thought “if members of the organisation were doing a mischief, it was the mischief which ought to be banned, not the organisation”. |
Turkey and US to create a high-level committee to increase trade and investment
WASHINGTON
President Barack Obama leans out from under an umbrella to check if it's still raining, during a joint news conference with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, May 16, in the Rose Garden of the White House in Washington. AP photo
Turkey and the United States will create a high-level committee that will focus on increasing trade and investment between the two countries, U.S. President Barack Obama announced during his joint press conference with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in Washington May 16. Alongside the Syria conflict and strategic issues such as Middle East peace, the economic partnership was also at the top of the agenda for Erdoğan's visit."Over the past four years, our trade has surged and U.S. exports to Turkey have more than doubled. As the United States pursues a new trade and investment partnership with the EU, I want to make sure that we also keep deepening our economic ties with Turkey," Obama said, praising the development of the Turkish economy in recent years."The prime minister deserves much credit for some of the reforms that are already taking place," he said.Erdoğan said there was a need to strengthen the economic relationship with free trade agreements and to increase the amount of trade. "Bilateral economic relations between Turkey and the United States have to be improved, and we both have this aim. Ten years ago, our trade stood at $8 billion; at the moment, trade stands at $20 billion. But this amount is still not sufficient," Erdoğan said.Close to 90 businesspeople are acommpanying Erdoğan during his US trip that includes a visit to the Silicon Valley in California. |
RALEIGH, NC - Ron Francis, Executive Vice President and General Manager of the National Hockey League's Carolina Hurricanes, today announced that the team has acquired forward Connor Brickley from the Florida Panthers in exchange for forward Brody Sutter. Brickley will report to the Hurricanes' American Hockey League (AHL) affiliate Charlotte Checkers' training camp.
"Connor saw his first NHL action last season after scoring 22 goals in the AHL the season before," said Francis. "We look forward to seeing his continued development as his career progresses."
Brickley, 24, made his NHL debut on Oct. 10, 2015, as part of the Panthers' opening-night roster. He played in 23 games with Florida in 2015-16, scoring one goal, earning four assists (five points) and averaging 8:43 of ice time per game. The Everett, MA, native also skated in 45 games with the Panthers' AHL affiliate Portland Pirates in 2015-16, notching 12 goals and earning 15 assists (27 points).
Brickley (6'0", 203 lbs.) has scored 35 goals and earned 41 assists (76 points) in 126 career AHL regular-season games with Florida's AHL affiliates in San Antonio and Portland. He made his professional debut at the end of the 2013-14 season, and notched 22 goals and earned 25 assists (47 points) in 73 games with San Antonio in 2014-15, his first full professional season. Prior to turning pro, Brickley played four seasons of collegiate hockey at the University of Vermont. He represented the United States at the 2010 World Under-18 Championship, as well as the 2012 World Junior Championship. The Panthers drafted Brickley in the second round, 50th overall, of the 2010 NHL Entry Draft. |
While sharing quinoa with your girlfriends outside on the porch, watching your kids paddle in the pool outside, you've probably berated supermarkets for never stocking water that's suitable for you. I mean, Evian. What's with that stuff?
Don't fret though, you can finally stop worrying as Nestlé is releasing a new brand of water, Resource, especially for you. Larry Cooper, the brand's marketing manager said that the water is for "a woman who is a little more on the trendy side and higher-income side, and the bull's-eye is 35 years old." Cheers all around, as you no longer have to buy the same water that men drink. Your water will taste better, and Cooper hopes that you'll start thinking of it as a "bottled water accessory". So next time you go out, leave your Abercrombie & Fitch jumper at home and buy a Resource instead.
Not sold yet? Here's their advert. |
On Wednesday night, Birmingham emergency responders and hazardous material teams responded to a chemical spill from an 18-wheeler on Interstate 59/20 at the Arkadelphia Road exit.
I-59/20 reopening after massive chemical spill Birmingham Fire and Rescue Battalion Chief C.W. Mardis said there is no further threat to the public.
There are conflicting stories of what caused the chemical spill. Birmingham police spokesman Lt. Sean Edwards said two 18-wheelers were traveling northbound when one of them hit the other and kept driving away from the scene. The trailer that was hit was carrying several hazardous chemicals that were knocked loose in the wreck.
Birmingham Fire and Rescue Battalion Chief C.W. Mardis later said there was only one truck involved and that the driver might have hit something that knocked the chemicals loose. He said the driver, who was uninjured, noticed the smell and discovered a container was leaking.
Edwards said sulfuric acid, hydrogen peroxide and sodium hydroxide were inside the truck, making the spill a public safety hazard. Officials learned that toluene was also among the chemicals. Hazmat teams were called in to contain the spill. The Jefferson County Emergency Management Agency and state authorities also responded.
The truck caught fire sometime after the crash. It burned for more than an hour before Birmingham fire crews got it out. They do not yet know what ignited the fire.
Traffic was backed up on I-59/20 after an 18-wheeler wrecked near the Arkadelphia Road exit on Dec. 9, 2015. Hazardous chemicals were spilled in the wreck. (Jonathan Grass/jgrass@al.com)
The fire had to be contained before hazmat operations could resume.
The area was evacuated for about a half-mile radius around the scene. People were asked to avoid the areas or stay inside.
Edwards said nearby citizens were asked to go to Boutwell Memorial Auditorium.
Authorities believe the cleanup could take several hours.
Officials warn that all of the chemicals involved are dangerous to breathe. Mardis said the chemicals can dissipate in the air but the concentrated levels in the area can create a public safety issue.
I-59/20 is still closed off in both directions, which caused heavy traffic congestion Wednesday night. Northbound traffic is being diverted away to the Arkadelphia Road exit. Southbound traffic is being diverted to Interstate 65.
Fire officials said the cleanup should be completed overnight. I-59/20 should be reopened by Thursday morning.
Birmingham-Southern College reports the campus was not affected. |
CORRUPTION and poor leadership are crippling development in sub-Saharan Africa with the education sector not being spared by the scourge, a study conducted by Afya Bora has revealed.
BY TALENT GUMPO IN VICTORIA FALLS
Speaking at the Southern African-Nordic Centre (Sanord) conference in Victoria Falls, University of Botswana professor and Afya Bora Consortium co-director, Yohana Mashalla said on Friday said there is need for graduates to be equipped with leadership etiquette in universities, to curb corruption in industry.
“We produce graduates, who are very good in their professional capacity, but have the poorest leadership skills, which make them irresponsible and corrupt,” he said.
Mashalla said health systems harbour the most corrupt individuals compared to other sectors, so there is need for tertiary curriculums include leadership modules.
“Our curricular are too tight such that we leave out modules on leadership. There is need for adjustments to be made to include modules on the key aspects of good leadership,” he said.
“If one lacks good leadership skills, they become irresponsible and it leads to a rise to corruption because if you are not responsible you are not accountable for your actions and it ends up being a daily routine which has negative impacts on our communities.”
Mashalla urged higher learning institutions to adopt some content from Afya Bora, as they redesign modules to include leadership in their curriculum.
Afya Bora is a non-governmental organisation headquartered in Tanzania, which addresses problems in the health sector and believes that if communities are in better health, they will be productive and contribute effectively to development. |
Netflix certainly took its own sweet time to announce the second season of their smash hit Stranger Things. They have officially announced next year’s sequel so let the speculation begin.
Warning: If you’ve been residing with Patrick Star and haven’t watched Stranger Things, we can’t be friends. Oh, and there are SPOILERS somewhere below.
Here’s what we know so far…
We have nine episode titles and three new characters; that’s basically it. To check out all the episode titles watch the Season 2 promo below:
[iframe id=”https://www.youtube.com/embed/aXWG_kKDZlY”]
The three new characters — Max, Billy, and Roman — seem to fit the three main plotlines that overarched the first season. There’s Max, the skater girl, who can easily fit in with our kids. Her older brother, Billy, can join Nancy and Jonathan’s exploits. Joyce and Hopper could use some help in the form of 30-something year old Roman.
The Duffer Brothers also gave some vague information about the following season, which inspired a lot of the predictions I have come up with below. Also, test your ’80s knowledge, and guess (don’t Google) where the quotes come from.
“We’re all pretty bizarre. Some of us are just better at hiding it, that’s all.”
I think it’s safe to assume we haven’t seen the last of Eleven after her Jean Grey-like sacrifice. Aside from the “Leggo my Eggo” reference we’re all expecting, there is so much more we want to see of El (Elle?). The Uncanny X-Men #134 reference in the first episode segued to a lot of Phoenix parallels. Imagine seeing Eleven in Season 2 going the Dark Phoenix route.
Alongside El, Will was the other character that interacted with the Upside Down extensively. I will get to his coughing later, but what if his time there had an additional effect on him? Could it be Will might get telekinetic powers like El? This might be answered in the episode The Boy Who Came Back to Life. The title is shared with the newspaper clipping shown a month later. If you think about it, he managed to communicate through electricity from another dimension. He also created a window (not a full portal) into the wall of his own house. If Eleven does go the Dark Phoenix way, Will could counteract that. He did defeat the Thessalhydra in the final D&D match, after all.
“But love don’t make things nice. It ruins everything.”
I’m not one to push for the sappy, but we need to talk about this. During the first season, the main romantic tension came from the Nancy, Jonathan and Steve triangle. The “will they, won’t they” between Nancy and Jonathan was probably my least favorite part of Stranger Things. I may be one of the few who appreciated Steve’s (forceful) transformation into a redeemable character.
Following the clichés would mean Nancy will eventually end up with Jonathan, but my prediction is the Duffer Brothers will pull the rug from under us. I can see the writers pushing Steve’s redemption to the point where we will genuinely root for Stancy. Jonathan might want to win Nancy over, but Steve’s arc could overpower. I just hope Nancy doesn’t become a Bella or Katniss; I can’t deal with more #Teams.
“I’ve seen things you people wouldn’t believe”
The title for the sixth episode is Pollywog, another word for tadpole. It’s not hard to speculate about this episode. Will coughed up a pollywog in the season finale. I remember reading somewhere on the Internet people hypothesized the baby growing in the sewers into a sort of reincarnated Demogorgon. I challenge that with the idea of a new threat: If Will’s time in the Upside Down turned him into a living, walking egg sac for new interdimensional monsters, is it due to some sort of infection? Does that mean the other tourists will cough up more tadpoles? Hopper and Joyce took off their hazmat suits when retrieving Will. Nancy also traveled there with no sort of protection, and Jonathan got a lot of monster drool on him. Will there be a monster epidemic?
Let us go back to Eleven for a bit. Will she have an army of monsters when she returns?
“No, I am your father”
There were a lot of unanswered questions when we finished binge-watching this show, but the Duffers told us “Poppa” is not entirely gone.
“I would say that if we were going to kill Brenner as an audience member watching the show, if that was his death, that would be very unsatisfying to me — when the monster jumps on him and we cut away. He would deserve much more than that as an ending. So yes, there’s a possibility of seeing him again.”
No body, no death, right? The newspaper clipping said he gave no comment on the matter confirming his survival. The role he’s most likely playing is the anti-hero when facing the eventual (and possible) horde of monsters. Think Nick Fury: manipulative, awful social skills, heartless but still on our side. He was very antagonistic toward Eleven in the first season, but with Hopper helping out, I’m sure the Hawkings National Laboratory can’t be that bad. I will not buy into the idea Hopper has turned to the dark side. (I understand they could be blackmailing him too, but I have too much faith in Hopper).
Here’s another idea to ponder: Was Hopper in our world or in the Upside Down when he left the Eggo waffles for El?
“You must be dead, because I don’t know how to feel.”
Speaking of Doctor Brenner, if Jane Ives is this man’s “eleventh daughter,” where are numbers one through ten? That was a question that arose when we first learned El’s name/number. The sneaky writers were smart. They bombarded us with much more pertinent questions, making us forget about that question for most of the season. I believe Will’s Upside Down survival will make him number twelve, but I don’t think we’ll see the other ten. That might be a mystery that may resolve in the third season. As cynical as this might make me sound, I believe there are no other ten MKUltra kids. They were most likely failed test subjects who are now dead, while Eleven was the successful one.
There are a ton of other things we Stranger Things addicts could talk about: There’s “The Pumkin Patch” and the “weird flowers in the cave” that probably reference the hatched egg in the Upside Down. The episode title The Secret Cabin may have to do with the portal from which Will was abducted. The “Proud Princess” in the final Dungeons and Dragons game could tie into the episode The Palace, which many theorize is about Nancy. The episode title, The Lost Brother, begs the question: Will Billy, Will or Jonathan get lost? What are your thoughts on what we might see in Season 2?
Stranger Things Season 2 will premiere on Netflix next year.
Images: Netflix
Posted By Geo Peña Geo Peña is Features writer at GeekFeed. He's also a Sign Language Interpreter who moonlights as a storyteller on the internet. Get to know him better at his website: geowashere.com Geo Peña is Features writer at GeekFeed. He's also a Sign Language Interpreter who moonlights as a storyteller on the internet. Get to know him better at his website: geowashere.com
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UPDATE: 6/15: Procesutors in the case of the former Dixon comptroller accused of stealing over 50 million dollars from the City of Dixon were back in court today. They plan to sell over 400 horses that were seized from Rita Crundwell.
Yesterday, prosecutors filed an amended complaint adding to the list of horses and other assets they wish to sell due to the expensive nature of caring for these horses.
The court has agreed to allow the sale of over 400 horses as well as 21 embryos and 13 saddles. Right now the costs are falling on the US Marshalls and an intervening company who have been caring for the horses. The proceeds from the sale are expected to reimburse the company and the U.S. Marshalls for money previously spent on the care of these horses. The remainder of the money is expected to be given back to the City of Dixon.
It may two to three months before the horses are able to be sold. The next hearing in the criminal case against Rita Crundwell is scheduled for July 23.
UPDATE 6/1: Former Dixon Comptroller Accused of Taking an Additional 100k from Fire Dept. Pension Fund
DIXON (WIFR) -- The accusations keep coming for Dixon's ex-comptroller. City leaders say she took more than 100-thousand dollars from the fire department's pension fund.
Dixon Mayor Jim Burke says she took the money within the last year to pay city bills before putting it back.
The two new interim comptrollers discovered the alleged theft about a week ago. We're told some interest was lost on the money that was taken out of the fund. Crundwell is facing federal charges for allegedly taking more than 53 million dollars from the city.
UPDATE: 5/5: Rita Crundwell pleads not guilty to wire fraud.
By: Meghan Dwyer
ROCKORD (WIFR) -- Dixon's ousted comptroller says she didn't do it. Rita Crundwell pleaded not guilty to wire fraud this morning. As you may remember she's being accused of stealing 53 million dollars and stashing it into a secret bank account.
Today Crundwell sat a table with her federal public defenders, wearing a sweatshirt and a pony tail. She waived a reading of the indictment and pleaded not guilty within the first ten minutes of this morning's arraignment.
Prosecutors say they have more than 11-thousand documents and photos showing how Crundwell pocketed her millions. Defense attorneys will now have to sort through all of that evidence. She's being represented by federal public defenders in both cases -- the criminal case and the civil case. Her horses and assets are being seized in the civil case. She will be back in court in June.
Her attorneys say they plan to file a financial affidavit to show how much money she still has, but they will be filing that under seal so the public won't see it.
Prosecutors say Crundwell used the money to create one of the nation's leading horse breeding operations as well as buy luxury homes, cars, and jewelry. They have requested a jury trial.
Click here to see the video footage of Crundwell leaving the courthouse and being questioned by reporters
Dressed in the same trench coat she was wearing when she was arrested, a gray sweatshirt, and pony tail, Crundwell sat by her public defenders this morning in federal court.
She waived a formal reading of the charge against her. Prosecutors say they have nearly 11 thousand pages of written discovery and photos that were taken as evidence. U.S. Marshalls have taken control of nearly 300 of her horses.
Her attorneys will be filing a financial affidavit with the court detailing what money she has left, but it will be filed under seal so the public can't see it. She will be back in court in June.
UPDATE: 5/1:
By: Meghan Dwyer -- According to a grand jury indictment, Dixon's ousted comptroller is accused of stealing more then $53 million from the city since December of 1990. She was previously accused of stealing $30 million.
That's considerably higher than the initial investigation indicated. 58-year-old Rita Crundwell was arrested two weeks ago on a single count of wire fraud. She has since been released and is scheduled to appear in court on Monday for arraignment.
Court documents show she opened a secret bank account on Dec. 18, 1990. She lied to city council members, saying payments from the state of Illinois were late. Then she used fake invoices to deceive auditors.
Court documents also say Crundwell routinely picked up the city's mail. When she was out of town, one of her relatives picked it up so other employees wouldn't discover the bank account.
Dixon Mayor Jim Burke says she fooled a lot of people for a long time, but he hopes the city will recover the majority of the money she stole.
The U.S. Attorney has also filed a parallel civil lawsuit for forfeiture. The government plans to care for more than 300 horses Crundwell has on her farm in Dixon because she can no longer afford to take care of the animals. The U.S. Marshall Service plans to contract with a horse caretaker who will mow the grass, feed the horses, and pay utility bills on the property.
Crundwell did not object to the seizure of the horses. Court documents say she admits using wrongfully obtained monies to purchase and care for some of the horses.
If she's found guilty, the horses and any newborns will be sold. The proceeds will be given to Dixon.
Many of her assets have already been seized, but prosecutors are seeking an injunction, preventing any real estate or other real property from being disposed of before the end of trial.
There was nearly $200,000 still in the secret bank account in April. That money has already been seized.
UPDATE 4/23:
By: Stephen Johnson
DIXON (WIFR) -- It's been one week since Dixon was hit with the biggest scandal in the city's history an alleged 30 million dollars embezzled by former comptroller Rita Crundwell.
Today, 23 News chatted with local business owners in Dixon and has more on what they think of Dixon's economic future after the shocking discovery.
Diane Schnake said, "I didn't know we had that much money."
For lifelong Dixon resident and business owner Diane Schnake of the Frameworks, the news of Rita Crundwell allegedly embezzling 30 million dollars came as a shock. It’s the biggest news to hit the city in years.
Schnake said, "By the time this is over, I think there's going to be some backlash. I think most of us in Dixon, we just get up and go to work everyday and hope that the powers that be will get this straightened out."
