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Google's latest version of Android, Jelly Bean 4.3, has many good features . Under the surface, though, Google added five significant security features. On top of that, Google has added two other new features that work with almost all currently used versions of Android. The new 4.3 features are, besides adding restricted profiles: Android sandbox reinforced with SELinux: Android 4.3 now includes SELinux, a mandatory access control (MAC) system in the Linux kernel to augment the Unique Identification Number (UID) based application sandbox. This makes almost all apps with the Android sandbox much more secure. Some users are wary of SELinux, since the NSA had a large hand in creating it . Since SELinux, just like all of Linux, is open source that seems foolish to me. After all, the code is right in plain sight for anyone to look for security holes. KeyChain enhancements: If you're still worried about the NSA snooping on your messages you'll be happy to see Google's new KeyChain API provides a method that enables applications to confirm that system-wide keys are bound to a hardware root of trust. This means that carrier and OEM developers can add private keys that cannot be copied off the device, even if it's otherwise completely compromised. This won't stop the NSA -- or most major Internet companies -- from using big data, metadata, and traffic analysis to keep an eye on you, but it will eventually help to keep the contents of your messages and apps secure. Android Keystore Provider: At the same time, Android 4.3 also introduces a keystore provider and APIs that allow applications to create exclusive-use keys. What that means is that apps can create or store private keys that no other app can see or use. Restrict Setuid from Android Apps: Your device's /system partition is now mounted "nosuid" for Zygote-spawned processes. This helps prevent Android applications from executing setuid programs. In turn, this reduces root attack surface and likelihood of potential security vulnerabilities. In English, this means malicious apps will have a much harder time trying to take over your device's superuser/root privileges. It sounds good, and it is good. Unfortunately, it's also already obsolete. Chainfire, creator of SuperSU, an Android rooting program, has found a way to root Android 4.3 "by using an "su daemon," which is started from init [A vital Android boot-up program] and not from a Zygote process." Wi-Fi support for WPA2-Enterprise networks: New application programming interfaces (API)s can now be used configure the Wi-Fi credentials needed for connections to access points using WPA2 enterprise with Extensible Authentication Protocol (EAP) and Encapsulated EAP (Phase 2). With this, developers will be able to create apps that can join business Access Points (APs) that use EAP and Phase 2 authentication methods. Beyond Android 4.3: Google has also been adding improved security features for older versions of Android as well. First, Verify Apps, a security feature introduced in Android 4.2, is no longer part of the operating system. Instead, it's been incorporated into Google Play Services, which is incorporated on Android 2.3 and higher. This service is client-side process that scans apps for malware as you install them. This works even if you're side-loading your new apps as Android application package files (APKs) from a third-party Android app store and not Google's Play Store. Second, and boy have we waited a long time for this one, Google has finally added a lost phone finder to Android. Like Verify Apps you don't need a new smartphone to use it. This service will also be available to anyone using an Android device using Android 2.2 or above. With it you can make your little lost phone ring at maximum volume, signal you from a map, or, if worse comes to worse and it's been stolen, you can erase all your data from it remotely. So much for the good news. The bad news is that OEMs are still being slow as an old dog on a hot day about rolling out Google's Bluebox Security patch . Adding insult to injury, the first malware-infected apps using this security hole have started appearing. Even with this Android security has been improving this summer. Now, if only Google started forcing vendors and carriers to push security updates to users , I'd be a lot happier and you'd be a lot safer. Related Stories:
I must be a good writer – my blog has been plagiarised! By far the most popular post on my blog, is one I wrote in February 2013 entitled, ‘How to be Czech in 10 easy steps‘. As I explained in a follow up post last month, ‘How to be Czech in 10 easy steps – revisited‘, the original post almost immediately went viral resulting in the blog getting 2,040 visits, the day after it was published. And as explained in that follow-up post, there was another major surge of interest in the first half of December 2013. But all of this pales into insignificance in the light of what has happened in the last few days. The reason – an online Czech tabloid ‘newspaper’ Prásk!, has published in Czech, a completely plagiarised version of ‘How to be Czech in 10 easy steps’. To see it, follow this link . It is one the worst examples of tabloid journalism I have seen in a very long time. The headline reads in translation, ‘Shocking instructions from an American website: Ten Steps on how to become Czech’. I presume that, purely because my blog has a dot com domain, the ‘journalist’ has immediately assumed that the author is American and the website is based in the United States. Wrong – the author is British and has lived in Prague for over five years. Incidentally, I do have great difficulty calling the creator of this article a ‘journalist’ – his activities are a complete denigration of an important profession. What follows is a completely plagiarised version of my blog post. In places, what I wrote has been abbreviated. In other places, in particular under point seven, there are additions which are not part of my original text. Nowhere is there any acknowledgement of the source of the original article. The article is illustrated with five photographs. Three of them are from microstock sites to whom I assume, the publishers have paid for the rights to use them. However, the other two photographs have been pulled directly from my blog post. One of them, the photograph of the lady in skin tight black jeans and knee-high white boots with serious heels, is from a free image site. It was found by Sybille for me to use, hence it appears in my blog without acknowledgement. But the other, of various pairs of shoes outside a door, is my own photograph and appears on my blog as © Ricky Yates. Yet, in total breach of the law of copyright, the publishers of Prásk! have decided they can use it without permission or acknowledgement. Prásk! is published by the same media company who own TV Nova, a major commercial television channel here in the Czech Republic. Imagine that I made a video of one of their popular programmes, put it on DVD and started marketing and selling pirated copies. Their lawyers would be down on me like ton of bricks in no time at all. Please note CET 21 spol. s r.o., who claim copyright to the whole of the prask.nova.cz website, including the plagiarised version of my blog post, the law of copyright, also applies to you! I am extremely grateful to Igor, someone who I do not know, who kindly left a comment on my blog late last Thursday evening, alerting me to the plagiarised version of of my blog post that had been published by Prásk!. He asked, ‘Did you give them permission?’ followed by a smiley. I think he already knew the answer! Thank you again Igor! Fortunately, the publishers of Prásk!, allow people to leave comments. Within an hour of publication, one person had already left a link to my original blog post. Several others had also pointed out that I was British and not American and that I lived in Prague. Of course there were others who took no notice of this information and instead left rude comments about Americans. Very late on last Thursday evening, I left the following comment. ‘As several commenters have already pointed out, the original article can be found here http://rickyyates.com/how-to-be-czech-in-10-easy-steps/ & I am the author. This is a shortened & plagiarised version of it. Clearly prask.nova.cz have not heard of the word ‘copyright’. In particular, the photograph of shoes before the door is my photograph which I have not given permission to be used. prask.nova.cz could also spend a few minutes doing a little research – I am British, NOT American, & have l lived in the Czech Republic for over five years. However, imitation is the sincerest form of flattery’. I am pleased to say that this comment, despite being written in English, rather than Czech, at the time of writing, has received 48 ‘likes’. But the most amazing outcome of this act of plagiarism, has been the impact on visitor numbers to my blog. On Thursday 23rd January, the day the Prásk! article was published, this blog had 5,272 visitors. On Friday 24th January, it was 8,695 visitors, more than four times the previous highest total of 2,040. Today, as it is just approaching midnight, the total has passed 4,000. I suspect that this proves the old saying that, ‘All publicity is good publicity’. Likewise, ‘How to be Czech in 10 easy steps’, now has over 6,400 ‘likes’ and ‘shares’ on Facebook and has been ‘tweeted’, forty-seven times. As Sybille keeps reminding me, I need to get on and finish writing my book, ‘How to be Czech’, ASAP! It seems that plenty of people will want to buy it. In the meantime, whilst I cannot afford a copyright lawyer, via this post and in any other ways possible, I shall seek to embarrass the publishers of Prásk!, their ‘journalist’ who does not even give his name but only his initials ‘pul’, and the management of TV Nova and the media company CET 21 spol. s r.o.. As another of my commenters has remarked, ‘The behaviour of Prásk! tabloid is unacceptable and repugnant. I concur!
# Content 1. Elsword, Rena renewal – Elsword and Rena character renewed – Improved commands and flashier skill effects – Skills acquired or enhanced automatically upon level up and can use all skills given. 1) Elsword Renewal Summary – Stoic Revamped – Addition of Effective commands – Elsword’s controls revamped. Skill and commands cancel points added. – Sword Knight, Magic Knight promotion avatar and hair revamped – Face and body proportions changed – New base Elsword promotion illustration added. 2) Rena Renewal Summary – Nature’s Force(NF) effects revamped – Skill usability revamped and effective commands added. – Hyper Active skill hitboxes revamped. – MP cost for Arrow commands revamped – Body proportions revamped – New base Rena promotion illustration added. 3) Skill Tree Revamp ▶ Skill Tree Revamp – From a structure where you could only choose 1 out of 2 skills, the tree is changed to a structure where you obtain all skills. – Skill Tree interface changed, general information about the character and class, their main skill and commands added. ▶ Skill growth revamp – Skills are automatically acquired as character levels up. Skills have sufficient damage immediately upon acquiring * Characters with high level but no job advancement only gain skills available to their classes. – From a structure where you invested skill points to enhance skills, the tree is changed to a system where skill’s abilities are enhanced automatically as character levels up. Some skill abilities are enhanced up to [True] level and upon enhancement, skill’s damage is boosted or special abilities are added to the skills. ▶ Skill growth notifications – It shows message if character acquired new skills or skill has been enhanced. – When acquiring new skill, skills are automatically filled in the skill slots if there is room. 2. Story Quest Full Voice – Event scenes that appear after clearing story quests get full voicing. # Event 1. Elsword, Rena Renewal Event 1) Change to class you want every day. – Clear quests every day and use ‘Ariel’s class change ticket’ to change class for free. * Ariel’s class change ticket: only works for 2nd job advancement classes. 2) Get Promotion Avatar tickets – Log in for 30 minutes during event times to get promotion avatar tickets – Promotion avatar tickets can get you magic wardrobe look of your character’s class promotion avatar. You can also choose your base class promotion avatar or your 1st job promotion avatar Elsword 07 23 07 24 07 25 07 26 07 27 07 28 Hair Ticket Weapon Ticket Top Ticket Bottom Ticket Gloves Ticket Shoes Ticket Rena 07 30 07 31 08 01 08 02 08 03 08 04 Hair Ticket Weapon Ticket Top Ticket Bottom Ticket Gloves Ticket Shoes Ticket – 2015 07 23 ~ 2015 08 06 3. PvP Season 3 ends, Free season starts! – PvP s3 will end and free season will start. Enjoy the pvp free season events and prepare for pvp season 4 starting 09/24 – Event Duration : 2015 07 23 ~ 2015 09 24 1) Get PvP title and arena avatar. – 07 23 ‘수호 투사의 열쇠’ item will be given by mail depending on character’s season 3 rank. – Open the ‘수호 투사의 무구 보관함’ obtainable through event quest with ‘수호 투사의 열쇠’ to obtain Guardian Warrior’s avatar and rank titles. Event quest is talk to Camila 2) Craft Guardian Warrior’s avatar – Clear Event quests to gather ‘패배자의 옷 자락’ to craft Guardian Warrior avatar from Camila Event Quest: 3 Arena victories 3) Purchase Guardian Warrior’s accessories – Camila sells upgraded versions of arena accessories during the event period. Sold by Camila 4) 2x Chance to meet Epic NPCs – 2x chance to meet Epic NPCs during event period. 4. Mission Potent Enhancement – Elsword party is starting! gather potent elixirs(milk bottles) to exchange for party accessories and avatars. ▶ 23 bottles : Party Crown / Party Mask / Party Wing ▶ 50 bottles : Party single piece avatar – Can also purchase bottles from cash shop. – 2015 07 23 ~ 2015 09 03 # Cash Shop [New] 1. 2015 Swim Suit (Chung, Ara, Elesis, Add, Lu, Ciel) ‘Sun bed’ sit motion only comes with package purchase. – 2015 07 23 ~ 2015 08 27 2. Invisible Accessory(Necklace, Ring) – maint ~ always 3. Class advancement ticket, class change ticket 50% discount – 2015 07 23 ~ 2015 09 03 4. Potent elixirs(milk bottles) – 2015 07 23 ~ 2015 09 03 5. Grand Ice Burners(Elsword,Rena Dragon Knight, Royal Servant/Maid) – Grand IBs have 100% chance of acquiring a piece. – All pieces have same chance of being acquired. – Obtain ‘Grand Cold Crystal’ when opening Grand IBs and can craft Dragon Knight or Royal Servant/Maid costumes with them. – 2015 07 23 ~ 2015 08 06 – Grand IB contains: Item Name Amount Elshard(Mystery) 50 Complete Recovery Potion 30 Grand Cold Crystal 1 Dragon Knight Avatar or Royal Maid/Servant 1 6. Avatar Reform Ticket – to reform Elsword and Rena Dragon Knight & Royal Servant/Maid – Reform from Ariel or Myu – Sale : 2015 07 23 ~ 2015 08 20 – Reform period : 2015 07 23 ~ 2015 08 20 [Sale Ending] 1. IB (Ara Salvatore Denip) 2. Skill Note, Skill Reset Medal, Complete Skill Reset Medal, Gnosis Blessing, Elsword and Rena Skill Notes. # 수정 사항 [Character] 1. Aisha fixed problem where Binding Circle skill note debuff effect was not being removed by old Ancient Guardian set’s ‘Remove debuff upon awakening’. 2. Battle Magician Fixed Supernova skill note not working in PvP. 3. Veteran Commander Fixed Harpoon Spear’s first hit not doing damage sometimes. 4. Add Fixed Particle Accelerator skill note making skill cast time longer. 5. Mastermind Fixed Psyonic Generator’s tooltip saying skill damage was lower than what it really was. 6. Mastermind ‘Install-Starfall’ was supposed to hit 7 times. Fixed it doing 8 hits when using it first after entering a dungeon. 7. Luciel Fixed Lu being able to teleport to strange places in Hall of Water using dash + z [Dungeon / Field] 1. Fixed not being able hit ‘몽환의 잡일꾼’ in Lanox Field Geyser Plains [Item] [Pet/Mount][Quest] 1. Various minor bug fixes. [Other] 1. Fixed error where Iron Paladin and Deadly Chaser’s character abilities graph was swapped. 2. Fixed Guild Skill ‘정신 집중’ not working after opening guild skill ‘균형잡힌 육체 Lv.1’ 3~5. Minor bug fixes. 6. Solace Server’s Resurrection Stone daily charge amount changed from 3 to 10. 7,8. Minor bug fixes 9. Fixed error where Magic Stone, Advanced Magic Stone, Elshard(Mystery), Weapon,Armor Enhancement Stone lv.7 was not dropping from monsters with Lv.76 or higher. Lv.76 10. Changed so IB notification only appears in one line instead of two. 11. Normal Quests and Job advancement quests don’t have event scenes anymore
The Japan Coast Guard is investigating why it took nearly an hour for a deadly collision between a U.S. Navy destroyer and a containership to be reported. A Coast Guard official said Monday they are trying to find out what the crew of the Philippine-flagged ACX Crystal was doing before reporting the collision to authorities 55 minutes later. The Coast Guard initially said the collision occurred at 2:20 a.m. Saturday because the Philippine ship had reported it at 2:25 a.m. and said it just happened. After interviewing Filipino crew members, the Coast Guard changed the collision time to 1:30 a.m. The ACX Crystal collided with the USS Fitzgerald off the Izu Peninsula in Shizuoka Prefecture, killing seven of the destroyer’s crew of nearly 300. A record of the containership’s route by MarineTraffic, a vessel-tracking service, shows it made a sudden turn as if trying to avoid something at about 1:30 a.m., before continuing eastward. It then made a U-turn and returned to the area near the collision at around 2:20 a.m. Coast Guard official Tetsuya Tanaka said they were trying to resolve what happened during the 50 minutes. He said officials are planning to get hold of a device with communications records to examine further details of the crash. The Japan Transport Safety Board also started an accident investigation Monday. Adding to the confusion, a U.S. Navy official said it is sticking with the 2:20 a.m. timing for the crash that he said had been reported by the Fitzgerald. Asked about the earlier time cited by the coast guard, navy spokesman Cmdr. Ron Flanders said, “That is not our understanding.” He said any differences would have to be clarified in the investigation. Nanami Meguro, a spokeswoman for NYK Line, the ship’s operator, agreed with the earlier timing. Meguro said the ship was “operating as usual” until the collision at 1:30 a.m., as shown on a ship tracking service that the company uses. She said the ship reported to the coast guard at 2:25 a.m., but she could not provide details about what the ship was doing for nearly an hour. Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga told a news conference that the central government will continue to look into the incident, “continuously enlisting U.S. cooperation.” Japan and the United States have been in talks on details about the post-accident investigation, officials said. Japan has the right to probe the accident because it occurred within the country’s waters, while the U.S. has the primary right to exercise jurisdiction under the bilateral Status of Forces Agreement. Suga also said Japan will work with the United States and South Korea as well as other countries to make sure the accident involving the Yokosuka-based warship won’t compromise deterrence against potential threats in the region, such as from North Korea. The U.S. Navy said Monday it had confirmed dead all seven crew members of its Aegis destroyer Fitzgerald who were listed as missing following the collision. The sailors were aged 19 to 37, it said. The accident between the 8,315-ton naval ship and the 29,060-ton cargo vessel occurred in a crowded area where experts on maritime safety and people in the shipping industry say ships sometimes have little room for the maneuvers necessary to avoid incidents. It is often referred to as a “chokepoint” by maritime operators. “It is just like a lot of vehicles are running on a road which has no center line,” said an official and representative of the sea shipping industry, explaining the congestion surrounding the area of the accident some 20 km southeast of Cape Irozaki on the Izu Peninsula in Shizuoka Prefecture. “The sea currents are fast and the direction and speed of winds can often change (there). That requires the operator to adjust the way the ship is maneuvered depending on the situation,” the official said. “Skippers cannot be too careful in the area, even if they are accustomed to traveling there.” According to the 3rd Regional Coast Guard Headquarters in Yokohama, each day some 400 vessels go through the area and there are a lot of accidents there. Three collisions between large ships have been reported in the past five years. Six crew members on a Japanese cargo ship were killed in a collision near the peninsula with a Sierra Leone-flagged freighter in September 2013. The Japan Captains’ Association, which mainly consists of skippers of commercial ships, calls on ships running near the cape to voluntarily keep to the right — westbound ships sailing close to the peninsula and eastbound vessels keeping far away from it. But unlike roads, there are no fixed lanes in most parts of the sea near the peninsula. “Large ships going east change course near Cape Irozaki to avoid reefs in many cases,” the sea shipping industry official said. Yoshihiko Yamada, an expert on maritime safety, estimated the Filipino cargo ship may have been moving as fast as 37 kph before the collision, and caused an enormous impact in the incident. Yamada, a professor at Tokai University, said the inspection and investigation will focus mainly on whether the two vessels were able to communicate when they found themselves on a collision course, and the degree of crowding in the area at the time. Large ships such as destroyers keep watch round the clock, using both radar and lookouts. “It was impossible that the Aegis ship (Fitzgerald) was unaware” another vessel was approaching, Yamada said. “The U.S. ship must have issued large-scale warnings” to avoid an accident, he said, noting that investigators should look into whether circumstances allowed the naval ship to change its course. A tally by the Japan Transport Safety Board suggests that a collision is sometimes inevitable even if the ships involved are aware of the danger. A survey by the board indicated that out of 243 collision incidents in which the causes have been determined, one ship was aware the other was approaching in 156 cases. Some skippers polled in the survey said they were unable to change course quickly enough as there were other ships nearby. “It is possible the ships (involved in Saturday’s collision) had little room for significant maneuvers as there may have possibly been other ships such as fishing boats” in the immediate vicinity, Yamada said.
Recently by Gary North: A Two-Front War On Gold Promoting a revamped Keynesian economic theory — one without any guarantee of job growth — is the equivalent of selling a lifetime subscription to a revamped Playboy: one without any photos. It’s a tough sell. Yet this is what Keynesians are facing today. This will be fun to watch. In the last few days, we have begun to see reports from mainstream Keynesian forecasters and economists who are talking about the possibility of a double-dip recession. For a year, we have been assured by experts that double-dip recessions are rare. They surely are. The last one was in Carter’s final year, 1980 — which is why it was his final year — and Reagan’s first year, 1981. As far as the National Bureau of Economic Research has reported, that was the only double-dip recession. The NBER is the unofficial arbiter of each recession’s chronology. A few forecasters a year ago predicted the ever-popular V-shaped economic recovery. They are all hoping that no one remembers. There is no one left standing who predicts anything like this. The economy has barely grown over the last year, and the most recent report from the government is that growth was slower than initially reported for the second quarter of this year. This remains the mainstream consensus: no double-dip recession, but weak economic growth and slow job growth. A few forecasters have said that unemployment will in fact increase. I have, but I am not in the mainstream. The mainstream says that we are in a jobless recovery. But this assessment does not convey the uniqueness of the last 12 months. The Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis has posted an interactive chart that lets us compare the job non-recovery of the recession that began in late 2007 with all of the post-World War II recessions. We can click a box and get a different colored line for each recession-recovery. Only the double-dip recession of 1980—81 was worse in terms of the duration of unemployment. In another sense, we are in the mother of all jobless recoveries: median unemployment longer than 27 weeks. As of July 2010, the number of unemployed Americans was 14.6 million, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Of these, 45% had been unemployed for over 27 weeks: 6.6 million people. This figure is unprecedented. Remember also that “unemployed” refers to people without jobs who are still looking for jobs. Those who give up and stop looking are no longer counted as unemployed. Until the most recent meeting of the Federal Reserve System’s Federal Open Market Committee, the press releases began with an affirmation of the increasing strength of the economy — slow but visible. The press release for August 10 began with this uncharacteristic pessimism: “Information received since the Federal Open Market Committee met in June indicates that the pace of recovery in output and employment has slowed in recent months.” In response to this intra-day press release, the Dow Jones Industrial Average recovered from a negative 120 to a negative 55, as the result of a meaningless statement that the FOMC will re-invest net payments from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac bonds in Treasury bonds. This meant, at best, no change in the monetary base. The media greeted this as a major change in FED policy. It wasn’t. The next day, the Dow fell 265 points. SEEDS OF DOUBT The financial media are beginning to report statements from Establishment forecasters who are saying that a double-dip recession is looking more likely. One of the most prominent of them is Yale economist Robert Shiller. He is the co-creator of the Case-Shiller monthly report on the residential housing prices in 20 American cities. He also coined the phrase “irrational exuberance.” He now thinks the odds favoring a double dip are above 50—50. He says that the job market is the problem. He is a Keynesian. So, he calls on Congress to spend lots more money on another deficit-funded stimulus. He says that the Federal Reserve is “out of bullets.” Economists rarely say this about the FED. When they do, it indicates near-panic. He assures us that “If we focus on creating jobs, it’s not as expensive as you might think.” First, who are “we”? Congress? Second, did the 2009 stimulus of $787 billion focus on creating jobs? If so, where are they? Third, how does Federal spending create jobs? Hiring part-time census workers, yes. Creating a few thousand “shovel-ready” make-work jobs that cost small fortunes per job, yes. But sustained job recovery? It isn’t happening. David Stockman, who was briefly Reagan’s budget director before he resigned, recently wrote an article on the gargantuan size of the Federal deficit. He made an important but neglected observation. Ever since the third quarter of 2008, the nation’s nominal GDP has increased by a tiny $100 billion, but the Federal debt has increased by 25 times the GDP increase. This means that the hoped-for stimulus has not worked. It has taken $25 of Federal deficits to produce $1 of GDP growth. This marks a major anomaly for Keynesian economic theory. The justification for government deficits in Keynesian theory is that government spending restores economic growth. Money spent by the private sector does not increase economic growth in a recession; government spending does. This has never made any economic sense, but now the non-response of the economy is exposing this original nonsense for what it always was: nonsense. The Federal deficit is skyrocketing, but the economy has barely increased, statistically speaking, and is now slowing. Lest we forget, the NBER committee which retroactively determines when a recession began and ended met in early April. The committee postponed an announcement regarding the end of the recession which it said began in December 2007. Such an announcement, the committee said, would be “premature.” This indicated that the economic data were so mixed that no clear recovery is evident. The Federal Reserve and other organizations have adopted spring 2009 as the end of the recession. This appears on Federal Reserve charts. But the organization that is unofficially the arbiter of such matters is not equally confident. At this point, the conventional forecast regarding a double-dip recession is that it is unlikely to happen. In contrast, the Austrian School view is that the recovery itself may turn out to have been a statistical anomaly. We are not facing a double-dip recession, only because we have not gotten out of the 2007 recession. We are now facing a more rapid decline of an economy already in decline. The statistics so far do not point to a full-scale recovery. This was the NBER committee’s view in April. The statistics point to something unique: a supposed economic recovery in which commercial banks are reducing their lending, the overnight bank loan rate is close to zero, and long-term unemployment is at an historically high level. To produce this minimal recovery, if it really is a recovery, the Federal government is running a 2010 deficit in the $1.5 trillion range. Meanwhile, Social Security payments now exceed FICA tax revenue, so the general fund must make up the difference, thus adding to the on-budget deficit. Social Security has ceased to be an accounting cash cow for the government. It has become an accounting liability. Rex Nutting writes for MarketWatch. He is not a famous economist. He is a columnist who spends his life summarizing economic events and data that come in over the wires. But, on August 11, when the Dow opened down by over 200 points and was not rebounding, he wrote an editorial. It reveals the despair of a Keynesian whose confidence in the restoration of economic growth has faded. The Federal Reserve is pushing on a string, he said. It has gone about as far as it can go. It is therefore time for Congress to reassert leadership. Nutting has had great hope in the creativity of government spending. The government can borrow trillions of dollars, which can be spent by Civil Service-protected government bureaucrats who cannot be fired. His faith is fading. An overly conservative Congress is just too cautious and reluctant to spend more money, he thinks. It doesn’t take a poet to know what happens to a dream deferred. Sometimes, it explodes. If the Fed’s hands are tied, are we doomed to a lost decade of deferred dreams? Happily, no. There is one group that’s still able to borrow: the federal government, which could fill the gap temporarily by directly employing idle people to fulfill some of those deferred dreams. They could teach the children, heal the sick, build the infrastructure, discover new drugs, and invent new technologies. Unhappily, it’s not going to happen. The projected Federal deficits are in the range of a trillion dollars a year for the next decade. Not enough! Too cautious! Woe, woe, woe! The optimists are saying that the double-dip recession will not happen, but job growth will be minimal. A jobless recovery is the new normal. This is the abandonment of Keynesianism. This is loss of faith on a paradigm-changing scope. The old Keynesian formula is no longer working. Huge deficits have not led to a V-shaped recovery, or maybe any recovery. The Keynesian multiplier is barely even adding. The Federal Reserve is pushing on a string. But so is Congress. The deficits are not working. What’s a Keynesian to do? Call for more spending, of course. Call for even larger Federal deficits. Call for bailouts of deficit-plagued state governments, which cannot get loans from Asian central banks. THE KEYNESIANS’ FAITH The Keynesians have only one solution: deficit spending. That is all they have had since 1936. Keynes baptized deficit-spending policies that all governments had begun several years before. He was John the Baptist for his generation. He called on old school economists to repent and be baptized in the logic of deficits. He converted most of the young economists. The old ones slowly died off, although some of them saw the error of their youth and converted. But today the old Keynesian deficit-spending policy is no longer delivering the promised goods. The old formulas are not providing the old magic. The level of Federal debt is so great today that the percentage of each new annual deficit in relation to the total debt that has to be rolled over every five years is declining. Deficits no longer have the same “punch.” In fact, the old punch had to do with transferring resources from the private sector to the government sector. This transfer made the government sector grow and the private sector contract, compared to what would otherwise have prevailed. Government spending is counted as being the same as private spending. Government spending is considered part of the GDP. Keynesians assume that money collected by means of badges and guns is far more efficient in producing economic growth than money invested in terms of a hoped-for prospect of a positive rate of return. Keynesianism rests on faith in the following: 1. Badges and guns2. Government IOUs3. The wisdom of government It is based on a lack of faith in the following: 1. Voluntary exchange2. Private investment3. The wisdom of entrepreneurship We are now seeing the fruits of this view of economics. The deficits, while unprecedented, represent a declining percentage of the IOUs outstanding, both to investors and the Social Security, Medicare, and Federal pension “trust funds”: accounting devices that count government IOUs as legal claims against future taxpayers. Each new deficit adds to this pile of IOUs. No one in the Establishment expects these to be paid off. Everyone expects these debts to be rolled over at low interest rates forever. There is no sense of alarm. The Tea Party voters are beginning to sense that this is an impossible dream. Yet voters who are approaching age 65 also believe that they have a legal claim on lifetime support. They believe that these claims will be met. They believe that, since they are special, the Federal government can and will deliver on its promises to them. In short, they know they are being conned, yet they insist that the retirement Ponzi schemes will go on forever. In short, tens of millions of voters are schizophrenic. Two groups of voters are not schizophrenic: the optimists and the pessimists. The optimists think that the promises will be kept, the Federal government can be relied on, and the system will hold. The pessimists believe that the promises will be broken, they will be stiffed in their old age, and the government is headed for a huge default. Presumably, you are in the second group. Therefore, you are not a Keynesian. You do not believe that endless Federal deficits can continue. You do not believe that deficits will save the economy. This raises a question: What are you doing to hedge your future against the optimists and the schizophrenics, who will resist any major spending cuts? RUNNING OUT OF TIME The Democrats are likely to lose control in the House next year. Their ten-vote edge in the Senate will disappear. Republicans will be able to filibuster any spending bill. This will end House Democrats’ hope that voting in favor of a new spending program will get through the Senate. They will ask: “Why risk my slender base back home on a suicide vote to increase spending? If it passes, it will be killed in the Senate.” The Republicans will play the spoiler. Obama will get no new big spending programs passed by Congress. He will be able to blame Congress, just as he has blamed Bush. But if the economy does not visibly recover, and if the unemployment rate does not fall below 6%, he will take the heat. That is what the Presidency is for: taking credit or taking blame. The government will move to gridlock next year. It will remain there for two years. The deficits will remain high. The economy will stagnate at best, or fall into a decline. There will be no major recovery that persuades voters that they are safe, that the economic future is bright. We are seeing a loss of faith. It is all-pervasive. The voters see that Congress is impotent. The Keynesians see that the FED is impotent. The economists as a profession have rushed to the Keynesian pump to keep the ship from sinking, but the ship appears to be taking on water despite their best efforts. Gridlock will end the prospects for a new round of spending. The Republicans will be busy campaigning for 2012. They will hold the line against major new spending projects. The deficits will continue, but the Republicans will blame Obama, the way that Obama blames Bush. “Obama saddled us with these deficits. We did not have the votes to stop him. Now we do. You can’t hold us responsible for what Pelosi and Obama did.” The voters, always disappointed, will respond in hope. You can see why I have registered this domain: www.ChangeBack2012.com CONCLUSION “Double dips sink ships.” The prospect of a double-dip recession threatens the Keynesians, just as it threatens Obama’s hopes for re-election. The Keynesians have far more at stake. Obama is limited to two terms by law. The Keynesians must keep the faith in deficits alive permanently. If their policy prescription fails, and the deficits accelerate without job growth and income growth, then they have no fall-back position. They can tell us that in the long run, the deficits will finally turn the economy back up, and things will go back to the pre-2007 normal. But if things do not return to the pre-2007 normal, then non-Keynesians will cite Keynes in their defense: “In the long run, we are all dead.” So is Federal solvency. Gary North [send him mail] is the author of Mises on Money. Visit http://www.garynorth.com. He is also the author of a free 20-volume series, An Economic Commentary on the Bible. Copyright © 2010 Gary North
Get the latest news and videos for this game daily, no spam, no fuss. Earlier this month, a band of hackers claimed to have broken down the PlayStation 3's front door, leaving the system open and vulnerable. Sony responded with a lawsuit against the group, and then the band of binary busters fired back its own statement. Now, it appears Infinity Ward's popular Modern Warfare series is suffering from rampant hacking as a result of the breach. Even a snowmobile can't drive fast enough to escape hackers. Infinity Ward creative strategist Robert Bowling recently created a thread on the official Infinity Ward forums speaking to the issue. "Sony has recently acknowledged a breach in security on the PS3, which resulted in games to become exposed to exploits and hacks," Bowling wrote. "Modern Warfare 2 is no exception to this security exploit and we understand that some of you have experienced problems with stats and other issues associated with this." Further, Bowling dove into the specifics of the matter, saying that patches to the game will not resolve the issues currently plaguing the shooter. "Games rely on the security of the encryption on the platforms they're played on; therefore, updates to the game through patches will not resolve this problem completely, unless the security exploit itself is resolved on the platform," he said. "However, that doesn't mean we're not going to look into every option available to us. Regretfully, Call of Duty games are receiving the bulk of the hacker's attention, due to its high player counts and popularity. However, the number of legitimate players severely outweighs the bad apples." Additionally, Bowling said a security issue like this is unlikely to happen in the future, as "we plan to adjust our approach to not rely solely on platform security and reduce the ability for this to happen in our games, as has already been displayed by the work Treyarch has done on Call of Duty: Black Ops to prevent similar measures."
Washington - Nearly 900 suspected paedophiles have been arrested and almost 300 children identified or rescued from their abusers following the massive takedown of an underground online paedophile network, US and European police said on Friday. A more than two-year investigation into the notorious Playpen network and its members led to the arrests, the Federal Bureau of Investigation and Europol said, an announcement that came just days after a US court sentenced Playpen founder and administrator Steven Chase to 30 years in prison. The arrest of Florida-based Chase in December 2014 set off a sweeping global probe into the users of the members-only forum. Playpen was buried deep online in what is known as the "darknet", where Tor anonymity software and encryption hide often illegal activities. In this case, it masked participants in a forum where people submitted and traded photographs and videos of the sexual abuse of children. The nearly 900 arrests included dozens of abusers and child pornography creators. Dubbed "Operation Pacifier", the investigation began when the FBI used its own malware to effectively seize the Playpen website and server. Operating it for several weeks more, investigators then hacked and tracked site users by sending malware to their computers. In an operation that critics say was legally questionable, more than 1 000 computers worldwide were hacked in this way by the FBI, and their users identified. Lead FBI investigator Dan Alfin said the operation is ongoing. "As they get smarter, we adapt, we find them," he said. "It's a cat-and-mouse game, except it's not a game. Kids are being abused, and it's our job to stop that." Civil liberties groups however were strongly critical of the way the FBI took over the network and traced users with its own malware hacking tools. A single search warrant should not have allowed investigators to gain access to and search more than 1 000 private computers, the Electronic Frontier Foundation said in comments to some of the Playpen court cases. "The warrant here did not identify any particular person to search or seize. Nor did it identify any specific user of the targeted website," the organisation said. "It did not even attempt to describe any series or group of particular users." In a statement on Friday, Steven Wilson, head of Europol's European Cybercrime Centre, said the case demonstrated how law enforcement needs to use such methods to fight criminals who can hide behind online anonymisation and encryption programs. "We need to balance the rights of victims versus the right to privacy," he said. "If we operate by 19th century legal principles then we are unable to effectively tackle crime at the highest level."
US ski industry damaged by climate change Thursday December 13, 2012 - Email this article to a friend Six years after a number of reports appeared projecting how climate change would damage the ski industry, a study has been published in which researchers attempt to put a financial price on how much damage climate change has caused to ski areas. The report entitled "Climate Impacts on the Winter Tourism Economy in the United States" finds that US ski areas have lost a combined $1bn and 27,000 jobs over the last decade as a result of climate change. The report has been published by pressure groups Protect Our Winters and the Natural Resources Defense Council. The study has been compiled by University of New Hampshire researchers. It comes at a time when US media has recently been publishing stories questioning the impact of climate change on the US industry after a warm 2011-12 season and a poor start so far this winter. The report's authors predict a rise in temperatures of 4-10 degrees Farenheit by 2100 "if nothing is done" with resulting snow loss of 25-100% and many more billions of dollars and thousands of jobs lost to the US economy. The report's authors suggest the winter tourism industry put pressure on the US government to do more to cut carbon pollution. Reporting by Snow24 For the spirit of the mountains Related Articles
Note: By submitting this form, you agree to Third Door Media's terms . We respect your privacy . Five years ago, I wrote a story called “25 Things I Hate About Google.” It went viral, to my surprise. I thought it was worth revisiting that story on its five year anniversary, to see how many of those “hates” have been fixed. So let’s dive in! It’s actually been five years and a week since my original story, which was written on March 13, 2006. I’d meant to get this finished for the exact anniversary, but it took longer than I expected. For those who might feel I’m full of Google hate — I’m not. I admire much of what the company does, and my original piece — as well as this follow-up story — are written from the perspective of hoping the company will improve, not to pull it down. Smart Googlers know that my list might be useful feedback to consider, as long-time Googler Matt Cutts has written. Twice. Matt himself has been nagging me over the years to do an update to my original list, so Matt, this one’s especially for you. In my story below, I’ll provide what I originally wrote and how the situation looks today. Each section will begin “Hate” if things haven’t changed, “Love” or “Like” if there’s been a fix, and there are some “Mixed” and “N/A” along the way. The overall scorecard is at the end. #1 HATE: Web Search Counts That Make No Sense Then: “Why do search engines lie?” has Robert Scoble recently poking at this, on how the reported counts don’t always match reality…. Mars landing sites gives 1,050,000 matches while mars landing sites earth gives nearly double that amount, 1,840,000 listings. It shouldn’t. Adding that extra word should give you a subset of the original query. It should come back with less results, not more…. If you are going to put out a number, perhaps it should be accurate? Now: The issue continues, and it doesn’t seem likely to be solved any time soon, if ever. A search for dvds, for example, brings up 179 million pages. But that same search without any pages that have the word “rentals” on them? It brings back 289 million — MORE pages! Why Google Can’t Count Results Properly is my article from last October that takes a fresh look at the issue and why incorrect counts can even cause Google political trouble. My conclusion from that: I love data, but it should be accurate data — and these numbers are anything but. Time to retire them, Google. Or after at least five years of the “it’s not our highest priority” mantra, finally make it a priority. #2 HATE: Google Keeps Serving Up Sites You’ve Seen Then: You may not know the name “results clustering,” but you recognize Google doing it. That’s when it sees there’s more than one page from a web site that might match what you are looking for, so it “indents” the second best one below the first. Search for books, and you’ll see this happening with Amazon. But clustering only happens on a results page-by-results page basis. In other words, look at mars landing sites, and there’s a link to a page at the msss.com domain near the bottom. Say you reject this. Go to the next page, and msss.com is back again, as is the BBC. If I rejected content from these sites the first time, I want to see something new … Give me the best page from a domain once, then give me some variety, not these second chances. Now: If anything, the situation is worse. Last year in August, Google announced that it would allow more results from the same web site to dominate the top search results. Then a few months later, Google further expanded this behavior. The articles below have more about these changes: This is great for brand owners and marketers. For example, a search on “google” at Google brings up nothing from any non-Google web sites, some of which may have anti-Google messages. Similarly, searches for “mcdonalds” and “bp” are clean, dominated by the content produced by those corporations. That’s not great, in my view, for the searcher seeking some variety in their search results. I still also think it makes no sense. Imagine I search for mcdonalds and bypass all of this official McDonald’s information on the first page of results (this is what I saw on March 13, from Austin, Texas – others may see slight differences): 4 listings from mcdonalds.com 3 listings of actual McDonald’s restaurants near me 3 listings from the McDonald’s-run listings from aboutmcdonalds.com, mcstate.com and happymeals.com If I’ve rejected all that official information, then why on earth do I want even more official McDonald’s info showing up again on the second page of the results: Similarly, how is listing so many official pages for the SXSW conference really helping, when one of them is for the 2007 event and three others were already listed in the “sitelinks” that appeared below the main listing (Again, this is what I saw last week in Austin. Others may see slightly different results): Meanwhile, the music event — also in the sitelinks — gets shoved into the second page of the results. There’s no logic there. No attempt to produce order. It’s like you’ve vomited a bunch of results all over the page. I know why you do this, Google. It’s cheap. It’s much cheaper to assess what you’re listing for the first page of results independently of all the other pages, especially when few searchers drill deep into those other pages. But how about assessing everything you show for the first two or three pages of results and giving more variety? #3 LIKE: Less User Interface Confusion Then: Stop confusing people. Pick a user interface and go with it! Google keeps testing and testing various UIs. If I had the time and energy, I’d take all the screenshots people have posted and put them into a single “Google of the future” page. Then again, they probably wouldn’t commit. Enough with the testing! Decide on something and go with it, then change it later if you need to. This constant UI testing over the past year has had people wondering if they’ve been hit by adware/spyware…. At least if you’re going to test … tell the small number of people who care this, to save us from a billion people having to blog about the “discovery” of something new. Now: Google still does plenty of testing. And we still get messages from people who wonder if they’ve been hit by malware. But it feels like this is happening less. Ideally, the company would regularly advise people of when a test is underway. No, I don’t agree that it would screw up the testing data, which has been Google’s typical objection to posting publicly about test. Somewhat related, a I love the facelift Google got last year with its “three pane” interface. Things feel much more organized. For more about that, see: One last thought. Google’s biggest, most important, most profitable and original product was search. Maybe Google Search deserves its own blog, like many other products have? That would make it easier to post tidbits of interest about search changes that don’t quite require telling the world through its main blog. #4 LOVE: Related Searches Everywhere Then: Bring on related searches. Back in 2000 or 2001, Chris Sherman and I asked Sergey Brin during a lunch visit why Google lacked tools to help people better narrow in on what they are looking for. Why no “related searches” option? His response was that unless a lot of people use a feature, Google didn’t want to devote space to it. Fair enough, but query refinement is important. It can help people, and Google remains oddly lacking in not having it. It pops up as part of the UI tests. Get it out there…. Now: I’m surrounded by places where you suggest searches, from right within the search box through Google Instant, to along the left-side of the page via Google Search Options, to the bottom and top of search results — and even via Wonder Wheel. Thanks! #5 LOVE: Easier Access To All Your Tools Then: Give easier access to all your tools. Life at Google is more than web, images, groups, news, Froogle and local. Maybe I want to switch to mobile search, book search, catalog search or yes yes yes blog search with an easy click from the existing query I’ve done. I can’t. I can’t even if I use your toolbar. Many of these services remain in “visit directly” mode…. Now: The aforementioned search options column makes this much easier. Thank you! #6 LIKE: Country-Specific Results On Google.com Then: Make Google.com show the same results regardless of country. You have country-specific editions. They give people the option to choose if they want a country skew. Given this, don’t automatically skew anyway if someone has chosen to search the entire web. It’s confusing when different people in different countries are comparing results…. Now: Since Google.com now produces different results within the US, where even the city you’re in can have an impact, I give up on this battle. I also give up because I agree, localization makes sense. Plus, with personalized search results, the new normal is that there are no normal results. #7 LOVE: RSS For Web Search Then: RSS feed for web search. OK, I know the results don’t change much, and I know that RSS feeds of web search that Yahoo and MSN offer are hardly winning over mass numbers of users. Still, why not? Since you offer RSS for news search results and other things, let me monitor web search the same way. Now: Google Alerts gained an RSS feed option since my original post. Thanks! #8 LOVE: Support For NOODP Then: You know plenty of webmasters don’t like having their titles and descriptions replaced by Open Directory material. Give them the option to tell you no, on this front…. Now: You’ve since added support for the NOOPD meta tag. Thanks! Now how about support for a new “YES I REALLY WANT YOU TO USE MY HTML TITLE TAG” tag? Because I’m really tired (and I’m not alone) with you unilaterally deciding what’s the best title for my web pages in your results. More about this, below: #9 HATE: You Cache Pages Then: Stop caching pages: I was all for opt-out with cached pages until a court gave you far more right to reprint anything than anyone could have expected. Now you’ve got to make it opt-in. You helped create the caching mess by just assuming it was legal to reprint web pages online without asking, using opt-out as your cover. Now you’ve had that backed up legally, but that doesn’t make it less evil. Now: No change. I still think you should do it. My longer argument from 2006 after my “25 Things” post is here. #10 HATE: No Guaranteed Web Search Support Then: Give us paid web search support: Folks are still obsessing about being listed in Google. They worry they’ve been banned and any number of other problems. Give them a guaranteed support mechanism. Poor Matt Cutts — his blog is going to collapse under the comments of Cuttlets flocking there in lieu of other alternatives. Now: It’s like nothing has changed [Postscript: Nothing’s changed on Matt’s blog, in terms of people who flock there for support despite the huge amounts of support Google offers elsewhere]. Sure, a paid support option might put you under fire that you might be making algorithm updates like Farmer / Panda just to generate support revenue. But others might appreciate a guaranteed route. If not paid, maybe you could give anyone who registers with Google Webmaster Central one or two free guaranteed express support tickets, so that we don’t have bloggers talking about getting in contact with Google being a “crap shoot” and diminishing the huge amount of resources you do put in to support through Google Webmaster Central. #11 HATE: No Pick & Choose For Search Advertisers Then: Give advertisers the ability to pick and choose in search: It took you years to almost grudgingly give advertisers the ability to pick-and-choose what content sites they have their ads appear on, despite them wanting this from day one. We had lame excuses that you didn’t want to “confuse” or “overwhelm” them with options. OK, now you’ve done good by giving them choice. Let them also decide if they want to pick-and-choose in the search ads space, as well. Now: Unless I’m missing it, it’s still a case that you cannot pick-and-choose which search partners to have ads appear on. You either exclude all of your search network outside of Google, or you have to to take all of it. Why not allow more choices? #12 LIKE: More Responsive To Click Fraud Complaints Then: Be more responsive to click fraud complaints: I’ve heard from too many advertisers who have felt over the years like they’re making something up when they come forth with click fraud concerns. You’re promising to do better. Please deliver. Make them feel supported. Work with the third parties. Help them help you be successful, not sued again. Now: It seems like you’ve had only one lawsuit related to click fraud since settling the class action suit back in 2006 — and this 2010 case seems tiny. Click fraud isn’t something I hear many advertisers worrying about these days, either from talking with them or reading through news reports. Sounds like you are being more responsive. #13 HATE: AdWords & AdSense Confusion Then: Make AdWords once again a program that links ads to keywords for advertisers and publishers; AdSense a program that contextually places ads and DomainSense a program that puts ads on parked domains. Having AdWords as the program that puts ads into Adsense For Search/Content/Domains is confusing…. Now: The situation hasn’t changed. I can’t say that the confusion seems to be harming Google in any way, and perhaps it would be even more confusing to change now. But then again, these days, we have things like “AdSense For Error Pages.” It still feels kind of crazy. #14 HATE: Search Revenues Aren’t Broken Out Then: Break out search revenues from other types of ad revenues. We can’t know the state of health for actual search advertising — advertising where an ad appears if someone’s actually entered a search term — if it’s lumped in among your AdSense for content revenues…. It’ll hurt you down the line if one channel starts to weaken and the other remains healthy. Failure to breakout means that people will assume all of “search” is having trouble. Now: Quick, how much money does Google make from search? Whatever figure anyone tells you, it’s wrong. That’s because we still don’t know. Search revenues remain mixed in advertising overall. Google probably won’t change this, because even with the recent economic downturn, it still didn’t feel it had to break them out. Nevertheless, if Google wants to avoid being classified incorrectly as a “one trick pony” that’s all about search ads, we need more guidance like we got about mobile and display revenue last year. What do you earn off of search versus other types of advertising? This will be especially important as Facebook’s “display” ads keep growing. #15 HATE: Self-Serve AdSense Then: Put the brakes on self-serve AdSense. We knew AdSense was on its way to replacing Amazon’s affiliate program for generating crap content when the first “earn millions on AdSense” guides came out. A search for adsense on Google even gives me an ad for someone selling over 100 “adsense ready” content sites that people can buy. Is this what you want to fund? An economy where everyone and their brother and sister shoves up the same content, which you then index, which is essentially the same thing? I know the self-serve program has helped you dominate the contextual space. But you fuel so much junk! Can’t you be more selective? Give more money to the people who are really working to produce information rather than just ad revenues. Now: It’s still an issue. Google fuels an incredible amount of garbage on the web. Google’s lately been reassuring that if a site is banned from Google’s search results, that takes out their AdSense account as well. But why do this after the fact? Why can’t you choose to spend more time figuring out who to reward with your program ahead of time? Seriously, you have cars that drive themselves, you embarked on some giant project to figure out what makes a good boss, but you can’t figure out how not to accept scummy sites into your ad program? Worse, it’s disingenious for your CEO Eric Schmidt to be complaining that the internet is full of garbage when his own company funds that (see The Google Sewage Factory, In Action: The Chocomize Story). Finally, look at that “Category” illustration over there on the right. That’s from within Google AdSense. It’s a way that publishers can block certain types of ads. See the fourth category down, “Get Rich Quick?” You’ve figured out a way to automatically identify ads that make these types of claims which, let’s face it, aren’t going to get anyone rich quick. But rather than block them entirely, or block them by default, you instead enable them by default to show across your entire AdSense network. I think we know who is getting rich quick off those ads. #16 N/A: Blogger Being Free Then: Stop giving away Blogger for free. It’s just full of junk. Junk, junk, junk. If you let anyone have it with no barriers, surprise, some are going to take it and do bad things with it…. Charge people even a token amount ($1 even), and that will be a big barrier. Who’s going to ding you for charging a $1 start-up fee that you can levy through Google Payments? If you must give away for free, find a better, more trusted mechanism to partner with schools or others. Or make all Blogger blogs banned from being spidered for the first 30 days and open them up after that upon review. If that’s not perfect, then figure something else out. But do something. Now: Blogger remains free, and it probably still helps pollute the web. But I’ve seen fewer complaints about the issue and seem to run into fewer junky Blogger-hosted site, so this is a non-issue to me these days. Well, less of an issue. #17 HATE: Reporting Copyright Infringement On Blogger Then: Act fast on copyright infringement at Blogger. The worst thing about Google Blog Search is that it makes it even easier for me to see who is stealing my content. And many of them are doing it via Blogger. If I have time later, I’ll document the Byzantine process it takes to inform you of copyright infringement. Then after a week, you eventually ask for a lengthy DMCA request to be filled out. I don’t have time to do one of these every five minutes that you allow someone to infringe my content without barrier on your service. Have some humanity. Use some common sense. Have someone actually look at what your told. In about 30 seconds, you can generally tell the crap site reported for stealing is indeed a crap site you should remove. Shut them down under a terms of service violation rather than running for cover and helping no one on the DMCA route. Now: Reading what I wrote five years ago is pretty scary, because it all seems applicable today. In fact, I covered the same sorry situation just over a year ago, when I wrote Case Study: How Google Hosts & Funds A Copyright-Infringing Web Site. Someone on Blogger had taken one of our stories, and I found it a nightmare trying to figure that it was hosted on Blogger and then trying to report it. Looking back at that more recent post, I see problems remain, such as: Some Blogger-hosted blogs still don’t have to have a standard nav bar with the “report abuse” link The “report spam blog” form still doesn’t ask for any details I remain happy that the “Ads By Google” text with your ads does lead to an awesome policy violation reporting tool. But you continue to bury a link to this at the bottom of the “What Are Ads By Google” page, under you pushing AdWords and AdSense. Enough. Seriously, enough. That page should primarily be designed to educate consumers. Any advertiser or publisher worth anything to you isn’t going to discover your ads through those “Ads By Google” links. Get the priorities on that page right. #18 LOVE: Gmail’s “On Behalf Of” Problem Fixed! Then Fix Gmail’s “custom from” problem. If you’re going to let me send things as if I have my own mail server, then actually ensure that people really believe I have my own mail server. Your “Custom From” problem that I cover here is causing people to think they have to send now to both my “real” domain and my Gmail address…. Charge me if you have to, but fix it. Now: You fixed it! Thank you! #19 N/A: Let Gmail Show More Than 100 Items Then: Let Gmail display more than 100 items. After archiving 50,000 messages 100 items at a time, I really wished for the ability to view more than 100 items per page. I still want that when I’m having to review about 300 spam items per day. This can’t be that hard. Can’t we have it? Now: It still seems like this should be possible, but I’ve long since given up trying to review my spam items for false positives, as you do a great job. So I don’t need this so much, now. #20 HATE: No Blacklists In Gmail Then: Let Gmail have customized blacklists. You do a good job catching spam, but you’re not perfect. I have no way of filtering out what you are missing, to help you get better. I explain more here. Work with Mailwasher, and I’ll especially think you rock. Now: I still can’t do this, short of creating a filter for particularly annoying spam. That works, but I wish I could push a button that did it. I know you’ve got the “Report Spam” button, but that doesn’t immediately do anything. I want it to create a filter that I can see and for it to begin working from the moment I push it. The button is also useless for those of us who still use Outlook — and yes, there are plenty of us. #21 LOVE: Clickable Referrers In Google Analytics Then: Give me a list of all my referring pages in Google Analytics and make them clickable. C’mon. WebTrends has offered stuff like this since, I dunno, WebTrends 1.0? In Google Analytics, I have to go to Referral Conversion, then see individual URLs rolled up under sites, then cut and paste things if I want to go to the page that sent me traffic. It could, and should, be much easier. Now: You added it in 2007, thanks! #22 LOVE: An End To Overwhelmed Product Launches Then: Stop opening products to everyone, then getting overwhelmed. The story is getting tiring. Everyone’s invited to use Google Web Accelerator, then you pull it down. Come get Google Analytics, then you shut it down to newcomers to demand. Come get Google Page Creator, then it closes…. You know whatever you roll out is going to get overwhelmed. Figure out another way to open it up. The demand is no longer making it seem like your products are hot. It’s making it seem like you are lame and can’t anticipate or handle the rush. Now: It’s been ages since I recall this being an issue, so thanks for fixing it! #23 LOVE: That You Charge For Products Then: Charge for things! Seriously, I’m getting frightened. I love that anyone can get free analytics, email, you name it from you. But I’m fearful that people also can’t get support for when things go wrong. I think this guy’s still trying to get an official response on what happened to his lost Gmail account. Meanwhile, I worry that companies I want competing with you, to keep you on your toes, can’t do so when you use advertising to underwrite everything. It just feels anti-competitive. Plus, aren’t you kind of sick of shoving ads at us everywhere? Don’t I have enough ads on the floor of my supermarket already? Can’t part of Google’s mission be to help reduce advertising in places where I don’t need it? Now: When I ran out of space with Gmail, a credit card got me more — and solved a number of other issues. I gladly paid it. And I’ll gladly pay for other essential services, if you’ll improve them, too. #24 MIXED: It’s About Search, Not Selling Then: Remember it’s not about selling. Google Video started with searchable TV content. That got dropped when the new video sales began. OK, the official line is that you’re working with providers about bringing back the TV content. The unspoken truth is you can’t cut those deals to sell TV entertainment shows without dropping the taping. But do work on ways to bring it back. Yes, there’s a reason why video search is closely related to video shopping. But being able to keyword search across things like news shows or popular references in entertainment content was informational. And that’s your mission, right? Organize the world’s information, not just sell TV shows. Similarly, as you begin to sell books or build out the Google Base content, don’t just become an Amazon or eBay alternative. Now: It’s weird reading what I wrote above, given that Google Video abandoned hosting and selling video content. YouTube has taken over. But perhaps that was a harbinger of the careful line you walk now. Is Google Books a store for buying books or a guide to books everywhere? If the former, you risk enraging the “search neutrality” folks who claim you’re favoring yourself. Similarly, what will happen as you bring more paid content into YouTube? Will Google Video, which covers video content from around the web, favor YouTube rentals? Will the TV search feature within Google TV favor TV content on YouTube? When the cloud-based Google music selling service finally arrives, people are going to weigh that against iTunes and Amazon. Do you list them as part of your search mission? One challenge is that if you don’t become involved in some of these areas — sales of movies, music, and other content — you risk being a weaker competitor to Apple, and everyone risks there being no counterbalance to the Apple iTunes / iOS ecosystem. Another challenge is that if you don’t build some of these destinations, as happened with YouTube and Google Books, there’s little content to ultimately search. Still, Clicker managed to produce a great guide to TV content without hosting a thing. That’s what a search engine was supposed to do, be a trustworthy neutral party pointing to the best everywhere. Sure, monetize those links to trusted providers, but that’s different than being a provider yourself. #25 HATE: Fix The Philosophy Then: Fix the philosophy. I’ve written before about how your philosophy page has a big disconnect with reality. It feels even further disconnected these days. You’re doing 100 different things rather than “one thing really, really well.” As for “you can make money without doing evil,” you know that’s not so when you yourselves created an evil scale to decide just how bad bowing to Chinese censorship would be for you. Give us a realistic philosophy, one that doesn’t give you so far to fall from lofty heights. We’ll like you more for it, rather than the excuses and spin when you can’t do what you say you should do. Now: Your philosophy page was last updated in September 2009. Some of those updates failed to reflect reality then, and the page is even more outdated now. Some comments: “Focus on the user and all else will follow.” I know you believe in this. I’m glad you believe in it. I also believe if often does guide many of your decisions. But identifying “Get Rich Quick” ads and still allowing them to run isn’t focusing on the user. Pushing that we don’t need net neutrality in the mobile broadband space, I’m sorry — I still don’t see that as working for the user. Not finding a way to work with Facebook apparently because using Facebook Connect might give Facebook too much visibility into your system? That’s working in your own interest, not the users. Don’t get me wrong. I think you DO believe not working with Facebook is in the users’ interest. The problem is you get into a mindset where you believe that Google knows best for the user. Google doesn’t always know best. And also don’t get me wrong — in the whole Facebook dispute, there are heaps of issues I have with Facebook. But Facebook never has seemed to make much pretension of working in anything but Facebook’s own interest. They didn’t set a high standard that they fail to meet. I’m glad you have those pretensions, but maybe they need to be more realistic. “It’s best to do one thing really, really well” You left doing “one thing really well” behind so many years ago that it’s embarrassing to still be staying this. “Democracy on the web works” Except it doesn’t, because then you wouldn’t have to fight things like people buying links, nor have to roll out new changes to stop low-quality content from getting top rankings or algorithms to catch bad merchants. Indeed, since your results have been more and more personalized, there’s arguably less “democracy” in them. That’s not necessarily bad — but the philosophy page doesn’t reflect reality. “You can make money without doing evil.” This isn’t 2001, and you can’t claim — as you do on the philosophy page — that not being evil is proven by avoiding pop-ups or “flashy” ads. You understand that you have advertisers running “Get Rich Quick” ads but don’t stop those? That’s kind of evil, don’t you think? Telling your publishers, as you do, to put more ads on their pages — you don’t think that interferes with reading like those pop-ups you’re so worried about? And have you seen a typical Made-For-AdSense web site, where the actual “content” is often tiny, surrounded in a fog of your ads? That’s not kind of evil? The famed “Don’t Be Evil” mantra doesn’t actually appear on your philosophy page (instead, it’s in the corporate code of conduct). But the philosophy page talks about not “doing evil,” and that still rings to my ear as if Google assumes that everyone else is evil. How About, “Aim For Good?” Everyone else isn’t evil, and no one likes that being implied. I really appreciate that Google has lofty goals, but how about flipping things around. “Be good.” Or even, “Aim for good.” You’re not always going to hit that goal, but it’s easier to forgive imperfections in those who already seemingly admit to them. Scorecard! 50/50 Still reading? Good for you! Just scrolled down to the end? I understand. I’ve gone deep for those who want background, but here’s the summary, grouped by Hate, Love, Like, Mixed and N/A: Hate Web Search Counts That Make No Sense Google Keeps Serving Up Sites You’ve Seen You Cache Pages No Guaranteed Web Search Support No Pick & Choose For Search Advertisers AdWords & AdSense Confusion Search Revenues Aren’t Broken Out Self-Serve AdSense Reporting Copyright Infringement On Blogger No Blacklists In Gmail Fix The Philosophy Love Related Searches Everywhere Easier Access To All Your Tools RSS For Web Search Support For NOODP Gmail’s “On Behalf Of” Problem Fixed! Clickable Referrers In Google Analytics An End To Overwhelmed Product Launches That You Charge For Products Like Less User Interface Confusion Country-Specific Results On Google.com More Responsive To Click Fraud Complaints Mixed It’s About Search, Not Selling N/A Blogger Being Free Let Gmail Show More Than 100 Items That’s only 11 “Hates” left out of an original 25, so call it a 56% “success” rate on fixing things. However, of the 14 “fixed” items, two became non-issues and on one, I have mixed feelings. So for “success,” I’m counting all the things marked “Love” and “Like” — 11 in total. That makes it even, in my books — 50% of the things I hoped to have fixed were. And I’m pretty happy about that. Here’s hoping that fixing the other half won’t take a further five years. And for a wishlist looking forward, I’d love to see Google do things like provide more accurate date-based searching across all of its properties (dates can be and are a mess), and ombudsman to look at issues raised with Google and for Gmail to pretty-please let me toggle conversation view on and off without having to dig into my settings. If Outlook 2010 can do it, I’m sure Gmail can. And hey, if you liked this story — “Like” it on Facebook with the button below, share it on Twitter with the Tweet button, Buzz it on Google — you know the drill!
What and Why Heir II is the second stage of the European Smash Circuit. It is a three day residential event taken place in Nottingham, United Kingdom, hosted by Team Heir. So far, 250+ have signed up which makes Heir II officially the second largest melee tournament in European history and the largest Project M tournament to date in Europe! Furthermore, for the first time ever in Europe, Team Heir will be running an international crew tournament - a 5 v 5 DE bracket, where every country will attend and fight for their honour. The Spanish Economy Unfortunately, Spain is suffering from a big economic crisis, its youth unemployment is the second highest in Europe, more than 53%. Top Spanish players are unable to find a stable job and they can't travel as much as they would love to, this is your opportunity to help them and enjoy the show!! How You Can Help Donate today and you will not only help us bring K-12, Trifasia and Overtriforce and out to Heir II The Throne, you will also pick up some great rewards! These players can’t make it without your assistance. Your donation will help cover the travel, lodging, and venue fee expenses necessary to bring these players out and help make Heir II The Throne a truly international battle. Plus, with every donation, you can select from a wide range of rewards, from official tournament apparel to personalized help from your favorite players. Goal details You can help Team HEIR bring K-12, Trifasia and Overtriforce out to Heir II The Throne by donating before time runs out. Select from any of the available rewards and complete payment at the bottom of this page to make a donation. Your donation amount will be processed and immediately added to the raised total. Merchandise rewards will be processed and shipped once the goal has been reached, while in-person rewards will be delivered at the tournament (separate tournament registration is required). In the event that the goal is not met, all rewards will be canceled and all donation amounts refunded. $3000 STRETCH GOAL A Mysterious Hero Appears! After his trip to Australia, where he got 3rd behind Mang0 and Leffen, Lucky returns with another big adventure. He will try to show everyone in Europe the strength of SoCal. Lucky is also the #1 Ranked player in SoCal's PM Power Ranking and looks forward to displaying his prowess in both games a HEIR II The Throne. Lucky has defeated a big number of good players lately such as HungryBox, Hax, S2J, Westballz, PPU, Nintendude… let’s see what he - or the Batman itself - can do against the EU folks! Once the $1500 goal has been met, all rewards are confirmed and additional donations will automatically go towards the stretch goal. At the $3000 stretch goal, Lucky will attend Heir II To The Throne. Any additional donations above the stretch goal amount will be added to the Heir II To The Throne prize pool. Failure to meet the $3000 stretch goal will not affect rewards or other invited players. Failure to meet the $1500 main goal will result in the cancelation of all rewards, with refunds automatically issued to all donors.
MNF star Neville takes Sportsmail behind the scenes of the TV show making fans fall in love with punditry again It is 4.30pm and although Gary Neville is midway through rehearsals for that evening’s Monday Night Football, he is still going through his first item in painstaking detail. Things have to be right and he is unapologetically demanding and meticulous in his preparation. ‘What do we think about this?’ the former Manchester United full back asks producer Scott Melvin, as a chart flashes up on his touch screen. ‘I don’t think that’s good enough.’ He is over-ruled. ‘Fine,’ he says, but his arms are folded — it is clearly not fine. ‘Are we comfortable with that colour on this graphic?’ is the next question. ‘It’s disgusting,’ Neville continues, without waiting for a reply. ‘I’m not a colours man but... can’t you change it?’ It is duly changed. Oh what a night: Sportsmail's Laura Williamson joined Gary Neville and Ed Chamberlain in the Sky studio to see how the hugely popular Monday Night Football has become such a big hit Neville has been at Sky’s studios in west London since 9.30am, but he is still like a man on fast-forward, running ‘at 100 miles per hour’. His intensity, willingness to work hard and genuine vigour for his sport are startling. It seems the same qualities that characterised him as a footballer are the ones that mark him out as a pundit. ‘This is different to football,’ says the 37-year-old, ‘but there is pressure — and I think that’s the thing that keeps me excited and stimulated. It’s got to be right. ‘I think information and the detail are the most important things for me. Nice goals or a lovely finish or an incident, that will get done a thousand times by everybody else and there isn’t really much more you can say. ‘I prefer information. I try to do it as if I was looking at it as a player or a coach rather than as entertainment. ‘I don’t think, really, I’m a perfect broadcaster by any stretch of the imagination. I think it’s more around the information for me. That’s all I can do. If you want a pretty face or a nice voice then don’t come here.’ Ed Chamberlin, the host of MNF, laughs. ‘Well, I won’t argue with that,’ he says. The pair have been working together for barely 18 months but have taken the format made famous by Richard Keys and Andy Gray and made it their own. There is little ego or arrogance about Chamberlin, who works without an autocue and fully understands his role is to ensure Neville is the star of the show. The presenter continually tries to tease extra insight and information out of a right back who won 85 caps for England, constantly asking ‘why’ and ‘how’, which seems to amuse and frustrate Neville on alternate occasions. Practice makes perfect: Chamberlain and Neville can be in the studio from 9.30am on the day of the game NEVILLE'S MANIC MONDAY 9.30am Arrive at Sky’s studios in west London. 10am Production meeting. Neville has been feeding ideas to the production team since the previous Wednesday. They discuss what he wants to talk about and the order the pieces should run. 11.30am Neville goes through all the video clips, while Ed Chamberlin studies the running order and familiarises himself with all the links and music. 2pm Lunch. 3pm Rehearsals start on set. 6pm Make-up. 7pm On air. An hour of analysis from the weekend’s games and to preview that night’s Barclays Premier League fixture. Also includes interviews with the managers, live from the ground. 8pm Kick-off. 8.45pm Half-time analysis. 9pm Second half. 9.45pm Full-time analysis, a look back at the weekend’s goals and a Twitter Q&A. 11pm Off air. ‘Ed doesn’t offer opinions on football,’ says Melvin. ‘It’s different with (Match of the Day presenter) Gary Lineker. He was a footballer and you would never begrudge him an opinion. 'But, for me, the presenter’s job is to probe the guys who have played football. Ed drives it and keeps it on the rails because otherwise, God knows what would happen.’ It is no mean feat keeping Neville in check, that’s for sure. He revels in his Aladdin’s cave of touch-screen boards, slow-motion clips, high camera angles, statistics and league tables. The former England defender even had a screen installed in his Manchester home for nine days to practise before he started at Sky, only to go bonkers when he found out they had updated the technology when he arrived in London. ‘I’m obsessed with charts,’ Neville says, laughing at the nerdy nature of his words. ‘I’ll say, “Make me a chart, make me a chart”. They argue I don’t need one, just to say it, but I want everyone at home to know those statistics are there. ‘Every time I do a piece I don’t just get the clips, I get the statistics. I want statistics to back it up, so it’s not just my instinct. It’s easy to get caught up in thinking, “Arsenal are rubbish”. But where are they rubbish? Why? They can’t be all rubbish, or all good. ‘You’ve got to offer some perspective. Everything’s so sudden, everyone’s always screaming. ‘I think that’s what people inside football do better than people in the media because in the media there’s a need to make everything so dramatic. But, inside football, you analyse it. You look at it bit by bit and think that’s OK, that’s not bad, rather than everything being bad or good.’ Neville’s proximity to the game, however, could easily compromise his willingness to say what he sees and how he feels. He spent all his career at Manchester United and has a four-year contract with the FA to work under Roy Hodgson and coach the England senior team, after all. Finishing touches: Neville is still new to football punditry but is brilliantly professional in his preparation But as Neville watches Arsenal’s 5-2 win at Reading — from a ‘big, wide high camera angle’ because ‘that’s the only way you can analyse it properly, you can’t watch the ball’ — there is only a flicker of his allegiance to the national side. When Jack Wilshere crumples to the ground in the build-up to Reading’s first goal, Neville suddenly becomes even more animated. ‘Oh! Oh!’ he cries. ‘Wilshere’s done his knee ligaments. Oh no. Or is it his groin? Oh dear.’ Then, ‘Oh, phew, he’s OK. What price 5-4 Reading now?’ Neville’s affiliations make him more accountable than most but he insists he remains deliberately detached from the insular, pally world of football. His reasoning is as clear as the straightforward manner in which he is able to talk through a set-piece or analyse the build-up to a goal: you cannot criticise someone on live television one day and go for a pint with them the next. ‘I don’t speak to too many people,’ he says. ‘I think if you speak to too many people you become friendly with them and it might not be as honest an assessment. ‘You get to know people — “All right, how are you mate?” — and a week later they think you’re stitching them up. Don’t get too close. I do know people but I spent my life at one club. ‘People at the start, understandably, were asking how it would work, but I think I’ve been as honest as I can be about United games and most people seem to have accepted the fact that I’ve praised or criticised their team. ‘I think fans are pretty honest. They don’t want rubbish. If their team play well they know they’ve played well. If they haven’t, they know that, too. You try to show why or how because they know the rest themselves. You’re always looking for the most interesting bits. Less fluff, more gruff.’ And they're off: The show has received rave reviews this season thanks to Neville's expert analysis The enjoyment Neville derives from his new role is obvious, even if he can barely contain his energy, pacing up and down during advertising breaks and badgering the producer with ideas as early as the Wednesday before a show. This opportunity to have the last word on the weekend’s action is, after all, both the programme’s strength and its continual challenge — how do you be significantly different from what has gone before, on television and social media and in the newspapers? Neville consumes information from all these outlets but still has to offer new insight on a Monday night. As you can probably imagine, he is not short of ideas, although the transition from player to pundit has not been as straight-forward as you might think. ‘The more I relax, the more I become a little lighthearted,’ says Neville. ‘But on the first show last year, I was 100 miles per hour. I was like a train with no brakes. I used to get an incredibly dry mouth because I was so nervous. I’ve not done anything like this before in my life. ‘And my hands! Oh my hands. That was a massive problem. What do you do with them when you’re standing at the touchscreen? Now I carry my pen with me because you’ve got something to focus on. ‘I was everywhere — my hands were terrible. I got a lot of feedback: hands and my hair, which is a continual challenge — I’ve just given up on that.’ Giving up? That must be a first for Neville, surely. Sky Sports is the home of football with more than 500 live matches every season including Barclays Premier League, UEFA Champions League, internationals, the npower Football League and more. RELATED ARTICLES Previous 1 2 Next Gary Neville: Yes, Arsenal are struggling but sensible... Edge of the Box: Neville passes Manchester derby test with... Laura Williamson: Wake up Gary, or Match of the Day's old... Share this article Share
Israeli archaeologists in northern Israel have uncovered the ruins of a rural synagogue that dates back some 2,000 years. The remains of the synagogue were found during an archaeological dig at Tel Rekhesh, near Mount Tabor in the lower Galilee, in what was an ancient Jewish village. The find could lend weight to the New Testament narrative that Jesus visited villages in the area to preach. Get The Times of Israel's Daily Edition by email and never miss our top stories Free Sign Up Mordechai Aviam, an archaeologist at Kinneret College on the Sea of Galilee who led the dig, estimated the synagogue was built between 20-40 AD and was used for a hundred years. No rural synagogues have been found from that time, he said. “This is the first 1st century synagogue in rural Galilee of the first century,” he said. The building was 8.8 meters (29 feet) by 7.92 meters wide (26 feet) and the walls were lined with limestone benches, the Daily Mail reported Wednesday. Two pillars found may have supported the roof. “The site is 17 km (10 miles) as crow flies east of Nazareth, and 12 km from Nin (Naim), and although we don’t have its name in the New Testament, it is in the area in which Jesus acted,” said Aviam. Until the find, synagogues from that time, known as the Second Temple Period after the Jewish temple that stood in Jerusalem, have only been found in urban centers. The New Testament says Jesus traveled around the Galilee area preaching in villages and communities. Aviam told the Ynet news site that the synagogue was likely built by an agricultural estate owner. “This is a simple synagogue but it is not [that] simple to build a synagogue,” he said. “The benches that we discovered are made of beautiful white Ashlar stone and the large foundation pillars required considerable investment and were expensive,” he added. A prayer reader would have stood in the center of the room. Later designs of synagogues were built to face towards Jerusalem. “The New Testament describes how Jesus delivered sermons in a synagogue in Capernaum and other synagogues in the Galilee,” Aviam explained. “During the same period Jesus was still a Jew who observed Jewish rituals and requirements and like many rabbis, he delivered sermons in synagogues. Christianity which developed after him placed an emphasis on his sermons at synagogues in the Galilee. This makes the place very important for Christians.” The site is currently unavailable to visitors but Aviam hopes it will be developed as a tourist site in the future.