Despite the negative news surrounding the city, local businesses are staying strong and believe Dixon's reputation will be just fine once the scandal has passed. Dixon Area Chamber of Commerce President John Thompson released a statement on the situation, stating, "the corporate citizens of Dixon will continue, as we have in the past to work together to build a better community in which to live and do business."
Thompson declined to meet with us for the story. While it will take time to rebuild confidence within the city, local shops say the initial wave of visitors last week, brought in more business.
Schnake said, "The influx of media on Dixon was pretty phenomenal. I mean we've had people come in all of the businesses down here in Dixon. You know network news, local television and radio.”
Dixon has recovered approximately 200-thousand dollars from the account Crundwell used to allegedly steal the 30 million dollars. City leaders are meeting Thursday to begin searching for a new comptroller.
STATEMENT from the Dixon Area Chamber of Commerce and Industry:
The arrest of the Dixon City Comptroller last week was devastating news for the entire community. Although there has and will be
plenty of second guessing, blame and self-doubt generated by these events, it is our belief that the agenda for businesses, the community and each citizen should be to do our best to move forward making sure that this can never happen again. It will be important to rebuild our confidence, community sense of pride and secure our reputation.
This will not be an easy task but we will work to assist the process and we know members of the Dixon Area Chamber of Commerce and Industry and many others will do the same. The corporate citizens of Dixon will continue, as we have in the past, to work together to build a better community in which to live and do business.
We remain respectful of the many fine and honest people at the City of Dixon both elected and otherwise who had no part in this most
unfortunate chapter of Dixon's over 180-year history. The Chamber has represented Dixon’s corporate citizenry since 1887 helping to
build our fine community. Going forward we will support Dixon’s efforts to move beyond this situation in the best way possible.
UPDATE 4/23:
By: Lauren Kravets
DIXON (WIFR) -- Rita Crundwell is no longer the comptroller of Dixon. The city's commissioners voted today to remove her from office after she allegedly stole more than $30 million from Dixon.
In a unanimous vote all four Dixon commissioners and Mayor Jim Burke voted to terminate Comptroller Rita Crundwell. They did not accept her resignation letter she submitted over the weekend.
Mayor Burke said, "There's no great relief with it because there's a lot of things on the plate we got to deal with, but I think the public is going to feel better."
Crundwell was invited to the city council meeting to defend herself before she was fired; however, she did not show up. We tried to get a response from her at her home but no one answered.
City commissioners aren't speaking yet either, but residents still are.
Dixon Resident Dan Eychaner said, "There's more people than her involved--I'm sure of that--that's just my opinion."
Mayor Burke says that's a possibility.
He said, "I don't think there are anymore people in the city involved in this but whether or not there could be someone outside, that's very possible."
It’s been nearly a week since the scandal became public and the city has already recovered $200,000 from the secret account Crundwell used to allegedly steal more than $30 million.
Burke doesn't know how much more can be recovered, but they're keeping a closer eye on city funds. Three people, including the mayor and city clerk are now co-signing checks.
The city is now taking steps to see if state charges can be filed and they'll meet with an accounting firm on Thursday to discuss finding a new comptroller. The city's next regular board meeting is May 7th, that's when residents will be able to publically comment on the scandal.
Even if the council hadn't fired Crundwell, she couldn't do her job anyway because her bond conditions say she cannot handle money. She also wouldn't have been able to get her pension.
Meantime, the group Occupy Dixon will protest the scandal in downtown Dixon at 9 a.m. on Friday.
UPDATE 4/20:
By: Lauren Kravets
DIXON (WIFR) -- The City of Dixon is trying to move forward as scandal over its comptroller continues.
Dixon Mayor Jim Burke is meeting today to discuss finding an interim comptroller, although he says they're not expected to choose a person today.
Burke also says he's already met with several accountants and spoke to an attorney and a former banker. He wants to form a panel to help look at internal financial controls.
While the city is trying to move forward, residents say they're still upset that Rita Crundwell allegedly took more than 30 million dollars of taxpayer money.
Greg Schwartz said, "In a town as small as Dixon everybody knows everyone and to see somebody allegedly do something like that, I don't understand how anyone can lay their head on their pillow at night."
Dixon's City Council will meet Monday where they're expected to let Crundwell go.
UPDATE 4/19: The Effect on the City of Dixon
By: Lauren Kravets
DIXON (WIFR) -- The comptroller scandal out of Dixon continues to shock the Stateline. Many taxpayers are upset that their money was allegedly stolen and that the city suffered as a result.
23 News sat down with the mayor today, who told us Rita Crundwell won't be comptroller much longer.
Dixon Mayor Jim Burke Says he still can't believe one of his own employees allegedly schemed the city out of 30 million dollars over the last six years.
He said, "I literally got sick to my stomach thinking about what was going on."
Rita Crundwell will soon be out of her comptroller position as the city is expected to fire her.
Crundwell's personal things still sit in her office in city hall where she was arrested Tuesday. Even checks from the secret account she allegedly used to deposit and withdraw millions of dollars in city money for her personal use. Mayor Burke says it was difficult to work with Crundwell during the five months the FBI investigated before she was arrested.
Burke said, "Meeting with her having budget meetings and talking to with her about financial issues and knowing in the back of my mind what she's doing and also seeing she's continuing to take money.
Many community residents say that money could've helped the park district re-open Dixon's pool that's sat empty for about ten years.
Resident and Business owner Lisa Framke said, "For many years people have tried to raise money to try to refurbish the memorial swimming pool and at one point the estimate was two million."
Burke says the council also put off some agenda items.
He said, "City employees have gone three years without raises and we had to put off buying city equipment for the street department.
About a month ago the city even borrowed a couple million dollars--money that could've been there if Crundwell hadn't allegedly used it for herself.
We tried to get comment at her home but didn’t get an answer.
Burke says city council members will hold a special meeting Monday where they're expected to let Crundwell go.
Q: What about the accounting companies that did the city audits, why didn't they catch this?
A: We tried to reach out to them, but our calls weren't returned. Mayor Burke says he hasn't talked with them yet, but he plans to. He says he frustrated the city spent half a million dollars a year for those audits while the city was losing more money.
This case has brought international attention to the Stateline. A quick Google search found hundreds of news stories written about Dixon's comptroller including coverage from the Wall Street Journal, the Seattle Post, and even the British newspaper the Daily Mail. Meanwhile, network affiliates from around the country have picked up our story.
UPDATE 4/18: Dixon Responds to Comptroller's Misappropriation Charges
By: Lauren Kravets
DIXON (WIFR) -- The Dixon Community is still stunned after learning a trusted city official was arrested for fraud.
Today Dixon Mayor Jim Burke tried to address some community concerns at city hall. Dozens of residents packed city council chambers to hear Burke's explanation of how Comptroller Rita Crundwell could have embezzled more than 30 million dollars without anyone knowing.
Burke said, "I literally became sick to my stomach. I hoped that my suspicions were all wrong."
Mayor Burke says the city got an annual audit by two independent certified accounting firms. One firm double-checked the information and found nothing.
Burke said, "The results year after year disclosed no instances of non-compliance or other matters required to be reported under government auditing standards."
Mayor Burke also says the city faced budget cuts but thought it was partially due to late state payments. But those answers are still frustrating to community members.
Karen Wyman said, "Somebody has to be accountable for this, it's just unbelievable to me."
The city is taking six steps to restore credibility:
1. Work with the FBI
2. Independent Investigation
3. Interim Comptroller
4. Unpaid Leave
5. Research Financial Controls
6. New Accounting Firm
Crundwell worked at city hall almost every day, she was a trusted city official and well known in the community. That's why those who knew her well don't know what to believe."
Ron Pritchard grew up in Dixon and knew Crundwell and her family. He just saw her a few months ago.
We asked him, "Do you believe that Rita did this?”
He said, "I don't disbelieve it I've known Rita for a long time I'm so shocked by the allegations of it it's hard for me to swallow."
Mayor Burke says Dixon will not be laying people off—unrelated to the alleged crime--as a result of the missing money fall out.
Currently, they are preparing a monthly treasurers report and meeting with the economic development director of Sterling to help find interim comptroller.
Crundwell Can Post Bond
By: Meghan Dwyer
Crundwell has been in custody since yesterday. Just a few hours ago a federal judge decided whether she should be allowed to post bond.
We're waiting for Crundwell to be released from custody. A judge ordered she could be set free today as long as she meets some conditions. She can't sell her horses or any real estate. She can't get a passport and she can't have a job where she handles money.
She's allegedly stolen 30-million since 1980, purchasing lots of jewelry and cars. Two of her bank accounts have been seized. So we're not sure how much money she has on hand, but she is being represented by a federal public defender. As it stands she faces just one count of wire fraud. Prosecutors say more charges could follow as the investigation continues. Right now, she's only facing 20 years in prison and 250-thousand dollar fine, but prosecutors say they'll do everything in their power to get back all money taken over the years.
We spoke to the Lee County State's Attorney today, who says he's waiting for the federal court case to run its course before any state charges are filed.
If she violates those conditions she'd have to pay the court 45 hundred dollars. She'll be back in court May 7th.
The background story
By: Lauren Kravets
DIXON (WIFR) -- The Comptroller for the City of Dixon was arrested today by FBI agents on a federal charge for allegedly defrauding the City of Dixon of more than $3.2 million in public funds since just last fall and more than $30 million since 2006.
58-year-old Rita Crundwell has been Dixon's comptroller since the early 80's. She's well known in the community and breeds world champion horses on her ranch; someone most people couldn't imagine embezzling $30 million dollars.
"I was dumbfounded, I was speechless (when I found out)," said Dixon resident Amy Jones.
But that's exactly what the FBI says she did. She's accused of stealing more than three million dollars of taxpayer money in just the last few months and more than $30 million since 2006.
Crundwell was arrested at city hall this morning, where FBI agents gathered evidence most of the day. Mayor James Burke reported Crundwell to authorities in the Fall.
FBI agents wouldn't comment today on the complaint they received from Burke. But the complaint says in October, while Crundwell was on vacation, a Dixon city employee discovered an unknown bank account, one Crundwell allegedly used for her personal life.
Dixon resident Christopher Ray said, "It's disheartening, I mean taxpayers they work hard for what they do."
The FBI says Crundwell bought a $2 million motor home, a horse trailer and paid off $2.5 million on her credit card. They say she also bought at least 11 vehicles. It's something that even surprised Dixon police.
Dixon Police Chief Dan Langloss said, "I just became aware of this this morning from the FBI. Those are all things that are being looked into, and the mayor will have the answers and will be speaking to the city."
Mayor Burke will answer questions tomorrow at Dixon City Hall.
Crundwell was in federal court in Rockford today, where two U.S. marshals escorted her into the room in handcuffs. However the bond hearing was continued until tomorrow.
The Dixon City Council is meeting in executive session tonight to discuss the charges against their comptroller--the mayor, Jim Burke, will hold a news conference tomorrow at 10 am. 23 News Reporter Lauren Kravets is in Dixon and will have an updated report for you tonight.
DIXON (WIFR) -- A Dixon city official is in jail tonight for fraud after allegedly embezzling 30-million dollars.
The comptroller, 58-year-old Rita Crundwell, was arrested by FBI agents in Dixon just hours ago today.
She's been the comptroller since the early 1980s. She’s accused of taking more than, three million dollars in public funds since the fall and more than 30 million dollars since 2006. The Department of Justice says she used that money for a personal horses breading business and to buy a motor home, jewelry, and vehicles.
In fact today, agents seized; ten trucks and trailers and a thunder bird convertible. 23 News attended Crundwell's bond hearing in federal court today--that's where two U.S. Marshals escorted her in handcuffs. However, the assistant U.S. attorney asked for a continuance, she will be in court tomorrow.
Dixon Mayor James Burke reported Crundwell to authorities last fall after a city employee discovered another account.
That's the account Crundwell allegedly used to misappropriate city money.
Photo pulled from YouTube, video by AQHA
Original DOJ Press Release
DIXON (WIFR) -- The Comptroller for the City of Dixon was arrested today by FBI agents on a federal charge for allegedly defrauding the City of Dixon of more than $3.2 million in public funds since just last fall.
In addition, a federal criminal complaint alleges that the defendant, Rita A. Crundwell, 58, of Dixon, has misappropriated more than $30 million in city funds since 2006 to finance her own lavish lifestyle, including operating a horse farm.
Crundwell handles all finances for the city and has held the appointed position of Dixon comptroller since the early 1980s.
She is paid an annual salary of $80,000, according to the complaint charging her with one count of wire fraud that was filed last Friday and unsealed today following her arrest.
Also today, agents executed search and seizure warrants at various locations including, Crundwell’s home, office, and farms in Dixon and Beloit, Wis., and seized the contents of two bank accounts she controlled. Among other items seized were seven trucks and trailers, three pickup trucks, a $2.1 million motor home, and a Ford Thunderbird convertible, all of which were allegedly purchased with illegal proceeds.
Photos taken from Crundwell's ranch:
Crundwell is scheduled to appear at 3 p.m. today before U.S. Magistrate Judge P. Michael Mahoney in U.S. District Court in Rockford, where the issue of bond will be addressed. Dixon has a population of approximately 15,733 and is located in Lee County, about 42 miles southwest of Rockford. The arrest was announced by Patrick J. Fitzgerald, United States Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois, and Robert D. Grant, Special Agent-In-Charge of the Chicago Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
Dixon Mayor James Burke reported Crundwell to law enforcement authorities last fall after a city employee assumed Crundwell’s duties during Crundwell’s extended unpaid vacation. After reviewing bank statements for September 2011 through March 2012, the FBI expanded the investigation and began reviewing the city’s finances dating back to 2006. The investigation is continuing, officials said.
According to the complaint, Crundwell receives four weeks of paid vacation annually and she took an additional 12 weeks of unpaid vacation in 2011. In October last year, while Crundwell was away from work, a Dixon employee who served as her replacement requested all of the city’s bank statements. After reviewing them, the employee brought the records of a particular account to Mayor Burke’s attention. The September 2011 statement for that account showed three deposits totaling $785,000, as well as 84 checks drawn totaling $360,493, and 40 withdrawals totaling $266,605. Mayor Burke was unaware that this account existed, the complaint states, adding that he then went to law enforcement since none of the withdrawals appeared to be related to any legitimate business of the City of Dixon. Although the bank records show that the primary account holder is the City of Dixon, a joint account holder is listed as RSCDA, and the checks written on this account list the account holder as “R.S.C.D.A., C/O Rita Crundwell.”
2012, in her capacity as comptroller, Crundwell wrote 19 checks totaling $3,558,000 on the Capital Development Fund account payable to “Treasurer,” and deposited these checks into the account listing RSCDA as the joint account holder. She then allegedly took $3,311,860 from the RSCDA account by checks and online withdrawals, using only $74,274 for the city’s operations. Crundwell allegedly used the remainder of those funds, more than $3.2 million, for her own personal and business expenses, including approximately $450,000 relating to her horse farming operations, $600,000 in online credit card payments, and $67,000 to purchase a 2012 Chevy Silverado pickup truck.
After discovering that Crundwell allegedly had recently transferred $3,558,000 in city funds to the RSCDA account, the FBI obtained additional bank records showing that between July 2006 and March 2012, Crundwell allegedly deposited a total of $30,236,503 in city funds into the RSCDA account, and paid out more than $30 million for her own personal and business expenses. The complaint alleges that she used fraudulently obtained funds to make additional purchases, including a 2009 Liberty Coach Motor Home for $2,108,000, a 2009 Kenworth T800 Tractor Truck for $146,787, a 2009 Freightliner Truck for $140,000, a 2009 Chevrolet Silverado pickup truck for $56,646, and a 2009 Featherlite Horse Trailer for $258,698. Between January of 2007 and March of 2012, Crundwell incurred charges of more than $2.5 million on her personal American Express credit card account, including more than $339,000 on jewelry alone, and allegedly used Dixon funds to pay the entire amount of charges.
Wire fraud carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison, and a $250,000 fine, or an alternate fine totaling twice the loss or twice the gain, whichever is greater. If convicted, the Court must impose a reasonable sentence under federal statutes and the advisory United States Sentencing Guidelines.
The government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorney Joseph C. Pedersen. The public is reminded that a criminal complaint is only a charge and is not evidence of guilt.
The defendant is presumed innocent and is entitled to an indictment by a federal grand jury and a fair trial at which the government has the burden of proving her guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. |
If you’ve been hanging around IBIH for awhile, you know that I’ve been a longtime fan of the Jones Dairy Farm pork products. Ham, sausage, bacon, etc. – IT’S ALL GOOD.
I’ve worked with Jones Dairy Farm over the past few years to develop recipes exclusively for their website, as well as creating low carb recipes that feature their products here on IBIH. Some of my absolute favorites include the Bacon-Wrapped Asian Chicken Wings, Monte Cristo Breakfast Casserole, Jalapeno Popper Frittata, and of course the Chocolate Bacon Toffee Ice Cream!
Recently, Jones Dairy Farm sent me a cooler full of products (my Fed Ex guy was super jealous) and asked me to come up with a few recipes using them. Since the box was chock full of my favorite JDF Dry Aged Bacon and I had already been kicking this bacon-studded donut hole recipe around for awhile – it was time to get to work.
Best. Job. Ever.
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I started with the low carb Apple Fritters recipe from last year as a base, and made a few tweaks to turn it into a simple maple flavored donut hole recipe.
It took a few tries to get the ratios right so that they would stay together in the oil, and also puff up so they’d have the crispy on the outside, cakey on the inside texture that I was looking for. When I finally got it right though?
Perfection.
I used a jar of store-bought sugar free caramel to roll the donut holes in so that the cooked chopped bacon would stick to them easily. It gave a nice flavor and worked as a delicious glue for my bacon.
If you don’t like the idea of store-bought, you could easily use the low carb white chocolate caramel recipe that I use on top of the the Pumpkin Cheesecake with Maple Bacon Crust or any other low carb caramel recipe that you like.
Notes:
I can’t stress enough how important it is that your oil is around 350 degrees before you start cooking these. If you don’t have a thermometer you can throw in a tiny piece of dough to check it – it should start sizzling and bubbling right away. If the oil isn’t hot enough it won’t sear the outside almost instantly, causing the dough to absorb the oil and start disintegrating in your pan.
Also important is that you let the dough sit for a few minutes after mixing so that the coconut flour has time to absorb the liquid fully and get sticky enough to hold together. It will dry out significantly and become much easier to work with when you’ve waited several minutes after mixing to start rolling and frying.
Finally, I recommend rolling them in the caramel and bacon shortly before eating them as they will start to soften the longer they are coated – still amazing, you just lose a little of that crunchy fried exterior! |
[Update: AMD's John Taylor and Robert Hallock have issued a video response to this and other similar articles from the press. I recommend watching it.]
The increasingly bitter war between GPU manufacturers AMD and Nvidia continues this month with the release of CD Projekt Red's The Witcher 3 and with it, another GameWorks controversy. Except this time it's much easier to see the naked truth.
The story so far: AMD believes that the implementation of an Nvidia-developed graphics feature called HairWorks (part of the company's GameWorks library) in The Witcher 3 is deliberately crippling performance on AMD Radeon graphics cards. HairWorks -- similar in functionality to AMD's TressFX -- taps into DirectX 11 to tessellate tens of thousands of strands of hair, making them move and flow realistically.
Early and exhaustive benchmarks from German site HardwareLuxx indicates that when HairWorks is activated on a higher-end Nvidia cards like the GTX 980, framerate performance drops by 30% (which of course it does, because extra eye candy affects performance!) But on a Radeon 290x? Up to a 61% hit to average framerates.
If you're following this story, you may be aware of CD Projekt Red's official statement on the matter. They told Overclock3D that yes, HairWorks can run on AMD hardware, but that "unsatisfactory performance may be experienced as the code of this feature cannot be optimized for AMD products."
The problem with this statement is that it was overly vague and left a lot of possibilities dangling. Possibilities that can be interpreted for a variety of arguments. Why can't it be optimized? Was it merely an issue of limited resources or man hours? Is it because, as some have argued, AMD'S GCN 1.1 Directx 11 tessellation is sub-par? Or did Nvidia explicitly prevent CD Projekt Red from optimizing their code on AMD hardware or from inserting their own tech?
The answer to the latter question is a decisive no. We saw technologies from both companies in Rockstar's Grand Theft Auto V, a game that was optimized quite efficiently on a wide range of hardware from both Team Green and Team Red. And Nvidia's Brian Burke recently reiterated to PCPer.com that "our agreements with developers don’t prevent them from working with other IHVs."
But let's get to the heart of this article. AMD's chief gaming scientist Richard Huddy recently went on the offensive, claiming that Nvidia's HairWorks code is somehow deliberately sabotaging Witcher 3 performance on AMD hardware. Speaking to ArsTechnica, he said the following:
"We’ve been working with CD Projekt Red from the beginning. We’ve been giving them detailed feedback all the way through. Around two months before release, or thereabouts, the GameWorks code arrived with HairWorks, and it completely sabotaged our performance as far as we’re concerned. We were running well before that… it’s wrecked our performance, almost as if it was put in to achieve that goal."
That's funny, since I attended an Nvidia press conference all the way back in June 2013 that showed an early version of Nvidia's HairWorks -- then unnamed -- running on multiple wolves in The Witcher 3. Later, in January 2014 -- 16 months ago -- Nvidia officially christened the technology "HairWorks" and showed it off again, using several examples of the tech implemented into The Witcher 3.
Here's a video from Gamescom 2014 (August) showing HairWorks running in The Witcher 3.
Let's assume Huddy's claim of working with the developer "from the beginning" is true. The Witcher 3 was announced February 2013. Was 2+ years not long enough to approach CD Projekt Red with the possibility of implementing TressFX? Let's assume AMD somehow wasn't brought into the loop until as late as Gamescom 2014 in August. Is 9 months not enough time to properly optimize HairWorks for their hardware? (Apparently Reddit user "FriedBongWater" only needed 48 hours after the game's release to publish a workaround enabling better performance of HairWorks on AMD hardware, so there's that.)
Hell, let's even assume that AMD really didn't get that code until 2 months prior, even though they've been working with the developer since day 1. Do you find that hard to swallow?
That's all irrelevant in my eyes, because the ask never came in time. Via Ars Technica, Huddy claims that when AMD noticed the terrible HairWorks performance on their hardware two months prior to release, that's when they "specifically asked" CD Projekt Red if they wanted to incorporate TressFX. The developer said "it was too late."
Well, of course it was too late. Nvidia and CD Projekt Red spent two years optimizing HairWorks for The Witcher 3. But here's the bottom line: The developer had HairWorks code for nearly two years. The entire world knew this. If AMD had been working with the developer "since the beginning" how on earth could they have been blindsided by this code only 2 months prior to release? None of it adds up, and it points to a larger problem.
Look, I respect AMD and have built many systems for personal use and here at Forbes using their hardware. AMD's constant pulpit of open source drivers and their desire to prevent a fragmented PC gaming industry is honorable, but is it because they don't want to do the work?
A PC enthusiast on Reddit did more to solve the HairWorks performance problem than AMD has apparently done. AMD's last Catalyst WQHL driver was 161 days ago, and the company hasn't announced one on the horizon. Next to Nvidia's monthly update cycle and game-ready driver program, this looks lazy.
If you want a huge AAA game release to look great on your hardware, you take the initiative to ensure that it does. What you don't do is expect your competitor to make it easier for you by opening up the technology they've invested millions of dollars into. You innovate using your own technologies. Or you increase your resources. Or you bolster your relationships and face time with developers.
In short, you just find a way to get it done.
If I sound frustrated, it's because I am. I've been an enthusiastic fan of AMD for a good long while (just look at the numerous DIY builds and positive reviews I've given them), and last year at this same time I was admittedly on the other side of this argument. But what I'm seeing now is a company who keeps insisting their sole competitor make their job easier "for the good of PC gaming." And I see said competitor continuing to innovate with graphics technologies that make games more beautiful. And I see promises like the concept of "OpenWorks" laying stagnant a full year after they're hyped up. And I see AMD's desktop GPU market share continue to slip and think to myself "maybe this is not a coincidence."
I've reached out to AMD and invited them to issue a follow-up comment or offer any clarity to Huddy's statement. |
FRANKFURT/BERLIN (Reuters) - Concerns over China gaining access to the secrets of producing a little known material used in military equipment appear to be behind the U.S. block on a 670 million-euro ($713 million) Chinese bid for German chip equipment maker Aixtron (AIXGn.DE).
The logo of Aixtron SE is pictured on the roof of the German chip equipment maker's headquarters in Herzogenrath near the western German city of Aachen, October 25, 2016. REUTERS/Wolfgang Rattay
Gallium nitride, a powdery yellow compound used in light-emitting diodes (LED), radar, antennas and lasers, is grown using Aixtron-manufactured technology, which has in the past been sold to U.S. military equipment maker Northrop Grumman NOC.N..
Aixtron said on Friday that the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) would recommend that its takeover by China’s Fujian Grand Chip Investment Fund (FGC) be blocked.
CFIUS never gives reasons for its decisions. But sources have previously told Reuters it blocked the $3.3 billion sale of Philips’ (PHG.AS) lighting business, Lumileds, to a consortium of Chinese investors last January over gallium nitride concerns.
Experts suggest the United States would want to stop China and Russia getting hold of gallium nitride technology, which can boost the power and sensitivity of weapons systems while reducing their cost as it requires less electricity.
The technology is being used to upgrade the radars of both U.S. and foreign-owned Patriot missile defense systems – which are key to defeating air and missile attacks by enemy countries.
Colin Humphreys, a physics professor at Cambridge University, said the technology enabled military radars to operate at much higher frequencies and are used in jammers that allow fighter jets and other aircraft to fly undetected.
In order to sense such radar waves, potential enemies such as Russia or China would have to have access to military technology using gallium nitride, he said.
“I’m not aware that the Chinese or the Russians have such weapons systems at the moment,” said Humphreys, an expert on gallium nitride.
Another European expert, who did not wish to be named, said he believed fewer than 10 countries had access to the technology, including the United States, Germany, France, Britain and Japan.
The global gallium nitride market is expected to grow to $1.1 billion in 2020 from an estimated $518 million last year, according to research firm Technavio.
The U.S. resistance to the Aixtron deal shows concern is rife in Washington about a leading manufacturer of the gallium nitride technology coming under Chinese ownership.
“The Americans’ big problem is not Moscow, but Beijing – in economic terms and maybe also in military terms,” the European expert said, adding he would expect U.S. President-elect Donald Trump to significantly raise export restrictions for the technology.
A German economy ministry spokeswoman said its review of the Aixtron deal was ongoing and independent of the United States.
The German government withdrew its approval for Fujian Grand Chip Investment Fund LP (FGC), a Chinese investment fund controlled by businessman Zhendong Liu, to take over Aixtron last month, citing security concerns.
OUT OF OPTIONS?
Aixtron on Monday defied calls to scrap the sale, saying it had “objective arguments” to overcome U.S. and German concerns about it being bought by Fujian, without elaborating.
“We are in close contact with the authorities in the USA and Germany,” a spokesman said. He added it was up to customers to decide to what use they would put Aixtron equipment.
Aixtron’s decision to stick to the plan marks the first time that companies involved in such a takeover have tried to press ahead with a planned merger despite CFIUS objections. After concerns were raised over the Lumileds sale, the parties walked away from that deal.
Aixtron is seen as having a bleak future as a standalone company as it struggles with overcapacity in a market dominated by Chinese buyers.
The decision will now be referred to U.S. President Barack Obama, who must block or allow the transaction within 15 days.
Shares in Aixtron were down 7 percent to 4.38 euros by 1414 GMT, at the bottom of the German technology index .TECDAX, which was down 0.3 percent, and well below Grand Chip Investment's offer price of 6.00 euros per share.
Earlier, the stock hit a 6-month low of 4.25 euros.
“What Aixtron needs is a white knight from Europe or the U.S. (e.g. Applied Materials) as the company has no viable future as a stand-alone business, in our view,” said analyst Tim Wunderlich at German brokerage Hauck & Aufhaeuser in a client note, sticking to its “sell” recommendation.
($1 = 0.9401 euros) |
Dash displaced Litecoin based on market capitalization, reaching position five on CoinMarketCap after climbing above $350. During a tense week when other leading cryptocurrencies were seeking direction, DASH pushed upward from the recent lows, and rose by more than 41% in the past seven days on increasing volumes.
The coin slid a bit on Friday, down to $345.49 at the time of writing.
In September, the Dash team picked up their PR efforts, culminating in a conference in London in the coming weekend, among other events. Keynote speakers include the Dash CEO Ryan Taylor, among other cryptocurrency opinion leaders.
In the past weeks, Dash sent out updates on its Copay wallet that is entering the next testing stage. Usage fees were also lowered by 10% in the middle of the month.
Dash is one of the few cryptocurrency projects with a paid developer team and bounties for marketers, so it is one of the most promoted coins- and for now, the promotion is successful. Dash also advertises itself as the currency accepted on Amazon, although it is only possible to buy Amazon gift cards with Dash, and then redeem them in the electronic store.
For now, Dash still struggles to be added to Coinbase, although it is more easily available for European buyers. Buying Dash with fiat is relatively easy in Europe through Kraken, BitPanda, LiteBit.Eu and other local exchanges. Easy availability has helped Dash position itself as a "ramp currency" right next to Bitcoin, Litecoin, and Ethereum. Recently, Dash was added to London-based exchange CEX.IO.
But the Dash project has its own set of criticisms. Some users dislike the presence of Master Nodes, where holders of at least 1,000 DASH can stake their coins and receive rewards for verifying transactions. And the other criticism is related to the fact that a lot of DASH coins are locked up. With only around 7.5 million DASH in circulation, the market price is more easily manipulated. |
Believe it or not, I’m about as chill as they get:
House on fire? Didn’t really like it anyways.
Car getting jacked? Here’s a twenty for gas.
Tossed from a plane? Hey, I can see my burning house!
There are plenty of things to worry about in life, so I do my best to prioritize the life-threats from the inconveniences, and, frankly, most life-threats are just a form of inconvenience when you really get down to it. Or maybe I just need to revise my anti-anxiety prescription: I probably should be at least somewhat worried about these things, right?
Of course, not all anxiety is bad, and, considering the opposite extreme–complete apathy–it may even be necessary to your survival. Fortunately, there are many nootropics that are effective at reducing anxiety while maintaining your motivation to live.
And there’s nothing else in the world I’d rather be doing than to tell you about them.
The TL;DR Version: Everyone experiences various degrees of anxiety and stress on a daily basis, and nootropics may help alleviate the general, mild forms of anxiety–minus the sedative side effects typically associated with anxiolytics. In other words, these nootropics may help eliminate the stress (anxiety, worry) and keep the rest (energy, motivation)!
Knees Weak, Arms Spaghetti
There’s clinical anxiety and there’s just… anxiety.
And unless you’re experiencing severe spontaneous irrational bouts of compulsive nervousness and/or panic attacks, odds are your anxiety pertains to the latter form of anxiety: The 8 Mile Anxiety–as I like to call it.
It’s a rational form of anxiety: You’re about to take a seemingly life-affecting test. You’ve strangely been invited to a party full of real people. You’re a white rapper trying to figure out what the hell you’re going to rap about moments before taking the stage at a shady underground venue.
Naturally, in all of these cases, you’re going to feel at least a little stressed.
Sometimes you feel anxious and stressed for seemingly no reason, but after a few minutes of meditative self-reflection you find that reason. On the other hand, avoiding that self-reflection threatens to build and build the anxiety, leading to poor performance or avoidance of performing altogether, spiking more and more anxiety down the road.
Anxiety left unchecked may create a vicious downward spiral of negative psychological-behavioral causes-and-effects.
Now, when I describe 8 Mile Anxiety as “debilitating” in this sense, I don’t mean to conflate it with the aforementioned clinical anxiety: the state of stress and panic that is truly spontaneous and irrational, spurned by various pathological factors.
Both the rational and irrational states of anxiety may benefit by supplementing nootropics, however the clinical case deserves clinical attention. I’m not a doctor and this article isn’t intended to prescribe anything. As such, I’m going to speak of anxiety in general terms, starting with one of the general causes of anxiety–as it pertains to nootropic intervention.
GABA Deficiency in the Brain
One of the most common causes of anxiety–one that conveniently can be influenced by certain nootropics–is GABA deficiency in the brain. GABA (or Gamma-aminobutyric acid, if you want to sound smarter than you really are) is an important neurotransmitter commonly associated with mood and relaxation regulation. When the brain is in an excess state of excitation (i.e. stress, anxiety), GABA release and uptake seems to even the brain out.
If GABA levels are low, nerve cells may become overstimulated. In turn, the overstimulation may manifest itself as anything from mild worry to sever panic.
Pharmaceutical anxiety medication operate by either stimulating brain GABA levels or enhancing GABA receptor sensitivity.
However, the common problem with the pharmacological approach to reducing anxiety is the cognitive-declining sedative effect that often accompanies, or delivers, the anti-anxiety benefits. Anxiety is decreased, sure. But suddenly the brain has oversteered in the opposite direction: Anxiety, worry, and stress are replaced by apathy, lightheadedness, lack of motivation, etc.
This is where nootropic anti-anxieties have an edge on their pharmaceutical counterparts, given the requirement that nootropics be free of side effects.
Nootropic Anxiolysis
Typically, if I’m looking for nootropics that can reduce anxiety, I’m looking for nootropics that engage in one way or another the GABA system. However, this isn’t the only criterion for anxiolytics. There are a few biopathways that nootropics can support to help users manage their anxiety and stress levels, including but not limited to the following:
Stimulating GABA synthesis and release
Promoting GABA receptor sensitivity
Optimizing other mood-related chemicals (e.g. dopamine, serotonin)
Regulating stress hormone levels (e.g. cortisol, epinephrine)
Enhancing alpha brainwaves
Some nootropics act directly on the biostructures involved in anxiety, some act indirectly. Others simply help reduce the symptoms, or effects, of anxiety gone awry.
Regardless, there are several nootropics–natural and synthetic–that I recommend for anxiety and stress relief, many of which can be stacked together for enhanced synergy and cognitive coverage. And the best part: These nootropics don’t compromise but rather enhance cognition to decrease anxiety.
Best Nootropics for Anxiety
I’ve divided the nootropic lists by natural nootropics and synthetic nootropics that may help decrease general (or even acute in certain cases) anxiety. For the most part, the natural nootropics may be stacked, as evidenced by some of the top supplement stacks on the market. The nootropic drugs on the other hand deserve greater caution while supplementing for reasons I’ll accordingly state.
Disclaimer aside, enjoy:
Natural Nootropics for Anxiety
L-Theanine
Drink tea, keep calm, and carry on. Or if you want to get right to it, supplement L-Theanine, the bioactive amino acid nootropic found in green tea that’s responsible for the herb’s “wakeful relaxation” effects. Through enhancing alpha brainwaves, which are associated with creativity, relaxation, and focus (i.e. being “in the zone”), L-Theanine manages to reduce anxiety in a way that doesn’t compromise energy. It’s a non-sedative relaxant, one study describing the mental experience as “relaxed but alert”–particularly during conditions of high anxiety.
This is great news for the coffee lovers, who love the caffeine stimulation but not the anxiety-spiking jitters: L-Theanine stacked with caffeine sustains the stimulation while eliminating the excess energy. More on L-Theanine.
Rhodiola Rosea
The Soviets kept this anti-fatigue adaptogen a secret for decades, but guess what: Cat’s outta the mf bag!! Rhodiola Rosea has hit the mainstream, along with its potent anti-stress adaptogenesis and fatigue resistance.
As an adaptogen, Rhodiola helps the body adapt to all forms of stress: cognitive, emotion, physiological–the result being enhanced mental and physical performance as well as reduced anxiety. On the flipside, if you’re feeling low energy and motivation, Rhodiola also works as a quick, effective pick-me-up.
Sufferers of Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD) may particularly benefit by this herb given this preliminary study‘s observations of 340 mg Rhodiola extract decreasing various GAD measures throughout a 10 week trial. More on Rhodiola Rosea.