For this week’s issue, Lise Sarfati photographed the concert pianist Hélène Grimaud for D. T. Max’s Profile; earlier this year, Sarfati photographed the feminist writer Élisabeth Badinter for Jane Kramer’s Profile. “Even through Élisabeth did not like to have her photograph taken, she opened her world to me,” Sarfati told me. “Hélène was different: a sort of star in the sky. Right away she was more distant and enigmatic.” To my eye, these two intimate views echoed Sarfati’s portraits of the four women in her recently completed body of work “She.” Sarfati photographed Christine, her sister Gina, and Christine’s two daughters Sloane and Sasha over the course of four years, in California and Arizona. “Each woman is photographed alone and acts like a mirror to the others or to herself,” Sarfati said. “I was interested in Christine’s instability, Sasha’s melancholy, Sloane’s capacity for transformation, and Gina’s gender ambiguity.” Here’s a selection from her forthcoming book, to be published by Twin Palms this fall. Sarfati will have two solo exhibitions at Rose Gallery, Los Angeles, in spring 2012, and a retrospective at Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris, in 2014. Her work can also be seen in Rose Gallery’s booth at Paris Photo this November.
WARNING: GRAPHIC CONTENT The men are understood to be ISIS fighters who were killed by the Libyan Army Executioners walk up to a row of prisoners and shoot them dead with rifles Killers then turn on their heels and walk back before the sequence is repeated A shocking video has emerged showing 18 prisoners in orange jumpsuits getting shot in the back of the head from point-blank range in summary executions in Libya. The men, understood to be ISIS fighters, are shown kneeling in four rows and facing away from their killers. ADVERTISEMENT Executioners can be seen walking up slowly behind their targets before firing a spray of bullets from what look like semi-automatic assault rifles into the backs of their heads before another line of killers repeat the sequence. It comes amid tensions between jihadists and Libyan forces in Benghazi after strongman Khalifa Haftar - a former soldier under the Gaddafi regime who has risen through the ranks to commander of the Libyan National Army - declared victory in the eastern city. Scroll down for video Executioners, thought to be from the Libyan National Army, take aim at their targets - supposedly ISIS fighters in the country The killers spray their targets with bullets long after they have fallen to the ground in a heap Eighteen blindfolded prisoners in Guantanamo Bay-style jumpsuits line up to face their deaths Resize The gruesome video, seen by MailOnline, shows all 18 men in orange jumpsuits falling to the floor after being shot, but it it not clear who is pulling the trigger and giving the orders. It is claimed by the Libyan Express the commander of the eastern Saiqa Force of Operation Dignity Mahmoud Al-Werfalli conducted the massacre. He was also said to have ordered the killings by the Libyan Observer, who reported he had been promoted by Haftar, leader of the Libyan National Army, for his alleged role in killing policemen in May. It is understood those killed were ISIS fighters in Libya, according to Al Jazeera, who again claimed it was Al-Werfalli reading the charges before his proteges shoot the detainees dead. In the video, a man can be seen reading from a piece of paper and men in military uniform can be seen walking up to their targets, taking one each, and unleashing a flurry of bullets on the command of their leader. The kneeling men fall to the ground face-first, which doesn't stop the gunmen from shooting. Eventually, they turn on their heels and walk back together in a line before a new set of executioners walk forward and kill the next line of prisoners. A man in an orange jumpsuit located in the second line appears to fall forward in an attempt to fool the executioners, but he is dragged back onto his knees and callously shot in the head in the second round of killings. The sequence continues until all 18 men are dead. The first row of prisoners are taken out by the first line of executioners in the video dated July 17 Five prisoners lay face-down in the dirt after being shot in the back of the head at point-blank range Dust rises from the ground in the desert as the executioners stand behind the men they have killed Executioners holding up their semi-automatic assault rifles before pulling the trigger and killing their targets The video is dated July 17, which means it would have come just days after the UN's human rights spokeswoman Liz Throssell said called for the Libyan National Army (LNA) which controls the eastern part of the country to investigate summary executions of prisoners. ADVERTISEMENT The UN's human rights body and voiced concern at the fate of those still in their custody. The LNA is pushing to expand its presence in central and southern Libya, where it has been vying for control with forces linked to the UN-backed government in Tripoli and other opponents. LNA leader Khalifa Haftar has gained ground with Egyptian and Emirati support, and Western states say Haftar must be part of any solution to Libya's conflict UN human rights spokeswoman Liz Throssell said: 'We are deeply concerned that, after recent fighting in Benghazi, people taken prisoner by members of the Libyan National Army, which effectively controls eastern Libya, may be at imminent risk of torture and even summary execution. 'Reports have suggested the involvement of Special Forces, a unit aligned with the LNA, in torturing detainees and summarily executing at least 10 captured men.' A member of the self-styled Libyan National Army, loyal to the country's east strongman Khalifa Haftar, rides in a tank as it drives down a street through the rubble in Benghazi's central Akhribish district on July 19, 2017 following clashes with militants Smoke billows from buildings during clashes between members of the self-styled Libyan National Army, loyal to the country's east strongman Khalifa Haftar, and militants in Benghazi's central Akhribish district on July 19, 2017 A picture shows a damaged building in Benghazi's central Akhribish district on July 19, 2017. Libyan military strongman Khalifa Haftar on July 5, 2017, announced the "total liberation" of second city Benghazi, which was overrun by jihadists three years ago The Libyan National Army announced last March that it would conduct investigations into alleged war crimes but has not shared any information, Throssell said. 'We urge the LNA to ensure there is a full, impartial investigation into these allegations,' she said. Throssell also called on the group to suspend Mahmoud al-Werfalli from his duties as a Special Forces field commander pending the conclusion of such an investigation. A video circulating on social media in March allegedly showed al-Werfalli shooting dead three men who were kneeling and facing a wall with their hands tied behind their backs, Throssell said. In June, two further videos appeared to show summary executions carried out by LNA fighters on his orders. 'One of these videos, which emerged on 9 June, shows four men kneeling with their hands tied behind their backs who are shot dead as al-Werfalli watches,' she said. 'The latest video, which was posted on social media this month, seems to shows LNA fighters kicking and taunting prisoners, while al-Werfalli is apparently heard accusing two men who have their hands tied behind their backs of belonging to terrorist groups,' she said. ADVERTISEMENT The LNA has declined comment on the images.
All Twin Peaks Backgrounds From DavidLynch.com As you know, davidlynch.com relaunched last week with, among many other goodies, a bunch of music from Twin Peaks. Check out the new songs “Deer Meadow Shuffle” and “Just You (Instrumental Baritone Guitar)” if you haven’t done so yet. And while playing back the tracks from the Twin Peaks Archive and the Season 2 soundtrack, you’ll see a slideshow of stills as well as exclusive set shots from the series and the Fire Walk With Me prequel movie. Last weekend, I spend a few minutes downloading all these beautiful, new photos from the site (just look at the amazing Double R scenes!) and so far, I was able to grab 89 different background pictures. But I know for sure that there are more, so expect them to be added as soon as more rare and unreleased Twin Peaks music is unveiled on the “open album” platform on davidlynch.com! [nggallery id=1] Comments comments
We can only guess how Tony Abbott would have responded had he, rather than Malcolm Turnbull, been prime minister this past week. Pretty certainly, though, his response to the murder of a police employee by a radicalised young Muslim in Parramatta would have involved a coterie of human props in uniform, a plethora of Australian flags and numerous references to the “death cult” and the threat it posed to “team Australia”. Would he have reminded us again, as he did in the aftermath of deadly attacks in France and Tunisia in June, that “they’re coming after us”? Would he have claimed, as he did in his national security statement in February, that “a new Dark Age” is upon us, necessitating further restrictions on civil liberties and new punitive measures? Perhaps he might have called on Muslim leaders to more often declare Islam a religion of peace, and “mean it”, as he also did in that statement. This much is clear: the billion-odd extra dollars committed to law enforcement in the past year produced no intelligence relevant to the case. Or Abbott might have again suggested Islamist terrorists are worse than Nazis. As he said in an October 3 radio interview: “The Nazis did terrible evil but they had sufficient sense of shame to try to hide it. These people [Daesh] boast about their evil.” In September last year, when Numan Haider stabbed two police officers before being shot dead in Melbourne, Abbott was en route to a meeting at the United Nations. He still made time to record a video message during a layover in Hawaii, telling us he had been briefed on the “fierce attack” and reminding us once more that there were extremists among us. Nothing could stop his relentless politicking on the subject, not even regard for due judicial process. Thus in February, after two men were arrested in a major police raid, he regaled parliament with the untested allegations against them. “Kneeling before the death cult flag with a knife in his hand and a machete before him, one of those arrested said this: ‘I swear to almighty Allah we will carry out the first operation for the soldiers of the caliphate in Australia,’ ” Abbott recounted, in part. “I don’t think it would be possible to witness uglier fanaticism than this – more monstrous fanaticism and extremism than this – and I regret to say it is now present in our country.” Respecters of the rule of law were appalled. Robert Richter, QC, said the comments amounted to a potentially prejudicial and “calculated political gambit” intended to influence the judicial process. Turnbull’s comments after last Friday’s shooting could not have been more different: “The Australian Muslim community will be especially appalled and shocked by this. As [New South Wales Police] Commissioner Andrew Scipione and the Premier [Mike Baird] have noted, we must not vilify or blame the entire Muslim community with the actions of what is, in truth, a very, very small percentage of violent extremist individuals.” Jabar didn't act alone Farhad Khalil Mohammad Jabar was just 15 and in year 10. His social media use showed a string of deeply ordinary interests: The Voice, The Simpsons and basketball. He was apparently devout, attending the Parramatta mosque and Friday prayer group meetings at his school, and quiet and friendly. There was nothing at all to indicate to law enforcement authorities that he held any extremist beliefs. Yet last Friday afternoon this apparently unremarkable boy, having earlier gone to the mosque, wearing black robes and armed with an old revolver, walked up behind accountant Curtis Cheng, 58, as he left Parramatta police headquarters and shot him in the back of the head. After killing Cheng, Jabar was himself killed in an exchange of gunfire with police. In the week since, we have seen a great deal of activity, but learnt little. Police now do not believe the boy acted alone. On Tuesday morning they arrested a 16-year-old student outside Arthur Phillip High School, over threatening social media posts and alleged intimidation of officers. On Wednesday, 200 police carried out raids in the suburbs of Guildford, Wentworthville, Merrylands and Marsfield, and arrested four young men – ages 16 to 22 – on suspicion that they were connected to the attack. Three of them had been among 15 people detained during Australia’s largest-ever counterterrorism operation, in September last year, which resulted in just one being charged with a terrorism offence. The speculation is that Jabar was groomed by others to carry out the attack because they were under such heavy surveillance they could not do it themselves, and that the gun used was obtained through a “Middle Eastern crime gang”. Anti-terror instruments failed Of course, the questions of how it happened are important, as it is important to bring to justice those who planned it. But the bigger question is why it happened. And how to stop it happening again. This much is clear: all the punitive and draconian legislation introduced by the Abbott government could not have stopped it, and the billion-odd extra dollars committed to law enforcement in the past year produced no intelligence relevant to the case. As NSW Deputy Police Commissioner Catherine Burn said: “The 15 year-old deceased has not been a target of ours and is not somebody we would have assessed as a threat.” But there were clues. Only after the tragedy did police learn from other worshippers at the mosque that Jabar had recently begun keeping bad company, sitting with a group of men known for their rudeness and considered to hold dangerous views. More importantly, we now learn that others had held concerns about the boy’s deteriorating mental health. On Thursday Guardian Australia published a piece by Michael Safi, an Arabic-speaking reporter who has spent the past year or so building connections in the Islamic community. It was an interview with another worshipper at the Parramatta mosque, a man identified only as Isaac, who had attempted to engage with the obviously troubled boy over the previous two or three months. Jabar, he said, was withdrawn, spoke of being bullied at school, said he didn’t want to go there anymore. Isaac conveyed his concerns to psychologists and other professionals. “And the feedback was, these were depressive symptoms, these were symptoms of trauma, of anxiety.” He offered to put the boy in touch with professional help. But the last time Isaac saw Jabar, the boy was sitting with a group of four strange men, and gave him the “cold shoulder”. “[We] need to understand the religious and cultural implications that mental health has,” Isaac said. “A young Muslim person battling depression isn’t going to go out and talk about it. It’s seen as something, within the context of the community, it doesn’t feed into the notion of being a man, of being resilient.” Isaac is helping to organise a conference on mental health in the Islamic context, work that, as Safi noted, “has now taken on a new significance”. Deradicalisation strategies needed The obvious point here is that Farhad Jabar was no hardcore terrorist, at least not until the very end. He was a kid going through the same agonies of identity that many do at the same age. And no doubt feeling particularly isolated, coming from a community disinclined to recognise his problems, within a larger community in which his customs, beliefs and even attire marked him as a suspected outsider. Had he received the right help, the horror of last Friday might not have happened. The broader point is that while billions have been spent on enforcement, not much has been done about engagement. Sure, the government has talked about “deradicalisation” strategies, but it has done little more than that. Consider the joint announcement made by then-prime minister Abbott and Attorney-General George Brandis of the new “Countering Violent Extremism” strategy last August. “As Team Australia, we need to support community efforts to prevent young Australians being radicalised …” it began. Of the $630 million in extra funds announced for counterterrorism measures, just $13.4 million was earmarked “to strengthen community engagement programs in Australia with an emphasis on preventing young Australians from becoming involved with extremist groups”. The numbers serve to emphasise the point made by associate professor Anne Aly of Curtin University, who specialises in public policy responses to terrorism. “To date, Australia has focused very much on the punitive. We’ve invested a billion on security, but very little on prevention,” she says. The relatively tiny amount devoted to engagement and prevention is a good start, “but we’re well behind the eight ball” here. “People who are 15 and 16 now are two years ahead of us in their process towards radicalisation while we’re still thinking the only thing we can do is intervene, rather than prevent,” Aly says. “The government wants NGOs to do a lot of the work. But to do the work the government wants will cost them a lot of money. You have to be willing to hire and fund professionals. “Community engagement requires more than just engaging with community leaders, those who are willing to engage with you, but doing the hard yards to seek out people who are unwilling to engage with you.” Politics of terror and security Which brings us back to Tony Abbott, whose attitudes and comments on the subject only served to make the process of engagement harder. And it was not just him. The fuelling of community division in this area has been a hardy perennial of conservative politicking for 14 years. Back in mid-2001 prime minister John Howard looked gone. At the end of July, opposition leader Kim Beazley was seen as the superior leader on most measures. Newspoll had Beazley leading Howard on understanding the major issues, 69-63; on vision, 70-69; on trustworthiness, 58-51; and on decisiveness and strength, 62-61. Then the MV Tampa sailed over the horizon, with its cargo of asylum seekers. And on September 11, Howard was in Washington when Islamists attacked America. Almost immediately all the indicators turned around. Two months later it was Howard in front 81-74 on understanding the big issues; 77-70 on vision; 62-60 on trustworthiness. On the key indicator, strength and decisiveness, he led 76-57. Ever since, the two issues of border security and terrorism have been conflated and exploited. No doubt it was good politics, as evidenced by the fact that even as people had lost faith in Abbott in most areas, polls showed he was still held to be strong on issues of security. And the Labor opposition was little better. In its determination not to be outflanked, it waved through draconian government policies, even if it refrained from the kind of rhetoric used by the prime minister. Good politics but divisive and counterproductive governance. Says Aly: “The tone of political discourse has a huge impact on how government programs are perceived. Any efforts by the government to combat radicalisation are going to be less effective if they are perceived as politics.” And there is little doubt Australia’s Muslims perceived the Abbott regime as playing politics. Australia’s race discrimination commissioner, Tim Soutphommasane, attests to that. “During the past year or so many communities were alarmed at the ‘Team Australia’ rhetoric used by the government. It begged the question of who was on the team and who wasn’t. It left the impression the government believed there was an ‘us’ and ‘them’, with Muslim Australians cast as ‘them’. “Another source of disquiet was a comment suggesting Muslims needed to say Islam was a religion of peace ‘and mean it’. Those sentiments were regarded as a deep affront to Muslim Australians who are good, decent and law-abiding citizens.” Hope for change under Turnbull But quite suddenly, things have changed. In part, no doubt, that’s down to the circumstances of the Parramatta event, which showed so comprehensively the inadequacy of current counterterrorism policy. But mostly it’s due to the change of prime minister. Malcolm Turnbull’s response to the tragedy of Parramatta contained no references to “Team Australia” or to the “death cult”. There was no frightening hyperbole. Rather there was reassurance. His language was echoed by relevant ministers and the Shorten opposition. Instead, Turnbull and Premier Mike Baird convened a phone conference with Islamic leaders, to discuss their mutual response. Just words, perhaps, but they matter. There is also the message from Concetta Fierravanti-Wells, assistant minister for multicultural affairs, who indicated on Tuesday that the government had now realised they need to stop vilifying and start engaging. “It is very clear that we now need to review what we are doing, reset the agenda and work much more closely with communities,” she said. She noted that most of the good work now being done was happening mostly “without government assistance”. The clear implication was that more government assistance would be forthcoming, although details were scant. Turnbull is considering, not provoking. Journalists seeking comment from his office are being politely told he does not want to play politics with the issue. It’s a stark difference.
By Joanna Sugden Joanna Sugden for The Wall Street Journal Men held banners during the meet in New Delhi, Saturday. Before Yohan Sudheer put up his banner apologizing to Delhi women for the behavior of Indian men, a security guard stepped in to share his opinion on the matter. “He took me aside and said ‘You know, in that rape case that it was the woman’s fault because of the way she was behaving on the bus,’" said Mr. Sudheer, recalling the conversation at the small gathering at Jantar Mantar, a popular protest ground in New Delhi, Saturday. Mr. Sudheer, 20, says the security guard was trying to convince him that men should not be held responsible for sexually assaulting women, including in the Delhi rape case, because they should dress more conservatively. “This is what we’re up against,” said Mr. Sudheer. India for Integrity, the campaign group of which he is part, met this weekend along with Delhi Bikers, local motorbike enthusiasts, to offer what they called “a public apology from Delhi men to Delhi women” and to commit to change men's attitudes towards females.
A former Arizona police officer was found not guilty of murder Thursday of in the 2016 fatal shooting of an unarmed man outside his hotel room, as video of the shocking moment is finally released by officials. Philip Mitchell Brailsford, 27, was found not guilty in the 2016 death of 26-year-old father-of-two Daniel Shaver, from Granbury, Texas. The shooting, which Shaver's family has referred to as an 'execution,' occurred in the Phoenix suburb of Mesa when officers were responding to a call that someone was pointing a gun out a window at the La Quinta Hotel. Police told Shaver to exit his hotel room, lay face-down in a hallway and refrain from making sudden movements - or he risked being shot. New disturbing footage of the encounter shows the moment Shaver, sobbing and crawling towards the officer, audibly begs 'please don't kill me,' before Brailsford opens fire and shoots him dead. Philip Mitchell Brailsford, 27, was found not guilty in the 2016 death of 26-year-old father-of-two Daniel Shaver, from Granbury, Texas. Brailsford is pictured in court on October 25 at the start of the murder trial The shooting occurred in the Phoenix suburb of Mesa when officers were responding to a call that someone was pointing a gun out a window at the La Quinta Hotel. Shaver is pictured with his two daughters In the video he can be Shaver can be seen sobbing and lying on the ground as he starts to inch himself forward. As he was slowly moving he pauses for a moment to reach toward the waistband of his shorts. Brailsford said he fired his AR-15 because he believed Shaver was grabbing a handgun in his waistband. While no gun was found on Shaver's body, two pellet rifles related to his pest-control job were later found in his room. Shaver's family's lawyer Mark Geragos described the shooting as 'an execution pure and simple.' After the verdict was read he said: 'The justice system miserably failed Daniel and his family.' In the video he can be Shaver can be seen sobbing and with his hands over his head as he gets to the ground and starts to inch himself forward He then puts his hands on his head and slowly inches himself forward towards Brailsford As he was slowly moving he pauses for a moment to reach toward the waistband of his shorts. Brailsford said he fired his AR-15 because he believed Shaver was grabbing a handgun in his waistband The video then shows the moment that Brailsford opens fire and shoots Shaver five times in the chest. While no gun was found on Shaver's body, two pellet rifles related to his pest-control job were later found in his room The detective investigating the shooting had agreed Shaver's movement was similar to reaching for a pistol, but has said it also looked like Shaver may have been reaching to pull up his loose-fitting basketball shorts that had fallen down as he was ordered to crawl toward officers. The investigator noted he did not see anything that would have prevented officers from simply handcuffing Shaver as he was on the floor. Brailsford's attorney Michael Piccarreta put an arm around his client after the verdict was read. 'There are no winners in this case, but Mitch Brailsford had to make a split-second decision on a situation that he was trained to recognize as someone drawing a weapon and had one second to react,' Piccarreta said. 'He didn't want to harm Mr. Shaver... The circumstances that night that were presented led him to conclude that he was in danger. 'Try to make a decision in one second, life or death. It's pretty hard.' Shaver's widow, Laney Sweet, and Shaver's parents have filed wrongful-death lawsuits against the city of Mesa over the shooting death. Shaver's family's lawyer Mark Geragos described the shooting as 'an execution pure and simple. ' Shaver, Sweet and their two children are all pictured Laney Sweet, left, Shiver's widow, arrives at Maricopa County Superior Court with attorney Mark Geragos, right, for the opening statements in Brailsford's murder trial. On Thursday she shook her head 'no' after the jury's decision and said she wasn't going to answer any questions Brailsford said that he opened fire because he only had a split-second to make the decision. He told jurors that he was terrified for the safety of officers and a woman who in the hallway. He also said he felt 'incredibly sad' for Shaver Piccarreta also said he wasn't sure his client would be interested in trying to get his police job back. Shaver's widow, Laney Sweet, and Shaver's parents have filed wrongful-death lawsuits against the city of Mesa over the shooting death. Sweet shook her head 'no' after the jury's decision and said she wasn't going to answer any questions. Shaver's parents didn't respond to reporters' questions as they left the courtroom. During his trial testimony, Brailsford described the stress that he faced in responding to the call and his split-second decision to shoot Shaver. Brailsford told jurors that he was terrified for the safety of officers and a woman who in the hallway. He also said he felt 'incredibly sad' for Shaver. The former cop served as a Mesa officer for about two years before he was fired for violations of departmental policy, including unsatisfactory performance. He is one of the few police officers in the US to be charged with murder for shooting someone while on duty. The shooting occurred as police departments across the US became focal points of protests over deadly encounters with law enforcement.
We Got Yer Recipes — Mmmmm-mmmmmm! WE WANT YOUR RECIPES! If you have a recipe you think would make a fine addition to our menu, send us an email! Ain't Your Mama's Nanner Puddin' Ingredients: 2 cups milk 5oz package of banana cream or french vanilla pudding 8oz Cool Whip 8oz soft cream cheese 14oz can sweetened condensed milk 1 box of niller wafers 4-6 bananas, sliced directions: 1) blend milk and pudding mix with electric mixer according to package instruction 2)in seperate bowl,blend cream cheese and condensed milk until smooth.Fold in about 2/3rds of Cool Whip. 3)add cream cheese mixture to pudding mixture,stirring well 4)line bottom of 9x13 glass dish with a single layer of niller wafers 5) cover with about half of the pudding(this will make the bottom cookie layer soft) 6)place banana slices on top of pudding layer overlapping if desired 7)add another single layer of niller wafers and then add the rest of pudding 8)Add another layer of bananas if desired and a layer of Cool Whip(optional) with crushed niller wafer cookies on top 9) refrigerate and enjoy!...slippery smooth and in the groove! From the kitchen of Island Dave Skidder’s MoonPie Banana Puddin’ Ingredients: 2- 5.1oz packages instant ‘nilla pudding (they were “Four For a $1” at Piggly Wiggly today) 6 – cups of 2% milk 6- ripe-ass bananas 8- single-decker, chocolate covered MoonPies, diced up the size of a ¼-20 machine bolts 6- cups heavy whippin’ cream (over by the fancy coffee light’ners and “soy milks”) ¼- cup of confectioner sugar -Couple dollops of good vanilla extract Bowls - lots of bowls. At least two for mixing, and one clear, fancy bowl for taking to the feast. -Empty puddin’ packets into a big ass bowl. Add six cups of wicked-cold 2% moo-juice. Blend together with Momma’s blender on medium for a good spell ‘til mixed. Drop a couple drops of that extract in there. -Pull some plastic wrap -or Granny’s shower cap- over the bowl and slide it into the Fridgidaire for at least three hours. DO NOT use the icebox on the porch - that’s for beer! After three hours- -Slice up the six bananas using a sharp fishin’ knife, about as thin as a dime. -Pour that whippin’ cream into the butter churn and drop Daddy’s trolling motor into it…mix that mess on high, adding the ¼ cup of fine sugar and a couple glugs of that extract as you go. Keep’er going until you see “stiff peaks” – like the ones your cousin Willamina gets when she’s loading dry ice at the packing plant. -In another bowl, take about three cups of the puddin’ and fold in two cups of that thick, sweet whipped cream. Don’t go banging around too hard! Pretend you’re stirring Momma’s Sunday collards. -Spoon all that love into a large fancy, go-to-church-meeting bowl, and top with a single (that’s “one”) layer of sliced bananas and one diced-up MoonPie. -Scoop in another layer of pudding on top of that and add another layer of bananas and MoonPie. -Repeat ‘til you got no more stuff in the puddin’ bowl and the churn. -Sprinkle the top with the MoonPie crumbs that wedged in between the chopping block and the stovetop. -Top that fancy bowl with some plastic wrap, and slide that whole mess back in the icebox for a good four hours. Remember, the skin on top is GOOD eatin’! And the longer she sits, the riper she gets! From the kitchen of Jamie & Kat Moncrief (Leland Holler) Fried Pickle Stacker Slabbers Ingredients: 1 jar of dill pickle stackers 3/4 cup of flour 6 oz. of beer (drink the other half) 1/2 teaspoon of salt 1/2 teaspoon of paprika dash o' pepper 1/2 cup of fryin' oil Pour 1/2 cup of oil in a skillet over medium-high heat. Mix all ingredients except pickles in a bowl. Take pickle stackers out of jar, shake off the juice and coat them in flour. Now dip 'em in the beer batter and throw them in the fryin' pan. Fry one side til golden brown, flip them with a fork, and fry the other side the same way. Lift them out with the fork, shake off the excess oil, and put them on a couple paper towels on a plate to cool. Pour 1/2 cup of oil in a skillet over medium-high heat. Mix all ingredients except pickles in a bowl. Take pickle stackers out of jar, shake off the juice and coat them in flour. Now dip 'em in the beer batter and throw them in the fryin' pan. Fry one side til golden brown, flip them with a fork, and fry the other side the same way. Lift them out with the fork, shake off the excess oil, and put them on a couple paper towels on a plate to cool. Dippin' Sauce for Them There Fried Pickles 1/2 cup mayo 2 Tablespoons of Horseradish Mustard Enough Frank's Redhot Sauce to make it light orange Mix this all up, and dip your fried pickles in it!! Mix this all up, and dip your fried pickles in it!! From the kitchen of BillyRocksRetro Apple Juice Pork Ribs Ingredients: 4 lbs pork ribs 1 tsp salt ½ tsp pepper ½ cup light brown sugar 4 cloves garlic 1 large onion sliced 1-2 cups apple juice/cider 1 container BBQ sauce. Coat ribs with dry ingredients. Place cloves of garlic and onion on bottom of crock pot and add most of juice. Add ribs and pour a bit of juice over them. Slow cook for 8-9 hours. Remove ribs and bake them with BBQ sauce for 40 minutes. Coat ribs with dry ingredients. Place cloves of garlic and onion on bottom of crock pot and add most of juice. Add ribs and pour a bit of juice over them. Slow cook for 8-9 hours. Remove ribs and bake them with BBQ sauce for 40 minutes. Enjoy!!! From the kitchen of Todd Hey, SCOTS! We (Pancho Ballard and The Banditos – the North-West of England’s finest Mariachi band) have a song ("Soup Song") about Isabell Allende’s Reconciliation Soup – the recipe is in the song. You can hear it on our youtube video (search for Soup Song and Pancho Ballard). Happy Cooking! Dick Perkins Hey, this email was sent to me by a friend and it made me think of you and the rest of the band so I just had to share it with you. Bet you could come up with a song to go with these burgers ! I have tickets to see you at the 9:30 Club on October 9 and can't wait ! See you soon, Lori Turtle Burgers WOW!!! Only in Louisiana and a shur-nuff artery stopper-upper! Here's a new twist on how to serve burgers and if you don't cook, give this handy little guide to someone that does and request them. Handmade ground beef patties, topped with sharp cheddar cheese, wrapped in a bacon weave, then the next step, add hotdogs as the heads, legs with slits for toes and tail. Next step. Place on an oven rack, covered loosely with foil and baked for 20-30 minutes at 400 degrees. A little crispy, not too crunchy...just how a turtle should be, no? From the grill of Lori's friend! Hickory smoked stuffed Chicken thighs - slam-a-namin' 6 - 8 Chicken Thighs 1\3 cup Olive oil 2 tbsp Paprika 2 tbsp Lemon Pepper 6 - 8 Green onions - the long skinny kind (trim excess green off, but trim to length of thigh) 1 Bell Pepper - the bell kind, green, yella, red or orange (core and slice into 1\4" strips to length of thigh) 2 - 3 toothpicks per thigh Hickory chips Charcoal...but you can wimp out and do in oven too Preparation: Soak Hickory chips in water for 30 - 40 minutes Bone chicken thighs (sickos) Combine ingredients into large mixing bowl Coat chicken thighs in mixture Lay chicken thigh out flat Lay one green onion and a couple bell pepper slices into thigh Fold thigh over veggies semi-tightly (sickos) and secure with 2 - 3 toothpicks Cooking Prepare coals (if you cook on the peak of your coal be prepared to baby the thighs so they don't burn, plus your chips will burn, not smolder) Have a beer and cook on the slide. Sprinkle chips onto coals just before cooking (I like a heavy smoke, so I really glob them oahhhwwwnnnn). Keep globbing them on as they burn up. If you don't like strong hickory, ease up. Cooking time on the slide is normally 20 -35 minutes, but you know your grill best! Try to turn only once Presentation Cut across seam to serve as medallions, or whole if you eat with a hump in your back. I'd serve with mashed potatoes, long green beans or grilled corn. Enjoy! Ingredients:Preparation:CookingPresentationEnjoy! From the grill of Jim Mundy Pawhuska, OK Smoked Bluefish or Hard Head Mullet Bluefish or Hard Head Mullet Fillets 2 Cups of Brown Sugar 2 Cups Kosher Salt Black Pepper to taste 2 Bottles of Cajun Seasoning (I use the cheap kind you get at big lots). Enough Hardwood to do your smoking. I like Mesquite I kid you not. Both of the critters become a food fit for kings when a little smoke is applied in the right manner. Make sure the Bluefish are fresh and the Mullet came out of the ocean (NOT THE SOUND OR DEY TASTE MUDDY). Scale and fillet the fish. Rub fillets on both sides with brown sugar and salt in equal proportions then sprinkle liberally with the Cajun Seasoning and fresh black pepper. Let them sit out with a fan blowing on them (meat side up) for about 4 hours at room temperature. While you are waiting get the smoker ready and have a smoke yourself. Soak the chips in water and get the temp to around 180. You will see a sticky skin form on the meat called a pellicle (it’s just protein and will keep the fish from drying out). Place them in the smoker for 2-4 hours. Check them after an hour and a half to make sure they are not getting too dry. When they are done they can be frozen for later enjoyment. You can just eat the fillet or make a smoked bluefish / mullet dip great on NABS. There is not a bad way to enjoy these smoked critters. Except maybe in a smoothie but heck I’ll try anything once. From the kitchen of eastcoastsports BDC’s Cuban Chicken, Rice, & Beans (The Too Easy Method) Ingredients: 2- (or 3) Chicken Breasts (whole/with Bone) ½ - Red Bell Pepper Diced 1- Medium Yellow Onion Diced ½ cup of Chicken Stock or Broth 1- 15.5 oz. can of Black Beans drained and rinsed ½ of one small envelope of Goya Ham-Flavored Concentrate 1- (or 2) 5 oz. packages of any of these: Mahatma Saffron Yellow Rice Mix or Mahatma Saffron Yellow Rice Mix or Mahatma Spicy Saffron Yellow Rice Mix Pinch of Cayenne Dash of Salt & Pepper 2 or 3- Dashes of Dried Oregano or Italian Seasoning 2 or 3- Dashes of Dried Dill 2 TBSP of Olive Oil 2-3 TBSP Butter Hint…Non-Stick Pans make life easy… Serves: 2-4Ingredients:Hint…Non-Stick Pans make life easy… Start the beans 1st… Heat 1 TBSP of the olive oil in a 1 ½ Qt. Sauce Pan. Add ½ of the diced Onion and ½ of the diced Red Bell Pepper you just chopped up, add Sea Salt & Fresh-Cracked Pepper to taste, and sauté on low heat until soft and translucent (5-10 Minutes). Add the (drained) Black Beans, Chicken Stock, Ham Seasoning, Oregano (to taste), Butter (to taste), Dill (to taste) and simmer on very low heat uncovered – stirring often. Meanwhile – heat the other 1 TBSP of olive oil in the deep frying pan (10-12 inch) and brown both sides of the chicken breasts thoroughly (start with skin-side down). Before too brown…add the other half of the diced Red Bell Pepper & Onion and sauté for few minutes. Turn the Chicken Breasts with the skin-side facing down in pan. Add the package or packages of Yellow Rice (dry) to the chicken & sauté with onions/peppers. Add about 1 ½ cups of water per 5oz. package of rice (little less water than what the rice instructions call for). Turn up heat to high and stir to distribute ingredients evenly – bring to a boil, then reduce heat to simmer (very low) and cover pan. Cook for 25 Minutes and serve with beans. If rice is too wet – cook on medium heat uncovered until moisture is absorbed. Serve as with some Cuban bread & Butta! From the kitchen of Big Daddy Caddy BDC REUBEN ROLLS Makes “32” hors d'oeuvres 1½ lbs. Good-Quality, thick-sliced Corned Beef (either “Boars Head” or cook your own homemade corned-beef a day ahead and use leftovers). 16 oz. Sauerkraut (fresh like “Silverfloss” or “Boars Head” is best of course) 3 Cups Shredded Swiss-Cheese (I like “Kerrygold” Irish Swiss cheese) 6 1/2 oz. Dijon Mustard 1 TBSP Caraway Seeds 4 cans Pillsbury Crescent Rolls (the “butter-flake” variety is very tasty) 1 Bottle Thousand Island dressing (I like Ken’s) Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Get a cutting board… Start Chopping the corned beef into matchstick-strips, and then crossways etc. the idea is to mince it up pretty good. Get a clean tea towel or cheese cloth; over the sink…wrap the sauerkraut inside and start twisting the end closed and squeeze hard to remove all water from the kraut! Put kraut on cutting board and chop up so there are no long strands. Get a medium to large bowl… Mix all ingredients, (except crescent rolls) in a large bowl; using your hands is the best way to incorporate everything. Form mixture into 32 separate 1½ to 2 inch balls. Get three cookie sheets… Using the cookie sheets (or some clean counter space) separate crescent rolls into individual sections (8-triangles per container). Place "Reuben Ball" on crescent dough section and roll smallest end around "ball" first, then roll larger end over "ball". Tuck dough securely under ball, making sure all open areas are pinched together. The idea is to have the ingredients completely encased in the dough. You may have to stretch the dough a little to make it fit but be careful not to tear it, if you do…make sure to pinch it sealed. Place Reuben Rolls on cookie sheet and space them because they will expand…about 12 per cookie sheet (depending on size). Using the cookie sheets (or some clean counter space) separate crescent rolls into individual sections (8-triangles per container). Place "Reuben Ball" on crescent dough section and roll smallest end around "ball" first, then roll larger end over "ball". Tuck dough securely under ball, making sure all open areas are pinched together. The idea is to have the ingredients completely encased in the dough. You may have to stretch the dough a little to make it fit but be careful not to tear it, if you do…make sure to pinch it sealed. Place Reuben Rolls on cookie sheet and space them because they will expand…about 12 per cookie sheet (depending on size). Bake for 20 to 25 minutes… until a nice golden brown all around. Serve warm with a side dish of Thousand Island dressing for dip. Also, unbaked ones may be frozen and used later. From the kitchen of Big Daddy Caddy BDC’s Poor Man’s Prime Rib Serves: 2-4 Ingredients: 2 Slabs of Beef Back Ribs (ask butcher if they have frozen in backroom…usually dirt cheap…was a $1.27 per/LB at my store) 1 Full Bulb of Garlic, peeled and chopped Olive Oil 1 TBSP Chopped Fresh Rosemary or 1 Tsp of dried ½ Tsp Kosher Salt ½ Tsp Peppercorns 1 TBSP of Olive Oil (I use quality olive oil for everything…hehe ;~) Saran or plastic wrap Horsey sauce (recipe follows) This recipe is at its best if you – start a day ahead and marinate in fridge (make Horsey sauce too); but if you gotta have it tonight…by all means…do it! But start early! This recipe is at its best if you – start a day ahead and marinate in fridge (make Horsey sauce too); but if you gotta have it tonight…by all means…do it! But start early! First…take a sharp blade and remove as much of the membrane from the back of the ribs as you can – start at small end and peel it like a bad sunburn! Next…Using either a mortar & pestle, food processor, or your head…crush the garlic, spices, and add enough olive oil to create a paste. Now…split the paste in half and rub each slab thoroughly on both sides, massage it thoroughly! Wrap them tightly in the plastic wrap and either store in fridge over-night…or let it sit on the counter for about 2 hours to absorb the flavor. Preheat oven to 325° degrees. Place ribs in a shallow pan that fits both racks side-by-side and cover tightly with aluminum foil. Place in preheated oven and cook for 2 ½ -3 Hours, remove foil the last 30-45 minutes to get that golden look. Serve with Horsey sauce. Mmmm DIG IN!!! Horsey Sauce 1 TBSP of Prepared Horseradish ¼ cup of Sour Cream ¼ cup of Mayo Juice of ½ lemon Sea Salt & Fresh-Cracked Pepper to taste From the kitchen of Big Daddy Caddy (mmmmmm-mmmmmmore recipes) Cackalacky® Spicy Wings! Cackalacky Spice Sauce 2 - 2 1/2 pounds chicken wings Ingredients:Cackalacky Spice Sauce2 - 2 1/2 pounds chicken wings Directions: Grill wings over medium-high heat until blackened and the juices are clear. Transfer wings to large bowl and tumble with one 5 Oz bottle of Original Cackalacky Spice Sauce. Serve immediately - while steaming hot! From the kitchen of Cackalacky Jack from www.CACKALACKY.com The Chicken-Shit Fizz 2 oz Kentucky Fried Chicken Gravy 5 oz Club Soda No Ice 1 oz Gin in a Highball Glass2 oz Kentucky Fried Chicken Gravy5 oz Club SodaNo Ice You'll love it!! Ciao, JK You'll love it!!Ciao, JK From the kitchen of Apollo Guitars TequilaCoyote's Fried Green Olives 2 cups flour 3 eggs - whipped while listening to "Camel Walk" 2 cups of bread crumbs 1/4 cup parmesan cheese 1 bottle of Frank's hot sauce 2 cups of oil 1 large jar of green olives - without the pits in them y'all2 cups flour3 eggs - whipped while listening to "Camel Walk"2 cups of bread crumbs1/4 cup parmesan cheese1 bottle of Frank's hot sauce2 cups of oil Recommended music fer this operation is SCOTS Live at El Sol. If yer not playing SCOTS the dag-bern recipe won't work. Mix the bread crumbs and parmesan cheese together in a bowl. Drain the olives then dredge 'em in the flour - fancy high falootin' way of sayin' roll 'em around in the flour 'til they are coated. Don't let the olives get too dry after you drain 'em or the flour won't stick. Dip the flour coated olives in the whipped egg one at a time. Roll the egg coated olives in the bread crumb / parmesan cheese mix one at a time. It's gonna take a chisel to clean the goop off yer fingers after, but don't get yer knickers in a knot. Put 2 inches of oil into a large heavy fry pan. Get the oil as hot as Mary (impossible I know), throw olives in and fry until brown. Scoop 'em out and throw 'em into a bowl lined with paper towel. Serve with hot sauce and beverage of your choice, call your doctor and schedule that by-pass surgery ya gonna need when ya finish 'em. From the kitchen of Gord Lockwood Billy's Monster Buck Burritos 1 pound ground Deer 1 can black beans 1 can pinto beans 1 yella Onion Fresh cilantro Ground Cumin Chili Powder Chipotle pepper Powder 1 beer 1 Pound Monterey Cheese Burrito Sized Tortillas 1 pound Deer steak1 pound ground Deer1 can black beans1 can pinto beans1 yella OnionFresh cilantroGround CuminChili PowderChipotle pepper Powder1 beer1 Pound Monterey CheeseBurrito Sized Tortillas Cube Deer Steak. Add cubed steak and ground deer to hot skillet and begin to brown. Add diced onion to meat and continue to sizzle. Don't over cook, deer is better medium cooked. When deer is about half cooked add drained and rinsed black and pinto beans. Mix them up well. Turn heat to low and add aprox, 1/2 cup chopped cilantro, 2 TB Chili Powder, 1/2 TB Chipotle powder(optional for heat and smokey taste). Add 1 tsp cumin powder. Mix it all up and open the beer. Add a splash of beer to the burrito mix, Mix it all together. Finish the beer, hopefully you opened a tallboy for the recipe. Load mix into tortilla and add monterey cheese to yer likin'. Eat until yer fuller than a tick. Hope you enjoy this, Love the band. From the kitchen of Bill Jackson White trash fruit salad 2 cans of fruit cocktail 1 apple, diced 1 orange, diced 1 banana, diced 1 bar of cream cheese- at room temp. 1 cup of mayonnaise Drain fruit cocktail;reserving juice. Stir cream cheese to soften, add cocktail juice and mayo. Stir in fruit. Chill to set. Enjoy! The NASCARita. One part Tequila Two parts Mountain Dew put it in a big ol' cup, fck the salt. If ya want a frozen one, hit the 7-11 and get plain slurpee ice first, then mix equal parts slurpee, Dew & tequila. Also known as the White Trash Margarita. Peter Harzewski Ossining NY Trailer Park Sunrise One part Tequila or Vodka Two Parts Sunny Delight Splash of Robitussin cough syrup, NyQuil cough or DayQuil Serve in a tall tumbler, or simply add the vodka/tequila and cough syrup to the Sunny D jug. Peter Harzewski Ossining NY sweet venison maple sausage - Italian style 1 pound venison sausage (preferably something sweet) 1 small onion (diced) 2-4 cloves of garlic minced (pends on your taste) salt pepper 1 box giant pasta seashells 1 small tub ricotta cheese 1egg (beaten) 1 bag grated mozzarella 1 jar or can of your favorite spaghetti sauce Preheat oven to 350 Put noodles in a pot of lightly salted boiling water. Let it come back up to a boil. Cook noodles until slightly firm but not mushy. Drain. Rinse with cold water and set aside. Now put a touch of oil in the bottom of a skillet. Crumble your sausage into skillet. Add onion and garlic with a dash of salt. Cook until sausage is brown. Drain. Put sausage aside to cool. In a big bowl combine the tub of ricotta, 1beaten egg, and a few dashes of salt and pepper. Mix until combined thoroughly then add the sausage. One everything is mixed we can get to stuffing. Stuffing is so easy my dead grandma can do it. Just take a small eating spoon and put 1-2 spoonfuls in each shell. First though you want to get you a baking dish and put some spaghetti sauce down. Then as you finish stuffing each shell just place it in the baking dish. When all shells are in pour rest of spaghetti sauce over top. Then take your bag of Mozzarella and sprinkle (or smother) everything. Now ya put it all in the oven for about 15-20 mins. When it's done let set a minute then dig in. I like serving this with my cheap ass garlic bread. (cheap bakery loaf of Italian or French, spread with butter or margerine, topped with garlic powder, broil 1-2 minutes in oven) Enjoy y'all. From the kitchen of Tea Wolfwind Cornbread Dressing 4 cups cornbread crumbs 3 cups bread crumb 1 cup chopped celery 1 large Vidalia onion (chopped) ¼ lb. fried chicken livers (chopped) 2 14½ oz cans chicken broth 2 cups milk 2 eggs, slightly beaten 1 stick butter (melted) 1 tablespoon sage 2 tsp. salt 1 tsp. pepper Mix crumbs, celery, onion & liver. Combine broth, milk, butter, egg, sage, salt & pepper. Add to crumb mixture. Stir until crumbs are moistened. Heat oven to 350°. Grease 2 - 9½ x 13¾ pans. Spread batter evenly in pans - Bake for 1 hour. Notes: Save heels from loaves of bread & keep frozen 'till needed. Leave the bread out & let it dry, then crumble into coarse crumbs. I always buy the fried chicken livers already cooked from a local Clock restaurant. A triple order provides extra to keep the cook happy while working. Old family recipe from Greenville, SC Peanut Butter and Bacon Sandwich Fry up 4 or 5 slices of bacon for every sandwhich you would like to make, crispy or not, whatever you like, make some toast, spread with peanut butter add bacon and serve with a glass of milk. Serving warm is better. From the kitchen of Craig the Martian Pizza Soup Ingredients: 1 pack oriental curly noodle soup 1 can tomato soup pepperoni (any left over meat will do) oregano mushrooms (canned are ok) green pepper pepper Cook noodles in tomato soup adding water called for by both soup mixes, add all other ingredients (lots of pepper and oregano), serve when hot.This recipe can be made with as many variations as there are kinds of pizza. Enjoy (created one night when I came too early and partied too late). From the kitchen of Craig the Martian Banana and Strawberry Puddin' Cake 1 box white cake mix. 1 big box Jello instant banana puddin'. 1 box of strawberry Jello. Whipped Cream. Make the white cake mix as instructed on the box. Let the cake cool a lil' bit then poke holes all throughout the cake with anything pointy you have layin' round'. Spraying it with pam helps it not stick to the cake. Make the Jello as instructed but instead of cooling pour it all over the cake slowly letting it seep into the holes. Let cake cool completely in the fridge..be patient its worth it! Meanwhile make Banana Puddin' as it says on the box. When your cake is nice and cold take it out and top it with the puddin' then with the whipped cream. Other optional toppings: Granola,fresh banana,Strawberries or other fruits. Basically whatever you like. MINCEMEAT DISH Ingredients: 1 lb Hamburger 1 roll "Hot" Breakfast Sausage 1 jar Mincemeat 1 Ground Ginger Brown hamburger in skillet. Pour off any fat. Put in bowl. Take breakfast sausage out of plastic sleeve and brown. Pour off any fat. Add to bowl with hamburger. Sprinkle ginger on meat. Stir together. Add the jar of mincemeat and mix all together well. Sprinkle with ginger to taste. Serve warm as a side dish. Taco To-Go, aka "walking taco" Ingredients: 1 small bag of your favorite flavor of Doritos 1/2 cup shredded cheese 1/2 cup shredded lettuce 1 tablespoon of sourcream 1 tablespoon of salsa Without opening the bag, lightly crush the Doritos. Cut a slit longways down the seam of the bag, so that you open it into a "pouch." Add all of the ingredients and stir. All ingredients are optional and you can add any other toppings that you'd like. This is a great snack to send your kids to school with. From Aami in Savannah, GA South Mississippi White Trash Drankin' Food stuff 1 lb. pkg Weiners, sliced to 1/4" thickness 1 TBSP Bacon Grease 1 can Pork and Beans 1 can Corn 1/2 slab Velveeta cut into 1/2" cubes 1/2 cup diced onion 2 TBSP Mayonaise Hamburger or hotdog buns Fry sliced weiners in bacon grease until slightly browned. Add can of Pork & Beans; add can of Corn. Stir until well-mixed. Simmer 10 minutes. Add Velveeta. Simmer until Velveeta is melted. Stir in onion and mayonnaise, mix well. Serve on buns, biscuits, cornbread, saltines or just in a dang bowl. Ummm good and always better after midnight. From Ferg Tea's Cornbeef Salad Sandwiches Ingredients: 1 can Libby's Cornbeef mayo relish (sweet or pickled) celery Open up your can of corn beef and plop it in a microwave safe dish. Nuke it for about 2 minutes. When it done add at least 2 huge spoonfuls of your favorite mayo. I like the Blue Plate. Stir all that together until it is all mixed in then add 1-2 tablespoons of relish and 1 stick of celery diced. You can add pepper, garlic, or paprika ifen you want but you don't need to add salt cause the corn beef is plenty salty. Mix that all up then smear on your fave bread. Usually makes 3 sandwiches worth. Goes great with beer or your fave soda. From the kitchen of Tea Wolfwind. Bologna Cups This hearty meal goes well with sports. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a muffin tin with bologna slices (red ring removed). Crack an egg into the center of each bologna cup. Sprinkle each with salt and black pepper. Bake until firm. Add a slice of American cheese to each cup and bake until melted or you can broil cheese. Serve with beer and tobasco. From the kitchen of Semi-Vicious. Buttermilk Biscuits These biscuits are light and tangy. Try using them to top a fruit cobbler. Just add 1/2 cup sugar to mixture. Place biscuits on cobbler when the fruit starts to boil or the last 15 minutes of baking. Sprinkle with cinnamon and sugar. Preheat oven to 500 degrees Sift together 2 cups all-purpose flour (Lily White brand if you can get it) 1 tablespoon baking powder 1 teaspoon salt Take a cold stick of real butter and chip it up with a paring knife into your flour mixture. Take your fingers and blend the butter into the dry ingredients breaking the butter up as you mix. You want the mixture to be crumbly. These biscuits need to go into the oven chilled. Place back into the fridge for about 10 minutes or the freezer if you need it quicker. Stir in 1 cup buttermilk only until wet. You don’t want to overwork because your biscuits will be tough. Flour your hands and hand-form biscuit quickly. Mixture is sticky so you won’t get smooth round biscuits. Just plop some down on the cookie sheet and throw them in the oven. Put the remaining mixture back in the fridge if you are doing two batches. Cook for 8-10 minutes in 500-degree oven. Recipe from the kitchen of a little “biscuit eater”. Fried Catfish Some people think catfish taste like dirt. That’s a matter of opinion. But round here I’ve heard it said, if you’re gonna eat fish, you gotta taste a little bottom. The best catfish is caught locally but don’t let that stop you from trying the farm-raised kind because both are a cheap alternative to pork. Depending on how thick your catfish is, leave whole or cut up into 2-inch pieces for catfish fillets. Lay out catfish in shallow pan and cover with buttermilk. Mix 1 cup yellow cornmeal 1/4 cup self-rising flour 1 teaspoon paprika 1 teaspoon garlic powder Salt and pepper to taste Sift dry ingredients together, lick finger and taste, add salt. Beat an egg well in medium size bowl. Preheat oven to 350 to keep catfish warm after frying. Heat about 1/2 inch vegetable oil in heavy skillet to medium high. With a fork take a piece of catfish from your buttermilk and dip into egg followed by the dry mix. Place in hot oil. Repeat and cook each piece about 2 minutes a side. As you take them out place onto a brown paper sack. When you are finished frying, slide catfish from paper to a cookie sheet and place in the warm oven. When you’re finished fixing the rest of supper, pull catfish out and plate it up. Feeds 3-4 people and goes well with mustard greens, coleslaw, and tobasco sauce. From the kitchen of Pecan Tarwater. Hoecakes These thin, crispy, cornmeal pancakes can be eaten with any meal. I grew up watching my Great Aunt fry them up in a cast iron skillet. My cousins roll up leftover bacon in hoecakes and stuff them in their camo pockets to eat while they’re out hunting. They won’t spoil like bologna or mayonnaise. To start you, need bacon drippings. If you’re not saving your bacon grease, you should. Keep it in the fridge and scoop out a spoonful as needed. If you want to keep fairly large quantities available for frying, cook down a couple of pounds of fatback or bacon slowly on low heat. This will take a while but it makes the house smell good. Pour your grease through a metal strainer and store it in the fridge. It will last two weeks. Leaving nothing to waste - take the bits or cracklin', and stir them into your corn bread batter. I prefer cracklin' in the salty, firm kind of cornbread. Mix 1 cup yellow cornmeal 1/4 cup all-purpose flour 2 teaspoons baking powder 1 teaspoon salt and 1tsp black pepper Combine with a whisk or shift together. In a separate bowl mix 1 cup buttermilk 1 cup milk 1 beaten egg Whisk together wet and dry ingredients. Mixture will be thin. Place about a tablespoon of bacon drippings in the bottom of a heavy skillet and heat to medium high. Using a gravy spoon or ladle, make your hoecakes like you would regular pancakes. Watch your heat and adjust to avoid burning. I like to eat these cakes with molasses in the morning or to sop up beans at dinnertime. From the kitchen of Miss Taylor in Georgia. Rice Pudding Rice pudding can usually be made without going to the store. Most people make this recipe from leftover rice. When hard times hit, omit the raisins. In a deep pot on real low heat add 3 cups cooked white rice 4 cups whole milk 1/2 cup sugar 1/4 teaspoon salt Stir frequently for about 45 minutes until thick. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees In separate bowl whisk together 4 egg yolks 1 teaspoon vanilla 1 teaspoon cinnamon or nutmeg Take rice mixture off the heat and stir in eggs and flavorings along with 1/2 cup raisins. Pour into a buttered 9 x 9-inch baking dish and place in oven for about 35 minutes or until firm. Cool and serve sprinkled lightly with more cinnamon. From the kitchen of Sawata Jones in North Carolina. Tangwich 2 slices of Wonder Bread Marshmallow Fluff as required powdered Tang drink mix as required Spread a thick layer of Marshmallow Fluff on a slice of Wonder Bread. Sprinkle enough powdered Tang on that slice so as to completely cover all evidence of Fluff. Then spread a layer of Fluff on the other slice of Wonderbread. Press the two slices of bread together and voila: a delicious Tangwich! The perfect accompaniment to this meal would be rehydrated Tang but Sloe Gin & Coke will always do nicely as well. Sarah Nagel WHITE TRASH BREAKFAST 1/2 dozen thick-cut slices of baloney cut into pieces 1/2 dozen eggs, beaten 1/4 block of Velveeta, chunked up Fry baloney to desired crispness. Toss beaten eggs into frying pan and scramble along with baloney. Toss in Velveeta at the very end to melt. Serve with biscuits. Sherrie Dudey COLLARD GREENS 2 ham hocks 1 sweet onion 4-5 lbs. collard greens 2-3 cups of water(enough to barely cover greens) Bring the ham hocks to a boil. Turn heat down and simmer for about an hour. Destem greens and add them to the pot. Let the greens simmer for a couple of hours. Serve with vinegar and onions. Collards are always best the second day. Robert Lewis HOT & SWEET BBQ SAUCE 1 half bottle of Makers Mark BBQ Sauce 1 shot of Makers Mark 3 tablespoons of A-1 Steak Sauce 1 tablespoon of Tabasco Sauce 2 tablespoons of Franks Louisana Hot Sauce 1 teaspoon of mustard 3 tablespoons of honey 1 tablespoon of brown sugar 1 teaspoon of lemon juice 1/2 teaspoon of Liquid Smoke Stir well and spread on baby back ribs. Brent Thurman HEARTPUMPER SHAKE 1 oz. ground coffee (not brewed) 2 cigarettes worth of tobacco (mediums) 1 can of Mountain Dew Shake and drink. Do not regurgitate. Unknown CHIPMUNK FRICASSEE 2 pounds diced chipmunk (the legs are most of the meat but the breast is good if you have the patience) minced garlic chopped onion hot peppers Guinness stout butter hot pepper flakes chicken or possum stock peeled and quartered potatoes This actually tastes a lot like chicken (but still with a difference). It's best made with Rocky Mountain chippers(East Coast chippies are too small) and perhaps served with a nice Sauvignon Blanc. Marinate the chipmunk meat in the garlic, onion, hot peppers, and Guinness. Saute in a skillet with butter, pepper flakes, and salt. Cook quickly until browned. Deglaze the skillet with the stock and put it all into a large saucepan or stockpot along with the marinade and the potatoes. Cover and bake at 275 degrees for two hours. Remove from the oven and, in a separate pan, reduce whatever marinade is left and whisk in six ounces of additional butter. Combine reduced marinade with chipmunk meat and serve. Bill Teahan BRISKET SANDWICH (WHITE TRASH LUNCH) -1/4 lb of chipped ham -1 cup BBQ sauce -1/4 cup of Pepsi -4 slices of Wonder Bread Fry up chipped ham in a skillet. After edges of the ham start to get crispy, add the BBQ Sauce and Pepsi. Mix until everything is heated up and steam is rising. Place chipped ham between 2 slices of Toasted Wonder Bread. This recipe is for 2. Recommended side dish is Potato Chips. David Blake TERESA'S REALLY GOOD GOAT'S MILK FUDGE 1 cup of Meyenberg Evaporated Goat Milk. (If you use real goats milk, use 1/2 cup goat's milk with 1/2 cup whole milk) 2 cups sugar 1 tablespoon butter 1 cup peanut butter Mix together the milk and sugar in a cooker. Butter a plate or dish to place the finished product. Bring to a boil. To check for doneness, place a saucer of cold water nearby. Place a drop of the mixture in the saucer of cold water. When done, the drop will form a ball and you can pick up. Next, add butter and peanut butter. Take off heat. Stir quickly and carefully pour the mixture in the buttered dish. Let stand to cool. I have no recipe for chocolate fudge. I made it once but it tasted AWFUL!!! Peanut butter seems to be the way to go! Teresa Prince HOMEMADE VENISON SAUSAGE Venison Smoked Bacon Ends Garlic or Sage Sausage Casings Cube venison and smoked bacon ends in equal parts. Smoked bacon ends may be found at just about any butcher shop). Grind, alternating venison and bacon ends. After grinding, spread out meat and add seasoning. You may season with garlic, sage, or any sausage seasoning you desire. Most butcher shops sell packages of sausage seasonings. After seasoning, knead the meat. Then, with stuffing attachment on grinder, stuff into casing in desired lengths. You may also make sausage patties. Wrap in butcher paper and freeze until ready to smoke. When ready to smoke, place sausage in smoker at 200F and smoke 2-3 hours until done. K.W. Baker DUMP CAKE 1 (20 oz.) can crushed pineapple 1 (30 oz.) can cherry pie filling 1 box cake mix (white, yellow, or spice work best) 1 cup chopped nuts 1 stick of butter Open can of crushed pineapple and dump contents (as is - do not drain out the juice!) into a greased 9x13 baking dish, spreading it evenly. Open can of cherry pie filling and dump contents of that on top of the crushed pineapple, also spreading it evenly. Open box of cake mix, and spread it evenly over the top of the other stuff, and put the nuts on top of that. Cut up stick of butter and lay slices evenly over the top. Bake at 350 for 1 hour. Shari ELVIS PARTY MIX 1 pound banana chips 1 box capt crunch peanut butter crunch 1 large wooden tiki carved salad serving ware (preferably wooden carved with tiki idols) Pour 1 lb of banana chips into large serving bowl. Add 1 box peanut butter crunch. Stir with large salad serving fork and spoon. Serve (best eaten by hand). Optional: Add one pound of dried pineapple chips for a greater luau effect. Raymondo in Greensboro TUNA SALAD (FOR MEN) 1 can of tuna (don't get the oil packed stuff, it's greasy) 1 medium yellow onion 2 tsp. minced garlic 2 tbsp. mayo (or what passes for mayo these days) 4 tbsp. or more (as much as you can stand, actually) Beaver, Cream Style, Horseradish Get a fairly big bowl. Dice up the onion, add the garlic and tuna, and mix with a fork. Add the mayo and horseradish. Don't get cheap on the horseradish either; more is ALWAYS better. Mix again and add pepper if you like. Let stand for a half hour or so (if you're patient) to let the flavors mix. This type of tuna salad is not recommended for sandwiches. It goes real good on most kinds of crackers, especially Rye Crisps. For a treat, blanket a 10-inch flour tortilla with a bed of baby spinach leaves and spread tuna salad on top, roll it all up, and fire away!! Suggested wine: Burgundy. Bone Appeteat! Steve Monteleone WHITE TRASH CASSEROLE 1 pound hamburger, cooked up with 1 small onion and salt 1 pound tater tots (still frozen) 1 can of cream of ___________ soup (mushroom, chicken, asparagus, whatever, condensed, undiluted) 2 1/2 cups shredded cheddar cheese (or Velveeta) Mix it all up in a casserole dish, saving 1/2 cup cheese/ Velveeta for the top. Bake at 350 for 20 minutes. YUUUUUUUUUUUUMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMYY!!!! Mike & Jamie Keller MUDBOG 1 Part cheap beer 1 Part chocolate milk Fill your favorite frosty mug half full of your favorite bargain brand brew. Top it off with the chocolate milk. Savor the creamy head. Goes great with Bacon Meatballs. BACON MEATBALLS 1 lb. ground beef 1 Tablespoon Salt 1 Teaspoon Pepper 2 Tablespoons steak sauce (or the closest thing you can find) 5 Slices of bacon Toss everything except the bacon into a bowl. Mix it up real good. Shape this mixture into small balls (1" or so wide). Wrap that there bacon around the balls and fasten with a toothpick or twig. Slow cook 'em in a skillet until good n' done. Serve with crackers or white bread soaked in ball juice from skillet. POSSUM AND CHESTNUTS 1 Possum 1 Pot boiling water 1 Handful chestnuts 1 Handful apple sauce 1 Handful breadcrumbs 1 sweet potato 1/2 Cup lemon juice 1/4 Cup butter Skin Possum, remove glands and entrails. Scrape clean and scald in boiling water. Rub inside and out with salt and pepper and set in a cool place. Stuff with chestnuts, applesauce, and bread crumbs in equal proportions. Cover with slices of sweet potato, 1 C. Boiling water, 1/2 C. Lemon Juice. Bake in butter and baste often until tender. this delicious recipe courtesy of Patricia and Ruthie in Indiana CHOCOLATE PIG PICKING CAKE FROSTING 16 oz. Cool Whip 1 small box instant chocolate puddin' 1 15 1/2 oz. crushed pinapple 1/2 cup pecans, or what ever nut you like Mix together and put frosting between layers. 1 box milk chocolate cake mix 4 eggs 2/3 cup oil 1 can mandarin oranges Beat all ingredients together. Grease 3 cake pans (9 inch); divide batter evenly. Bake at 350 degrees for 35 minutes or until done. this haute cuisine courtesy of Kim Gregory-Lowe of Bunker Hill, West Virginia DEEP FRIED BALONEY SANDWICHES 2 thick slabs of baloney 2 pieces of Wonder Bread 2 Tbsp. (just a suggestion, use as much as you want) mayonnaise/peanut butter 1 can mandarin oranges Beat all ingredients together. Throw yer baloney into the deep fryer. Cook until crispy, but not too crispy. Coat your bread with mayonnaise or peanut butter (if you use peanut butter, make sure you got a big 'ol glass of milk. She can get purty dry). Slap the baloney down on the bread and yer in for some good eatin'! FRIED GRITS 6 servings of grits (prepared - NOT INSTANT) 1/2 pound of bacon 2 eggs salt & pepper Prepare grits the night before as per instructions on package. Pour them into 9" square brownie pan and place in fridge overnight. Consume alcohol. The next morning, fry 1/2 pound of bacon in iron skillet and retain hot grease. Consumption of bacon optional. Break eggs into mixing bowl and scramble thoroughly, sprinkling generously with salt & pepper. Remove grits from fridge (they should be in solid form) and cut into approximately 3" squares. Dip grits squares into scrambled eggs and fry in bacon grease on medium heat until egg coating is golden brown and crispy around edges. Serve with sliced ripe tomatoes smeared with Miracle Whip and your favorite breakfast beverage.Put on "Plastic Seat Sweat" and turn up real loud. WHITE TRASH DELIGHT 1 ( 7 oz. ) can of spam 2 hard-boiled eggs 1 teaspoon chopped dry onion 2 tablespoons dill relish 1/4 cup miracle whip or mayo 1/2 cup velveeta cheese, cubed 4 hamburger or hot dog buns dump spam and hard-boiled eggs into a bowl. Mash 'em with a fork. Then dump in the onion,relish,mayo and cheese. Stir it up and fill the buns with the mix. Wrap 'em up in aluminum foil and put 'em on a baking sheet. Bake at 350 degrees for about 20 minutes - 'til the cheese is melted. Makes 4 servings - unless one feller is a pig and eats 'em all. from the kitchen of T.L. Norris in Independence, MO. XMAS GINGERBREAD TRAILER box of graham crackers canned vanilla frostin' sugar cubes (blocks if you kin find 'em) sugar fancy colored candy busted hot wheels car toothpick flag Cracker Outhouse (optional) Break a graham cracker in two to use fer the trailer ends. Spread a bunch of frosting out on a plate or other flat non-livin' surface and sprinkle with sugar. Stick 4 sugar blocks in the frosting where the graham crackers can stand on 'em. Frost them tops of the cubes. Frost them cracker edges and stick lengthwise on top of the frosted sugar cubes, joinin' em glue-like at the frosted edges. Let it set a bit till hard. Frost the top of a 'nother graham cracker like it was snowed on and glue it down to the top of the cracker trailer with more frostin'. sprinkle the whole dang thing with sugar while still gooey. Stick fancy candies around the yard and on the house. Stick the flag in the yard. Put yer hot wheels car in the yard or on a sugar block. Cracker Outhouse Couple of saltines, broke in half more frostin' Put together with frostin' glued edges like trailer, but make it taller than it is wide. Top with cracker bit. A family Xmas tradition of Cotton and Crackers Lambeth and their kin in Virginia BAKED SKUNK 1 Skunk Potatoes Carrots Onions Spices like you like (onion powder, garlic powder-if you paid rent and had leftover monies) 1 Cutting Board Gut and skin the skunk.Stuff it with the vegetables and spices. Bake at about 250 -300 degrees a real long time, slow cookin' no? Until the skunk is real tender. When the skunk is cooked to your likin', take it out of the oven to set for about 15 minutes. Then, put the baked vegetables on a serving platter and Throw the Skunk Out! from the kitchen of Heidi Lucken FRIED CORNBREAD A good heapin' of Tenda Bake Self-Rising Corn Meal Mix 1 fist size onion Enough Buttermilk to get everything good an' juicy Goodly size gob of grease or vegetable oil Dump a good heapin' of cornmeal mix in a fairly decent-sized bowl. Grate onion into cornmeal mix. Set aside. Now, throw a pretty fair amount of shortening or oil into a big black iron frying pan. Heat until it's good and hot.(You will have to add more grease/oil as it usually soaks up alot of grease/oil when you are cooking several pans.) While your grease/oil is heating up, add enough buttermilk to cornmeal and oil mixture to make it soupy but not too runny. Simply spoon this mixture into the hot pan, turn after browning on first side and brown the second side. Let drain and serve either hot or cold. Goes great with collards, turnip greens and pinto beans. from the kitchen of Lee Justice TERESA'S REALLY GOOD PUMPKIN PIE 1 30 oz. can of Libby's Pumpkin Pie Mix 2 9 inch Deep Dish frozen pie shells 1 1/2 c. sugar 1 teasp. salt 1 teasp. cinnamon 1/2 teasp. ginger 1/2 teasp. cloves 2 cans of Evaporated Milk 1 tablespoon of Pumpkin Pie Spice 2 eggs Mix together all of the ingredients. Take the pie shells out of the freezer. Do not let them thaw. Pour mixture into the pie shells. ( There will be some mixture left over.) Place pies on a cookie sheet and bake till done.* * I have no idea what temperature to bake them on because my stove doesn't have the temperatures on it. I bake cakes at this same setting so go by whatever temperature you bake cakes. Pies are done when you place a fork or toothpick in the center of the pie and it comes out clean. from the kitchen of Teresa SCOTS Fans!! Vote for the Best BBQ!!! Tell us which region serves up the most mouth-watering, lip-smacking barbecue! Eastern NC Western NC (Lexington) South Carolina Memphis Texas Oklahoma Kansas City Kentucky Southeast Mid-Atlantic Northeast Great Lakes Midwest Southwest California Pacific Northwest Mountain West Canada Other view results (opens in new window)
First look at Ingrid, Ryo, Estelle, more in Project X Zone 2 Plus, M. Bison, Black Hayato, Pyron, and other enemies. Famitsu has gone up with its latest online preview of Project X Zone 2 providing a look at the game’s newest confirmed characters. Get the full rundown below. ■ Solo Units Ingrid (Capcom Fighting Evolution) Ryo Hazuki (Shenmue) Estelle (Tales of Vesperia) ■ Enemy Characters M. Bison (Street Fighter) Black Hayato (Star Gladiator) Ranmaru (Sakura Wars V) Pyron (Darkstalkers) T-elos (Xenosaga) Metal Face (Xenoblade) ■ NPC Event Scene Characters Ada Wong (Resident Evil 6) Miles Edgeworth (Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney) Garigliano (Resonance of Fate) Tarosuke (Yokai Dochuki) Tiki (Fire Emblem: Awakening) Project X Zone 2 is a crossover strategy RPG featuring characters from Bandai Namco, Capcom, and Sega. It’s due out for 3DS in Japan on November 12, in North America on February 16, and in Europe on February 19.