Bacopa Monnieri
Bacopa Monnieri is a valuable academic enhancer for its well-demonstrated benefits on learning, memory, and cognition–yet, it also doubles as an anxiolytic adaptogen, due to its ability to boost neurotransmitters GABA and serotonin. With regards to these anti-anxiety effects, I’ve found two studies–one animal, one human–that suggested of Bacopa’s value:
Animal study – demonstrated anxiety reductions comparable to lorazepam (pharmaceutical anti-anxiety) minus the usual sedative side effects.
– demonstrated anxiety reductions comparable to lorazepam (pharmaceutical anti-anxiety) minus the usual sedative side effects. Human study – Bacopa improved “higher order cognitive processes” related to learning and memory, while improving general anxiety status.
Of course, not only academicians may benefit by enhanced learning, memory, and cognition, making Bacopa a high-value nootropic beyond graduation day. More on Bacopa Monnieri.
B Vitamins
Of the B vitamins, Vitamin B6 seems to have the most nootropic “mood elevating” effect–some researchers even describing “high-dose pyridoxine” (pyridoxine = B6) as a bona fide “anti-stress strategy.” Although, when it comes to B vitamins, I have a just-take-all-of-them attitude, because why the heck not?
As you age, B vitamins become of greater and greater import, given their natural gradual decline over time. Even so, taking high doses of B vitamins at times may enhance cognition and focus, particularly as they relate to mood, which is why energy shots (e.g. 5-Hour Energy) and energy drinks are big on these compounds. They simply feel goooooood. More on B Vitamins.
What about Inositol? Typically classified as Vitamin B8, Inositol is not a true B vitamin, but it does seem to possess significant anti-anxiety effects. Perhaps even more so than the traditional B vitamins, with some research demonstrating clinically viable reductions in anxiety and dysphoria. Not that you have to choose between B vitamins and Inositol–why not take both?
Ashwagandha
The second Ayurveda adaptogen on this list, Ashwagandha is equal parts mental and physical performance enhancer (same as Rhodiola) with a side serving of sexual performance enhancement, if you’re into that kind of thing. Well, technically, even if you’re not into that kind of thing, Ashwagandha still has it.
Due to its sedative effects, Ashwagandha is perhaps best to take later in the day (also perhaps as a chance to take care of its other night-time benefits–*wink wink nudge nudge cough fart*). Although the sedation isn’t so overwhelming that you can’t have a fully functional, or even functionally enhanced, day on the plant. Its increases in memory, improvements on reactions, and boosts on learning should validate long-term supplementation of this herb as well–so regardless of the time of day you take it, if you’re supplementing it daily, you should still receive its long-term anxiolytic benefits. More on Ashwagandha.
Nootropic Drugs for Anxiety
Aniracetam
Word on the street, Aniracetam is up to five times as potent as vanilla Piracetam, yet takes longer to breakdown in the body. Meaning Aniracetam’s effects are more potent and last longer than Piracetam’s, which is groovy because Aniracetam has been linked to a benefit not commonly associated with Piracetam: Decreased anxiety.
It’s how I help myself distinguish Aniracetam from the other racetams: an-iracetam for an-ti-an-xiety. GENIUS, RIGHT?! You’ll have to take the “word on the street” for all of this, though, considering the lack of human trials on the subject. Even so, I find Aniracetam to have more promise than Piracetam. More on Racetams.
What about Noopept? If Aniracetam doesn’t do it for you, consider supplementing Noopept. Compared to piracetam and aniracetam, Noopept is way more potent, some users even describing a “psychostimulatory” experience with the drug. Because of the psychostimulation, Noopept deserves the most caution when supplementing. Many cases of Noopept usage report anxiolytic effects following supplementing, however there have also been reported incidents of increased anxiety at higher dosages. Which is sort of, like, COUNTERPRODUCTIVE to the whole decreasing anxiety thing, so let’s not overdo it on this one, mmkay. More on Noopept.
Etifoxine
Often sold as Stresam, Etifoxine is a viable anti-anxiety drug option for its relatively side effect free benzodiazepine-like effects: At worst you may experience slight sedation and drowsiness. For the most part, Etifoxine remains under the radar of the nootropic mainstream, even though the research behind this anxiolytic is generally positive, suggesting even of significant neuroprotective value on “peripheral nerve regeneration and functional recovery.”
I’m somewhat hesitant to include this drug given that it’s rarely discussed, and thus relatively under-explored in terms of long-term toxicity. However, the nootropic potential is undeniably strong and appealing. I give it a deserved “Two Thumbs Up! Great Holiday Fun!” review.
Picamilon
Picamilon, or “Pikamilon” if you want to look like a cool guy, is a lab-derived compound of two natural substances: GABA + Niacin. Independently, the compounds don’t have much of an effect: GABA is unable to cross the blood-brain barrier; Niacin is just a B vitamin. A valuable B vitamin, but a B vitamin all the same. Yet, together they create a unique nootropic effect that both energizes and calms with a lack of major side effects.
Thanks to Niacin’s water-solubility, the vitamin is able to carry the water-insoluble GABA across the blood-brain barrier for GABA to engage the GABA receptors in the brain, signalling for a decrease in stress hormones while promoting the release of dopamine. The Picamilon result being less anxiety and more feel-good focus and energy. More on Picamilon.
Sulbutiamine
Another synthetically bonded compound, except this time between two of the same substance: Vitamin B1 (Thiamine). Anecdotally, Sulbutiamine is prime for the social variety of anxiety as well as any anxiety that impedes work output and performance. Frankly, I can’t imagine there being much of a difference in these “types” of anxieties, but if Sulbutiamine is truly effective at minimizing the social stressors of anxiety, then I’m all for it.
On the whole, research is scarce on this nootropic, with much of its evidence remaining to be translated to English. However, I’m including it for its reputation as a reliable boost on verbal fluidity, a feature typically reduced by anxiety and stress. Even so, I wouldn’t put much faith in Sulbutiamine for serious cases of anxiety. It doesn’t seem to remedy such states, and may actually exacerbate them. More on Sulbutiamine.
Phenibut
We’re slightly departing from nootropic territory here, due to Phenibut‘s insufficient evidence of safety. At lower doses the drug has demonstrated mild side effects: nausea, headache, stomach ache. With some nasty side effects at higher doses: unconsciousness, amnesia, withdrawal. But given the drug’s strong association with decreased anxiety, I felt it relevant enough to add to this list of nootropics.
Phenibut is a Soviet designed GABA derivative, developed to cross the blood-brain barrier for non-sedative anti-anxiety effects á la benzodiazepines. The product proved to be so effective at eliminating short-term acute anxiety that Russian cosmonauts included the drug in their medicine kits to treat stress.
To avoid serious side effects and tolerance issues, I recommend no more than 300 mg doses. Higher doses have been taken for serious cases of anxiety, delivering an experience similar to that of alcohol: dizziness, loss of control. But the body is quick to build a tolerance to Phenibut, so supplement sparingly. More on Phenibut.
Best Nootropic Supplements for Anxiety
I’ve listed the best nootropic ingredients for anxiety. And perhaps you may improve your anxiety levels with a single ingredient, especially if it’s a heavier, sedative-like anxiolytic, such as ashwagandha or even kava kava. But if you want anxiety reduction that also doesn’t impair your mental performance, it’s best to find a supplement stack that mixes anxiolytics with other cognitive enhancers for total brain balance. The best nootropic supplements for anxiety — in my opinion, obviously — include:
Mind Lab Pro
All natural, no synthetics, no stimulants — meaning that Mind Lab Pro supplies nothing that will spike any unnecessary biochemical worry or anxiety. And trust me on that: I’ve seen calm, reasonable friends suddenly lose their minds after a single serving of a highly caffeinated brain booster or fat burner. It’s strange and somewhat unnerving (no pun intended). On the contrary, Mind Lab Pro stacks nootropics that help relax the mind and loosen anxiety with the goals of better cognitive clarity, focus, and attention in mind.
Of the nootropics listed above, Mind Lab Pro supplies L-theanine (with no accompanying caffeine), Rhodiola rosea extract (standardized to a potent extract), Bacopa monnieri (9 bio-actives), and B vitamins (as the premium BioGenesis®) — in addition to other powerful brain boosting compounds and extracts.
Together, these nootropics work well enough at relieving anxiety without compromising brain energy or focus. And the non-stim design of this formula allows Mind Lab Pro users the option to stack it with additional caffeine (e.g., a cup of coffee) or not. (Of course, if you’re a Kierkegaard nerd, you know that more options lead to increased dread and anxiety, so don’t overthink that last part!)
Read my in-depth review on Mind Lab Pro.
Performance Lab Sleep
Anxiety and sleep are eternal enemies. Because with anxiety there’s no sleep and with sleep there’s no anxiety. Of course, no one in their right mind would take “anxiety pills” to overcome sleep, so more often than not you’ll find sleep aid supplements to help the anxious relax and, well… sleep. And the supplement I’ve found for the task is Performance Lab Sleep, a natural melatonin* supplement (*naturally sourced from tart cherries) and an all-around high quality mental relaxant.
How it works: Performance Lab Sleep replenishes the brain with magnesium, a do-all mineral that assists with sleep and cognitive repletion, lulls the brain to rest and relaxation with stable melatonin, and keeps mood levels up throughout the night and next morning with good ol’ L-tryptophan (as TryptoPure®).
The result: Less anxiety for better sleep for a more well-rested, less anxious brain and body. People often recommend to “get better sleep” when you’re feeling off. But if “better sleep” isn’t something you can simply “get”, then first you’ll need to get Performance Lab Sleep.
Read my in-depth review on Performance Lab Sleep.
Awakened Alchemy
Awakened Alchemy supplies several nootropics that may help combat anxiety, such as: Ashwagandha, L-Theanine, and Sulbutiamine. It’s an interesting brain health stack, uniquely mixing natural brain healthy nootropics with synthetic cognitive enhancers (Noopept and Sulbutiamine).
I got a little snark from a redditor (imagine that) for listing Noopept in the sidebar found above (below the aniracetam entry), as Noopept doesn’t reduce anxiety as reliably as aniracetam — anecdotally speaking. However, I like Awakened Alchemy’s use of Noopept alongside several reliable anxiolytics, one of which borders on the side of sedation (Ashwagandha).
If Noopept often gets you a little too jazzed, but you still want to supplement the sucker, then Awakened Alchemy’s anxiolytic Noopept stack might just be the perfect brain health stack for you.
Read my in-depth review on Awakened Alchemy.
Genius Joy
As part of The Genius Brand’s nootropic series, Genius Joy recklessly advertises itself as a natural alternative to antidepressants. It’s not — or at least it’s not, if you genuinely require pharmaceutical grade antidepressants. But it is a well-crafted, natural mood booster that may alleviate mild mood disorders related to anxiety and depression.
Many weaker supplements simply supply a standard dosage of St. John’s Wort alongside a few recognizable, albeit low-dosed nootropics, and call themselves “Mood, Focus, Clarity enhancers” — whereas Genius Joy actually supplies a unique formula that works.
The L-theanine (supplied as TheaKalm®) is one thing. However, the 5-HTP, SAMe, and NALT are another, providing a wider spectrum of neurochemical support, delivering all around better brain balance for better mood. This stack is perhaps worth considering, if anxiety isn’t your only cognitive concern.
Read my in-depth review on Genius Joy.
Conclusion
In the same way that Adderall users turn to nootropics for safer cognitive enhancement, I’ve seen many anti-anxiety users consider nootropics for similar reasons. Namely as a means to preserve motivation and clear thinking in the face of reduced stress and anxiety.
I’d caution against this route if you suffer from severe anxiety, as a physician should be consulted first. However, in general the natural nootropics listed above seem like viable options of anxiolysis, regardless of your degree of anxiety. Even so, take the first few doses easy, monitor your body’s reaction, don’t FREAK OUT if you feel no effect because that’d be counterproductive, and take the stack from there.
If nothing else, take the nootropics for the cognitive benefits while doing the whole meditative self-reflection that I mentioned above. Odds are if you’re mentally hung up on something, nootropics won’t help with that anyways. (But they’ll still make you feel gooooood.)
For more on the subject of nootropics and feeling gooooood, check out my Best Nootropic Supplements to Buy in 2018 list. And be sure to comment any thoughts, questions, personal anecdotes, haikus, snafus, etc. down below! |
A shopping mall Santa Claus in Florida is out of a job for telling a 10-year-old girl that Hillary Clinton was on his "naughty list."
WKMG-TV in Orlando reported Friday that the Santa was relieved of his duties at the Seminole Town Center in Sanford after the girl’s mother complained.
'DON'T TELL ME': GEORGIA MAN DELIBERATELY STAYS IN THE DARK ON ELECTION RESULTS
The mom told mall management she brought two of her children to see Santa Tuesday night, the station reported. As her daughter was sitting in Santa’s lap, he told her she was on his “nice list” and then asked her if she knew who was on his “naughty list.”
The mother said when her daughter asked who, Santa said "Hillary Clinton" and laughed.
The station reported that the woman wrote about the encounter in a Facebook post, which noted that Clinton was the only person on his naughty list. The woman also wrote that her daughter supported Clinton in the presidential election, as she did.
A spokesman for Santa’s employer in Colorado, Noerr Programs, told the station that the Santa in question, who was not named, thought it was a joke but when the mother called to complain, he was replaced. Spokesman Charlie Russell said Noerr sent the woman an apology.
Russell also said the Santa was sent to counseling in human resources. He didn’t know if the Santa would be returning. |
The circus tent for Midnight Circus. View Full Caption DNAinfo/Alisa Hauser
WICKER PARK — A busy weekend of Midnight Circus shows brought 2,500 people to Wicker Park's namesake park, but not everyone was in a happy mood.
According to witnesses and police, a 51-year-old man was arrested around 3 p.m. Saturday after spitting on a security guard and verbally harassing a volunteer.
The man was demanding to get into the traveling circus, which charges $20 for adults and sets up its Big Tent in the park, 1425 N. Damen Ave., witnesses said. The show was underway and most of the audience was inside when the incident occurred outside the tent.
"He wouldn't leave us alone, he kept insisting to go into the circus and talk to the management," said Doug Wood, an events coordinator with the Wicker Park Advisory Council, a volunteer group that collaborates with the Chicago Park District and helps organize events.
David Figueroa, who listed no address, was charged with criminal trespassing and violation of bail bond, according to Officer Nicole Trainor, a Chicago Police spokeswoman.
Trainor said the man was asked to leave after attempting to gain entry into an event without a ticket. The man refused to leave and started bothering other people, Trainor said.
An off-duty Chicago Police officer restrained the man until on-duty police arrived and arrested him, Trainor said.
In the past two months, Figueroa failed to show up to court for misdemeanor cases in which he is charged with criminal damage to property and criminal trespassing at a convenience store, according to Monalinda Saldivar, a spokeswoman for the clerk of the Cook County Circuit Court. The case was later dropped.
Figueroa has a lengthy criminal record dating back three decades which includes multiple convictions for assault of a peace officer, possession of stolen car, theft and battery.
After the circus incident Saturday, Figueroa was released without having to post bond. He is scheduled to appear in court again Wednesday, Saldivar said.
Wood said the circus incident was frustrating because "the park was filled with people" who are paying money to be there at the circus and some folks who were outside of the tent felt threatened.
"There is a real problem and we all know that. The [park] staff is appalled by the number of people who should be on medication. It's a sad situation when we have to pay $1,600 for park security," Wood said, referring to the fact the volunteer group used advertising money from its circus booklet ad sales to pay for two security guards over the weekend. |
A group of Great Barrier Island residents are concerned by Department of Conservation plans to use poison to control pests on a nearby island.
Nearly 300 signatures have been collected by a petition urging DOC to review their decision to use brodifacoum poison on Rakitu Island in Auckland's Hauraki Gulf to control pests.
Rakitu Island is a small offshore island about two kilometres north east of Great Barrier Island and is home to a diverse population of native birds.
READ MORE:
* The science and ethics of using poison to protect wildlife in the Brook Sanctuary
* Small group protests brodifacoum drop planned for Brook Sanctuary
Spokesperson Elise Bishop said locals felt DOC hadn't explored other options adequately such as using A24 traps.
"They cost about the same as using brodifacoum, we don't understand why they haven't considered using the traps."
Bishop said the local community wanted DOC to work with them in an attempt to come up with a poison-free eradication programme.
"There have been studies that show this poison has been found in the liver of birds of prey, there seems to be uncertainty on the long term impact of these second generation anticoagulants."
Brodifacoum is available as an over the counter rat poison and works by causing internal bleeding when an animal eats it.
Bishop said one of their main concerns is the aerial drop will include spraying bait at seaside cliffs which could contaminate the ocean.
DOC director of operations for the Auckland region Andrew Baucke confirmed it plans on undertaking pest control on Rakitu Island using brodifacoum.
"It's likely to take place during the winter of 2018 depending on suitable weather conditions."
Baucke said they were aware of the petition and would respond once they received it. |
Welcome to the new home of the VAMWorld wiki! Efforts have been made to transfer the entire wiki and all images from the old wiki at Wikispaces to this new platform. You will probably notice it has a "Wikipedia" feel to it, and you should. The framework is the same as that which is used by Wikipedia. Over the next few weeks or months, there may be some growing pains while the kinks are ironed out of the migration, but in the end, it is our hope to provide you with not only all the information you are used to seeing on VAMWorld, but also an improved user experience regardless of whether you are using a 27" 4K display like the one I'm using right now, or a smartphone at a coin show.
This site is devoted to Morgan and Peace Dollar die varieties, known as VAM varieties. It is open for all members to contribute, edit and improve. Created in 2006, VAMWorld is now the go-to site for all VAM knowledge, thanks to users who have spent a lot of time creating and editing content. If you have information about VAMs, or can help populate this site, please contribute! If you wish to make contributions to the VAMWorld wiki, you will need to create an account on the Wiki, which is different from the discussion board. It only takes a few seconds and it is free. If you don't want to contribute to the wiki, you do not need an account to be able to read everything here. Note this is a moderated site. Content not about VAMs may be removed. Posting rights will be revoked if necessary.
Problems or questions? Click on Message Board and post your request there.
The old VAMWorld wiki was decommissioned on September 30, 2018. The discussion board was archived and will likely be hosted somewhere, somehow in the future.
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1880-P VAM-58A Double Date, Clashed Obverse n & st
Obverse III2 25 - Clashed die with faint partial n of In from reverse showing next to Liberty head neck and partial st of Trust from reverse showing in right hair vee of lower hair edge.