Child, husband dead in southern Indiana shooting Copyright by WISH - All rights reserved (CNN) [ + - ] Video Staff Reports - PAOLI, Ind. (WISH) -- An altercation between a husband and wife led to the death of a 3-year-old child and the husband in southern Indiana. Police were called around 5:30 p.m. Tuesday to a home in the 500 block of North Helm Street in Paoli, 100 miles south of Indianapolis. Investigators determined that Melissa Randolph, 33, and her husband, Jeremy Gehl, 37, were in a physical argument inside their home. During the fight, police officials said Gehl attacked Randolph with a knife. Two children inside the home heard the fight and came downstairs. Police say Gehl then shot both 6-year-old Leon Gehl and 3-year-old Addison Gehl before shooting himself. A third child inside the home was unharmed. Gehl was pronounced dead by the Orange County coroner's office at the scene. The children were airlifted to Kosair Children's Hospital in Louisville, Kentucky. Police say Addison Gehl was pronounced dead due to her injuries. The Leon Gehl was listed in critical condition. Randolph was airlifted to the University of Louisville Hospital in Louisville. Police say she was then transferred to Kosair to be with her children.
Zoey Deutch is an American actress, born on November 10, 1994, in Los Angeles, California, US. Her mother is an actress, Lea Thompson while her father is Howard Deutch, a film director. She is the younger sister of Madelyn Deutch, she is also an actress. Zoey is raised in the Jewish family and also had a “bat mitzvah.” (Hebrew word, meaning Daughter of commandment) She is widely known, for taking the roles of Juliet Martin in the movie series “Ringer”, Maya Bennett on “The Suite Life on Deck”, and Rose Hathaway in Vampire Academy(2014). She grew up in Los Angeles and joined Oakwood School. Later, she studied Arts in Los Angeles Couty High School, majoring in theater. She kicks start her career in acting by appearing in the Disney Channel Series, The Suite Life on Deck in 2010. Later, in 2011-2012 she took the role of a 17 years old, Juliet Martin in The CW series Ringer. She also appeared in the episode of Naval Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS)series “One Last Score” in 2011. Zoey also appeared in “The Amazing Spider-Man” taking the small role as gossip girl in the bathroom who is harass by the lizard. Her scene was cut in theater, although, it is available on DVD. She appeared in the Episode of Criminal Minds: Suspect Behavior series entitled “The Girl In The Blue Mask”. She was also in the Marc Cherry's film “Hallelujah”. She has also done an acting with her Mother Lea Thompson and her sister Madelyn Deutch in the Movie “Mayor Cupcake” taking the role as in real life. In 2013, she appeared as the supporting character in “Beautiful Creatures”, a film about fantasy, romance, and drama. In 2014, in the month of January, she was booked to take the opposite role of Tyson Ritter in the movie “Midnight Rider”, a biographical movie of Gregg Allman. She co-star in “Everybody Want Some” a film by Richard Linklater, the film is about a bunch of college student, living free and responsibilities of adulthood. The film was released by Paramount in 2016 in the month of April. Deutch has been booked for the upcoming movie “Why Him”, which will be premiered on the 25th of December. Zoey will also appear in Danny Strong's film “Rebel in the Rye”. The film is based on true events. She co-stars in the film “Vincent N Roxxy” as the opposite of Emile Hirsch, Zoe Kravitz, and Emory Cohen. In addition, she played the opposite of Rober De Niro in the comedic movie "Dirty Grandpa” Apart from acting, let's change the topic to her personal life. This dynamic, variously talented, charismatic and hot actress is regularly hitting the gym to make her sexy body to a lot sexier and fit to work with famous actors and filmmakers. This beautiful actress is currently dating an actor named Avan Jogia. She previously dated Danila Kozlovsky, which she co-star in the film Vampire Academy. It has been rumored that he had a relation with Josh Hutcherson, however, the affair was never confirmed. Zoey and Avan Jogia dated since September 2011. They are spotted several times kissing in the public. It seems that they are sharing a good chemistry, as they have been together for almost five years. This seductive actress photos with a bikini are available on several websites.The beautiful actress holds white ethnicity and her zodiac sign is Scorpio. There are no doubts that her nationality is American. She loves dancing and learned hip-hop, tap, ballet and modern dance, among others. Zoey is active in several charities. Some of them are Corazon De Vida Orphanage, The Alzheimer’s Association, and Race To Erase MS. She is 5 feet 4 inches in height, her body is built slim and weigh around 53 kilograms (117 pounds). Zoey net worth is $3 million and received a lucrative salary. She has millions of followers or fans on social media such as twitter, Instagram and so on. Zoey Deutch bio is available on the wiki and several websites.
Bongao, Tawi-Tawi—The controversy involving Secretary Gina Lopez of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources brings to the fore an interesting saga in the long history of the DENR. Never has there been a DENR secretary as gritty and zealous as Lopez. An ex-yoga missionary and environmental activist from a distinguished clan, she has shown no remorse despite criticisms of her controversial decision to close/suspend 28 mining firms and cancel 75 mining contracts which, she says, is a “gift of love” for Filipinos. Of the 28 closed/suspended mining firms, 13 are in Mindanao. And most of the supposed violations have to do with siltation, environmental degradation, and destruction of functional watersheds. ADVERTISEMENT While many laud Lopez for standing up to large mining firms, there are others who criticize her for her blatant disregard for the livelihood of those affected by her orders, which have led to job displacements and immediate unemployment. According to Artemio Disini, head of the Chamber of Mines of the Philippines, 219,000 people are directly employed by the mining industry and many of them have been affected. Despite the loopholes, the much-criticized Republic Act No. 7942 (or the Mining Act of 1995) provides vital safeguards that are supposed to mitigate the environmental degradation that mining could bring. Under this law, one of the requirements before the issuance of an environmental compliance certificate is the conduct of an environmental impact study (EIS)—a comprehensive assessment which is supposed to identify the long-term effects of mining on the site’s environment and the proposed ways forward to rehabilitate the natural ecology after the mineral extraction. Unfortunately, like many other government policies that are good on paper, the implementation of RA 7942 is proving to be tricky as the safeguards that are supposed to ensure accountability and adherence on the part of the local government (as the host of the mining site) and the DENR are “dysfunctional,” to say the least. The safeguards are not as foolproof as they should be, allowing some crooks to game the stringent provisions for private gains at the expense of the host communities. In recent years, there has been an influx of investments to the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao. And among the investments are in the mining industry, leading to the establishment of mining sites in various areas in the ARMM. While these investments are good, safeguards must be put in place as unregulated mining could lead us back to what happened in Surigao del Sur and other mining communities. In many host communities, residents become fully dependent on the mining industry. And once the mining company pulls out, the community is left with no source of livelihood. In a study, the think-tank Ibon Foundation found that regions with the biggest mining activities are among the poorest. There has been a clamor to repeal RA 7942 for its inadequacies. House Bill No. 171 or the “People’s Mining Bill” is said to make mining “more beneficial to Filipinos,” but it is languishing in Congress. However, what should be considered is the insertion of a social impact study in the environmental impact study as a requirement for mining firms to comply with. More than doles, instituting such a mechanism could provide capacity-building measures on which a host community could stand before, during, and after a mining activity. Mining in itself is not entirely evil, but what has been existing for the longest time is an unregulated industry in cahoots with the body that is supposed to regulate it. Lopez came in at the right time. And if she makes it right, making her department loyal to its mandate could be her biggest gift to Filipinos. Jesse Angelo L. Altez (jesseangelo.altez@msugensan.edu.ph) is an academic and development worker based in Mindanao. ADVERTISEMENT Read Next LATEST STORIES MOST READ
Journalist Tracey Spicer and her favourite position. Photo: Cole Bennetts Your favourite position might be team leader, manager or CEO but are your lady parts standing in the way of you reaching it? The reality for Australian women is, they could be. To be a working woman in Australia is to know that you are valued less than your male counterparts. Our (rising) double digit gender wage gap means you’re earning less than guys doing the same job, you have a reduced chance of making your way to a senior leadership position (particularly if you’re angling to be on the board) and no matter where you are in the business hierarchy you stand a 17 percent chance of sexual harassment on the job and a one in five chance of being discriminated against if you become pregnant. So, how do we change the mindset of employers who set salaries and give promotions based on genitalia rather than on skill and ability? US site Mic had a clever idea after seeing an interview with quick-thinking reality TV star Lauren Conrad. When asked by a sleazy radio host what her 'favourite position' was she simply answered, "CEO". Inspired by their campaign and flipping this kind of sexism on it's head we spoke to 15 successful and inspiring Australian women and asked them to tell us their favourite position and why; what obstacles they faced on the way up and how we can get more women on top. Advertisement Jane Caro, social commentator I am free at last. My kids have all grown up and I have worked for myself for the last 7 years. I can say what I like and (mostly) do what I want. I answer to no-one. I am being paid well for writing, speaking and appearing in the media. I like to hold the powerful to account and speak up for those who rarely get a chance to do so for themselves. I frankly do not understand why anyone who gets the privilege of a place at the public microphone would use it to speak up for the already powerful and privileged. Demonstrably they don't need any help. I like to disturb the comfortable and prick pomposity and self-satisfaction. In a woman, that automatically makes you a troublemaker. Frankly, I can't think of a position I could be prouder to hold. Clem Bastow, Daily Life columnist Why did I choose screenwriter, and not "director" or "producer"? Because the script is where it all begins. In the 2001-2010 period, only 13 percent of spec script sales went to female writers; compared to the fact that one in two New York Times Bestsellers are written by female authors, it's a bleak statistic.The more scripts are written by white, straight men in their 30s, the more one-dimensional female characters will end up on our screens. The old "if she can see it, she can be it" line holds true, and it stands to reason that if there is more diversity behind the scenes when it comes to the creation of film and television, there will be more diversity on our screens. My second option for my favourite position was 'Oscar-winner', but I figured first things first. Chelsea Roffey, first female umpire to officiate an AFL Grand Final Girls and boys need to know that it’s okay to be comfortable with who you are without feeling pressured to become someone or something else in order to succeed. On the surface, we seem to be open to this idea, but how do our underlying assumptions contribute to pigeonholing people based on stereotypes? I’ve come through a male-dominated industry and although gender is irrelevant to the role I perform, it’s formed a constant theme. I’d like to see terms like “fairness” and “equity” disappear and make way for the real discussion: opportunities presented through creative problem-solving, fresh perspectives and breaking the mould. Dr Goli Samimi – Head, Ovarian Cancer Research Group – Garvan Institute of Medical Research As the leader of Garvan’s Ovarian Cancer Research Group, I am constantly learning new things – whether it be from my research, or from the gifted people I work with. This is why I also see my role as being a mentor – encouraging and influencing others to develop and succeed in their personal and professional goals. I am lucky to be in a position where I have the opportunity to pass on some of the guidance and advice that I have received from mentors throughout my life and career. Mehreen Farqui, NSW Greens, spokesperson for the Status of Women Here’s the thing: most women hold many positions at the same time. I’m an engineer, academic, activist, Member of Parliament and mother. I’ve had amazing opportunities throughout my career and learnt from some incredible people but I’d be lying if I said it was all an easy journey. The work life balance shifts and changes throughout life, and one thing I learnt early on was to be flexible in any position and ready for the unexpected. There’s always been one common goal, though – I am part of a community movement re-imagining a future where our ecosystem is protected, there is equality and justice in society and where we have well-being across the globe. Jenna Price, academic, journalist I still want to be everything. But the one thing I've never been is the person in charge, the person on top. The two sectors I've worked in during my 35 year career are not known for promoting women. In the journalism industry where I worked for most of my life, there are few women on top. And in academia, where I work now, it's the same. Women get promoted but it takes them longer; and sometimes they don't even apply for promotion. I no longer have to juggle. The kids are all right. The husband is delightful. But I'm ready for more work. And more responsibility and the chance to run meetings where I can clamp down on men interrupting women. Larissa Waters, Greens’ Senator for Queensland and spokesperson for women My job gives me the opportunity and responsibility to call out sexism and inequality in a Parliament that unfortunately is still dominated by men, especially in Tony Abbott’s Cabinet. I’m so proud to be part of a party led by Senator Christine Milne, one of the strongest women I know. Seven of the Greens’ 11 federal members of Parliament are women – to us, a woman’s place is in the House and the Senate. We need more women in Parliament for so many reasons, but especially to put an end to the systemic discrimination still faced by women in Australia. Tracey Spicer, journalist and social commentator My favourite position is Convenor of Women in Media, a networking and mentoring group. It's a privilege to be able to help other women in what is still a male-dominated industry." Clementine Ford, Daily Life columnist I've been fired from so many jobs in my life and writing is the only thing I've ever been any good at. I feel so lucky that I can turn my passion for women's rights and social justice into my living. Even though there's no real stability as a freelancer, I've worked to the point where I feel like I can finally relax a little bit and not worry quite so much about where the work's going to come from. I have the freedom to set my own hours and have established great relationships with a few key editors. I am grateful that I can choose to work with people whose values reflect my own. But the best part about my job is the women and men I get to communicate with. I see how feminist politics are changing their lives for the better, and giving them the confidence to speak out against things they know are wrong. It's a wonderful feeling to be able to play some small part in that. Despite the instability, lack of sick pay and annual leave, I wouldn't want to be doing anything else. Michelle Law, author I most aspire to being the showrunner of my own comedy show (in the same vein as writers Tina Fey, Mindy Kaling and Lena Dunham) and help contribute towards a stronger television culture in Australia. Women producing their own work is important to me because statistically (in Hollywood, at least) female characters and narratives are still hugely underrepresented.Growing up, I craved representation as an Asian-Australian woman and found depressingly few examples of them on television, with even fewer that weren’t gross misrepresentations. In the future, I want to see more racially and gender diverse stories in mainstream film and TV—stories about people and not the labels assigned to them. I’ve learnt that if something doesn’t exist already, you need to create it yourself. Fill the gap. Ruby Hamad, Daily Life columnist I've been writing about feminism and race with a smattering of politics for more than four years now. This year I've finally taken the plunge and started to work on my first book. What's it about? Of all things, pigs! Well, more specifically, it's about how various cultures and religions relate to the pig and how our perception of pigs (yummy, dirty, gross, etc) becomes a marker of our identity and reflects our contemporary political environment. Lucy Zelic, sports commentator For me, this term extends not just to my role across the workplace but well into my personal life too. It's hugely empowering to think that we are responsible for the shape and the course our lives take, whether that be aiming for greatness in our careers or choosing to better ourselves as individuals. I like knowing that I can have a voice in a meeting room or command attention on the sideline of a football pitch. Our lives are a canvas - you can either choose to leave it blank or fill it with colour and imagination. That's the beauty of being your own boss. Sarah Macdonald, Daily Life columnist I suppose I mostly feel like a slasher. Specifically, a broadcaster/writer/columnist/parent . I love telling stories but how I do that has changed with my age, circumstances and with the radical moves in media. But as long as I'm telling tales in some format I'm happy. I'd like my next leap of faith to be into fiction. Do I dare? Janice Petersen, Presenter, SBS World News I deliver the world in one hour. The highs and lows of humanity are laid bare each night on SBS World News. It’s a real honour that people invite me into their homes to share the stories that matter. It’s reality television in its purest form. Our stories give you reason to cherish what’s important and contemplate life from the poignant to the profound. Drown out the dumb. Casey Eastham, Hockeyroo Living the life of an elite sportsperson has allowed me to partake in some unbelievable experiences throughout my career. The most exciting thing about my job is being able to travel the world meeting people and experiencing the many cultures within it, realising how fortunate I am to be doing what I’m doing. This has led to a passion for me to want to establish my own charity organisation to give back to communities and individuals. I personally cannot think of a more rewarding occupation than to see other people happy and being able to enjoy life with minimal stress. Share your favourite position under the hashtag #myfavouriteposition.
"Bobby Fisher" redirects here. For the English soccer player, see Bobby Fisher (footballer) For those of a similar name, see Bob Fisher Robert James Fischer (March 9, 1943 – January 17, 2008) was an American chess grandmaster and the eleventh World Chess Champion. Many consider him to be the greatest chess player of all time.[2][3] Fischer showed great skill in chess from an early age; at 13, he won a brilliancy known as "The Game of the Century". At age 14, he became the US Chess Champion, and at 15, he became both the youngest grandmaster (GM) up to that time and the youngest candidate for the World Championship. At age 20, Fischer won the 1963–64 US Championship with 11 wins in 11 games, the only perfect score in the history of the tournament. His book My 60 Memorable Games, published in 1969, is regarded as essential reading. He won the 1970 Interzonal Tournament by a record 3½-point margin, and won 20 consecutive games, including two unprecedented 6–0 sweeps, in the Candidates Matches. In July 1971, he became the first official FIDE number-one-rated player. Fischer won the World Chess Championship in 1972, defeating Boris Spassky of the USSR, in a match held in Reykjavík, Iceland. Publicized as a Cold War confrontation between the US and USSR, it attracted more worldwide interest than any chess championship before or since. In 1975, Fischer refused to defend his title when an agreement could not be reached with FIDE, chess's international governing body, over one of the conditions for the match. Under FIDE rules, this resulted in Soviet GM Anatoly Karpov, who had won the qualifying Candidates' cycle, being named the new world champion by default. After forfeiting his title as World Champion, Fischer became reclusive and sometimes erratic, disappearing from both competitive chess and the public eye. In 1992, he reemerged to win an unofficial rematch against Spassky. It was held in Yugoslavia, which was under a United Nations embargo at the time. His participation led to a conflict with the US government, which warned Fischer that his participation in the match would violate an executive order imposing US sanctions on Yugoslavia. The US government ultimately issued a warrant for his arrest. After that, Fischer lived his life as an émigré. In 2004, he was arrested in Japan and held for several months for using a passport that had been revoked by the US government. Eventually, he was granted an Icelandic passport and citizenship by a special act of the Icelandic Althing, allowing him to live in Iceland until his death in 2008. Fischer made numerous lasting contributions to chess. In the 1990s, he patented a modified chess timing system that added a time increment after each move, now a standard practice in top tournament and match play. He also invented Fischerandom, a new variant of chess known today as "Chess960". Early years [ edit ] Bobby Fischer was born at Michael Reese Hospital in Chicago, Illinois, on March 9, 1943.[4] His birth certificate listed his father as Hans-Gerhardt Fischer, also known as Gerardo Liebscher,[5] a German biophysicist. His mother, Regina Wender Fischer, was a US citizen,[6][7] born in Switzerland; her parents were Polish Jews.[8][9] Raised in St. Louis, Missouri,[4] Regina became a teacher, registered nurse, and later a physician.[10] After graduating from college in her teens, Regina traveled to Germany to visit her brother. It was there she met geneticist and future Nobel Prize winner Hermann Joseph Muller, who persuaded her to move to Moscow to study medicine. She enrolled at I.M. Sechenov First Moscow State Medical University, where she met Hans-Gerhardt, whom she married in November 1933.[11] In 1938, Hans-Gerhardt and Regina had a daughter, Joan Fischer. The reemergence of anti-Semitism under Stalin prompted Regina to go with Joan to Paris, where Regina became an English teacher. The threat of a German invasion led her and Joan to go to the United States in 1939. Hans-Gerhardt attempted to follow the pair but, at that time, his German citizenship barred him from entering the United States. Regina and Hans-Gerhardt had separated in Moscow, although they did not officially divorce until 1945.[11] At the time of her son's birth, Regina was homeless[12] and shuttled to different jobs and schools around the country to support her family. She engaged in political activism, and raised both Bobby and Joan as a single parent.[13][14][15] In 1949, the family moved to Manhattan[16] and the following year to Brooklyn, New York City, where she studied for her master's degree in nursing and subsequently began working in that field.[14] Paul Nemenyi as Fischer's father [ edit ] In 2002, Peter Nicholas and Clea Benson of The Philadelphia Inquirer published an investigative report backed by detailed and compelling evidence that indicated that Bobby Fischer’s biological father was actually Paul Nemenyi.[15][17][18] Nemenyi, a Hungarian mathematician and physicist of Jewish heritage, was considered an expert in fluid and applied mechanics. Throughout the 1950s, the FBI investigated Regina and her circle for her alleged communist sympathies, as well as her time living in Moscow.[19] FBI files do not identify Nemenyi as Fischer's father, but note that Hans-Gerhardt Fischer never entered the United States, while recording that Nemenyi took a keen interest in Fischer's upbringing.[17][20][21] Not only were Regina and Nemenyi reported to have had an affair in 1942, but Nemenyi made monthly child support payments to Regina and paid for Bobby's schooling until his own death in 1952.[22] In addition, Nicholas and Benson found letters by Nemenyi's first son, Peter, identifying Bobby Fischer as his brother. Chess beginnings [ edit ] Impoverished childhood [ edit ] In March 1949, 6-year-old Bobby and his sister Joan learned how to play chess using the instructions from a set bought at a candy store.[23] When Joan lost interest in chess and Regina did not have time to play, Fischer was left to play many of his first games against himself.[24] When the family vacationed at Patchogue, Long Island, New York, that summer, Bobby found a book of old chess games and studied it intensely.[25] In 1950, the family moved to Brooklyn, first to an apartment at the corner of Union street and Franklin Avenue, and later to a two-bedroom apartment at 560 Lincoln Place.[26] It was there that "Fischer soon became so engrossed in the game that Regina feared he was spending too much time alone".[14] As a result, on November 14, 1950, Regina sent a postcard to the Brooklyn Eagle newspaper, seeking to place an ad inquiring whether other children of Bobby's age might be interested in playing chess with him. The paper rejected her ad, because no one could figure out how to classify it, but forwarded her inquiry to Hermann Helms, the "Dean of American Chess", who told her that Master Max Pavey, former Scottish champion, would be giving a simultaneous exhibition on January 17, 1951.[27][28] Fischer played in the exhibition. Although he held on for 15 minutes, drawing a crowd of onlookers, he eventually lost to the chess master.[29] One of the spectators was Brooklyn Chess Club President,[30] Carmine Nigro, an American chess expert of near master strength and an instructor.[31] Nigro was so impressed with Fischer's play[30] that he introduced him to the club and began teaching him.[32][33][34] Fischer noted of his time with Nigro:[35] "Mr. Nigro was possibly not the best player in the world, but he was a very good teacher. Meeting him was probably a decisive factor in my going ahead with chess." Bill Lombardy and Fischer analyzing, with Jack Collins looking on Nigro hosted Fischer's first chess tournament at his home in 1952.[36] In the summer of 1955, Fischer, then 12 years old, joined the Manhattan Chess Club.[37][38] Fischer's relationship with Nigro lasted until 1956, when Nigro moved away.[39][40] The Hawthorne Chess Club [ edit ] In June 1956, Fischer began attending the Hawthorne Chess Club, based in master John "Jack" W. Collins' home.[41] Collins taught chess to children, and has been described as Fischer's teacher,[42][43] but Collins himself suggested that he did not actually teach Fischer,[44] and the relationship might be more accurately described as one of mentorship.[45] Fischer played thousands of blitz and offhand games with Collins and other strong players, studied the books in Collins' large chess library, and ate almost as many dinners at Collins' home as his own.[46][47][48] Young champion [ edit ] On the tenth national rating list of the United States Chess Federation (USCF), published on May 20, 1956, Fischer's rating was 1726,[49] more than 900 points below top-rated Samuel Reshevsky (2663).[50] His playing strength increased rapidly that year.[51] Fischer in Cuba, March 1956 In March 1956, the Log Cabin Chess Club of West Orange, New Jersey (based in the home of the club’s eccentric multi-millionaire founder and patron Elliot Forry Laucks) took Fischer on a tour to Cuba, where he gave a 12-board simultaneous exhibition at Havana's Capablanca Chess Club, winning ten games and drawing two.[52][53] On this tour the club played a series of matches against other clubs. Fischer played second board , behind International Master Norman Whitaker. Whitaker and Fischer were the leading scorers for the club, each scoring 5½ points out of 7 games.[54] In July 1956, Fischer won the US Junior Chess Championship, scoring 8½/10 at Philadelphia to become the youngest-ever Junior Champion at age 13.[55][56] At the 1956 US Open Chess Championship in Oklahoma City, he scored 8½/12 to tie for 4–8th places, with Arthur Bisguier winning.[57] In the first Canadian Open Chess Championship at Montreal 1956, he scored 7/10 to tie for 8–12th places, with Larry Evans winning.[58] In November, Fischer played in the 1956 Eastern States Open Championship in Washington, D.C., tying for second with William Lombardy, Nicholas Rossolimo, and Arthur Feuerstein, with Hans Berliner taking first by a half-point.[59] Fischer accepted an invitation to play in the Third Lessing J. Rosenwald Trophy Tournament in New York City (1956), a premier tournament limited to the 12 players considered the best in the country.[60] Although Fischer's rating was not among the top 12 in the country, he received entry by special consideration. Playing against top opposition, the 13-year-old Fischer could only score 4½/11, tying for 8–9th place.[61] Yet he won the brilliancy prize [62] for his game against International Master Donald Byrne,[60] in which Fischer sacrificed his queen to unleash an unstoppable attack. Hans Kmoch called it "The Game of the Century",[63] writing: "The following game, a stunning masterpiece of combination play performed by a boy of 13 against a formidable opponent, matches the finest on record in the history of chess prodigies".[64][65] According to Frank Brady, "'The Game of the Century' has been talked about, analyzed, and admired for more than fifty years, and it will probably be a part of the canon of chess for many years to come."[66] "In reflecting on his game a while after it occurred, Bobby was refreshingly modest: 'I just made the moves I thought were best. I was just lucky.'"[67] In 1957, Fischer played a two-game match against former World Champion Max Euwe at New York, losing ½–1½.[68][69][70] On the USCF's eleventh national rating list, published on May 5, 1957, Fischer was rated 2231—over 500 points higher than his rating a year before.[71] This made him the country's youngest ever chess master up to that point.[72] In July, he successfully defended his US Junior title, scoring 8½/9 at San Francisco.[73] As a result of his strong tournament results, Fischer's rating went up to 2298, "making him among the top ten active players in the country".[74] In August, he scored 10/12 at the US Open Chess Championship in Cleveland, winning on tie-breaking points over Arthur Bisguier.[75][76] This made Fischer the youngest ever US Open Champion.[77][78] He won the New Jersey Open Championship, scoring 6½/7.[79] He then defeated the young Filipino master Rodolfo Tan Cardoso 6–2 in a New York match sponsored by Pepsi-Cola.[80][81] Wins first US title [ edit ] Based on Fischer's rating and strong results, the USCF invited him to play in the 1957–58 US Championship.[82] The tournament included such luminaries as six-time US champion Samuel Reshevsky, defending US champion Arthur Bisguier, and William Lombardy, who in August had won the World Junior Championship.[83] Bisguier predicted that Fischer would "finish slightly over the center mark".[83][84] Despite all the predictions to the contrary, Fischer scored eight wins and five draws to win the tournament by a one-point margin, with 10½/13.[85][86] Still two months shy of his 15th birthday, Fischer became the youngest ever US Champion.[87] Since the championship that year was also the US Zonal Championship, Fischer's victory earned him the title of International Master.[88][89] Fischer's victory in the US Championship sent his rating up to 2626, making him the second highest rated player in the United States, behind only Reshevsky (2713),[90] and qualified him to participate in the 1958 Portorož Interzonal, the next step toward challenging the World Champion.[80] Bobby wanted to go to Moscow. At his pleading, "Regina wrote directly to the Soviet leader, Nikita Khrushchev, requesting an invitation for Bobby to participate in the World Youth and Student Festival. The reply—affirmative—came too late for him to go."[91] Regina did not have the money to pay the airfare, but in the following year Fischer was invited onto the game show I've Got a Secret, where, thanks to Regina's efforts, the producers of the show arranged two round-trip tickets to Russia.[92][93] Once in Russia, Fischer was invited by the Soviet Union to Moscow,[94] where International Master Lev Abramov would serve as a guide to Bobby and his sister, Joan.[95] Upon arrival, Fischer immediately demanded that he be taken to the Moscow Central Chess Club,[96] where he played speed chess with "two young Soviet masters", Evgeni Vasiukov and Alexander Nikitin,[97] winning every game.[96] Chess author V. I. Linder writes about the impression Fischer gave grandmaster Vladimir Alatortsev when he played blitz against the Soviet masters: "Back in 1958, in the Central Chess Club, Vladimir Alatortsev saw a tall, angular 15-year-old youth, who in blitz games, crushed almost everyone who crossed his path... Alatortsev was no exception, losing all three games. He was astonished by the play of the young American Robert Fischer, his fantastic self-confidence, amazing chess erudition and simply brilliant play! On arriving home, Vladimir said in admiration to his wife: 'This is the future world champion!'"[98] Fischer demanded to play against Mikhail Botvinnik, the reigning World Champion. When told that this was impossible, Fischer asked to play Keres. "Finally, Tigran Petrosian was, on a semi-official basis, summoned to the club ..." where he played speed games with Fischer, winning the majority.[99] "When Bobby discovered that he wasn't going to play any formal games... he went into a not-so-silent rage",[100] saying he was fed up "with these Russian pigs",[101] which angered the Soviets who saw Fischer as their honored guest. It was then that the Yugoslavian chess officials offered to take in Fischer and Joan as early guests to the Interzonal. Fischer took them up on the offer, arriving in Yugoslavia to play two short training matches against masters Dragoljub Janošević and Milan Matulović.[102] Fischer drew both games against Janošević and then defeated Matulović in Belgrade by 2½–1½.[103] At Portorož, Fischer was accompanied by Lombardy.[104][105] The top six finishers in the Interzonal would qualify for the Candidates Tournament.[106] Most observers doubted that a 15-year-old with no international experience could finish among the six qualifiers at the Interzonal, but Fischer told journalist Miro Radoicic, "I can draw with the grandmasters, and there are half-a-dozen patzers in the tournament I reckon to beat."[107][108] Despite some bumps in the road and a problematic start, Fischer succeeded in his plan: after a strong finish, he ended up with 12/20 (+6−2=12) to tie for 5–6th.[109] The Soviet grandmaster Yuri Averbakh observed, In the struggle at the board this youth, almost still a child, showed himself to be a full-fledged fighter, demonstrating amazing composure, precise calculation and devilish resourcefulness. I was especially struck not even by his extensive opening knowledge, but his striving everywhere to seek new paths. In Fischer's play an enormous talent was noticeable, and in addition one sensed an enormous amount of work on the study of chess.[110] Soviet grandmaster David Bronstein said of Fischer's time in Portorož: "It was interesting for me to observe Fischer, but for a long time I couldn't understand why this 15-year-old boy played chess so well".[111] Fischer became the youngest person ever to qualify for the Candidates and the youngest ever grandmaster at 15 years, 6 months, 1 day.[112] "By then everyone knew we had a genius on our hands."[113] Before the Candidates' Tournament, Fischer won the 1958–59 US Championship (scoring 8½/11).[114] He tied for third (with Borislav Ivkov) in Mar del Plata (scoring 10/14), a half-point behind Luděk Pachman and Miguel Najdorf.[115] He tied for 4–6th in Santiago (scoring 7½/12) behind Ivkov, Pachman, and Herman Pilnik.[116] At the Zürich International Tournament, spring 1959, Fischer finished a point behind future World Champion Mikhail Tal and a half-point behind Yugoslavian grandmaster Svetozar Gligorić.[117][118][119] Although Fischer had ended his formal education at age 16, dropping out of Erasmus Hall High School in Brooklyn, he subsequently taught himself several foreign languages so he could read foreign chess periodicals.[120] According to Latvian chess master Alexander Koblencs, even he and Tal could not match the commitment that Fischer had made to chess. Recalling a conversation from the tournament: "'Tell me, Bobby,' Tal continued, 'what do you think of the playing style of Larissa Volpert?' 'She's too cautious. But you have another girl, Dmitrieva. Her games do appeal to me!' Here we were left literally open-mouthed in astonishment. Misha and I have looked at thousands of games, but it never even occurred to us to study the games of our women players. How could we find the time for this?! Yet Bobby, it turns out, had found the time!'"[121] Until late 1959, Fischer "had dressed atrociously for a champion, appearing at the most august and distinguished national and international events in sweaters and corduroys."[122] Now, encouraged by Pal Benko to dress more smartly, Fischer "began buying suits from all over the world, hand-tailored and made to order."[123][124] He told journalist Ralph Ginzburg that he had 17 hand-tailored suits and that all of his shirts and shoes were handmade.[125] At the age of 16, Fischer finished equal fifth out of eight at the 1959 Candidates Tournament in Bled/Zagreb/Belgrade, Yugoslavia,[126] scoring 12½/28. He was outclassed by tournament winner Tal, who won all four of their individual games.[127] That year, Fischer released his first book of collected games: Bobby Fischer's Games of Chess, published by Simon & Schuster.[128] Drops out of school [ edit ] Fischer's interest in chess became more important than schoolwork, to the point that "by the time he reached the fourth grade, he'd been in and out of six schools."[129] In 1952, Regina got Bobby a scholarship (based on his chess talent and "astronomically high IQ") to Brooklyn Community Woodward.[130][131] Fischer later attended Erasmus Hall High School at the same time as Barbra Streisand and Neil Diamond.[132][133] In 1959, its student council awarded him a gold medal for his chess achievements.[134][135] The same year, Fischer dropped out of high school when he turned 16, the earliest he could legally do so.[136][137] He later explained to Ralph Ginzburg, "You don't learn anything in school."[138][139] When Fischer was 16, his mother moved out of their apartment to pursue medical training. Her friend Joan Rodker, who had met Regina when the two were "idealistic communists" living in Moscow in the 1930s, believes that Fischer resented his mother for being mostly absent as a mother, a communist activist and an admirer of the Soviet Union and that this led to his hatred for the Soviet Union. In letters to Rodker, Fischer's mother states her desire to pursue her own "obsession" of training in medicine and writes that her son would have to live in their Brooklyn apartment without her: "It sounds terrible to leave a 16-year-old to his own devices, but he is probably happier that way".[7] The apartment was on the edge of Bedford-Stuyvesant, a neighborhood that had one of the highest homicide and general crime rates in New York City.[140] Despite the alienation from her son, Regina, in 1960, protested the practices of the American Chess Foundation[141] and staged a five-hour protest in front of the White House, urging President Dwight D. Eisenhower to send an American team to that year's chess Olympiad (set for Leipzig, East Germany, behind the Iron Curtain) and to help support the team financially.[18] US Championships [ edit ] Fischer played in eight US Championships, winning all of them,[142][143] by at least a one-point margin.[144] His results were:[142][145][146] US Champ. Score Place Margin of victory Percentage Age 1957–58 10½/13 (+8−0=5)[147] First 1 point 81% 14 1958–59 8½/11 (+6−0=5)[148] First 1 point 77% 15 1959–60 9/11 (+7−0=4)[149] First 1 point 82% 16 1960–61 9/11 (+7−0=4)[150] First 2 points 82% 17 1962–63 8/11 (+6−1=4)[151] First 1 point 73% 19 1963–64 11/11 (+11−0=0)[152] First 2½ points 100% 20 1965[153] 8½/11 (+8−2=1)[154] First 1 point 77% 22 1966–67 9½/11 (+8−0=3)[155] First 2 points 86% 23 Fischer missed the 1961–62 Championship (he was preparing for the 1962 Interzonal), and there was no 1964–65 event.[156] In his eight US Chess Championships, Fischer lost only three games; to Edmar Mednis in the 1962–63 event, and in consecutive rounds to Samuel Reshevsky, and Robert Byrne in the 1965 championship, culminating in a total score of 74/90 (61 wins, 26 draws, 3 losses).[157] Olympiads [ edit ] Fischer at 17 playing 23-year-old World Champion Mikhail Tal in Leipzig Fischer refused to play in the 1958 Munich Olympiad when his demand to play first board ahead of Samuel Reshevsky was rejected.[158] Some sources claim that 15-year-old Fischer was unable to arrange leave from attending high school.[159] Fischer later represented the United States on first board at four Men's Chess Olympiads, winning two individual Silver and one individual Bronze medals:[160] Out of four Men's Chess Olympiads, Fischer scored +40−7=18, for 49/65: 75.4%.[166][167] In 1966, Fischer narrowly missed the individual gold medal, scoring 88.23% to World Champion Tigran Petrosian's 88.46%. He played four games more than Petrosian, faced stiffer opposition,[168] and would have won the gold if he had accepted Florin Gheorghiu's draw offer, rather than declining it and suffering his only loss.[169] At the 1962 Varna Olympiad, Fischer predicted that he would defeat Argentinian GM Miguel Najdorf in 25 moves. Fischer actually did it in 24, becoming the only player to beat Najdorf in the tournament.[170] Ironically, Najdorf lost the game while employing the very opening variation named after him: the Sicilian Najdorf.[171] Fischer had planned to play for the US at the 1968 Lugano Olympiad, but backed out when he saw the poor playing conditions.[172] Both former World Champion Tigran Petrosian and Belgian-American International Master George Koltanowski, the leader of the American team that year, felt that Fischer was justified in not participating in the Olympiad.[173] According to Lombardy, Fischer's non-participation was due to Reshevsky's refusal to yield first board.[174] In 1960, Fischer tied for first place with Soviet star Boris Spassky at the strong Mar del Plata Tournament in Argentina, winning by a two-point margin, scoring 13½/15 (+13−1=1),[175][176] ahead of David Bronstein.[177] Fischer lost only to Spassky; this was the start of their lifelong friendship.[178] Fischer experienced the only failure in his competitive career[179] at the Buenos Aires Tournament (1960), finishing with 8½/19 (+3−5=11), far behind winners Viktor Korchnoi and Samuel Reshevsky with 13/19.[180] According to Larry Evans, Fischer's first sexual experience was with a girl to whom Evans introduced him during the tournament.[181][182] Pal Benko says that Fischer did horribly in the tournament "because he got caught up in women and sex. Afterwards, Fischer said he'd never mix women and chess together, and kept the promise."[183] Fischer concluded 1960 by winning a small tournament in Reykjavík with 4½/5,[184] and defeating Klaus Darga in an exhibition game in West Berlin.[185] In 1961, Fischer started a 16-game match with Reshevsky, split between New York and Los Angeles.[186] Reshevsky, 32 years Fischer's senior, was considered the favorite, since he had far more match experience and had never lost a set match. After 11 games and a tie score (two wins apiece with seven draws), the match ended prematurely due to a scheduling dispute between Fischer and match organizer and sponsor Jacqueline Piatigorsky. Reshevsky was declared the winner, by default, and received the winner's share of the prize fund.[187] Fischer was second in a super-class field, behind only former World Champion Tal, at Bled, 1961.[188] Yet, Fischer defeated Tal head-to-head for the first time in their individual game, scored 3½/4 against the Soviet contingent, and finished as the only unbeaten player, with 13½/19 (+8−0=11).[189][190] 1962: success, setback, accusations of collusion [ edit ] Fischer won the 1962 Stockholm Interzonal by a 2½-point margin,[191] going undefeated, with 17½/22 (+13−0=9).[192][193] He was the first non-Soviet player to win an Interzonal since FIDE instituted the tournament in 1948.[194] Russian grandmaster Alexander Kotov said of Fischer:[195] I have discussed Fischer's play with Max Euwe and Gideon Stahlberg. All of us, experienced 'tournament old-timers', were surprised by Fischer's endgame expertise. When a young player is good at attacking or at combinations, this is understandable, but a faultless endgame technique at the age of 19 is something rare. I can recall only one other player who at that age was equally skillful at endgames – Vasily Smyslov. Fischer's victory made him a favorite for the Candidates Tournament in Curaçao.[196][197] Yet, despite his result in the Interzonal, Fischer only finished fourth out of eight with 14/27 (+8−7=12),[198] far behind Tigran Petrosian (17½/27), Efim Geller, and Paul Keres (both 17/27).[199] Tal fell very ill during the tournament, and had to withdraw before completion. Fischer, a friend of Tal, was the only contestant who visited him in the hospital.[200] Accuses Soviets of collusion [ edit ] Following his failure[201] in the 1962 Candidates, Fischer asserted in an August 20, 1962 Sports Illustrated article, entitled "The Russians Have Fixed World Chess", that three of the five Soviet players (Tigran Petrosian, Paul Keres, and Efim Geller) had a prearranged agreement to quickly draw their games against each other in order to conserve their energy for playing against Fischer. It is generally thought that this accusation is correct.[202][203] Fischer stated that he would never again participate in a Candidates' tournament, since the format, combined with the alleged collusion, made it impossible for a non-Soviet player to win. Following Fischer's article, FIDE, in late 1962, voted to implement a radical reform of the playoff system, replacing the Candidates' tournament with a format of one-on-one knockout matches; the format that Fischer would dominate in 1971.[203][204] Fischer defeated Bent Larsen in a summer 1962 exhibition game in Copenhagen for Danish TV. Later that year, Fischer beat Bogdan Śliwa in a team match against Poland in Warsaw.[205] In the 1962–63 US Championship, Fischer lost to Edmar Mednis in round one. It was his first loss ever in a US Championship. Bisguier was in excellent form, and Fischer caught up to him only at the end. Tied at 7–3, the two met in the final round. Bisguier stood well in the middlegame, but blundered, handing Fischer his fifth consecutive US championship.[206] Semi-retirement in the mid-1960s [ edit ] Influenced by ill will over the aborted 1961 match against Reshevsky, Fischer declined an invitation to play in the 1963 Piatigorsky Cup tournament in Los Angeles, which had a world-class field.[207] He instead played in the Western Open in Bay City, Michigan, which he won with 7½/8.[208][209] In August–September 1963, Fischer won the New York State Championship at Poughkeepsie, with 7/7, his first perfect score,[210] ahead of Arthur Bisguier and James Sherwin.[211] In the 1963–64 US Championship, Fischer achieved his second perfect score, this time against the top-ranked chess players in the country.[152][207] This result brought Fischer heightened fame, including a profile in Life magazine.[212] Sports Illustrated diagrammed each of the 11 games in its article, "The Amazing Victory Streak of Bobby Fischer".[213] Such extensive chess coverage was groundbreaking for the top American sports magazine. His 11–0 win in the 1963–64 Championship is the only perfect score in the history of the tournament,[214] and one of about ten perfect scores in high-level chess tournaments ever.[215][216][217] David Hooper and Kenneth Whyld called it "the most remarkable achievement of this kind".[215] Fischer recalls:[218] "Motivated by my lopsided result (11–0!), Dr. [Hans] Kmoch congratulated [Larry] Evans (the runner up) on 'winning' the tournament... and then he congratulated me on 'winning the exhibition'." Fischer's 21-move victory against Robert Byrne won the brilliancy prize for the tournament. Byrne wrote: The culminating combination is of such depth that, even at the very moment at which I resigned, both grandmasters who were commenting on the play for the spectators in a separate room believed I had a won game![219] International Master Anthony Saidy recalled his last round encounter with the undefeated Fischer:[220] Going into the final game I certainly did not expect to upset Fischer. I hardly knew the opening but played simply, and he went along with the scenario, opting for a N-v-B [i.e., Knight vs. Bishop] endgame with a minimal edge. In the corridor, Evans said to me, "Good. Show him we're not all children." At adjournment, Saidy saw a way to force a draw, yet "sealed a different, wrong move", and lost.[220] "Chess publications around the world wrote of the unparalleled achievement. Only Bent Larsen, always a Fischer detractor, was unimpressed: 'Fischer was playing against children'".[221] Fischer, eligible as US Champion, decided against his participation in the 1964 Amsterdam Interzonal, taking himself out of the 1966 World Championship cycle,[222] even after FIDE changed the format of the eight-player Candidates Tournament from a round-robin to a series of knockout matches, which eliminated the possibility of collusion.[212] Instead, Fischer embarked on a tour of the United States and Canada from February through May, playing a simultaneous exhibition, and giving a lecture in each of more than 40 cities.[223] He had a 94% winning percentage over more than 2,000 games.[224] Fischer declined an invitation to play for the US in the 1964 Olympiad in Tel Aviv.[225] Successful return [ edit ] Fischer wanted to play in the Capablanca Memorial Tournament, Havana in August and September 1965.[226] Since the State Department refused to endorse Fischer's passport as valid for visiting Cuba,[227] he proposed, and the tournament officials and players accepted, a unique arrangement: Fischer played his moves from a room at the Marshall Chess Club, which were then transmitted by teleprinter to Cuba.[228][229][230][231] Luděk Pachman observed that Fischer "was handicapped by the longer playing session resulting from the time wasted in transmitting the moves, and that is one reason why he lost to three of his chief rivals."[232] The tournament was an "ordeal" for Fischer, who had to endure eight-hour and sometimes even twelve-hour playing sessions.[233] Despite the handicap, Fischer tied for second through fourth places, with 15/21 (+12−3=6),[234] behind former World Champion Vasily Smyslov, whom Fischer defeated in their individual game.[232] The tournament received extensive media coverage.[235][236] In December, Fischer won his seventh US Championship (1965), with the score of 8½/11 (+8−2=1),[237] despite losing to Robert Byrne and Reshevsky in the eighth and ninth rounds.[238][239] Fischer also reconciled with Mrs. Piatigorsky, accepting an invitation to the very strong second Piatigorsky Cup (1966) tournament in Santa Monica. Fischer began disastrously and after eight rounds was tied for last with 3/8. He then staged a strong comeback, scoring 7/8 in the next eight rounds. In the end, World Chess Championship finalist Boris Spassky edged him out by a half point, scoring 11½/18 to Fischer's 11/18 (+7−3=8).[240] Now aged 23, Fischer would win every match or tournament he completed for the rest of his life.[242] Fischer won the US Championship (1966–67) for the eighth and final time, ceding only three draws (+8−0=3),[243][244] In March–April and August–September, Fischer won strong tournaments at Monte Carlo, with 7/9 (+6−1=2),[245] and Skopje, with 13½/17 (+12−2=3).[246][247] In the Philippines, Fischer played nine exhibition games against master opponents, scoring 8½/9.[248] Withdrawal while leading Interzonal [ edit ] Fischer's win in the 1966–67 US Championship qualified him for the next World Championship cycle.[237] At the 1967 Interzonal, held at Sousse, Tunisia, Fischer scored 8½ points in the first 10 games, to lead the field. His observance of the Worldwide Church of God's seventh-day Sabbath was honored by the organizers, but deprived Fischer of several rest days, which led to a scheduling dispute,[249] causing Fischer to forfeit two games in protest and later withdraw, eliminating himself from the 1969 World Championship cycle.[250] Communications difficulties with the highly inexperienced local organizers were also a significant factor, since Fischer knew little French and the organizers had very limited English. No one in Tunisian chess had previous experience running an event of this stature.[251] Since Fischer had completed fewer than half of his scheduled games, all of his results were annulled, meaning players who had played Fischer had those games cancelled, and the scores nullified from the official tournament record.[204] Second semi-retirement [ edit ] In 1968, Fischer won tournaments at Netanya, with 11½/13 (+10−0=3),[252] and Vinkovci, with 11/13 (+9−0=4),[253] by large margins.[254] Fischer then stopped playing for the next 18 months, except for a win against Anthony Saidy in a 1969 New York Metropolitan League team match.[255][256] That year, Fischer (assisted by grandmaster Larry Evans) released his second book of collected games: My 60 Memorable Games, published by Simon & Schuster.[257] The book "was an immediate success".[258] 1969–1972: World Champion [ edit ] In 1970, Fischer began a new effort to become World Champion. His dramatic march toward the title made him a household name and made chess front-page news for a time. He won the title in 1972, but forfeited it three years later. Road to the World Championship [ edit ] The 1969 US Championship was also a zonal qualifier, with the top three finishers advancing to the Interzonal. Fischer, however, had sat out the US Championship because of disagreements about the tournament's format and prize fund. Benko, one of the three qualifiers, agreed to give up his spot in the Interzonal in order to give Fischer another shot at the World Championship; Lombardy, who would have been "next in line" after Benko, did the same.[259][260][261][262][263][264] In 1970 and 1971, Fischer "dominated his contemporaries to an extent never seen before or since".[265] Before the Interzonal, in March and April 1970, the world's best players competed in the USSR vs. Rest of the World match in Belgrade, Yugoslavia, often referred to as "the Match of the Century". There was much surprise when Fischer decided to participate.[266] With Evans as his second,[267] Fischer flew to Belgrade[268] with the intention of playing board one for the rest of the world.[269][270] Danish grandmaster Bent Larsen, however, due to his recent tournament victories, demanded to play first board instead of Fischer, even though Fischer had the higher Elo rating.[270][271] To the surprise of everyone, Fischer agreed.[272][273] Although the USSR team eked out a 20½–19½ victory, "On the top four boards, the Soviets managed to win only one game out of a possible sixteen. Bobby Fischer was the high scorer for his team, with a 3–1 score against Petrosian (two wins and two draws)."[274] "Fischer left no doubt in anyone's mind that he had put his temporary break from the tournament circuit to good use. Petrosian was almost unrecognizable in the first two games, and by the time he had collected himself, although pressing his opponent, he could do no more than draw the last two games of the four-game set".[270] After the USSR versus the Rest of the World Match, the unofficial World Championship of Lightning Chess (5-minute games) was held at Herceg Novi. "[The Russians] figured on teaching Fischer a lesson and on bringing him down a peg or two".[275] Petrosian and Tal were considered the favorites,[276] but Fischer overwhelmed the super-class field with 19/22 (+17−1=4), far ahead of Tal (14½), Korchnoi (14), Petrosian (13½), and Bronstein (13).[276][277] Fischer lost only one game (to Korchnoi, who was also the only player to achieve an even score against him in the double round robin tournament).[278][279] Fischer "crushed such blitz kings as Tal, Petrosian and Vasily Smyslov by a clean score".[280] Tal marveled that, "During the entire tournament he didn't leave a single pawn en prise!", while the other players "blundered knights and bishops galore".[280][281] For Lombardy, who had played many blitz games with Fischer,[282] Fischer's 4½-point margin of victory "came as a pleasant surprise".[283] In April–May 1970, Fischer won at Rovinj/Zagreb with 13/17 (+10−1=6), by a two-point margin, ahead of Gligorić, Hort, Korchnoi, Smyslov, and Petrosian.[284][285] In July–August, Fischer crushed the mostly grandmaster field at Buenos Aires, winning by a 3½-point margin, scoring 15/17 (+13−0=4).[286] Fischer then played first board for the US Team in the 19th Chess Olympiad in Siegen, where he won an individual Silver medal, scoring 10/13 (+8−1=4),[165] with his only loss being to World Champion Boris Spassky.[287] Right after the Olympiad, Fischer defeated Ulf Andersson in an exhibition game for the Swedish newspaper Expressen.[288] Fischer had taken his game to a new level.[289] Fischer won the Interzonal (held in Palma de Mallorca in November and December 1970) with 18½/23 (+15−1=7),[290] far ahead of Larsen, Efim Geller, and Robert Hübner, with 15/23.[291][292] Fischer finished the tournament with seven consecutive wins.[293][294] Setting aside the Sousse Interzonal (which Fischer withdrew from while leading), Fischer's victory gave him a string of eight consecutive first prizes in tournaments.[295] Former World Champion Mikhail Botvinnik was not, however, impressed by Fischer's results, stating: "Fischer has been declared a genius. I do not agree with this... In order to rightly be declared a genius in chess, you have to defeat equal opponents by a big margin. As yet he has not done this".[296] Despite Botvinnik's remarks, "Fischer began a miraculous year in the history of chess".[297] In the 1971 Candidates matches, Fischer was set to play against Soviet grandmaster and concert pianist Mark Taimanov in the quarter-finals. The match began in mid-May in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.[298] Fischer was generally favored to win.[298][299] Taimanov had reason to be confident. He was backed by the firm guidance of Botvinnik, who "had thoroughly analysed Fischer's record and put together a 'dossier' on him", from when he was in talks to play Fischer in a match "a couple of years earlier".[300] After Fischer defeated Taimanov in the second game of the match, Taimanov asked Fischer how he managed to come up with the move 12. N1c3, to which Fischer replied "that the idea was not his—he had come across it in the monograph by the Soviet master Alexander Nikitin in a footnote".[301] Taimanov said of this: "It is staggering that I, an expert on the Sicilian, should have missed this theoretically significant idea by my compatriot, while Fischer had uncovered it in a book in a foreign language!"[302] With the score at 4–0, in Fischer's favor, the fifth game adjournment was a sight to behold.[303] Schonberg explains the scene:[275] Taimanov came to Vancouver with two seconds, both grandmasters. Fischer was alone. He thought that the sight of Taimanov and his seconds was the funniest thing he had ever seen. There Taimanov and his seconds would sit, six hands flying, pocket sets waving in the air, while variations were being spouted all over the place. And there sat Taimanov with a confused look on his face. Just before resuming play [in the fifth game] the seconds were giving Taimanov some last-minute advice. When poor Taimanov entered the playing room and sat down to confront Fischer, his head was so full of conflicting continuations that he became rattled, left a Rook en prise and immediately resigned. Fischer beat Taimanov by the score of 6–0.[304] There was little precedent for such a lopsided score in a match leading to the World Championship.[305] Upon losing the final game of the match, Taimanov shrugged his shoulders, saying sadly to Fischer: "Well, I still have my music."[306] As a result of his performance, Taimanov "was thrown out of the USSR team and forbidden to travel for two years. He was banned from writing articles, was deprived of his monthly stipend... [and] the authorities prohibited him from performing on the concert platform."[307] "The crushing loss virtually ended Taimanov's chess career."[308] Fischer was next scheduled to play against Danish grandmaster Bent Larsen. "Spassky predicted a tight struggle: 'Larsen is a little stronger in spirit.'"[309] Before the match, Botvinnik had told a Soviet television audience:[310] It is hard to say how their match will end, but it is clear that such an easy victory as in Vancouver [against Taimanov] will not be given to Fischer. I think Larsen has unpleasant surprises in store for [Fischer], all the more since having dealt with Taimanov thus, Fischer will want to do just the same to Larsen and this is impossible. Fischer beat Larsen by the identical score of 6–0.[311] Robert Byrne writes: "To a certain extent I could grasp the Taimanov match as a kind of curiosity–almost a freak, a strange chess occurrence that would never occur again. But now I am at a loss for anything whatever to say... So, it is out of the question for me to explain how Bobby, how anyone, could win six games in a row from such a genius of the game as Bent Larsen".[312] Just a year before, Larsen had played first board for the Rest of the World team ahead of Fischer, and had handed Fischer his only loss at the Interzonal. Garry Kasparov later wrote that no player had ever shown a superiority over his rivals comparable to Fischer's "incredible" 12–0 score in the two matches.[313] Chess statistician Jeff Sonas concludes that the victory over Larsen gave Fischer the "highest single-match performance rating ever".[314] On August 8, 1971, while preparing for his last Candidates match with former World Champion Tigran Petrosian, Fischer played in the Manhattan Chess Club Rapid Tournament, winning with 21½/22 against a strong field.[277][315] Despite Fischer's results against Taimanov and Larsen, his upcoming match against Petrosian seemed a daunting task.[316] Nevertheless, the Soviet government was concerned about Fischer.[317][318] "Reporters asked Petrosian whether the match would last the full twelve games... 'It might be possible that I win it earlier,' Petrosian replied",[319] and then stated: "Fischer's [nineteen consecutive] wins do not impress me. He is a great chess player but no genius."[320] Petrosian played a strong theoretical novelty in the first game, gaining the advantage, but Fischer eventually won the game after Petrosian faltered.[321][322][323] This gave Fischer a run of 20 consecutive wins against the world's top players (in the Interzonal and Candidates matches), a winning streak topped only by Steinitz's 25 straight wins in 1873–1882.[324][325] Petrosian won the second game, finally snapping Fischer's streak.[326] After three consecutive draws, Fischer swept the next four games to win the match 6½–2½ (+5−1=3).[327] Sports Illustrated ran an article on the match, highlighting Fischer's domination of Petrosian as being due to Petrosian's outdated system of preparation:[328] Fischer's recent record raises the distinct possibility that he has made a breakthrough in modern chess theory. His response to Petrosian's elaborately plotted 11th move in the first game is an example: Russian experts had worked on the variation for weeks, yet when it was thrown at Fischer suddenly, he faced its consequences alone and won by applying simple, classic principles. Upon completion of the match, Petrosian remarked: "After the sixth game Fischer really did become a genius. I on the other hand, either had a breakdown or was tired, or something else happened, but the last three games were no longer chess."[329][330] "Some experts kept insisting that Petrosian was off form, and that he should have had a plus score at the end of the sixth game ..." to which Fischer replied, "People have been playing against me below strength for fifteen years."[331] Fischer's match results befuddled Botvinnik: "It is hard to talk about Fischer's matches. Since the time that he has been playing them, miracles have begun."[332] "When Petrosian played like Petrosian, Fischer played like a very strong grandmaster, but when Petrosian began making mistakes, Fischer was transformed into a genius."[332] Fischer gained a far higher rating than any player in history up to that time.[333] On the July 1972 FIDE rating list, his Elo rating of 2785 was 125 points above (World No. 2) Spassky's rating of 2660.[334][335][336] His results put him on the cover of Life magazine,[337] and allowed him to challenge World Champion Boris Spassky, whom he had never beaten (+0−3=2).[338][339] World Championship match [ edit ] Fischer in Amsterdam in 1972, on a visit to discuss the World Chess Championship details with the then FIDE president Max Euwe Fischer in Amsterdam in 1972 Fischer's career-long stubbornness about match and tournament conditions was again seen in the run-up to his match with Spassky. Of the possible sites, Fischer's first choice was Belgrade, Yugoslavia, while Spassky's was Reykjavík, Iceland.[340] For a time it appeared that the dispute would be resolved by splitting the match between the two locations, but that arrangement failed.[341] After that issue was resolved, Fischer refused to appear in Iceland until the prize fund was increased. London financier Jim Slater donated an additional US$125,000, bringing the prize fund up to an unprecedented $250,000 ($1.50 million today) and Fischer finally agreed to play.[342] Before and during the match, Fischer paid special attention to his physical training and fitness, which was a relatively novel approach for top chess players at that time. He had developed his tennis skills to a good level, and played frequently during off-days in Reykjavík. He had also arranged for exclusive use of his hotel's swimming pool during specified hours, and swam for extended periods, usually late at night.[343] According to Soviet grandmaster Nikolai Krogius, Fischer "was paying great attention to sport, and that he was swimming and even boxing ..."[344] The match took place in Reykjavík from July to September 1972. Fischer was accompanied by William Lombardy; besides assisting with analysis,[345] Lombardy may have played an important role in getting Fischer to play in the match and to stay in it.[346] The match was the first to receive an American broadcast in prime time.[347][348] Fischer lost the first two games in strange fashion: the first when he played a risky pawn-grab in a drawn endgame, the second by forfeit when he refused to play the game in a dispute over playing conditions.[349] Fischer would likely have forfeited the entire match, but Spassky, not wanting to win by default, yielded to Fischer's demands to move the next game to a back room, away from the cameras whose presence had upset Fischer.[350][351] After that game, the match was moved back to the stage and proceeded without further serious incident. Fischer won seven of the next 19 games, losing only one and drawing eleven, to win the match 12½–8½ and become the 11th World Chess Champion.[347] The Cold War trappings made the match a media sensation.[352] It was called "The Match of the Century",[353][354][355] and received front-page media coverage in the United States and around the world.[356][357] Fischer's win was an American victory in a field that Soviet players – closely identified with and subsidized by the state – had dominated for the previous quarter-century. Kasparov remarked, "Fischer fits ideologically into the context of the Cold War era: a lone American genius challenges the Soviet chess machine and defeats it".[358][359] Dutch grandmaster Jan Timman calls Fischer's victory "the story of a lonely hero who overcomes an entire empire".[360] Fischer's sister observed, "Bobby did all this in a country almost totally without a chess culture. It was as if an Eskimo had cleared a tennis court in the snow and gone on to win the world championship".[361] Upon Fischer's return to New York,[362] a Bobby Fischer Day was held.[363] He was offered numerous product endorsement offers worth "at least $5 million" ($29.9 million today), all of which he declined.[364] He appeared on the cover of Sports Illustrated[365] with American Olympic swimming champion Mark Spitz. Fischer also made an appearance on a Bob Hope TV special.[366] Membership in the US Chess Federation doubled in 1972,[367] and peaked in 1974; in American chess, these years are commonly referred to as the "Fischer Boom". This match attracted more worldwide interest than any chess championship before or since.[368] Forfeiture of title [ edit ] Fischer was scheduled to defend his title in 1975 against Anatoly Karpov, who had emerged as his challenger.[369] Fischer, who had played no competitive games since his World Championship match with Spassky, laid out a proposal for the match in September 1973, in consultation with FIDE official Fred Cramer. He made three principal (non-negotiable) demands: The match continues until one player wins 10 games, draws not counting. No limit to the total number of games played. In case of a 9–9 score, the champion (Fischer) retains the title, and the prize fund is split equally.[370] A FIDE Congress was held in 1974 during the Nice Olympiad. The delegates voted in favor of Fischer's 10-win proposal, but rejected his other two proposals, and limited the number of games in the match to 36.[371] In response to FIDE's ruling, Fischer sent a cable to Euwe on June 27, 1974:[372][373][374] As I made clear in my telegram to the FIDE delegates, the match conditions I proposed were non-negotiable. Mr. Cramer informs me that the rules of the winner being the first player to win ten games, draws not counting, unlimited number of games and if nine wins to nine match is drawn with champion regaining title and prize fund split equally were rejected by the FIDE delegates. By so doing FIDE has decided against my participation in the 1975 World Chess Championship. Therefore, I resign my FIDE World Chess Championship title. Sincerely, Bobby Fischer. The delegates responded by reaffirming their prior decisions, but did not accept Fischer's resignation and requested that he reconsider.[375] Many observers considered Fischer's requested 9–9 clause unfair because it would require the challenger to win by at least two games (10–8).[376] Botvinnik called the 9–9 clause "unsporting".[377] Korchnoi, David Bronstein, and Lev Alburt considered the 9–9 clause reasonable.[378][379][380] Due to the continued efforts of US Chess Federation officials,[381] a special FIDE Congress was held in March 1975 in Bergen, Netherlands,[382] in which it was accepted that the match should be of unlimited duration, but the 9–9 clause was once again rejected, by a narrow margin of 35 votes to 32.[383] FIDE set a deadline of April 1, 1975, for Fischer and Karpov to confirm their participation in the match. No reply was received from Fischer by April 3. Thus, by default, Karpov officially became World Champion.[384] In his 1991 autobiography, Karpov professed regret that the match had not taken place, and claimed that the lost opportunity to challenge Fischer held back his own chess development. Karpov met with Fischer several times after 1975, in friendly but ultimately unsuccessful attempts to arrange a match, since Karpov would never agree to play to 10.[385] Brian Carney opined in The Wall Street Journal that Fischer's victory over Spassky in 1972 left him nothing to prove, except that perhaps someone could someday beat him, and he was not interested in the risk of losing. He also opined that Fischer's refusal to recognize peers also allowed his paranoia to flower: "The world championship he won ... validated his view of himself as a chess player, but it also insulated him from the humanizing influences of the world around him. He descended into what can only be considered a kind of madness".[203] Bronstein felt that Fischer "had the right to play the match with Karpov on his own conditions".[386] Korchnoi stated:[387] Was Fischer right in demanding that the world title be protected by a two point handicap – that the challenger would be considered the winner with a 10–8 score and that the champion would retain his title in the event of a 9–9 draw? Yes, this was quite natural: the champion deserves this, not to mention the fact that further play to the first win in the event of an even score would be nothing short of a lottery – the winner in that case could not claim to have won a convincing victory. Soviet grandmaster Lev Alburt felt that the decision to not concede to Fischer's demands rested on Karpov's "sober view of what he was capable of".[388] Years later, in his 1992 match against Spassky, Fischer said that Karpov refused to play against him under Fischer's conditions.[389] Sudden obscurity [ edit ] After the 1972 World Chess Championship, Fischer did not play a competitive game in public for nearly 20 years.[390] In 1977 in Cambridge, Massachusetts, he played three games against the MIT Greenblatt computer program, winning them all.[391] He moved to the Los Angeles area and associated with an apocalyptic cult known as the "Worldwide Church of God" for a time.[392] On May 26, 1981, while walking in Pasadena, Fischer was arrested by a police patrolman, because he resembled a man who had just committed a robbery in the area.[393] Fischer, who alleged that he was slightly injured during the arrest,[394] said that he was held for two days, subjected to assault and various types of mistreatment,[395] and released on $1,000 bail.[396] Fischer published a 14-page pamphlet detailing his alleged experiences and saying that his arrest had been "a frame up and set up".[397][398][399] In 1981, Fischer stayed at the home of grandmaster Peter Biyiasas, where, over a period of four months, he defeated Biyiasas seventeen times in a series of speed games.[400][401] In an interview with Sports Illustrated reporter William Nack, Biyiasas assessed Fischer's play:[399][402] He was too good. There was no use in playing him. It wasn't interesting. I was getting beaten, and it wasn't clear to me why. It wasn't like I made this mistake or that mistake. It was like I was being gradually outplayed, from the start. He wasn't taking any time to think. The most depressing thing about it is that I wasn't even getting out of the middle game to an endgame. I don't ever remember an endgame. He honestly believes there is no one for him to play, no one worthy of him. I played him, and I can attest to that. In 1988–1990, Fischer had a relationship with German chess player Petra Stadler, who had been put in touch with Fischer by Spassky. When Stadler later published a book about the affair,[403] Spassky apologized to Fischer.[404] 1992 Spassky rematch [ edit ] Fischer emerged after twenty years of isolation to play Spassky (then tied for 96th–102nd on the FIDE rating list) in a "Revenge Match of the 20th century" in 1992. This match took place in Sveti Stefan and Belgrade, Yugoslavia, in spite of a United Nations embargo that included sanctions on commercial activities. Fischer demanded that the organizers bill the match as "The World Chess Championship", although Garry Kasparov was the recognized FIDE World Champion. Fischer insisted he was still the true World Champion, and that for all the games in the FIDE-sanctioned World Championship matches, involving Karpov, Korchnoi, and Kasparov, the outcomes had been prearranged.[405] The purse for the rematch was US$5 million, with $3.35 million of the purse to go to the winner.[406][407] According to grandmaster Andrew Soltis:[408] [The match games] were of a fairly high quality, particularly when compared with Kasparov's championship matches of 1993, 1995 and 2000, for example. Yet the games also reminded many fans of how out of place Fischer was in 1992. He was still playing the openings of a previous generation. He was, moreover, the only strong player in the world who didn't trust computers and wasn't surrounded by seconds and supplicants. Fischer won the match with 10 wins, 5 losses, and 15 draws.[409] Kasparov stated, "Bobby is playing OK, nothing more. Maybe his strength is 2600 or 2650. It wouldn't be close between us".[410] Yasser Seirawan believed that the match proved that Fischer's playing strength was "somewhere in the top ten in the world".[411] Fischer and Spassky gave ten press conferences during the match.[412] Seirawan attended the match and met with Fischer on several occasions; the two analyzed some match games and had personal discourse. Seirawan later wrote: "After September 23 [1992], I threw most of what I'd ever read about Bobby out of my head. Sheer garbage. Bobby is the most misunderstood, misquoted celebrity walking the face of the earth."[413] He added that Fischer was not camera shy, smiled and laughed easily, was "a fine wit" and "wholly enjoyable conversationalist".[414] The US Department of the Treasury warned Fischer before the start of the match that his participation was illegal, that it would violate President George H. W. Bush's Executive Order 12810 imposing United Nations Security Council Resolution 757 sanctions against engaging in economic activities in Yugoslavia.[415] In response, during the first scheduled press conference on September 1, 1992, in front of the international press, Fischer spat on the US order, saying "this is my reply".[416] His violation of the order led US Federal officials to initiate a warrant for his arrest upon completion of the match,[417] citing, in pertinent part, "Title 50 USC §§1701, 1702, and 1705 and Executive Order 12810".[418][419] Prior to the rematch against Spassky, Fischer had won a training match against Svetozar Gligorić in Sveti Stefan with six wins, one loss and three draws.[420] Personal life [ edit ] Religious affiliation [ edit ] Although Fischer's mother was Jewish, Fischer rejected attempts to label him as Jewish.[15][421] In a 1984 letter to the Encyclopaedia Judaica, Fischer requested that they remove his name from their encyclopedia.[422] In an interview in the January 1962 issue of Harper's, he was quoted as saying, "I read a book lately by Nietzsche and he says religion is just to dull the senses of the people. I agree."[421][423] Fischer associated with the Worldwide Church of God in the mid-1960s. The church prescribed Saturday Sabbath, and forbade work (and competitive chess) on Sabbath.[424] According to his friend and colleague Larry Evans, in 1968 Fischer felt philosophically that "the world was coming to an end" and he might as well make some money by publishing My 60 Memorable Games;[425] Fischer thought that the Rapture was coming soon.[426] During the mid-1970s Fischer contributed significant money to the Worldwide Church of God.[427] In 1972 one journalist stated that "Fischer is almost as serious about religion as he is about chess", and the champion credited his faith with greatly improving his chess.[428][429] Yet prophecies by Herbert W. Armstrong went unfulfilled,[430] and the church was rocked by revelations of a series of sex scandals involving Garner Ted Armstrong.[431] Fischer eventually left the church in 1977, "accusing it of being 'Satanic', and vigorously attacking its methods and leadership."[400] Antisemitism [ edit ] Fischer made numerous antisemitic statements and professed a general hatred for Jews since at least the early 1960s.[421][432] Jan Hein Donner wrote that at the time of Bled 1961, "He idolized Hitler and read everything about him that he could lay his hands on. He also championed a brand of anti-semitism that could only be thought up by a mind completely cut off from reality."[179] Donner took Fischer to a war museum, which "left a great impression, since [Fischer] is not an evil person, and afterwards he was more restrained in his remarks—to me, at least."[179] From the 1980s on, Fischer's comments about Jews were a major theme in his public and private remarks.[433] He openly denied the Holocaust, and called the United States "a farce controlled by dirty, hook-nosed, circumcised Jew bastards".[434] Between 1999 and 2006, Fischer's primary means of communicating with the public was radio interviews. He participated in at least 34 such broadcasts, mostly with radio stations in the Philippines, but also in Hungary, Iceland, Colombia, and Russia. In 1999, he gave a radio call-in interview to a station in Budapest, Hungary, during which he described himself as the "victim of an international Jewish conspiracy". In another radio interview, Fischer said that it became clear to him in 1977, after reading The Secret World Government by Count Cherep-Spiridovich, that Jewish agencies were targeting him.[435] Fischer's sudden reemergence was apparently triggered when some of his belongings, which had been stored in a Pasadena, California, storage unit, were sold by the landlord, who claimed it was in response to nonpayment of rent.[436] Fischer was also upset that UBS bank had liquidated his assets and closed his account without his permission. When asked who he thought was responsible for the actions UBS had taken Fischer replied, "There's no question that the Jew-controlled United States is behind this — that's obvious."[437][438] Fischer's library contained antisemitic and racist literature such as Mein Kampf, The Protocols of the Elders of Zion, and The White Man's Bible and Nature's Eternal Religion by Ben Klassen, founder of the World Church of the Creator.[439][440] A notebook written by Fischer contains sentiments such as "12/13/99 It's time to start randomly killing Jews". Despite his views, Fischer remained on good terms with Jewish chess players.[442] Life as an émigré [ edit ] After the 1992 match with Spassky, Fischer, now a fugitive, slid back into relative obscurity, taking up residence in Budapest, Hungary, and allegedly having a relationship with young Hungarian chess master Zita Rajcsányi.[399][443] Fischer claimed that standard chess was stale and that he now played blitz games of chess variants, such as Chess960. He visited with the Polgár family in Budapest and analyzed many games with Judit, Zsuzsa, and Zsófia Polgár.[444][445][446] In 1998/99 he also stayed at the house of young Hungarian grandmaster Peter Leko.[447] From 2000 to 2002, Fischer lived in Baguio City in the Philippines,[448] residing in the same compound as the Filipino grandmaster Eugenio Torre, a close friend who had acted as his second during his 1992 match with Spassky.[448] Torre introduced Fischer to a 22-year-old woman named Marilyn Young.[449] On May 21, 2001, Marilyn Young gave birth to a daughter named Jinky Young, and claimed that Fischer was the child's father.[450][451] Shortly after midnight on September 12, 2001, Philippines local time (approximately four hours after the September 11, 2001 attacks in the US), Fischer was interviewed live by Pablo Mercado on the Baguio City station of the Bombo Radyo network. Fischer stated that he was happy that the airliner attacks had happened, while expressing his view on United States and Israeli foreign policy, saying "I applaud the act. Look, nobody gets ... that the US and Israel have been slaughtering the Palestinians ... for years."[452][453][454][455] He also said "The horrible behavior that the US is committing all over the world ... This just shows you, that what goes around, comes around even for the United States."[452][453] Fischer also referenced the movie Seven Days in May and said he hoped for a military coup d'état in the US, "[I hope] the country will be taken over by the military—they'll close down all the synagogues, arrest all the Jews, execute hundreds of thousands of Jewish ringleaders."[456][457] In response to Fischer's statements about 9/11, the US Chess Federation passed a motion to cancel his right to membership in the organization.[458] Fischer's right to become a member was reinstated in 2007.[459] Detention in Japan [ edit ] Fischer lived for a time in Japan. On July 13, 2004, acting in response to a letter from US officials, Japanese immigration authorities arrested him at Narita International Airport near Tokyo for allegedly using a revoked US passport while trying to board a Japan Airlines flight to Ninoy Aquino International Airport in Manila, Philippines.[460][461][462] Fischer resisted arrest, and claimed to have sustained bruises, cuts and a broken tooth in the process.[463] At the time, Fischer had a passport (originally issued in 1997 and updated in 2003 to add more pages) that, according to US officials, had been revoked in November 2003 due to his outstanding arrest-warrant for the Yugoslavia sanctions violation.[460] Despite the outstanding arrest-warrant in the US, Fischer said that he believed the passport was still valid.[464] The authorities held Fischer at a custody center for 16 days before transferring him to another facility. Fischer claimed that his cell was windowless and he had not seen the light of day during that period, and that the staff had ignored his complaints about constant tobacco smoke in his cell.[463][465][466] Tokyo-based Canadian journalist and consultant John Bosnitch set up the "Committee to Free Bobby Fischer" after meeting Fischer at Narita Airport and offering to assist him.[467] Boris Spassky wrote a letter to US President George W. Bush, asking "For mercy, charity", and, if that was not possible, "to put [him] in the same cell with Bobby Fischer" and "to give [them] a chess set".[468] It was reported that Fischer and Miyoko Watai, the President of the Japanese Chess Association (with whom he had reportedly been living since 2000) wanted to become legally married.[460] (It was also reported that Fischer had been living in the Philippines with Marilyn Young during the same period.[448]) Fischer applied for German citizenship on the grounds that his father was German.[469] Fischer stated that he wanted to renounce his US citizenship, and appealed to US Secretary of State Colin Powell to help him do so, though to no effect.[470][471] Japan's Justice Minister rejected Fischer's request for asylum and ordered his deportation.[472][473][474] Citizenship and residency in Iceland [ edit ] Seeking ways to evade deportation to the United States, Fischer wrote a letter to the government of Iceland in early January 2005, requesting Icelandic citizenship.[475] Sympathetic to Fischer's plight, but reluctant to grant him the full benefits of citizenship, Icelandic authorities granted him an alien's passport. When this proved insufficient for the Japanese authorities, the Althing (the Icelandic Parliament), at the behest of William Lombardy,[476][477] agreed unanimously to grant Fischer full citizenship in late March for humanitarian reasons, as they felt he was being unjustly treated by the United States and Japanese governments,[478] and also in recognition of his 1972 match, which had "put Iceland on the map".[479][480] After arriving in Reykjavík, Fischer gave a press conference.[481][482] He lived a reclusive life in Iceland, avoiding entrepreneurs and others who approached him with various proposals.[483] Fischer moved into an apartment in the same building as his close friend and spokesman, Garðar Sverrisson.[484] Garðar's wife, Kristín Þórarinsdóttir, was a nurse and later looked after Fischer as a terminally ill patient. Garðar's two children, especially his son, were very close to Fischer.[485] Fischer also developed a friendship with Magnús Skúlason, a psychiatrist and chess player who later recalled long discussions with him on a wide variety of subjects.[486] On December 10, 2006, Fischer telephoned an Icelandic television station that had just broadcast a chess game in which one player blundered such that his opponent was able to mate on the next move. Although he tried to change his mind upon seeing the mate, the touch-move rule forced him to play the blunder. Fischer pointed out a winning combination that could have been played instead of the blunder or the other attempted move, but had been missed by the player and commentators.[487] In 2005, some of Fischer's belongings were auctioned on eBay.[488] Fischer claimed, in 2006, that the belongings sold in the US without his permission were worth "hundreds of millions of [US] dollars; even billions of dollars."[437][489] In the same interview, Fischer also said that UBS Bank had closed an account of his and liquidated his assets against his wishes, transferring the funds to a bank in Iceland.[438] Death, estate dispute, and exhumation [ edit ] Church of Laugardælir , Fischer's resting place Fischer's grave On January 17, 2008, Fischer died at age 64 from renal failure at the Landspítali Hospital (National University Hospital of Iceland) in Reykjavík. He had been suffering from degenerative renal failure.[490][491][492][493][494][495] He originally had a urinary tract blockage but refused surgery or medication.[496][497][498] Magnús Skúlason reported Fischer's response to leg massages: "Nothing soothes as much as the human touch."[499] On January 21, Fischer was buried in the small Christian cemetery of Laugardælir church, outside the town of Selfoss, 60 kilometres (37 mi) southeast of Reykjavík, after a Catholic funeral presided over by Fr. Jakob Rolland of the diocese of Reykjavík. In accordance with Fischer's wishes, only Miyoko Watai, Garðar Sverrisson, and Garðar's family were present.[500][501] Fischer's estate was estimated at 140 million ISK (about 1 million GBP, or US$2 million). It quickly became the object of a legal battle involving claims from four parties, with Miyoko Watai ultimately inheriting what remained of Fischer's estate after government claims. The four parties were Fischer's Japanese wife Miyoko Watai; his alleged Filipino daughter Jinky Young and her mother Marilyn Young; his two American nephews Alexander and Nicholas Targ and their father Russell Targ; and the US government (claiming unpaid taxes).[502][486][503][504] Marilyn Young claimed that Jinky was Fischer's daughter, citing as evidence Jinky's birth and baptismal certificates, photographs, a transaction record dated December 4, 2007, of a bank remittance by Fischer to Jinky, and Jinky's DNA through her blood samples.[450][505][506] On the other hand, Magnús Skúlason, a friend of Fischer's, said that he was certain that Fischer was not the girl's father.[502] In addition, the validity of Miyoko Watai's marriage to Fischer was challenged.[507][450] On June 16, 2010, Iceland's supreme court ruled in favor of a petition on behalf of Jinky Young to have Fischer's remains exhumed.[508][509] The exhumation was performed on July 5, 2010, in the presence of a doctor, a priest, and other officials. A DNA sample was taken and Fischer's body was then reburied.[510] On August 17, 2010, it was announced that results of DNA testing had ruled out Fischer as the father of Jinky Young.[511][512] On March 3, 2011, an Icelandic district court ruled that Miyoko Watai and Fischer had married on September 6, 2004,[513] and that, as Fischer's widow and heir, Watai was therefore entitled to inherit Fischer's estate.[514] Fischer's nephews were ordered to pay Watai's legal costs, amounting to ISK 6.6 million (approximately $57,000).[513] Speculation on psychological condition [ edit ] While as far as is known Fischer was never formally diagnosed,[18] there has been widespread comment and speculation concerning his psychological condition based on his extreme views and unusual behavior.[515] Reuben Fine, psychologist and chess player, who met Fischer many times, said that "Some of Bobby's behavior is so strange, unpredictable, odd and bizarre that even his most ardent apologists have had a hard time explaining what makes him tick" and described him as "a troubled human being" with "obvious personal problems".[516] Valery Krylov, advisor to Anatoly Karpov and a specialist in the "psycho-physiological rehabilitation of sportsmen", believed Fischer suffered from schizophrenia.[515] Psychologist Joseph G. Ponterotto, from second-hand sources, concludes that "Bobby did not meet all the necessary criteria to reach diagnoses of schizophrenia or Asperger syndrome. The evidence is stronger for paranoid personality disorder."[515] Magnús Skúlason, a chess player, psychiatrist and head doctor of Sogn Mental Asylum for the Criminally Insane, befriended Fischer towards the end of Fischer's life. From Endgame, Fischer's 2011 biography by Frank Brady:[499] [...] Skulason was not "Bobby's psychiatrist", as has been implied in the general press, nor did he offer Bobby any analysis or psychotherapy. He was at Bobby's bedside as a friend, to try to do anything he could for him. Because of his training, however, he couldn't fail to take note of Bobby's mental condition. "He definitely was not schizophrenic", Skulason said. "He had problems, possibly certain childhood traumas that had affected him. He was misunderstood. Underneath I think he was a caring sensitive person." Contributions to chess [ edit ] Writings [ edit ] Opening theory [ edit ] This section uses algebraic notation to describe chess moves. Fischer's opening repertoire was narrow in some ways. As White, Fischer almost exclusively played 1.e4 throughout his career.[523] He played 1.d4 with White only once in a serious game, during a blitz tournament.[524] In spite of this narrowness, he was notorious, particularly among his rivals, for being unpredictable in his opening play, and a difficult opponent to prepare for.[525] As Black, Fischer would usually play the Najdorf Sicilian against 1.e4, and the King's Indian Defense against 1.d4, only rarely venturing into the Nimzo-Indian (1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4), Benoni, Grünfeld or Neo-Grünfeld.[526] Fischer acknowledged difficulty playing against the Winawer Variation of the French Defense (1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 Bb4), but maintained that the Winawer was unsound because it exposed Black's kingside, and that, in his view, "Black was trading off his good bishop with 3...Bb4 and ...Bxc3."[527] Later on Fischer said: "I may yet be forced to admit that the Winawer is sound. But I doubt it! The defense is anti-positional and weakens the K-side."[528] Fischer was renowned for his opening preparation and made numerous contributions to chess opening theory.[529] He was one of the foremost experts on the Ruy Lopez.[530] A line of the Exchange Variation (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Bxc6 dxc6 5.0-0) is sometimes called the "Fischer Variation" after he successfully resurrected it at the 1966 Havana Olympiad.[531][532] Fischer's lifetime score with the move 5.0-0 in tournament and match games was eight wins, three draws, and no losses (86.36%).[533] Fischer was a recognized expert in the black side of the Najdorf Sicilian and the King's Indian Defense.[534] He used the Grünfeld Defense and Neo-Grünfeld Defense to win his celebrated games against Donald and Robert Byrne, and played a theoretical novelty in the Grünfeld against reigning world champion Mikhail Botvinnik, refuting Botvinnik's prepared analysis over the board .[535][536] In the Nimzo-Indian Defense, the line beginning with 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.e3 b6 5.Ne2 Ba6 was named after him.[537][538][539] Fischer established the viability of the so-called Poisoned Pawn Variation of the Najdorf Sicilian (1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.Bg5 e6 7.f4 Qb6). This bold queen sortie, to snatch a pawn at the expense of development, had been considered dubious,[540][541][542] but Fischer succeeded in proving its soundness.[543] Out of ten tournament and match games as Black in the Poisoned Pawn, Fischer scored 70%, winning five, drawing four, and losing only one: the 11th game of his 1972 match against Spassky.[544] Following Fischer's use, the Poisoned Pawn Variation became a respected line, utilized by many of the world's leading players.[545] Fischer's 10.f5 in this line against Efim Geller quickly became the main line of the Poisoned Pawn. On the white side of the Sicilian, Fischer made advances to the theory of the line beginning 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 (or e6) 6.Bc4,[543][546] which has sometimes been named after him.[547] In 1961, prompted by a loss the year before to Spassky,[548] Fischer wrote an article entitled "A Bust to the King's Gambit" for the first issue of the American Chess Quarterly, in which he stated, "In my opinion, the King's Gambit is busted. It loses by force."[549] Fischer recommended 1.e4 e5 2.f4 exf4 3.Nf3 d6,[550] which has since become known as the Fischer Defense, as a refutation to the King's Gambit.[551][552][553] Fischer later played the King's Gambit as White in three tournament games, winning them all.[554] Endgame [ edit ] Fischer had excellent endgame technique.[555] International Master Jeremy Silman listed him as one of the five best endgame players (along with Emanuel Lasker, Akiba Rubinstein, José Raúl Capablanca and Vasily Smyslov), calling Fischer a "master of bishop endings".[556] The endgame of a rook, bishop, and pawns against a rook, knight, and pawns has sometimes been called the "Fischer Endgame" because of several instructive wins by Fischer (with the bishop), including three against Mark Taimanov in 1970 and 1971.[557][558][559] Fischer clock [ edit ] In 1988, Fischer filed for U.S. Patent 4,884,255 for a new type of chess clock, which gave each player a fixed period at the start of the game and then added a small increment after each completed move.[560] An example of Fischer's patented clock was made for, and used in, the 1992 rematch between Fischer and Spassky.[561][562] Clocks based on the "Fischer clock" soon became standard in major chess tournaments.[563] Fischer would later complain that he was cheated out of the royalties for this invention.[564] Fischerandom [ edit ] Fischer heavily disparaged chess as it was currently being played (at the highest levels).[565] As a result, on June 19, 1996, in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Fischer announced and advocated a variant of chess called Fischerandom Chess (later known as Chess960). The goal of Fischerandom Chess was to ensure that a game between two players is a contest between their understandings of chess, rather than their abilities to prepare opening strategies or memorize opening lines.[566][567] Legacy [ edit ] Kasparov calls Fischer "perhaps the most mythologically shrouded figure in chess".[568][569][570][571] Some leading players and some of Fischer's biographers have ranked him as the greatest player who ever lived.[2] Other writers have said that he was arguably the greatest player ever, without reaching a definitive conclusion.[3] Leonard Barden wrote, "Most experts place him the second or third best ever, behind Kasparov but probably ahead of Karpov."[197] Some grandmasters compared Fischer's play to that of a computer;[572][573] a player without noticeable weaknesses.[574] Although international ratings were introduced only in 1970, Chessmetrics (a website that uses algorithms to rank performances retrospectively and uniformly throughout chess history) determined that Fischer's peak rating was 2895 in October 1971—the highest in history. His one-year peak (1971) average was 2881, the highest of all time. His three-year peak average was 2867, from January 1971 to December 1973—the second highest ever, just behind Garry Kasparov. Fischer was ranked as the number one player in the world for a total of 109 different months, running (not consecutively) from February 1964 until July 1974.[575] Fischer's great rival Mikhail Tal praised him as "the greatest genius to have descended from the chess heavens".[576] American grandmaster Arthur Bisguier wrote "Robert James Fischer is one of the few people in any sphere of endeavour who has been accorded the accolade of being called a legend in his own time."[577] Former World Champion Tigran Petrosian stated that Fischer put more time into chess than the entire Soviet team.[578] Biographers David Edmonds and John Eidinow wrote:[579] Faced with Fischer's extraordinary coolness, his opponents [sic] assurance would begin to disintegrate. A Fischer move, which at first glances looked weak, would be reassessed. It must have a deep master plan behind it, undetectable by mere mortals (more often than not they were right, it did). The US grandmaster Robert Byrne labeled the phenomenon "Fischer-fear". Grandmasters would wilt, their suits would crumple, sweat would glisten on their brows, panic would overwhelm their nervous systems. Errors would creep in. Calculations would go awry. There was talk among grandmasters that Fischer hypnotized his opponents, that he undermined their intellectual powers with a dark, mystic, insidious force. Kasparov wrote that Fischer "became the detonator of an avalanche of new chess ideas, a revolutionary whose revolution is still in progress".[580] In January 2009, reigning World Champion Viswanathan Anand described him as "the greatest chess player who ever lived".[581] Serbian grandmaster Ljubomir Ljubojević called Fischer, "A man without frontiers. He didn't divide the East and the West, he brought them together in their admiration of him."[483] German grandmaster Karsten Müller wrote:[570] Fischer, who had taken the highest crown almost singlehandedly from the mighty, almost invincible Soviet chess empire, shook the whole world, not only the chess world, to its core. He started a chess boom not only in the United States and in the Western hemisphere, but worldwide. Teaching chess or playing chess as a career had truly become a respectable profession. After Bobby, the game was simply not the same. Fischer won the Chess Oscar (an award, started in 1967, given to the best chess player, determined through votes from chess media and leading players) for 1970, 1971, and 1972. Fischer was a charter inductee into the US Chess Hall of Fame in Washington, D.C. in 1985. After routing Taimanov, Larsen, and Petrosian in 1971, Fischer achieved a then-record Elo rating of 2785.[334][335] After beating Spassky by the score 12½–8½ in their 1972 match, his rating dropped to 2780.[335] St. Louis philanthropist Rex Sinquefield offered a $64,000 Fischer Memorial Prize for any player who could win all nine of their games at the 2009 US Chess Championship. By the fifth day of the championship, all 24 participants became ineligible for the prize, having drawn or lost at least one game.[582] Head-to-head record versus selected grandmasters [ edit ] (Rapid, blitz and blindfold games not included; listed as +wins −losses =draws.)[583] Players who have been World Champions in boldface Internet Bobby Fischer theory [ edit ] In 2001, Nigel Short wrote in The Sunday Telegraph chess column that he believed he had been secretly playing Fischer on the Internet Chess Club (ICC) in speed chess matches.[584][585] Subsequently others claimed to have played Fischer as well.[586] Fischer denied ownership of the account.[587] In popular culture [ edit ] In film [ edit ] Tournament, match, and team event summaries [ edit ] Tournaments [ edit ] The 1955 US Amateur Championship was the first tournament organized by the US Chess Federation in which Fischer entered. Before this tournament, he had played in the Brooklyn Chess Club Championships, in some tournaments organized by the Brooklyn YMCA Chess and Checker Club, and in a correspondence chess tournament organized by Chess Review. Tournament record[145][598] Year Tournament Location Wins Draws Losses Points Games Ranking Players Percentage 1955 US Amateur Championship Mohegan Lake, New York unknown (6 games) ≤ 3 6 below 32nd[599] 75 ≤ 50% 1955 US Junior Championship Lincoln, Nebraska 2 6 2 5 10 20th (on tie-break) 25 50% 1955 Washington Square Park New York unknown (8 games) 5 8 15th 60 56% 1956 Greater New York City Open Manhattan 5 0[600] 2[600] 5 7 5th–7th 52 71% 1956 Manhattan Chess Club Championship 'A'-Reserves New York unknown (10 games) 7½ 10 1st–2nd[601] 11 75% 1956 Metropolitan League (team event) New York 4 1 0 4½ 5 Manhattan 'A'-Reserves Team top scorer[602] 90% 1956 US Amateur Championship Asbury Park, New Jersey 3 2 1 4 6 21st 88 67% 1956 US Junior Championship Philadelphia 8 1 1 8½ 10 1st 28 85% 1956 US Open Oklahoma City 5 7 0 8½ 12 4th–8th 102 71% 1956 Canadian Open Montreal 6 2 2 7 10 8th–12th 88 70% 1956 Rosenwald Trophy New York 2 5 4 4½ 11 8th–10th 12 41% 1956 Eastern States Open Washington, D.C. 4 3 0 5½ 7 2nd–5th 56 79% 1956 Manhattan Chess Club Championship semifinals New York 2 1 2 2½ 5 4th 6 50% 1957 Log Cabin Open West Orange, New Jersey 4 0 2 4 6 6th–14th 61 67% 1957 Log Cabin 50–50 West Orange 3 2 0 4 5 unknown 80% 1957 Metropolitan League (team event) New York 5 0 0 5 5 Manhattan team, Fischer played at board 7.[603] 100% 1957 New Western Open Milwaukee 5 2 1 6 8 6th–12th 122 75% 1957 US Junior Championship San Francisco 8 1 0 8½ 9 1st 33 94% 1957 US Open Cleveland 7/ 8[604] 4 0 9/ 10[605] 11/ 12[605] 1st (on tie-break) 176 82%/ 83%[605] 1957 New Jersey State Open East Orange 6 1 0 6½ 7 1st 81 93% 1957 North Central Open Milwaukee 4 2 1 5 7 5th–11th 93 71% 1957 US Championship New York 8 5 0 10½ 13 1st 14 81% 1958 Interzonal Portorož 6 12 2 12 20 5th–6th 21 60% 1958 US Championship New York 6 5 0 8½ 11 1st 12 77% 1959 Mar del Plata International Mar del Plata 8 4 1 10 13 3rd–4th 14 71% 1959 International Santiago 7 1 4 7½ 12 4th–7th 13 63% 1959 Zürich International Zürich 8 5 2 10½ 15 3rd–4th 16 70% 1959 Candidates Bled, Zagreb & Belgrade 8 9 11 12½ 28 5th–6th 8 45% 1959 US Championship New York 7 4 0 9 11 1st 12 82% 1960 Mar del Plata International Mar del Plata 13 1 1 13½ 15 1st–2nd 16 90% 1960 Buenos Aires International Buenos Aires 3 11 5 8½ 19 13th–16th 20 45% 1960 3-player double round-robin Reykjavík 3 1 0 3½ 4 1st 3 88% 1960 US Championship New York 7 4 0 9 11 1st 12 82% 1961 "Tournament of the century" Bled 8 11 0 15 19 2nd 20 71% 1962 Interzonal Stockholm 13 9 0 17½ 22 1st 23 80% 1962 Candidates Curaçao 8 12 7 14 27 4th 8 52% 1962 US Championship New York 6 4 1 8 11 1st 12 73% 1963 Western Open Bay City, Michigan 7 1 0 7½ 8 1st 161[606] 94% 1963 New York State Open Poughkeepsie 7 0 0 7 7 1st 57 100% 1963 US Championship New York 11 0 0 11 11 1st 12 100% 1965 Capablanca Memorial Havana 12 6 3 15 21 2nd–4th 22 71% 1965 US Championship New York 8 1 2 8½ 11 1st 12 77% 1966 Piatigorsky Cup Santa Monica 7 8 3 11 18 2nd 10 61% 1966 US Championship New York 8 3 0 9½ 11 1st 12 86% 1967 Monaco International Monte Carlo 6 2 1 7 9 1st 10 78% 1967 International Skopje 12 3 2 13½ 17 1st 18 79% 1967 Interzonal Sousse 7 3 0 8½ 10 withdrew 22 85% 1968 International Netanya 10 3 0 10½ 13 1st 14 88% 1968 International Vinkovci 9 4 0 11 13 1st 14 85% 1968 Metropolitan League (team event) New York 1 0 0 1 1 Manhattan team, Fischer played only one game. 100% 1970 Blitz (5-minute games) Herceg Novi 17 4 1 19 22 1st 12 86% 1970 Tournament of peace Rovinj & Zagreb 10 6 1 13 17 1st 18 76% 1970 Buenos Aires International Buenos Aires 13 4 0 15 17 1st 18 88% 1970 Interzonal Palma de Mallorca 15[607] 7 1 18½[607] 23[607] 1st 24 80% 1971 Manhattan CC Blitz[608] New York 21 1 0 21½ 22 1st 12 98% Matches [ edit ] International Team events [ edit ] International Team events[618] Year Event Location Board Opponents Wins Draws Losses Points Games Individual ranking Team ranking Individual percentage 1960 14th Olympiad Leipzig 1 various 10 6 2 13 18 Bronze Silver 72% 1962 Poland vs USA Match Warsaw 1 Bogdan Sliwa 1 0 0 1 1 Game won Team won 100% 1962 15th Olympiad Varna 1 various 8 6 3 11 17 Eighth Fourth 65% 1966 17th Olympiad Havana 1 various 14 2 1 15 17 Silver Silver 88% 1970 USSR vs. World Match Belgrade 2 Tigran Petrosian 2 2 0 3 4 best world team result Team lost 75% 1970 19th Olympiad Siegen 1 various 8 4 1 10 13 Silver Fourth 77% Notable games [ edit ] This section uses algebraic notation to describe chess moves. a b c d e f g h 8 8 7 7 6 6 5 5 4 4 3 3 2 2 1 1 a b c d e f g h Position after 22...Nxg3 diagram) 23.Nxc8 Nxf1 24.Nb6 Qc7 25.Rxf1 Qxb6 26.b4 Qxb4 27.Rb1 Qa5 28.Nxc5 Qxc5 29.Qxg6+ Bg7 30.Rxb7 Qd4 31.Bd3 Rf4 32.Qe6+ Kh8 33.Qg6 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.e4 d6 5.Nf3 0-0 6.Be2 e5 7.0-0 Nc6 8.d5 Ne7 9.Ne1 Nd7 10.Nd3 f5 11.exf5 Nxf5 12.f3 Nf6 13.Nf2 Nd4 14.Nfe4 Nh5 15.Bg5 Qd7 16.g3 h6 17.Be3 c5 18.Bxd4 exd4 19.Nb5 a6 20.Nbxd6 d3 21.Qxd3 Bd4+ 22.Kg2 Nxg3 () 23.Nxc8 Nxf1 24.Nb6 Qc7 25.Rxf1 Qxb6 26.b4 Qxb4 27.Rb1 Qa5 28.Nxc5 Qxc5 29.Qxg6+ Bg7 30.Rxb7 Qd4 31.Bd3 Rf4 32.Qe6+ Kh8 33.Qg6 ½–½ a b c d e f g h 8 8 7 7 6 6 5 5 4 4 3 3 2 2 1 1 a b c d e f g h Position after 18.Qd2 diagram) Nxg2 19.Kxg2 d4 20.Nxd4 Bb7+ 21.Kf1 Qd7 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.g3 c6 4.Bg2 d5 5.cxd5 cxd5 6.Nc3 Bg7 7.e3 0-0 8.Nge2 Nc6 9.0-0 b6 10.b3 Ba6 11.Ba3 Re8 12.Qd2 e5 13.dxe5 Nxe5 14.Rfd1 Nd3 15.Qc2 Nxf2 16.Kxf2 Ng4+ 17.Kg1 Nxe3 18.Qd2 () Nxg2 19.Kxg2 d4 20.Nxd4 Bb7+ 21.Kf1 Qd7 0–1 a b c d e f g h 8 8 7 7 6 6 5 5 4 4 3 3 2 2 1 1 a b c d e f g h Position after 23...Kxd7 diagram) 24.Re5 b6 25.Bf1 a5 26.Bc4 Rf8 27.Kg2 Kd6 28.Kf3 Nd7 29.Re3 Nb8 30.Rd3+ Kc7 31.c3 Nc6 32.Re3 Kd6 33.a4 Ne7 34.h3 Nc6 35.h4 h5 36.Rd3+ Kc7 37.Rd5 f5 38.Rd2 Rf6 39.Re2 Kd7 40.Re3 g6 41.Bb5 Rd6 42.Ke2 Kd8 43.Rd3 Kc7 44.Rxd6 Kxd6 45.Kd3 Ne7 46.Be8 Kd5 47.Bf7+ Kd6 48.Kc4 Kc6 49.Be8+ Kb7 50.Kb5 Nc8 51.Bc6+ Kc7 52.Bd5 Ne7 53.Bf7 Kb7 54.Bb3 Ka7 55.Bd1 Kb7 56.Bf3+ Kc7 57.Ka6 Ng8 58.Bd5 Ne7 59.Bc4 Nc6 60.Bf7 Ne7 61.Be8 Kd8 62.Bxg6 Nxg6 63.Kxb6 Kd7 64.Kxc5 Ne7 65.b4 axb4 66.cxb4 Nc8 67.a5 Nd6 68.b5 Ne4+ 69.Kb6 Kc8 70.Kc6 Kb8 71.b6 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Qc7 5.Nc3 e6 6.g3 a6 7.Bg2 Nf6 8.0-0 Nxd4 9.Qxd4 Bc5 10.Bf4 d6 11.Qd2 h6 12.Rad1 e5 13.Be3 Bg4 14.Bxc5 dxc5 15.f3 Be6 16.f4 Rd8 17.Nd5 Bxd5 18.exd5 e4 19.Rfe1 Rxd5 20.Rxe4+ Kd8 21.Qe2 Rxd1+ 22.Qxd1+ Qd7 23.Qxd7+ Kxd7 () 24.Re5 b6 25.Bf1 a5 26.Bc4 Rf8 27.Kg2 Kd6 28.Kf3 Nd7 29.Re3 Nb8 30.Rd3+ Kc7 31.c3 Nc6 32.Re3 Kd6 33.a4 Ne7 34.h3 Nc6 35.h4 h5 36.Rd3+ Kc7 37.Rd5 f5 38.Rd2 Rf6 39.Re2 Kd7 40.Re3 g6 41.Bb5 Rd6 42.Ke2 Kd8 43.Rd3 Kc7 44.Rxd6 Kxd6 45.Kd3 Ne7 46.Be8 Kd5 47.Bf7+ Kd6 48.Kc4 Kc6 49.Be8+ Kb7 50.Kb5 Nc8 51.Bc6+ Kc7 52.Bd5 Ne7 53.Bf7 Kb7 54.Bb3 Ka7 55.Bd1 Kb7 56.Bf3+ Kc7 57.Ka6 Ng8 58.Bd5 Ne7 59.Bc4 Nc6 60.Bf7 Ne7 61.Be8 Kd8 62.Bxg6 Nxg6 63.Kxb6 Kd7 64.Kxc5 Ne7 65.b4 axb4 66.cxb4 Nc8 67.a5 Nd6 68.b5 Ne4+ 69.Kb6 Kc8 70.Kc6 Kb8 71.b6 1–0 a b c d e f g h 8 8 7 7 6 6 5 5 4 4 3 3 2 2 1 1 a b c d e f g h Position after 21...Bd7 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 e6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 a6 5.Bd3 Nc6 6.Nxc6 bxc6 7.0-0 d5 8.c4 Nf6 9.cxd5 cxd5 10.exd5 exd5 11.Nc3 Be7 12.Qa4+ Qd7 13.Re1 Qxa4 14.Nxa4 Be6 15.Be3 0-0 16.Bc5 Rfe8 17.Bxe7 Rxe7 18.b4 Kf8 19.Nc5 Bc8 20.f3 Rea7 21.Re5 Bd7 (diagram) 22.Nxd7+ Rxd7 23.Rc1 Rd6 24.Rc7 Nd7 25.Re2 g6 26.Kf2 h5 27.f4 h4 28.Kf3 f5 29.Ke3 d4+ 30.Kd2 Nb6 31.Ree7 Nd5 32.Rf7+ Ke8 33.Rb7 Nxf4 34.Bc4 1–0 See also [ edit ] References [ edit ]
The First Vietnam: The U.S.-Philippine War of 1899 by Luzviminda Francisco (1973) *With apologies to Mexicans, American Indians and other early victims of American imperialism. Introduction One of the most startling phenomena of recent Philippine history has been the development of a popuiar movement calling for the relinquishing of Philippine sovereignty and for political re-union with the U.S. as the 51st state. Although the "statehood movement" was understandably treated as something of a joke when it first surfaced several years ago, its popular reception and rapid growth, especially in the face of surging Philippine nationalist and anti-imperialist sentiments, demands that the movement and the ideology which it represents be carefully analyzed. It may well be that the statehood movement is a curio, a quirk in the Philippine body politic, a nostalgic last remembrance of colonialism, emerging now only to be inevitably and inexorably swept away by the tide of history. These are comforting thoughts, but there remain some nagging doubts. Philippine nationalism has, historically, been poorly defined. For a myriad of reasons, American colonialism as perceived by Filipinos has been qualitatively different from, say, Vietnamese perception of their relationship with the French. One must reluctantly conclude that perhaps the most serious cancer of twentieth-century Philippine society has been the traumatizing effect of mystification and false consciousness regarding the American colonial period. For the student of Philippine history, such a state of affairs is not merely discouraging or upsetting, it is tragic. This is true for many reasons, but it is especially true for one reason in particular. The degree to which Filipino false consciousness exists is the measure of American success in obliterating from popular consciousness knowledge of what American historians have chosen to call (when they refer to it at all, which is seldom) the "Philippine Insurrection." 1 One prize of victory is that the winners get to write the history books. This was never so true as it has been about the Philippine-American War, and this fact, more than any other, has denied to Filipinos all but the merest scraps of distorted information about one of the most heroic struggles ever waged in modern times; a struggle waged against implacable odds and at terrible cost. The Philippine-American War, by which name it should properly be known, is one of those bits of historiography which-like the American Indian Wars-seems to have sunk beneath the surface of popular awareness. 2 Most Americans have never heard of it, most Filipinos understand it only through the prism of the victors' own account of how the war was waged and won. And yet the Philippine-American War was one of those illuminating moments of history which threw a shaft of light on an era. As far as Filipinos are concerned, an understanding of our liberation struggle at the turn of the century is without question or doubt the prerequisite, the starting point for a genuine understanding of modern Philippine society. It is ironic that it has taken half a century and the remarkably similar situation in Indochina to re-focus attention on the Philippine struggle for national liberation against the forces of American imperial aggression. In all, save the ultimate outcome, history has uncannily repeated itself in Vietnam, a fact which should be driven home to American apologists who hold that Vietnam is an "aberration" of U.S. policy, unrepresentative of American foreign policy in general, but simply a situation brought about by a series of mistakes and miscalculations. Leaving aside the obvious fact that "mistake" is equated with being beaten, and the curious frequency with which imperialist "aberrations" seem to crop up, it is important for Filipinos to recognize that we must vindicate ourselves by comprehending our own history. With such a view in mind and within the limits of this essay, attention will be focused on the three aspects of the war which are the most critical and yet, for reasons which are perhaps obvious, have attracted the least amount of attention, let alone analysis. Therefore, attention will not be focused so much on the war against Spain, which preceded the Philippine-American War, nor will it deal with the political infighting in the Malolos Government or General Emilio Aguinaldo's surrenderist prevarications. Attention will be focused on the nature of America's policy of aggression, the depth of popular mass resistance to the American forces and the duration of the struggle in what became, ultimately, suicidal refusal to capitulate to imperialism. Spain never had an easy time in pacifying its Philippine colony and in the course of over three centuries of colonial rule, scarcely a year went by which did not witness rebellion in one form or another somewhere in the archipelago. The fragmented, insular nature of the country and the separate regional, ethnic and language groupings made it difficult to coordinate a nationwide anti-Spanish struggle, but at times the Filipinos came close to achieving a broad united front against the foreign foe. As early as 1587, for example, a secret society was formed in Manila by Magat Salamat which spread throughout Central Luzon to the Visayas and as far south as Borneo. This early movement was not typical, however, and it was to be more than 300 years before such unity of action was again achieved. Subsequent rebellions were commonly local or regional affairs, sparked by local conditions and grievances. Sometimes they lasted for a surprisingly long period of time, as in Bohol, where Spanish authority was denied for over eighty years. The Islamic areas of Mindanao and Sulu were never really conquered. Spain was always able to exploit divisions in Philippine society in such a way as to prevent a coordinated national struggle and this situation was maintained until the last decades of the nineteenth century. The rise of a native moneyed class, consisting mainly of Chinese-native (or Indio) mestizo elements, gave rise to a liberal reformist movement anxious to win greater political and economic concessions from Spain. The Propaganda Movement, as it came to be called, was essentially an assimilationist effort. Its leaders aimed, ultimately, at closer ties with Spain. (It was during this time that the hispanized Chinese-mestizos began referring to themselves as Filipinos, a term previously reserved for Spaniards born in the colony.) But the Propagandists made little headway against entrenched and often reactionary Spanish authority. The failure of the Propagandist efforts spurred the formation in 1892 of the Katipunan, a secret society which, after some initial indecision, began to recognize the futility of the earlier reformist efforts. By 1895 independence became an increasingly realistic prospect. Spain was having a difficult time suppressing the Cubans, who were then in revolt, and her ability to sustain a similar effort in the Philippines was an open question. By 1896 Katipunan ranks had swollen to 30,000 and fighting between the Katipunan forces and the Spanish commenced. The founder of the Katipunan, Andres Bonifacio, lost control over the organization in March 1897 when Emilio Aguinaldo was elected as the head of a newly formed Revolutionary Central Government. After Aguinaldo's victory the revolutionary forces became increasingly prone to vacillation and compromise as a number of frustrated elitist reformers began to attach themselves to the organization. In June a Provisional Republican Government was established at Biak-Na-Bato, Bulacan, and this event initiated several months of dilatory negotiation with the Spanish. The older Katipuneros argued for the continuation of the military struggle along guerrilla lines, but the reformist and assimilationist elements began to see the possibility of finally achieving their long-sought-after goals via negotiation. After hesitancy and debate, a compromise treaty was negotiated in November by a wealthy mestizo, Pedro Paterno. Under the terms of the treaty, the Spanish governor general, Primo de Rivera, promised to consider the reformist demands in exchange for the surrender of the rebel army. Satisfied with such weak promises and even more by the promised initial payment of P400,000 to himself and his staff, Aguinaldo and his men voluntarily exiled themselves to Hong Kong, but Spanish refusal to promulgate reforms led to agitation for a renewed military confrontation. Fighting broke out again in February 1898 and by May, when the American Commodore George Dewey steamed into Manila Bay to attack the Spanish fleet, the Spanish Army (the Guardia Civil) had been all but thoroughly beaten. The Spanish, in fact, controlled only the area of the old walled city of Manila. Aguinaldo had, meanwhile, been intermittently negotiating with the Americans in Hong Kong and Singapore, and he returned to the Philippines to resume command of the Filipino forces with Dewey's sanction and with (verbal) assurances that the Americans would aid the Filipinos in securing their independence. A three-way stalemate persisted until August, Dewey in Manila Bay without forces to land, the Spanish holed up in the walled city, and the Filipinos dug in along the perimeter of the city. The Spanish decided they would rather surrender to the Americans than to the Filipinos and in August 1898 a bizarre, tragi-comic "battle" was quite literally staged between the Spanish and the Americans, ostensibly to preserve Spanish "honor"-although six died in the farce. The resulting surrender terminated three centuries of Spanish colonialism and the American forces, newly reinforced, took possession of Manila. By autumn 1898 it was clear that the Americans intended to retain the Philippines as a Pacific colony. American troop strength was increasing and Admiral Dewey showed no sign of weighing anchor. Battle lines around Manila continued to be drawn roughly as they had remained at the end of the mock battle against the Spanish in the previous August. The Americans held the city and had trenches along its perimeter, facing Filipino trenches along a semi-circle of several miles. The Treaty of Paris, designed to end the war with Spain and to cede the Phlippines to the U.S., was signed in December and awaited confirmation in the U.S. Senate, which required a two-thirds majority vote as necessitated by the Constitution. When Congress reconvened in January 1899, the pro-annexationist faction in the Senate held a clear majority, but were one or two votes shy of the required two-thirds majority they needed to ratify the treaty. Voting on the treaty was scheduled for Monday, February 6, and during the week preceding it seemed fairly clear to most observers that the McKinley Administration was not likely to rally enough support in the Senate to win ratification. By implication, this put American retention of the Philippines in jeopardy. 3 In the Philippines, insults-and occasionally shots-were being traded across the trenches by the two opposing armies throughout the month of January. But war did not come until the evening of February 4, 1899, when general fighting erupted all along the line. The American command in Manila claimed at the time that the Filipinos initiated the fighting, but there seems little doubt that the Americans themselves started the war and as much was later admitted by U.S. commanders. That the outbreak of the war was carefully orchestrated to influence the outcome of the treaty vote in the Senate seems almost beyond question, and although initiating a war to influence the passage of legislation seems a tactic singularly lacking in subtlety, historically it seems to work and in this instance it proved successful. The news of the fighting-and the false information as to its instigation- was wired to Washington and its dramatic effect persuaded the Senate to ratify the treaty by a margin of one vote. The First Battle Although the Americans had been sending reinforcements to the Philippines throughout the fall of 1898 (there were 21,000 U.S. troops in the Islands by the start of the war) they were still outnumbered by the Filipinos. But the Filipino troops were at a dreadful disadvantage owing to their lack of rifles. Only one man in three had a gun; others fought with bolos and spears or simply waited to snatch up a rifle from a fallen comrade. Although s~me of their weapons were fairly new Remingtons and Mausers captured from the Spanish or smuggled in from abroad, many were rust-eaten museum pieces, more dangerous to the user than to the intended target. Thousands of Filipinos were killed in the first battle, hundreds more died soon after from wounds.5 Few prisoners were taken by the Americans, and Red Cross personnel reported an extremely high ratio of dead to wounded on the battlefield, indicating"... the determination of our soldiers to kill every native in sight ... "6 For the Filipino patriots, the opening battle in what proved to be one of the longest and bloodiest wars in the sorry history of imperial aggression produced two sharp lessons. It was clear that the Filipinos could not hope to survive by fighting on American terms of fixed position, set-piece battles in the classical military tradition. The Philippine Army was quickly forced to resort to mobile warfare where their su perior knowledge of the terrain and the universal support they enjoyed among the people could be utilized to their advantage. Although an overt policy of guerrilla war was not specifically enunciated until the following November, guerrilla tactics were employed out of necessity immediately after the initial rout at Manila. The first battle also indicated to the Filipinos that they were faced with a foe which gave no quarter and which was prepared to disregard the fundamental rules of warfare. The Americans were contemptuous of Filipinos generally and they had little respect for the fighting ability of the Philippine Army. They referred to the Filipinos as "niggers," "barbarians," and "savages," reflecting both the racist and imperialist attitudes of American society at large. The Americans were elated by their initial success and their commander, the rather wooden and unimaginative Gen. Elwell Otis, confidently predicted that the war would be ended in a matter of weeks. Otis had convinced himself that the opposition to U.S. rule came only from the Tagalog "tribe," which (it was claimed) was only one of eighty or so "tribes" in the Philippines. This theme, which was trotted out by domestic U.S. annexationists at every opportunity, gave the impression that the war in the Philippines was but a slight variation of the familiar Indian wars of the American West. After the devastating first battle, the Filipino Army retreated into Central Luzon, fighting rear-guard actions as it went. Malolos, capital of the Philippine Republic, quickly fell and within the conventional framework within which he was operating, Otis equated this event with the fall of the Philippine Government, which in turn would mean the surrender of the Philippine Army. Or so he hoped. Confident predictions of imminent victory were forthcoming again and it was with some degree of dismay that the Americans began to realize that Aguinaldo considered his "capital" to be wherever he himself happened to be camped-which was always just out of reach of the slow-moving American columns. It was with a growing sense of uneasiness that the American command began to realize that the further they were drawn into Central Luzon and the more they had to disperse their forces, the more difficult it became to defend themselves against counter-attack, ambush, and harassment by the highly mobile Philippine Army, which was itself free of the need for the ponderous supply chain required by the Americans. The odds, which were so disastrously against the Filipinos in early February, began to even up. There was another-and to the more perceptive American commanders, rather more disturbing-character to the fighting. It gradually dawned on the Americans that the reason the Filipino troops could move around so easily without concern for a supply base, and the reason information and advice were so difficult to elicit from the native population, were due to the fact that the Aguinaldo government and the Philippine nationalist cause had the total support of the Philippine masses. They slowly began to realize that their major foe was not really the formally constituted, but in many ways ineffectual, Philippine Army; rather, it was the Filipino people, who, having finally gotten rid of the Spanish, were unrelentingly and implacably hostile to American imperialist designs. The implications of this understanding were fully realized only later and in the bloodiest manner imaginable. But as early as April 1899, General Shafter gave grisly portent to the future conduct of the war: "It may be necessary to kill half the Filipinos in order that the remaining half of the population may be advanced to a higher plane of life than their present semi-barbarous state affords."7 The American command had presumably been taken in by its own press releases. Gen. Arthur MacArthur 8, Otis's subordinate (and later replacement), commented, "... I believed that Aguinaldo's troops represented only a faction. I did not like to believe that the whole population of Luzon-the native population, that is-was opposed to us..."9 But this he was "reluctantly compelled" to believe because the "unique system of warfare" employed by the Filipino Army" ... depended upon almost complete unity of action of the entire native population." 10 With the approach of summer and with victory still beyond their grasp, the War Department began to suggest to Otis that he might need more troops. Embarrassed by his earlier confident predictions and even more so by his growing inability to produce tangible results, he at first declined the offer, but then he reversed himself and surprised the Department by asking for 60,000 more troops. Otis was limited by his textbook approach to war and failed to realize that American "victories" in which the Filipinos were "scattered" or "routed" were next to meaningless. Otis was, in keeping with the time-honored phrase, winning the battles but losing the war. Few of the battles were actually more than skirmishes and hit-and-run affairs, but on June 10, 1899, in Laguna, Filipino Generals Ricarte and Noriel with 3,000 men caught an American division of 4,000 in a cross-fire ambush and cut it to pieces. Battles of this size became increasingly rare, however. By October all the American reinforcements had arrived and it was decided that the best way to terminate the war was to capture Aguinaldo and his staff. An ambitious three-pronged encirclement campaign, encompassing the whole of Central Luzon, was decided upon. One column went north from Manila along the rail line, another went by sea to the Lingayen Gulf port of Dagupan, and a third went north from Manila along the eastern rim of the Central Luzon plain in a giant pincer movement. The idea was to prevent Aguinaldo's escape into the mountains of northern Luzon. Aguinaldo did manage to escape, however, and from his mountain headquarters he issued orders to formally adopt the guerrilla policy. While there was ambivalence about this move from some of the more orthodox members of Aguinaldo's staff, the directive in actuality simply reflected the de facto situation and the hopelessness of engaging in frontal and positional warfare against the vastly strengthened U.S. forces. Political circumstances also dictated a policy of protracted warfare. The Filipinos began to realize that although outright military victory was unlikely at best, simply by keeping their forces intact they preserved the possibility of an ultimate political victory. The Filipinos had some knowledge of the divisions being created in American society by the McKinley Administration's imperialist policy. The Anti-Imperialist League was strongly condemning the war and the opposition Democrats were taking a position against the retention of the Philippines. It appeared likely, even a year before the event, that the November 1900 presidential election would be fought on the issue of McKinley's colonial policy. This held out some hope at least for a political settlement of the war favorable to the Philippines. The war took on a somewhat new character after the completion of the Central Luzon campaign. From November 1899, the U.S. considered the entire Philippines to be occupied territory-as indeed it was-and the American command set about establishing garrisons throughout Luzon and the rest of the country. Filipino guerrillas were no longer treated as soldiers of an opposing army but were considered to be bandits and common criminals (ladrones). When captured they were treated as such. With the break-up of the Philippine Army, Otis once again felt he had victory within his grasp . Even MacArthur, usually more realistic about such matters, announced, "The so-called Filipino Republic is destroyed."11 But two developments forced them to once again regret their sanguine reports to the War Department. First, the fighting simply continued. Chasing Aguinaldo into the mountains had made no difference, breaking up the Filipino Army made no difference, and garrisoning the archipelago simply invited guerrilla attacks on isolated outposts. Secondly, as the Americans spread their forces and their garrisons to other areas of Luzon and to other islands, they found they were confronted with exactly the same kind of public hostility and guerrilla opposition which characterized the situation in Central Luzon. The notion that opposition to the U.S. was confined to. the Tagalogs was simply wrong. The Americans were at war with seven million Filipino people and wherever they went in the Islands they took the war with them-a disconcerting state of affairs and one to which Otis could never reconcile himself. Settling in for a Long War The war, far from being over, had entered a new and far more difficult phase for the Americans. The enemy was now no longer simply the Philippine Army, the remnants of which had been scattered over the whole of Luzon in any case. Now the Americans found themselves harassed and attacked throughout the Islands by poorly trained and poorly organized but fanatically determined peasant irregulars. MacArthur observed: " ... all regular and systematic tactical operations ceased; but as hostile contact was established throughout the entire zone of activity an infinite number of minor affairs resulted, some of which reached the dignity of combats."12 A major problem for the Americans resulted from their inability to penetrate the guerrilla infrastructure. They soon began to realize, to their dismay, that a whole underground network of dual government loyal to the guerrillas existed, even in areas considered thoroughly "pacified." When a town was occupied the stars and stripes flew, and gratifying expressions of loyalty and support for the American cause were publicly proclaimed by town officials. But reliable information about the guerrillas was almost never forthcoming, supplies and equipment were forever disappearing, and occasionally an American soldier would stray too far from camp and be found the next day hacked to pieces by bolo. Albert Robinson, one of a handful of American newsmen covering the war (and the most ingenious when it came to circumventing Otis's strict censorship), wrote that unqualified U.S. control in the Islands extended "about as far as a Krag-Jorgensen could throw a bullet."13 By early 1900 U.S. outposts were being established everywhere.14 As a rule the Filipinos allowed the Americans to capture and occupy any town they wished without opposition. Otis was so deceived by this that he once again declared flatly that the war was over, hoping perhaps that repetition of the statement would make it so. But the garrison network seriously thinned the U.S. troop strength and the Americans were continually being counterattacked and ambushed. It was becoming clear that the entire Islands would have to be "pacified." Moreover, guerrilla activity was both increasing and becoming increasingly effective. Being incessantly ambushed, boloed and betrayed was nerve-wracking and the Americans began to exercise their mounting frustration on the population at large. All the "niggers" were enemies, whether or not they bore arms. Patrols sent to fight the guerrillas usually had difficulty locating the enemy and often simply resorted to burning barrios in their path. Village officials were often forced at bayonet point to lead American patrols, and non-combatants began to be held responsible for the actions of the guerrillas. Any form of resistance to American objectives subjected the perpetrator to a charge of treason. Press censorship was so effective that few Americans actually knew the difficulties being experienced in the Philippines-or, in fact, that there were 70,000 U.S. troops in the Islands. In early 1900 the first whiff of scandal reached American shores when it was disclosed that the American forces had been issued expanding "dum-dum" bullets, in contravention of the 1899 Hague Convention concerning humane warfare (which the U.S. had conveniently neglected to ratify). Reports of the burning of villages, the killing of non-combatants and the application of the "water cure" to elicit information began to filter back to the U.S. Often this information was contained in letters written by U.S. soldiers to their families which found their way into local newspapers. A typical example: "On Thursday, March 29th [19001 ... eighteen of my company killed seventy-five nigger bolomen and ten of the nigger gunners .... When we find one who is not dead, we have bayonets ..."15 Such atrocities were systematically denied by the War Department. When the evidence was irrefutable, they were minimized and countered with examples of Filipino "barbarity." A standard response was that "harsh" methods had to be employed against "savages." As the war progressed and as American atrocities became routinized, so did platitudinous defenses of American action. MacArthur called it "the most legitimate and humane war ever conducted on the face of the earth." Senator Foraker, a staunch defender of annexation, announced solemnly (and with a touch of unintended irony), "Our army has shown in this work a surprising degree of humanity." General Shafter, who, it will be recalled, was not averse to killing half of the Filipino people in the name of this mission civilisatrice, was becoming preoccupied with the idea and had worked out a new reason to wipe out half .of the Island population. "My plan," he disclosed in January 1900, "would be to disarm the natives of the Philippine Islands, even if we have to kill half of them to do it."16 Lack of firearms indeed continued to be perhaps the single most pressing problem for the Filipinos. By mid-1900 they had at most 20,000 rifles, meaning that only one partisan in four was actually armed. The American naval blockade made it all but impossible to o,btain arms and supplies from abroad and although efforts were made to manufacture gunpowder locally, cartridge shells had to be used over and over to the point of uselessness. The Filipinos had to adapt to their limitations as best they could. They stood up to the heavily armed Americans with spears, darts, the ubiquitous bolo, and even stones, prompting General Lawton to remark, " ... they are the bravest men I have ever seen."17 The Filipinos used conditions to their advantage; they laid booby traps, they attacked at night and during driving tropical rainstorms, and they ambushed the Americans by getting as close as possible by stealth and employing their bolos at close quarters, thus neutralizing the disparity in firepower. The American troops, who depended so heavily on their weapons, were frightened by the ferocity of such attacks, especially as the Filipinos often made up in numbers what they lacked in firepower. But such tactics were difficult to maintain as the Filipinos almost invariably took heavy losses even in victory. In bolo fights the American dead were inevitably mutilated in the course of the fighting, a situation which the War Department was quick to capitalize on as evidence of the "savagery" of the Filipino guerrillas, thus justifying, to themselves at least, all manner of retaliatory slaughter. Otis was clearly unsuited for his job. His frequent pronouncements of victory and his incompetent handling of the war were proving to be an embarrassment to the McKinley Administration, which was nervously anticipating the forthcoming presidential election. Accordingly, Otis resigned "for pressing personal reasons" and was replaced by General MacArthur. MacArthur had had experience in the American Indian wars and he, more than anyone on Otis's staff, understood the wide-ranging implications of the problems then confronting the American expeditionary force in the Philippines. A convinced imperialist, he was also a realist. He openly admitted that the Filipinos hated the Americans and he did not flinch from estimating that it would take "ten years of bayonet treatment" to subdue the Filipino peopie-a prescient observation, as it turned out. Heavy fighting coincided with the change in command and it was remarked that when he left, Otis " ... had the situation so little in hand that to go six miles out of Manila without a company furnished plenty of wholesome excitement,"18 With one eye on the upcoming November election, McKinley also sent a federal judge, William Howard Taft, to Manila with instructions to establish a "civilian" government in the Islands no later than September 1, 1900. The move was purely a public relations venture designed to trick the American voters into thinking all was progressing smoothly in the Philippines. Taft was densely ignorant about the Philippines19 but he knew enough about class society to detect a certain amount of pliability in the upper-class elements in the country. This group, composed largely of mestizo landlords and export agriculture interests, had been largely ignored by the U.S. military command, but Taft set out to woo them, appealing to their economic interests by offering protected markets for their agricultural products in the U.S. The effort bore fruit insofar as Taft was able-on cue-to establish his Civil Government on September 1. Laced as it was with quislings and traitors-Buencamino, Legarda, Luzuriaga and, inevitably, Pedro Paterno notable among them-the Taft regime was a useful propaganda weapon and it provided the Americans with another excuse to prosecute the war. Having created puppets, the continuation of the war and the retention of the Philippines were necessary to protect those who "loyally sided with the Americans" against potential and future revenge at the hands of the guerrillas. With, one presumes, appropriate sarcasm, one American Congressman commented, " ... and so it appears that in order to keep them from shooting each other down we have got to go in and shoot them down first."20 With the nomination of William Jennings Bryan as the Democratic presidential candidate, the question of American colonialism and continued military intervention appeared likely to become a major issue in the 1900 campaign. The Filipinos hoped to topple the "imperialist party" of McKinley by launching an offensive just before the election, and September and October saw some of the sharpest fighting of the war. In spite of these efforts the question of the Philippines never became the issue it might have been. Aided by heavy press censorship and the inability to obtain independent information on the Philippine situation, McKinley predictably pointed to the Taft Government as proof that all was going well in the Islands. Bryan, moreover, was a rank political opportunist. By his own admission he had supported ratification of the Paris treaty simply in order to provide himself with what he thought would be a good issue with which to attack the Republicans. When he began to see that his anti-colonial-position was hurting his campaign rather than helping, he backpedaled furiously and quickly compromised himself, arguing now for a vaguely defined American "protectorate" for the Philippines. In any event, both McKinley and Bryan perceived that the electorate was bored by the Philippine issue and by the end of the campaign it had been quietly dropped by both candidates. Predictably perhaps, McKinley was an easy victor. The result was a crushing blow for the Filipino guerrilla leaders who had counted heavily-too heavily-on a Bryan victory. Indeed, the guerrilla leadership began to falter badly after November and the surrender of several commanders (with men and guns) was a sharp blow to the Filipino cause. The theory of protracted war was, of course, only imperfectly understood, and with U.S. strength at its peak of 75,000 men the struggle began to take on suicidal overtones.21 The class divisions within the Filipino forces began now to emerge. The officers, like Aguinaldo himself, were usually fairly well educated and came largely from middle-class backgrounds; the ranks were invariably filled by men of peasant origins. The American command played upon these class divisions and treated surrendering commanders with the respect due to fellow "officers and gentlemen," sometimes dangling choice civil service positions as inducement for officers to defect. Despite MacArthur's claim, American conduct of the war heretofore had not been the "most humane" in human history, as attested by the countless and documented examples of callous and brutal conduct which were already being recorded. But in the autumn of 1900 there was a perceptible alteration in American tactics. Tired of being chronically harassed and boloed by the Filipinos and finding it difficult to pin the guerrillas down in the kind of conventional firefight they so urgently desired, the Americans began to resort to revanchist attitudes and policies. If the American command had ever believed they enjoyed any popular support in the Philippines (apart from the handful of wealthy puppets serving in the Taft regime), a year and a half of war certainly dispelled any continued illusions on the matter. If the people su pported the guerrillas then the people must also be classified as the enemy. The grim implications of such an evaluation were beginning to emerge, although the fiction that widespread public support for the U.S. existed in the Islands was maintained for domestic U.S. consumption. Terrorism, it was explained, was the only reason Filipinos gave any support at all to their guerrilla brethren, the only reason people did not welcome the foreign occupying force with open arms. "Without this system of terrorism," Taft allowed, "the guerrilla campaign would have ended very quickly."22 MacArthur was not deluded by such fantasties: the success of this unique system of war depends upon almost complete unity of action of the entire native population. That such unity is a fact is too obvious to admit of discussion; ... fear as the only motive is hardly sufficient to account for the united and apparently spontaneous action of several millions of people. One traitor in each town would effectively destroy such a complex organization.23 "Pacification" Begins in Earnest In December 1900, with the election safely out of the way, martial law was declared and the pretense of civil government was scrapped. American operations were extended to southern Luzon and to the Visayan islands of Leyte, Samar, Panay, Negros and Cebu. As far as the American command was concerned there were no longer any neutrals. Everyone was now considered an active guerrilla or a guerrilla supporter. Thus in the Visayas campaign the Navy felt free to shell the coastal villages with its gunboats prior to invasion. In January and February 1901, the entire popUlation of Marinduque Island (pop. 51,000) was ordered into five concentration camps set up by the Americans. All those who did not comply with the order" ... would be considered as acting in sympathy with the insurgent forces and treated accordingly."24 This was to be the first of many instances of the application of the reconcentrado policy in the Philippines. Ironically, it was the abhorrence of just this sort of policy-when it was practiced by the Spanish General "Butcher" Weyler in Cuba-which so exercised American public opinion against Spain prior to the outbreak of the Spanish-American War.25 In April 1901 major operations began in northern Luzon. The frequent examples of A~etican terror tactics which had heretofore occurred were, arguably, the acts of individual units in at least technical violation of overall U.S. policy. With the advent of the northern Luzon campaign such pretensions and qualifications could no longer be maintained. If the people sympathized with and supported the guerrillas, and if, indeed, this was a "people's war," then the only solution was war against the people. The Amecican Governor of Abra Province described the "depopulation campaign" in the following terms: "Whole villages had been burned, storehouses and crops had been destroyed and the entire province was as devoid of food products as was the valley of Shenandoah after Sheridan's raid during the Civil War."26 An American congressman who visited the Philippines, and who preferred to remain anonymous, spoke frankly about the results of the campaign: "You never hear of any disturbances in Northern Luzon," he reported, "because there isn't anybody there to rebel. . . . The good Lord in heaven only knows the number of Filipinos that were put under ground. Our soldiers took no prisoners, they kept no records; they simply swept the country and wherever and whenever they could get hold of a Filipino they killed him."27 The observation that no records were kept of operations of this kind later became a point of contention as'news of the atrocities began to leak out. A case in point was the murder of approximately 1,000 Filipino prisoners of war in Sorsogon. Eyewitnesses (U.S. soldiers) testified that the prisoners were forced to dig their own graves in groups of twenty and that each then received one bullet in the temple. When confronted with this evidence the War Department dismissed it out of hand: "No report has been received at the War Department in respect of or referring to the alleged incident."28 This became standard government response to such charges, even when the orders themselves necessarily implied butchery, as when Gen. "Howlin' Jake" Smith ordered his men to kill "everything over ten" in the notorious Samar campaign. (In that particular instance the War Department rather feebly declared that their records "did not indicate" that the order-which was admitted-was ever carried out, eyewitness testimony of American soldiers engaged in the campaign notwithstanding.) Also in April 1901, Aguinaldo was finally captured. The Americans had been so unsuccessful at trying to catch him that for a long period they simply gave up the effort. But an intercepted message resulted in a daring raid led by Brig. Gen. Frederick Funston29 and Aguinaldo's capture. The Americans were delighted with the news, which made banner headlines in the U.S. Taft felt the war was as good as over, especially after he persuaded Aguinaldo to sign an oath of allegiance and a proclamation calling upon his erstwhile comrades to give up the struggle. Aguinaldo did inore damage to his place in the history books than he did to the Filipino cause, however, and the Americans were dismayed to discover that his capture and surrender appeal made no perceptible difference in the fighting, which continued unabated. This was too much for MacArthur, who resigned and was replaced by Maj. Gen. Adna Chaffee. By mid-summer 1901, the focus of the war started to shift south of Manila. Some of the guerrilla leaders of Northern and Central Luzon who were close to Aguinaldo began to surrender. Others held out, however, and Gen. Miguel Malvar, operating in Batangas, was proving to be every bit as difficult for the Americans as Aguinaldo had been. In August, General Smith invaded Panay Island and repeated the scorched-earth tactics employed in Abra. "The 18th regulars marched from Iloilo in the south to Capiz [now Roxas] ... in the north under orders to burn every town from which they were attacked. The result was they left a strip of land 60 miles wide from one end of the island to the other, over which the traditional crow could not have flown without provision."30 On the eve of the Samar campaign, the war was clearly degenerating into mass slaughter. It was hardly precise to call it "war" any longer. The Americans were simply chasing ragged, poorly armed bands of guerrillas and, failing to catch them, were inflicting the severest punishment on those they could catch-the people of the villages and barrios of the theater of operation. U.S. commanders were becoming increasingly outspoken about the true nature of their policy. Chaffee wrote in September, " ... we are dealing with a class of people whose character is deceitful, who are absolutely hostile to the white race and who regard life as of little value and, finally, who will not submit to our control until absolutely defeated and whipped into such condition."31 The American command even developed a new term for the kind of warfare they were engaged in, calling it "protective retribution." Semantic nonsense, perhaps, but its meaning was not lost on the intended victims. In late September, in the town of Balangiga, Samar, American troops had for some time been abusing the townspeople by packing them into open wooden pens at night where they were forced to sleep standing in the rain. Several score of guerrilla Gen. Vicente Lukban's bolomen infiltrated the town and on the morning of September 28, while the Americans were eating their breakfast, Lukban's men suddenly fell upon them. Heads dropped into breakfast dishes. Fifty-four Americans were boloed to death, and few of the eighteen survivors escaped serious injury.32 The Balangiga massacre initiated a reign of terror the likes of which had not yet been seen in this war. General Smith, fresh from his "victories" in northern Luzon and Panay, was chosen to lead the American mission of revenge. Smith's orders to his men embarking upon the Samar campaign could not have been more explicit: "Kill and burn, kill and burn, the more you kill and the more you burn the more you please me." It was, said Smith, "no time to take prisoners." War was to be waged "in the sharpest and most decisive manner possible." When asked to define the age limit for killing, Smith gave his infamous reply: "Everything over ten." Smith ordered Samar to be turned into a "howling wilderness' so that "even the birds could not live there." It was boasted that" ... what fire and water [i.e., water torture] ... had done in Panay, water and fire would do in Samar."33The now-familiar pattern of operations began once again. All inhabitants of the island (pop. 266,000) were ordered to present themselves to detention camps in several of the larger coastal towns. Those who did not (or those who did not make it their business to learn of the existence of the order), and were found outside the detention camp perimeter, would be shot "and no questions asked." Few reporters covered the carnage; one who did noted:"During my stay in Samar the only prisoners that were made ... were taken by Waller's command;34 and I heard this act criticized by the highest officers as a mistake .... The truth is, the struggle in Samar is one of extermination."35 When Smith's barbaric and outrageous orders gained him public notoriety, the War Department attempted to portray his Samar campaign as an aberration of standard practices. Samar was a deviation from a war which (according to one typically gushing statement from the Secretary of War) " ... has been conducted by the Army with scrupulous regard for the rules of civilized warfare with careful and genuine consideration for the prisoner and non-combatant, with self-restraint and with humanity never surpassed if ever equalled in any conflict, worthy only of praise, and reflecting 'credit upon the American people."36 In actuality the Samar campaign was simply a stronger dose of the same kind of extermination policy previously conducted in northern Luzon and in Panay. Nor did the Samar campaign mark the end of this kind of practice, despite the heavy criticism it provoked. If anything, the Batangas campaign which followed Samar by a few months was even more "pinching"-to use the then-current euphemism for such pogroms. Indeed, General Smith could legitimately defend himself the way Waller had done. He was, in fact, simply following orders. His superior and the overall U.S. commander in the Philippines, General Chaffee, was as explicit as Smith, although he expressed himself somewhat less flamboyantly when he wrote on the eve of the Samar campaign: ... it is necessary that we be stern and inflexible; and both officers and men must be cordially supported in this duty in this regard. There is one thing necessary; and that is the wholesome fear by these people of the Army, and that every hostile motion of any inhabitants toward the troops will be quickly and severely punished. . .. It is to our interest to disarm these people and to keep them disarmed, and any means to that end is advisable.37 [emphasis added] Sen. Beveridge: The general conduct of our soldiers and officers there, irrespective of orders from headquarters, was in the direction of kindness, mercy and humanity, was it? [emphasis added] Gen. MacArthur: Absolutely, Sir. 38 But in spite of MacArthur's implicit faith in the propensity of his men to disobey orders (one imagines it would have been interesting to hear from Major Waller on this score), information about the true nature of the conduct of the war came, as usual, from the soldiers themselves. 