2019 VOTW
1-20 CascadeChris
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Former CBS News correspondent Sharyl Attkisson has sued the Justice Department over the hacking of her computers, officially accusing the Obama administration of illegal surveillance while she was reporting on administration scandals.
In a series of legal filings that seek $35 million in damages, Attkisson alleges that three separate computer forensic exams showed that hackers used sophisticated methods to surreptitiously monitor her work between 2011 and 2013.
"I just think it's important to send a message that people shouldn't be victimized and throw up their hands and think there's nothing they can do and they're powerless," Attkisson said in an interview.
The department has steadfastly denied any involvement in the hacking, saying in a 2013 statement: "To our knowledge, the Justice Department has never compromised Ms. Attkisson's computers, or otherwise sought any information from or concerning any telephone, computer, or other media device she may own or use."
In the lawsuit and related claims against the Postal Service, filed in Washington, Attkisson says the intruders installed and periodically refreshed software to steal data and obtain passwords on her home and work computers. She also charges that the hackers monitored her audio using a Skype account.
The award-winning reporter says she and her attorneys have "pretty good evidence" that these efforts were "connected" to the Justice Department. She said she was caught in a "Catch-22," forcing her to use the lawsuit and an administrative complaint to discover more about the surveillance through the discovery process and to learn the identities of the "John Does" named in the complaints.
"The Justice Department has not been very forthcoming with questions," she said. "The question is, will anybody ever be held responsible?"
The multimillion-dollar damage figure relates to her loss of privacy and that of her husband and family, she said.
Attkisson learned through a Freedom of Information request that the FBI opened an investigation of the hacking case in May 2013, but says the bureau never interviewed her or even notified her of the probe.
Attkisson resigned from CBS last March after complaining that she was increasingly unable to get her investigative stories on the air. She has published a best-selling book, "Stonewalled," about her battles against the network and the administration as she investigated stories on such subjects as Benghazi, Fast and Furious and ObamaCare.
Click for more from Media Buzz. |
A pedestrian stands next to a refrigerator destroyed in a night of looting, in El Valle neighborhood in Caracas, Venezuela, Friday, April 21, 2017. At least 12 people were killed overnight following looting and violence in Venezuela's capital amid a spiraling political crisis, authorities said Friday. Most of the deaths took place in El Valle, a working class neighborhood near Caracas' biggest military base where opposition leaders say a group of people were hit with an electrical current while trying to loot a bakery protected by an electric fence. (AP Photo/Fernando Llano)
CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — At least 12 people were killed overnight during looting and violence in Venezuela’s capital amid a spiraling political crisis, authorities said Friday.
Most of the deaths took place in El Valle, a working class neighborhood near Caracas’ biggest military base where opposition leaders say a group of people were hit with an electrical current while trying to steal a refrigerator from a bakery.
Two days of huge protests on the streets of Caracas against the socialist government of President Nicolas Maduro spilled into a violent Thursday night in several parts of the city, with residents in El Valle witnessing repetitive gunfire, street barricades set aflame and more than two dozen businesses looted. Amid the confusion, mothers and newborn children had to be evacuated from a maternity hospital named after the late leader Hugo Chavez when it was swamped with tear gas.
The Public Ministry said the violence left 11 people dead in El Valle, all men between the ages of 17 and 45. Another death was reported east of Caracas in El Sucre. Six other people were injured.
“This was a war,” said Liliana Altuna, whose butcher shop was ransacked by looters armed with guns who grabbed everything in sight.
Opposition leaders accused the government of repressing protesters with tear gas and rubber bullets but standing idly by as businesses were looted. Meanwhile, Foreign Minister Delcy Rodriguez pointed the finger at the opposition, saying armed groups controlled by the government’s foes were responsible for the attack at the hospital.
“We reject and do not accept those irresponsible declarations,” said Henrique Capriles, a former opposition candidate for president who the government recently barred from running for public office.
Overall, at least 20 people have been killed in the unrest that erupted after the government-stacked Supreme Court gutted congress of its last vestiges of power three weeks ago — a move later reversed amid a storm of international criticism. Angry protesters are demanding new elections and denouncing a government they deem a dictatorship responsible for triple-digit inflation, soaring crime and widespread shortages of food and medical supplies.
The violence began Thursday night and stretched into Friday in El Valle, an area historically known as a hot spot for political protest. Witnesses said masked looters wielding knives and guns descended on an area known as “the little market” filled with bakeries, supermarkets and butcher’s shops.
“They left us with nothing,” said Manuel Martinez, who was directing cleanup and repairs at a destroyed grocery store.
“What they did wasn’t because of hunger,” he added. “It’s vandalism.”
The chaos turned deadly when looters entered a bakery protected by an electric fence and tried to remove a refrigerator. The accounts varied, but one opposition leader said 13 people were hit with an electrical current after tossing containers filled with water and making contact with the refrigerator’s power cord.
Earlier Friday, officials reported that one of the dead was Mervins Guitian. The young Venezuelan man was fatally shot when he was returning home late from work Thursday and got caught in the middle of late-night street clashes. Vicente Paez, a local councilman, said Guitian was an employee of a Caracas-area city governed by an opposition mayor but didn’t join the protests. It wasn’t clear who shot him and there was no immediate comment from authorities.
Venezuelan social media was ablaze late into the night with grainy cellphone videos of light-armored vehicles plowing down dark streets to control pockets of protesters who set up burning barricades in several neighborhoods.
Vice President Tareck El Aissami said Friday the country is facing an “unconventional war” led by opposition groups working in concert with criminal gangs. He said opposition claims government forces were responsible for launching tear gas at the maternity hospital were another attempt to demoralize a people who have “decided to break ties with the bourgeoisie forever.”
Opposition members said they have no intention of easing up on protests.
“Twenty days of resistance and we feel newly born,” opposition lawmaker Freddy Guevara said at an outdoor news conference Thursday as residents looking out from balconies in a neighborhood at the heart of the protest movement cheered loudly in support.
The next planned protest is Saturday, when opponents are being asked to dress in white and march silently to commemorate the victims of the demonstration. Sit-ins to block major highways are planned for Monday.
General Motors announced early Thursday that it was closing its operations in Venezuela after authorities seized its factory in the industrial city of Valencia, a move that could draw the Trump administration into the escalating chaos engulfing the nation.
A number of major Latin American governments, including Mexico, Argentina and Brazil, called on Venezuela to take steps to increase democratic order and halt the violence that has been swirling around the protests.
The Supreme Court ruling reinvigorated Venezuela’s fractious opposition, which had been struggling to channel growing disgust with Maduro.
Opponents are pushing for Maduro’s removal through early elections and the release of dozens of political prisoners. The government last year abruptly postponed regional elections that the opposition was heavily favored to win and it cut off a petition drive aimed at forcing a referendum seeking Maduro’s removal before elections scheduled for late next year.
But the government hasn’t backed down.
Already drawing criticism for the GM seizure, Maduro announced late Thursday that he wanted an investigation into cellphone operator Movistar for allegedly being part of the “coup-minded march” organized by his adversaries Wednesday. That march was the largest and most dramatic the country has seen in years. He said the subsidiary of Spain’s Telefonica “sent millions of messages to users every two hours” in support of Wednesday’s protests.
As tensions mount, the government is using its almost-complete control of Venezuela’s institutions to pursue its opponents. On Wednesday alone, 565 protesters were arrested nationwide, according to Penal Forum, a local group that provides legal assistance to detainees. It said 334 remained in jail Thursday.
___
Associated Press photographer Juan Carlos Hernandez in Valencia, AP Auto Writer Tom Krisher in Detroit, and Christine Armario in Bogota, Colombia, contributed to this report.
___
Joshua Goodman on Twitter: https://twitter.com/APjoshgoodman
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More Associated Press reporting on Venezuela’s problems can be found at https://www.ap.org/explore/venezuela-undone . |
The year is 2020 something and Daniel Fogner just sent a radio wave into space expecting it to reach a base station on Mars. The only problem is that it never made it. Using a new scanning technology that can determine the bounce point of a wave, Daniel bombards the area in which he sent the signal with multiple radio waves. The data he receives back is shocking. It appears to be an outline of what can only be a cloaked alien space station.
Meanwhile 13-year-old Nathan Redding believes he’s just a normal kid. Adopted as an infant Nathan is being raised by a wealthy couple in a high-rise New York condominium. But after a small sailing accident Nathan’s doctors determine that he has several strange abnormalities. His family and the doctors start to question his origin.
Unknown to Nathan’s friends and family, and even Nathan himself, the aliens placed him on earth as an infant in order to monitor how his Alien self develops in earth’s environment with the hopes of one day settling our planet themselves.
But they didn’t expect to be found out so soon.
Let us know what you think about our ideas! Comment below to give us your opinion, add onto an existing idea, or submit one of your own! |
If you're wondering what the best way to spend New Year's Eve in Nashville, Tennessee was, look no further than the above poster. Deja Vu, one of Nashville's many prestigious stripping establishments, set out to distinguish itself over the New Year's weekend by enlisting both Sassee Cassee, the self-proclaimed "World's smallest stripper," and Mama June Shannon, who you might know better as the mother of the child beauty queen/reality star Honey Boo Boo. Judging from the poster alone, the event promised a dessert buffet of trashiness. I am relieved to say that it did not disappoint.
June Shannon, whom the Deja Vu DJ odiously referred to as "Honey Boo Boo's Mom" for the duration of the evening, is not exactly refined entertainment. "Mama June," as she is also known, began her unlikely rise to the reality television equivalent of stardom by managing to be even more off-putting than her fellow outlandish pageant moms on TLC's Toddlers & Tiaras, an exploitative cringefest best known for its pernicious attitude toward prepubescent sexuality and normalizing the ingestion of energy drinks by children.
That grotesque display begat a solo vehicle for the family, Here Comes Honey Boo Boo, which largely exchanged the then six year-old, eponymous Alana's pageant preparations for a crash course on her mother's grammatical cock-ups and couponing.
Boo Boo captured America's attention, if not its heart, for four brief seasons before being snuffed out amidst tragic rumors that Mama June had renewed her relationship with the man—Mark McDaniel—convicted of molesting her eldest daughter in 2004. The family denied that McDaniel was back in the picture, but it was too late to save the show or the family. The victim, Anna Shannon Cardwell, remains estranged from her mother, even as erstwhile paterfamilias Mike "Sugar Bear" Thompson has returned to co-star with June in the beyond-contrived Marriage Boot Camp: Reality Stars. In many ways, the journey for this family has been sadder than it has been strange. It arguably peaked at a strip club on New Year's.
It's a well-established fact that Honey Boo Boo's Mama June marches to the beat of her own drum. When her absurdly folksy reality show was at its peak, TMZ reported that the five-figure per episode salary the family earned went directly into accounts designated for June's children, while she and her partner Mike "Sugar Bear" Thompson lived off his income as a contractor. Just three years later, after two revelations that she was involved with convicted child abusers temporarily obliterated her marketability and forced TLC to cancel the show, she's spent the year being trotted out as a strip club side show. Shannon is represented by a management company who lists among its clients Scott Disick, 2 Chainz, and several Real Housewives of various municipalities.
At around midnight, I could barely hear what the dancer literally and figuratively in rotation at our table, was trying to say over the oppressive din of Lil Jon and what sounded like every single one of the Eastside Boyz. Strip clubs are not known for their conversational atmosphere for a variety of reasons, and Deja Vu was no different. The combination of the thick granite tabletop, her even thicker high heels, and the condition of the worn, sagging leather seat cradling my ass meant that her mouth must've been a good seven feet from my ears. It was more than enough distance to turn her stoic declaration that "Nobody is here to see Mama June" into an unintelligible warble. Looking around, I wasn't so sure.
Strip clubs are filled to the ceiling with the word "no." No, I would not like a lap dance right now. No, your free cover coupon won't work tonight, you can pay at the desk. No, please don't take away the case of Keystone I lugged here because Tennessee law won't let you see nipples and buy booze in the same place. And so on. But by the look of the floor, very few people had said "no" to an invitation to the club that night. The place was standing-room only, and desperate-to-sit patrons (such as myself) were quickly being ushered off the reserved couches near the stage.
"What kind of crowd are we trying to attract here," a stripper asked no one in particular. She didn't stop dancing, but I could finally make out what she was saying once she squatted on the table like a much sexier Buster Posey. Though, yes, the place was packed to the gills with onlookers, the VIP rooms were curiously empty.
"It's so busy," a flustered and irritated dancer said to another employee as I looked on, sixer of beer in hand. "And I've only had one dance all night!"
When the time came for the meet and greet with Mama June, patrons jammed themselves in line like they thought June could be whisked away at any moment to catch a limousine and a private jet. I jumped at the opportunity to get myself out of the corner that had until now been the domain of a trash can, an ATM, and a dopey, bearded writer (me). I eased into the back of the line as the DJ played Eminem's "W.T.P.," which, given that the song's full title is "White Trash Party," felt a bit on the nose. Nobody seemed to notice.
Luckily, there was plenty of time for both meeting and greeting, first with June's bodyguard, and then with the big Mama herself. There were pictures and hugs and a lot of yelling, owing mostly to alcohol, noise, and the patent absurdity of the evening. The group of women in front of me were totally starstruck, speaking with June for longer than I talk with most of my closest friends.
Mama June's bodyguard took the pictures. "That's fuckin' bright!" June said of my phone's flash.
The author and Mama June. Photo by Mama June's bodyguard
Whatever disdain the dancers had for "Honey Boo Boo's Mom" and the crowd she attracted has disappeared around one in the morning, when Mama June's WTF Weekend co-headliner Little Sassee Cassee took the stage. According to her official website, Cassee stands at just 2'10"—the height of your average toddler—and having seen her in person, even that figure might be generous. But the crowd went wild for her. Dollar bills peppered the stage as she cartwheeled around, and the men who'd seemed glued to their seats all evening were on their feet and tipping, spurred on either by Cassee's show, the DJ's insistence that the crowd's inaction "made [him] wonder whether they play[ed] for the other team," or both.
If you're now contemplating the ins and outs of the show "The World's Smallest Stripper" puts on, allow me to describe it, but please note that words may fail to encapsulate some of the finer points of the performance. I encourage you to seek Cassee out for yourself; you really do have to be there to appreciate it. It goes without saying that in the next paragraph, there are spoilers aplenty.
As you might expect, Sassee Cassee's repertoire of stripper tricks is somewhat limited when compared to what a dancer of average height can accomplish. It's a bit slower and, yes, the view from your seat isn't great. It does take Cassee a bit longer to maneuver around the stage, but she breaks out a hell of a handstand push-up between moves. There isn't a tremendous amount of pole work overall, but she did climb the thing damn near to the top, at one point disappearing altogether behind the drop ceiling. She calls her technique for scaling a pole "the koala," and it's easy to see why. Much of the choreography seemed more impressive than erotic, which was more than alright in my book. Cassee might have been nontraditional, but she was nothing if not a crowd-pleaser.
The good times kept rolling well into the morning, if this very special final dance is any indication, but by the time Little Sassee Cassee was picking her underwear up off the stage floor, my sixer of beer was long gone and my enthusiasm for full and partial nudity was as drained as my wallet. It was time to go find a way home (the taxis were swirling around the club like vultures) and wonder whether 2016 would bring anything half as entertaining as that.
I doubt it.
Follow Jesse on Twitter. |
Pro Brow Tips
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So tell me, please! How important is brow maintenance to you? Do you DIY or do you have them shaped professionally? Do you wear eyebrow makeup? Pencil or powder? |
MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia announced plans on Tuesday to station about 7,600 troops in Georgia’s separatist regions, more than twice the number based there before last month’s war and a level likely to alarm the West.
A Russian peacekeeper is seen at the checkpoint in the village of Khobi, September 8, 2008. REUTERS/Vasily Fedosenko
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said troops would stay in South Ossetia and Abkhazia for a long time to prevent any “repeat of Georgian aggression”.
Moscow’s intervention in Georgia last month, in which its forces crushed an attempt by Tbilisi to retake South Ossetia, drew widespread international condemnation and prompted concern over the security of energy supplies.
Russia agreed on Monday to withdraw its soldiers from areas outside South Ossetia, and the second breakaway region of Abkhazia, within a month, but troops inside the two regions were not explicitly mentioned in the French-brokered deal.
Briefing Russian President Dmitry Medvedev on talks with the separatist leaders, Defence Minister Anatoly Serdyukov said: “We have already agreed on the contingent — in the region of 3,800 men in each republic — its structure and location.”
Russia angered the West last month by recognizing Abkhazia and South Ossetia, which threw off Tbilisi’s rule in separatist wars in the 1990s, as independent states. Nicaragua is the only other state to have recognized their independence.
Lavrov also met the two separatist regions’ foreign ministers on Tuesday to formally establish diplomatic ties, a step likely to further irritate Western governments.
Asked at a news conference how long Russian forces would stay in South Ossetia and Abkhazia, Lavrov said: “They will be there for a long time, at least for the foreseeable period. That is necessary to not allow a repeat of Georgian aggression.”
PEACEKEEPING FORCE
Russia has said it was morally obliged to send in its military last month to prevent what it called a genocide in the separatist regions by an aggressive Georgian government.
Before fighting broke out in Georgia last month, Russia had a peacekeeping force of 1,000 servicemen in South Ossetia and a contingent of about 2,500 in Abkhazia. They were operating under a peacekeeping mandate dating back to the 1990s.
Russia has welcomed the European Union’s role as a mediator over Georgia but in sharp contrast, it has accused the United States of contributing to the conflict by arming Georgia and failing to rein in its leadership.
Russia’s Foreign Ministry said the White House’s decision to rescind a draft agreement on civilian nuclear cooperation with Russia was “mistaken and politicized.”
U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney, who visited Georgia last week to show solidarity with the ex-Soviet state, said in Rome on Tuesday that the international community was united in deploring Russia’s military action.
LIMITED RESPONSE
Both the European Union and the United States have warned Russia it could face serious consequences over its actions in Georgia, but the scope for punitive measures is limited.
Europe depends on Russia for more than a quarter of its gas supplies and Washington needs Russia’s cooperation in efforts to curb Iran’s nuclear ambitions.
After four hours of talks outside Moscow on Monday, Medvedev and EU leaders led by French President Nicolas Sarkozy agreed that Russian forces in buffer zones outside South Ossetia and Abkhazia would pull back within a month.
They are to be replaced with an international monitoring force which will include a 200-strong EU contingent.
Questions remain about Russia’s dominant role inside the two separatist regions, where most residents hold Russian passports.
The fighting in Georgia worried energy markets because it was waged near the route of an oil pipeline that can pump up to 1 million barrels of crude per day from the Caspian Sea. The pipeline is favored by the West because it bypasses Russia.
The International Court of Justice in the Hague, the highest United Nations court, this week began hearing Georgian allegations that Russian violated the human rights of ethnic Georgians in the separatist regions.
Slideshow (17 Images)
Anatoly Nogovitsyn, deputy head of the Russian military’s General Staff, said Russia had nothing to hide.
“At this trial, our position is calm and dignified,” he told foreign military attachees. “I am firmly convinced that the Russian Federation took the only right decision.” |
In 2009, in the earliest weeks of President Barack Obama‘s administration, the White House made the controversial decision to take the unprecedented step of moving the Census Bureau from control of the commerce secretary over to the White House ahead of the decennial 2010 census.
Conservatives sounded alarm bells. “It takes something that is supposedly apolitical like the census, and gives it to a guy who is infamously political,” said Rep. Rob Bishop (R-UT) of then White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel.
“Requiring the Census director to report directly to White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel is a shamefully transparent attempt by your administration to politicize the Census Bureau and manipulate the 2010 Census,” read a letter addressed to Obama authored by Reps. Darrell Issa (R-CA) and Patrick McHenry (R-NC).
While Republican officeholders were the primary sources of statements expressing concern over the move, some non-partisan analysts were also unnerved by the move. “The last thing the census needs is for any hard-bitten partisan (either a Karl Rove or a Rahm Emanuel) to manipulate these critical numbers,” wrote University of Virginia professor Larry Sabato in an email to Fox News at the time. “Partisans have a natural impulse to tilt the playing field in their favor, and this has to be resisted.”
The White House dismissed the concerns of conservatives which were, indeed, unfounded insofar as they related to the 2010 census. But the fears of some that the Census Bureau could be corrupted by the imperatives of the political operatives in the White House was today proven accurate.
RELATED: Census Bureau Changes Health Care Survey Questions Hiding Effects of Obamacare
According to a report in The New York Times, the Census Bureau has been directed to change the wording of its questions relating to health care coverage so that they can no longer be checked against the past three decades of data. According to the nonpartisan analysts and census officials The Times spoke with, this change will make it nearly impossible to accurately assess the effects of the Affordable Care Act has had on the number of Americans who have health insurance.
The changes will, however, likely have the effect of showing a reduction in the number of uninsured. This will not be the result of the effects of the law. Rather, according to the Census Bureau’s chief of the health statistics branch, the drop in uninsured is only going to be due to “the questions and how they are asked.”
Policy analysts and columnists, who are not reflexively friendly to conservative causes, called the debasement of a formerly neutral agency to achieve a political end “insane” and “inexcusable.”
And, thus, another crazy conservative conspiracy theory is proven to not be so crazy after all.
[photo via Pete Souza/White House]
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by Jesse Galef
Our atheist billboards and bus ads have appeared all over the place, but there’s a certain repetition to the designs. In case you wanted something new, your non-prayers have been answered: the American Humanist Association is sponsoring a new nation-wide campaign with the words “No God? …No problem! Be good for goodness’ sake.”
I absolutely love the line “be good for goodness’ sake” and I’m glad they kept it from last year. The only downside is that the apostrophe is easy to miss, and when I worked for the AHA last year I had to constantly point it out to people. Brilliant line in a book or as a spoken slogan, but perhaps not practical on fast-moving busses and in trains, where people won’t always pay enough attention to the nuance.
The other faux controversy last year’s ads stirred up was that we used Christmas themes. One news anchor accused us of using a “fake Santa” (well, the REAL Santa was busy at that time of year!). Bill Donohue took it as a direct attack on Christianity and told me that if we had any guts, we would go after Islam. The new ads keep the Santa hats and use red and green, so we’re sure to see the same accusations and comparisons to grinches.
There undoubtedly will be some Christians who perceive this humanist holiday celebration as part of the “war on Christmas,” perhaps even more sacrilegious than wishing someone “Happy Holidays.” Paranoids will be paranoids. Should we desist from promoting our viewpoint to spare their feelings? Of course not. They’ll likely hate us and our philosophy no matter what we do, so we should just be ourselves.
AHA board member(also president of the Secular Coalition for America) preempted those responses in his On Faith piece
Very few of our ads have been offensive or edgy, and yet there’s been a backlash against every single one. It doesn’t matter what we say, people will take offense.
Given the fact that people will take umbrage at things I consider harmless, should we bother to be polite? I think so. People are getting offended at the content of our message – there’s no getting around that. But if we can avoid offending people with our style as well, let’s do what we can. Spreading our message does real good in communities and in the national dialogue about religion in America.
I think we should be as nice as we can without compromising our message. Do you agree?
(Image from the AHA’s Flickr site) |
5:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m.
Near the Gridiron
Celebrate this futuristic First Fridays with free electric vehicle test drives. Get behind the wheel of all-electric vehicles like the Nissan LEAF, Chevy Bolt, Chevy Spark, and maybe a Tesla! Plug-in hybrid vehicles may include the Toyota Prius Prime, Chevy Volt, Honda Clarity, Kia Niro, and Chrysler Pacifica.
Discuss the benefits of driving electric with dealers & local EV owners. If local EV owners wish to bring their vehicle for display, email lthill@macog.com. A valid driver’s license will be required to test drive vehicles.
6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m
Studebaker Plaza
Members of the Northern Darkness Garrison – the northern Indiana chapter of the 501st Legion – will be at Studebaker Plaza for photos, wearing movie-quality Star Wars costumes.
6:00 p.m. to 11:00 p.m.
105 E. Jefferson Blvd.
Chicory Cafe will be hosting a Star Wars costume contest starting from 6:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m., with registration at 5:45 p.m. Space will be limited to the first 12 entries in each of the two age categories: Kids (12 & under) and Adults (13 & over) (Note – these categories may shift based on the number of entries per age group.) Winners will receive Chicory Cafe gift cards. From 8:00 p.m. to 11:00 p.m., enjoy free live music by J & J Smoothtones.
5:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m.
DoubleTree atrium
The DoubleTree will be hosting a Star Wars-themed Photo Booth in their atrium, with a full size cardboard cut-out of Boba Fett. They will also be handing out cookies, and will have their pop-up coffee bar set up with coffee, and other drinks for purchase. Also take advantage of the First Fridays special at Baker’s, located inside the DoubleTree: buy one appetizer, get one 50% off.
5:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m.
210 S. Michigan St.
Notre Dame Federal Credit Union‘s mascot Dollar Dog will be passing out free Star Wars balloons, and there will also be light sabers to play with.
8:30 p.m. to 9:00 p.m.
Studebaker Plaza
Dana of WonderFlow Hoop Co. will be performing a fire hoop routine at Studebaker Plaza, dressed as the Star Wars character Rey.
5:30 pm to 7:00 p.m.
American Trust Company clock (corner of Washington and Michigan)
Enjoy a fun and informative guided walking tour of South Bend landmark buildings, exploring their history and present day use. Tours are given by the Historic Preservation Commission of South Bend & St. Joseph County. Cost for these 90-minute tours are just $4/person (cash only.) Space is limited so reservations are recommended; click here to reserve your spot. Tours meet at 5:30 p.m. at the American Trust Company clock, located at the corner of Washington and MIchigan, in front of Cafe Navarre.
5:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m.
120 S. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.
The South Bend Museum of Art will be holding a reception for their new exhibitition “Voyage: The Art of Alan Larkin,” with an artist talk from 6:30 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. Larkin’s paintings, drawings and prints embrace the dramatic spotlighting techniques of Dutch 17th Century painters; capture the mystery of the Magic Realists; and evoke the romance of the Pre-Raphaelites. Enjoy complimentary refreshments, free admission, and 10% off purchases in SBMA gift shop – The Dot Shop.
5:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m.
The Gridiron
Representatives from Lime Bike will be at the Gridiron with their new e-bikes and e-scooters for people to try out. Riders must be 18+ to ride the scooters, and 16+ to ride the e-bikes.
8:00 p.m. to 11:00 p.m.
111 N. Main St.
South Bend Latin Dance – the same group that you see in Studebaker Plaza during the summer First Fridays – have moved to their new indoor First Fridays location at the WXYZ Bar in the new Aloft Hotel. This geat new South Bend venue offers a beautiful welcoming environment, full bar, food options, and more. Dance to salsa, bachata, merengue and all the usual groove-gettin’ Latin jams. All ages, $5 cover, everyone welcome. Lesson at 8 p.m. followed by open dancing; and head to Cinco 5 afterward to continue the party!
10:00 p.m. to 3:00 a.m.
112 W. Colfax Ave.
The Latin dancing continues at Cinco 5, where they will be playing bachata, salsa, cumbia, merengue, and more. 21+ only; $3 cover after 11:00 p.m.
5:00 p.m. to 2:00 a.m.
129 N Michigan St.
Vegetable Buddies will be celebrating their two-year anniversary with a Tiki party featuring Tiki cocktails, an island-inspired menu, and a concert by Hurricane Reggae Band. Wear a Hawaiian shirt and get a free lei. Come out early for a great dinner and to make sure you get a good seat. Doors open at 5:00 p.m. 21+, $10 cover after 9pm.
8:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m.
211 N. Michigan St.
Kinky Boots comes to the Morris Performing Arts Center with shows on May 4, 5, and 6. Kinky Boots is Broadway’s huge-hearted, high-heeled hit! With songs by Cyndi Lauper, this joyous musical celebration is about the friendships we discover, and the belief that you can change the world when you change your mind.
5:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m.
122 S. Michigan St.
Laura Whidden will be performing a free concert at the South Bend Chocolate Cafe from 5:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. Laura will be performing pop/rock selections mixed with her own song creations. The Chocolate Cafe will also be handing out finger lights to kids, and will have cardboard cutouts of Chewbacca and Darth Vader for photo ops. Also take advantage of their First Fridays special: 2 for $17 any crunch/pretzel combo.
9:00 p.m. to midnight
127 N. Main St.
Enjoy free live music at Fiddler’s Hearth by local Irish band Kennedy’s Kitchen from 9:00 p.m. to midnight every First Fridays!
5:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m.
120 W. LaSalle Ave.
The Hoffman Hotel will offer free tours of their renovated historic apartment spaces and free refreshments. The tours will be given every half hour (5:00, 5:30, 6:00, etc.)
5:00 p.m. to midnight
115 W. Colfax Ave.
Enjoy two free live shows at LaSalle Kitchen & Tavern this First Fridays: Cambrae from 5:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m., and Lalo Cura from 9:00 p.m. to midnight.
4:30 p.m. to 8:00 p.m.
Studebaker Plaza
The Golden Roamer is a 24-foot recreational vehicle complete with brochures for visitors detailing the area’s offerings as well as satellite TV, and more. It will be parked near Studebaker Plaza (corner of Jefferson and Michigan) and you are invited to go inside and explore.
5:00 p.m. to 7:30 p.m.
Studebaker Plaza
HealthWorks! Kids’ Museum will be doing a program for kids called “Your Amazing Body” at Studebaker Plaza. |
In a letter posted Wednesday, Kelly argues that she should not have been cast out of the Mormon church — officially the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints — last month . Kelly was excommunicated after publicly advocating for female ordination to the church's all-male lay priesthood.
Excommunicated Mormon feminist Kate Kelly is fighting to remain in the church that ousted her.
Kelly, a lawyer, slams the process used to excommunicate her, calling it "shameful, and potentially actionable."
In the letter, Kelly asks Washington, D.C., church leaders to "do the right thing" and to consider her appeal "with humility and openness." She also asserts that she has "done nothing wrong," adding later, "I am, and have always been, a faithful Mormon."
Kelly includes numerous reasons she believes her excommunication was unfair. These are a few of her arguments:
• Her church leaders never asked her "one single question regarding my feelings about female ordination."
• The meeting in which Kelly was excommunicated — a kind of church trial called a "disciplinary council" — was held without her being present.
• Her local church leaders had "no authority to control my views, voice or speech and no right to compel me into silence."
• Church leaders' refused to guarantee that the excommunication proceedings would be kept confidential, which Kelly called "potentially actionable." |
Blizzard Publishing is a new book label from Blizzard Entertainment, which is “dedicated to developing and releasing new Blizzard publications and reissuing out-of-print titles in the company’s Warcraft, StarCraft, and Diablo settings,” according to a release from the company this week.
The first titles released under the new label are the World of Warcraft Adult Coloring Book, and some out-of-print Warcraft novels and manga, such as Warcraft: The Last Guardian by Jeff Grubb, World of Warcraft: Rize of the Horde by Christie Golden, and a pair of Warcraft Legends volumes.
“Great stories and inspiring artwork have always been at the heart of everything we do,” said senior vice president of story and franchise development at Blizzard Entertainment, Lydia Bottegoni in the release. “The creation of Blizzard Publishing gives us new opportunities to celebrate the art and stories of our games with Blizzard gamers as well as fantasy and sci-fi fans around the world.”
Blizzard Publishing is also looking to release a series of full-color coffee table art books, starting with Art of Hearthstone and Cinematic Art of StarCraft.
If you’re keen to get your hands on some Blizzard-published books right now, head over to the Blizzard store and pick up Blizzard Legends titles for USD$14.95 each, or Blizzard Manga titles and the WoW Adult Coloring Book for USD$12.95 each.
In other Blizzard news, Overwatch has a Christmas event starting next week, and took home the Game of the Year award at The Game Awards 2016. Apparently Ronda Rousey played WoW with Vin Diesel during filming of Furious 7, and the vanilla no-expansions WoW server is returning. |
I was a founding officer when my current agency came into being in 2005. We had one car, one radio, one set of keys, and we worked 12-hour shifts (alone!). The day I started I was the department range master and Armorer as I had held these positions with my previous agency. My Chief was clear: She wanted rifles in the cars.
Looking at All Variables
We started with a discussion on what caliber suited our needs now and into the future. We are 10 sworn from the Chief down but in 20 years we are projected to be 70-90 sworn. We have numerous multilevel buildings, thousands of acres of open pasture, underground tunnels, housing complexes, and other large facilities. Due to our topography and population density we needed a round that limited the possibility of over penetration. The two that came to prominence were 5.56mm and 5.7x28mm. My officers expressed that they were more confident in 5.56mm versus 5.7x28mm. My guys need to hit the street confident in themselves as well as their gear. Lack of confidence can literally get an officer killed so 5.7x28mm was dropped.
As I surveyed the crop of viable rifles I settled on the following for consideration: AR-15/M4, SIG 551, H&K G36K, FN SCAR, FN F2000, and the Steyr AUG. I wanted to have magazine commonality with surrounding agencies so only rifles that used AR-15/M16 magazines remained. In 2005/2006 the FN SCAR was not available so it was eliminated. This left the AR-15/M4 and the FN F2000.
Far too often agencies are forced to make do with what they have. In those rare times when you get a clean slate to work with, take advantage of it. When doing so on the addition of a patrol rifle, however, you need to be very purposeful in the approach. (PoliceOne Image)
Expert Analysis The twist-rate debate By Dennis Haworth Twist rate on 5.56/.223 caliber rifles has been one of those issues that gets debated in a lot of discussions I have with civilian and law enforcement shooters. Without getting deep into the history on twist rates, what you need to know is that those old M16A1 rifles that some agencies have been getting from the U.S. Government are going to have 1/12 inch twist barrels — this works well with 55 grain bullets but not much else. When the U.S. Military adopted the M16A2 in 1980’s it, along with most of NATO, switched to 1/7 twist to stabilize the heavier rounds they were using. Some countries and commercial manufacturers went to 1/9 as an alternative twist rate that would work equally well with 55 grain and 62 grain bullets. What we see today in the LE patrol carbine market is mostly 1/9 or 1/7 twist barrels. So which one is better? For me and my agency it was clear: 1/7. The reason is that the largest consumer of small arms ammo is the military. As such it exerts a great deal of influence over military caliber small arms ammunition development. Two of the best rounds developed in the last few years in 5.56mm have been the 75 grain TAP T-2 and the 77 grain Black Hills Mk. 262. Both of these rounds were developed to work well in 1/7 twist barrels specifically. Accuracy is either inconsistent or nonexistent in 1/9 twist barrels. If you want to take advantage of the effective heavier rounds currently being offered and developed then you need to run 1/7. I have seen 1/9 barrels that function very well with the 70+ grain bullets. I discussed this issue with Giles Stock at a Hornady ballistics class. He explained that you can take a sampling of rifles with 1/9 twist barrels from the same lot and some will work well with the heavier bullets and others will not. The reason is that during the manufacturing process some are cut closer to 1/8 and some are closer to 1/10. The ones closer to 1/8 will stabilize the bullet better and you will get better accuracy. Related feature Single-point sling swivel for your AR-15 If you’re using single point slings on your AR-15 you are going to have to address the issue of a sling mount.
Security a Major Concern
A major concern for our agency was the security of the rifles in the patrol cars so I had to find the most secure racks I could. The F2000 offered great handling; ambidextrous controls and a small profile, the issue of available racks that met our needs eliminated it from consideration. The AR-15/M4 was the only rifle still standing. I found Big Sky and their excellent line of ELS rifle racks. What set the Big Sky offerings apart are the metal plates that cover both sides of the receivers when the rifle is in the rack. Eliminating access to the take down pins is a big plus in keeping the rifle secure in the rack. The design significantly reduces access to the trigger, selector and magazine. If you have seen what happens to a light bar after an officer intended to dry fire a shotgun in the rack only to find out it was loaded, you understand why this is so important. So far we have not had one issue with any of our Big Sky rifle racks.
The Twist-Rate Debate
Knowing that our rifles would most likely be in service long after I was dead, I wanted our rifles to comply with current and future standards and to be as adaptable as possible. This added three standards: the rifle had to have M4 feed ramps, Parkerizing under the front sight base and 1/7 twist barrels (check out my sidebar item on twist rates). That eliminated many manufacturers who decided to either not stay current or to cut corners. We settled on Colt and LMT. The price difference was minor but Colt offers an LE Armorer class. That tipped the scale in Colt's favor.