39 One letter, which was later republished in the New York World, gives an indication of what the Filipinos were up against. It bears reproduction in its entirety: It was on the 27th of December, the anniversary of my birth, and I shall never forget the scenes I witnessed that day. As we approached the town the word passed along the line that there would be no prisoners taken. It meant we were to shoot every living thing in sight-man woman or child. The first shot was fired by the then 1st Sergeant of our company. His target was a mere boy, who was coming down the mountain path into town astride of a carabao. The boy was not struck by the bullet, but that was not the Sergeant's fault. The little Filipino boy slid from the back of his carabao and fled in terror up the mountain side. Half a dozen shots were fired after him. The shooting now had attracted the villagers, who came out of their homes in alarm, wondering what it all meant. They offered no offense, did not display a weapon, made no hostile movement whatsoever, but they were ruthlessly shot down in cold blood, men, women and children. The poor natives huddled together or fled in terror. Many were pursued and killed on the spot. Two old men, bearing a white flag and clasping hands like two brothers, approached the lines. Their hair was white. Tbey fairly tottered, they were so feeble under the weight of years. To my horror and that of the other men in the command, the order was given to fire and the two old men were shot down in their tracks. We entered the village. A man who had been on a sickbed appeared at the doorway of his home. He received a bullet in the abdomen and fell dead in the doorway. Dum dum bullets were used in the massacre, but we were not told the name of the bullets. We didn't have to be told. We knew what they were. In another part of the village a mother with a babe at her breast and two young children at her side pleaded for mercy. She feared to leave her home which had just been fired-accidentally, I believe. She faced the flames with her children, and not a hand was raised to save her or the little ones. They perished miserably. It was sure death if she left the house-it was sure death if she remained. She feared the American soldiers, however, worse than the devouring flames. 40 In the face of mounting and irrefutable evidence of the true conduct of the war, the War Department resorted to by-now-standard procedure-deny, minimize, obliterate charges and criticism with a blizzard of rhetorical overkill. Secretary Root: "... the warfare has been conducted with marked humanity and magnanimity on the part of the U.S."41 Major General Wheaton: "Unexampled patience was exercised throughout the department in the treatment of these savages [sic]."42 General Hughes: "The policy as practiced in the Philippines has no element of cruelty in it."43 Governor Taft: " ... it is my deliberate judgment that there never was a war conducted, whether against inferior races or not, in which there were more compassion and more restraint and more generosity ..."44 Furthermore, were it not for the bleeding hearts and hand-wringers back home who, by criticizing the army, were encouraging the enemy to resist, "the insurrection would have been suppressed finally in January 1900," according to General Funston.45 The Batangas Campaign As Smith ravaged Samar, General Malvar and his men carried on the guerrilla struggle in Batangas, Tayabas, Laguna and Cavite. With General Smith already occupied, command of the Batangas campaign was given to Maj. Gen. J. Franklin Bell. By word and by deed, Bell made it clear that he was not going to be put in the shade by his brother officer when it came to slaughtering Filipinos. Even before he took command, Bell made his feelings known in unmistakable terms. "All consideration and regard for the inhabitants of this place cease from the day I become commander," he said. "I have the force and authority to do whatever seems to me good and especially to humiliate all those in this Province who have any pride...."46 Beginning in early December 1901 and continuing for the rest of the month, Bell issued a frightening series of orders. On December 8 he began setting up his concentration camps. The people of Batangas had two weeks in which to move into the garrisons. Everything lying outside the perimeter of the camps was subject to confiscation or destruction. Anyone found there would automatically be considered an "insurgent." Neutrality was not to be entertained. Everyone "should either be an active friend or classified as an enemy." How did one become an "active friend"? "The only acceptable and convincing evidence of the real sentiments of either individuals or town councils should be such acts publicly performed as must inevitably commit them irrevocably to the side of the Americans by arousing the animosity and opposition of the insurgent element." How did one arouse the animosity and opposition of the "insurgent element"? By guiding troops to the camps of the enemy, by publicly identifying "insurgents," by accompanying troops in operations against the guerrillas, by denouncing the "enemy" publicly, and by identifying secret guerrilla supporters. Suspicion of aiding the guerrillas in any way was sufficient cause for arrest without charge and incarceration for an indefinite period of time. "It is not necessary to wait for sufficient evidence to lead to a conviction by a court. "47 Bell's subordinates were given the widest latitude: "Commanding officers are urged to use their discretion freely in adopting any or all measures of warfare...." The people of Batangas were to be made to "want peace and want it badly." On December 13, Bell announced that the killing of American troops would be paid back in kind. Whenever such an event occurred, Bell proposed to select a prisoner "by lot from among the officers or prominent citizens" and have him executed. On December 15, Bell announced that "acts of hostility or sabotage" would result in the "starving of unarmed hostile belligerents."48 The warning to Malvar was clear: he either had to give up the struggle or the "detainees" would face mass starvation. To show that he meant it, on December 20 Bell ordered all rice and other food lying outside the camps to be confiscated or destroyed. Wells were poisoned and all farm animals were slaughtered.49 January 1, it was announced, was the deadline for rendering "valuable service" to the Americans, and "those who have not fully complied with their duty" by that date were subject to prison. On the 24th, Bell admitted that the only course open to the Americans was"... to adopt apolicy that will create in the minds of all the people a burning desire for the war to cease-a desire or longing so intense, so personal ... and so real that it will impel them to devote themselves in earnest to bringing about a real state of peace, that will impel them to join hands with the Americans..."50 "These people need a thrashing," Bell announced on the day after Christmas. " ... I have become convinced that within two months at the outside there will be no more insurrection in this brigade, and nothing for conspirators to negotiate about." Since " ... practically the entire population has been hostile to us at heart ... it is necessary to make the state of war as insupportable as possible, and there is no more efficacious way of accomplishing this than by keeping the minds of the people in such a state of anxiety and apprehension that living under such conditions will soon become unbearable." Batangas, Bell concluded, will "be thoroughly sear~hed and devastated."51 Beginning January 1, 1901, as promised, Batangas was indeed thoroughly searched and devastated, as were the neighboring provinces. Bell assembled 2,500 men in columns of 50 and the hunt for Malvar was on. Expecting to destroy everything, Bell was at least as ruthless as Smith had been in the preceding extermination campaigns. The details of the concentration camp policy were, by now, depressingly familiar. Filipinos were rounded up and herded into detention camps where overcrowded conditions and lack of proper food and clothing resulted in the predictable spread of infectious diseases. Malaria, beriberi and dengue fever took their toll. One correspondent described the prisoners as " a miserable-looking lot of little brown rats ... utterly spiritless."52 In the "zone of death" outside the camp "dead line," "all rendered themselves liable," according to Bell.53 All property was destroyed, all houses put to the torch and the country was made a "desert waste ... of death and desolation." 54 According to statistics compiled by U.S. Government officials, by the time Bell was finished at least 100,000 people had been killed or had died in Batangas alone as a direct result of the scorched-earth policies, and the enormous dent in the population of the province (which was reduced by a third) is reflected in the census figures.55 American policy was so brutal that even some of the U.S. government personnel became apprehensive. The American civil governor of Tayabas noted in his official report that killing, burning, torture and other harsh treatment was . . . sowing the seeds for a perpetual revolution. If these things need be done, they had best be done by native troops so that the people of the u.S. will not be credited therewith.56 We have learned to repose the utmost confidence in Judge Taft's opinions and predictions relative to affairs in the Philippines. Ever since he solemnly announced the fourth and final termination of hostilities two years ago, we have refused to accept any view of the situation in our new islands which did not have his sanction and endorsement. The fact that it has been brought to an end on six different occasions since the Governor's original proclamation serves only to confirm our estimation of his wisdom. A bad thing cannot be killed too often.57 Malvar may have surrendered, but many of his men had not, and fighting in Batangas continued. Elsewhere, new leaders such as Sakay, Ricarte, Ola and Bulan emerged to carry on the struggle in places previously considered pacified. Others, such as Felipe Salvador and "Papa" Isio, both of whom had been fighting the Spanish for many years prior to 1898, simply kept on fighting. Not all of them were principled men; many were without ideology and fought simply out of fanatical hatred of the occupying power; some interjected a confusing welter of reactionary religious dogma to their often ill-defined and unsophisticated response to (ill-defined and unsophisticated) colonialism. Moreover, there were depressing tendencies toward blind revanchism, dead-end milennarism, and the development of personality cults58 which paralleled similar "primitive rebellions"59 in other areas of the world at the time. Having noted this, the point cannot be overemphasized that these movements represented the collective will of the vast majority of the Filipino people who—however imperfectly they understood the phenomenon—simply refused to submit to imperial aggession. The "Post-War" War "Post-war" fighting flared up in Albay in October 1902, when approximately 1,500 guerrillas led by Simeon Ola refused to surrender. This was politically embarrassing to the Americans, and to Roosevelt and Taft in particular. This war was supposed to be over! Although there were still upwards of 20,000 U.S. troops garrisoned on the Islands, it was thought the better part of wisdom to deploy Filipino puppet troops (led by American officers) against the Albay guerrillas. In November, the Brigandage Act was passed, authorizing the death penalty for membership in a guerrilla organization. The new law simply gave legal sanction to what had become common practice and it had little appreciable effect on the situation in Albay, which continued to deteriorate for the Americans. In March 1903, the situation had reached a point where reconcentrado tactics had to be once again employed-this time on a wider scale than anything heretofore attempted. Three hundred thousand Filipinos were herded into concentration camps at gunpoint. Ola finally surrendered in October 1903, but this event did not end the fighting there by any means. 60 Fighting also continued in Cavite, where a new Katipunan was formed by a former Aguinaldo aide, Gen. Luciano San Miguel; in Nueva Ecija and Tarlac, led by Felipe Salvador; in Rizal and Bulacan, led by Montalon, Felizardo and others; in Tayabas, led by Saria and Roldon-the list indeed could go on and on. In the year after the war had been declared officially at an end, 357 separate engagements with the guerrillas were recorded by the U.S. military command. The inability to stamp out the fighting induced the Americans to adopt more sophisticated techniques, some of which have become familiar features of more recent counterinsurgency efforts. The 1903 census of the Philippines was a determined effort to enumerate not only people, but to also record the presence of cattle, hogs, chickens and so forth in hopes of tracing guerrilla sources of supply and to intimidate people into denying provisions to the guerrillas for fear of being discovered. Such techniques proved to be of limited value and, at times, counterproductive. Attempts to conduct such a survey in Misamis Province sparked off an uprising there.61 In the following year an identification card system was inaugurated and a "registration tax" was imposed on all male residents of the Philippines between 18 and 60 years of age. These Cedulas Personates, as they were called, " ... also serve the purpose of a domestic passport ..." (their obvious intended purpose), according to the Secretary of Finance and Justice. 62 The Americans were hoping that by imposing such restrictions they would hamper efforts at unifying the various resistance organizations. The activity of Artemio Ricarte, a case in point, illustrates the kind of organizational work the Americans feared. Ricarte, formerly a member of Aguinaldo's staff, was captured early in the war and, because he refused to take an oath of allegiance to the U.S., was deported to Guam. Upon being returned to Manila, he once again refused to take an oath and was sent to Hong Kong and exile, where he began to correspond and coordinate with other guerrilla leaders in the Philippines. He secretly returned to Manila in December 1903 and embarked upon a clandestine tour of northern and Central Luzon, where he engaged in organizing, unifying and recruiting activities. For months he eluded capture, much to the consternation of the Americans. In July 1904, fighting broke out in Samar, where Bulan and Juliano Caducoy led several hundred men. Coastal villages were attacked and Philippine Constabulary (puppet) troops and pro-U.S. municipal officials were killed. One U.S.-appointed teniente (mayor) had a kerosene-soaked U.S. flag tied around his head and ignited, which Caducoy said was "a lesson to those serving that flag."63 By August, the governor of Samar was frantically demanding more. troops from Manila because guerrillas "are boldly roaming the country."64 "Thousands joined in the movement," according to the local commander, Gen. William H. Carter, and the guerrillas took control of large areas of coastal territory in northeastern Samar. Constabulary patrols, led by American officers and sent out to engage the guerrillas, came in for some hard fighting. At Oras, Bulan's men, armed only with bolos, engaged the Constabulary troops in hand-to-hand combat and secured 65 guns. At Dolores, 38 Constabulary troops fell, prompting the American commander to plead for the reintroduction of American troops. The problem, he said, was ". . not solely one of killing and capturing the leaders or great numbers of their followers, for there are others ready to rise in their places."65 By April 1905, U.S. reinforcements had to be sent to Samar and fighting there continued for two more years. Elsewhere, in late 1904 and early 1905, guerrilla activity reached a "post-war" peak, with fighting erupting in Rizal, where Felizardo successfully attacked a number of Constabulary garrisons, and in Taal, where Montalon and De Vega marched up the main street of town and people "openly fraternized with the bandits." In Malabon, which "was a hotbed of disloyal citizens and sympathizers with the outlaw element," Montalon and others disguised in Constabulary uniforms seized the garrison and very nearly kidnaped the provincial governor. In January 1905 the Writ of Habeas Corpus was suspended and a state of insurrection was declared. "It is hoped the result will be the effectual cleaning out of these bands and that the people will be so inconvenienced that instead of sympathising with and aiding the outlaw bands an effort will be made to aid the authorities ,"66 reported the district commander. Familiar tactics these, but by March conditions had deteriorated so badly in Batangas and Cavite and in some parts of Laguna and Rizal that reconcentrado had to be employed there for five months-three years after Malvar's surrender and General Bell's boast that within two months of January 1902 there would be no more insurrection in Batangas. In Pangasinan, where Sakay was active, the American military commander wrote plaintively, "This Province seems to be the rendezvous of disturbers ... and we scarcely get one broken up until another is started. We have had ... various classes of Katipunan organizations, seditions and efforts at organization for insurrection .. and the province in consequence has furnished its quota to swell the population of Bilibid [prison] ... "67 In Albay, "conditions were in a rather disturbed state." Agustin Saria had taken up where Ola left off and it was noted that his" ... principal aim was to levy tribute on the people and to maintain an independent insurgent government."68 In Ambos, Camarines, " ... practically open insurrection existed due to the influence of Jose Roldon.... He reorganized his forces in the most impoverished sections of Ambos, Camarines, and had remarkable success in securing municipal officials and prominent individuals to assist him."69 Roldon and Saria were killed in September and October 1905 respectively, but others picked up the cudgels. In Tayabas it was reported that "the inhabitants of certain localities are exceedingly inflammable and easily influenced by the oratorical flights and acrobatic gyrations of demagogic outlaws or fanatical propagandists."70 Whatever the cause, the "demagogic outlaws" were becoming increasingly effective. One American officer described the nature of the attack employed against constabulary compounds: The attempts are always preceded by a thorough spying out of the surroundings, strength and habits of the intended victims, a careful weighing of chances and a deliberate planning. Consequently, an enterprise once undertaken seldom fails. Frequently they try to minimize the risk of jumping a police station or looting a municpal treasury by establishing relations with and winning confederates on the inside.71 In Central Luzon, Sakay continued to elude the Constabulary. In June 1905 the American commanding officer wrote that previous indications were " ... that we were making material progress against them [Sakay and his men) ... but that like 'Brer Rabbit' they were not exterminated but were simply lying low ..."72 Almost all of the guerrilla leaders active in 1905 had, of course, been deeply involved in the 1899-1902 struggle. As fighting flared up the class contradictions in the old Philippine Army leadership began to emerge once again. The members of Aguinaldo's staff and the various commanders of the earlier period who had surrendered or been captured had, for the most part, been well treated by the Americans and were content to make their peace with American colonial rule. (Aguinaldo himself settled down on 500 hectares of land near Imus, Cavite, and reaped the benefits of one or two profitable arrangements with the Colonial Government.73 Many of the 1899-1902 leaders disparaged the later efforts and echoed the American position that such guerrilla bands were simply ladrones, and that there was no real political significance attached to the various movements. This was sad commentary on the ideological pliability of the early leaders, and such statements had a measurable propaganda effect. But the damaging influence of such men was offset somewhat because almost all of the new guerrilla leadership had emerged at one point or another from the ranks. Moreover, with men like Ricarte, Montalon, Felizardo, and especially Sakay still alive, a direct link was maintained with the highest leadership circles of the 1899-1902 period. The Americans understood this, of course, and the hunt for Sakay in particular became an obsession with them. Sakay was considered by many to be Aguinaldo's heir and was referred to by the forces in his command and by the people in the districts in which he operated as the President of the Republic. Filipino morale received a tremendous (albeit unwarranted) boost with the Japanese success in the Russo-Japanese War.74 News of the war-and cheap color prints of little brown men slaying big white men-filtered into the most remote and backward corners of the Philippines and generated tremendous interest "even among the ignorant taos ... who otherwise are uniformly impervious to the progress of the outside world ... " 75 Things were not going too well for the Americans in spite of uniformly glowing reports of success heaped upon success (such propaganda as was being churned out had long ~ince bcome an endemic feature of America's Philippine adventure and was, unfortunately, usually accepted at face value in the U.S.-and by later historians). Occasionally, information would filter through the official veil and chip away, if only ever so slightly, at the orthodox, roseate view. An Englishwoman wrote from Iloilo in 1905: The Americans give out and write in their papers that the Philippine Islands are completely pacified and that the Filipinos love Americans and their rule. This, doubtless with good motives, is complete and utter humbug, for the country is honeycombed with insurrection and plots, the fighting has never ceased, and the natives loathe the Americans and their theories, saying so openly in their native press and showing their dislike in every possible fashion. Their one idea is to be rid of the U.S.A . ...76 Yet, incredibly, the war was still not over, nor would it be for several years to come, and fighting continued in a number of areas. In Mindanao, Moslem resistance to American efforts at subjugation continued unabated and led to the adoption of the standard extermination policies. Moslem resistance differed from that which typified other areas in that it was largely unconnected with questions of Philippine independence or anti-colonialism, but was rather predicated an the desire to maintain Islamic communal laws and customs free from interference from the "conquered North." (It should be noted that the Spanish never actually subjugated the Moslem areas.) Guerrilla tactics adopted in other areas were not typical in the Moslen regions, where the practice was for whole communities to band together and retreat to a fortified position (usually a hilltop) in the face of an attack. For American troops grown callous by years of fighting against non-combatants, attacking such communities necessitated no departure from previously established norms. The resultant slaughter from such wanton tactics, however, was fearful. In March 1906, American troops killed over 600 men, women and children in an assault on the Mount Dajo community. Photographs of the neaped bodies of women and children created a sensation in the U.S., but this did not reflect itself in any alteration of American policy. Sporadic fighting continued to flare up in Mindanao as late as 1916, and martial law was not lifted until December 1906. Even then, the preparedness of the Moslem community to lay down their arms was due simply to the recognition that superior force of arms had been brought to bear against them, nothing more. Negros was another area where fighting continued beyond 1906, led by the intrepid "Papa" Isio. Isio's movement was unique in its longevity; by the time of the arrival of the Americans, Isio had been in the hills for nearly twenty years against the Spanish. In 1880, the 39-year-old farm laborer Isio (then Dionisio Magbueles) quarreled with a Spaniard, wounded him, and fled to the mountains of Negros, where he joined with and eventually became the leader of a rebel group known variously as Babaylanes ("priests") and Pulahanes ("red trousers"). Negros, especially the fertile northwest crescent of the island, presented unusual economic conditions inasmuch as the sugar plantations there represe,nted the most commercially advanced agricultural area to be found in the Philippines. Because of this, class contradictions reached their most advanced level and chronic labor unrest characterized conditions in the Negros canefields in the late 19th century. Disaffected sacadas (canefield workers) provided a steady stream of men to Isio's mountain band prior to 1898. The founding of the Malolos Republic and the arrival of the Americans further sharpened the divisions between the plantation and mill owners and the sacadas. Dewey's arrival in Manila Bay and the resultant crisis led to the withdrawal of Spanish forces from Negros and in the power vacuum Isio and his men declared allegiance to the Republic and marched into the capital of Bacolod. Isio's army by this time numbered between five and six thousand and he enjoyed almost total support among the sacadas and peasant farmers. Landlords and mill owners on Negros, who had previously co-existed peacefully and profitably with the Spanish authorities (and with whom they identified socially) viewed developments with consternation. Their major fear was that the Malolos Government would sanction and solidify the Isio regime. To checkmate Isio, the Negros hacenderos tried to prevent him from getting arms and from establishing direct contact with Malolos. In the autumn of 1898 some of the planters sent a delegation to the captain of a U.S. man-of-war then at anchor in Iloilo harbor to ask him for U.S. protection and armed intervention against Isio. The Americans refused the request because at this point they were not yet at war with the Filipinos. They did not want to trigger the fighting before the arrival of needed reinforcements and the signing of the Paris Treaty. The hacenderos then established an "independent" Republic of Negros, adopting an American-style Constitution which defined the new power configurations. For several months until the outbreak of fighting on February 4, 1899, two regimes vied in Negros, the Republican (Malolos) Government, supported by Isio and his men, and the "independent" Republic of Negros, which existed mostly on paper and in the minds of a few hundred wealthy plantation owners. On February 22, 1899, a delegation of hacenderos went to Manila and again asked for U.S. intervention, reminding the Americans pointedly that "their action would cause much hatred among the insurgents."77 Now that the Philippine-American War had started, the Americans were more than eager to accomodate the hacenderos, and Col. (later Gen.) Smith initiated his career in the Philippines by going to Negros with a battalion of the First California Volunteers. He also tried to organize native troops but abandoned the practice when the men signed up and promptly went over to Isio with their new weapons. For several months after Smith's arrival, class war reigned in Negros. Sacadas flocked to the hills and joined in attacks on plantations. By September 1899, over 100 plantations lay in ruins, expensive sugar-milling machinery had been wrecked, farm animals were lost, and sugar production (the second most valuable Philippine export product at the time) had come to an almost complete standstill.78 Such was Isio's background, and for seven more years the mountainous interior of Negros remained a "liberated zone" despite repeated forays by American and Constabulary troops. By 1905 Isio had become a folk hero, a symbol of continued resistance when all realistic hope of overthrowing the hacendero oligopoly had long since vanished. In January 1905, when it was reported (incorrectly) that Isio had been killed, thousands wore black armbands in mourning. In June of that year, after Isio and his men had taken possession of the town of Isabela, the American commander ruefully hinted at the depth of the popular support Isio stil~ enjoyed when he reported, "It remains to be seen whether or not the people of Isabela will come forward and identify the raiders or aid in their capture. If they do, it will be unprecedented."79 It was not until August 6, 1907, that "Papa" Isio, age 67, finally came down from the mountains. The major guerrilla organization still active after Isio's surrender was the Santa Iglesia led by Felipe Salvador (alias Apong Ipe), one of the most colorful and charismatic leaders in a movement which produced an abundance of such men. Allegedly the son of a friar, Salvador, like Isio, had been active against the Spanish long before Malolos and Manila Bay. The Santa Iglesia, a "fanatical and oath-bound society" (according to the Americans) was founded in 1893 in Pampanga. In 1898 it joined forces with the revolutionary movement and Salvador and his men attacked Spanish garrisons at Dagupan and Lingayen in Pangasinan. Salvador was made a colonel by Aguinaldo, but he never became a part of the Malolos inner circle and his organization always maintained a separate identity, never fully incorporated into the Philippine Army. In 1902 Salvador refused to surrender when many of Aguinaldo's generals were heeding the call of the latter to lay down their arms. Salvador was captured soon after but escaped from jail and resumed his guerrilla activities in Pampanga, Nueva Ecija and Bulacan. It is perhaps the best testimony to Salvador's skill as a leader and organizer that his movement came into full flower only after other organizations and guerrilla movements had been beaten into submission and surrender in the post-1905 period. By 1906 Salvador had begun to roam throughout Central Luzon. He negotiated alliances with other guerrilla organizations and staged spectacular raids, the most notable being the one on the Constabulary barracks at Malolos, the political implications of which escaped no one. The support and respect he and his men commanded from the people of Central Luzon was legendary. Reported one American with finality, "inhabitants ... do not volunteer information of [his] '" presence to the authorities."80 In spite of concentrated efforts to portray members of the Santa Iglesia as "some of the most wicked and desperate men ever at large in the Philippine Islands," Colonel Bandholtz, charged with his capture, admitted, "He treats the barrio people well and it is said he does not rob them of provisions, but prays with the people and asks them for contributions, which they usually give."81 The Americans took pains to portray Salvador as simply a religious sectarian, a polygamist, a wild man. Such an interpretation, of course, was aimed at belittling and dismissing Salvador's political seriousness of purpose which was obviously striking a responsive chord among the peasants of Central Luzon. Salvador's avowed aim was the overthrow of the American Colonial Government. This was the cornerstone of the Santa Iglesia movement. Also of interest was the socially progressive nature of the movement, which indicated a political shift from the vaguely defined post-colonial vision of the Katipuneros. Salvador repeatedly raised the land question and promised his supporters that land redistribution, the breaking up of haciendas, and the abolition of tenancy would swiftly follow his assumption of state power. One aspect of the post-1896 period which has been largely overlooked was the class nature of the Philippine Revolution. That the war represented Filipino resistance to Spanish colonialism and American aggression is obvious. That the period represented class struggle on several levels is not as clearly understood today, probably because it was most imperfectly understood' at the time. Except for the tiny collaborationist elite, whose economic, ethnic and class origins put them in a category quite far removed from the mass of Indio peasants, few understood clearly their economic and class interests and how they were being manipulated by the Americans as part of the imperial design. Within the anti-imperialist camp, class antagonisms were muted, both because they were not understood and because of the need to present a united nationalist front. But the latent class contradictions were always present, and they began to surface in the second and third year of the war against the Americans with the defection of a number of army officers. These men came largely from middle-class backgrounds and, with a few notable exceptions, were prone to elitist thinking and surrenderist attitudes. The speed and apparent ease of conscience with which many such men were able to take up posts within the American colonial bureaucracy was to a large degree attributable to their class solidarity which, on the evidence, was stronger than their racial and ethnic ties to the Indio peasants. So it was that the fight was left to be fought by the poor and uneducated, bandits and outlaws, religious screwballs and wild men-or so we are told. And yet, significantly, when the officers and gentlemen had made their peace with imperialism, the only people left defending the honor of Philippine nationalism were now also fighting for primitive social justice as well. The class struggle began to emerge as co-equal to the national struggle-long after any immediate hope of winning either had passed. In 1909, a decade after the first battle on the outskirts of Manila, Felipe Salvador was still fighting. "His influence over the lower class has defied the efforts of the Government to capture him ... " He was not to be captured until the following year, snuffing out the last flickering flame of a fourteen-year struggle against colonial aggression. Salvador, who had been in the hills for seventeen of his forty-one years, was tried for banditry, convicted, and executed in 1912. The Cost of the War How many Filipinos died resisting American aggression? It is doubtful if historians will ever agree on a figure that is anything more than a guess. The figure of 250,000 crops up in various works; one suspects it is chosen and repeated in ignorance and in the absence of hard evidence to the contrary. Records of the killing were not kept and the Americans were anxious to suppress true awareness of the extent of the slaughter in any case, in order to avoid fueling domestic anti-imper!alist protest. How many died of disease and the effects of concentration camp life is even more difficult to assess. General Bell, who, one imagines, might be in as good a position to judge such matters as anyone, estimated in a New York Times interview that over 600,000 people in Luzon alone had been killed or had died of disease as a result of the war. The estimate, given in May 1901, means that Bell did not include the effects of the Panay campaign, the Samar campaign, or his own bloodthirsty Batangas campaign (where at least 100,000 died), all of which occurred after his 1901 interview. Nor could it include the "post-war" period, which saw the confinement of 300,000 people in Albay, wanton slaughter in Mindanao, and astonishing death rates in Bilibid Prison, to name but three instances where killing continued. A million deaths? One does not happily contemplate such carnage of innocent people who fought with extraordinary bravery in a cause which was just but is now all but forgotten. Such an estimate, however, might conceivably err on the side of understatement. To again quote the anonymous U.S. Congressman, "They never rebel in Luzon anymore because there isn't anybody left to rebel." Notes 1. The choice of terms for the Philippine-American War and the corresponding reference to the Filipinos as "insurgents" was not haphazard or accidental, as it gave semantic reinforcement to the. American position that the (Malolos) Philippine Government was illegitimate and that those who took up arms against the Americans were engaged in rebellion against (legitimate) American authority. It is, perhaps, overstating the obvious to make the point that quite a different interpretation is not only possible but, in my view, more accurate, historically speaking. The Malolos Government was, for at least a year after its inception, the only legitimate government in the Philippines insofar as Malolos alone exercised unchallenged legal authority throughout the Islands. That Malolos was not recognized by the U.S. did not, legally speaking, alter this fact. Nor did it make the subsequent war against the U.S. an "insurrection." At no time were Filipinos themselves in revolt against their own government. A more accurate interpretation-and, I believe, the only correct one-is based on the understanding that the Philippine-American War was, both legally and objectively, Filipino resistance to American military aggression against the sovereign Philippine state. The fact that the Americans eventually won the war does not, in my view, alter this basic fact. Accordingly, the terms "insurrection" and "insurgent" will not be employed in this essay except when used in quotation. 2. Literature on the war is woefully skimpy and no adequate political analysis now exists. Little Brown Brother by Leon Wolff (Manila: Erehwon, 1968) is an excellently written popular introduction. Domestic U.S. reaction to the war has received far more attention than the war itself, especially in recent years. Daniel Schirmer's Republic or Empire (Cambridge, Mass.: Schenkman, 1971) is the best recent accountt of the anti-imperialist, or, more accurately, the anti-colonialist movement in the U.S. 3. At least insofar as the Treaty of Paris was concerned. Had the treaty not been approved, theoretically the Islands would have been retained by Spain, although as a practical matter the Spanish were hardly in a position to reassert themselves in the Islands. It seems improbable also that the McKinley Administration would have withdrawn U.S. troops simply on the basis of the treaty vote, had it gone against them. 4. Wolff, Little Brown Brother, p. 226. 5. Forty-five hundred dead bodies were counted by the Americans. Witnesses estimated the total number of dead to be 8-10,000. H. Van Mete~, The Truth About the Philippines from Official Records and Authentic Sources (Chicago: Liberty League, 1900), p. 333. 6. Van Meter, 332. 7. Van Meter, 368. 8. Father of Douglas, World War II commander in the Pacific. 9. Van Meter, 366. 10. Eyot, Canning, ed., The Story of the Lopez Family (Boston: J. H. West Co., 1904), 23. 11. MacArthur later admitted, "The Filipino idea behind the dissolution of their field army was not at the time of occurrence well understood in the American camp. As a consequence, misleading conclusions were reached to the effect that the insurrection itself had been destroyed and that it only remained to sweep up the fag ends of the rebel army." Renato Constantino, Dissent and Counter-Consciousness (Quezon City: Malaya Books, 1970), 80, quoting War Department Annual Reports, 1901, vol. I, part 4,88. 12. Senate Document no. 331, vol. 2; 57:1 (1902), 1926-27. 13. Wolff, 294. Robinson, who reported for the New York Evening Post, was by far the most courageous American newsman in the Philippines. His outspoken reporting won him hasty re-assignment to Africa. 14. Senate Doc. no. 331, vol. 2, 57:1, pp. 1927-28. Report of General MacArthur. There were 53 garrisons in November 1899, over 400 by the following August. 15. Fairfield, Maine Journal, excerpted from a letter from Sgt. Howard McFarlane, 43rd Infantry. Quoted in Wolff, 305. The soldiers who wrote such letters were invariably contacted by military authorities and forced to write retractions, which were then hastily published to refute the original information. Reading the retractions tends to confirm in one's mind the verity of the original statement. Refusal to write a retraction was not kindly looked upon by the military and the kinds of pressure tactics employed by the War Department became something of a scandal after being disclosed in Senate hearings in 1902. Senator McLaurin called it a "remarkable coincidence" that in every case where the soldier was still in the army, 'retractions were forthcoming. But when the soldier had already been discharged and was no longer subject to military discipline, " ... there was not an instance found where there was any modification, qualification or retraction of what had been said ... " Congressional Record, 57:1, May 15,1902, 5480. 16. Quoted in the Boston Transcript, January 12, 1900, cited by Wolff,299. 17. Wolff, 290. 18. Boston Herald, August 25, 1902. Quoted in Moorfield Storey and Julian Codman, Marked Severities in Philippine Warfare: Sec. Root's Record (Boston: George H. Ellis Co., 1902), 115. 19. As was McKinley, who confessed he could not find the Philippines on the map the first time he looked for them. In light of later disclosures, this remark smacks of coyness, but it is true nevertheless that the Americans had the most limited understanding of Philippine society. 20. Statement by Rep. Vandiver, Congressional Record, 57:1, May I5, 1902,5505. 21. At their peak, Spanish forces in the Philippines never numbered more than a few thousand. 22. Taft testimony, Senate Doc. no. 331, part 1,69. 23. MaCArthur testimony, Senate Doc. no. 331, part 1,135. 24. Senate Doc. no. 331, part 3, 2443. 25. In his first annual message to Congress, McKinley expressed his (evidently feigned) outrage at the concentration camp policy being employed in Cuba. This "cruel policy," he said, "was not civilized warfare; it was extermination." Quoted in Storey and Codman, 94. 26. Report of the Provincial Governor of Abra, Senate Doc. no. 331, part 1,430. 27. Wolff, 352. 28. Charles E. Magoon, Acting Chief of Division, Senate Doc. no. 331, part 3, 2263. 29. Later charged with (and eventually acquitted of) torturing 134 Filipino P.O.W.s to death. 30. Boston Herald , August 25, 1901 (quoting a letter from an American officer). Quoted in Storey and Codman, 116. 31. Chaffee to General Hughes, Manila, September 30, 1901, Senate Doc. no. 331, part 2, 1592. 32. Testimony of William J. Gibbs, a survivor of the massacre. Senate Doc. no. 331, part 3, 2284 et seq. 33. Storey and Codman, 116. Congt'essional Record, 57:1, May 15,1902, 5525. 34. Major Waller was later court martialed for his actions in Samar, one suspects in retaliation for his refusal to engage in the extermination practices of his fellow officers. During the course of his trial he revealed the nature of Smith's orders and the public disclosure created a sensation in the U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt (McKinley's successor upon the latter's assassination in 1901), in order to neutralize outraged public opinion, had Smith himself brOUght up on charges. The charges did not stem from any overt act of the Samar campaign (it is recalled that the War Department had "no record" that the orders were actually carried out) but rather because the orders themselves were "unprofessional." Smith was convicted, "admonished" by the tribunal, and sentenced to "early retirement." Smith became something of a cause celebre in jingoist circles, causing Roosevelt to regret his actions: "The court martial of General Smith cost me votes-votes'" (Schirmer, 239 n). 35. Stephen Bonsal, Boston Transcript, quoted in Storey and Codman, 38. 36. Secretary of War Elihu Root, Senate Doc. no. 205, 57:1, part I, pp. 2,3. 37. Chaffee to Gen. Hughes, September 30, 1901, quoted in Storey and Codman, 28. 38. Senate Doc. no. 422,57:1,5. 39. It should be remarked that not all of the V.S. soldiers reveled in the bloodlust of their commanders. Many were repulsed by what they had witnessed and experienced in the Philippines and were anxious to expose American policy upon their return to the U.S. Others took to drink or went mad. Alcoholism and insanity followed venereal disease as the major cause for the reduction in available V.S. manpower in the Philippines. Desertion was difficult due to geographical factors, but incidences of officers being shot in the back "by snipers" were not unheard of, and a handful of Americans actually joined with and fought with the guerrillas (see Ellwood Bergerey, Why Soldiers Desert from the U.S. Army (Philadelphia: William Fell & Co., 1903), 132. 40. Cpl. Richard O'Brien, New York World, reprinted in the Congressional Record, 57:1, May 15, 1902, 5500. 41. Root to Lodge, Army and Navy Journal, AprilS, 1902. Reprinted in Storey and Codman, 88. 42. Senate Doc. no. 205,57:1, part I, p. 50. 43. Senate Doc. no. 422, 57:1, p. 19. 44. Senate Doc. no. 422,57:1, p. 4. 45. Address before the Marquette Club, Chicago, March II, 1902. Quoted in Frederick Chamberlin, The Blow from Behind (Boston: Lee & Shepard, 1903), 109. 46. Eyot, 146-47. 47. Congressional Record, 57:1, May 16, 1902, 5552 et seq. 48. Congressional Record, 57:1, May 16, 1902, 5552. 49. James H. Blount, American Occupation of the Philippines (Manila: Malaya Books, 1968), 388. 50. Storey and Codman, 71-72. 51. Storey and Codman, 73. Senate Doc. no. 331, part 2, pp. 1628,1690-1. 52. Storey and Codman, 91. 53. Senate Doc. no. 331, 57:1, part 2, p. 1632. 54. Storey and Codman, 92-93. 55. Philippine Census, 1903 (Washington, D.C.: V.S. Government Printing Office, 1905), vol. 2, p. 20. Comparing the 1903 figures with the Spanish figures of 1887, Batangas lost 54,000 people in absolute terms, making no allowance for intervening population rise. Estimating on the basis of an annual population increase of 1.5 percent, it is certain that Batangas was depopulated by 100,000 or more. 56. Report of Major Corneliu~ Gardiner, Governor of Tayabas, Congressional Record, 57: I, May 1S, 1902, 5500. By native troops Gardiner was referring to the Macabebes, a tiny, pro-U.S. ethnic sub-group which had played a praetorian role during the Spanish regime and for this reason was well hated by the majority of Filipinos. 57. Congressional Record, 57: 1, May 16, 1902, 5542. 58. A current diversion in some areas of the Filipino left of late has been to try to decide which guerrilla leaders were principled revolutionaries and which were opportunist manipulators. Few-if any-of these men can withstand such a rigorous and, ultimately, unfair historical test, precisely because all of them lacked one or more of the foHowing: (a) a revolutionary ideology; (b) a theory of imperialism; (c) anything other than a primitive understanding of the class nature of the struggle in which they were engaged; (d) an understanding of protracted warfare and guerrilla strategy. There was no real experience (except their own) upon which they could draw, nor was there a historical example known to them of the successful prosecution of such a struggle. They fought by their wits and their instincts alone, which led in turn to terrible reversals and, ultimately, .defeat in an uneven, suicidal struggle doomed from the start. So all of them to one degree or another fail the exacting test of their modern critics. Simeon Ola surrendered, betrayed his men, and turned state's witness against them. Macario Sakay was tricked into surrendering for principled (but tactically faulty) reasons and was betrayed and executed by the Americans, who had previously promised amnesty. Artemio Ricarte survives better than most, and for years after 1910 he waged an almost singlehanded struggle from abroad. But, sadly, in old age he could not see that Japanese and American imperialism were cut from the same cloth. "Papa" Isio finally surrendered, one suspects, because at the age of sixty-seven and after more than twenty-five years in the mountains the rigors of guerrilla life"simply got to be too much. And so it went. To hold such men against a standard which has only slowly evolved in the course of the 20th century seems to miss the point. Given the historical context within which the struggle was enjoined, how can it reasonably be expected that it could have evolved differently? The real heroes were not so much the leaders, who served their people with a greater or lesser degree of fidelity and ability, but the people themselves. A simple point, perhaps, but one which I believe bears making. 59. The struggle in the Philippines never degenerated into social banditry in the strict sense of the term, although in its later stages several of the guerrilla organizations developed into "Robin Hood"-type bands. The fascinating history of such movements as they have occurred historically and in various parts of the world has been largely ignored by orthodox historians, partly, no doubt, because of the inherent difficulties in researching such phenomena. The opportunities for such work in the Philippines are immense. The reader is directed to the pioneering work of E. J. Hobsbawm, Primitive Rebels (New York: Praeger, 1959) and Bandits (New York, 1971). 60. Report of the Governor of Albay, in Sixth Annual Report of the Philippine Commission (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1905), part 1, Appendix H, 144. Blount, 49. 61. Fourth Annual Report of the Philippine Commission (1903), part 1, p. 30. 62. Report of the Secretary of Finance and Justice, Sixth Annual Report of the Philippine Commission (1905), part 4, p. 177. 63. Blount, 453. 64. Cable, Governor Feito to Carpenter, August 9,1904. Quoted in Blount, 461. 65. Report of Col. Wallace C. Taylor, Sixth Annual Report of the Philippine Commission Appendix A, 54. 67. Scott, 55. Conditions in Bilibid were scandalously bad, and in 1903 it became a point of controversy because American prisoners were being kept there as well as Filipinos. American investigators reported, "Considering the appalling mortality in Bilibid and the charac¬≠ ter of the diseases with which the prisoners are afflicted, there is no question but that the latter are suffering greatly from the effects of crowd poisoning." In reporting on conditions in late 1904, Secretary of Commerce and Police William Cameron Forbes issued a statement which can only be described as incredible: "In Bilibid Prison discipline has been uniformly good and conditions on the whole satisfactory. On the 7th day of Dec. 1904 a small outbreak occurred among the detention prisoners, in which 200 endeavored to gain their liberty. The prompt use of a gatling gun in the tower and the riot guns with which the guards on the walls were armed ended the trouble in eight minutes. There were 19 killed and 40 wounded, but the work in the shops and other industrial departments of the prison was not interrupted, and in 30 minutes' time there was no evidence except in the hospital that there had been any trouble." The "uniformly good" conditions Forbes spoke of included a death rate of 438 per 1000 by 1905. To be sentenced there was tantamount to a death sentence. 68. Report of H. H. Bandholtz, Commander, Second District Philippine Constabulary, Sixth Annual Report of the Philippine Commission, part 3, Appendix A, 69. 69. Ibid., 69. 70. Ibid., 78. 71. Report of D. J. Baker, Provincial District Commander, ibid., part 3, Appendix A, 130. 72. Report of W. S. Scott, 53. 73. Seventh Annual Report of the Philippine Commission (1906), part 1, pp. 3031. I am not aware of any of the prominent leaders of 1899-1902 going back into the field after a spell of civilian life under American rule, although there may have been isolated cases where this did occur. 74. Euphoria at the outcome of that war was not, of course, confined to Japan and the Philippines. News of the Japanese victory electrified the masses of people in Southeast Asia generally, e.g., Indochina, where guerrilla war was being waged against the French. 75. Report of Maj. Samuel D. Crawford, Commanding Officer, Fourth District, Philippine Constabulary, Sixth Annual Report of the Philippine Commission, part 3, Appendix A, 101-2. 76. Blount, 505, quoting Mrs. Campbell Dauncy, An Englishwoman in the Philippines, 88. 77. Which of course it did. Testimony of Frank J. Bourns, First (Schurmann) Report of the Philippine Commission, part 2, p. 356. 78. Ibid., 355-56, 414-16. Eighth Annual Report of the Philippine Commssion, part 2, p. 311. The story of the short-lived Negros Republic and, more importantly, the development of the social forces which led to its founding have not, to my knowledge, been adequately treated by Filipino historians, which points up the sorely felt need for regional histories of the Philippines. 79. Report of Colonel Taylor, Sixth Annual Report of the Philippine Commission, part 3, Appendix A, 88. 80. Seventh Annual Report of the Philippine Commission (1906), part 1, p. 142. 81. Report of Colonel Bandholtz, First District, Philippine Constabulary, ibid., part 2, p. 239. Back To History Is A Weapon's Front Page
How bad has it gotten for the football program at the University of Akron in Akron, Ohio? How about bad enough to recruit potential quarterbacks by running an ad in the school newspaper? I think they have just about reached their melting point. The year, like so many, started out with high hope for the Zips, but started going downhill after the first game. The Zip’s 3rd year starting quarterback, Chris Jacquemain was suspended indefinitely for an unspecified violation of team policy. Afterwards, sophmore Matt Rodgers took over the reigns only to suffer an ACL tear on October 10th. This now leaves the offense in the hands of freshman Patrick Nicely. His backups are fellow freshman Jared Wackerly and Student Coach Tim Zetts. Zetts played for the Zip’s in 2005 before transferring to Saginaw Valley State. He was injuried at SVS has one semester remaining on his eligibilty. Finally, it was reported yesterday that senior reciever Deryn Bowser would be out with a broken leg and sophomore linebacker Aaron Williams would be out with a broken arm. Both are out for the season. All in all Akron is missing 13 scholarship players for the season. This is a nightmare if you are a fan of the Zip’s, it is even more of a nightmare if you play for them. But don’t fret too long fans, basketball season is just around the corner and you have yourself a top 50 team… Student Coach / QB Tim Zetts
With a win in Strade Bianche and the Women's WorldTour lead in her recent palmares, Elisa Longo Borghini (Wiggle High5) is one of the top favourites for Sunday's Trofeo Alfredo Binda, a race that takes place near her home town. Longo Borghini won the race in 2013 in stormy conditions, but hopes she can win in more pleasant weather this time. Related Articles Longo Borghini alters schedule, will tackle Ronde van Drenthe on Saturday Trofeo Alfredo Binda - Comune di Cittiglio past winners WorldTour lead up for grabs at Trofeo Alfredo Binda - Preview Amialiusik will lead Canyon-SRAM into Trofeo Alfredo Binda Deignan hunting three-peat at Trofeo Alfredo Binda Longo Borghini: Bergen medal 'would mean the world' to me "Normally it's a good course for me," Longo Borghini said. "It's pretty hard. I'm actually very happy that it's not going to be such bad weather as it was in 2013, because there it was a bit extreme. "Even though I won, I don't really jump from happiness when it's rainy and cold!" The Italian opted to add the Ronde van Drenthe to her schedule after the Strade Bianche win to extend her lead in the WorldTour, and the strategy worked. "This year I will have the Women's WorldTour jersey, which is a plus for me, and it's very important to be in Italy with the jersey that I actually conquered in Italy. So it will be extra motivation," she said. Longo Borghini can draw still more inspiration from the fact that the race is just kilometers away from her home town. "It's always a bit special in Cittiglio because of that," she smiled. "I will have my family there - my parents, my brother, my nieces and my sister-in-law, and it's just nice." Wiggle High5 is sending a team similar to the one that helped her win in Strade Bianche: Giorgia Bronzini, Audrey Cordon-Ragot, and Amy Roberts will be joined by Emilia Fahlin and Claudia Lichtenberg. "We have such a strong team, and with the new entry of Claudia it's even stronger," said Longo Borghini. "She's a climber, she's a girl that can perform very well on that kind of terrain, and Binda suits her very well." Wiggle-High5 Pro Cycling team for the Trofeo Alfredo Binda - Comune di Cittiglio: Giorgia Bronzini, Audrey Cordon-Ragot, Emilia Fahlin, Claudia Lichtenberg, Elisa Longo Borghini, and Amy Roberts.
Guelph residents could see a tax hike of as much as 4.84 per cent for 2018. On Thursday evening, the City of Guelph released its draft operating budget for next year, which will be presented to councillors by staff on Nov. 8. The recommended base budget comes in at just under $233 million, representing a 2.19-per-cent increase. On top of the base budget, staff will be putting forward three items for consideration that could drive that rate up. First are city department budget expansions that could raise taxes by as much as 1.4 per cent, or an extra $3.19 million in the budget. Among those additions are $524,700 for implementing front-end waste collection for multi-residential properties in Guelph, achieving one of the recommendations from the council-endorsed Solid Waste Management Master Plan, passed in 2014; $399,200 to hire four full-time paramedics, increasing service to one extra day shift in Guelph, with the budget citing an increase in delays to responding to emergency calls; $322,900 for an affordable housing incentive program, with $230,000 going into the affordable housing reserve and another $86,600 for one contract staff to implement the program approved by council in July; and $458,000 to expand yard waste collection to every two weeks. The expansion package also recommends a number of new staff positions, such as $100,300 for a learning and development co-ordinator, who would be responsible for planning, co-ordinating and directing training and development programs; $100,300 for a WSIB claims and disability co-ordinator; $117,500 for a financial analyst for the city’s environmental services department; $158,900 for a financial strategy manager, who would lead the city’s new financial strategy team to “deliver specific advice on financial policy, long-term capital and funding forecasting, and supporting the city’s significant investment in city building and growth decisions,” according to the budget document; and $142,000 for an internal auditor. There is also a request from staff for an additional one-per-cent levy to go toward the city’s infrastructure. The request for the infrastructure levy will not be news to councillors, who were advised by staff during a September council meeting to maintain the program in order to help the city catch up on its repair backlog. At the Sept. 26 meeting, city treasurer Tara Baker told councillors that while the levy introduced for the 2017 budget was a step in the right direction, similar levies would need to be done over the next decade to help the city catch up. “What you approved last year was a major first step toward becoming sustainable, but the message from staff has always been that in order to reach sustainability, we need the additional one per cent over the next 10 years,” she said at the time. “With that, we become sustainable approximately by the year 2032.”
The U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights issued an internal memorandum earlier this month announcing that it will investigate taxpayer-funded teachers and administrators who use biologically accurate pronouns for transgender students instead of the pronouns transgender students prefer. Candice Jackson, the Trump administration’s acting secretary for civil rights within the Department of Education since April, issued the internal memo on June 6. The memo explains “the effects of developments on the enforcement of Title IX” concerning transgender students. Specifically, the memo declares, the federal government may investigate taxpayer-funded schools for “refusing to use a transgender student’s preferred name or pronouns when the school uses preferred names for gender-conforming students or when the refusal is motivated by animus toward people who do not conform to sex stereotypes.” Jackson’s memo also explains that the Office for Civil Rights may choose to investigate teachers and administrators at public schools if they don’t act quickly whenever transgender students allege sex discrimination over “stereotyped notions of masculinity or femininity.” In the event, Trump’s Office for Civil Rights explains, federal investigators would determine whether a failure to use the pronouns requested by a transgender student creates “a hostile environment.” Liberty Counsel, a civil rights group focused on Christian religious freedom, notes that Title IX, a 1972 federal law banning discrimination on the basis of biological sex in education, does not address pronouns chosen by transgender students. “Title IX does not require a school district or teacher to call students by false gender pronouns,” said Liberty Counsel founder Mat Staver in a press release sent to The Daily Caller. “Title IX is silent regarding the use of pronouns, and it cannot be a violation to refer to students by pronouns consistent with their actual sex,” Staver also said. “Requiring false pronoun usage by teachers is a compelled speech violation for teachers and compelling students to participate in a lie violates their right to free speech. I thought we had seen the last of this nonsense coming out of the Department of Education. I call upon Betsy DeVoss to end this new policy.” In February, the Trump administration announced that it had revoked a vague Obama administration order forcing taxpayer-funded schools to allow transgender students to use the bathrooms and locker rooms of their choice. Two federal agencies, the Department of Justice and the Department of Education, jointly issued the administrative guidance in the form of a letter. (RELATED: Trump Revokes Obama’s Public School Transgender Bathroom Free-For-All) White House press secretary Sean Spicer suggested at the time that President Trump would abandon Obama’s transgender-bathroom mandate. “This is a states’ rights issue and not one for the federal government,” Spicer informed reporters, according to The New York Times. The previous Obama administration guidance, sent in May 2016, instructed public school districts across the country to allow transgender students to choose bathrooms and shower stalls consistent with their gender identity, not their biological features. Also in February, the U.S. Department of Justice sought permission to delay a hearing on a motion — filed last year — asking federal district judge Reed O’Connor to ease a preliminary injunction striking down the Obama administration guidance on bathroom and shower use in public schools. The preliminary injunction, entered in August, stems from a 2016 lawsuit filed by the state of Texas in response to the Obama administration’s transgender bathrooms directive. A dozen states joined the suit, which accused federal agencies of issuing the guidelines by means of regulatory “dark matter” — a deluge of agency directives, notices, memoranda, guidance documents, and even blog posts which effectively create new policy without congressional legislation or Administrative Procedure Act (APA) protocols. The states claim that this strategy allows agencies to evade judicial review and achieve their policy objectives. (RELATED: Texas Leads 13 States In Lawsuit To Stop Obama Transgender Bathroom Rules) Judge O’Connor, an appointee of George W. Bush, wrote in the preliminary injunction that Title IX “is not ambiguous” concerning “the biological and anatomical differences between male and female students as determined at their birth.” Follow Eric on Twitter. Like Eric on Facebook. Send story tips to erico@dailycaller.com.
Rep. Peter King (R-N.Y.) AP Our government is a disaster because of a small group of Republicans in the House of Representatives. I'm not talking about the group of Republicans you might think. Yes, there are 30 to 50 arch conservatives in the House who have been insistent they won't reopen the government without putting a major dent in Obamacare. These people are not the key problem. They are only relevant because so-called "reasonable" or "realistic" Republicans allow them to be. The most dangerous group in Congress is moderate Republicans, many from the northeast, who could reopen the government and break extremists' grip on their caucus' agenda, but choose not to. According to the Washington Post, 21 House Republicans say they are prepared to vote for a "clean" continuing resolution to reopen the government. Together with Democrats, this is enough votes to pass the bill that has already passed the Senate, reopen the government, and stop the madness. Yet these Republicans who publicly say they favor a clean CR have repeatedly voted with their extremist colleagues to prevent it from coming to a vote. If moderate House Republicans don't want a government shutdown and favor a clean CR, why have they passed up on ways to end the shutdown? Here are the three things they could do if they wanted to: 1. Defeating the rule. On Sept. 30, Republicans voted on two plans that would only keep the government open with major changes to Obamacare. Rep. Peter King (R-N.Y.) opposed this approach, saying the House should instead vote on a clean continuing resolution like the Senate's. King declared his intention to vote against a rule bringing the last Republican plan to the floor; a defeat would have left Republicans with no bill to reopen the government and likely led to a vote on a clean CR. And King claimed that 20 to 25 moderate Republicans were prepared to vote with him. But when the rule came up for a vote, only one other moderate joined King in voting no: Rep. Charlie Dent (R-Pa.). All the other "moderates" lined up the likes of Rep. Ted Yoho (R-Fla.), and the government shut down. 2. Recommitting with instructions. Since the government shut down, House Speaker John Boehner has repeatedly brought up bills to reopen only parts of the government. And five times, Democrats have made motions to recommit these bills with instructions. What those motions would do is amend the bills to be identical to the "clean" continuing resolution that already passed the Senate. Each time, the Republican presiding officer has ruled the motions out of order, and Democrats have appealed the ruling. If you favor a clean CR and want one brought to the floor, you should vote in favor of the appeal. But each time Democrats have made this move, not a single Republican has voted with them — not even Peter King. 3. Discharging the bill. Rep. James Lankford (R-Okla.) filed a bill earlier this year that would cause the government to stay open at current funding levels even if Congress fails to pass a continuing resolution. Democrats have proposed a discharge petition for this bill. If 218 members signed that petition, the bill would come to the floor, and if it passed the House and Senate, the government would reopen. But no Republican has backed this approach, either. Peter King told National Review he wouldn't sign the petition because Democrats "are not bargaining in good faith." If you look at members' actions and votes instead of their statements, the number of Republicans in the House who favor a clean CR and oppose the Cruz-driven strategy of shutdown and hostage-taking is not 21. It's 0. The entire House Republican caucus is responsible for its shutdown-based legislative strategy. The only difference among the members is that Tea Party conservatives have the decency to admit what they're up to.
Angular component, $watch and $destroy without $scope — exploring lifecycle hooks Dvid Silva Blocked Unblock Follow Following Apr 2, 2016 Angular 1.5.3 introduced something new to the directive controllers that I’m liking a lot, I have seen very little about it online, so I decided to share. I started using the component method recently, very excited about it, I had been writing component directives before, using controllerAs and avoiding $scope as much as possible, so it felt kinda dirty having to inject $scope in order to use $watch and $destroy. Angular 2 introduced lifecycle hooks, https://angular.io/docs/ts/latest/guide/lifecycle-hooks.html A Component has a lifecycle managed by Angular itself. Angular creates it, renders it, creates and renders its children, checks it when its data-bound properties change, and destroys it before removing it from the DOM. Angular offers component lifecycle hooks that give us visibility into these key moments and the ability to act when they occur. They were recently introudced in Angular 1.5.3, the way to use them is the following. In your controller function inside the component, you can add a function to each one of them, the function will be called from the compiler when is relevant if the function exists. var vm = this; vm.$onInit = function () { $log.log('initializing controllers, setting default values'); vm.hello = "hello world!"; }; vm.$onChanges = function (changes) { $log.log(changes); }; vm.$onDestroy = function () { $log.log('destroying controller'); }; vm.$postLink = function () { $log.log('$postlink, ready to add dom event listeners'); } The docs explain them quite better than me, https://docs.angularjs.org/api/ng/service/$compile $onInit() — Called on each controller after all the controllers on an element have been constructed and had their bindings initialized (and before the pre & post linking functions for the directives on this element). This is a good place to put initialization code for your controller. $onChanges(changesObj) — Called whenever one-way (<) or interpolation (@) bindings are updated. The changesObj is a hash whose keys are the names of the bound properties that have changed, and the values are an object of the form{ currentValue, previousValue, isFirstChange() }. Use this hook to trigger updates within a component such as cloning the bound value to prevent accidental mutation of the outer value. $onDestroy() — Called on a controller when its containing scope is destroyed. Use this hook for releasing external resources, watches and event handlers. Note that components have their $onDestroy() hooks called in the same order as the$scope.$broadcast events are triggered, which is top down. This means that parent components will have their $onDestroy()hook called before child components. $postLink() — Called after this controller’s element and its children have been linked. Similar to the post-link function this hook can be used to set up DOM event handlers and do direct DOM manipulation. Note that child elements that contain templateUrldirectives will not have been compiled and linked since they are waiting for their template to load asynchronously and their own compilation and linking has been suspended until that occurs. I made a working example so you can see them in action and see when different events are happening: http://codepen.io/anon/pen/eZGJNg , missing $onDestroy, but you get the idea.
It is no secret that Alistair Carmichael is a friend of mine. Not least because he told parliament so in 2005: “The Government’s signals to the Uzbek regime have not always been helpful. I am thinking especially of their treatment of my old friend, the former ambassador to Uzbekistan, Craig Murray, who has done us all a great service in graphically highlighting the appalling human rights record of the Uzbekistan Government.” Alistair was one of very few MPs who raised the dreadful human rights abuses in Uzbekistan even before I got there. He has a genuine interest in human rights worldwide, and had a much better motivation in going into politics than the large majority of politicians. He was never anything like a diehard unionist in personal conviction. I felt quite proud for him when he was asked during the campaign what would his role be in negotiating for the UK the conditions of separation after a Yes vote. He replied that he was Scottish, and he would be on the Scottish, not the UK side. I have never chosen my friends by my politics, and I am not one of those people who is only happy in the company of those who agree with me. I am happiest with a few drinks and a good argument in intellectually challenging company. I also do know that all human beings are flawed, and I don’t expect perfection. So I have no intention of ending friendship with Alistair. All of which makes it hard, but I have to say that I really do think he needs to resign as an MP, and to do so immediately. It was not just a mistake to leak that memo, it was wrong. It was even more wrong because he himself believed it was written in error and did not give Nicola Sturgeon’s true opinion. But in an election in which the Scottish Lib Dems faced wipeout, he saw the advantage of playing this trick. That was wrong on many levels. I would add that I feel very confident that Alistair would never have done it without consulting Clegg first. Clegg should resign too. And instead of the usual Cabinet Office stitch-up, there needs to be a real inquiry into the whole history and production of that extraordinary minute, and whether Alistair was set up to do it. The Scottish Government needs to be an equal partner in constituting that inquiry. Alistair has no alternative but to resign because he then repeatedly lied about what he had done. It is much better that he goes now with a full and frank apology to everyone, especially his constituents. When you have blatantly and repeatedly lied about something, you cannot expect people to give you their trust again. That it even seems a possibility is an example of the erosion of ethical standards, of which Tony Blair is of course the greatest example as liar, mass murderer and multi-millionaire. But we should not lose sight of the real lesson. The corrupt and rotten structures of the UK state are so insidious that they can take a fundamentally decent man like Alistair and lead him to behave so badly. There is something within the rotting organisms of UK institutions in their decline from Imperial power and dependence on corrupt banking and corporate systems, that infects almost all who enter them. While I worked for the FCO I saw really nice colleagues, decent men and women I worked with, go along with organising what they knew to be illegal war in Iraq, and with facilitating the torture and extraordinary rendition programmes. Because that was what paid their mortgage, looked after their children, and above all gave them social status as high British diplomats. Westminster gives untramelled executive power to a party with just 23% of the support of the registered electorate. The majority of parliamentarians are unelected Lords a great many of whom are themselves mired in corruption – and some much worse. The organs of state power are used to facilitate the flow of money from the poor to the very wealthy, which is the actual cause of the deficit in public finances. The rewards of being on the inside are sweet; those outside are measurably dispossessed of wealth, and measurably alienated in politics. The media is controlled by this corporate state. Alistair Carmichael’s story is not the story of a bad man. It is the story of what happens to a good man who buys in to UK power structures. The real lesson of the sad story of this period in Alistair’s life is that the UK is evil, corrupt and corrupting, and that the UK state needs swiftly to be broken up.
The ridiculous and amazing things we scouted in Shanghai. China Joy kicked off Thursday at the Shanghai New International Expo Center with over 600 firms showing the latest in entertainment and technology. Among the expected fare of films, games, animation, audio products and cosplay during the four-day conference, there was one obvious and unavoidable sorta newcomer to the scene — virtual reality. From all-in-one mobile VR headsets to tethered head-mounted displays (HMDs) with hand-controllers that looked eerily similar to brands we already report on, one thing’s for sure, there was no shortage of VR and AR hardware on the show floor. Let’s take a look at some of the common themes we came across at China Joy. Rides. There were giant swings, flying things, rollercoasters and jet skis. Guns. Armed to the teeth with tethered Vives, backpack VR and 3D printed controllers. Headsets. We saw quite a few multiplayer Vive setups, but we also saw Move controllers on heads, branded headsets and even headsets that look like a Vive controller and Oculus Touch controller had a baby! Wait, is Freddie Prinze Jr. a fan of VR now!? Speaking of weird — companies and their names sometimes. Parties. The VR parties were just as unique. This one had a pool inside it. There was even mixed reality in the “bathroom”. With all the strange, unique and sometimes just amazing things we saw for the first time — there was one familiar title that reminded us of home. Worldwide shipments of VR hardware is set to skyrocket in 2016, with some estimates pointing at volumes of 9.6 million units and hardware revenues approaching $2.3 billion in 2016, according to IDC. Most of that hardware growth will be fueled by key products from Samsung, Sony, HTC, Oculus and Google. And you can expect China will be playing a large role in that growth, not only from the manufacturing side, but also sheer volume of consumer adoption. According to the latest research released by China Electronics Standardization Institute and Xinhua News Agency, the expanding industry is working to make VR part of people’s daily lives in China. The Chinese VR market was worth 1.54 billion yuan ($236 million) in 2015, and is expected to rise to more than 5 billion yuan ($753 million) this year. This is going to be quite a world we’ll live in. Image Credit: Stephen Ip
When Gloria Steinem got married at age 66, the media paid attention. One of the most famous feminists of the 1960s and 1970s, Gloria Steinem continued as an activist, critical thinker, author and spokesperson on women's issues for decades. Anti-feminists often associated Gloria Steinem with a false stereotype of feminists as "man-hating." Gloria Steinem's marriage to David Bale was another chance for the media to trot out misconceptions about feminism. "A woman without a man is like a fish without a bicycle." - Gloria Steinem Who Was Gloria Steinem's Husband? Gloria Steinem married activist David Bale in September 2000. The couple had met at a fundraising event for the Voters for Choice organization and for Democratic candidate Bill Curry. Gloria Steinem's marriage to David Bale lasted until his death from brain lymphoma in late 2003. David Bale, father of actor Christian Bale, was an activist known for his commitment to environmental, humanitarian and animal rights causes. He worked with several nonprofit organizations, including the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund International. He was a commercial pilot. David Bale was originally from South Africa and had lived in several different countries, including England. His opposition to the apartheid government had, at one time, ended with his being banned from his native country. Bale had been married and divorced twice before. Gloria Steinem and David Bale lived in New York and California during their marriage. The Shock of Gloria Steinem's Marriage At the time of Gloria Steinem's marriage to David Bale in 2000, several news stories poked fun at the idea of the longtime feminist finally "giving in" to society's tradition. Was Gloria Steinem opposed to marriage? She had certainly pointed out its flaws and inequities. Feminists of the 1960s fought against the unfair view of married women as less than legally whole people. They also tried to change laws that prevented married women from independently owning property or obtaining financial credit in their own names. Gloria Steinem said in 2000 that she had worked for years to make marriage more equal but that she, too, was surprised to actually be partaking of the institution. She responded to questions about whether she had changed her beliefs that she hadn't changed; marriage had. It had become more equitable and fair to women since the mid-20th century and the early days of the women's liberation movement. Often a target of anti-feminists, Gloria Steinem was the subject of a few snide articles and opinion columns. One writer even referred to the news of Gloria Steinem's marriage as "the taming of the shrew," alluding to the Shakespeare play and choosing a word with a particularly negative connotation, often used for women. Others suggested that Gloria Steinem and David Bale married for immigration reasons because he had overstayed his visa. The New York Daily News quoted Gloria Steinem in September 2000: "Apparently there is a need to look for ulterior motives when a feminist marries."
The apartment. Craigslist If you're a "relatively young, hetero, professional male bachelor who grew up in America," then we may have just found the apartment of your dreams. First spotted by Gothamist, the ludicrous Craigslist listing (which has since been deleted) is for a three bedroom in Long Island City's Arris Lofts. The "palace" is 2,000 square feet with two floors, a washer and dryer, enclosed garden area with koi pond, roof deck, gym, pool, and sauna. Though the amenities and room sound awesome, the two 30-something men who live there do not. "Do not respond to this ad unless you make, at minimum, six-figures a year," the now-deleted listing reads. "You will not be able to afford to live here or maintain the lifestyle that is necessary to keep up with the rest of us." Those fresh out of college are not welcome either, along with anyone who can't speak English, is passive aggressive, or is sensitive to "awesome music played at high decibel levels, the aroma of amazing gourmet cooking emanating through the house, lengthy intellectual debates with people who have an amazing sense of humor, or loud moans of sexual delight creeping out from the various bedrooms at any given hour of the day." But don't worry. They're also accepting of ladies if you are "an extremely hot (at least a 9), lipstick lesbian with bi tendencies and an exhibitionist streak when you get hammered." Charming. And while the listing is now gone, thankfully Gothamist took screenshots of the outrageous ad. Enjoy.
Artist's conception of the pair of supermassive black holes orbiting each other at the center of galaxy 0402+379, located 750 million light-years from Earth. For the first time ever, scientists have directly spotted a pair of supermassive black holes orbiting each other, a new study suggests. This orbital motion — which was noted in observations made over the course of a dozen years — may be the smallest-ever movement detected of an object across the sky, the researchers said. Supermassive black holes harbor millions to billions of times the mass of Earth's sun and form the hearts of most, if not all, large galaxies. Much remains uncertain about how these giant black holes grow and influence the universe around them. [Images: Black Holes of the Universe] One way to gain insights on black hole growth is to look at black holes on the verge of merging with one another. As such, researchers have analyzed the center of a giant elliptical galaxy called 0402+379, which is located about 750 million light-years from Earth. In 2006, scientists found that the galaxy's core apparently holds two supermassive black holes. Judging by the gravitational effects these black holes had on their surroundings, the two behemoths harbor a combined mass about 15 billion times that of the sun, the researchers said. It remains uncertain just how big each black hole is, but the limited data that astronomers currently have suggest that one of the black holes might be two or even four times bigger than the other, said study co-author Roger Romani, an astrophysicist at Stanford University. These black holes are likely only about 24 light-years apart, "which is the closest together that two supermassive black holes have ever been seen before," study lead author Karishma Bansal, a graduate student at the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque, said in a statement. The presence of these giant black holes so close together suggested that the galaxy in which they lie resulted from dozens of galaxies merging sometime in the past, the researchers said. This raises the possibility that the two black holes themselves might one day merge also, the scientists said. Very Long Baseline Array image of the central region of galaxy 0402+379, showing a pair of supermassive black holes (labeled C1 and C2) in orbit around each other. (Image: © Bansal et al., NRAO/AUI/NSF) To see whether that will happen, the scientists have taken snapshots of the black holes' home galaxy over the past 12 years, using the Very Long Baseline Array, a system of 10 radio telescopes that stretch from the U.S. Virgin Islands to Hawaii and from New Mexico to Alaska. In the new study, the scientists detected one of the black holes moving at the rate of just more than 1 micro-arcsecond per year. That's about 1 billion times smaller than the smallest thing visible with the naked eye, the researchers said. "If you imagine a snail on the recently discovered Earth-like planet orbiting Proxima Centauri — a bit over 4 light-years away — moving at 1 centimeter [0.4 inches] a second, that's the angular motion we're resolving here," Romani said in the same statement. This may be the smallest-ever movement detected of an object across the sky, the researchers said. "Personally, I find the technical tour de force of measuring this tiny motion most impressive," Romani told Space.com. The new findings suggest that these black holes are orbiting each other, completing a single orbit over the span of about 30,000 years, the researchers said. This is the first time scientists have detected supermassive black holes orbiting each other, study co-author Greg Taylor, at the University of New Mexico, said in the same statement. In the past year or so, researchers have detected ripples in the fabric of space and time, known as gravitational waves. These waves emanated from pairs of black holes, each up to a few dozen times the sun's mass, in the final stages of their orbits of one another before they collided. In contrast, these new findings mark the first time astronomers have directly analyzed images to detect a pair of black holes orbiting each other, Romani said. Although these supermassive black holes are orbiting one another, they may never meet, Romani said. The universe apparently continues to expand at an accelerating rate, suggesting that the duo "won't merge in the remaining age of the universe," he said, unless some force, such as friction from surrounding clouds of gas, brings the black holes together. By investigating why supermassive black holes might or might not merge, the researchers may be able to better learn the conditions under which black holes normally grow, the scientists said. Romani said he hopes that future research will uncover a pair of supermassive black holes "that completed orbit within a few decades, so you could really see the details of the black holes' trajectories." The scientists detailed their findings June 27 in the Astrophysical Journal. Follow Charles Q. Choi on Twitter @cqchoi. Follow us @Spacedotcom, Facebook and Google+. Originally published on Space.com.
The new "trilateral highway" is aimed at creating a new economic zone ranging from Calcutta on the Bay of Bengal to Ho Chi Minh City on the South China Sea. The first phase of the project was agreed during Indian prime minister Dr Manmohan Singh's visit to Burma this week when he and President Thein Sein set a 2016 deadline to complete a super highway linking Guwahati in Assam to Burma's border with Thailand via Mandalay and the former capital Rangoon. According to analysts, the road is a key part of a plan to open the "Mekong-India Corridor" to link the world's second fastest growing market – India – with the new Asian Tiger economies of Indo-China. Until now plans to open this new economic zone, which bypasses China, the world's fastest growing economy and superpower, have been hampered by international sanctions against the former military regime in Burma. But with the gradual easing of sanctions following the series of democratic reforms unveiled by Burma's president Thein Sein since last August, the obstacles have now cleared. For India, the new highway will open up new oil and gas opportunities off the coast of Burma, and also Vietnam, as well as easier access to Japanese products made in Thailand. It would also bring new wealth to its poor and marginalised North-Eastern states like Manipur and Nagaland, which have been blighted by local insurgencies and heavy security. The highway will also recall the historic ties between India and Burma which unravelled following their independence from Britain after the Second World War. During most of the colonial period Burma was governed as a province of British India from Calcutta and later New Delhi. Aung San Suu Kyi, like other children of Burma's elite, was a pupil and university student in India. Mohan Guruswamy of the New Delh-based Centre for Policy Alternatives, said a two lane highway connecting the Indian border to Mandalay, 375 miles away, had already been built, and the next phases will be to broaden it to a four-lane road and extend it a further 375 miles to Rangoon. "The idea is that you can get in a car or bus and drive to Bangkok from Guwahati. Burma was the hurdle, but now it has opened up, thanks to the Americans. It marks a great opening of a new economic zone," he said.
The release of the Panama Papers will have a huge impact around the world. But Iceland deserves some particular attention. According to documents leaked from Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca, several Icelandic politicians, former bankers and government advisers have had links to anonymous offshore companies. Among them, are three members of the Icelandic government: the prime minister, Sigmundur Davíð Gunnlaugsson, the finance minister, Bjarni Benediktsson and the interior minister, Ólöf Nordal. The public reaction has been rapid and vehement. Within hours of the revelations, protests were being planned. Off the back of these accusations, these three politicians face the potential collapse of their right-wing coalition government. Gunnlaugsson has stepped aside, but seems to be denying that this amounts to a resignation. Turbulent times The Icelandic political landscape has changed drastically since October 2008, when the North Atlantic island was hit by the global recession. Back then, three of Iceland’s largest banks, Kaupthing, Landsbanki and Glitnir, faced default as a result of their aggressive expansion strategies. In response, the Icelandic parliament passed an emergency act enabling the authorities to intervene in their operations. The Icelandic króna dropped in value against other currencies and the government of the time (a coalition between the right-wing Independence Party and the left-wing Social Democratic Alliance) decided not to intervene. As a result of the collapse, the country entered a recession. Inflation and unemployment skyrocketed. Peaceful protests known as the “pots and pans revolution” started on the streets of Reykjavik. A new political party, the Citizen’s Movement (later renamed The Movement), emerged from these protests and included Birgitta Jónsdóttir, who would later co-found the Icelandic Pirate Party. The government collapsed in January 2009 and early elections were held. The Citizen’s Movement entered parliament and the Independence Party, which had been in power for 18 consecutive years, lost nine of its 27 seats. The Social Democratic Alliance formed the first left-wing government in Iceland’s history as part of a coalition with the Left-Green Movement. The new government applied to join the European Union, bankers were jailed, and most importantly, a Constitutional Assembly composed of Icelandic citizens was formed in 2011 to draft a new constitution. However, the left-wing government proved unpopular. It was defeated in referendums over the Icesave dispute and unemployment remained high by Iceland’s standards. The application for EU membership divided the population, and there were internal disputes between coalition partners. The government lost the 2013 elections, and a right-wing coalition composed of the Progressive and Independence parties, led by Gunnlaugsson, was formed. But this administration has taken a series of extremely unpopular decisions. It froze the constitutional reforms and EU accession talks, despite promising a referendum on the latter. In May 2015, thousands of protesters called for the government to resign and listed a series of 99 reasons including allegations of corruption. What next? The Panama Papers will exacerbate tensions between politicians and the population. Early elections are a real possibility, especially since a motion of no confidence is being prepared by opposition parties. And, surprising as it may sound, that could mean the Pirate Party will form at least part of the next government. Despite currently only holding three seats in parliament, the group is polling miles ahead of the pack. The most recent poll (conducted before the release of the Panama leaks) suggests the Pirate Party would get 36.1% of the votes if an election were called. That’s more than the coalition’s Progressive and Independence parties combined. That could well mean that this group, which campaigns for direct democracy, transparency, net neutrality and freedom of expression, could form a government. The likely success of the Pirate Party in Iceland could inspire other Pirate Parties across Europe. So far, the electoral success of these groups has been limited to Iceland and, to a lesser extent, Sweden and Germany. They have tended to be seen as single-issue parties. Julia Reda is currently the only Pirate elected in the European Parliament. However, should the people of Iceland begin a peaceful revolution, it could increase the visibility of other Pirate parties across Europe, and possibly lead to the emergence of a successful transnational political movement. This article has been updated to reflect Sigmundur Davíð Gunnlaugsson’s announcement that he is to step aside as Prime Minister.
AMD has announced the roadmap for a chunk of its business that's critical to its effort to "transform" the company from its dependence on PCs and x86 servers: the embedded market. Perhaps one indication of AMD's aggressiveness can be deduced from the code names of its next four embedded parts – they're all named after birds of prey: "Adelaar", "Steppe Eagle", "Bald Eagle", and "Hierofalcon". For Reg readers – IT types as you are – it's perhaps that fourth ornithological exemplar that may be of most interest: it will be the embedded version of the 64-bit, ARM-based "Seattle" Operton server chip that was unveiled this June. "Essentially Hierofalcon and Seattle – Seattle is the server product and Hierofalcon is the embedded product – share a lot of lineage," Arun Iyengar, VP and general manager of AMD's Embedded Solutions group, said at an AMD event on Monday. "But Hierofalcon is targeted towards the other elements of a data centre, which are the communications, networking, and storage sides." AMD's ARM-based chips won't just be used in dense servers (click to enlarge) While Seattle will feature AMD's Freedom fabric interconnects, which came to the company by way of its acquisition of SeaMicro in February 2012, Iyengar would not be drawn out on whether or not Hierofalcon would include Freedom. "We're not getting into that level of detail today," he responded to a direct question on that subject. What he would reveal, however, was that Hierofalcon would come with four or eight ARM Cortex-A57 cores, would include 10-gigabit Ethernet and third-generation PCIe, would be baked in a 28-nanometre process, and would have a thermal design point (TDP) of 15 to 30 watts. Embedded parts have a number of differences from their non-embedded counterparts, not the least of which is how long they will be supported by their manufacturers. Longevity is a big deal to embedded-systems manufacturers, and AMD will commit to seven-year lifecycles for not only Hierofalcon, but also its three birdy brothers. Next year will be a busy one for AMD as it works to expand into new markets (click to enlarge) Among the four parts announced on Monday, Hierofalcon is the only all-new line for AMD. Adelaar, a discrete GPU, will be a follow-on to AMD's Radeon E6460/E6760 parts, will be the first embedded GPU to be built around AMD's "Graphics Core Next" architecture unveiled at the company's Fusion Summit in June 2011, and will double the 1GB of GSDDR5 memory in the E6460/E6760 to 2GB. The low-power Steppe Eagle is a follow-on to the G-Series SoC line that AMD rolled out this April and updated in July with a lower-power part, the GX-210JA. This raptor, like the G-Series, will have two or four AMD "Jaguar" cores, but they will be "enhanced," Iyengar said, and the TDP of the lowest-power part in this line will drop to 5 watts from the 6 watts of the GX-210JA. The 28nm Bald Eagle APU/CPU will be the highest performing part in the quartet, and will be the successor to AMD's 32nm R-Series embedded chips. Baldy will update its two or four compute cores from the E-Series' "Piledriver" to the newer "Steamroller", and its GPU will be upgraded from a Radeon HD 7000 Series to HD 9000. Iyengar – and, for that matter, CEO Rory Read and the entire AMD braintrust – is putting a lot of stock in the company's aggressive push into the embedded market. The company has publicly stated that just a few years from now, around 50 per cent of its revenue will be from markets other than PCs and traditional servers. And their embedded division headman appears confident that such a goal is realistic, considering the new and expanding markets from which those revenues will come. "The specific point that we've made in terms of 50 per cent of our revenues coming from non-PC type [processors]," Iyengar said, "is it does include things such as the dense server – that's a new application, that's part of the new 50 per cent. It includes embedded, and it also includes new form factors within the client space – that's part of the new 50 per cent." Looked at that way – and considering that "embedded" includes everything from industrial to military to medical to digital signage to slot machines to networking to communications to thin clients and more – AMD may again emerge as a potent competitor to Intel in the low-power marketplace. But AMD is not out of the woods yet – execution, of course, will be the deciding factor. ® Bootnote Just how important is ARM to AMD's future? The number of chips – not cores, but chips – in which ARM designs appeared during 2012 gives an idea of that company's reach. ARM VP of embedded marketing Charlene Marini, who was also at the Monday event, told The Reg that 8.7 billion ARM-based chips were shipped last year. Of those, 4.1 billion were for embedded systems, the remainder being for mobile.
The latest quarterback prospect that the New England Patriots have shown interest in, is former Boston College signal caller Chase Rettig. According to Mike Reiss of ESPN Boston, the Pats brought Rettig in to Foxboro as part of their local prospect day. It won’t generate the same buzz as in-house visits with top prospects Johnny Manziel and Teddy Bridgewater, but the Patriots continued to focus on the quarterback position Friday by inviting Boston College’s Chase Rettig to Gillette Stadium as part of their local prospect day. One difference with Rettig’s visit is that he actually worked out for team officials, along with other local prospects. Unlike their interest in the likes of Johnny Manziel, Teddy Bridgewater, and Blake Bortles, I think the Pats could potentially act on Rettig. He is not a first round pick, which would allow New England to address more important needs early, and then in the later rounds (if that), pick up a solid young quarterback. Rettig played four seasons with the Eagles, completing an average of 55% of his passes, totaling 8,248 yards, and tossing 52 touchdowns.
A New York Times reporter covering the 2016 presidential campaign was quickly humbled on Twitter Thursday when he made a “telling” observation about C-SPAN’s coverage of Hillary Clinton’s Benghazi testimony. “CSPAN screen encouraging Democrats to call one phone number and Republicans to call another to react to this hearing is….telling,” wrote Michael Barbaro, who has worked as a reporter for The Times for the past 10 years. Twitter users were quick to point out that C-SPAN has been accepting calls like that for decades, The Blaze reported. “They’ve been doing that for every call-in segment for thirty years,” wrote Christian Science Monitor’s Peter Grier. “Except that is how they have done it FOR YEARS AND YEARS,” wrote The Atlantic’s James Fallows. “[H]ave you never watched CSPAN?” asked New York Post columnist John Podhoretz. Mr. Barbaro later responded, “Okay, CSPAN geeks, I get it. They do that all the time!” Copyright © 2019 The Washington Times, LLC. Click here for reprint permission.
PORTLAND, Ore. -- With sunlight streaming through the former art gallery’s near floor-to-ceiling windows and excited visitors streaming through its doors, directors of the Oregon Jewish Museum and Center for Holocaust Education officially debuted their new 15,000 square-foot home to the public Sunday afternoon. “It's phenomenal,” said executive director Judy Margles. “We couldn't be more excited.” The new space, located at 724 Northwest Davis Street, is more than twice the size of the museum’s prior location near Northwest 20th and Kearney. Futher, noted Margles, this one isn’t leased. “We’ve been a museum for 25 years. We’ve never owned our own home,” she said. “So, arriving at this moment where we have permanence in Portland is astonishing.” Margles and board members say ownership has been a goal for the museum for a long time, adding that expanding their space allowed them to add new exhibits with interactive, modern twists. Sign up for the daily 3 Things to Know Newsletter Thank You Something went wrong. This email will be delivered to your inbox once a day in the morning. Thank you for signing up for the 3 things to Know Newsletter Please try again later. Submit Downstairs, to the right of the entrance, visitors will find intricate Russian tapestries, divided into dozens of squares, each one displaying an image of a mythical-looking figure. The tapestries correlate with a digital touch screen, which explains each figure as a take on the Jewish identity. Located upstairs, the Holocaust exhibit features chilling relics like a knife and a fork, used in Auschwitz. They sit alongside high-resolution video interviews from survivors, which play on a loop. Feet from that sits an intricate explanation of the history of the Jewish people in Oregon. Next to that, visitors found exhibits about discrimination in general; some examples were more recent. Visitor Robert Wilner, who just finished a class on the Holocaust at Portland Community College, was glad to see the lessons of the Holocaust linked to more modern trends. “People in their upbringing are not taught about it,” he said. “They need to know about it so they can have more respect for the fragility of humans.” Sadly, said Margles, the museum's work in education is seeing a spike in interest. “We've seen such an uptick in phone calls from schools who are experiencing anti-Semitism and racism in the classroom,” she said. “So, we've been sending our Holocaust educators out to speak to students. VIDEO: Holocaust survivors Miriam Greenstein and Evelyn Banko share their stories Holocaust survivors on hand for the event say that trend is chilling but added the new space and its message give them hope. “Helping to educate people about it makes people think and talk about it, and maybe help them to stand up for the rights of other people,” said Evelyn Banko, who escaped Nazi-occupied Austria with her parents. “Hatred is not acceptable, doesn't get you anywhere. You have to accept people the way they are,” said Miriam Greenstein, whose family was captured by the Nazis in their home country of Poland. Greenstein’s mother and father were murdered in separate camps. She came to Sunday’s opening with her daughter and other family. She serves on the museum’s board and now, like Banko, speaks about her ordeal as much as possible. “It is a first-class museum,” she said. “It is not just for Jewish people by any means.” In May, 2016 the executive board began raising the needed $7.5 million to buy and renovate the new space. As of Sunday, they’re just $350,000 short. If you'd like to donate, click here.
Artist's illustration of an asteroid that has been turned into a giant mechanical spacecraft, which could fly itself to a mining outpost. A few decades from now, asteroids may be flying themselves to mining outposts in space, nobly sacrificing their abundant resources to help open the final frontier to humanity. That's the vision of California-based company Made In Space, which was recently awarded NASA funding to investigate how to turn asteroids into giant, autonomous spacecraft. The project, known as RAMA (Reconstituting Asteroids into Mechanical Automata), is part of Made In Space's long-term plan to enable space colonization by helping make off-Earth manufacturing efficient and economically viable. [How Asteroid Mining Could Work (Infographic)] "Today, we have the ability to bring resources from Earth," Made In Space co-founder and chief technology officer Jason Dunn told Space.com. "But when we get to a tipping point where we need the resources in space, then the question becomes, 'Where do they come from and how do we get them, and how do we deliver them to the location that we need?' This is a way to do it." Diagram of an asteroid that has been converted into a mechanical spacecraft by a robotic "Seed Craft." (Image: © Zoe Brinkley The plan Made In Space's idea involves sending an advanced, robotic "Seed Craft" out to rendezvous with a succession of near-Earth asteroids in space. The Seed Craft would harvest material from the space rocks, then use this feedstock to construct propulsion, navigation, energy-storage and other key systems onsite with the aid of 3D printing and other technologies. (Made In Space has considerable 3D-printing expertise; the company built the two 3D printers that were installed aboard the International Space Station in the past year and a half.) Thus transformed into autonomous spacecraft, the asteroids could be programmed to fly to a mining station in Earth-moon space, or anywhere else they were needed. This approach would be much more efficient than launching a new capture probe (or probes) to every single space rock targeted for resource exploitation, Made In Space representatives said. The converted asteroids wouldn't resemble the traditional idea of spacecraft, with rocket engines and complex electronic circuitry. Rather, everything would be mechanical and relatively primitive. For example, the computer would be analog, akin, perhaps, to the Antikythera mechanism invented by the ancient Greeks to chart the motion of heavenly bodies, Dunn said. And the propulsion system might be some sort of catapult that launches boulders or other material off the asteroid in a controlled way, thereby pushing the space rock in the opposite direction (as described by Newton's Third Law of Motion), he added. "At the end of the day, the thing that we want the asteroid to be is technology that has existed for a long time. The question is, 'Can we convert an asteroid into that technology at some point in the future?'" Dunn said. "We think the answer is yes." Project RAMA is not starting from scratch. Autonomous 3D printers that use mechanically driven systems already exist, Dunn noted, as do mechanical computers made of 3D-printed parts. Still, making it happen will require significant advances in a number of areas, including in-situ resource utilization (ISRU) — the art of living off the land. Made In Space is counting on NASA to push ISRU technology forward, Dunn said. (Advanced ISRU tech will be vital for supporting astronauts on Mars and other off-Earth outposts, NASA officials have said.) [What Technology Will Humans Need to Explore Mars? (Video)] Early days yet Made In Space's larger vision won't be realized for a while, because RAMA is still in the very early stages. In April, the project received a Phase 1 grant from the NASA Innovative Advanced Concepts (NIAC) program, which aims to encourage the development of potentially revolutionary space-exploration technologies. Phase 1 NIAC awardees get $100,000 for nine months' worth of initial feasibility studies. (Recipients can then apply for a Phase 2 NIAC award, which is worth about $500,000 and funds two years of further concept development.) Any discussion of Project RAMA timelines is therefore incredibly speculative, Dunn stressed. Still, he estimated that the effort might require 20 years or so of technology development and other work. If that's the case, the first Seed Craft may get off the ground in the late 2030s — perhaps just as asteroid-mining and off-Earth manufacturing are coming into their own. "The anticipation is that the RAMA architecture is a long time line, and when it becomes capable is about the same time that people really need the resources," Dunn said. Project RAMA could also have applications here on Earth, he added, saying that machines similar to Seed Craft could do a variety of jobs around the planet. "You could build infrastructure in remote locations somewhat autonomously, and convert resources into useful devices and mechanical machines," Dunn said. "This actually could solve some pretty big problems on Earth, from housing to construction of things that make people's lives better." You can read more about Project RAMA at Made In Space's NIAC page and in a piece that Dunn wrote for Medium.com. Follow Mike Wall on Twitter @michaeldwall and Google+. Follow us @Spacedotcom, Facebook or Google+. Originally published on Space.com.
Bitcoin is gaining momentum in South America with a nightclub in Santiago now accepting bitcoin as payment for beers, burgers and cocktails. The California Cantina, a trendy restaurant, sports bar and nightclub in the Providencia neighbourhood of the Chilean capital, claims to be the first nightclub in South America to accept bitcoin payments. The owner, James Lyles, says a friend introduced him to bitcoin and he was immediately blown away by the potential: “I just found that it was one of those things that was going to make paying and the transactions between people a lot easier. And it takes out the financial institutions, the partners we would rather not have,” he said. Credit card charges In Chile, credit card companies charge an additional 3 – 3.5% per transaction. This adds up to hundreds of thousand of peso each year, according to Lyles. Right now, about 70% of all payments in California Cantina are made with credit cards, but Lyles hopes to be able to cut that down by 10% within the first few months by promoting bitcoin payments. This, he says, will lead to “huge savings”. He added: “We will start it as a trial and see how it catches on. But there are a lot of people in Chile that are starting to buy bitcoin and a lot of the international people here who are all over it.” The bar started accepting bitcoin payments on Wednesday night, when it held a large meet up and party that drew a large crowd to the nightclub. Joining them for the occasion was Nicolas Cary, CEO of Blockchain.info and Adam Stradling, the founder of Coin4ce, the Santiago-based bitcoin company that will process the payments in Californian Cantina. Taking time out from the festivities, Stradling said that bitcoin is gaining a momentum in Latin America. The currency’s major hub is still Buenos Aires, the capital of Argentina, where a number of restaurants, bars and clothes stores accept bitcoin for payments. Buenos Aires also has the highest number of bitcoin users in Latin America, but Stradling says that Chile, Peru, Colombia and Mexico are waking up to bitcoin and catching up fast. “Two years ago when we started trading here in Chile nobody knew what was going on. Now, two years later, the newspapers have been writing about bitcoin every day for months,” he said. QR codes For California Cantina, Coin4ce has created a pesos to bitcoin market rate converter that creates a QR code for each transaction for bars and restaurants. A waiter or waitress can just bring over an iPad, enter the bill amount, and generate a unique QR code to receive the payment from the customer. Coin4ce is also working on a bitcoin wallet for the Chilean market together with Blockchain and they hope to expand their operations to Peru, Colombia, and Mexico in the near future. Nicolas Cary is also sensing a new understanding of bitcoin in Latin America. Last time he visited to talk about bitcoin and Blockchain, he said he sounded like an “extraterrestrial” to most people. But now everyone from taxi drivers to bar owners and business leaders have an opinion on the subject: “the usefulness of [bitcoin] for people here is becoming really clear,” he says. Lyles maintains that financial incentives were the main motive to accept bitcoin. However, he is also excited about the project on a personal level, to be a part of the future and to stay ahead of his competitors:“If you are not getting used to it now, you will be forced to get used to it later,” he said. “So, we might as well be ahead of the curve”. So, if you fancy a holiday with sun, beer and a way to spend your bitcoin, head to the South American summer and Santiago for a bitcoin holiday. You can even book your flight on Btctrip, the Argentinian bitcoin travel agency. Beer Image via Shutterstock
NEW DELHI/SRINAGAR, India (Reuters) - Prime Minister Narendra Modi met national party leaders on Friday to seek ways to end weeks of unrest in Kashmir, but a separatist group said there would be no peace until Indian politicians stop treating it as a purely internal issue. India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi speaks to the media inside the parliament premises on the first day of the monsoon session in New Delhi, July 18, 2016. REUTERS/Adnan Abidi/Files Indian security forces killed a militant leader on July 8, sparking violent protests across the Himalayan region, which is split into areas ruled by India and Pakistan. Both countries claim sovereignty of all of Kashmir. Police extended a curfew in parts of the Muslim-majority territory for a 35th day on Friday and mobile telephone networks were suspended from late on Thursday due to worries about fresh violence following Friday prayers. National opposition leaders have stepped up calls for an all-party delegation to visit Kashmir for talks with regional leaders. But Modi maintained a tough line on Friday, telling party leaders in New Delhi that now was not the time to send negotiators and that there must be no compromise on national security. Modi’s BJP rules Kashmir in a power-sharing arrangement with a regional party and has long advocated a tough stance toward the decades-long insurgency. With 54 protesters killed since early July, one of the two factions of the main separatist alliance, the Hurriyat Conference, said there was no sign of anger abating. “Unless there is an acknowledgement among all political parties in India that Kashmir is a dispute and not an internal issue and has to be addressed accordingly, there is very little chance of the situation improving or real peace returning,” said faction chairman Mirwaiz Umar Farooq. Modi’s government has shunned talks with Hurriyat and other groups that challenge India’s claim, putting on hold peace talks with Pakistan, telling it to first rein in anti-India militants operating from its territory. Pakistan rejects allegations that such militants operate from its soil. A resolution by India’s lower house of parliament on Friday urged steps to restore peace but analyst Ajai Sahni said Modi’s government appeared short of ideas on how to achieve that. “I don’t see anything in terms of a strategy,” said Sahni, of the Delhi-based Institute for Conflict Management. “The government and the separatists are speaking in completely divergent voices.”
Rate Expectations Versus Rates Which Point To Use? Interest Income Concluding Remarks One of the more intractable controversies within monetary economics is measuring the effect of interest rates on the economy. Within mainstream economics, a strong effect is assumed, and a series of non-falsifiable models are built around that assumption ( as discussed here ). For those of a post-Keynesian persuasion, this is unsatisfactory, as there are a number of potential channels from interest rates to the economy, and the effects can move in opposite directions for these different channels. I would like to ignore the theoretical debate how interest rates affect the economy, rather look at the data. Unfortunately, it is not even clear what interest rate to use.Within modern mainstream Dynamic Stochastic General Equilibrium (DSGE) models, the level of interest rates is not supposed to be the variable of interest, rather it is expected path of rates. This leads to some fairly complex mathematics, as we are now defining interest rate policy as a "reaction function," and not just a time series of interest rates.Although I have my doubts about DSGE macro, I do not object to the importance of interest rate expectations as a concept. This is because long-term government bond yields reflect the expected path of interest rates. Roughly speaking, a bond yield is equal to the expected average of the policy rate over the lifetime of the bond, plus a "small" risk premium (term premium). All of the mathematical difficulties of DSGE models become understandable if we realise we are interested in the entire term structure of interest rates, and not just a single point of the yield curve.If we want to do econometric analysis to determine the effect of interest rates on the economy (without just assuming we have the model dynamics), we need to do something like run regressions on an interest rate time series versus other economic time series. Unfortunately, it is unclear what point to pick.Pretty well any borrower has the option of locking in a fixed rate of interest for multiple years, or else borrowing at a floating rate. Which rates appear most attractive at any given point in time depends upon the psychology of borrowers. Given the fragmentation of the lending markets, we only have a limited idea of the mix of borrowing maturities. As a result, we do not have an idea what points on the curve matter most for borrowing decisions at any given time.For central bankers, they administer the overnight rate, and it is natural for them to pick that point to run their statistical analysis. "If we move the administered rate by 100 basis points in this direction, what happens?" However, the relationship between the policy rate and points further on the curve is vague.If we are at very short maturities, it does not make too much of a difference what point you choose. As the chart of the 2-year Treasury yield and the overnight policy rate (Fed Funds) shows, the two rates are fairly close together most of the time. If the Fed hikes rates by 400 basis points, the 2-year yield will rise 300-400 basis points. That is pretty close to a 1:1 relationship, at least when we compare the error to the other sources of error in any estimates we are trying to make.This breaks down even when we go out to the 5-year point of the curve. If we look at the interest rate cycle of the mid-2000s, the slope from the overnight rate to the 5-year yield went from +300 basis points to about -100 basis points. Although the time series for the 5-year yield and the overnight rate are correlated, the magnitudes of the change in yields are quite different. This means that it is very unclear what the sensitivity of other variables towards interest rates will be.This relationship between the overnight rate and the 5-year yield is what you would expect to happen if the bond markets are efficient; they will price in yield reversion at both extremes of the cycle. (Many observers, including those at the Fed, were mystified by this "conundrum," which tells us how well the Fed understands their own models.)Making the situation even more complicated is the fact that only the Federal Government borrows at the "risk free" rate; other entities are borrowing at a spread over the Treasury curve. The variability of these spreads further muddies the relationship between the policy rate and the interest rates faced by private sector borrowers.Mainstream analysis is almost entirely focused on the rate of interest (the price of borrowing money), and not the income flows associated with borrowing. Post-Keynesian analysis (in particular, Modern Monetary Theory) puts much more emphasis on the income flows from debt. Changing interest rates will change the income flows within the economy.If you want to pursue this angle, you will need to dig into the interest income flows within the flow of funds. The rate of interest has only a slow lagged effect on these flows, as a great deal of borrowing is done a fixed rate of interest, and the interest rate paid has been already locked in. For example, if you are looking at government interest expense, it will only move slowly as the average maturity of most developed government bond markets is at least 5 years or so. So long as the Treasury Bill segment of the curve can be locked down near the policy rate, the average interest cost on the portfolio of government debt will only move slowly, with a reversion time comparable to the average maturity of the debt.Although some analysts can generate very precise sounding predictions about the effect of Fed rate hikes on other economic variables, the reality is that even if we had good models of the economy, the sensitivity of other variables towards the overnight rate would be hard to pin down. Unless the Fed hikes rates by several hundred basis points (which admittedly was the norm for previous cycles), the flattening of the yield curve would reduce the effect of hikes on effective interest costs.(c) Brian Romanchuk 2015
Exciting Google Summer of Code projects, major developments in the codebase that need testing, and even a Kickstarter are just a few of the many items that have occurred since our last community roundup in January. Let’s get updating. Official Android Remote With the last community update in January, we mentioned a desire for someone to step up and help maintain an official Kodi Remote for Android. Developer syncd has stepped forward and offered up Kore as an updated, open source option for users looking for Android remote control software, or even as a base for aspiring devs looking to make their own offering. We are well aware that there are other closed source Android remotes out there. The goal of the Kore remote project is not to drive out or replace other devs and remotes, but rather to welcome new ones in by providing an open source base to work with. Google Summer of Code This year was an incredibly difficult one for deciding which projects to choose. We had enough mentors for 6 projects, but were only provided with 4 slots. Many years, this works fine, and it’s easy to narrow everything down. This year, there were so many great submissions that we ultimately took until the very last day to decide on the final four. There was even a period where we considered asking users to crowdsource fund the other two projects, but we ultimately deemed it too uncertain as to whether such an idea would get funded or would even be acceptable to the students’ schools. We decided not to get anyone’s hopes up only to have them dashed, and instead focus on the four projects we thought had the best combination of exciting/useful idea and feasibility. With all that said, here are the four projects we chose: Cross-platform room correction for Kodi: The only project submitted by a Kodi Team member that was accepted is one designed specifically for the audiophiles out there. While Kodi is currently able to bitstream to a hardware A/V Receiver that can often measure and deal with the ambiance of the room, team member Achim and others have been working to make the typical hardware AVR completely unnecessary. Significant work has already gone into integrating Digital Signal Processing features into ActiveAE, Kodi’s integrated audio engine. The next step in this process is… well, let’s let Achim explain it. One focus of this proposal is to integrate external input sources into ActiveAE. With this new extension point it will be possible to connect a microphone to a Kodi capable device. This allows you to digitally optimize your listening experience while sitting on your favorite listening position e.g. your couch or your armchair, by compensating the influence of the interior room factors. This feature is widely known as digital room correction or digital room equalization. For digital room correction, three other implementation components are required. One is the implementation of a convolution engine to combine and compute the audio signal with a calculated room correction filter. At the time of writing a first prototype addon adsp.xconvolver exists, this addon was written by me in order to evaluate the technical feasibility of this project. The addon is based on the highly optimized cross platform library LibXConvolver. The second and third component is the measurement signal and filter generation, which I want to implement in adsp.xconvoler during my GSoC coding time. Put simply, with an integrated DSP and room correction, Kodi should be able to completely eliminate the need for most of the high end software found in most AVRs. NVIDIA Gamestream: As the code that should revolutionize how Kodi handles inputs finally makes it into core, one of the first projects to take advantage of it will hopefully be a Kodi-specific implementation of NVIDIA’s Gamestream tech. For those unaware of Gamestream, NVIDIA has created a solution for streaming content from a more powerful gaming PC with an NVIDIA graphics card to any of NVIDIA’s Shield devices. At least, that’s how it started. Since Gamestream was released, a dev going by cgutman created Limelight, an opensource library that makes it possible for any device or software to act as a Gamestream receiver. The goal of this GSOC project is to extend that capability to any instance of Kodi, so you could theoretically watch a show on your RaspberryPi2 running Kodi, then switch over to play some Assassin’s Creed Black Flag, and then listen to a little night music. There are some serious technical issues that will need to be resolved with this project, not the least of which is the potential for massive latency, but if it works, it should make for some really great experiences. Better Profile Handling: Honestly, this one is far more exciting to us developers than to users. The issue is that as we move towards a model that allows for headless server instances of Kodi, all the instances of Kodi in your house will likely be run by different individuals with different wants and needs, and the other instances on the network simply aren’t smart enough to deal with that at the moment. So one of the great underlying needs of Kodi right now is a vastly improved handling of individual profiles. While users may not see a ton of direct impact on their day to day usage, this project should indirectly touch almost everything we do while using Kodi. On-The-Fly Transcoding: It’s kind of the holy grail of UPnP server-client interaction and something Kodi doesn’t do at all. As such, this project is probably the most risky project, as it will effectively be an entirely new section of the Kodi code-base, but it may also be the most rewarding. Regardless, the entire team is excited (cautiously excited, in some cases) about this project, and we guess quite a lot of users will be too. As we move forward with it, we’ll keep you updated on its progress. DVR Kickstarter We don’t often mention Kickstarters in our blog, but since at least one team member is helping with the project, we figured we’d point out Silicon Dust’s DVR. While the company has already met their goal, their first stretch goal is to make a DVR add-on for Kodi that essentially extends the already fairly brilliant HDHomeRun add-on we featured last month. As many of us would like to use this software, we’re definitely hoping they hit their goal, and as off this writing, they’re only about 5k away. Bitcoin Donations Team Member Kib put in all the effort to make it possible for those of you who don’t like Paypal and don’t like banks to donate using the newest, coolest currency: Bitcoin. Many of you demanded it as an option. We’re happy we are finally able to meet that demand. UPnP Library Integration Yet another of the major requests we get on a regular basis is for a single library across all your devices without the need to use add-on workarounds or hacks or the AdvancedSettings.xml to make it happen. Team Member Montellese has been working on this task and is now ready for testers to start poking holes in his project: Media Importing and Library Integration of UPnP. A quick overview video can be found below, but simply put, with Montellese’s test build you only need to scan your folders on your network once. Every other instance of Kodi can just scan and grab the library from whatever your main device is. Now any UPnP device on your network can act as a library source. Website Update Finally, we’re beginning the process of updating the website to a new look that’s a bit more friendly for first time users. While we’ll talk more about that in the future, for now we’d just like to point out that most of the posts for the past 5 years or so have been categorized, as you should be able to see to the right. This means it’ll be much easier to find some of our favorite old posts, including all the old Feature Fridays, old April Fools jokes, and more.
The recent Veterans Affairs legislation is not the only time socialist Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., has found common ground with Republican lawmakers. He has also backed efforts to revamp the Labor Department's monthly unemployment report. Conservatives like Rep. Duncan Hunter, R-Calif., also back this. Maybe they should get to work on this too. They certainly have a point: The Labor Department actually releases six different numbers every month. These are called "U-1" through "U-6" and range from a narrow definition of the unemployed population and to a much broader one. The department's monthly report always uses the U-3 figure as the "official" number though. Virtually all media outlets take their cue from the department on this. That's why this month's U-3 result – 6.3 percent – dominated the news reports. Why that figure and not one of the other five? Good question – labor economists have told me the designation is basically arbitrary. U-3 is officially defined as "total unemployed, as a percent of the civilian labor force." A more precise definition would people who are out of work but still actively looking for a job. U-4, on the other hand, includes those who are out of work but have given up looking. U-5 is a slightly broader definition of the same. Those numbers this month are 6.7 and 7.6 percent, respectively. U-6 expands the figure even further to include the under-employed, such as people who are only able to find part-time work. The Labor Department put that figure at 12.2 percent this month. Those would all seem to be a much more accurate reflection of the workforce and the economy since they include people who would be employed if they could only find full-time work. Ask yourself: Does this feel like an economy at 6.3 percent? As Washington Examiner economics writer Joseph Lawler noted Friday: "Friday's record high number of jobs does not represent anything like a healthy U.S. labor market. Employment remains well below its pre-financial crisis growth trend." The liberal Economic Policy Institute points out that the economy would have to generate 7.1 million jobs to keep pace with population growth since the financial crisis. A spokesman for Sanders told the Examiner that the senator still favors a change – "He thinks the 12.2 percent figure is the real number" – but was not certain if Sanders had backed legislation to that effect. Hunter has backed a bill, H.R. 484, titled "The Real Unemployment Calculation Act." It would designate U-5 as the official number. It has 21 sponsors but hasn't made it out of committee. Maybe Sanders and Hunter should have a cup of coffee and talk about this.
TRIPOLI (Reuters) - A bomb exploded in front of the Spanish embassy in the Libyan capital late on Monday, residents said, the latest in a string of attacks on foreign missions in the North African country. “We heard a loud explosion,” said a Tripoli resident living next to the embassy. Spain’s El Mundo newspaper said nobody had been hurt as Spain, like most Western and Arab countries, had pulled out its diplomats in summer during weeks of heavy fighting between rival armed groups in Tripoli. Pictures posted on social media showed some damage at the building’s wall. There was no immediate claim for the attack or comments from Tripoli officials. Militants loyal to Islamic State have claimed a string of killings of foreigners as well as attacks on embassies and oilfields in Libya. Islamic State militants have exploited chaos in the North African country where two governments allied to a host of armed groups are fighting for control four years after the ousting of Muammar Gaddafi. On Sunday, the group claimed the killing of around 30 Ethiopan Christians, two months after the beheading of 21 Egyptian Copts on a Libyan beach. Libya’s internationally recognized government has been based in the east since a rival faction called Libya Dawn seized Tripoli in August, setting up a rival administration.
In recent years, much information about the ancients has circulated online, some of which is ill-informed and on the other hand, some of whi... http://humansarefree.com/2017/04/the-mysterious-connection-between-dogon.html In recent years, much information about the ancients has circulated online, some of which is ill-informed and on the other hand, some of which may be shockingly accurate. One of the most controversial topics in the field of archaeology and anthropology is the interpretation of the teachings of Ancient Egypt.Many scholars in recent years have identified uncanny similarities in the beliefs and traditions of the ancient land of Khemit and schools of thought around the ancient world.One of the more compelling arguments for the disbursement of the sacred traditions and astronomical knowledge of the ancient Egyptians comes from researcher and author Laird Scranton In his work, he makes some interesting correlations between the people of the Dogon tribe of Mali and those from the ancient land of Khemit.Inspired by the work of Robert Temple, who’s 1976 book “ The Sirius Mystery ” which would go on to influence future researchers, Scranton pointed out the cosmological significance of the Dogon beliefs.In his work, “ The Science of the Dogon ,” Scranton describes the incredible accuracy with which the Dogon people were able to use their language and symbols to account for complex scientific facts that wouldn’t be discovered in the West until the 20th century.Yet, mainstream scholars who reject the notion of this kind of advanced understanding of Sirius by a tribe deemed primitive, proclaim that the Dogon-Sirius mystery is nothing more than a 1965 hoax put on by two French anthropologists Grisule and Dierterlen.The two were the first to reveal such an unusual idea to the public in an unprecedented filmed interview.Since then, not a single anthropologist has corroborated the findings, although the subject has been heavily examined by independent researchers.But Laird is quick to point out that there are many more mysteries surrounding the knowledge of the Dogon priest (Hogon) that can’t be chalked up to a single interview.According to the Earth Center, Master Neb Naba Lamoussa Morodenibig, a modern day Kemetic Dogon priest claims that the Dogon tradition has been preserved over time and it’s origins lie in Egypt.When considered, how did these two French men have enough knowledge of the workings of the Sirius star system for such an elaborate hoax? The second star of the Sirius Galaxy, referenced by the tribe, wasn’t discovered by NASA until the 80s Could all of it be true? Could the Dogon people really have had a complex scientific understanding of the cosmos? And more could this ancient knowledge go back to ancient Egypt?
BOULDER — The two Boulder police officers involved in the shooting of an elk on Mapleton Avenue late Tuesday were placed on paid administrative leave Friday pending a personnel investigation by the Boulder Police Department. Meanwhile, the Boulder County Sheriff’s Office has launched an internal investigation to determine what role an on-duty sheriff’s deputy played that night. According to Boulder police, Officers Sam Carter and Brent Curnow have been placed on leave pending the investigation. Curnow has been on the force for 14 years, while Carter is a five-year veteran. At 9:35 a.m., Boulder Police Chief Mark Beckner tweeted: “Two officers involved in Elk shooting incident have been placed on Admin Leave w/pay pending the outcome of investigations.” According to police, an officer on patrol near Mapleton Avenue and Ninth Street shot the elk with a shotgun Tuesday night after he said it appeared to be injured. An off-duty officer then arrived to haul away the elk and process it for meat. The officer did not file a report or notify dispatchers about the incident. A photo taken by a resident in the area shows Carter posing with the elk. Boulder police did not specify whether Carter or Curnow shot the animal but did specify that the on-duty officer was the one who took the shot. Carter was on duty the night of the shooting and Curnow was not, according to police records. Cmdr. Rick Brough with the Boulder County Sheriff’s Office said Friday morning that the deputy who reportedly helped load the elk into a truck also is being investigated by that department but has not been placed on leave. Brough said another deputy drove by the scene but does not appear to have been involved. Both of the police officers also are under criminal investigation from Colorado Parks and Wildlife. Samson’s Law, passed in 1998 after a well-known bull elk in Estes Park was killed by a poacher, adds substantial fines for the killing of trophy animals. The killing of a bull elk with six-point antlers or larger can carry a fine of up to $10,000, on top of the other criminal penalties for violating hunting rules. In addition, hunting is never allowed within city limits.
Show full PR text Consumer Reports Auto Reliability Survey: Ford Continues Fall While Seven Japanese Brands Top List Audi and Cadillac make major jumps in rankings December 2012 CoverYONKERS, NY-A perfect storm of reliability problems has dropped Ford to next to last among the 28 car brands ranked in Consumer Reports 2012 Annual Auto Reliability Survey, while its luxury brand, Lincoln, placed just a notch higher. The findings were released today before the Automotive Press Association in Detroit. Only two years ago, Ford was Detroit's poster child for reliability. It cracked the top 10 among brands in Consumer Reports predicted-reliability scores, with more than 90 percent of its models being average or better. This year the top seven spots are all held by Japanese brands. "Ford's bumpy road can be seen in the numbers. Sixty percent of Ford-branded models and half of Lincolns were below average in predicted reliability, and none placed above average," said Jake Fisher, director of automotive testing for Consumer Reports. Several factors contributed to Ford's decline in Consumer Reports' reliability rankings. A few new or redesigned models, including the Explorer, Fiesta, and Focus, came out of the gate with more problems than normal. Ford has also added the MyFord/MyLincoln Touch electronic infotainment system, which has been problematic so far, to many vehicles. In addition, three historically reliable models-the Ford Escape, Fusion and the Lincoln MKZ-are not included in the analysis; the three were redesigned for 2013 and CR doesn't yet have reliability data on them. Toyota, on the other hand, has excelled in Consumer Reports' latest ratings. Its three brands-Scion, Toyota, and Lexus-swept the top spots. Toyota is clearly setting the pace in reliability. Of the 27 models in the brand's lineup, 16 earned the highest rating. The subcompact Toyota Prius C earned Consumer Reports' top score overall. The hatchback Prius, the larger Prius V, and the new Prius plug-in were also above average. The Toyota trio was followed by four other Japanese makes: Mazda, Subaru, Honda, and Acura, in that order. All of the models produced by the top seven brands had average or better reliability. And of the 90 Japanese models reflected in Consumer Reports' brand comparison, 86 were average or better, with 35 earning the highest rating. Leading the Europeans, Audi had its best showing ever, moving up 18 spots to eighth place, making it easily the most reliable European make and the top non-Japanese brand. The findings from Consumer Reports 2012 Annual Auto Survey are based on subscribers' experiences with 1.2 million vehicles. The organization uses that extensive data to predict how well new cars that are currently on sale will hold up. The complete report and rankings are available at www.ConsumerReports.org starting today, and in the December issue of Consumer Reports. Mixed bag for domestics Cadillac is the top U.S. brand, having moved up 14 spots this year. Its CTS coupe was the most reliable domestic car. A number of other General Motors nameplates-Buick, Chevrolet, GMC-also moved up in the ranking. The Chevrolet Volt extended-range electric car continues to have above-average reliability, and the compact Chevrolet Cruze, dismal in its first year, improved to average. Chrysler brands had a few setbacks. This year, Consumer Reports has enough data to report on some of the recently revamped Chrysler and Dodge models, and their problems have dragged the nameplates' rankings down. The Dodge Charger, for example, returns with well-below-average reliability. Other models had ups and downs. The V6 version of the Chrysler 300 sedan, with an average rating, is now the brand's most reliable model, and the V8 300 is its worst. Likewise, the V6 Jeep Grand Cherokee scores average and the V8 is now below par. The differences stem from the alternative powertrains and the extra features found in higher-priced versions. Separating its trucks into a new nameplate, Ram, didn't help Dodge's standing. And Fiat's 500 debuted with average reliability in its first year in the United States. Japanese models are tops Mazda is hot on the tail of the three Toyota brands, and its improvement is buoyed by the predicted-reliability score for the new 2013 CX-5 SUV, which is much better than average. And Subaru's standing improved, with its redesigned Impreza debuting with top marks and none of its models scoring below average. Honda dropped one spot in the ranking, to sixth place, but its worst vehicle, the Odyssey minivan, improved from below average to average. Nissan and its Infiniti luxury brand performed well overall, but a few models kept them from ranking with the other Japanese nameplates. Nissan's Versa sedan, redesigned for 2012, was much worse than average, as was the large Armada SUV. The Titan pickup truck was also below par. Of the seven Infiniti models, only the convertible version of the G scored below average. Germans brands lead Europe All of the German luxury brands improved. Six of the seven Audis in CR's survey rated average or better, as did 10 of the 12 BMWs. But the high-end BMW 7 Series and the turbocharged six-cylinder version of the X3 SUV were much worse than average. Mercedes-Benz made a good showing, with the turbocharged, four-cylinder C250 sedan doing well in its first year and the V6 E-Class sedan moving from average to above average. But the redesigned M-Class came in below average in its first year. Volkswagen was a mix. The redesigned Passat did well, and the CC, Eos, and diesel Jetta sedan improved. But the redesigned Beetle, four- and five-cylinder gasoline Jetta, sporty GTI, and Touareg SUV were below average. Volvo, which ranked highest among European brands last year, dropped 10 places, hurt by declining scores for the C30 hatchback and C70 convertible and a below-average showing for the aging XC90 SUV. Consumer Reports reliability ratings do not come from the organization's experience during vehicle testing. Instead, it relies on owners to supply the Consumer Reports National Research Center with the data. Earlier this year, the organization asked subscribers to report about serious problems they've had with their vehicles in the prior 12 months. CR bases its predicted-reliability scores on the most recent three model years of data, provided the model has not been redesigned for 2013. The scores are presented as a percentage better or worse than the average of all cars. The minimum sample size is 100 vehicles, but Consumer Reports often gets many more. Among 2012 models, the Honda CR-V drew the most responses: 2,981. Other 2012 models with more than 2,000 responses are the Hyundai Elantra sedan and the four-cylinder Toyota Camry and Subaru Outback. Some new and redesigned models were released too late to be in our survey, and redesigned 2013 models are not included in the brand's average reliability score. Consumer Reports is the world's largest independent product-testing organization. Using its more than 50 labs, auto test center, and survey research center, the nonprofit rates thousands of products and services annually. Founded in 1936, Consumer Reports has over 8 million subscribers to its magazine, website and other publications. Its advocacy division, Consumers Union, works for health reform, food and product safety, financial reform, and other consumer issues in Washington, D.C., the states, and in the marketplace.
- Police body camera video shows the dramatic moments when officers rescued two dogs from a hot car in a local shopping center. App users: View full article here According to the Roswell Police Department, a woman called 911 just before 4:00 Sunday afternoon after seeing a dog left in a parked car outside the Studio Movie Grill on Holcomb Bridge Road. Police said their officers arrived 18 seconds after the call was made. Related VideoView Larger Roswell Police posted parts of the body camera footage on their Facebook page Wednesday. "You see exactly what's happening from the officer's body cam as he is seeing it," explained Officer Lisa Holland with Roswell Police. "I mean, it's a very traumatic situation for the officer, actually and for the dogs." The video shows how aggressive the first dog was when being taken out of the car, and how a second dog, who hid under the seat to avoid the sun, came out to protect the first dog. Moments after being rescued from the car, police said one of the dogs suffered a heat stroke seizure. The video shows police and fire rescue personnel providing urgent care to the animals. Both pets are said to now be in good health, and were seized as evidence by Fulton County Animal Control. "We want the public to see this and hopefully tell their friends and just remember the importance, [be]cause sometimes you don't think about it. The lady you know, didn't intentionally want to hurt her dogs, she didn't want to cause harm to these animals. She just didn't think," said Officer Holland. The woman is scheduled to appear in court in August.
From EmblemWiki When it released alongside Fire Emblem Fates in June of 2015, Fire Emblem Cipher was a treat to FE fans new and old. A new trading card game based on a fun and popular series, it capitalized on the popularity of newly released games but also served as a throwback to older characters and the nostalgia of the original Fire Emblem TCG game. However, since the majority of the Cipher information available is only in Japanese, many Fire Emblem fans are just now still discovering this fun card game. After answering many questions from prospective collectors and players over the past several months, I thought it would be a good idea to put together this Newcomers Guide as a reference guide for new and potential fans. Want to learn more about Fire Emblem Cipher? Read on below for some basic information about Cipher cards, where to get them, how to play the game, and more. This guide was written and maintained by Kirie of the SerenesForest forums. Fire Emblem Cipher - Card Basics Whether you're a player or a collector, obtaining cards is the main place to start your Cipher journey. The majority of the available cards are from the Booster Sets, but there are also Structure Deck cards and Promotional cards. The most common cards can be found rather easily, but some cards can be rare or difficult to obtain. To the delight of many fans, Cipher cards feature characters from many Fire Emblem games throughout the series. Series 1 started off with the Dark Dragon and Sword of Light and Awakening , and since then, we've also seen cards from a number of other Fire Emblem games and worlds, even the spin-off Tokyo Mirage Sessions #FE. Future releases have been confirmed to feature even more games and continents, so chances are that your favourite character will get their own card at some point, if they haven't already. The different Fire Emblem games are represented with various colours. Characters from Marth's games are given the colour red and their cards have a red border and other highlights. Characters from Awakening get blue cards, while the Tellius characters are green, Elibe's are purple, and Jugdral's are orange-gold. Fates characters are actually split into 2 colours depending on where their loyalities lie; Nohr characters are black-bordered while Hoshido characters are white. Colours for Valencia and Magvel have not yet been revealed, but will likely be seen in upcoming sets as the game progresses. Booster Series This is where you'll find most of the available Cipher cards. Each Series is based off a number of Fire Emblem games and contains approximately 100 cards in total split between the various available colours. Each Booster Series contains at least 2 colours to allow for some variation. Booster Series cards come in a total of 6 rarities. N (Normal) cards are the most common, with HN (High Normal) cards being slightly rarer. R (Rare) cards are, as their name implies, rarer than N or HN cards. They are also printed on holofoil paper to give them a shiny appearance. Even rarer than R cards are SR (Super Rare) cards. These cards are holo as well, but they also have a slight grooved texture to them that makes the cards both look and feel extra fancy. Some secret cards in a given booster series are marked with a special X on top of their regular rarity. Some R and SR cards also have special variants. These cards are R+ and SR+ cards. Although R+/SR+ cards are mostly the same as their non-plus versions, they have a metallic gold or silver border around the edge, and some even half a special foil signature of the character's voice actor! These cards are some of the most expensive and sought after Cipher cards by players and collectors alike. Starting with Series 5, R+ and SR+ cards used alternate art from the regular version of the card, making these cards stand out even more. Booster Series cards are most often purchased as a booster box. A booster box of Cipher cards contains 16 packs, and each individual pack has 10 cards. 6 of those cards will be Ns, 3 will be HNs, and 1 will be an R or SR. Each box contains 11 Rs, 4 SRs, and 1 R+/SR+ card, so the rate of pulling an SR card is approximately 1:4 packs. SR+ cards are found in approximately 1 in 4 boxes. In addition to the cards, booster boxes also include some extra gifts. Each box contains 1 of 2 preview promotional cards of the main characters from the games featured in the next series. Ever since Series 2, they have also included a pack of 5 unique card sleeves that are only available in these booster boxes. Series 5 and 6 also contain special anniversary reprint promos with a special stamp, though it's unknown if this is temporary or will continue in future sets. Structured Decks Each Booster Series is accompanied by at least 1 Structured (or ST) Deck. Each ST Deck contains a set number of cards that fit a given theme. Some of the cards in a ST Deck will also be available in the matching Booster Series, but there are also a few cards included that are exclusive to the deck. ST decks also contain some holo cards that are not available in the Booster Series, including some holo variants of N or HN cards. ST Decks also come with some good tools for beginning players, such as a playmat, instruction booklet, and a marker card to designate your deck's main character. Like the booster boxes, they also sometimes contain little gifts, though the digital goodies can only be redeemed with a Japanese 3DS. Promotional Cards Like many other TCG games, Cipher also has a number of promotional cards that are available to fans for a limited time. Sometimes these promo cards are the same as Booster Series cards but with alternate artwork, sometimes the cards are completely new and only available as part of a particular promotion. The most plentiful of Cipher promo cards are those available from tournaments in Japan. There have been 6 tournament promo cards released for each series so far, a combination of new artwork and new cards. Players in Japan receive these cards as a gift for participating in Cipher tournaments. However, there are a lot of Cipher cards that come from different and interesting sources. Sometimes promo cards are included as freebies in Japanese magazines (such as Nintendo Dream), or included in other merchandise. For example, a special promotional Tsubasa card was included in Japanese copies of TMS #FE. For a full list of currently available promotional cards, check out the Promo Cards page, and make sure to keep an eye on the main Serenes Forest page for details of new promo cards as they're announced. Playing the Cipher Game While there are some people who only want to collect the cards and look at their pretty artwork, Cipher also has a very large following of fans, both in Japan and internationally, who enjoy playing the game, both competitively and just for fun. Thanks to the internet and a large number of people willing to scan and translate cards, it's possible to learn the rules and play the game, even if you don't know any Japanese. The Cipher card game is similar to other Trading Card Games that you may be familiar with, such as Pokémon or Magic: the Gathering. Players obtain cards and build a deck that is used to battle against another player's deck. You can choose to build a deck around your favourite characters and work from there, or study the different card effects to create a more powerful strategy. Since Cipher is a game based off of Fire Emblem, many elements of the game will be familiar to people who are a fan of the video games. For example, each deck has a "Main Character" that is similar to a Lord in the video games. Common mechanics from Fire Emblem games are also present within the game's mechanics, such as class changing and promotion. A comprehensive explanation of the Cipher game's rules can be read on the Serenes Forest Wiki. If you have any questions about the rules or specific card interactions, we have a thread in the Cipher subforum where other players can offer advice or ruling information. If you're interested in playing the game but don't have anyone nearby you to play, or money to import the cards you need for a deck, you may be interested in checking out our LackeyCCG group. LackeyCCG is a free program that allows people to play various card games online, and a group of members has put together a plugin for Cipher cards. the cards in the program already have their text translated into English, so there's no need to reference translations while playing. There's also a corresponding Skype group dedicated to finding other players and setting up matches online. Cipher Merchandise and Events Since its release, Cipher has also inspired some related merchandise, available online or via special events held in Japan. The most common are special Cipher card sleeves that feature artwork of popular characters from various sets. Four different sets of sleeves are released alongside each series, with each pack containing 65 sleeves. They are perfect for storing and protecting Cipher cards, and they can also be used for other TCGs that use the same size cards, such as Pokémon or Magic: the Gathering. Starting with Comiket89 in December of 2015, Cipher also started to release some additional limited-time merchandise such as playmats, badges, and artbooks featuring Cipher artwork. There were also Players Boxes that featured an assortment of merchandise together in one nice storage box. After the huge success of Comiket, Cipher repeated the process again with the Cipher Sai events of early 2016. Much of the earlier Comiket merchandise was rereleased along with some new products and styles. The newest Cipher events are the currently on-going Cipher Caravan events traveling around Japan in celebration of the game's 1st anniversary. The Caravan events have another assortment of merchandise, including some new items such as a card binder and tote bag, and also have other events available, such as tournaments and a concert featuring FE music. Cipher merchandise has proved to be very popular and a quick seller, so it's likely that we will see more merchandise released at similar events in the future. Where to Buy? Although Cipher cards and merchandise are only produced and sold in Japan, it's a relatively simple matter to obtain cards online, both sealed products and singles. AmiAmi is the most popular source for people around the world to import sealed Cipher products. They sell booster boxes and ST decks, as well as some merchandise, such as sleeves featuring Cipher artwork and the various Guidebooks. The prices are less than MSRP and shipping costs are reasonable. If you're looking for singles or promo cards, one of the best ways to obtain these cards is directly from other Cipher collectors. We have a thread here on Serenes Forest dedicated to trading, buying, and selling cards, complete with a reputation system. Trading with or buying from collectors cuts out the middleman for better prices, and also helps keep the Cipher community active and flourishing. There are also a few Japanese retail and auction sites that sell single Cipher cards and limited-time merchandise, such as Amenity Dream and Yahoo!Japan, though the majority of those only ship within Japan. However, there are many middleman services available for purchasing from these sites. If you'd like more information about some of these services, check out this thread on the forums. Some international sites also sell Cipher cards. TCG Republic is a popular singles reseller and there are even some sellers on the Amazon that carry booster boxes and decks. However, the prices of these products are generally higher than buying from Japan, sometimes significantly, so it's good to do your research before purchasing. The same applies to international auction sites like eBay. Other Card Resources If you'd like to learn more about Fire Emblem Cipher, there are a number of resources online that provided detailed information about the cards and the game. The official Fire Emblem Cipher website - Although it's only offered in Japanese, the official Cipher site is updated frequently with new information about products and events. Serenes Forest Cipher Subforum - Located right here at Serenes Forest, the Cipher Subforum is frequently updated with the newest information and offers lots of discussion on a wide variety of subjects such as card speculation, deck strategies, card trading, and more. Come check us out and say hi! Serenes Forest Cipher Wiki - Lovingly maintained by forum user TheVinceKnight and a team of dedicated wiki editors, the Serenes Forest Wiki has a whole large section dedicated to Cipher. You'll find translations of revealed cards, high quality scans, card lists, promotional information, and more. Questions & Feedback This Newcomers Guide is a work in progress and I plan to continue updating it with new information as the game grows. After all, Cipher is less than a year old, and there plenty of exciting new changes and additions on the horizon. If you have any suggestions for material to be added, you are welcome to contact me on the SF forums. If you have any questions about Cipher that have not been answered here, feel free to come ask us in the Cipher Subforum.
As the end of the 2012 NFL season comes to a miserable end for the Kansas City Chiefs, the rumors of who could replace KC’s embattled GM Scott Pioli are beginning to heat up. And that replacement could be former Colts executive Bill Polian. We told you on December 8th that there was a rumor Polian could be heading to the Chiefs. That report came from the National Football Post. Now we have another source. Jason La Canfora of CBS Sports is backing up the NFP report with one of his own. As for those more well-known entities, several league sources expect Bill Polian to be a lead candidate in Kansas City if a regime change is made there, with he and his son Chris, the former Colts GM, able to run the franchise in a very hands-on manner, which is in line with how owner Clark Hunt traditionally delegates responsibility. This would be a smart move for Clark Hunt. Polian has been involved in turning around three franchises during his time as an executive. As Gm of the Bills from 1986-1993, Polian took over a 2-14 team and took them to three straight Super Bowls. Buffalo lost all three of them and Polian was fired. Polian emerged again as the GM of the new Carolina Panthers franchise. He took the team to the NFC Championship game in only its second year of existence. Polian left the Panthers to become the President of the Indianapolis Colts in 1997. The Colts had the #1 overall pick in the draft that year and Polian selected none other than Peyton Manning. Polian began grooming his son Chris in 1998 when he made him Director of Pro Personnel in Indy. Chris was later promoted to GM. Hiring Polian would be a brilliant move by Hunt. He’d be getting an experienced executive and personnel man but at the same time, he’d be getting the younger Chris Polian as well. Polian senior was 69 when the Colts fired him in January. He likely won’t be with the Chiefs for long but he certainly could stick around long enough to get the franchise back on track. The Chiefs make sense for Polian as well. The roster has plenty of talent, the team has ample cap space and more importantly, they will likely hold the #1 pick in the draft. It would be a great opportunity for Polian to take his already cemented legacy and dip it in gold. The good news for the Chiefs is that if Clark Hunt is indeed interested in Polian that he will be able to hire him whenever he wants. Since Polian isn’t under contract with any other NFL teams, he’s a free agent so to speak. If the Chiefs want to move on from Pioli, they’ll need to move quickly to give their new GM the time he needs to have a solid offseason. What do you think, Addicts? Will Clark Hunt hire Bill and Chris Polian?
There's going to be a temptation to want to publicly mock those on the left who have responded to the confirmation of Betsy DeVos as secretary of education by suggesting they could pull their kids out of the public school system as a form of boycott. There have been some social media responses to that effect, and of course media outlets are jumping on them, aware of the sort of hypocrisy baked in. To respond to DeVos' support for school choice by engaging in school choice seems a bit hilarious to those on the other side. DeVos is even an avid supporter of home schooling! NBC notes a quote from DeVos: "We've seen more and more people opt for homeschooling, including in urban areas. What you're seeing is parents who are fed up with their lack of power to do anything about where their kids are assigned to go to school. To the extent that homeschooling puts parents back in charge of their kids' education, more power to them." DeVos' emphasis on school choice is a natural fit for the homeschool movement, whose members span the political spectrum but are largely conservative Christians who resist government oversight. That group has helped fuel remarkable growth in recent years, carrying the movement from the fringe and closer to the mainstream. An an estimated 1.8 [m]illion children were homeschooled in 2012, up from 850,000 three years earlier, according to an Education Department survey published last June. The story does note at the end that it wasn't Christian conservatives who started the homeschool movement in the United States but folks who thought the tightly regimented and bureaucratic system wasn't helpful for kids' learning. If people on the left respond by pulling out of the public schools and homeschooling instead, they're returning the program to its roots. Resist the desire to mock these people. This is what school choice supporters have been arguing for all along. Parents shouldn't have to submit to whatever DeVos thinks counts as the proper education for their children. The public education establishment has attempted to paint the school choice movement as a mechanism for conservatives (particularly religious conservatives and wealthy conservatives) to escape participation in public schools. While an initial response could be "So? Their kids aren't your property," it's also very important to point out it's not true. It's not the DeVoses of the world struggling as hard as they can to get their kids out of public schools and into charters. The DeVoses of the world can just write a check and educate their kids wherever they want. It's those randoms on Twitter who are intended to be the beneficiaries of charter programs and homeschooling. School choice options are wildly popular with parents, something mostly ignored by DeVos' opponents, given that they were more interested in carrying water for education unions. It's akin to the local politicians who protect the taxi cartels from ride-sharing services at the expense of the actual customers, who end up having fewer choices, paying more, and getting treated poorly as a result. In the event that DeVos attempts to push through a particular ideology within the education system (I doubt this will happen, but you never know), parents should feel free to use the mechanism DeVos herself supports and reject her and seek education elsewhere. There's no valid reason for the Department of Education to exist other than to advance and expand bureaucratic rule of over our lives. Meanwhile, some union protester in Washington, D.C., physically blocked DeVos from entering a public school today, an act so stupid that even the president of the American Federation of Teachers rejected it. That behavior certainly is not going to make public schools any better.