Barrel length debates came next. My boss wanted 16 inch and I wanted 11 inch. We compromised and bought 14.5 inch Colt model 6921 semi only M4 carbines. In California, state law dictates that officers must be sent to a POST rifle class before being issued any short barreled rifle. By getting the 14.5 inch rifles and issuing one to every officer this ensures future administrations must send all new hires to rifle training.
We recognized the need for weapon mounted lights. I did not want anything with wires hanging off to get snagged or damaged. I found that Big Sky makes the ESL-270 specifically to work with the Surefire M500 light. This made the selection obvious. The M500 has shown to be a reliable clean light that is easy to use and fits my agencies needs.
Choosing Optics & Slings
My Chief made it clear she wanted an optic on every rifle based on her past experience. The Eotech was eliminated due to the battery box issues at the time and the ACOG was eliminated due to the reticule blacking out in certain situations. I conducted a test and evaluation on the Aimpoint M3, M4 and T1. The M4 was eliminated due to cost. Every officer shot an M4 carbine equipped with the M3 and the T1. Every officer voted for the T1. Each said the sight picture of the T-1 was “just cleaner.” We have equipped all our carbines with Aimpiont T1’s in LaRue mounts. This has proven to be a very reliable and durable set up. Our Aimpoints are left on all the time to eliminate an officer deploying the rifle with the optic turned off. We simply change out the batteries once a year — regardless of whether or not they need it — so as to eliminate the possibility that the battery will die at the wrong time.
Two of my officers are former SWAT members who made it very clear they wanted a single point sling. I attended the 2006 SHOT Show and checked out the various slings. I was most impressed with the Troy Ind. single point and after looking at all the available sling mounts I settled on the Yankee Hill sling plate. This combination has worked well.
We purchased Specter Gear M4 thigh pouches and Eagle M4 FB chest rigs to carry extra magazines. Our officers can chose which they prefer and equip them how they want. It’s about 60/40 in favor of the thigh pouches. In the up-coming years we will add individual med-kits for each chest rig and possibly switching to plate carriers with hard armor plates.
Lessons Learned
So looking back, what would I have changed? I get asked that a lot. I would push harder for 11” barrels. The Arcadia (Calif.) PD has been using 11” Colt Commando’s for years with outstanding results. The shorter barrel allows the officer to remove the carbine from the rack, mount the sling, chamber a round while seated in the patrol car without opening the driver’s door. With the “pre-fragmented” bullet designs of today fragmentation is achievable at greater ranges than with FMJ and soft point loads making barrel length less important. It’s a balancing act. I would have used the Noveske or Daniel Defense QD sling plates in place of the YHM to allow the sling to function ambidextrously instantly and allow for smoother transitions from left and right shoulders.
Looking at current products available I most likely would have purchased Daniel Defense 11.5 inch, hammer-forged, light-weight barreled carbines with Magpul MOE stocks, Magpul MOE trigger guards, Daniel Defense sling plates, Blue Force single point slings, Surefire flash hiders, and Gas Buster charging handles. This way we get the lightest, handiest carbine possible that accommodates cold and wet weather with the larger trigger guard for gloved hands and a rubber butt pad.
As our rifle program moves forward we are planning on adding suppressors to our rifles due to OSHA and other risk management concerns. Fortunately the current products on the market will fit with our systems approach. They will fit on the rifle, fit in the rack, and not interfere with our lights and optic. My choices were dictated by the needs of the department and not what I personally wanted. In the end my agency provides an outstanding tool to its officers that has met their needs and the agencies. If you are ever given the opportunity to develop any program such as this make sure you look at all aspects of the program, all the component pieces and how they will fit together. Take a systems approach. Far too often we are forced to make do with what we have. In those rare times when we get a clean slate to work with, take advantage of it. |
Gov. Mike Pence has confirmed that Donald Trump would remove the Obama administration’s guidance on transgender students. Among other things, it urged school districts across the country not to discriminate against trans students.
Speaking on Dr James Dobson’s Family Talk radio show, Pence said that should he and Trump be elected, they would remove the administration’s guidance so that “the transgender bathroom issue can be resolved with common sense at the local level”.
“There’s no area of our lives too small for [the administration] to want to regulate, no aspect of our constitution too large for them to ignore,” he continued. “Donald Trump and I both believe these questions can be resolved with common sense at the local level.”
Pence then said that such issues were “resolved in the state of Indiana whenever they come up, and they should be resolved, for the safety and well-being of our children first and foremost, their privacy and rights, and with common sense.”
“Washington has no business intruding on the operation of our local schools. It’s just one more example of the heavy hand of this administration,” he said, adding: “Washington DC has no business imposing its bill and its values on communities around the nation.”
Of course, Pence is no stranger to imposing values on a community. Last year, he signed Indiana’s Religious Freedom Restoration Act into law. The widely criticized law was described as giving license to discriminate against LGBT people on the basis of religious beliefs.
“The bill was introduced as a backlash reaction to achieving marriage equality for same-sex couples in Indiana,” Jane Henegar, executive director of the ACLU in Indiana said at the time.
After pressure from businesses and outrage from activists, Indiana was forced to “fix” the law, clarifying that it could not be used to discriminate against LGBT people.
Sen. Tim Kaine was criticized this week for failing to raise Pence’s lack of support for the LGBT community at Tuesday’s vice presidential debate. |
We're happy to announce a half-day event in Foster City on Oct 22nd with Vitalik Buterin, Juan Benet, Fred Ehrsam, Alessandro Chiesa, Jae Kwon, and more.
Vitalik (https://twitter.com/vitalikbuterin?lang=en)will talk about the mauve paper, including its proof-of-stake consensus and scalability features. He will review the economic incentives of the mauve paper (http://vitalik.ca/files/mauve_paper3.html), including the effective interest and inflation rates.
Juan Benet (https://twitter.com/juanbenet?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor) will present Filecoin (http://filecoin.io/), including economic mechanisms to ensure long-term storage in IPFS (https://ipfs.io/). He will also give an update on IPFS. Juan is the founder of IPFS and Filecoin.
Fred Ehrsam (https://twitter.com/fehrsam) will speak on protocol tokens (such as Filecoin!) which implement decentralized protocols with economic incentives. Fred is a co-founder of Coinbase.
Alessandro Chiesa (http://www.eecs.berkeley.edu/~alexch/) will present the "State of the SNARK"; he'll talk on the current state of succinct zero knowledge argument constructions. He will also discuss plans for the libsnark (https://github.com/scipr-lab/libsnark) library. Alessandro is an assistant professor at UC Berkeley.
Jae Kwon (https://twitter.com/jaekwon) will give a brief analysis of the Mauve paper and the proof-of-stake mechanisms it provides. Jae is the founder of Tendermint (http://tendermint.com/).
Lunch will be provided. |
WOODBURY, N.J. (AP) — A former New Jersey high school teacher who secretly recorded “upskirt” videos of several female students has been sentenced to 10 years in state prison.
Adam Mayr must serve at least five years of the sentence imposed Friday before he becomes eligible for parole. The 39-year-old Washington Township, Gloucester (GLAW’-stur) County, resident had pleaded guilty to official misconduct and invasion of privacy charges.
Gloucester County prosecutors say Mayr made the videos while he was an English teacher at the Gloucester County Institute of Technology in Deptford, a vocational high school. They say at least 24 victims were identified, and most of them were about 14 years old when the videos were made.
Authorities have said they don’t believe that Mayr ever shared the videos with others. |
George N Parks (May 23, 1953 – September 16, 2010) was the director of the University of Massachusetts Minuteman Marching Band at University of Massachusetts Amherst from 1977 until 2010. He also led the George N. Parks Drum Major Academy, a summer workshop program for high school drum majors that he founded in 1978.
Early life and education [ edit ]
Parks was born on 23 May 1953 in Buffalo, New York and grew up in Newark, Delaware graduating from Christiana High School in 1971, along with being a Drum Major.[1] He earned a bachelor's degree from West Chester University, where he was the drum major in the West Chester University Golden Rams Marching Band.[2] At West Chester, Parks was initiated into the Rho Sigma chapter of Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia.[3] After college he earned a master's degree in tuba performance at Northwestern University.[2]
Career [ edit ]
Drum corps [ edit ]
Parks made his first appearance on the national scene as Drum Major of the award-winning Reading Buccaneers Drum and Bugle Corps. He helped lead the Buccaneers to two DCA Championships, in 1979 and 1980, and received numerous individual honors, including eight DCA Championship Drum Major Awards.[4] In 1976, while working as a graduate assistant under John P. Paynter at Northwestern University, he was instrumental in bringing the first color guard/flag corp to the Big Ten.[5]
In 1993, Parks was inducted into the World Drum Corps Hall of Fame, for recognition of his work in the field of drum corps and mace technique.[6]
University of Massachusetts [ edit ]
Parks became the director of the University of Massachusetts Minuteman Marching Band in 1977 at the age of 24, and built upon a strong program that had been headed by John Jenkins.[4] Parks was a professor in the Department of Music and was the recipient of the university's Distinguished Teacher Award in 1989 and the Chancellor's Medal for Distinguished Service in 1997.[7] The University's Alumni Association named him an honorary alumnus in 1997.[8][9] At the time of his death, he was director of the band alongside Assistant Director Thom Hannum.[10]
George N. Parks Drum Major Academy [ edit ]
Parks founded the George N. Parks Drum Major Academy, a summer program to train high school drum majors. Each summer, over 3,000 students attend the Band Leadership Training Seminar and Drum Major Academy.[4][11]
Other work [ edit ]
In addition to his work at UMass Amherst and with his Drum Major Academy, Parks worked regularly with Bowl Games of America (BGA), where he assisted in the production of massed band halftime shows. He conducted BGA halftime shows at the Sugar Bowl, Orange Bowl, Gator Bowl, and the BCS National Championship Game.[10] In 2005 and 2009, he was the director of the Bands of America Honor Band in the Tournament of Roses Parade.[12]
Personal life [ edit ]
Parks married his wife, Jeanne, in 1979 in Point Pleasant, New Jersey. They had two children, Michael and Kathryn.[9]
Death and legacy [ edit ]
Parks died from a heart attack on the evening of September 16, 2010. After a performance with the marching band at a Cuyahoga Falls High School football game, he collapsed while getting into a van. Paramedics were called again, and they transported him to Summa Western Reserve Hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 11:02 p.m.[13]
Earlier in the day, Parks had been complaining about neck pain, and paramedics were called. According to Gary Guenther, chief investigator for the Summit County Medical Examiner, "When they got there, they checked him out," he said. "Mr. Parks apparently said he was feeling better and refused to go to the hospital." At the time of his death, he was en route to Ann Arbor, Michigan with the band for a football game on September 18 between UMass and the University of Michigan.[14][15] He was honored on Homecoming Day on October 16, 2010 by current and former band members and staff. This included a performance by the alumni band, which included approximately 1,300 participants, the largest the university had ever seen.[16][17]
Awards and honors [ edit ]
Parks conducting
Parks was inducted into the Massachusetts Instrumental and Choral Conductors Association Hall of Fame, the World Drum Corps Hall of Fame, The Bands of America Hall of Fame, and the Buccaneers Hall of Fame. Additionally, he received the Kappa Kappa Psi National Honorary Band Fraternity Distinguished Service to Music Medal, in the field of marching band, in October 2008.[18] Parks was initiated into the Epsilon Nu chapter of Kappa Kappa Psi National Honorary Band Fraternity as an Honorary Member and the Delta Delta chapter of Tau Beta Sigma National Honorary Band Sorority as an Honorary Member.[7][9]
The George N. Parks Minuteman Marching Band Building at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, which officially opened on Homecoming Weekend in November 2011, was named in Parks' honor.[19] The name was chosen a year before his death and announced in Parks' presence at the groundbreaking in October 2009.[20]
Following his death, Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick named October 16, 2010 "George N. Parks Day", delivered by proclamation through state Sen. Stanley Rosenberg (himself a UMASS band alum), and instructed University of Massachusetts President Jack M. Wilson that the state flags be lowered to half-staff in Parks' honor.[21]
Published works [ edit ]
The Dynamic Drum Major (1984, Grove Weidenfeld; ISBN 978-99965-0-824-0 Cl Barnhouse Co/Music Pubs) |
The perl motto reads,’There’s more than one way to do it!’. I think that line is pretty much applicable to anything we do on Linux. What comes to your mind when someone mentions Linux? The terminal! Why is it important? Because thats where you run commands in Linux, silly!
Google turned up quite a few alternatives for a Linux terminal emulator. Like any demanding customer, i wanted to know what alternative was the best. So I ran a lame test on all of them, the time they take to print stuff. i know the puritans would argue that memory, cpu usage and [to a far lesser extent] download size are the parameters that decide how good a software is. My counter argument would be the fact that all of that is taken for granted today! Our laptops are more powerful than Crays were a decade ago. So stop whining about those performance metrics, unless an app actually causes your system to hang or use up 90+% of resources! Very machine specific measure, yes. But the relative speeds will probably scale, and thus its a good indicator of how good a terminal emulator is.
Spewed out text is pretty much all the output we get in terminals, our own inputs apart. What if the terminal printing speed was the bottleneck here? Assuming it is, my post should shed some light on whats the best option out there for use.
The various emulators i tested are: gnome-terminal, aterm, the shell inside emacs, guake, rxvt and xterm.
I cat’ed a text file 100 times to create a 30mb text file that contained about 210,000 lines. And used `time cat big_file` on each of the terminals. The value is the average of 5 runs. The results are presented below:
Terminal Time(s) aterm 7.6365 emacs 92.9118 gnome-terminal 68.953 guake 70.4815 rxvt 9.47 xterm 12.9122
Strangely though, xterm took 40s to do the same job when i had it maximized. I’m guessed it’s probably because it had to manipulate more onscreen text when maximized.
Parting notes, chuck gnome-terminal!
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Tags: aterm, emacs, gnome, Linux, speed, terminal, xterm |
ARLINGTON, TX - JUNE 2: A general view of the stadium during the game between the Kansas City Royals and the Texas Rangers at Rangers Ballpark in Arlington on June 2, 2013 in Arlington, Texas. (Photo by Rick Yeatts/Getty Images) (Photo by Rick Yeatts/Getty Images)
ARLINGTON, Texas (105.3 THE FAN) – CBS RADIO and the Texas Rangers today announced that they have entered into a multi-year agreement for the team’s English radio play-by-play broadcasts to air exclusively on Dallas-Fort Worth’s 105.3 The FAN beginning with the 2015 season.
The agreement includes coverage of regular and post-season games broadcast on 105.3 The FAN (KRLD-FM) as well as select spring training games. The all-sports station will also complement its play-by-play coverage with live pre- and post-game shows, and Rangers-themed daily programming featuring interviews with players, coaches and front office personnel.
“We are very pleased to enter into this long term radio agreement with 105.3 The Fan,” commented Rangers Executive Vice President for Communications John Blake. “The Rangers enjoyed a great relationship with KRLD and CBS RADIO from 1995-2010, and we look forward to a very productive partnership in the future.”
The Rangers’ radio broadcast rights return to CBS RADIO for the first time since 2010. From 1995-2008 all games were carried on NewsRadio 1080 (KRLD-AM). Following the launch of 105.3 The Fan in the fall of 2008, Rangers weekday games in 2009-10 were carried on 105.3 The Fan with weekend broadcasts remaining on NewsRadio 1080. That marked the first time that Rangers games had ever been broadcast in FM. Under the new agreement, NewsRadio 1080 will carry any games that conflict with previously scheduled programming on 105.3 The Fan.
In addition, the Rangers Radio Network will provide Rangers baseball coverage to a number of stations throughout Texas, Arkansas, Louisiana, New Mexico, and Oklahoma. The Rangers will continue to oversee all radio production and network elements of the broadcasts. Eric Nadel, the 2014 Ford C. Frick Award recipient, will begin his 37th season of broadcasting Texas Rangers baseball this spring. He will join Matt Hicks, returning for his third full year, to call all games on 105.3 The FAN and the Rangers English radio network.
“We couldn’t be more excited that the Texas Rangers are coming home to 105.3 The FAN,” said Brian Purdy, Senior Vice President and Market Manager for CBS RADIO DFW. “The Rangers games and related programming will be a great addition to our powerful lineup of play-by-play broadcasts and local sports talk shows on The FAN. And it’s a partnership that includes all six of CBS RADIO’s Dallas-Fort Worth stations as we feature the team across our entire portfolio of over-the-air and digital assets.”
(©2014 CBS Local Media, a division of CBS Radio Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)
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Derby County’s Under 23s rounded off their Premier League Cup campaign on Monday night by defeating Colchester United 2-1 at St George’s Park.
Calum Macdonald opened the scoring from close range with less than two minutes on the clock before Joe Bateman went on to extend the Rams’ lead on 38 minutes after he capitalised on a loose ball.The second half saw Darren Wassall’s side reduced to ten men after Lewis Walker was sent off for a late tackle, and the visitors very quickly made the most of their advantage by netting through Eoin McKeown.Despite being a man down, Derby put in a determined performance and fought to the bitter end to deservedly secure all three points, although it was not enough to see them progress beyond the group stages of the competition.Looking back on the contest, there were less than 180 seconds played when Derby opened the scoring as Macdonald latched onto the ball inside the box to score his second goal in four outings.With three wins and a draw recorded from their previous five matches, the Rams appeared to ooze with confidence and this was evident in the early stages as Colchester were continually put under pressure.The U's steadily grew into things but Derby were again the next to knock at the door after Max Bird played a ball over the top to the in-form Emil Riis Jakbosen, and the striker forced the visiting goalkeeper into making a decent save.Walker and Jakobsen both had chances either side of the half-hour mark to double Derby's advantage but, from inside the box, both couldn’t find the target.With the break fast approaching, the Rams did extend their lead to mark an impressive spell with the ball. Second-year scholar Bateman was the man on target after he capitalised on Colchester’s failure to clear their lines with a calm tap-in from inside the box.Colchester began the second half brightly and they nearly clawed one back just two minutes after the turnaround, with goalkeeper Henrich Ravas forced to push Ryan Clampin’s glancing header around the post.It wasn’t long before the Rams were turning their defensive work into an attack and on 57 minutes wideman Kellan Gordon shot from range, but he saw his audacious effort go narrowly over the bar.Alex Babos was next to have a go at goal and he did so to mark yet another attacking spell for the Rams but, unfortunately, he was unable to hit the target from the left side of the box and he blasted the ball into the side netting.Though Derby were dominating, the Rams were wary of Colchester’s counter-attacking threat and it would have come to fruition had Ravas not have made an outstanding save to keep McKeown from having the deficit in a one-on-one situation.Out of the blue, a late tackle from frontman Walker in the 68th minute saw him dismissed by the referee, seeing Derby down to ten men. It didn’t take long for Colchester to make the most of having an extra man and with 18 minutes left to play they clawed one back through McKeown, who headed in Callum Jones’ dangerous cross from the left.It was a bright period for Colchester and they strived to put the Rams under considerable pressure in an attempt to bring the game back level.With time running out for the visitors, their golden chance to equalise came in the 82nd minute after Clampin’s curling shot from the left bounced off the bottom of Ravas’ right post before Bateman cleared the rebound.Luck appeared to be on Derby’s side, but superb game management ensured they came out on top in the latter stages of what was a well fought contest by both sides.Ravas, Santos, Karic (Cover 63), Bird (Mitchell-Lawson 63), Bateman, Macdonald, Gordon, Elsnik, Jakobsen (Cresswell 79), Babos, WalkerBarnes, EdwardsElsnikWalkerWilks, Jefferies (Keys 73), Ocran (Jones 61), Wright, Peter, Pollard, Brown, McKeown, Szmodics (Clampin 45), Dunne, HarrisonPhillips, HowardWrightTweets by @ dcfcofficial |
Beauty Vlogger Jessica Pettway Speaks After Being Criticized for Giving 2‐Year‐Old Daughter Crochet Twists
Last week natural hair vlogger Jessica Pettway posted an adorable photo of her two‐year old daughter, Kailee, wearing crotchet twists.
Responses to the image, however, were mixed, with some fans questioning the safety of using of using a protective style on a child so young. Pettway insists, however, that the the style is not only safe, but a great option for busy moms.
BGLH: Why did you choose to put crotchet twists in Kai’s hair?
JESSICA: Well because her hair needed a break. It’s always out. I saw a few videos of moms doing crotchet braids on their kids, and I found that they had done crotchet braids with twists. I didn’t have to physically twist her hair, and it gives her hair a break. We also have a lot workshops and events we’re going to be doing this year and I need her hair to be healthy and strong, so I needed to put her hair away.
BGLH: Tell me more about these workshops.
JESSICA: I host a series of workshops called Handle with Care, where we provide information and tips for how to do your child’s hair. Moms are busy and it gets overwhelming…I give tips that I use with Kai that help me with styling her hair.
BGLH: Can you share some of those tips with us?
JESSICA: I always make sure she’s well rested, has snacks, and a movie on. I make it a positive experience.
You don’t want to do it at time when they are extremely tired, either. The experience depends on their mood.
BGLH: So tell us more about the process. Did it take a long time?
JESSICA: The whole process took no more than three hours. Felicia Leatherwood braided her hair, and I installed the crotchet twists.
BGLH: Did she sit still the whole time?
JESSICA: Yes. She’s so used to it, and it’s not a traumatic process. I make the experience fun for her. She loves getting her hair done. She goes to the cabinets and gets the brushes…I make sure she enjoys doing it. I want her to enjoy getting her hair done. It’s a bonding experience for us.
BGLH: How did Kai feel about the crotchet twists?
JESSICA: She loved them! When the style got old we unraveled the twists and cut the hair into a twist‐out.
BGLH: Last year Christina Milian got a lot of flack for styling her daughter’s hair in crotchet twists. What do you think about some of the comments you’ve both received?
JESSICA: People need to understand that this style isn’t anything new. I had them when I was a child. Adding extensions to a child’s hair isn’t new. I think because it’s the age of social media and people think they can say anything. We all have our perspectives…People may not parent the way I parent my child, and that’s fine, but don’t try to force your philosophy on someone else.
Watch Kai get her hair done here:
What do you think of Kai’s crotchet twists? Share your thoughts below! |
Jason Day expects to play in next week’s Open Championship, according to a report on Golf Channel.
When we last saw Day, he was staggering to a tie for ninth place in the U.S. Open on June 21.
• Read more about Day’s U.S. Open finish
Day was diagnosed with a viral infection that affects a nerve in his inner right ear, leading to bouts of vertigo that leave him unbalanced, Golf Channel’s Todd Lewis reported. Day, 27, an Australian who lives in Columbus, Ohio, was examined by Dr. John Oas, a neurologist at Ohio State, and prescribed medication for the condition, according to the Golf Channel report.
Day, No. 8 in the Official World Golf Ranking, won earlier this season at the Farmers Insurance Open but has struggled in recent months. He missed the cut at The Players Championship, pulled out of the AT&T Byron Nelson because of dizziness and then missed the cut at his hometown Memorial Tournament. He played his way onto the leaderboard at the U.S. Open, only to collapse on his final hole in the second round at Chambers Bay. He nonetheless returned a third-round 68 to earn a spot in the final pairing Sunday before fading in the final round. |
Solomon Islanders mourn death of Eroni Kumana who helped save life of John F. Kennedy during WWII
Updated
Solomon Islanders are mourning the death of Eroni Kumana, one of two men credited with saving the life of future president John F Kennedy during World War II.
Eroni Kumana died at his home in Western Province on Saturday aged 93.
For many years his place in history was not widely recognised.
On August 1, 1943, he and Biuku Gasa were patrolling the waters of Solomon Islands near Gizo when they came across Lieutenant John F Kennedy and other US sailors who had swum to Olasana Island after their boat collided with a Japanese destroyer.
Kennedy carved a message in the husk of a coconut and the two Solomon Islanders, at great risk, rowed through Japan-patrolled waters to deliver the message to the nearest Allied base. Kennedy and his men were then rescued.
American Danny Kennedy is one of those who has tried to make Mr Kumana's story more well known.
He has been running a dive shop in Gizo since the 1980s, not far from where Kennedy was rescued. He made a point of putting Mr Kumana in touch with visiting American tourists and journalists when they visited Solomon Islands.
"We always tried to give them as much exposure because we were trying to help them and their village and their community have some sort of sustainable livelihood," Danny Kennedy told Radio Australia.
"For instance, one crew many years ago bought them a dugout canoe and an outboard engine for transportation so they could provide transportation back and forth to the markets."
Sorry, this audio has expired Audio: Solomon Islands mourns Kennedy rescuer Eroni Kumana (ABC News)
Mr Kennedy says Mr Kumana remained in good spirits to the end.
"Right up until a few weeks back, he was still very agile, still laughing, still very animated," he said.
"He was someone who when you saw him he really made you feel good. He was one of these people that just had this amazing amount of energy and presence."
Mr Kumana enjoyed the limelight, Mr Kennedy says, and was proud of his role in saving JFK's life.
"I think up until he started getting the exposure, he didn't realise how much people appreciated what he had done," he said.
"He really appreciated the fact that he was being recognised."
Eroni Kumana and Biuku Gasa were both invited to John F. Kennedy's inauguration in 1961, but a British colonial officer reportedly decided that their English wasn't good enough and prevented them from leaving the Solomon Islands' capital, Honiara.
"Even to this day, in the Kennedy diaries, it actually describes that he was visibly distressed when he realised the two guys who had helped save him in the Solomon Islands were not there," said Danny Kennedy.
Mr Gasa died in November 2005. Danny Kennedy says the men's legacy is being preserved in the Western Province.
"Like a lot of things I think it's getting lost in time, but every time there's a big public event in the Western region, we always try to make sure that Eroni comes along so he gets recognised and made to feel good about ... his bravery as a young man," he said.
"There'll be a very large funeral and I believe that he'll be remembered ... I'm sure there'll be major tributes throughout the country."
Topics: death, world-war-2, solomon-islands, united-states, pacific
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Without investment, financial support or a loan, Helmi has bootstrapped his way to his first facility and trained thousands looking to get in shape
In the middle of 2014, Helmi Abdullah sat down to type out his letter resigning from his job as an administrative officer at the National Football Association of Brunei Darussalam (NFABD).
Six months later, he had yet to hand it over. His heart was heavy, body tired and mind awash with doubt. Memories of his second group exercise class – dubbed the bootcamp – in a park, where not one client turned up, came to the fore.
The security of his full-time job was undeniably comforting – he endured six months of unemployment after graduation to secure it. His family questioned the logic behind becoming a full-time personal trainer – after all, he was only 24-years-old; surely there wasn’t a future in just teaching people to exercise?
Within the resistance, however, was another voice, one which drew confidence with every session, every customer he trained. It had him up to the gym doors by 6am – to do personal training before work – and gave him the strength to host bootcamps after he left the office.
“I would save (the money received) from every session and every pay check,” said Helmi. By the start of 2015, he finally took a leap and left his job, and begin to chip away until June 27 last year – where he had saved up $20,000 to open a simple warehouse gym – Helmi Abdullah Fitness (HAF) Sweat Box in Tungku.
“Now people are starting to see personal training and exercise as a viable career and full-time business,” said the 27-year-old. “Back then (five years ago) it was a silly idea to most.”
Adopted into a humble home in Sg Kebun, Kg Ayer by an elderly couple, Helmi’s upbringing was one of modesty where money was hard to come by.
His dad, whose name he does not carry, was a fisherman in his 60s when he took Helmi in but the details surrounding his adoption remain unclear to Helmi. He spent most of his teenage years in Sg Kebun, before the family received a house at the Rimba national housing scheme when he was in sixth form.
Helmi was an athlete throughout his school years, playing mostly football – where he was talented enough to even crack the national futsal team – but his physique was undefined and on the pudgy side, far from the lean, muscular body he’s now built.
“I thought I was good (at football),” Helmi now jokes. “But I wasn’t good enough to play professionally. There wasn’t any real structure or programme (in the national futsal team) either – we would just form a team months out of a tournament. We (always) won nationally, but when playing against foreign teams we would just be crushed. We didn’t have their teamwork, consistency or discipline.”
The earliest beginnings of HAF would only come a few years later, when Helmi was in Cardiff, Wales as part of a twinning Sports Science degree programme with Universiti Brunei Darussalam, where he was introduced to the concept of high-intensity interval training (HIIT) that’s become the cornerstone of the bootcamp programme.
“I think traditionally when most people think about exercise they’re either thinking about doing a long jog or cardio, and at the other end, pumping their arms and chest with weights like bodybuilders,” said Helmi. “HIIT was something different, and it wasn’t really that popular in Brunei (as it is now today).”
Essentially resistance training with very short rest periods, HIIT primarily makes use of movements – like sprinting, squatting, lunging and pulling – that bring multiple muscle groups into action, either with one’s own bodyweight or with external weights. In the case of bootcamp, the exercises are often alternated or done as a circuit.
“Because your heart rate is high (that compared to a traditional jog) HIIT gets results (burns calories) in a much shorter time frame than traditional (steady state) exercise,” said Helmi. “It also builds muscle and strength.”
HIIT’s surge in popularity in global fitness culture comes from the desirability to be lean, muscular and athletic, moving away from stereotypes of hulking bodybuilders and ultra-thin marathon runners.
“I started implementing HIIT principles into my own training and had great results,” said Helmi. “But there wasn’t really any proper channel for me to pass on the training to others – until I met Jay.”
A Nigerian national keen to open his own gym, Jay met Helmi while working out at a traditional gym, and later recruited him to be a trainer to his facility in Menglait in 2013, called the Classic Bootcamp.
He would train groups with HIIT for nine months, but eventually, he wanted a real test. Could Helmi Abdullah draw customers on his own?
“I just blasted my IG with posts about hosting classes outside the (national) stadium, at Taman Jubilee,” said Helmi, who charged $5 a class – a fee lower than the competition, and one that he maintains to this day. “I remember inviting all my contacts into a WhatsApp group – just to spread the word that I was organizing classes.”
Only his friends – six of them – turned up to the first class, and none showed up at his second.
“It was very discouraging in the beginning,” recalls Helmi. “But it really forced me to rethink my approach. I learned to market my classes better, get repeat customers and understand better what the market is like.”
By intertwining his own story – chronicling his workouts and diet – together with posts for classes under the same account, Helmi eventually managed to build up his client base by generating a large following on Instagram, now nearing 10,000.
“I choose to use personal branding because it was one of the few advantages I had at the time,” said Helmi. “I didn’t have a gym (initially). I didn’t have much equipment or money to properly advertise either. But I could prove that I got results for myself, and I was confident that I could teach them to do the same. It was something that people could relate to instead of a regular gym that just opens for business, but doesn’t really have a story or much guidance.”
Without investment, financial support or a loan, Helmi has bootstrapped his way to his first facility and trained thousands looking to get in shape. Now the 27-year-old must contend with increased competition – even within the EngHo complex there are already two other exercise spaces.
But his biggest challenge is that he doesn’t have full-time trainers aside from himself and without his immense popularity, HAF – at this point in time – is unlikely to draw much of a crowd without Helmi directly at the helm of each class.
“Right now it’s just me and my girlfriend (conducting classes),” says Helmi, who jokes that he can’t afford to get sick or take an extended break. “We are looking to build a team (of instructors) who are serious about bringing quality (instruction) and can motivate and draw people in.”
HAF Sweat Box is located on the ground floor, Unit 1, Block B, Eng Ho Complex, Spg 217-5-54, Jalan Gadong, Kg Tungku. Follow @helmiabdullahfitness on Instagram and Facebook to learn more. Walk-in bootcamp classes cost $5 per person and run from Monday to Wednesday and Friday at 7.30pm to 8.30pm. For private classes contact +6737173390. |
A battery-powered portable Android video projector from smartphone maker ZTE uses Wi-Fi and a preinstalled Sling TV app to let consumers project live and on-demand video up to 120 inches while on the go.
The device also features a pre-loaded Zoom app, which delivers video conferencing and group messaging, and the ability to access the Google Play store to download other video-streaming apps.
The ZTE Spro 2 Wi-Fi, which features 5-inch touchscreen, is available for $549.98 at ZTE’s web site, Amazon and eBay. It joins an LTE-equipped Spro 2, which offers the same features but doubles as a portable Wi-Fi hot spot because of its built-in cellular connectivity. It lacks preloaded Sling TV and Zoom apps. It was introduced earlier this year for the AT&T and Verizon networks.
The Wi-Fi-only Spro 2 is targeted to “ consumers who still want the flexibility it provides at home and at work but may not want it added to a new or existing data plan,” said Lixin Cheng, ZTE USA’s chairman/CEO.
The device delivers 720p resolution at 120 inches at 200 lumens.
Preloaded Sling TV gives consumers access to such channels as ESPN, AMC and HGTV for $20/month. Customers can also add to the core package with HBO for an additional $15/month and add other a-la-carte services at $5/month. |
The Calgary Police Service traffic unit is investigating an afternoon crash involving a commercial vehicle and a Ford Focus on the west side of the city that seriously injured two people.
According to EMS spokesperson Naomi Nania, the crash occurred shortly after 2:00 p.m. on Highway 8 (Glenmore Trail) near the intersection with 69 Street Southwest.
EMS transported the occupants of the Ford Focus from the crash scene to the Foothills Medical Centre. The driver, a woman in her mid thirties was considered to be in serious, potentially life threatening condition while the passenger, a woman in her early fifties, was transported in serious but stable condition.
Nania confirms the two occupants of the car are related.
A third patient, the man driving the commercial vehicle, was assessed at the scene but did not require additional medical treatment.
As of 3:00 p.m., the eastbound and westbound lanes of Highway 8 have been closed to traffic between 69 St. S.W. and Sarcee Trail. |
Man survives struggle with black bear in Oregon
GLIDE, Ore. -- Aaron Wyckoff didn't start to panic until his .45-caliber pistol quit firing, and the bear kept chewing on his arm.
So, he recalls, he tried to pull the bear's jaws apart. Then he tried to roll down the ridge where he and the bear were wrestling. But the bear grabbed his calf, pulled him back and went for his groin.
Wyckoff said he countered by shoving his pistol and his hand into the bear's mouth. But by then, the struggle in the Cascade Range in Southern Oregon attracted the attention of Wyckoff's party, and other hunters rushed over.
Justin Norton fired a round from his .44-caliber pistol into the black bear's stomach, to no avail. He approached the bear, put the gun behind its ear and fired again. It finally rolled away.
"I walked right up to his head, and he didn't even look at me," said Norton, 26.
With the dying bear still struggling, a final round finished him off.
"He was dead. He just didn't know it," Wyckoff said. "It was just all adrenaline."
Wyckoff was helping friends track a wounded bear May 31 on the last day of the hunting season.
Fifteen-year-old Chris Moen of Glide, who had drawn the tag, hit the animal in the shoulder with a .338-caliber rifle round, but he and his father couldn't pick up a trail of blood.
They called on Wyckoff and friends to help track it. A few hours later, Wyckoff went up a hill for a view.
He heard a rustling in the bushes behind him, then a grunt. The bear had apparently circled around the group.
"We never even heard him," said Wyckoff.
Wyckoff said he fired a round into the bear's forehead, but the animal kept coming and climbed on top of him. From beneath, Wyckoff said, he got off three more rounds.
Then he tucked the gun beneath the bear's chin. But it quit. Wyckoff, left-handed, said he had accidentally released the ammunition clip.
After the attack, Wyckoff sat still, not wanting to move for fear the bear had ruptured the femoral artery in his groin. Mustering the courage to look down, he saw his shredded jeans, but not much blood.
At the hospital, a surgeon sewed him up, astonished that the bear had missed every major artery, as well as Wyckoff's tendons.
After two days in the hospital, Wyckoff was discharged, with orders to stay home from work for at least two weeks.
His right arm remains bandaged. Silver staples hold gashes together.
His .45 is covered with teeth marks but still works.
The bear weighed more than 260 pounds after field dressing. It has since been sent to a taxidermist.
Wyckoff said he's grateful for his friends' quick actions and that he stayed firm when his 10-year-old son tried to go along that day.
Would Wyckoff hunt down another bear?
"Oh yeah," he said. "Fall bear season starts back up in August."
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Information from: The News-Review, http://www.oregonnews.com |
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