Construction is underway on the $6.7 million renovation and expansion of the Eastside Food Co-op at 25th and Central avenues, continuing the modest comeback of the once-languishing main commercial artery of northeast Minneapolis. The 5,200 member-owners of the 12-year-old co-op raised more than $1 million in equity. And the growing business recently closed on a $4.6 million loan from Self-Help Federal Credit Union in Durham, N.C. This is a job-creating deal in a neighborhood where an estimated quarter of the households live at or near the poverty level. “Central Avenue has come far over the last 10 years,” said longtime Eastside General Manager Amy Fields. “We’re one of the smaller, but a growing co-op. Our expansion means we can greatly increase our impact … both for our members and for the community.” Fields said local bankers were sympathetic but couldn’t underwrite the deal because of its high real estate loan-to-value ratio in an area where property values have been depressed by vacant and underutilized buildings. Self-Help Federal, founded in 1980, is a U.S. Treasury-designated Community Development Financial Institution that, in addition to loans, can use federal tax credits and other tools outside of standard underwriting guidelines in pursuit of revitalizing once-blighted areas. New CEO Amanda LaGrange says she likes Tech Dump’s mission. The first step in a complicated deal for Eastside was to buy a vacant building next door for $425,000, plus another $135,000-plus for demolition and pollution remediation. Eastside is renovating its 1954 structure, once a Country Club grocery store, into an attractive, energy-smart building and expanding from 12,200 square feet to 17,700 square feet. The 78-employee business also will add 25 jobs at $12.65 or more an hour. The Eastside Co-op block, near the critical intersection of Lowry and Central avenues, has undergone a resurrection. More than a decade ago the immigrant Wadi family started buying dilapidated commercial storefronts and turned them into Holy Land enterprises: restaurant, food service, bakeries and even Minnesota’s first hummus factory in what was Sully’s Bar. More than 150 jobs were created. This is just the latest expansion by a Twin Cities co-op. It follows the expansion to a second store this year by the larger Seward Co-op. Mississippi Market just opened a third store in St. Paul. The co-ops, supported by loyal neighbors and owner-members and boasting high sales per square foot, are growing amid the struggles in a no-growth industry among big-box food peddlers such as Cub and Target. Former General Mills analyst named Tech Dump CEO Amanda LaGrange, who started as a volunteer board member in 2010, is the new CEO of fast-growing Tech Dump, the two-location electronics recycler that also employs folks with criminal backgrounds or other barriers to employment. LaGrange, 30, an accountant, was working as a financial analyst at General Mills when she left in 2013 to become Tech Dump’s marketing director. She joined founder Tom McCullough, a successful Internet retailer who started Tech Dump as a “social enterprise,” focused on reusing or recycling valuable and sometimes-toxic electronic components out of the waste stream. “I love the idea of using business as an opportunity to solve big challenges like poverty and injustice with a business model. “I chose to work for General Mills given their great reputation for giving back to the community,” LaGrange said last week. “I also knew that before I could have an impact at a social enterprise, I needed to build a firm business foundation. “In 2012, I started volunteering about 10 hours a week with Tech Dump, focusing specifically on partnerships and building the Tech Dump name. Over the past two years, in addition to growing our business, I also became more involved in the general business management of our organization. We are accomplishing the important work of responsibly recycling electronics while also providing vital training for adults facing barriers to employment. I love using business as an opportunity to solve big [environmental and employment] challenges.” Tech Dump, which employs 43, this year will process 5.5 million pounds of electronics or about 40 percent more than 2014. It recently received the industry’s “Responsible Recycling” or “R2” designation through an independent three-day audit to verify that it meets rigorous environmental, data security and worker-safety standards. Tom Wood Automotive finishes big expansion at Richfield facility Richfield Bloomington Honda has replaced its old store with a new, 165,000-square-foot facility. This two-year project included demolition of the old Honda dealership, as well as the adjacent Richfield Bloomington Mitsubishi dealership on W. 77th Street, and construction of two new dealerships under the same owner, Tom Wood Automotive. The new construction cost was nearly $30 million, according to permits filed with the city of Richfield. “In order to meet the needs of our growing client base, we built a larger, state-of-the-art, energy-efficient, updated facility,” said General Manager Tim Carter of Richfield Bloomington Mitsubishi. The new, three-story Honda facility is growing from 97 employees to an estimated 180 by the end of this year. In addition to a sparkling building, new energy-efficient features include a specialized boiler that burns waste oil, a carwash that will recycle and reuse most of its water, LED light fixtures inside and outside and “the only metro dealership with sidewalk frontage creating that small town window-shopping experience.” This is not your father’s Honda dealership. Little will reboot brand for Ryan Companies Little, the Minneapolis branding agency, has been hired by Ryan Companies to update and refresh the image of the 75-year-old Minneapolis-based construction and development firm. Little’s assignment is to develop a new brand strategy for Ryan, as well as an identity. Rebranding plans include a new website and interactive sales tools. This is a significant win for Little. Ryan a national developer, builder and real estate manager, is developing much of the Downtown East office and residential complex, and also is behind facilities such as CHS Field in St. Paul and Shutterfly’s new Shakopee facility. Earlier this summer Little was honored by the trade journal Ad Age as its Silver Midwest Small Agency of the Year. Associated Bank names new Minnesota leader Angela O’Neill, a 10-year Associated Bank veteran, has been promoted to commercial banking market leader in Minnesota for Wisconsin-based bank. O’Neill, who will split time between offices in Minneapolis and St. Paul, most recently was the corporate banking team leader in St. Paul and before that was a commercial relationship manager in St. Paul. Before joining Associated Bank, she was with U.S. Bank.
While popular documentary films like Fahrenheit 9/11 and No End In Sight explored the consequences of the disastrous policies of the Bush 41 presidency, the ideas that shaped the foreign policy thinking of the Bush Administration, and people promoting those ideas, have received considerably less attention. With the notable exception of the wonderful Adam Curtis series The Power of Nightmares, films on the the 2003 Iraq War and post-9/11 security paradigm have focused on policymakers and particularly on the public speaking pratfalls of President George W. Bush. Two of the heavies with an agenda - the film has fascinating footage of the infamous couple This deficit in more substantive ideological investigation is not a mystery. In the first instance, President Bush makes for an easy foil – it is hard to imagine a better example of a man of mediocre talents gaining position due to unearned privilege. Bush is not just an unexceptional presidential specimen, he is well below average – who ever heard of a politician who could not effectively speak in public? Bush’s communication failings alone were enough to keep Comedy Central in business for eight years. Everyone loves to hate a spoiled brat. Combine President Bush’s laughable persona with his blunders abroad and the script writes itself – trust-fund dumbass given the keys to dad’s old imperial war machine which he then stupidly swerves and crashes into the Middle East. It is a story people can understand and one not without its fun in telling. The second reason complements the first: policy and philosophy are painfully boring to a mass audience. It is not a coincidence that every TV show or movie about Washington DC – even ones with more sophisticated ambitions – throws in generous portions of superfluous violence, intrigue, and romance. Policy is dry and policy wonks are exceedingly uninteresting people. And yet, understanding the Bush presidency and even our current circumstances requires at least a basic understanding of the ideas framing some of the agendas in DC and beyond. Enter Robbie Martin’s film seriesA Very Heavy Agenda. The three-part series begins in the weeks after the 9/11 terrorist attacks when neoconservative thought leaders opportunistically used the country’s anxiety about another attack to push their agenda. A Very Heavy Agenda Part 1: “A Catalyzing Event,” details how Paul Wolfowitz, Bill Kristol, Robert Kagan and others shaped the policy response to the 9/11 attacks utilizing a playbook written at The Project For A New American Century (PNAC) well before the attacks . Part 2: “How We Learned to Stop Worrying and Love The New Neocons,” picks up at the end of the Bush presidency, when the neoconservatives largely discredited by the Iraq War re-brand themselves and seek to resurrect past Reaganite glory by instigating conflict with Russia. PNAC is re-branded as The Foreign Policy Initiative (FPI), which pursues the same agenda with new lines of attack and operatives who make up for their lack of intellectual rigor with a savvier understanding of media manipulation. In Part 2, the audience gets a look at the new “Information War,” where US state media, Russian state media, and those with various contradicting and corresponding interests battle it out on a host of platforms to control the narrative of the crisis in Ukraine and other world events. Part 3: “Maintaining the World Order,” is set to be released in February and will provide an in-depth look at the role of the Kagan family and other neoconservative actors, who are still influencing and implementing US foreign policy. What are the ultimate ends and motivations for their very heavy agenda? The series goes beyond simply broadening the understanding of the ideological dimension of the Bush years. It shows both the surprising continuity of neoconservative influence between the Bush and Obama Administrations, as well as how the neoconservatives adapted in the wake of their stunning policy failures in the Middle East. Those responsible for the millions of deaths and trillions of dollars wasted on the failed War on Terror have quickly dismissed their own responsibility. They are marching forward with a new generation of neocons, who appear as equally determined as their predecessors to spill American blood and treasure in the quest for Western dominance of the world. Truly, a very heavy agenda.
In an attempt to end the debate over the issue of succession, Prince William has signalled that there is “no question” about whether his father will be the next monarch, despite his surge in popularity following his engagement to Kate Middleton. Royal aides insist that Prince William has “no desire to climb the ladder of kingship” prematurely, following two recent polls by ICM and YouGov that found that most people believe he would make a better king than his father and think that Prince Charles should stand aside for his son. A senior royal aide told The Sunday Telegraph: “There is no question in Prince William’s mind that the Prince of Wales will be the next monarch. “Prince William is aware of the speculation, but he is very thick-skinned. He knows his place in the Royal family and he considers himself to be very low down the food chain. He has no desire to climb the ladder of kingship before his time.” Royal sources also said that Prince William did not share his late mother’s view that he is more suited to the role of king than the Prince of Wales. In 1995, Diana, Princess of Wales gave a candid television interview to the BBC in which she said that the role of king would bring “enormous limitations” to Prince Charles, and that Prince William may be better suited to succeed the Queen as monarch. A royal source said: “Prince William is enormously proud of his mother and all her achievements, but that is so far off what he thinks. He is very close to his father and incredibly supportive of him and his work as the Prince of Wales. “Both of them will let nature take its course. There is no suggestion from anywhere within the institution that a generation will be skipped.” Prince William is known to be sensitive at being seen to encroach on his father’s role as heir to the throne and rarely attends official engagements with his father to avoid the spotlight falling on him rather than Prince Charles, 62. But according to the YouGov poll, only 15 per cent of the public felt that Prince Charles would make a better king, while 56 per cent preferred Prince William. Royal aides also confirmed that Prince William, 28, who works as a search-and-rescue helicopter pilot at RAF Valley in Anglesey, North Wales, will not be stepping up his royal duties following his marriage to Miss Middleton next year, despite St James’s Palace receiving huge demand. A royal aide said: “The Prince is not yet a full-time member of the Royal family – first and foremost he is an RAF officer – and he will continue in his role at RAF Valley until at least 2013. “After that time, he may wish to continue in some role in the military, or begin his training for kingship, which may involve attachments to various government departments to learn more about constitutional affairs. “Prince William has around 20 patronages, but that number is not going to increase in the near future because he does not want to overcommit while he has a full-time job in the RAF. “Kate will be pursuing her own projects in time, but the plan is very much for her to be introduced to the role and shown the ropes, and not plunging in unprepared.” Lord Lester of Herne Hill QC, the Liberal Democrat peer and constitutional lawyer, said: “The mechanism of succession is not based on a popularity contest, so all the polls in the world about who should be the next monarch are irrelevant. “The public need to accept that we have a monarchical system based on the medieval male descent principle where the crown passes from the monarch to the next direct male heir. “I would certainly not expect the Prince of Wales to ever relinquish that right to the throne in his lifetime, nor would I imagine that Prince William would ever consider challenging it.” Prince Charles’s future reign as king came under the spotlight recently when he suggested that the Duchess of Cornwall could be crowned queen. Previously, it was believed that the Duchess would adopt the title of “Princess Consort” when Prince Charles becomes king. The title was concocted by the last Labour government when the Prince married his second wife in 2005, amid concern that the public had not warmed to the Duchess and felt that the prospect of her becoming queen would not be accepted. In an interview on American television, the Prince was asked if the Duchess would become queen, to which he replied: “That’s, well… we’ll see, won’t we? That could be.” Although the Queen, 84, shows no signs of slowing down or reducing her royal engagements, it was announced last week that the Duke of Edinburgh, who will be 90 next year, is gradually to wind down his official commitments.
The deal ends a drawn-out battle that began last year and turned hostile for several months after Roche's initial bid was rejected. The financial crisis then struck, casting doubts about the takeover. Roche later increased its offer after meeting with Genentech investors. The new deal gives the Basel-based firm 44 per cent of Genentech that it did not already control and creates a sales force of about 3,000 people. Roche will now control Genentech's popular cancer drugs Avastin and Herceptin. Executives estimate annual revenues from the two companies should be around $17 billion. Board members at Genentech, a California-based company, agreed to sell Roche all outstanding shares for $95 each in cash. It is one of the most expensive deals in the history of the Swiss economy. Copyright All rights reserved. The content of the website by swissinfo.ch is copyrighted. It is intended for private use only. Any other use of the website content beyond the use stipulated above, particularly the distribution, modification, transmission, storage and copying requires prior written consent of swissinfo.ch. Should you be interested in any such use of the website content, please contact us via contact@swissinfo.ch. As regards the use for private purposes, it is only permitted to use a hyperlink to specific content, and to place it on your own website or a website of third parties. The swissinfo.ch website content may only be embedded in an ad-free environment without any modifications. Specifically applying to all software, folders, data and their content provided for download by the swissinfo.ch website, a basic, non-exclusive and non-transferable license is granted that is restricted to the one-time downloading and saving of said data on private devices. All other rights remain the property of swissinfo.ch. In particular, any sale or commercial use of these data is prohibited. Reuse article Roche buys Genentech for $46.8 billion Mar 12, 2009 - 09:12 Swiss drug maker Roche has struck a deal with shareholders to purchase biotech group Genentech for $46.8 billion (SFr54.11 billion). Board members at Genentech, a California-based company, agreed to sell Roche all outstanding shares for $95 each in cash. It is one of the most expensive deals in the history of the Swiss economy. The deal ends a drawn-out battle that began last year and turned hostile for several months after Roche's initial bid was rejected. The financial crisis then struck, casting doubts about the takeover. Roche later increased its offer after meeting with Genentech investors. The new deal gives the Basel-based firm 44 per cent of Genentech that it did not already control and creates a sales force of about 3,000 people. Roche will now control Genentech's popular cancer drugs Avastin and Herceptin. Executives estimate annual revenues from the two companies should be around $17 billion.
Boffins at NATO have managed to ratify, across the entire alliance, the first ever official standard for underwater digital communications. “This marks the first time that a digital underwater communication protocol has been acknowledged at international level and opens the way to develop many exciting underwater communication applications,” said the alliance in a statement. NATO’s Centre for Maritime Research and Experimentation (CMRE) had the new standard, called JANUS, ratified by all of the alliance’s 28 members in late March. It was developed over the last eight years, with the main paper describing the standard having been published (requires registration) in the journal Underwater Communications and Networking in 2014. The specification is open and “deliberately simple to allow easy adoption by legacy equipment”. More details are available here. JANUS is mainly focused on allowing underwater drones to communicate with mother ships and each other. "Robots can behave intelligently and act as a team," said João Alves, a principal scientist and project leader at CMRE. “For example, one of the robots could find some interesting feature and call the rest of the team.” “This is particularly important for search-and-rescue operations,” added John Potter, a scientist at the CMRE Strategic Development Office and one of the authors of the 2014 paper. “Autonomous vehicles are relatively inexpensive and of course unmanned, so they can be sent to do dirty, dangerous jobs.” Janus was the two-faced Roman sentry god who stood watch over doorways and portals. “That’s why it is called JANUS,” said Potter, “because this language opens the portal between two domains, two different operating paradigms, through which they can talk.” The Portuguese Navy has been working with NATO on perfecting JANUS, particularly for data exchange with submarines. For typical data movement activities, submerged submarines can either receive very low frequency (VLF) broadcasts from shore stations (but cannot transmit without surfacing) or must surface for two-way communications with nearby ships. NATO hopes that JANUS will be adopted by the civilian maritime industry as well as navies, as the paper makes clear. The alliance’s press statement gives use-case examples of scuba divers approaching the surface and needing to be aware of nearby ships and boats, or underwater survey drones communicating with oil rigs in real time. It also suggests the standard could be used “for harbour protection, maritime surveillance, mine detection, surveying offshore wind farms and pipelines, or even underwater archaeology.” ®
x YouTube Video “For people like Bill O’Reilly,” Hayes said, “there is a zero sum of concern, here. For him, this really isn’t about his interest in helping the actual human beings being killed on Chicago’s South Side. No. It’s about making a point. A point about the propensity of black people to commit violence, and then tossing them aside as violent people with ‘little discipline’ who are ‘unsupervised’ and ‘prone to imitate bad behavior.’” Hayes said, “There are about 200 million white people in America, making up about 63% of the population. In 2010, 1,179 white people were killed by black people. Compare that number to the roughly 20,000 white people who died from accidental poisoning, 16,000 who died from accidental falls that year, or the 2,000 or so white people estimated who died from accidental drowning. In other words, Bill O’Reilly, you have more reason to be afraid of your own swimming pool than any young black man you see in a hoodie.” Rep. Barbra Lee states that "many studies have shown that low socio-economic status is the largest indicator of violence rather than race". Just as many argue there is a correlation between a high rate of black crime, even though the fact is those statistics are repeatedly misused, skewed and distorted, they often ignore that there is also a fairly high rate of poverty among non-whites. Via Wapo. A census report on poverty rates for various racial and ethnic groups found poverty widespread among American Indians, blacks and Hispanics. Nationwide, during 2007 and 2011, which encompasses the recession and the immediate aftermath, 43 million Americans — or slightly more than 14 percent — lived in poverty. But not every group was impacted equally. The poverty rate was 27 percent for American Indians, 26 percent for African Americans and 23 percent for Hispanics. Among whites and Asians, less than 12 percent were poor. The federal threshold for poverty is about $11,500 in annual income for an individual and about $23,000 for a family of four. So you see the poverty rate for non-whites and non-asians is over two times higher, and also the unemployed rate is far higher as well and has been for quite some time. There are of course a great many factors that influence this, the crumbling of the urban educational infrastructure, the automation, outsourcing and offshoring blue color jobs, our slow stumbling recovery from the second greatest financial collapse in our history which affects both black and white alike, but with the additional tendency of business to discriminate in hiring, for banks to discriminate in lending, and landlords to discriminate in housing, biased policing that drains economic resources, the drug war and mass incarceration that disenfranchises millions from the job market and most importantly the creeping deficit of hope that slowly drowns the promise of an eventual better future, the end result affects blacks somewhat more. When it came to finding one of the studies mentioned by Rep. Lee, it took all of 0.0026 seconds on google. Here is what the Bureau of Justice Statistics states. For the period 2008–12— Persons in poor households at or below the Federal Poverty Level (FPL) (39.8 per 1,000) had more than double the rate of violent victimization as persons in high-income households (16.9 per 1,000). Persons in poor households had a higher rate of violence involving a firearm (3.5 per 1,000) compared to persons above the FPL (0.8–2.5 per 1,000). The overall pattern of poor persons having the highest rates of violent victimization was consistent for both whites and blacks. However, the rate of violent victimization for Hispanics did not vary across poverty levels. Poor Hispanics (25.3 per 1,000) had lower rates of violence compared to poor whites (46.4 per 1,000) and poor blacks (43.4 per 1,000). Poor persons living in urban areas (43.9 per 1,000) had violent victimization rates similar to poor persons living in rural areas (38.8 per 1,000). Poor urban blacks (51.3 per 1,000) had rates of violence similar to poor urban whites (56.4 per 1,000). So, generally speaking, rates of violence for people in poverty are largely the same across racial lines it's just that there is a far higher rate of black people living in poverty in higher concentrated density, and hence, more likely in those specific areas to resort to violence, or become the victim of violence. The violence isn't tied to who or what they are, it's tied to the circumstances their living in. Blacks are not inherently prone to violent crime, poor people sometimes are. Even with that fact documented, it's it interesting that when you control for poverty for poor urban blacks, that the actual rate of violence is slightly higher for poor urban whites at 56.4 incidents per 1000 white persons vs. 51.3 per 1000 black persons. It may not be more than a statistical anomaly, but it does go directly against the prevailing narrative. It's also interesting that poor Hispanics rate of violence is not much affected by poverty and is nearly half the rate of both poor blacks and whites -perhaps because for many of them U.S. poverty is a massive upgrade from poverty in Latin America - which certainly stands in stark contrast to the claims made by the likes of Donald Trump about "immigrant rapists and killers" and the like. It is said that a man with few means and great wants may resort to desperate measures. I think we can see that this is true whether that person is white or black. So when exactly are we going to start working on our poor-on-poor crime problem? Or just on ending the problem of the poverty gap itself?
Some pictures courtesy Yoshi Komatsu. Each week in the lead up to the Rio 2016 Olympic Games, we’ll be revealing another athlete on our list of the top 15 Olympic archers of all time. This week, it’s… NOC: Korea Born: 1 January 1983, Incheon, South Korea Olympic caps: 2 (Athens 2004, Beijing 2008) The Medals Athens 2004 Olympic Games Athens 2004 Olympic Games Beijing 2008 Olympic Games Beijing 2008 Olympic Games The quote “The Olympics… were the best memories of my life. Even when I look back at them now, they’re overwhelming, exciting, and unforgettable.” – Park Sung-Hyun The Reason Park Sung-Hyun is the greatest Olympic archer of the 21st century. She took three golds and a silver medal from just two Games, set standards that remain unmatched today and came within a single arrow of defending an Olympic individual title. She started archery aged 11. “My teacher suggested it to me. I didn’t know anything about archery, but I thought it sounded fun and exciting,” she said. “I feel deep gratitude towards that teacher who has made me who I am today.” Aged just 18, Park won the World Archery Championships in Beijing in 2001, and the world team title two years later. She was already being noted for her incredible form and an intimidatingly ice-cold approach to competition that she would maintain throughout her career. “I think it’s important that you know how to control yourself. No matter how good your posture or your timing is, you can ruin the whole moment with just one mistake by tensing up too much or straining yourself with emotional issues,” she explained. “At every tournament, all of the athletes become your competitor. But personally, I prefer not to think that way. During a match, I’m thinking that the only person I’m battling with is myself.” Her Olympic debut came at Athens 2004, where she broke the world record in the ranking round with 682 – a record that was to last for another 11 years. She won all her matches by at least a 10-point margin to face compatriot Lee Sung Jin in the final. Despite trailing Lee by three points early on, she managed to tie the score with one arrow left. Lee shot an eight, and Park shot a 10. She had the individual gold, on her debut. “I didn’t actually expect that I’d get a gold medal. All I could think of was how much hard effort I had put in to get there, and I was just so relieved that the match was over,” she said. “I was finally able to feel the excitement of winning – after being reassured that it had all ended!” The team event came two days later. Park, Lee and Yun Mi-Jin faced off with China in the final at the Panathenaic Stadium. The Koreans needed 27 points from their last three arrows to win, and all three were down to Park. She shot a nine, but then an eight. One of the Chinese team, Zhang Juan Juan, appeared to do a small victory dance as if they had already won. But Park coolly shot a 10 with the last to secure the gold medal. “Do you know, if I had aimed for a 10, I’m sure I would not have got a 10? I resigned myself to the divine will, and then I calmed down,” Park said. In an interview that year with the Korea Times, when asked who had made the biggest impression on her, Park mentioned Zhang, and said: “I hope we meet again in Beijing.” Her words proved prophetic. At Beijing in 2008, the team of Park, Joo Hyun Jung and Yun Ok Hee were particularly dominant, breaking two world records and destroying France by 29 points in the semifinal to again face China – again, featuring Zhang Juan Juan – for the gold. Once again, Park had to shoot the last arrow, but the Chinese threat had fallen away and she needed just a two to claim victory. It was a perfect 10. Three gold medals - and a fourth beckoned. Seeded first in the individual competition, Park strolled untroubled through five matches to face Zhang in a rain-swept final. But the Chinese archer had already defeated the other two Korean women, and was shooting the match of her life in front of a noisy home crowd. Both were tied on 101 points with 11 arrows shot. Park shot first – and sent an eight down the field. The door was open, and Zhang’s nine was good enough. It was ‘just’ a silver. “Looking back at it now, I feel like I could’ve done better.” she said, speaking in 2016. “It was the last Olympics of my life, and I was maybe too greedy about getting the gold medal. I ended up not being careful enough with my actions. But I trained my hardest, and have no regrets.” In addition to her Olympic and World Archery Championship medals, Park won individual and team gold at the Asian Games, Asian Championships, and the Universiade. In 2004, she set the most famous of her many world records, and one that still stands 12 years later: 1405 points on the 1440 Round. No recurve archer, male or female, had gone over the 1400 mark before or has since. (The 351 she scored on the 36-arrow 70-metre portion is also a world record!) Park now focuses on coaching. “My dream as an archer was to take over the whole world. But now that I’ve achieved my dreams as a gold medallist and a leader, my dream is to now train the next best player to take over the world,” she said. “And since Olympic archery still isn’t a very familiar sport in Korea, I’d like for it to become more approachable and fun for people who are interested in learning it.” Married to fellow legend Park Kyung-Mo, she has three daughters – a team. “I think you can pass on the genes,” she said, laughing: “But I want them to enjoy archery genuinely without feeling any pressure about it.” She’s never quite ruled out a return to the sport though, and coyly admitted: “I still enjoy shooting very much. I might consider returning to professional archery in the future if people would like to watch.” Park has, many times, paid tribute to her long-time coach, Seo Oh Seok. “He taught me many things about sincerity, effort and how to genuinely enjoy archery. He dedicated his whole life to archery, and his passion for it is not comparable to any athletes out there. He was the biggest reason I was able to win gold. I still receive his advice and learn a lot from him,” Park said. “He made me realize that effort never betrays you in the end and that no one else can do it for you except yourself.” Her final words were modest: “Really, I don’t think I’m that different than everyone else. I’m sure the other athletes were just as nervous as I was while preparing for an Olympics. If anything, I think I’ve had more luck than other people.” “I was once told that Olympic gold medals are given to the chosen ones from heaven, so I don’t think I received them myself. So, I like to think of them as a gift I’ve received along with my coach, the staff and my loving family.”
The former "Boston Legal" star will not return for a ninth season of the still highly-rated NBC comedy. James Spader will not be returning to The Office. In another shake-up at NBC’s long-running comedy, the Boston Legal actor has opted not to be part of the series’ ninth season, assuming one is ordered, NBC confirmed to The Hollywood Reporter. Spader has offered the series a dose of star power since veteran star Steve Carell (Michael Scott) exited the series. In the months since, Spader has replaced Kathy Bates’ character as the fictional company's new chief executive, Robert California. To hear Office executive producer Paul Lieberstein tell it, Spader already has contributed far more to the series than he had planned. The actor had signed to play a two-scene role in the season-seven finale, but the “life and intrigue” that he brought to the part made two scenes become a full season. "James always wanted this to be a one-year arc, and he now leaves us having created one of the most enigmatic and dynamic characters in television,” adds Lieberstein, who plays Toby Flenderson on the show. “He’s been a great friend to me and the show, helping us successfully transition into the post-Michael Scott years, and I’m grateful for that.” The news of Spader's exit comes as other members of The Office's staff — on-camera and off — are toying with departure. Head writer Daniel Chun inked an overall deal with rival ABC Studios in late February, mere weeks after his fellow Office writer and star Mindy Kaling (Kelly Kapoor) had her comedy project ordered to pilot at Fox. If the latter is picked up to series, Kaling, whose Universal Television deal expires in June, is expected to depart the Office and focus on the new show. Although sources have downplayed its likelihood in recent weeks, NBC is also said to be eyeing a potential midseason spin-off centered on Rainn Wilson’s quirky Dwight Schrute character. The idea, which Wilson has since confirmed, is to further explore the Schrute family farm, with multiple generations of Schrutes involved. If the network opts to move forward with it, Wilson, too, likely will pack his bags. Email: Lacey.Rose@THR.com; Twitter: @LaceyVRose
Creating Read-Only & Virtual Attributes with JavaScript Getters and Setters TL;DR Getters and setters let us create read only attributes of JSON objects. They work in all current browsers (except IE8), so you can use them today Getters and Setters allow us to create functions to set attributes on our JavaScript objects. This allows us to create pseudoelements and store and retrieve computed values, much as we can with Ruby. They allow us to write code such that, when we access an attribute of an object, we are actually calling a function. We can use them to create read only properties, write only properties, virtual properties, etc. Browser support Getters and setters were actually part of the ES5 specification, but browser support is only now catching up. They work in all the evergreen browsers (as you would expect) plus IE9. Let's make a cat Here's a nice cat called Miffy. You'll notice that Miffy is just a plain old JSON object: var cat = { name : "Miffy" , age : 12 } We can interact with Miffy as you would expect: console . log ( cat . name ) // outputs "Miffy" Enter Getters Getters allow us to create a function that will be called when we access an attribute, and which will retrieve a value. Let's recode Miffy with a getter. var cat = { get name () { return "Miffy" ; }, age : 12 }; Note that we can still interact with our cat in exactly the same way: console . log ( cat . name ); "Miffy" The cat name is now immutable Because we only have a getter, the value of cat.name cannot be changed. We have created a read only attribute of a JSON object: cat . name = "Hermionie" ; console . log ( cat . name ); "Miffy" Dynamic Values We use getters to compute values dynamically and return them as though they were just attributes. Here we generate a description from the name and age. I can treat it just like an attribute: var cat = { name "Miffy" , age : 12 , get description () { return [ this . name , 'is' , this . age ]. join ( ' ' ); } }; console . log ( cat . description ); "Miffy is 12" cat . age = 45 ; console . log ( cat . description ); "Miffy is 45" Say our cat has a date of birth. We might dynamically generate an age attribute. It just works. We don't need to manually call a function to compute it. var cat = { dateOfBirth : new Date ( 1953 , 12 , 12 ), get age () { var now = new Date (); return new Date ( now - this . dateOfBirth ). getFullYear () - 1970 } }; console . log ( cat . age ) // outputs 62. Poor old cat. Setters Setters let us set a value as though it were a property of the object. var cat = { set name ( name ) { this . _name = name } }; Now we can set the value of name but not get it. This lets us create virtual object properties We can store this value anywhere. We might store the value in an attribute of the object, as I've done above. We might store it in a closure. We might compute a value to save, perhaps doing some validation. We might save the value in a cookie, or supercookie. We might send the data to an API. The possibilities are endless. Here we receive a dateOfBirth and store an age: var cat = { set dateOfBirth ( dateOfBirth ) { var now = new Date (); this . age = new Date ( now - dateOfBirth ). getFullYear () - 1970 } }; cat . dateOfBirth = new Date ( 1953 , 12 , 12 ); console . log ( cat . age ); Removing Setters and Getters You can remove setters and getters altogether just like any other property using delete: delete cat . dateOfBirth console . log ( cat . dateOfBirth ) undefined This removes the virtual property altogether. It doesn't just overwrite it with null, it's completely gone.
Jehovah's Witnesses believe that the Bible prohibits ingesting blood and that Christians should not accept blood transfusions or donate or store their own blood for transfusion.[1] The belief is based on an interpretation of scripture that differs from that of other Christian denominations.[2] It is one of the doctrines for which Jehovah's Witnesses are best known.[3] Jehovah's Witnesses' literature teaches that their refusal of transfusions of whole blood or its four primary components—red cells, white cells, platelets and plasma—is a non-negotiable religious stand and that those who respect life as a gift from God do not try to sustain life by taking in blood,[4][5] even in an emergency.[6] Witnesses are taught that the use of fractions such as albumin, immunoglobulins and hemophiliac preparations are "not absolutely prohibited", and are instead a matter of personal choice.[5] The doctrine was introduced in 1945, and has undergone some changes since then. Members of the group who voluntarily accept a transfusion and are not deemed repentant are regarded as having disassociated themselves from the group by abandoning its doctrines[7][8][9] and are subsequently shunned by members of the organization.[10] Although accepted by the majority of Jehovah's Witnesses, a minority does not endorse this doctrine.[11][12] The Watch Tower Society has established Hospital Information Services to provide education and facilitate bloodless surgery. This service also maintains Hospital Liaison Committees, whose function is to provide support to adherents. Contents Doctrine Edit Bloodless surgery Edit Acceptance among Jehovah's Witnesses Edit Since the elaboration of the blood doctrine to the point of prohibiting transfusion, the majority of Jehovah's Witnesses have adopted the organization's position.[53][54][55] Those Jehovah's Witnesses who accept the blood doctrine typically hold strongly to their conviction.[56] In the August 1998 issue of Academic Emergency Medicine, Donald Ridley, a Jehovah's Witness and organization staff attorney, argued that carrying an up-to-date Medical Directive card issued by the organization indicates that an individual personally agrees with the established religious position of Jehovah's Witness.[57] In 1958, The Watchtower reported on a particular member of Jehovah's Witnesses who voluntarily accepted blood transfusion, contrary to Watchtower doctrine.[58] The organization confirms that members have accepted blood transfusions, despite the imposition in 1961 of a communal shunning policy for willful acceptance.[59][60] In 1982, a peer-reviewed case study of a congregation of Jehovah's Witnesses was undertaken by Drs. Larry J. Findley and Paul M. Redstone to evaluate individual belief in respect to blood among Jehovah's Witnesses. The study showed that 12% were willing to accept transfusion therapy forbidden by Jehovah's Witness doctrine.[53] One peer-reviewed study examining medical records indicated a similar percentage of Jehovah's Witnesses willing to accept blood transfusions for their children. Young adults also showed a willingness to accept blood transfusions.[61] In another study, Jehovah's Witness patients presented for labor and delivery showed a willingness to accept some form of blood or blood products. Of these patients, 10 percent accepted whole blood transfusion.[55] Watch Tower publications have noted that within religions, the personal beliefs of members often differ from official doctrine.[62] Regarding Jehovah's Witnesses acceptance of the organization's official position on blood, Drs Cynthia Gyamfi and Richard Berkowitz state, "It is naïve to assume that all people in any religious group share the exact same beliefs, regardless of doctrine. It is well known that Muslims, Jews and Christians have significant individual variations in their beliefs. Why should that not also be true of Jehovah's Witnesses?"[63] Ambivalence and rejection of the blood doctrine dates back to at least the 1940s. After the Watch Tower Society established the doctrine, teaching that blood should not be eaten (circa 1927-31), Margaret Buber, who was never a member of the denomination, offered a firsthand eyewitness account of Jehovah's Witnesses in the Nazi Ravensbrück concentration camp. She relates that an overwhelming majority were willing to eat blood sausage despite having alternate food to choose from, and specifically after considering biblical statements regarding blood.[64] History of doctrine Edit From 1931, when the name "Jehovah's witnesses" was adopted, Watch Tower Society publications maintained the view of Society founder Charles Taze Russell that the reference to abstaining from the eating of blood in the Apostolic Decree of Acts 15:19–29 was a "suggestion" to be given to Gentile converts.[65][66] Watch Tower publications during the presidency of Joseph Franklin Rutherford commended the commercial and emergency uses of blood.[67][68] A 1925 issue of The Golden Age commended a man for donating blood 45 times without payment.[69] In 1927, The Watchtower noted, without elaboration, that in Genesis 9, God decreed that Noah and his offspring "must not eat the blood, because the life is in the blood".[70] In 1940 Consolation magazine reported on a woman who accidentally shot herself with a revolver in her heart and survived a major surgical procedure during which an attending physician donated a quart of his own blood for transfusion.[71] In 1944, with the Watch Tower Society under the administration of president Nathan Homer Knorr, The Watchtower asserted that the decrees contained in Genesis 9:4 and Leviticus 17:10–14 forbade the eating or drinking of blood in biblical times "whether by transfusion or by the mouth" and that this applied "in a spiritual way to the consecrated persons of good-will today, otherwise known as 'Jonadabs' of the Lord's 'other sheep'."[72] In September 1945, representatives of the Watch Tower Society in the Netherlands commented on blood transfusion in the Dutch edition of Consolation. A translation of their comments into English reads: When we lose our life because we refuse inoculations, that does not bear witness as a justification of Jehovah's name. God never issued regulations which prohibit the use of drugs, inoculations or blood transfusions. It is an invention of people, who, like the Pharisees, leave Jehovah's mercy and love aside.[73] According to sociologist Richard Singelenbreg, the statement appearing in the Dutch edition of Consolation may have been published without knowledge of the doctrinal position published in the English July 1945 issue of Consolation by the Watch Tower Society's headquarters in the United States.[74] In 1945, the application of the doctrine on blood was expanded to prohibit blood transfusions of whole blood, whether allogeneic or autologous.[75] The prohibition did not specify any punitive measures for accepting a transfusion, but by January 1961—in what was later described as an application of "increased strictness"[76]—it was ruled that it was a disfellowshipping offense to conscientiously accept a blood transfusion.[77] Watch Tower publications warned that accepting a blood transfusion could prevent Witnesses from living eternally in God's new world, the hope held by members: "It may result in the immediate and very temporary prolongation of life, but that at the cost of eternal life for a dedicated Christian."[78] In September 1956, Awake! stated, "certain blood fractions ... also come under the Scriptural ban".[79] A position against "the various blood fractions" was reiterated in September 1961.[80] In November of the same year, the doctrine was modified to allow individual members to decide whether they could conscientiously accept fractions used from blood for purposes such as vaccination.[81] This position has been expanded on since; the pre-formatted Durable Power of Attorney form provided by the Watch Tower Society includes an option for Jehovah's Witnesses to "accept all fractions derived from any primary component of blood."[82] In 1964, Jehovah's Witnesses were prohibited from obtaining transfusions for pets, from using fertilizer containing blood, and were even advised (if their conscience troubled them) to write to dog food manufacturers to verify that their products were blood-free.[83] Later that year, it was stated that doctors or nurses who are Jehovah's Witness would not administer blood transfusions to fellow dedicated members. As to administering transfusions to non-members, The Watchtower stated that such a decision is "left to the Christian doctor's own conscience."[84] In 1982, a Watchtower article declared that it would be wrong for a Witness to allow a leech to feed on his/her blood as part of a medical procedure, due to the sacredness of blood.[85] In 1989 The Watchtower stated, "Each individual must decide" whether to accept hemodilution and autologous blood salvage (cell saver) procedures.[86] In 1990, a brochure entitled How Can Blood Save Your Life? was released, outlining Jehovah's Witnesses' general doctrine on blood. In 2000, the Watch Tower Society's stand on blood fractions was clearly stated.[87] Members were instructed to personally decide if accepting a fraction would violate the doctrine on blood. In a later article, members were reminded that Jehovah's Witnesses do not donate blood or store their own blood prior to surgery.[88] In May 2001, the Watch Tower Society revised its medical directives and identity cards addressing its doctrinal position on blood; the revised materials were distributed from May 3, 2001.[89] These revised documents specified that "allogeneic blood transfusions" were unacceptable whereas the former document (dated 1999) stated that "blood transfusions" were unacceptable. The revised 2001 documents were active until December 20, 2001. The Watch Tower Society then rescinded the revised document, stating, "After further review, it has been determined that the cards dated "md-E 6/01" and "ic-E 6/01" should not be used. Please destroy these items and make sure that they are not distributed to the publishers." Elders were instructed to revert to the older 1999 edition of the medical directives and identity cards.[90] Watch Tower Society publications frequently claim negative consequences of blood transfusions: A 1951 Watchtower declared: "And let the transfusion enthusiasts with a savior-complex ponder the fact that on many occasions transfusions do harm, spread disease, and frequently cause deaths, which, of course, are not publicized." [91] declared: "And let the transfusion enthusiasts with a savior-complex ponder the fact that on many occasions transfusions do harm, spread disease, and frequently cause deaths, which, of course, are not publicized." A 1961 Watchtower quoted Brazilian surgeon Dr Américo Valério as saying transfusions were often followed by "moral insanity, sexual perversions, repression, inferiority complexes, petty crimes" and Dr Alonzo Jay Shadman claiming that a person's blood "contains all the peculiarities of the individual ... [including] hereditary taints, disease susceptibilities, poisons due to personal living, eating and drinking habits ... The poisons that produce the impulse to commit suicide, murder, or steal are in the blood." [92] quoted Brazilian surgeon Dr Américo Valério as saying transfusions were often followed by "moral insanity, sexual perversions, repression, inferiority complexes, petty crimes" and Dr Alonzo Jay Shadman claiming that a person's blood "contains all the peculiarities of the individual ... [including] hereditary taints, disease susceptibilities, poisons due to personal living, eating and drinking habits ... The poisons that produce the impulse to commit suicide, murder, or steal are in the blood." A 1969 Awake! reported on a man named Robert Khoury, who, after receiving a blood transfusion said, "When I recovered I found I had a terrible desire to steal." [93] reported on a man named Robert Khoury, who, after receiving a blood transfusion said, "When I recovered I found I had a terrible desire to steal." A 1974 Awake! cited a Centers for Disease Control report that as many as 35,000 deaths and 500,000 illnesses a year might be due to the presence of serum hepatitis in blood for transfusions. [94] cited a Centers for Disease Control report that as many as 35,000 deaths and 500,000 illnesses a year might be due to the presence of serum hepatitis in blood for transfusions. A 2006 Awake! highlighted dangers from transfusion-related acute lung injury (TRALI).[95] Critical views Edit Opposition to the Watch Tower doctrines on blood transfusions has come from both members and non-members. A group of dissident Witnesses known as Associated Jehovah's Witnesses for Reform on Blood (AJWRB) states that there is no biblical basis for the prohibition of blood transfusions and seeks to have some policies changed.[96] In a series of articles in the Journal of Medical Ethics US neurologist Osamu Muramoto, who is a medical adviser to the AJWRB, has raised issues including what he claims is coercion to refuse transfusions, doctrinal inconsistency, selective use of information by the Watch Tower Society to exaggerate the dangers of transfusions and the use of outdated medical beliefs. Scriptural interpretation Edit Dissident Witnesses say the Society's use of Leviticus 17:12 to support its opposition to blood transfusions[97][98] conflicts with its own teachings that Christians are not under the Mosaic law.[99][100] Theologian Anthony Hoekema claims the blood prohibited in Levitical laws was not human, but animal. He cites other authors[101] who support his view that the direction at Acts 15 to abstain from blood was intended not as an everlasting covenant but a means of maintaining a peaceful relationship between Jewish and Gentile Christians. He has described as "absurd literalism" the Witnesses' use of a scriptural prohibition on eating blood to prohibit the medical transfusion of human blood.[102] Coercion Edit Osamu Muramoto has argued that the refusal by Jehovah's Witnesses of "life-saving" blood treatment[103] creates serious bio-medical ethical issues. He has criticized the "controlling intervention" of the Watch Tower Society by means of what he claims is information control and its policy of penalising members who accept blood transfusions or advocate freedom to choose blood-based treatment.[100][103] He says the threat of being classified as a disassociated Witness and subsequently shunned by friends and relatives who are members coerces Jehovah's Witnesses to accept and obey the prohibition on blood transfusions.[8][100][104] In one particular case involving a Russian district court decision, however, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) found nothing in the judgments to suggest that any form of improper pressure or undue influence was applied. It noted: "On the contrary, it appears that many Jehovah's Witnesses have made a deliberate choice to refuse blood transfusions in advance, free from time constraints of an emergency situation." The court said: "The freedom to accept or refuse specific medical treatment, or to select an alternative form of treatment, is vital to the principles of self-determination and personal autonomy. A competent adult patient is free to decide ... not to have a blood transfusion. However, for this freedom to be meaningful, patients must have the right to make choices that accord with their own views and values, regardless of how irrational, unwise or imprudent such choices may appear to others."[105] Muramoto has claimed the intervention of Hospital Liaison Committees can add to "organisational pressure" applied by family members, friends and congregation members on Witness patients to refuse blood-based treatment. He notes that while HLC members, who are church elders, "may give the patient 'moral support', the influence of their presence on the patient is known to be tremendous. Case reports reveal JW patients have changed their earlier decision to accept blood treatment after a visit from the elders." He claims such organizational pressure compromises the autonomy of Witness patients and interferes with their privacy and confidentiality. He has advocated a policy in which the Watch Tower organization and congregation elders would not question patients on the details of their medical care and patients would not disclose such information. He says the Society adopted such a policy in 1983 regarding details of sexual activity between married couples.[106][107][108] Watch Tower spokesman Donald T. Ridley says neither elders nor HLC members are instructed or encouraged to probe into the health care decisions of Witness patients and do not involve themselves in patient hospitalisations unless patients request their assistance. Yet Watchtower HLC representative David Malyon says he would respond to "sin" of Witnesses he is privy to by effectively saying "Are you going to tell them or shall I!"[109] Nevertheless Ridley says Muramoto's suggestion that Witnesses should be free to disregard Watch Tower scriptural teachings and standards is preposterous. He says loving God means obeying commandments, not disobeying them and hiding one's disobedience from others.[108][110] Muramoto recommends doctors have a private meeting with patients to discuss their wishes, and that church elders and family members not be present, enabling patients to feel free of church pressure. He suggests doctors question patients on (a) whether they have considered that the Watch Tower Society might soon approve some medical practices they currently find objectionable, in the same manner that it has previously abandoned its opposition to vaccination and organ transplants; (b) whether Witness patients know which blood components are allowed and which are prohibited, and whether they acknowledge that those rulings are organizational policy rather than biblical teachings; and (c) whether they realize that although some Bible scriptures proscribe the eating of blood, eating and transfusing blood have entirely different effects on the body.[111] English HLC representative David Malyon has responded that Muramoto's suggested questions are an affront to coerce Jehovah's Witnesses with "complicated philosophical inquisition" and, if used by doctors, would be "an abusive transformation of the medical role of succour and care into that of devil's advocate and trickster".[109] Selective use of information Edit Muramoto has claimed many Watch Tower Society publications employ exaggeration and emotionalism to emphasize the dangers of transfusions and the advantages of alternative treatments, but present a distorted picture by failing to report any benefits of blood-based treatment. Nor do its publications acknowledge that in some situations, including rapid and massive haemorrhage, there are no alternatives to blood transfusions.[100][112] He claims Watch Tower Society publications often discuss the risk of death as a result of refusing blood transfusions, but give little consideration to the prolonged suffering and disability, producing an added burden on family and society, that can result from refusal.[113] Attorney and former Witness Kerry Louderback-Wood[114] also claims that Witness publications exaggerate the medical risks of taking blood and the efficiency of non-blood medical therapies in critical situations.[115] Douglas E. Cowan, an academic in the sociology of religion, has claimed that members of the Christian countercult movement who criticize the Watch Tower Society, make selective use of information themselves. For example, Christian apologist Richard Abanes wrote that their ban on blood transfusions, "has led to countless Witness deaths over the years, including many children."[116] Cowan wrote: "When the careful reader checks [Abanes' footnote], however, looking perhaps for some statistical substantiation, he or she finds only a statistical conjecture based on 1980 Red Cross blood use figures." Cowan also says Abanes omits "critical issues" in an attempt to "present the most negative face possible." Cowan wrote that "the reader is left with the impression that the Watchtower Society knowingly presides over a substantial number of preventable deaths each year."[117] Edit Osamu Muramoto says the Watch Tower Society relies on discarded, centuries-old medical beliefs to support its assertion that blood transfusions are the same as eating blood.[118] A 1990 Watch Tower brochure on blood quoted a 17th-century anatomist to support its view.[119] Muramoto says the view that blood is nourishment—still espoused in Watch Tower publications[120]—was abandoned by modern medicine many decades ago.[100] He has criticized an analogy commonly used by the Society[121] in which it states: "Consider a man who is told by the doctor that he must abstain from alcohol. Would he be obedient if he quit drinking alcohol but had it put directly into his veins?"[118] Muramoto says the analogy is false, explaining: "Orally ingested alcohol is absorbed as alcohol and circulated as such in the blood, whereas orally eaten blood is digested and does not enter the circulation as blood. Blood introduced directly into the veins circulates and functions as blood, not as nutrition. Hence, blood transfusion is a form of cellular organ transplantation. And ... organ transplants are now permitted by the WTS."[100] He says the objection to blood transfusions on the basis of biblical proscriptions against eating blood is similar to the refusal of a heart transplant on the basis that a doctor warned a patient to abstain from eating meat because of his high cholesterol level.[122] David Malyon, chairman of the English Hospital Liaison Committee in Luton, England, has claimed that Muramoto's discussion of the differences between consuming blood and alcohol is pedantic and says blood laws in the Bible are based upon the reverence for life and its association with blood, and that laws should be kept in the spirit as much as in the letter.[109] Inconsistency Edit See also: Criticism of Jehovah's Witnesses § Blood Muramoto has described as peculiar and inconsistent the Watch Tower policy of acceptance of all the individual components of blood plasma as long as they are not taken at the same time.[100] He says the Society offers no biblical explanation for differentiating between prohibited treatments and those considered a "matter of conscience", explaining the distinction is based entirely on arbitrary decisions of the Governing Body, to which Witnesses must adhere strictly on the premise of them being Bible-based "truth".[100] He has questioned why white blood cells (1 per cent of blood volume) and platelets (0.17 per cent) are forbidden, yet albumin (2.2 per cent of blood volume) is permitted.[100] He has questioned why donating blood and storing blood for autologous transfusion is deemed wrong, but the Watch Tower Society permits the use of blood components that must be donated and stored before Witnesses use them.[123] He has questioned why Witnesses, although viewing blood as sacred and symbolizing life, are prepared to let a person die by placing more importance on the symbol than the reality it symbolizes.[112] Kerry Louderback-Wood alleges that by labeling the currently acceptable blood fractions as "minute" in relation to whole blood, the Watch Tower organization causes followers to misunderstand the scope and extent of allowed fractions.[115] Witnesses respond that the real issue is not of the fluid per se, but of respect and obedience to God.[124][125] They say their principle of abstaining from blood as a display of respect is demonstrated by the fact that members are allowed to eat meat that still contains some blood. As soon as blood is drained from an animal, the respect has been shown to God, and then a person can eat the meat even though it may contain a small amount of blood.[126] Jehovah's Witnesses' view of meat and blood is different from that of kosher Jewish adherents, who go to great lengths to remove minor traces of blood.[127][128] See also Edit References Edit
State lawmakers on Thursday rejected a proposal to reduce the charge for simple possession of heroin, cocaine and methamphetamine from a felony to a misdemeanor. Sen. Mark Leno (D-San Francisco) said his bill would save money and result in more people getting successful drug treatment so they can re-enter society. “No data begins to suggest that putting felonies on these mostly young people and incarcerating them for longer periods of time in any way benefits their recovery from drug use,’’ Leno told his colleagues before the measure went down on an 11-24 vote, with several Democrats in opposition. Sen. Ted Gaines (R-Roseville) said SB 1506 would threaten public safety, agreeing with the California State Sheriffs’ Assn. that drug use leads to other problems including property crimes. “I don’t understand how decriminalization will actually reduce crime in California,’’ Gaines said. Sen. Doug La Malfa (R-Richvale) added: “With bills like this I can see Amsterdam from the Capitol front porch.’’ ALSO: Senators agree to give up free tickets to games, concerts California lawmakers vote for legalization of sports betting California Senate supports streamlining teacher removal over crimes --Patrick McGreevy in Sacramento Photo: Members of the U.S. Coast Guard cutter "Resolute" offload some of the 168 bales of seized cocaine Thursday in Florida. Credit: AP Photo/Chris O'Meara.
According to NPR, doctors at the Texas Heart Institute have created a device which uses ventricular assist devices (VADs) to move blood throughout the body using whirling rotors. The catch? Patients who choose this procedure are left without a heartbeat or pulse. To learn more about this artificial heart technology, I spoke with Dr. Bud Frazier at the Texas Heart Institute. Below is an excerpt of our conversation. SP: How was this procedure different from other artificial heart procedures? This procedure involved two separate pumps implanted after removing the native heart. It resulted in an intra-pericardial continuous flow cardiac replacement, and the patient had no way of generating a pulse. Because the pumps were placed inside the pericardium, it is deemed a pulseless intrapericardial cardiac replacement. SP: How does the pulse-less heart work? What makes a continuous pump different than other artificial hearts? Because it has continuous flow, this pump can be made smaller and operationally simpler. One of our main reasons for pursing this instead of using the pulsatile devices used in the past is because the pumps are more durable and reliable. They are also much less prone to infection or stroke. I was the first to implant this particular pump in 2003, and it has never been pumped to failure. We had a patient with such a pump for greater than seven years without evidence of malfunction. All of the pulsatile pumps that we developed and used in the past stopped working within two years. SP: What are the challenges that await with the pulse-less heart? What needs to be changed and fixed in order for the FDA to approve the heart? We need to develop a pump designed specifically for cardiac replacement. Those used in the procedure are assist pumps that were designed for partial heart assist. In the future, we require time, money, and the engineering expertise to refine this technology to comply with the FDA standards. Although this is much more than a simple Kitty Hawk experiment, more effort needs to be applied to obtain these goals. Image: via Texas Heart Institute Related links: Heart With No Beat Offers Hope Of New Lease On Life This post was originally published on Smartplanet.com
Welcome back to our Weekly Backers Exclusive Mini-game, Pick-a-Magnus! It was a one sided vote last week so we're going to make it a little harder this time around. It will be no fun if most of the votes go to the same Magnus and we're pretty sure it's going to be more challenging today. As usual, here are the rules of the mini-game: Pick-a-Magnus Rules: 1) We will be posting a set of Magnus concept labelled from A - J. 2) You will go through every single one of them and select your favorite concept. 3) Leave a comment about your pick and explain why. 4) The Magnus with the most votes will be added to Re:Legend in-game. Note: you can only select ONE, so pick carefully. The rules are still the same as the previous week and these are also the first stage baby Magnus. They will be evolving into powerful Magnus in the future and you will be guiding their fate today. YOU will make the choice and decide if they will live or remain as abandoned sketches for eternity. Now let us begin! Week 2 Pick-a-Magnus Choices: As usual, the winning Magnus will be announced tomorrow and have fun picking your favorite Magnus! Note: We're REALLY close to PS4 stretch goal! Let's do this!
Everyone loves cute and cuddly video game stars like Mario and Sonic, but there are a few other more wacky characters which are less well known, but just as much fun. When it comes to creating new experiences, history has taught us that the video game makers can literally do what they like, and boy, do they take advantage of it. The result is a few titles which are just strange enough (by way of bizarre plots, characters or player engagement) to reach cult status – immortalized and revered. Here’s a list of our hall-of-famers in all their pixelated and polygonal weirdness. 10. Boogerman: A Pick and Flick Adventure (1995) We’ll kick this list off with a bizarre 2D platformer from Interplay in the ‘90s. The titular character is a scientist on a quest to fix his broken machine by doing what he does best: combining toilet humor and iffy controls. This was a golden age for the platforming genre, so standing out in any way possible was an impressive feat. We remember it for its grossly endearing animation style both on the SNES and Genesis. 9. Katamari Damacy (2004) Ah, Katamari. The PS2 original sleeper hit that rolled weirdly into our hearts. Part puzzler, part adventure, part nesting doll, Katamari Damacy had players controlling a tiny ball of stickiness, called a Katamari. The Katamari picks up small items like paperclips and candy, eventually increasing the ball size to pick up housecats, sumo wrestlers, ice cream trucks, buildings and so on. Who could fail to love its low-poly charm, bright colors and hilarious item placements? 8. Mr. Mosquito (2002) Continuing with the PS2 craziness, we have the somewhat disturbing Mr. Mosquito. You play as a cute little mosquito tasked with sucking the blood from the Yamada family. Players must plot around each family member’s routine and force them to behave in the absolute creepiest way possible. Mr. Mosquito’s claim to fame? Well, if it wasn’t for the game’s lighthearted appearance, it might as well have been called “Personal Space Violation Simulator.” 7. Captain Novolin (1992) This one’s a rare, peculiar gem designed with a single purpose: to stop kids from getting chubby. Developed by Sculptured Software, who created the equally weird Rex Ronan: Experimental Surgeon, this SNES original claims to be an “action adventure game about diabetes.” While childhood diabetes is no laughing matter, a platforming video game with abysmal controls about it is a surreal thought. This title remains an early example of what can happen when separate interests collaborate in a bizarre way to create a video game. 6. Game Boy Camera (1998) This entry is less of a game and more of an oddity in the Game Boy’s legendary library, although it does have some game-like aspects. Originally conceived as a way for Game Boy owners to create and edit low-res photos of themselves, it also serves as music-making software with a peppering of mini-games. What made this software so bizarre were the secrets and Easter eggs therein. By performing certain sequences in the game, the player can access strange, distorted images, presumably of some of the game’s creators, along with creepy messages such as, “Who are you running from?” 5. The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks (2009) You may be saying to yourself, “Shouldn’t I be reading about Majora’s Mask over Spirit Tracks on a list of weird games?” In many ways, you’re right about Majora’s dark vibe and unorthodox approach. However, Spirit Tracks for the Nintendo DS is an entry in the Zelda series that feels like even more of a one-off. Nintendo’s Legend of Zelda series is renowned for its rich exploration in the fantasy world of Hyrule. Spirit Tracks, completely out of left field, took the classic fantasy-inspired setting and drove a train right through its wall. That’s right—the over-arching theme of Spirit Tracks is train conducting. The game is best known as the Zelda that let players shoot pigs with a cannon from a golden train. 4. Octodad: Dadliest Catch (2014) Octodad is a fairly newer indie PC fatherhood/sea life simulator. If that doesn’t do it for you, I can’t imagine what would. Players run the course of the entire game as a boneless octopus in a suit, much to the obliviousness of your human wife and children. The physics are hilarious as you bumble through standard atomic dad activities, such as attempting to barbecue and knocking the grill and burgers all over the patio, or taking the kids to the aquarium while desperately attempting to appear like you aren’t one of its exhibits. 3. Seaman (2000) Sega’s Dreamcast was a lot of things. A quiet failure to some, but a brilliant flash in the pan to others. The small-but-colorful game library sported by the Dreamcast includes the completely weird, interactive digital pet, Seaman. It used the ill-fated Dreamcast microphone accessory that mounted onto the controller to accept audio input. The man-faced fish on screen was receptive of various forms of communications, but many players just weren’t comfortable with his overall uncanniness. The only thing weirder than Seaman was a special Japanese import called Christmas Seaman. Yes, that also happened. 2. WarioWare, Inc. (2003) One of Nintendo’s most odd anti-heroes, Wario, has had a range of his own games in which he is featured, but none are as oddly fun as the mini-game fest known as WarioWare, Inc. The game is a collection of micro-games, usually lasting a matter of seconds, which barely gives you time to even understand what you’re looking at. The tiny scenarios come at the player so quickly that the entertainment always feels blissfully otherworldly. This game put the concept of high-speed micro-games on the map. How fast can you get a finger into a nose? 1. EarthBound /Mother 2 (1995) Some might call EarthBound (known as Mother 2 in Japan) the crown jewel of the SNES. It also happens to be one of the most outlandishly memorable and heartfelt experiences available on the platform. What’s NOT to remember about EarthBound? The game serves as a caricature of modern society, and its rabid cult following can cite any of its unforgettable quotes and humorous situations. Packed with social commentary, the RPG deals with friendship, enjoying life’s small pleasures, loss and independence. It also deals with applying ketchup to a hamburger in the middle of a battle with a hippy. Many modern games draw heavy inspiration from this one’s quirkiness. Conclusion So there you have it, our round up of the craziest plots, players and ideas you’re ever likely to see in a video game this side of the Ozark Mountains. The list above represents our idea of gaming’s weirdest, but did we actually catch them all? Let us know of your own favorites in the comments below. Whatever will they think of next? ———————————————– Ryan Marchand is often found checking out the latest quirky indie release or enjoying the 8-bit goodness of a retro classic. He’s also a freelance video game writer for eBay, where you can find many of these bizarre games and other fun titles.
Researchers of “extremism” have identified friendly, environmentally-conscious families living in the German countryside as likely dangerous radicals, and warn that rural living itself “is linked with racism”. Marking country-dwellers with right-wing views as a problem, self-styled “antifascists” are hoping to get large numbers of migrants sent to rural settlements and have established welcome initiatives in preparation. Welt informs readers that extremism researchers caution that “Volkisch families” pose a threat to the country. The term “Volkisch” relates to the German interpretation of populism and carries connotations of folksy and organic living. Introducing Volkisch families, the daily newspaper writes: “They belong to no party, no union, and no organisation. They have no [political] voice and get no handouts. The term therefore [refers to] family groups who live in the countryside and are outwardly exemplary but internally right-wing.” Describing a scene in which men, women, and children in traditional dress dance around a meadow, the newspaper warns that while such people look “basically quite harmless, they are not”. Volkische families, Welt informs readers, are “friendly neighbours” who “grow vegetables and raise animals, keep bees, and produce electricity from photovoltaic systems”. Other indicators to watch out for, it continues, are people who “show up as ‘greenies’ and engage in agriculture and crafts, argue against the planned highway 39 in their region, and they have a lot of children. The women bake cakes and get involved in parents’ meetings.” The federal government views Volkische families as a danger to Germany, asserting that there is “a risk that nationalist settlers’ participation in regional ecology projects and in associations, educational institutions, church structures, and other groups will increase their acceptance [by society] and simultaneously [allow them] to spread their partially-racist ideology”. Member of the far left Antifascist Action group Olaf Meyer, who go so far to keeps tabs on the activities of right-wing families they even spy on them from hedger, says right-wing extremists are often “young couples [who] buy farms and restore them together with their relatives and friends”. Asked by the newspaper why he objects to “families meeting together, not committing crimes”, Meyer replies: “Because their concept of their lifestyle only applies to people they define as German”. Seventy-year-old social worker Knut Jahn, who lives in a rural area, complains that in summer he and his wife are “surrounded” by “Nazis” who in summer hold “meadow festivals, [with] folk music and free beer”. Rather than moving house, Welt explains that Jahn and a couple of his like-minded neighbours see themselves as spearheading the fight against fascism in the German countryside. To combat right-wing activity they, along with antifascist groups, put up posters declaring “it’s a wonderful life without Nazis” and warn that Midsummer celebrations and similar events are not welcome in the area. To combat the phenomenon of right-wing families living in the countryside Jahn says he “expects a lot of refugees” to come in future and that they have set up welcome initiatives in anticipation of this. The controversial Amadeu Antonio Foundation cautions that there is “a link between rural life and racism”. In a report commissioned by the Federal Ministry of Internal Affairs, the foundation wrote: “The objective of [Volkisch families] is to affect everyday culture and build a self-sufficient economic network.” “While at first glance the men and women seem just to be engaging in cultural and traditional activities, they don’t accept migrants, refugees, democrats, and homosexuals in their society,” the publication cautions. Earlier this year the high-circulation German parenting magazine Baby & Family carried a special report, informed by the Amadeu Antonio Foundation, warning that families who are “cheerful” and “inconspicuous” could be right wing and thus “dangerous”. The foundation, which was founded and is chaired by ex-Stasi agent Anetta Kahane and fights against conservatism in Germany, runs the government’s online crackdown on people who criticise open door mass migration and the violent behaviour of migrants towards the German people.
Overwatch’s Play of the Game feature is iconic as it is infamous. On one hand, it gives big moments a few seconds of fame and encourages friends and foes alike to say, “OK yeah, that was pretty cool.” But it goes against the grain of Overwatch’s team focus, and it misfires. A lot. In the past, Blizzard has acknowledged POTG’s flaws, but the feature hasn’t changed much in ways that are immediately apparent. “We are tweaking it regularly, but not massively revamping it,” lead hero designer Geoff Goodman told me during an interview at BlizzCon. He added, however, that Play of the Game won’t keep rewarding people for running down hallways and dying forever. Play of the Game 2.0 is in the works. “There’s a plan to do what we’re calling Play of the Game 2.0,” he said. “It’s been on the books for a little while. It’s just a matter of prioritizing everything. We have a lot of really cool ideas. We want to do a lot with the camera work. We have ideas for cooperative Play of the Games. Because what we have right now, is Zarya could ult, and then Genji gets the credit. And that’s like, ‘Come on!’” “So we want to highlight the combo play itself, to show both,” he added. “There’s some tricky things there, like how do we handle Play of the Game intros, and how do we decide who gets credit.” Advertisement And of course, it’s a mean feat of engineering to figure out, which further complicates matters. Still, it’s something fans have been clamoring for (some have even mocked up what it might look like), so it’s something Goodman and co very much plan to do in the near-ish future. “It could be cool with Mercy too,” he said, offering another example of a hero who doesn’t get much credit these days. “She could rez everybody, and then they could get a bunch of eliminations.” At that point, I added that intros could show heroes high-fiving or hugging or doing special character-specific animations. “I hadn’t even thought about that,” said Goodman. “That’s cool!” Advertisement So you’re welcome for that part of the feature when it inevitably makes it into the game, everybody.
From the exhilaration of popular revolution to the tragedy of on-going conflict, the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region has occupied a prominent place in the headlines. Yet there is another, often silent, drama that is not receiving the attention it deserves. It is playing out in both rich and poor countries, albeit in different forms. A series of alarming statistics reveal a deterioration in the overall health of the people of the region. This trend is aggravated by underfunded public health systems that provide limited and low quality care. MENA governments commit on average only eight percent of their national budgets to healthcare. This compares with an average of 17 percent in OECD countries. One significant consequence of this low spending is that individuals are made to shoulder the majority of the costs for care. It often forces households, poorer ones especially, into making the difficult choice between spending on health or other necessities, such as food and education. In Yemen, the statistics for malnutrition and stunting have reached emergency proportions. Close to 60 per cent of children are stunted and are at increased risk of death due to malnutrition The region is currently paying a high social cost for the lack of attention paid to public health, and these costs will grow ever more severe in the absence of concerted action. Obesity is nearing epidemic proportions in MENA, with some of the highest rates in the world. In Egypt, half of all women are obese and one fifth of all men - landing them in the global top 20 for obesity. Among women, Kuwait ranks second globally with 55.2 per cent of its female population considered obese. Other Middle Eastern countries which made it to the Global Top 20 for female obesity include the United Arab Emirates (UAE) (42.0 percent), Bahrain (37.9 percent), and Jordan (37.9 percent). The obesity rates are not much better for men. Within the top 20 countries globally, 29.6 percent of Kuwaiti men are obese followed closely by UAE (24.5 percent), Saudi Arabia (23.0 percent), and Bahrain (21.2 percent). Obesity is closely linked to chronic diseases, such as diabetes, high blood pressure and heart disease. In fact, heart disease is the leading cause of death and disability in the Arab world, while high blood pressure is the second leading cause (and has been for the past 20 years). At the same time, alongside obesity, there are high levels of child under/malnutrition and stunting across the region. In Egypt, 30 percent of children below five years of age are stunted, while 20 percent of children within the same age category are obese. The statistics also reveal significant regional inequalities, with children in rural areas experiencing higher rates of stunting compared to urban areas. In Yemen, the statistics for malnutrition and stunting have reached emergency proportions. Close to 60 per cent of children are stunted and are at increased risk of death due to malnutrition. Other countries that have a high burden of child under/malnutrition include Morocco, Iraq, Libya and Syria. While under-nutrition can threaten the lives of young children, it also has long-term effects such as impaired cognitive development. This can affect everything from school performance to productivity and earnings in later adult life. Undernourished children may be particularly sensitive to weight gain as adults, with an increased risk for diabetes and cardiovascular disease. Turning to young people in the region, and young men specifically, their main cause of death currently is road traffic accidents. In one year 35,900 young men died due to traffic injuries (2010). Although death due to traffic accidents is the third largest killer in the Arab world - for people of all ages - (a total of 73,500people of all ages perished in 2010) young people are disproportionally affected. Also a large killer of children after their first year of life, with the 3,950 casualties in 2010, road traffic accidents are robbing the region of its future generations! The region is at a critical historical juncture and with it comes also a window of opportunity to transform its health systems - an opportunity to move from only treating sickness to instead focus on preserving and promoting health Depression is the leading cause of illness for women in MENA. It is especially women between the ages of 15 and 49 that are affected. In fact, the prevalence of depression among women in MENA is ranked higher than any other region. While men in MENA are also more prone to depression, the percentage gap between men and women is higher in MENA than all other regions, with the exception of Latin America and the Caribbean. Despite all of these daunting health challenges governments are not focusing on preventive interventions. Prevention could result in tremendous future savings - but most importantly it could improve long-term health and protect people from future suffering. There are several factors that impact health, many of which lie outside the health sector itself, such as education, sanitation, roads, environment, etc. Preventive care can be achieved through policies aimed at behavioural risk factors. The Arab world presents a good environment for successful prevention. The region has high literacy rates and relatively good media coverage; critical elements for effective, mass scale public information campaigns. In addition, school enrolment rates are high so targeted school-based interventions on road safety, diet and nutrition etc. could work well. The challenges, therefore, are more about leadership, which is essential to establish the vision and strategies for effective public policies that advocate for better public health. With low government spending on healthcare, households in the middle-income countries must cover almost 40 percent of all health care costs themselves. Patients in the low income countries have to cover a full 55 percent of healthcare costs out of their own pockets. Unfortunately, many cannot afford these medical expenses so people either chose to forgo much needed medical care or face impoverishment as a result. The low public financing for health compromises both access and quality of care. Patient experiences at health facilities across the region are characterized by long waiting lines, absent providers, lack of privacy and informal payments. Satisfaction with existing health services is very low region-wide. As one Egyptian woman expressed it: "A public hospital is where you lose your life…a private one is where you lose your money". In order to address the daunting challenges fair and accountable health systems have to be developed, according to a new World Bank strategy for engaging in health in MENA. Fairness - the absence of systematic disparities - could be achieved through prevention and care and the just distribution of the burden of costs according to people’s ability to pay. Accountability - responsibility and answerability- would require that services are effective, safe, cost-conscious, and patient-centred. The region is at a critical historical juncture and with it comes also a window of opportunity to transform its health systems - an opportunity to move from only treating sickness to instead focus on preserving and promoting health. There is no time to waste. Amina Semlali is a human development specialist and works on labour market and social protection issues for the World Bank's Middle East and North Africa Region. Follow her on Twitter: @Amina_Semlali
FLINT, MI -- Vocalists from around the world will come to Flint in March to compete for their piece of more than $11,000 in prize money and a chance to perform with the Flint Symphony Orchestra. On Saturday, March 1, the Flint Institute of Music and the St. Cecilia Society will host the 43rd annual William C. Byrd Young Artist Competition. The winner will receive $6,000 and the opportunity to perform with the Flint Symphony Orchestra, while second prize wins $2,500. The last three finalists will each be awarded $1,000. This year's contestants are competing in voice. The competition has four categories: voice, piano, strings, and wind and brass, switching categories every year. Each contestant is 34 years old or younger. Live auditions will be held from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., with singers who applied by sending in CDs and got letters of recommendation. The preliminary judges will select five competitors to compete in the evening finals. There will be a dinner before the finals at 5 p.m. in the Atrium at the Flint Institute of Music, open to the public at a cost for $20 per person. Reservations must be made by Saturday, Feb. 22. Checks should be made payable to the St. Cecilia Society and mailed to Mrs. Max Dean at 2566 Nolen Dr., Flint, MI 48504. The finals begin at 7 p.m. in the MacArthur Recital Hall. There, the first and second place winners will be named; the other three finalists will not be ranked. The William C. Byrd Young Artist Competition attracts musicians from around the world, many of whom are studying at prestigious schools of music. Carol Hinterman, chairman of the competition, said earlier that last year's competition included applicants from China (Beijing, Chengdu, and Shanghai) and Costa Rica, while previous applicants have hailed from the Union of South Africa, Egypt and more. This year's field of contestants include a Russian studying in France, another Russian, a Korean, and a contestant from Chengdu, China. Hinterman said there were 25 applications, which is less than usual; she attributes the lower amount to the the winter storms that hit the East Coast and the Midwest to start the year. The competition is completely run by volunteers, and since St. Cecilia's took over the competition, contestants are offered free meals and housing with area families. Katherine Weintraub, a Florida native who studied at University of Michigan, won the grand prize in last year's competition for her performance of Villa Lobos's "Fantasia" on the soprano saxophone. Daniel Velasco, a University of Michigan student flutist from Quito, Ecuador, won second place with his performance of Concerto for Flute by Lieberman. The other three finalists were Bowling Green University doctoral student Noa Even, University of Missouri-Kansas City student Amanda Hudnall, and Jonathan Wintringham, a graduate teaching assistant and masters of music student at Eastman. William C. Byrd was the director of Flint Institute of Music and conductor of the Flint Symphony Orchestra from 1966 until his death in 1974. He died of a heart attack while conducting a pops concert in Wilson Park on a hot summer evening. Byrd "had a dream of bringing some of the world's finest young talent to Flint, with the intent of showcasing virtually unknown rising young artists with the Flint Symphony Orchestra," according to the competition's web site. The event was named "The Young Artist Competition" while Byrd was alive, but was renamed after he died to reflect his influence on the program.
President Obama ’s State of the Union address soared — right over a familiar cliff. The president simply couldn’t seem to escape his professorial past, to convey his passion and convictions in the plain words of plain folks, and to breach the chasm between the People’s House and people’s houses. He’s still stuck on studious. He seems to believe that if he does a better job of explaining his aggressive agenda, then he’ll win hearts and minds. It’s an honorable ambition, but it’s foolhardy. People want clear goals, clearly defined and clearly (and concisely) conveyed. They’re suspicious of complexity. H.L. Mencken once famously opined, “No one in this world has ever lost money by underestimating the intelligence of the great masses of the plain people. Nor has anyone ever lost public office thereby.” I take exception to that. But if you change “intelligence” to “ attention span ,” I agree wholeheartedly. Republicans know this well. Obama knows it not. Take the enormous health care bill for instance. The president overreached, pushing a convoluted bill with a convoluted message. The Republican response: “Just say no.” They countered with a series of crisp attacks that shrouded the bill in a fog of confusion. Now it’s in danger, and the public may well blame the Democrats. People don’t care as much about process as they do about results. Advertisement Continue reading the main story According to a survey released this week by the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press, only 1 person in 4 knew that 60 votes are needed in the Senate to break a filibuster and only 1 in 3 knew that no Senate Republicans voted for the health care bill.
“Dubai’s business model relies on it being able to project an image of progressiveness and stability, and hosting expos and film festivals all fits into this,” said Nicholas McGeehan, Persian Gulf researcher for Human Rights Watch. “But cases likes this seriously undermine that image and reveal it to be nothing more than a public relations artifice.” Emirati officials did not respond to requests for comment. The case has only become public recently, after the family members of Mr. Cassim, the American citizen, decided that their efforts to navigate the Emirati justice system had done them little good. “There seems to be no end in sight,” said Mr. Cassim’s brother, Shervon, who spent nearly three months in the Emirates trying to secure his brother’s release. In a telephone interview from his home in North Carolina, Mr. Cassim said his brother’s detention had become a bitter end to his family’s decades-old relationship with the Emirates. His parents emigrated from Sri Lanka to Dubai in 1976 because it was a land of opportunity “where you could go and make your fortune,” he said. His mother worked for an airline and his father became an advertising executive, part of the large group of expatriates that helped expand the city from a desert backwater into the hypermodern crop of skyscrapers, malls and upscale hotels that it is today. Shezanne Cassim’s two siblings were born there and all three were educated in British private schools, where they had close friends from the Emirates and many other countries, his brother said.
Mimesis, according to the Silva Rhetoricae, is “The imitation of another’s gestures, pronunciation, or utterance.” It’s a part of delivery, which is one of the Canons of Rhetoric, which according to Silva Rhetoricae, “concerns itself with how something is said, rather than what is said.” While the definition of mimesis has changed since the days of Plato and Aristotle, the way it is used in rhetoric has also changed, to the point that people have debated what the correct use was (going through that research was not easy). However, does mimesis still have any usage in modern times? I plan to explain how mimesis is used in our day and age, by explaining how it is used as a way of adapting myths and legends in both print and digital texts. Since mimesis is a fancy way of saying imitation, you would think that this would be used in spy films like James Bond or Mission Impossible. While in a sense, that’s true, mimesis is not the main focus of those franchises (especially if you have read the original James Bond novels from Ian Flemming; Bond is definitely more likable in the films). This paper focuses on mimesis as it takes one text and adapts it into a similar form for a different medium. Take for example, Heracles, or Hercules, depending on if you are using Greek or Roman mythology (Everyone gets the two confused, even me). While the stories of this legendary warrior have had multiple print and digital adaptations, including a version that came out recently that starred Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, one of the most famous stories is how Heracles having to complete twelve labors to be forgiven for killing his wife Megara and his children in a murderous rage. This story has been retold in a variety of formats, including Disney’s animated version, which of course toned down a lot of the more violent aspects of Heracles’ life. This tale is one of the most famous and has been retold multiple times, but adapting Heracles in a digital medium was a little bit harder to find, as many of them change certain aspects of Heracles. Then, I remembered the video game franchise Fate/Stay Night, which is story about how masters call upon servants to fight each other for the Holy Grail (Some of which have no connection to the Holy Grail). In Fate/Stay Night, Heracles is a “Berserker” class servant, meaning he is strength incarnate, which follows the multiple stories about Heracles being super strong. Heracles is also in the murderous rage, like he was when he killed Megara and his children. In this way, mimesis is used to adapt Heracles into a digital medium. Another character from mythology that has been used in print and digital texts is Gilgamesh. According to the Ancient History Encyclopedia, Gilgamesh’s story, The Epic of Gilgamesh, “pre-dates Homer’s writings by 1500 years and, therefore, stands as the oldest piece of epic Western literature.” Like many myths and legends, The Epic of Gilgamesh was told orally for many years, until someone wrote them down. However, due to the nature of oral storytelling, what was said and what was written can vary, this is especially true when translating text from one language to another. An aspect of Gilgamesh that has stood the test of time is that Gilgamesh is “too arrogant and proud” (we all probably know someone like that). This aspect carries over to how Gilgamesh acts in the game Fate/Stay Night; Gilgamesh wears a golden suit of armor, always shows how powerful he is, and tells everyone in earshot that if you do not listen to him, he will kill you on the spot. Plus, even when you follow Gilgamesh, he will still find a reason to kill you. This aspect of Gilgamesh in Fate/Stay Night mimics the arrogance of the Gilgamesh from the original epic poem. Another aspect that the story and the game talk about is that Gilgamesh is not evil. Arrogant, yes, but not evil. The reason Gilgamesh acts the way he does is because in the original poem, Gilgamesh is a demi-god, born from the relationship of a god and a human (which, if you have kept up with Greek history, is not always a good thing; ask Zeus). Gilgamesh just thought that he had the divine right to rule the land of Uruk, like his father. This aspect is mimicked in Fate/Stay Night, but instead of conquering Sumeria, Gilgamesh will have to conquer Japan (since that is where the game takes place, in the fictional Fuyuki City). The final myth I plan to talk about for mimesis is how King Arthur is used in print and digital texts. While the story of King Arthur has been popular throughout the years; however, the where the reality and how the legend ends is difficult to pinpoint. One of the first stories that mentions King Arthur is the Vulgate Cycle. While the Vulgate Cycle does contain many aspects of King Arthur, it is focused more on the story of Lancelot and his affair with Arthur’s wife, Guinevere (this has continued through the ages in different adaptations). The Vulgate Cycle was the inspiration for Sir Thomas Malory’s Le Morte d’Arthur, which tells of how King Arthur returned Excalibur to the Lady of the Lake (what is it with people wanting to tell the death of a character). This story mimics what was already introduced in the Vulgate Cycle, while adding a few changes to the story. Many stories of Arthur also talk about the famous “Sword in the Stone”, which has been used in films and novelizations, including Disney’s animated adaptation called The Sword in the Stone, which covers many of the stories of a young Arthur Pendragon, but with a few changes to add comedy to the film (no wonder many people do not find that adaptation endearing). However, the digital texts that talk about King Arthur get interesting when we start to talk about Fate/Stay Night, as it has one big change to the previous stories. In Fate/Stay Night, the major change to King Arthur is that Arthur becomes Arturia (when I found this out, it was odd). While the famous King’s gender has changed, the aspects of Arturia’s personality are consistent with the print texts previously mentioned. Arturia is a fair ruler of England, puts everything she has in defending her country, and is chivalrous in everything she does, similar to the Arthur of legends old. However, this also causes Arturia’s downfall; as Arturia goes off to fight for England’s glory, Arturia’s son, Modred (if you ask how that works, we’re not going to get this paper finished), usurps Arturia’s throne in his abscense, which causes England to go into anarchy. When Arturia returns, she notices that even though she was protecting England from the outside, she didn’t notice what was happening closer to home. Besides the gender change, this mimics what happens in the earlier Arthur stories. In Fate/Stay Night proper, Arturia is summoned for the Holy Grail War (which makes sense because in many versions, Arthur is looking for the Holy Grail). Arturia’s main weapons are Caliburn and Excalibur; Fate/Stay Night decides to use the version of Arthur from Malory’s Le Morte d’Arthur, where Arthur both gains and loses Excalibur from the Lady of the Lake, and Caliburn is the titular “Sword in the Stone.” Just like in the stories, Arturia continues to be chivalrous, just like her male counterpart. When Arturia wins the Holy Grail War, she is able to have her wish granted, which is that she wishes that she was not the King her people wish her to be. While this changes the ending of how Le Morte d’Arthur turns out, it’s an interesting idea; if Arthur had a second chance to fix what happened to England, would he? In this paper I wanted to see if mimesis works in our world today, using how mythology can be adapted from their initial incarnations to modern print and digital texts. I wanted to use the digital text of Fate/Stay Night as the basis for this paper as it made look up many of the characters in the franchise and see what they were based on. While mimesis might give writers the ability to embellish on the original text or adapt it as they see fit, this can either be a cause for celebration or it backfire in the writer’s face. Thankfully, most of the characters in Fate/Stay Night are mostly similar to the mythological characters they are based on (I do not want to have to tell you why King Arthur was made into a woman; really, you do not want to know). The term mimesis has had its definition changed throughout the years, the concept of mimicking something has stayed the same. Books, films, comics, and video games have adapted multiple stories to fit their mediums (whether or not they are good is another story, and could be another paper entirely). Problems can arise from adapting one medium to the next, however nothing is perfect. I think that mimesis is still something that is viable in our world today, as there are multiple adaptation of mythological characters, including the Guy Ritchie directed King Arthur film (again, whether or not it was good is another story). I think there will still be more adaptations of mythological characters in the future; they are easy to pull off (relatively speaking), people know of these stories or have a certain knowledge of them, and they usually do not need anything else added to them. Whether or not aspects are removed or added are usually more behind the scenes issues that I’m not going to get into. Having a video game that lets King Arthur, Gilgamesh, and Heracles in the same setting sounds fun to me. This is a way mimesis is able to be shown in the modern world without having to change too much of the characters backstories. If there is one thing I can say about mimesis is that there is a lot more that can be said about it, but that will have to be for another day.
It's only been a few days since the latest Pokemon Go update caused more and more players to return capturing Pokemon and battling gyms, and now, the Niantic CEO just teased that the hit AR mobile game is hiding a secret. Would he finally reveal that Gen 2 Pokemon release is just a few steps away? Or would he give us more clues as to what Niantic Labs is cooking up for their next update? Niantic Labs CEO confirms Pokemon Go has a secret John Hanke, Niantic Labs CEO, recently confirmed to GamesRadar that Pokemon Go has secrets planted in the game app. "There will always be secrets in the game that no one has found because we're always adding new secrets to the game. There's one out there right now and we'll see how that plays out over the course of the next few weeks," Hanke told Louise Blain of Gamesradar. When Blain asked if the Pokemon Go secret was released with the Halloween event update, Hanke answered, "I am not giving you any clues." Right, and we're almost there! Yet, his answer is getting more vague than ever, leaving everyone to keep wondering. Smart move, sir! Pokemon Go Leak With the latest Pokemon Go update 0.45.0 for Android and 1.15.0 for iOS that came with huge bonuses due to the Free Bonus Event (until Nov.11) and Daily Quests feature, reports have also shown that the update code revealed a hundred new Pokemon that are set to arrive pretty soon. Speculations arose that these are probably the highly-awaited Gen 2 Pokemon. Generation 2 Pokemon that were found in the datamined info include Chikorita, Bayleef, Pichu, Noctowl, Cleffa, Iglybuff, Bellossom, and Politoed, among others. The recent Pokemon Go leak also unveiled a new Transform move and an animation sequence which may mean that Niantic is also about to release Ditto, a Pokemon known to have the ability to transform. More exciting updates for us then! What do you think about the Pokemon Go secret the Niantic CEO hinted? Could there be more interesting updates aside from the introduction of Gen 2 Pokemon? Share your thoughts on the comment section below!
About Hello Kickstarter, We’re GoPole. The original third-party GoPro accessory brand. Since 2010 we’ve been making innovative accessories for the world's top athletes and filmmakers. As we kick off our sixth year we are excited to bring you our first kickstarter campaign ever — A versatile mount that offers protection, stability and accessory mounting options for your GoPro® camera. We call it Triad Grip. Triad Grip is a do it all mount that is perfect for underwater use or professional video production. Featuring two rubber grips and a rubber glide handle, Triad Grip can be used for two-handed or single-handed filming. Two ¼"-20 threaded inserts and three integrated shoe mounts are provided for connecting mics, lights and other camera accessories. Multiple Mounting + Configuration Options Attaching multiple cameras allows you to capture photos and videos simultaneously or use different frame rates and settings on each camera. Camera 1: 4k30 - Camera 2: 1080p120 Camera 1: 2.7k60 - Camera 2: Continuous Photo (5 SPS) The three main components to Triad Grip are: 1. The Camera Slide System Allows you to attach one or many cameras to Triad Grip. Attach anywhere within the slide in any orientation or location. 2. Three Rubber Matrix Grips Perfectly integrated into the frame of Triad Grip are three rubber matrix grips. The two grips on the side are made to be used when filming with two hands. This gives the filmer a solid grip and helps stabilize footage when shooting follow cams. The third grip is a rubber glide handle to be used when filming low angles with one hand. Hanging the camera below the center of gravity produces ultra smooth footage. 3. Accessory Attachment Points Consisting of 3 shoe mounts and 2 ¼"-20 threaded inserts for connecting a variety of attachments. Together, these three components allow for many different setups: A pro setup with a mic and light attachments mounted to a tripod. (see Pro Backer package) A production setup with an LCD monitor to review and record footage externally An underwater setup with adjustable arms and dive lights + Many more setups Compatible cameras: All GoPro Cameras: HERO4 Session, HERO4, HERO+LCD, HERO, HERO3+, HERO3, HERO2, HD HERO + Any Camera With a Standard Tripod (1/4"-20) Connection Details: Dimensions: 10.5" x 6.0" x 1.0" Weight: 11oz Materials: Plastic, Rubber, Stainless Steel Hardware The top grip is a rubber glide handle to be used when filming low angles with one hand. Hanging the camera below the center of gravity produces ultra smooth footage. The two grips on the side are made to be used when filming with two hands. This gives the filmer a solid grip and helps stabilize footage when shooting follow cams. From professional video production to capturing footage beneath the surface, Triad Grip is a versatile mount that can be used in many different applications. When developing Triad grip, we wanted to get the details just right and think outside the box on how useful and versatile this product could be. We chose to manufacture the body out of polycarbonate, which is strong, rigid and lighter than aluminum. We started off with sketched concept generation and fleshed out the main components and rough dimensions of the product. Our industrial designers then fine tuned, dimensioned and stylized everything in CAD. Once we were happy with everything, we produced a 3d printed prototype. 3D Printed Prototype (left); Production Prototype (right) We need your support We are now at the point where everything has been engineered and working prototypes have been produced. We are ready to move forward with manufacturing and just need your support to bring Triad Grip to market. Thank you backers! In The Box: 1x Triad Grip, 2x GoPro® Mounts, 2x Hi-Torque Thumbscrews, 1x Wrist-Strap Attachment Retail Packaging
Jose Mourinho has led Manchester United to a 15-game unbeaten run in the Premier League Jose Mourinho feels the praise for the playing style he has implemented in English football is long overdue. Manchester United scored three goals in eight minutes to defeat Premier League champions Leicester City 3-0 on Sunday and close the gap on fifth-placed Liverpool to a single point. Mourinho's side are now unbeaten in 15 league games and the manager feels he is finally starting to get the recognition he has long deserved in English football. 2:37 Leicester 0-3 Manchester Utd Leicester 0-3 Manchester Utd He said: "My team is playing very well but for many, many years in my career, especially in this country, when my teams were ruthless and when they were phenomenal defensively and very good in the counter-attack, I listened week after week... it was not enough, in spite of winning the title three times. "It looks like this season, to be phenomenal defensively and be good at counter attack is art, so it's a big change in England. "I don't want to change the profile of our play. This is the way we want to play. I don't want to be the manager of a team that plays very well, creates chances and doesn't win matches. We need to score goals and today we did." The result at the King Power never looked in doubt as United turned in a dominant performance against a Leicester side struggling at the wrong end of the table after a superb 2015/16 season in which they won the title. Zlatan Ibrahimovic celebrates after scoring United's second goal at Leicester on Sunday It was a far cry from last season, when Mourinho lost his job as Chelsea boss after a 2-1 defeat at the King Power Stadium - and he could not resist a joke at his expense. He said: "The last time I was sat in this chair, the next day I was sacked!"
On Tuesday night, after months of political heartburn, things finally started cutting Hillary Rodham Clinton’s way. Her performance at the first Democratic presidential debate was so commanding that even her greatest vulnerability — the lingering controversy over her private email practices as secretary of state — ended up redounding to her benefit. After she crisply explained that she made a “mistake” using a private email server and defended her judgment, the moderator, Anderson Cooper of CNN, turned to her biggest threat in the primary campaign so far, Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont, in hopes that he would attack her. Mr. Sanders instead came to her aid. “Let me say something that may not be great politics, but I think the secretary is right — and that is that the American people are sick and tired of hearing about your damn emails,” Mr. Sanders said to cheers and a standing ovation from the Democratic audience.
By Duncan Kennedy BBC News, Rome The balcony is one of Verona's most popular tourist destinations The balcony where, according to William Shakespeare, Romeo wooed Juliet, is to be made available for weddings. The authorities in the Italian city of Verona - setting for the tale of the two lovers - say they want to foster its image as a centre for romance. The Casa Di Giulietta (house of Juliet) is in the heart of Verona. Folklore suggests it was once the home of the Cappello family - possibly the model for the Capulets in Shakespeare's fictional play, Romeo and Juliet. Although some historians say there is scant evidence to back this up, the balcony on the 14th century building is still one of the city's most popular tourist destinations. From next month, you will be able to hire it as a venue for weddings. But before you rush to this most romantic of settings consider the price - up to $1,300 (£930) for non European Union residents. Officials say they want to enhance the city's image as the perfect place for love and marriage. But remember two things: first, that Italian health and safety laws are likely to prevent modern day Romeos from climbing up the balcony to woo their brides; and second, that Shakespeare's immortal work ends in tragedy. Bookmark with: Delicious Digg reddit Facebook StumbleUpon What are these? E-mail this to a friend Printable version
Signup to receive a daily roundup of the top LGBT+ news stories from around the world Godfrey Bloom, who was suspended from UKIP for homophobic and sexist comments, has spoken of his high regard for Douglas Carswell. It was revealed today that a senior UKIP source has called for a leadership election following Nigel Farage’s return as party leader after just three days. The source described Mr Farage’s leadership as: “A tragedy of self-destruction”. Former UKIP MEP Godfrey Bloom appeared on the Victoria Derbyshire show on BBC2 to discuss the future of UKIPs leadership. Mr Bloom was suspended from the party in 2013 after describing a lesbian as “a queer” and women party members “sluts”. He left the party at the end of last year, claiming it was “too politically correct”. Asked his thoughts on Mr Farage’s style of leadership, Mr Bloom said: “He is rather capable of some abrasive behaviour. He’s not a team player. “He is very popular with the membership, but sooner or later UKIP is going to have to decide whether they want someone who’s popular in the UKIP conference hall, or popular with the electorate.” He went on to suggest UKIP’s only MP Douglas Carswell for the position of leader. “I would suggest that the leadership should come from the person who has been elected in Westminster. The fight is from Westminster now, which means Douglas Carswell. “I think regardless of the politics or your feelings for Douglas Carswell he’s clearly one of the most highly principled men in politics. He’s a sort of Dennis Skinner of the right. “He’s a man of extraordinary presence and I think naturally should step forward now. “But I don’t think he wants it. It’s a poison chalice.” Mr Carswell voted against same-sex marriage during his time as a Conservative MP, calling it “arrogant”. He has stopped short of saying he completely agrees with Mr Farage’s statements on “foreigners with HIV“. His father, Wilson Carswell was one of the first doctors to recognise HIV in Uganda and a pioneer of HIV research.
At the Vancouver Infectious Diseases Centre, Veronica Masters is getting a FibroScan test to measure scarring caused by the hepatitis C virus (HCV) in her liver. Most patients hope for a good result from their medical tests, but Masters is hoping her condition has worsened. "I need Stage 2 to get the drugs," she says. The cost of a revolutionary medical treatment for hepatitis C is so high that only those with moderate liver disease will have the medicine provided under provincial pharmacare programs. It's difficult for Masters to accept that there is a cure for her condition, but she may not be sick enough to get it. "I look healthy, but my body doesn't feel as healthy as it should." She begins to weep. "Sorry, my mental health really gets affected. It's just really, really stressful." Shawn Sharma, general manager of the Vancouver Infectious Diseases Centre, examines Veronica Masters, who has hepatitis C. (Chris Corday/CBC) The cure for HCV comes from Gilead Sciences Inc. of Foster City, CA. two drugs, marketed under the brand names Sovaldi and Harvoni , are direct acting anti-virals. Dr. Mark Swain, head of the University of Calgary's Gastroenterology and Hepatology Division, says, "I would actually use the word transformational." Previous treatments had such serious side effects that not all patients with HCV were able to take the year-long therapy, and only half of those who opted for the injectable treatment were successful. But a recent study published in the New England Journal of Medicine found the Sovaldi regimen cured up to 99 per cent of hepatitis C patients. "I can cure now. This is why I became a doctor," Swain says. "It's just a wonderful thing to be in hepatology and be a liver doctor and be able to cure everyone that I put on this type of therapy." Lyn Moehling is living proof. The Calgary school teacher was symptom-free and had no idea she had been living with hepatitis C for four decades. She found out when she donated blood, and within a few years she learned her liver was failing. "My liver scan was at 16 and I believe a total fail is at 20. So I was really up there." Moehling began mentally preparing for the worst, a liver transplant or perhaps even death. Then Swain put her in a clinical trial for Sovaldi. Sovaldi, manufactured by Gilead Sciences, cures hepatitis C. (Gilead Sciences) She took one pill a day for 12 weeks, with no side effects. Last June she got the news that she was cured. "My family and friends celebrated with me. I was over the moon." Now Moehling's liver function has returned to nearly normal. "It's a miracle, it's a real miracle." In Canada, it's estimated between 250,000 and 400,000 people have the hepatitis C virus, a great many of them undiagnosed because many people have no symptoms until their liver is failing. The Canadian Liver Foundation recommends anyone born between 1945 and 1975 be tested for the virus. Drugs like Sovaldi and Harvoni are game changers with the potential to cure almost everyone who takes them and even eradicate the disease in the long term, hepatology experts tell CBC News. But such promise comes with a hefty price tag. The retail price for an eight- to 24-week regimen of the anti-virals ranges from $55,000 to $80,000 Cdn. Health Canada and 10 Canadian provincial pharmacare programs that are underwriting the cost of the drug have probably negotiated a discount. But, whatever the price, it's steep enough that only those patients whose liver disease has progressed to Stage 2 will qualify for publicly funded medication. Shawn Sharma and Veronica Masters discuss her case. (Chris Corday/CBC) That is a tough message to deliver to patients who know they have a life-threatening illness and want access to the cure before it gets worse, says Shawn Sharma, general manager of the Vancouver centre where Masters is being treated. "You have to see the patients through the months and they're just always actively questioning you, 'Why are you not wanting to treat me?'" Sharma says. "That in and of itself is difficult to kind of go home with every day as a health-care professional." It's a difficult but necessary message, according to Dr. Morris Sherman, chair of the Canadian Liver Foundation. "There has to be a system to amortize the cost of hepatitis C over time, because it's just not possible to pay for treatment for everyone right now," says Sherman, who worries the higher than expected demand could make the drugs less available. "The costs to government are much more than expected, so I worry about them restricting eligibility even further." So far, that has not happened. But there's little doubt there is an increased focus on how to get more widespread access to those drugs that can cure hepatitis C. Swain says, "I would say that is going to be the biggest challenge going forward." He says the concept of paying more up front for a quick cure, compared to treating a patient over many years is a paradigm shift in thinking. "I think many of the payers are having a hard time grappling with that because it's a new thing; it's a new phenomenon, really." At the Vancouver clinic, Masters braces herself for the results of her scan. Sharma delivers some pretty good health news: "You're at a Stage Zero now, going into Stage 1." Stage 1 indicates only mild fibrosis, not the moderate fibrosis Masters needs to meet the criteria for a provincially funded cure. The emotional weight Masters was carrying when she walked into the clinic just got a little heavier. "What do I think?" she asks. "I think it sucks. I think it's tragic."
I never saw myself as a writer—not a natural one at least. There are those people who are born to write. You know, the ones whose every word reads like butter to your mind, smooth and effortless. That’s not me. Every word takes time. Every sentence requires pre-meditative thought. I have to go back to that time. I have to remember the events. I have to see myself as a child. Smell the muggy Florida air. See the blueness of the Orlando sky. I have to pretend that I am there. I have to envision myself in that time; feel what it felt like. And every step of the way is challenging. It’s not easy to relive some of these memories that I’ve tried so hard to ignore. But, I can tell you that as I remember and write things down, it’s like a weight is lifted. It’s almost like I needed to tell you. I need you to know what it’s like. So that when you see someone who is silently suffering, you can relate, you can understand what it feels like. I suffered silently for years, and in many ways, I still do. I’m trying hard to accept my invisible disability, to embrace the pain, to understand that it’s a part of me, but that’s not always easy to do. It’s been 20 years of my life that I’ve lived this way. Silently in pain. Secretly uncomfortable, while always trying hard not to be an inconvenience. School was where I always tried to blend in, to camouflage, to pretend that I was just like everyone else. Some days were harder than others. Some days, I couldn’t focus. There were some days I tried so hard to listen to the words that my teacher was saying, but his words would jam together in my mind to the point where I couldn’t even hear him, couldn’t understand what he was saying. It was as if I was listening to someone speaking a foreign language, or even worse, like listening to Charlie Brown’s teacher in Peanuts. I wanted to listen to every word he was saying, but the pain would take over. As he spoke, my thoughts would wander to my desk. It was made of wood, plastic, and some cheap metal. Kids from previous years had started a chewed-up gum collection on all four corners underneath it, and there were days I forgot the gum was there and would accidentally touch a piece of it, old and hard, that had been there for god knows how long. It was so gross. Yet, that didn’t stop me from contributing to the collection. I added my fair share of chewed-up gum to the corners underneath that desk. My desk was by the window, which was a luxury and a distraction all at once. But on the days that I had a hard time focusing on what the teacher was saying, the window provided an escape. A small peek-hole into the outside world, a tiny solace where I could drift away and forget. It was my way of escaping. It was those days, the really bad ones, that the window helped me escape. I would look out the window and stare at the trees blowing in the wind, and sometimes, if I listened intently, I could hear the birds chirping, and if I allowed myself to drift far enough away, I could smell the freshly cut grass. Previous kids, who sat at my desk before me, were probably not as lucky to have a window to escape. The signs of boredom and utter distractions were written all over the inside of the compartment of my desk. Pencil scratchings garnished the entire top compartment, leaving no sign that the inside was partially made of wood. I occasionally tried to stick my hand in the compartment and erase some of the markings, but my hand would always come out so stained with gray pencil markings that I eventually gave up. But it wasn’t like I had the luxury of escaping in my thoughts all the time. In reality, it was seldom that I was able to fully escape through the window. Most days, I resisted the temptation of drifting away. I would force myself to stay seated, even though all I wanted to do was stand up and stretch because I couldn’t get comfortable in those chairs. I would shift and turn, lean back, lean forward. But nothing helped. The longer I sat there, the more I could feel the muscle spasms collecting on the right side of my ribs; it was agonizing. I tried to stretch out the right side of my body by moving my shoulder up and leaning to the left side. But when I would do that, I would get cramps on the left side of my abdomen, and then I would feel trapped in my body and stuck in my chair. The worst part of it all was that sitting in a chair highlighted my deformity, and I would obsess over it. I could feel the unevenness of my spine, and it bothered me that I couldn’t sit with my back flat on any chair. I was like an uneven piece of wood, where one side was higher than the other, and it drove me crazy. My back was never flat against the back of the seat. The right side was always touching, and the screw heads that held the seat together would be shoved into my ribs. The left side of my body seldom touched the chair. Most of the time, I would place my left hand underneath the left side of my body; this would even it out and alleviate some of the stress that was placed on my spinal protrusion. The longer I held my hand behind my back, the more numb it would become. Sometimes I would leave it there for so long that it would fully fall asleep, and I would have to bare through the tingling feeling of waking it up. This could have been easily avoided. I could have brought a pillow to school. I could have asked Dr. Gray to write me a note allowing me to randomly stand up in class. I could have done so many things to solve the problem, to avoid the agonizing pain that I lived through, but I didn’t. The detrimental combination of my pride and the shame of my powerlessness wouldn’t allow me to change the situation, to speak up for myself, and instead, I sat there in silence, pretending that everything was okay, even when it wasn’t.
A Sydney lawyer allegedly caught using the identity of a dead client to access the prized Members Reserve at the Melbourne Cricket Ground during AFL grand finals is being prosecuted for misconduct. Denis Manning Anderson was escorted from the stadium after security officers intercepted him using the membership card of Michael Alfred Starkey - who died almost 15 years earlier - at last year's match. Fairfax Media has been told Mr Anderson may have used Mr Starkey's membership to enter the exclusive area to watch the grand final for several years running. Queue jumper: Denis Manning Anderson. Last week the Legal Services Commissioner hauled Mr Anderson before the occupational division of the NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal. If found guilty of unsatisfactory professional conduct or professional misconduct, Mr Anderson could be removed from the roll - known as being struck off - or his practising certificate could be suspended or cancelled.
National construction company ISIS Group Australia could be forced to change its name after 25 years because site workers have been abused as "terrorists". The Australian company, which specialises in commercial office fit-outs and refurbishments, has reportedly been forced to scale back signage at work sites and encourage workers not to wear branded uniforms, News Corp reported. Construction staff have been abused as terrorists by people walking past work sites, mistaking the company for the terrorist group in the Middle East. ISIS chief executive Michael Barnes told News Corp he was upset that "ill-informed members of the public" were making the mistake. "In recent weeks we have instructed our workers to stop wearing ISIS-branded clothing and are also in the process of scaling back on-site branding to limit attention from misinformed people and ensure the safety of our employees," Mr Barnes said. "We are upset that what we stand for is becoming eroded by the Islamic State." Mr Barnes said the company may consider a name change if the abuse continued. © Nine Digital Pty Ltd 2019
Need 50 plates for a big occasion? (Picture: Wholesale Clearance UK) Plenty of useless souvenirs have been produced to celebrate the birth of Prince George. From weird dolls to a CD of royal lullabies, if you’re a big fan of the third in line to the throne you can spend your hard-earned cash on just about anything. But it seems one company was a little too keen to cash in on the occasion, ordering 5000 commemorative plates labelled ‘to celebrate the birth of the royal princess’ after receiving an ‘inside tip’, which turned out to be incorrect. It’s a shame really, these would have been nice (Picture: Wholesale Clearance UK) The company is now selling the plates for £149 per box of 50 and suggests several possible uses for the pieces of ‘inaccurate history’ including ‘waiting for baby number two and selling them for a profit’, ‘having a plate smashing contest’ and to ‘give to your colleagues as the worst secret Santa present ever’. The plates will probably still work as a plates although we accept no responsibility for any embarrassment, shunning or charges of treason that result from using these plates at a dinner party/royal occasion.
The judge in the trial of a man accused of murdering an abortion doctor dealt the defence a major setback Thursday, ruling that the jury cannot consider a lesser charge of manslaughter. The ruling in a Wichita, Kan., courtroom came hours after Scott Roeder took the stand in his own defence and admitted killing Dr. George Tiller on May 31, 2009, in the foyer of a Wichita church the doctor attended. He had previously confessed publicly to the shooting. Roeder said he acted to save the lives of unborn children. Roeder's lawyers had hoped to win a lesser conviction of voluntary manslaughter, which requires them to show their client had an unreasonable but honest belief that deadly force was justified. The charge carries a considerably lighter sentence than murder. Roeder has pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder and aggravated assault. Asked by his own lawyer about his views on abortion, the 51-year-old Roeder, who is from Kansas City, Mo., said he believes it amounts to murder. "From conception forward, it is murder," Roeder told the court. "It is not a man's job to take life. It is our heavenly father's. He is our creator." Roeder replied "yes" or "no" to many of the questions he was asked, and his attempts to elaborate drew frequent objections from prosecutors, who say Roeder lacks the medical expertise to describe Tiller's practice. When asked to detail the types of abortion procedures he was familiar with, Roeder answered "four or five" and then listed them. In one instance, he described a procedure as involving the fetus being "torn limb from limb" — a characterization that prompted a quick objection from the prosecution. Before Roeder took the stand, District Judge Warren Wilbert barred former Kansas attorney general Phill Kline, who is known for campaigning against abortion, from testifying after listening to a preview of Kline's testimony without the jury present. Kline investigated Tiller's clinic, Women's Health Care Services, in 2006 because he suspected Tiller was violating Kansas's laws pertaining to late-term abortion. The case was later dropped because of jurisdictional issues. Wilbert said allowing Kline's testimony at the trial would be "inappropriate" and said much of it amounted to "exactly what this court seeks to avoid." "I said I would not allow this courtroom to turn into a forum or a referendum on abortion," Wilbert said. The decision to bar Kline's testimony hampers the strategy of the defence, which had hoped to show that Roeder based his actions in part on Kline's belief that Tiller was breaking the law — a potential step toward a lesser conviction of voluntary manslaughter. Wilbert had reminded Roeder's lawyers in court on Wednesday that they had to couple a voluntary manslaughter defence with a showing of imminent danger posed by the doctor. He noted abortion is legal in Kansas. The two counts of aggravated assault Roeder faces are for allegedly using a gun to threaten two ushers who tried to stop him after the May 31 shooting.
On October 26th several vehicles belonging to police officers were set on fire in the French commune of Meylan and now a radical leftist anarcho-feminist group has claimed responsibility saying it is “revenge” for “sexism.” The group released a statement this week saying that they purposely set the vehicles on fire and made sure to “make a joke to the firemen” by sealing off the entrance to the police car park so they would not be able to deal with the blaze. Around 10 litres of petrol was used to ignite the vehicles which were totally destroyed L’Express reports. “We do not want to stay in the position of victims in which society would like to place us by recognizing us as girls,” the group said. The letter explained that the group targetted the personal property of the officers rather than their police cars because they wanted to, “attack the individuals who wear the uniforms, rather than their function,” as police. The fire ultimately destroyed four cars and a motorcycle and the uncontrolled fire blackened a nearby residential building, though the fire did not spread to it. Jean-Yves Coquillat, the public prosecutor in Grenoble, commented on the incident saying it was, “not far from a tragedy,” and said he found it worrying that the individual police officers were targetted by the group. He added that the incident was just the latest of a series of similar incidents that have occurred this year in the area. PICS: Leftist Torch German Police Vehicles in Hamburg Anti-G20 Protest https://t.co/hMSrf64mNB — Breitbart London (@BreitbartLondon) March 28, 2017 Left-extremist violence is on the rise across Europe and is often directed toward law enforcement. The largest example of leftist violence was the Hamburg G20 in which left-extremist Antifa members destroyed property, looted shops and injured hundreds of police in rioting that lasted for several days. Right-wing supporters and politicians have also been repeated targets of alt-left violence as well. Recently a social house project of the hipster-right Identitarian youth movement was targetted by left-extremists who threw a hundred bricks at the building, drilled a hole in the door and sprayed butyric acid in the building. The alt-left have even called for violence toward mainstream journalists in Canada saying that only “approved” media, those who will not show the faces behind their masks, will be allowed to film their protests.
A sticker, placed on SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket launched from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida Monday which pays tribute to a local teen who died in 2015, has made its way to space and back. "It was really emotional to see it go up and to know what we know now about rockets," Rhett Hering's mom, Lorna Hering said through tears. "But to know Rhett was on it and that he was going to get to go to space. It was so much more emotional than I expected." Back in July, SpaceX decided to honor 15-year-old Rhett Hering and the movement sparked by his death called the "Rhett Revolution," by placing a "Rhett Revolution" sticker on the first stage booster of the Falcon 9 rocket at the McGregor testing facility. On Monday, SpaceX launched the rocket while Lorna and Jimmy Hering watched on from a private viewing area at NASA in Florida. "It's truly amazing to watch this rocket go up. The fire, to feel it, to hear it," Jimmy said. "And then seven minutes later to watch it come back down." Two minutes after the Falcon 9 launch, the first stage booster with the "Rhett Revolution" sticker on board, separated from the rocket and like clock-work, landed 8 minutes later at a pad 11 miles away. "Now we're sitting here waiting with excitement to see at some point if a piece of that Rhett Revolution sticker made it back," Jimmy said minutes after lift-off. The landing site of the booster is not open to the public or the media but SpaceX invited KWTX to accompany Rhett's parents as they saw the booster just hours after it landed and when they finally got the answer to the question they had. The sticker in their son's honor had made it back home and Space X says they hope to return it to the family soon. "Really I'm speechless I think," Jimmy said. "This culminates an incredible two days." When the booster carrying Rhett's message of love reentered the earth's atmosphere, it came back faster than the speed of sound but still landed just 4 feet from its exact target. It's an ending to a mission for the Herings that they say came as no surprise. "That was to be expected," Jimmy said. "Everything was perfect from the very beginning. Putting Rhett's sticker on it and allowing us to be a part of it and to land it almost dead on bullseye. It was meant to be."
Several months after its release, it’s still difficult to track down Nintendo’s amazing NES Classic Edition. The tiny console is everything you want it to be, but it does have one tiny flaw that isn’t related to limited retail availability: incredibly short controller cords. The cord on the single controller that comes with the NES Classic Edition is only 2.5 feet long, which makes playing far away from the TV a bit of a chore. You can buy extension cables, but everyone knows going wireless is more convenient. Advertisement Right now there are two primary wireless controller options for the NES Classic Edition: the $20 Nyko Miniboss and the $40 NES30 Classic Edition Wireless Controller Set from 8Bitdo. Both cut the cord and let you sit back on the couch, but which one is actually worth the Andrew Jackson or two you’ll need to spend to own them? Pairing Advertisement Like the NES Classic Edition itself, both controllers are easy to setup. I plugged a wireless dongle into the front of the console and hit a button on the controller to start the pairing process. While the Nyko Miniboss never missed a beat and always paired immediately, the 8Bitdo was more annnoying, demanding that I press a button on the receiver itself. It also requires re-pairing after restarting the console, which kind of defeats the purpose of going wireless. I didn’t have to re-pair every time I gamed, but even once or twice was annoying. Winner: Nyko Miniboss Battery Life I wasn’t able to exhaust the battery of either controller in my testing—though some customer reviews indicate that the Nyko Miniboss starts to lag a bit when its battery gets low. Nyko promises that you’ll still get 15 hours on a charge while 8Bitdo claims the NES30 will last 20 hours. Advertisement Both units also charge over micro-USB, but the budget Miniboss doesn’t come with a cable. I could have hunted for one of my own, but instead I just charged it with the power cable for the console itself—which forced me into a gaming time out for a little while. Winner: 8Bitdo NES30 Versatility Advertisement The nice thing about the 8Bitdo NES 30, and one of the reasons it costs twice as much as the Nyko Miniboss, is that its “Retro Receiver” wireless dongle works with more than just the NES30 controller. It should pair with all 8Bitdo controllers and arcade sticks. It also lets you use a PS3, PS4, WiiMote, or Wii U Pro controller with the NES, which is useful if you’ve got huge hands that might cramp holding the tiny NES 30 controller. But best of all, the NES30 controller can also be used as a standard Bluetooth controller, which makes playing a game on your computer or home-built emulation station much more satisfying. In contrast, the Nyko Miniboss dongle works with the controller it comes with. That’s it. Though you can plug the dongle into a Wii or Wii U and use it to play all the NES games on the Virtual Console that were never packed into the NES Classic Edition. Like River City Ransom, a key brawler absent from Nintendo’s tiny console. Advertisement Winner: 8Bitdo NES30 Gameplay Advertisement Wireless performance and nice battery life are all well and good, but it means nothing if the controller doesn’t feel right. Neither one is an exact replica of the classic sharp cornered NES controller. For one thing, buttons on both are offset, diagonally, SNES style, rather than being side-by-side like on the classic NES controller. In fact, the 8Bitdo NES30 controller is actually very akin to a Super Nintendo controller—with an A, B, X, and Y button on the front and two shoulder buttons on top. It’s just in a rectangular NES housing. The Nyko Miniboss just sticks with two buttons and a control pad for gameplay. Neither had any problems keeping up in Punch-Out!! or Super Mario Bros 3. But the Miniboss’s smaller directional pad just didn’t feel as good under my thumb. The NES30, strikingly similar to an original NES gamepad, felt happily familiar despite those extra buttons. Advertisement The NES30 also squeezes in a real game changer that fixes a major problem with the NES Classic Edition. It has a built-in shortcut for accessing the home screen on the console, fulfilling its promise of true wireless NES gameplay. I never had to leave the couch to to switch games. Winner: 8Bitdo NES30 Bottom Line Advertisement Both controllers bring the NES Classic Edition further into modern times and out of 1985. Yet the $40 8Bitdo controller is better in almost every way—even if it also costs twice as much. It you’re just there to squeak out a quick game of Dr. Mario, I don’t necessarily think that extra $20 is worth it. Instead you could get a two-pack of Miniboss’s to get your Dr. Mario on with that housemate that keeps begging to know when it’s their turn. But you’re going to be more satisfied in the long run with the 8Bitdo NES30. It is more comfortable to use, has longer battery life, and it won’t make you get up from the couch to return to the game screen. Winner: 8Bitdo NES30
Noting that "the community’s activism, outside mobilization, and just family awareness and respect for people to end discrimination" contribute to a different public attitude than the last time ENDA was introduced, Nancy Pelosi told reporters that she envisions a path to passage of ENDA similar to that of the Violence Against Women Act: “We made it too hot to handle in the public,” Pelosi said. “It had to come to the floor. Even so, a majority of the Republicans voted against the Violence Against Women Act. But nonetheless, it came to the floor. I hope we could have a similar situation with this.” Asked to clarify whether VAWA reauthorization could be a model for House passage of ENDA, Pelosi called for expedited movement of the legislation in her chamber. “Well, I would think it would be “once burned, twice learned,” and that they would, shall we say, save some time by taking it right to our committee and to the floor,” Pelosi said. “It’s really important. Our country – ending discrimination is what we are all about as Americans, and we should not have discrimination in the workplace because of gender identity.” Read Chris Johnson's full report at the Blade here.
Pakistan is preparing for its first census in 19 years. Here are some facts about the upcoming enumeration exercise of the sixth most populous nation in the world. Read: All set for country’s biggest census exercise A third sex For the first time, transsexual people will be counted separately, according to representatives of this historically recognised but often persecuted community in the country. The forms had been printed well in advance of court decisions to include them in the count. Now enumerators have been informed that those surveyed will have three numeric choices for their gender: 1 for men, 2 for women, 3 for those who declare themselves transsexuals. Only nine languages Language is considered an essential tool in evaluating the makeup of multi-ethnic Pakistan — but only nine of the country's estimated 70 will be listed , to the dismay of many communities. No regional languages from sparsely populated Gilgit-Baltistan will be included nor will Gujrati — spoken by some Muslim immigrants from India who believe the lack of recognition will drive their mother-tongue towards oblivion. Examine: The future of Gujarati language in Pakistan Faith matters The census will provide an insight into the true number of religious minorities, especially Christians and Hindus. Estimates are approximate and disputed, ranging from 2 to 10 million for the former and 2.5 to 4.5m for the latter. Citizens can declare themselves Muslim, Christian, Hindu or Ahmadi. Otherwise, they can be “members of scheduled castes” — members of marginalised Hindu families, or “other”. There are no separate options for Sikhs, Parsis or Baha'i. Feeling flush One box asks households how many toilets they have — a particularly salient question in Pakistan, where the United Nations estimates up to 40 per cent of people defecate in the open air with dramatic health consequences, especially for children. Nationality The census gives two nationality options: Pakistani or foreign. But the army, which will conduct a parallel count, plans to be more precise mainly because of the country's Afghan refugees who are accused of everything from terrorism to trafficking. Many local officials fear Afghans could be counted as local and skew demography in favour of ethnic Pashtuns, whose political parties would benefit as a result. On the other hand, the estimated six million Pakistanis working abroad will not be counted. No information will be collected on internal migration — necessary to assess the political weight of a province where many people have moved for economic reasons. This information will be the subject of a separate subsequent survey based on a large sample of the population, according to authorities.
Last May, Dr. Kathleen Levinstein, a professor of social work at the University of Michigan, wrote a heartbreaking piece about her autistic daughter, a teenaged girl who became convinced that she was really a man trapped inside a woman’s body. With encouragement from transgender activists at the local organization of PFLAG (Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays), the vulnerable young woman took sex-altering hormones and cut off her breasts. Dr. Levinstein now grieves the mutilation of her daughter’s body and the increased psychological confusion her daughter is experiencing as a result of the hormones. She states, “She has been taken advantage of. Healthy organs were amputated…. It is a crime not just against women, but particularly against disabled women. So many of these young women who are ‘transitioning’ are also autistic.” Some contemporary studies have made a connection between gender “dysphoria” and autism. A recent article in The Atlantic uses these studies to push the idea that “transitioning” is a healthy, even necessary, option for those on the spectrum who want it. The author asserts that any effort to discourage such “medical care” to those with special needs is callous. In this way, The Atlantic interweaves natural sympathy for the growing autism awareness movement with transgender ideology. The Atlantic has it backwards. To help and protect individuals on the spectrum, there needs to be greater awareness of transgenderism’s lies and why those on the spectrum could be susceptible to its manipulation. Encouraging sex-change or an alternate gender identity is destructive to individuals with autism or Asperger’s (previously in a separate diagnostic category), only furthering their private pain. Why would those who are neurobiologically different also come to see themselves as a different biological sex with the rising influence of the transgender movement? Neurologically atypical individuals spend much of their childhood and adolescence quietly struggling with how others misunderstand them and how they understand themselves. It is critical to understand this struggle in order to push back against the encroachment of transgender ideology into the gifted and special needs community. With boys, the struggle may be outwardly noticeable. With young girls, the struggle is often more hidden (and undiagnosed). I can offer some insight into this struggle through my own childhood experience as an undiagnosed girl with Asperger’s. As a child, I flapped my hands and engaged in what it called “stimming.” My particular type of stimming involved opening my mouth wide in a self-stimulatory manner. My jaw dropped and my hands shook repetitively while my voice sounded as if it was out-of-breath (I wasn’t struggling for breath at all). Most clinicians in the 1970s and 1980s did not even know what “stimming” was. Autism was not fully on the cultural radar yet and the groundbreaking writings of Hans Asperger had only been recently translated from the original German. I loved stimming and still do. It felt relaxing: a kind of natural, harmless high in the brain that others around me would never know and could not attain. Nonetheless, I learned at a young age to only stimmy in private so as to avoid ridicule. From a young age, I always knew I was different in some way. Females with Asperger’s often go unrecognized because young girls are better able to “fake it until they make it” in the neurotypical world. They are better at it up to a point. That point is usually adolescence. During adolescence, the stresses of holding all the quirks and idiosyncrasies in check can be too much to bear in the face of increased social expectations. As a result, Asperger’s girls growing up often prefer the company of boys and generally find it far easier to relate with males. As psychiatrist Martin L. Kutscher writes in The Syndrome Mix, “Many women who have Asperger’s syndrome have described to psychologists and in autobiographies how they sometimes think they have a male rather than a female brain, having a greater understanding and appreciation of the interests, thinking, and humor of boys during their early school years.” Sound familiar? This aspect of their cerebral wiring—the conflict between what they feel, how they perceive the world and how the world perceives them—existed long before the neo-Gnosticism of transgender ideology came into vogue. Their thinking is often highly literal. Their mothers struggle to understand them and they find it easier to relate to their fathers. Due to their unusual traits, they are also prime targets for bullying by “mean girls” during adolescence, further alienating them. I can attest to that from personal experience having ended up with a concussion and blood streaming down my face in middle school. These girls are not “boys trapped in a girl’s body.” These are girls who think differently and are often misunderstood by the other young girls around them. They don’t need to be encouraged to become males. Others need to be encouraged to better understand them as unique young women. Boys on the spectrum face other sets of struggles. Sensory-seeking little boys may like to touch the ruffles, tutus or lace on girls’ clothes for comfort. They often have delayed gross motor skills, making it difficult for them to engage in the contact sports through which boys generally bond. Boys who toe-walk due to problems with their vestibular system may be mocked for “walking like a girl” or “acting girly.” Boys on the spectrum are routinely bullied or rejected by other boys, leading them to question their very identity as boys. You could explain to parents and teachers that boys touching girls’ clothes need greater sensory input. You could encourage parents to help their children improve gross motor skills through physical therapy or individualized sports such as gymnastics or martial arts. You could have an occupational therapist work with them on their vestibular system. You could help them develop the friendships with other boys that they desperately crave, such as by finding parents or groups who have children with shared interests or needs. Or you could play into false and shallow stereotypes of the sexes and tell parents that their child is really a “girl trapped in a boy’s body.” Sadly, you can see this is already happening just by perusing internet forums for moms of children with Asperger’s. Some mothers of Aspies now refer to their sons as “male-assigned” rather than boys. These parents do not need to be told to accept that their child is really a “male trapped in a woman’s body” or “a woman trapped in a man’s body.” They need to be further educated on special needs and taught ways to relate to their quirky and gifted son or daughter with Asperger’s. A new campaign has sprung up on social media with the hashtag #AutisticTransPride. A movement telling young people on the spectrum that the identity issues they will struggle with as they grow-up can be solved through sex change or “gender questioning” is cruel. Surface changes in clothes and pronouns will solve nothing and only exacerbate their suffering. What they need is not biological alteration, but greater acceptance and understanding of their neurobiological differences. For a pseudo-religious movement to target this vulnerable population of youths for their own ideological ends is nothing less than child abuse. The latest Atlantic piece is just another shot across the bow. If we do not remain vigilant in speaking the truth, young people with special needs will just be the latest victims in the left-wing cultural assault against human biology. (Photo credit: Shutterstock)
With 2013 now in the books for the U.S. national team, we can start looking at which players have the best chance of starting for Jurgen Klinsmann at the World Cup. After a calendar year that saw Jurgen Klinsmann experiment with all sorts of lineups, formations and personnel, the big question surrounding the U.S. national team heading into 2014 is just which 11 players are most likely to make up the starting lineup that takes the field in Brazil next summer.There is still plenty of time for things to change because in seven months you could see players lose their form, others gain their form, and some players rebound after rough years. Whether Steve Cherundolo makes a return from his injuries, John Brooks matures into the center back so many think he can be, or Timmy Chandler returns from his national team banishment, there are any number of variables that could wind up affecting the starting lineup Klinsmann ultimately settles on.A total of 23 matches were played in 2013, which provided us with plenty of insight into which players are heading in the right direction, which players may be sliding out of the picture, and which players look like locks to start in Brazil. Here is a closer look at the 11 players we could see taking the field for the U.S. when the 2014 World Cup kicks off:Earlier in the year there was some clamoring for Brad Guzan to become the new No. 1, but Howard has responded to that challenge in style. With a strong second half of the year that reminded us just how good he can be.It took an injury to Brad Evan in order for Klinsmann to take a look at Cameron at right back and what we saw from him there against Austria should be a sign of things to come. Cameron has the length and athleticism to defend well, and he’s gaining confidence in the attacking part of playing right back, as we saw against Austria. Brad Evans will continue to pose a challenge, but with Cameron earning regular starter minutes at right back in the English Premier League, look for him to take over the job.A year of ups and downs concluded with Gonzalez posting some steady performances in central defense that suggest he’s ready to take on the starting center back roll. He’s dominant in the air, and when he’s on his game, can move very well for a big man. His strengths make him a perfect complement to Matt Besler. Young German-American John Brooks is one to watch though, and could put some pressure on Gonzalez for the spot.Earlier in the year, Besler made a memorable debut against Mexico in Estadio Azteca that sent a clear message he was a player to deal with at the center back position. His speed, positioning and ability to read the game and sniff out danger make him arguably the best center back in the pool, or at the very least the most consistent. Cameron, Clarence Goodson and Michael Orozco are some of the options Klinsmann could turn to if Besler winds up not being on the field in Brazil.Klinsmann has tried Johnson out on the left wing, where he has been a serious threat, and even at right back, where he was less impressive, but when looking at what could be the most effective starting lineup, deploying Johnson at left back looks to be the best bet for fielding the strongest possible group. DaMarcus Beasley has held his own at times in the starting role, but Johnson is the better option.Donovan has had mixed results playing as a winger, but in this starting lineup his speed and combination play could be used to maximum effect. Let’s face it, we can’t picture a healthy and fit Donovan not starting in Brazil, and chances are he will be deployed wide if he does start. Here we put him on the left wing, where a Donovan-Fabian Johnson combination could cause real problems for opponents. Graham Zusi should push Donovan for playing time here, and Fabian Johnson can't be ruled out either if Beasley holds on to the left back spot.This selection will raise some eyebrows, especially considering Jones’ recent struggles in the November friendlies, but all signs point to Klinsmann going with the veteran German-born midfielder if he is healthy and playing regularly. Someone like Mix Diskerud, Sacha Kljestan or Kyle Beckerman could ultimately take the job if Jones continues to falter, but if not, the Schalke hard man is a safe bet to be Klinsmann’s choice.The most indispensable player on the U.S. team, Bradley quite simply can’t be replaced, and the question isn’t whether he starts but rather who would serve as his best partner in central midfield. Whether he’s playing regularly for AS Roma or not, a healthy Michael Bradley will be in the starting lineup in Brazil.Klinsmann has settled in on using Dempsey as a second striker/playmaker and this is where we see him in Klinsmann’s preferred 4-2-3-1 formation here. With Donovan and Aron Johannsson providing speed on the wings, and Jozy Altidore posting up as the target forward, Dempsey could have a field day as a playmaker. Now he just needs to regain his top form come 2014. Diskerud is an option at this position if Dempsey is unable to go, as could Joe Corona be if he regains his form with Club Tijuana.The Sunderland striker has endured a rough start to his time with his new club, but the struggles are making him a better player and should only serve to help him when the World Cup roles around. We saw in the summer just what Altidore can do when given consistent service, and if Klinsmann can get this lineup on the field around Altidore, you could see him enjoy a strong World Cup. If for some reason Altidore isn't available, young Rapid Vienna striker Terrence Boyd and Seattle forward Eddie Johnson are also in the mix.Whether deployed on the left, right, or underneath Altidore in the 4-2-3-1, Johannson has shown all the qualities of a player who can help the U.S. attack. He is improving by leaps and bounds and in another six months he could be ready to lead the attack. Klinsmann has been bringing Johannsson along slowly, but when 2014 rolls around, it will be difficult to keep the AZ Alkmaar striker out of the starting lineup. Nantes midfielder Alejandro Bedoya, Zusi and Corona are some of the other options for the right wing.
maartena Premium Member Its hard to be a Republican these days..... Most of my Republican friends have been getting quieter, and quieter, and quieter over the last year. They all voted for Trump, and every single one of them has said they wished they didn't. (Now, I am in Orange County, a county that usually votes Republican, but went Democrat in 2016, and Republicans around here typically do have SOME brains....) Most of them are techies, granted, so Net Neutrality lies a lot closer to their hearts than say e.g. that abomination of a tax law, but.... it's getting hard to be a Republican and still stand behind Trump these days. Good on Minnesota. California is planning a similar suit, and put their OWN Net Neutrality laws in place.... and its going to be almost impossible to impose fees and caps on your market of e.g. 9 states with decent footprints in each state, if e.g. 4 of them have a net neutrality law in place.... It would be easier and cheaper to just go with Net Neutrality then. New York, Illinois, Oregon, Iowa and Massachusetts have already filed. Minnesota is next. California is working on it and probably will file in January. Keep it coming, and suck it Trump & Paj!
The Future? TRCC engines mean China could fly Mach 6 airplanes—like the one shown in this fan art—that could fly anywhere in the world in under three hours. It would mean speeds and altitudes not yet used by modern air defenses. Grassroots (artist) American and Chinese defense giants are moving quickly to reach the edge of space, aiming to launch hypersonic aircraft that can cross continents in under an hour. What exactly does hypersonic mean? Speeds of over Mach 5, or more than 3,835 miles per hour. It's an arms race well worth watching. Developments have the potential to revolutionize access to space and transform transcontinental travel for civilians. It could also transform national security, making existing air and missile defenses obsolete. SR-72 With recent technological breakthroughs, Lockheed Martin hopes to fly the Mach 6 SR-72 unmanned hypersonic aircraft by 2030. Lockheed Martin China is home to two companies reaching for the hypersonic prize, the Chinese Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC) and the Chinese Aerospace Science and Industry Corporation (CASIC). Meanwhile, in America, Lockheed Martin is making waves, having told aviation journalists that its hypersonic technology is about ready for flight testing. Lockheed Martin's progress almost certainly refers to the turbine rocket combined cycle (TRCC), an engine that switches between turbofan, ramjet and scramjets for subsonic, supersonic, and hypersonic flight. The TRCC engine will be tested on a fighter-sized flight testbed by 2020. If all goes well, it'll shortly thereafter power the SR-72, a Mach 6, unmanned twin-engine reconnaissance aircraft that is targeted to start flight by 2030. That aircraft is designed to enter highly contested and defended airspace at altitudes of 18 and 62 miles, using its speed to outrun enemy defenses, like the SR-71 Blackbird before it. Executive Vice President and General Manager at Lockheed Martin Rob Weiss also suggested that hypersonic planes could fire hypersonic missiles. That suggests that the SR-72 could join the B-21 stealth bomber in the USAF's future global strike arsenal. XS-1 The "Phantom Express" XS-1 is a DSTO space-launch vehicle, consisting of a rocket-powered launch plane and a second-stage rocket that will separate from the plane to launch 1.5 tons into low-earth orbit. Boeing Another key U.S. project is the "Phantom Express" XS-1 spaceplane, which is being developed by Boeing and funded by DARPA. It's a dual-stage-to-orbit (DSTO) vehicle. Stage one: a hypersonic plane powered by liquid fueled rockets. Once the XS-1 is in near space (18- to 62-mile altitude), we reach stage two, when an expendable rocket attached to the plane's back will detach and fly into orbit to deploy its 1.5-ton payload. The carrier rocket plane then will be able to return to a runway, where it will be prepped for another launch within 24 hours. The plan is that it can undertake at least 10 launches in 10 days, providing the U.S. space system more resilience to replace satellites in the event of a conflict. Teng Yun The Teng Yun, which CASIC intends to deliver by 2030, uses a TRCC-engined hypersonic carrier aircraft to carry the second rocket-powered stage into near space. Both stages will be reusable; the hypersonic carrier airframe could also be used to hypersonic strike and reconnaissance roles. WeChat China, however, is developing some major competition in this same hypersonic race. There are two separate projects. For one, CASIC debuted the Teng Yun spacecraft design during the Global Space Exploration 2017 (GLEX 2017) conference in Beijing. The DSTO Teng Yun would have a combined weight of 100-150 tons. The first stage is a Mach 6 hypersonic 'carrier' aircraft, with TRCC engines that can fly to altitudes of 18 to 25 miles. Unlike the XS-1, the Teng Yun's second stage is a reusable, 10-15-ton rocket-powered spaceplane capable of carrying either 2 tons of cargo or 5 passengers. CASIC Vice President Liu Shiquan said that company has finished technology demonstration of key Teng Yun flight technology (like, you know the engine), and looks to have the two-stage space plane flying by 2030, as part of a $16 billion research effort. Manned and Unmanned The Teng Yun's second stage can either be a launch rocket, or take five taikonauts to a future Chinese space station. CASIC Much like the U.S. systems, the CASIC hypersonic carrier could have other applications besides space launch. It's big enough to carry significant payloads (10-15 tons), which could include sensors and weapons. With modifications, like additional fuel tanks for increased range, its hypersonic speed and near-space flight altitude could fit with Chinese military needs for fast, global reconnaissance and strike. As CASIC manufactures most of China's missiles, its experience with rocket motors, ramjet engines (and future scramjet engines) means that it likely has the resources to build the complex TRCC engines for the hypersonic carrier, and by extension a hypersonic recon and strike plane. Chinese Hypersonic Spaceplane The Chinese hypersonic spaceplane, with a combined cycle engine that hops between jet, scramjets, and rockets, promises to be the ultimate form in reusable and easy space travel. In theory, it could cross the Pacific Ocean in one hour. China hopes to have these fast birds in the sky (with people onboard!) by 2030. CCTV 13 China's second innovation is CASC's hypersonic spaceplane, which was announced in August 2016. Its engine and other critical technology are slated for completion by 2020, and a full-scale hypersonic spaceplane is expected to fly by 2030. TRRE The turbo-aided rocket-augmented ram/scramjet engine (TRRE), which uses rocket augmentation in order to aid in the transition into the supersonic and hypersonic flight regimes, could be the world's first combined cycle engine to fly in 2025, paving the way for hypersonic near space planes and single-stage space launchers. Beijing Power Machinery Research Institute CASC's ambitions match the projected timeline for the rocket-assisted scramjet being built by the Beijing Power Machinery Research Institute for near space strike and reconnaissance, as well as dual- and single-stage-to-orbit (SSTO) vehicles. BPMRI will commence full-scale testing of the technology demonstrator in 2020, followed by the flight of a full scale afterward. Further improvements will lead to a scramjet engine powerful enough for an SSTO hypersonic plane to fly directly to orbit in one piece, as opposed to the DSTO model, where only part of the spacecraft makes it to orbit. Compared to the smaller and cheaper DSTO, a sufficiently fueled SSTO spaceplane could depart from and reenter orbit on multiple occasions during the same flight, traveling at greater speed compared to a near-space-only hypersonic aircraft. Three Phases of Reusability CASC's DSTO program has three planned stages: (1) a reusable carrier rocket plane, (2) both a reusable rocket plane and second stage, and (3) a TRCC hypersonic carrier aircraft. CASC via xyz CASC also has more conservative plans for its own DSTO program. Its GLEX 2017 presentation showed a three-phase DSTO approach. The first phase involves a reuseable hypersonic rocket plane with an expendable upper stage rocket. In September 2016, CASC had also announced plans for a vertical-takeoff, rocket-powered spaceplane known as the Scaled Suborbital Vehicle. This Mach 8, 20-passenger, 100-ton rocket plane can reach an altitude of 81 miles and carry a second-stage rocket with a 2-ton payload. It is likely that Phase 1 of the CASC DSTO is the Scaled Suborbital Vehicle.
Some players of S outh Park: The Stick of Truth won't get to see the game in its entirety—a handful of 20-second scenes are censored in the EMEA (Europe, Middle East, Africa) version of the upcoming RPG on consoles. Warning: minor spoilers for Stick of Truth follow. A review guide leaked by European press— Stick of Truth , which is out next week for PC/PS3/Xbox 360. A review guide leaked by European press— via NeoGAF —reveals that Ubisoft decided to replace a few mini-game scenes in the console versions ofStick of Truth, which is out next week for PC/PS3/Xbox 360. Advertisement Here's the relevant excerpt: Knowing the creators of South Park , those image backgrounds will be hilarious. In the censored Australian version of the game, some scenes were replaced by images of Knowing the creators ofSouth Park, those image backgrounds will be hilarious. In the censored Australian version of the game, some scenes were replaced by images of crying koalas Sponsored When reached for comment by When reached for comment by Eurogamer , Ubisoft's UK office said this was a marketing decision.

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